Ostara 1884, Johannes Gehrts
SO many white rabbits from which to choose. Artisan and award winning perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz might easily draw any number of them right out of her capacious chapeau (it’s as big as Edward Lear’s famous Quangle Wangle Quee’s beaver hat which was “a hundred and two feet wide, with ribbons and bibbons on every side”!). What Dawn’s White Rabbits are NOT: a) related to Grace Slick; b) derived from John Tenniel’s illustrations of Alice in Wonderland; c) co-conspirators of Bunnicula (who meets Edgar Allan Crow); d) cousins of Rosemary Well’s winsome Max and Ruby. What White Rabbits ARE: mythic archetypal symbols of femininity associated with the lunar cycle, fertility, longevity and rebirth. They are also contrarians and the height of paradox – symbols of both foolishness and cleverness, femininity and androgyny, courage and cowardice, purity and sexuality. Ostara, Celtic goddess of the moon, fertility and Spring is often depicted with a hare’s head or ears and a white hare in attendance. It is this last image I feel most strongly: the heralding of The Eternal Return which is Spring, in whose wake the ancients stood speechless.
Kristen Chenowith as Ostara in American Gods via starz
DSH Perfumes White Rabbits is a worthy addition to her collection, one you won’t want to miss. White Rabbits opens with an herbal and floral flourish, gloriously arrayed in tones of moss green and wisteria. Tendrils of rose and violet peep through the deliciousness of calendula and carrot peppered with angelica. Calendula has always been a favorite of mine: Weleda, a much-loved German skin care line – has chosen it to grace all their baby products for its therapeutic qualities, but we delight in its fresh-as-a-daisy aroma in the process. DSH Perfumes White Rabbits feels well-suited to the task, blithely companionable amidst a wealth of ionones and varieties of orris: silvery, rhizomal and earthily cool. Egyptian rose geranium contributes a vernal minty-green leafiness which enhances both herbal and rosy aspects; oakmoss, its forest floor undertone melding with grassy vetiver. Both ground us, tenderly drawing us closer to earth’s nascent pulse. Tuberose appears as seamlessly buttery and cooperative – she doesn’t grandstand here. What makes white bunny fur bunny fur? That I choose to leave to Dawn, the perfumer’s prerogative, and the sly versatile vegetal ambrette, a musky chameleon – among other sorcery. The inclusion of choicest sandalwoods feels as intuitive as it does perfect.
Kristen Chenowith as Ostara in American Gods via starz
Regardless of the weather New England is seeing lots of snow, desperately trying to make up for previously ‘dry’ months). The Eternal Return is closer than we may be feeling. DSH Perfumes White Rabbits Heirloom Elixir No.5 is a marvelous way to usher it in: hopeful, wistful, charmingly with deep affection and a little bunnyfur. Into each life, however hard – may a kiss of softness fall…?
Notes:calendula CO2, carrot CO2, carrot greens accord, angelica, Egyptian rose geranium, Turkish rose otto, tuberose absolute, orris root, orris concrete, wood violet, Sri Lankan vetiver, green oakmoss, Australian sandalwood, Mysore sandalwood, ambrette seed, white bunny fur accord, musk
Sample kindly provided by the perfumer – many thanks, Dawn! You knew I’d adore this one. My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Senior Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor
~ Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief,
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes
Read more about The Heirloom Elixirs Concept here. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz received our award for Hardest Working Perfume Person 2018 (along with Sara McCartney)
Thanks to the generosity of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz we have a worldwide draw of a 5 ml mini spray sample of DSH Perfumes White Rabbits (a Limited Edition through April 30, 2019 ONLY)
OR
a 6 month Heriloom Elixirs subscription (will start with White Rabbits and receive next two editions) 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. Happy International Women’s Dayon March 8, 2019 (which we think is every day, and not just ONE day a year). Michelyn and Ida chose to feature Dawn and the goddess Ostara. Draw closes 3/9/2019. Please be sure to specify if you want the 5 ml of DSH Perfumes White Rabbits or the 6 month Heirloom Elixirs Subscription in your comment.
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