Dioressence
Christian Dior (1969)

Max Gavarry's 1979 Dioressence smells like the hue of green chalcedony, somewhat polished and glossed, opening up with refracted light aldehydes and dusky leaves of patchouli. It has a texture of granularity, each bit of flora and foliage mosaic-like to the nose.

At first I pondered as to whether I was ready for what seemed to be such a stiff-upper-lip chypre, but it grew on me after a second wear (that second wear can mean a huge difference when getting acquainted with a scent!). Our second date had us drinking old fashioned and reflecting on our salad days, while I gushed over how a cinnamon carnation geranium trinity always steals my heart. What a charmer you are, Dioressence.

Then it was all fully revealed, gold-flecked oakmoss, candid, dry and big as all outdoors. I think of the smell of the liquidambar leaves, multicolored, falling steadily in autumn, creating a pile on the lawn, their rascally, spiky seed pods and knowing that in their trees flows this peculiar resin, pungent, reminiscent of styrene and petrol, and I realize its appearance here, fixating the patchouli pageantry and mossy mass of Dioressence's base. There is furthermore an animalic something or other, hidden in the shadows.

Warning: this one isn't for beginners, or for perhaps intermediate level sniffers, it certainly may not even be for the most experienced, but if you want to enter further into the deep, dark woods of green chypres, this may be of pointed interest to you.

This is very captivating! Slightly dustily woody, a bit of sweetness here, a bit of bitterness there. I feel like they're distant relatives with Cacharel's LouLou - but Dioressence feels richer and much more refined. I could not stop smelling my arm.

Like a Victorian home that has been through many families. There is birth, love, dreams, death, a flurry of memories... Happy, sad, painful. This fragrance is the breath you draw in. Dioressence is a real classic beauty. It reminds me of those wonderful chypre and oakmoss creations with that unmistakable vintage elegance. A little Jolie Madame, a little Givenchy III. Glamorous and alluring. It goes from executive decisions in the morning to a theater function in the evening, before winding in an underground club.

Opening with a minor avalanche of sparkling insecticide aldehydes, overflowing oakmosses are next, beating out a baseline with a patchouli that will last the entire tune through. The melody itself is carried from the off by a charming, dry, somewhat spicy carnation that is filled in the heart by a string section of flowers with some support from attendant aromatics. The long dry down, so typical of Dior, sees a smoky vetiver and amber. In short seductive mossy oakmoss rules at first then, like a curtain being raised, the spice and flowers start to insinuate themselves. So subtle, yet intriguing. Like a woman you want to discover.

Luca Turin writes - Dioressence has been through multiple versions and rates it between four and two stars.
The bottle I have isn’t the version shown in the picture above but one from 1995, a ribbed column in a blue mosaic box.
The juice is an uneasy balance of resiny orange chypre and milky amber, and we all know that milk and orange don’t mix.

I have no idea what the original Dioressence, or any of its subsequent reformulations, smelled like. Nor do I care. Because what is wafting up from my wrist right now, from a bottle purchased from Saks just days ago, smells absolutely fantastic.

I struggle to express just how happy these kinds of outsized, kitchen-sink green/chypre/orientals make me. Spraying them instantly tunes the world right up to eleven, eradicating with a great big "hell yes" yop every single scolding voice that pushes for attenuation and restraint.

Screw that. I'm in the mood for clearing elevators.

My review is for recent incarnation, poss from 2016.
I want to like this as on paper its just up my alley but it is almost too overpowering for my tastes. Its a big patchouli bomb.If I spray very lightly I can just about get away with it and there are elements that I love but I think there is a bit of vanilla and too much of something else I can't place in the drydown,its compelling but a bit repellent at the same time.Will persevere as I blind bought a big bottle.
I did put some in the rinse water when I hand washed a silk scarf the other week and its smells lovely on the fabric so maybe that's the way to go with this baby!