So I had accidentally concluded that I didn’t like this perfume, the full name of which is “Son of God of rice and citrus”, because I kept mixing it up with one of my all-time least-favorite books, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. You guys, I really hate this book. The writing is so dense and tedious and filled with Unnecessary Capitalizations and nothing ever happens and yet somehow everyone manages to die in the end. The God of Small Things is so muddled that I seriously did not realize that I was reading an incest sex scene until LIKE TWO CHAPTERS LATER. This book makes an Ikea instruction manual look riveting in comparison. Although if you think about it, Ikea instruction manuals are already sort of suspenseful. Will those suspiciously smiley stick figures be able to properly assemble that Förhöja Wall Cabinet??? (Y’all might think that I made the Förhöja Wall Cabinet up, but I assure you that the Förhöja Wall Cabinet is very real.)
Anyway, now that I have remembered that Fils de Dieu has absolutely nothing to do with The God of Small Things, I am ready to give it a fair review. Fils de Dieu smells like coconut rice and more lime juice than any coconut rice recipe would ever call for. We’ve all smelled the lime-and-coconut combination a million times, but never in these proportions. Usually the coconut note dominates, rendering the perfume overly sweet and cheap smelling. In Fils de Dieu, the lime dominates, and the coconut note adds just a touch of toasted sweetness. As someone who loves sour citrus fruits, I really enjoy this perfume. It’s delicious and gourmand without smelling like cupcakes. Fils de Dieu is very quiet, especially compared to the rest of the Etat Libre d’Orange line, but it’s probably for the best (all that lime could get mighty piercing in a louder perfume).
SCENTS OF SELF 
I like this one a lot in the top notes and the heart, but the drydown is kind of a letdown. Someone on an online fragrance group I participate in called it a lemon custard served by a young man wearing leather gloves and Shalimar – I actually think that’s pretty accurate!
Good gracious! Your online fragrance group has quite an imagination- that young man in Shalimar sounds like the opening to a very naughty book! 😉
I think you’re the one with the naughty imagination here!
I like this one, though it is borderline weird to start with, and more orangey than limey to my nose, I don’t know why. Or it seems orange in my mind’s eye at least.
And I am so with you on those Booker Prize Winners (which if The God Of Small Things isn’t, it is just the kind of book that normally wins!), and also on the IKEA manual. The ethereally improbable names are a highlight of the whole maddening experience!
Excellent call! It was, in fact, a Booker Prize winner! 😀 I think that I would like this perfume much less if I got orange instead of lime. Can’t stand orange notes in perfume!
I think I would like this one, though it sounds a bit like HdP Love Coco(nut), which reminded me of Thai food a bit too much. I like my coconut sweet, not savory!
And I’m with you on that book. I remember reading that several times,and being like what? Um, what’s going on? I was thoroughly confused.
THANK YOU! Nothing ever happens, and then when it finally does, you don’t know what it was!!
Fils de Dieu did actually remind me of Thai food (which I love), so I cautiously recommend it to you.
Ari, I’ve read several reviews of this, but yours in the first one that actually makes me want to try it. Nice job!
I haven’t read The God of Small Things; the two “great reads” I enjoy ranting about are Wuthering Heights (this is supposed to be a great love story? Are you kidding me?) and Confederacy of Dunces (boooooring, plus a despicable main character). My award for the vaguest sexual reference ever goes to the rape in Tess of the D’urbervilles – I read it three times before I figured out what happened.
Bones (my 18yo) read this post over my shoulder, and killed himself laughing at your IKEA bit.
Your description of the IKEA manuals is pricless!
I felt the same way about Tuesdays with Morrie. 😦
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