D.S. & Durga El Cosmico

D.S. & Durga El Cosmico, created in 2015 for sale exclusively at the provisions store of the iconic far West Texas hotel cum campground by the same name, is now available to the public. You no longer have to travel to the back of beyond (although you should) to buy this perfume, but can find it both at the D.S. & Durga website as well as the usual retailers who carry the line. This perfume came about when Brooklyn Perfumer David Seth Moltz was intrigued by the idea of desert scents, plant life in the desert, and in fact the idea of minimalism. Paths crossed with Liz Lambert, hotelier and owner of El Cosmico, a campground in the high Chihuahuan Desert outside of the quirky little town of Marfa. El Cosmico sits a mile or so out of Marfa and offers tents, yurts, teepees, and old reconditioned metal trailers for the night, or you can come and pitch your own tent. It attracts modern day hippies, wandering artists, nature gypsies, or just normal folk in search of an experience out of the ordinary. For some the stay is a bit of a lark while for others it may be a weekend of soul rejuvenation. 

The Milky Way over the teepees at El Cosmico, photo by Savannah Williams.

I have been to Marfa and stayed at El Cosmico and I can tell you, the perfumer really nailed it. I wrote last year about the perfume Memo Marfa and although I loved the scent, I struggled to identify it with the place I had visited. There is no such conflict with El Cosmico. The essence of the place has been captured: dry desert air, the scent of fragrant desert wood, and the feeling of big open skies.

When I first spray El Cosmico the smell reminds me of the pinion campfire that burned the night we were there, even though it was May. The desert days are hot but at night the temperature plunges to very chilly depths. We were staying in a trailer and the pile of blankets on the bed, which had looked a bit silly in the warm afternoon, were much needed that night. You are basically staying in a big metal box that turns into a refrigerator at night. The opening notes of El Cosmico are listed as desert shrubs, desert pepper, and pinion pine. Pinion pine is found in the high altitude area of the southwestern United States in dry regions where Ponderosa Pine cannot survive. Pinion wood smells of pine when burning, but it is not the pine scent of the North Woods or the Christmas tree scent of pine. It is altogether drier and parched, without the refreshing scent of the green needles.

A scene at El Cosmico from www.Therebeldandy.com.

El Cosmico's heart notes are creosote and oak, and base notes are dry sand accord, khella, and shrub wax. Creosote is a desert bush that has evolved to survive in the harsh dry climates of the American southwest. It only breathes in the cooler morning time, and as temperatures rise it stops the photosynthesis process in order to survive. Creosote contains oils that smell of pine, citrus, rosemary, and wood. Khella has a herbaceous smell. To be honest, the perfume doesn't change a whole lot while I'm wearing it. It is not a series of notes unfolding one by one, but rather the snapshot of a place. Anyone who has been to the arid deserts which exist at higher elevations will recognize the smell of the pinon pine, the bone dry woods, herbal plants able to eek out survival in the unforgiving climate, and the sense of space and fresh air. To understand the perfume I'll tell you a little more about the place it commemorates.

People come to El Cosmico for different things. Marfa is an artistic outpost in the desert and El Cosmico regularly hosts music concerts. 

Others come for the quiet and the stillness. They eschew the fancier hotel in the one-stoplight town in order to commune more closely with nature. Marfa and this area of West Texas is in a swath of the United States that has less light pollution. To be under a velvet sky studded with twinkling bright stars is to realize what an infinitesimally small part of the universe you are. This is a wonder that sadly many young people today have never experienced. There is an observatory with a huge telescope not too far away and many people come for what they call "star parties". 

Stargazers at Marfa from www.TheSpragues.co

Some come for the art. There's the Chinati Foundation of contemporary art and the Instagram worthy Prada, Marfa store which was built as an art installation in the desert. I talk more about Marfa and the El Cosmico campground in my post here.

My trip to far west Texas and El Cosmico was several years ago in what would turn out to be the last family vacation before our three offspring graduated college and started their own careers and lives. My husband had left a job a few months before that had been extremely trying and we made the decision to take a few months off before he would look for work again. With three children in college, some of our friends and family were worried and/or curious about the timing of this decision. When I was preparing that year's annual Christmas letter, I wanted to post this photo of my husband and son in front of the trailer we stayed in at El Cosmico with the caption, "the rumors of our downturn in fortunes has been greatly exaggerated." I thought it was funny but the idea was nixed!

At El Cosmico, 2011.

I will be upfront and say I can't separate my feelings for the experience that this perfume brings to mind from the scent itself. I can see how someone else might smell it and find it too linear or unexciting. For me, it conjures up the best memories of a trip to a place with an amazing landscape, a sense of isolation from the rumble of the everyday world, and the serenity that resulted. I think anyone who has experienced the desert southwest will recognize what the perfumer has tried to recreate.

One last note, while I was testing this perfume I went to a class my yoga studio calls Bliss that they only hold once a month. It is at night and the room is lit with twinkling strands of lights and candles. You basically hold stretch poses and there's no real work, which is bliss! The instructor comes around and adjusts your position and you realize the strength in the power of touch. It's very zen and this perfume was the perfect scent to help me enter that tranquil space.

The sample of El Cosmico was my own.

Last Day in Indonesia: Durga by D. S. & Durga

I've been reviewing perfumes I wore on a recent trip to visit temples in Central Java, here and here. The final stop on my perfume journey was at Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia dating back to the ninth century, an era when Hinduism was the religion throughout the islands of Indonesia. Today I'll be reviewing Durga.

First to get you in the mood, go all the way to the end and click for a Durga Mantra. The words translate to, "Salutations to She who is beautiful to the seeker of truth and terrible in appearance to those who would injure devotees of truth."

When I was growing up in Texas our church was near a university and had a program where they matched international students with church families. This was long before internet or cell phones so many of these visitors felt very isolated from their home and our job was to help them with the adjustment and offer friendly support.  For whatever reason our students were always Indian and a little older, probably around thirty, and often had their family in tow. They would join us regularly for dinner then return the favor by introducing us to their native dishes. When I was about seven one of the students gifted us with a sandalwood carved statue of  Kali who is one of the faces of Durga, and is known as the destroyer.

Our Kali looked something like this. From the Calcutta Art Gallery.

Bless her heart, my very Southern Baptist mother who was the epitome of a good hostess placed Kali in a prominent position on a shelf in our family room where it remained for many years along side the World Book Encyclopedias. I remember gazing at this strange exotic creature, caught mid-movement in a dance pose, strongly balancing on one leg in a sort of tree pose with her eight arms curved outward like some beautiful dangerous human octopus. I remember thinking, although I wouldn't have known or used this description back then: she was a real badass, displaying a level gazed "don't mess with me" fierceness.

I had been carrying around a sample of the newest perfume by D.S. & Durga, entitled simply Durga. I knew that Prambanan, the last stop on our trip would no doubt feature a statue of Durga somewhere in its sprawl, so decided this would be the perfect venue to experience the scent. The pair that make up D.S. & Durga look like the coolest couple; if I lived in Brooklyn and was twenty years younger I'd want to be their besties. D.S. (David Seth Motz) is the nose and Kavi Ahuja, aka Durga, an architect by training is in charge of design and marketing. I will admit it, I love a good story when it comes to perfume. Call your perfume No. 1, 2 and 3, or something simple like Oud and I yawn. I want a legend, a memory, or an inspiration of place, so when I read the copy on their website, "D.S. & Durga believe in a perfume's ability to conjure unseen worlds." Or this one, "A great scent is a world you can return to over and over - a keyhole into another realm." Yes and yes! These people are speaking my language! Their inspirations are diverse. First it was cowboys and pioneers, then Russian novels. Under their Hylands brand name they've explored Scotland, and most recently India has served as inspiration. India was my first experience living abroad, it was my home for four years, and where my babies began their life so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I admit when a perfume has Indian roots I am already half in love; it is up to the perfume to lose my interest because I'm just waiting to embrace it.

Durga is not the powerhouse I am expecting when I first apply. Mind you, my skin seems to annihilate floral notes so I'm a friend to big perfumes.  I smell tuberose immediately and for half a second it has that mentholated smell that can present with tuberose, but then poof, it's gone. The tuberose is green and balmy, but for the moment the note is contained as if being held in check. After a few minutes a slightly discordant note enters. By discordant I don't mean unpleasant, it is a different aura from the white flower scent. At first I think it is marigold but by the perfumer's list I see it is chrysanthemum, a close cousin. I always feel like we in the West look at marigolds and chrysanthemum as second class flowers, but in the East they are valued for their bright colors and given special significance in religious ceremonies. I find the note they lend perfumes a little acrid and herbal, and it definitely takes what could be a white floral extravaganza to a more Eastern vibe with hints of spirituality.  So far this has my interest because there are already a lot of straight tuberose scented perfumes out there. Melon is listed as a note but I don't smell it, and I'm rather pleased at that. Not my favorite note. There is just a whisper of fresh greenness like a honeydew, so maybe it is subtly lifting the scent.

About an hour into the wear notes of orange blossom and jasmine join the tuberose but the three marry well and it's like a beautiful white flower pudding. The florals are amplifying nicely, as if the warmth of my skin is making them bloom. Perhaps the tuberose is still slightly dominate but it's definitely a blend. The ylang ylang and orris butter add creamy warmth to the florals and velvet softness. Durga rises and wanes in strength. Sometimes the white flowers feel tipsy and narcotic. Other times they calm and the ylang ylang scent of powder creaminess takes charge. Occasionally, though, the dry scent of the chrysanthemum cuts through the florals, grounding their sweetness and certainly bringing Durga into unisex perfume territory.

If you will allow me to wax poetic using my very limited knowledge of the complexities of the Hindu religion, one could say that this yin and yang between the sweet heady florals and the more stern earthy chrysanthemum is just another way to illustrate Durga, the goddess of divine power and energy, but also a warrior goddess sometime pictured riding atop a lion. She is a multi-dimensional goddess with many faces, including beauty and knowledge. But the word durga means fortress and Durga can also be a fierce warrior when battling evil, which is her main purpose. I like to think that the florals in Durga represent the sweet and beautiful side of the goddess, more as she is pictured in the top photo. But the earthy chrysanthemum that cuts through the prettiness is a reminder that Durga can be ferocious when riled.

Durga is a compelling perfume with a story to tell if you want, or just enjoy it for a beautiful white floral perfume with a secret hidden in its depths.





Youtube video from https://dhyaanguru.com/. Top photo google image. Purfume sample was my own, purchased from Twisted Lily.