I love both Christian Dior Eau Fraîche (1955) and Miss Dior Original (1947). I rightly suspected the new Christian Dior Miss Dior Eau Fraîche wouldn’t be like either of these.
Vintage Eau Fraîche teems with oakmoss and tart citrus. I took a decant with me on a 900-mile, one-day road trip a few years back, and spritzes of it — along with a thermos of coffee and several books on CD — kept me alert while summer-crisped stretches of the high desert flew by. As for Miss Dior Original, the jolie-laide leathery green chypre fascinates me enough that I laid down a lifetime supply of the vintage a long time ago.
Naturally, Miss Dior Eau Fraîche couldn’t live up to either of those fragrances. Lately my relationship with Dior has felt like a bad marriage. Remembering the early days of the romance — Diorella, vintage Diorling, my beloved Miss Dior, vintage Dioressence — I keep going back hoping to feel the same happiness. But the reformulations have consistently let me down. As I made the sample of Miss Dior Eau Fraîche from the department store’s tester bottle, I girded myself against more heartache. I needn’t have worried. Sure, it's not Eau Fraîche or Miss Dior, but I really like it.
Last year, Miss Dior Chérie was renamed Miss Dior, and the real Miss Dior is now called Miss Dior Original or Miss Dior Classic. So, Miss Dior Eau Fraîche is actually what was Miss Dior Chérie Eau Fraiche. Or is it? To me, Miss Dior Eau Fraîche smells more like the original Miss Dior than it does like Miss Dior Chérie. Really, though, it reminds me more of Chanel 31 Rue Cambon than either.
Perfumer François Demachy developed Miss Dior Eau Fraîche, and the Dior website lists its notes as bergamot, gardenia, and Indonesian patchouli. To me, Miss Dior Eau Fraîche is a dry floral chypre in the new, oakmoss-free modern chypre style. It goes on with a subtle citrus burst, but the fragrance’s woody-musky chypre-like base kicks in right away, giving its quiet floral heart the feel of being lightly dusted with white pepper and bitter cocoa powder. Gardenia buzzes quietly but clearly beneath the haze of the woody musk. The fragrance wafts within arm’s reach and lasts about five hours on me.
Miss Dior Eau Fraîche doesn’t smell especially complicated or grand. Neither is it particularly fresh. A touch of powder adds elegance, but the fragrance isn’t conventionally pretty or fashionable. That’s part of its allure to a perfume lover tired of the purple fruit-white flower-patchouli-musk treadmill. I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few Miss Dior Chérie fans are stumped by Miss Dior Eau Fraîche. On the other hand, they just might find that it's the gateway to a deeper appreciation of perfume.
Next to Miss Dior Original (ack! I don’t even like typing the name!), Miss Dior Eau Fraîche loses a lot of her personality. Imagine seeing a mannequin in the same pose as the in-the-flesh grande dame standing next to it, and you get the idea. I couldn’t find my sample of Chanel 31 Rue Cambon to make a direct comparison, but if any of you have smelled these two together, I’d love to know what you think.
As long as I have the real Miss Dior in my perfume cabinet I don’t see any need to invest in a bottle of Miss Dior Eau Fraîche. I like my oakmoss too much, and to me Miss Dior’s delicious freakiness is irresistible. But if I craved a new-style chypre with an old-fashioned vibe, Miss Dior Eau Fraîche would go on my short list.
Christian Dior Miss Dior Eau Fraîche Eau de Toilette is $66 for 50 ml and $87 for 100 ml and is widely available.
I wore Miss Dior so many years ago, I don’t even remember when exactly. But the Diors never quite plucked the right note for me, so I doubt I’ll try this one.
“I laid down a lifetime supply of the vintage a long time ago.” — That’s a telling phrase, and I would love to see a Lazy Poll with everyone’s answer, but only one perfume allowed! For me, it is vintage Vol de Nuit parfum.
An interesting read this afternoon, Angela, despite my lack of interest in the actual fragrance.
A lifetime supply of Vol de Nuit parfum! Now, that’s a dream come true. I love your idea for a poll of what perfumes people have salted away in case of reformulations or discontinuation.
ooh, yes, great poll idea.
Lifetime supplies of vintage AG’s Eau d’Hadrien (7 – 3.4 ounce bottles of pre-reformulated juice) and about 14 (yes!) 3.4 ounce bottles of vintage Guerlain Vetiver. I keep both stashes refrigerated. Veggie bins be damned!
That’s perfect! As much as I love crisp vegetables, I love non-turned perfume better.
Everyone knows those vegetable crispers are a sham, anyway.
They’re great for brining chickens in…
I have a lifetime supply of the perfume version of….what else but Farouche! And the heart-shaped Lalique bottle is so lovely.
Nice! I don’t think I’ve ever smelled that one, but I’ve admired it from afar many a time.
Farouche is so gorgeous! Good for you!! I have a small sample of it from some lovely person at NST. If I had known about it years ago, but I’ve decided to let it go. The parfum flacon *is* very lovely.
Hello Angel Angela! 🙂 Love this Review… even though me and Miss Dior Cherie have never been on Speaking terms in any Incarnation, you preach a good case to give this a whiff! 😉 I dunno if the Miss Dior (original) I Bought my mom a Good number of years back, at least 5 to 6 years, was before the reformulation, but I find it INTOXICATING! it is Simply AMAZING! It is Like L’air Du Temps got stuck in the middle of some forest and draped itself in Greenery and Moss! Throw in some Vibrant Lily-Of-The-Valley and Voila!
I truly, TRULY, DESPERATELY Wanted to HATE and LOATHE Demachy’s Reformulations… I decried them without smelling them. and felt bad for doing so once i got a whiff of them. understand i have never smelled the ORIGINALS of Dioressence or Issimo or Ella Or Ling or Rama, so i have no template to gauge them against But the Ones I have smelled That at are available now as fragrances on their own… I have to be honest… I Find them SUPERB! Especially, well no especially, (well Maybe Diorella) all of them are Complex and Exquisite and So CHIC! I know i am in the minority here, but if someone had told me these were the original brews and never having smelled the originals (Miss Dior Included) i would have been convinced. Although I DO KNOW better and seek out the origianals… I have to say maybe to step back from the Amazement of the Old Recipes of these fragrances and approach these new formulas with a open mind and a fresh nose and perspective and see if they can captivate you… I know many will say that i am not the hardest to captivate (they’d be WRONG) but They Captivated Me! Love and Respect To You, Mon Angel!
I love the classic Diors, too–definitely and with all my heart. But it’s so sad to smell the current versions next to older versions in many cases. But as you point out, if I’d never smelled Miss Dior back when more expensive and now-banned ingredients were used, I’d probably love it. You know, Miss Dior Eau Fraiche might be the perfect classic Dior gateway for someone without access to the older fragrances. It’s not a stretch to go from Miss Dior Eau Fraiche to the real Miss Dior…
Now you done do’ed it…. LOL! I am Trolling Ebay now looking for OLD Versions of the Diors…. BLAST YOU ANGELA!!!! EVIL TEMPTRESSS!!!!!!! 😀 MWAH!
You should be able to find some of the old Miss Dior fairly easily, but old Diorling, Dioressence, etc. can cost a bundle! Maybe in this case ignorance (of the old versions, that is) is bliss?
Just put on some Miss Dior pure perfume and it is absolutely heavenly. I have the teensiest little bottle, but a little goes a long way with this fragrance!
I can imagine how marvelous it is! I heard somewhere that Edmond Roudnitska helped in tweaking it to bring it back to its full glory at one point.
I totally agree about the reformulations. The new Dioressence is one of my favorite perfumes. After reading all of the hullabaloo about the reformulation I got a sample of the original not sure what to expect. I could not believe how different the original was from the reformulation. I still liked it but it was a completely different perfume. I find the new version to be more wearable, but I can understand people being really upset if they’re expecting the original and then get the reformulated version. I really think they should have come up with an new name for the new version. It is lovely but it bears no resemblance to the original.
You’re so lucky to love the reformulation! That’s great. I agree–the new bottle (about three years old now) I have is rosier and friendlier than the vintage. I can imagine the new Dioressence being much easier to reach for every day.
But I love my old stuff….
Hi Angela! I am very angry about the Miss Dior Renaming Scandal.
I was surprised to hear that this “eau fraiche” was even remotely related to the original Miss Dior!
So this is, at least to me, good news.
What I am afraid of is that people do not react to this change (as it was very poorly communicated, if at all) and eventually the Original Miss Dior has a slow descent into oblivion and is finally cancelled.
Why do I suspect this? Here in Argentina the stores are stocked with all the new Diors YET Miss Dior Original is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND! I guess this is a product of the naming thing. Distributors keep ordering “MIss Dior” and no one is aware that the “original” is still out there.
Angry Angry Angry ….
Oh, I bet TONS of people, Miss Dior stalwarts, are fuming angry when they open what they think is just one of the now seemingly regular re-packagings to find Miss Dior Cherie! Can you imagine? I hope the real Miss Dior hangs in there, I really do, and I hope those who faithfully wear the real Miss Dior don’t think it has simply deteriorated beyond recognition and change perfumes.
Thanks for the review, Angela! The original Miss Dior was one of my best friend’s favorite fumes, and it smelled fab on her. Didn’t quite work on me, but the CD Eau Fraiche was sublime in the spring and summer!
I’m glad to hear you liked this one, sounds like it at least deserves a sniff!
If the real Miss Dior (I refuse to call it “Original” or “Classic”) didn’t work on you, this one may not either, depending on how much you like the new chypre style. Then again, it’s less freaky and more friendly than the original Miss Dior, so maybe it would work….
It’s just that the original Diorissimo was THE Dior as far as I was concerned, lol. Still is!
I’m old school in terms of chypres – Oakmoss or bust! The newer types are hit or miss for me, but it’s a category I’d hate to see go totally out of fashion, so it’s interesting to at least check them out.
And freaky is good!
I have a tiny sample of Dior Dior that I wore last night–it has a nice freaky edge to it, too!
Whenever I think I Diorissimo, I remember that it was Christian Dior’s favorite flower, and supposedly they were heaped on his coffin. Isn’t that morbid for such a gorgeous and optimistic little flower?
I’m with you on the moss! Sometimes the new chypres overdo whatever woody-musky thing it is they use, and it sears straight through to my brain. Ick.
It’s certainly not the first type of flower that comes my mind when I think of such solemn occasions. It seems to be the kind of grand gesture he would have appreciated, though.
Yeah, that base can be too ‘clean’, in the modern sense, for me as well. When they overdo it, it’s like a spike to the eye!
Totally jealous of your Dior Dior sample, if I remember correctly it was a bit anamilic! *swoons*
It was fabulously animalic! I figure I have one more wearing out of that sample. I can’t wait.
Perhaps Dior was aware of the LotV symbolism – it is a symbol of both Christ and the Virgin Mary, and is often called “Ladder to Heaven”. In that context, very appropriate for a funeral!
Oh, well then lily of the valley really is perfect!
OK. So what happened to Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau? It was a green juice in a slightly more square bottle. It was basically a citrus, didn’t seem to have a strong connection to Miss Dior Cherie? Is Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau gone? I rather liked that one. It’s okay, though – I doubt I would have really sprung for a bottle even if I knew it was on the chopping block.
What Dior is doing to their line is really confusing to me. Miss Dior Cherie (now just plain Miss Dior) and J’Adore, perfume that by all accounts were great sellers for the line, are now unrecognizable.
From what I can tell from online comments, Miss Dior Eau Fraiche is a whole different animal than Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau. (Man this is getting confusing!) Maybe L’Eau was discontinued?
I don’t know what’s going on with all these Dior fragrances. Reports aren’t good on the formulations. On the other hand, they have the glamorous line with Mitzah and all the others. I can’t figure it out.
You can see a picture of Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau at Perfume Shrine here. It’s the green bottle:
http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.com/2009/05/miss-dior-cherie-leau-fragrance-review.html
I’m thinking it’s discontinued.
Honestly, if someone doesn’t read perfume blogs but is a wearer of any of the species of Miss Dior, I don’t see how they’d buy the right thing at the store these days.
I haven’t tried any of those fancy exclusive Diors, but people seem to love them.
Oh yes, I can imagine the confusion over the Miss Dior renaming! Heck, I’m confused, and I’m supposed to keep up on these things.
Messing with J’Adore so soon after its launch was just a sin!
Too bad! I know J’Adore has a lot of fans.
Because of the 31 RC resemblance, I will give this one a go. Through gritted nostrils, so to speak, as I am one of the diehard fans of the 1947 Miss Dior and the name change made me blind with rage.
Dior just does not seem to care about the confusion it causes with name changes and reformulations. Its contempt for its customers seems to know no end. Miss Dior Eau Fraiche is a case in point. Is it meant to be a flanker to Miss Dior (1947) or Miss Dior Cherie? Does it bear any resemblance to the 1955 Eau Fraiche? Does it matter? If Dior wants to release a nice new modern chypre, why not just give it a completely new name? (Answer – because that would require a new bottle design and marketing campaign.)
And that’s before we even begin to consider J’Adore and all its flankers.
I wouldn’t give them any ideas! Be just like Dior to get rid of the plum and the rose in J’Adore, and add the obligatory patchouli.
From the Natalie Portman print ad, looks like the Eau Fraiche is a New Miss Dior (Cherie) flanker.
I thought so originally, too, but by smelling Miss Dior Eau Fraiche it feels a lot closer to the real Miss Dior than the sweet-headachy one. But do smell it and tell me what you think.
Did they really butcher J’Adore like that! Ack! I haven’t kept track of its evolution.
Wait, have you smelled Miss Dior (Cherie) in its current iteration? They dropped the strawberry and classed it up. Your sweet-headachy comment makes me think you are talking about strawberry-popcorn Cherie, but the new Cherie is not a Cherie, she has now “grown up into a woman who loves,” I believe is how the presser puts it. Of course compared to classic Miss Dior, new new Miss Dior is probably still sweet-headachy, just less so and less fun for it.
I had smelled Miss Dior Eau Fraiche earlier this year and had been surprised by its bitter take, but within the context of new non-strawberry Miss Dior Cherie, that seemed appropriate. I thought they were (at least) structurally related – citrus, floral, patchouli, and streamlined. I like your idea of Eau Fraiche carrying on Miss Dior 1947’s genes; the ad positions Eau Fraiche as Miss Dior 2011 spinoff.
Those J’Adore changes haven’t happened even tho I guess J’Adore hasn’t been herself for years. But when a name isn’t important you can change what’s into the bottle to anything you want.
So, Miss Dior Cherie aka Miss Dior has also changed? I am SO out of it! Well, maybe the MD Eau Fraiche really does flank the new Miss Dior used-to-be Cherie. This is crazy making!
Yes, Dior ‘repatriated’ the first MDC a few years ago, ie brought it in house and had it reformulated by Demachy. Both iterations have their fans. Some people would say that the strawberry popcorn accord in the first MDC was well done. I hate both versions.
I once asked a perfume SA to explain J’Adore and flankers to me. I left feeling more confused than when I had arrived.
I have to admit that I did know something was going on with Miss Dior Cherie, but I didn’t care enough to try to smell it. I just figured it couldn’t be that good, and there’s so much out there to smell.
I think it’s worth giving a sniff, if only because it’s relatively easy to find. Do let me know what you think of it! It’s no Miss Dior 1947 (makes her sound like Miss Universe or something) but it’s better than Miss Dior Cherie by a long shot, I think.
As it happens I passed by a Dior counter this afternoon and gave myself a spritz. Ack. I’m afraid that after a pleasant citrusy opening, all I ended up with was a serious blast of department store musk. I got no relationship to either Miss Dior or MDC, but it revived an unpleasant memory of Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau.
And like all department store musks, MD Eau Fraiche grips the skin like iron. Sigh. Not for me. A pity in a way, as MDEF is reasonably priced.
Yes! That musk that makes the faux chypre! The very first time I tried Miss Dior Eau Fraiche, that woody musk was just about all I got, too. Since I detest it, I was formulating a rant of a review. After trying it a few more times, for some reason the musk wasn’t as prominent, and I got more of the rest of the fragrance. I’m not sure it’s worth the suffering, though, in your case, to give it another try.
You know, I seriously hope that someone at Dior marketing or development or whatever is reading this thread to realize what a product catastrophe they’ve developed. What a crisis, when you have a virtual “room full” of fragrance hags who don’t know what is going on. What does that say about their development?!? They may as well sell themselves to Coty and get it over with. I thank my lucky fragrance stars that Dior was never my thing really. As regards classic houses, I got hooked by Chanel & Guerlain, and for the most part, and at least they *try*. Dior is so in love with that stupid bottle that they’ve lost sight of whatever juice or name they put in or on it.
Dior’s accountants seem to be in the driver’s seat these days. Or so it seems. Too, too bad.
Seems like Dior is just continuing the confusion they spawned when they switched the name on Miss Dior Cherie. This does look related to Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau, both are based on gardenia – makes me think this is a “classy update” of L’Eau – ie more powdery less friendly – the way new Miss Dior is a classy-fied old Miss Dior Cherie. Just as new Miss Dior makes me consider buying Christine Nagel’s discontinued version of Miss Dior Cherie, this Eau Fraiche makes me want to chase down a bottle of Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau.
Thanks for the thoughtful review in the context of both new and original Miss Diors! Le sigh, so much to keep track of.
Oh man! I feel like we need to do some kind of family tree to keep track of all the cheries, eaux, fraiche-things, and Miss this and that classic original. Sadly, the family tree would have a number of items marked “deceased.”
Surprised the L’Eau is already gone, I think I thought Eau Fraiche was L’Eau when I tried it but the notes were clearly the ones you described. It’s bad marketing and it shows a disregard for return customers. Also I feel bad for the SAs.
I bet the SAs are going nuts about all this. Who can keep it straight?
Good grief, I’m confused again. Why didn’t they just call it ‘ Dior, cherie!’, and just be done with it?
It really does make the head spin!
These Miss Dior Flankers confuse me so much that I don’t know exactaly wich one I like most anymore!
I bet you’re not the only one!
Lol, Angela! So true!
Oh goodness. Angela because I trust you, I’ll give this a chance.
But loving vtg. Miss Dior and Diorella the way I do , this will be hard.
I actually don’t mind the Miss Dior Cherie, my daughter Alexandra whose 18 wears it well. I hate they’ve already seemed to tinker with it.
As they do, with everything. 🙁
But I love perfume and I’ll try almost anything once. You never know. 😉
It’s no Miss Dior (1947), but compared to most of what I see at the department store Miss Dior Eau Fraiche is a good one. I’d love to know what you think of it if you do try it. And I like your attitude about perfume!
I’d like to try this one out. I’ve tried the current Miss Dior at Sephora, and I liked it, but I want to get my hands on some of the vintage. Diorella is on my to-find list too.
The name thing is really confusing. When I go in Sephora or wherever, I see Miss Dior and Miss Dior Cherie. So if the current Miss Dior is Miss Dior Cherie renamed, what is the current Miss Dior Cherie?
I think I need a chart.
They’re selling Miss Dior Cherie, still? I’d have thought they’d take it off the shelves once it was renamed. It’s all a big puzzle to me.
Well.. I thought so. I remember a different bottle with a pale green juice, but maybe I’m mistaken.. I just looked at Sephora’s website, and they only list Miss Dior EDP and EDT, and Miss Dior Eau Fraiche, but not the Cherie.. maybe I got something mixed up. Maybe I need to make a stop by Sephora and set myself straight. 🙂
It might be even MORE confusing to stop by!
I stopped by Sephora on the way home from work, and I’m glad I did (and not just for the Kenzo Amour mini I ended up buying). I think it cleared things up for me. I realized that the first time I tried Miss Dior there was several months ago, and they probably just hadn’t switched over to the new ones yet. I was pretty sure after I tried on the Miss Dior EDP because I know what I tried that first time was not the fruit bomb I have on right now.
I tried the Eau Fraiche while I was at it, and this one is much better. I thought for a second I was picking up a slight animalic hint, but it kind of comes and goes. I like it. I still want to get my hands on some older Miss Dior.
You must have been there last time during an overlap time of the Miss Diors, it sounds like. I’m glad you got the chance to try the Eau Fraiche, though, and I hope the real thing–the original Miss Dior–comes your way in vintage eventually, too!
In our stores they sell Miss Dior, but the testers are still of Miss Dior Cherie lol, or maybe it’s not so funny…
Confusing! I imagine the traditional Miss Dior wearers who don’t follow perfume trends are pulling out their hair at all this.
Dior: stop the “purple fruit-white flower-patchouli-musk treadmill” – I want to get OFF!
A lot of perfume houses are running that treadmill these days, at least some of the time!
Someone should send this thread to Dior. It sounds like a “Who’s on First?” of fragrance, or a closing argument against flankers.
It’s totally an Abbot and Costello act, you’re right!
You’re so right!
Dior seemed to completely lose their collective gourds in 2011, didn’t they? I’m still reeling over the sheer audacity of it all. The Miss Dior/Cherie name-change fiasco; the shifting of all perfume development in-house, burning bridges with Givaudan, Firmenich, etc.; the Demachy-approved reformulations, pleasant enough on their own terms but lousy compared to their previous incarnations. (The only one that survived butchering, IMO, is Dior Addict. I get the feeling that Dior Addict is like the Irish Spring of the perfume industry – it’ll never stop being made, and it’ll always smell the same.)
The fact that this Eau Fraiche resembles the original Miss Dior rather than Chérie, however, intrigues me. Could this be a step in a more sane direction? I will seek it out for a sniff.
A sane step, or an accident? Time will tell. Besides that, Annemarie (above) had a horrible reaction to Miss Dior Cherie Eau Fraiche, so spritz with care!
Very interesting. I had just assumed this would smell exactly like Miss Dior Cherie (sweet and gourmand) with only the name being changed.
That’s what I’d thought, too, but really there’s not much sweet about it.
I bumped into this one yesterday. Like eminere, I was sure it smelled like Miss Dior Cherie (or Miss Dior now – I didn’t like both) with maybe subtle changes, but it was totally different and was so nice surprise for me! I liked it very much. It reminded me of Bvlgari Omnia Amethyste, which, in its turn, reminded me of some smell from my childhood – I don’t know what this particular note is (and now I see the listed notes are completely different), but maybe it’s green sap that they don’t mention in the list of notes of Miss Dior Eau Fraiche (btw, this list is strangely short). I’d like to think it’s birch sap I smell in both these fragrances that reminds me of my Russian childhood 🙂 Of course,MDEF is different from Amethyste and a lot more interesting. For me it smelled chypre-like, too, it was quiet but very long lasting on me, and I probably need a full bottle of it. I imagine it’ll be delicious on hair 🙂
I was surprised by how much I liked it, too–mostly for its old fashioned subtlety. It seemed to have more of the original Miss Dior about it than the new Miss Dior does. I like your idea of wearing it in hair, too.