Farewell Tuberose: Do Son by Diptyque

Do Son, Diptyque’s new eau de toilette, was inspired by one of its founder’s childhood memories of Vietnam, back in the 1930s. Yves Coueslant grew up in Haiphong, where his father had a small pagoda built by the seaside, in Do Son. The sea breeze on the terrace used to blend with his mother’s fragrance (she loved tuberose) and the scents of flowers in the heat. Diptyque is one of my favorite fragrance lines; along with Serge Lutens’s, Diptyque’s are the most evocative scents, the quality that I admire and cherish in perfumes the most. I also must add that I have never been a fan of tuberose note in perfumes. I did admire some tuberose-based scents (the sadly discontinued Mea Culpa by Les Parfums de Rosine comes to mind here, with it warm, languorous, sunny tuberose), however I am mostly unable to wear them. Given my love for all the things Diptyque, I hoped that theirs would finally be a tuberose for me, especially after seeing it being described as a delicate and misty tuberose. Unfortunately, even Diptyque failed to make a tuberose scent wearable for this white -floral-phobic. Do Son is a heady, sweet, warm tuberose one me, a sensuous fragrance of flowers lingering in the hot, humid air of an exotic land. Moreover, there is an aquatic note in Do Son, successfully evoking the Do Son beach of Yves Coueslant’s childhood, and while I admire the way this note transports me to the seaside in Vietnam, I am incapable of wearing a perfume with marine undertones. That being said, Do Son is a beautiful scent, full of wonderful summery and exotic images. It is everything that Diptyque’s official description promises it to be: “The evening breeze still carries all its mysteries along, soft lulling exhalation, when the scents of heavy flowers and the seaside wind gently mingle at the end of the day.” Please don’t let my personal skin chemistry issues prevent you from seeking out this gorgeous fragrance. As for me, I will sadly say farewell to my hope of ever finding a tuberose scent after my own heart and will leave you with this beautiful poem called Images, by a Vietnamese poet Van Cao-Pham Duy: Here our steps falter Her eyes are like boats mirrored in the water ...... Here clouds and mountains extend forever Poplars dry their golden hair in the sun... ...... Mist has covered the blue mountains A brown sail rides the springtime waves A wanderer listens to the birds' trills A swallow glides in the clouds Memories of love past... * The photo of Do Son beach is from accessvietnam.net. The photo of Do Son the fragrance is from Diptyque site