David Seth Moltz with Kavi Durga

It’s not a secret how much I adore D.S.& Durga; I think David Seth Moltz and his wife Kavi (Durga) Moltz have created one of the most exciting artisan lines of recent years. Based in Brooklyn the couple have stoked the scented fires of perfume addicts and writers like myself. I own Bowmakers, Mississippi Medicine and Burning Barbershop, three extraordinary formulae of erudite and chthonic reverence. Mud, smoke, cypress, shellac, seared limes, caramalised lavender, varnish and wood dust… all these things resonate through the Durga world.

HYLNDS Perfume Montage Photo: The Silver Fox

For me there was always a sensation that David Moltz might develop and hone his Durga skills in new and exciting directions. This happened in 2003 with the release of HYLNDS, a trio of three quite remarkable eaux de parfums, Bitter Rose, Broken Spear, Isle Ryder and Pale Grey Mountain, Small Black Lake. Then came the gorgeous Spirit of the Glen, collaboration with the Glenlivet distillery in Speyside on the west coast of Scotland, a rich, swirling scent inspired by the accords and effects produced during the distillation of the Glenlivet 18 malt. There were obviously rich echoes of Durga in the new HYLNDS portfolio but this new collection smelled somehow more magical and richer in tone, paying homage to the veils hanging silently and secretly between our worlds and the next; most specifically in the northern European climes, in Celtic, Manx, Angle, Irish, Pict, Orcadian and Gaelic myths and traditions. Many of these cultures have powerful storytelling traditions obsessed with the travelling of love and desire across the shimmering voids.

Photo: Foxglove flowers The Silver Fox

Foxglove is the latest addition to the HYLNDS line and I think it might be David Moltz’s most concealed and dazzling composition to date. It is a scent of vigil. The desolation of lonely attendance over a love lost to time. The perfume is inspired by the story of Oisin, the Irish warrior poet, his fairy lover Niamh and the mystical land of Tir Na Nog, the tempting Land Of Youth. Foxglove is Niamh, watching devotedly over the final resting place of her lyrical lover. David Moltz visited Oisin’s resting place and found a solitary foxglove about 20 feet from the grave. This lonely bloom, keeping vigil, was the catalyst for David’s perfumed imagination to wander, wonder and create.

You who are bent, and bald, and blind,


With a heavy heart and a wandering mind,

Have known three centuries, poets sing,

Of dalliance with a demon thing.

From Book I of ‘The Wanderings of Oisin’ by W B Yeats.

Photo: The Silver Fox

The story of poor doomed Oisin and his faithful love is the most wonderful inspiration for a HYLNDS scent. Reading the notes on paper, especially the suede, iris and peach skin lying deep in the base made me crave it. I knew it would be beautiful. The opening flare of citrus peel is just delicious, like sudden summer rain. It’s oddly wet too, damp with juice. Champaca lends radiance to the soft, supple suede. This note is hugely amplified by a muted mauve iris and to a certain degree by the weird carrot effect (from the Queens Ann Lace), which smells anisic and woody. It becomes obvious that Foxglove is something out of time, a masterly echo of classical French perfumery tenets.

It is the remarkable peach skin note that really wows in Foxglove. The odour of ripe peaches is one of life’s most sensual experiences, a scent like none other, heightened I think by the blush velveteen pelt of the fruit. No other fruit has the same sensation. In fragrance it is the luscious anchor of Mitsouko, Jacques Guerlain’s spicy essay in aching melancholia from 1919. Gucci’s porn-drenched trashy neon Rush is soaked in a incendiary peach effect thrown over the mix and then set on fire. Parfums Thierry Mugler used it beautifully in the heady dark cocoa flanker of Angel in the Le Goût du Parfum series in 2011. The peach added a much needed balance of tropical sweetness to the dense chocolate and caramel blend.

Digital Art: Michelyn Camen (Glitche)

Foxglove is remarkable, potent perfumery, radiant with originality, yet somehow manages to evoke a sense of vintage beauty and reverential echo. The projection and tenacity are both amazing; I fell asleep with it sprayed across feverish forearms and woke after eight fitful hours with the most wonderful skein of golden fuzzy lactonics and the remnants of soft malleable suede. I’m finding it hard to resist the obsessive wearing of this HYLNDS oddity, it has me utterly bewitched.

 Disclosure – From my own collection

HYLNDS Collection by D.S. & Durga is exclusive to Barneys New York  and also can be bought online D.S & Durga 30ml/ $180

– The Silver Fox, Senior Editor and Editor of The Silver Fox

Photo: D.S & Durga

Thanks to D.S. & Durga we have a 10ml hand decant of Foxglove for a US reader. To be eligible, please leave a comment as to what you found compelling about TSF’s review and your favorite D.S. & Durga Fragrance. Draw closes October 27, 2014 (Please note the winner will need to be patient as Seth will have to get a special sample made)

We announce the winners on our site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume