Hi there Looking Glass crew, Bois d’Argent Esprit de Parfum is Francis Kurkdjian’s reimagining Annick Menardo’s 2004 blockbuster for a 2025 aesthetic. Francois Demarchy also had a go at it in 2018. Of the Esprit de Parfums released Bois d’Argent is the only one I thought about buying. Sadly though, my finances have been in such a state that the dropping of AU$880 for it was unconscionable. I did want some of my own though so bought a decant from Surrender To Chance.

Bois d’Argent Esprit de Parfum by DIOR 2025

DIOR gives these featured accords:
Vanilla, iris, ambroxan, ambergris, frankincense, honey

I know you are all heading to high heat up in the Northern Hemisphere but this is primarily cool woods. It is a real step up and a little across from the original.

Opening spritz is a moist, fresh breeze of rooty iris, tap water and some unnamed greenery that smells like an artemisia or wormwood. Pretty soon after it gets a swipe of honey and cool smoky incense. Like the already burned incense powder that’s left in the big urns after a day of worship.

The first noted note on most lists is vanilla. I don’t smell it at first. Maybe it’s subsumed by the big players.

At about the two hour mark I’m well into the dry down. Charred vanilla and ashes. It’s fabulously dark, much darker than the original. Overlaid over that amber woods we are so used to in modern perfumery. It and oudh are like the oakmoss of the 1900s. Ubiquitous. I can hear the current crop of perfume lovers screaming when they get found to be unusable due to health problems.

Unisex, moderate projection and sillage after the first hour. It does keep pumping that gritty darkness quietly for several more hours, in a very introverted way. I’ll happily use up this decant but have no further need for more.

Aside from the price, or if money was no object, does Bois d’Argent Esprit de Parfum read enticingly?
Portia xx