Sonoma Scent Studio Voile de Violette and Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Michelangelo (plus, a brief look at Hilde Soliani Il Tuo Tulipano)

DAWN SPENCER HURWITZ MICHELANGELO: I guess I should preface the review with the remark that the Dawn Spencer Hurwitz line is listed under the inexplicable name of Parfums des Beaux Arts (she’s an American perfumer out of Boulder, Colorado . . . go figure). Public Service Announcement concluded. Review now commences.

Yesterday, out of the cornucopia of DSH goodies, I grabbed for Cafe Noir (and it was excellent). This morning, I grabbed for Michelangelo, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but DSH Michelangelo is Liz Zorn’s Tobacco & Tulle, yet without the oomph.

Michelangelo is nice enough, and it covers all the bases just fine: a spicy intro with an incense rose heart over an ambergris/tobacco base. Sounds great, right? The problem is, it chugs along for only about two to three hours before it starts to crap out, while Zorn’s Tobacco & Tulle is still tickin’ like a champ a good seven hours later.

So if you’re looking for an all-natural floral-tobacco scent (with a warm ambergris base) that kicks butt first and takes names later, I’d recommend the Zorn. It’s not that the DSH Michelangelo is bad (au contraire!), it’s just that Zorn’s Tobacco & Tulle covers similar ground while doing it a whole heap better.

SONOMA SCENT STUDIO VOILE DE VIOLETTE: This isn’t a scent I’ve tested personally, but my friend Louise was complaining last week about how miserable, dreary, rainy and cold this Seattle winter has been (and continues to be, apparently), so I thought I’d surprise her with something that smells like Spring is just around the corner.

Enter: Voile de Violette!

Sonoma Scent Studio perfumer Laurie Erickson said in an interview with Fragrantica that as far as her own creations are concerned, she usually wears test versions of whatever she’s formulating at the moment, but that for Spring, she was looking forward to wearing her Voile de Violette, and that’s when I thought: “A-Ha!”

An “A-Ha!” moment is often followed by the typing of credit card numbers into a website. Just so you know.

Louise received the bottle yesterday and sent me this email almost immediately: “I was pulling the garbage to the curb tonight (you’re oh so jealous of my glamorous life, I can tell) when I noticed a package at my door. I received the Voile de Violette! I LOVE it. It’s exactly what I was looking for — fun, light, extrememly sexy, playful and sunny. Well, not exactly sunny as in literal sunshine, but so definitely not wintry and dark. It’s just what I needed!!!”

Listed scent notes for Voile de Violette are: violet, iris, rose, cedar, vetiver, violet leaf, tonka bean, hay and myrrh. It’s fresh, green and nicely floral with a warm, woodsy undertone, and it’s apparently the perfect antidote for the When Will This Winter Ever End?! blahs.

HILDE SOLIANI IL TUO TULIPANO: Il Tuo Tulipano was the second bottle of fragrance I sent to Louse to lift her out of her Seattle Winter blues, and she was just as thrilled with it as the Voile de Violette. Below is a partial transcript of our IM session:

Nathan: oh, hey — did you get your new package? is something at your door?
Louise: let me check!
Louise: omg YES
Nathan: More springtime for Louise!
Louise: Oh Nathan! This is fantastic!The bottle is gorgeous, too.
Nathan: yeah, it looked like it from the photos.
Louise: I am going out for dinner tonight AND tomorrow night, this is such a treat!!! I LOVE this.
Nathan: it sounded just beautiful.
Louise: It’s the most unique fragrance I have ever experienced. What’s that ultra fresh note? See, I said ‘note’. I’m so hip on the lingo now.
Nathan: Lemme check — I think it’s kiwi?
Louise: I’m melting into a heap under my chair. It changes within seconds. it’s almost tropical but just not quite.
Nathan: right. it’s supposed to be super lovely and totally evolving.
Louise: it’s incredible, that particular note
Nathan: you’re smelling the mix of numerous fruity and floral notes.
Louise: these are all my favorites . . . passion fruit is my absolute fave, and freesia, AND lily of the valley.
Nathan: For some reason, it screamed “LOUISE!” when I first read about it.
Louise: It’s PERFECT for Spring. It might be a little cloying for deep Winter, but not for Spring. I am going to wear it tonight.
Nathan: it’s got those fun fruity notes, but over a sophisticated base. And I love Freesia, too. I don’t wear it, but I love it.
Louise: It’s one of my favorite smells. Reminds me of the good parts of childhood for some reason — lazy summer days. Makes me feel much livelier right now!!!

And there you have it — the instant, long-distance review of Il Tuo Tulipano. As you can see, it’s a total hit with its target audience.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Lucky Scent is gearing up to offer the new Serge Lutens, Nuit de Cellophane. Shipping starts on March 11th (allegedly).

And Le Labo stated in an email regarding the launch of their newest release that “As of now, we know that the Oud 27 will be released on April 1st of 2009. If there are any changes, we will let you know via our website.” Very much looking forward to a new global release from Le Labo.

IN OTHER OTHER NEWS:

Got 1,000 shares of stock in Saks Fifth Avenue? Then today’s your lucky day.

Stock Market Crash Means 1,000 Saks Shares Buy Gown:
“‘A share of Limited Brands Inc. (owner of lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret) wouldn’t buy a pair of panties at Victoria’s Secret,’ said Patty Edwards, founder of analytical firm Storehouse Partners LLC in Bellevue, Washington. ‘(And) it would take a thousand shares of Saks to buy an evening gown . . . Is the problem that stock prices are too low or prices on consumer goods are too high? I’d love to tell you that this is overdone. The problem is I don’t believe that.’”

Debby

Hi Nathan -
I’m so enjoying your blog (perfumes, wit, pics of Montana trip – doesn’t get much better!) I live near Boulder and DSH is one of my favorite perfumers (Dawn is a lovely person). I love her Madonna Lily, Gelsomino, Cafe Noir in particular and enjoy several others. Please let us know what you think of l’Homme when you sample that. I love its peppery citrussy top, then it evolves into a beautiful (subtle, yes, but lasted about 6-8 hours) soft cedary drydown that was reminiscent (to me) of the far drydown of Frapin 1270. I never hear much about this scent, so would like to hear what you think.
Keep up the great writing!
Debby
Nathan Branch

Debby — thanks for visiting the blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I’ll definitely continue to plough through the DSH samplers and mention the pros and cons of what I encounter. L’Homme is high on my list of must-try-next.
Hurwitz appears to produce a lot of excellent work, so receiving these samplers has been a genuine pleasure. My one regret about our recent trip through Montana is that the drive took us through Boulder on our way back to Dallas, but without any time for a detour to the Hurwitz shop. I’ll have to remedy that mishap in the future.
http://theantim.blogspot.com Marin

You’re so welcome! It’s worth the price of admission to see your photographs. Well, and the South African baseball team. And the silver skull (not just for girls anymore!)
Holy cats, those are gorgeous photos.
When Dawn and I were chatting (namedrop!), I told her what I like in a fragrance and Michelangelo is the one she picked for me. It was my favourite of everything that was on my arm when I left that day.
Now, I can’t vouch for the wearability or likability of any of those, but one thing I’ll give Dawn — she does EXACTLY what she says she’s going to do. If she says, “rose,” by golly, it’s rose. If she says, “red,” it’s perfectly red. I can’t think of another perfumer (Christopher Brosius comes close, but even he isn’t quite so illustrative) who so distinctly and transparently (transparent like Congressional oversight committees, not transparent like Jean Claude Elena) presents a vision.
Nathan Branch

Well, since it was a Marin special delivery, I figured the least I could do was toss in some South African baseball players and a silver skull.
Michelangelo was indeed nice. I’m thinking I’m going to have to send you some Tobacco & Tulle so that you can compare and contrast.
And I agree about the straightforward quality to the DSH line. It’s refreshing to know that you’re going to get exactly what the perfumer tells you you’re going to get. I just tested out a horrible, sluggish mess today from Yosh Han and it made me long for something simpler and more direct, like what DSH offers.
http://theantim.blogspot.com Marin

And Dawn isn’t given to making stuff up — no “flowers of the fairie dance” or “ozone over the Parthenon” from Dawn.
Nathan Branch

Right, I’m totally with you on the name thing. It’s a relief when a perfumer doesn’t go all bizarre and I Obviously Need Medication when the job of naming their fragrances pops up.
Louise

I’m famous!
Nathan Branch

I think the word you’re looking for is “infamous” . . .