Sugar
Vanilla
Cedarwood
01/13/2025
Cosmotron
2 Reviews
Cosmotron
9
Bois Marketing
First day of the year and I’ve already faced the biggest disappointment of 2025 (while fearing an even bigger one with the upcoming Dior Homme Parfum 2025…).
A Dior saleswoman gave me a sample (the perfume is set to launch in a week), and after four sprays on my hand, I detected a scent profile typically found in Lattafa fragrances, indeed (nothing against Lattafa I even like some of their offering).
It opened with a slightly smoky note (incense?) that accompanied a generic vanilla with an almost caramelized touch.
The perfume is extremely linear, from the opening to the dry-down, which perhaps only differs by the timid appearance of woody notes.
• Projection: Despite the four sprays, the projection is rather weak: 4/10.
• Longevity: 2/10. The perfume calms down very quickly and becomes a skin scent after about 2 hours, barely perceptible afterward.
• Scent profile: 5/10. Very uninspired & unisex, as noted in the “This perfume reminds me of” section—this is very close to three Lattafa perfumes without being an outright clone. There’s nothing innovative here. It’s a pleasant profile but less pronounced than the Lattafa fragrances (special mention to Wood Intense, which, with its woody and licorice notes, offers a very niche profile), 24 Gold or even By the Fireplace.
In the ultra far dry down (4h mark and my hands washed twice) I feel a hint of white patchouly.
It's not a bad scent per se, but in the Dior's context (history and scent profiles proposed in the past) it's a terrible let down...
• Value for money: 1/10. Completely uninteresting, especially as the bottle sizes have been reduced from 125ml to 100ml and from 250ml to 200ml (so bottle: 3/10). Even if Dior may use potentially high-quality materials, compared to the aforementioned perfumes, there’s no reason to linger on Bois Talisman (profile/price/longevity/creativity).
Overall rating: 2/10
Francis Kurkdjian’s tenure at Dior doesn’t seem poised to leave any lasting legacy. I don’t hold him solely responsible for these critical failures since he clearly appears to fulfill the requests from the commercial teams. However, it’s very disheartening to see him release no inspired creations, especially within a collection with such a history.
Is he being forced to create perfumes, or is he content with being Dior’s “master perfumer,” taking on purely commercial projects?
Compared to Demachy’s era, Kurkdjian’s tenure feels like a shipwreck that risks clinging to his reputation. Where Demachy had the authority to reject certain orders (like the baby perfume) and protect more “niche” perfumes (the “parfum” versions of mainstream fragrances as well as the "discontinued" privé which where still available in Paris' stores until Kurkdjian's arrival...), it seems that Dior is no longer interested in having critically acclaimed successes or perfumes that showcase its legacy as a once-great perfume house.
A Dior saleswoman gave me a sample (the perfume is set to launch in a week), and after four sprays on my hand, I detected a scent profile typically found in Lattafa fragrances, indeed (nothing against Lattafa I even like some of their offering).
It opened with a slightly smoky note (incense?) that accompanied a generic vanilla with an almost caramelized touch.
The perfume is extremely linear, from the opening to the dry-down, which perhaps only differs by the timid appearance of woody notes.
• Projection: Despite the four sprays, the projection is rather weak: 4/10.
• Longevity: 2/10. The perfume calms down very quickly and becomes a skin scent after about 2 hours, barely perceptible afterward.
• Scent profile: 5/10. Very uninspired & unisex, as noted in the “This perfume reminds me of” section—this is very close to three Lattafa perfumes without being an outright clone. There’s nothing innovative here. It’s a pleasant profile but less pronounced than the Lattafa fragrances (special mention to Wood Intense, which, with its woody and licorice notes, offers a very niche profile), 24 Gold or even By the Fireplace.
In the ultra far dry down (4h mark and my hands washed twice) I feel a hint of white patchouly.
It's not a bad scent per se, but in the Dior's context (history and scent profiles proposed in the past) it's a terrible let down...
• Value for money: 1/10. Completely uninteresting, especially as the bottle sizes have been reduced from 125ml to 100ml and from 250ml to 200ml (so bottle: 3/10). Even if Dior may use potentially high-quality materials, compared to the aforementioned perfumes, there’s no reason to linger on Bois Talisman (profile/price/longevity/creativity).
Overall rating: 2/10
Francis Kurkdjian’s tenure at Dior doesn’t seem poised to leave any lasting legacy. I don’t hold him solely responsible for these critical failures since he clearly appears to fulfill the requests from the commercial teams. However, it’s very disheartening to see him release no inspired creations, especially within a collection with such a history.
Is he being forced to create perfumes, or is he content with being Dior’s “master perfumer,” taking on purely commercial projects?
Compared to Demachy’s era, Kurkdjian’s tenure feels like a shipwreck that risks clinging to his reputation. Where Demachy had the authority to reject certain orders (like the baby perfume) and protect more “niche” perfumes (the “parfum” versions of mainstream fragrances as well as the "discontinued" privé which where still available in Paris' stores until Kurkdjian's arrival...), it seems that Dior is no longer interested in having critically acclaimed successes or perfumes that showcase its legacy as a once-great perfume house.
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