DIOR
MISS DIOR ESSENCE

2025

PERFUMER
Francis Kurkdjian

blackberry jam
elderflower

jasmine

oakwood

‘A symbol of a powerful and magnetic femininity imagined by Francis Kurkdjian, Dior Perfume Creative Director, Miss Dior Essence expresses its intensity through a high concentration and a trail saturated with colour, featuring gourmand and sensual accords. Miss Dior Essence is both surprising and captivating: a jammy blackberry and elderflower accord elevates a wildly luxurious jasmine bouquet.’ – Dior

I’m no expert on Miss Dior (I only have a 1970 vintage EDT & a 80’s or 90’s one, but those are completely different fragrances). Compared to modern Miss Dior’s, this instantly feels like a fruitier, more youthful and more contemporary take on Miss Dior. Which will definitely appeal to a particular crowd and I assume Miss Dior fans at least partially match that crowd. That being said, it’s not a great perfume in my book; it doesn’t wear nicely and it doesn’t have the class of some of the previous Miss Dior.

I don’t love what Kurkdjian did with this new version. Scent-wise, I mostly get a strawberry-like fruitiness up top. Maybe some vague berries. Not super pronounced on skin; on paper in-store it really felt like a massive fruity blast, but it settles down quickly. What rubs me the wrong way mostly with Miss Dior Essence is the texture and feel that I get from it. It grows tart within minutes, almost bubblegummy acidic.

A more floral heart comes through and smells pretty nice. More mature and familiar than the fruity top, but it still feels too dry, too condensed. I’m not sure what’s going on with Dior & Kurkdjian… Regardless of what you think of Francis Kurkdjian’s work, in my opinion he’s always been an excellent perfumer when it comes to the way his perfumes were constructed, blended, however you want to call it. That no longer seems to be the case recently and this is another example of that. This perfume feels almost suffocated, stuffy… a bitterness that likens hairsprays and gets screechy over time.

The good thing is that it’s not cloyingly sweet and the jasmine-ish floral heart is not bad. Overall, it’s still a thumbs down… maybe an ‘okay’ as a quirky, teenager fragrance, but it’s not sophisticated enough to be one of the main releases for a house like Dior in my opinion.