Tendre Poison (1994)
by Christian Dior

*This is a review of the vintage original formula.

Tendre Poison goes on with a very fresh, light rosewood and effervescent citric bergamot orange before moving to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart the rosewood recedes as a dusty rose joins fresh, green freesia in support of the emerging tuberose that takes control of the composition with a dry honeyed undertone. During the late dry-down the honeyed tuberose vacates revealing the relatively dry vanilla and slightly animalic musky co-starring tandem with subtle, dry sandalwood and slightly lemony vetiver support through the finish. Projection is excellent to near outstanding and longevity excellent at over 12 hours on skin.

I am sure everyone reading this is sick of my constant praise for the great Edouard Flechier, but prepare yourself for more of it here. I must sound like a broken record when I say over and over again that this guy is the most consistently good living perfumer, but vintage Tendre Poison proves his winning streak continues. Unlike so many flankers that capitalize on prior successful masterpieces, only to prove nothing like them (and frequently are awful smelling), there is a definite link here to Flechier's masterpiece, vintage Poison. That said, the perfumer has taken the great Poison fragrance foundation and changed it, making vintage Tendre Poison more light, fresh and green than the original while maintaining all of its charms. Some, (not I), felt that vintage Poison was just too heavy and powerful for easy wear... My guess is those folks should be giving this one a sniff to see if it solves their issues with the original. No, vintage Tendre Poison doesn't wimp out and turn into Poison-lite, instead it freshens the composition through quite deft use of green freesia and a much less dense dry honeyed tuberose than one might expect. The end result is still quite potent, but a lot easier to wear daily. Even the musky dry vanilla focused late dry-down works extremely well with its hints of lemony vetiver and sandalwood peeping through from time-to-time to give it a bit of an edge. The composition from top-to-bottom is absolutely incredible smelling, and while I still prefer the original vintage Poison by a hair, vintage Tendre Poison has proved its near-equal, and that is saying something. I think it is safe to say I believe both compositions are mandatory additions to one's collection. The bottom line is the sadly discontinued vintage Tendre Poison sells for about $115 per 100ml bottle on the aftermarket and is worth every penny and then-some, earning a "near-masterpiece" rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 and an extremely strong recommendation to all. Bravo Mr. Flechier!