Brooklyn-based perfumers D.S. & Durga were hired to create four new fragrances for Anthropologie. People who like their fragrances light, bright and “modern” may find these perfumes too heavy and “retro,” but I have a taste for ‘liquor-y’, natural-smelling, artisanal fragrances of this type. I was pleasantly surprised that Anthropologie chose perfumes that match the vintage/quirky style of its clothes, furniture and house wares.
1538 Rheims
(iris, ginger lily, patchouli, musk)
Judging from the reactions here at Now Smell This, patchouli is a love-it-or-hate-it perfume oil, so let me start by saying 1538 Rheims is basically an invigorating patchouli fragrance. 1538 Rheims presents resinous, dense patchouli — not modern, cleaned-up, re-configured patchouli. Iris and ginger lily can’t stand up to such patchouli, but I do smell a “green”/daisy-like floral note during the perfume’s opening. 1538 Rheims dries down to a soft musk-patchouli blend. (Note: I’ve written the word ‘patchouli’ seven times in one short paragraph.)
Smoked Amber
(opoponax, birch, frankincense, cassia bark)
Smoked Amber smells like a spice cake made from caustic materials. The fragrance starts off as if all listed notes (“raw” and a tad harsh during the opening) are whirring in a blender and melding into one accord (to my nose, opoponax stands out most forcefully). The “smoke” (birch) in Smoked Amber, thankfully, does not remind me of a charcoal grill, but of an outdoor campfire over which some marshmallows are charring. As the scent calms, I smell a sweet, “taffy”/toffee note, but for most of the fragrance’s ‘life’, cinnamon dominates Smoked Amber. I asked a friend to wear Smoked Amber, and she compared it to “old Opium.” I won’t go that far, but there is a similarity between the two perfumes. Smoked Amber is the strongest perfume of the bunch; cinnamon lovers — check it out.
East MidEast
(roses, mandarin, saffron, cardamom)
East MidEast is my favorite of the Anthropologie perfumes; it’s a rich, almost-oudy fragrance — rose, citrus and spice blend seamlessly and produce an “apothecary”/medicinal feel during the opening. There’s also the sharp aroma of saffron bubbling under the surface of the fragrance, and it keeps the perfume from becoming too sweet. As East MidEast dries down, its fragrance reminds me of scented leathers (“young” leathers rubbed with floral oils). The base notes are muted, with a dark-rose note predominant.
Royal Purpure
(fig leaf, pine, cedar and cypress)
Royal Purpure is a mellow, sweet and resin-y wood fragrance with a hint of fig leaf in the opening; this is a great layering scent (try it with rose, orange, tea notes). Fear not: there is no ‘household cleaner’ vibe to the pine note, which is more “antique pine chest” than fresh pine needle in character. As the fragrance dries, the cedar-cypress accord has a bit of the peppery, “sweaty” aroma some of us love (and others dislike). Royal Purpure wears down to a silky-smooth wood/light musk aroma; it’s a “base note” fragrance and I’ve enjoyed wearing it.
All four Anthropologie fragrances are limited edition. They are described as “feminine” in the marketing materials, but not one of them would be out of place on the men’s fragrance counter. The D.S. & Durga Anthropologie Collection fragrances are well made, have good lasting power and mild sillage; they are available in Eau de Parfum, 18 ml for $48. For buying information, see the listing for D.S. & Durga under Perfume Houses.
Note: top, Joan of Arc, cinnamon, 1001 Nights and German fairy tale images via Wikimedia Commons.
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Hmmmm. These sound right up my alley, except for maybe the cinnamon based one. Thanks for the reviews big K! 🙂
Ha! mmmmmmmm, cinnamon! That’s the one I want!
Daisy: it’s a nice bold cinnamon.
great! now I’m drooling….you know I’m soooo out of money, right? sigh….I was bad and bought Frapin 1270 today….and I’m not supposed to be buying ANYTHING else.
I wonder if J really needs a college education……?
They’re close by too…
I’m so glad to hear that these have a vibe akin to the Bohemian Anthropologie style. [Actually, I prefer Anthropologie from a few years back – they have changed a bit, I think]. I will definitely check all of these out, thanks to your review. Reasonably priced to boot. Nice.
I also liked Anthropologie better a few years ago – and I find their older styles are still relevant. I also love their furniture and accessories and hack their ideas for my own diy projects. 🙂
Unfortunately, I don’t hack perfume. 🙁
Far MidEast sounds wonderful. Tiny sizes for the price, though – when you calculate price/ounce, it gets a little ridiculous.
RD: and in a nice size.
Yes! I love small sizes.
These are listed as “feminine”?? I was reading and thinking “wow, 4 interesting new men’s fragrances without a speck of mariney, ozoney sporty freshness anywhere in sight!! Cool. ” Sometimes I think it would be better if they just don’t even mention a gender association, let people figure out whether they like it or not on their own. But, yeah, I know….the general masses need that definition or they get all hopelessly lost.
Daisy: yep…’feminine fragrances’ according to the PR, but … nope, not to my nose.
I was inspired by your review of Lamp Black & Adamus to try out Possets Perfumes. Did you try The Tisane of the Witch? I thought the witchy black tea sounded perfect for this time of year. It wasn’t my favorite so far of the bunch (smell too much patchouli for me), but definitely interesting! My favorites so far are Alaska and The Girls Love Chai-Chai-Chai (chai tea, rose, blood orange).
Mountainear: “Tisane of the Witch”…what a name. Glad you found a few you liked.
Hmm, I wouldn’t mind trying all of these, but especially the Smoked Amber and East MidEast. Anthropologie seems to be revamping their fragrances lately, carrying some more interesting and pricey stuff (including Annick Goutal). I love that you call these more heavy and retro than modern — yay!
Jill…yes, I was surprised at seeing the Annick Goutals in Anthropologie…but it seems prices for Anth. wares are RISING RISING these days.
Yes, it does … and I should know because I’m addicted to their sweaters. 🙂
Lucky for me, ours is in a frou-frou suburb I don’t set foot in (unless I’m invited to my boss’s home, and then I have to – he’s family). So I’ve never even crossed the threshold of one of their stores.
Hm. So the first one reviewed is Pretty Much Patchouli, the second is an Opium Smell-alike, and the fourth is Pine Box? I can go ahead and ignore these, thanks v. much.
Oh, but that third one – rose, citrus, spice, leather, and more dark rose? Dang it, Kevin, I am trying to SHRINK my test list. Aargh. (scribbles furiously) Adding another scent now… just poot. I’ll never get done.
Although maybe that’s a good thing, I’m not sure.
And these are only available at certain Anthropologie stores, the ones listed at the web link? Dang it again, the closest one to me is still six freakin’ hours’ drive away… I mean, I could call…
(Repeat the mantra: No Unsniffed Buys. No Unsniffed Buys. No Unsniffed Buys. And I just snagged a slightly-used 1-oz bottle of TF Black Orchid Voile de Fleur for $16… $100 budget for this qtr is gone, and I haven’t even gotten to try Havane Vanille… NO UNSNIFFED BUYS, MALS, I MEAN IT. No matter how good Kevin’s reviews are.)
But Kevin’s reviews are so good…and perhaps you don’t need so many eggs until the end of the quarter? 😉
ScentScelf: no matter how good the review…never buy without sniffing. I can’t take on that kind of responsibility!!!!!!!!!
Oh, Kevin, spoiling the fun….
…but you are right, of course. The playful, erm, “egging on” was all mine. 🙂
What link for specific Anthropologie stores are you looking at Mals? I can’t seem to find that and want to know if mine is on there.
Sorry, I just found this via Facebook:
http://dsanddurga.blogspot.com/2009/10/stores-carrying-our-anthropologie-line.html
Bad word, bad word! I was just in the downtown Seattle Anthropologie 2 weeks ago and didn’t see these. Checking the list, I see the nearest one to me is in south Florida, several hours away. Don’t mind me; I’m going to pout.
Interesting…they think Milwaukee is in Minnesota. Regardless… my local store does carry the line. Maybe I’ll drag myself there at some point.
ha! I saw that
But they don’t recognize Michigan at all…
MALS: sending out the vibe: NO! UnSNIFFED! BUYS!
mals86…one out of four ain’t bad! I’m just getting tired of reviewing these multi-fragrance launches!
Ohhh, sign me up for 1538 Rheims, dense and dirty patchouli is right up my alley!! The cinnamon scent-Smoked Amber- might be nice too. I used to wear opium (vintage) all the time.
SmokeyToes: you MUST love cinnamon to enjoy it….
I just tried these yesterday actually, and to me they mostly smelled like, you know, the lingering smells on old vintage things, like faded perfumes and faintly musty, herbaceous smells. The East MidEast one in particular smelled like an attic to me!
I think it’s definitely an upgrade from the benign floral colognes Anthropologie carries in-store, though I don’t find them very wearable: they were a bit on the bitter side, but without enough depth to balance it — for me anwyay. And at $48 for tiny bottles…!
Ojeda: I run TO things like you describe in your opening paragraph! HA!
Oh how I love Anthropologie. Being able to take home a yummy scent like East MidEast would make staring at their beautiful, maddeningly priced clothes a little less painful.
Norjunma1: it’s hard to try scents in the two Anthropologies near me…they each burn more (scented) candles than a Buddhist shrine!
Smoked Amber sounds like my kind of fragrance. One question: Does the opoponax make it ‘powdery’?
Mike: no, this did not get powdery on me.
Thanks for the reviews! I am going straight for the 1538 Rheims. I love patchouli and am not afraid to say so. May have to get the EastMideast, too. Lately, I have been wanting to get into ouds, but as a relative newcomer to the milieu, have been slowly acquiring some classic Western fumes.
Queen C: there are LOTS of Western-style ouds around today…have fun searching.
Thanks for this review Kevin!
I haven’t seen this line in Adelaide – but I do like the sound of East MidEast, rose + mandarin + saffron + cardamom brings to my mind an Indian dessert (gulab jamun maybe, those sweet little doughy balls soaked in rose syrup … yum) with a peeled mandarin on the side! 🙂
Lsnuing: sounds GOOD
Thanks for the review Kevin. I am definitely checking out the 1538 Rheims and perhaps East/MidEast. 1538’s note lineup kind of reminds me of the way Halston used to be back in the good ol’ days.
Dolly…I remember a few Halston scents my mother wore…they were BOLD.
The Halston I recall was very smooth on the dry down, the way patchouli SHOULD smell, not the stink I smell in it today. For me to compliment patchouli like that is saying a lot since I’m not a big fan of it anyway for aforementioned reasons.
Hi Kevin! I’m very much a fan of D.S. & Durga though their scents are either BIG hits on me or big misses. I would love to get a sniff of these, but looks like my local A. store isn’t on the list. 🙁
East MidEast sounds reminiscent of favorites Montale Red Aoud (w/o the oud!) and L’Eau de Tarocco.
I have to say that the price for 18ml makes their original line look like a HUGE bargain. I do urge people to contact them for samples from that original line; some are fantastic (I absolutely love my Orris Root).
Joe: yes, the Orris you sent me was very good. Santa Barbara dissed again! HA!
“liquor-y- natural-smelling, artisanal fragrances” ….. oh yeah!
ditto!
I would buy these unsniffed, I know I would love them. These are my
Christmas wish list!
London gets an Anthropologie as of next month I’m so excited! (that’s if I’m allowed out of current work hell hole). The Rheims patch and Royal fig leaf/woody one sound right up my alley. I love that you descibe them as liquor-y with the warning that some might find them retro. I guess that fits with the Anthropologie image.
donanicola: good luck with work!
I tried all of these this weekend. While I love older, heavy scents, these took me by surprise. Smoked Amber was heavy, animal/musk (not the pretty “musk”), and bitter in the opening, and easily overpowered any other scents in that corner of the store, smelling overwhelmingly of bitter smoke. Rheims was well-behaved, Purpure was nice, East MidEast tried to make an incense-y statement, but all were overwhelmed by Smoked Amber. What had I done? Why had I sprayed these directly on my skin?
Fortunately, Anthropologie has lots of fun distractions, and no visible sinks, so I wandered the store for a while, allowing the scents to sit on my skin.
By the time I got to my car, Smoked Amber had developed into a lovely, sweet scent very similar to Tea for Two… if it was chai sipped by a campfire. The other scents had mostly faded away, though I would like to re-try Rheims. I would definitely recommend sniffing these before buying.
I got to try smoked amber. It was interesting enough for me – it starts out rough and becomes sweet after a while. Cinnamon is very noticeable.
Although I was somewhat pleased, people around me didn’t seem to like it. A lot of them said I smelled like incence. One of them said I smell like coke. Lots of attention for just one little spray-
I tried Royal Purpure and Smoked Amber today. I went in expecting to love Royal Purpure, but it was Smoked Amber that took the prize. Kevin, I think you’re spot on with the “mallows over a campfire” comparison — I love it! I checked out DS&Durga’s facebook page and they mentioned that they’re developing a new line for Anthropologie, and that this collection may not be available past April. I think I’m going back tomorrow to snatch up Smoked Amber before it disappears.
very nice! I too tried Royal purpure, It’s very nice and one more important thing is that when we smell it we remember our past attraction to it , really I love it. Regards: durga mantra