Diptyque Tam Dao

Just arrived from Amazon - bought it based on these reviews and a fondness for sandalwood.
At $88 for 50 ML it is a little expensive for me.
Scent does not impress initially (a little menthol I think), but starts to dry down to a very nice and dark aroma quickly - I really like it!

Goa sandalwood, rosewood, cypress, ambergris

Surprisingly this is much lighter than I expected compared to Santal Noble. It's a nice fresh scent that doesn't overdo the smoky aspects of Sandalwood. Ambergris is definitely one of my favorite basenotes. It makes everything more like the outdoors and fresh. The tangy cypress adds another aspect I like. This is my favorite sandalwood I've tried so far. It's not perfect though. The sillage and longevity aren't as good as others for the price but scent, while it lasts, is truely wonderful.

This is my first sandalwood based off of reviews. I do love it, but I was hoping it would be a little more forward in strength and earthiness. As I said I do love it though! It is very elegant and woodsy in a subtle alluring kinda way. It is great all year around especially the fall! It has a smell that makes me very personally content while wearing it. For my taste I usually have to give myself around 3 to 4 sprays and at $88 for 50ml, that seems a little crazy. I do suggest it, though I feel you may be able to find something similar at less than half the price...quality may be less. I will be looking for other sandalwoods that have more strength and cheaper next time, but am happy to have this one to compare others to. It is sandalwood at its essence and purest form. Because of it being in pure form, it isn't a complex cologne to me but not a bad thing at all. To me I think of complexity as something changing from one form to another, but still resembling its own nature. To me Tam Dao is part of nature, but doesn't really change form so I graded sort of low. It is something to rely on. Packaging and atomizer are great BTW

Well, as its been mentioned already, Tam Dao is a sandalwood based cologne. And its one of the brighter smelling ones. What do I mean by that? Well, I believe that the specific sandalwood used in this formula was, by my guess, found on some sunny beach and has this really energetic smell to it, not like some sandalwood that has been developing for thousands of years in some remote forest.

Now, the most important question is what does it smell like. In my opinion, it smells like wood obviously with an element of sandiness found in such scents as Tauer's L'Air du Desert Marocain and also quite a bit of sweetness (although not too much). It really is a perfect gentleman's scent. However, if you are looking for heavier, more manlier scents such as Creed's Bois du Portugal, then do not look here.

THE benchmark for all sandalwood colognes.

I received a sample of this today. Applied it about two hours ago, and...WOW.

Very dry and simple. I've tried about six other sandalwood fragrances, including Trumper and AOS, and this is already my favorite, mostly because of how dry it is.

It's not "perfumey."

Considered to be one of the best of the purer sandalwood fragrances. So far, it's my favorite cologne.

It's soothing and refreshing; a dry sandalwood and a fabulous scent; I didn't give it a 10, but I haven't smelled a 10 yet. I also think it could be used in any season or just about any occasion. It is rather linear though, so if you're looking for complexity, this is not it.
Diptyque colognes don't come cheap (but they're excellent) so I'd suggest sampling it first, but if you're a fan of straight sandalwood frags, I can't imagine not really liking this one.

The packaging is refined to match the scent. No glitz here. Nice rectangular bottle with a very good atomizer.