J'Adore L'Or

Disclaimer: I'm a major Dior fan. This version of J'Adore was a blind buy, and I think it's gorgeous. My very very first impression was that it smelled more mature than I was hoping, I think because of the buttery quality, and I also felt it smelled familiar, like a memory I couldn't quite put my finger on. There's a classic essence, and that's really beautiful and expensive smelling. The quality of the ingredients is very obvious, and I loved the packaging, which adds to the expensive impression it offers. For me, this fragrance is more blended than I find many Dior fragrances (a bit reminiscent of Guerlain's style of blending really smoothly and completely, although with less powder). Usually I find Diors to be an ever-evolving fragrance, which for me is very intriguing and fun. L'or, for me, is less inclined to evolve and stays much more consistent. Silage and longevity are amazing, due to the intensity and purity of the ingredients. I do notice the jasmine and rose blended nicely, and I don't know that vanilla is prominent, but I feel like it's a soft vanilla there supporting the notes. It's not an edible vanilla or a gourmand at all, to me. The vanilla is in concert with the amber in my experience. I don't personally find the patchouli present, but I do love the warm, soft amber. When I deeply and fully inhale I find the lovely tonka, but it doesn't jump out at me. All the notes are so gorgeously blended that not any one jumps out. As time passes, I do notice the rose and jasmine more prominently, and the amber and vanilla are more in the background, and I love this phase, because Dior does jasmine so beautifully. This is a perfect event fragrance for any age, but the class and elegance (and the price tag) would suggest it's a grown woman's fragrance. It's gorgeous, beautiful, splendid, elegant, perfect for a special night out or if you want to make a classy, confident statement at any time. I wear fragrance for myself, but these are my thoughts if you were to try to wear it based on occasion. It's not a sexy smell, because it's just way too elegant, but I think it could lean sexy if you wear it with your sexiest jeans and amazing accessories and a snug white t-shirt, like you're so classy you don't even have to try to be sexy. That kind of sexy. Otherwise, I think it's totally elegant.

L’or clearly stands out among J’adore flankers and I like it most. A gourmet offering with intoxicating facets, it doesn’t really exploit the famous sparkling J’adore theme but envelops with warmer liquid gold shimmery feeling. Slightly more heavily textured but not really heavy, this delicious blend is like an equalizer between the light style of the first J’adore and warmth of tonka bean - vanilla florientals. Possibly devoid of striking originality, it mesmerizes with understated enticing luxury aura, noble classic beauty whereas all notes are in complete harmony, arranged with great finesse. For myself I would call it J'adore Oriental L'Instant Magique (as Guerlain L'Instant Magigue sounds great on others, alas not on me, and L'or gives me similar delight, but this time on myself, and by comparing it to L'Instant Magigue, I mean the same shimmery style only). As for other J'adore flankers, I have to admit that L’ Absolu didn’t particularly impress me – it’s pretty similar to the original J’adore; Cologne Florale is gorgeously fragile feminity, a good summertime option with neroli = orange blossom like in M Moi by Mauboussin; and finally L’or, in my opinion, is the most successful attempt to break up an otherwise boring commonplace (due to its over-popularity) scent. And all three flankers are signed by Francois Demachy. So, even if you never felt like getting yourself a J’adore but crave for seductive yet refined elixir, that might be it. P.S. It just struck me that Francois Demachy here is like mature Sergei Rachmaninoff with, let’s say, The Third Piano Concerto. At the beginning of J’adore flanker races his style showed the influence of “Tchaikovsky” – meaning Calice Becker, the creator of the original J’adore but with L’or, Demachy, “leaning towards sumptuous harmonies”, created a new original genius layer on classic foundation. P.P.S. Hit the spot - Hypnotic Poison Eau Sensuelle is created by the same master!

My review is for the first version from 2010... I adore the original J'adore from '1999' especially in the pure parfum concentration, high quality florals counter balanced with exotic woods, & white muscs, Calice Becker's now classic masterpiece. Only natural that I should sample this latest offering from Dior and I'm so very glad to report that "YES" it does contain beautiful flowers having bloomed in Grasse along with vanilla from Tahitian orchids, Tonka bean extract, labdanum and essential oil of 'Indonesian' Patchouli. The opening in L'Or is unusually aldehydic for a 'Dior' fragrance, this is followed by a tooth achingly, volatile, protracted dry down & with a force I have seldom experienced in modern perfumery. L'Or is almost 'Chanel-esque' in both presentation & formulaic floralcy. After this initial stage of what seems like a pink cotton-candy on steroids effect the wearer is rewarded with a slightly less sweet yet solidly beating heart of Mai Rose, Jasmine & Vanilla. The essence de parfum is contained within a slight variation of the classic J'adore flacon, an enduring design of superb crystalline elegance, all aspects regarding the precious parfum and it's presentation exhibit absolute sheer luxury. Moderate to high silage with a tenacious and relatively linear dry down that is totally *AWESOME* lasting between 8-10 hours on skin. The Grasse jasmine seemed to predominate for me more than the Mai rose and both absolutes are of exceptional quality as expected, truly exquisite ! I still prefer the original with it's silky touches of subtle verdancy due to the inclusion of Chinese magnolia, violet leaf & ylang ylang. J'adore L'Or is a definite for those 'GLAM' nights out & special/formal occasions. I have 2 boxed golden flacons of the original in climate controlled storage, for those inevitable rainy days :) The zenith of 'Haute Parfumerie' Merci, Monsieur Demachy.....

I was totally blown away by this one. It should be noted that I'm not a huge fan of the orignal J'Adore.. it smells a little too generic and shampoo-like to me. So, when I got L'Or, I was expecting something similar. But it's not even close, and I have to agree with others who are saying that this perfume really deserves its own name. This is gorgeous in the best way possible-- whereas the original comes off as somewhat lightweight, plain and a little dull (to me), this is the complete opposite-- rich, deep, golden and glowing. If molten gold had a smell, it would be this. It's almost as if I can feel the radiant luminosity pouring out of the bottle onto your skin when I spray this, which in turn makes *me* feel radiant when I wear it. As far as notes go, jasmine is the most detectable (and delectable, lol) top note to me, and it smells slightly indolic (not in a gasoline or corpse kind of way though, thank goodness.) Jasmine is shortly followed by rose and dries down into the most divine jasmine-rose-vanilla combination. Honestly, this scent feels like it showcases all the best aspects of these ingredients and none of the bad ones... the sweet lusciousness of rose, the heavy richness of vanilla, the fresh and heady jasmine.. It's luxurious and smells expensive (which is good, because it is expensive!). Just beautiful. Beautiful. SO utterly beautiful. Whenever I get irritated with Dior for doing stupid stuff like discontinuing MDC or Midnight Poison they always manage to make it up to me with something amazing (like this) or the equally lovely Miss Dior Le Parfum. 9.5/10

I've loved this perfume, the original Dior L'Or, for YEARS. It really is liquid gold. Lucious, extravagant, rich, heady...it is a stunning piece of perfumery. The vanilla and labdanum is dark and rich and gorgeous, the rose is deep and dark, the white florals are opulent ... the florals, vanilla, and dark labdanum and patchouli drydown are just incredible. Sweet and rich and dark and floral all at the same time. The way this wears, L'Or really stands up to its name. I don't know what they did to the vanilla here but it's possibly on of the best vanillas I've ever had the joy of wearing. My bottle is an "essence de parfum" and I'm not sure if that's beyond an EDP but with 2 to 3 sprays this floral rich darkness wears on my skin beautifully for hours. Just a hint of sillage but I can smell it really well on my skin all day. I really can't say enough great things about this fragrance. Nothing else on my shelf smells like this, or acts like this does. I'm so glad that I have two bottles of this, the original 2010 fragrance. Why does Dior/LVMH do this? They have a solid fragrance on their hands and they use the name and turn it into another blinding white floral. What is on the shelf now in 2023 is not L'Or, not at all. This is not a reformulated fragrance, its another scent all together.