Diptyque Orphéon Gets an Eau de Toilette

Orphéon is one of the most loved perfumes from the niche French house. Perfume houses introduce many creations to the market, all of them special enough to make it beyond the paper and labs, enough to be bottled and shared with a wider audience. But some are more special than others. The favorite child. For Diptyque, Philosykos and Orphéon are at the top.

Orphéon is named after the Orphéon jazz club in Saint-Germain, France. This lively, cosmopolitan bar was where the three founders of Diptyque frequented together in the 1960s.

The favorite child gets everything. Orphéon gets to enchant in many forms– a solid perfume, cleansing body gel, hair mist, hand cream, body lotion. Orphéon gets a jazz band with a special jazz performance by the Ezra Collective. All this somehow before the Eau de Parfum got an Eau de Toilette. Better late than never, I suppose.

Orphéon was first created as an EdP in 2021, a woody aromatic forming an unlikely but charming friendship with powdery notes. Creativity won Diptyque a lot of fans, the fragrance quickly becoming one of their bestsellers in a few short years. Five years since its creation, we now have an Eau de Toilette concentration:

Unisex

Perfumer

Nathalie Gracia-Cetto

Fragrance Family

Woody Floral

Notes 

The spiced citrus additions to the aromatic opening of the EdP is most obvious. We can expect the perfume to have a fizzy, zingy opening. True to its name, the green mandarin will bring a fresh greenness rather than the sweetness of a ripe mandarin.

Yuzu is an increasingly popular citrus note. It can contribute a vibrant and tarty aroma with a barely there sweetness. Depending on the method of extraction, some yuzu notes have an enhanced aromatic facet. Together they will enhance the juniper berry that continues on from the EdP.

Nathalie Gracia-Cetto has chosen milder florals for the EdT as compared to the jasmine of the EdP. Magnolia is a fresh floral note with a lemony dimension that will carry forth the freshness throughout the entirety of your wear of the perfume. The rose here would be more of the watery kind, complementing the magnolia in softening the bright opening of the perfume.

Notably absent, and the biggest differentiator between the two concentrations, is the powdery notes. While Diptyque perfumes are not gendered, some notes are generally not considered masculine enough because of gendered marketing in the industry. Powdery notes are one of the notes that are considered feminine and are hence rejected by a more masculine audience. It is quite reminiscent of makeup. A fitting note for the EdP that was meant to feel like a night at a French jazz club.

But the bar-club feeling isn’t entirely lost in the want of a fresher fragrance profile. The combination of yuzu and fizziness of ginger will lend to the lively feeling of the Orphéon bar, like a just-served aperol drink.

Without the powdery note that was prominent in the EdP, the fragrance will be much fresher. It feels like an Orphéon redesigned for summer wear. Without the intrigue of the powdery note with the cedarwood base, the perfume also comes across like a men’s cologne. An elevated one that a kind, bougie dad would’ve worn back in the day.

Orphéon EdT will be green, clean, and bright. The florals seem a whisper of distant gardens in the air. In the drydown, it would be a comforting woody scent that makes you feel safe and calm.

Diptyque Orphéon Eau de Toilette will be available in the UAE soon as a 100ml bottle priced at AED 727.  Read more about Diptyque perfumes on Perfume Mag.