Christian Dior Hypnotic Poison


Decadent, or plain ol’ weird?



There are certain perfumes that fall into the “learn to love” category for me: Gucci Rush, Aquolina Pink Sugar, Montale Black Aoud. The question is always, “Is it worth the effort of getting to know it -- all the wining and dining, the courting and sparking?”

And then when I do decide I’m clicking with a fragrance, I’m never sure if I’ve truly bonded with it, or if I’ve just gotten acclimatized to its bizarreness. As those of us in long-term relationships can attest, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between genuine compatibility and plain ol’ being ground down to fit. Or maybe those are the same thing.

It took a while, but Christian Dior Hypnotic Poison has worked its way onto my “approved” list. Hypnotic Poison’s powdered-milk thickness held me back for the longest time. The smell put me in mind of the just-add-water dessert rations you might find in an abandoned World War II bomb shelter: musty and only distantly edible.

Now, not only have I stopped crinkling my nose when I try Hypnotic Poison, but I do declare that upon occasion, I actually crave it. Hypnotic Poison has ground me down, and we’re in it for the long haul.

Fumies, care to share your reluctant perfume loves?

Hypnotic Poison is available from FragranceNet.com and Amazon.com, starting at $51 for 1 oz

40 comments:

  1. Coco Mademoiselle. :)
    I kept getting samples of it and tried it several times and couldn't understand what exactly was I supposed to like when one day I was getting ready for this thing and it was a perfect situation calling for Coco M. I don't wear it much but occasionally - it is just right and I feel great.
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  2. Montale Black Oud? You are braver than I am. I had a sample last year and saved it for Halloween. It was perfect; I went as a plague doctor.

    I would have to say that just about any fragrance in which oud is the dominant note still puts me a little off. It's that band-aid thing. But if it's buried back in the mix it can really be nice.
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  3. i haven't smelled this one yet, but i dreamed of the original poison last night.
    holy wackadoo hijinx.
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  4. Rice pudding and Play-doh. That is what HP does to me and that is the very best that it gets.
    Once, a long time ago...in a retail hell far-far away...I was a Dior Counter Manager.. J'dore Anyone??!! I tried to like HP but she and I could just not get it right and I moved on to Addict which at the time was the latest Dior.
    I have revisited HP since then and although I liked it a tiny bit more...maybe my taste have matured, I agree with you - claustraphobic!
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  5. Yes Chefronswife, rice pudding and Play-Doh about sums HP up. But it does find a groove after a bit, and I end up getting down with the almond-jasmine mystery.

    Ha-ha Olfacta, "plague doctor" and Black Aoud! In the bad old days of the plague, it was believed that the disease was bourne by smells. They would've hung a skull and crossbones on Black Aoud in no time at all!

    Ines, good Coco Mlle tale.
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  6. I was thrilled to read the comments on You Tube about Gucci Rush - now there's an arranged marriage if ever I had one with a fragrance. Got it for my 40th birtday and could hardly find a suitable face to present to the happy giver (the Japanese have a point: open your gifts when alone to avoid embarrasment) - I thought it was the weirdest, oddest, most unpolished scent I had ever tried. "Floral" the descriptioni read - what flower, I wondered - the flesh eating kind?? But since it was a gift I gave it a no. of chances and ended up appreciating it, without ever really giving in to its charms. I have come to admire it on other people, but I have a hard time seeing past the raw quality of its voice when it comes to my own relationship with Rush. My loss, I'm sure.
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  7. Junelady, Gucci Rush and I are still in the ring, cautiously circling each other.

    I'm giggling over the struggle to control your expression in front of the gift-giver.
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  8. Aww, I loved Gucci Rush. I bought it when it first came out & wore it exclusively (back when I was still monogamous). I was going through a divorce & running a bit, um, wild, & it was perfect for that time. I think it would be totally wrong for me now, but I look back on it fondly.

    And btw, I'm anxiously awaiting my sample of Amaranthine--your recent review cracked me up. Love it or hate it, I need to smell it!
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  9. occhineri, with your Gucci Rush background, you will be well up for Amaranthine. They share a lactic quality.
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  10. Retried this the other day, and my head is still stuck in the tart and my mouth full of pasty slugs. At the start of the vid I thought you said "vinyl weird", which is not far off it, actually.
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  11. Sometime in the nineties, I read that Madonna loved this scent. I was wondering the aisles of Macy's with my 85 year old Grandpa on Valentine's day in 1999 and being the sweetheart of a man that he is...He said, "Pick out any perfume you want, Honey." I immediately went to the Dior counter and picked up Snow White's poison apple. I wore it almost daily for a while. I seem to always have received a compliment when wearing it, too. To me, it really mellows and softens beautifully. To me, it is interesting without being overpowering. One night, while in a nyc club dancing my heart out...someone came up to dance with me and when we were finished, he said, "You smell so beautifully feminine."
    These are my two Hypnotic Poison memories and they are good ones. The reason I still reach for it to feel loved and appreciated.
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  12. PS: I just read through the other comments and had to just add my two cents about Gucci Rush. I was not crazy about it when it first came out, either. I was riding the DK Chaos and Bvlgar Black wave back then...That synthetic floral burned a bit and offended my senses just a weeeee bit. But I have to admit, I was and still am oddly attracted to it. When someone is wearing it, it is totally unmistakeable and I enjoy smelling it. I've been thinking about it, but don't think I can commit to a bottle or even a sample...I'm still not "there" yet!
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  13. flittersniffer - so that's a "no" on HP, is it?

    HTH - Madonna must've sold so many perfumes by now - she's a properly promiscuous fumehead who seems to know her stuff. I love your sweet HP memories - I can just imagine them.

    And wow, if you can't even commit to a sample of Rush, you're nowhere near being "there" with it!
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  14. Katie, what's up with your background? It looks like you're in a video game. Or the Tim and Eric's Awesome Show.
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  15. I like hypnotic poison but it is strange- the milky almond quality is sexy. I quite like tendre poison too though it seems to get the least attention.

    It took me a long time to get Mitsouko and then when I did I was under her spell for life!
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  16. I'm not sure where to post this - so here goes: Would you consider doing a How-To inspirational video on layering scents?

    I remember reading about it for the first time many years ago - the scent layerer was a chic French fashion mag editor who layered Dior's Coco with something else. And I thought: You have to be a French fashion mag editor to layer scents, and I'm not, so I won't.

    But then I started watching your You Tube channel and remembered the article. But I have no idea how to go about it. Please enlighten me :-)

    I do realize, however, that layering HP and Rush is probably not the place to start one's experiments ;-)
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  17. I like HP as well. I find it quite addictive, but I wouldn't dare wearing it in public. This doesn't come even close to unisex. But I still like it.

    Never tried Gucci Rush though. I'm battling with Le Feu D'Issey. I kind a like it but that coriander note... is intense..
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  18. I'd like to try HP, however, there are two things that if I pick up even a faint whiff of I slam the stopper back on the bottle and evacuate the area! Those two aromas are melon, I gag typing it, and the other is mustiness! I won't even have a front load washer since reading so many people complain of them being 'musty'.

    So I thank you Katie, for the heads up on something being musty. After all of the frags you've made lemmings for me, it is nice to have one I can confidently run from :)
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  19. Junelady, here's a recent post on the subject of layering:
    http://www.katiepuckriksmells.com/2010/03/viewer-mail-perfume-mixology.html

    Mr. Scent, I've not come across Le Feu d'Issey, but I am familiar with Etro Etra, which Luca Turin says is a toned-down version, and which I like very much. Hope to encounter LFdI someday.

    Dorrit, I'm so with you on melon's gag factor, although I mysteriously don't mind the suggestion of it in Dior Diorella and Kenzo Flower.

    However, musty's fine by me (but not in the washing machine). I enjoy the mustiness in Etro Messe de Minuit, Perfumerie Generale L'Ombre Fauve, and Miller Harris Un Petit Rien. It can read as a sexy closeness.
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  20. N, I excitedly checked my HP vid, hoping to see Ms Pacmen gnashing across the screen, or "Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job's" Dr. Steve Brule hovering in the background. But sadly, no. Just the same ol' bookcase and dresser in the background. My hopes are dashed.

    Do you mean that it looks like I'm in front of a green screen? Maybe the lighting and/or focus is to blame.

    Rose, we all know strange can be sexy, and that's what I'm beginning to learn about HP. Interesting to hear about you and Mitsouko. I'm currently dating a bottle of the edt to see if we have a future.
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  21. The chair and desk look like they're flat, like they were cut and pasted in the background with MS Paint so it's like green screen AND a weird video composite. That kind of tim and eric. But I would like to see Steve Brule review something, maybe one of the Armani Prives?
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  22. okay now for a sober post (ahhh it's a bad thing to drink lots of wine and then try to post without sounding like a total moron). I have tried to like Poison but it makes me run away screaming quietly to myself. I shall try again though, if I must.
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  23. Bloody Frida, it's very considerate of you to keep your screams quietly to yourself.

    N, there are variables with lighting with every vid I do, so I guess I ended up with the Tim and Eric effect this time. But I assure you, all animate and inanimate participants were actually there.
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  24. My recent reluctant perfume flirt is Miss Dior Chérie L'EAU.
    I didn't think I'd like it because of I'm quite put off by MDC EDP and the new and equally silly MDC EDT -- and I suppose those three form some kind of girlie trinity in the consumer's mind, right?
    Even though I'm still kinda in my mid-20s I don't find any of the marketing enticing. I don't like the Coppola commercial, or the girl floating around attached to a balloon shroom, I don't like the juice or the little bow. I don't find any of it cute at all.
    But the L'Eau, ah the L'Eau... too bad there's still a waft of the popcorn accord, though. Otherwise it would be lo0ove

    I tried Hypnotic Poison a few months ago but found it to be too heavy handed with the vanilla. Midnight Poison was a total scrubber, I was frantic in the bathroom, just me and one of those hardcore nailbrushes.

    My boyfriend gave me a cuteness rating of 7/10 today, but those are my two scents.
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  25. kz, do you get a DAILY cuteness rating from the bf? Cuz all that data would be too hard for me to process. That's the same reason I've never owned a bathroom scale. Too many unnerving stats.

    Miss Dior Cherie L'eau is a completely different animal to the MDC edt and edp, so it's solo as far as I"m concerned - no trinity there. Where you in on the discussion of it here a few months back? Recap here if you'd like:
    http://www.katiepuckriksmells.com/2009/11/viewer-mail-im-ashamed-of-my-love-for.html
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  26. Sheesh, that Tender sure is bonkers. But good to know that I'm not the only one who's not digging the popcorn.

    And yes, I have asked for a daily cuteness rating. On one day I got a 2/10 ???
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  27. kz, you're a glutton for punishment. I only solicit an opinion from my husband when I know I'm cute. And then it's, "Tell me how cute I am." I let him know there's no margin for (his) error.
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  28. KP - clever & canny ... but I live on the wild side.

    BTW, my nickname is Chubbs, can you tell that I'm a brave one?
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  29. kz, you're certainly cruisin' for a bruisin'!
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  30. Oh, wow. Hate Dior's Cherie...all of 'em. But I just finally read why...it is the POPCORN accord. Bleh. Thanks for helping me to resolve that. Don't like strawberry popcorn! At least I have that squared-away.
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  31. HTH - I am a little mystified as to the sudden appearance of popcorn in our perfume selections, but maybe it's just the thing for a night out at the movies.
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  32. I just tried this on yesterday and kinda fell in love with it immediately -- in fact, I think I may have said that I wanted to roll around in it like a chinchilla taking a dust bath...

    I'm also a fan of Poison, so maybe the jasmine is the note I should be paying attention to here.
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  33. brinnet,

    After reading your comment, I couldn't get to YouTube fast enough to type in "chinchilla dust bath":
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7o3o5K14Zk

    I never knew such a thing existed! And get your "awww" muscles primed to watch this chinchilla make a meal out of this raisin:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPP_sGuqNhI&feature=related
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  34. So I fi ally tested this today. I can't figure out if I like it...

    To me, it smelled like root beer and cherries in the beginning, which makes no sense at all. But I definitely get the clausterphobic thing, I both couldn't get away from it, but wanted to smell it...but from just a little fargher away. I normally spray stronger scents lower on my body than my arm, so it was justcall up in my face. But I keep smelling my arm like a freak. It is worth another go, but I don't think I will buy it until the fall. At the earliest.

    Sorry for scent stalking your blog.
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  35. As you know, I just purchased a small bottle on Monday. I absolutely love it - anise-y goodness and the drydown is similar to L'Air de Rien...a better review is upcoming, but wanted again to say thank you for inspiring me to try it.
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  36. Bloody Frida -- so pleased you found a new love. Now I shall attempt to inspire you to try Dior Bois d'Argent, because there are family resemblances between HP and it, and the same perfumer did both....
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  37. I first sniffed Hypnotic Poison at an All About Eve gig at a small music venue in London. Dimly lit, fairy lights, melodic ethereal goth anthems, and the most gorgeous enchanting fragrance floating around... its wearer being this raven haired beauty stood right in front of me, her locks backcombed to within an inch of their life, sprinkled with a little fine silver glitter dust. She sung along, she swayed in that way that only goths can do, twisting and twirling those lace-gloved hands...

    I wore HP for a few years after that, once I'd tracked it down. Its gourmand (but not edible) powdery weirdness is highly addictive and very hypnotic!

    I wore the original, matt red bottle, black spray pump and lid. Sadly, it has since bee repackaged and reformulated. Very sad indeed, as although still recognisable as Hypnotic Poison, to me it now smells safe and boring, those hypnotic notes have gone, and it has lost the magic that has me hooked all those years ago.

    I'm sure old bottles can still be found on eBay, but will take some digging.

    Sad times when things cannot just be left alone!
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  38. You've summed up the enchantment of perfume, Laura. The right one encapsulates your favorite time, you at your most alluring, most inspired. And it's so frustrating when reformulation breaks the magic spell.
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  39. I whiffed Hypnotic Poison for the first time a few years ago on a trip to Venice. Our intriguing Italian guide was bringing us up to a dock to jet across to Gandola Land in one of those little speed boats when I got a whiff of her perfume and it was magic! When I asked her what it was, she told me it was Poison Hypnotique by Christian Dior..and she but, she said..make sure it's the red one! I don't know if it was the magic of the day, or Venice, but Hypnotic Poison is now one of my signatures. I only wish I could keep smelling it when it's on me...it seems to go away from my nose, even as others can smell it. BTW get very wonderful compliments when I wear it...but then again...maybe it's just me...haaaaa!
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  40. Princess DvB, that is a wonderfully heady memory to have associated with HP!
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