Friday, March 04, 2016

DSH Perfumes- Rendezvous



Perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has a large and impressive body of work with something for everyone. I personally find her bracing green perfumes, chypres, and bold animalics completely irresistible. Oh, and iris. Always iris. Another reason that DSH Perfumes are my catnip is Dawn's extensive knowledge and deep understanding of vintage fragrances. The complexity and richness of quality raw materials shine in her hands and give me the satisfying experience I'm craving in my perfumes.

Rendezvous, a recent release, was a love from first sniff. It felt like watching one of my favorite George Cukor movies: black & white, full of beautiful and witty heroines in gorgeous gowns by Adrian. Watching them you just know that each actress is wearing a wonderful perfume full of personality, oakmoss, and civet. And had they been lucky enough, they may have been wearing Renezvous. DSH has created a narcotic perfume that combines both heady and indolic white flowers and a superb animalic core that growls at you even before you go for the first spritz, right under the classic aldehydes that let you know that this is a very perfumy fragrance.

Structure-wise, Rendezvous is an animalic chypre. But I don't think of its construction when waves upon waves of opulence wash over me. I do not and will never ever own a fur coat, but this is what I imagine a floor-length vintage one would feel like if it were carefully draped over my shoulders. The sensuality of indolic jasmine and its classic companions, orange blossom and tuberose, makes a statement. There's something in that wonderfully dirty floral barnyard that calls to mind one of most treasured perfumes: Ferme tes Yeux by JAR. It's there in the way Rendezvous gains momentum and charges at you like wild animal who's been hiding in the pleasure garden. The descent into a thick-coated sweet and slightly sweaty musk is another thing these two beasts have in common. I luxuriate in it, savor every moment, and dream of Jungle Red.

Notes:  bergamot, aldehydes, white pepper, jasmine, tuberose, Bulgarian rose, gardenia, orange blossom,   ambergris, ambrette seed, oakmoss, labdanum, musk, Mysore sandalwood, oppopanax, agarwood, Peru balsam,  castoreum, civet, costus, beeswax, vanilla, hyraceum.

DSH Perfumes- Rendezvous is available in various sizes, concentrations, and presentations ($6.00–$305.00) from dshperfume.com. I was sent a sample by the perfumer and promptly bought a small bottle.

Art: Le rendez-vous des chats by Édouard Manet, 1868

8 comments:

  1. Hey Gaia,
    LOVE Dawn and her fragrances.
    You make this one sound particularly fabulous and I can imagine you floating around in its elegantly feral wafts. YUM
    Portia xx

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    1. Thanks, Portia! Dawn is incredibly lovely and I'm so glad that I've got to meet her in person a couple of times.

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  2. Oh! I had an opposite experience of DSH. I was drawn in by all the language about her and fragrance descriptions.I ordered samplers - and disliked all 12 of them! (I did love the personalization of even this little shipment.) I'm a solidly floral/oriental person, so maybe that's where I went wrong as all the samples were floral...

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    1. That's really unfortunate, but we can't all like the same things. I still hope that her other categories may work for you better. If there's any chance you'd enjoy green perfumes do give her another try.

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  3. George Cukor movies - what a perfect association for Rendezvous. Love it and it was definitely full bottle worthy for me.
    Dawn definitely has something for everyone. I think she has to be the most democratic of perfume geniuses out there at this time. I love so many of the scents from her Essence line that I'm thrilled she's kept it, but I sometimes think that the sheer volume of scents she has and that egalitarian attitude leads some people to perhaps not give her her full due as one of the truly great perfumers of this era. She has a genius nose and has created so many incredibly awe inspiring, timeless scents. OK...I'll step down from my DSH fan platform now. :-)
    Anna

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    1. Anna, I'm as much a a fan as you are. I still need to buy a bottle of Passport to Paris.

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  4. I have said this before Gaia , I just love the way you put up just the right illustration for your topic!!! :)

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    1. You know, I'm such a visual person that many times it is finding the right image that makes me able to actually write my posts.

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