La Petite Robe Noire Eau de Parfum

Jeanne Doré, Auparfum, March 2012

On March 24, 2012, Jeanne Doré found the mass-market version very close to the 2009 exclusive, having slid toward a more conventional fruity-patchouli aesthetic. She saw in it the loss of some of the original’s singular charm, perhaps too sharp for the general public.

Severe on the scent itself, she acknowledged that the advertising film is remarkably well made, and that the launch campaign alone might be enough to make this version a success comparable to that of the first.

Jessica, Now Smell This, September 2012

On September 21, 2012, Jessica admitted her puzzlement at the concept: what is the little black dress doing at a house with no link to fashion, and why this caricatured silhouette on the square bottle with its inverted-heart stopper?

She smelled a faded copy of Lolita Lempicka with a splash of Cherry Coke: an opening of fizzy red fruit, a smoky, bergamot-laced tea she enjoyed but found too brief, before a long stretch of iris, licorice, and tonka bean over a base of aniseed vanilla.

She doubts that a young woman who wears it will ever take an interest in Mitsouko or Chamade, whereas Shalimar Light could, in her view, lead a newcomer all the way to Shalimar.