Diptyque Ofrésia: A Review

Diptyque fragrances are usually very true to what they’re meant to smell like. In perfume terms, nearly all Diptyque fragrances are linear (which means they don’t change much from initial spritz to dry down) and you can pretty much tell what you’re going to smell from the name. Diptyque’s Ofrésia is, as the name suggest, about the freesia flower.

Ofrésia is a shockingly beautiful fragrance. It isn’t just about the flowers but the whole plant uprooted and put into a bottle with a dusting of soil and a hefty dose of pepper. The addition of pepper is genius – it gives Ofrésia a tingly and lively quality that seems the perfect addition to an otherwise seemingly simplistic freesia soliflore.

I’ve had freesia growing in my garden the past few years. The smell of freesias are unmistakable, their aroma is sweet, green and slightly waxy. Ofrésia seems to be an exact replica of the natural scent of freesias, a photograph as opposed to a whimsical painting.

Ofrésia starts off with a near sneeze-worthy burst of sweet freesia and pepper. After about 20 minutes the pepper settles into the background and a green, stemmy, vegetal quality takes center stage. Ofrésia celebrates greenness over its sweet floral qualities so it is never a heady sweet thing. The pepper and slight woodsy notes happily hang around in the background to give the fragrance a very interesting zip – Ofrésia is not a boring scent. (In Perfumes: The Guide, Luca Turin writes that Ofrésia is “…a somewhat boring freesia accord,” and I can only disagree and imagine that if Ofrésia were created by Guerlain instead of Diptyque he would call it ravishing).

Ofrésia is a beautiful green fragrance with light airy freesia tickled by wafts of peppery woods.

Sillage: Average
Longevity: Excellent, easily 4-5 hours