Pure Poison Eau de Parfum

Three perfumers worked on Dior Pure Poison Eau de Parfum, Carlos Benaïm, Dominique Ropion and Olivier Polge, and between them they produced the cleanest and most reserved member of a famously loud family.

Bergamot opens it with a crisp and slightly bitter citrus brightness, which sets the tone immediately: where the rest of the Poison line goes dark and heavy, this one goes white and luminous. Orange blossom is the heart of the composition and the material that does most of the work, sweet and waxy with a honeyed depth and a green freshness at the edges, the most elegant of the white flowers and the hardest to use without tipping into soap. White musk then carries it all the way out, soft and warm and close to the skin, smoothing the flower and giving the fragrance its clean, slightly powdery finish.

A three material row, which makes this a short composition by design. It has no second act, and that is the right decision for a scent whose appeal is its polish. At eau de parfum strength it lasts well, usually a full working day, and it projects moderately for the first hour before settling in quietly. Two sprays is plenty and it takes a third in cold weather without becoming heavy.

It works year round, which few fragrances in this family manage, and it is as comfortable in an office as at dinner. Sold to women, it suits anyone who likes a white flower to be crisp rather than opulent. It dates from 2004.

Dior's perfume and cosmetics arm is one of the LVMH maisons. The founder was a couturier who insisted on being a perfumer too, launching his first scent in the same 1947 season as his first dresses, and that double trade has defined the business for the better part of a century.