As a fragrance I grew up with, used by teachers, friends, and family members, I'm startled to realize that I have no associations with this aroma, either negative or positive. So...I can enjoy this scent for myself without it eliciting any tainted memories. And enjoy it I do. Somewhere between a triangle of incense, cough syrup, and tanning lotion lies the olfactory pyramid for Poison. I've always had a thing for fragrances that are either sweet or powdery, but on my skin, Poison is both and it's the only 1980s powerhouse women's scent that I'll actually wear on my 30-something male skin!
Without much development, but with trails of sillage, Poison manages to be many things at once – graceful and subtle, however, it is not. A sweet, dark burst of fruit married to powdery florals and set against musky amber, I wear this at home, in cooler weather, at night. The packaging evokes the feel of the fragrance near perfectly – deep greens, black and aubergine – and I love the trail of sandalwood and opopanax in the basenotes. The rose notes are nearly imperceptible with the floral notes being all about tuberose…a note I’ve grown more and more intrigued with since I fell in love with Creed’s Indiana. But it’s the coriander, cinnamon and plum notes that I find to be the most startling. Overall, this is a warm luxurious velvet blanket draped across a satin settee in a candlelit room that has greeted many a trail of wafting floral incense. However, wear too much and in the light of day you’ll find the empty Robitussin bottles scattered under the settee next to the Coppertone.
Poison is a scent that has been copied ad nauseum in room fresheners, carpet cleaner, etc, but somehow I have never tired of it…one of the most original and interesting fragrances ever created in my humble opinion!
Sadly, this scent has always been to me a railroad spike through the brain. It always strikes me as literally poisonous. I tried it again recently, thinking that perhaps after a few years of collecting and smelling fragrances, I might be ready for it now. Nope.
But you described it, I must say, terrifically well. “Somewhere between a triangle of incense, cough syrup, and tanning lotion lies the olfactory pyramid for Poison.” Spot on, M!
I've been trying poison for a couple years, and still feel new to it and not like I know it that well. One of the few perfumes I have rarely used, I feel someone should be wearing and enjoying it. It's collecting dust on the dresser. Sometime in the dead of winter I might go back to it…
I did not realize that this was marlen's review, so when I read the following sentence: “I've always had a thing for fragrances that are either sweet or powdery”, I must say I was shocked to my very core…This is something I would have never expected R. to say
As for Poison, I confess my love for it too. I don't wear anymore, haven't for 13-14 years, but I have the fondest memories and think it is a remarkable perfume. Marlene put it perfectly “warm luxurious velvet blanket draped across a satin settee in a candlelit room”
Great review, Marlen, thank you very much for it!
Great review, M! I have always loved Poison, and I still have a soft spot for it. It is such a great composition, even if it is not something I would subject onto others.
Hi everybody,
Regarding Poison, let me say that the blackcurrant effect of beta-damascenone is quite remarkable here!
A great out-of-the-box creation!
Regards, Rafael.
This is a scent I always have to have around. I never wear it in public, though, always for myself at home where I can offend no one but my husband who patiently puts up with Poison like I patiently put up with his Jimmy Buffett records. I have been told in the past by former co-workers that Poison “smells like nausea.”
I always perceive this as such as having a strong lily note mixed in with the sweet myrrh.
I loved your review M but I do not like Poison – maybe it was the overused assault I may have suffered in the past.
Agree with T – also doubt whether I will ever be ready for this.
Hi everybody! Thanks so much for all your comments! Isn't it interesting that there seems to be a love or hate relationship with this scent? And even those of us who love it are somewhat closeted about it – we won't wear it around others!
I remember Poison as always being surprising with its unique fruity smell, when so many other things were strongly floral (Beautiful, Anais Anais) or strongly vanillic (Obsession, LouLou). Although Giorgio also employed a fruit note, to me, that was the height of vulgarity.
But Poison is still around, albeit, like Starbucks – everywhere! And the price is still up there with other newer releases, never falling too low, so the demand must be there…
A few days ago when I was wearing ALIEN, a co-worker asked me if I was wearing Poison – something to think about?
Cheers!
Marlen
I wore Poison in the '80s and loved it. To me it's always smelled like wine. I thought that was the whole gimmick of the colors and the bottle, recalling a goblet of poison-spiked claret. It's loud and assertive like most '80s introductions were, but I will always have a fondness for it.
Ooooh, very good image, WW, poison-spiked claret…being held in the hands of a certain enchantress who also is preparing to posion an apple for a certain youth with a fair-complexion!
I loved the review. Original Poison has never attracted me. I don't know if room fresheners copied it or if it was inspired by room fresheners, but I just couldn't love it.
Now Hypnotic Poison is another matter. This one I love and wear in the cooler weather. I must admit I was smitten by the ads as I have a lot of vintage red crystal beads. Seemed like an omen!
I finally went to smell Alien yesterday and again today. And the FIRST thing I thought was “Poison”
I am glad to see that someone out there had that impression as well. I cannot imagine myself owning or wearing Alien, but I will admit that I have owned at least one bottle of Poison in my life and enjoyed it. I can conjure that aroma in my mind when I think of it very easily but it was so overused for years, I think.
Hmmm, but now I have an urge to go try some on again for old times sake. Thanks for making me think about it again.
CARA – I totally agree, Hypnotic Poison is hands down the best of the bunch!
KIM – I sniffed my bottle of Alien, and absolutely…I get hints of Poison, though not quite as powdery nor as complex, and Alien is greener…
Great review of Poison. I wear L'artisan Tubereuse daily and over the years it has been described by various friends as both cough syrup and tanning lotion…interesting that you find the same in Poison – a scent I want badly to love for its unabashedly genius name, but don't because it's too complex and smoky for my taste.
I must say my other favorite perfume of all time (along with L'artisan Tubereuse) is Creed's Tubereuse Indiana, and I was thrilled to see it mentioned here on NST for the first time. (When I mix these two scents I feel like I am in heaven.)
But oddly, I have to say, I find practically NO tuberose note in Indiana. It is a sweet and heady fragrance, but far cleaner and softer and more powdery than any tuberose I've ever smelled (in a garden or in a bottle). The fact that Creed describes this light, sugary confection as a mix of tuberose and ambergris is truly perplexing to me, because those are such dark notes and this is so not a dark scent. Very mysterious…am wondering what you think?
Hi BLUE…
Tuberose can be qute rich and creamy like a gardenia, but can also be quite light and soft. The ambergris in Indiana is merely an accent in the base to my nose, barely there, and the tuberose must be mixed with other scents, perhaps a little orange blossom, as you're correct, it doesn't smell as heavy as it *should*…However, I recently tried Diptyque's Do Son and found it to be a light, pretty tubeorse, far softer and fresher than I had imagined tuberose could be! When I think Tuberose, I tend to think of Fracas, but since Indiana and Do Son, I realize there can also be a lighter side.
Thanks for your thoughts on the tuberose dichotomy! I must get to Aedes and try Do Son – sounds beautiful and right up my alley – perhaps it will become part of my tuberose triumvirate. In terms of heavier tuberose scents, I am really, really looking forward to FM Carnal Flower…
Thanks for one of the most interesting reviews and series of postings on this entire blog.
Once, my daughter insisted on having a pet rabbit so I built a pen(hutch) and we adopted a lop eared bunny. Soon, I was outside near the pen and I noticed this intense and unusual smell. I said to myself “that smells odd but familiar-It smells like Poison!” It was rabbit urine. Add this to the list after cough syrup.
Just wondering—why would anyone want to smell like cough syrup?
One of the first perfumes I owned after going through the traditional ones: Charlie, Obsession and the Elizabeth Taylor ones (btw why haven't you done any reviews on any of her scents? And also please do more Vera Wang reviews) I enjoy Poison as it is sexy and sensual. It can be strong so wear lightly but it lasts and in proper dosage is distinctive and classy.
Jenny
You've taken the words right out of my mouth.
It is a stronger perfume but once it wears away it's actually really wearable.
Poison is very powerfull. At the beginning it smells very fruity and strong but after a few hours it is very dark, powdery and soft. Really nice!
Poison was the first perfume I ever smelled. My dad gave my mom a bottle in 1989, and my poor mother (not knowing the rules of spraying) used to wear it for special occasions, but would wear far far too much. As a child, I imagined that's what real poison smelled like.
Fast forward 20 years. I was rifling through my mom's cabinet for safety pins, when I stumbled upon her now 20-odd-year-old bottle of Poison. I tentatively sprayed some on my wrist only to discover that it's actually quite nice when used correctly. Deep spices with a heavy syrupy sweetness over a woody base. In moderation. Who'da thunk?
Wow, amazed that that bottle has held up so well!
And your mother wasn't alone — everyone wore too much scent back then, IMHO.
My best friend (at the time) wore this fragrance in the 80’s. Every time she put it on, I gagged a little. I thought it was tacky and smelled like grape flavored medicine. I tried to like it, the beautiful deep purple of the bottle, but that only reminded me of the strange grape smell. Maybe it just didn’t mix well with her chemistry? When I tried it on my own it stunk even worse. The name itself, Poison, was perfect for it, b/c that’s what it smelled like, some kind of souless, 80’s trendy, POISON.
How old does a bottle of Poison have to be to qualify as vintage? I have just purchased a 1oz Esprit de Parfum, how old could it be??
There’s no specific rule, and no idea how old your bottle is, sorry!
The authoress says at the outset of her article that this scent does not bring any associations to her. I found that remarkable simply because this fragrance brought me a very strong association from the first time I smelled it. It was 1987, so it had been out for about 2 years. I was in Frankfort in, at that time, West Germany. Obviously women were wearing it alot then and as I walked about the city, esp. at the Palmengarten, I kept smelling this fragrance on the air. It was completely unique in my experience of scents. And of course I had no idea what it was. It was only years later that I figured out that what I had been smelling was Poison. Now whenever I smell a waft of it, it instantly takes me back to the Palmengarten in 1987!