Obsession of the Week: Les Bougies de Diptyque

Wasn’t the best part about the child fantasy of being royal that you could have anything your heart desired?   Marie Antoinette felt bored with palace life, and wished for a little village near Versailles where she could play at being a shepherdess.  Done--Le Petit Trianon.  Today, there are still royalty who know how to work the whole your wish is my command deal--rockstars and celebrities, that is--and we’ve got the town criers, InStyle and US Weekly, to keep us informed of their whims.

It is maybe in this way that the word “Diptyque” first came under my radar.  These useless factoids for some reason stick in the recesses of the brain: Elton John is famous for having hundreds of Diptyque candles at home, whose wicks he trims lovingly every night, like rosebushes.  Sean "P Diddy" Combs basically doesn’t get out of bed in the morning if there aren’t 50 Diptyque Tuberose’s in the recording studio.  Giorgio Armani buys hundreds of Diptyque candles to perfume his runway shows. 

Sometimes it’s all in the element of surprise.  I bring people by the store, just a 10 minute walk from my apartment, and try my hardest to suppress that part of me that wants to gush.  Let them see for themselves, I tell my Miss Gushie side,  that way, they can feel they are stumbling upon it, as I felt the first time.  Let them be surprised.

   

Surprised by the Persian rugs and lime green walls and scents like Chevrefeuille (Honeysuckle) and Feu de Bois (Firewood) in sober packaging.  And also how, when you wish to smell a scent, the salesgirl will drop the wax onto a special tapestry pillow, poof!, and hold the just-emptied glass to your nose.

Surprised by how, when you buy a candle they give you this book made from the most delightfully thick paper and you see the funny little descriptions that sound like they’re from a J. Peterman catalogue:  Tam Dao--Rosewood, cypress, ambergris, and sandalwood.  Deep in the rainforest, riotously alive with the tangle of lianas, the odour of wood and overgrown temples, elephants are dragging scented logs of the sacred tree sandalwood.

Surprised by the fact that there are often limos parked outside the shop, and it wouldn’t be unusual to see Donatella or Karl, or Naomi.  (Charmingly, the late French president Francois Mitterrand would appear on Saturdays and insist on waiting his turn.) 

Surprised that the company was started by three art students in 1961, at this very spot, 34 Blvd. Saint Germain, around where Hemmingway lived when he was poor and unknown--the unfashionable end of Boulevard Saint Germain--making you somehow you feel a little bit better about the arm and leg and pinkie toe you are about to pay. 

And then, well, I was the one getting surprised yesterday evening when I went to take these pictures at dusk.  One of the original founders was there, and while this isn't the best picture, I captured him discreetly in the mirror here.  Sneaky, eh?

 

 

The world of high end candles is not something I sought out--one mustn’t, especially when one is living in the world of peeling paint and linoleum flooring--the bougie I’m burning at this very moment was a gift from my Favorite Texan Noelle.  I took her to the store, to share it with her, expecting all credit cards to remain safely in their bags where they belong, and she demanded I pick a scent on the spot.  I was tickled and flustered--we aren’t always prepared for our wishes to come true.

Comments

[Aimee]

The pics look great! Bravo.

[Laurie]

Do they make diptyque candles in Evergreen scent? I would like to buy one for Christmas.

[Elisabeth]

They make a firewood one called Feu de Bois and Cypres also smells quite pine-y. But if you're wanting a Christmas scent, the Pomander (cinnamon and orange) is a-ma-zing. Shall I bring you back an early Christmas present?

[Aimee]

A feature in the December Lucky has a Diptyque candle in Baies. You can actually read, paris5e.

[Flare]

I avoid this shop. I avoid because I will buy everything if I enter it. Bad bad bad! My mother-in-law bought me one for Christmas a few years ago. Sure as hell beats Yankee Stinky Factory 'Machin' Candle from the states.

-Aimee G.

[Yvonne Higgins]

Can someone in Paris or going to Pais send me the information on how to order these candles from a store there. They are so expensive here in the US. I really want the Christmas scent, the Pomander (cinnamon and orange) for a Christmas brunch that I am having for family. Thank you for your help.