The Paris-based fragrance house Diptyque is celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2011. Earlier in the year they released a fragrance, and candle, which sported the address of the house, 34 Boulevard Saint Germain. Now at the end of this celebratory year they finish with a flourish by releasing two fragrances and a candle to complete the 34 Boulevard Saint Germain collection. The candle Curiosities was designed by Olivia Giacobetti and it makes even this “not candle person” interested in trying it out because it sounds pretty amazing. I did get my hands on the two fragrances and they are so different in style that they could have been named Curiosities 2 and 3. Diptyque has more imagination than I and the two fragrances are called Eau Particuliere and Eau Mage. I enjoyed both of these interesting creations very much.
Eau Particuliere was designed by Olivier Pescheux. It is labeled as a body and room spray and it further is based on the 19th century toilet vinegar formulations. This description caused me to do some research into what a toilet vinegar was. In the Vanity Fair column in the September 1890 issue of The New York Tribune it was described:
“There is a toilet vinegar made by the Societe Hygenique of Paris which is particularly refreshing. It is more pungent in odor than a toilet water and is hygienic and deodorizing in effect. Such a fine toilet vinegar is often soothing to an invalid, who cannot endure any other perfume.”
So to market a toilet vinegar as body and room spray based on that description seems apt. Although the idea of something both pungent, yet soothing, for someone who can’t abide perfume seems a compromise which would be difficult to achieve. What is even more interesting is that M Pescheux actually does create something at turns pungent and soothing in Eau Particuliere.
Eau Particuliere opens on an herbal mint note which satisfies the pungent requirement. This is a green mint much less sweet than other mint notes I’ve encountered in other fragrances. The soothing part of the toilet vinegar equation is satisfied by a fresh rose note. All of this finishes with a clean musk note. The simplicity of this toilet vinegar is much of its appeal to me. It is a fast moving trip from mint to rose to musk and I can see it as both body and room spray. I’ll be using it on my body more than my room but your usage may differ.
Eau Mage was designed by Fabrice Pellegrin. M Pellegrin’s last creation for Diptyque, Eau Duelle, was a lovely study in duality between vanilla and resins. Once again in Eau Mage M Pellegrin is inspired by duality as Eau Mage is meant to be:
“A note built in total contrast, like the graphic identity of the brand where black and white combine.”
My experience with Eau Mage was less of a duality and more of a study in dark notes which uses a bouquet of strong pungent notes without attempting to be soothing.
Eau Mage travels right into the dark from the first moments as green mandarin, cumin and cashmeran smooth out ambroxan’s spiky edges. The mandarin and the cumin go especially well together and it allows Eau Mage to have a piquant kind of cleanliness. The metallic nature of rose oxide keeps Eau Mage working both the familiar and the unusual simultaneously. Patchouli and labdanum end this composition as dark as it began with both of these notes dominating, on my skin, over the last hour or so.
Both Eau Particuliere and Eau Mage have average longevity and above average sillage.
I have always been a fan of the more unique fragrances within the Diptyque collection like L’Autre and both Eau Particuliere and Eau Mage tilt more towards that side of the Dityque spectrum than the more commercial fragrances like Tam Dao or 34 Boulevard Saint Germain. Any fragrance house which can celebrate its 50th anniversary with such different and good perfumes as 34 Boulevard Saint Germain, Eau Particuliere and Eau Mage is going to be vital and vibrant for another 50.
Disclosure: This review was based on samples purchased from The Perfumed Court.
–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor