Despite being twenty years old, Christian Dior Dune seems to be seeing a resurgence — at least in the perfume blogs. Dune has been coming up a lot in comments to posts, and I’ve seen a smattering of reviews over the past year or so. Last week, I told Robin I’d like to review Dune for today. The very next day Victoria at Bois de Jasmin posted a marvelous Dune review. Apparently Dune is in the air.

Jean-Louis Sieuzac was lead perfumer for Dune. In 1993, Dune won a FiFi for Women’s Fragrance of the Year in Limited Distribution. The Dior website lists Dune’s notes as mandarin, peony, and vanilla. Michael Edwards’s Perfume Legends adds notes of broom, wallflower, bergamot, lily, jasmine, rose, amber, lichen, musk, sandalwood, and vanilla.

Dior’s web copy could mislead a reader into wrongly thinking Dune smells like an Orange Julius at the Jersey Shore…

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As far as perfume shopping is concerned, you will not often find me wandering in The Realms of the Well-Known (department stores). Call me a ‘niche-picker’ since you will find me scouring little boutiques (both brick-and-mortar and online) for unusual and little-known fragrances. Niche scents are usually expensive (rarely available at a discount price) and are often hard to find (and sample), so it’s always a pleasant surprise to find a ‘mainstream’ scent with a distinctive character.

In the early nineties, I bought my one and only bottle of Fahrenheit by Christian Dior. I enjoyed it but when the bottle was empty I didn’t restock the fragrance; the world was full of scents I wanted to own and there was no time for repeats. In preparing to review Fahrenheit 32 (posting tomorrow), I decided to revisit Fahrenheit. It was a happy reunion…

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