Thanks for reading and the good ratings! I always return them, within a few days at the latest.
Thanks for reading and the good ratings! I always return them, within a few days at the latest.
Member since:20.05.2007
Reviews:34
Members who trust:1
This is the second one of my three planned perfume reviews for this weekend. As mentioned in my Review of Dolce Vita, I did some perfume testing at a Dior counter on Friday. I've been exploring Dior very gradually. Most of their fragrances are very distinctive, some are even hard to like. It's good that they don't release insipid crowd pleasers every few months, but I've just been able to handle a bit at a time. The outcome is that Hypnotic Poison is my second favourite of the three and an absolute must have. As the picture shows, it's the red one among the Poison bottles. The box is a matching but darker mottled red.
I might be a bit slow in catching up on fragrances. It often seems when I try a fragrance that I've actually known it for a while. It was the same in this case, and initially I was slightly disappointed for that reason. The smell I was familiar with was pleasant enough, both on others and on me for the first half hour. But it only got special from then onwards. This is quite strange as the ingredient that really gets me is the bitter almond top note. But I didn't get that till later. In fact it's the only thing I could still smell after some ten hours. On me Hypnotic Poison seemed to go through the floral and dry woody components first, and then it settled for the best bit at the end. That suits me perfectly, I'm crazy about almonds.
Here is a list of the fragrance notes to give you a general idea what to expect.
top notes: bitter almond, caraway middle notes: jasmine, sambac, moss, Jaracanda wood base notes: vanilla, musk
Since then I've done some scientific thinking. I've been reading many reviews on this particular fragrance, and almost all of them only comment on how sweet it is and perfect for fans of vanilla. That is perfectly true, but this fragrance is quite unusual, especially due to the bitter almond. And yet no-on seemed to notice. Then I remembered a detail from some true crime documentary, which is another one of my addictions. (Bear with me, there is a point to this!) It was a case of cyanide poisoning. Cyanide is in fact (as a perfectly safe trace amount) contained in almonds, and it is what gives them their distinctive aroma. But very few people have the sensors to detect this scent. And because of this inability in most persons, and obviously other more important reasons, only elaborate tests are relied on to establish the presence of cyanide. Based on these facts, I think I know why most fans of this perfume only enjoy the sweetness. But I rather like the idea that it takes a "special nose" to fully appreciate a perfume.
It is recommended for cold weather, as a comfort fragrance. I completely agree, not that it's particularly heavy but it's certainly a warm and cosy smell. Some people talk about wearing perfume to bed, for extra comfort. I'm too stingy for that. But if I wasn't this would be my choice.
Here is a short list of the products available with this fragrance:
(These are the RRP's, better deals may be available.)
To summarize, I would absolutely recommend this perfume. Especially if you like sweet smells and find some of the more obvious choices too heavy. Besides, you might just have a special nose too and get more out of it that those around you.
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