Gris Dior is the unisex eau de parfum that François Demachy composed in 2013 for La Collection Privée Christian Dior, launched under the name Gris Montaigne. A chypre for the house, which reads into it the couturier's favorite color: citrus, rose, violet and oakmoss in an indissociable whole. Victoria Frolova smells wood shavings soaked in rosewater. In 50, 100 and 200 ml, with an Esprit de Parfum.
Dior does not publish an olfactory pyramid. The house describes a chypre sillage punctuated with citrus, rose, violet and oakmoss; its former French page spoke of jasmine, bergamot and damp undergrowth, its FAQ of bergamot, centifolia rose, iris, oakmoss, vetiver and labdanum.
Bergamot in the top notes
Bergamot opens for the house as for Fishler, who lists bergamot, rose, patchouli, amber, cedar, sandalwood and oakmoss; the ingredients list declares bergamot oil on the seventh line. Frolova senses rosewater, Fishler a bitter and very dry opening.
Rose and jasmine in the heart
Rose, which the house names everywhere, holds the heart together with the jasmine of the former French page; Frolova calls it delicate, poured over wood shavings. The house's violet and the FAQ's iris fall outside the declared field, no review retained here perceives them.
Oakmoss, patchouli and wood in the base
Oakmoss closes the house's reading; Fishler finds it more present on her husband, where Gris Montaigne becomes a masculine of great elegance, while on herself she only picks up patchouli. Atlas cedar and sandalwood appear on the ingredients list and in Fishler's review; amber comes from her.
What remains outside the declared accord
The vetiver and labdanum of Dior's FAQ, the violet and the iris, remain unconfirmed: one source, the house, and no review. Frolova retains damp, mossy earth, just enough to keep this pastel from being too tame.
What the label declares
The house publishes a coded list of thirty-six lines: alcohol, Parfum, water, a synthetic amber wood, alpha-isomethyl ionone, patchouli oil, bergamot oil, benzyl salicylate, linalool, limonene, linalyl acetate, two sunscreens, pinene, citronellol, vanillin, Atlas cedar oil or extract, geraniol, rose oil or extract.
Then come beta-caryophyllene, oakmoss extract, santalol, white sandalwood oil, rose ketones, geranyl acetate, citral, terpineol, terpinolene, benzyl alcohol, alpha-terpinene, eugenol, benzyl benzoate and three dyes, violet, red and yellow.