Diptyque Eau Duelle

Of course it's your wallet's fault! And it is pretty darn spicy.

I didn't like it Duelle either!!! And I'm also NOT on the SDV or Havana Vanille train (those two smell exactly alike to me - vanilla extract). I do like Vanilia, though!

Vanilia will definitely be on the oddball vanilla list. :) SDV smells very tobacco-ish to me.

Hi March, have to agree with you that SDV carries a lot of tobacco, but I still like it in small doses. The one that's got way too much for me is Tom Ford's. Vanilia's cool, too. Not much vanilla I don't like, except for PdN's Vanille Tonka (the lime does me in), so guess I'm just a vanilla 'ho! :d

The Tom Ford is tooooooo sweeeeet. And SDV I don't "object" to, I just don't find it particularly vanilla-ish. I love the tobacco/honey of Kilian Back to Black.

If you're a big fan of Shalimar I'd say you should definitely consider sampling it, particularly if you like the smoky/vanilla angle. Definitely NOT a Belle situation. It's recognizably Shalimar, to start with, and quite lovely, and very grown up.

Urgh, talking about the Ode there. The drydown's fabulous, very rich without being foody.

Oh. Makes me feel better.

Musk is bad enough. Uranium Musk........:o xo >-)

OMG I was going to buy this unsniffed such is my devotion to vanilla and Guerlain! P.S. Apols to anyone who is getting viagra spam from me (luckily I can see from the bounces that most can see its viral) - my hotmail has been severely hacked and no-one can fix it.....I'm thinking its actually done more than just grab my contact list....woe Looking forward to the vanilla posts - in case there is a vanilla out there that I havn't found!

Wow, not loving the Ode! I liked it better than Shalimar, but that's not saying much. And did you try the Duelle on your skin? Just curious. It wasn't offensive at all -- not one of *those* musks. But I admit that, scent-glue that I am, something that lasts three days through multiple handwashings makes me a bit uncomfortable.

No, your comment about its longevity has made me decide to forego that pleasure. ;-)

Sorry... meant to comment on the musk. I have no problem at all with dirty scents, skank, and indoles. In fact, I love them. But the current prevalent musk bases dry down on my skin to something that reminds me of stale, cheap perfume. Not necessariy a *bad* smell, just one that I don't like.

One of those times I wish I had some aromachemical knowledge. It doesn't have that generic smell I think of as Macy's Musk -- that hazy smell that isn't that unpleasant until you've smelled 30 of them. But it is rather frighteningly persistent.

I have tried the Shalimar Ode, gifted with a nice decant after admiring it on a couple of friends. Unfortunately what I admire is the far drydown when it is mostly vanilla and smoke and if it were a color, it would be a deep, languorous grey. I am afraid I have still not developed the proper appreciation for Shalimar, although I admire it. Like the much-loved Guerlain SDV, I will not be needing a bottle. Have your ears been burning? Your name comes up more than any others when we're casting blame for unsniffed purchases based on swoon-inducing reviews! (total compliment, in case it's not clear.)

LOL! You are more than welcome to use me as a justification for any reckless activity (ok, perfume-related only!!) :):) I am with you on Guerlain SDV, which is certainly lovely, but one-dimensional. Vanilla is a great note to smooth out rough edges, to fill in the gaps, so to speak, but in large doses, it does not appeal to me. In food, on the other hand, it is a different story!

I bake a lot -- with vanilla. I've developed a crackpot theory that people who are exposed to it regularly in cooking (in all its glorious facets) are less likely to be enthralled with straight-vanilla scents, which always seem to be too insipid. However, I assume now I'll get five comments telling me I'm wrong. Have you ever done a post on vanilla? I wish I understood its facets better, like the tobacco part. SDV on me is mostly tobacco, and I don't know if that's an added note or a side effect of the vanilla, if that makes sense.

I have one post in the works, probably will finish it in a couple of weeks. I agree with your theory, especially since we probably use real vanilla extract in our cooking, which has so many nuances. I love a big dose of vanilla in milk pudding (a blend of milk, vanilla, sugar and cornstarch cooked till thick, molded and then cooled.) Vanilla is a very complex material, but vanillin, which tends to be used predominantly in perfumery, is quite straightforward. Vanilla blends really well with most spices, woods and tobacco notes, so it is probably that it is used in SDV to blend and polish the woody-tobacco accord. I need to smell it again, it has been a long time since I've worn it.

Thanks, V. I look forward to your post. (I also don't understand why anyone cooks with vanillin. Real vanilla isn't *that* expensive.) And you made my mouth water with your pudding. I love pudding -- rice pudding, bread pudding, flan, creme brulee, and regular ol' cornstarch pudding.

March, Cooks Illustrated did a taste-test with vanilla v. imitation. The results might surprise you....:-? http://www.cooksillustrated.com/tastetests/overview.asp?docid=18889 will somebody PLEASE show me how to do a tiny url? xo your Old School >-)

Ha, serves me right. Doll you just go to tinyurl, paste in the one you want to shrink, and it makes you one. Copy and paste the new one from the window and Bob's your uncle. You can also customize it like "boneheadmarch" and see if that works. For example.

Go to bit dot ly No www needed before, no com org etc after. (Trying to avoid just typing it in so as not to be spam filtered...I know YOU can put 'em in, 'cause you've got the magic keys...)

You will need http:// before it, though. :)

Okay, we'll do a vanilla oddball. Vanilla's in all sorts of scents, obviously, including Shalimar. I'm sure folks could chime in with ones I don't even think of.

LOL you should try the Shalimar Ode, you'll feel like the vanilla truck ran you over. So this sounds like a worthy vanilla for you. I'm a big fan of Annick Goutal Vanille Exquise, which is almost universally loathed and which TS described as smelling like burnt hair, I believe. They're wrong. It's a massively unsweet vanilla-benzoin-gaiac, and it's the raspiness that makes it lovely.

I'm glad to find some other Vanille Exquise fans out there. This was my first "serious" vanilla purchase, and while I also love the booziness of UBV and Note Vanillee and the smokiness of SDV, there are times when only the more austere Vanille Exquise does it for me. I wish I could say that Eau Duelle worked for me - I desperately wanted it to - but it was an absolute disaster on my skin for the 6 hours I waited it out. Sadly, I have big problems with bergamot notes (which is bizarre, given the gallons of Earl Grey tea I consume each week), and Eau Duelle turned into the typical bergamot nightmare for me: a shrieking, sharp and bitter note that absolutely smothered every other note. That topnote stayed constant for the entire 6 hours; I never got even the tiniest whiff of smokey vanilla that everyone else describes. I made myself keep it on in the vain hope that it would get better; it never did. I finally threw in the towel when my BF begged me to remove it. This one is a true horror on my skin. I envy those of you for whom it works so well!

I think I know what TS is talking about with VE (getting all this?) and I wish I didn't. Goutal seems to use some kind of spiky wood material in the base of several of their scents--I smell it in Matin d'Orage and Ninfeo, too--and it overwhelms the rest of the composition and makes the whole unbearable for me. But that's just me. Pretty sure I'm hypernosmic to whatever it is... (It spoils Amouage's XXV for me, too.)

Oh ho ho! I'm going to put VE on my check-it-out list..your description makes it sound just about right. Burnt hair I get plenty of whenever I dare light a candle. Ridiculous cat is drawn to them like a moth to flame...and thus I can easily get TS's "burnt hair." (Yes, yes, I know that fur is not hair, allergy people...it smells dreadful all the same. ;) )

Well, I kind of like a hint of burning hair, so consider yourself properly warned. I still think you might like VE though which does *not* smell like burning hair to me.

Somehow I knew this. ;)

It's definitely a good office scent, and thanks for the additional information. Scents tend to last awhile on me anyway, but for something that doesn't start out huge, that was tenacious! I'm glad you're enjoying your bottle and are not offended that it wasn't luuuuuuuuuuuuuuurve for me. :)>- And who knows, maybe a year from now I'll see the light.

Not offended in the least. I'm not like one of those people who went all ballistic on LT's ass because he gave one star to their fave. ;)

hur hur. I have no idea of whom you're speaking. LT's just wrong in those cases, obviously. In an odd way I find them pleasing. Like I've managed to appreciate something he can't. Since he swoons over Beyond Paradise and Secretions, we're even.

As I am fond of saying, LT/TS is/are right. Except when they are wrong. ;)

Persackly.

Ya know, I can't even remember what L'Ombre smells like! And I know lots of people love it. I nagged Bill at AWF to re-carry the Diptyques but he says the line's so big now he can't.:( I'll read your review!

if you do re-sniff L'ombre, I'd love to hear what you think - and thanks for commenting on my blog! :)

Well, thanks for giving me the heads up!

Ooh, yes! That Le Labo vanilla is a fave of mine, too! That and the Tokyo exclusive (Gaiac 10, I think) are the ones I lust after (and wouldn't you know they'd be the hardest to get). Maybe Fabrice & Co. will make the city exclusives more available again (fingers crossed).

I have a sample of that Vanille somewhere. I should scare it up, shouldn't I? I'm never sure with Le Labo whether something labeled Vanille is going to smell like vanilla. :)>- Probably my favorite enhancement of vanilla is smoky. I wish I got that in SDV like everyone else. It's too boozy/tobacco on me. If I could wave my wand --- Poivre, for sure.

Duelle seems like a perfect comfort scent for this time of year. I do wonder whether it would work especially well for people who kinda like the Shalimar citrus/vanilla construct but find Shalimar too overwhelming? It wasn't until I read V's comment about Shalimar that it clicked and I thought, oh, of course. That sweet/sharp dynamic.

Hi March! You hit the nail on the head about Eau Duelle and Shalimar, which I want to love and should be able to love, on paper at least, but on my skin, it's flat and icky-powdery. Do you think the Ode might be a bit better? Will have to get a sample and try it. As for Duelle, I'm loving my sample. It won't knock your socks off, but is definitely an enjoyable, long-lived comfort scent. With that little citrus-y thing going on, it reminds me a bit of Creed's uber-pricey Sublime Vanille. I tried a wrist-to-wrist comparison and on me, they weren't that far apart. And the Diptyque blew the Creed out of the water as far as longevity. I also like Tam Dao and Oyedo, though I've only worn them once or twice. The line is hard to find now in my city; Neiman's used to carry a lot of it, but it figures, now that I want to explore it, they're down to stocking just five or six candles.

Well, i disliked Ode less than regular Shalimar (heresy!) but it's still darned citrusy. Definitely more vanillic, though, and smoky, which was my favorite part. I just can't endure five hours to get there.

Diptyque used to be all over the place and I took it for granted. Now that it's nowhere, I miss it. Duelle clearly works on/for many people, and in that still-unwritten oddball vanilla post I'd add that people's responses to Vanilla Fragrance X are all over the place. Check reviews on MakeupAlley and for every one complaining something's too sweet and foody, there's another saying it's too bitter and inedible. This can happen with any note, obviously, but to me (I like to scan those reviews to see how something's going over) there seems to be an especially wide range of perception of vanilla scents.

That Ode is amazing, and I think the drydown's gorgeous, but it's still a hair too close to Shalimar for my total comfort. :d And I love your comment on vanillas. Duelle -- so I'm not the only one, man, what is in that base? It was a solid 36 hours on the back of my hand, through (I swear) multiple handwashings. I wasn't trying to rid myself of it, just stunned by its tenacity.

Ooops, hit "post" too soon. I'm in the minority on Duelle, I've mostly read and heard positive things about it. Take my opinion with a shaker of salt, please.

Ode is huge -- very much like regular Shalimar with an intensely smoky/vanillic drydown. To be honest since I am not the queen of Shalimar (probably the one classic Guerlain I admire rather than love), it's not my thing, but certainly any major fans of Shalimar might try it. It's very rich.

Their old scents could be wonderfully oddball -- such a bracingly weird intro to lavender, vinegar, etc. The newest ones do feel a bit tepid, although whatever's at the base of Duelle would not come off my hand, some sort of musk?

Probably. It always cracks me up when the one chemical that won't wash off smells better than the finished product...

It's always nice to sample first -- not just for what happened to you, but the way I tend to fall slowly in, our out, of love :) You know, there's nothing like building your own smoky vanilla, which I end up doing with Burning Leaves, Essence of John Galliano, etc. on a vanilla.

Their graphics are gorgeous. Their scents ... I love smelling them but only own a couple -- L'Eau Trois, which is a freaking amazing incense/resin that I think they reissued? And Philosykos. I unfortunately missed out on Tam Dao when it smelled like sandalwood instead of wood-shop which is what it smells like now.

Your vintage Shalimar sounds grand. This is *much* lighter -- more like the rough-hewn concept in the effect than the actual original.

Sorry it's so cold! It's weirdly warm here, I'm assuming a remnant of a tropical storm, and very rainy/windy, like a september hurricane. Bizarre for Dec. 1.

Gimme! xo >-)

OK it dropped from 60F :o at 8:30am to 40F 4 hours later.

rut-row! Ju gonna get it now, Looosey! (hope it's not like we got, where it dropped 30F in less than 3 hrs) xo >-)

A NORAD Patricia de Nicolai tracker, like for Santa Claus-- that's what we need!

Musette makes a good point re Christianity...unless you know the particular end of the continuum, it's hard to say. However, if they are a devoutly fundamentalist Protestant, the answer is definitely "no". Not only might the sex be offensive, but the whole thing involving Sookie being psychic will be viewed as demonic.....along with the vampires, etc. Do you know if they have read anything else involving the supernatural or monsters? They might have one view re anything in real life re the supernatural and another when it regards fiction.

Ohnoes about PdN! There's nobody you can draft into babysitting on an emergency basis? Cuz it's an emergency. The Sookie Stackhouse books ... hm. They're not blasphemous per se. But they're frankly sexual, and there's this idea running through that vampires are fairly flexible in their sexuality, so the sex pops up in unexpected places, if you follow me. I can see someone finding that offensive. My magic 8-ball says no.

Oh, and BTW, March - got some Gorilla Perfumes stuff in the mail today and wanted to tell you it's worth avoiding the North American LUSH and just ordering from the UK. The BNTBTBB stuff is as good as before and the new The Smell of Weather Turning (which is UK exclusive right now, I think) is quite nice. The shipping was super-quick and reasonable. Weirdly - I mean really weirdly! - the order was cheaper when I checked out than when it was in my shopping cart, and not just because my address excluded me from the tax or whatever: the products themselves mysteriously got cheaper. It was a bargain, anyway.

hey, sweetie! I am the Queen of Stackhouse! I read her before they made the TV show - WAY before. Here is my lapsed-Catholic take: If the 'devout' is Catholic you can gift them with impunity (I did - and she got a kick out of them) . If the person is more conservative Christian, I would abstain (haw! see what I did there? ok, I'm punchy - working since 7am)....I now live in an extremely conservative area and while romance/bodice rippers fly like flies off the shelves...sex with vampires is still just a bit :o where you are, though, might skew that concept a bit. I live in the middle of a cornfield. You live in town. YMMV how are the babes? xoxoox >-)

Thanks, dear heart! That does help - I figured the books would be fine, I just wanted to make sure they was no garroting people with rosaries or anything (hey, you never know!) The babes are well: S is getting his teeth painfully early (just as M did), but he is otherwise as insanely cheerful and good-natured as usual and M is looking forward to her advent calendar starting tomorrow! How are things in the cornfield?

Garroting! I especially love it when that happens through the arras!! ;) Happy to hear the glad tidings, btw. Meanwhile, I'm wraggling my finger in your general direction on BNTBTBB, as I recently decided I dig BOG, but was able to ignore that thought because it was an Unobtainable. I think I shall distract myself with all the swapping prep and mailing I need to do.

Harvest is in, cows are lowing. I am freezing. It is snowing. Typical IL autumn-into-winter..... xoxoxo and muchos besos to those bebes! xoxo >-)