Kimonanthe

Imagine Bon Parfumeur 303 and Diptyque’s Kimonanthe (DK) begin with the same perfumer’s accord. In the opening 303 is a little drier, DK has a dollop of L’Artisan’s Mon Numero 20 (described brilliantly be another reviewer as Dr Pepper spilled on a leather car seat). But they both have sweet, resinous Benzoin, Allspice-like spice accord, a touch of patch for richness, that delicious soap/flower musk of Lutens Vitriol d’Oeillet. VO has the same ylang ylang, red pepper, and red chili pepper accord as 303. DK is calling it camphor, incense, clove. In any event the effect is allspice but sweeter. Now, midway through dry down DK loses the Mon Numero 10 Dr Pepper/sugar a bit and 303 picks it up. By late drydown 303 has picked up a bit more leather and a hint of powder. DK stays drier with a more camphorous patch. Do you need both? Honestly (especially given they’re both now expensive and DK is a unicorn), not really. But you could be super happy wearing one of them - super beautiful, subtle silage, complex and unique scent, lovely traditions and shifting. A comforting, clean cloud of sweet benzoin, clean musk (not Egyptian-soapy, but while clean, not biting white), dry wood, spice. Really, really love, both of them. And L’Artisan’s Mon Numero 10 - cousin to these sister smellalikes - is also gorgeous and worth having along with one of these, though 10 can get cloying in summer.

Currently my FAVORITE perfume... I feel like I found my "spirit animal" in perfumery. It is tangy, fruity, a little dry, elegant with incense, spice and sandalwood, and oh so mysterious. Just LOVE LOVE LOVE it :) ps. Somehow I also detect plum and cherry blossoms... Kimonanthe totally transports me to my beautiful trip to Yokohama 3 years ago where I tried on a gorgeous silk kimono with pink cherry blossoms. This perfume would go perfectly with it :) Thank you Diptyque!!! psps. Really enjoy works from the master perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin. His works tend to be very natural-smelling and rather luminous, feminine, and sexy. One key ingredient (note) in this perfume is the Japanese incense Zukoh (literally means body incense, which is made of cinnamon, cassia, sandalwood and clove). The perfume smells like the most delicious combination of authentic zokuh with delicious, juicy plum, apricot and sweet/airy cherry blossoms :) Yes it is a little linear, but I do NOT mind. I want to smell like these ALL DAY :)

I feel so alone in my obsession with Kimonanthe. From the moment I read its name, I knew it would be an amazing fragrance. Its pyramid only further reinforced my excitement, and when it finally arrived, it was everything I thought it would be and more. For some reason, though, it's barely talked about, and even some of the biggest fragrance reviewers I follow don't seem to acknowledge its existence. The bottle and the packaging are superb, but the fragrance itself, oh, the fragrance... it smells like the 70s embodied. Orange wool sweaters, groovy prints, artistically tacky furniture, the memories of your quirky aunt or grandma who used to be a part of the hippie heyday. It's so deeply cozy, transcendentally artistic, fun, but also comforting and solid. I adore Kimonanthe, I wish it was still available and more appreciated.

What world does this hail from? I just did a review for another Diptyque fragrance, 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain EDP, which in many ways is the polar opposite of Kimonanthe. Whereas 34 BSG is stylish and safe, Kimonanthe is radical and daring. It slaps you in the face with this sour-fresh apricot-osmanthus note, then kisses you on the cheek with a bizarre but harmonious camphor-smoke-pepper accord. The whole concoction can't decide if it wants to be lactonic or medicinal, and it's precisely that ambivalence that makes it so fun and original. Definitely a warm-weather scent. The cap and bottle are works of art. Unisex in the best possible way—perfumes just aren't traditionally made like this. Anybody from their early 20s to mid-60s could pull this off with enough panache.

Curiosity got to me and I sought out a sample of this discontinued and highly unattainable perfume. The osmanthus here reads as more plum than apricot, and there’s a tea-like facet paired with the osmanthus-leather feel. The opening is camphoraceous, which I love. The base has a bit of subtle cloves. A wisp of incense runs throughout from opening to end. It’s really nice, but I do prefer a more apricoty, peachy osmanthus like the material used in Cuir de Chine by Les Indémodables. Plum just isn’t my favorite note, but it’s used very well here. Frankly, the more I wear this, the more I wish I could have a bottle. I would be willing to trade my sealed, very rare backup of Roberto Greco’s Porter Sa Peau for a bottle of this. CONUS. Just reach out!

I've found my favourite apricot/osmanthus scent. Perfectly unisex. The camphor, cloves, incense and wood work their magic. It really is magical, mysterious and so addictive. It's not a weak scent but neither is it really strong. The apricot and osmanthus are top notes and sadly normally fade quickly. Not in this Eastern beauty. The spices/woods have gently/sensitively bolstered these beautiful delicate notes. I've tried a few Diptyque scents now and this one is definitely my fave. Diptyque do create some wonderfully lovely and unique fragrances but sadly their longevity is usually poor. I'm so glad Kimonanthe has at least moderate longevity. This is a cool weather scent for me to wear on casual wear days.

I agree with most reviewers that this fragrance is very polarizing. It's overly sweet due to apricots, it's very medicinal due to the camphor note, and quite spicy and leathery in the base. The base is perhaps very safe, but the opening is a blast of sticky, sweet, almost syropy notes with little sour hints. It's "ripe" and sour sweet, not sugary or vanilla sweet. I have never tried a fragrance with such unique notes and definitely consider it's unique and collection worthy. Is it safe to wear ? Not everywhere! Is it worth purchasing? Yes if you are fan of the brand and collect their pieces!

cough syrup, but in the best way— narcotic & intoxicating. this is the only “gourmand” i really like. i don’t like dessert perfumes typically. kimonanthe is unique, incense-y, medicinal enough that it doesn’t register as purely sweet to me. definitely an edgy take on sweet. word of caution: the bottle is *extremely* fragile! i used to travel with it loose in my purse. it shattered and i had to re-purchase.. TWICE! 😅 finally, i learned my lesson to keep it in the box, especially now that it’s discontinued!

Just coming back from Paris .... with Kimonanthe! If you like Plum Japonais from Tom Ford. It's homethings for you! If i bough it only after 3 days, it's as men ... i got the fist feeling of a peach fragrance. But it changed after a couple of minutes to give something more warm spicy and powdery! Just like Oud Immortel from Byredo that starts with a alcohol Prune and changes quickly in a incredible warm powdery oud! Definitively, I like this one!

I am dying for a full bottle of this. I have a decant that I am trying to savor as much as possible, but am already going through it quite fast... it is so magical and otherworldly and has occupied my brain completely. If anyone has a bottle that they are ready to part ways with, please hmu!

I received a small sample of this and my god it is so beautiful i want it and it must be discontinued because i can’t find it anywhere It is similar to bliblioteque which makes me wonder if that’s why it’s been discontinued Only biblioteque slightly fresher and this is sweeter and smokier

I used one official sample and was on my second one when I decided I need a full bottle of this. Unusual, I can smell hint of apricot, really depends if it will agree on your skin. I always get compliments, staying power is quite impressive and I don't say that about many perfumes!

This scent is very unique. At times, it smells like incense, at times Japanese ume, and at times, the sweet note of Cherry blossoms. The name is very apt. It is quite an exotic and intoxicating scent that changes and yet still draws you in hours after hours.

Another Diptyque fragrance that I loved and was discontinued. I wish I had another bottle of this. I looked for it in the secondary market and someone's selling a full bottle on eBay for $900 :-( I'll have to be satisfied with my warm memories of this one.

Try it again and again i realised kimonanthe im in love truely masterpeice from diptyque.. long last on my skin unlike others diptyques.. 2nd DoSon and trois 3d Tamdao 4 opone and rose. Love from malaysia

This is discontinued and i see comments of people trying it. Where can I find this!?

In my top 3 from Diptyque. Kimonanthe is beautifully unique

First of all, this is a mix between a proper review of a perfume I owned and the memory of a perfume I once smelled, because as it had been discontinued I bought a full bottle off eBay of seller I*a from southern Germany, and when I got the bottle home, pleasant thank you-note enclosed regardless, the bottle HAD been opened and I am PRETTY sure that it had been tampered with (plastic wrapping removed) aand quite possibly diluted, because the atomizations were WAY more generous than I remember AND very runny, as if the alcohol had party been replaced with distilled water. Have I any proof of this? No. Do I write it anyway as a warning? Yes. Including that the seller is shipping from Germany but had me pay in Swiss Francs as if they were shipping from there, adding duty costs, didn't help my trust issues here. SO FOR THE PERFUME: I'm reviewing now this quite possibly diluted version, mind, and so yes, it was runny and the atomizations VERY big. And for the scent, the osmanthus is front and center here. I had read somewhere that this was supposed to smell like "Asian fruit market" but having showcased this perfume to several people who would likely know what an Asian fruit market would smell like, none of them subscribed to this description. Instead, I got a lot of people saying that it smelled like "old woman" and someone even went so far as to directly compare it to a Taiwanese toilet cleaning product. This is not necessarily BAD, but it apparently comes off as very stale and very chemical to a lot of people, so it made me lose trust in my own nose quite a bit, since I always kinda liked it. But yes, osmanthus flower and a kind of incense-y sweet pepper thing happens here, and it develops into a quite warm and cosy scent on my wrists after a few hours. But again, weaker than I remember it, whyever that is. So to conclude: A smell I personally kinda liked if not as i recall it, but quite difficult for a lot of other people. Noone else than me went with a better review than "It's okay". Wouldn't buy again even if I could, thus. Because even if I mainly want to smell good for me, I of course don't want others to find my scent repulsive.

Kimonanthe opens with a strong tart milky apricot enrobed in a supple, plush leather. Although I can definitely relate to osmanthus, Kimonanthe does not smell like the real flower if you happen to be looking for a realistic osmanthus. Underneath the leather, there's a soft cinnamon ambery undertone, which makes the fragrance take on a more opaque texture, therefore lacking the transparent jelly quality of real osmanthus flower. However, this does not diminish one bit of Kimonanthe's beauty as a deconstruction of osmanthus. I've never had the opportunity to smell zu-koh, the Japanese incense that inspired Kimonanthe, nor do I recognise any significant incense note. Kimonanthe on my skin, is primarily a warm, ambery apricot leather fragrance. At around 3 hours in, the sweetness of apricot reaches its peak and becomes almost syrupy, which is a bit disappointing to me. But once it calms down from then on, its fruity leathery character is quite delectable. The dry down begins roughly 5 hours in. I can occasionally detect a very faint camphor note bringing an unusual freshness. A grainy sandalwood also starts to emerge, and the leather gets sidelined as a result, resulting the fragrance becomes more luminous and suave. I get a close sillage and a 9-hour longevity. I was really excited about the opening of Kimonanthe. Because most osmanthus fragrances choose to refresh it with transparent tea, even Parfum d'Empire Osmanthus Interdite with its suede note feels quite cool. Therefore, Kimonanthe's warm ambery apricot leather feels to me wildly different but unmistakable about osmanthus at the same time. However, the heart and dry down, while undoubtedly pleasant, seem a bit too monotonous on my skin. It's not out of character for a Diptyque, but I did have higher hope for this one. Nevertheless, Kimonanthe is worths a try, especially if you'd like a warm, plush apricot leather.

I received a few small samples of Kimonanthe and sampled this fragrance a few days ago. Upon initial spray, I noticed the apricot instantly. The scent is soft and warm. Almost like a warm apricot tea. It reminds me of opening a bag of dried apricots but added is some spiciness and florals to add some depth. It is also very linear and didn't change too much over the wear. As far as my opinion on this goes. This can definitely be pulled off by a man but you'd really need to love it for this to really make sense as a purchase. I enjoyed sampling it, but I don't think I'll be purchasing a bottle. Simply not my style. The scent however is gorgeous and the performance seemed to be very good. I'd suggest sampling it. It's worth a try. 7.5/10 in my books.

Kimonanthe is like a warm, soft, sunny bubble surrounding you. I was lucky to able to visit Paris recently after it was released and didn't hesitate to grab a bottle. For me it's a scent for relaxation, never to be worn at work. Due to the uniqueness of the fragrance I've tried quite carefully not to "spoil" it by associating it with anything stressful or unpleasant. I tend to wear it in the summer, but mind you the Finnish summer is not always warm or sunny, and in a different climate the sweetness might be overbearing. I fail to see it as unisex since it is indeed very sweet.

Kimonanthe starts off with a blast of apricot/osmanthus. These two notes are the spine of the fragrance, intertwined with a subtle incense that burns quietly in the background. There is a slightly medicinal, Tiger Balm-y camphor in the opening which burns off only to resurface later. The fruity spine is enveloped and overcome by a dash of heady spices and clove. It's a scent that feels both indulgent and contemplative.

I didn’t like this before - tried my sample again and I do appreciate it now. It smells like- a Japanese silk tapestry with birds on it. A light boudoir scent.

It is smelling like Chinese apricot (plum) (Prunus mume) preserve jam (syrup).

I went to the Diptyque boutique on Larchmont Village, L.A., CA, and tried a sniff. BAM! This is in your face spices. The anis and cloves are definitely prominent. The sappy apricot is here to play! A soft hidden incense peeks out periodically, floating in and out in the heart. Beautifully blended but NOT a safe blind buy. A little cough syrup, a little Asian apothecary shoppe, definitely an acquired taste.

Here's a case of the osmanthus flower gone horribly wrong. I received a 5ml sample after purchasing Benjoin Boheme, I also tried it multiple times in store and it's just shockingly bad. Incense is already a sweet smokey note, the apricot in this scent is also very synthetic and sweet..like candy. So pair these two notes up with one of the sweetest floral notes: osmanthus. Now it smells like sweat and pee on my skin. Far too sweet, but a sickly sweet. More synthetic and sweeter than Viktor & Rolf's Bon Bon. The only upside is the relatively good performance, lasts all day on your skin (unfortunately) and wafts around when you walk. I can't recommend this for any gender, any age whether you're a grandparent or a teenager. This is a scent that can overwhelm crowds easily, so avoid wearing this in any environments. It's not a complex scent. Very linear overly sweat-like sweet. A huge disappointment from Diptyque.

It travels me to the times and suddenly I am a small child and I am sick, playing with my toys in my room. My mum brings a very sweet syrup to me to drink it. The syrup is maybe a cough syrup but it's very warm and I feel nauseous after drinking it. Kimonanthe gives me that same feeling with the syrup. I can almost taste it. It's overly sweet, almost nauseating. I can't say that it's a bad scent. But I wouldn't like to smell like it.

I was so excited to try this and almost blind bought after reading about in in Elle. Thank goodness I ordered a sample. I love incense but I hardly detected any here. This smelled like super sweet peach black tea to me, probably the candied apricot mixed with some very sweet osmanthus. I was shocked at my dislike.

I smelled it a year ago and it is my second favourite in this line, just after benjoin boheme. But when I sampled this again in a Diptyque boutique yesterday, I suddenly got a toothpaste-kind of scent and this impression ensues. I don't know why but I can't stand it now.

Reading these beautiful reviews, I feel very uncultured but this one is a hard no for me. It smelled like an old RV that's been smoked in. Camphor, leather, smoke and old ass potpourri eugh. I had to wash it off immediately.

I was given a sample of this and I've been wracking my brains trying to work out what it reminds me of. And I finally remembered. It reminds me of my mum's pot pourri from the 80s. So yeah no

I was so excited to try this out, the notes are right up my alley. I’ve never tried a fragrance with camphor and I don’t think I ever want to smell another. This is weirdly forest, spicy, medicinal in the opening. I think I can smell some beauty peeking through but I had to scrub before I could experience it.

If you put your hand over the parts of Eau Duelle EDT that are reminiscent of tea, Kimonanthe was the house of Diptyque’s true off-kilter take on the East Asian tea palate. Inspired by the smell of zukoh, or perfumed incense powder carried by Buddhist monks, this perfume is among my favorite fruity smells of all time, because it was given the space to be so deeply camphoric. The principal notes here are osmanthus, straight camphor, incense, and leather. Tea is not even technically listed, but I think the intersection between fruity and steeped osmanthus and spice evokes a medicinal tea wonderfully. My adoration for Kimonanthe lies on the simple fact that as a child, I loved the taste of cough syrup. You will inevitably find people in comments sections saying this perfume smells like cough drops, like yucky purple medicine, like Chinese homeopathic remedies forced on children with the common cold – perhaps. The truth is, this perfume smells like straight tiger balm mixed with incense smoke and steaming hot herbal tea, and I cannot get enough. Strangely enough, there is a certain sharp and tropical aspect of the eucalyptus found in Ropion’s Carnal Flower that I also detect here. That said, I truly do not think anything else in perfumery smells close to this. It’s rare that I cannot draw up an immediate constellation of references for a given fragrance, but the medicinal profile of Kimonanthe is that unique. Now is also the time where I have to break the news to you that this perfume has been discontinued for almost two years. If anyone reading this article has a bottle they are willing to sell to me, I will pay an irresponsible amount of money to be reunited with her again. I have roughly five sprays of this perfume left in my tiny sample vial I have clung to forever, and I don’t think I will ever spray it again until I can finally book that solo trip to Japan. Otherwise, it’s not worth wasting.

Kimonanthe sheds light on aromas with unconventional beauty, trading the concept of an osmanthus blossom headspace for that of just the scent profile of its solvent-extracted absolute. The absolute may be recognizably osmanthus in some facets, but as a distillation, it's much thicker, intensely rich, reminiscent of dried apricot, and quite leathery feeling as well, even faintly animalic in its undertones. It's one of my favorite raw materials in perfumery, which is why I was thrilled to discover it in full effect with Kimonanthe. With such a large quantity, and the addition of camphor, Kimonanthe is reminiscent of sweet, viscous elixirs to imbibe as a remedy for malaise, medicinal and somewhat foreboding. Naturally, I love that as well, as it evokes an old-world alchemy similarly expressed in a number of Santa Maria Novella releases. While syrupy, it isn't cloying at all, and its texture has a balmy translucency as that of some botanical effluence, forming droplets, a guttation, glistening like honeydew, lapped up by ants. There is also an element that reminds me of the ether surrounding sakura blossoms in bloom, their haunting aroma filling the air. As Kimonanthe develops, there is a cinnamon, clove, and sandalwood, ground up into a powder, a mixture that has a Zen effect paired with the apricot and plummy lactones. Apparently this, along with camphor, is to represent Zukoh, a rubbing incense used by Buddhist monks for purification before ceremonies, preparing meals, or human interaction. I am transfixed at this stage of the development, a state of consonance and repose, feeling more like a ritual than a perfume. Sadly, this has been discontinued by Diptyque as it may have been deemed far too conceptual and specific for an average fragrance wearer. I happen to think it was one of their best releases and a treasure to relish.

Had a sample in 2016, I liked the bottle, they told me it was inspired by the kimono powder container, well I love old powder containers and I love osmanthus trees and I remember thinking the perfume was ok but I wasn’t crazy about it, then I remembered it and wanted to read the reviews and got curious and found a sample on vinted ! A hot tip for anyone looking for out of stock perfume and to me it’s giving tobacco and cherry but not pungent... I can’t find another way to describe it, I don’t like tobacco perfumes but I somehow like this one, but no need to get super hyped it’s really not that special of a scent imo.

a friend gifted a sample. its a heady concoction of warm spices, with a sweet kiss under punch, a confusing synthetic swab in a fliurry of confused clove, sandalwood and apricot. seems like its wouldn't work but its intriguing and makes one want to keep smelling it. some like fragrances that have this effect upon the nose, others or repulsed by too much aromatic conflict. I like storm and stress so I dig it. also really reminded me of the original donna Karan chaos which I got one xmas in the late 90s I miss that one, so nice walk down memory lane.

The camphor opening mixed with the apricot smells a bit like cough syrup, unfortunately. It smooths out and transitions to a heady blend of incense, osmanthus, apricot and camphor. I really wish they had left the camphor out. I love apricot and osmanthus, but this take on the classic pairing is very sticky and artificial. The camphor and sweetness makes it seem like a cheap scented product rather than an expensive perfume. I like it in the drydown when it's osmanthus and suede, though. Overall, a mild dislike.

Overwhelmingly purple. I got grape fizz soda that turned into a field of candied violets (Just starting out with perfumes, none of these notes are in here so I have a feeling Kimonanthe will change for me over time). "Cough syrup in the best way" is such an excellent way to describe it. Really happy, like delight edging on delirium. Edit: I really, really like it.

I think I am going to have to try this one again because I sampled this thanks to one of my best buddies and I nearly died at how awful it smelled! Pungent, sharp and horrible! Now that I have looked at all the notes here I can barely believe it! Maybe it was the camphor and the leather?

This was my signature smell.... And I broke my last bottle yesterday... A full bottle. It was in my bag and I don't know how it happened. Now the smell of my bag is coating my room and flat but I have nothing else left. If someone has a bottle somewhere.... I'm buying !

Having purchased this rare and magnificent Kimonanthe (still complete full bottle), and having purchased it before it was discontinued in 2021, I'm selling decants/samples of it in differents formats. Send me a DM if you're interested!

nothing in the world smells like this. a dynamic composition of osmanthus, apricot, and spices. extremely potent, so so sad to hear it's at risk of being discontinued. signature scent worthy.

Osmanthus, fruity florals, ripe cherries, a little urinous, & some traces of tobacco 5-6 sprays huge projection, lasts all day

a fuzzy little apricot fallen from heaven, sweeter and juicier than any other one you've tasted

If anyone wants to sell a bottle of this, Shoot me a message. Im located in the US

The description of this fragrance sounds intriguing. I would def love to try this.

Sounds good: balsamic + warm spicy ... Bottle similar to Scales by Dior