Poison

I am wearing this stuff since I was 13... No joke! I am from Eastern Europe and just before the fall of the Iron curtain, my dad and his friend went for summer job in France. I still do not know how they managed to get the permission from the communist party, but they did get there and spent all summer working on some farm. This is very ridiculous to even think about, because my father has about 7 university degrees and he was a scientist who was doing engineering inventions before he started his own business. He earned a lot of money comparing to the value of work and salary in my country during communism, and he returned back with many gifts and he got my mom a box of Dior Poison eau de cologne and esprit de parfum. My mom kept eau the cologne and she gave me (13 years old girl) the Christian Dior Esprit de parfum!!!! I just do not know whether I shall laugh or grasp about this :-) Yes, and I was wearing esprit to the school everyday! Teachers and everyone has been asking me about my perfume and lets say it lightly, I have been a rarity, because we just did not have Dior in my country back then. We could only dream about it. The iron curtain worked wonders in blocking all the culture, fashion and beauty from the west. Communist ideology wanted our women to work, wear grey clothes and not think about useless vanity. I got terrible allergy on my neck. I ended up in the dermatologist office. They asked me to bring that perfume and they took two samples. They taped one of them on my back, to be sure that it was the culprit of my problem. The second sample was sent to lab for analysis. Can you imagine my doctors madness? 13 years old using Dior. They even wanted to know how I got it :-)))))))) Nurse and doctor have been surprised, shocked and laughing silly when taking samples, they never had bottle of Dior in their hands in their life. It was the first time they saw such thing. Neverthless, when results from lab arrived, it was quite a surprise, Esprit contained real snake venom poison. Poison was real poison back then. It was year 1989 and in a few weeks the iron curtain fell and Dior came to my country with all the grace. Our lifes changed forever. I changed my Esprit to my moms cologne, as my mom was not allergic to esprit and I was not allergic to Cologne and my journey with perfumes started. I had many, many perfumes in my life, but Poison Esprit will always be my first love and my first poison. All this memory brings smile to my face. Regarding the scent, unfortunatelly todays perfume can not do justice to the original frag, it was just magical and exquisite. Witchy, dark, mesmerizing and huge. One drop of Esprit lasted all day and projected like crazy. This is timeless scent, but today I reserve it for autumn and winter evenings and special ocasions. It is scent that would fit to silky satin evening gown, fur shawl, long pearl necklace and sleek wavy hair, very dark wine red lipstick and smoky eyeshadows. If you are blonde, this is not for you, unless you are very strong personality. Wicked honeyed berries, plums with coriander and anise, incense and myriad of other witchy ingrediences cooked in the cauldron of Sanderson sisters on the Halloween night. Dior poison is here to be admired and worshiped. It is here for very rare women and men, for very special ocassions. It is here to put a spell on everybody who smells it.

This review is for the Vintage EDT formula, those marked 30 Avenue Hoche, likely dating from 1985-1987. From the bottle the juice is heavy on alcohol and positively a collision of spices, not much floral or vanilla yet. On and wet it’s quite dramatic, a little sweeter than the straight juice. Once dry, it’s rounder, softer with the vanilla blooming and a touch of bandaid (tip to Brazilian rosewood). Apply this with caution, though it is lovely, it is a grower. Within ten minutes the dark fruits of plum and berries, tuberose, a very clean honey, and more white florals perform their magic, a dance of sugar, plums, and fairies. Two hours in and it’s as rich as first applied. Big, comforting and less a poison than, in fact, the loveliest antidote to how perfume had been marketed to women until this time. It’s name and presentation hinted at darkness, mystery, and danger, which in no small measure were part of it’s appeal. I’ll admit I loved it upon its release. Not just the scent. I was sold on it’s dark branding, the foreboding name. Those two elements singlehandedly dispatched with all the wan, polite offerings that were on hand up to this point. Estee Lauder’s Beautiful and White Linen, RL’s Lauren, Oscar de la Renta’s Ruffles, (yes, Ruffles, Need I say more?), and the most dreadful of all Anais Anais with its hazy (lazy) image of two expressionless young women. These fragrances focused on notions of romance, innocence, outdated tropes of femininity. Add to this, the mid 80’s felt as though everyone and everything moved to the same drumbeat, capitalism reigned supreme, conspicuous consumption reached its apotheosis with designers slapping their names on everything, particularly fragrance. Greed was good. Ralph Lauren’s defining fragrance for men, Polo, worn by nearly every male between the ages of 18 - 45 was a fragrance named after a sport, so elite that virtually no one who wore the scent had ever witnessed, let alone participated in. That’s where we were. Dior’s Poison was in fact an an abrupt interruption to all this sameness, the keeping up with the Joneses that was so endemic to society at that time. I’m firmly outside the camp that parrots notions of this as being a dated fragrance, but it’s so strongly associated with its time of release and (largely due to its status as a bit of a game changer) that it’s an easy and rather handy thing to say about it. But dated it is not. Instantly familiar and recognizable, yes, dated, no. Consider its comfort. It’s an old friend you haven’t seen in years. It was, after all, 1985 and as no decade ever really arrives at its identity until the halfway mark, so too did the 80’s. But the neat trick here, is rather than darkness and danger, this scent, as it ushered in the 80’s genuine arrival, was all warmth and softness, some sugar, much spice. And for all it’s size, was less bomb than balm. A sweet, enveloping cloud of white florals, vanilla, delicate spices, soft woods, a complex arrangement that hummed it’s very own tune in perfect harmony. If you were there, it felt like no other. If you are here, wear it and smile.

I'm blown away. Almost literally. This was one of the only perfumes my mother wore when I was a child (this and the original Lagerfeld Chloe). Over the years, it became a scent I equated to snuggles and the comfort of home. Our blankets all smelled of it, her hairbrush smelled of it, and a big hug in the morning would leave me smelling like poison while I was in school. I've been out of the house now for more than 10 years and I had never once thought to try this for myself. "So.." I thought, "maybe I'll buy a bottle.. for nostalgia's sake." Fast forward a few weeks and I gave $100 hard earned bucks for a 100mL bottle.. a pretty ridiculous sum to give for something I only planned to spray on blankets and give the occasional sniff. I sprayed some on my neck and wrists when I got into the car. "Yep, still strong," I thought. "Just like I remember." Now, I have no idea if this IS what I remember, but it was immediately familiar and comforting to me. That said, it was a BEAST. Strong, in-your-face and even a bit.. sharp? bitter? "This will DEFINITELY be an at-home scent only." But good things come to those who wait. Fast forward a few hours. The top notes gave way to a hazy, sexy cloud. I never thought of this scent as sexy as a child.. but it is. Deep. Sensual. Maybe even a hint dusty. There's that underlying layer of play-doh/hairspray I've come to love in the other Dior Poison flankers (Hypnotic AND Pure). "Jesus, this is good." My skin eats fragrance. Either that or I'm only obsessed with VERY heavy scents. Think Mugler's Angel or Alien. I like things that hang around. This scent easily lasts 8+ hours on me. And guess what? That's for the current formulation of this scent - one I've read doesn't hit the mark for longtime Poison lovers in the longevity department. To add to my discovery of this scent, I've recently ordered an unopened, vintage bottle. We'll see what all of the buzz is about ;) Oh, Poison. I get it now. My mom had/has good taste. Now I guess I do, too. Update - My vintage bottle came in and oh my.. pure sex appeal. It’s easily 10x better than the current formulation. Everything in this version is done with a layer of.. honey? It’s sweet and oozes something sultry I can’t quite put my finger on.. I think I need to find another vintage bottle.

This is for the currently available reformulated EDT. It’s a beautiful pale violet color and the liquid itself smells of mostly aromatic spices but somehow a round inviting scent. On, it’s quite sweet, I get honey and tuberose and even the spices here, which are much apparent, have a sweetness, perhaps it’s the balsamic quality or something resinous. I don’t recognize cinnamon outright (always a blessing) and there are hints of smokiness which aligns with the incense. About 8 min, are the vanilla, jasmine, and heliotrope, plus a dizzying list of notes and they’re all and weaving in and out. Just a small dab at the base of my thumb and it’s filled the air around me. To spray this, on and wet, it is pretty much exactly how it will remain for some time. It’s a touch brighter than the vintage, a touch effervescent. It has a fresh element the original lacks. Surprising in a reformulation. In a side by side comparison this opens a bit favorably to the original, with all the familiar elements, dark fruits, spices, big white florals, vanilla and the same soft woods. After nearly an hour, it’s still very appealing but some weaknesses are showing compared to the vintage. The main players still very much present but the whole is dulled down a touch. Still very wearable and an easy recommend (just indulging in some hair-splitting in a side by side test with the vintage). 1hour 15 min in, it’s still sweet, now ambery and resinous, sandalwood and a bit of a play doughy note that isn’t bothersome. There’s still honey, jasmine and white florals. Two hours in, and it’s still so very familiar, so much going on at once. Cozy with it resinous fruits, spices and sweetness. A provocatively named fragrance cloaked in deep purple glass and an emerald box pulls a sleight of hand and delivers a great big balm of sweet dark fruits, white flowers, gentle spices and comfort. Poison was nothing of the kind. It enveloped you in a warm embrace of delicious and harmonious contrasts all soft edges and roundness. The scents from a favorite and familiar kitchen ahum with the baking of fruit pies. Pastry dough, stewed fruits, spices and warm woods. It is an old friend. It is comfort. It is fondness.

Some time ago I wrote how similar Poison is to Lou Lou by Cacharel. As much as I adore Lou Lou, I have to correct myself. Both fragrances aren't so similar after all. I ordered Poison mainly because of the tuberose, that I'm addicted to in perfumery. Poison opens in a dark green, velvety way. According to Dior's website, the main notes are as follows: Top notes- Russian coriander Middle notes - Indian Tuberose Base notes - Opoponax Luckily I don't really get fruity notes. I get fresh spice, a proper dose of provocative, sharp tuberose, dark greens and balsamic opoponax. It's strong. So strong that when I came back from the perfumery, opened up the cellophane in order to access the perfume inside, I could already smell Poison without even opening the box. I'm also relieved, that my 2025 original bottle smells exactly the same as I remember it in 2012, when I was introduced to Poison. I believe a general problem on fragrantica is, that a lot of people are reviewing fakes, that they acquired on suspicious websites, believing that they are making a great deal. Another thing, that is misleading, is that our dear mothers and grandmothers used to massively overspray fragrances, which is not how you properly wear perfume. That explains the enormous sillage, that most of us remember. Up to 7 or more sprays, how some reviewers write, that they use, is way too much. I can still smell my one spray on my chest, under my clothes, after 12h. And still with that one spray I often fear that I might distract my coworkers. As someone who owns a lot of really old perfumes from the 1910s, 1920s, 1940s, I get a classic vibe from Poison, but not an old or outdated one. I can see Poison on a young, carefree person as well as a mature, sophisticated one. Whith the following final thoughts I'd like to say that there are perfumes out there that have earned their status as legends and Poison has anchored its place among the biggest and best scents ever created. It's a true magical blend, that has to be experienced for decades to come, because they don't make perfumes like this anymore. One day Gen Z or Gen Alpha will not be able to fathom, that this is what we wore.