Fragrance Review: Diptyque
Today’s perfume review is of a popular fragrance house, Diptyque!
I got their discovery set last year and have been trying them since. The ones I’ll be talking about today are their eau de toilette.
First of all, the packaging of the discovery set is beautiful. The paper box feels so luxurious!
Each bottle contains 7.5 ml of perfume. That’s a little bigger than usual when it comes to discovery sets. I like this generous size, you can really get the sense of how the perfume projects when you spray them.
The pretty card came inside the box explaining the brand’s philosophy. On it, they state that their scents are free from traditional gender codes and cultural boundaries.
I’m alway happy when a brand encourages that their scents are for everyone.
(This post is not sponsored; the products mentioned are what I personally purchased. None of the links in this post are affiliated either.)
Do Son
Do Son is tuberose centred white floral.
Tuberose is a popular flower to be used for fragrances but I wasn’t familiar with it until recently (I’m not a green thumb.)
Despite the name, it is not related to roses but rather, an asparagus family!
Tuberose is known for its opulent and intoxicating sweet scents, however, Do Son doesn’t feel heavy nor sticky.
Nothing about Do Son is sharp; it’s well rounded, soft sweet floral. At the same time, it’s got brightness and openness that really suits warm weather.
I think this ones is especially beautiful in spring/summer.
Do Son felt one of the most soft scents out of this set. There’s no powdery-ness, but it’s a little bit creamy and smooth.
As someone who likes soft and light floral (and not into heavy, rich, seductive kind of floral), I really enjoy Do Son.
Eau des Sens
Main notes for Eau des Sens are orange blossom, angelica root, patchouli, and juniper berries.
I think this one is categorized as floral, but I feel that floral-woody or floral-aromatic might be more appropriate.
Upon spraying, it’s got freshness of bitter orange, with a softness of bath salt or bath bombs. After it dries down, I get more earthy and woody tones and leans towards androgynous.
It’s fresh and clean but not in a bursting energy way, but rather, it gives me a comfiness of dozing off in the afternoon. Or maybe even like a dreamy summer night.
It’s a beautiful scent, unfortunately though, something in this makes me feel dizzy. I’m not sure what it is but it feels overly intoxicating to me…
I usually enjoy orange blossom scents and I really like how Eau des Sens opens up at first, so I’m really sad about it. If something was a smidge different, I think I’ll love this one a lot, but since it makes me feel dizzy, I don’t think I can wear it.
That being said, this is a really popular scent from Diptyque and works for a lot of people out there. If you’re looking for clean comforting orange blossom, that’s not too sweet, it’s worth a try.
I thought that Eau de Sens and Le Labo’s Tubereuse 40 smell somewhat similar (though Labo’s Tubereuse 40 didn’t give me the dizziness.) The big difference between the two was that Labo Tubereuse 40 ends with powdery musk, while Eau de Sens ends with earthy notes.
Eau Rose
Eau Rose is all about rose and litchi (lychee). It’s a fresh and green rose with no powdery-ness.
The litchi adds subtle fruitiness, but it’s not very sweet nor a jammy rose.
Although it really smells like fresh rose, it doesn’t have any sugary sweetness, so it would be very much wearable for someone who likes rose but not into super sweet “feminine” classical rose.
In the opening, this one feels very green and maybe a little sharp on my skin but as it dries down it becomes softer.
One time I was wearing this while I was exercising at home. When my body warmed up during the work out, the scent shifted to sweeter and smoother scent. I really liked it, so maybe I’ll enjoy wearing this more in the warm weather.
This was a good example that different body temperatures would result in slightly different scents.
I highly recommend checking Eau de Rose out to those who loves fresh rose fragrant!
L'Ombre Dans L'Eau
Rose, Blackcurrant buds, Petitgrain are listed as the main notes.
It has certain fruitiness but mostly it’s a green scent (at least to me.) I think this one is the strongest scent in this set, maybe even more masculine side in a traditional sense.
It was a lot shaper than I expected, but is clean.
For me, it’s a tad too strong that gives me dizziness especially if I sprayed it closer to my nose like on my wrist. I’d wear it somewhere under the clothing.
This scent is mature and elegant; I think it would be great for someone who is independent and cool.
Philosykos
Philosykos is such an iconic scent of Diptyque; it’s known as the fig scent, but not just the fruit, but also the leaves and the whole fig tree.
Upon spraying it’s fairly green and fresh (but not sharp at all), but it changes into something smooth and milky.
It has sweetness but it’s not overpowering nor powdery, it’s just so gentle.
I had never smelled something like this before, but I love it! It’s so soothing and comfortable.
Even though it’s milky and soft, this can be enjoyed by anyone. This is my husband’s favourite out of the set and he loves wearing it!
It’s been a while since I had a fresh fig fruit on its own (not as a part of dishes like salad, pasta, or even pizza). Philosykos makes me want to eat a fresh fig, so I can remember what that tastes and smells like, on its own as a fruit!
Oyédo
(This one wasn’t included in the discovery set. When my husband got the set for me at Nordstrom, they gave us a sample.)
Oyédo draws inspiration from Edo (a former name for Tokyo, Japan.)
The main note for this one is Yuzu which is a Japanese citrus often used in drinks and cooking. But also in baths—yuzu bath is a part of Japanese celebration for winter solstice.
Oyédo is a fresh citrus scent but leans towards more sweet than sharp. I stay away from overly sharp citrus scents, so this is a perfect balance between sweet, gentle, and fresh.
This is a light scent with small projection, but the longevity wasn’t so bad for me. I could still smell it on me after a few hours.
I’ve read a few reviews by Japanese users saying that this reminds them of Japanese orange gums or Japanese muscat candies. (Muscat is a type of grape that’s popular in Japan.)
I think I get those reviews, however, I can’t confirm as it’s been really long time since I had Japanese muscat or Japanese orange gum…
To me, this gentle and pleasant scent reminds me of Japanese hot springs or the yuzu bath I used to have at home. It’s mostly sweet and fruity but if you pay attention closely, you get the bitterness of yuzu zest.
If I remember correctly, Oyédo was made by a Japanese perfumer (which is great!)
When I sniff this, it takes me back to sunset time in Japanese neighbourhood (in case you didn’t know, I was born and raised in Japan.)
In a small, slightly older residential area, on the way home from school on foot, sometimes you catch a smell of bath from someone’s house; it’s common for older Japanese houses to have windows in their bathrooms and even when the windows were shut, you can still smell the scent of bath salt in the air sometimes.
It always made me want to hurry back home because the soothing scent reminded me of my home too.
Oyédo reminds me of those days when I was still living at home in Japan and provides me a comfort.
Overall, I was very impressed with this discovery set!
Diptyque is already a popular and well-known fragrance house, and I can see why. However, now that Nordstrom is gone from Canada, it’s gonna be a little tougher for us to test them in-store. Even online shopping is not as accessible as shipping to Canada is pretty pricy.
Hopefully we get more Diptyque stores or department stores that carry them across Canada in the future!
May 6, 2023
