Perfume Review: Christian Dior Midnight Poison
 Perfume Gods know that I wanted to love Midnight Poison! That I eagerly looked forward to trying it. That I almost bought it unsniffed (thank you, Perfume Gods, for somehow stopping me from doing that!). The original Poison is one of my true undying fragrance loves. I adore Eva Green and thought the advertisement was an exquisitely gothic delight. And, of course, I wanted to love the new scent Because It Is Dior...like I have been striving to love all of their new releases for the last ...oh, gosh...for more years than I care to remember. But as with practically all feminine Dior fragrances of the last decade, I was bitterly disappointed.The alarm bells started to sound when I first saw the list of notes: mandarin, bergamot, rose, amber, patchouli, vanilla. To me, that spelled A n g e l. Unfortunately, my intuition was spot on. As far as my nose and my skin are concerned, Midnight Poison is indeed yet another Angel clone, only much drier, slightly less fruity and sweet, and much harsher than Mugler's mighty creation. I will not waste yours and my time describing the development of the scent, such as it is, because if you have ever smelled Angel, and, unless you have been living on another planet since year 1992, you have smelled Angel (come to think of it, the ubiquitous aroma has probably found it way to other worlds by now), and that means that you can easily imagine what Dior's new Poison is like as well. Of all the Poison offspring, the Midnight one strikes me as the least interesting (I find Hyptonic Poison unbearable, however, objectively speaking, its warm comfort blend is unquestionably attractive). The Poison line now consists of five fragrances, a nice number at which to put a stop to the creation of flankers and the capitalization on the name of the wonderful original Poison. Dior Parfums now also have their own Angel. I hope they are satisfied and ready to move on, to create something staggeringly original for their female audience...or if that is too much to ask, to simply re-release for a wider distribution Diorling and Diorama and to bring Dior-Dior from the dead. Dixi. Midnight Poison is available at Sephora, $45.00-$82.00. The image is by Bradford Noble. |
posted by Marina |
12:03 AM
38 Comments:
I found it quite different from Angel. Angel was all spice on my skin-very disjointed. Midnight was complete on me, albeit a bit pedestrian and lacking in staying power.
Indeed.
Except for a short-lived and weird flirtation with Pure Poison (no idea why), I haven't liked any of the little Poisons or any other new Dior. My sister used to bathe in J'adore, which was pretty horrible. I'm starting to doubt we're the target market for any of these new releases. Maybe Dior will do an exclusive line or something. That would be interesting.
Dare i type it?
I don't like Poison!
There! I've said it. I'm not wild about the flankers either, at least the original was new and interesting, even if it was one of those fragrances that was ubiquitous and over-applied.
Of course, that's hindsight, I have to go and resniff. I might be fascinated by it now.
Yikes, FIVE Of them now?! I am afraid I have to agree with Tom...one was too much! ;-)
I really need to revisit the original Poison; my nose may have grown up enough to be able to handle it now. I'm one of those that loves Hypnotic Poison, but a sample is plenty, thanks. A drop or two in the winter is indeed a warm comfort on occasion. As to MP, I too wanted to love it. I looked forward to this one and to Fendi Palazzo as great fall releases, but they are both so disappointing. Not bad, lovely bottles, but so boring. Thankfully, MP didn't remind me of Angel, though.
Sits down glumly next to M, sadly contemplating all the insipid releases from Dior's feminine scent division. Did everyone in that department get so wasted during the Dolce Vita heroin chic days that they've just not managed to reemerge? I made the mistake of getting Hypnotic Poison unsniffed. It remains somewhere in the back of my closet since I think there are laws about where you can discard extremely toxic substances. This one doesn't sound *quite* so toxic, but certainly isn't something I'm going to be wanting. And, please, please, please let them resurrect Dior-Dior. *All* would be forgiven. Wonder if this is something one might consult a Santerian priestess about...must check.
OK, I was all set to admit that I don't even like Poison--and Tom beat me to it! But I still don't. And that picture makes me, well, very sad, thinking of the old Dior images. . . .
I don't mind Poison, tho I wouldn't wear it. We have one friend who does. It's her signature scent & it follows & precedes her everywhere. At this point it doesn't smell like Poison to me anymore, it smells like S, which I suppose is the point of a sig scent. S smells good but I can't imagine being so wed to any one fragrance never mind that one. I mean, one must have other moods, no? I guess if one must pick one's Poison better that than any of the Poisonettes.
Mrs. Honey,
It's the other way round on me (Angel complete, MP disjointed) :-(
Gaia,
We are not. And I am starting to wonder whether it is even fair anymore to write about these new releases, you know? But one just can't help but expect so much more from DIOR for goodness sakes.
Tom,
*gasp*
OK, give me time to recover from that traitorous blow :-) Well, as long as you still don't like POTL, it's OK. Tell me you still don't love it :-)
Donna,
Five! I wonder if that's it or if they are aiming for lukcy 7 or the nice round number 10 or whether the number will be infinite.
Anita,
I haven't smelled Palazzo. Maybe I shouldn't?
L,
If you find a priestess, shaman, wizard or anyone who could help us make Dior do what we say :-))), that would be great! :-)
Judith,
The picture is not the ad for MP. The ads are actually wonderful, sort of Gothic Cinderella kind, with Eva Green. This is just something I found :-) Sorry, I should have specified.
Divalano,
Poisonettes :-) What a cute word. I often wonder what it would be like to have a signature scent...
Evil Fragrance Twin signing on to say I love Hypnotic :-) but I also not only loved but WORE an entire bottle of the original Poison, and even people who hate it should concede its brilliance (just as you concede HP might comfort someone -- just not you!)
I liked Robin's flanker post awhile back -- where's Baby Poison? Poison Him? (maybe this is it?) How about Tropical Poison, with "fresh breeze and frozen litchi"!
I hated Poison back in the day, largely because it was EVERYWHERE and a work colleague who I didn't like much doused herself in it. So imagine my surprise when I sniffed it (very tentatively) a couple of months back and though "oh I see!" Can't imagine ever wearing it but the dislike had turned to appreciation at least. The only Poisonette I've sniffed is the green one - Tendre? I quite liked that one. Anyway, I can only join those who bewail the general decline in standards at Dior Woman. I mean, even Givenchy has recently reissued some of their fine back catalogue. Simply don't understand.
It smelled like Angel to me too. Ugh. This is one of the perfumes that I had in mind when I was writing my formula for a sell-out perfume.
That image is just revolting. How far they have fallen.
Totally agree, bring back Dior Dior, put the old, still magnificent ones in both concentrations in wider distribution. If they *must* throw a mass-pleaser every now and then, that's fine. I can forgive them if they'll just do as we demand. :)
I liked it. We seem to be on weirdly opposite sides of the Poison spectrum -- you would think you would like Hypnotic Poison & Midnight Poison and I would not (?) Are we switching sides?
Marina-
Like I wrote, I;ll have to resniff. I lived through the original era of Poison, when people doused themselves in it. I hated Angel at first as well until I smelled it on someone who wore it well.
PoTL is still play-doh. If I ever say otherwise you have my express permission to sack me with a butterfly net and apply MKK until I regain my sanity. ;-)
March,
Tropical Poison, euch. Please, don;t give Them ideas!
When have we become EFTs?! *wails*
Nicola,
Exactly, EVEN Givenchy. Come on, Dior people, don't you feel a tiny bit competitive! :-0
Dust Glitter and Vapor,
OK, so I am not the only one who Angel from MP.
I have to repeat again that the picture is NOT the ad for Midnight Poison. It is Bradford Noble's work, he is a great photographer...whether it was done for any sort of Dior campaign, I don't know. :-)
Patty,
Exactly, if they do as we demand, i.e. re-release their gems, we promise not to diss *too much* the releases like this one :-D
Robin,
We are switching sides, and when the switch is complete, we will still be EFTs, funny how it works, eh? :-)
Tom,
Will do so, I promise :-)
I was one of the people who doused myself in Poison. Not that you could smell me from behind the iron curtain...although, taking into account the strength of Poison, perhaps you could. :-)
Poison was worn by a schoolfriend of mine whose ma owned a knitwear shop. I thought she was the height of sophistication (both the ma, and the girl, actually), not just because of the perfume but also the shop. Commerce seemed so sophisticated to the little po' boy. So I associate Poison with that time in the 80s when I was naive and fanciful. It makes me a little sad.
As for this flanker - I won't bother!
Lee,
I know. I was naive and fanciful then too. Still am fanciful, I suppose. Not sure about naive :-)
I'll go against the tide and say that I liked Midnight and actually think it is the best version released since the original. I've tried and tried to enjoy Hypnotic, but it just smells like root beer to me. Funny, MP didn't remind me of Angel at all. They both have loads of patchouli, but I like the patch in Midnight much more. The patch/chocolate combo in Angel makes me nauseous! Now, the original Poison I love, especially the parfum - it's a masterpiece.
BlackAmberMoon,
I agree that HP smells like root beer. That's what makes is so unbearable for me. Cannot stand root beer. :-(
Funny, I would drink root beer, just don't want to *smell* like it! ;-) My spicy comfort scent is Jungle L'elephant by Kenzo.
I have been wering poison since i was 16. in the fall in winter i wear mostly poison, opium and coco chanel. I was so excited to try midnight poison, haed all the other offsprings. this was sooo horrible. it smells like the male version of farenheit, yuck. it just feels like something is missing?
It is not an original fragrance as expected for a Poison Saga. The truth is that Dior has not reached the same sucess in its poisons the pioneer Poison and Hypnotic Poison. The impression is that they invested on a great image of Eva Green in a dark blue sensual scenario and the fragrance is not bad at all, but very confused in its development. I could not feel as an Angel on my skin, some juicy, sweet floral woody mixed in the beginning and then, more mandarin than rose, some undertones of patchouli. No personality as a great fragrance, lacking of creativeness as most of the last launches in the market.
If this is the image of a sensual Cinderella after midnight, please I prefer to go bed and sleep.
Cheer, Cris
I read a number of perfume blogs here and there, but I don't usually comment on them.
I own and wear Midnight Poison, and cannot stand any of the others except the original. (Hypnotic, particularly, has never made it to my skin because it already reeks of PlayDoh *in the bottle*.)
To me, MP is a juicy rose scent with a hint of citrus and an indefinable "incense" note on the drydown. I don't personally sniff a close similarity to Angel, with which I am extremely familiar. My nose says there's a definite common element (and obviously I can read the formulas), but they just don't have a similar feel at all.
However, judging by the ad, I think I might be the target market.
i don't know much about the whole Poison series. but i love Pure Poison and have been using it for a few years. i have started using it when i was on my 1-month sweet holiday in new york and so now, everytime when i would use it, all those sweet memories and good feelings would come back. i just love it!
tried MP before...well, it is completely different from Pure Poison and i just couldn't fall in love with it...
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