Thursday, March 24, 2016

DSH Perfumes: Giverny In Bloom, Part Three


l'Opera des Rouges et des Roses, DSH Perfumes

When I first open the tiny vial from DSH Perfumes Giverny In Bloom collection, I immediately am hit with a pleasantly pungent, earthy rose note. I know an interesting ride is in store.   At first l'Opera des Rouges et des Roses (hereafter called Roses) is all about the dirt.

I am reminded of a rosebush planting spree I went on last spring.  I had not had great success with previous plantings, so I wanted to ensure that these three climbing rose bushes would be given every shot at flourishing in their new environment. I dug an extra big hole, which I then lined with bagged garden dirt and compost. I wanted the new tender root shoots to have someplace welcoming to go, before encountering the more resistant and tightly packed  earth. The cool damp soil, the fresh air,the green bloomless bush; they all melded together to give the wonderful smell of spring. This is exactly what I smell when I first apply Roses.

Soon, though, it is spring awakening. and the first tender rose buds are opening.  Their scent is subtle but beautiful as it catches in the breeze. This is a gorgeous rose, swirling among the freshly packed earth and the green leaves and branches. It is the whole rose bush.  I find the scent of rose to be a very euphoric smell, and this one certainly is.  Ingredients are always key, but rose is one of those notes that you can really tell when the perfumer has used  good quality. Cheap rose can smell thin and screechy. This one, when I put my wrist to my nose, smells as if I am cradling a succulent, velvety bloom fresh picked from the bush.

The perfume is described as "a classical bouquet of peony, old roses, carnation, and grandiflorum jasmine with oriental-animalic hints in the drydown." Dawn Spencer Hurwitz created this perfume to represent the red and pink flowers of Giverny, the more effusively fragrant section of the garden. As the perfume wears on me it never loses the character of being the whole of the rose bush; petals, branches, leaves and thorns. As time passes I am absolutely entranced. If you think there is no new way to present rose in a perfume, try this. Let it capture your heart, as it has mine.

The Giverny In Bloom collection coffret is pictured above, and can be found here on the DSH website. This is a great way to experience all the perfumes in the collection, including l'Opera des Rouges et des Roses, La Danse des Bleus et des Violettes, La Jardin Vert and Giverny In Bloom. For more on the collection go to Part 1 or Part 2.

Photo from the DSH Perfumes website.

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