DSH Perfumes Balls Said the Queen courtesy of DSH Perfumes
“Figs…The proper way to eat a fig, in society, Is to split it in four, holding it by the stump, and open it, so that it is a glittering, rosy, moist, honied, heavy-petalled four-petalled flower. Then you throw away the skin. Which is just like a four-sepalled calyx. After you have taken off the blossom with your lips. But the vulgar way
Is just to put your mouth to the crack, and take out the flesh in one bite.
Every fruit has its secret. The fig is a very secretive fruit. As you see it growing, you feel at once it is symbolic: And it seems male. But when you come to know it better, you agree with the Romans, it is female. Honey-white figs of the north, black figs with scarlet inside, of the south. Ripe figs won’t keep in any clime.
What then, when women the world over have all bursten into self-assertion? And bursten figs won’t keep? ~ D. H. Lawrence, 1924, San Gervasio
fig eating scene from Ken Russell’s 1969 film Women in Love
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz murmurs ‘fig’ – and I’m awash in D. H. Lawrence poetry. It wasn’t much of a leap, I’ll warrant: as a fifteen-year-old riveted to the silver screen, hungrily viewing Ken Russell’s 1969 adaptation of Lawrence’s highly erotic (and homoerotic) novel Women in Love, the fig eating scene with Oliver Reed, Alan Bates and young Glenda Jackson wasn’t exactly forgettable. Iconic, elemental, Biblical: the fig resembles both testes and the female yoni. What other fruit leaf might so readily disguise the genitals of Adam and Eve? And if the Garden of Eden existed in a Mediterranean clime, then fig is an obvious choice.
Helena Bonham Carter as Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton 2010
“Balls… said the Queen. If I had them, I’d be King.” ~ from The Night of the King’s Castration – scurrilous doggerel verse passed by word of mouth since the 1950s (possibly even earlier) amidst drinking and carousing groups, including the British military forces.
William Adolphe Bouguereau Nymphs and Satyr
DSH Perfumes Balls Said the Queen arises from a playful, pithy place: the land of double entendre, risqué repartee – so if one is looking for the classically milky sweet fig scent, extra-gourmand creaminess and perhaps vast expanses of the vanillic/coconutty, you won’t find it here. Then there are the figgy wood scents, dry and raspy, verdant, somewhat arid – which speak of tree and leaf alone: again, they don’t tread the path taken by (one of) Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’ latest fragrance. Where, then, do we go? Look no further than this roguish growling green beast who trails a fruity muskiness in its wake: juicy, bitter, frisky, gender fluid and utterly compelling. I find it oddly beautiful – in this wise, it bears a kinship to her Vert et Noir, Albino, or Cuir et Champignon (I’d mention Wasabi Shiso, but I speak of it so often, it doesn’t seem right). Many DSH perfumes are classical in feel, traditionally beautiful – but our perfumer also exhibits an avant-garde dimension which relishes the experimental, unusual aromatic couplings. Art may unsettle, upset the apple cart; it’s not necessarily required to soothe, comfort or hold up a mirror to our existence, although it often does. In Balls Said the Queen, sensuality is completely unambiguous; it’s the sexuality which is open to interpretation…
Dawn with Cecil the Fig Tree via DSH Perfumes Instagram
Dawn’s inspiration arose from Cecil, the fig tree companion who shares her studio. This I understand well, having inherited a fig tree from my eldest after he determined that it would not survive the move cross-country from Cambridge, Massachusetts to St. Paul, Minnesota.
a photo of Ida’s fig tree
Fig trees embody a certain presence with their luxurious multi-lobed leaves, woody branches straining towards the light with phototropic yearning. Often wherever a seed is dropped and lands, it will take root: the memory of a lone fig erupting from the side of the ancient Pont du Gard in southern France is indelible. Figs and olives symbolize the Venerable Indestructible to me (along with oaks and many conifers); how they survive, thrive and produce fruit seems miraculous in itself.
Dawn’s “balls” the figs from her tree via Instagram
Few fruits will unhinge you the way a ripe fig will, with its seductively plump teardrop form. Even the skin is a hedonistic pleasure – it so clearly feels like stroking a nearby testicle, all velvety with gentle ridges and slightly fuzzy, like peach skin. When split or burst it resembles the vulva, especially when the fruit’s revealed flesh appears pink or scarlet in hue, dripping juice. The sap from the stem is milky as semen. I needn’t elaborate further.
Queen Hatshepsut had herself portrayed as both a man and woman, here as as a man, with a male body and false beard (which Egyptian Pharaohs wore and was always made of goats hair and scented with labdanum (1503-1482 B.C.) via wiki
DSH Perfumes Balls Said the Queen opens with a distinctly salty, mineral aspect – sunlight, salt, fruit and wood. Dawn has created multiple accords which evoke a briny rose, sculptured stone, the verdancy of green grapes. I love the complex fruitiness of olive absolute (I keep several samples of it on hand) combined with her summoning of the smooth durable wood lying beneath its bark: a lovely savoriness which plays well with her other chosen elements. It fascinated that Dawn elected, very specifically – to conjure a ‘green tiger fig”, as opposed to other possibilities.
via unsplash
After a bit of research I discovered that green tiger figs (also known as panache figs) are slightly dry but extremely sweet and can be cultivated successfully in the Northwestern U.S. where our perfumer lives – so they would be more readily available on a local level. Never having tasted one I can’t speak to its texture or flavor, but this fragrance balances the sweet and dry deftly, inferring that the subtext is unequivocally carnal. Simply peruse the materials: the animalic grandiflorum jasmine (my personal favorite); the famous unwashed scalp note of costus; furry beeswax; leathery labdanum; ambrette and known ouds possessed of both rich fruity and fleshly wood facets. Sandalwood, patchouli, cedar conspire to round out what might otherwise prove an astringent fragrance. Coconut pulp co2 has been utilized in several of Dawn’s fragrances of late (Heirloom Elixir Airavata, Hot Masala, Figue Interdite) for its buttery tropical tones and ability to round out rough edges, add texture. It is subtle in Balls…, as the desire to convey full fleshiness mustn’t revert to a beachy island getaway motif – and it never does. The simmering, delicately beastly components purr during the drydown, clad in slightly raunchy skins which exude animal intent.
I would refer to Balls… Said the Queen as a Playful Feral fragrance. Perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz perceives it as ‘badass’ – and I’ll second that any day. Behold the tantalizing fig, leather-loined and prurient as Pan.
Notes: peach skin accord, coconut pulp co2, green grape accord, green tiger fig accord, stone fig leaf accord, grandiflorum jasmine, olive absolute, olive wood accord, salted rose accord, East Indian patchouli, honey beeswax, costus, labdanum, Virginia cedar, Australian sandalwood, honey musk, ambrette, oud Crassna, oud Maleki
Sample provided by the perfumer – many heartfelt thanks! My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Senior Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor
DSH Perfumes Balls Said the Queen via Instagram screen shot
Thanks to the generosity of perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, we are offering a 10 ml VdP rollerball pen of DSH Perfumes Balls.Said the Queen for one registered reader worldwide. You must register or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Ida’s review and where you live. Draw closes September 4, 2020. Do you have a favorite fig-themed fragrance? By now WE know you have a favorite DSH Perfume… so leave that in your comment as well.
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