L'Eau Trois (1975)
by Diptyque

Some English Benedictines gather round a campfire at night, they’ve been pruning for winter and have tidied the rockroses, cut back the bay and rosemary and other edgings of the path in the herb garden, and are rightly pleased with their work, but an enthusiastic younger brother keeps ruining everything by chucking on too much incense. Still they look upon him with love and kindliness, choking mildly, so goodwill is maintained.

Searching for a myrrh fragrance, I was recommended Dyptique's L'Eau Trois.

It's really unfortunate that Dyptique has discontinued some of its best fragrances recently. I've only tried two of them - Opone, a great rose-saffron fragrance, and now L'Eau Trois, my holy grail myrrh fragrance. If they're any indication of the quality of this line, the fragrance world has indeed lost something special.

It would be wrong to classify L'Eau Trois as purely an incense fragrance. Myrrh is always the starring note, but this is a fragrance that is atypical of incense fragrance accords. Dyptique mentions Northern Greece is its description of this fragrance, and sure enough, it reminds me more of garrigue fragrances such as Fleurs de Sel and Eau d'Empire more than the likes of Avignon or most orientals.

The top notes arrive dry, woody, and almost medicinal; myrrh, as ever, to the fore. Thyme and rosemary are prominent, among the notes I can identify, and there is a salty tang in the top that L'Eau Trois shares with Fleurs de Sel.

I'm beginning to suspect thyme is the note that partially creates or at least modifies the "salty" quality I detect in both fragrances.

Through the heart oregano makes itself known, adding a slightly culinary twist, modified by what my nose perceives as pine, lavender and something civet-like ( which I don't see listed in either the official notes or any reviews, but I definitely smell something animalic here ).

Slowly the vegetal elements fade out one by one, leaving a warm, smoky ghost of myrrh on my skin.

Though this is EdT strength, it has EdC sillage. This is a quiet skin scent if ever there was one, and six sprays gives me decent but quite subtle sillage. Conversely, longevity is excellent, lasting well over twenty-four hours on me.

It would be interesting to see what a parfum extrait version of this would be like, though I'd be happy just to see the EdT back on the shelves again. I recently received a bottle of this from a fellow Basenoter, and I'm already eyeing the few sites that still sell it for back-up bottles.

To fans of myrrh and fans of garrigue-style fragrances, as well as fans of unusual fragrances in general, I highly recommend this.

Totally unique. Have never, ever smelled a perfume like this, ever. Dry, dry dry! Grassy to the core at first spritz. Green, green, green. For once a perfume's description does it justice. This is herbal, herbal, herbal! Yes I have to repeat things in echo like a monster truck rally announcer. That's what this is doing to me. I absolutely hate the smell but man do I think it's genuine genius. No faking here. Thumbs up with an open mind. Try it you might like it!

Well, it's not run-of-the-mill, that's for sure! I get tart citrus and celery in the aromatic opening, soon underpinned by dry woods (perhaps cedar) and a distinct resinous conifer note. There's also a lot of rosemary in this blend, and this gives the herbal accord a decidedly culinary twist.

Unfortunately, I must be seriously anosmic to something in this fragrance, since the next thing I know it's disappeared on me. In fact, I almost have to disqualify myself from reviewing L'Eau Trois since I catch so little of it. A very faint celery note lingers on my skin for an hour or so, and that's as much as I get.

L’Eau Trois is superb. Admittedly it is not to everyone’s taste – it is very dry with distinctive herbal notes. There is no citrus in the opening, which is unusual. There are no florals to soften this scent. It is uncompromising, and yet beautiful in its confident, natural aura. Resin appears even at the opening, giving me the impression that I’m savoring the lingering taste of a shot-glass of retsina. Herbs appear: they are well blended, dry and aromatic. Thyme leads the charge, but it is much better handled here than in MPG’s over-the-top Baïme. Hints of pine lurk at the edge and add to the interest. I love dry scents, and this is one of the driest I know. It is in the Mediterranean style (others that come to mind are Eau D’Hadrien and Borsari’s Aqua Classico) and I find it brilliant!

This scent is subtle, cool, and completely dry - no sweetness at all, but that's not what it's about. At first I thought it smelled just like fallen leaves on a cool day, and it does smell like that. I just smelled CB I Hate Perfume Musk Reinvented, though, and L'Eau Trois resembles it closely. So if Musk Reinvented is musky, then L'Eau Trois is musky.