Dior J’Adore

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Perfume ads tend to be these really dramatic, in your face styles. Or very subtle, introspective feels. For J’Adore it was an in your face kind of thing that one would expect from a loud floral fragrance. I remember the commercial for this one particularly well, with a decked out Charlize Theron throwing things on the floor. But to buy a perfume based on its marketing material is a pretty bad idea. Rarely has a fragrance smelled like its marketing. Whatever smell you would happen to take away from that kind of thing anyway. J'Adore

In Bottle: Clear, bright florals and a juicy sweet fruity scent. I wouldn’t venture to call this a fruity floral though. This is mostly just a floral with a heady flowery background.

Applied: Sweet and heady florals with a very minor fruity note trying to turn these florals to a fruitier position. The fruit evaporates upon the arrival of the mid-stage but I retain the sweetness with a pretty rose and violet scent as the woods start to usher in. The power of J’Adore is fairly impressive though its very sweet floral scent is so bright and sunny. Rather reminiscent of some perfumes I smelled earlier in my life. Flower powerhouses that radiate like entire gardens have been planted in your nostrils. J’Adore does calm down near the end though as the dry down works into a sweet woodsy floral.

Extra: Christian Dior is a fashion designer who founded the Dior fashion house.

Design: J’Adore the bottle is egg-shaped with a very interesting plastic cap wrapped in metal. I find the design fun to look at and handle. The bottle itself is very easy to hold and the sprayer works just fine.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Mandarin, champaca flowers, ivy, african orchid, rose, violet, damascus plum, amaranth wood, blackberry musk.

This is really just an inoffensive, nice smelling floral fragrance for a more mature person. The presence of those fruit notes doesn’t shift this fragrance any closer to young fruity floral as J’Adore is a firmly planted floral perfume that’s appropriate and wearable for a wide range of occasions.

Reviewed in This Post: J’Adore, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

Miss Dior Cherie

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Sometimes, you come across a fragrance that just isn’t to your taste. Miss Dior Cherie is not to my taste. While I do tend toward the fruity and the sweet, Miss Dior Cherie is like a candy strawberry syrup attack that goes straight up my nose and into my head. Congratulations are in order, I suppose. No. 5, Shalimar, Brut, and all the powerhouses of the 80s combined could not induce a perfume headache. Today, Miss Dior Cherie took that prize home. Miss Dior Cherie

In Bottle: Sweet, sweet, synthetic strawberry layered over a lovely slather of caramel. There’s so much sweetness and sugary fruitiness in this that it’s crossed the line between edible, wearable sweet and cloying sweet. I tend to think of myself as having a high tolerance to sweetness. After all, I didn’t mind the tooth numbing sweetness in Love of Pink by Lacoste or Pink Sugar by Aquolina. But that combination of sugar, candy and strawberry in Miss Dior Cherie takes it a notch above just sweet into shrill sweet. So sweet you can feel your blood turn to high-fructose corn syrup.

Applied: Initial minor burst of sweet citrus aside, Miss Dior Cherie wastes no time letting you know what she’s up to. She’s going to turn you into a walking strawberry lollipop. I immediately got hit with the sugar and caramel and whatever else is sweetening this so much. It’s cloying upon first application and several hours later, it’s still cloying and I can still smell it. It being the initial notes upon application. I was really surprised to find this fragrance hadn’t moved or evolved on me at all. If nothing else, Miss Dior Cherie deserves applause for longevity. The strawberry candy fragrance is a strong one. The projection isn’t bad. It’s neither far nor short. It’s just right. I just don’t think this one works for me. And as I wait a few more hours, it starts to turn for the cleaner, melting down from strawberry lollipop to jaded strawberry and sweet, fresh florals. I can only assume that slight and freshness is the patchouli trying its hardest to come up. The dry down is rather pleasant, though surviving that powerful longevity to get to the clean last act is too much of a challenge. Really, the initial burst and the workings of those middle notes just reminds me of cough syrup. Sorry, Miss Dior Cherie.

Extra: Dior’s had a lot of hits in the past. The original Miss Dior, Diorella, Poison. All of them to be respected. And a lot of people really love Miss Dior Cherie. I can see why. It’s a very sweet, very fun, extremely girly fragrance. But to me, it overdid the sweetness and the strawberry note was too candy-like. The fragrance itself didn’t dry down fast enough for my tastes and the dry down is really where I start to appreciate Miss Dior Cherie. Otherwise, she sits right at the start with that syrupy strawberry and remains one-dimensional for hours. Overall, Dior has had a lot of hits, a lot of great fragrances and Miss Dior Cherie, while popular and peppy and cute, is probably not one of my favorites.

Design: Lovely and simple bottle glass bottle with a metal bow attached to further add to the youth of this fragrance. It is overall, very nice, youthful, and trendy packaging. The sprayer works fine, the packaging is adorable. And the French commercial is one of the most fun-loving, uplifting perfume commercials I’ve seen. A very recognizable, in branding, fragrance.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Gourmand

Notes: Green tangerine, strawberry leaves, violet, pink jasmine, caramel popcorn, strawberry sorbet, patchouli, musk.

I admit, I’m probably not the target group for this. It seems like Miss Dior Cherie was made for women around my age or younger but they kind of missed me I suppose. I wanted to love this fragrance. Really, I did. But I think I’d like a more understated fragrance. Nevertheless, Miss Dior Cherie would be a wonderful hit for a teenager or younger woman who absolutely loves sweet scents.

Reviewed in This Post: Miss Dior Cherie, 2010, Eau de Parfum.