Poison
Eau de Toilette, Christian Dior (1985)

When I was seven years old, while nosing around as seven year olds often do, I happened upon my Aunt Grace's bottle of Poison parfum. I was just old enough to realize that it wasn't literal poison, but I was mystified no less. Around that time, US television premiered an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass produced by Iriwin Allen (yes, the same Irwin Allen of The Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno fame) with this all-star cast. I would imagine that I was the White Rabbit or the Mad Hatter and this small bottle of Poison reminded me of the "Drink Me" potion that would shrink Alice. It smelled magical to me.

Nearly forty years later, Poison still smells like magic to me. I own some to wear in solitude to allow core memories to be unlocked. It always reminded me of the deepest, darkest purple berries: blackberries, blackcurrants, elderberries, all swirling with strange flowers (before I knew of the existence of tuberose!) in some cabalistic incense burned by a warlock in meditation. I remember my aunt also owned both the Time-Life Books "Mysteries of the Unknown" and "The Enchanted World" series: Visions and Prophecies, Hauntings, Mystic Places, Spells and Bindings, Witches and Wizards, Water Spirits. I also associate Poison with thumbing through these in awe. This classic will forever be spellbinding.

2020s formulation Poison highlights why many call this a benchmark tuberose.
Poison's tuberose is metallic and a bit medicinal without the slightly mentholated quality found in the likes of Carnal Flower.

On me, today's Poison is missing the berry barf top (I think they called it "plum." Smells amazing on others.).
Dior replaced it with a medical-grade cleaning solvent.
Personally, I find it an improvement, but that's not saying much.
I'm also not getting much beyond tuberose cleaning solvent in the dry-down.

I've always found Poison problematic.
A scent I wish I could wear.
It's easier for me to wear the current version, but that's not saying much.
I found this revisit educational.

If you loved the original - I'd avoid current formulation Poison.

A perfume that rocks its own category to the fullest is a very great thing. For example, why shouldn’t a rose be the rosiest it can be? Why shouldn’t a woodsy fragrance be the best most woodsy and magical it can be? It’s like self-acceptance isn’t it. Be yourself, they say. If Elizabeth Taylor had decided to dumb down those eyebrows just to fit in with everyone else she would not have been as fabulous. Similarly I have bought this fragrance recently having appreciated it a little in the 90s, looked back on it with disdain (because who wears Poison) and now come hurtling back having realised what it really is and yes, why it can be divisive. It is a luscious grapey-jasmine and tuberose shadowy floral perfume that is oooh so confident. Resin and wood notes on the dry down still seamlessly work with the cinnamon and plum notes on me. It’s all so voluptuous and heady. Unfortunately it doesn’t last as long as previous formulations but hey. It is an elegant woman’s scent, a great work of art and it is in the category of heavy, a bit vampy, dark and it is at the top. There are of course many variations on that theme but for me, this rarity is one of a kind. Its the one who doesn’t desire to people-please. She is unapologetically herself and beyond that now. This is an original and incredibly elegant fragrance. Whether it is in fashion or not, it’s the best in its hauntingly dark and beautiful way.

My first experience of Poison was at my sister's wedding reception in the 80's. One of her friends walked by, and I was immediately intoxicated by the rich, fruity, floral, ambery and potent scent. I had to ask what she was wearing, and ever since, Poison has been one of my favorite perfumes for women. It radiates confidence, sensuality and sex in a deliciously voluptuous way. It's mysterious and captivating and mature --- not for young girls or the office! For me it conjures up dark velvet curtains, purple and wine-colored cushions with everything moving in slow motion --- every second to be savored.

The musical parallel I get is the Arabian Dance from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker," or something slow and sultry by Cassandra Wilson ... maybe a deep midnight raga played on shehnai.

It's hard to express just how big Poison was in the late 80's. If you've seen old photos of people in malls or old videos of people dancing in clubs, or movies about people in high school, they all reeked of Poison. It was THE smell of the late 80's.

So what does it smell like? Well, nothing like the bloated notes list would suggest. Instead, it smells like a grape lollipop. Sure, if I try really hard, I can pick out clove and a pinch of something coconutty, and it has a floral effusiveness that suggests that there are flowers in there, but everything melts together to smell like sugary grape candy.

Were this anything else, I'd probably vote thumbs down, but this is such a nostalgic smell that I can't help but vote thumbs up despite myself...

Dior Poison (1985) is a perfume for ladies who needed to absolutely blow the doors off when they made an entrance, and for some guys who wanted to leave a scandalous trail too. While not explicitly unisex, Poison has both intimidation and allure that defies gender, to the point where it was infamously banned from some restaurants in the 1980's when launched. Previously, only Giorgio Beverly Hills (1981) had received that notoriety, but moreso for volume than tone. Poison is an altogether different beast; this perfume envelops a space, subverts the atmosphere, and changes the mood of everyone present, and like actual poison, can corrupt or destroy those unable to withstand it. Dior Poison is technically an oriental, but has so many dark, fruity, floral, and green aspects that it is truly abstract. The perfume became quite ubiquitous in its heyday despite its controversial nature, and although nowadays it's still rather recognizable, Poison has becoming something of a rare bird of prey among the pigeons that are both the current market and its many flankers.

Poison opens with a spicy dark melange of orange blossom, plum, and rosewood. Mace, coriander, anise and pimento give this dark fruity floral a fathomless rounded feel for which Poison would become known, while the woody tones in the top prevent sweetness from overtaking. The heart is a dense kitchen sink of indole, honey, and cinnamon, with jasmine and rose performing their usual duties alongside muguet and a well-concealed tuberose, adding a dirty skin feel accentuated by blackberry and pasty labdanum. Each tier of this perfume could almost be a whole perfume unto itself, such is the complexity here, but the final woody and animalic resting place of amber, opoponax, sandalwood, cedar, and musk is what keeps Poison pulsing all night. The plum and blackberries in particular give a sort of wilted fruit accord that flits and flickers through the florals, spice, and woods, which make the "poison apple" design of the bottle all the more appropriate. Sillage and longevity are incalculable, so don't try to wear Poison casually, because perfumer Jean Guichard made sure it won't let you. This stuff always has been and always shall be divisive, so no context for appropriate use is given. If you have to ask if you should wear Poison, then you shouldn't.

Poison to me feels like oneupmanship against Coco Chanel (1984), which itself was a reaction to perfumes in general becoming more virile into the 80's after an early period of mega-mossy fougères or stiff leathers for guys, plus extremely dense tuberose florals and sharp green chypres for women leading out of the 70's. Perfume overall was increasingly daring and rising in a fever pitch towards utter pandemonium of excess by decade's end, which makes the "fresh" olfactive reset button into the 90's all the more disappointing to enthusiasts who lived it. Poison however, seemed to whether this change gracefully at first, earning flankers that have extended its stay. One such flanker, Hypnotic Poison (1998), has proved more popular than the original, albeit not more challenging or iconic. I really like Poison for its "forbidden fruit" vibe, and although it lays heavier than a drum of lead, I could see anyone who is genderfluid pull this off with the same ease, just not in an office space, a casual setting, or as history has shown, a restaurant. Test if feeling tempted, and wear if you dare... Thumbs up.