Pagans and Petrichor: New Burning Man fragrances from Aether Arts Perfume

By Donna Perfumer Amber Jobin of Aether Arts Perfume makes a pilgrimage each year that most of us can only wonder about; she attends the annual Burning Man festival in the vast Black Rock Desert of Nevada. This celebration of art, music, creativity, personal expression of every kind and any number of things that are almost certainly banned in Boston is an ongoing inspiration for her, and the “Burner” series of perfume oils is a tribute to its influence on her aesthetic. I am very pleased to review the two newest scents in the series, which showcase Ms. Jobin's impressive and growing talent. Sensuality is one of the main associations many people have with Burning Man – the “let it all hang out” dress code and encouraging of uninhibited behavior results in a a potent stew amounting to what may be the largest gathering of free spirits on the planet. Black Rock City is the embodiment of this atmosphere, an earthy, sexy perfume that cannot be mistaken for anything ordinary or tame. Named for the temporary community of thousands that springs up every year and then vanishes at the festival's conclusion, it was created in 2010 and only released to the public in 2015; Black Rock City is Number 1 in the Burner series. It is 95 percent natural and combines timeless desert essences like sage, mesquite and cedar in a deep, resinous composition that somehow evokes the scent of warm bodies to my nose, even though it is also quite dry and woody. It has a subtle vanillic sweetness from mesquite blossoms – an essence I have never smelled in a perfume before now – and is grounded in a base of cedar and mesquite wood. This deceptively simple formula is very long-lasting and complex, and must be experienced on skin for the full effect, as it just keeps getting better as the hours pass. On the opposite end of the fragrance spectrum, Reflection (Burner No. 6) captures the sensation of the desert after a rare rainstorm, ominous with thunder and lightning yet brimming with life as thirsty desert plants spring up virtually overnight and flowers open their blooms to the sky after a long drought. The sensation of rain-washed earth evoked by this fragrance is astonishingly true to life, and it succeeds where so many have failed in capturing the exhilarating post-rain aroma known as petrichor. I have never been a big fan of ozone scents (exception: Ms. Jobin's own Argent, see link in first paragraph), mainly because they almost never seem to get it right, but this one does, blending the sharp, penetrating character of ozone with the tender scent of flowers and the soft wetness of still rain pools. Sage, mesquite and cedar make appearances here too, along with cactus flower, yucca flower and sage blossom accords. Even though it shares ingredients with Black Rock City, the two fragrances are worlds apart in style; Reflection is a testament to the artistic possibilities of mixed media perfumery, being 45 percent natural and 55 percent synthetic. (Both fragrances are made in oil form equal to 45 percent extrait, so their longevity is impressive.) The two can also be layered together for a truly unique experience; in fact, that works wonderfully well on my skin. The extremes of wet ozone and dry wood cancel each other out just enough to allow the lighter herbal and floral notes to shine, like the breath of green plants rising from the warming earth as the rain evaporates under the desert sun. I give an enthusiastic thumbs up to them both, either by themselves or in combination. Image credit: Lightning storm in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada wallpaper photo via tophdwallpapers.club. Disclosure: I received my samples for testing from Aether Arts Perfume.

A dream of summer: Fiore di Bellagio from En Voyage Perfumes

By Donna                                                                                         The first time I smelled Fiore di Bellagio I was outdoors in a garden on a warm September afternoon, which was very appropriate; this perfume is an homage to a great fragrance, Bellodgia from Caron, composed by Ernest Daltroff in 1927. Even though Bellodgia is best known as perhaps the greatest carnation fragrance of all time, the perfumer saw it not as a soliflore, but as a flower in a garden setting, surrounded and enhanced by other scents. Perfumer Shelley Waddington of En Voyage Perfumes has achieved exactly that feeling with her new floral fragrance inspired by a great classic. The hallmark carnation is certainly present in this perfume but true to its vintage predecessor, it's far from being the whole story. It is a shifting palette of shimmering beauty, with drowsy spicy-sweet and tender blooms warmed by the sun, growing in a garden of dreams. I am first and foremost a lover of flowers and their scents, and this perfume is so evocative of an actual flower garden that if I close my eyes I can see it, the idealized setting beloved of painters and poets, and if one is lucky enough to have it, a real garden full of colorful, fragrant blossoms and overflowing with life. The fragrance opens with the freshness of green leaves and the impossibly soft sweetness of ylang ylang, followed by the romantic floral heart of carnation, Bulgarian rose, jasmine, gardenia and more. On my skin the glorious jasmine and gardenia come to the forefront and compete with the spiciness of the carnation for my attention; if only all battles could be so lovely. The carnation itself is exceptionally true to life, not overly clove-like, hazy and warm and very floral with a touch of vanilla like my favorite old-fashioned garden pinks, which have the most delicious scent of all the carnation family. It truly feels like the finest vintage perfume in the grand style, lush and full-bodied, and though while not abstract, it is a bouquet scent in the best sense, harkening back to classic French perfumery of seamless blending, and if someone told me that this actually was a Caron I had never smelled before it would not surprise me. It has the same style of plush languor so typical of that house's feminine scents, but it's not boneless by any means; the base of sandalwood, resins, orris, musks and civet ensures excellent longevity and serves as the framework for the long-lasting heart notes without intruding on the beauty of the florals; it just makes them softer and richer. This is one of those special perfumes that I will put on and then just sit and slowly inhale as it blooms on my skin, a meditation that takes me into that perfect place, the enchanted garden of my dreams. Image credit: “Reading In The Garden” by American Impressionist artist Richard Emil Miller (1875-1943) via artistsandart.org Disclosure: I received a sample of Fiore di Bellagio from En Voyage Perfumes for testing.

New artistic creations from DSH Perfumes: Metropolis, Scent of Hope and more

By Donna The prolific Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes is having an especially creative year, and that is saying a lot. Once again, she is showing us that no matter what the genre of fragrance or the challenge presented is, she will find a way to make Art from it, and I am in awe of the results.                                                                         One of my favorite new launches this year attained that status as soon as it hit my nose. Metropolis is nominally a masculine scent, but I fell in love with it immediately and I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates a truly modern perfume experience. Its character is elegant but not cold, an Art Deco piece translated into smell. Like a handsome vintage automobile, it's all about the lines; it has an easy grace and airiness that makes it sleek and streamlined, but with a sturdy underpinning of strength that gives it the power it needs. Along with such traditional notes as cedar, leather, oakmoss, musk, petitgrain, rose otto, and woods, it also includes “brushed steel, glass, concrete and motor oil” according to the official description. Because this is DSH we are talking about, these unconventional elements are abstracted and seamlessly integrated into the whole, so you know you are smelling something unusual but you can't really pin down what it is. If this perfume were a car, it would be one of those gloriously swoopy Pierce-Arrow, Bugatti or Delahaye classics, timeless and luxurious without seeming excessive in any way, just pure design for its own sake.                                                                            Another new sensation is the much-anticipated Scent of Hope, which was inspired by one of the rarest and most coveted perfumes of all time, Iris Gris by  the house of Jacques Fath from 1946. I have never smelled the original – few people ever have, it seems – but I have wanted to try it for many years, having read much about its legendary beauty. Now those of us who missed out on it no longer have to search to the ends of the earth for it, because Scent of Hope is sublimely lovely and well worthy of the acclaim it is receiving. Had I the power to alter time and space, I would create an infinite quantum loop wherein I could smell the opening notes of this perfume over and over again, it is so so ineffably exquisite. The lightest puff of peach, an alpenglow cloud of delicacy, arises from the skin mingled with the most refined iris note I have ever smelled. This initial impression soon subsides but never disappears completely; the unfolding of the perfume proceeds with the slightly sweet and subdued peach in perfect harmony with the iris, keeping it from becoming either rooty or metallic, as iris is wont to do at times. It also lasts surprisingly well, which I did not expect – I put it on one evening and I could still smell it on my skin in the morning. If you need any more reasons to try it, here are two: 1. It is only available in perfume extract form, the strongest concentration, and 2. 30% of sales will be donated to Sense of Security, a Denver-based organization that helps breast cancer patients in need with their treatment and living expenses.                                                                             Amid all the excitement of such creative fragrances, it's easy to forget this perfumer's mastery of of another style – the soliflore. “Simple” florals are seldom as easy to pull off as they seem, and indeed the perfumer is expected to make them smell as close as possible to the real thing, in contrast to more abstract scents that allow for artistic license to be taken. I am very happy that she has relaunched one of her older classics that I had never encountered before, White Lilac. I always have high hopes for lilac compositions, but some of them fail to capture the fragile beauty of these blossoms. White Lilac is everything I could ever want in such a perfume, closer to nature than any other lilac soliflore I know, sweet and pure and true to life, and it remains fresh and vibrant throughout its development. I gave a bottle to my younger sister for her birthday since it is her favorite flower and she adores it. She is the strictest judge of lilac scents I know and this one passed her test with flying colors.                                                                                                    One of my own favorite flowers is the peony, and DSH Perfumes' new Peony is one of the best of the genre, highlighting the rosy aspect of these lush, showy blooms rather than the sometimes overly sharp freshness that characterizes most peony scents. It will not be mistaken for a rose perfume though; it is clearly a tribute to the unique aroma of the flower, which gives off a sweet scent with a nose-tickling undertone that is sometimes just a little indecent, which to me is part of its charm. If you are seeking a peony perfume that actually smells like the real deal, seek no further. Image credits: The exceedingly rare 1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow, of which only five were ever made, from rarecars.co, orginal source unknown. Closeup photo of an iris flower from hdwallpaperpc.com. Vintage lilacs & roses wallpaper from the graphicsfairy.com. Disclosure: I purchased the samples of Metropolis, White Lilac and Peony for this review. My sample of Scent of Hope was given to me my DSH Perfumes.