This evening I had the pleasure of being invited to Diptyque's Winter Fragrance Masterclass, held in the Heritage Suite at one of my favourite London landmarks, Liberty. While the brand has long been a firm favourite of mine, I am firmly stuck in my ways when it comes to my preferred scents, so I relish the opportunity to discover news ones.
The evening began with the unveiling of Diptyque's new Christmas collection, its annual triptych of festive new fragrances that are certain to invoke thoughts of warming winter evenings in front of a roaring log fire. Résine encompasses everything pine has to offer from the bark and resin to the crushed needles, with notes of fir balsam, eucalyptus, mugwort and galbanum.
The blue toned Hiver, the scent of winter, is a sensual evocation of cold air, bitter wind and roast chestnuts on a wood fire. With key ingredients of clary sage, cloves and cedar wood it's a fresh, clean, scent.
Finally, my favourite Épice, is a warm and vibrant scent with a unique sweetness. A heady, inimitable combination of cinnamon, plum, black pepper, nutmeg and clothes, it's Christmas personified.
As well as meeting the new fragrances, the group was also treated to a talk about combining fragrances, something I often do with perfume but never think about with candles. Diptyque's candles lend themselves perfectly to scent combining, the heady orange aroma of Pomander for example blending perfectly with the new Résine to conjure images of clove studded oranges hanging from Christmas trees, while my all time favourite Baies, a scent of blackerry leaves, twinned with the smoky aroma of Feu de Bois makes for an indulgently autumnal duo.
Finally, as if that wasn't enough, the guest of honour at this evening's event was the brand's International Marketing and Product Creation Director, Myriam Baudalt, who through a fascinating Q&A session explained to us the story behind the new Christmas fragrances, the challenges Diptyque faces in creating new fragrances and her scent secrets - I particularly loved hearing her describe their 'olfactory accidents'; ingredients which from a logical point of view should never work within a scent, yet in reality that one extra little thing could be what makes it a resounding success.
Of course, it would have been rude not to add a little something to my ever-growing collection of Diptyque candles... the new Épice has joined [i]Baies[/]i on my mantelpiece.
Love Laurel x
