Emmanuel Macron: Drenched in Scent

A savage indictment?

In the normal course of events, the only time celebrities and politicians make the news for how they smell is when they smell bad. Robert Pattison, Britney Spears, and Kevin Federline are among those who have taken a PR hit for bad BO.

More recently, seventy-seven-year-old Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has been the object of unflattering coverage in this regard. Congressman James Comer (R-KY), in his book All the President’s Money, relates that “Judiciary ranking member Jerry Nadler, [ . . . ] had already filled the room with his signature essence, Eau de Truck Stop Restroom.”

In “Members of Congress Agree: Jerry Nadler is the Capitol’s Worst-Smelling Man,” The Washington Free Beacon notes:

among his colleagues in the chamber, he has also earned the dubious distinction of being its smelliest member.

and

“He reeks. It’s not just like a guy who didn’t take a shower. I don’t know if it’s surgery or a colostomy bag, but it’s bad,” another member of Congress from New York said.

There’s more, but you get the drift.

A story in the UK Independent gives us the rare example of a politician being tagged for smelling too good.

Macron’s ‘industrial levels’ of fragrance overpowering aides in Elysee palace, book claims.

French president uses copious amounts of Dior Eau Sauvage as a way of asserting his power, says former aide

The piece, by Alex Croft, pulls quotes from a new book, The Tragedy of the Elysee, written by Olivier Beaumont, a senior journalist with Le Parisien. According to Beaumont, Emmanuel Macron uses Eau Sauvage so often, and so liberally, that the scent precedes him in the hallways of the presidential palace.

“Mr Macron uses the fragrance as a way “almost of marking his territory”, one aide says, adding that you can “feel it” when the president enter the room.”

Beaumont also links Macron to Louis XIV: each used perfume as a marker of power and authority.

So this isn’t really a case of smelling too good. Beaumont and the Independent delight in the vain and pompous (yet also animal-like!) nature of Macron’s fragrance use. I was inclined to chuckle along with them, until I read Croft’s description of Eau Sauvage as a “floral and musky scent, as refined as it is powerful.”

Hunh?

Eau Sauvage was the 1966 creation of legendary French perfumer Edmond Roudnitska. It was an instant classic. Fragrantica.com describes it as a Citrus Aromatic fragrance. Its top notes are citrus and its base notes woody. “Floral and musky” it is not.

Further on, the Independent says:

“Sauvage, the world’s best-selling male fragrance – which actor Johnny Depp has been the face of since 2015 - is made by Dior”

Oh, for crying out loud—the Independent just tagged the wrong perfume! Eau Sauvage and Sauvage by Dior are two entirely different products (see images above).

Sauvage by Dior is a Aromatic Fougere fragrance for men. Sauvage was launched in 2015. The nose behind this fragrance is François Demachy. Top notes are Calabrian bergamot and Pepper; middle notes are Sichuan Pepper, Lavender, Pink Pepper, Vetiver, Patchouli, Geranium and elemi; base notes are Ambroxan, Cedar and Labdanum.

And for the record, neither one of these fragrances is “floral and musky.”

The moral of the story? Macron may over-spritz but the Independent is edited by twits.