L'Eau de Neroli (2008)
by Diptyque

Best BASIC neroli based cologne water I've ever tried. Bright and crisp with geranium note that is easy to detect (so if you don't like geranium don't spray this on). If you are looking of a deep neroli or something with more complex, try out Penhaligon's Castile or C&S's Neroli. This would be good for a "spritz n' wake up" type of dealie but for the price, nah. Go with something else. But I really do like this scent.

Notes:

Head: Lemon Leaf Oil, Verbena, Tarragon, Bergamot
Heart: Orange Blossom, Neroli, Geranium
Base: Beeswax, Cedarwood, White Musk

Wow! This was pretty much love at first sniff for me. The opening reminds me of Eau d'Orange Verte by Hermes. Both share a bright, citrus opening that's heavy on the orange. Once the topnotes fade is where they really start to distinguish themselves. Namely, I can still smell L'Eau de Neroli. Orange Verte has almost no longevity on me, and even though I find it to be a lovely scent, I could never purchase a bottle because of the terrible lasting power. Not to say Neroli is a powerhouse because it isn't by any means (with a good spraying I could maybe get 5 hours out of this on a good day, probably closer to 4) but it's an EdC, so I ended up being rather pleased it could last this long. It settles nicely into a very nice orange blossom smell with a little creaminess thanks to the beeswax. This would be a perfect scent for summer. My only complaint is that it's not available in a smaller amount. 200ml is a lot to have of anything, even an EdC. Nevertheless, I feel like I a bottle of this could be in my near future.

A very good cologne, with an unusual accord of verbena, tarragon, neroli, geranium, and cedar. Not your usual stuff; balanced beautifully, and very well blended. It has good sillage for an eau de cologne, and decent longevity, too. The mood is definitely sunny and upbeat, if a bit cool.

I agree that it is the most interesting of the three Diptyque colognes, but that isn’t saying much. It opens with a nice bit of green in a citrus accord… enjoyable and refreshing… I would even say “beautiful,” but this opening is unusually short lasting: Within ten minutes it has moved to a well-made heart of neroli, orange blossom, and geranium. It doesn’t hold on to the heart notes, either. All too quickly, again, the pleasure is gone. L’Eau de Neroli bases out with an inconsequential white musk – white musk is about the only note my nose can determine, and I hate it when that happens. I am not a fan of most white musk fragrances.

L’Eau de Neroli is very nice neroli cologne, and this would be important if there weren’t a couple of dozen other fragrances that could be called very nice neroli fragrances. This one doesn’t stand out in the crowd in any way that I can determine. What is special about it is so short-lived that it hardly counts, and what is left is just your basic ho hum.

Wise butterfly
Smells linear Neroli
And zooms off in a straight line . . .

Is this the worst attempt at a haiku?

That's Ok, this is one of the worst (or cheapest) attempts at a neroli frag.

Now, on the other hand about that C&S version or the old L'Occitane . . .

As if Diptyque could make something lousy. As if.

I was rather surprised at how this was made different than many of the neroli scents out there. Yet the top notes (which are really the only thing that carry, to my nose) smell of neroli, a tart orange, and the scent of a lime just squeezed into a cocktail-- how an errant blast from the bit of fruit wafts across one's nose. Ever so slightly dirty under all of this... yet a soapy dirty: the hottie gardener after having worked the herb parterre now in the outdoor shower using madame's luxe Italian products.

Longevity is, predictably, dim. But then, one shouldn't expect it to last. The gardener hangs up the tools, the cedar planks on the shower dry, and night falls, leading one to slip into something else