Sauvage Eau de Parfum (Dior, 2018) is the amber version of Sauvage by François Demachy. Reggio bergamot opens the fragrance, the heart keeps the lavender and Sichuan pepper from the eau de toilette and adds star anise from China and nutmeg, the base pairs Papua New Guinea vanilla absolute with ambroxan. Warmer, rounder and more tenacious than the original, it is aimed at evening wear and the cold season.
Sauvage Eau de Parfum, the warm version of Sauvage
Sauvage Eau de Parfum was released in 2018, three years after the 2015 eau de toilette. François Demachy, the house's perfumer, did not start from a blank page: he kept the framework of Sauvage — bergamot, Sichuan pepper, lavender, ambroxan — and warmed it with two spices and a vanilla. The bottle keeps the silhouette of the original, with a base tinted orange that signals the shift toward amber. Dior offered it in 60 ml and 100 ml sizes.
Top: Reggio bergamot, alone
The opening counts only one note, bergamot from Reggio Calabria. An acidic, green and slightly bitter opening, it provides the freshness of the start before the spices take over. Without the grapefruit of Very Cool Spray or the black pepper from the opening of Sauvage, this top is shorter and smoother, and gives way more quickly to the spices.
Heart: lavender, Sichuan pepper, star anise and nutmeg
Lavender and Sichuan pepper come from Sauvage and sign the aromatic fougère accord. Star anise from China and nutmeg are the two additions that make the eau de parfum: star anise brings a licorice-like, almost sweet facet, nutmeg a powdery, woody warmth. Sichuan pepper, dry and sparkling, keeps the whole from becoming heavy. The contrast between the fresh lavender and these warm spices is the central motif of the composition.
Base: Papua New Guinea vanilla and ambroxan
The base pairs Papua New Guinea vanilla absolute with ambroxan. Papuan vanilla is reputed to be smokier and less pastry-like than that from Madagascar; it wraps around the ambroxan without oversweetening it. Ambroxan, this amber, mineral raw material that projects far, remains the signature of the line and ensures longevity and sillage. Where the eau de toilette finishes dry and salty, the eau de parfum finishes amber and enveloping.
Eau de parfum or eau de toilette?
Four shared notes, and yet the skin tells a different story. The eau de toilette is a fresh aromatic pulled toward the mineral; the eau de parfum is a fougère amber, denser, rounder, designed for evening wear and the cold season. The choice between the two comes down to the vanilla: present, it is the eau de parfum; absent, it is the original.