Dior Launches Its First Water-Based Perfume

When you think of the classic J’Adore Dior perfume, you might think of its iconic campaign from the early aughts — Charlie Theron emerging from a shimmering molten pool, dripping in head-to-toe gold. The heady, floral-musk fragrance instantly shot to cult fragrance status with its launch in 1999, and like all things Y2K, it’s now making a resurgence in a new form: J’Adore Parfum D’eau. Dior claims that this perfume launch is “NOT your mother’s J’Adore,” and “challenges the conventions of perfume development”with its alcohol-free, water-based formula.

The new J’Adore Parfum D’Eau features a milky-white juice created through a unique nano-emulsion technique, which allows two liquids that don’t usually play well together — in this case, water and an oily perfume concentrate — to blend by splitting the oils into nano droplets at high pressure. The brand claims the new formula is incredibly long-lasting and as concentrated as a traditional eau de parfum, which may be due to how the nano-emulsion technique blends the floral oils with the water base. The new formula is free of chemical solubilizers like alcohol, making the formula non-sticky and more hydrating to the skin. The final form is an airy, milky-colored juice, housed in the instantly-recognizable curved J’Adore bottle; the white coloring comes from the nano-particles suspended in the water through the emulsion technique.

As for the scent, like the original Eau de Parfum, the perfume smells like a sensual floral bouquet, featuring orange blossom water from Grasse, solar sambac jasmine, Damascena rose, and magnolia, but with a softer feel — the closest-smelling scent to a natural bloom. I received a sample of the fragrance before launch, and as a fan of floral scents, I enjoyed it — the fragrance doesn’t come across as super pungent, but still smells just as concentrated as some eau de parfums I’ve tried. As the day went on, the scent definitely wore down, but not in a way that felt significantly different from how other fragrances fade.

Dior hopes to bring a new fragrance category to the market with the launch of its first innovative water-based perfume. Time will tell how long J’Adore Parfum D’Eau sticks around — but if it’s anything like its predecessor, it’ll be awhile.