Parfums des Beaux Arts Cimabue
by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

saffron splendor. all woman. white flowers and spices create a narcotic and addictive scent that i wear weekly

Like so many other DSH perfumes, both in the cheaper and the more expensive range, this is a fairly dull, traditional sweet/warm/muddy/smooth/powdery oriental. Half of them smell the same if you ask me! Not bad, just not very exciting. I like to be able to pick out at least one note, it adds a certain interest to a scent.... Well, I suppose you could pick out saffron in this, the kind of perfume-note saffron that has nothing to do with the wonderful aroma of the spice, but is more of a golden, powdery sweetness type note. If you really really dig that note, why not try Cimabue? I'm disappointed that saffron in perfume never smells like saffron in food and I'll pass on this version of it.

Cimabue is a spicy oriental fragrance that delivers gilded olfactory splendor without sinking into cloying sweetness. It begins with a burst of bright citrus with a rich spice (nutmeg, I think,) counterpoint. Next come cinnamon and cloves, a distinct honey note, and some rich florals, all resting on a bed of soft sandalwood. This combination is sweet, dark, and remarkably well blended. The saffron in Cimabue is more harmony than melody, and its slightly bitter accent cuts the surrounding sweetness. The saffron-sandalwood accord is rendered rich, smooth, and creamy by added notes of tuberose and vanilla.

As the scent continues to develop, the cloves and cinnamon merge with opopanax to make a profound and luxurious accord that enriches the sandalwood and vanilla drydown. If you enjoy spicy or woody orientals like Jaipur Homme and Eau Lente, you ought to try this very well made scent as well.

Cimabue is a saffron-centered fragrance and contains a plethora of ingredients, such as bergamot, orange, cardamom, neroli, lemon, carnation, honey, cinnamon, cloves, jasmine, sandalwood, saffron, tuberose, ciste, labdanum, opoponax, vanilla and much more. The result is a surprisingly harmonic scent that reminds me of gingerbread and christmas pastry (well, cinnamon, cloves and honey say it all). Sweet, but not cloying, this is a nice mood-lifter for cold winter evenings.

An interesting, sweet concoction with decent lasting power. I could never figure out what this sent wanted to "be". The opening note reminds me a bit of lemon hard candy, but not really if you know what I mean. Like all of DSH perfumes, it is avery complex and smooth, but this one isn't for me.