Christian Dior will follow last year’s Escale à Portofino, the first entry in a projected series of “fragrance cruise collections”, with Escale à Pondichéry:
…the “Escales de Dior” collection continues its journey. Today, the Orient glides by on an exotic passage to India. The former trading post of the French East India Company, Pondicherry is the new destination for Parfums Christian Dior.
Above all, the spirit of these new fragrances is expressed through the link between the raw materials and the chosen destinations, true sources of inspiration and lands of culture. While a Mediterranean and citrus breeze fluttered over Portofino, now François Demachy, Perfumer-Creator for Dior, has chosen India and its exceptional ingredients: jasmine, sandalwood and tea, with its flourishing plantations and varieties on the Indian peninsula. The perfumer has selected a black tea enwrapped in a fresh and light signature that harmonizes with a spirit of happy insouciance.
Additional notes include cardamom.
Christian Dior Escale à Pondichéry will launch in June, but is not expected in the US until July. It will be available in 75 and 125 ml Eau de Toilette. (via tfwa)
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TEA??!!!??!!! I’ve been wanting a good tea scent. Must try this.
Black tea w/ jasmine & cardamom sounds perfect to me too…and the Portofino was very nicely done. Looking forward to this.
Me too. Sounds good to me!
Goodness knows I have happy insouciance in spades! lol
I hope they are inferring “light hearted and carefree” rather than blase indifference….clearly the marketing team got a ‘word-of-the-day’ calendar for Christmas…
I find the bottle strangely attractive…and while I’m not normally a Dior fan, I’m liking the sound of these…the only decent ‘perfume counter’ in the area is an Ulta store…I’ll have to call and see it they’re going to have these for sniffing.
Testing Frapin for the next couple days… and Byredo Pulp—first try didn’t go so well—why does no one warn a body to apply only the tiniest drop….as I was enveloped in a cloud of perfume…..
I have seen the Portofino at Nordstrom, and possibly elsewhere but that’s all I remember.
Byredo Pulp! Great stuff, very strong.
Yes, Pulp is quite strong. I tried a spritz one day, and when I arrived home after work, my cat (who usually greets me at the door at full-gallop) came to a screeching halt from 5 ft away…..
The Nordstrom SA told me that line is exclusive to Nordstrom when I was looking at the Portofino. Who knows?
I could sure use some happy insouciance, I wonder if it will transform me? Sounds terrific.
Right, that’s me and one big fat upcoming unsniffed purchase
Done!
you ordered this new one? like a pre-order? how, where?
I’m panting a bit, can you tell?
Oh, be careful Daisy. I happened to see the Portofino last week (love love love the bottles, btw!). I spritzed on paper and loved it. I spritzed on my wrist and left. It went all blah on me, like tonic water + citrus juice gone flat. Such a shame, bc it was beautiful on paper (and did I mention the bottle?).
awww…I hate it when that happens! So let’s compare a couple of notes: how do you feel about Chanel Eau Premiere?
same thing here for Portofino, but the Pondicherry sounds great!
Daisy – don’t think I’ve sniffed the EP. I was a signature scent gal up until the last couple of years, and didn’t get seriously into testing until late last summer. So, way behind!
ah-ha, I was a signature scent girl as well….this blog has certainly changed that! I was hoping maybe we had similar tastes, that helps me to decide which of the many many many things available I should try (cant’ try them all) I need more “weeding” mechanisms.
OOOOOOH. Very, very excited – and I don’t know how to put this without sounding snarky about another scent, but – it’s very nice to see a South India-inspired scent that uses the stuff actually grown there as notes. (ie, Melon? Not so much.)
Seriously — don’t they grow melon in India? They must! Although will also point out that in Mousson, it’s meant to be water, not melon, right?
Ooh this sounds like my cup of tea. I do love jasmine tea! I hope it is as classy and as pretty as Portofino and that the jasmine or cardamom doesn’t swamp the composition. I had to stop myself from buying Portofino, but maybe this time I will lose the fight! (BTW I’m sure they do grow melon in India – I used to eat watermelon all the time when I lived there.)
I hope it isn’t as cedary as L’Artisan The Pour Un Ete, but on similar lines. I agree with Robin that it should be deeper, but I hope it isn’t over-spiced, as I feel many India themed scents usually are, hence I get tired of them rather quickly.
I so love cardamom though! We’ll see what they do with it, I’m guessing it will be summer-y & not overly spicy.
This sounds wonderful! My to try list is already growing for the spring/summer as I impatiently wait for my L’Artisan and PdN sample to arrive…
Quick question though- apparently the Portofino was “very exclusive” and hard to find in the US. Does anyone know what the distribution might be on this one?
It started “very exclusive” but expanded. As I said above, it’s at Nordstrom, and possibly other places I don’t know about.
Pretty bottle! Haven’t sniffed the Portofino – perfume stores being very thin on the ground out here in the sticks – but it does sound really nice. I am a sucker for tea.
I am currently heavily into lemming for both of them!!!!
I am trying to be good and here I am so close to buying unsniffed! Egad…someone stop me or offer to split!!!!
Check Scent Splits…maybe there are offers for Portofino?
See my comment above for a check.
I’m a sucker for tea myself.
Even with all the chatter about Portofino, I hadn’t seen the bottles till this post — they’re really nice looking.
Tea sounds good and I immediately thought of Kevin’s Great Black Tea Quest when I read that. I should sample both of these Escales for the heck of it.
Pondicherry & Goa are two places among many that I’d really love to see in India. Also reminds me of the setting of the book “Life of Pi”, which is very worth reading to those of you who haven’t.
That book keeps getting bumped by others on my “to read” list… which grows about as quickly as my “to sniff” list. Maybe when my 4 yr old is 7…
Life of Pi was a wonderful book!
And yes, wonder if this one will pass K’s high standards for a tea scent…
Hey! Marie-Helene over at Scented Salamander just posted her review of this…FYI!
Thanks!
Love the sounds of this one. Really like Portofino, the notes for the new one sound great and my best friend is from Pondichery…
Just hoping they don’t make it too “fresh”, but don’t think they will based on Portofino. I hope.
This sounds beautiful! I have and love the Portofino, and just this morning, I was wishing for a pretty jasmine to wear. Since I love tea and sandalwood as well, I see a matching pair on my shelf.
Sounds like you’re sold
Uh-oh. My list for ‘Tea’ scents to try just got bigger.
Yep!
I’m looking forward for this one, portofino was too much citrus for me ^^ I hope it will be as sophisticated as my personnal fantasy about Pondichery. I remember studying maths for the Baccalaureat nationwide highschool exam and the pondichery papers always used to be the toughest (very personnal interpretation isn’t it
We shall see…I like citrusy myself, but will be fine w/ me if it isn’t so citrusy as Portofino.
I usually hate jasmine, but jasmine with black tea should be ok
I neeeed to try this!!!!!
Hoping it’s a deeper, spicier version of L’Artisan The Pour Un Ete.
I love sandalwood, and enjoy tea as well, so this one really intrigues me. I’m curious about how heady this will be. I usually pull out sandalwood fragrances for fall/winter, but this seems like it’s geared more toward being more of a light, warm-weather fragrance?
I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t a warm weather scent given the “cruise” aspect.
This sounds great! Sign me up for some “spirit of happy insouciance” in a pretty bottle! Thanks for the article, Robin.
Hope this one will live up to everyone’s expectations, including mine
I tried Escale a Portofino at Sephora. Nice, but too high pitched. I have been at Portofino and the perfume didn’t evoke me that trip, like Un jardin en Mediterranee is able to pull off the hat Crete instantly.
And what is all this folie with India? I know, the public would hardly buy some less posh locations. Funny enough, they make escale at a former French colony. Imagine Dior Escale a Bombay…
I tend to like high-pitched myself, but I know not everybody does!
can you explain “high pitched” ?? as in too sharp and citrus? tangy?
Sorry, but I’m still new to the language. Teach me oh wise ones.
You know how some citrus openings can smell almost screechy?? I wish I knew a better way to explain it, but it’s a sensation more than a smell, and not all that different from the sensation of eating sour citrus, maybe? And it’s hard to make citrus too screechy for me…
Escale a Portofino is a gorgeous new Eau de Cologne style fragrance, very classical herbal citrus, very high quality, unisex, summery, in a great bottle. A bit like the divine Eau de Rochas but paler and more casual. All very retro, and in a good way. I spray it on any time I’m at an airport… one of the first places on my wish list. Looking forward to sniffing this one!
Unfortunately I’m not in airports enough…if the new one is great, I’ll just have to buy it!
You know, in Europe Portofino now can be found in any department store. I meant to characterize it in a way by that airport remark, as it’s so refreshing and understated (I would like to wear anything too strong in an airplane…). It has that timeless cologne feel which I love so much, but lingers longer.
It’s ‘only’ a variation on the classical EdC theme, but a very good one. And Dior didn’t have one before, or did they? In this regard, there is nothing particularly feminine about it. It’s so dry, almost a bit Eau Suavage-ish, which might explain why some ladies here found it too sharp or bitter.
I meant to say “(would NOT like to […] …)”
They had Dior Eau Fraiche, although that is not so well known or easy to find now.
Now they both are on my wish list…
Hope you’ll like them then
Imagine my surprise yesterday when , while sniffing around and looking for new releases I found a bottle of Pondichery!!!
I have not seen the Scales (Portofino) outside Duty Free shops before! It seems that the economic crisis is forcing manufacturers to “expand” their distribution from “exlusive” to “wherever you can sell a bottle please!!”
It does smell like tea, but not black tea to me…
I know I’m getting boring with the “It reminded me off” but it seems as I become older every new release reminds me of an old one, except for a very few lucky ones.
This smells to me VERY MUCH LIKE H2O+ Plus Green Tea Fragrance. As a matter of fact I looked around in H2O+ site to see if they still l had it. But it seems like they killed all fragrances, male and female except their signature Mariel, which smells to me like a Calone bomb.
Oh dear, that does not sound like what I was after at all!
i love Life of Pi
Dior Pondicherry smelt amazing.. for the first two minutes. i tried it at colombo airport (excellent selection of classic/hard to find perfume :AND duty free!) the smell faded into something cheap in a few minutes followed by nothingness.