Remarkable People, launched in 2015 by French niche line Etat Libre d`Orange is a reworking of their Joséphine Baker fragrance, which they created as an exclusive for European Sephora stores in 2010. It became cult favourite and like most small batch limited editions, sold out fast. I never had the opportunity to sample Joséphine Baker, but I love this version.

Remarkable People opens bright and lively with a note of tart, citrusy grapefruit along with a fizzy effervescence from a champagne accord. I close my eyes and hear a champagne cork pop and smile. This is fun. A note of cardamom adds a little spicy warmth that’s the perfect foil for the grapefruit and champagne. It also leads to the heart where I smell a light note of luscious, indolic jasmine - just enough to thread an exotic floral dimension throughout the fragrance. Then, I smell a gentle note of aromatic curry, its spicy warmth intensified with black pepper. It’s unexpected and exciting. The base is resinous from labdanum and woody from sandalwood. The notes list something called ‘lorenox’, which is an aromatic molecule developed by the Research and Development Department of MANE that has woodsy, ambery and leathery facets. In Remarkable People, it’s the woodsiness and leather aspects I smell the most on me.

The drydown is aromatic, light and joyful. It’s such a pleasure to wear, that it’s hard to resist spritzing it on every day, just to experience it, which, from what I read, seems to have been the essence of a Josephine Baker performance.

Having never tried the Joséphine Baker, I can’t speak to the differences between it and Remarkable people. I will say this however, both frags have the same notes listed and both were created by nose Cécile Matton, so let’s hope they are similar enough to satisfy all the Joséphine Baker-ophiles out there.

I can tell you that Remarkable People satisfies me beautifully.

Notes: grapefruit, champagne accord, cardamom, jasmine, curry essence, black pepper, labdanum, sandalwood, lorenox

Type: EdP

Parfumeur: Cécile Matton