Diptyque Opens in ifc Mall: Life’s Little Luxuries

There are certain luxuries in life that, no matter how irrational their purpose, no matter how great their cost in comparison to their utility, a woman can always justify treating herself to. Shoes. Chocolate. Manicures. Candles. I must admit that I’m not your typical girlie girl, and out of the aforementioned unnecessary luxuries, my personal weakness is candles. If I am feeling stressed, sad or even celebrating, for me a candle sets the mood better than any other accessory. Not only do they create an atmosphere conducive to stress relief, romance and relaxation, but in the past decade or so, the expansion of perfumiers into the field of candle production, mean that they smell fantastic too. But just any old scented candle won’t do. Sickly sweet smelling ones bought at market stalls are a false economy. They don’t smell nice, don’t look nice and essentially detract from the feel of your home. The craze these days is all for stylish-looking candles with subtle, carefully constructed scents that enhance any mood. Back that up with matching perfumes, home scents and body products and you have yourself a luxury product line that any girl would hanker after.

So imagine my excitement when I discovered the Parisian perfumier Diptyque was opening up a divine little, magnificently scented and oh-so tempting store in the IFC mall. With a history dating back to 1961, Diptyque has clocked up the hours and developed an unparalleled level of expertise when it comes to creating beautiful scents in a number of formats. As you can tell from my gushing ode to candles, they are my preferred style of scent diffuser, but Diptyque truly does have something for everyone. They have a number of personal fragrance products including eaux de toilette, cologne and some ingenious little nifty travel perfumes including fragrance blocks and roll-ons to help avoid those wash bags disasters when your favourite scent wastefully oozes out throughout your suitcase in the course of a long haul flight. If like me your priority lies in creating a divinely scented home, then their range of candles, in a number of shapes and sizes will not fail to disappoint.  Mini candles, large candles, travel candles, glass candles, coloured china encased candles. There really is something for everyone and also every taste in decorative style. My personal favourite are the large indoor and outdoor candles in porcelain pots meaning they look stylish, even when not lit and when burnt down to the bottom.

If you aren’t content with dousing yourself in heavenly perfume and reclining in your candle-scented home, you can even sample products from the Diptyque bath line. Moisturisers, shower gels and other bath time essentials a plenty ensure that Diptyque really have covered all your scent related needs. But the items that stood out to me as an essential unnecessary indulgence for any Hong Kong home are their ingenious scented ovals. Ovals of scented wax encases in discreetly luxurious porcelain medallions, tuck neatly away into your drawers and wardrobe. Then when the Hong Kong heat and humidity sets in and the musty smell starts to invade, these clever little items start to wage war on the heat and release their own divine smells to protect and envelop your precious clothing.

As you can see, their product range alone is enough to ensure you spend far more time than you intended in their small but perfectly fitted new IFC store. Couple that with the fast approaching Christmas shopping period and their wide range of gift sets and beautiful items such as silver candle snuffers, then it may all mean that you are making visits to the new Diptyque more often than your local Park’n’Shop. But with an incredible variety of different scents, from floral wonders to deep winter smells, there really is a smell for everyone. So clear your sinuses, take your purse and prepare to spend hours on end sniffing your way round this fabulous new shop for the ultimate unnecessary luxury shopping experience.

Diptyque, Shop 1080, Podium Level 1, No.8 Finance Street, ifc Mall, Central, Hong Kong 2521 6799
10:00-21:00 Mon-Sun & public holidays