D.S. & Durga, the Brooklyn-based, independent-perfumer duo, has revamped its fragrance line for 2011. Some of the original scents have been tweaked a bit, and nine new scents were added; the entire line continues to “take inspiration from antiquated herbal wisdom, native ritual medicine, Americana, outdated lore, geography, history, and gastronomy.” I’ve just tried the three new “feminines,” each of which has its own distinct mood.
Poppy Rouge takes its name from a lyric in Mississippi John Hurt’s “Richland Woman Blues,” and it’s a blend of orange flower, jonquil, and Parma violet. It’s not as impulsive and racy as its source might suggest, but it would make a lovely spring fragrance. It’s a fresh bouquet of orange blossom, the nicest one I’ve smelled since Atelier Cologne’s Grand Neroli. As it evolves, an almost lily-like note (the jonquil?) emerges, but the violet is very, very subtle. Like many of scents from D.S. & Durga, Poppy Rouge smells as though it contains a high percentage of natural ingredients.
The Orchid Drinkers refers to the nineteenth-century taste for a drink called salep, brewed from ground orchid tubers…
