Dawn Spencer Hurwitz doesn't need any introductions on Cafleurebon.  DSH is one of the most prolific perfumers' we know; Dawn created Lautrec for our 1st  birthday, has appeared in our CafleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery series, has gone Behind the Bottle once before with Mark Behnke and was named best perfumer of 2010 by Ida Meister.  I googled DSH perfumes and CaFleureBon and there are over 12,000 results 

 

 

Thank you Dawn for "breaking" Mirabella on CafleureBon. Mirabelle means plum in French. What is the genesis of your new perfume.

DSH: Mirabella is based on the counterpoint relationship of tuberose and osmathus in a grand floral floral structure… but was expanded by the spiced plum note in the top and the warm resins and oakmoss in the dry down.

Top: botanical spiced plum accord, bergamot, orange blossom absolute and broom absolute

Heart: osmanthus absolute, grandiflorum, sambac and juhi jasmine absolutes, rose damask, centifolia rose, tuberose absolute, tuberosa accord, ylang ylang and French beeswax

Base: orris concrete, benzoin, labdanum, Australian sandalwood, East Indian patchouli, green oakmoss, (implied) leather, vanilla absolute, castoreum and civet

The Purple Dress, by Henri Matisse (one of Dawns's favorite artists)

   
This is a sophisticated perfume, and although it's a shared fragrance, it leans towards the feminine…i.e the name Mirabella…

 DSH: The name Mirabella was suggested by my apprentice, Amber Jobin, who loved the plum note and I just loved how the name encompasses the energy of a mature, sophisticated woman and the sense of a grand floral perfume that has morphed into a rich fruity-floriental – chypre.

Is this a botanical fragrance as it was "the fruit" of the project between you and Mandy Aftel who only works in naturals?

DSH:  I started out thinking it would be an all botanical but after getting into the design, I realized that structurally, it needed the synthetics to create the space for the botanicals to flourish within the perfume. I wanted to keep it pretty botanical but in the end it needed the strength of the synthetics to really be the perfume I had in mind.

I don't often review a fragrance these days and I miss that pleasure. If Lautrec was created for CaFleureBon,then it feels like Mirabella would have been created for me; no other new perfume this year embodies my own sensibility. My first impression is that Mirabella was Serge Luten's Feminitie du Bois's skin twin. Although there is no cedarwood in Mirabella, there are spices, plum, woods, bergamot, benzoin, and honey. Both are tributes to sensuality and to the quintessential beauty of a woman. Comparing fragrances is not my style; yet the resemblance on my skin is remarkable. 

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