DSH Perfumes Dark Moon with Unsplash background by Nicoleta ©
It’s an uncommonly cold and rainy spring this year, and I immensely enjoy it – as the prospect of the scorching heat of summer is the real soul chiller in my book. So, even though it’s almost May, I still have on my tray of heavy rotation my beloved “wintery” fragrances. My latest discovery (although it was composed in 2016 Holiday #16) is DSH Perfumes Dark Moon, and from the first time I put it on my skin, I let out a deep sigh, one from the “where have you been all my life” intensity.
via unsplash
I have often spoken of my favorite genre of perfumery – chypre, and the way it represented the rabbit hole that I stumbled upon in my childhood, drawing me into the magical world of perfumery, a time that I recollected, in detail, in my fragrant awakening. I have always connected to chypres in the strongest and most visceral ways, connecting them to remnants of the memory of an imaginary home, one I have never seen but always felt gut-wrenching nostalgic for, even before knowing how to define nostalgia. Not as often, but close, I have sung numerous praises to the gourmand chocolate scents, and how this “food of the gods” translates so well into perfumery. Cocoa can fire those feel-good, mood-lifting chemicals into our brains, and it’s no wonder we love to smell chocolate almost as much as we love to eat it, and scientists agree: it’s proven that eating a bar of chocolate might cheer you up, but sniffing it calms you down.
DSH Perfumes Dark Moon takes this feeling of anemoia and turns it around playfully, with twists and turns that make the fragrance stimulating enough to make your head spin with associations, your mouth water with gourmand hints, and your stress melt away into deep relaxation.
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz courtesy of the Perfumer
“Every year I create a new Holiday design… to celebrate the season, whether it be about Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah, or just the beauty of winter time. Dark Moon is a rich and sophisticated ‘chocolate chypre’ with notes of red wine, dark chocolate, and warming holiday spices. At the darkest times we need solace; comfort and warmth are paramount. The Dark Moon signals a new beginning… Holiday Season, the New Moon / Dark Moon comes just after the winter solstice and in the northern hemisphere, the darkest day of the year. As for me, I plan to go inside (literally and figuratively), sip dark wine, eat dark chocolate, and commune with my soul. This is the perfume that I’ll take with me… for comfort and companionship” – Dawn Spencer Hurwitz about Dark Moon in 2016
Photo by DSH Perfumes©
Wearing the fragrance on my skin the first time made me feel like a chocolate-binging wine-sipping happy werewolf. A werewolf that stopped being a worry wolf and suddenly relaxed, starting to purr.
Imagine waking on the banks of a river of slow-flowing thick wild honey, crossing through a dark forest. The smell of dark earth, deep woods, and the wet leaves mingles in the night with sweetened ambers reflected the yellow moonlight. You arrive home, in your cabin in the woods and wrap yourself in a fluffy blanket. The crackling sound of the fireplace, the wafts of spices coming from the kitchen slowly warm you up, and times seems to stop and embrace you in a bubble of comfort. You sigh, a werewolf-turned-hobbit, pour yourself a glass of perfectly aged sweet and dry wine, pick the fluffiest blanket and slowly sink into the comfiest armchair.
Screenshot from The Witcher video game & bottle of Dark moon, collage by Nicoleta
With a bar of chocolate in one hand and a glass of dry red wine in the other, DSH Perfumes Dark Moon is a perfect sidekick for your moments of comforting indulgence. An innovative play on the gourmand theme, with a retro chypre backbone, perfectly balanced and deeply addictive, this comforting beast with soft paws might make you fall hard for it. One minor side effect: might make you sing.
“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper ambers and warm woolen mittens
Werewolves and chocolate and the joy the wine brings
These are a few of my favorite things.”
Notes: Ambery, Bergamot, Black Pepper, Brown Oakmoss, Bulgarian Rose Absolute, Bulgarian Rose Otto, Cassis Bud, Cocoa Beans, Cognac, Dark Chocolate, Fossilized Amber Resin, Fragrant Wine (Accord), Grandiflorum Jasmine, Himalayan Cedar, Honey Beeswax, Incense, Labdanum, Madeira (accord), Myrrh Gum, Nutmeg, Oil Essence, Orris Concrete, Sandalwood, Spice, Vanilla Absolute, White Oak
Nicoleta Tomsa, Senior Editor
Disclosure: Sample kindly provided by DSH Perfumes, opinions are my own
Thanks to the generosity ofDawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes we have of 10 ml VDP of DSH Perfumes Dark Moon for one registered reader in the USA (EDP), EU or UK . You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Nicoleta’s review and where you live. Draw closes 5/3/2022
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