As the weather gets warmer I realize there is one perfume house which seems to occupy a disproportionate amount of space in my warm weather rotation. That house is Diptyque and they seem to excel at creating fragrances which contain a bold central note and finding a way of making it less forceful and pitching it just right for wearing on a day in the summer. It is why I always look forward to the summer release every year from Diptyque. An excellent example of this was last year’s Eau Rose which took rose and gave it a lilting life span without ever becoming tedious. For 2013 the choice was to go with ylang-ylang as the floral in the middle and to commission perfumer Olivier Pescheux to create Eau Moheli.

Eau Moheli is named after one of the three islands which make up the Comoros Islands where much of the ylang-ylang used in perfume is grown and harvested. It actually feels like Eau Moheli is meant to evoke a day in the sun picking a basket full of petals to be turned into essential oil. From a spicy almost sweaty start, to a sense of the bloom still on the tree, finishing with the smell of multiple flowers packed into a wicker basket being delivered to the buyer in town. I really like the choice M. Pescheux made to surround his floral jewel with decidedly non-floral notes. It does a really nice job of allowing the ylang-ylang to really blossom in Eau Moheli.

Usually when a perfumer is looking to create a sweaty skin accord they will reach for the cumin. M. Pescheux shows a little more imagination and uses a mix of pepperwood, ginger, and pink pepper to create the same sweaty effect without it seeming too dense or dirty. This is the clean sweat of hard work and it is a really nice alternative to a cumin centered accord that I’m used to. Ylang-ylang is in the heart of Eau Moheli but there are also some of the leaves to give a crushed foliage aspect and ambrette carries on the sweaty skin aspect but now it is much less prominent. Patchouli and vetiver make up the base and they provide a deeply woody accord which also never becomes overbearing it allows the ylang-ylang the space to interact without being shoved aside.

Eau Moheli has above average longevity and average sillage.

I am definitely going to be wearing a lot of Eau Moheli this summer as I really like the way that this feels like a floral without the rest of the surrounding notes being floral. It is a perfect lagniappe for a warm day.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample I purchased.

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor