Dior Is Releasing a JOY by Dior Deodorant
Last year, Dior launched its newest fragrance: JOY by Dior. The perfume, which is said to smell like “the vibrant smile of flowers and citrus fruits, the smooth caress of woods and the serenity of musks”, had Jennifer Lawrence as its campaign model. François Demachy, Dior’s perfumer and creator, describes the scent as “an olfactive interpretation of light,” referencing “certain pointillist paintings that are rich with a precise, yet not too obvious, technique.” Who wouldn’t want to smell like a Georges Seurat painting!! (Note: if you love metaphors, become a perfumer).
Now your armpits can smell like “light,” since Dior is releasing a JOY by Dior deodorant, which you can buy for $40 on September 1st (if you can’t wait that long, you can buy their J’Adore Dior deodorant right now). The deodorant is encased in a jewel-like bottle set with a band of silver threads along the cap, which sounds MUCH fancier than the plastic tube my pleb deodorant is encased in. JOY by Dior deodorant seems to say: Ditch your perfume, and just wear fancy deodorant.
Dior isn’t the only luxury brand in the deodorant game. Chanel, Tom Ford, Donna Karan, Hermes...you name it, it probably has a deodorant variation (although, inexplicably, most variants were marketed to men). While we don’t typically think of something as UNGLAMOUROUS as a deodorant as something luxury brands would be into, apparently there’s a very real market for smelling rich.
Reviewers of Sauvage Dior Deodorant, yet another version of Dior’s growing range of deodorants, can’t sing its praises enough. One user writes, “I used to only buy store deodorant (Axe, Brut etc) thinking ‘designer’ deodorant is just a money trap... until I was forced to buy this during a trip (don’t ask).” While I hope I’m never *forced* to buy designer deodorant, if some were to fall into my hands, I wouldn’t be opposed to trying it. Anyway, we digress. The user continues, “From the first spray, I fell in love with the luxurious feeling of a beautiful scent coming out of not a pressurized canister but a truly awesome pump sprayer. The smell is subtle but not too faint to be used by itself. I am totally sold on the idea and will buy again.” Now we’re intrigued and wondering: Is classy deodorant becoming the new luxury perfume?
In the current GQ cover profile of Rami Malek, writer Molly Young hints at the trend of deodorant-as-perfume during a visit to Goop’s store in New York City. “He moves into a section of exclusive deodorants, and I recognize a container of Schmidt's Jasmine Tea deodorant,” she writes. “‘Smell this smell,’ I say, unsheathing the tester. ‘It's a deodorant, but it smells so good I would wear it as a perfume.’” In the story, Rami ends up buying the nice smelling deodorant for his actor girlfriend, Lucy Boynton.
If you do opt for a lovely deodorant, tread carefully: some perfumes and deodorants might not mix well. Last week, my friend Jess tweeted that she matches her perfume to her deodorant so they don’t clash and my mind was blown. “Multiple deods for multiple scents! A baby powder with an earthy scent would be an olfactory disaster!” she wrote. I’d never thought about it before, but this makes total sense. Two scents on your body at the same time are bound to clash if you don’t know what you’re doing. Since I resolutely do NOT know what I’m doing when it comes to mixing scents, I’ve decided I’m just going to ditch the perfume and wear a super fancy perfume deodorant from now on.
We have to ask: what non-luxury item will luxury brands make next? Designer tissue packs perhaps? Dior’s already made glass straws. It’s only a matter of time until our whole lives our branded™.
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
