DSH PERFUMES Hot Masala Review (Dawn Spencer Hurwitz) + Sacred Voluptuous Draw

July 24, 2020July 24, 2020

Charcoal Drawing of jasmine with turmeric wash for DSH Perfumes Hot Masala by Dawn

Since March of 2020 social isolation and distancing have changed most of our lives significantly and incontrovertibly.

There are a number of intimate friends who already maintain distance by virtue of their natural existence: eschewing crowds, they are characteristically introverted/sensitive to loud noises, invasive personalities, large gatherings, all manner of stimuli. These beloveds have accommodated with a greater degree of ease and lack of disruption; the rest of us have found it more challenging, a time of built-in stressors. For award-winning artisan perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, the pandemic has possessed the double visage of Janus: on one level, it has provided time and space for her ever-burgeoning creativity. On the other hand, any person attempting to home-school a very bright, creative-spirited and somewhat restless young child can easily identify with her conundrum – how to keep order, discipline, routine + work + create + maintain a household. If this were ever so, it has been magnified incrementally. Frankly, I wonder how she keeps all those balls in the air.

Drawing by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz while home schooling Xander, April 2, 2020 via Instagram

Lock-down has also quickened several concepts/projects, with the result that Dawn has been moved to create all-botanical isolation meditation fragrances such as her recently reviewed TEA and CHARCOAL (by our own Senior Editor Lauryn Beer) and DSH PERFUMES Hot Masala. These perfumes emphasize our need for nourishing the spirit and senses, yet they are worlds apart (and that makes it even more pleasurable).

Dawn’s son Xander as a toddler at India Quality Restaurant

DSH PERFUMES Hot Masala feels very close to my heart, as it does Dawn’s: Indian cuisine and culture are dear to us both. Since the 1980s when we were students (Dawn was at Boston University in Fine Arts, and I was at Boston Conservatory in the Applied Voice department), one of the best Indian meals to be had was (and still is!) in Boston’s Kenmore Square: India Quality. We each dined there, never knowing that 30 years later that little restaurant would be our yearly meeting place. That our extended families and friends would gather to break bread, chatter, catch up with one another’s’ lives.

Times of India masala chai©

After all this time, it is impossible to imagine Dawn without a steamy cup of masala chai, gratefully cradling it in both hands while delighting in the warmth and gorgeous aroma. Or masala anything, for that matter: channa masala is one of her very favorite dishes. When she created Heirloom Elixir No.4: Love is Everything in January 2019, India Quality’s delicious mango lassi (and the Spencer Hurwitz’ equally delicious son Xander) provided inspiration. Now the masala spice mixture takes center stage – and our perfumer showcases these notes, burnishing them so they glow with inner radiance which celebrates the Sacred Voluptuous.

Senior Editor Ida Meister with Xander at India Quality Restaurant-photo Ida

What nourishes, coddles the corporeal self? The silkiness of ghee (clarified butter); turmeric-infused golden milk, composed of coconut milk (and often oil), ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, honey and turmeric (there are many variants): packed with anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatory, excellent for brain health, particularly soothing at bedtime. Coconut pulp is jam-packed with minerals; vanilla is a woody delight. From an olfactory viewpoint, supreme comfort is exuded by these aromatic materials.

Abanindranath Tagore, Bharat Mata. Via wikipedia

White pepper employed in DSH PERFUMES Hot Masala is very piquant, yet has a secondary animalic facet; green cardamom, the welcome essential. Lawang is an Indonesian member of the laurel family which imparts a spicy, clovelike, nutmeggy scent and embellishes the other aromatics. Furthering the tropical sensation is champaca leaf with its rosewood-y greenly floral note, and the surprisingly jungle-y, verdant juhi jasmine (jasmine auriculatum). A good dollop of indolic grandiflorum entwines with exquisite rose; gulab attar is rose distilled in fine sandalwood. Hallowed precious woods and resins conspire to elevate the fragrant tenor with effortless seamlessness: Siam wood and benzoin, Australian and Mysore sandalwoods, sweet and arid myrrh meld with holy frankincense.

DSH PERFUMES Hot Masala offers us respite in troubled times by grounding us, calming the restless monkey mind, and whispering encouragement to our nobler selves.

Notes: green cardamom, white pepper (spicy, animalic secondarily), coconut pulp CO2, butter CO2, golden milk accord, champaca leaf CO2, grandiflorum jasmine, juhi jasmine absolute, gulab attar, lawang (spicy clovelike/nutmeg oil from Indonesia), Australian sandalwood, ambrette, vanilla absolute, Siam benzoin, Siam wood, Mysore sandalwood, myrrh gum, opoponax, frankincense CO2

I received my sample from DSH Perfumes; my nose my own

Ida Meister-Senior Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor

DSH Perfumes Hot Masala (shown as 9 ml antique presentation) via DSH Perfumes website here

Thanks to the generosity of perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, we are offering a 10 ml VdP rollerball pen of DSH PERFUMES Hot Masala 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, if you are using this time for meditation, self-reflection, or be creative, and where you live. Are you homeschooling your child(ren)? Draw closes 7/27/2020

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