Corail Oscuro
Eau de Parfum, Diptyque (2024)

This is my favorite of Diptyque's Les Essences collection. It's built on a herbal/mineral core that smells to me like Acqua di Gio's "dry herbs on a hot, salty beach" calone drydown mixed with black pepper, vetiver, and the disembodied smoke of Iso E Super. Balanced on top of this is a citrusy mandarin note, rounded out with rose, but without being feminized.

It's a well executed mix of notes, coming across very abstract. It's herbal, dark, and somehow smells like heat, but it also has a freshness from the mandarin that balances everything out.

In a way, this feels like a "niche" Acqua di Gio - stronger, richer and more direct, but also more abstract. But it also feels like it was influenced by Terre De Hermes (citrus over artsy smoke and hot, dry minerals), though Corail's dry green herbs give it a different character. It does smell very 00's, but in a good way, not a dated way. Definitely worth a sniff.