It's February, and Diptyque has launched a new fragrance named Eau Capitale for its permanent collection, as well as a new limited edition scented candle called Paris en Fleur. All these products (Eau de Parfum and solid perfume for Eau Capitale, candles and scented wax oval for Paris En Fleur) are decorated with truly beautiful Art Nouveau-inspired patterns that feature "emblematic roses." I have to admit, this launch is all very well-timed for Valentine's Day, yet it's not your average candy-sweet throwaway treat.
Eau Capitale is an homage to Diptyque's hometown, and it's described as a "lively chypre...a fragrance at once defiant and free," because "only a chypre, a legendary accord in perfumery, could truly celebrate Paris, the city of a thousand faces." I've always thought of as a chypre as a family or a classification rather than accord, and I don't really understand why it's the obvious choice for a Paris-inspired fragrance; but no matter, off we go. Eau Capitale's composition includes notes of bergamot, pink peppercorns, rose, ylang ylang, cinnamon, Akigalawood, Georgywood, Ambrofix and patchouli, and it was developed for Diptyque by perfumer Olivier Pescheux.
Despite all those stylized blooms on its packaging, Eau Capitale is nothing like its older cousin Eau Rose, a shampoo-fresh, honeyed take on the flower (and a Valentine-season launch in its own time). This really is a chypre fragrance — not a take-no-prisoners, old-school chypre, perhaps, but definitely more of a chypre than most mainstream fragrances claiming that title nowadays. Its opening tosses out some dirtied-up citrus but then takes a sharp surprise turn into some strong pink pepper and so much cumin, which is not included in the list of notes but crashes the party nonetheless. I'm not a cumin fan, so I almost surrendered and headed for the bathroom sink, but in the end I was glad I didn't. After a half-hour or so, the cumin quiets down and lets the rose and ylang ylang notes shine through the pepper, and then there's plenty of contemporary oakmoss and a patchouli that's more amber-woody than garden-earthy.
Eau Capitale isn't pretty, but it's striking. If it were a piece of furniture, it would be a vintage wooden farmhouse table whose rough-hewn structure has taken on a mellow sheen over the years. You might not mistake it for a grand old 1940s chypre, but it could probably hold its own alongside lots of 1980s chypres. For comparison, it's bolder and more gender-neutral than rose-accented chypres like Serge Lutens Rose de Nuit or Les Parfums de Rosine Une Folie de Rose. If you're not a rose fan, don't worry; it's more essential that you like dirtied-up wood and moss notes to enjoy this scent.
Eau Capitale has above-average sillage and excellent staying power on my skin: one spritz on my inner arm was still noticeable at the end of the the workday. It's still not as "me" as L'Ombre dans L'Eau or Eau Rose, but it feels like a fragrance that deserves its place in the Diptyque family.
Diptyque Eau Capitale is available in 75 ml Eau de Parfum ($180) and in a solid perfume compact (3.6 g for $65).
Hi Jessica, thanks for the review! I’m assuming that ambrofix is the same as ambroxan? Did you get any of that in the drydown?
Yes, I think your assumption is correct!! There’s an amber-y feel to the drydown, but it’s not the same old sheer synthetic amber-y base that I notice in so many other mainstream *and* niche perfumes. Much denser and more retro!
cumin?? in a bad way?
I think the answer depends on your feelings about cumin!! I do *not* like identifiable cumin notes in my perfumes, so the first phase of Eau Capitale is a little rough for me. However, I really like the rest of its evolution! If you *do* like cumin, you might be delighted by that initial phase!
I need to ask Kevin whether he’s tried this and what he thought…he loves big sweaty cumin perfumes.
It sounds very interesting. I love the candle but haven’t smelled this yet. I don’t mind cumin, but do not always love it.
I bought the mini candle and I love it! It’s similar to the heart and drydown of Eau Capitale. No cumin in the candle. 🙂
Not much of a rose fan but yes to cumin and dirtied-up wood and moss notes. Yay! I notice my local Diptyque retailer (Mecca Cosmetica in Australia) is billing this one as a limited edition. Maybe MC doesn’t wnat to commit to it in the long term. And it seems a bit pricier than usual?
Hm! The Diptyque boutique where I got my sample had added it to the line-up of fragrances with their little ceramic sniffer-things, so it looked like part of the “gang”…but it wouldn’t be the first time there’s some inconsistency about that bit of marketing for a fragrance!
Oh, this sounds very much worth a sniff! Thanks for the review Jessica!
Hope you’ll have a chance to sniff it!!
So weird. I am very sensitive to cumin, and on me, this is a woodsy chypre rose. Maybe a little musk here and there…
p.s. I love it btw
I do like it and I can’t figure out why I’m so knocked over by the peppery-cuminy phase that others don’t seem to smell?!
Cumin, you say? ?
I won’t seek it out but will smell it when I happen to see it. Thanks for the review!
I smelled no cumin ?
Let me know what you think! Diptyque boutiques keep popping up around town…not sure whether other venues like Bloomingdale’s or Space NK have it yet.
So weird. I am a total cuminphobe, and I do not get cumin. Not a bit. I get a green wood hum, almost vegetal but not quite–flirts with vegetal. So, for reference, And the World Is Yours is a cumin bomb on me…
On me, Eau Capitale is a quiet, steady, unisex rose–elegant, but maybe too polite and tucked in (no shirt tails on this one). My sample is from Luckyscent from a dauber vial, not a spray. (I also asked my husband to sniff my arm, and he did not pick up any cumin either–however, normally I would say his sniffer is unreliable, but it was him over the cats 🙂 )
So strange. I actually double checked the box *and* the vial itself — they came from a Diptyque boutique — and yes, it’s Eau Capitale. ?!!?
I did not get any cumin, nor any patchouli. It was a rather shrill rose on me. Very disappointing.
I’m the same! Just tried it today at Galleria Saks. I sprayed it on and got only rose. Rose, no patchouli, no cumin at all. No woods. Just some pepper. I found it disappointing!
But that box is gorgeous!
Hmm all the different takes in the review and the comments defintely makes me curious to try it. And I do love the Art Nouveau design.
Tried this yesterday: I smelled a lot of patchouli, no cumin, but a very heavy candle wax! Luckily there was a Rituals sink nearby to scub it off.
The upside…my wallet is happy I didn’t love it.
I’m not a cumin fan, either — though I don’t get it from a lot of things where others seem to notice it, so many my advice should come with a grain of salt? I do notice a touch of it here, just enough to be reminded slightly of Le Labo Rose 31 (which strikes me as much dirtier). The rose is VERY prominent in Eau Capitale, to me, but I agree with the comment upthread about a hum of something green. I am not at all fan of patchouli, and there wasn’t enough of it here to turn me away. A chypre, but with some sharp corners sanded down? Maybe. I think I like it, in any case — it seems highly wearable to me.
I just wanted to say that I definitely DO smell the cumin when I spray it on my skin. It was not apparent on my clothing, on a tester strip, or in the air. However, on my arm I distinctly pick up a very prominent cumin about 5-10 minutes after spraying. It reminds me of the cumin in Feminite du Bois. The cumin peters out after about 30 minutes but I feel like I might be able to talk myself out of buying this one because of that opening (testing from a free sample). I already have Feminite du Bois and a travel spray of Portrait of a Lady, so I’m telling myself that it would be redundant to own this one as well.