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Saturday Question: What Is Your Favorite Diptyque Perfume?

When I just started my niche perfume journey (note to myself: ask Vanessa of Bonkers about Perfume what’s wrong with this word – she’s usually censoring it in her posts), Diptyque was one of everybody’s favorite brands, and Tam Dao was one of the better-known perfumes from the brand. That’s why I was a little surprised with everyone’s answers to my question in the previous post (Rusty the Cat: On Favorite Note): perfume that everyone loved a decade ago, today is nobody’s favorite. So, I got curious what my readers think about Diptyque’s perfumes today.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #56:

What Is Your Favorite Diptyque Perfume?

Do you own and still wear any? Do you check their new offerings? Do you look forward to what the brand does next?

My Answer

It is a somewhat strange situation: while I have a positive opinion of Diptyque, it is not “my brand”: out of 23 perfumes that I tried, I love and own a bottle of Volutes EdT and enjoy wearing (usually while in Hawaii) Eau Duelle from a travel spray. I probably wouldn’t mind to get a travel spray of Eau de Minthe, but I’m not in a hurry to do so. And on my vSO I like Tam Dao (he still has about 1/5th of volume in the original square bottle) and 34 Boulevard Saint Germain (a travel spray). But at least 15 perfumes do not work for me at all. So, while I still check whatever new the brand comes up with, I do not have either hopes or expectations. But I will keep testing whatever they release – as long as I can get to do it for free at the local Nordstrom.

https://orpheon.diptyqueparis.com/en_us/scene

 

What Is Your Favorite Diptyque Perfume?

46 thoughts on “Saturday Question: What Is Your Favorite Diptyque Perfume?”

    • Philosykos is considered a “gold standard” for fig fragrance, but somehow for me it didn’t get to the top of the list for this note, so I didn’t go beyond a sample. It’ll be interesting to try it again.

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  2. Vanessa may have an entirely different reason for banning the word journey, but it makes me cringe because it has become so hackneyed, at least here in the UK – usually by judges and competitors in talent shows. The participants will always have experienced “journeys” in their lives and their progression through the contest. This cliche does my head in!

    As for Diptyque, I have never found one that is to my taste, but I haven’t smelled them all so I could have missed something. But I have therefore never owned one.

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    • Aha! As someone who has seen, I think, 2 episodes of a talent show in my life (and, I think, both times it was during one of my trips to London in pre-streaming times), there was no chance for me to guess this idiosyncrasy :). I’ll stay away from it in future.

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  3. For me it’s Eau des Sens which I finished last summer, followed by Oud Palao (still got a few drops left) and Eau Capitale of which I have a 10 ml spray from NST swapmeet.

    When I bought L’Ivree Bleue for birthday I got 10 ml of L’Ombre dans l’eau as an extra gift. It’s not for me but I was thinking if you’ve tried it since it’s a very prominent black currant scent.

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    • Oud Palado is one of a very few scents where you and I are on the opposite sides: I disliked it. If I’m not mistaken, hajusuuri didn’t like it either (though, usually her and your tastes coincide even when I don’t join two of you in my preferences). I think it’s because it is overly masculine.
      I need to check my records on L’Ombre dans l’eau: I don’t remember whether I tried it.

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  5. My favorite Diptyques are Eau Rose and Philosykos. I also like Fleur de Peau and Do Son, but Do Son is just too much tuberose sometimes. Also, I love, love the Baies candles. Their scent is similar to the L’Ombre dans L’eau perfume. I liked the new Orpheon scent when I tried it initially, so I will keep testing it and decide whether I want to buy a full bottle.

    I recall that when I first fell down the perfume rabbithole, there were not that many niches– diptyque, Serge Lutens, Ormonde Jayne, Teo Cabanel and a few others. That was it. I’m glad to have more choices now, but at the same time the amount of niche perfumes on the market now is mind-boggling. It’s quite overwhelming to me sometimes.

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    • I miss those times when we knew most (if not all) niche brands..,

      Tuberose never works for me, so I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t like Diptyque’s one. Their Rose is quite lovely, I just never felt like I needed a bottle. And I am curious to try Orpheon – to the extent of considering a quick Nordstrom run in the next several days (to be honest, I need to try 2 shades of a foundation because I’m in doubt which one will fit better, but having a new perfume to test doesn’t hurt either :) ).

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  6. I have quite a few, mostly vintage bottles. I find their scents have been very watered-down. Testing the current Tam Dao last week was quite a shock, it’s barely a skin scent, which is how I find many of their scents now. But the older bottle I love the best is Oyedo. That sweet, earthy citrus scent has a great zing to it. I did enjoy Orphéon however.

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    • Now I’m curious to try a couple of older scents… I’ll do it the next time I’m at the store. But it’s sad when good perfumes get changed. I’d rather they discontinued them :(

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  7. I own a bottle of Philosykos and travel sprays of Eau Rose, L’Ombre dans L’Eau and Do Son from a gift set – loved the mini candles from the set. Have sampled much of the line that was available a few years ago (my Nordstrom actually carries it). I obviously enjoy Philosykos enough to have bought a bottle – I love fig – but none of the others is a favorite. I don’t really rush out to see what’s new. (To be honest I’m getting used to not trying much and just enjoying what I have, which is 100 years worth!) I also agree with Ricky – the amount of product available now is utterly overwhelming.

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    • I agree! There are times when I think I’ll barely use up what I have (78 bottles in all) and all of the new releases is really too much of a good thing. There’s that, and also, after all the fragrance releases, and the skyscraper prices, how much new is there to be discovered?

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    • I had a couple of Diptyque’s mini candles, and none of them was worth the price: they produced almost no scent. It might be just an exception but I didn’t feel like experimenting more.
      Even though I need absolutely no more perfumes, I’m still curious to try what’s out there… I don’t want to pay for it (and still go from time to time :) ), but if I could get more opportunities to test for free, I would be doing a lot more testing.

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  8. Hard to say as I haven’t smelled them all, even though I took an NYC Diptyque boutique’s “tour” for first-timers 2 years ago. I thought I loved Philosykos then, but didn’t buy anything, and when I tried it again in the summer, I found it too sweet. I got a decant of Eau Rose, which was nice, but not exciting. I liked Eau Capitale, but the opening reminds me of Le Labo Ylang 49, which I have. In the end I got a bottle of L’Ombre dans L’Eau EDP after using up a sample vial, because it’s so different and juicy.

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  10. They were never to my taste. I came to niche perfumes through the Serge Lutens door, and today I still prefer edgy or classic French perfumery. Diptyque to me is neither.

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    • That’s such an interesting observation!
      If to think about it, I prefer classic French perfumery. And I agree with your classification of Diptyque’s perfumes.

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  11. I thunked Philosykos and Eau de Lierre ( green 💚💚💚) and gave my Jardin Close to my childhood girlfriend because when we met up two summers ago she wouldn’t stop gushing about it and it’s discontinued.

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  12. My first trip down the rabbit hole with Diptyque was in the early 1990s with L’ Eau Trois, beautiful dry spices, myrrh, incense, and resins. It’s a favorite to this day. The other favorite is L’Ombre dans l’Eau, it has a beautiful rose, cassis, and cassis leaf which projects as crisp, floral with a touch of berries but not sticky-sweet.

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    • I forgot my favorite Diptyque of all, Diptyque Les Insensees’ Rose de Mai. It’s a gorgeous full bodied rose. A real stunner in my opinion. I think it came out in 2018 or 2017. Can’t recall.
      I’m finding that I also like Philosykos. The attendees at the recent Sniffapalooza Diptyque event received a free solid perfume with every order and Philosykos was the only choice available. It’s a good base for layering other perfumes without any big scent ‘clashes’ and Philosykos is perfect for layering, green and fresh.

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  13. Jillie perfectly summed up the reason for my aversion to the word ‘j*****y. It is such an overblown and emotive way of describing something that in practice is far more mundane – and motionless. And well remembered by you!

    I share your favourite of Volutes EDT, though I also like (and own ) Eau Duelle. Philosykos is also nice.

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  14. Hi Undina and crew,
    I love the idea of Diptyque and have a few bottles in my collection. Eau Duelle gets the most wear by far. I’ve got both EdT and EdP, the differences are not super pronounced.
    The one that I love and only own a small tester of is Eau Moheli. One day I will buty a bottle and spritz lavishly.
    Portia x

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  15. Hi Undina, I remember when Diptyque seemed like a very exotic niche house, many years ago. How the perfume world has changed! I’ve long owned bottles of Do Son and Philosykos, and I still enjoy them, although I don’t wear them as much these days. I quite enjoy Blvd 39 St Germain and Volutes in the fall/winter seasons. About three years ago when I went to Paris I found myself in their boutique on Blvd St Germain, and the man who was working that day was very charming and patient with my questions. I think his name was Mark, and he was one of the original employees, #4 I think he said. The boutique is small and quite cool, like a shop of curiosities. What am I missing about “journeys”?

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    • Blvd 39 St Germain is very pleasant, but I prefer it on my vSO.
      Before I checked Fragrantica, I didn’t realize how many perfumes they created (and discontinued!) over years.

      I noticed that in her posts Vanessa usually writes “j****y” and was curious why but kept forgetting to ask. See her comment above and Jillie’s one on the top of this thread for the explanation ;)

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  16. Hello Undina, I’m a big fan of many of the Diptyque classics (Philosykos, Ofresia, L’Ombre Dans L’Eau). In general, they’ve maintained the quality with their recent releases (Vetyverio, Tempo, Fleur de Peau), so I always look forward to their new launches. I haven’t tried the latest release, Orpheon, but am very keen to do so.

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