Ever wonder why it costs so much to launch a new fragrance? Here's one clue: watch as Dior takes a group of journalists on a 3 day trip to Pondicherry to launch Dior Escale à Pondichéry. It's about 7 minutes long; if all you want is information on the fragrance, skip to about the 4 minute mark, when François Demachy, Director of Olfactory Development at Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, starts to talk about the scent itself. Many thanks to Kevin for the tip!
Update: the video has been removed from YouTube, sorry!
This one really intrigues me. Where can it be sampled? Saks? Nordstroms?
I don’t know if it’s in the US yet — you can definitely get it overseas. If it’s here, hopefully someone will comment & tell us where it is.
Pondicherry is a must-try for me. I was not terribly impressed with Escale a Portofino; its terrific opening almost immediately morphed into a generic “fresh” note on me, and only much later did the basenotes become barely apparent (I wonder if I’m anosmic to something important in the middle there). This one, a light, spicy oriental is just up my alley, though.
It sounds really nice to me too. Don’t think Kevin liked it though.
Kevin didn’t like Portofino or Pondichery? I sent him a sample of Pondichery on Monday morning…so I don’t know if he’s gotten it yet.
Oops…maybe I’m confused.
Or maybe I am….that’s never happened before!!! HA!
Maybe he got a sample someplace else too.
Daisy, clearly Kevin doesn’t appreciate it. You can send all the samples to me.
LOL…getting in line.
I had nearly the exact same experience w/Portofino (just didn’t get whalloped w/fresh). Really hoping this one is better, but Joe didn’t give me much hope below…
Escale a Pondichery is available at escentual.com for about $95USD shipped (75ml) .
sorry, second half of comment: I didn’t think it was supposed to be in the US until August or September.
Thanks!
This is a nice scent, though on me it’s more fleeting than Portofino (which I also love). I find it to be like a sweet lemon-black tea with cardamom up top, but I don’t really detect much jasmine. Really quite nice and continues to grow on me. TPC is selling samples, but I’m pretty sure it’s not available yet (Escentual has it for £43, about $90 shipped to the US).
Love this film also; India’s very high on my travel fantasy list.
It’s on my travel fantasy list too Joe!
I spent two months in India–it was the best trip ever, despite various mishaps. I spent a few days in Pondicherry; it was a sleepy, French-influenced beach town back then, though I’m sure it’s changed since I was there in 1993!
It looks like great fun…I’d love to go.
More fleeting than Portofino? Is that possible?? Fingers still crossed, but if even Portofino outlasts it, I’ll have to pass.
Boo—on me it outlasts Portofino by quite a bit. Portofino only lasted an hour or so on me.
Boo, it’s possible there’s something about black tea notes that are like a bass frequency I can’t hear well. I could barely smell that L’Occitane Bergamot Tea unless my nose was against my skin. Interested to hear how others end up perceiving this. It’s possible I also don’t spray decants with as much ABANDON as I do when I have a full bottle.
That one didn’t have a great deal of sillage on me either, though after initially vanishing, it did resurface several times…mostly after I got out of the over-ACed store.
You know, I get the lemon and sweet black tea but no jasmine either! Virtually no floral element at all. I just spritzed a bit…maybe some flowers will pop out in the dry down…but so far it’s a citrus/tea sort of thing.
(In ordering from the UK, don’t forget there’s a foreign transaction fee to add to your purchases. But escentual does ship pretty darn quickly.)
Thanks for the tip on the samples. Add that one to The List. I seem to be ordering things from TPC on a weekly basis.
I should just start giving them a cut of my paycheck up front every month.
they’d prefer ‘direct deposit’……
Pre-tax monthly electronic transfer would be nice…
Maybe we could find a doc to prescribe perfume as aromatherapy, and pay it out of HSAs or medical cafeteria plans…
I loved this film too. The quick shots of everything Indian made me really feel India. Great direction!
R, I too have sampled Pondichery, and I must admit that I was a bit disappointed. I love cardamom and black tea, but, unlike Portofino, the fragrance fell a bit flat on my skin. I need to finish my sample before I come to a final conclusion.
Hugs!
Oh dear. I’m losing hope. But hey, oh well — plenty more coming this year, right?
Don’t lose hope! I think you just have to think of it as a different take on eau de cologne, but a tea-based one. In other words, apply heavily and frequently. It’s not a “dabber.”
But that sounds like something I could find already easily enough? Or do you find it unusual?
To be honest, I’ve been lacking black teas in my collection. I just got samples recently of Tea for Two and Thé Pour Une Eté and it’s nothing like those, and it’s not like green tea scents. And Bergamot Tea definitely didn’t fill the bill. So for me, it’s unusual, but if you have some great lemon-cardamom-tea scents in your stable, you might not think so.
It’s true, there aren’t many perfect black tea scents. I’ll give it a shot for sure…
I agree with violetnoir, I smelled both on my way to LA from the UK and in 20 minutes Pondichery had evaporated from my wrist.
Ohhh, don’t be sad…. I’ll try it again then, maybe a sprayed too little of the juice on my wrist. But I’ll have to wait until mid August, by then you will have tried your sample and will have graced us with another beautiful review, to which I’m looking forward. I’m realizing by now that my taste is not too similar to yours Robin, but I’m beginning to recognize what I may and may not like when I read your reviews. It’s all a matter of learning another language, isn’t it, and associating words and images with scents, which are so sensorial and immediate.
Oh, it’s just as useful when you find someone who has the opposite taste, isn’t it?
But I was looking sad because I had such high hopes for Pondichery, and it sounds like it might not be what I’d hoped.
I guess I’m a bit late for this, but: pondichéry has lots of staying power on me (one day long, although noticeable very close to the skin only), I find it difficult to identify the stated notes, would compare it to Bvlgari’s thé rouge (which I like), but fresher, more cologne-like. I would love to smell it on a man too…(the type wearing long white linen shirts and khaki bermudas).
I prefer it to portofino, which I don’t like at all (too orange-flowery? it reminds me of shisheido’s energizing fragrance, which I bought years ago and have neglected after spraying it a couple of times)
Thanks Bee! I’m still waiting for a sample.