Dior Hypnotic Poison

At a glance

Hypnotic Poison Eau de Parfum is the 2014 version of Dior’s Hypnotic Poison, composed by François Demachy, then Dior’s in-house perfumer. Fragrantica and The Scented Salamander both credit him.

It is a darker reworking of Annick Ménardo’s 1998 eau de toilette: liquorice and almond over absolutes of jasmine sambac and orange blossom, on a base of vanilla and tonka bean. It is sweet, dense and made for evening.

Creation and context

The line begins with Poison (1985), Édouard Fléchier’s dense plum-and-tuberose oriental. Dior turned the name into a franchise, and in 1998 Annick Ménardo composed Hypnotic Poison, an oriental vanilla of coconut, plum and apricot over jasmine, caraway, almond and vanilla. Wikipedia and Fragrantica agree on the perfumer, the year and those notes.

François Demachy was appointed Dior’s chief perfumer in 2006, after years in research and development at Chanel. In January 2014 The Scented Salamander reported the new Hypnotic Poison Eau de Parfum as a flanker to the 1998 fragrance and noted that the earlier flankers, such as Eau Secrète and Eau Sensuelle, had all been eaux de toilette.

Dior presented the eau de parfum as more natural and more gourmand. According to The Scented Salamander, the brand stressed the absolutes of sambac jasmine and orange blossom, called the atmosphere “extremely gourmand,” and pushed the liquorice facet further. Fragrantica describes it as depicting “the devilish side” of the perfume.

The composition

Dior has not published the formula. The notes below are the ones that Fragrantica, Parfumo and the 2014 launch report all name.

The original Fragrance Help listing gave the notes as liquorice, coconut, almond and vanilla. The liquorice and vanilla match the 2014 eau de parfum. Coconut and almond are documented notes of Ménardo’s 1998 eau de toilette, so the old listing mixed the two versions, a common confusion when one name covers more than one formula.

Why it matters

Hypnotic Poison arrived six years after Mugler’s Angel (1992) opened the gourmand family, and it belongs to the wave of sweet, dessert-leaning orientals that followed. The 2014 eau de parfum shows the next step: a house perfumer taking a successful formula, keeping its name and bottle, and pushing it darker and richer rather than lighter.

It also reflects the Demachy era at Dior. From 2006 the house brought perfume creation in-house, and Demachy signed new versions of existing fragrances, this one and Miss Dior Chérie among them. The Scented Salamander notes that the eau de parfum bottle went back toward the roots of the original 1985 Poison, darker and “slightly disquieting.”

Reformulation and editions

The 1998 eau de toilette by Ménardo and the 2014 eau de parfum by Demachy are separate compositions that share a name and bottle. Dior’s own site still lists both, describing the eau de parfum as “ambery and magnetic.” According to The Scented Salamander, the eau de parfum launched in Europe at €81.90 for 50 ml and €117 for 100 ml.

No reformulation of the 2014 eau de parfum has been documented. Samuel Sayre’s original listing called it dynamic and a personal favourite, and Parfumo’s users rate its projection and longevity above average, which matches that description.

Wearing it today

Expect a dark, sweet liquorice-and-almond opening, a heady white-floral heart and a long vanilla-tonka drydown. It is an evening and cold-weather fragrance, and it projects strongly, so one or two sprays are enough.

If you know only the 1998 eau de toilette, sample the two side by side: Fragrantica’s reviewers find the eau de toilette sweeter and more gourmand, while the eau de parfum is darker, more floral and more bitter-sweet.

Related entries

Sources