L'Eau 
Diptyque (1968)

As we advance into November and the New England trees begin to become bare, I feel the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder set in, knowing this truth and that it will last until the days lengthen once more in January. It is all the more important for me to reach for fragrances that lift my mood, warm and soothe me.

It's time for me to wear L'Eau just like it's time for me to drink tea and wear sweaters and warm woolen socks. I wear L'Eau when the frost forms and the holidays approach. The cinnamon and geranium in the opening are sparkly, and the cloves and woods in the dry down are as comforting as a snuggle by the fireplace.

Another example of how early Diptyques are so naturalistic and classically attractive.

[originally written 11.08.2021]

What a great, and completely misnamed, fragrance. I almost did not try this, since it was the middle of winter, and it was named to evoke a light summery cologne. Or possibly, horribly, some aquatic mess. I was so delighted to find that it was perfect for winter, warming with cinammon, brightened by orange, and made rich through cloves. It's like wearing a pomander. I drained my sample very quickly. I can't see getting a 100 ml bottle, but if they sold it in 30mL, I'd buy it as a staple of daytime cold weather wear.

Clove and orange with a pinch of cinnamon on top. It's a touch powdery and definitely smells like potpourri, which I usually don't like, but L'Eau somehow avoids smelling like a cheap Christmas candle (I think it's the orange that elevates it). The light dusting of powder makes it smell "classic", which also helps. Smelled very closely, I can also pick up the geranium giving a quiet green leafy hum (and a clever touch of licorice) in the background.

I appreciate when a perfume can make me reconsider a genre I generally don't like - I usually hate cinnamon/clove Spicebombs, but L'Eau has enough class and panache that I like it, so it scores major points for that.

Thanks up!

L'Eau is magical. All at once it exudes cryptic medieval mystery, Victorian sentiment, and 60's rich hippie rock star ambiance. It's a blunt clove potpourri fragrance that was clearly the inspiration for the original Commes des Garcons, but look closer:as time goes on, a green, wet patchouli chypre becomes more apparent under the spices. Do not let the first impression of cheap citrus-spice toilet water fool you: L'Eau is a case in which the outstanding quality of ingredients transforms the whole enterprise. It lasts forever and smells wonderful with cigarettes. As with CdG, be prepared to withstand a lot of critcism for your fragrance choice, as everyone will say you smell like Christmas. Tell them that they are wrong, and that you actually smell like Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger on a trip to Tangier in 1968, which is the truth.

The story goes that Desmond Knox-Leet was obsessed with 16th c. potpourri and kept his own recipes for the fledgling house of Diptyque on his desk. He absent-mindedly played with it throughout the day, so that it clung to his person, and it became his signature scent.

Many Diptyque scents smell like class to me, because they smell like you spend your time in good-smelling places but don't wear much scent yourself. L'Eau Diptyque is perfectly emblematic of this sentiment.

I wish there was more sandalwood, with the cinnamon giving an incense effect with a way dialed down clove, giving just an edge of soapiness. Instead, this is expensive potpourri, but potpourri nonetheless. Maybe fun around the holidays or as an alternative to Old Spice. I prefer the more citrusy flanker L'Eau de L'Eau.