Olène (1988)
by Diptyque

Olene is a white-hot white floral that sears itself into your brain like a lightning bolt. Jasmine and muguet, but lacking the smooth, pleasing roundness of the real flowers, being both a simpler and more stripped down accord as well as being ten times louder than nature's version. This is a sharp fragrance, but surprisingly not heavy given the volume of the sillage. It lasts a long time, too, developing a slight mushroomy quality far into the base I've yet to identify.

Bold and shocking but not particularly unique or interesting, this is a floral with amphetamine psychosis.

a big bouquet of white flowers, jasmine, narcissus, just pureness
with last powdery musk ??
and taking uncommom vine/rattan as the heart top as warm green breeze,
feminine with plain sweetness
i have to admit i love it

Quite nice but quite similar to Do Son. I have both samples with me and neither I nor my wife can tell the difference. Could they have placed the same fragrance in two sample vials by mistake?

I found it was too fresh and too watered down for my taste, I prefer sweet fragrances to have a lot of depth and this one does not. I think you can and I have found many easily available perfumes that evoke pretty much the same effect for less than a third of the price.

Olene is a big, heady, indolic jasmine, and whether or not it contains the night-scented species, it creates a profoundly nocturnal ambience. It’s a touch clearer, cooler, and drier that Serge Lutens’s A la Nuit, but it is a similarly weighty fragrance. As it ages on the skin Olene's indoles grow even more potent and prominent, without the honey and spice that season the jasmine in A la Nuit’s floral oriental context. In this regard Olene comes close to being a true soliflore, one of relatively few in modern perfumery.

As so many other Diptyque compositions, Olene is a relatively linear scent, sustaining its bold jasmine accord for hours before drying down to a musky, woody base. Olene is a potent fragrance: it projects well and leaves an ample cloud of sillage behind it. If you’re looking for a straightforward jasmine scent, I recommend you give Olene a try.

Olène is a pretty white floral scent but it’s too feminine for me too pull off, especially during the drydown.