Hey Perfume Posse, Hoping all is well in your world. Recently a Dawn Spencer Hurwitz package arrived and inside were some samples of her newest works. A couple of them are already closed. That’s small batch American manufacture right there for you. In all selfish greed I kept those closed ones all for myself but there are a couple of breathtaking ones that you can buy, I thought of giving you guys a heads up because you should have a chance to grab some too.
NEW! DSH Perfumes 2019
Last year in London Dawn was there for the A&O Awards. We finally got to meet. She is as lovely, friendly, sweet and gorgeous as she comes across online and in print. There is something really warm and grounded about her. I know if you met Dawn that you’d fall under her spell too. That disposition seems to have made its way into her fragrances. They are finely crafted and interesting but I think it’s the love that goes into making them that makes the difference, you can feel it.
Vers la Voute Etoilée by DSH Perfumes 2019
Top: Aldehydes, Bergamot, Pimento, Tunisian neroli
Heart: Black petunia, Matthiola bicornis, Star jasmine, Stargazer lily, Ylang-ylang absolute, Rosa centifolia absolute, Cinnamon, Clove, French beeswax, Jasminum grandiflorum, Narcissus absolute
Base: Australian sandalwood, Civet, East Indian patchouli, Green oakmoss, Musk, Myrrh
Straight on the skin it’s beeswax, chilli, some animals and a herbaceous bouquet of flowers. Dawn has been experimenting a lot lately with the curious dichotomy of flowers, their prim beauty and animal sensuality. I think Google doesn’t convey the full nuance of meaning for the title of this fragrance, To the Starry Vault. Vers la Voute Etoilée is a perfectly french fragrance with definite nods to the vintage world yet utterly modern in feeling. In music you’d call the way this smells contrapuntal, the green, high descant of the flowers faced off sharply against the deep, driving, sonorous, fleshiness of the civet, musk and patchouli. Not a loud, bombastic perfume but persistent and alluring.
Gardénia Vitreux by DSH Perfumes 2019
Top: Green pineapple, Leaf green, Aldehydes, Bergamot, Citric notes, Ozone
Heart: Green woods, Gardenia, Jasminum grandiflorum, Iris concrete
Base: Ambergris, Ambrette seed, Australian sandalwood, Hinoki cypress, Leather, Musk, Sandalwood
PINEAPPLE! with a springlike greenery bursting forth from its sweet embrace. Sunshine, long lunches, beachside hotels and relaxation. Funny, I was expecting some thing with gardenia in the name to be quite feral but here Dawn surprises again. This is gardenia smelled through a luxury hotel waterfall in the lobby. Uplifting, clean, spacious and grand. I can easily imagine this being the fragrance of the elite. I don’t know if you ever read Ayn Rand’s 1943 novel The Fountainhead but if there was a scent of Howard Roark’s modernist architecture it would be Gardénia Vitreux. Even though dry down is woods and musk focussed it still manages to be a clear, fresh, windswept depth. If the L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme line really luxed up their product this would be the pinnacle of their attainment.
Surrender To Chance has a selection of DSH Perfumes long time bestsellers if you’d like to try some.
DSH Perfumes has a fabulous sample program, also very reasonably priced.
Which of these sounds more like your taste?
Portia xx
Portia also writes for Australian Perfume Junkies
Oh my goodness I want to try them all! I fall down the DSH rabbit hole periodically…..
HA! March, I think there’s a bunch of us that do it regularly.
Portia xx
I’ve never tried DSH offerings. Right now, I am on a no buy, even for decants, it’s tough though.
Good luck with your No Buy Eldarwen22. It’s hard.
DSH Perfumes are good when you come back to buying. Her samples are so affordable and the range is excellent.
Portia xx
The one I most want to try is her Marzipan holiday fragrance. Looking forward to getting back to the US next month and being able to order stuff freely again. Canada is great but getting perfume stuff here is a real bitch.
Hey TaraC,
Your two country like has been on my mind lately. I’m not sure if I’d cope with the 6 month turnaround of change. I’m really a settler, even though I love to go roaming. I have everything here and I’d be constantly wanting what was in the other house. HA!
Yay for being able to really do some perfume ordering again.
Portia xx
I can get lost for hours on DSH website, reading about all of DSH’s creations. Vers la Voute sounds like a must to sniff, now on my wishlist Portia. I have several of DSW’s perfumes, and they are all special and well-crafted. I am fortunate that her studio is not too far from where I live, and I’ve had the pleasure of visiting her studio and sitting down with her and other perfumistas at a meet-up, to listen to her discuss raw ingredients and her creations, and sniff many. I’ve also seen some of her vintage collection.
Hey Kathleen,
Oh yes, getting lost in a DSH Perfumes loop is all kinds of fabulous.
How freaking lucky you are. One day I’d love to do that.
Portia xx
“Straight on the skin it’s beeswax, chilli, some animals and a herbaceous bouquet of flowers” SNAKES ALIVE!! That is the most wonderful sentence in the history of sentences!
xoxoxoA
It sure is !!!!
Thanks Matty.
Portia x
Hey there Musette,
Loving you is so easy. You are clever, beautiful, funny and say sweet things.
Portia xx
xoxoxoxo
I am a big fan of Dawn and DSH. On my bucket list is a visit to her studio and having her create a bespoke perfume for me, so I’m making sure my son keeps universities in Colorado on his radar! The Gardenia Vitreux sounds really interesting. Right now in my cart at DSH are samples of August Picnic 1976 and Avocado Toast from her summer collection.
How spectacular is the title Avocado Toast MMKinPA?
There’s a sample of August Picnic 1976 here too but I’m yet to give it a proper full wearing. My initial impressions were shaded parkland with fresh buttered white bread rolls and the ever present summer smell of suntan lotion.
Portia xx