L'Eau de Tarocco (2009)
by Diptyque

Superb sparkling fresh, zesty blood orange/grapefruit opening follwed by a dry, warm spicy/cedar phase that somehow retains a certain sunny freshness.

My mum fresh squeezes orange juice every morning and slow bakes the juiceless left-over orange shells in the bottom shelf of her Aga to make firelighters (thrifty tip, baked orange shells make excellent free firelighters). This smell (the drydown) slightly reminds me of a sunny day in her kitchen when the door is wide open onto the kitchen garden and there's orange shells baking in the Aga and maybe she's cooking a Moroccan tagine on the top shelf at the same time.

(Aga is a brand of big cooking ranges that store heat so are always hot, sort of thing you find in big country house kitchens in England)

29th August, 2011. (Last Edited: 6th September, 2011.)

Notes (from Lucky Scent): Orange, grapefruit, saffron, cinnamon, rose, ginger, cedar, incense, musk.

For those unfamiliar with it, Tarocco is a cultivar of blood orange, seedless and sweet, yet with plenty of that odd, wine-like quality that distinguishes blood oranges in general. L’Eau de Tarocco offers about fifteen minutes of brilliant impersonation, and the counterpoint of citrus, cinnamon, and saffron is stimulating, clever, and original for as long as it lasts. Once the citrus recedes, though, the spices are left with only soapy rose and cedar notes for company, and that arrangement is at once less pleasing and distinctive than what came before. It's a good thing L’Eau de Tarocco comes in an enormous bottle, because you’d have to reapply it almost continuously to enjoy the really good parts.

Too bad! Had Diptyque found a way to make the orange/saffron accord last longer, or followed it up with something of equal interest, this would be a stupendous scent. As it is, I experience it as a tantalizing disappointment.

25th June, 2011. (Last Edited: 26th June, 2011.)

This is pretty good stuff. Anything that puts wood, spice and incense into a dry package has pretty much got my interest, and this one does that. There are good citrus notes at the start: the orange and grapefruit are realistic and distinct. The scent takes on a clean, bright character with hints of incense, wood, and a spice melange. The scent is subtle and enjoyable. At times a restrained and dignified rose note appears, and that is very well done. The scent is quietly compelling, dry, and translucent.

24th June, 2010.

On my skin, L'Eau de Tarocco is one majorly happy fragrance. Deliciously sparkly blood orange, with anchoring wood and zingy saffron and cinnamon notes underneath. YAY! And bravo.

1st May, 2010.

The topnotes are simply a BIG GRIN—so precisely the scent produced from plunging a thumbnail into an orange. Soon thereafter, though, that scent starts playing peek-a-boo with some really odd, hard-to-describe notes. The imagery I get is that I’ve walked toward the storage and receiving area at the back of a mall store—new packing materials and newly manufactured products? Now that’s weird.

Officially, the notes are orange, grapefruit, saffron, cinnamon, rose, ginger, cedar, incense, musk.

Lest you write off Tarocco, I do have one selling point: Yesterday I sprayed this on paper and enjoyed hours and hours of the fresh, sweet citrus notes wafting across my desk. Yep, now that's a smilemaker.

Thus far, La Rose du Petit Prince is the best citrus-rose scent I've come across.

17th February, 2010.

Green citrus opening. I think this "green" thing is a house note of Diptyque. Anyways, very musky in the drydown, however that "green"-ness remains throughout. I think it's the rose note that alludes to the green I'm talking about. I kinda like the way it is done here without an overdose of cloves or spices in the other Diptyque fragrances I've tried. Longevity lacks and the fragrance is seemingly lackluster otherwise. Just ho hum for me.

19th January, 2010.