Welcome back to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.
Today is Friday, January 21, and we had snow a few days ago! It didn’t last beyond one day and night, but it was so pretty while it was falling. I’m thankful that we were able to get some needed masonry done in our garden before the cold temperatures and precipitation; and I was able to run around and add mulch to the root zone of some precious plants. I also clustered pots on the ground together as a small measure of protection. Our cold spells are rarely so cold that outside plants are actually threatened, as long as one takes some simple measures. I do keep some garden “frost blankets” on hand in case of need.
The fragrance blog and community Now Smell This had as its Friday “community project” to wear a Dior fragrance in honor of Christian Dior’s birthday, which resulted in a discovery — I may have more fragrances from the house of Dior than any other, which I learned as a result of looking for options to wear this week. This did surprise me, as I hadn’t really planned such a focus, but it results from a few things.
One, two of my earliest fragrance loves — the first two high-end scents I bought for myself — were Chanel No. 22 and Dior’s Diorissimo. Of the two, I wore Diorissimo more often, as it felt less formal than No. 22, much as I do love that. So I’m inclined to take an interest in Dior fragrances.
Two, I have a monthly scent subscription that has been offering decants of Dior’s “Collection” fragrances, and I’ve been collecting those. I like several of them very much, including La Colle Noire and Gris Dior. (The decants may tempt me toward a full bottle at some point — shhhhh! Don’t tell.).
Three, my trip down the fragrance rabbit-hole began when I read Turin & Sanchez’ “Perfumes: The A-Z Guide” and decided to renew my acquaintance with today’s Diorissimo. I made the rookie error of sampling the eau de parfum, a later creation, instead of the eau de toilette, which is closer to the original, and was taken aback at how much it seemed to have changed. So I went on a quest for a substitute, and thus the madness began. As part of that, I started to seek out vintage Dior fragrances, often in minis, so that added to my Dior stash.
Today, I’ll wear vintage Miss Dior in honor of M. Dior’s birthday today and his heroic sister Catherine, for whom the fragrance was named and whose love of flowers inspired it.
Having survived the Nazis’ torture, prisons, and a concentration camp, she came home to Paris after the war and became a noted florist and wholesaler of flowers, together with the man she loved, also a Resistance fighter.
I know some of you, like Undina, deliberately track exactly how many fragrances you have from a given house. Which ones show up most often in your collection? Any surprises?
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
Happy Friday! I had a rough start to the new year with covid and then some nasty complications but feeling much better now. Haven’t been keeping up with NST but given the Dior theme I’m going to wear Dune today. Total blind buy but I love it.
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Sorry about the rough start, the COVID, and the complications — I’m glad you’re feeling better! Dune is great.
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I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been sick. Hopefully, the worst is behind you.
You smell great!
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i hope you get better soon. i had it last january and was sick at home for weeks and it took a long time to recover
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Christmas 2020, Dior offered a great gwp. I got a set they had been selling with 7 mini bottles and some bars of soap free when I bought my bottle of Dior Ambre Nuit. I only found out about this on one of the FB fragrance forums and I eagerly watched this year to see if they would repeat such an offer but as far as I am aware, they didn’t. What is the subscription service that offers Dior decants? Today I am wearing my vintage bottle of Miss Dior I bought on Ebay several years ago. It is some fierce stuff, as I think it has evaporated/become more concentrated over many years.
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It’s Royalty Scents. I’m not affiliated in any way, other than as a satisfied paying customer.
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Vintage Miss Dior is a thing of great beauty. I have my little stash of Parfum and edt, it makes me feel well put together when I wear it. I have six from the house of Dior and that’s quite enough for me. All bar two are older formulations.The most recent creation I have is Fève Délicieuse and I find it so cuddly and comforting. Diorissimo wasn’t a favourite of mine, didn’t work with my chemistry. My friend’s signature is Diorella since the late 70s or early 80s and it is wonderful.
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Have you ever tried 4160 Tuesday’s Meet Me On The Corner? It’s her homage to Diorella and also Eau Sauvage; I think it’s great!
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I haven’t had a chance to try that yet. Interesting to know😉
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And Lady Rose Lion (Monkey Unicorn) a proper vintage style chypre! My fave from 4160 Tuesdays. IMO this is some of Sarah’s best work, Luca Turin agrees
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Here’s my take on it: https://scentsandsensibilities.co/2019/12/08/scent-sample-sunday-meet-me-on-the-corner/
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I like many Dior’s perfumes and own some – a significant number if to count bottles and decants – but nothing comes even close to the number of Jo Malone perfumes in my collection 😉
I was busy this week (again 😦 ), so I missed the NST CP this week – otherwise, I would have worn either Miss Dior (vintage, parfum or EdT) or Diorella. I should probably wear one of them tomorrow.
Now I understand even better your love to LotV perfumes 🙂
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yes, i have this too and really like it.
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I had a a bottle of vintage Miss Dior, but it was so not me, so i sold it. Friday i sprayed a sample of Grand Bal, but it was a big dislike.
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I like La Colle Noir and Gris Dior also, along with Vanilla Diorama and Feve Delicieuse.. There is a Dior rose fragrance that I liked a lot, but I’m always losing the decant and can never recall the name. I like J’Adore in small doses. It’s very loud on my skin so a little bit goes a long way. I also like the Miss Dior Roses ‘n Roses. And of course I love Dior’s fabulous designs! A couple of my fashion dolls wear copies of Dior designs.
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I wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about your samples of Ghost in the Shell and a couple of tea fragrances I’m sending. I had to order some new vials for the decants. I had totally run out and didn’t realize it until I was going to get your samples ready and realized I couldn’t do that without vials to put them in!
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No worries! I’ll be delighted whenever!
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