Sweet Do Nothing

My favorite by DSD, an instant love, which is extremely rare for me. When I tried this on in a store, I was wearing it for a while and I forgot which perfume I had sprayed on which wrist, so the sales girl smelled my arms and she was like, “I know this is weird because I don’t even know you, but this smells like you! It smells SO good on you!” And I was just like, yesss! I finally found something that just magically clicks with my chemistry. I totally agreed, but didn’t want to buy until it had been on for an hour+, as I’ve made that mistake many times. It’s subtle, sweet from the orange blossom but not cloyingly so. Also clean but not soapy, just light, bright, almost sparkling. It’s fresh and well balanced with a very alluring amber background/dry down (I know that’s not a listed note, but amber is one of my favorite notes and I distinctly smell it on myself here). Maybe it’s the incense. I don’t get much fig or smoke on myself. It’s unique, very wearable, non-offensive. It’s also 95 degrees and 53% humidity here, so it’s nice to have something that still smells good and not overwhelming in the heat. Some of my favorite perfumes are Ambre Eccentrico, G Water, and Orange Blossom by Jo Malone. It kind of feels like I layered these three together, but in doing so created something very distinct.

My favorite. My daily scent. I am obsessed. This is a perfect fresh summer scent. Totally clean and unisex, feels like standing near a laundry line in the desert in summertime while someone is peeling an orange next to you. The opening is all bright clean citrus zest, a dry rather than sweet orange. The orange blossom and neroli are more soapy than floral, but I wouldn't say this is a soapy fragrance. Someone in the reviews said it smells like orange PEZ and I can kind of see that, because there is a kind of chalkiness in this. It's a dry, unisex fleur d'oranger. The drydown is beautiful but very faint, unfortunately. I have only worn this in hot weather, so maybe in cooler weather it would stick around a bit more. It's a cedary, incensy, barely smokey drydown that gives the vibe of an old desert church like in the opening of Kill Bill 2. I love it, I wish it was stronger. I'd love a little more smoke and wood and incense, actually. Overall, though, nothing but good things to say about SDN. Significantly better than El Cosmico, which I found unbearable. Adore it but the price is quite high considering longevity is a bit lacking. Highly recommend, if you can get it on sale.

This is my favorite scent from DS and Durga, by a mile. I have been to El Cosmico, and Marfa is my happy place. I was so excited when El Cosmico was released, but I find it to be very cloying with a strong cola note. El Cosmico is a scent I wear for me, because on dry down, that sandy desert smell comes out, and really reminds me of my happy place. That said, my boyfriend does not like El Cosmico on me, and says it smells weird. Cue Sweet Do Nothing. This perfume has that same sandy, creosote campfire note that I love about El Cosmico, but the cloying cola note is replaced with white flowers! I am in heaven! To me this is even more reminiscent of the place El Cosmico, and with that floral opening, a real showstopper. For context, my daily perfume is Eau des Sens from Diptyque, so orange blossom and neroli are scents I adore. Boyfriend likes this one a lot, I get my sandy desert memory perfume. Win/win. For me, it's full bottle worthy and will definitely be making its way into my signature scent rotation.

I chose SDN as one of my 4 samples in DS&D’s discovery kit. I’ll be honest—it was the one I was least excited about and when it arrived I wasn’t impressed. Imagine my surprise when I decided to try it again a few days later and instantly fell in love. Initially I get bright, juicy green cactus with sweet fig notes deftly woven throughout. It’s a different fig than is present in Debaser (which I also adore), possibly due to the somehow both delicate and intense white and yellow florals that emerge in the dry down. The longevity and sillage are not great for the price point, but they aren’t terrible either. Tbh, I don’t mind reapplying throughout the day if it means I get to experience such a complex, layered fragrance. The longer SDN is on my skin the warmer it gets. I’m constantly getting whiffs of a warm, musky spice that I can’t quite place but I ADORE. Scents like these are why I love niche perfume so much.

Creosote and cactus flowers, airy and open. A cool sweetness. White floral high notes on a wide desert expanse. Neroli and cedar in complex harmony. Morning dew on orange blossoms with a hint of pepperiness. This is the brightness of the desert in fall, a high wintery light, the cool air of sunrise, bare scent carried on the wind. A backbone of creosote, earthy and grounding, sage green and intensely alive. There’s an element of water here, cool, tranquil as a rock pool. A brightness like the sun in your eyes. I don’t get the incense directly as much as I sense it almost like a tether that keeps the fragrance from becoming overly sweet. Musk drifts in on the dry down to cradle the disparate notes, a cocoon of warmth that mirrors the sun.