J'adore

When I was 12 years old, my mom took me to a baby shower. We came early to help prepare the food, and I sat patiently on the couch waiting for the guests to arrive. One by one, beautiful elegant ladies started pouring in. As a 12 year old, you don't know where to look! Do you admire their grown-up makeup, their shapely figures, wishing yours would develop sooner, do you look at their hairstyles, free from the braids, bows and scrunchies your mom so embarrassingly decorated you with? Their clothes, their shoes? It was overwhelming, UNTIL... one of the girls came to sit by me. She was actually the host's sister, lived at the house, and had made no effort to dress up in front of her friends that night. She had no obvious makeup on, her hair was worn down and was just straight, she was wearing jeans and a fleece vest, but as soon as she sat next to me, her scent mesmerized me. Everyone else in the room faded, and my focus was on her. I wanted to hug her! I wanted to cuddle up next to her and fall asleep, enveloped in her glorious scent. When I asked her what perfume she was wearing, she actually stole me away from the party and took me to her room, where she had several perfumes sitting on a mirrored tray, each bottle more beautiful than the next. Now when I look back on the situation, I think I must have been in the company of a fragrance enthusiast, to be so excited about my perfume question that she would douse a 12 year old in J'adore...but she did! She reached for a gorgeous bottle with a golden coiled neck and asked me for my wrists. When I was young, my parents collected National Geographic magazines, and this bottle reminded me of photographs of women with stacks of golden coils around their necks, their heads sitting unusually high above their shoulders. I was so excited to see that that was in fact the bottle of choice. I don't remember what I felt when she sprayed the perfume, but I remember walking back into the party, perfumed with J'adore, and thinking I was the equal of all the elegant ladies sitting around the future mother. I was transformed - It's an experience I will never forget, and a scent that is forever etched into my memory. It is truly beautiful. While I would not wear this with jeans and a fleece vest like my grown-up friend did, I love this perfume and understand how somebody would want it all the time, on any occasion. It is luminous, radiant, and just utterly irresistible.

This was a totally spontaneous purchase. I usually go for vintage powerhouse fragrances and had never even considered the J'Adore line, but on a whim I tried it. I was shocked by how much I liked it! It's just so simple and fresh. When you first spray it you get a bright, dewy, burst of fruit mixed with a crisp aquatic vibe. As it settles it becomes a blended white floral bouquet. The jasmine and lily of the valley make it smell clean, elegant, and slightly soapy. After a few hours the fruit fades and the white florals melt into a warm, slightly powdery, tuberose base. It is just LOVELY. Well unfortunately, I happily doused myself the next morning after buying it and was having a sunshine and roses kind of day, until my husband hugged me and made the ick face. "God you smell like my grandma. What the hell is that??" To be clear, I've met his grandmother and if anything she smells like mothballs and spite, so that's just dumb. But I resisted the urge to spray him in the eyeballs with it. Now poor J'Adore sits lonely on my shelf, wondering what she did wrong. I save it for nights out without him or for days when I specifically want to annoy him. I wish we could be besties, but for now we're partners in petty crime. EDIT: I wear this constantly now. Any silly peasant or malcontent (or husband) that doesn't like it is free to leave, or buy me something else themselves.

Talking about J'adore by Dior is like describing a cinema classic: even if years have passed since its debut in 1999, its elegance remains unquestionable. It is the perfume that defined an era, transforming liquid gold into an olfactory icon. The Soul of J'adore: A Golden Bouquet J'adore is not just a perfume, it is a triumph of sunny femininity. Calice Becker's genius was to create a fragrance that was rich and opulent, yet fresh and luminous. The beginning is a fruity and juicy explosion. The pear and melon give an aquatic sweetness that prevents the flowers from being too heavy. It is a radiant entrance, similar to a morning light. True complexity emerges in the heart. Jasmine and tuberose dominate the scene, giving that luxurious and "adult" character, while lily of the valley and freesia maintain a feeling of cleanliness and lightness. The closure is velvety. Vanilla and musk anchor the fragrance on the skin, while the blackberry note adds a touch of sugary mystery that closes the circle perfectly. It is the ideal fragrance for those seeking a balance between sophistication and versatility. Although the bottle recalls gala evenings, its fruity component also makes it perfect for the day or for the office, as long as you don't overdo it with the sprays.

I must have sniffed damn near every perfume in Nordstrom, but, among the army of fruity florals, J'adore is the one my mind drifted back to. It's white flowers blend together beautifully and take center stage here. This menagerie of blossoms kind of all blends together to my nose, but, among the bouquet, I can pick out jasmine the most strongly. It's very a smooth sugary jasmine with just a little bit indole adding a lusciousness to it. Mostly there to add a dewy sweetness, the pear and melon are kind of smothered by the flowers, but that's no big loss since those notes weren't particularly realistic nor interesting anyway. Despite being the most divisive aspect, I really like the watery crispness the citrus and fruits adds. I understand why some people find it harsh, and these elements do very much smell artificial in recent formulations. But, I think it lifts up the jasmine and tuberose nicely, since they can be a little heavy and musky when unbalanced. J'adore definitely has above average projection and longevity, decent price point as well. Despite my notoriously frag eating skin, I can smell this on me all day, and it's one of the only scents which projects strongly enough on me to give me a headache.

My all times compliment getter comfort scent. Its clean, its creamy, joyful, elegant, positive, distinctive, rich, sensual, feminine, chic and classy. It is also very surprising to me that I personally can pull off a complete bright floral scent so beautifully and easily. My skin goes along very well with Dior scents and I feel so lucky to wear Jadore so fitting. I always have a bottle of Jadore in my parfume closet and layer it along with hair mist too. Sillage is amazing and lasting power is very strong especially on my neck and under my hair, i love love love the trace it leaves on air. Always get compliments when i wear this. And hey, I am no “granny” (yet). However, i can say that my older batches used to smell stronger with more depth than recently bought ones. Unfortunately this is the destiny of all classic scents nowadays, to be dilluted, which is very unfair for a very well balanced masterpiece like this one.