Review: Christian Dior - Midnight Poison (2007)

Christian Dior - Midnight Poison EDP (2007)

Dior Midnight Poison

One of my newly obtained scents, the only fragrance which I own from Christian Dior's Poison collection and also sadly recently discontinued.....

Olivier Cresp

Midnight Poison was composed by Jacques Cavallier, Francois Demachy, and Olivier Cresp,
it is a gorgeous, dark, delicious, and seductive fragrance . This fragrance is the 5th and latest perfume to be added to Christian Dior's famous "Poison" range first released in 1985. Midnight Poison seems to be to most simple in composition yet ended up smelling better and more complex than all the other poisons released, at least to my nose. Also definitely the most unisex and masculine smelling out of all the poisons released.


Presentation:

Actress Eva Green used for the commercial

My own bottle: See that beautiful glow!?

Midnight Poison is presented in one of the most beautifully coloured bottles ever! There is something so captivating about the way this bottle look and the way it seems to glow in the most mesmerizing shde of blue it hits the light. John Galliano was inspired by the Cinderella while gathering ideas for the imagery of this perfume, therefore the mystifying colour of cobalt-ultramarine blue was chosen for the bottle, to be reminiscent of Cinderella's dress.


The Scent:

When I first spray this perfume in I thought to my self "Wow this smells so dark, delicious and deductive!", straight away in my head, I see the image of a powerful seductress who resides in a dark mystic forest, seducing any mortal males and perhaps even females.... who dares enter her territory.

Not your typical rose scent!, Dark and luscious!

Do you dare enter her lair?

Opens with a powdery, sweet and slightly citric combo of patchouli and dark, lush, intense, and alluring rose, with hints of soft but noticeable citrus.
If you do not like rose not patchouli, you will not like this perfume, rose and patchouli lingers around for the whole wearing of this perfume, while citrus and vanilla is on and off. The rose you get from Midnight Poison is not your typical bright, sunny garden rose, but a dark, mystical, sinister, and alluring poisonous rose.


Approximately 40 minutes into the application, the patchouli settled down quite nicely and is no longer the most dominant note. The citrus becomes amplified along with the rose, while the vanilla can now be noticed, sitting quietly in the corner waiting for her turn to shine.

Getting brighter and less sinister! Towards the end

Towards the end of the perfume's life about 12 hours into my wearing, the patchouli and citrus are now quite faint while the dark and velvety rose note stays prominent, and the vanilla can now be noticed, giving this scent a delicious, "You know you want me", vibe to it. I guess dawn is approaching and the powerful enchantress' power will now be weakening until night falls again.

Velvety Rose

Fantastic silage and amazing longevity, I applied it around 8pm last night and it lasted all throughout the night and still persisted when I woke up around 10am. I would recommend it and I will never understand why Dior would discontinue one of their best available scents. There are still some available on EBay (but watch out for fakes!!), and if you're lucky like me you will find some remaining stock at your local perfumery.

My Top 3 Favourite Perfumes: Chanel - Cuir De Russie / Russia Leather (1927)

 Top 3 Favourite Perfumes:  Cuir De Russie / Russia Leather By Chanel (1927)

My vintage bottle of Russia Leather Parfum from the 1950's

I have never smelt a scent that exudes so much class and sophistication! This has got to be one of the most elegant scent I've ever sniffed.....so far. However the reason why it was created was quite the contrary to my impressions. This is clearly visible when I am sniffing the vintage version compared to today's "Les Exclusifs" version....more on that later.


Inspiration and Name:

Grand Duke Dimitri Paylovich

Cuir de Russie which translates into Russian Leather in English is a floral-leather fragrance composed by Ernest Beaux and launched in the year 1927. In the USA, Cuir de Russie was called "Russia Leather" sometimes instead, hence the two different names.

Chanel a powerful woman,
and a smoker with
a strong personality

The inspiration which gave birth to the scent came from Chanel's romantic relationship with the Grand Duke Dimitri Paylovich of Russia who is the cousin of Tsar Nicholas the second. The scent bears a dark, animalic, musty, floral-leather aroma with jasmine, leather, ylang-ylang, iris, and civet being the dominant ingredients. The leather smell was inspired by boots of Russian Soldiers tanned by Birch Bark, which gave it a smoky, leathery, and animalic smell. Cuir de Russie was considered a shocking fragrance when first released with the intended audience being women with strong, fearless, and daring personalities who also smokes cigarettes in public with NO SHAME.

Chanel -A feminist, a woman, an Icon.

Woman smoking in public

 Chanel who was considered a feminist her self was all of this, while it was scandalous for women to smoke in public at the time.

Chanel's release of Cuir de Russie does in a way send a message of encouragement and approval for women that it was fine to do what they pleased with no fear or shame.

Justine Picardie, Chanel's biographer said that Cuir de Russie was the "Bottled essence of Coco's romance with the Grand duke, his leather boots and her floral essences intertwined".

Bottle:

Available in Parfum, Eau de toilette, and Eau de Cologne. Cuir de Russie as of present are only available in Chanel boutiques as part of the "Le Exclusifs" line the Eau De Toilette has been discontinued. Comes in signature Chanel simple square/rectangular bottles.

My Les Exclusifs bottle purchased in Paris, 2013

The Scent:

Impressions: Left is the vintage and right is the modern version

I own 15ml of Cuir de Russie in the vintage pure parfum version as well as 200ml of the modern day Les Exclusif Eau de Toilette version which I bough in Paris in 2013. To compare the two scents would be like comparing night a day, or comparing two different persons.

The vintage version is by far way more animalic and dirty with natural civet, leather, and animal ingredients utilized in high proportions the scent also lasts a lot longer.

wild woman!

The modern version is lighter, more floral, more sophisticated and refined, less animalic and skanky/dirty. It's like comparing a woman with a strong, daring, fearless personality who smokes in public, goes out at night, wears whatever she wants, and does whatever she wants whenever she pleases.........comparing that to a beautiful and polite woman, a classy lady, she is soft spoken, wears designer dresses, and leads a life of strict regime on a tight schedule. Skanky, wild, sexy, and animalic VS Classy, refined, and sophisticated. That would be how I would compare the two. However I LOVE BOTH versions!!


Modern Eau De Toilette:

Jasmine - dominant in the EDT

Leather notes of the EDT are suede-like

Modern EDT starts off on my skin as a blast of rich, buttery, silky smooth and velvety jasmine and suede-like leather.... no longer the dirty birch tar leather boots of the vintage. Not a bad thing, makes this scent more formal and appealing to the current modern day market I suppose.

After about 30 minutes the jasmine fades slightly along with the suede-like leather becoming dirtier and more animalic, the iris now becomes prominent and gives the scent a powdery touch. Bad girl might just be back here. Towards the end, no the bad girl does not come back, she was close to it though, the scent remains similar but becomes sweeter as vanilla, musk, rose and vetiver shines through whilst the iris and leather still lingering there. Lasts about 6-7 hours on my skin which is not bad for an EDT, the scent is amazing even though I love the dirtiness of the vintage version equally as much. It does stay close to the skin and does not offend or linger too far so I'd say you won't be offending or annoying anyone but you will still be noticed. Highly recommended, but warning it does cost a kidney or two!!

Currently Cuir de Russie can only be obtained from Chanel boutiques as part of the Les Exclusifs de Chanel line

Vintage Parfum:

Notice the dark intense colour

An advert of Cuir De Russie

Starts off very animalic, dirty, dense, dark, rich, and intense with hints of jasmine and iris screaming "help me!"detected. So wild and outrageous you just can't help but to appreciate it! 45 minutes into the application the civet and leather starts to calm down a bit and became less sharp to the nose as the powderiness and sweetness of jasmine, iris and rose shines in the heart. 9 hours later and still going strong, the scent becomes slightly less wild, animalic and floral as the top and middle notes fades and becomes powdery and a touch sweeter. This is when vetiver, tobacco, and vanilla can be detected and it smells so beautiful and sexy, this scent in the vintage version is just super sexy! that's all I can say. Highly recommended, you can occasionally find some on EBay for a good price so keep a look out.

My Top 3 Favourite Perfumes: Guerlain - Shalimar (1925)

Top 3 Favourite Perfumes:  Shalimar by Guerlain (1925)

A part of my Shalimar Collection

Jacques Guerlain

 Another perfume within my top 3 would be Shalimar by Guerlain. My top 5 favourite changes regularly but the 3 perfumes I am reviewing are always going to be in my rotation therefore I am calling them my top 3 favourites.

Shalimar is an oriental fragrance with smoky-vanilla being the dominant note, it also contains hints of animalic-leather, citrus and tonka beans. I would describe Shalimar as a smoky, animalic, powdery vanilla perfume.

The Taj Mahal

Shahjahan and Mumtaz

Shalimar was composed by Jacques Guerlain in 1925 as a tribute to the legendary romantic tale involving Emperor Shahjahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. According to the tale 20 years old Shahjahan as a prince, met a young girl at a bazaar, captivated by her beauty he marries her once he became emperor. Her name "Mumtaz Mahal" means "Jewel of the Palace". Mumtaz and Shahjahan had 13 children together but tragedy struck when Mumtaz died whilst giving birth to their 14th child together at the age of 39. Completely grief ridden and devastated Shahjahan built the "Taj Mahal" in memory of Mumtaz and the love eternal they shared.


The Name:

The Gardens of Shalimar, Lahore, Pakistan

No.90

Mumtaz's favourite garden was called "The Gardens of Shalimar", hence inspired the name of the scent. Shalimar has been popular for over 90 years and still continues to be one of the best selling perfumes ever.


Shalimar was also exported under the name "No.90" for a period of time due to a legal issue going on with the original name at the time, No.90 was Shalimar's stock number. Appearantly a rival fragrance company also released a perfume with the same name.

The Bottle:

My bottle of Shalimar in the Bouchon
Coeur, a 2008 limited edition

The house of Guerlain always had some of the best perfume bottle designs. Personally I love to collect Guerlain bottles as much as I love to collect their fragrances. The bottle known as "Flacon Souris Chauve", meaning the bat in english, was designed by Raymond Guerlain and manufactured originally by Cristalleries de Baccarat. Later on the bottles were also produced by other companies such as Saint Gobain des Jonqueres, Pochet et du Courval, and Cristal Romesni. Shalimar also has various limited edition bottles and also came in a variety of different flacons. According to "guerlainperfumebottles.blogspot.com by Grace Hummel", some of the flacons known to have contained Shalimar at least for a period of time were the bee bottle, the quadrilobe flacon, the amphora flacon, the borne flacon, the bouchon coeur (heart shaped stopper flacon), capsule flacon, the tear drop flacon, and the watch flacon.

Shalimar Parfum Initial - A Flanker

Current appearance of the Shalimar flacon

Present day Shalimar is presented in a more simplified and modernized form of it's original Flacon Souris Chauve, I personally prefer the vintage look all the way! I'm not a fan of the plain modern bottle.




The Scent:

Vanilla - An essential ingredient of
most Guerlain creations

I personally am addicted to Shalimar, I find my self sniffing my wrists like a crazy person every time I wear the scent. There is something strangely delicious, soothing and addictive about the citrus-smoky, animalic vanilla combo. Without a doubt these days Shalimar is definitely a unisex scent, in the past maybe not, male fragrances are sweeter and more floral than ever these days. I am confident to say that Shalimar, originally marketed for women, does in fact smell more masculine than some of the scents marketed for males today, Dior Homme and Black XS for example.

Citrus - prominent top notes of Shalimar

Comparing the vintage to the current version I would say that the reformulation had gone pretty smoothly and Shalimar still smells noticeably like Shalimar. The vintage one however utilizes natural citrus oil which are now banned as well as real animal ingredients and sandalwood therefore there is more depth in the vintage version. The citrus notes of the new version are more lemony and sharp, but overall it is not bad reformulation.

Smoky, Skanky, Animalic
Sexy Vanilla!

When first applied I get a pleasant combo of delicious spiced bergamot, vanilla, and incense along with a whiff of sexy....yes SEXY civet and leather. I understand now why prostitutes in the 1950's used to wear Shalimar and why this is considered a "Skanky" perfume. About 45 minutes into application the bergamot and citrus notes starts to fade but still lingers there while the vanilla, incense sandalwood, tonka bean, leather, and civet, becomes prominent.......It's like night time is approaching and Shalimar is a skanky French woman having a cigarette by the street corner of Moulin Rogue, good girl gone bad, the fresh top notes are being replaced by the dark, delicious, seductive and animalic heart notes.

This fragrance does last a while on my skin, about 7-8 hours, and towards the end the prominent notes left are vanilla, sandalwood, incense, tonka bean, and a teeny tiny bit of leather, civet and bergamot. It is like dawn is approaching and the women working the street corners must now go home to get her beauty rest and of course count the $$$ she made last night!!!

Heading home! got some $$$ to count!

My Top 3 Favourite Perfumes: Chanel No.5 (1921)

Top 3 Favourite Perfumes:  Chanel No.5

Image of my current collection of Chanel No.5 fragrances

I thought I should share some of my favourite perfumes with you guys, one of my top 3 is of course the iconic and definitely legendary, Chanel No.5. Originally available in 3 concentrations Parfum, Eau De Toilette, and Eau De Cologne.....Eau De Parfum later replaced the Eau De Cologne concentration in the 1990's.

Composed by a Russian-French perfumer, Ernest Beaux and released in 1921. Chanel No.5 is an aldehydic floral perfume. It was the first fragrance of it's time to incorporate a high amount synthetic compound called "Aldehydes", a compound created in the lab which has a signature "Soapy, waxy, lemony" smell reminiscent of clean linen. Mademoiselle Chanel specifically requested Beaux to compose a perfume which "Smells like a woman", a perfume which "Should not smell like a rose nor a lily of the valley, but overall blended as a whole composition".


The Name: 

Coco Chanel grew up as an orphan

Perfumer Ernest Beaux, in 1920 presented Coco Chanel with two series of perfume samples numbered 1 to 5 and 20 to 24 for her to choose one from. Chanel chose the 5th sample and also chose to name it No.5. Chanel is superstitious and told Beaux "I present my dress collections on the 5th of May, the 5th Month of the year and so we will let this sample No.5 keep the name it already has, it will bring good luck".

Cistus the 5 petaled rose

The number 5 had always been a significant number in Chanel's life, according to Chanel the number 5 signified the "pure embodiment of a thing, its essence, its free spirit, and its mystical meaning". Whist spending her juvenile years in an orphanage Chanel would prey daily and the path that led to the cathedral were laid out in a repeating circular pattern of 5, according to the book "The Secret of Chanel No.5: The Biography of a Scent" By Mazzeo 2010. Her attachment to the number 5 continued with the abbey gardens surrounded by a 5-petal rose called "Cistus".


The Bottle:

Chanel loved simplicity and wanted her bottles to represent "Pure transparency .. an invisible bottle".
Completely opposite to the elaborate and complicated bottle designs so popular at the time. Some say her rectangular flacons was inspired by her lover's Arthur "Boy" Capel's Charvet toiletry bottles, and others say that it was inspired by the rectangular whiskey decanter she admired.What I find beneficial about having a simple bottle design is that, you never have to compete or invest millions of dollars into the design of the "latest" bottle trend, you always have one bottle design only, its very economical and clever!

From Left to Right, the oldest to the most recent design of No.5

The bottles of the 1920's are different looking from the bottles produced today. The original had "small, delicate, rounded shoulders,and was offered only to select Chanel clients". In 1924 the bottle was modified because it was too delicate to be shipped, therefore the square corners were added.The bottle had remained the same ever since except the bottle stopper which used to be a small glass plug, seemed to have enlarged in the 1950's and became even more prominent in the 1970's and re-proportioned in the 1980's.

A guide to estimating the date of your Chanel perfume bottles, to enlarge right click and press view image.

Over decades, Chanel No.5 and it's bottle are nearly 100 years old and has become a "cultural artifact", so recognizable and iconic. I can only think of a few perfumes in my head that had sustained such longevity and are still popular today, one of them is of course my other top 3 perfume Shalimar by Guerlain.

Vintage version (1950-1960):

My sealed EDT from the 1950's

I own all concentrations of No.5 except the parfum version. The vintage EDC is slightly warmer and ambery than vintage EDT otherwise they are quite similar.

From the get go I can smell a silky, delicate veil of aldehyde embroiled with jasmine, bergamot, neroli and ylang-ylang enveloping my skin. 30 minutes into the application the rose, oak moss, and civet starts to become dominant as the top notes fades slightly.

Bright floral opening, a mossy animalic mid, a woody damp base

Right now I can imagine my floral silky veil being blown by a gentle breeze from a damp forest nearby which carries with it hints of moss and civet. 3-4 hours into the application the scent becomes dominated by sandalwood with hints of vanilla, vetiver, and orris root becoming more dominant whist still maintaining the floral structure. At this point where I'm standing with my veil of silky aldehyde and florals , the gentle breeze becomes moistened by humidity in the atmosphere as rain approaches and the calm before the storm is fast disappearing.

Modern Eau De Parfum (2013):

Year 2013 bottle of No.5

I have a 200ml splash bottle of the modern EDP which I bought in 2013 during my trip to Paris, the batch code also indicates that it was produced in 2013. I like it but I also don't like it....

Longevity and Silage wise, it is a shadow of it's former versions, it also appears to smell more youthful and more appealing to younger audiences. Most likely this may be due to a restriction of the use of natural ingredients which really DOES RUIN the perfume industry! A lot of unique scents no longer smell as unique or high quality as they used to be....the modern EDP smells like No.5 Eau premier....I love the scent but I prefer my No.5 the way it used to originally smell.

Painting: Daniel Gerhartz 1965, a good representation for the reformulated No.5. Youthful, faint, soft, floral all the way through. A vulnerable version of the strong-willed woman Chanel No.5 was.

Jasmine: Dominant in Both Vintage and Modern No.5

When applied I first smell soft and powdery hints of a reduced portion of aldehyde compared to the vintage and notes of roses, jasmine and ylang ylang with a touch of sweetness amplified. I CANNOT smell much citrus, civet , nor oak moss, in fact I am having lots of trouble detecting them. The scent remains soft, powdery and floral throughout the whole time I am wearing it and doesn't seem to change much...lasts only about 3 hours and then disappears into thin air. I don't mind the changes but the thing I do hate about it is the connectivity and silage....I like my scent to last especially if it costs me 2 week's worth of wages....I work part time at a restaurant and they pay super duper low.

I would recommend this version to sophisticated women in their 20's and over and also to those who does not like the vintage No.5 because it smells too mature...I however like my original No.5 with depth, individuality, and a certain nostalgia that I get from inhaling it's heavenly fumes.

What do you prefer? The vintage? or the reformulated?

What do I wear to bed? Chanel No.5 - Marilyn Monroe

My First Ever Perfume : Aubusson - Futuros

The first I ever owned: Futuros By Aubusson

This will be my first ever blog about a fragrance so what a better way to begin than to review the first perfume that was ever given to me? the first perfume I ever had the privilege of owning.

The scent is of course the now discontinued and quite elusive Futuros by the French perfume house of Aubusson, released in 1987 according to profumo.net. This was given to me by my aunt around the year 1999, it was strange because I was only about 8 years old at the time and was already into perfume and their bottles. My aunt is also a perfume collector and has hundreds of fragrances her self, I will always remember sitting still for hours in her room being completely mesmerized by her collection.

Image by ThePerfumedGuillotine

 About the scent:

This scent is now discontinued but can still be found on EBay. Not much information are available about Futuros therefore I will be describing based on what I am smelling. The first spray starts off quite warm-spicy, leathery, woody,  and slightly animalic. Think of your self wearing a vintage leather jacket, rugger and worn out over the years, it is mid winter, cold , dark and gloomy outside, you are in a entered a room heated up by a fire place. There are freshly chopped wood burning and scenting the room, in the kitchen somebody is cooking curry for dinner, yes CURRY, the spices are reminiscent of beef vindaloo, in a good way!..... THAT - is the smell of Aubusson - Futuros, a leathery, smoky, woody, and warm-spicy fragrance.

Later it dries down to become a spicy, smoky, woody, and slightly sweet scent where the spice really does shine. I can now smell clove, liquorice, and tonka bean, with a hint of musty leather quite prominently 30 minutes into the dry down. After about 2-3 hours I am left with the dry down, a sweet spicy, smoky and woody masculine leather scent with hints of oak moss and civet.

Actor: Clark Gable

 Lasts a very long time on the skin like most vintage powerhouse fragrances of the 1980's, which I love but they are no longer popular today. Quite a mature, formal, classy, classic scent, makes me think of something Clark Gable would wear. Reminds me a lot of Antaeus By Chanel which I also own. It also comes in a beautiful dark blue bottle shaped like a futuristic jukebox. Definitely for the cooler weather, DO NOT wear this in summer!

 What are some of your first ever perfumes? Feel free to share I'd be interested in hearing!