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Portia

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Hello Independent Fragrance Lovers,

A bunch of DSH samples arrived at once a while ago and I liked so many of them but having been trying to space them out so you all don’t get overwhelmed our bored. You know I love Dawn’s work, something about her style fits me really well and I LOVE the way she picks a note or style and creates the perfect setting to highlight it. The more fragrances I spend time with in her collection the more impressed she makes me.

A note of advice though. This is Independent Small Batch Perfumery. If you ONLY know or like the department store, super smooth, focus group tested out of all ingenuity or flair, ultra sweet fragrances that you are offered on a daily basis then you are in for a surprise. Give yourself a moment to adjust, don’t put your nose to the wet patch you just spritzed, give it at least a full 20 seconds before you go in for the up close sniff. These fragrances have top notes but they are also deeper, more interesting and have a real journey that you will have much more fun with if your nose hasn’t been blown out.

Fumee d’Or by DSH Perfumes 2014

Fumee d’Or by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

DSH Perfumes

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Aldehydes, Australian sandalwood, bergamot, oakmoss, Bulgarian rose, civet, jasmine, immortelle, incense, leather, myrrh, neroli, agarwood (oud), jasmine sambas, tobacco

Created as part of the Brilliant Collection for Denver Art Museum’s “Brilliant: Cartier in the 20^th Century”. Fumee d’Or is designed as a stand alone AND to be used as a base for the other three fragrances in the DSH Brilliant Collection, to add the lustre of the goldsmiths creative process. I bloody wish I’d read that before I used up all the others. Oh well.

The first thing I smell is immortelle, civet and oudh. I swear there is also honey in here. Imagine the most gorgeous, brilliant cut cognac diamond set in a ring of clear pave diamonds in a matte yellow gold setting and you have some idea of how Fumee d’Or smells.

WikiMedia

I’m sure all the notes listed are inside but I am solely captivated by the metal and animal facets. This is exactly my level of animals. They are friendly and furry, plush even. As thick as bear fur and as light as caribou. A very interesting juxtaposition of the dense and sheer that is absolutely captivating.

Here Dawn shows her absolute power over notes that in many others hands would become clunky, cumbersome and sickening. This is vintage done 21st century and without the stringent IFRA laws. A fun feral frolic with depth, elegance and a sense of having been made especially for me. Luminous, yet deep, hot and exotic.

Wikimedia

Further reading: IndiePerfumes and Colognoissseur
DSH Perfumes has a variety of strengths and sizes from $6

Does Fumee d’Or sound like something you might wear?
Portia xx