Message scent

MANILA, Philippines - Perfume maker Diptyque, for the past 50 years, has a lot of things to be proud of: 15 eaux de toilette, four colognes, 24 home fragrances and innumerable scented candles. The first eau de toilette, L’eau, was created under Desmond Knox-Leet, one of the company’s three founders. It leaves a spicy freshness in its wake and was designed with both men and women in mind. This innovative olfactory register created surprise and was a huge success. It set the tone for future Diptyque creations: atypical.

As legendary as its innovation is Diptyque’s address: 34 Boulevard Saint Germain in Paris. To celebrate 50 years of creation, Diptyque is giving this address its signature line to embody the brand. It’s a unique scent that’s for the body and the home called 34 Boulevard Saint Germain.

The story goes that a particular meeting between Diptyque director of development Myriam Badault and Roman Kaiser, a scientist who goes on scent treks, ended up with one mission: to capture the scent of 34 Boulevard Saint Germain and put it in a bottle. So the adventure began.

Kaiser went to the address with his material. In truth, trapping the scent of a rose is child’s play as the flower exists physically, is well defined and ready to give itself up. Seizing the essence of a place, a boutique, is another story altogether. 

The Saint Germain boutique had a wealth and diversity of aromas that Kaiser had too many avenues to follow in the end. In essence the intention was to interpret the memory of Diptyque and its rich history, one that is constantly being reinvented through new projects.

The task was complicated, perhaps even impossible. And yet it was there as soon as you enter the boutique: the odors of great successes, of eaux de toilette sprayed time and again for the pleasure of customers, and candles freed from their jars.

For the 34 Boulevard Saint Germain line, Olivier Pescheux and Myriam Badault decided to intensify certain raw materials belonging to Diptyque’s palette and come up with an innovative and complex signature scent.

Around 40 raw materials make up the scent. The head features the sparkling scents of blackcurrant and green leaves, rose pepper and citrus notes followed by spices. The heart is rose, Egyptian geranium, tuberose, iris and violet. The base is a combination of woods, balms, and resins.

The line 34 Boulevard Saint Germain is for both the body (eau de toilette and soap) and the home (scented candle, room spray and scented oval).

“The perfume of the soul is remembrance,” wrote George Sand. With this new signature line, the soul of 34 Boulevard Saint Germain is inscribed in modernity.

In the Philippines, Diptyque is exclusively distributed by Rustan’s.