Fève Délicieuse

Dior pairs tonka bean with the warm, lightly smoky notes of vanilla, which in the house’s words complete the sensation of delight. Notes of bergamot and rose refresh the whole, which Dior classes among its orientals and describes as softly vanilla-tinged and milky.

At launch, the house named only three materials: Calabrian bergamot, tonka bean absolute and Madagascar vanilla. Other lists released at the time added praline, caramel and woods; Dior also evokes the brown of caramel and the black of a crunchy coffee bean.

Beyond the official notes

Kafkaesque smells in the opening a green note of anise and cardamom, a barely smoky cedar and a hint of benzoin, and judges that vanilla plays the lead more than tonka. The hay, toasted nuts and bitter almond of coumarin come through after an hour.

What the label declares

After alcohol, fragrance and water, the ingredient list released by Dior first names linalool, an ultraviolet filter and coumarin, the molecule that gives tonka bean its hay-like scent. The anise alcohol listed further on echoes the anise Kafkaesque perceives in the opening.

The label also lists cinnamal and benzyl cinnamate, a second ultraviolet filter, BHT and tocopherol as antioxidants, and four colorants, violet, red, yellow and blue.