La Collection Privée: Fève Delicieuse by Christian Dior (2015)

Nose: François Demachy

I wouldn’t say that Fève Delicieuse (“delicious bean”, or in North-Center Italian slang, “delicious d*ck”) smells completely horrid, but it’s really almost there. It doesn’t really “smell Dior”, and surely not “Collection Privée”. Not that the rest of the line was breath-taking, but Fève is basically nothing different quality-wise and overall concept-wise from the cheapest Oriental-gourmand ranges of fragrances and grooming products sold in drugstores or supermarkets. Stuff like Italian brands I coloniali, or Tesori d’Oriente - but way below Les Nereides or L’Erbolario, to give you a rough idea of how cheap this is. Imagine that kind of stuff blended with some sort of clumsy imitative Mugler-esque kind of “allure”, sort of echoing some A*Men flankers but without that consistency and playfulness (and they cost half of this anyway).

Basically Fève Delicieuse is a thick, annoyingly flat and cloyingly artificial Oriental-gourmand candy of vanilla, amber, tonka, cedar, powdery-caramel and spicy notes tinged with a tame hint of smoke and some pleasant sort of earthy-vegetable suble nuances, which are quite nondescript but help in lowering the diabete-inducing ratio of sweetness and represent the only sparkle of interest in this disgraceful bucket of dullness. There is basically no evolution and no particular “twists”, just a sticky slap of melted toffee candies laying on your skin, decreasing in power as hours pass – thus becoming more pleasant. Sweetness is the main and most feature of Fève Delicieuse: mediocre, cheap, unrealistic, alienating sweetness, truly comparable with any low-brow drugstore gourmand scent for teenagers. I was not the most enthusiastic fan of the rest of the “Collection Privée” collection apart from Leather Oud, but still I clearly got a sense of decent quality, complexity and craft among the others – or at least, some efforts for that. To this extent Fève Delicieuse is an astonishing ugly duckling among them (minus the happy ending), since it smells not only cheap, but also completely uninspired, simplistic, tired, a more than generic “déja-vu” with a crazy price tag and no reasons to exist. If you’re a fan of The Office US, then I’m Michael and this is my Toby.

4,5/10

Eau Sauvage Fraîcheur Cuir by Christian Dior (2007)

Nose: François Demachy

I have never been an enthusiastic fan of all Eau Sauvage versions and flankers, I only love the vintage classic Eau Sauvage and the recent Extreme version from 2010. This Fraîcheur Cuir is a rare and apparently rather neglected flanker which I barely heard about sometimes in then past, I assume also because it was a discontinued limited edition, and now that I got a bottle of it, I can see why it wasn’t apparently that successful. In fact, for being released in 2007, it smells extremely, amazingly close to the vintage version of classic Eau Sauvage, just – as the name says – with an elegant shade of thin, dry leather. That’s it, so the name is perfectly fit: it’s Eau Sauvage at its best, it’s fresh (with a slight, almost unperceivable but well-fitting sort of watery-ozonic vibe at first), and it has leather. All in the most respectable quality you can imagine. As simple as it gets: bracing and pungent at first, slightly more herbal than classic Eau Sauvage maybe (L’Homme de Grès kind of vibrant, pungent green bitterness), gently surrounded by a dry, dark, mannered and austere frame of dry leather, just tinged with a hint of powderiness (lavender, I assume), distantly reminding of some leathery feminine chypres. Simple, but fantastic. An amazing time capsule with a modern vibe, probably too elegantly nostalgic to find its way in nowadays’ market, and a precious and sophisticated homage to Dior’s golden era. Quite worth the price.

8/10

Sauvage by Christian Dior (2015)

Nose: François Demachy

My expectations for Sauvage weren’t extremely low, but neither that high for sure. I was convinced it was probably better than the undeserved skepticism it seems getting here and there from fragrance snobs, but nothing groundbreaking for sure. Now that I’ve finally snatched a sample, I must say it quite reflects the idea I had about it – and actually, it is slightly better than I expected. First of all, in broad terms, it is probably right to consider this the first “Dior’s Bleu de Chanel” (or name another fragrance like that), as the league is more or less the same; but contrary to Bleu de Chanel (and most of similar scents), besides showing a clearly better quality, Sauvage avoids any boring, pretentious, preppy middle-class mannerism and adds a subtle touch of pungent vibrancy, of “rawness” as the name suggests. It is in fact a compelling contemporary take on a classic green fougère theme, opening with a bracing, peppery, crisp green-bergamot accord with a peculiar sort of “cedrat” heart, something bitter and earthy that provides a really nice sort of musky-sour shade to the crisp, fresh leafiness of the main accord. And then there’s a subtle, yet deep base of synthetic ambergris enhanced by some generic woods – “generic” means here nothing smelling overly cheap, but surely not the greatest woody notes around.

So imagine a quite classic and apparently mannered green masculine scent centered on pepper, citrus notes and dry ambery woods with some mossy patchouli lingering below, and give it a modern shape with an exotic, and slightly sombre touch halfway “organic” and “futuristic” (thanks to the cleverly-fitting warm and “grey” note of ambroxan). I must note that Sauvage feels quite much dry throughout its evolution, which I guess may be taken as a “masculine” added value, and also shows a pleasantly nondescript sort of dark, bitter-fizzy feel with a Mediterranean vibe, which reminds me of the balmy smell of air on a cloudy day in some woodland by the sea. Quite some interesting contrasts, overall: dryness, bitterness, warmth. So, again: an office-safe scent for sure, but in no way cheap or uncreative. Nothing exciting, but nothing bad to say the least. It just offers the right tiny amount of creativity within a “pop”, crowdpleasing frame. I think Demachy did quite a nice job in creating a deceptively generic fragrance with some sparkles of dark rawness. And I also appreciate the fact Sauvage smells really simple overall, almost minimalistic composition-wise, and with no overly cheap nuances. Simply put, it smells nice and it isn’t boring at all. As hours pass the ambroxan-woody-patchouli base takes the main stage, making Sauvage smell darker, warmer, dustier, more (again, “generically” ) classy and less bitter, with also some (good!) vetiver popping out. Still quite dry but at the same time quite comforting and sophisticated.

To cut it short, I think this is a good fragrance, quite more peculiar than it may seem at a first rushed test, and I think it is fully justified for Dior to have something like this among their range. Not everything has to be creative, or flashy, or (more or less faithfully) luxury or make some “statement”. Sauvage is a quality, discreet everyday scent with a seducing dark-organic twist and a nice evolution, smooth enough to appeal classic wearers but quality enough to be worthy a sniff for everybody else, including niche-heads. And it would surely be a mistake to dismiss this too early labelling it mediocre or cheap, since it isn’t either of the two. I probably wouldn’t buy this, but I’m glad Dior introduced it.

7-7,5/10

Fahrenheit Absolute by Christian Dior (2009)

Nose: François Demachy

Flowers out of black asphalt. It wasn’t surely easy to come up with a successful flanker of such a pillar as Fahrenheit, but this Absolute version, well, “absolutely” nails it. The connection with Fahnrenheit is as much subtle as clear in fact: the same sort of oil-leather accord, that “asphalt” terpenic note, is here too. But with a definitely charming and kind of more “modern-transparent” twist: less leathery and more rubbery, silkier, cozier, more mellow, with a tremendous powdery accord of violet (and lavender?) which adds a sprinkle of talc to Fahrenheit’s signature darkness. The darker side of Absolute is the main connection with the original version, but it’s still quite different enough to be appreciated as a different fragrance. First of all it’s not as deep and overwhelming as in Fahrenheit, and as I said is also less centered on leather and more on a synthetic, smoky oud note (more rubbery smoke than oud, actually); plus it’s overall far more discreet, velvety, refined, with an almost “liturgical” vibe underneath. It may be resins or something quite close to incense, but I do get an intimate, kind of meditative dark feel out of this Absolute. Still with a really modern, kind of “retro-futuristic” pungent metallic nuance. And soapy shades. Simple but fantastic, a truly remarkable modern take on a classic. With a really enjoyable “whiter” drydown, powder on black rubber. The name of this flanker is definitely misleading; one may expect a thicker, bolder version of Fahrenheit, while this is a rather gentler and way smoother version of it. Darker, in a more subtle way – quiet, gloomy and smoky. By no means I would consider duller or simpler than the original Fahnreheit, though; just a really creative different version of it, maybe a bit more sophisticated, meditative, somehow more shady and ambiguous. Extremely fascinating and great to wear, and above all, with the same distinctive creativity that made Fahrenheit beyond unique.

8-8,5/10