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Post by Portia
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Hi there Fragrant Family,
Since we’ve been back from holidays I have spent a little time hunting through the decant/split section of my collection. There is so much choice here, enough for three lifetimes of fragrant addiction that unless I really set out to search the outlying areas things get forgotten. I remember trying today’s fragrance once when I bought this decant and being sadly unimpressed but last night I gave it a spritz before bed and this morning I still smell beautiful. softly tinted with the scent of …..
Patchouli Imperial by Christian Dior 2011
Patchouli Imperial by Francois Demachy
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Sicilian mandarin, Calabrian bergamot, Coriander, Indonesian patchouli, cedarwood, sandalwood essence
So I wore Patchouli Imperial again today, all day, and I’ll be wearing it to bed again tonight. In 1.5 days I’ve gone through about 4ml of my 10ml decant. That’s some serious fragrance use. Why? Because suddenly I have fallen madly in love and it’s so absolutely wearable. It was perfect last night as a sleep scent, today while blogging and organising stuff. It was also a winner to go to the physio and shopping afterwards. Then tonight my BFF Kath and I went and ate a WHOLE PEKING DUCK with pancakes, greenery and Hoisin sauce. OMG! I’m so freaking full right now, you have no idea.
How does it smell? Well, the citrus burns off fairly quickly and a waxy, woody, green-but-not patchouli that reminds me of the SJP Lovely patchouli/musk but a little more barber shop styled. The woods are there too but in a just polished retro furniture way. The whole fragrance smells smooth, stylish and uncomplicated; more of a fragrant wash that a loud signature statement.
Patchouli Imperial smells to me like a perfect office scent. It is fragrant but not overbearing, could be quite ambient until you get in really close and realise that freaking amazing almost smell is this person. I could also imagine it haunting someone who smelled it on you afterwards. Doomed to be forever seeking that perfect and unattainable fragrance that was once smelled on this person at work, in a restaurant or at a party. Great fragrance to leave on a lovers sheets too.
Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Olfactoria’s Travels
Available at DIOR stand alone stores, large department stores and now big airports (ask)
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3.25/ml
Are you a patchouli fan? Which of the DIOR Privé line do you love most?
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 
I do love patchouli. I don’t love any of the Dior Privé line because I haven’t really tried any. Is Mitzah part of that line or another one? Can’t stand it anyway. Bussis.
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Ha Ha Ha! Always so succint. Ha Ha ha!
Surprised you didn’t like Mitzah, what was it that tormented you?
Portia xx
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It falls into the 98% bracket of ambers that I hate. ?
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I didn’t know that Val! Amber. Doesn’t agree with you.
What are the 2% that do? Have you found an amber that you wear?
Or are you being nice and giving the note leeway in case one does work one day?
Portia x
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I absolutel love aroma M Geisha Noire. And Shelley Waddington’s Captured in Amber Extrait. To my nose thy do not have the amber notes that bother me.
I have never liked amber, although I have tried. It always makes me feel nauseated. The Dior one has the typical amber smell that I cannot bare. Lutens Amber is another.
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Interesting. Yet to try either of your loves. We need a week together one day with no distractions so we can really smell some stuff together.
Portia xx
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Ooh – I really struggle with ambers as they often feel kind of suffocating and overwhelming for me. I’m really interested to try M Geisha Noire if it’s an amber that you like and you also dislike amber! 🙂 Yay! Thanks 🙂
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I love patchouli, but being a child of the sixties/seventies I often feel like I’m going to be taken in for questioning regarding my recent activities when I’m wearing it. I have the Von Eusersdorff Classic Patchouli I won here from Val, and it is really gorgeous.
The only Prive stuff I’ve tried are Cuir Cannage and Oud Ispahan. Cuir Cannage smelled like a boring purse to me, and Oud Ispahan was okay, but my cat adored it and rolled around all over me when I tested it. He then sauntered jauntily out into the neighborhood to give it a spin, and was promptly ravished by another cat and had to go to the vet.
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Hey Holly,
Oh nooo. You haven’t had much luck with the DIORs. Your cat was attacked?
Portia x
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OMG your cat?!?! That’s terrible…
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Patch. Imp. Is my patchouli JAM!! So gorgeous and creamy! I’m going to go spritz right now! xoxo
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Ha Ha Ha! I love you Robert, You smell fabulous.
Portia xx
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Coromandel at the moment (as in, right now, before I head off for breakfast with friends). I’d LOVE to try Reminiscence Patchouli but it’s darned hard to get here, even as a sample.
I don’t get to sample the Dior Privés much. I do like Cuir Cannage but sort of forget I own the decant. That must mean I’m not compelled by it, I guess. I’ll give it another go soon. I have FBs of Bottega Veneta and Cuir de Lancome, so it’s no wonder Cuir Cannage struggles to get a word in!
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I can imagine you wafting Coromandel AnneMarieC. What a beautiful fragrance it is.
Patchouli Imperial is quite different, soapier to me.
Portia x
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I’m not a big fan of patchouli but I found this one very interesting. I love the wet earthy smell it creates here. I don’t know if I’ll wear it to be but it definitely put me in a mature, pensive mood. In an odd way it reminded me of an old hunter coming back from a hunt in the highlands of Scotland.
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WOW! The only smells I remember from Scotland were the green fields/grassy/wetness and the hairy cows. What a beautiful country.
Portia xx
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I have no idea how I feel about patchouli. I don’t think I’ve tried a lot of patchouli forward fragrances yet. What the hell am I trying, I feel like there’s so much I haven’t tried yet! Anyhow, you make everything sound dreamy and fabulous. 🙂
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Hey Sun Mi,
It’s really hard not to get overwhelmed by the sheer weight of fragrance. Don’t sweat it. Things will come to you in their time, there are a load of really delicious patchoulis though, in so many styles from sheer to dense. This is a very pretty and wearable one at about mid-heft.
Portia xx
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I am not a patchouli fan when it is hardcore but I also have a very unusual relationship with patchouli. My love affair with perfume started when I first smelled givenchy gentleman in late 1990s and to this day, it remains one of my top 5. Regarding this patchouli imperiale, does it has some resemblance to coromandel?
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Not as rambunctious as Coromandel and it feels more surrounded by other notes, in a very dignified way.
Portia xx
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You like both but if given a choice, you would take Coromandel over this, right?
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Not currently. I have both here Fazal and I’m only reaching for Patchouli Imperial right now.
Portia xx
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I’m not usually a patchouli fan, but I have a mini of this that I occasionally get out and wear. I think the woods make it a bit less earthy and hippie than some others, such as Patchouli Patch. Nevertheless, it is an Approach With Caution fragrance for me. I should give it another run now we have some colder weather.
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Interesting Greg, knowing how much you love your vintage and hardcore.
Portia xx
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