Tam Dao (2003)
by Diptyque

Still a great scent, fairly unique.
Obviously a quality scent, i dont pick up on much synthetic stuff here
It does have a strength to it thats really sharp on my nose and can be slightly headache inducing!
Its woody but not dark, strong sandalwood, sharp cedar and spicy notes!
Still a clean scent though not in the 80's sandalwood territory like a lot of frags.
Nice autumn/fall fragrance.

2nd January, 2012.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sandalwood, cedar, incense, drying down to a lovely ambergris creamy woody finish. The nasal equivalent of an early rise dawn adventure leading into a day of travel ending curled up by a fire with the one you love.

31st December, 2011.

I tried this years ago and did not like it. I just revisited Tam Dao, and I guess I have done a near 180. I still can't say I love the scent, but I am at least liking it now. I get some sweet sandalwood at the start that is quite nice, then the scent turns briefly green. The green transition is brief, but a bit medicinal and unpleasant smelling. Finally the sandalwood returns, mixed with a strong incense accord. Not the best sandalwood nor incense scent available, but worth a sniff if your tastes run to either of those notes. A mild recommendation from me.

23rd October, 2011.

I love sandalwood, and woodsy fragrances in general. I have to say I have been a bit disappointed with this perfume. I have to spray this on almost like one would a cologne. There is very little sillage and it lasts at most a half hour on my skin. I love the fragrance, but on me the strength of the juice is what's lacking.

8th August, 2011.

I held off testing my array of Diptyque samples for quite some time, and I'm afraid that I started with the wrong one: TAM DAO. To my nose, this is an incense scent, pure and simple. The good news is that it lacks the asbestos quality which I've encountered in a the incense offerings of a couple of houses, notably Comme des Garçons. The bad news is that I just don't find this one very interesting. TAM DAO is a dark woody incense composition which holds potential but lacks the base notes that make for great orientals. I'm not detecting any benzoin, resins, musk, or much of anything else here. Just a solution of powdered incense. If that's what you're looking for, then you might like this a lot, though I should say that the longevity is not great (predictably enough).

My own preference is for incense ensconced in a significantly more perfume-y base. Incense alone is not enough to hold my interest. Désolée.

23rd July, 2011.

This is a very beautiful fragrance, I own a bottle of Australian sandalwood essential oil and the opening of tam dao is very similar. The dry down is the star of this fragrance, the original sandalwood note sweetens; making the fragrance smell like a sandalwood and vanilla candle.

12nd May, 2011.