Miss Dior Esprit de Parfum Original

Elena Vosnaki, Perfume Shrine

In November 2007, Elena Vosnaki devoted a long piece to Miss Dior in her series on Dior’s chypres. She classifies it as a leathery floral chypre and describes it as a young lady groomed in appearance, beneath whom an animal warmth surfaces, which she links to civet.

She finds the extrait markedly different from the eau de toilette, which is more powdery and bitter, opening on galbanum and sage. Recent batches seem to her softened at the top and less assertive. In 2014, she judged the Originale eau de toilette not bad at all, lovely for what it is.

Robin, Now Smell This

For Robin, in September 2005, Miss Dior opens forcefully, gardenia over the deep green of galbanum, and settles into softly merged florals over a traditional chypre base heavy with oakmoss and polished woods.

A veil of powder mutes its earthy facets and gives it understated poise. She would only call it fresh by comparison with the aldehydic florals of its era, and hears an old-world air that the reworkings have not removed.