Alrighty folks, I had a nice piece about the Diptyque Hourglass Diffuser that was all set to publish today when poof! my blog disappeared. Thank you to those of you on Twitter and Facebook who helped me check! It was gone for almost a day, and here’s a tip for all bloggers amongst you – BACK UP! Quick, go do your backups now. I’ll wait.
Back? Ok, so I was going to tell you about this product that I’d had my eye on for the longest time. There was something about the hourglass aesthetic, the heavy glass containers and just the whole idea of a non-exposed home fragrance diffuser that captured my imagination.
I first saw this during the launch of the L’Eau du Trente-Quarte (which is a more musical, more romantic way of saying Water 34) and it had stuck in my mind ever since. It was so bad that at the end of last year, I sucked it up and bought me the Sablier (Hourglass) Home Diffuser in 34.
I love my home fragrances and I usually do scented candles, as many amongst you will know, but I’m always open to alternatives. The only alternatives I knew of was reed diffusers and you know what? I hate them. Hate! They look flimsy and are liable to fall over if you so much as look at them and the reeds gather dust like nothing I’ve ever known. So when I’m introduced to an enclosed, aesthetically pleasing diffuser, I fell.
The problem is that when you fall so hard for something this expensive, you want it to work. And you won’t stand for any truck if it doesn’t. Oh boy, Diptyque. You are in trouble 😛
The Hourglass Home Diffuser works in a clever way. The fragrance is housed in a refillable glass bottle which forms half of the hourglass. The other is attached to the bit that diffuses the scent. Like an hourglass, turn it over and allow the liquid fragrance to drip through to the bottom.
The scent will be diffused along the way, through the whorls of the black plastic bit in the middle. That is what I was told anyway. I was also told that the scent should last and linger for at least 20 minutes or more and it will take 10-15 minutes for it to drip through so you get about an hour of scent. Long enough to relax and wind down after the day.
Or so I thought.
It currently comes in 3 popular Diptyque scents – Baies, Figuier and 34 Boulevard Saint Germain. I picked 34 because it is the least sweet and fruity smelling of the 3 scents available. I love the scent of the perfume and the candle, and logically therefore, I would love the scent wafting around my home.
Boy, was I wrong.
Ok, to be fair, there’s nothing wrong with the scent. It has the same spicy, woody, warm scent that I like, that feels at the same time warm yet fresh. It smells lovely. When the diffuser works that is. And it doesn’t.
I’d saved this to be opened in my new home so I was understandably excited the day I finally set it up. I had images in my head of walking into my living room with the fragrant scent of 34 wafting in the air. In reality, there was nothing. I turned the hourglass over a few times, just to be sure and yep, I smelled nothing.
Ok, so maybe my living room was too big (which it by no stretch of imagination is) so I took it to my room. A smaller place, so it should work right? Wrong. Again, there was nothing. It just sat on my dresser looking like a pretty ornament (and pretty expensive) and not working.
I decided to try again, in an even smaller room and stuck it in the bathroom. This time, I could smell it. A faint, familiar scent of 34 in the air. What was Diptyque thinking making a diffuser that would work in a room as small as a bathroom I have no idea. It could perhaps accompany me during my bath or it might even work to banish toilet smells. But you know what? So does Febreeze and that doesn’t cost an arm, leg and kidney.
They haven’t invented smell-o-vision yet, but if you stick your nose close to that black bit, you will smell what I smell. Nothing. And I have the real thing! Ok, yes I do smell something if I get that close but it’s not what I bought a home fragrance diffuser for right? I expected it to fragrance a room. I didn’t expect to have to stick my nose right into it to smell anything.
Perhaps Baies or Figuier might work better, I don’t know. They are stronger, sweeter scents. Perhaps it works better in a colder environment, but again I wouldn’t know since the weather here is mostly hot and humid. But it doesn’t work even in an air-conditioned room so I’m not holding out a lot of hope, and I’m not about to try to find out if the other scents work.
Fool me once Diptyque, shame on you; but there won’t be a second time.
Let’s just say therefore that if you are tempted by the alluring aesthetics of this Diptyque Hourglass Home Fragrance Diffuser and are thinking of putting down good money for it, don’t. I did it so you don’t have to 😛
Do you use home fragrance diffusers? Do you have others to recommend aside from the reed ones?
I’m still stocking up on scented candles but it’s nice to have alternatives. Reed diffusers really bug me so I’m sorry if you like them, I just can’t handle anything that looks like chopsticks sticking out from a bottle 😛
Paris B
Diptyque Sablier (Hourglass) Home Fragrance Diffuser comes in Baies, Figuier and 34 Boulevard Saint Germain scents Price: RM799 (or so, OUCH!) Refills available separately at about RM350 or thereabouts Availability: Diptyque at Pavilion KL and Ken’s Apothecary
RM799??
I would be HOPPING MAD if that didn’t work out!!
Is there any way to get rid of the plastic thing? Does it work like a seal that can be removed? Or is it permanently stuck on the hourglass?
Sadly yes and sadly I hopped but to no avail haha! I suppose if I really wanted to, I could just remove the refill half of the hourglass and leave it exposed, but the fragrance seems to have dissipated quite quickly so I’m trying to make it last a little while longer. It’s a crying shame, this is, and I’m not the only one moaning about it either!
That’s shockingly sinful for the price you paid!
Any chance it is a faulty unit? Could you possibly take it up with the seller/ brand?
I would expect an explanation/ refund for failure to deliver after having dropped that princely sum on this.
It is, Shopgirl. Somewhere out there, someone in Diptyque is pissing in their pants laughing at the suckers who bought this 🙁 I was wondering if it might be faulty, but I found other reviews online that said the same thing – the throw is awful and it scents a room the size of a bathroom. Honestly, Diptyque was really just having a joke at our expense – literally 🙁
Omg Paris…So expensive!!! :O How did you convince yourself to buy it? Maybe you should write to Diptyque about this. A similar thing happened to me! Have you heard of the Tangle Teezer? Its an over-hyped hairbrush. Its pretty pricey for a hairbrush as it costs 10GBP and when you convert that to Indian currency, its Rs.1000. I brought it and it did not work at all for me, it made my hair frizzy and messy. So I wrote to the company to about it and they promptly sent me another one to try, free of cost. The new one isn\’t extraordinary either, but at least it doesn\’t make a mess of my hair.
Sadly Lana, I convinced myself it was worth it, and that it’d work. I didn’t know any better and there wasn’t a lot of information online. I later checked online and found out that I’m not the only one who experienced this. There are others too who complained about the poor diffusing and scent so it’s really a design fault 🙁 I’m sorry to hear about your experience with the Tangle Teezer. I read so many raves about it I can understand why people would buy into the hype. I’m glad it got sorted out anyway and at least it doesn’t go round tangling your hair up instead of detangling it!
the AUD 2 reed diffusers I got from clearance works really well in my living room. Probably not worth paying RM799 for then.
Absolutely not. I’m not a fan of reed diffusers hence I got “conned” I supposed 😛
Omg, I don’t know what the conversion rate is, but it’s Diptyque so I can imagine. Can you write to someone? I don’t like reed diffusers either (so ugly, lol) but I’m also falling out of love with candles. Something elegant would be perfect, but why doesn’t it work?? LAME.
It’d make it about US$240 *cries* I came across a couple of other reviews online that complained of the same thing so it’s not just me unfortunately 🙁 I’m so glad someone else understands my dislike of reed diffusers LOL I always feel like they’re about to topple over and I can’t stand the reeds sticking out like that >.<
That is sooooooo expensive and even feel more when it’s not working! Can you go back to the shop and get refund or maybe replacement? Or maybe there’s a seal that unnoticeable? In the end, those you can get in supermarket is much more reliable LOL
I thought so too Fathin, about the seal but there isn’t any. It turns out I’m not the only person complaining about this, there are others online who also felt the same way so it looks like it’s a design fault. It works, just that it works in a room that’s far too small to make any sense. Like why do I want to put something this expensive in my bathroom eh? LOL!
Oh gosh, I’d be fuming if something this pricey didn’t work. I’d probably take it back to the store, or write to someone.
Turns out others online complain about it too, poor diffusing of scent in too small a room 🙁 Lesson learned!
Aww hugs Paris! That is heartbreaking. I can imagine how much hope and faith you had in the product. With such anticipation and excitement, it’s a big letdown. Any chance you can bring it back to the store to check? Thank goodness you’ve other candles to wind down with. Better luck with other products next round. Pat pat.
Thanks Jennifer, I was so looking forward to it too! Had these wonderful dreams of returning home to a house scented with the lovely scent of one of my favourite perfumes. Alas, only my bathroom (or toilet) would smell that way haha! 😀
Terrible.
Speechless!!!
I hope they are reading this.
I read of other people experiencing the same thing so I knew I wasn’t alone but honestly, who makes a diffuser that scents such a tiny area?!
Oh boy. This is ridiculous. So sorry this is such a flop. I know exactly what you mean. When you love a scent so much, you just want it to work! I love reed diffusers. In usually leave them high up on the shelf to minimise accidents. As for dust, I don’t have an issue because I flip the reeds every week to make sure I get the fresh burst of scents.
Sigh, yes lesson learned. No more messing about with other things aside from candles. I tried to like reed diffusers but just couldn’t. They just make me think too much of chopstick holders LOL!
I’d be so frustrated and mad if I were in your shoes. And it just doesn’t make sense that Diptyque would come up with something that doesn’t work. Yours is the second negative review I came across abt it.
On a side note, I notice you had an Ecoya candle in one of your photos. I have a couple of candles from this brand and find they perform the way the Diptyque diffuser does. How do you find them?
How interesting that you too had come across another negative review, Hannah. When I was trying to figure out the problem I came across some too while others were raving about it, but mostly about the aesthetics rather than functionality. It actually does work, but only in a very small space so that bit doesn’t make any sense because who’d put something this expensive in a tiny closet?! As for the Ecoya candle, I find that it seems to work better when it’s cool (when I have the air-conditioning on) or if I’m in a smaller area. In a large wider area e.g. living room, the scent isn’t very strong. In the bedroom, it works better.
Oh man. I hate it when expensive products don’t live up to the hype 😀
Exactly! Makes me feel so silly 😛
Shame on Diptyque! Whoever decided to price such an underwhelming device so highly must be evil! Sooo disappointing when you’d saved it to christen your new home.
I mainly enjoy burning scented candles, with Muji coming out top so far for price, throw and lovely smell. But come winter I also welcome a fog of Nag Champa incense in the living room.
Muji, I never thought to check them out for candles, thanks for the info! I’ll be sure to keep an eye out next time I’m there. As for this one, Diptyque really bombed with it. I feel it my duty to get the word out there LOL 😛
About the reed diffusers, my MIL recently replaced all the reeds in her bottles with a beautiful paper like flower. It works the same way as the reeds but much much nicer to look at and sits lower too so it looks more stable. Kinda like a short stemed flower in a bottle/vase. Try googling for “flower diffuser” to have a look.
That sounds pretty, thanks for the suggestion and idea! 🙂
ouch!! So sorry about your arm, leg and kidney. But “the shop” smells good as I remembered. Erm.. talk to Hubert maybe?
Yeah, but the shop had candles going as well and those do smell more potent 🙁 I think it’s a combination of poor choice of scent (34 isn’t a very strong scent) and maybe just a poor product in general but I read of people who bought Baies and still complained they didn’t smell anything in a regular sized room so I think it’s just a poor product design 🙂
I looked at these and had them on my mental wish list…. SO glad I read this! Not only was it helpful but you made me laugh with your smell-o-vision and chopstick holders! LOL …. Sucks you wasted your money but at least you’ve done a good thing by warning everyone else who, like me, was about to sell my kidney for one!
I’m a bit late to the party here, but I think this is a tip worth sharing.
So firstly the original hourglass is discontinued, however clean out the original with water and white wine vinegar, you can actually take the central bit apart, but careful not to damage it, it’s a bit delicate.
So why bother cleaning? Well then you can buy hourglass vs 2 refill and decant into original hourglass 1. Still doesn’t solve the problem of weak smell, this is just the nature of the device, however. This is where the real trick comes in.
Take a aroma diffuser, you can pick them up for around £10 on eBay, they are the ones you put water in. Add 3-4 drops (yes drops – you get 75mls in a hourglass refill) to the aroma diffuser and hey presto, hours of gorgeous scent. Want to increase the strength, add a few more drops, want to decrease it, you know what to do.
So there you go, not a complete waste of money, the hourglass sits looking pretty and your house smells amazing, but don’t tell everyone!
Rik xx