Diptyque Tam Dao Perfume Review
Diptyque Tam Dao Eau de Toilette is a sweetly spice, aromatic wood fragrance that starts off with a more pine-like woodiness that transforms into a cedar-sandalwood mix–creamy but aromatic–and then eventually, heavy on sandalwood in its smooth, creamy form with rose to round it out. The drydown had light spices and golden amber whispers that accentuated the sandalwood, while a touch of musk came through. These are the notes:
- top notes: Italian cypress, myrtle, rose
- heart notes: sandalwood, cedar
- base notes: Brazilian rosewood, spices, amber, white musk
It opened with rich, dry cedar accented by soft rose and aromatic woods. The cypress gave it a green facet that paired well with the cedar and seemed mitigate some of the dryness, before creamy, smooth sandalwood joined the composition to blend with the cedar. In a way, it had more of a forest woodiness to–slightly camphorous, sappy, and piney, but then the wood was chopped and left to dry out, becoming softer, smoother, and less pine-heavy. The rose was subtle throughout the opening that I almost missed it entirely as the woods were quite dominant; the rose seemed there to fuse the types of woods together without being overt.
It was cooler, crisp, and pine-like, despite some of the warmth that I associate with drier cedar, and it took about a half hour for the fragrance to warm through with richer rosewood, lightly spiced amber, and a touch of powderiness. As the creamy, smooth sandalwood shifted upward and became the more dominant of the woods, the scent felt warmer and softer with rosewood peeking through. The drydown had a little bit of muskiness coupled with sandalwood and a subtle, ambery sweetness.
Application
For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise.
I purchased my sample in January 2022; fragrances are known to be reformulated over their lifetime , so be mindful of when a review was made, e.g. a review from 2010 may not reflect what the same-named perfume smells like in 2022.
Longevity
It lasted for four hours until it was a skin-scent and about eight hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were both on the lighter side even from initial application–it wafted from about five inches above my wrist initially and dropped closer within an hour.
Personal Thoughts
I’d describe it as a more approachable sandalwood fragrance, and it would be ideal for someone who prefers skin scents and closer-wearing fragrances with no real sillage or projection (none of these are negatives, they are simply descriptors in my eye!). I’m happy to wear a more intense take on sandalwood, so something like this is nice to see for others but not so much for me specifically.
Available Sizes
- 75ml for $190
- 0.7ml sample for $6
Christine, this sounds divine, great description. Wish there was such a thing as smellovision, lol
Don’t we all, don’t we all!
Imagine how much more popular cooking shows would be!!
This makes me think of a car or closet freshener, something along those lines. Not for me!
This one sounds intriguing, my list grows, I’m so looking forward to adventuring out to do some sampling. They’ve just made announcements here that our mask mandates will be lifted at the beginning of March, so smelling them will be much easier.
On me I find Tam Dao very strong! Too strong for my personal taste in a sandalwood scent. I prefer Parle Moi de Parfum’s Milky Musk, which I find to be a softer sandalwood “skin scent.” Admittedly, I’m not big on sandalwood in any event so that is very likely skewing my perceptions 🙂
That makes sense! Did you try the Eau de Parfum or Eau to Toilette version of Tam Dao?
The EDT! I haven’t yet sampled the EDP–figured I wouldn’t like it, haha!
Haha! I was gonna say maybe the EDT would be better but nope!
I love your descriptions.
Thank you, Janine!
This scent seems promising as i’m searching for a woody, foresty, fresh but spicy sweet scent. I just wish there wasn’t rose in it as I can’t STAND rose.
I would also have preferred some sweeter notes but then again, i don’t think i’m ever going to find my perfect scent.
What kind of sweetness are you looking to find? Sweet from what note?
have you ever smelt the yankee candle midsummers night? that level of sweetness which is almost like eating something sticky sweet outside or the sweetness of miss dior cherie which has notes of popcorn in.
sorry, i’m really rubbish with actually identifying scents! maybe it’s amber?
You aren’t rubbish! Those are good ways to describe the scent, though I am, unfortunately, unfamiliar, lol!
For some reason, on me, I felt as if this fragrance shifted too sharply between the initial and the dry down. And I did not care for the dry down, although I liked the initial. I think I did not like the shift from a clean smell to a creamy smell. It played a trick on my senses lol! Although I don’t mind a little shift to be able to detect change in notes, I did not feel as if this one blended together for my body chemistry I guess. Thank you for your wonderful fragrance reviews! I love them. Especially because I am a fragrance whore. I cannot stay loyal for more than a month lol! There are several reviews that you have done that I am planning on picking up to try for myself.
Thank you, Renee! 🙂
i like some of the diptyque perfumes (esp their geranium, which is hard to find in perfumes!) but the sillage is awful on most of them, at least for me– within a few hours you can barely smell at all even from a close distance.
I love Tam Dao, especial during the winter!