Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or (Photo: Despina Veneti)©
A WISH – Will I ever have a chance
to sleep by the River of Love,
look on the mountain of Long Life,
and dip my vision in Sun Moon Lake
to be able to live more happily
in just any confinement.
Montri Umavijani (1941 – 2006)
Pissara Umavijani of Parfums Dusita in blissful holiday moments (Photos courtesy of Pissara Umavijani)©
Just a few months after the release of the soulful, iris-centered Parfums Dusita Splendiris, the brand’s founder/perfumer Pissara Umavijani takes her impressionistic approach to fragrance making one step further: her brand new creation, Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or, is a multi-layered oeuvre of bold, and somewhat unexpected, brushstrokes, softly blended together in a fragrant composition of affecting beauty and fascinating evolution on skin.
Clockwise: Aisawan Triphya-Art in Thailand, Lac de Guerlédan in France & Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan (Photos: orientalescape.com, brittanytourism.com/Yannick Derennes & charmingtraveldestinations.com, respectively)©
Unfailingly inspired by the poetry of her late father, Montri Umavijani, Pissara’s goal is “to always convey a different aspect of happiness with each new perfume”, as she pointed out at the very start of our discussion about her new fragrance. To create Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or, the Thai-born perfumer told me that she drew inspiration from memories of three different lakes: the Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan (where her father wrote his poem “A Wish”), the Aisawan Triphya-Art in Thailand (a pavilion constructed in the middle of a lake, next to the Bang Pa-In Summer Palace), and the Nantes-Brest canal with its nearby Guerlédan Lake in France (where the perfumer spent her vacation in happy seclusion). It was exactly during that holiday stay in Brittany that Pissara found all her lake-related memories merging into one: an overwhelming, embracing sense of tranquility and happiness that she always felt while sitting by a bank alongside the water. Right then, the idea of Le Pavillon D’Or crystallized in her mind: it would be a fragrance celebrating the deep contentment and peace of mind that can be felt when one reflects on one’s own life, while being in direct contact with nature.
Belcarra II Original Lake Landscape” by Erika Toliusis©
Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or instantly intrigues mind and senses with its refreshingly original opening, a result of the blissful synergy between cool and spicy mentha citrata (a rather lemony, peppery type of mint), spectacularly green and humid fig leaf, as well as woody, aromatic Somalian frankincense, accented by sweet honeysuckle and soft white thyme. As is always the case with my skin, the orris emerges right from the start, becoming progressively richer as the fragrance’s spectacular heart begins to bloom. In Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or, Pissara Umavijani used new, exclusive accords of her own, most notably one that’s centered around heliotrope. A passionate lover of traditional perfume-making, Pissara is constantly creating new accords, as well as reworking some of her older ones, with regular emphasis on her Thai origins. These accords are, in her own words, “complex mini-compositions focusing on a certain note, aspect or effect, not too complete or too perfect on their own, so as to be ideally blended with other ingredients”. Apart from building a formidable “scent library”, to be utilised in future creations, the perfumer will be featuring some of her exclusive accords in the masterclasses and ateliers that are to take place in her Parisian boutique.
Pissara Umavijani’s drawing for Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or & travel spray (Photo: Despina Veneti)©
The brand new heliotrope accord of Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or, a thing of beauty by itself, contains no less than thirty ingredients, including the eponymous flowering plant, along with white and yellow florals, vanilla, opoponax, and benzoin. Its effect is altogether sweet, vanillic, almond-like, powdery and floral, with a depth and intensity that colors the whole composition with an elegantly gourmandish undertone (further amplified by the creaminess of the sandalwood base). This astonishing passage from the green herbaceousness of the opening, to the delectable floriental heart and woody base, might sound somewhat sudden in writing; when the fragrance is actually applied on skin, however, its evolution feels like the most natural thing in the world – and that’s no mean feat. Apart from the considerable technical skill involved in the creation of Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or, one feels the tender thoughtfulness, effervescent optimism and genuine emotion of the fragrance’s creator running through it like an almost tangible current.
Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or (Multi-media/digital collage: Despina Veneti)©
Seamlessly blended and flirting with abstraction, Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or is as arrestingly beautiful, as it is reflective – albeit in an upbeat, non-brooding manner. In the perfumer’s own words: “The golden pavilion in the middle of the lake represents the human spirit that stands tall and bright among the changing currents of the water. It is a challenge for us all to keep our spirit shining amidst life’s uncertainty.”
Notes: Wild Mentha Citrata, Honeysuckle, Orris Root; Boronia, Frankincense, White Thyme, Heliotrope, Fig Leaf; Oakwood, Australian Sandalwood.
Disclaimer: My heartfelt thanks to Pissara Umavijani for my bottle. The opinions are my own.
– Despina Veneti, Senior Editor
Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon D’Or (Photo: Despina)©
Thanks to the generosity of Pissara Umavijani, we have a draw for a full 50ml avant-première bottle of Parfums Dusita Le Pavillon d’Or EdP for one registered reader WORLDWIDE. You must register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what you enjoyed most about Despina’s review, if you have a favorite Parfums Dusita fragrance, and where you live. Draw closes October 14, 2019
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