DSH Perfumes Le Serval Review (Dawn Spencer Hurwitz) 2020 + Beautiful Creature Draw

November 16, 2020November 16, 2020

DSH Perfumes Le Serval, artwork by Massimo Alfaioli

Perfumer and artist Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has created so many gorgeous, unique fragrances that it seems folly to try to attempt to choose her best works. But I can tell you right now that Le Serval – a gorgeous, animalic, flowery honey scent – belongs in that elite category. Inspired by a rare, elegant big cat native to the savannas of Northern Africa, Le Serval displays in a single bottle several of the styles Spencer Hurwitz does so beautifully in a harmonious, alluring composition. I know of very few perfumers who can create florals that are simultaneously opulent and airy, give the impression of honey where none is present, or render animal notes in such a lifelike way that they seem to embody a living creature. The result is a fragrance of beautiful contradictions: sensual yet lighthearted, rich but ethereal, exotic yet familiar, a retro-tinged modern that smells timeless.

photo of Serval cat at the Denver Zoo© Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Dawn relates that she was galvanized into making a perfume using African materials during a trip to the Denver Zoo with her son six years ago: “We had walked through much of the park, the sun was lowering in the sky to a glowing red coal, and it was nearly closing time. That was when I turned a corner and caught a whiff of a distinctively warm, honeyed ‘animal’ mixed with a spicy, grassy hay and a surprisingly sweet, almost fruit-like note. I followed my nose until I found her, asleep, in the dusky heat. The Serval cat.”

DSH Perfumes Le Serval combines the silken opulence of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s Lis Oriental (2018) – my favourite of her many lovely florals – with the sexy, syrupy animal notes of 2016’s sultry Chinchilla to create a hypnotic scent that melds animalic notes with honey, lush flowers, woods and sweet hay. The opening moments are lusciously edible: A sliver of fresh-cut ginger slicing through a thick rivulet of honey and beeswax, with touches of cinnamon bark, bergamot and neroli. But as Le Serval heats on the skin, the gourmand notes quiet down a bit and a distinct furry note begins to prowl around the edges like a restless cat. Cedar sawdust, with its sweaty undertone, amps up the feral elements, and the rustling, farmyard aroma of dried hay emerges. There’s a smudge of smoke and the bitter earthiness of oakmoss. We are in Le Serval’s habitat now.

DSH Perfumes Le Serval by Massimo Alfaoli

Using a host of African aromatics, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz rounds out her composition with accords and tinctures that are not likely familiar to Western noses: Muhuhu, a Kenyan tree with a balsamic quality apparently similar to sandalwood; gingery African bluegrass; Namibian Bushman’s candle which smells of beeswax; karo karounde, a West African flower potently akin to jasmine, smoky green heartwood, honey bush and the herbaceous carthamus flower (safflower). The integration of these unaccustomed notes turn the dial from familiar to strange in a fascinating way. One moment, I feel like I am smelling the perfume of a 40s screen siren, voluptuous animal and floral notes hoisted by aldehyde; minutes later, I am breathing in dried hay, uncommon wood aromas and the sweat of something feline and dangerous padding silently in tall dry grasses nearby.

There’s a great deal of cleverness in Le Serval’s construction. Aldehydes, which so frequently announce vintage bombshell fragrances, are unobtrusive here, used for their lightening effect rather than for effervescence; honey bush and beeswax stand in for the denser bouquet of honey, which gives space to rose, karo karounde and jasmine notes in the middle. And instead of going for full-blown eroticism with civet and honey musk, Dawn tempers them to suggest a warm-blooded animal rather than sex.

photo by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Smoky sky in Boulder2020©

As it ebbs, Le Serval leaves a lingering impression of warmth, like a vast sun dipping below a streaked horizon as the night air cools. Snuggling into honeyed wood notes, the furry, bodily aspects persist until they finally settle down to sleep in crackled hay. Le Serval is profoundly lovely, as close to cuddling up with the resplendent creature it is named for as dreams will allow.

Notes: African bluegrass, African ginger root co2, African green heart wood, African savanna air (accord), aldehydes, ambergris, Atlas cedarwood, bergamot, brown oakmoss, bushman’s candle tincture, carthamus flower, cassis bud, civet, Egyptian rose geranium, frankincense co2 Absolute, French beeswax, grandiflorum jasmine, hay absolute, honey Bush co2, honey musk, karo karounde, Moroccan rose Absolute, muhuhu, musk rose, oakwood co2, oppopanax, oud crassna, Tunisian neroli.

Disclaimer: Sample of DSH Perfumes Le Serval kindly provided to me by DSH Perfumes. My opinions are my own.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

DSH Perfumes Le Serval by Massimo Alfaoli ( the talented artist who has worked with CaFleureBon on Bogue OOH ! and our 10^th anniversary illustrations among others)

Thanks to the generosity of DSH Perfumes, we have a 10 ml bottle of VDP or EDP of DSH Le Serval for one registered reader worldwide. Please register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about DSH Perfumes Le Serval and where you live. What is your favorite DSH Perfume. Draw closes 11/20/2020.

All art and images from Dawn Spencer Hurwitz and Massimo Alfaoli

This is our Privacy and Draw Rules Policy

We announce the winners only on our site and on our Facebook page, so like Çafleurebon and use our blog feed … or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.