𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐢𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐚𝐮 𝐒𝐚𝐮𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐦 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠⁣

 

𝘉𝘺 𝘈𝘭𝘪 𝘉𝘰𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪⁣

"There's no such thing," said the saleswoman staring back at me.⁣

"Yes, there is," I insisted. "It's one of Dior's first men's fragrances. It's such a classic.⁣" 

I was flabbergasted she didn't know such an important fragrance. "I'm not talking about Sauvage. I'm talking about Eau Sauvage. Despite the name, they are not even closely related,"⁣ I added.

(𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯. 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵.)

I was at the men's fragrance section at The Bay (RIP) last year, hoping to catch a sniff of Dior Eau Sauvage EDT for the first time.⁣

I personally never would buy fragrances from The Bay, which, until it went out of business this year, was Canada's oldest department store. Nor do I go to Shoppers (Canada's version of Walgreens or CVS), and even less likely to Sephora. The prices there simply don't make sense to me.⁣

However, there WAS a very good reason to be at The Bay, which was that, like many brick-and-mortar stores selling at retail, they were the best place to try many designer fragrances. As my experience showed, the people working there don't always know what they're talking about, but being able to try the frags more than makes up for it.⁣

Finally, the lady seemed to realize I would not go away. "Follow me," she said, taking me to her colleague in a section of the cosmetics department that was all Dior. Dior Lady smiled as I repeated my request.⁣

"Eau Sauvage? But that's such an old fragrance," she said, wrinkling her nose. "You should try Sauvage instead. It's very popular."⁣

"Yes, so popular that everyone wears it. It's so overdone," I replied with more than a little exasperation.⁣

"You should try this one," she said, taking out a tester of Sauvage Eau Forte. "It's new."⁣

"I don't care if Sauvage is popular. I just want to smell Eau Sauvage!" I finally snapped.⁣

Staring at me for a second with an awkward pause, she finally pulled out a crystal bottle of what I had spent five minutes asking for. ⁣

The frosted crystal Eau Sauvage EDT bottle glinted under the harsh fluorescent lights. Diagonal lines in the glass hid fingerprints. A narrow ribbon wrapped around the bottle, with the name of the house and fragrance being in the middle. I was immediately smitten.⁣

Dior Lady spritzed two sprays on the back of my hand. I raised it to my nose and took a deep sniff. ⁣

Honestly, my immediate impression at the time was it was one of the best openings I had ever smelled.⁣

Lemon, bergamot, and something herbal, which I later learned was basil, unfurled. It did not smell floral exactly, but definitely had a complex floral element. Peeking out underneath it all was a clean and smooth vetiver, musk, and something ambery.⁣

It smelled utterly grown-up and utterly classic. Dior Eau Sauvage EDT reminded me of a different time and place, long before the Internet, when men wore white shirts with ties and drove gasoline-powered cars to 9-5 jobs and smelled put together even for a simple outing to malls like this one on the weekend, and only bought fragrances from stores like The Bay.⁣

I walked out of the store and drove home, constantly smelling my hand. If only it lasted longer on my skin. After a few hours, it was almost gone. Still, I wanted more.⁣

That's how I learned of Eau Sauvage Parfum.⁣

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐚𝐮 𝐒𝐚𝐮𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐦: 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞⁣

Going home and looking up the EDT on Fragrantica to see what people thought of it, I noticed another suggested fragrance that I had not seen earlier. It was my first glimpse of Eau Sauvage Parfum.⁣

I read that Dior came out with a richer, much darker, far better-performing, more resinous version of the EDT in 2012. In 2017, Christian Dior made major changes to the formula, essentially dropping myrrh, a resin often burned for incense with historical importance (recall the tale of the three wise men visiting Jesus, one of them bearing myrrh). This 2017 update brought it closer to the original EDT.⁣

Excitedly, I started searching for the fragrance. And that's when I realized that, where I live in Canada, finding a bottle of Eau Sauvage Parfum might be a lot harder than I initially realized.⁣

Here in the Toronto area, if you want the best prices for brand new in-box fragrances, then you can either order from fragrancebuy.ca, order from or visit Maximum Fragrance in Mississauga, ON, or order from or visit The Fragrance Shop in Newmarket, ON. I'm sure there are many other Greater Toronto Area discounter boutiques I haven't visited, DS Fragrances in Mississauga, for example.⁣

Unfortunately, when I looked up my three go-to companies, none of them carried what I wanted. Frustrated, I looked up big department stores, however, not even those had it. I even looked at Amazon and eBay, but whatever bottles I found there were fantastically overpriced. Finally, I visited Dior's site. It was not there.⁣

Digging for info late into the night, I heard whispers that Dior Eau Sauvage Parfum had been discontinued. Some folks said it may still be available in the US and EU, but here in Canada, it is close to impossible to find.⁣

Frustrated and saddened, I thought there was no way I could find a bottle. At that time, I did not want to search in the grey market, which is filled with fakes.⁣

With a sigh, I swiped away the window on my phone and turned over to sleep.⁣

I had no idea how wrong I was.⁣

𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐓!⁣

As mentioned, I have two go-to stores in the GTA where I frequently like to shop, my favourite one being Maximum Fragrance at Rockwood Mall in Mississauga. I was visiting this store about six months ago when I had a shock.⁣

Remembering Eau Sauvage EDT, I had decided I'd like to take a sniff again. There were plenty of bottles of it. The store sells all kinds of perfumes, including rare and discontinued fragrances, so I knew the EDT would be there.

I was subconsciously looking at the EDT when I noticed something a little different. There it was, on the end, a pristine, brand new, never-opened box of Eau Sauvage Parfum. It had not been listed online, it was being sold in the stores only.⁣

I immediately told the clerk helping me that I wanted to try the Parfum. Unfortunately, there was no tester for this one, he said. Undeterred, I asked him for the price.⁣

Let's just say it was a lot more money than most people would pay for a fragrance, even frag heads like me. Crestfallen, I left the store, bowed but not broken. I swore that I would make it my mission to buy it once I could, even though it seemed next to impossible now.⁣

𝖲𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾𝗌 𝖽𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗆𝗌 𝖽𝗈 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗋𝗎𝖾⁣

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞⁣

As the months passed, I continuously monitored the Eau Sauvage Parfum. It sat undisturbed, apparently unnoticed by store patrons. Meanwhile, I transitioned into a new career doing landscaping for homes, which not only was personally much more enjoyable, it paid very well too.⁣

I started buying higher-quality fragrances than I ever had before, until one day I realized it was time to get what I had thought of so many times over many months.⁣

As an in-store-only fragrance, Maximum Fragrance did not allow Afterpay or other forms of online payment in installments for the Eau Sauvage Parfum. Also, it meant I could not use online promotional codes. But they really did me right.⁣

I emailed the company's sales team at the time of an online-only promotion and explained the situation. They sent me an email granting me special one-time permission to use a 10% off promotional code. I was so happy that I decided to also buy Gucci Intense Oud (review on this frag another time), which I sampled and did love.⁣

As I handed over my hard-earned money the following day, I felt so much emotion and thankfulness. Not long ago, I had a hard time even buying cheap clones. Then I was (and still am) buying decants to try before I buy. Now I'm able to buy not one but two exquisite designers without Afterpay. But would Eau Sauvage Parfum smell as good as I hoped?⁣

Smiling, I hurried home to open the boxes. I wanted to experience this intimate moment with my frags 1:1.⁣

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞⁣

Once home, I carefully opened both boxes and got ready to start with the Eau Sauvage. The bottle looked like the EDT, but with a black ribbon around it with the name in silver. I pulled off the snazzy black magnetic cap and sprayed once on each side of my neck.⁣

GOOD GOD it was strong! I reminded myself to only apply one spray next time and on my chest instead, a strategy that indeed worked in subsequent wearings.⁣

Such a complex fragrance that I immediately knew was a masterpiece, one with scintillatingly rich and resinous notes. As mentioned, the 2012 version was known for its resinous myrrh, but to my nose, the 2017 version had no shortage of resin. ⁣

Off the top, I got citron, bergamot, and an abundance of lavender. As far as the opening went, Eau Sauvage Parfum did not immediately strike me as beautiful so much as elegant and striking, if that makes sense. It is certainly masculine and straddling the line between classic and modern, much more than the EDT, in my mind, for sure. This is absolutely not a fragrance designed⁣ haphazardly, it is very much expertly and intentionally blended.

The drydown, though, took the story to an altogether higher level in my mind. What an absolutely world-class scent profile and niche quality to my nose. Elemi resin emerged, along with vetiver, cinnamon, and star anise. These notes make the Parfum entirely more spicy, but not so much that it's a cold-weather fragrance only.⁣

The performance is also perfect. I wore it for 12+ hours, and after a dynamite and dynamic 3 hours, my scent bubble continued to project moderately for another 6 hours. Great sillage too, I was still getting gorgeous whiffs of it 12 hours later every time I moved.⁣

This is an absolutely formal and special occasion fragrance in my mind. It is so unusual and complex, as well as bold, that it stands out from the countless sweet vanilla and cinnamon bombs. If not worn with nice clothes or sprayed more than 1–2 times, it would absolutely wear me instead of me wearing it.⁣

𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬⁣

It's the middle of summer, and my parents are visiting Toronto from Chicago. With one spray on my chest, I chose to wear Dior Eau Sauvage Parfum to honour them and remember our moments together fondly. I have many other high-end fragrances to choose from, so I think that's saying a lot.⁣

I do think that while this fragrance is extremely difficult to find in Canada, you might more easily find it in other markets like the US and especially the EU. Dior Eau Sauvage Parfum is definitely a 10/10 fragrance as far as I'm concerned, and I don't have anything else like it in my collection. ⁣

If you like classic men's perfumery with a modern twist, then get it, you won't go wrong. ⁣

It's definitely worth the wait.