Perfume Pen Pals: Tuberose Perfumes and Diptyque (various)


Katie,

I'm continuing my tuberose fascination and wearing Diptyque Do Son, which smells like Fracas. Except not quite. It smells like fracas, all lowercase and maybe a point-size smaller.

Diptyque has always seemed like a line for suburban housewives (maybe it's because of all the candles), but the three I've tried, Do Son, Philosykos and Tam Dao, are all basic but nice. I guess that isn't a screaming endorsement, but we've both been called worse things.

Earlier I was wearing biehl parfumkunstwerke mb01, which to my utter surprise is a tuberose. And it smells exactly like you'd imagine a Mark Buxton tuberose smelling. mb01 somehow manages to be a transparent tuberose. Tuberose-light. I smell like I've just shagged a woman who was wearing Fracas. (I steal from you constantly. I'm nothing without you, Katie Puckrik.)

My first thought on mb01 was that mb must've put the wrong perfume in there. It was too feminine for a Buxton, who seems to only do postmodern woody things. But I looked it up and there was the tuberose.

None of the mb's seem necessary. There are better tuberoses than mb01, mb02 smells a good deal like Buxton's Comme des Garçons 3 (it's essentially CdG 3 with violet), and mb03 is probably the best of the three but it's an awful lot like CdG Avignon. A little lighter and easier to wear, maybe. You liked mb03, right?

Dan


Dan,

Yes, I own and love mb03, and find it completely necessary. I suppose it's my "summer Avignon". When I discovered the Scent Bar a few years back, it was one of the first four perfumes I bought: boom (Josef Statkus) boom (mb03) boom (Keiko Mecheri Oliban) boom (Satellite Padparascha). All incenses. Like I was starved for incense.

I've tried Tam Dao lots of times, and always have the same reaction: “Oh!” And then later, lower case, smaller point size, “oh”. Because it's that nice warm woody sandalwood, but then it's relentless in its bulldozing monotony.

I’ve got my tuberose bases covered with Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower, even though I can never bring myself to apply more than half a feeble spritz from my sample vial.

Katie


Katie,

Your Tam Dao experience is my experience with every Diptyque. I have a sample of Jardin Clos, too. And it feels the same way: bulldozing monotony. And yet, not terrible. It's almost like the perfumes were inspired by the candles and not the other way around.

I think part of the problem with Diptyque is the company uses no synthetics. And while that impacts longevity, I bet it also impacts complexity.

But is Carnal Flower really too strong for you? You who wears Malle's Musc Ravageur? Is Fracas too strong for you? Can you believe your YouTube commenter kissy7fur wears Fracas every day? That's like eating stuffed duck every day.

Dan


Dan,

Yes, Carnal Flower is too big and THERE for my comfortable non-stop wearing. But it's GORGEOUS. And I think I could grow into it.

And Fracas is also a bit "much" -- just too thick’n’sticky for me.

And like I keep telling ya, I don't wear the Musc Ravageur edp -- I wear the oil, which is nowhere near the "NOW HEAR THIS" level of the edp. I know you ridicule my fondness for ancillary products, but the MR oil justifies my love.

It doesn’t pussyfoot around with the lavender and cinnamon of the edp, which distract me from the main event: animal butt. Well, maybe it's more like cartoon animal butt. Like Bambi's.

Katie

13 comments:

  1. I agree that Fracas is "thick 'n' sticky", indeed not half an hour before finding this thread I was discussing Fracas with a friend who is on the point of buying a bottle after borrowing my sample, and I was likening the consistency and general vibe of Fracas to Castrol GTX - just homing in on the viscosity here, mind, NOT the scent. This was by way of illustrating what I understand by a "perfumey" perfume.

    Do Son, by contrast is the most sheerly vaporous tuberose scent I have tried, whilst also being quite heady and muggy. Like Issey Miyake, it has qualities of a recently vacated shower cubicle. I would say that Carnal Flower is closer in consistency to Do Son than Fracas - Do Son is heady but not in that viscous, oily perfumey way. Joy, however, is firmly in the oily perfumey camp with Fracas, not that we are talking about Joy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You two always answers so many of my thoughts in my head. Am I hearing voices? :)Thanks Dan, I have been wondering about the Musc Ravaguer oil and you make me even more tempted esp. now that I am constantly tempted to go down the Malle garden path.I have a sample of CARNAL FLOWER coming that I wait at the mailbox with anticipation. I use to wear the Tam Dao all the time and would get compliments on it but at the end of the day I would smell my clothes and wonder..is that how strong I have smelled all day? You guys made a comment a few posts ago that I loved..about wearing what you love to smell other than wearing what is suppose to be masculine or fem. Thanks for talking about that. It is nice to find a fragfamily that I can enjoy hearing about things I love. My friends here..I drag out my samples every once in a while and give my fragrance seminar and I can see their eyes glaze over or they think I am crazy. So it nice to be in a place where I can be me plus Who wouldn't love to hear Katie say BAMBI'S BUTT.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Try as I might, I can't find anything that beats Carnal Flower. Tuberose absolute maybe? Fracas just sticks in the back of my throat. I don't dislike it, but my lungs do.

    Somehow I can manage Beyond Love and I wear it fairly comfortably. Do Son (and all the rest of the Diptyques)? I have to agree with both of you. Lacking in complexity. I do like the tuberose candle quite a bit. Although I can't afford to burn a dozen of them at a time like some famous musician supposedly does. But if I could afford it, my husband might move out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. flittersniffer,"recently vacated shower cubicle" is perfect! I'm going to start thinking of other perfumes that do that...hmmm LesNez Manoumalia...the original Chloé...hmmm...that's all I got now.

    m61, Carnal Flower is indeed unbeatable. It menthol-y greenness cuts that throat-sticking tuberose and renders the florals fresh and dew-dappled.

    Wow, a dozen simultaneously-burning tuberose candles? Barf.

    ReplyDelete
  5. onesmalldog, your comments about our "fragfamily" make me happy! I also feel like that's what we have here. And the more readers who come out of the woodwork to chime in reinforces that nice group hug feeling.

    Heh-heh...I know Dan must be appalled right about now to be commended for inciting your interest in Musc Ravageur. That's his perfume bête noire.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Re shower cubicles,
    Demeter has one scent called "Steam Room"... I wonder how it compares to a recently vacated shower. I don't know what a steam room is, but it sounds like a room full of steam, which would probably smell like a steamy shower. =)
    i will sample it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I consider Diptyque one of my favourite houses (I own FBs of Tam Dao & Philosykos and sizeable decants of Oyédo & Eau Lente), but *ouch* - talk about deadly descriptions: "a line for suburban housewives"! Can't unring that bell, as they say.

    I won't argue with them being linear, though. I just don't mind it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fair enough, Arachne, a nice smell is a nice smell, and Diptyque is fitting that bill for you. And Dan's "suburban housewives" pronouncement did make me squinch up a bit, because plenty of discriminating fumeheads are suburban housewives.

    This urban housewife will admit to one Diptyque fascination: Eau Trois, that stern, burning frankincense and myrrh scent. I had a bottle once...and the next time I looked for it in the shops, it was no longer available. Waaaaahhh....

    ReplyDelete
  9. xaryax, I wonder if Demeter's Steam Room has a bit of eucalyptus in it. That's what's usually wafting around in a steam room.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So strange...when I tried Fracas in Selfridges I almost had to go home it turned my stomach so much; it's a real scrubber. But I adore Diptyque's Do Son. The new EDP formulation is even better than the regular EDT (which can be the teensiest bit sickly).

    As for the other new Diptyque EDPs, my beloved L'Ombre dans L'Eau didn't fare so well. I really could not foresee myself having such an averse reaction to it. It was just ALL WRONG. The dry down is very similar to the regular version, but it takes a LONG time to get there. Philosykos on the other hand, as an EDP, works great. Much creamier, less sharp and green.

    I'd love to hear a review/comparison of these if you feel so inclined!

    Much love! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nash, I was interested in your observations about the differences in these Diptyque EDP/EDTs, so I did a quicky sniffathon at Liberty with with L'Ombre dans L'Eau and Philosykos (just on blotters, mind you).

      I preferred the EDT for both. I need that green sharpness in Philosykos, which even in the EDT seems creamy enough - and anyway, the green relinquishes its spot to sweetness towards the drydown. L'Ombre dans L'Eau lost its fine calibration in the EDP: it seemed clumsy and sequential in the notes instead the EDT's lilting, immediately apparent blend of blackcurrant/rose/plant leaves.

      Delete
    2. I practically live in Liberty, how did I miss you? I have discussed this with a few people re: Philosykos and most really miss that green sharpness of the EDT. I am beginning to find it more attractive every time I test it. Still, the EDP managed to convert me and I may even be tempted to purchase it.

      Again, great observations on L'Ombre dans L'Eau. I once read a review that compared it to the scent of tomato vines, which I find intriguing and strangely accurate. But where the EDT and especially the oil roll-on leave a lovely sweetness, the EDP stays incredibly vine-y. The sweetness is one of the pleasant surprises in it and in that way, I can relate to the feeling of loss re: the green sharpness in Philosykos.

      I'm quite delighted at having inspired a sniffathon!

      Delete
    3. We'll have to keep our peepers peeled for each other in Liberty, Nash!

      Delete