Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau

Forced by a hostile immigration landscape to live on separate continents, this Christmas saw me reunited (albeit briefly) with my Beardy for the first time in three months. Our period of separation was spent scratching (him) and planning an outfit for our airport reunion (me).

The fragrance problem had been vexing me for some time. Did I want cosy familiarity or Transatlantic Sexy? Did I want to knock him out at ten paces or leave just the hint of a lingering scent as i sashayed past?

A day in the post-production suite provided a golden opportunity to get some male editorial perspective on the issue. GETH my editor that day, promised to be a worthy audience.

“So I guess what I’m trying to say is I want to convey sexy, but faithful, familiar but edgy. I want my perfume to say yes you know me, but I’ve been in the UK for three months and I’m my own woman, and i have edge, and vim and vigour. I’m looking for vulnerability, but only with regards to him  – it needs to also say self assured. You know?”

My audience looked blank

” So I suppose what I need is spiky vulnerability. Contemporary but potentially classic. If my fragrance were a shoe it would be a stiletto’d Ugg Boot. I need my perfume to represent all that I am, but also all that I am not, without him. It really needs to be the Alpha and the Omega.  I need to be East of Eden, but not without hope of redemption. You know, fragrance-wise.”

More silence. I sensed disinterest.

Cute bottle too…

Predictably it was Pat Heap who offered the solution.  Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau. Not to be confused with the too-saccharine Miss Dior Cherie,  L’Eau features some almost licorice base notes which give the fragrance a great deal more body than it’s sweet Cherie counterpart. It has a solid 5 hour + staying power, and in fact remnants remained, even after a 4 hour coach trip,  2 hours duty free shopping, and 8 hours non-stop eating aboard the Air Canada flight. No complaints there.

Beardy himself was underwhelmed. But, let’s face it, he was always going to be something of a supporting player in the Airport Reunion Scene….

Despite its Spring release, it’s a great Winter fragrance – warm, but somehow refreshing, and gloriously free of that heavy, gluttonous feeling that so many design houses pump into their winter scents (I’m looking at you Versace, Jacobs et al). Which, given that Christian Dior has been responsible for some of the century’s most heavyweight perfumes to date (Poison anyone?) is quite the accomplishment.