While in Boulder on the first weekend to break ninety degrees, I decided to book the Smell and Tell consultation offered by Parfums des Beaux Arts, the brick and mortar outlet for DSH perfumes.
When I arrived the door was opened, and Dawn greeted me warmly while wearing a white hobo shirt, blue jeans, and no makeup. I was asked to fill out a questionnaire and answer such questions like am I a vegetarian, do I smoke, and do I practice yoga or meditation.
Then we began. Dawn has something called DSH special formula X, a clear liquid that she tapped onto the lower part of my arm until it dried. After a moment she sniffed the area and declared, You are a combination of a woody/green. I asked how common or uncommon this was. Its rare, she said. Most people are a shade of sweet, neutral, or musky.
Musky skin types, I learned, tend to amplify all scents; especially those with stronger base notes. Woody skin types make scents less sweet; neutrals can wear anything but it tends to wear flat; and greens bring out the freshness and sharpness of a composition.
You shouldnt wear fruity scents, she told me. This I already knew. Roses are OK for me if they are paired with patchouli, green notes or pepper; but coriander and cinnamon are out.
She then selected twenty fragrances to smell on paper. I separated them into no, maybe, and oh YES piles. In between fragrances we chatted about IFRA (American niche houses can use as much oak moss as theyd like, thankfully), how perfume can project, balance or offset moods, and what inspires her creations (movies, paintings and emotions). We suffered a brief interruption when a glass perfume bottle burst unexpectedly behind us, a result of the overly warm room working on the volatile contents kept under pressure.
Once the spilled perfume was cleaned up we turned our attention to the seven bottles in my yes pile. Dawn applied these to my skin and sniffed again, removing two because they werent right for me. From the remaining five I picked four to take home as samples. Three of the four were green scents, which was not surprising considering my skin type!
The entire process took a little over an hour, but the results will last a life time. I now know why some fragrances sing on me, and others fall into the stink heap. Dawn and her assistant, Amber, are disarmingly charming, you will immediately feel comfortable and welcomed. I highly recommend this unique experience!
If you go: the consultation is $75, and comes with four samples. The location is in Boulder, so if you feel like showing up in your hiking boots and REI clothes youll feel right at home. Dawns shop is very new ageish, with each wall a different color. There is a pea green and aqua sofa in the waiting room that is covered with dark red pillows, various pastel paintings of nothing in particular hanging on the walls, and eclectic music playing from the speakers. If you are used to the upscale, formal experience of the traditional perfume houses this may be a shock to your system, but as long as you role with it youll be fine .
When I arrived the door was opened, and Dawn greeted me warmly while wearing a white hobo shirt, blue jeans, and no makeup. I was asked to fill out a questionnaire and answer such questions like am I a vegetarian, do I smoke, and do I practice yoga or meditation.
Then we began. Dawn has something called DSH special formula X, a clear liquid that she tapped onto the lower part of my arm until it dried. After a moment she sniffed the area and declared, You are a combination of a woody/green. I asked how common or uncommon this was. Its rare, she said. Most people are a shade of sweet, neutral, or musky.
Musky skin types, I learned, tend to amplify all scents; especially those with stronger base notes. Woody skin types make scents less sweet; neutrals can wear anything but it tends to wear flat; and greens bring out the freshness and sharpness of a composition.
You shouldnt wear fruity scents, she told me. This I already knew. Roses are OK for me if they are paired with patchouli, green notes or pepper; but coriander and cinnamon are out.
She then selected twenty fragrances to smell on paper. I separated them into no, maybe, and oh YES piles. In between fragrances we chatted about IFRA (American niche houses can use as much oak moss as theyd like, thankfully), how perfume can project, balance or offset moods, and what inspires her creations (movies, paintings and emotions). We suffered a brief interruption when a glass perfume bottle burst unexpectedly behind us, a result of the overly warm room working on the volatile contents kept under pressure.
Once the spilled perfume was cleaned up we turned our attention to the seven bottles in my yes pile. Dawn applied these to my skin and sniffed again, removing two because they werent right for me. From the remaining five I picked four to take home as samples. Three of the four were green scents, which was not surprising considering my skin type!
The entire process took a little over an hour, but the results will last a life time. I now know why some fragrances sing on me, and others fall into the stink heap. Dawn and her assistant, Amber, are disarmingly charming, you will immediately feel comfortable and welcomed. I highly recommend this unique experience!
If you go: the consultation is $75, and comes with four samples. The location is in Boulder, so if you feel like showing up in your hiking boots and REI clothes youll feel right at home. Dawns shop is very new ageish, with each wall a different color. There is a pea green and aqua sofa in the waiting room that is covered with dark red pillows, various pastel paintings of nothing in particular hanging on the walls, and eclectic music playing from the speakers. If you are used to the upscale, formal experience of the traditional perfume houses this may be a shock to your system, but as long as you role with it youll be fine .
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