Month: September 2018

Belle de Jour by Christian Dior

September 26, 2018

Notes: pear, rose, woody notes.

Belle de Jour is named after the Luis Buñuel film starring Catherine Deneuve. One of the Dior SAs kept mentioning the film as I was purchasing this. This fragrance doesn’t evoke the film for me, however I’m sure Dior executives want people to imagine themselves as Catherine Deneuve circa 1967 while wearing this. Belle de Jour is one of the newer releases in the Maison Chistian Dior line, formerly La Collection Couturier, formerly the Dior Privée line. Let’s hope Dior will stick with this Maison Christian Dior title! To make it more confusing, some Maison fragrances are the original Privée scents, but relaunched. (For example, Gris Montaigne is now Gris Dior.) Belle de Jour is one of the entirely new compositions.

I tried Belle de Jour on a rainy New York September day, just as the weather was turning to Autumn. I spritzed this on at Saks, and then wandered around midtown in the rain, passing Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, The Palace Hotel, and crossing over to Lexington. The city was grey and chilly from the rain, but I felt contented because Belle de Jour was radiating a pleasant warmth around me. I get some lovely sillage out of this. It’s not a beast, but more like a very pleasant and fragrant cloud.

Belle de Jour opens with a pear note. It’s not necessarily juicy, but it’s fresh and very easy to identify as a pear note. Fragrantica, for some reason, lists the opening note as peach, but it’s clearly pear. The fruit blends right into the rose note. I normally don’t fall for rose scents, but it’s extremely smooth and easy to wear in this composition. The rose here reminds me of Liaisons Dangereuses from Kilian. That one from Kilian does contain peach blended with rose, and it’s much more carnal. Belle de Jour is sensual, but I don’t find it to be carnal or sexy (which is kind of funny, considering the Buñuel film).

The Dior SA also told me that the dry down is musk and woods. I couldn’t get anything more specific out of her. There are all different types of woody notes, but Dior remains vague about this. The dry down here reminds me of the musk in Tocca’s Margaux, which I love, and I don’t always love musk! Belle de Jour’s dry down is a warm, rich musk. It feels decadent without being over the top. Thankfully, it doesn’t smell overly synthetic either. Again, the rose blends seamlessly into this dry down before the last floral traces fade away.

In fact, the striking thing about Belle de Jour is that it’s an exceptionally seamless and smooth composition from start to finish. There are no rough edges here, nothing odd peaking out between the seams of the composition. Sometimes I enjoy a scent that has a strangeness to it, something that makes me think. In this case, I enjoy Belle de Jour precisely because it’s so beautiful in an effortless way. It feels pretty and luxurious without trying too hard. As I walked around rainy midtown Manhattan, not even caring about the weather because I felt at peace while wearing this scent, I knew Belle de Jour had earned its place in my collection. Reader, I went back to Saks later that afternoon and bought it.

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Maison Christian Dior fragrances are available from Dior and from Saks in store. I purchased my 125 ml bottle from Saks.

Photo taken by me.

List of notes taken from Fragrantica and from Dior.

Honeysuckle & Davana by Jo Malone

September 19, 2018

Notes: artemisia, rose, honeysuckle, and moss.

I always love a Fall release from Jo Malone London. I love the tradition of visiting my local counter and trying the new annual release. It really puts me in the mood for the transition to Fall. This year’s release, Honeysuckle & Davana is a green floral, which might come across as more springy, but I’m really enjoying wearing it right now. There’s something about it that just feels right for the moment to me.

Honeysuckle & Davana opens with a pretty, blooming honeysuckle note, as you might imagine. The interesting part is that it’s also quite green and herbal from the artemisia note. In researching this perfume composition, I’ve learned that the davana herb is part of the artemisia family. Davana on its own is a chameleon note and can really vary depending on skin chemistry. I wonder if Ann Flipo, the perfumer, cleverly used artemisia here to give that herbal davana feel, while ensuring that it would be a bit less variable according to people’s skin chemistry, (Of course, you can never guarantee what something is going to smell like with someone’s skin chemistry!)

The green herbal note leans to the bitter side, which I enjoy. I’ve seen commenters on Fragrantica saying that it’s too bitter. Safe to say, if you don’t enjoy a green bitter note at all, this scent probably isn’t for you. Luckily, the rose note comes through in the heart and softens the bitterness. My skin chemistry doesn’t pull off a fully blooming rose note very well, and this is why I enjoy the herbal, bitter artemisia so much here. It really balances the composition.

I would have guessed that the dry down is actually sandalwood because it leans very woody on me. The SA at my Jo Malone counter told me that the dry down is musk, so who knows what’s actually going on here! The woody notes that come through on my skin make for a nice transition as the herbal artemisia top note fades. It also blends well with the floral notes. I don’t see anyone being offended by this dry down. It’s just really pleasant and a nice way to close out this composition.

I haven’t enjoyed a Jo Malone release this much since Wood Sage & Sea Salt (which is still a great one). I get 6 hours of wear time before Honeysuckle & Davana completely fades away, which is quite good from Jo Malone. It’s a perfect daytime scent. I’ve even been able to wear it to yoga class without offending anyone with an overbearing fragrance. As always, I urge everyone to test this on out the skin. The paper tester doesn’t pick up the herbal nuances here the way skin chemistry can.

I am really taken with Honeysuckle & Davana. It’s easy to be cynical about so many new releases coming from the fragrance industry as a whole right now, whether it’s mainstream, niche, or indie brands. We’re dealing with over-saturation from just about every corner of the industry. With all of that being said, it feels good to unabashedly enjoy a new release! I hope you’re all finding something to enjoy as well, as we transition to Autumn here.

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Honeysuckle & Davana is available now from Jo Malone, Nordstrom, Saks, and Sephora. I purchased my bottle from the Jo Malone counter at my local Nordstrom.

Photo taken by me.

The list of notes is from Fragrantica.