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...
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
Thank you N! You never know, maybe it is just my strange skin chemistry that made Do Son smell aquatic...Victoria wrote a wonderful review of Do Son and she didn't mention marine notes, so it is perhaps just my bad luck...:-(
ReplyDeleteM, still have hopes for this one, which I gave only a very brief try as yet. As I said to you elsewhere, I found it dewy but not really marine...hope I wasn't dreaming, as I love Diptyque and I love tuberose! Will report back eventually!
ReplyDeleteThank you R, do report, good luck, I hope it works for you, it is a lovely scent!
ReplyDeleteThank you V! :-) Actually when I say not a single tuberose works on me, it is not entirely true. Tubereuse Criminelle does. After the menthol blast susides, it is the gentles loveliest tuberose ever. But it is an exclusive and thus not easily available.
ReplyDeleteI should overcome the dislike for the name "Poupee" and just try it :-D
I've learned to accomodate certain scents with a marine note, but for me they must be very gentle ones, and can't be the main feature of the perfume. Tuberose has never been a note that has any particular appeal for me, but then perhaps I have had the same situation as you and just never found one that fits me yet.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea behind this perfume, simply because usually it seems like perfumes try to capture more fairy taled and/or well-traveled tourist lands. Or maybe I'm just charmed because I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to visit Vietnam one day ;)
K, you may not even get a marine note from this, you see, V hasn't got it, for example...It is just my luck :-(
ReplyDeleteI would go to Vietnam for their food alone. *salivates*
Have you tried Rochas Poupee? ITs a light tuberose. How about Creed's TI?
ReplyDeleteI can't wear a lot of the 'earthy' smelling tuberose scents but I like these two.
I must try Poupee, both you and Victoria recommend it..Creed TI is very nice, I do wear it sometimes, but it is not very "tuberosy" on me, it actually reminds me of Eau de Merveilles in a way, another light, airy, dry(-ish) scent
ReplyDelete