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Post by Portia
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Hello Vintage Lovers,
Recently a family that I know had a tough decision, their mother/grandmother finally went to a home. Alzheimers has ravaged her mind and sadly it was becoming impossible for the family to keep her with them. Interestingly, she has calmed down considerably, is much happier and more relaxed in the care of professionals. They keep her clean and understand much more how to deal with the moods, aggression, nudity and lack of memory that goes with this debilitating disease. I watched the decline till Nonna was too far gone to come to trivia. Heartbreaking. We used to have so much fun, even in the early stages of Alzheimers she was sharp as a tack and hilarious.
Anyway, the family just cleaned out Nonna’s fragrances and brought then to me. One of the bottles is 1/3+ full 100ml vintage bottle of Diorissimo. Flawlessly perfect with all notes intact. Thing is, I already have a bottle of each strength with more than I’ll ever use in my lifetime. So I thought I’d share the love.
Diorissimo EdT vintage by DIOR 1956
Diorissimo EdT vintage by Edmond Roudnitska
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Green leaves
Heart: Amaryllis, Boronia, Lilac, Jasmine, Lily, Lily-of-the-valley, Rosemary, Ylang-ylang
Base: Sandalwood, Civet
OK, I have to tell you this to effect full disclosure. My love for Diorissimo has been outshone by both Jessica Mauboy’s Be Beautiful and Muguet Porcelain by Hermès, their melon/LotV mix has me enraptured.
I thought I would add in a vintage parfum to sweeten the deal, just opened the cellophane and had a sniff to make sure that it’s real and fresh. It is. So perfect you will weep. It still has its plastic stopper in place!
Here are some pics of what you’ll win.
Portia xx
Diorissimo GIVEAWAY
WHAT CAN YOU WIN?
This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 100ml bottle vintage Diorissima EdT (around 30-40% left)
1 x 7.5ml bottle vintage Diorissima parfum
P&H Anywhere in the world
HOW DO YOU WIN?
Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. I must be able to check that you follow so if you have an email address on your gravatar that’s different to your follow address then please email me so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.
You must tell me how you follow APJ
and
Please tell us why you’d like to try Diorissimo or if you have a Lily of the Valley favourite
HOUSEKEEPING
Entries Close Wednesday 30th November 2016 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 7th December 2016 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Hello and thank you so much for this beautiful giveaway. I follow by email.
I would love to try Diorissimo. I have randomly sniffed some LOTV fragrances, and liked them, but I don’t currently own one, so I would love to start with one of the best – and vintage to boot.
Thanks, Portia, hope you’re enjoying the festive season.
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Les Parfums de Rosine had a muguet that smells darn fine. Email
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OMG! I bought Diorissimo for my mother, now sadly Alzheimer’s affected but receiving excellent care. My grandmother had a bottle shaped like lily of the valley. Maybe by Coty? Going back to when I was eight years old, not sure about the look but the scent memory remains. Diorissimo is always a cool sunny spring morning for me. I follow by email.
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Thank you for being so generous, Portia! Your Nonna sounds lovely. I’ve never tried Diorissimo and I do want to, it has so many keen fans. I’m a fan of Mauboy’s Be Beautiful too. Follow by email. 🙂
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It is sad to hear one having Alzheimers but yet i still felt that scent can bring back memories for this nonna. This family could have bring it along to the nursing home. Scent triggers the limbic system and i will still give Diorissimo to nonna.
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I don’t think I have tried a LOTV scent, the flowers are lovely though, so delicate.
Diorissimo is such an icon and your prize so generous.
I follow by email.
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Hi Portia! Incredibly generous give away. Magnificant esp the extrait. Parfums Delrae Debut has a marvelous Lily of the valley fragrance by Michel Roudnitska. Which is no surprise given the creation of Diorissimo by his father. Xxx, Esperanza
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I am so sorry to hear about grandma. I went through that with mine. It is a terrible disease and one we all hope that we don’t get. I remember taking her favorite perfume to the nursing home for her. It disappeared along with her dentures, rosary and hearing aids. Ugh.
I love lily. Love. I bought a small EDT of this frag and liked it. It reminded me of a pretty white floral similar to Jessica McClintock but didn’t last on me at all; it went on a soapy lily and jasmine. What’s not to love? Would like to try the stronger juice.
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Being a fan of the current Diorissimo, I’d be thrilled to try the vintage formula of this wonderful perfume, thank you for such a generous gift!
Need I say my favorite lily of the valley scent IS Diorisssimo?
Along with the (too expensive for my budget) Frédéric Malle En Passant.
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I forgot to mention that I’m a happy email subscriber 🙂
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OMG! OMG!! OMG!!!
This is a mother of all perfume giveaways!!!
Hi gorgeous,
How generous are you?
First and foremost so sorry of nonna and for anyone else around dealing with this heartbreaking condition. Like Lily said earlier this should stay with nonna if it will bring her memories of happier times.
I remember my mum used to wear Dioressimo but she has long finished that bottle. She’s now wearing whatever else I’ve given her in the 90’s and early naughties: Ysatis, Dune, Rive Gauche, Salvadore Dali and Ivore. I would love to share with her what her old bottle smelled like since the reformulation only give me a shadow of what I can remember (this could entirely be the fault of my memory and not reformulation).
Sorry for the long post.
I follow by email.
And thank you again for your generous giveaways!
XXX… T
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Thank you for such a generous giveaway. I follow by email. I recently lost my mother to Dementia. It was so horrible to watch her go through this. She loved Lily of the Valley. They were planted all over the backyard. She also wore Muguet De Bois by Coty. This would make me think of her in better health.
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Following by e-mail. What a great prize this is. Generous. I don’t get excited about any other LOTV fragrance. 🙂
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Oooooh! What a lovely thing to do, and what a nice way to spread some awareness of Alzheimer’s and this particular family’s struggle with it. I have had family members who suffered from it, and it can be awful — but I am so happy to know “Nonna” is doing better in her new setting.
I follow APJ via WordPress. I am crazy about LOTV fragrances, wore Diorissimo in the 1980s, and did a “May Muguet Marathon” this past spring on my own blog — so much fun! I have some vintage Diorissimo EDT but it’s a bit off, so I’d love to compare it to a well-preserved bottle. The parfum would be amazing to try! I share your love of Muguet Porcelaine, btw. Have never tried “Be Beautiful” but now it will go on my list! Thanks for doing this.
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Oh gosh, I’m another soul who went through this with my mom. It is heartbreaking for sure. I’m so glad you have many happy memories of Nonna.
Vintage Diorissimo is the one and only lotv for me! From time to time I eye it on eBay and Etsy but am too flippin’ anal about what bottle and all that’s involved to figure out what is authentic and I chicken out. Thanks for the draw! I follow by email. xo
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Diorissimo seems connected to mothers for many! My mother died very unexpectedly, without any of the suffering you describe, while she was still very full in life. A different kind of grief, but a lot of thankfulness for the total absence of suffering for her too.
My earliest perfume memory is of her Diorissimo extrait bottle (the one pictured here) on her vanity, and my sneeking into her bedroom to have a sniff.
Lovely give away, thank you so much!
(Rahele hasn’t arrived yet, I’m sure it just takes ages for it to travel round the globe, ofcourse I will let you know when she makes it)
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Ps I follow by email.
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I would love to try this! It sounds like it would be a scent I would love! I follow via email.
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Dear Portia, please count me in. I’d love to try Diorissimo because in the novel Love is Just a Word by the German author J.M.Simmel the main female protagonist is wearing Diorissimo (and I suppose it’s the original vintage because the book was written sometime in the 60-ies). She’s a beauty married to an influential man and she seduces a much younger student so they start a passionate, dangerous and tragic love affair. Well, I was too old to try the original Diorissimo when I read the book some 10 years ago but ever since then I think of the story whenever I hear “Diorissimo”.
I follow APJ by email.
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What a lovely giveaway! I follow APJ by email and/or on FFF. My favourite lily of the valley is Muguet Fleuri by Oriza L. Legrand. I’ve never tried Diorissimo!
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I’ve heard of Diorissimo for so many years and I’ve never had a chance to try it. I’d love to win! Email
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Not entering, just wanted to say what a beautiful gesture.
Good luck, everybody!!
Fanny xx
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What a touching story, thank you for sharing it with us. I’ve never tried this beautiful perfume. I love Dioressence, and Miss Dior, currently my favorite LOTV fragrances are En Passant.. Oh Le Sigh… And Guerlains 2012 Muget release which I’ll never own, no matter how amazing! Thank you for sharing these treasures with us, and the memories as well.
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I follow by email
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I follow by email. I actually have never tried this fragrance and I’ve always wanted to. I have no other lily of the valley fragrances. Such a touching story and such a dreadful disease. Thank you so much for this gesture.
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Hello and thanks to all parfume lovers who involved to this giveaway! It is a pleasure to read all your stories, and caring advises about granma, we all gonna be there one day. I grew up in former Soviet Union, and owning beautiful French perfume was a big deal, it was in possible to find, and also very expensive. But I had previlage to sneak and sneeze it from my antie dresser , whose husband brought it straight from Paris! I remember this smell all my life! I did not know at that time, that main note in this beautiful parfum was a Lily of the Valley, my favorite flower ever.I hope I did not took a lot of your time, with my story. Enjoy life, and smells of the flowers in your beloved fragrances. P/S Fallow you in with email.
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What a thoughtful post. I have always loved lily of the valley and grow it in my garden. Diorissimo was the first perfume I ever wore. I have a small bottle of the current formulation but would love to smell a vintage version again. I follow by email.
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Oh Portia, so very sorry to have you go thru this, the scourge of our lives. Ugh. But how wonderful that you received reminders of her in the form of perfumes! They will remind you of her forever.
Diorissiomo. What can I say. My all-time favorite LOTV, and in my all time top 10., I just love it that much. I reference Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) by describing Diorissimo as “One lily to rule them all.” Yup, that’s how strong my love is. Follow by email.
xoxox
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Wow Portia Thank you for such a generous opportunity. I am nursing the last few drops of a vintage bottle of Diorissimo and the chance to be able to wear some more from another bottle is a heady one. I follow by email.
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Thank you so much for sharing these vintage bottles with us and I would love to try this scent, it sounds lovely and I have never sampled a vintage original Dior scent before the reformulation! Thank you for the chance. I follow by email.
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Portia:
I had given up on giveaways but Please have this be the one – I LOVE Diorissimo!
I follow on Facebook (your blog seems to have decided I don’t want to see it) and twitter
All the best for a glorious Xmas!
Palmer
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Lovely post Portia. Vintage perfume is always so bittersweet, a part of a persons life.
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What a lovely post, and thank you for hosting this giveaway.
I have not had the chance to try any vintage perfume, and would love to begin with this if lucky. I follow through email.
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This is an amazingly generous giveaway and just what I want to happen to my perfumes if I become incapable of enjoying them.
I have smelled vintage Diorissimo only once, by design, because I didn’t want to become too familiar with something that would be difficult to obtain in its ideal form. It is a really beautiful perfume and I haven’t ever purchased a LOTV full bottle for my collection because I haven’t found another I like as well. I do have a few samples that I enjoy, but not many.
I follow via RSS and Bloglovin’
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A friend told me vintage Diorissimo is her favourite for festive days in spring, so I would love to smell this and I know of several people whom I would share with should I win. I recall a very simple LOTV scent I got at around age 8, but later I have mostly used green scents. I know from some used bottles passed on to me by a greataunt, that I love many classic French creations, and civet as a basenote.
A really touching story,the hardest part when a person gets dementia is the changes to the personality, creating so much problems for the person and the nearest family. Like others, I am wondering if Nonna would not still be able to enjoy perfume from time to time.
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I forgot, I follow wia email.
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Oh wow! A super generous giveaway, Portia. I follow via email and I do have a bottle of Diorissimo but not quite vintage and I would to smell the vintage Diorissim. I also have a small bottle of Penhaligon’s Lily and Spice which I love.
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I love LOTV, would love even a small sample of vintage Diorissimo given everything I’ve heard about it. I have a bottle of VC&A Muguet Blanc but put the Muguet Porcelain on my to-try list after reading your review. I’ll have to add Be Beautiful as well. I follow via Feedly.
However, sorry to hear the circumstances that have lead to the giveaway, as well as those mentioned by other commenters. It is so difficult to lose someone close to you in this manner. I hope the family is at peace with their decision.
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Oh goodness, how very touching that the family would think to share at such a difficult time. My heart aches for them. Thank you, Portia, for your endless kindness and generosity. You make the world more beautiful.
Parfums DelRae Debut is my favorite lily of the valley at the moment though I must admit I’ve liked every LOTV scent I can recall smelling. Lily of the valley is the star of Debut but the supporting cast is fabulous as well, especially the lime, linden blossom, ylang and vetiver, they make the scent sing like a lovely diva with a bit of tartness.
I also adore the sweet and melon-y Muguet Porcelaine, a very different but also wonderful lily of the valley. Diorissimo gets so much love it seems legendary. I am imagining it is all that and more.
I follow APJ via email. Thank you for all the fragrant fun.
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This is really generous and thoughtful of you Portia and your Nonna sounds like a lady of great taste. I don’t have Lily of the Valley perfumes but I’ve experienced the note in some like Yardley and Dame Perfumery’s solifores and found it to be beautiful and sweet. I also loved Roudnitska’s more fleshy stuff in the form of Diorella and Femme Rochas, so I would love to smell how he interpreted LotV.
I follow APJ via email and big thanks again for the generous giveaway!
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My current LotV favourite is Morn to Dusk but otherwise I haven’t tried too much with it as the ‘focus’ of the scent. I will hopefully get the chance to smell the real thing sometime.
I follow by email.
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After the way you’ve described it I would love to try Diorissiomo. It sounds like a fragrance I could totally fall in love with!
I follow AJP by email
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Thank you for the lovely giveaway and the sweet story that accompanies it.
My favourite lily of the valley happens to be Diorisssimo, and I’d be ecstatic to smell its vintage formula.
Very happy email subscriber!
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It’s so good to know that Nonna is now doing better under care; I hope she and her family are as well as can be in the circumstances.
The only LOTV that I really know is Diorissimo, which I love. It’s so fresh and green and makes me smile, though I’ve never tried in in parfum concentration, so that would be lovely were I to be the lucky winner!
Thank you for such a generous giveaway, Portia (and thank you to Nonna and her fam, too). I follow by email.
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Its is so sad when a loved one declines as is the case with my mother too.She has become so frail,just getting her showered is more than we can hope for and the luxury of a spritz of fragrance which was her daily ritual has dwindled to nothing.Thanks for the giveaway and Diorissimo is my favorite lily of the valley fragrance.I follow by e mail,facebook and twitter.
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