Miss Dior Chérie

This perfume was the signature scent of my dear friend during our college years (when we met and formed our friendship), so it has a special place in my heart. The picture above is of her current bottle.

Before I say anything else about Miss Dior Chérie, I have to touch on the most important aspect of this perfume--it no longer exists. It was "reformulated" in 2011 into a significantly different scent. Reformulation happens a lot in perfume, and there are basically two ways it can go: it can be adjusted slightly, keeping the same general scent, or it can be changed significantly to a noticeably different scent. This is an example of the latter, where the new Miss Dior has a little resemblance to Miss Dior Chérie. I have smelled a new Miss Dior (not sure if it was the exact replacement for Miss Dior Chérie), and it was nice but not as interesting.

As such, my friend's bottle above was "sourced" vintage that she bought relatively recently. It was actually a tester bottle, which is why it looks so beat up and why there are cracks in the cap. Speaking of the bottle, I really enjoy this one; it's very simple, unassuming, but stylish, iconic, and cute. I love the ribbon around the cap (there are several perfumeries that use a motif like this).

This is an eau de parfum. It's a little challenging for me to describe the scent of this perfume, since I know it so well as "what my friend always smells like", but I'll do my best. First, here are the notes as described on Fragrantica (a perfume "community" site):

Top: Cherry, Strawberry, Pineapple, Mandarin Orange

Middle: Popcorn, Caramel, Rose, Jasmine, Violet

Base: Patchouli, Musk, Amber

This scent is very sweet, but it's not very "perfumey". I'm not sure how exactly to describe this, but some perfumes smell like perfume (maybe there's a smell of alcohol...or a smell of something artificial?) Personally, I find this to be an issue I have with a lot of very flowery perfumes. (Of course, Miss Dior Chérie isn't floral, it's fruity.) As you'll notice in the notes list, Miss Dior Chérie has an interesting "caramel popcorn" note. I can't pick out caramel popcorn exactly from this, but there is definitely a sharp, sweet, almost burnt-adjacent smell from the initial spray. It definitely stands out. The dry down is powdery to me, sweet and very appealing.

I can't list a price for this, since it's no longer available for sale, but I believe it was a mid-high range price perfume.