Reviews of Tam Dao (2003)
by Diptyque

This is supposed to be Diptyque's great essay on sandalwood. Forget the sandalwood. Tam Dao starts out dry and reserved, with a touch of spice and a whole dump truck load of cedar.

And that's it. Bone dry cedar and sharp spices on a bed of desiccated powder. Pure, simple...wait that's a soap commercial isn't it? Tam Dao is dry wood stripped down to its essence, with none of the potentially distracting notes that soften the edges of scents like Santal Noble or Santal Imperial. It smells like a carpenter’s shop, filled with sawdust. It's also utterly, unfailingly linear, just as many other Diptyque scents. Tam Dao is the Zen of cedar. The bare essentials. The unclouded vision. It's quite the achievement, yet it somehow fails to inspire me.

The usual sharp Diptyque opening and then there's some strange flowery
--No make that garden herbal earth notes.
There's some sandalwood too, but who cares? This ain't minimalist it's eccentric.

I can picture the older witches in " Practical Magic" wearing this, yet somehow Olive Oil in Popeye also comes to mind.--But she's speaking French!.

I'm sorry, people, I'm confused and so is this scent. Bottom line? You don't have to be an oddball who rejoices in body lotion, and potted plants, but I think it would really help.

Gragh. A spicy dry woody sandalwood scent... Davidoff Adventure did the same thing! Tam Dao adds a touch of a boozy note, probably some kind of vanilla. It's an 'eh' from me.

I'm a sandalwood freak, and always ready to try on new brands. The top notes in Tam Dao smell "right" to me, and I feel the comfort and coziness that sandalwood gives me. But soon an intruder comes out, an unpleasant note that reminds me of gasoline. It disappears almost completely in the drydown, but it ruins my pleasure in the scent.

It's dusty-woody-medicinal spicy. When I put on Tam Dao, I envision walking up to a dusty attic with 10.000's of books stored there. While walking between the shelves, I see a beam of sunlight shining through the roof window, highlighting tiny specks of dust floating in the air.

That is Tam Dao.

I finally got around to trying this popular, oft-reviewed scent. There's not much more I can add to zztopp's review. I'll just agree with him, on all but the Creed plug, but that's only because I have not yet tried Bois de Santal. I don't doubt it's more interesting than Tam Dao, because I had the same feeling of incompleteness, an unfinished sense from Tam Dao. It started off greener and sharper than I thought, was lighter than I expected it to be, as well as drier, and less complex. On top of that it never developed all that much. It then disappeared too soon. I can't say that I was totally overwhelmed by it as so many others here - many of whom I respect and with whom I often agree - seem to be. I'm a little let down. As far as "sandalwood" scents go, I prefer Santal Noble and Santal de Mysore (though those are more like gourmand scents) and Profumum's Santalum (though that's more about myrrh).

woody, spycy, not sweet. Not so parfym-like.
I wear this when geting dogs out. It´s good, but not so good that I would wear it in everydaylife.

Tam Dao is one of the most lauded fragrances from Diptyque line, and while it is a very well made fragrance, there are a few issues which keep it from attaining total glory.

Tam Dao introduces itself with a burst of piney and green note of cypress. This sharp note combines with cedarwood to give a woody smell, which then leads in to the main heart of sandalwood. Thats where the evolution of this fragrance stops, and you get to experience a rich (albeit) dry interpretation of a sandalwood note. It does it quite well, that "treasure chest" smell. Unlike MPGs "sweeter" Santal Noble, this is a "dry" sandalwood. The longevity is great, and sillage is fantastic.

Unfortunately, after a couple of hours with no evolution, Tam Dao can get boring and feel "unfinished". I prefer something like Creeds hard-to-find Bois De Santal, which takes the sandalwood note itself through various transformations. If you are looking for a fragrance with a solo performance by the sandalwood note, Tam Dao should be at the top of your list. If you want a fragrance with a sandalwood heart with a supporting act, try Bois De Santal or some of the other offerings.

A pleasant scent but, like some others, I find this a little too simplistic to wear very often. The lack of evolution is the main problem for me. Almost any scent becomes tedious if it doesn't change all day.

Yes, sandalwood, and that about says it all. Cedar and amber echoes in the base and it has decent lasting power but I quickly got bored with this scent as with nearly all Diptyques. More woodsy (think pencils) than say the sweeter MPG Santal Noble.