Perfumers are inspired by almost everything. One of the things which always puts a smile on my face is when a perfumer and I share a fondness for an everyday smell. When a perfumer chooses to re-create that it can seem as if it is too common. I find these to be the opposite because if the perfume takes me to that place I believe it has done its job. The latest fragrance to achieve that for me is DSH Perfumes Fleuriste.
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz and I share a love of carnations. Her Oeillets Rouges is one of the best carnation perfumes which evokes the spicy clove-like quality of the flower. For Fleuriste Ms. Hurwitz wanted something more modern. So she decided to head to the florists fridge. That smell when you walk into a florist’s refrigerator and you breathe in the chilled air infused with the smell of the flowers and a hint of the green leaves sitting in their water filled buckets. I would say it is one of the more recognizable smells of everyday life out there. Fleuriste begins at the florist’s but ends at home where the carnations you purchased are now free to expansively perfume the room they are placed in.
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz
When I walk into the florist’s refrigerated room the first smell which hits me is the green of the leaves and the cold water. The floral smells are well muted by the chill in the air. Ms. Hurwitz opens Fleuriste with that mix of green leaves, water and chill. The opening half-hour or so is the time spent choosing your bouquet. As you walk home with your wrapped carnations you start to feel them opening up. In the early moments the carnation is barely there by the time it gets up to speed in the heart it begins to slowly burst to life. Ms. Hurwitz adds in grace notes of neroli and jasmine to provide a more rounded floral experience. The spicy quality of the carnation is much attenuated throughout the heart. Once the carnation is allowed to truly flower Ms. Hurwitz provides a foundation of ambergris to evoke the water in the vase. It provides a different type of wateriness to what came previously in the top notes. By the end the carnation has grown in presence; no longer chilled and shy but provocatively powerful.
Fleuriste has 10-12 hour longevity in the Eau de Parfum concentration and above average sillage.
One thing I need to mention is by the final stages of Fleuriste the modern vibe of the early going in the refrigerated room has given way to a vintage style floral. The tonal shift from top to base is one of the aspects which makes Fleuriste a standout. Ms. Hurwitz has combined her love of vintage fragrances with the smells of the everyday to make a perfume which is uncommonly good.
Disclosure: this review was based on a sample provided by DSH Perfumes.
–Mark Behnke
