Tam Dao Diptyque 2003Eau de Toilette

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7.5 / 10 284 Ratings

Tam Dao (Eau de Toilette) is a perfume by Diptyque for women and men and was released in 2003. The scent is woody-spicy. It is being marketed by Manzanita Capital. Pronunciation

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Perfumer

Daniel Molière

Fragrance Notes

Mysore sandalwood, Cedar, Cypress, Myrtle

Ratings

Scent

7.5 (284 Ratings)

Longevity

6.4 (211 Ratings)

Sillage

5.7 (204 Ratings)

Bottle

7.5 (198 Ratings)

Submitted by DirkDS, last update on 14.08.2020.

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Reviews

08/12/2020

7
Scent 6
Longevity 6
Sillage 8
Bottle

Taurus1967
3 Reviews

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Taurus1967

Top Review 11

A lot of fuss about dust-dry sandalwood

Tam Dao reminds me of "Upper Ten" by Lubin right from the first snort. To be fair, it should be the other way around, because the latter came on the market 12 years later. So I'm honestly saying that Tam Dao definitely passed by my nose for 17 years, but I've heard the name more often than not
For all those who do not know one or the other fragrance: Tam Dao is a really very dust-dry sandalwood creation with a good pinch of myrtle and some cedar. It comes extremely woody and spicy, and you think you'll notice some amber, musk and a few drops of rose oil later on.

This would be relatively similar to the Upper Ten, except that the Upper Ten seems a bit creamier and has a good pinch of cinnamon, so that the association with cola is relatively close.

Correspondingly, the upper ten is ahead of me personally, even if this is currently reflected somewhat differently in the overall perfume ratio of 7.5 to 7.3.

Surely a sultry hot day is not the best condition to test the rather autumnal Tam Dao, but my imagination and experience are sufficient to know that it has this nerve potential with me, although it is made of high quality and additionally brings a fine spicy-sweet smoky note into play.
Probably the most people will love this the most, but the whole thing around it is a bit too exhausting for me.

Therefore: interestingly made material for sandalwood species, but I would not overrate it.

10 Replies

10/06/2018

10
Scent 8
Longevity 8
Sillage

MisterShaver

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MisterShaver

Top Review 17

What's that smell?

... asks the nice waitress at the Resturant. I had Tam Dao in my pocket as a sample when I bought it and had it on completely unsuspectingly. It has provided that evening for long conversations.
Now I can see it is slightly woody, it has something creamy and maybe that's why the association with vanilla comes along. The rose is rather in the background, but amber and musk are also perceptible. And all in a nice order. But what remains from the beginning is with me the creaminess.
The thought of a forest clearing is somehow there, but the image of dark woods is also present. All times it is a fragrance that fits very well into a dignified bar with fine gin. A jazz band plays light evening music and a light breeze blows through the open balcony doors, smelling of fresh rain on dry forest ground. Just such a lukewarm autumn evening when summer is still so long in October. In the room you can hear the gentle rustling of the dresses from the ladies, a cigar is lit, some ice cubes clink in the glass, other scents make their way through the room from time to time or pass with their straps ....
Perfect! Perfect! And I feel safe and cozy enveloped by my Tam Dao scent. Sit back, enjoy. Slowly the sun is setting behind the horizon as a glowing red ball ... That's all it takes.

1 Replies

08/28/2018

8
Scent 7
Longevity 8
Sillage 7
Bottle

Pepdal
189 Reviews

Pepdal

Tam Dao edt

My review is for Diptyque's Tam Dao ead de toilette from my vintage square bottle. For fans of woody scents this may be one that needs to be sampled...

01/28/2015

6
Scent 7.5
Bottle

Ineverwas
44 Reviews

Ineverwas

Helpful Review 4

Serenity Now

Review for the EDT in round bottle.

Well, to be honest, I was a bit worried that there will be too much cedar and not enough sandalwood in the EDT version. But I can happily confirm that it's not the case! Tam Dao EDT is a beautiful sandalwood-centric perfume that's completely unisex.

It reminds me so much of the sandalwood fan my mother used to have, it's almost the same smell, only the real wood was a bit sweeter and muted, while Tam Dao has quite an airy, spacious and solemn feel to it. Like a Buddhist meditation to find inner peace. Which is interesting because I do feel calmer and more meditative than usual when I wear this scent, so the suggestion works.

The sandalwood is not milky or creamy, in fact it feels a bit raw and dry, as if freshly cut - but I do not get the dusty, wood shavings impression from it either which is what allows me to enjoy it completely. Behind the sandalwood, cypress and rosewood are great in their supporting roles, maintaining the exclusive woodiness and adding complexity and interplay. The cedar is also there among the crowd, but not a contender for the dominant note. It adds a touch of masculinity and keeps everything dry and airy.

Overall, a true woody perfume and a wonderful way to relax and think more profoundly about the meaning of life. :)

Sillage and longevity are moderate. A reapplication might be needed after 6 hours.

01/29/2014

6
Scent 5
Longevity 7.5
Sillage 10
Bottle

MasterLi
375 Reviews

MasterLi

Helpful Review 4

Dry wood, cedar wood, sandalwood... and even polished wood!

Much has been said about the sandalwood element here. Whilst I do detect the sandalwood vibe I must admit it is faint. I do notice the other woods here being more prominent, such as the cedar wood etc... Overall it probably shouldn't be looked at as an iconic sandalwood fragrance. Definitely a prominent woody scent but not exclusively a sandalwood one. Overall it's warm, very pleasant and the dry-down happens to be very nice. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to go anywhere else apart from smelling like high quality, freshly polished wood. In that way it's quite a linear fragrance. However worth a try, just not the masterpiece others claim it to be. But it is elegant and refined, definitely. If wood is your thing, you will enjoy, but it's not in any way ground-breaking in my opinion.

1 Replies

12/01/2013

5
Scent 7.5
Longevity

Epimedes
9 Reviews

Epimedes

Helpful Review 6

Synthesized tranquility

I couldn't decide what the opening of Tam Dao reminded me of until I found a review that gave me the answer: crushed dill! An odd note for sure, but very short-lived. For the most part, Tam Dao rides on the carrier wave of a white-musk molecule that my nose also detects in L'Artisan's Passage d'Enfer, among others. Cedar is definitely present, and sandalwood as well. Both are mellowed down by the white musk base that creates a waxy-smooth effect and binds the whole composition together. Progression is minimal over time, but the scent lasts on my skin for many hours. Despite the linearity, I find Tam Dao well-balanced, inoffensive and rather calming.

06/09/2013

8
Scent 5
Longevity 5
Sillage 5
Bottle

Steve0580
31 Reviews

Steve0580

Helpful Review 5

Cedar

Cedar - that's what this fragrance is.

I don't smell much of anything other than that. It's like walking around in a natural wood furniture shop or smelling freshly cut cedar.

To me, that's wonderful! I like the smell of natural wood and cedar.

It's not an overpowering scent and longevity is average at roughly 4-6 hours.

01/21/2013

8
Scent

Greysolon
88 Reviews

Greysolon

Very helpful Review 6

Hoping to find balance

I’ve worn Tam Dao a number of times over the past year and have been unsure how I felt about it. Finally, after wearing it again today, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a very fine, well composed fragrance and deserves its generally recognized status as such. However, similar to Drseid's assessment, I don’t love it. It just doesn’t speak to me or seem to suit my personality. But my absence of passion for Tam Dao doesn’t mean it lacks quality. I truly believe Tam Dao is a great example of an elegant woody oriental. Sandalwood is the key player and all the other notes homogenize with it in a way to highlight its facets: from woody to sweet to spicy to resinous. All those elements whirl and swirl together to create, what is considered to be, one of the finest sandalwood fragrances available.

For all those accolades, Tam Dao still isn’t my favorite fragrance. It simply doesn't suit my tastes.

Reconciling the dichotomy of our intuitive, emotional reaction versus our intellectual analysis is difficult when speaking of perfume. In critiquing other arts, we can point to, for instance, how the character development in a novel coincides so well with the plot structure that we love the characters, yet we still don't enjoy the story. Or how the metrical stress of a poem matches the syllabic structure of the words so perfectly that the rhythmic impact of the verse drives each stanza forward. Yet, for all the poet's invention, the words are dead on the page. As I said, this kind of objective analysis is difficult to do with a fragrance.

That being the case, all I can do is believe in the structural quality of Daniel Moliere's work and hope the ineffable qualities that imbue it with a magic others see, but can't be readily explained, will someday touch me.

That’s why I keep coming back to Tam Dao. Perhaps one day my pallete of experiences will have expanded so I can appreciate the full beauty of this fragrance in a more personal and emotional way. For now, I simply know Tam Dao is an excellent creation.

12/26/2012

6
Scent 5
Longevity 5
Sillage 5
Bottle

Drseid
745 Reviews

Drseid

Very helpful Review 6

Sandalwood and Incense...

I tried this years ago and did not like it. I just revisited Tam Dao, and I guess I have done a near 180. I still can't say I love the scent, but I at least like it now. I get some sweet sandalwood at the start that is quite nice, and then the scent turns briefly green. The green transition is brief, but a bit medicinal and unpleasant smelling. Finally the sandalwood returns, mixed with a strong incense accord. Neither the best sandalwood nor incense scent available, but worth a sniff if your tastes run to either of those notes. A mild recommendation from me at 3 out of 5 stars.

1 Replies

01/25/2012

6
Scent 5
Longevity 5
Sillage 7.5
Bottle

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

Incense

I held off testing my array of Diptyque samples for quite some time, and I'm afraid that I started with the wrong one: TAM DAO. To my nose, this is an incense scent, pure and simple. The good news is that it lacks the asbestos quality which I've encountered in a the incense offerings of a couple of houses, notably Comme des Garçons. The bad news is that I just don't find this one very interesting. TAM DAO is a dark woody incense composition which holds potential but lacks the base notes that make for great orientals. I'm not detecting any benzoin, resins, musk, or much of anything else here. Just a solution of powdered incense. If that's what you're looking for, then you might like this a lot, though I should say that the longevity is not great (predictably enough).

My own preference is for incense ensconced in a significantly more perfume-y base. Incense alone is not enough to hold my interest. Désolée.