Frequent Questions: The Difference between the various Christian Dior "Poison" fragrances

Christian Dior has a stable of fragrances all tagged Poison, encased in similarly designed packaging and bottles (but in different colors), often creating confusion to the buyer who wants to know how the various fragrances compare. This article aims to explain the differences and similarities between Poison, Tendre Poison, Hypnotic Poison, Pure Poison and Midnight Poison and their Elixir versions henceforth. Short descriptions of how they smell, perfumers, fragrance notes, color schemes on bottle and box packaging as well as comments on concentration & body products available, longevity and sillage are included.

The Poison series:

To begin in chronological order, first came Poison, the original, in 1985. It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that the original Poison was instrumental in the "loud" reputation that 1980s fragrances acquired. It is a powerhouse tuberose oriental with a berry-spicy-musky interlay, very characteristic of the time, quite excellently-made by Edouard Flechier and smelling great if used in moderation. Purple bottle in dark green box.
Notes for Poison original:
Top: orange blossom, honey, berries, pimento
Heart: cinnamon, coriander, tuberose, pepper, mace, plum, anise, ylang-ylang
Bottom: ambergris, labdanum, opoponax

Available in Eau de Toilette 30/50ml, Esprit de Parfum refillable flacon, deodorant spray, body lotion and shower gel. Some of the body products seem to be discontinued in certain markets.

Tendre Poison was the first "flanker" that came out 9 years later (1994), again composed by Edouard Flechier. It is a light green floral with freesia, a bit sharp and soapy in character. The base is pale woods, with a lightly powdery undertone that backons you closer. Although often referenced as a lighter version of the original Poison there is no comparison really. Tendre Poison is well-behaved, quite pretty and prim outwardly, a little unsmiling and cruel up close. Wears well and easily all year round and has good sillage and longevity. Light green bottle in green box.
Notes for Tendre Poison
Top: mandarin, galbanum
Heart: freesia, orange blossom, heliotrope
Bottom: sandalwood, vanilla

Available in Eau de Toilette 30/50ml, deodorant spray, body lotion and shower gel. Some of the body products seem to be discontinued in certan markets.

Hypnotic Poison came out in 1998, composed by Annick Menardo. The packaging reverted to something more daring, in crimson and a rubbery feel for the Eau de Parfum, so Hypnotic Poison is an almond gourmand oriental with a bitter edge at the start and a smooth vanilla base that contributes to a bewitching scent. Extremely popular (reports say it's a perennial bestseller in south Mediterranean countries, but also the US). Red bottle in dark red box.
Notes for Hypnotic Poison:
Top: bitter almond, caraway
Heart: jasmine sambac, jacaranda wood
Bottom: tree moss, vanilla, musk

Available in Eau de Toilette 30/50ml, deodorant spray, body lotion and shower gel.
There was an Eau de Parfum version previously available which seems to have been discontinued in favour of the Hypnotic Poison Elixir Eau de Parfum Intense.

Pure Poison coming out in 2004 was composed by Carlos Benaim, Olivier Polge and Dominique Ropion. Pure Poison is a radiant, expansive sharp floral with lots of white flowers (yet non indolic, meaning it's not in the least "dirty"), citrus essences and white musks/woods. The overall character is one of a clean, opalescent scent that is quite feminine in contemporary way. Pure Poison has an amazing sillage and is quite wearable year round. Pearl/opal white bottle in deep purple box.
Notes for Pure Poison:
Top: jasmine, sweet orange, Calabrian bergamot and Sicilian mandarin
Heart: orange blossom, gardenia
Bottom: sandalwood, ambergris

Available in Eau de Parfum 30/50ml, deodorant spray 100ml, body lotion and shower gel.

Midnight Poison is a modern "chypre" (in the vein of Narciso, Gucci by Gucci etc.) with subdued roses over a clean patchouli base, producing an abstract cool effect that is very modern. Composed by Olivier Cresp, Jacques Cavallier and Francois Demarchy, it is quite pleasant, if not very remarkable, with a dark green background that has a mysterious vibe aimed at the modern seductress.
Midnight-blue bottle in dark blue box.
Notes for Midnight Poison:
Top: mandarin orange, bergamot
Heart: rose
Bottom: patchouli, vanilla, amber

Available in Eau de Parfum 30/50ml, Extrait de Parfum, deodorant spray, body cream, body lotion and shower gel.

The Poison series Elixirs:

The various Dior Elixirs composed by Francois Demarchy came out with the aim to offer a more intense sensation blending the opulent base notes of the original Poison, along with individually selected flavours. The packaging is adorned with bulb atomisers on the bottle, boudoir-style. Each bottle replicates the colour scheme of the original fragrances they're named after. The formula is not silicone-based, but alcoholic, meaning it is sprayed like a regular Eau de Parfum.

Pure Poison Elixir was the first Elixir version for Poison and came out in 2006. Although the notes denote a quite different scent, the truth is there is no major difference with the previous Pure Poison, except for a sweeter, a tad powdery and warmer base that stays on the skin for an extremely long period of time.
Notes for Pure Poison Elixir:
Top: petitgrain, orange, green mandarin
Heart: orange blossom, jasmine sambac
Bottom: sandalwood, amber, almond, vanilla, cocoa absolute

Available in Eau de Parfum intense 30/50ml, body cream.

Hypnotic Poison Elixir came out in 2008. Based on the original Hypnotic Poison fragrance it includes a licorice-star anise combination. However it smells quite similar to the regular Hypnotic Poison, although the tenacity is even more phenomenal.

Available in Eau de Parfum intense 30/50ml, body cream.

Midnight Poison Elixir (2008) is based on the original Midnight Poison, enhanced with "intense, voluptuous, flavorful notes of caramel -fruity and toothsome, with an appetizing "toasted" fragrance - and the mellow, enveloping aromas of vanilla". It quite similar to the regular Midnight Poison apart from the sweeter caramel base which seems to kilter it off balance. Extremely tenacious as well.

Available in Eau de Parfum intense 30/50ml.

Special Valentine's Editions (2008) exist for Hypnotic Poison, Pure Poison and Midnight Poison in Eau de Toilette concentration in specially designed 40ml (1.38 fl.oz.) bottles.

Pics courtesy of Fragrantica.com

Optical Scentsibilities: Memento Mori

Dior Poison "memento mori" ad, "all is vanity"

How could the idea of mortality be tied to perfume? There seems to exist a plethora of references to Eros and Thanatos in scented matters. From the ancient practice of accompanying the dead to their resting place with aromatic incense and the fragrant burials in Egypt's pyramids to the annointing of the body for weddings in India with comparable scented essences, fragrance holds a key to matters of mortality. Rituals using it aim either to somehow "defeat" it (marriage and therefore procreation) or to pay their respects to the unavoidable.
But it is rare that a perfume company uses images of death to advertise their products; in this case Poison by Christian Dior.

You don't get what I am talking about? Squint. Now look again with your vampire eyes...The image of a skull is looking back at you through the mirror, the bottles and the torso of the woman sitting in front of her dresser. See?

Images of skulls abound in art and are indeed a premium means of delivering meanings that have to do with the subconcious. From the skull and bones flag of the pirate ship to more sophisticated paradigms, like this one from surrealist Salvador Dali, skulls are there to remind us that nothing lasts forever and the inevetability of death is the only centainty in life.
Of course Dali chose to depict it through naked women forming the parts of the skull, which is an allusion to the other half of the equlibrium of Eros and Thanatos. The regeneristic power of sexual desire and copulation is man's only means of transcedenting death. This of course lies at the root of ancient mysteries and rituals, such as the Orphic or Eleusinian Mysteries in ancient Greece.

During the Middle Ages, at a time when general lack of education swerved the emphasis of ecclesiastical catechy into iconography rather than scripture, images of horrible monstrosity became almost normal in the abodes of the holy. One only has to take a look at the gargoyles of late-Gothic churches across Europe to ascertain this. In this environment the notion of Memento Mori flourished; a typically simple depiction of a skull making an appearence somewhere along a painting, a psalm book, or a tapestry.

The habit persisted through later years and this painting of Jean de Dinteville (depicted at left) by Holbein is testament to it. If you look at it from the left and squint enough, you see that at the bottom of it there is an elongated form of something that does not seem like anything much, but in fact is a symbolic skull.

And how would this culminate in the above Dior Poison advertisement? Simple: the name Poison lends itself to imagery of Thanatos, through its connotations of its meaning and the fairy tale poisoned apple like its bottle shape suggests. Apple, a fruit full of its own connotations of sin and corruption!
Perhaps the advertisers want us to remember that just as their perfume can symbolically be lethal (and in copious amounts I am sure it can be!), it can also put a spin into the other half of the eternal duo: Eros.

Pics from moiillusions.com and nationalgallery.org.uk. Thanks to Sillage for bringing the initial Poison ad to my attention

Perfume advertising 4: discrepancies? (multimedia clips)

Exploring the avenues of perfume advertising, especially in commercials to be viewed on TV, one shapes a particular assumption of how something would smell, coaxed by the imagery and setting of the commercial. Often there is some discrepancy witnessed between what is expected and the actual olfactory experience. Especially so when there are famous faces or egeries involved fronting the perfume.

On a nostalgic trip down memory line, Soir de Paris in a very old commercial, from 1958 to be exact, shows us the rapport between jus and image that existed initially. Soir de Paris by Bourjois is known as Evening in Paris in Anglophone cultures and the olfactory profile is a very refined aldehydic floral that has a touch of the Parisian melancholy and sense of glamour. In its vintage form it stood as a very elegant and lovely representation of everything that joyful Paris evoked in the imagination of countless American women, especially after having seen the classic film "An American in Paris".
Today, the Vermont Country Store is touting its stock of original Soir de Paris and everyone may have a slice of that glorious imagery of French women preparing for a Parisian outing in their strapless gowns and dainty high-heels. Watch the clip clicking here

Those days are over however. Very soon the visual aspect of a commercial went on to a completely different independent track, often creating images that do not correspond to the olfactory response of uncorking a perfume. Case in point is the following commercial for Poison from the mid 80s , when this perfume grenade initially launched to be the object of derision, huge sales and eventually legend. In the commercial a lady dressed in tailored clothes in the purple hues of the perfume’s bottle is sitting head tilted romantically, drapes being drawn as if to signify a new start, a revelation or a concealmentWatch the clip clicking here
Suffice to say that the bombastic juice that lurks inside that insidious purple bottle is radically different to what one might think watching those visuals. A potent, venomous elixir of sexual emancipation and witch-like power, it manages to make lovers and haters and nothing in between. Sadly this is hard to find today in a world in which the visual has become significantly more aggressive, while the olfactory has become astoundingly tamer. Contrast the above with the recent black panther commercial for Christian Dior Pure Poison and smell the respective jus and you will know what I mean.

Romantic images however do have a power on their own, corresponding or not to the perfume’s aroma. Such a romantic commercial is one of my personal favourites from the early 90s (around 1990-1992) for LouLou by Cacharel. I have already elaborated on what makes LouLou the perfume so evocative for me, but the advertising has played a major part in this as well, being inspired by Louise Brooks and her Lulu role in Pabst's film. The bluish tones of the film, paired with the insouciance of the young girl who talks to the camera is endearing and makes us view the perfume under the lens of an insouciant, unaffected girlish seduction. Which is not far off the mark of the perfume’s intent.
Watch the clip clicking here

The following commercial for Champs Elysees by Guerlain however is again in contrast to the jus inside. Shot in black and white on the eponymous Parisian street with gorgeous Sophie Marceau as the protagonist who exits a car stopping abruptly taking with her a bouquet of roses and a sac voyage to march off angrily and then self-awardingly on the famous street, it is too cinephile and hinting at a background story.
The effect is greatly augmented because it features one of the songs that would best illustrate an insinuating and dark perfume: Glory B0x by Portishead. The music is so suggestive that it would be great underscoring trully dark, biting frags such as Poivre by Caron or Ambre Sultan by Lutens. The tagline of “life is best when you write the script by yourself” is meant to evoke exactly a cinematic reference and independence. However the jus of Champs Elysees is oblivious to such scheming and trails off in candied blackcurrant buds and mimosas tumbling out of its sunny coloured bottle. Too tame by half...Watch the clip clicking here

To finish this exploration of the correspondence between visual image and perfume composition, two last examples. One is of a commercial capturing the essence of the perfume, that of Sicily by Giuseppe Tornatore featuring the beautiful, expressive as a weeping widow Monica Belluci, an uber-woman if there ever was one. A perfume that is indeed quiet, but not undistinctive; cosy, old fashioned in its way, soapy like the white linen of a neorealistic film’s heroine. It did not manage to be a best-seller, but the connection between what seems to be a very Mediterranean concept and its scent is masterfully accomplishedWatch the clip clicking here

And then there is the aggressive luxe of a baroque mansion in which strides stripping all the while the statuesque Charlize Theron for Dior’s J’adore. Although the presentation and imagery is one of opulence, J’adore is no more than a nicely put floral with violet, orchid and rose and scattered fruity touches on top. Certainly not the super exclusive thing alluded to. But a brand of a reputation for luxury and with a couture show to support had to go to extravagant lengths to cement the opulent touch in our minds. And Charlize’s commercial was indeed very successful in that regard. Because who wouldn’t want to emulate her? Watch the clip clicking here

Next post will be really funny, guaranteed!