34 Boulevard Saint Germain Diptyque 2011 Eau de Toilette

My '34' story is relatively convoluted. I first sampled it from a friend who had a bottle given to her by her husband. Following this I received a sample from a Diptyque boutique whilst trotting around London and finally, was sent a 10ml decant by a very generous swap buddy :) ... so I still don't have a full bottle, and I really should because I like it a lot!!

The observations of my learned fellow parfumistas below are spot on! I find 34 Boulevard Saint Germain to be an extremely mutable fragrance, in that it really doesn't follow the rules of fragrance progression at all. An initial blast of florals is quickly followed by green, resiny notes ... quickly taken over by florals again although this time they exhibit a slightly woody character. A faint citrus/fruity pop is periodically evident ... it really is quite bizarre ... in a lovely, wearable way!
In fact, I would probably describe 34 Boulevard Saint Germain as such ... 'imminently wearable'. On my skin this fragrance would do poorly in the cold, as it comes in EDT concentration. Would that it were a big strong EDP ... in that case it would probably be gracing my collection already!! I find the sillage and longevity here a little less than average ... but as my skin really eats perfume this shouldn't dissuade anyone from trying it. With this beautiful combination of notes I really wouldn't mind it being one of the few I own that I had to reapply two or three times a day! For people with more sensitive noses than I this probably sounds mad LOL ... but there it is :).

Imho ... 34 Boulevard Saint Germain is a lovely, invigoratingly floral fragrance for a hot summer weather. I need to remedy the fact that I don't own it yet very, very soon.

I have vacillated back and forth as to whether to attempt describing individual notes for the usual objective portion of the review, but in the end I don't think I could possibly do 34 Boulevard Saint Germain proper justice as there are a ton of ingredients and they are all so well-blended that it just is near impossible to capture them all so I'm not even going to try... Instead, I think I will just give some general impressions of what I smell and my thoughts about the end result... For reference, projection is excellent and longevity exceptional at about 15 hours on skin.

White florals and dulled rose mix with a slightly sweet clove and eucalyptus infused smooth woody incense primary heart accord over candle wax-like iris. The end result is highly complex and quite unique, but completely versatile and easy to wear. I have read elsewhere that Diptyque was going for an approximation of the smell of entering their flagship store with the scent of candles, incense sticks and fragrances wafting in the air. While I have never been there myself, I can definitely visualize the picture well from what I am sniffing for sure. There pretty much is a bit of everything in the composition and it would be all too easy to completely overdo it, yet 34 Boulevard Saint Germain just plain works. The bottom line is despite its enormous list of ingredients and great complexity the $120 per 100ml bottle 34 Boulevard Saint Germain by Dyptique is an amazingly easy to wear success that earns a strong 4 star out of 5 rating and is highly recommended to all.

Diptyque 34 BOULEVARD SAINT GERMAIN is a complex woody oriental perfume which manages to roll together a surprising number of relatively intense scents into a coherent whole. Different notes are salient at different times and this is not according to any consistent progression or development. Perhaps this is a post-modern perfume?

At moments, 34 seems more oriental, then suddenly more aromatic, then very woody with an incense-like edge. Overall, I'd have to say that this is an interesting and unpredictable composition. Despite being somewhat chaotic, 34 never seems incoherent and is pleasant to smell at every stage. A chameleon could wear this perfume well.

I have nothing but praise for 34 Blvd St Germain. A plethora of notes blended in harmony to yield a long lasting, massively projecting fragrance. It renders a 3D sensation to me. no single note dominates the perfume. It's a harmony of notes collectively working to produce a medley of goodness.

I have designated this as my travel perfume. If constrained when traveling and i can only take one perfume , this is it.

I smell new accords in every wearing. For the first 10 wearings i smelled different accords and different notes more prominently. A magical and captivating perfume.

God, how I love the camphoric, balsamic quality of this scent. Though essentially a whistlestop tour of Diptyque’s Greatest Hits – featuring the tart berries and vivid ‘snapped stem’ greenery of L’Ombre Dans L’Eau, the milky green fig leaf of Philosykos, the clove-scented opoponax heart of Eau Lente, and even a faintly watery tuberose note that hints at Do Son – 34 Boulevard St. Germain never feels like anything less than its own creation. Nestling between a urinous grapefruit and a soft pink rose, these green and red notes glow like rubies against the brownish backdrop of balmy, lavender-inflected cedar. It possesses an energizing sourness that really quenches my thirst for something zesty and alive-feeling when the charm of heady winter ambers has paled.