One of the styles of perfume I enjoy least is the fruity floral. Only in a few cases does it not end up as a fruit salad overturned on a vase of flowers. What I find funny is I like them by themselves just fine. I have lots of floral perfumes I enjoy. I have lots of fruity perfumes I like. Especially the class given the portmanteau “fruitchouli”. If you give me fruit salad and overturn onto an earthy patchouli it turns out I find that pleasant to wear. Which is why Maison Christian Dior Rouge Trafalgar tickles my fruitchouli bone.
It was two years ago when the Dior Collection Privee re-branded itself as Maison Christian Dior. I didn’t have an issue with the name change. It was the simultaneous release of 18 new perfumes; all but a couple of them mediocre and forgettable. Ever since the regrettable perfume dump the brand has seemingly gone back to the two new releases a year formula which was what we had prior. It has also lifted itself out of the doldrums as the fall release of Spice Blend was better than the 18 perfumes released before it. Rouge Trafalgar finds a way to also be better than those.
Francois Demachy
All the Maison Christian Dior come from Francois Demachy. Rouge Trafagar is no exception. M. Demachy has shown the ability to take trite styles and find something different. Rouge Trafalgar isn’t quite as interesting as M. Demachy can be. He does manage to produce a better than average fruitchouli.
Rouge Trafalgar opens with the sweetest of the red berries; strawberry and raspberry. Just for extra red fruit emphasis M. Demachy layers in a cherry. It reminds me of those squishy fruit candies which have a liquid center, so it squirts when you chew it. Rouge Trafalgar squirts with juicy fruits when you spray it. M. Demachy then attenuates that with three great choices. First grapefruit can be its tartest semi-sulfurous self. Blackcurrant buds provide a sticky green contrast. The key to my enjoyment of it all is M. Demachy’s use of violet leaf. It carries a sharp slightly sweet green piece. The violet leaf is the linchpin which turns it into a nicely balanced fruit salad just waiting to be overturned on the patchouli. That patchouli is an earthy classic type of that ingredient. Once it is all together this is a fun fruitchouli.
Rouge Trafalgar has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
I’m still not sure if Maison Christian Dior will find its way back to the great perfumes prior to the name change. If they don’t at least releases like Rouge Trafalgar don’t make me wish they had stopped making an exclusive collection.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Maison Christian Dior.
–Mark Behnke
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