Dilettante

I am just going to come right out and say it: Dilettante is a spectacular yet simple orange blossom perfume. It starts out like California sunshine, like a freshly plucked orange flower. The heart goes into soapy territory (I happen to love soapy scents), but the drydown...oooooohhhh the drydown! A surprisingly animalic, musky, velvety orange blossom. It smells like orange blossom combined with a very pungent, animalic honey and hints of wood. It didn't seem quite animalic enough for me to believe that any natural animal essences, like civet, were used in the construction of the perfume, but at the same time I would believe it if someone told me they were there. The muskiness is undeniable. At first sillage was quite strong, then it became more of a personal scent. It easily lasted more than 12 hours on me without a touch-up. It is natural, yet it is not linear, despite the focus being clearly on orange blossom. Each phase is like a new way to enjoy the flower, but I am glad the musky drydown is by far the longest phase. Dilettante is another 100% natural perfume that blows my mind with its beauty and longevity, further proving to me that it is wholly and completely unnecessary to use animal ingredients that were cruely/inhumanely harvested. The artistry of this fragrance is undeniable. I am a life-long lover of orange blossoms, and Dilettante is one of the best out there. I never thought of an orange blossom perfume as sensual, but this one is indeed very sensual and intimate. Five gold stars for this rich, golden elixir!

I’m a huge orange blossom fan, and Hiram Green Dilettante delivers. The first hour or so is mostly petitgrain, the leaf of the orange tree, which has a greener, drier citrus flavor than orange peel. Then we get a lovely, swoony, indolic orange blossom, large as life and wonderfully summery. It’s naturally sweet but not too syrupy. There’s also a distinctly musky undertone. And then it opens even farther and seems to have more white florals, maybe a bit of jasmine or even tuberose. Finally there’s a faintly spicy, clove-y afterglow that lasts for hours. A plush, glowing take on orange blossom. Amazingly long-lasting for an all-natural perfume.

The most magical blossoming orange blossom, wonderfully supported by the green, almost sour bitterness of petitgrain. Neither pretty not sweet, Dilettante morphs beautifully throughout the day. This is of the few fragrances I bought 24 hours after trying it for the first time. It evokes memories of my parents' garden in summer, waking up really early when the air's still fresh but with the hum of heat already in the air. Truly a remarkable perfume from a rather exceptional perfumer.

“Radiant Neroli over Base of Sexy Sex” I’m gutted that this was discontinued. I love all things neroli, orange blossom and petitgrain. This is a radiant, zingy, green-faceted neroli that seems to have a mentholated animalic base. The dry down is almost like the purest, most sunny neroli mingled with sweaty skin after sex. I love it; almost finished my bottle, about to look toward repurchasing, to find it discontinued...

It's the end of an era, every last bottle of this gem has been snapped up by the hungry boutique house aficionados. If only I had thought to do the same. Dilettante is (was?) the Platonic ideal of neroli, and the world is a lesser place for its absence. I have attempted, in vain, to find other loves but none can ever capture me the way Dilettante did. Like lightning in a bottle.

Beautiful citrus flower fragrance. The opening is very nice, stronger than I suspected. I do also get a kind of musky smell in the background which adds to its appeal to me. Not too flowery so very unisex, not too feminine at all. Smells very natural and I'm glad I have this in my collection, A definite keeper.

Too bad this has been discontinued. It is a very nice white, natural floral bomb. One of the better white florals in my collection. I will savor the bottle I have knowing it can't be replaced. Hiram makes some of the best natural fragrances out there. I look forward to trying some od his newer creations.

Wore this again and realized it is a beast-mode fragrance, at least on skin. Sillage and longevity are unbelievable. Don't over-spray, 2-3 max as this is strong. Unusual, at least in my experience, for a natural floral to have this kind of trait. I love it and am glad I blind-bought it.

I snoozed and I lost on this one. So fabulous, this is IT for neroli. It's sweet and feminine yet earthy and damp. Orange blossom from the branch to the pollen. Completely FBW.

This is a great orange blossom, so long lasting and just perfect in its simplicity. What a shame that this gem has been discontinued.

So Hiram Green is a perfumer that I have great affection for simply based on Slowdive, a fragrance I adore with every fibre of my being. Moonbloom is naturally stunning and Hyde, Lustre etc... deliver what is expected from the raw materials used. I'm in two minds about the compositions though, because they do heavily rely on one fantastic raw material. There's nothing wrong with that, showcasing a single material is harder than it seems and knowing just how painstaking perfumery is, it's really not that simple. However, the end result will be if you're just not that into Bulgarian Rose absolute then something like Lustre for example, is so dominant and doesn't have much else there to cling on to. I would never go as far to say it's lazy or one dimensional but it's no symphony of notes found in a classic chypre or something, but then again it's not trying to be and Hiram Green makes a deliberate, stylistic choice to make perfumes this way. Anyway, this one is an orange blossom of the highest clarity and like most scents from this brand impeccably rendered and made with the purist in mind. I'd say this is less on the lactonic, waxy, lightly powdered side you get from orange blossom's by Francis Kurkdjian or Serge Lutens Fleure d'Oranger and instead with a wetter, more fresh bouquet. It's quite green in the opening and does have some of the typical, leafy citrus of petitgrain. As it settles though the floral musk develops more sour and what I perceive as vaguely animal aspects start to chime in, lightly projecting and reminding me of the challenges I faced in enjoying Orange blossom for many years. However, when I sniff close to my skin all the sweet orange is still there and I release a sigh of satisfaction at just how lovely this white floral component can be. I have a neroli material that exhibits greener characteristics and not something I'd really picked up on in 'neroli' perfumes until I tried Pink Neroli from Abel. Not a coincidence then that they are a natural brand too. I don't usually talk about comments or god forbid 'compliments' but this has received several remarks from my family already today. My partner said I smelled like her 'old nan' she also mentioned 4711 which I totally get. Then my Mum said I reminded her of 'old lady' (she is one like but...) and said it reminded her of a Coty perfume she used to wear in the 60's or whatever and Yardley Freesia...and 4711 my mum was FULL of the perfume history knowledge today! Haha...My sister thought it was awful. This is lasting very well as expected, because despite being all natural Hiram Green perfumes last very well and Orange blossom is pretty tenacious stuff. I'm enjoying it as a multifaceted orange blossom of supreme quality and although it's less headache inducing than the Serge Luten's I think I'd rather have that as it's a bit more predictably sweet throughtout. Wouldn't be suprised if Orange blossom aficionados rank this among the very best.

Edit: just read on Hiram's Facebook page that this is discontinued. What a pity! A scent proving how oblivious I am to the synthetic orange blossoms treatment in modern perfumery. From the get go Dilettantes smells distinctly DIRTY; it's indolic, fresh, sharp (even pungent), and flowery-dense all at once. I did not expect the lack of white musk and sterilized orange blossom to create such an olfactory dissonance - I thought I knew this flower well! But alas I was at a loss, and couldn't tolerate the opening well. Thankfully as the scent dries down the neroli/petitgrain greenness emerges. The scent becomes more rounded, and the delightful nectar sweetness of orange blossom warms up on the skin with some woodiness. Together with the zesty orange peel, the notes sing in harmony for hours until the end. Not what I expected, but I grew to love it. Now I'm more familiar with it the indoles from the opening don't bother me as much. They feel more "organic" than fecal. Kudos to Green, for creating this delightful concoction.

a summery beauty, i mostly get orange blossom with a lot of petitgrain, which adds a woody green feel to the orange blossom. natural, warm and beautiful. i love these sorts of realistic orange blossom perfumes. this one has a depth to it and i am not sure where it comes from, it's almost like honey or amber. really lovely.

Starts with a strong and slightly feminine petitgrain (and what feels like jasmine to me), not overly soapy, and stays this way for the duration Not much more to say. I like this its a very high quality petitgrain / orange flower scent but there are tons of these frags out there.

It begins as true as an orange blossom honey, passing through petitgrain, antique furniture lacquered with beeswax and impregnated for decades with the smoke of incense cones. Warm, loose, soft, satisfying. Calm as a slowly buzzing bee satiated. Simple, softly nuanced, intimate. I don't get excited with the beeswax note, but this, after a sour and flowery green start, is definitely comfortable and enveloping. Amateur? Mhmnaah maybe ... a dedication to Diletta ..?¿ :-)

Yellow, heady and pollen like sweet fragrance. Nice enough, but I personally still prefer Chamade and Le Temps d'une Fête for this sort of thing.

Great fragrance! Unisex. It twists and turns as you wear it. Others have described it much better than I can with their beautiful descriptions. In my opinion, it starts herbal. Dries to an animalic honey vibe, then moves into a lightly soapy orange blossom. I like it! -

Actually, "dilettante" in Italian and French translates as "amateur","dabbler", and other similar words, not to be confused with the Italian words for "delight", which are "diletto" or "delizia", or the French "délice". So, I'm not really sure what Mr. Green means by this particular name being given to this perfume, unless it is meant to conjure within the wearer a feeling of being a person of extreme means who has the time to dabble in all manner of Fine Arts, eccentric studies, etc., without ever feeling the pressure of having to become particularly skilled at any one of them. The feeling of living a life of, well, a Gatsby type of person...perhaps. Someone who has the leisure to spend any given day basking in the glory of an orange grove in full bloom. A rather tall order for a perfume, I should say, but one that has been fulfilled by a certain few...dare I mention the one or two that I think?! Opinions are so personal, and I try to remember that. I must say that, being a perfumer myself who works exclusively with naturals, it is very hard to find an orange blossom absolute that even resembles the fresh-bloomed flowers, to say nothing of replicating the fragrance exactly. The worst of them smell like nothing but hexane and bad breath, while the best that I've found tend to smell like withered orange blossoms. A sort of dry, sweet/grassy note reminiscent of the dried orange blossoms or jasmine that one gets in green tea, which is not unpleasant, and can be worked with and buffered by other ingredients to supply the missing sweetness and mentholated "whoosh" that the fresh flowers have. As for neroli, which is the steam-distilled essence of orange blossom, I've not found one yet that doesn't just smell like petigrain, and in fact, many neroli distillations are done using flowers, twigs, leaves, or some combination of these. It's very rare to find a neroli prepared only with the flowers. Having made these observations, Dilettante does have a remarkably good and realistic orange flower note to it, at least for a while. On my skin, and to my nose, it soon goes to a powdery, slightly "funky" note of which I'm not overly fond, and also seems to be at odds with the notes listed above. Of course, perfumers are notorious for not telling you everything that goes into a composition - just the main notes. It would be interesting to know just what type of petigrain and orange was used, as they can all be quite different, the range being from very sweet to quite sour. The extreme dry down ( 2 & 1/2 hrs ) is a bit similar to the scent you get when inside a Chinese tea market ( an authentic one, that is ) - a light, powdery, woody, somewhat earthy tea-like scent. It sort of reminds me of a good pu-erh tea I once had. Dilettante also, at certain points in it's evolution on the skin, bears a strong resemblance to Aftelier's Palimpsest. 'Resemblance' being the operative word, that is.

The assumption behind many indie brands is that a well turned-out line should have a broad range of styles. This generally leads to slot-filling, an unfortunate and unsuccessful tactic. Green takes a different tack. His four perfumes might look similar on paper---resinous florals of one type or another---but they vary considerably. Moon Bloom is a narcotic floral portrait, Shangri-La is dark fruity-floral chypre, Voyage is a resinous vanillic-floral. Green uses floral notes to investigate traditional genres that are ‘natural’ at their core, such as the chypre (bergamot, labdanum, moss) and the amber/oriental (resin, spice, flower). The perfumes are coherent as a collection, but their differences are quite noticeable, especially when the perfumes are compared side-to-side. The four perfumes have a similar aesthetic, but not a shared set of notes, or a house accord. For a set of four floral perfumes, there is surprisingly little overlap among them and I can easily imagine the brand’s customer buying more than one perfume. Dilettante struck me instantly as a shrewd feel-good perfume. The joy and pleasure are direct and instantaneous, but the heart and basenotes follow with meticulous attention to dynamics and have some unexpected changes. The combination of spontaneity and precision hints at a methodical but inspired approach to composition. Dilettante ostensibly creates an idealized orange tree: flower, fruit, leaves, twigs and all. If it were just a pretty, plein-air exercise, it might reinforce the ‘perfume-lite’ bias against natural perfumery. Fortunately, there’s more to it. The fruity, green and floral notes fly at you and the perfume is unabashedly lovely, but it rotates through a range of other tones. Honeyed, woody, smokey, astringent facets undergird the heartnotes. The sweaty orange blossom salts the honey and adds a measured gourmand touch that lasts through the drydown. Dilettante creates a very particular olfactory image (hallucination?) each time I wear it. It has the earthy/floral aroma of masa, the alkalized corn used to make sopes and tortillas. Fresh masa smells surprisingly floral, sweaty and honeyed in the same way that Dilettante does. This vegetal-floral tone enhances the animalism of the resinous base. Less animal ass than sweaty human neck. The far drydown of Dilettante is notable for two things. The first, that it exists at all. Few natural perfumes have the endurance to survive 12+ hours. The second is complexity. Dilettante’s honeyed drydown is as intricate as its singing topnotes but is richer and deeper. I’d recommend the Hiram Green line for anyone interested in natural perfumes. More to the point, I’d recommend it to anyone simply looking for first-rate perfumery. (from scenthurdle.com)

Mmmh, I sprayed DILETTANTE this morning and I did once more in the afternoon, without reading anything about the materials before. I agree with other reviews above when I read of sharpness, green, indolic, somehow soapy in the middle, but this is not what I call a take on orange blossom, and I'd rather call this a Narcissus (daffodil): it has all the features of a specific and popular kind of a white narcissus with strong scent and small corolla, irregular double petals, and little yellow button in the centre, it's called "Bridal Crown". Anyway, great scent, very natural and smart. ***** Mmmh, ho spruzzato DILETTANTE (Hiram Green) stamattina presto e l'ho rispruzzato ancora una volta nel pomeriggio, senza leggere nulla delle materie prime. Sono d'accordo con chi parla di impronta tagliente, verde, indolica, in qualche modo saponoso nel cuore, però non sembra un lavoro sul fiore d'arancio, piuttosto mi pare un bellissimo narciso, ha tutte le caratteristiche di un tipo specifico di narciso bianco dalla corolla ridotta in dimensioni ma con petali doppi e frastagliati, con profumo forte, e bottone giallo al centro, si chiama "Bridal Crown", abbastanza comune. In ogni caso, un grande profumo, naturale, elegante.