DSH Winter Collection

19th Century Vermont Snowflake by Wilson Bentley

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has been creating a perfume each winter to mark the season for years.  Recently I was lucky enough to win a draw for her sample collection of 11 of her favorites.  This is a perfumer who is very attuned to enjoying the snows and winter, probably from living and working in Colorado.

 This day after Xmas I am wearing Winter White,  clean soft delicate and powdery, like the snow falling outside.  It has white sandalwood, white rose, white musk, white chocolate and raspberry.  It's like wearing  a white angora scarf around your neck.

Tree of Life/Wm. Morris

On the opposite end of the winter spectrum, Twelfth Night, representing deep woods, with notes of juniper, spices, laurel leaf, patchouli, oakmoss, frankincense and Arabian myrrh.  It is bright, sharp, stimulating, the essence of wood itself, softened and decorated by the ornamental aspects of patchouli and myrrh. 

Silver Fir is a unisex scent, made with conifer essences, meant to be as sparkling and crisp as the scent of evergreens in the cold winter air, of silver fir, Siberian fir, Atlas cedarwood, balsam fir, treemoss, olibanum, green tea, spearmint, bergamot, cassis bud, pink grapefruit and plum.

Festive is a spicy green scent, in a good strength to wear to work or for everyday use.   It has an appealing fir needle and spruce tone moderated by light incense and sandalwood. It goes very well with wool and leather winter wear.

Hanuukah Cannelle is based on a traditional dish of apples, cinnamon, nuts and honey.  This is a very pretty gourmand style fragrance with a baked honeyed apple tone held within a warm citrus tea,  like the clarified and intensified scent of a fresh warm Middle Eastern dessert decorated with flowers.  Aldehyde accord, bergamot, bitter almond, galbanum, orangeflower, apple, cinnamon bark, jasmine, lily of the valley, Atlas cedarwood, Australian sandalwood, butter, East Indian Patchouli, honey incense and labdanum. 

Nournouz is a Persian New Year perfume for holiday parties, of black pomegranate, paprika, tamarind, Bulgarian rose otto, orris, osmanthus, oppopanax, red wine, tobacco and vanilla.  As you would expect from this list of notes, it is exotic, sophisticated, and smart in the fashion sense of the word.  This is an abstract perfume, not like any one thing in particular, more a combination of the notes from many aromatic directions that resolve into an air of festive elegance and a little distance, the better to invite the imagination. Like wearing a little black dress, this is mysterious without being too serious.

candle flames are hypnotic

Cathedral works with the clean smoke of incense burning in a cool space.  It holds the calm and meditative air of associations to ceremonial ancient sacramental and ritual uses of perfume, with resin and sandalwood, mastic, oppopanax and bergamot.  I have strong childhood associations with this aspect of incense but this is a light and transparent treatment of the style.  I get that direct reminder but it is not overwhelming to me as these powerful incense notes can sometimes be.

Ma Folie de Noel has unusual notes of licorice, anise seed, star anise, green mandarin, green peppercorn, cognac, caramel, freesia, bonded together with peach, centifolia rose, oppopanax and tonka bean.  Together they impart the sense of childhood memories of special holiday desserts, burning candles and floral decorations scenting the house. The piquant effects are grounded in the deep dark unifying tonka.

Marzipan is strongly almond, a gourmand set of notes with bitter almond, honey, vanilla, cocoa beans, French vanilla, white chocolate and Moroccan rose and spice.  This has a very eighteenth century Marie Antoinette luxe prettiness to it, a pale almond pastry cream toned with the vanilla, rose and spice notes. 

December is almost over now, but its fragrance associations are the strongest and brightest of the cold months, and its holiday atmosphere can carry us through the dark cold days coming on the strength of its afterglow.  This perfume uses ginger and aromatic wood with tolu balsam and vanilla, sweet orange, clove bud, nutmeg, cinnamon leaf, pine cone accord, incense and bergamot.  It has a enlivening, aromatic, glowing and very natural tone.  I can see this sprayed on a brush for the hair, so a subtle cloud may surround you with the comfort of the traditional cheerful scents of the winter holidays.

See the DSH site for more information and sampler packages.  The full size and mini size are also available.  It's great that more perfumers are offering their perfumes in increments of size so that we access trying a wider range of perfumes and even using the smaller sizes as more portable alternatives.

18th century dress above from The Costumer's Manefesto;
Detail of hand holding a pomegranate above, by Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Prosperine

Aftelier Wildflowers & Memento

V&A Flemish Tapestry 15th Century

Wildflowers solid perfume by Aftelier at first impression gives me a rare combination of mint and earth, and a tang of citrus.  In a few minutes the opposites resolve themselves into a honeyed hay that triggers a nostalgia for Summer, because it presents me with the exact sense memory of all the complicated scents around when everything is in full growth all at once.  That sense of expansiveness is something you can recognize in almost a primal way. I find putting this perfume on in the dead of winter, especially with tonight being the Winter Solstice with a rare red moon eclipse, is like a lifeline to the heart of earth's vitality.  It reminds me of the olfactory equivalent of the mille fleurs backgrounds of the Unicorn Tapestries  or a Persian carpet with small abstracted flower details.  It is listed on the Aftelier site as an Amber Oriental.

This is a perfectly organic perfume, and as such needs to be given room and space to be experienced in its own way.  Because it is so subtle and ephemeral, I like to concentrate on this perfume after taking a little space and time away from others so as to get the full effect.  Strong contrasts do not work in the favor of such delicate beauty. 

This experience of a sense of wide and spacious air filled with emerging myriad of tiny floral buds is so gorgeous that the special conditions required by such delicacy, the quiet and thoughtfulness to get the full effect is well worth-while, and even one of the benefits of this style of fragrance. 

Aftelier solid perfumes come in an array of sterling silver cases and compacts from minimal to ornate, which have a feel and weight to them similar to antique watch cases or cosmetic compacts brimming with poetic aromas.  The prices vary widely, but a gateway experience of a sample may well serve to begin a love affair.

Memento is a liquid counter-balance to Wildflowers, as it contains the warming spices associated with winter holidays, such as smoky cinnamon and antique clove and nutmeg with blood orange, over a rose and jasmine heart and a base of tonka bean and vanilla.  This kind of perfume can provide an aromatic fire to stay warm with on these cold and dark days.  On me the dry down is a warm spiced liquor that becomes abstract enough to not be so easily identifiable as to each of the notes but rather becomes an air of honey spiked with penetrating aromatics.

The Aftelier site is a rich resource of beautiful descriptions and categories across a wide range of
perfumes in many different guises and forms. The vintage photos of perfume makers in Grasse are very touching and trigger daydreams of an alternate life in the open fields.

Re-reading Essence and Alchemy is a great pleasure.   It's the book that had a big influence on getting me started down this fragrance road in the first place, and reading it again now is an even richer and more dimensional experience than the first time, especially since having more direct experience of the materials and the essences described.

Above images from the Aftelier site.

Cimbalom - Roxana Illuminated Perfumes

Cimbalom from Roxana Illuminated Perfumes is a gentle and deep winter fragrance, with the hand-made botanical essences combining to give an air of the sacred scents found in flower and incense-filled cathedrals.   Like an old cathedral, each part of it is hand-shaped and built with carefully selected, sourced or home-grown elements, in this case a variety of jasmines, ginger, resins and flowers.  Its ethereal and delicate nature reminds me of old forms of natural music made acoustically with hand made instruments and voices, echoing in large spaces.  The perfume's lingering is like the reverberations of warm notes in a spacious place. 

It contains a variety of jasmine absolutes, along with a limited edition tincture of jasmine sambac blossoms grown by Roxana in her own garden.  The ingredients are listed as labdanum, Indonesian patchouli, Indian jasmine, ginger and orange, in a base of plant tinctures and grape and grain alcohol.

 I got a strong first impression of spiced orange, which quickly settled down into a resinous amber tone.  This perfume would be considered a Floriental -- oriental and floral together, one of the lushest of perfume types.  It comes as both a solid and a liquid, and wearing the liquid over or with the solid will add greatly to longevity in wear.  The jasmine and the labdanum hold on to the other notes and give the composition the staying power they are known for.  Natural perfumes almost never last as long as commercial perfumes with chemical fixatives, but between the resins and the expansive nature of jasmine this one will cling to the skin for a satisfying length of time.

This fragrance is a combination of the sensual and spiritual, as is more familiar to us in music than in other expressions, but perfume is a perfect medium to combine the two predilections since it speaks to our animal nature through ethereal means.  This perfume may especially reflect memories and associations as it makes its way into the center of the mind.

Roxana as an artist presents her perfumes beautifully, in a glass flacon within a silk box protected by a hand crocheted pouch, which is useful to carry the perfumes for re-application.  The solids come in a disk shaped silver compact within the pouch.  The wax comes from holistically kept bees that Roxana has been working with very respectfully.   Samples and minis are carefully prepared and presented in such a way as to be suitable for gifts too.

This perfume comes in a variety of sizes, priced from $8 to $28 to $175, and Roxana's Etsy shop has a wide variety of sample packages so you can try her special perfumes across a range of her inspirations in a number of price points.

There are also a number of interesting necklaces that are made to be filled with solid perfume, that reflect the fairy-tale like quality of the scents themselves.

 Above, Angel Making Music by Melozzo da Forli; second illustration by Dulac; third illustration is the Vespertina locket by Roxana Illuminated Perfumes.

Dominque Dubrana - Abdes Salam Attar - La Via del Profumo - Aromatherapy

"A natural perfumer leaves behind himself a “sillage” like a river, he is in love with perfumes. They are joy to his heart and sanity to his mind. This is how natural perfumers live immersed in natural scents."

Dominique Dubrana, the French/Sufi perfumer, has generously offered a free short course in aromatherapy, based on his experiences traveling in Africa and the Middle East.  These experiences have given him a bit of a different perspective  on the familiar essences of lavender, peppermint, ginger, frankincense, and others.

As he says:

"I am launching a free course of Aromatherapy.    www.profumo.it/aromacourse.doc

Please take some time to have a look at it, and if you find that it is meant for the benefit of the people and not for commercial reasons, I would appreciate that you spread the news.

I have are illustrated in a small measure on my blog the stunning effects that  aromatherapy can have, with reports and pictures from my Timbuktu experiences.

Maybe you already know these pages http://www.profumo.it/Blog/index.php

(scroll down a few texts)"

So I thought I would indeed spread the word, as he requests, since for me this makes quite a lovely unexpected gift, coming at this holiday season.  It is is of interest to all who love perfume and the materials and essences of perfumes.
Above photo from the Smellbound  NYT article on Dominique Dubrana
Above top quote from an interview in Sniffapalooza Magazine with Raphaella Barkley and Dominique Dubrana

Acorelle, a perfume collection for well-being

This is a soothing and pleasant collection, made by a French company that makes organic-certified range of scents composed to use the benefits of aromatherapy principals within a traditional pyramid structure of top middle and base notes, as within a true perfume structure. Their purpose is to increase a personal sense of well-being, and that they do skillfully.

They are all clean and light, in the sense of uplifting, and their sweetness, when it occurs, is effervescent in quality. They make me think of the scent equivalent to champagne, rather than the dense richness of brandy or liqueur that is analogous to the quality of many of the natural perfumes I have recently tried.

Even the Vanille Ambree EDP is as if channeled through a prism of light, beaming rays of the top notes of a vanilla over the softest powdered aspect of sandalwood. It also contains Peru essence, essential oil of patchouli and bitter almond, meant to combat fatigue.

There are three perfumes within three families, and the themes are energizing, balancing and soothing, with variations within these themes such as comforting, harmonizing, stimulating and relaxing.

Dynamisant (energizing) : Jardin de Thes/Tea Garden, Baies Sauvages/Wild Berries, and Vanille Ambree/Amber Vanilla;

Equilibrant (balancing): Amande de Ble/Wheat Almond, R de Rose/R of Rose, Terre de Cedre/Land of Cedar;

Apaisant (soothing): Orchidee Blanche/White Orchid, Lotus Bambou/Bomboo Lotus, Vervaine Agrume/Citrus Verbena

All of these titles are familiar combinations of the commonly used notes of most perfumes, though many of them are created with accords of natural essential oils instead of the actual named note of the perfume. But they are true to their names, except that their style is distinctively light and effervescent and their action is subtle while still staking out a definite presence. A few are not as note specific, such as R of Rose, which is more rose geranium than rose, for balancing, and Vervaine Agrume made with petitgrain and litsea, both simpler than what you would expect, but also reaching for a more therapeutic/mood affecting aim.

They surround one in a subtle aura of the ease of summer, with a sillage more like a sense of freshness and energy than anything you could actually put your finger on. As quiet as they are they still make a contrast with the dry air of the heated interiors in the cold and dark days. I would imagine they really come into their own in the hotter months since they are the essence of refreshment.


The medium is an organic wheat alcohol, and the staying power is such that you get the full effect immediately, which then holds close to the skin and fades rather quickly, but the softness is such that you can reapply frequently without going overboard. It all depends on the moisture of the skin, which greatly extends the hold of the scents. As you would expect with the eco-cert organic labeling there are no parabens, synthetics, chemical fixatives, phthalates or coloring agents.

There is also a body spray strength that is meant to be portable, or even kept in a desk drawer at work and reapplied as frequently as desired, at a 2-3% strength, for a hit of the aroma-therapeutic benefits whenever one is so moved. These all seem like they would not trigger complaints about perfume at work or elsewhere, rather, they seem like they give more the impression of having just showered and washed your hair. Holding the scented area close to the nose gives the fuller effect of the perfume with the personal skin tone showing through and enhanced, with the sense of clarity above all.

This is a creative use of the aromatherapy principals taking a modern direction and useful for those of us who like to enjoy the specifically mood enhancing effects of perfume notes. The whole line is very well priced too, which is a big plus these days, and I see on the site that there are also plans for a wide body products in the coming year, which is interesting too.

I appreciate a well thought out line like this which works in its entirety and in its parts. It can be layered, is completely organic and affordable and most useful for everyday situations such as work or even the gym or going out to crowded places like the theater or for traveling. Their classical sense of balance and care for environment and health do indeed enhance my personal sense of well being.

Please visit their site for more complete information on the notes of all the perfumes, and prices and stores.  There is a sampler set available at Lush Oasis.

First illustration above: Redoute, the French "Raphael des Fleurs",  Les Liliacees, a book that also includes some spectacular orchids