Eau Lente (1986)
by Diptyque

When I tried Eau Lente it immediately became one of my favorite spice-centric fragrances. I find it truly unisex--neither overtly masculine nor feminine--and this characteristic alone makes it interesting to me. The spices are blended and soft, and include some of my favorites, including cardamom and cinnamon. Yes, it's a bit like my jar of garam masala, but when I sniff it (especially on my skin rather than from the vial or on paper) food is not the first, second or third thing that pops into my head! Instead I am instantly and acutely reminded of walking on the Boardwalk at Wildwood, New Jersey when I was a child!! There's a certain melancholic mixture of head shop/incense + ocean breeze + fudge shop + human musk + teenage girl fruity perfume that I never knew was emblazoned in my scent memory until now! Go figure. I must purchase this one, if for no other reason than to relive that memory from time to time!

This review is under revision.

Eau Lente starts out smelling like an Indian curry - straight garam masala. Happily, within moments it reveals an opopanax heart that prevents it from continuing as a South Asian lunch buffet. Once the opopanax asserts itself, it dominates the scent completely, with controlled bursts of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and coriander occuring from time to time. Otherwise it's pretty linear all the way through.

Eau Lente is beautiful, but surely it's not for everyone. If you like Diptyque's opopanax candle, you're going to love this. If opopanax is not your thing, you can forget about it.

1st try (applied normal) ALL spice.. nutmeg, clove, a bit pungent! Smelled too masculine.

2nd try (applied lightly!) Yum! dry & peaceful spicy, with touch of soft sweetness in background.

This came across as fairly masculine to me, the clove was dominant, and perhaps joined by some black pepper. I do like clove, but I prefer its sweet, fruity presentation in Coco, because that one is more feminine. I would recommend this one as a spicy scent for men, but it is too butch for me. For awhile, I considered crossing over into men's fragrances, but many of them are too different from what I am accustomed to wearing. I believe they are compositionally at odds with womens' fragrances, and it is unfair to judge them according to the same standards. This would be akin to asking a man to give high ratings to a vanilla-based women's fragrance that he would never wear, when he prefers lavendar and lemon. Therefore, I give it a neutral rating.

Eau Lente is thus far my favorite of the Diptyque line. I'll piggy-back on Foetidus' review here, as I think he's done an excellent job capturing the essence of this scent. It is a spicy, woodsy, musky scent. The opoponax here seems less in my face than it often does. It's more subtle here, adding a warmth that is slightly animalic, like amber or musk, as well as adding depth. As Pluran points out, in this scent it never goes to the over-the-top vanilla sweetness that opoponax sometimes does. Instead, here the muskiness and "browness" of the note is accentuated. I wish it lasted longer, and if I had one complaint about this fragrance, it would be that it can sometimes smell a bit like a holiday candle. Otherwise, it's great for those who like woods and spice with a touch of sweetness.