Hi there Posse, Way back in 2020 Elena Vosnaki wrote so glowingly about Sunrise in Cadaques and its close to but better than relation to Hermès Eau des Merveilles that I went straight across to the online stores and bought one. She was right, and wrong, but if it’s duping then it is a less understated reimagining. Being a total snob, the bottle of the Hermès trumps the Dali by about a squillion times in luxuriousness and desirability. So then, you know which one stayed on the grab tray and which one has been sitting forlorn and unloved in its box, in another box in one of the perfume cupboards. Yes, correct. But during the 2026 cull fest many wonderful beauties have come to light.
Sunrise in Cadaques by Salvador Dali 2017
Featured accords include:
Top: Elemi, Mandarin Orange, Pink Pepper, Bergamot
Heart: Immortelle, Heliotrope, Jasmine, Iris
Base: Peru Balsam, Labdanum, Patchouli, Musk
That very familiar buzzing citrus opening, of dozens of fragrances over the years, is sweet, bright, refreshing and fun. A really good scented analogy for sunrise, a new day and a feeling of joyful anticipation. Hermès does it sharper, darker, less buoyant and greener. As if Sunrise in Cadaques is aimed at a holiday and Eau des Merveilles a sophisticated life signature. Both are really enjoyable.
The hearts are different too.
Then I got distracted.
Suffice to say: Hermès is the more sophisticated, Dali lasts longer is more fun and is cheap as chips. After the initial fireworks and from arms length they are different. Dali is a smooth as silk resinous shorn patchouli with ripples of immortelle still wafting through, and something green, unnamed. The dry down is easy and soft focus.
Have you tried Sunrise in Cadaques?
Portia xx
Good grief NO!
:: and cut it out!!!::
Xoxo
HA!
That combo of citrus, immortelle, and heliotrope looks really interesting. But I think I am good, unless StC has a decant..
HA! You don’t need a bottle Tom. Glad I have mine though.
Portia xx
I never heard of the Dali scent, Portia, while I own and enjoy the Hermes des Merveilles. I liked reading your comparison.
I went ahead and bought a travel size of the A Drop d’Issey. I’m enjoying it as a spring scent. What a crazy spring: Tuesday it was 85 degrees and felt like summer. Now it’s Thursday, 35 degrees and snowing!
Hey there DinaC,
Eau des Merveilles is bloody gorgeous. If you have and love it then this would be extraneous.
WOO HOO! I’m so glad you’re enjoying A Drop d’Issey.
O M G! That’s quite the fluctuating weather pattern. Good luck with that.
Portia xx
Not for me either. Dali’s artwork has always given me the creeps! And from what I have read, the man himself would have had the same effect on me.
No worries Maya,
I think all the great artists are a bit weird. That doesn’t excuse many of their abominable behaviours. Dali is one of my faves, his art speaks to me viscerally. Not for everyone though.
Portia xx
Well … I think it sounds very nice, and/but that bottle (like Dali’s artwork, and perhaps the man himself) gives me the heebie-jeebies. But you HAVE reminded me to dig up my Merveilles, so thank you!
HA! Fair play March.
How good is Eau des Merveilles?
Portia xx
Alyssa Harad is responsible for the love I have for EdM ( though I don’t have a bottle). She walked me through it at NYC Barneys, eons ago!!
WOW! That’s a VERY cool flex Musette.
Portia xx
Sigh. I know it’s an important ingredient in perfumery but I’m so bored of seeing pink pepper. Flame me if you must.
Not partial to that bottle either.
So, a no thank you from me. Yes, grumpy, but such is life sometimes.
HA! Sure Cinnamon, things become ubiquitous. I know a lot of people are well over pink pepper, or Oudh, or amber/woods. They find a new note/accord and suddenly we get 10-20 years of it being everywhere. I’m thinking that the loss of so much of perfumery’s ingredients has kicked a large hole in what we can and can’t have. What’s left gets the gong.
I like you grumpy.
Portia xx
Hi Portia,
How enticing. I love the Eau de Merveilles. We are planning a late spring road trip to west Texas. It’s a sequel to our honeymoon. Terlingua and the surroundings are desert black skies intermingled with the delightful promise of the day to follow. The sunset is thirst and warmed skin followed by the Texas Sun and cool wind that swipes the dessert. The entirety of darkness is met with the brilliance of the Milky Way. This sounds perfect for the warmth of desert wood and remnants caught in the lingering of the fire pit. It is truly magical.
Heya Brandi,
WOW! You make it sound so fabulously surreal. Hope it’s at least as fabulous as it sounds for you.
Do you have a favourite traveling perfume?
Portia xx
I feel like it is surreal. There is just something about the desert. My husband and I went for our Honeymoon and we are returning for the adventure and romance. I don’t have a favorite traveling perfume. It really depends on where I’m going and the season. I’m happy for suggestions.
Brandi
So cool that you’re returning to your honeymoon spot.
Perfume is so personal, I reckon you’ll pick some winners. My one piece of advice is take travel size or decants.