Dior Addict Eau de Parfum > Reviews (21)

Perfume is one of those luxury items that can evoke a whole range of feelings. If it is given to you as a gift, it can make you feel incredibly pampered. If you treat yourself, it feels very decadent. Some perfume may remind you of someone you once knew, and others can start a lifelong romance with fragrance. Dior's new offering in the Addict range - Eau Fraiche is certainly one of the latter.

To me, perfumes have personalities, and what I wear indicates and reinforces how I feel. For instance, if I feel like a saucy temptress, then Dior Addict is the way to go. A more sophisticated mood is brought by Calvin Klein's Eternity, and a fun, frivolous mood is reflected by Cacharel's Gloria.

If I feel like a more restrained, yet still worldly, young woman of fashion, then the new Eau Fraiche fits the bill perfectly. The perfume is ideal for daytime wear, unlike the original, which is a mite too heavy for working and casual occasions. The best way to describe the difference is if you imagine the original to be a powerful, confident, sexy, career minded woman - then imagine this new one to be the sweeter, kinder, more forgiving little sister, with a heart of gold, but who is still nobody's fool.

So, onto the ingredients. This perfume is a light Oriental, and I would compare it to Burberry Brit, or a light version of Shalimar in tone. The component fragrances used include Silk Tree Flower, Mandarin Leaf, Orange Blossom, Night Queen Flower, Bulgarian Rose, Bourbon Vanilla Absolute (which is one of my absolute favourite perfume ingredients - also used in Thierry Muglers Angel) Mysore Sandalwood and Tonka Bean - whatever in the world that might be. The tones are soft and mildly sensual, but not as overtly sexy as the original Addict.

The bottle is the same design as the original, with the excellent twist top (no cap to lose, hurrah!) but in a paler blue. I must say, the two bottles do look excellent on my dressing table together.

Staying power is excellent too. I normally only spray perfume once a day, in the morning. Although I can't normally smell it on myself without a real effort, this one lingers well past 5pm without problems, even with the horribly sweaty weather we've had recently. In addition, I've never had so many compliments, and I haven't done anything with my hair.

I got mine from Boots in a moment of sheer self indulgence, and paid £30 for 50ml. This is a little on the expensive side, but I figure that I'm well worth it! I've also seen it on the fragrance counter at Debenhams, so if you'd like to try it then there should be no problems tracking it down. Just as a word of warning though, I lent some to a friend, and she smelt like a granny. Skin chemistry has a lot to answer for in the area of scent disasters, so I'd suggest trying it on before purchase.

I'd certainly buy this again, and it's gone on the standing list of stuff for hubby to fall back on if he runs out of present ideas. There's also a matching range of toiletries slowly becoming available, so I'm looking forward to trying some of those - it is my birthday next month after all.

Enjoy!!