Poison

Dior's Poison redefined what a fragrance could project when it launched in 1985, pairing a dark plum and wild berries opening with an intoxicating tuberose-jasmine-carnation heart over a heavy amber-vanilla-musk base - a formula so strong it was famously banned from some restaurants. SMEL.' Poison follows the same plum-to-tuberose-to-amber arc, opening on plum, coriander and wild berries, moving through tuberose, jasmine and carnation, and closing on amber, vanilla and musk. It captures the recognisable fruity-white-floral silhouette, but the tuberose - a genuinely difficult, characterful note to replicate at scale - reads noticeably softer here, losing some of the original's narcotic, slightly medicinal edge, and the amber base is lighter, so the fragrance never reaches Poison's famous, room-filling intensity. The result is a toned-down, more wearable version of a fragrance built to be anything but subtle. Best suited to bold evening wear, dates and formal occasions in cooler months.