DSH Perfumes Drama Queen for ÇaFleureBon by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz with spiral staircase (Dean Ha – Pexels) photo by Associate Contributor Tony Burgess (his own limited edition bottle purchased from DSH Perfumes)

“Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star
And everybody’s in show biz, it doesn’t matter who you are
And those who are successful
Be always on your guard
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along Hollywood Boulevard. 

I wish my life was non-stop Hollywood movie show
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.” ~ Celluloid Heroes, written by Ray Davies of The Kinks

 

 

Collage by Sr. Editor Despina Veneti, featuring ÇaFleureBon &  DSH PERFUMES DRAMA QUEEN FOR ÇAFLEUREBON, Rita Hayworth in “The Lady from Shanghai” (1946), Elizabeth Taylor in” Suddenly, Last Summer” (1959), Ava Gardner in “The Killers” (1946), Maria Callas as Medea (1959, John Franks/Getty Images©) and Dorothy Dandridge in “Tamango” (1958).

When Editor-in-Chief Michelyn Camen first told me of her concept for DSH Perfumes Drama Queen for ÇaFleureBon, the celebratory perfume to be composed on the occasion of ÇaFleureBon’s 11th anniversary – it was all I could do to quiet the song in my head, Celluloid Heroes by The Kinks. This song may have been released in 1972, but its message is timeless: what occurs behind the curtain often belies the glossy images created by the camera for the public eye’s consumption. Beautiful, forceful and vulnerable tragic heroines have provided ample Muse for both Michelyn and perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz throughout their long and fruitful friendship: Frida Kahlo (La Casa Azul, Flores Bonitas y Corazones Rotos), Maria Callas (I Fiori Bel Canto), Elizabeth Taylor (Rubis Rosé). ÇaFleureBon’s annals are emblazoned with images of screen goddesses who glittered like so many scattered diamonds, only to suffer privately – the casualties of doubt, despair, betrayal, loss, addiction. This is not happenstance; both creatives feel the truth of this disparity. And of course, there is glamour…DRAMA! That cloak of irresistibility which envelops one with invisible power…

 

(L) Dawn Spencer Hurwitz  with the Art and Olfaction Award for Colorado for American Perfumer and Michelyn Camen Editor in Chief of CaFleureBon holding the fragrance at Esxence 2019

When Dawn refers to a perfume “which Michelyn could wear”, that is truth itself. Our Editor-in-Chief has noteworthy skin – one which makes candied notes sing. She’s an orange blossom lover who delights in jasmin sambac, vanillic aromas; delicate scents suit her perfectly (one year I gave her a flacon of Prada Benjoin No.9, which smells heavenly on her). Dawn and Michelyn dreamed of brilliant aldehydes and big white florals underscored by a degree of depth; pensive reflection tinged with veiled sorrows – precisely what was required to depict the duality of film idol identity.

Judy Garland in Busby Berkeley’s Ziegfield Girls 1941 (Judy…she was a DRAMA Queen)

When I received the ‘first draft’ of DSH Perfumes Drama Queen for ÇaFleureBon I was blinded by starry aldehydes, snowy/white/floral in nature; it set me reeling. Effusive blossoms were everywhere vying for attention, and the base was rather quiet – lightly woody and softly musky. As gorgeous as it was, it felt as if a sfumato shading underneath its flowery heart might more fully express the breadth of the fragrance. Dawn obliged by upping the oakmoss in its base, which really amplified the shadowy aspects of fame and fortune. This tender melancholia which currently underpins an immense fruity floral expansivity (Woman is truly Femme Fleur here) is poignantly beautiful.

Cristian Mariancuic aka Icarus in Midair Artwork for DSH Perfumes Drama Queen for CaFleureBon and Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra 1963

DSH Perfumes Drama Queen for ÇaFleureBon introduces herself by letting slip the silky crystalline hint of pear tinged with citrus from her pearly shoulder like so much lingerie. A drop of cassis, because it’s plain naughty and fresh; a soupçon of muguet for sweetness. Then the showgirls swan in fully arrayed: bosomy tuberose, indolic jasmines and buttery ylang ylang align themselves with neroli and orange blossom as if they were Ziegfield girls. The room lights up with barely-charmeuse-clad femme fatales adorned with plush aromatic finery; the camera idolizes them, caressing their every slink for posterity. When the curtains descend, however – these voluptuous women are revealed against a backdrop of sorrows: the sweat and greasepaint (civet, ambergris, musk, rose), the well-trodden floorboards (cedar, sandalwood), regret (oakmoss) and nostalgia (vanilla, benzoin, tolu balsam)

Greta Garbo, Mata Hari 1931 © photo by Milton Brown

DSH Perfumes Drama Queen for ÇaFleureBon is a very contemporary perfume sheathed in neo-retro guise. While it possesses many of the attributes one may seek in a classic vintage perfume (quality materials, richness, timeless elegance, balance), it never smells fusty or dated, as if it had been enjoying relic status in grandmamma’s attic. I find it to be all about glamour – theatrically exquisite and running the gamut of emotion, but not a period piece. It’s for everyone.

“Don’t step on Greta Garbo as you walk down the Boulevard
She looks so weak and fragile that’s why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne
But she turned her back on stardom
Because she wanted to be alone.”

Notes: Aldehydes, red mandarin, bergamot, pear, cassis, neroli, jasmine sambac, jasmine grandiflorum, orange blossom, tuberose, Egyptian rose, lily of the valley, ylang ylang, sandalwood, cedar wood, vanilla, benzoin, tolu balsam, oakmoss, civet, ambergris, musk.

Samples sweetly provided by the perfumer – many thanks!  My nose is my own…

~ Ida Meister, Deputy Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor

Collage of multi-award winning and birthday celebrant Deputy Editor Ida Meister by Nicoleta

Thanks to the generosity of perfumer Dawn Spencer-Hurwitz, we are celebrating our 11th anniversary AND Ida’s birthday with a draw for 10 ml EDP/VDP of DSH Perfumes Drama Queen for ÇaFleureBon to one registered reader reader, (you must register here) anywhere in the world. To be eligible, please leave a comment regarding what appeals to you about Ida’s review, where you live and your best wishes. Draw Ends 4/9/21

April 7, 2021 is Ida Meister’s birthday so please join us in honoring Ida (she had no idea I was doing this). From my heart -without Ida there would not be a ÇaFleureBon. She embodies all we stand for– painting with words and presenting fragrance through an artistic lens. Her poetic, transportive journalism, unapparelled work ethic and passion for perfume means so much to me, her colleagues and to our readers. On a personal note I treasure our eleven year friendship -Michelyn

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