English Fin de Siecle Dancing at a Christmas Ball
The holiday season is upon us, and with Christmas only a week away, I find myself welcoming the soft, heady comforts of gourmand scents. I don’t usually enjoy sweet fragrances as a rule, but as Christmas approaches, with all of the usual rushing around, last-minute shopping and complicated logistics, I rely on the warmth that a fine gourmand fragrance can offer. A perfume that will ground and delight me as the straight razor-sharp New England weather is carving new laugh lines into my face as I trudge in from the mall parking lot. I want a scent that instantly transports me from the maddening distractions of the holiday retail rush into a regal, festive and vaguely decadent Christmas tableau, complete with Victorian ballroom dancing, snifters filled with amber liquid and perhaps a mococle.
Source:Sandra's Alaskan Recipes Hand made vanilla and bourbon extracts
In 2011, Denver Perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes, (and a long time friend of ÇaFleureBon), created Vanille, a most wondrous scent for this time of year. It is a vanilla lover’s dream – Madagascar and French vanilla are the elegant holiday dinner hosts in this scent, backed by warm, smooth Australian sandalwood and a light dusting of heliotrope. The lemon and bergamot in the top notes are bright, but subdued – the impression is almost brandy-like rather than acidic – just a quick palate aperitif before the deep, unfolding and resinous warmth of the sweeter notes begins. This is a rich, opulent and yet very light style of gourmand, with Siam benzoin and jasmine in the background lending a distinctly smoky tinge as well as wet, white floral highlights. Vanille is your companion at the fireside, for nights in from the cold and for wearing shearling-lined slippers while sipping eggnog laced with whiskey or rum. The Madagascar and French vanilla showcase their spicier side, rather than making this fragrance tooth-achingly sweet or heavy and bland. There’s refinement and restraint in this scent, reminiscent of a tastefully-placed red velvet wreath rather than the quick, sweet rush of tearing through your Christmas stocking and gobbling up all the Hershey’s kisses at the bottom.
The Artists Dinner Viggo Johansen
And, fortunately for me, DSH Vanille caters exclusively to my need for a fine holiday fantasy. The benzoin and vanilla absolutes are happy to entertain me as long as I like – their hosting skills are exquisite, offering hour after hour of spicy, smoky vanilla-wrapped treats. And their manners are refined as well – this fragrance, while deep and potently spicy, doesn’t decide to get drunk and go loudly caroling through the town. It stays with the wearer and wreathes them in a close, soft mist that only your conversational partner at the table may feel the need to comment on.
Silent Night Viggo Johansen
So let the mall crowds elbow me from all sides, and the parking lot fill up for miles in every direction. Right now I’m tucked inside a sophisticated Victorian home, someone’s lent me their monogrammed evening wear and there’s pipe tobacco on offer as well. An Irish wolfhound lopes in and makes a silent show of propping up fine Italian portraiture while it’s being measured for the wall. DSH Vanille is my choice for a restrained, refined and very much needed scented escape from the last shopping week before Christmas comes and we can all relax with family and welcome in the New Year.
Notes: lemon, bergamot, heliotrope, jasmine, Australian sandalwood, French vanilla, benzoin Siam, Madagascar vanilla absolute
Disclosure and writer’s note: I received my sample from olfactif.com: “Coming Home Collection” sampler which includes three vanilla themed perfumes Xerjoff Lira, DSH Perfumes Vanille and Black Flower Mexican Vanilla by Dame Perfumery. As Michelyn wrote when Olfactif.com debuted, in her interview with Founder Tara Swords last May of 2013, this is a dynamite way to “try before you buy” curated niche and artisan perfumes. And for me, it was how I discovered Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s fragrances as well.
–Steve Johnson, Senior Contributor
We have a draw for one reader. For our Worldwide readers: 1 dram oil roller of Vanille courtesy of DSHperfumes.com
Olfactif Vanilla themed December Collection Photo:MC
For our USA readers, you can choose the dram of Vanille from DSH Perfumes OR the sampler from Olfactif which includes Xerjoff Lira, DSH Perfumes Vanille and Black Flower Mexican Vanilla by Dame Perfumery. To be eligible, please let us know what you enjoyed about Steve’s review, what do you do to escape during the holiday hustle and bustle, if you have a favorite DSH Perfume and where you live. Draw ends December 20, 2014
We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.