Mine is coming.....
The New Male is Female. Female DeLuxe! This Fall it became clear that there is no more stereotype gender in the masculine fragrances. The flower was a daring introduction in the recent masculine area but it did not work. Not because it was too floral and too feminine. It was not fatale enough! Men in Europe like oriental perfumes, sweet and sensual to saturation like the vanilla potions women used years before. Another change started to happen in the packaging. Some new bottles are luxurious and look precious & sensual like any feminine potion. Is Eve the new Adam?
In terms of scent, what I have smelled recently (the fall launches) are not just very oriental, sweet, sexy, but they have lost the macho top notes. Some masculine perfumes are excellent to illustrate the feminine power dressing now en vogue - with 80's padded shoulders. The first example today is the latest Dior creation (the house that destroyed Diorissimo & Miss Dior).
Fahrenheit absolute is a very special perfume. Not extremely innovative, but very good and with an excellent packaging. Fahrenheit used to be a major scent of the late 80's early 90's - original, sophisticate, worn by many business men, loved by many women and hated by many others (the green violet can do that!). But the new Absolute is not just a flanker, nor an absolute, intense version of the original. It is an interpretation that suggests the deepest shade of that precious red, found in the original creation. It's all about flames. Not the top notes and the freshness of Fahrenheit were accentuated, but the deepest dark notes. Dior Fahrenheit absolute is an oriental with deep woods, smoky notes, amber, guaiac, some soft and precious leather elements and maybe some oud elements (not very obvious). The top is very sharp and aromatic with bitter ingredients that will cut your heart. There is something intoxicating inside - imagine an oriental palace with beautiful wood sculptures and intricate decorations that are on fire. You see beauty and death, and above all, an absolute pleasure. The woody note with dark ingredients and ashes reminds me both Black Bvlgari and Patchouli Le Labo - but in a hyper sweet context. What is sweet and soft in the drydown (very coumarine) might not be so original because it shows similar points with other 2 recent launches - Givenchy Play Intense and La Nuit de l'Homme - but this time there is more character with myrrh and incense (less) and mossy elements. In Dior Fahrenheit absolute the leather note is brutal and has a similar style to ELO fragrances. The official image of the perfume is 100% correct - you smell fire, magma, heat, earth, all in a perfect cohesion while on my skin this fire becomes a sweet perfume with a powdery mossy drydown.
Dior Fahrenheit absolute does not reinvent perfumery (Le Male and Armani Code have been there already) but claims it with style. It takes the best from the original creation and the best from the sweet oriental woody note that has been around in the male area for several years. It has character and strength. Dior Fahrenheit absolute is a true Fire Bird in a tormented market.