Thanks to all of you for participating last week in the Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Q&A post, she was thrilled with the feedback. In the meantime we´re in our annual House of Ill (I´ve had sick kids home since last Tuesday) so here´s a quickie on my new DSH favorite comfort scents, which are certainly getting the workout right now. (“Skin” scents mean they wear extremely close to the skin on me with minimum sillage.) Notes courtesy of DSH website.
Lumiere (Holiday 2007) – Bergamot, Cardamom Absolute, Cinnamon Leaf, Coriander Seed, Nutmeg, Almond Milk (accord), Hazelnut, Rhum, Sweet Cream, Amber, Australian Sandalwood, Coffee Absolute, Oppopanax, Peru Balsam. A soft, seamlessly blended fragrance that on my skin is milky spiced coffee without being sweet or gourmand – the balsam and sandalwood keep it comfort rather than foody. A skin scent on me.
Special Formula X-treme (oil essence, there´s also a regular SFX) – another skin scent, this is DSH´s blend she uses to gauge your skin chemistry. Enough customers liked the test fragrance itself that she sells it on its own. Perfect on its own when you want a light, musky skin scent for layering to unsweeten something or give it a little more body.
Sensual Spice – Again, an extremely simple scent – notes are honey, nutmeg, vanilla, and that´s just what it smells like, although I´d have guessed a little clean musk at the base.
Toast – “an ambery oriental that is warm, delicious and fun.” Cinnamon bark, amber, moss, vanilla. It must be the moss because the fun here involves the interesting base that keeps the fragrance from being cloying. I´d have named this one Sensual Spice by the way – there´s something sexy about it.
Lush Honey – Bitter Almond, Muguet, Violet, Hazelnut, Honey, Honey Beeswax,, Ambergris, French Vanilla, Heliotrope, Musk, Tonka Bean. This should probably come with a warning label. It is intensely sweet the way honey is sweet, and fairly heady, and on the wrong day it´s a little Play-Doh on me (hey there, heliotrope!) On the right day it´s like burying my face in some sort of dessert featuring nuts, phyllo and honey, without the caloric damage. Delicious. If all that sounds horrifying let me recommend instead…
Sweet Honey – Honey, French beeswax, musk. A lighter, less cloying, charming honeyed musk that is a great skin scent.
Previous DSH favorites of mine in regular rotation: Sienna, Mahjoun, Fete Nouvelle (an interesting almond/hay skin scent that is what I wanted L´Artisan Jour de Fete to be as opposed to the Play-Doh horror it actually is). Of all I´ve listed, Mahjoun is probably the heaviest. Blond Suede is a great sweet leather. Finally, no post on DSH should fail to mention Cimabue, possibly her best known fragrance that is big and bold, and I know several of you mentioned DSH Piment et Chocolat and Tamarind/Paprika as favorites.
Finally, having read about Serge Lutens’ new scent on Grain de Musc, I think I want to try it!
image: Avalon Spa, Portland OR, howstuffworks.com
Did you all see the Chandler Burr/DSH love in the NYT today?
http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/scent-notes-viridian-by-parfums-des-beaux-arts/
I hadn’t seen that, and thanks very much!
March, I hope your babies feel better soon. I’m amazed that you even have the time to post!
I’m hoping TPC gets the new SL in soon, too. I love osmanthus. I’m also dying to test Vanille Galante!
Hope you liked the nail pic I sent you.
Hugs!
Patty says these are on their way, I believe. <:-p I want that polish soooo much.
I have not tried a single one of these, ack! Cannot keep up!
And my sincere sympathies: a WHOLE week of ill?? That is, of course, 7 days too many. Hope everyone is better soon.
Yes. An entire week. What’s that old joke — I childproofed my home but somehow they keep getting back in? That’s how I feel during these stretches.
I was thinking of you though, buried in WordPress…
Toast! Haven’t worn that for years. Must go see if I have any left. Used to love that! Am a big fan of all the others you mentioned as well – other than Special Formula X-Treme, which I haven’t tried yet (how did this happen??). Am wearing Bois de Paradis today – think I’m going to go get some of her Sweet Honey to layer w/ it. Or wonder if Toast would layer well w/ it. Hmmm. Must experiment.
Hope the family is getting all the winter illnesses over right now and will be healthy *soon* and for the rest of the season!
It is an unbelievably gorgeous day outside right now — I should be out in it! 😡 Just think … we need to get ready for spring!
I’ve decided Toast is my new BFF. 😉
Ach, poor March and crew (especially you)-a week of illness. I hope today’s the turning point, and that the lovely weather will chase away the bugs :-&
I just got a sampler pack from Dawn, after a very long and thoughtful email from her on scents that may work on my difficult skin. So far the winner is a Cardamon and Kyhphi number-starts out a bit rough, drys to a lovely incense with some sweetness. It’s very much what I hoped AT’s Incense Rose’ would have been…but didn’t quite work out.
Safe hugs to you and kittens @};-
Oh, that’s great! Let me know if anything works … we should do a report for the scent-eating people. 🙂 Your fanclub on here.
Yah, this weather is just the ticket. I could almost blog outside right now.
I imagine when the little ones bring home those winter germs, they are constantly recycled, and very difficult to get out of the house(the germs, not the kids). Hang in there, spring is coming.
Grain de Musc gives a very accurate description of Nuits de Cellophane. It is lovely, airy, and not unlike Beige, but with a hit of jasmine. A fragrance that I will reach for, and enjoy, on some of our appalling, Virginia (or Maryland), summer days.
Ooooh! That sounds delicious! I will definitely have to try it then, thanks.
Can’t believe the weather today, I bet it’s almost 60 already! 😡
I hope your kiddos are healthy soon! I’m on day 4 of the *House of Ill* but at least they both got it at the same time. It’s a bad flu for sure! 🙁
I really need to try Special Formula Extreme. It sounds very Escentric Molecules-ish or maybe even like Annick Goutal’s Musc Nomade? I love this AG but have read that many people are anosmic to it. I could use some Toast now too…
That is HILARIOUS, people are anosmic to Musc Nomade? Dawn’s original guess is right, then, based on Special X — I am a skank magnifier. That thing is fairly ripe/sweaty on me (in a good way.)
Special X is … gentler? It’s more like Malle Musc Ravageur, which is pretty tame on me. Lovely and sensual, but tame.
Do you think it’s the flu? 😕 I wondered, only because their fevers are so high. Ugh. Washing my hands again. Whatever it is, it’s tearing through their schools like wildfire.
I know…crazy on the Musc Nomade! I had posted it was my new favorite scent and many responded that they can’t smell it 😮 I get a soft woody incense with this…love it.
It’s definately the flu here in TX. Both boys had high fevers, body aches and headaches. Poor little buggers. I’ve washed linens and wiped counters/bathrooms numerous times! I also have read that flu season is high in many states now.
Skank is good! Maybe Dawn needs to figure out my skin…I’m clueless besides *I like that* 😉
That was it – high fever, headache, body ache, moving into the chest…
I find musk anosmia really interesting. Of course I can’t smell some musks at all.
I can’t smell Musc Nomade, either, though I can smell the NR, which you are convinced is bottled water. Sadly, I castrate many a mighty musk-MKK is all sweet and gentle on me, even CB’s musk is gentle or at least I think so-maybe I am simply anosmic, and am scaring off strangers :@)
My heartfelt sympathy to both you & the kids for a week of dealing with winter ills. It’s tiring I know, but when I was in that stage of my life I had two thoughts to redeem the experience. First, a factoid I read somewhere that run of the mill childhood illnesses build up the immune system and prevent worse things later on. Second, all that Mom time lets your kids know how much you totally adore them. There has to be something good about things like sore throats and runny noses….
I am fascinated by Special Formula X. Absent the ability to consult DSH in person in Colorado, I wish that it came with a set of instructions so that we could engage in our own skin diagnostics!
Somewhere on here there’s a Random Sunday post that acknowledges just that — assuming they aren’t vomiting 🙂 I really don’t mind them being underfoot. Everything slows down. Our daily pace becomes much more deliberate. And I get lots of snuggle time from my less-snuggly children.
I am loving that Special X. It’s just the ticket these days. I assume you could try some and ask Dawn what it meant!
You’ve done a great job on the DSH’s–they are lovely. I’ve fallen in love with Fruitstripe, which has the floral, full-bodied scent of fresh, tree-picked oranges and the inside of lemon rind.
At least it smelled great before the onset of this dumb head cold. Now I have no idea what it smells like, but the body lotion is light and absorbs completely, and the thicker body cream is potent, but not too greasy.
You know, I have never tried any of her body products, but I’ve heard people raving about them. I suppose for me it’s mostly because I want my product unscented (I buy the generic cream from Trader Joes which I really like.) But apparently her body products are very nice.
Uh oh – I think Lumiere and I must have a rendezvous in the near future. Yum! Just when I think I have heard of ALL the DSH perfumes, along comes another one I have to try!
Yes. I too have stumbled across a couple more I need to order! 🙂
Thanks for the second posting about DSH, I found the first post interesting and useful. There is so much to tempt on the website! I was interested in Special Formula X and was happy today to read a bit more about it. Fete Nouvelle sounds divine, but is that still being made? I can’t find it on the website.
Fete Nouvelle is on the Essence Oils side and can be found under “L” in Gourmands (LA Fete Nouvelle, sorry!) You can also use their search feature and type “fete” and then click on “Products” and that takes you there directly.
The thing I like about the DSH Search feature is it searches both “sides” of her site – Beaux Arts and Essense.
Thanks! I did a search under “nouvelle” but not “fete”.