Like countless times before, I don’t really notice a perfume when it’s new, sometimes because I don’t really ‘feel’ it and sometimes because it just feels pointless. Case in point, J’adore. Never really noticed it, never a fan, and yet curiosity spiked my interest a few months ago. Found a couple 1999 and 2000 bottles for sale, got one to try and then went back for a couple of backups. So, review based on one 2000 bottle and two 1999 ones. J’adore, created by Calice Becker, was a radiant floral that turned out to be the blockbuster Dior needed after Poison. Dune and Dolce Vita came with little fanfare, never really taking off and replacing Poison as the next Dior hit. J’adore wasn’t conceived that way but surprise surprise, it went on to become an overnight success! Milky, smooth, golden, scintillating, embracing…a smell that has been copiously introduced into almost every single scented household item, it went on to become known as a shampoo/clean smell that permeates dryer sheets, cleaning products and air fresheners. That’s where my lack of interest for it started; it became a functional smell rather that a pleasurable one. But take the original J’adore and smell it; it all changes. Fruity nuances in the opening, dominated by pear and melon. A cool floral heart with a light white floral creaminess ending on a woody and vanillic base. Simple. Uncomplicated. But the genius of Calice was making this simple formula smell expensive, elegant and golden. The complexity of the ingredients, the artistry of their combination. It smells high end. And that’s why it became such a hit. Everyone needed a slice of the J’adore pie. And just like every hit before it, J’adore became a victim of its own success spanning clones, cheap imitations, and eventually even cheaper reformulations that have only made it a bad caricature of itself smelling cheap, trashy, plastic. Now there’s no complexity, no seamless transitions from the ivy green notes, to the juicy melon, to the cool lilly of the valley and the creamy vanilla/sandalwood/cedar base. J’adore became disfunctional when it started smelling functional. J’adore started, for me, smelling like luxury body products. It went on to intrigue me, and I discovered its beauty in the original formula, fronted by an amazing Carmen Kaas in a pool filled with liquid gold. That was the essence of J’adore. When I smelt the current iteration, it simply felt off, like a room freshener that tries too hard. The new Millenium brought us many things, some better than others, but those last years when Dior was still rocking it, we had Hypnotic Poison, J’adore, Addict and ending with Dior Homme, we got the best of the Galliano era. While a victim of its own success, eventually feeling burned out, now, more than 20 years later, it begs to be rediscovered in its original beauty and formula. It can now be appreciated for what it was all along, a golden touch of genius!