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Beauty Notes: Diorissimo Review (vintage vs. reorchestration)
Beauty Notes: Diorissimo Review (vintage vs. reorchestration)
Posted by Dain, Thursday, May 22, 2008 12:02 AM (Eastern)
I didn't expect to get so carried away by the prudish lily of the valley, but I enjoyed Serge Lutens Un Lys, an easy, protypical blend of lilies of all kinds, and found the silvery streak of lily of valley tantalising in Chanel No. 19, so via the associative process by which we all attempt perfumes, I turned to the iconic lily of the valley of them all: Diorissimo. I have reviewed Diorissimo before, but it was a drive-by rave, announcing my apostasy from I've-wanted-it-for-years Tubéreuse Criminelle from Serge Lutens as the Big White Floral in my perfume wardrobe, which I've since backslided on.
Spring is here, at last! And summer's right around the corner...
The lily of the valley is rarely noticed outside of a soliflore; it is the Artemis of flowers, fierce and chaste at once, as impossible to capture as a beam of moonlight. (It must be recreated synthetically; Edmond Roudnitska famously planted lily of the valley in his garden in order to assure the accuracy of his Diorissimo.) Like the flower itself, which tucks itself away under yew bushes, forcing the quester of aromas to drag her knees through the earth to get close to its cold, high-pitched scent, it tends to be equally shy and elusive within a composition, easily shouldered aside by brassy, attention-whore notes (of which perfumery, as in life, is full), and only in the aforementioned No. 19, because it is so still and cold itself, have I ever been able to recognize its shine. Diorissimo is hands down the best lily of the valley soliflore I've tested, including Caron Muguet de Bonheur and the degraded Coty Muguet des Bois (both are too soapy for me), and thanks to the kind Wendy, I was able to test the vintage as well as the reorchestration.
I have to admit, I prefer the reorchestration. It is the exact smell of the lily of the valley that grows in pleasing profusion in my backyard (I just went and sniffed, braving allergies, to make sure): that pure, clear, tinkling floral aroma, as fragile as a soap bubble. The vintage is more dimensional but less emphatic about lily of the valley, braced by a fruity accord like overripe apples through its opening and a gently animalic musk that powders it lightly in the drydown. But whether you prefer the vintage or the reorchestration, Diorissimo is flat-out glamorous, a womanly scent. Though I've personally decided against it, I do love how it makes me feel like a little girl in bed, your mother a silhouette in the warm dark, the swish of her gown (it's a night at the opera), and the lingering smell of Diorissimo that hangs in the air, like a benediction, after she's gone and you've slipped into dreamland.
* By all rights, the iris is technically a member of the lily family, but I felt it deserved its own focus, while the lilac, in the form of Fréréric Malle En Passant, is technically of the olive family, but I include it here because it smells lily-like (hyacinths, more specifically).
Labels: beauty notes, dior, perfume reviews
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