Indie line Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has launched Guimauve de Soie, a new fragrance for women:
A brand new design collaboration with Carrie Meredith from "eyeliner on a cat" blog is an abstraction of texture and synesthetic color (and a slight play on words: guimauve) which translates to "Silk Marshmallow".
There's a kind of dada-esque quality to the name, which I love, that speaks to the silky 'texture' of the fragrance and it's overall "grey-blue-violet" tonality (connoted by the main orris note and is the 'mauve' reference). The odd (but wonderful) balance of orris - violet - animalic nuances counterbalanced with gourmand notes of anise and cocoa beans is quite unexpected. The gourmand aspects bring the idea of "marshmallow" into a new focus.
Additional notes include anise, bergamot, bitter almond, lemon, ozone, ambrette, rose, mimosa, orris, violet and violet leaf, sandalwood, civet, cocoa beans, oakmoss, heliotrope, musk, tonka bean and vanilla.
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Guimauve de Soie is available in Eau de Parfum and Parfum ($23-110); samples are also available.
(via dshperfumes)
Where did i hear the combo silk+orris+grey/blue/violet ? oh yes, in Serge Lutens´ Bas de Soie. Probably the fragances smell nothing alike, but is kind of dissapointing when even indie creators lack of imagination or inspiration…
Hmmm… that’s interesting. Are you sure that’s where you saw that? I am surprised, to say the least as I know nothing about Serge’s Bas de Soie. The source might have been a blog post I wrote last fall about starting this fragrance with Carrie Meredith. I will have to look up Serge’s Bas de Soie and see if there are indeed similarities but Guimauve de Soie is not inspired by this or any other design.
The fragrances don’t sound much alike to me.
Yes, I think of Bas de Soie as quite green, not violet/gray at all.
Hi, Robin!
Thank you for posting about this new perfume! I am so happy about this new design.
Yes, I looked up Bas de Soie and it seems to have hyacinth as a main component and is considered to be a green / orris scent. It’s so interesting how the notes can make an impression alone without knowing what the scent really smells like.
You would think so, but I remember thinking “Bas de Soie” would smell like “The Unicorn Spell” by LesNez and they smelled nothing alike. It’s odd, how two fragrances that read so closely, can smell so differently. But I like to see how closely my imagination can conjure up a scent, just by taking note listings, the “new” available notes for a season from the food labs and perfumer/brand/house style, into account.
Many fragrances have identical notes but smell nothing alike. It seems odd to conclude that similar notes indicates a lack of inspiration. In fact, DSH has a very cool inspiration for this fragrance: a great perfume blogger!
Thank you Ari!
You are very kind to say so!
I don’t know what it is, but I read this ad copy and immediately think about a “Crabtree & Evelyn” product I loved, but has since been discontinued.
They used to make this “all natural” hair conditioner that came in a metal tube and it had mallow extract in it. It had an, otherwise, herbally smell, but that chewy mallow tempered the whole thing and gave it a kind of pillowy, cloudlike feel to it. I loved that stuff. It was the best conditioner I ever used. I’ve also noticed that I really love marshmallow notes in fragrance; it’s a very unexpected kind of gourmand note and isn’t as easy to immediately distinguish, like a vanilla or cocoa. It’s foody incognito.
Besides that, the rest makes me think of “Chaldee”. “Chaldee” with marshmallows would be my ultimate dreamscent. Hot cashmere or silk, “Bain de Soleil” orange gelee and marshmallows. Yum.
The only thing that would hold me back from trying this, was if the civit was animal derived. But I’m guessing “civit” is the synthetic of “civet”? I’ve been interested in DSH’s orange flower blend and from what I checked, I don’t think they use actual, animal-derived ingredients (barring honey and dairy, maybe?)
I’m afraid I don’t know if the civet is real or not, sorry.
Hi, Nlb~
I just saw this comment and wanted to let yo know that the civet notes I use are either synthetic civet or botanical accords that mimic civet (for any all natural designs) but no, I don’t use natural, animal derived civet. Some, but very few, do have natural ambergris tincture, but this is beach-found, cruelty-free ambergris tincture. I hope that you will try Guimauve de Soie as the civet note is not very pronounced. It’s much more violet – orris gourmand than a big animalic. I don’t think that it will scare you.
Well i was talking more about the marketing of the fragance rather than the fragance itself, as i said, they probably dont smell alike at all…
Its just that when i read a perfume name including the “Soie” (silk), the inspiration on the blue color scheme, and being the main ingredient orris, it immediately reminded me to Bas de Soie marketing, which was featured identically in 2010. Im sorry if i offended anyone, maybe it is just a coincidence.
I imagine they are completely different products.
I am looking foward to smell Guimauve the soie and see the difference. Marketing is my thing and i pay attention to the way people “sell” perfumes or any other thing, apologies.