Perfume Review: Christian Dior Fahrenheit 32

Many thanks to Luca Turin for making me open my mind up a crack, with his review of Fahrenheit 32 in Perfumes The Guide. (I do, however, disagree with Turin that Fahrenheit was changed so much as to become unrecognizable. I knew it way back when and I own a bottle of current juice, and yes, the intensity of the original is lost somewhat, but it is still the same fragrance and is still great.) I was reluctant to smell the flanker to the deeply beloved Fahrenheit, because, well, when you love something so much, you want it to stay completely unique and be one of a kind. What I was afraid of the most is that Fahrenheit 32 would not be related to the original in any way expect for the name. And, comparing the notes, you'd see why that was my fear. First seconds of it on my skin made me think that I am indeed meeting a complete stranger, an impostor. The scent was freshly-floral, sweet and milky. I didn't know this fragrance, I didn't want to know it, I was going to wash it off and forget about its existence. Luckily, I decided to grin and bear and see how the story ends. Reader, it has a happy ending. Just when I thought that Fahrenheit 32 would have nothing but cheerful "solar" notes, it showed some character. The easy, breezy, beautiful outer layer of orange blossom was hiding a dark, leathery core of Fahrenheit, and when the citrusy, white-floral top notes dissipated, it was as if a mask was taken off revealing the familiar face. The fresh feel is maintained throughout the development of the scent, but it is not the annoying sporty freshness without depth or substance. The warmth and the woody-tarry smokiness of Fahrenheit is still there. What the creators cleverly done to turn the cold-weather Fahrenheit into a perfume for summer, is to replace the buttery, powdery violets with the airy creaminess of orange blossom, thus keeping the floral part which was what made Fahrenheit unique in the first place. Fahrenheit 32 is Fahrenheit dressed in white, relaxing in the sun somewhere wonderful by the warm sea... And it makes me happy to imagine him like that. Available at Sephora, $48.00-$66.00. Image source, alamy.com.