Tendre Poison was launched by Dior in 1994, nine years after Poison, and signed by Edouard Fléchier, the author of its elder. The first offshoot of the line, aimed at a younger audience, it is a green floral: galbanum and mandarin at the top, freesia and orange blossom at the heart, sandalwood and vanilla in the base. It is no longer produced today.
Robin (Now Smell This) found Tendre Poison pretty in 2006, greener and fresher than Poison yet nothing ethereal; Elena Vosnaki (Perfume Shrine) judged it in 2008 well-behaved and polished at first sight, a little cold and almost cruel up close.
Olfastory’s review
Robin, Now Smell This
In May 2006, Robin describes an opening where galbanum bursts over very sweet floral and citrus notes; for a moment, one expects a heavy-handed tribute to Poison. Once settled, the fragrance strikes her as simply pretty, without its elder’s arrogance.
Lighter, greener, and fresher than Poison, it is nonetheless nothing ethereal or delicate and speaks plainly; she does not find it particularly youthful. Of the two, she prefers the first Poison.
Elena Vosnaki, Perfume Shrine
In December 2008, Elena Vosnaki dismisses the idea of a lighter Poison: for her, the comparison does not hold. She finds it well-behaved, pretty, and a little prim on the surface, but unsmiling and almost cruel up close.
Replying to a reader, she likens it to a very proper lady who plants a stiletto between the ribs while smiling, and sees in it an intriguing, somewhat screechy composition that begs to be unraveled.