Deco Diamonds

Lanier below me has done a completely wonderful job of describing this perfume. I originally received a sample of Deco Diamonds when I noted on my order form that I liked aldehydes, vintage fragrances and animalic notes and this has all of that and much more. My first thoughts were wow, and most of my other thoughts while wearing it were wow. It's so well blended - I could pick out the individual flowers with thought and effort but I prefer to enjoy the end result of being surrounded by brilliant, bright, beautiful, unnamed white flowers on a lovely bed of oakmoss, sandalwood, ambergris. Perfect touches of civet and hyrax make my heart beat faster. There's vintage quality here without any hint of the old-fashioned, if that makes sense. I love it, and have every intention of buying a full sized version very soon.

DSH is a master of vintage style perfume. This is a classical aldehydic floral on the green side, with galbanum at the top, cool abstract florals in the heart, and oakmoss at the base. There is a nice undercurrent of skank that we no longer find in mainstream perfumes. Not my particular style but beautifully executed. I prefer the sultry Chinchilla and mousse de saxe-based Pandora of DSH's vintage-inspired offerings.

Deco Diamonds by the dazzling Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH perfumes is part of her Brilliant Collection. These fragrances were created in conjunction with the Denver Art Museum’s Cartier Exhibit in 2014-15. The first of the four perfumes, Fumee D’or evokes the workroom of the famed French jewelry house. The remaining three in The Brilliant Collection were inspired by three icons of glamour who wore Cartier with flair and style. Jacinthe de Sapphir was inspired by Marie the Queen of Romania who owned a Cartier sapphire bigger than the Ritz! Rubis Rose was inspired by the Cartier suite of ruby and diamonds given to Elizabeth Taylor by her first great love, Mike Todd. And the last Deco Diamonds found its inspiration in the cold and glittering glamor of the Duchess of Windsor. Each of the perfumes in this line also are created in the style and manner of perfumes from the era each woman reigned as a jewelry icon. Dawn has a great talent in creating and an essential understanding of the classics and history of perfume which informs and illuminates her art above and beyond most independent niche houses. This is a perfume of the Jazz Age. As hot as Louis Armstrong’s trumpet solos from the sweltering midnight of Roseland Ballroom and as elegant and sophisticated as George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as it lifted the roof off of Aeolian Hall in 1924. This is a delicious aldehydic jazz age cocktail that sings and swings. The notes are classically composed and unfold as beautifully as any great perfume from the 20’s and 30’s would. Aldehydes are the shooting stars of the perfume... a meteor shower of glorious glamour augmented by sparking neroli and galbanum and a ripe wet fleshy peach. . And of course the flowers are so very artfuly arranged, gardenia, jasmine, honeysuckle dance a sensuous fox trot around an imperious and lush tuberose. But what gives the perfume the gravity of a classic is the addition of not one animalic note but two. Civet and hyrax frolic with a touch of nasty abandon though out the perfume. There is a lush symphonic dry down of jasmine sambac, ambergris, and sandalwood. All wrapped up in a great oak moss. The perfume lasts a good long time on my skin. About 10 hours or so. This is in part due to Dawn’s understanding that the natural notes she uses from natural sources need a synthetic frame to support them. Like the structure of DNA the synthetic notes she uses hold the natural notes in perfume together and give then a longer life. A lesson taught early in the 20th century buy such perfumers as Ernest Beaux and not forgotten by smart perfumers of today. The sillage is as bold and commanding as the Duchess of Windsor was. To wear this perfume is to say that you are a person who knows what they want out of life and how to get it. This is a perfume of confidence that isn’t afraid to be strong and stylish. This bold strength gives Deco Diamonds a masculine edge that I find very appealing. That kind of unisex bravado one finds in many stars of the 1930’s who donned slacks and made them fashionable for women. To put simply, this is a perfume that, like the Duchess of Windsor wears the pants in the family. FOR MY COMPLETE REVIEW AND OBSERVATIONS CHECK OUT MY BLOG SCENTS MEMORY ON WORDPRESS.

#oddnote* for this: SHARP GREENS (tomato leaf/ fig leaf/ violet leaf). ------------------ (*#oddnote refers to INTERESTING DETAILS: notes unlisted, elements that intrigue, overall impressions, unusual accords, or simply unexpected combinations OTHER REVIEWERS, PERHAPS, HAVEN'T MENTIONED. For more #oddnote & #didyouknow bits, find me on Insta @a_nose_knows)

Straddles vintage/modern sensibilities really well! It evokes for me First by Van Cleef and Arpels without totally copying it. Aldehydic, fruity, floral, mossy, and slightly animalic. All the notes are well balanced to create a lovely impressionistic whole.