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ladislao – :
EDT is great daytime scent for the office. Makes me feel like I’ve come in from outside. I want to smell interesting but not musky. Too many perfumes smell like a lingerie drawer. Not what I want when I’m sitting in a conference room.
On my skin, I get lots of cedar, some very nice sandalwood, and amber. My nose doesn’t get tired of it at all.
I wouldn’t wear it for a romantic evening but with a wool sweater and amber earrings, definitely.
madhouse – :
Really a very nice scent. I tried both the EdT and EdP before I purchased and I had a clear preference for the EdT. Both smell nearly identical in the opening (the EdT DOES have the famed cracked pepper note), but the dry down is completely differently.
The EdT dries down to what is largely a woody note that I would best describe as what tropical wood carved items smell like. The EdP dries down to a more pronounced Sandalwood scent but finishes very sweet with some vanilla which I personally found to be more feminine.
Longevity on the EdT is outstanding in my opinion. I own Floris and Penhaligon’s and Tam Dao EdT last quite a bit longer than any Floris or Pen fragrance I own. The EdP has almost silly longevity. I had a scent strip from Nordstrom’s that I had in my office that was sprayed with 3 quick sprays and it stayed on the strip for days and filled my office with its smell.
So based on my experience, I would say that if you’re a gentleman and want something more traditionally appropriate in a variety of settings, the EdT is definitely the way to go.
If you are lady and looking to add this to your wardrobe, I would recommend the EdP for its slightly more complex middle and base notes and sweeter dry down.
Overall, I believe this is a fantastic fragrance that has found a niche spot in my wardrobe that is heavily skewed towards cologne/citrus scents. It is the woody masculine fragrance I have been looking for for some time.
kirynn – :
Big dose of synthetic sandalwood
adulaPloffMal – :
I’ve tried so hard to see what others love in this scent and I fail every single time. It smells like a thick plank of the most boring wood available coated with a varnish that you can somehow taste in your throat. I’ve tried vintage, EDT, and EDP and it never, ever works for me. I’m actually angry that I don’t like this because it’s praised to the heavens and sounds so ideal. I just don’t get it.
bibiks1 – :
ah tam dao. sweet (creamy, not sugary) wood shop. perhaps the most straightforward and simple of all my fragrances, yet it really may be my most complimented on–by friends and strangers alike. i think it gives anyone who wears it an air of chic and cool mystery–as tam dao knows she doesn’t need to be anything more than she already is. it won’t add to your personality, but it’ll enhance what is already there. to my nose, it disappears rather quickly (i have had the edt and now the edp and haven’t noticed a major difference in longevity) but the comments come all day, which speaks for itself….also makes me desperate to train my nose better, as i’m clearly wretched at gauging longevity !
Volkoff.AL – :
I so love this scent.
Smells like a sauna near the coastline in California.
Makes me think of driftwood, wild chamomile and cedar trees in the wind.
Very soothing and friendly, unisex scent.
lawer63 – :
Oh Tam Dao, how much I love you. This is the end of my quest for the perfect sandalwood fragrance. I started with Serge Lutens Santal Majuscule, next I tried Tom Ford’s Santal Blush. Both were not my cup of Santal.
After testing this at the Diptyque boutique, I bought a decant to tide me over till I acquire my full bottle. The opening to Tam Dao is very confusing at first. Green and woody, probably the cypress note. It confused me because I was wondering where the sandalwood was. Then it starts smelling like pencil shavings for a few minutes, this is quite perplexing. It is only 15-30 minutes when I get a waft of sweet and creamy sandalwood. Love the longevity. I went home after a few hours and could still enjoy the wafts of sweet and creamy sandalwood.
raika_111 – :
Low sillage and longevity, smell below average, not that pleasant.
Iliya… – :
dry wood
Deroxbcncl – :
I love Sandalwood and thought I’d love this. At first spray it’s an over abundance of Iso-E Super. That chemical makes my face burn up, my head hurt and my skin break out. I did some research and someone said about 50% of this is that chemical.
I also don’t like the entirety of the smell of the perfume, it’s just straight up chemical to me, sadly.
minoga76 – :
I own an old square bottle of Tam Dao EDT for 3 years and to this day, I have a mixed feeling about it. I blindly bought it from a discount store when the brand reoutfitted their bottles. I did my research, the review sounds awesome; I own Philosykos and Do Son whose creativity I adore to bits and the fact that Tam Dao is named after an island in my home country Viet Nam. I just had to bite the bullet. On my first whiff, I came to the revelation: it’s not for me… Like “casting pearls before swine”, I don’t get to appreciate the sandalwood smell, and the whole woody nuance of Tam Dao for it matters. To my nose, it smells like a pagoda in the afternoon when the hot sun is high and shines on a quiet terracotta terrace where the air is enveloped in the smell of incense, of wooden statues and their vernis. It smells homely but doesn’t represent me. When I wear Tam Dao outside, I could hardly detect it. Its faint presence fades so quickly and quietly, I don’t reach for it as often as I would love to.
However, as a house scent, Tam Dao is very comforting. It layers beautifully on top of any fragrance sweet dry down, extending their opulent magic to the night and beyond the dreams. I find the dry down of Guerlain’s Insolence, Penhaligon’s Lothair and Monsillage’s Pays Dogon are fantastic to pair with Tam Dao. It’s a really special scent.
hani277 – :
I’m in grad school and I love to wear this while I’m studying. Fragrantica user thefifthg sent some to me in a swap as an extra and I love it!!!
PhegelaCase – :
I’m not sure what Fragrantica’s deal is with Diptyque EDT’s and EDP’s. There needs to be a Tam Dao EDT and Tam Dao EDP in the database. We’re talking two completely different scents in my opinion.
The EDP is absolutely perfect. It a beautifully smoothed-out sandalwood that never gets too far into the “wood shop” territory.
The EDT is pretty boring and a bit rough around the edges (in a bad way). It smells like cedar shavings.
zoom95 – :
For me its totally thai food.
myp15535 – :
Sharp sandalwood fragrance for the top note fading away in no time. It was like the smell when you actually cut a piece of sandalwood tree root. But the middle note and base note was not as dull as just wood surrounding your nose. Rose and other fragrances keep showing and fading respectively. Longevity was disappointing but it was also a part of the charm. So introverted. So mysterious. My personal favourite in sandalwood genre and probably in all genres.
demondarc – :
A basic starter fragrance in the sandalwood genre. The infamous pencil-shaving opening is unfortunate, but it quickly fades, thankfully. The overall scent is a nice, straightforward, no-frills sandalwood. Longevity is very poor for an EdP; lasts a couple of hours, that‘s it. I use this more as a room freshener than fine fragrance. For a complex, luxurious sandalwood as a personal fragrance, there are only two scents you need to bother with: Tom Ford‘s „Santal Blush“ and By Kilian‘s „Sacred Wood.“ The latter is my absolute reference sandalwood.
7/10.
tema015 – :
I get tons of pine from this one. It’s woody but not really a sandalwood scent.
Nice but not as enchanting as I thought it’ll be.
infocert – :
Non il mio tipo.
C’è qualcosa troppo verde e amaro che mi infastidisce a breve distanza. Forse il mirto o il troppo cipresso. Mi ricorda le tinte per capelli che trovi in erboristeria.
Al mio naso e’ maschile,datato,tonico e rinfrescante.
Non una fragranza che correrei a lavare ma per mia fortuna la longevita’ è breve.
Discrete ma troppo fuggenti le zaffate nel finale.
dimaaasex91 – :
Tam Dao is a unisex scent. For me, it sits on my skin pine and woodsy. There is nothing too warm about this perfume. It doesn’t settle into a comforting scent on me. I actually prefer Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black over this and am planning on selling Tam Dao very soon. I give it a low rating for the lack of longevity. It doesn’t last more than 2 hours. Disappointed to say the least.
geppa – :
I fluctuate between liking and disliking this.. neither too passionately either. I adore sandalwood, but this hardly smells like the real thing. It does smell like wood, but an artificial, sweet impression of wood. I imagine this is what iso e super smells like and Tam Dao is probably loaded with it. Tam Dao smells sort of nutty on me at times, almost like peanut butter, which is when I start to dislike this fragrance. Perhaps I would like this more if it performed okay, but even the edp fades with a few hours. I’d definitely rather spend my money on their candles than on this.
nanita73 – :
For me this was just way too much dry wood and nothing else. Thankfully it didn’t last long on my skin (lasted maybe 2 or 3 hours max). I’d call it painfully woody… it brought to mind playground wood chips or a hamster cage. Just not something I personally find appealing.
b333xy – :
on me, smelled like pencil shaving from beginning to finish.
soft silage (blends with the skin) , and very short longevity (about 2-3hrs)
nano – :
edp last 1 hour on me this is not good i will return it back to the shop not happy.
Спиноза – :
I tried this years ago and didn’t like it at all, so I’m pleasantly surprised to find that I LOVE it now! It’s warm but breathes, the sandalwood is creamy, there’s a zesty lime-y cypress note in the top, the cedar is not at all spiky or hamster-cagey, and the drydown is smooth. It’s so soothing, comforting, calm and meditative. I’ve been looking for something woody and natural-feeling like this for awhile now for fall and winter (though it’s transparent enough to work in warm weather as well). Sillage is quiet and longevity is light to moderate (EDT, but I didn’t find that the EDP lasted any longer), and I’m all right with that because I like to change scents frequently. I also love the elephants on the label, which I only noticed after I’d bought and worn the scent a few times—an added little pleasure!
alekos – :
This is the perfect sandalwood scent, just perfect for my taste! Very similar to CdG Wonderwood, maybe a bit creamy tamed version where Wonderwood is wild and sharp with woods.
I have been testing this in my search for alternatives to Wonderwood / Wonderoud, and the reviewers were on spot. Since last year I tried every now and then, and finally got myself a bottle. It’s not performing very well, but a great scent in special occassions.
10/10 for the scent, and 7/10 for performance.
9033836351 – :
I like this but I’m having the same problem as Zen Imitation below. After one hour this disappears on me. I don’t care so much about sillage, but I’d like something this beautiful to last more than an hour – even as a skin scent.
I’m going to give this another try in Spring or Summer. I loved the woodsy opening. Will post an edit when I do.
vladik0880 – :
This review is for the EDP version of Tam Dao.
I love the house of Diptyque and Tam Dao is one of the reasons why. Tam Dao was my first fragrance from Diptyque and I’ve loved it from the moment I first sprayed it. Tam Dao is a classy sandalwood scent that I find to be linear, but in this case, that’s a good thing.
This is great for casual occasions and can be dressed up as well. I particularly pull for Tam Dao on rainy days. Tam Dao is unisex. The EDP isn’t super strong, the projection is fairly close, but it leaves a nice trail. My wife told me the last time I wore it she could smell it on the seatbelt for a few days after I drove her car. Glad she likes it!
I think Tam Dao is a great fragrance for anyone looking for a solid woody scent.
kabzoni1972 – :
Unfortunately I’m still on the hunt for my holy grail sandalwood scent.
Initial spray is fresh and cedary and damp. On clothes, it eventually dries down to a warm sandalwood with a hint of amber.
Unfortunately, on my clothes is the only hope of still smelling this ~1 hr after application. And even at that, applied before bed it will be virtually gone by the middle of the night. I’ve liberally applied this and gone to work and I cannot smell even a hint of it throughout the day.
I should note; I’m very happy with skin scents and have no desire for heavy projection in fragrance. But. I genuinely can’t smell this at all.
The search continues.
Undiqueelenna – :
It won’t be fair to broadly recommend this fragrance to everyone because it’s obviously not for everyone; but if you understand the note of sandalwood and you like fragrances in the likes of lelabo santal 33, creed royal oud (mainly oud and cedar), even chanel egoiste. I think this might just be for you.
As for me this is love beyond words…it’s mature, cool and collected. It’s classy & gives the impression of “Hey, I got it together already.” The “I don’t scream but I know you notice me” fragrance. If woody is your thing… Give this a sniff, you might just end up buying this.
I’m reviewing the EDP… Never smelled the EDT.
k1xDC – :
Woody – dusty – spicy
Color impression: light sage green
Morning shower with Mysore sandalwood soap and some whiffs of Tam Dao EdP applied directly on skin before I dress up. What a match!
Tam Dao has a modest earthy woodsy smell of sandalwood and spiky cedarwood that cohabit with tang of pickle-like spices and tinge of floralized earthiness of vetiver, all underpinned with sheer musk.
It’s not a perfume to charm and shout hey I’m here, it’s a layer of sweet sour woodsy fume to be fully dressed with. Though projection of Tam Dao – as default of Diptyque fragrances – fails average expectation, it is quite satisfactory in term of aroma. Sheeny and softly sand-papery, comfy and gentle, slightly warm and highly inviting.
★★★
Ps to all: I absolutely recommend EdP version. EdT smells like hybrid of EdP and Philosykos.
Mexnc914intitytek – :
Tested a 1ml dabber from Luckyscent. Lightweight, straight sandalwood and cedar. Smells like the inside of a wooden box as someone else mentioned. Too linear and contemplative for my taste, and a little too serious for southern California. I can see this working beautifully outdoors somewhere like during a foggy day in Santa Cruz, though that may be a literal interpretation on my part. Perhaps somewhere like a fancy library instead? Likable, but not appealing enough to warrant a purchase to me.
Deroxuxgni – :
Oh man!!!! How did I not try this sooner?! I’m wearing the EDP and it’s great! Dry woody notes with a subtle spice in the background. There is also a “green woods” feeling in this as well probably contributed from the cypress. This is a very nice and very comforting woody fragrance. Perfect for my tastes and I can see how some people related this to CDG Wonderwood. I’d say they share similarities. CDG could be the darker/spicier brother of Tam Dao. Like if CDG came out with a Wonderwood Intense or Noir and Tam Dao was the lighter version. I really enjoy the sandalwood in this because it’s a very dry warm sandalwood and not the sweet type that is being used so heavily in a lot of Santal blends. Right now I have this sprayed on one arm only but I’m eager to wear this to work and see what I get from it. I feel like this could become a new signature scent for me or a nice contrast to my CDG Wonderwood signature. Glad I finally tried this!
DISCOUNTLASIX – :
Review for EDP, needed for solid longevity.
This is one I needed time to warm up to. At first it may seem too starkly woody, like a hamster cage 🙂
I thought I needed to rewrite my review;
As it was based on a 2 ml sample where the strong camphoraceous myrtle note was off, or way to strong, smelling like turpentine to me.
Some fragrances like this that have a very strong evergreen note that is like camphor or medecinal eucalyptus etc, need to breathe.I got my bottle of Tam Dao, and it is smoother now than my sample.
I think the Myrtle adds a green, moist, aromatic brightness to the woody mix.
I love realistic earthy, woody fragrances like Tam Dao. I went for a walk yesterday, fasting from fragrances for a day. I tore off some cypress leaves from a small cypress bush, and rubbed them in my hand.
You do get this great camphorous smell that’s a bit like turpentine, which is made from conifers, mostly firs.
Tam Dao has that most natural cypress leaf smell, more so than Tom Ford Italian Cypress or Wonderwood. If you love the cypress note, it’s one of the very best here in Tam Dao.
This is very woody cypress and cedar mostly. The rose wood, with the sandalwood, give a softer woody tone, to the conifers. Many see this as a sandalwood fragrance. I can see that, allthough I am picking up on the green cypress and myrtle which gives this fragrance it’s distinctiveness.
If someone is looking for the best sandalwood fragrance, for me it’s Creed Boise du Portugal.
There are some warm spices here, nutmeg and pepper I believe; but it’s very well blended, not too peppery like some say of Wonderwood by CdG. The rose is allmost imperceptible, but I think adds a needed balance to the starkly realistic woods.
I’m enjoying this on a chilly Fall day, the best season for this.
It is very much like Wonderwood, but more sheer, and modern feeling, more refined and classy. This is in-between Wonderwood and the exquisite Fredrick Malle’s French Lover.
PS: I realized this is close to one of my favorite Creed fragrance, Royal Mayfair.
Rating: 9/10
God bless. John 3:16
GepFerdedaCew – :
A pleasant if somewhat unremarkable fresh woody fragrance. Opens with a fresh, clean burst of Iso E-like cedar and herbs then it quickly quiets down to a very clean and grey-ish wood. I find it’s determined normality a little grating quite honestly. More cedar than sandalwood, especially in the beginning, until the drydown when the soapy sandalwood becomes more prominent. Very easy going and likeable although lacking any real personality.
Typsusnubbins – :
Someone commented that it smells like a generic dollar store cologne. Very strange considering so many people love it in the fragrance community.
niseok2011niseok – :
loved it, too creamy & warm.
100% high quality Mysore sandalwood.
I would like to layer it with something, any ideas?
david04 – :
Rose seems to be prominent on my skin, at least in the vintage version (square bottle). A very clean, classy elegant sandalwood. Brazilian rosewood here has a slight resemblance to oud, and spices conjure up a very light touch of patchouli.
The overall effect is creamy and almost gourmand, with a striking resemblance to pistachio ice cream. Tam Dao is actually a painstakingly beautiful fragrance.
Being smooth and versatile with longevity and sillage, it absolutely stands out. It’s not masculine neither feminine, it is just a lovely scent with an unmistakable niche signature.
Konstantin_20 – :
EDP:
I concure. this is indeed a wood.
sandalwood? not. really.
creamy? nope.
I’m sorry, I wish i was smelling what everyone else seems to be smelling!
unfortunately for me, all i can smell is a dry woody cedary piney urgh that dominates the whole thing for me.
oh and it makes me sneeze.
(but why? :
there are several “woodsy” perfumes I have tried, that seem to contain this same note thing. so, last night after doing a bit of research, they all share the same aroma chemical. they all have Iso E Super in abundance. And I am smelling its effects on the perfumes.
all my perfumes contain chemicals, i know that.
but this aroma, in certain doses and in certain combinations i can’t get along with and now i know what it is, its appearance has somehow become more obvious to me.
An Atelier fragrance arrived this morning and I can smell it again. it is heavy and dry with a strange sweetness that isn’t sweet. It pulls on my brain and sinuses. Iso E super is everywhere? I realise, it was in the first Amouage I tried on Tuesday, which was a massive disappointment too….but that’s another story.)
TD lasts 3 hours and is a skin scent after about 20 minutes. The iso E lingers for about 12+ hours close to the skin and gradually melds with the skins natural sweetness. which i find a bit disconcerting.
what a disappointment. no creamy sandalwood for me here.
sad face.
ivan.luckianchencko – :
On opening this smells just like my hinoki wood cutting board (hinoki is a type of Japanese cypress) — freshly sawn evergreen wood.
As Tam Dao EDP warms on my skin it becomes tempered with soft wooded florals and dry amber. I also pick up an abundance of fresh cedar shavings warmed by a secondary note of sandalwood. Here, the heart is my favorite phase.
To finish all too soon, Tam Dao becomes a soft blanket of creamy wood diffused with a hint of sweet aromatic green. This is not a statement maker but a gently comforting perfume.
VolchIE – :
JUST WANT TO WORSHIP THIS ONE AS MY RELIGION IT IS THAT GORGEOUS. and didn’t know I loved sandalwood so much! Layers perfectly with pretty much every other scent, and wearable in any kind of weather. I am so glad I received a sample, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have tried it. But you MUST get the EDT. The EDP has no subtlety, its just straight up sawdust. The EDT is lightly sweet, softer, and much more feminine with the same lasting power.
blinding – :
This is one of my favorite scents.
It evokes this feeling:
Sitting on a bleached wood deck in the evening breeze after an a long sauna. All pores clean, body covered in talcum and wrapped in luxurious dove grey velvet blanket. Sipping a light infusion of earl grey tea with a touch of lemon, while Debbusy’s “Afternoon of a Faun” is playing in the distance
aragorns – :
I really wish that both the EDP and EDT were listed to be reviewed separately. They really are 2 distinctly different, however closely related, experiences.
MuIIIaH9 – :
EDP
very smooth & creamy santal mixed with cedar wood
rose is absent here
Excisttig – :
At no-fi: is your review based on the EdT or EdP? I’m asking because I think I’m myself partly anosmic to the EdP, while I can smell the EdT just fine..
Fista.Gvozdeva – :
Tam Dao is a starkly minimalist composition. It’s straight up soft, creamy woods to my nose. No amber, no spice, no musk – just a preponderance of sandalwood, with a hint of cypress. I can’t smell much in the way of cedar – I suspect I’m mostly anosmic to Iso E Super, which I understand Tam Dao has in quite a high concentration. What I can smell is very subdued, with almost no sillage – I really have to get my nose close to my skin to detect anything. It’s a shame, because what I do smell has a soft, almost sweet woodiness that is quite appealing.
I suspect my impressions would be very different if I wasn’t potentially anosmic to Iso E Super, but without tracking down a sample of the aromachemical, it’s hard to say.
Bialfambbef – :
Just wrote a review for Eau Duelle and the same applies here. Stunning fragrance, zero longevity, crazy price. So beautiful and disappears in a flash. And I have the EDP. Why?!
Edit: I just bought a bottle. It’s so comforting I couldn’t help myself.
Lamiendaddisk – :
I tried Tam Dao sometime after Christmas and I liked it so much, that I got a bottle. I went home very happy with my new perfume and very pleased with my self… or so I thought…
you see, I had tried the EDP, but I left the store with the EDT instead, an easy mistake to make since the bottles are very similar , but one that makes all the difference between “oh I just love this” and ‘hmmm… that’s ok”.
The EDP is more creamy, sandalwood is soft, a spicy rose “milky” scent, that is both warm and clean at the same time.
The EDT on my skin turned very woody-spicy-musky with a shy rose, too masculine for me.
So I was thinking what to do, since I couldn’t give it back and then it hit me: I should give it to my husband!!!
A wise decision, let me tell you… on him, this is simply amazing!!! It’s woody, it’s spicy, it’s cozy, it’s clean, the cedar combined with sandalwood works magic, musk makes it sensual and rose just gives it that extra something. It is perfect for every season, any occasion.
He sprays some in the morning and at night this is still present, but close to skin and at this time, that’s all that’s needed. I love-love-love Tam Dao (EDT) on him.
Aymar – :
I don’t know what happened with the chemistry on my skin, but something definitely went horribly wrong! I was looking forward to sampling this based on positive reviews here, and I am a woody perfume fan, but I did not like it even when I smelled the bottle tip. Then when I sprayed it on my wrist the whole thing took a turn for the worse…..a very sharp, nauseating metallic note took over the whole concoction. I couldn’t wait to wash it off…..It was nasty, and that’s the nicest word I can find for it! It’s almost as though the perfume expired a while ago and turned sour. Yuck.
nunkCuckyvele – :
Woods in the rain, literally. I picture myself sitting in a library, lost in my thoughts or reading a novel wearing this perfume.
Good scent, but i’d advise you to go for the EDP. The EDT has a pretty weak performance.
Also, that is not a fragrance that will draw much attention, even if i got a few compliments on it (people told me that it really suited me, they didn’t say they liked the smelling). Wear it for your personal enjoyment
multik980 – :
If you’ve ever smelled….like….wood…that’s what this smells like. Like the stuff that trees are made of. But as a liquid. That pretty much sums it up.
brd250intitytek – :
I just sprayed this on my hand in a shop and immediately thought fresh cedar wood shavings that have just been through the chipper. Mixed in with a whole ton of sandalwood, this is your forest vacation in a log cabin perfume. Too in your face woodsy for how I like my sandalwoods to be but can see the popularity. It’s niche without being too challenging. I’d kinda like to try this layered with rose (I get NO rose at all from this).
Gunian – :
I do like the sandalwood in this a lot. Although the quality of the sandalwood is satisfying, I had the same impression as others that Tam Dao overall was plain. A little too plain for me anyway. I felt like if I tried to wear this by itself, I’d get tired of it in two minutes flat.
If you’re a lover of sandalwood you might like this on its own or layered with something else.
oreolis – :
Sandalwood
Sillage is 0
Utterly Unremarkable
vaslik – :
I’ve tried a couple of other Diptyques before, and I think I’m beginning to figure out how this house works. Their fragrances almost aren’t perfumes at all, they’re so very natural and so very fleeting. They each focus on one wonderful scent from the real world, like figs (Philosykos) or ivy (Eau de Lierre), and offer a pretty bold interpretation of it that’s so successful that there’s no need to add much else to make it a lovely experience. They’re also all as good as gone in less than an hour. I think of them almost more as aromatherapy, pick-me-ups sure to put me in a good mood, rather than as real perfumes to accompany me all day. Perfect after a stressful day at work, for instance.
I haven’t even mentioned Tam Dao yet, but it follows the same concept, only for woods. I get lots of cedar, lifelike and a little nutty, joined by green cypress at first and warmed sandalwood a little later. It’s like the others: perfectly unisex, extremely natural, and very nice. I’ve never visited a Vietnamese jungle, so I can’t say whether there’s really any resemblance…but sure, I’ll buy it!
oxrid – :
Do I have anything new to say about this fragrance that hasn’t already been said in the litany of reviews below?
No, not really.
But let me toss my hat into the ring because I do have to say this fragrance is fantastic! Picture a Shinto shrine or Buddhist monastery. Tam Dao transports you to a cedar forest, far away. But this isn’t a piney or fresh forest, it is one steeped in tradition and meditation.
I am not surprised people who have lived in Japan say this fragrance gives them sense memories of the country. There is something “Eastern” about Tam Dao that seems to evoke the Orient. Is it the incense, the sandalwood, the spices? I am not sure. But I want this be associated with Japanese scent profiles in addition to the ubiquitous cherry blossom. In fact, this should be what Tokyo Milk’s “Kabuki” was supposed to be (And from my internet research, what Geisha smelled like too).
But this isn’t solely a nature fragrance. There is civilization here, and something very scholarly present. A library stocked with artifacts. A custom handed down through generations. It’s serious but not boring. It is wise and knowing but not stolid.
Man, this got super abstract pretty fast! But that is what Tam Dao does. It brings you someplace else. You can wear it as a perfume but it can also be the calm port for your personal storm.
Scent-wise: I get the cedar and sandalwood. The cypress and rosewood, I am not so sure about. The amber and florals take a back seat, on me. In fact, the whole fragrance takes a back seat. It becomes fairly faint within a few minutes. Meanwhile, on a friend, it was too intense. Like most fragrances, this seems to smell different on everyone, so it’s probably one you want to test first before committing to a full bottle.
Dmitriken – :
IM a kind of guy trying different perfume/niche to my skin. Im a TOM FORD guy, so when ive heard about Dyptique I am excited to try. So when I went to Dyptique shop and I try TamDao n OUD Palao perfum. I like Oud more but the TAM DAO smells unique so I pick the TamDAo. But the bad thing…It wont last to my skin. I dont know why… Maybe I should get the OUD plao.
cij – :
Here I can recognize the balsamic notes in relation to “Mississippi Medicine”. This is a very odd scent for me. It’s dusty, it’s like wooden shaving, you can smell a forest of dried trees in this bottle. But it really evolves into something silky and smooth, you can nearly make out each individual tree as it sits and lingers with your body and the air. It’s very lovely, very subtle and makes no attempt at trying to be something it’s not. 8/10
1ruslann – :
It took me years of interest in perfumes to be able to appreciate this. It’s a pleasant sandalwood accentuated by cypress. Not dry like pencil shavings but maybe slightly damp from the rain that constantly falls on the Southeast Asian peninsula. Maybe my tastes have matured, but I really cannot get enough of it now.
Batyushin – :
In France there is a saying that a woman is aloud to try different scents, play around with perfumes in her twentys. But that when she turns 30 she is suposed to have found her signature, that she shal wear from then on out. If I where french this would be my forever!
Tam Dao is not demanding, not cloying, it’s simple just beautiful. Sometimes a perfume is not something to be smelled from the other side of the room. So stop the jabbing about projection and jabbajabba. I love this cos the drydown manes a skin/wood/vanilla on me. Making those who get close enough to ask themselves, if it might just be me?
micabromo – :
Tam Dao is a woodsy-cocoa impression on my skin, similar to Parfumerie Generale’s Cadjmere. The notes-overlap between the two are sandalwood, cypress, and Brazilian rosewood. Cadjmere has a coconut accord lacking in Tam Dao. While neither have unsweetened cacao on the list, it’s on the forefront for me.
Lovely cold-weather frag. Both wear close to skin, and I’ve enjoyed them equally.
maxxxmyt – :
I finally know what it reminds me of! Sunflower seed shells! Especially at the beginning. There’s also persistent oil paint note, that doesn’t go away, but becomes lighter with time. Generally speaking, it reminds me of my childhood country vacations, when we used to eat fresh sunflower seeds sitting on the veranda, and neighbour was painting his barn