“Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird”, 1940. Via wiki

Why do you stand by the window
Abandoned to beauty and pride
The thorn of the night in your bosom
The spear of the age in your side
Lost in the rages of fragrance
Lost in the rags of remorse
Lost in the waves of a sickness That loosens the high silver nerves ~ The Window, by Leonard Cohen

Frida Khalo painting Self Portrait Along the Border Line Between Mexico and the United States, 1932 Courtesy of www.FridaKahlo.org 

You cannot bear to look; you dare not avert your gaze. So it is with the agonizingly haunting, harrowingly beautiful self-portraits of Frida Kahlo. She is brutally truthful in depiction, never sparing herself – while photographic evidence reveals another narrative, that of a physically compelling woman of noble bearing, elegant and arresting. One sees contemplation, wit, humor, the unquenchable thirst which characterizes her pursuit of life and experience.

Wounded Deer, 1946 by Frida Kahlo via wiki

It is only natural that artisanal perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz finds both Frida the woman and her work fascinating and an ongoing source of inspiration. The fateful tram accident at age 18 (which fractured her spine and pelvis) set the stage for a lifetime of pain, numerous surgeries (none of which were helpful for any length of time) and her inevitable battle with infertility (multiple miscarriages, abortion), the constant battle with addiction (painkillers, alcohol, drugs). Frida’s triumph was both spiritual and physical: she refused to succumb solely to despair, choosing instead to play out her inner dramas on canvas. There we feel her profound connection to nature, culture, beauty; her own suffering depicted with the famous necklace of thorns and hummingbird and again, as a wounded deer in the forest – still standing, in motion, even –  regarding the implied viewer attentively, perhaps with more than a shadow of hauteur. These were the paintings as aromatic wellspring. How then could I avoid culling verse from Canadian poet laureate Leonard Cohen’s The Window? Thorns, spears, blood, fragrance? They were interwoven with verse, image, odor.

“But climb on your tears and be silent
Like a rose on its ladder of thorns”.

Don Quixote by Pablo Picasso

The Blood Rose of Thorns and Tears: DSH Perfumes Flores Bonitas y Corazones Rotos – pretty flowers and broken hearts. Quite literally. Dawn’s portrayal is poignant and stirs potent emotions within us, memories which bubble up to the surface of our consciousness, leaving tendrils trembling just beneath its veil. These heartbreaking glorious roses are blood-streaked, dappled with the faint aroma of iron which feels naturally sanguine: fearlessness is pathos-tinged, not dissimilar to Don Quixote taking on windmills. Although Don Quixote de la Mancha is battle-weary, the sun is shining, Sancho Panza is by his side (as are Frida’s ever-present animal familiars in her portraits); he will fight the good fight until the last. I feel them to be related.

Feeding the ducks (© IMEC / Fonds MCC / Dist. Rmn / Photo Gisèle Freund)

Brilliant materials deepen the palette of DSH Perfumes Flores Bonitas y Corazones Rotos: cassis bud (aka black currant) imparts animalic notes along with a faintly phenolic tang, deeply wine-like yet green. Hay absolute shares verdancy but contributes a jammy, dried fruit which waxes poetically soft with coumarin; jasmines run from fruity floral (juhi jasmine) to narcotically indolic (grandiflorum); they’re enamored of all the rosy attributes, furthered by rose geranium and the perfumer’s choice rose accords/absolutes. Dusky, leather/fur/flesh notes simmer like undercurrents: cumin, labdanum, civet, deer musk accord, ambrette, ambergris are paired with West Indian sandalwood’s balsamic sweetness (amyris) and finely aged patchouli softened by Peru balsam, its ambery warmth hinting of cinnamon. DSH Perfumes Flores Bonitas y Corazones Rotos Flores Bonitas y Corazones Rotos commences willful and wantonly, full of floral vigor and stubbornly lovely; it dries down to an earthy, animalic-hued enigma. I’ll admit that I’m smitten and be done with it. Given her love for oriental fragrances (Emir by Dana and her lifelong favorite Shalimar), I suspect that Frida would be greatly pleased as well…

Notes: bergamot, leafy green accord, green rose leaves, azalea accord, blood rose accord, Turkish rose otto, Bulgarian rose absolute, Egyptian rose geranium, jasmine grandiflorum, juhi jasmine absolute, cassis bud, orris concrete, hay absolute, cumin, labdanum, civet, deer musk accord, ambrette seed, amyris, East Indian patchouli, ambergris, Peru balsam

Sample kindly provided by the perfumer – I’m in love with it! Many thanks.  My nose is my own…

~ Ida Meister, Senior Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor

DSH Perfumes Flores Bonitas y Corazones Rotos courtesy of Dawn

 

Thanks to the generosity of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz we have a draw for a 10 ml EDP or VDP of DSH Perfumes Flores Bonitas y Corazones Rotos for one registered reader worldwide. Please be sure to register. To be eligible please let us know what appeals to you about Ida’s review and where you live. Today July 6th is the 113 anniversary of Frida Khalo’s birthday. Draw closes 7/9/2020

If by now you have not ordered a sample of a DSH Perfumes  or own a bottle-shame on you😊-Michelyn

Editor’s Note: With this series DSH Perfumes is donating 25% of sales to KIND : Kids In Need of Defense. “We really want to help children caught in an insecure world, brought there in ways beyond their control.”

You can read Ida’s review of  DSH Perfumes La Casa Azul Frida Series 1.1 here

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