Dawn’s photo choice for Vers La DSH Perfumes Vers la Voute Etoilee via wiki
Inspiration: Upon listening to composer Charles Koechlin’s Vers la Voute Etoilee (Towards the vault of stars) Nocturne pour orchestre on the radio, perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz felt that well-known gravitational pull of the siren song – “I’d love to create a perfume with that name!”
Patricia Racette (Susannah) and James Kryshak (Little Bat McLean) via San Francisco Opera
The vault of stars is infinitely inspiring; it never loses its lustre. I’m reminded of the scene in Carlisle Floyd’s American opera Susanna, when she and Little Bat are gazing wistfully at the stars in the mountains of Tennessee:
“The sky seems so heavy with stars
That it might fall right down out of heaven
And cover us all up in one big blanket of velvet
All stitched with diamonds!
Ain’t it a pretty night…”
Night by Edward Robert Hughes
The Ancients regarded the celestial canopy with a mixture of awe, admiration and immense curiosity. The Bard draped magnificent words upon Prince Hamlet’s lips: “this brave o’er hanging firmament, this majestical roof, fretted with golden fire”. The night sky kindles reverence by its very nature. It is this dusky, enigma-laden atmosphere which Dawn wished to quicken, fragrant with narcotic spice-embroidered blooms which render eyelids heavy with longing and wonder.
No time like the present. Summer warmth augments all odors as they hang suspended indefinitely. Wouldn’t it be lovely to balance intoxication with delicate diffusivity, a moment of effervescence affixed to luxuriousness? This is the sort of legerdemain which seems second nature for Dawn Spencer Hurwitz – the ability to evoke both ends of the spectrum seamlessly as if it were the most natural thing to do. DSH Perfumes Vers la Voute Etoilee is yet another example of such aromatic interplay. It is a compelling perfume.
Anna Chung©
Shimmering aldehydes announce indolent blossoms, each one spicy in its own right and shamelessly floral. Imagine them hand in glove: elements of clove and nutmeg adorn the honeyed aroma of night-scented stock, so welcome in bouquets; star jasmine’s heady sweet scent (not an actual jasmine but a vining, twining woody evergreen perennial plant); the ham-inflected notes of lily, salty sweet and a little carnal; the shadowy velvet of spicy black petunia petals. I’m certain that our perfumer has been busy creating these accords, as some may be aromachemically suggested but several require considerable skill in order to achieve the desired effect. Put succinctly, there are some materials one just can’t purchase: you have to figure it out for yourself. The choice of animalics here provide a tender furriness which seems to hum underneath, blissfully allied to oakmoss, amber and patchouli – any of which, when overdosed might create a gooey nightmare, particularly when the florals are Sweet all by themselves. Precisely because these materials are in Dawn’s capable hands, we are transported under that ‘one big blanket of velvet all stitched with diamonds’. Night has descended and enveloped us as the heavens are illuminated by gleaming orbs.
Notes: aldehydes, night-scented stock, star jasmine, stargazer lily, black petunia accord, oakmoss, amber, patchouli, French beeswax, musk, civet
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz receiving Art and Olfaction award for American Perfumer Colorado courtesy of Dawn
It feels fitting to celebrate American Independence Day with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz – our first perfumer interviewed in the ÇaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery series begun in July, 2011. Since then, Dawn has won awards internationally, garnering the respect and admiration she merits. When you think about the best American perfumery has to offer – how it can hold its own with the likes of Paris, London, Milan, etc. – DSH Perfumes is right there in the forefront, a bastion of indisputable quality and taste. We at ÇaFleureBon are grateful for Dawn’s presence and for providing an aromatic soundtrack which we adore.
Sample kindly provided by the perfumer, with heartfelt thanks! My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Senior Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor
Art Direction, Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief: Vers la Voute Etoilee is the second in Dawn’s “Nocturne Series”. The first is Je Suis La Lune reviewed by Ida here. Read Dawn’s path to perfumery here
Thanks to the generosity of perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz we have a 10 ml pen of Vers la Voute Etoilee voile de parfum for one registered reader anywhere in the world . To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about DSH Perfumes Vers la Voute Etoilee based upon Ida’s review and where you live. Draw closes July 7, 2019
Please like CaFleurebon Profiles in American Perfumery and your entry will count twice. Please leave that in your comment. We now have 144 American Perfumers, for many first exposure to a global audience. Happy Fourth of July
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