Dior J’Adore – all varieties

Change of season perfume weariness.  I’m tired of my heavy winter scents, and I’m not quite into spring and summer scents, what with the every three day blizzard Colorado has been hosting.  I need to shake myself out of this with something florally springlike.  So let’s look at Dior’s J’Adore in the two variations they have – the EDP, and the LE J’Adore L’Absolu.  Florals should help me out of this funk.

Most of my focus in the last couple of years as it concerns Dior has been on the older variations, so when I sniffed the LE J’Adore L’Absolu and fell in love, it occurred to me that maybe there were a few things they have now that are worth investigating.

Created by Calice Becker, J’Adore has notes of Mandarin, Champaca Flowers, Ivy, African Orchid, Rose, Violet, Damascus Plum, Amaranth Wood, Blackberry Musk.  This is probably one of the easiest to wear florals Dior has. There’s a lightness about it on the open that just sings spring, and it is a perfectly composed floral that is exactly what it is billed as – delicate, feminine, beautiful floral.  The woodand musk notes lend depth to it in the drydown, but it stays playful and feminine from start to finish.  I know it gets beaten up on for being simple and linear, and it certainly is that, but it is beautifully composed and has no pretensions of haute parfumerie.  The most charming thing about this perfume is the plum note as it dries down.  It lingers long past when I expect it to, lighter than what I expect, and it keeps me enchanted in having it waft around me the entire time I wear it.  it’s pretty much the perfect use of fruit in a floral.

In 2007, Dior brought out the LE J’Adore l’Absolu.  If there were shortcomings in J’Adore of being too simple, light and linear, jacking up the tuberose, ylang, rose, and jasmine pretty much fixed in this version, for those that found J’Adore lacking.  Where J’Adore bubbles on the open, L’Absolu rolls a couple of shoulders in a come-hither fashion and beckons you in to a much deeper, darker floral experience.  This is heady and a big floral, though I don’t find it loud or aggressive. It stays fairly close to me and doesn’t go wandering around the room banging people on the head with the floral bouquet.  Though I don’t think I’d overspray this by much and go to the office in it.  The sticking power of this seems to be much longer than J’Adore, but I’m not sure that’s actually true or just a perception that I have because the floral notes are so much stronger where J’Adore is lighter, but hangs in there a lot longer than I expect.

I wound up liking both of these much more than I thought I would. They’re well done florals that never get too big, but they are enough different from the other that they are unique.

Now, I need some perfume help.  What should I sniff to get myself out of the winter doldrums and ready for spring/summer scents?