Indie perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz recently released the final “season” in her Haiku/Japan::Moonlight series, now comprised of Gekkou Hanami (Spring), Tsukiyo-en (Summer), Tsukimi (Autumn), and last but not least, Shimotsuki (Winter). Tsukimi was my favorite so far, but now I’m a bit smitten with Shimotsuki too…
We have snow in the forecast as I’m writing this post, so it doesn’t feel like spring; yet here we are. Looking back at my lists of favorite spring fragrances from 2008 and 2013, I’ve decided to do something different this time. I’ll never stop loving Après l’Ondée or L’Eau d’Hiver, but I gave myself a new assignment for this round: I sampled lots of new releases and chose ten that I’d want to continue wearing in the coming months. I’ve been feeling for a long time that I just can’t keep up with the tide of new launches, but this is my deliberate small effort at feeling more current (even just for one season)!
Spring is the season when I enjoy white florals the most, and Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Je Suis La Lune (I Am the Moon) is a jasmine fragrance that smells more like a creamy, slightly salty lily to me…
Are you a fan of chestnuts? If so, was this an acquired taste for you? I’ve been a chestnut-lover for most of my life, only because roasted chestnuts figured prominently in two family traditions that took place during the holiday season. One: my grandmother and my mother and I would go together to see the Christmas windows of Manhattan’s department stores, and my grandmother would buy me a small paper bag of roasted chestnuts from a street vendor, to eat as we walked along. Two: my grandparents prepared roasted chestnuts as part of the dessert course on Thanksgiving and Christmas, roasting them in the oven after my grandfather had made a small X or cross on each one with the point of a knife (to prevent them from bursting).
These happy memories surrounding the chestnuts, not to mention the chewy, buttery enjoyment of the nuts themselves, would make me want to try any fragrance with a chestnut note. But why do so few perfumes try to capture this sensation…
Indie perfume house Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has launched Châtaignes du Bois {A Chestnut fragrance; Holiday no.17}, L’étole de Vison {The Mink Stole} and Arabesque…
Indie perfume house Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has launched Tsukiyo-en, Il Marinaio da Capri, Habibi and Tsukimi…