Happy Birthday, Diptyque! (50 is the new 40, and you still look and smell “fresh”!) How many Diptyque fragrances (not to mention soaps and candles and room sprays) have I bought in my perfume-addict years? Let’s see: L’Eau, L’Ombre dans l’Eau, Eau Lente, Olène, Ofrésia, Philosykos, Oyédo, Tam Dao, and the discontinued — why, Diptyque, WHY? —Virgilio and L’Eau Trois.

Amateur perfume detectives among you will notice I have not bought a new Diptyque fragrance since 2003’s Tam Dao. That’s a lot of years, eight, and fragrances, ditto, that have gone by without interesting me. It seems Diptyque’s current aesthetic is modern-mainstream; its perfume offerings of the last eight years stress smooth, rather linear, conservative (trying to appeal to the largest audience possible) aromas. The older Diptyque fragrances I love are bolder, weirder, niche affairs, and even when they were inspired by old-fashioned ideas or “antiquity” (L’Eau: 16^th c. potpourri, Eau Lente and L’Eau Trois: ancient Greece), they are supremely wearable. I’m all for fragrance companies making money, especially companies like Diptyque with a wonderful collection of perfumes for sale, but really, can’t we get ONE daring, off-center, “wild” perfume from Diptyque once every, say, three years or so? (I’d even settle for a limited edition scent.)

To celebrate 50 years in business, Diptyque has just released 34 Boulevard Saint Germain…

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