I like jasmine. Soft, subtle jasmines are fine — I have quite a few — but big, bold jasmines are even finer. I don't think anybody has made the jasmine too big and bold for me to wear just yet, although Norma Kamali made a valiant effort.
I figured Diptyque's new Essences Insensées 2015, from their La Collection 34 series of limited edition harvest-based fragrances, would be on the soft, subtle side, because that seems to be the style at Diptyque in recent years (and possibly also because I pretty much ignored Essences Insensées 2014, which was based on mimosa). But no, this year's Essences Insensées is J-A-S-M-I-N-E, especially in the top notes, where the jasmine is loud and full and rich, and satisfyingly indolic (just enough and not too much). It is, as advertised, fruity and bright in the opening, with a tingle of citrus over berry jam undertones, and briefly, just enough banana that I wondered if there was some ylang in the mix. As the jasmine settles, the orange blossom gains ground, and then it's cleaner and a bit more subdued. The basil becomes more obvious at about 30 minutes in, by which time Essences Insensées has an herbal and grassy air, and the jammy notes have settled to a quiet murmur. The base is a pale woody musk, light enough that the florals stay front and center, likewise light enough that it's not a powerhouse of longevity.
It's not as much of a BWF (big white floral) as Diptyque's Olène used to be, and it's not as loud (or as sweet) as Lush Lust. If you want your jasmine fragrance more tightly focused on the jasmine, you'd probably prefer Serge Lutens A La Nuit or Bruno Acampora Jasmin, or maybe By Kilian Love And Tears (which most people liked much better than I did). If it's all just more jasmine than you can stand, do see last week's review of Atelier Cologne Jasmin Angélique.
Verdict: Perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin did a lovely job with this one, so if your jasmine cupboard is not yet full, do give it a try. I have no business adding another jasmine to my collection in any case, but I'd be tempted if the bottle were not so huge, and the price so spendy, and if I had not had such poor luck with bulb atomizers. I will try the solid if I ever see a tester.
Diptyque Essences Insensées 2015 is available in 75 ml Eau de Parfum ($175) or 3.6 g Solid Perfume ($60). For buying information, see the listing for Diptyque under Perfume Houses.
Oohh! Thank you so much for doing a review of this fragrance, Robin. I find it even more tempting now than before. It does make me wonder how close this may be to parts of the AG Songes which certainly has a very lush slightly skanky jasmine and YY, etc. The bulb atomizer on the EI Mimosa bottle I got last year has a twist lock, theoretically, to prevent evaporation. Does this jasmine bottle have a twist lock too?
Ah, then you know more about the packaging than I do…I have not seen the bottle but would sure assume it’s the same. I dislike bulb atomizers anyway, they don’t tend to hold up long term. A twist lock is better than nothing though.
It’s the only bulb atomizer I have, and it puts out such a spritzy puffy spray that it is completely impossible to decant – even into a wide neck, screw top 3 ml vial – which I tried. And I took a bath in it… But aside from looks, they’ve made a nozzle that is impossible to decant. Smart move on their part.
This doesn’t remind me of Songes at all–mind you, I’ve a sample of new, not older, Songes. Essences Insensees 2015 might be perfect for you, knowing your penchant for several SOTDs. For all the initial lovely jasmine blast, it peters out fairly quickly, at least on me.
Very interesting……
and on my list it goes, but I do understand the bulb atomizer issue!
Well, see Ann’s comment above, presumably it has the same twist lock which is better than not having it 🙂
This sounds like my worst nightmare, but the solid looks absolutely gorgeous!
Yes, very pretty!
I really loved the plumed bottle they used for the mimosa (which I keep forgetting to sample); this one, not so much. Too bad – or just as well, given how happy I am with SL A la Nuit and Diptyque Olene.
You’re right, that was a prettier bottle! I don’t dislike this one, but that was prettier.
I missed most of the nuances, as usual, and got jasmine jam from it – I was thinking jasmine syrup before your review, close enough. It seemed quite similar to Lush Lust to me, although more refined and restrained. In any case, I like it a lot – a great jasmine for autumn.
The opening *is* jasmine syrup / jasmine jam, we agree! I think it changes gears from there…whereas Lush Lust mostly stayed candied jasmine syrup (on me, at least) straight through.
I did adore Lush Flying Fox, which I guess was the shower gel version of Lust, but found Lust too sweet to wear. Very pissed they discontinued Flying Fox and hope it will reappear one day!
It’s also true that I pay most attention to scents in the beginning, unless I make a concious effort to keep sniffing my wrist and taking mental notes. I’ll get my sample out and pay more attention this time around.
I also prefer Flying Fox to Lust and I just cannot comprehend why they have discontinued the shower gel. It’s one of my absolute favourites, ever (I love Grass, too, another disaster). I rarely wear Lust, but I like owning a small bottle of it. It’s bold.
I guess Lush can’t keep making everything or they’d have 300 shower gels. But do hope they do Rose Jam again this year, I’m nearly out and that’s even more of a disaster for me than Flying Fox.
Have you seen their Jason and the Argan Oil solid shampoo? It smells like Rose Jam!
Thank you, I will see if I can find it to smell!
Just chiming in after a long absence here. Rose jam is definitely coming back this Christmas. They’ve also got some new shower gels out to replace the discontinued ones. I’m itching to try lord of misrule. Beautiful could be nice too. It had the same scent as 1000 wishes.
Thanks Jonas!
Hmmm … now Flying Fox is still available in Australia so I’m tempted to stock up while I can. However, the last bottle I have, which my daughter gave me in July, is much stronger on the honey than I remember, and mush less on jasmine. Even the text on the label has changed to emphasise honey over jasmine; the reference to ‘masses of jasmine’ has been replaced by something jaunty about bees following you about to get their honey back.
So I’m wondering if there is some problem about the jasmine raw material in Flying Fox … ? Dunno. Unfortunately I like honey less than jasmine, so I might not stock up after all.
How interesting! Yes, maybe the cost of jasmine went up, or maybe people just didn’t love it with so much jasmine?
Oh this would explain a lot for me, because I only smelled Flying Fox pretty recently too, and I’ve been perplexed ever since the comparisons to Lust! And I say that as someone who wears Lust in its mildest concentration (the solid), but the Flying Fox I smelled still paled in comparison on the jasmine front. Def more of a honey scent to my nose. Good to know that it used to pack more of a jasmine punch (although, sad to know I missed it!)
I remember Flying Fox and Lust being very close, but now they are not, or not to me at least. Sorry you missed out. 🙁
So glad to see this discussion…I’ll be careful not to immediately order Flying Fox if it reappears.
I really like Lust, admittedly having quite a sweet tooth, so this sounds delicious. It doesn’t hurt that both the bottle and the solid look amazing, too.
Hope this one will be sweet enough for you then — you might prefer Lust.
LOL, the price sure is better!
A good reason to prefer it! Plus, this one is limited edition anyway.
Oh, so glad to hear your take Robin–mounting evidence suggests I’m in the minority here as (with warnings to anyone who’d rather not have any negative references in mind before they smell it–stop reading now!) I found the indoles pretty urinous! Or I did the first time I wore it–have been meaning to try it again, but now it’s hard to motivate!
As you say, the pricetag and atomizer (already broken on the nearly-full tester I used) mean it’s probably for the best that I didn’t fall in love, but I confess I’m a little disappointed it didn’t work for me–in principle I’m in favor of Diptyque doing a lush indolic jasmine. Ah well, they’ve really saved me from myself if I have to stick with my $12 Lush solid instead 🙂
Hey, I say stick with the $12 Lush solid anyway — it’s a great scent and it’s $12! I wish I could find a tester of the solid, was wondering if it would read less sweet to me w/o the alcohol amping up the sillage.
But also, do think indoles do not bother me the way they used to. We all have our own threshold, and it’s hard to be objective about it. Guessing that 10 years back, would have found this too indolic.
Truth in advertising, I do still find the solid pretty sweet, but I think the solid doesn’t feel nearly so overbearing as the sprayed version, so it’s sweet in a more agreeable way? I found the spray basically unwearably insistent…
As another data point: I wore the solid recently and my lunch date volunteered, “Oh, it’s sort of a soft floral?” Now, that’s to say he could smell it from across the table, but still, for anyone to describe Lust as “soft” means it’s making a considerably less brash impression than the spray does, I think!
Ha, yes!
(Oh, and point well taken for the subjectivity of judging indoles. Should say, I didn’t even find them so strong, just that the specific character was not so much my favorite iteration of indoles–I think I’d rather something something smell a bit rotting or even a bit fecal than a bit “oh dear has someone wet their pants??” which is the faint yet non-negligible impression I got in this case. But that is a VERY subjective opinion!! 🙂 )
Interesting. It’s all subjective, obviously — I don’t get that at all!
Jasmine has just started blooming here in Canberra and a couple of sprigs in my office fill the room with a gorgeous scent all day long.
How lovely 🙂
Thought I’d chime in here as I bought the bottle from Saks this week….
I’d suggest trying before buying. Normally I find Jasmine and Orange blossom to be warming scents on the floral spectrum, so I blind bought.
This juice is cold. So cold in fact I thought I had the wrong bottle and had a lily of sorts….Cold damp spring morning of lily of the valley or Easter sunday trumpet lilies in the air. But the orange blossom is there, it’s just that the mixture gives of a very lily-like aura. Tough to explain, at least to my nose.
This is a quality “organic” perfume. It’s not synthetic feeling and it doesn’t last for years. The pure essence of what feels like steam extraction is there.
I can’t figure out why this would be released in autumn. This is surely a spring scent. I honestly don’t know how I would pull this off even in summer. It’s going in my closet for a while….Too bad I didn’t just spend $60 on the solid.
So sorry you ended up with a full bottle you don’t adore!