Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Passport à Paris by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Hi there APJ Crew,

I have been slack, yes a slackard am I, but FINALLY I am getting to a beautiful set that Dawn Spencer Hurwitz sent to me through one of our fabulous APJ writers Willa Zheng. We had coffee and a sniff yesterday afternoon and she reminded me that I had to write up the DSH stuff immediately. So when I first sniffed the package here is the one that took my breath away immediately and I LOVE Paris, match made in heaven

Passport à Paris by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes 2013

Passport à Paris DSH Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Lemon, bergamot, lavender, palisander rosewood, mandarin orange, jasmine, Bulgarian rose, orris root, clover, Australian sandalwood, amber, vanilla, coumarin, ambergris, Indian patchouli, civet

From DSH Perfumes site: My fragrant ode to two perfume greats of Paris, circa 1885: Jicky and Fougere Royale. Inspired by Claude Monet’s “The Beach at Trouville”, this universal perfume could be worn by both men and women on their holiday as well as about town. Passport a` Paris utilizes aroma molecules vanillin and coumarin. considered quite modern at the time.

Sur les planches de Trouville oil on canvas 50 x 70 cmPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Lovely, deep, burnished woods and resins lift off with a citrus side order. It must be Paris in spring or summer because while Passport à Paris is all of these beautiful things there is a dark and funky undertone. Through reading the notes I find that lavender is the component that I could smell but not identify, though now I know what it is I am smacking my head. Of course it is, a lightly sugared and vanilla’d lavender that is both charmingly warm and very slightly minty cool, a happy juxtaposition that keeps me on the edge of my nose wondering which way it will fall.

One of the lovely things Jin & I did in Paris in 2013 was have a hot chocolate banana waffle under the big Ferris Wheel, there is something here of that happy memory. The beauty, majesty, cool air and hot waffle: both cake and crispy caramelisation, the squished banana and drizzled chocolate. Jin was in heaven and when I had a little bit I could understand how happy he was in that instant, it was such a pure and unsullied moment that I had to capture it. One of those “God, I love him” snippets of time.

Jin Waffle ParisJin eating hot choc-banana waffle Paris Feb ’13

So while I can make out the correlation between Jicky and Fougere Royal what I smell when I’m wearing  Passport à Paris is my own special shared moment.

For those fiercely anti-natural you may find Passport à Paris, though full of courmarin and vanillin, to feel a little like the heft and deeper lay of a natural. This could never be confused with a mass market fragrance offering and I think Dawn never wanted it to. This is a beautiful, tonal, mesmerising fragrance that feels like it is still in touch with the earth and the power of natural perfumery. I love the soft, furry, powdery dry down too. What a beautiful ending, around 5-6 hours till I can smell no more…..

DSH Perffumes have EdP (which I reviewed) and Parfum strengths starting at only $5

Are you a Dawn Spencer Hurwitz fan? Do you have a favourite? Maybe you’ve tried Passport à Paris, what were your impressions?
Portia xxxx

DSH Perfumes: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

Quick mentions: new favorites from DSH

Sorry Junkies, I got a very late start on this post and have to make it brief, but I wanted to mention a few things that I’m enjoying during this lovely holiday season. It’s no secret that I admire Dawn Spencer Hurwitz and, although I’ve only sampled a small part of her compendious and addictive line, I have some loves there. So here are a few that seem especially suited to the holidays:

DSH Perfumes: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Mahjoun DSH Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

DSH Perfumes: Cimabue

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, nutmeg, cardamom, bergamot, amalfi lemon, bitter orange, clementine
Heart: Carnation, jasmine, geranium, tuberose, beeswax, saffron, clove, cinnamon, rose
Base: French labdanum, sandalwood, opoponax, benzoin and vanilla

I seem to recall hearing somewhere that Cimabue smells like Safran Troublant to some people. I’m not one of them. Certainly the rose and saffron are there, but the cardamom is pronounced in Cimabue, while its lovely companion notes prevent it from going dusty, as cardamom is prone to do. Spicy and sweet, it’s a delicious holiday treat. The sillage is particularly delicious, and I only wish that it were a bit stronger. Many of the DSH perfumes hug their wearer closely, and I could stand a bit more potency myself.

DSH Perfumes: Mahjoun

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bitter almond, cardamom, cherry blossom, lavender, lemon, orange
Heart: Bulgarian rose, fig, hazelnut, honey, nutmeg, orange blossom, sugar date
Base: Amber, cedar, cinnamon, clove, olibanum, sandalwood, Arabian myrrh

This one is pure rich luscious honey. To my surprise it doesn’t have much beeswax or hive scent, which I think of as the natural adjuncts to honey. Just all honey all the time. Listed notes include citrus, cedar, and Amber, but mostly I just smell honey. I like it by itself, and I also like to spray it over more austere ambers to give them a touch of holiday sweetness and joy. If I’m in the mood for a real hive scent, I may dab on a trace of beeswax absolute and overspray with Mahjoun.

Vanilla Cinnamon home fragrance DSH PerfumesPhoto Stolen DSH Perfumes

DSH Perfumes: Vanilla Cinnamon

DSH Perfumes gives these featured accords in one line:
Cassia, Cinnamon Bark, Cinnamon Leaf, Clove Leaf, French Vanilla, Spice, Sweet, Sweet Cream, Vanilla, Vanilla Absolute, Vanillin

DSH has just started offering room scents, and this is the only one that I’ve tried so far. It’s offered in a regular or small travel-sized reed diffuser. The notes are summed up in the name, but it is somehow much lovelier than I expected. It’s also rather light and subtle, a far cry from the “cinnamon bun” scents that make the air at the mall so gooey. I love it on the coffee table, and I’ve been known to use one of the reeds to dab a bit on my wrist before drinking my morning coffee. Yum. You need to try this one if you have any taste for vanilla scents.

DSH Perfumes site has a wonderful selection of fragrances and an excellent Sample System starting at as low as $4

A joyous winter solstice to all of you, enjoy the long dark fragrant nights, and make sure to find a little of the quiet repose that winter seems made for.
Have you tried any of the DSH Perfumes?
FeralJasmine x

What Fragrances Got Packed For USA 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Hi there Frag Heads,

It’s the age old question. What do you pack fragrance wise for a holiday? Do you take a set of 5ml decants of your faves, one bottle or a mix of both? Is it go large or go shopping?

What Fragrances Got Packed For USA 2014

Well, as always it has been a hell of a decision making process. I ummed and ahhed about it through the unpacking of the move and have been madly spritzing myself to see what would fit for me on this trip. Knowing that I’ll be stopped in 4 MeetUps in the best that the USA has to offer in Niche Perfumery, as well as the Guerlain store in the Bellagio Las Vegas where we are staying, I am pretty sure I will be heavily scented and shopping up a storm. So I decided that three was the magic number for this trip. I need a cold weather, a cool weather and a temperate weather fragrance that are all not so temp specific that I’ll feel ridiculous wearing them interchangeably. Another criteria is that they not be in regular decant atomiser bottles, I would like them to be a little more sturdy than that.

So here are my USA 2014 three:

Epice Marine Hermes FragranticaPicture Stolen Fragrantica

Epice Marine by Hermès 15ml EdT: After first trying Epice Marine in Selfridge & Co with Tara I became quite obsessed with it. There’s something completely captivating in it’s cool, clear, cut crystal and salty herbal-ness. It starts out fizzy like a cold lemon squash with ice, it has a salt rim and some greenery floating in it that feels minty but is less sweet. Unlike so many of the Hermessance range I get excellent longevity and a very soft but noticeable sillage.

Ma Folie de Noel (My Christmas Folly; Holiday no.6) DSH Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Ma Folie de Noël by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz 10ml EdP: Ma Folie de Noël was a gift from Natalie who used to run Another Perfume Blog. There is no 10ml option on the DSH site now and I think I will finish this bottle while on holidays, it’s a conundrum. The fragrance? Well it’s everything a cold weather fragrance that you want to make you warm should be. Anise, booze and cream all spiced and gorgeous. Even writing about Ma Folie de Noël makes me smile: happy scent and memories. I think it will be the one I reach for most while away.

Vanille Galante Hermes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Vanille Galante by Hermès 15ml EdT: Vanille Galante, that cool, dark chocolate and booze infested vanilla that wafts lightly and smoothly from my skin. An oxymoron, sleek and fat, cool and hot, heavy and transparent. Vanilla so completely UN-vanilla-ish that it hardly bears its name. The flowers are awkward and frigid, the spice is so cool it reads like incense and the vanilla like nothing you would ever bake with. Wrap the whole fabulously spare concoction in sugar free chocolate and inhale. This was not love at first sniff for me, in fact it’s taken a while for me to warm to it, now I couldn’t live without Vanille Galante.

Visual_of_USA_Flag_stars_and_stripes_FJM88NLPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Here are our MeetUp USA 2014 Dates:

Please come hang with us somewhere

SCENT BAR LA Wednesday NOVEMBER 19 2014 with Killian Hennessy MeetUp 5-7pm

BARNEYS + NEIMAN MARCUS CHICAGO Monday NOVEMBER 24 2014 MeetUp Barneys (Beauty Downstairs) 1.30pm

OSSWALD N.Y.C Saturday NOVEMBER 29 2014 MeetUp 2-4pm

TWISTED LILY BROOKLYN NYC Sunday November 30 2014 MeetUp 11am-1pm

How do you like my choices? What do you wear to travel? Many or few?
Portia xx

Pink Gardenia by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes review

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

Some of my earliest memories of growing up in Louisiana involve gardenias. My mother had a big bush in the front yard, and I can recall at about age 4 moving nearer to an open flower, then away, then closer again, testing the scent at different distances. Sheer bliss. True gardenia scents are still my favorite, and I want them realistic. Accordingly, I am a sucker for any gardenia scent that comes along. At least, for sampling. I have finally learned that over 90% of them are major disappointments, and I no longer EVER blind-buy bottles of new gardenia perfumes. I think I have gotten most of my gardenia errors to new homes, but there may still be a few in the back of the closet, silently mocking my gullibility.

Pink Gardenia by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes

My Gardenia Fetish part III: DSH Pink Gardenia

Pink Gardenia DSH Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Gardenia, tuberose
Base: Ambergris and musk

No doubt I will continue to sample new gardenia scents as they emerge, but there are a few favorites that I regularly wear and count on to scratch my gardenia itch. The tragically discontinued Tom Ford Velvet Gardenia is my favorite nighttime scent, and in the daytime I love to float around in Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s Pink Gardenia. She has a few gardenias, but the Pink is the closest to the real thing. The eau de parfum is a lovely soft sweet gardenia that soon settles down fairly close to the skin. Real gardenias in their homeland have a definite fungal undertone that smells a bit like moist Southern loam. When a gardenia scent seems “not real,” often it’s because the scent is too clean. Pink Gardenia has a bit of the fungal note, but it’s faint. This one will evoke the flower but won’t cause your coworkers to wrinkle their noses.

Pink Gardenia DSH Perfumes Gardenia Tatters FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The Pink Gardenia parfum is rich, intense, and comes across as slightly less clean. It is a fully opened flower, lovingly placed on your skin by your lover’s hand. It wears close and soft and dries down to a glorious skin scent. I want this one badly, but what I want to do with it is put it all over myself, and at over $100 for 5ml I can’t afford that. Unless I were to use the whole bottle in one gorgeous binge, and oh, how I enjoy fantasizing about that. But it is lovely and hypnotic and covetable, and you can bet that it’s on my “to buy” list.

Pink Gardenia DSH Perfumes Gardenia oom_endro PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Now Smell This and
DSH Perfumes starts at a $5 sample vial, for $80/30ml EdP

I have already written to Ms. Hurwitz expressing my hope that she will never discontinue this scent. The EdP is my own bottle (likely the first of many) and a small sample of the parfum was kindly provided by the perfumer. My opinions remain firmly my own, especially when it comes to gardenias.

FeralJasmine xx

Ma Folie de Noel (My Christmas Folly: Holiday no.6) by DSH Perfumes

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Hi Ho Fumies,

I have a beautiful friend, Natalie, from Another Perfume Blog who gave me this very delicious fragrance. I had tried it and loved it a while back and though she loves it too it wasn’t getting the wear it deserved in her perfume wardrobe. I can’t stop spritzing, like an addict, and get a rush of happy every time I do.

Ma Folie de Noel by DSH Perfumes

(My Christmas Folly: Holiday no.6)

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Ma Folie de Noel (My Christmas Folly; Holiday no.6) DSH Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Star anise, whipped cream, incense

Star anise, Whipped Cream and Incense. The list is so short but Ma Folie de Noel is so much more than it’s featured accords. Sometimes simple is boring but not here. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz is a bit of a magician, in her capable hands we get an incense bomb that sits firmly in gourmand land, and though the incense is there through the whole ride it serves (on my skin) as a back ground to the lovely boozy and creamy extravaganza that I find completely reminiscent of an Egg Flip that my Mum used to make for us. I think I’ve written this somewhere before but can’t find where. Though it is star anise in the spotlight I get nuances of other fabulous spices like nutmeg, vanilla and a hint of Chinese five spice, the whipped cream has nods to caramel ice cream and there is a touch of brandy, maybe even a lovely rich honeyed scotch whiskey and always the cool wash of unburned incense floating underneath.

Ma Folie de Noel Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Egg Flip WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Though Ma Folie de Noel starts out big and lavish it softens out within an hour and after two hours I have a warm caramel glow left that stays around at that close level for ages. I miss the moment when I go back to smelling like only me but my guess is somewhere around the 4-5 hour mark. Ma Folie de Noel id totally wearable and I would say could even be worn in close working quarters, unless your office is frag phobic.

Ma Folie de Noel Dawn Spencer Hurwitz caramel-dessert PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Though Ma Folie de Noel is marketed as a Christmas scent I think we can skip all that and wear it year round, a cool evening in Spring would be equally as gorgeous. I have yet to try it in the full heat of summer but I’d like to, just to see.

Further reading: Another Perfume Blog and Fragrant Man
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz  site starts at $5 up to $70 and has a full range of ambient and body products to match.

Are there any frags you wear that are seasonal? Do you spritz beyond those seasons? Ever?
Portia xx

 

Oude Arabique by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hello my APJ Family and Friends,

As you may have noticed I love the independent perfumers that make good fragrances. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz is one of them for me, her work is innovative, original, fun and sometimes challenging. She can take a tired note and refresh it so even the most jaded of palettes will be brought back to full attention.

Oude Arabique by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes

Oude Arabique DSH Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tolu balsam, resin, mastic
Heart: Agarwood, incense, sandalwood
Base: Australian sandalwood, buddahwood, Himalayan cedar, tolu balsam

So straight out of the decant I get a very heavy Pine-o-Clean disinfectant note that lasts about 5 seconds and then turns into a medicinal, bitter scent that lasts under a minute. It’s ferocious and fun. Sadly it doesn’t last and the whole fragrance softens off considerably. My advice is take a deep breath and spritz, letting your breath out very slowly if you want to miss the opening fireworks. Give Oude Arabique at least 30 seconds to burn off before your initial sniff.

Oude Arabique DSH Perfumes prophets-mosque FotoCommunityPhoto Stolen FotoCommunity

I am unsure about the oudh here, it smells pretty damn real to my nose (which we have ascertained over two years is not always on point). There is a faint hint of bandaid and barnyard but really the resins and woods are the stars in Oude Arabique for the main part. They are raw and fresh hewn, only slightly buttery through the heart of the fragrance and the resins supply some fat and animalics. I read in one review that there is some ambergris floating around which could be the something tangy and beachy, working with the oudh to create an extremely pleasant fragrance that is obviously niche and with what smells like some quality natural ingredients too. Subtle, nuanced and pretty yet still a fragrant wear, projection is not huge but you do change the air around you if you sit for some time. It’s a creeper of a fragrance, sending out woodsy tendrils to capture the unwary. About 2 hours of fragrant before going close and then another couple of hours humming on your skin softly, waiting for someone to come close enough before it can lure them in.

Oude Arabique DSH Perfumes bath_house WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Although this would generally be thought of as a masculine any women with the want could definitely rock this like crazy. I’d love to smell it on some of my very girly girlfriends, it would create a super interesting disconnect that would be incredibly alluring. MMM My mind is wondering who of my friends to take it to.

Further reading: EauMG and All I Am A Redhead

DSHPerfumes has EdP and Parfum strengths starting at $5
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $11/ml

Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances 2013 Perfume Review

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Hello Gorgeous APJ Family,

So the seasons are a turning and there are Spring posts everywhere, the thing I notice about Spring and Autumn is that they share similar weather in many places, especially Sydney. We are still living in summery moments but there have been some blustery cooler days, and the nights are getting very chilly. So really I am offering up a Mid Season Mixture of things that are currently getting pretty high rotation on my skin. They are on the desk and within easy spritz reach, though the Amyitis has just been returned from the outer realms

Autumn ScenicReflectionsPhoto Stolen ScenicReflections

Spring LilaDaleyPhoto Stolen LilaDaley

Youth Dew Amber Nude by Tom Ford for Estee Lauder: Amber Nude gets let out of its box quite a bit lately, I don’t know why particularly but I crave that gorgeous opening that warms into amber so quickly.

Cedrat Intense by Nicolai: I think it might have Ruth K on FFF that told me to get my hands on some of this. So I grabbed 30ml unsniffed and WOW!! I’m surprised that wasps and bees don’t land on me expecting a feed. Gorgeous and fresh citrus scent.

Amyitis by Mona di Orio: Every so often the Amyitis bottle will ask me if I’m SURE I don’t adore the juice inside and it comes back out, gets worn a few times and then gets put away in favour of Chanel No 19.

Indus Oil by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz: This surprising little temptress has me opening the box and putting a little roll of oil on a wrist or back of hand every second day currently. The flavour of Chai Tea, though I get powdery iris too.

Dries Van Noten by Frederic Malle: There are only the dregs of this 5ml sample left and I still haven’t done my post about it properly. I put it on and sit there for ages enjoying its perfect, warm, uncluttered beauty. What a fragrance, so simple to my nose but absolutely welcoming. A hug filled with love.

Sandflowers by Montale: This leaked about 2/3 of its 100ml flying home from Europe so the box is impregnated with Sandflowers. My office smells distinctly of it and there is always a salty, briny waft as I enter. What a wonderfully weird beauty this is, without being unwearable. How did it get in the Montale line up? This smells best for me when there is sun shining, or the promise of it.

Courage by One Seed: Courage is an unusual, exquisite beauty, that follows no leader. It is warm, dark, interesting and sometimes a little challenging. An all natural maverick that doesn’t smell like natural, or mass production. Intense and lovely.

Interlude Woman by Amouage: I bought a small bottle of this from the lovely Birgit in one of her cupboard clean outs. I was only mildly impressed with it initially but as I wear it more it has become a bit of a siren, trying to lure me into penury. Perfect for the cooler days to snuggle into.

Trayee by Neela Vermeire Creations: I cannot deny that Neela and I are buddies but I don’t go a week without spritzing one of her magical masterpieces. At the rate I’m tearing through this decant it could be FB sooner than anticipated. Trayee is a great mid season spritz.

Essence d’Orange by Cartier: I love the spare citrus burst here with loads of air and space between the notes. This is easy wearing freshness that I keep coming back to just for a fun spritz.

Spring By Sandrine Dulermo & Michael Labica PhotographerPhoto By Sandrine Dulermo & Michael Labica Photographer

There you have it, my current Mid Season Top 10.

Want more Spring Posts? Try Grain de Musc, Now Smell This, Bois de Jasmin, and Perfume Posse

See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Indus (oil) by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 27 Comments

Hey Hey Stink Monkeys,

Every now and then I like to try a fragrance for a while before I read any notes. I enjoy the thrill of wearing the fragrance with no preconceived ideas of what it may smell like and the freefall of having it surprise you as it grows and develops. I have given this particular perfume 3 days wear at different times through those days and my mind kept telling me what a wonderful and spectacular iris perfume I was wearing, so powdery soft and fluffy with that woody, earthy base. Then when I decided to write this post I had to check the notes as I put together my story. OH WELL! Can’t be right all the time.

Indus by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz 2012

Indus FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves
Heart: Black tea, ginger, honey, beeswax and jasmine
Base: Amber, patchouli, musk, tolu balsam, vanilla and milk.

Now that I’ve read the notes list I find it hard to remember why I thought what I thought. There is a definite burst of spices and pepper (black not bell) though they all conspire together to be cool rather than warming, an aloof opening that slowly warms into the heart.  That powdery opening must have been the sparkle of bergamot over these cool spices. The heart is almost exactly like a spicy chai had on a train in India, the cool spices warm and ferment with the honey, ginger and milk. How could I have missed these things. HA HA HA! Just goes to show that the moment you start getting cocky about stuff the world comes along to remind you of reality and bring you back to earth. Hilarious.

My mind was getting comfort scent but couldn’t make the connections. I will tell you though that Indus is a crazy good perfume. A couple of the girls at trivia last night were raving about it and because it’s an oil you have to sit with people for a minute or two before they notice it, it slowly fills the space around you and leaves terrific sillage while not being overpowering or obnoxious.

ChaiWallah mitchellktravelphotoPhoto Stolen mitchellktravelphoto

Honestly, even after all that I still get beautiful moments of powdery, rootish iris and sandalwood and it transports me away to years gone far by and my Grandma, who was a rock for me, and her big cuddles and cooking.

The DSH site:
The great sub-continent, India;  a  land filled with treasures of spice and tea.  Chai tea brings these elements together in an elixir of true comfort, warmth, sensuality and vitality.  Perfect for Fall and it’s inevitable chill, Indus is soft enough to compliment other spice and amber perfumes and rich enough to be worn alone.  We love this for both men and women!

Further reading NowSmellthis welcomes Indus but doesn’t review and I couldn’t find another
DawnSpencerHurwitz has a super sample for $4 or I bought the 1 dram oil essence for $30

With loads of love and below I’ve added a video on how to make chai. I’m off to make some right now.

Portia xx