Indie line Ayala Moriel has launched The Purple Dress, "a chromatic champaca perfume that blurs the lines between soliflore and oriental". The Purple Dress is a limited edition, and was inspired by Sasha Argov's song of the same name.
Champaca flowers from India are the main theme of this spicy, floral tealike composition, supported only by hints of white magnolia and star anise, and a foundation of black tea and smoky woods.
The notes feature star anise, nutmeg, mace, red champaca, golden champaca, magnolia, sandalwood, guiacwood, black tea and angelica.
Ayala Moriel The Purple Dress is available in 9 ml Parfum ($160) or Crème Parfum in a Perfume Pendant ($150). (via press release)
I don’t know what the song is about (YouTube clips of song performances were easy to find, lyrics in English not so much) but I like that the fragrance is named after a purple dress, not a black or beige dress. The notes look really interesting.
Notes look interesting to me too…I love champaca.
“Black tea and smoky woods” reminds me of waking up camping, making tea on the remains of the previous night’s campfire. Would love to find an element of this in there…
Lovely bottle.
I think she uses the same bottle for all her scents – and I agree, it’s understated and lovely, and would probably feel nice in the hand. Reminds me of the EL Private Collection bottle.
There are quite a number of Ayala’s scents I’d love to try – but the price tag has discouraged sampling. What if I looooove one? Can I afford $160 for 9ml – yes, I know it’s parfum, but still… curses. I would probably adore Gigi, and this one sounds very lovely as well. (Never mind that I avoid purple like the plague – I’m Just Not a Purple Girl. It was one of the reasons I stopped getting Flylady updates; that and the frequent soppiness.)
Not to fret. Her samples don’t cost the earth, they’re cheaper in quantity, and you can get a roll-on for $95. Yes, very expensive still, but she works with superb ingredients in tiny batches, so the prices are commensurate with her costs. You’re not paying for double-page ads in Vogue or fancy promos, either. 😉
She has other size bottles (5ml for Travel) and run specials from time to time. Also, she gives a discount on buying a set of three perfumes of the same type, set in Alcohol or Oil. I bought a set and have loved them.
It is!
Hmmm…wonder if we’re going to see a lot of purple this fall (thinking of the AG here). Sounds absolutely gorgeous…and way outside my price range. 🙁
Maybe! Still seeing lots of Black & Pink in perfume too.
I haven’t visited her website in a while, so I don’t know if she’s still doing this, but I was able to order samples of a bunch of her fragrances. This one definitely sounds like something I’d like to try.
Yes, she still sells samples!
You can select whichever samples you want, you can buy a boxful (from 6 up to 15), and they’re nice, too, those squat little chunky brown-glass vials that protect the contents from light. And her stuff is really concentrated, so they’re going to last you longer than you might imagine. Not cheap, of course, but 15 samples for $100 is a pretty good deal.
I’m sorry, I just keeled over–15 samples for $100 is a good deal? I know you said they last a long time, but…$100? Really? Oy.
LOL, thanks for saying what I was thinking. Don’t get me wrong, I can see it being a good deal for natural perfume, etc etc… but eek. Of course, in my usual perverse way, I could rationalize it if the samples were half size and half price.
Actually, for parfum or extrait , you would spend at least that much at the Perfumed Court…
So true — it’s a lot of money. But for naturals, it’s not even on the high end of the scale.
You’ll pay at least $3 for a sample at The Perfumed Court, and 15 samples for $100 is just a little over twice that, so it really is not that huge a leap, honest! There are plenty of samples at TPC and Luckyscent that are $6 or more, so once you get past the idea of actually paying for a sample, when you compare the cost of a small amount (which you can try repeatedly to make sure you love it) to the cost of a whole bottle, it starts to look like a pretty good deal.
I don’t think I’ve tried champaca before, but a cross between soliflore and oriental sounds great. I love the smokey black tea notes….. I am so ready for fall/winter scents!
Has anyone tried her scents before, any impressions/thoughts about sillage and lasting power? I am thinking of placing a sample order. And, by the way, I love that cute little bottle!
I hope others will chime in here…I’d say the sillage & lasting power is good, keeping in mind that these are all natural — so not quite what you’d get from a synthetic. But haven’t tried this particular perfume.
This is a lovely fragrance. Ayala gave me a sample this summer when I met her and I just reviewed it. It’s lovely and unique!
Thanks Trish!
Did I mention that it’s lovely? 🙂
I’ve sampled this and it really reminds me of a more floral, more spicy, slightly sweeter Fleur de Narcisse. It’s lovely. But then again, I’m a huge Ayala fan.
Thanks Ahsu!
I met her when she showed at the Christmas sale in my studio building. I’m a huge fan. I got to try ’em all. Her stuff is lovely, and so is she.
Purple Dress, from what I recall, was more spicy on me than floral. It’s a bit spicier than her Song of Songs scent (which I ended up buying), but similar. The black tea is light and the woody-Oriental seems to dominate. It’s a warm scent. My husband was unimpressed with it but I liked it.
Sillage is subtle, lasting power is pretty good, especially for Purple Dress (8 to 12 hours on me, I think).
I love her “juxtaposition” combinations like Roses et Chocolat. That one really *does* smell like a date night of roses and rich, bitter chocolate! I also like Charisma and Fetish and BonZai. BonZai reminds me of Brosius’ Just Breathe. Charisma is unique. It’s an unusual fragrance of contrasts: tea, grapefruit, spearmint, tonka bean. It’s fresh and warm. I may full-bottle this. Fetish is citrus-fresh with an edge. My absolute favorite is Espionage – tobacco and leather.
Ahh, Espionage. Full bottle worthy. It smells startlingly clean and light at first with a crisp middle note and one of the nicest warm finishing notes, like clean warm skin. There’s vanilla in there but it’s fairly ghostly. Overall, it’s an unusual and distinct fragrance though it fades fairly quickly (I guess as any good spy should!) and it’s not overpowering. The oil version lasts longer than the alcohol version.
Her “warmer” fragrances (Song of Songs, Purple Dress, Espionage) smell richer in the oil versions so I’d recommend them over the alcohol versions. Fetish and Charisma smell just fine in in the Extrait.
Expensive? Maybe – but know that it’s *just* her and she does everything – from labeling to bottling to shipping. I love supporting that.
Thanks for the detailed rundown, Laura!