1 Swallow Doesn’t Make a Summer, Two from Dusita

First of all I owe you an apology for being quiet for so long – at the end of April I got sick and had a lot of covid symptoms like fever and coughing. I got tested and the result was negative, meaning I simply caught a more nasty spring cold. I’m still coughing a bit but overally I feel fine. Other than that I suffered from lack of inspiration and deficiency of new samples to test and possibly review.

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The idea of “my brand” or “not my brand” is not new in the perfume world but I believe that for me it was Undina that introduced this term to my fragrance dictionary. I have a list of “my brands” in my head and for these brands I’m always eagerly anticipating the news about upcoming fragrances or events they organize. Parfums Dusita, despite being a young niche brand (only 5 years old now) quickly gained a worldwide recognition. Currently rocking 12 perfume I also became a fan of Pissara Umavijani compositions. There are small exceptions and today I’ll talk about those.

Le Pavillon d’Or is not my kind of perfume and probably that’s why I haven’t smelled it earlier than over a year after its premiere, which took place in 2019. The composition starts with a sweet & green honeysuckle note – a nice, vegetal scent with hints of honey and hay. After a moment an aromatic mint joins, making the fragrance fresher but far from the toothpaste territory. The scent it gives off is more dry, herbaceous. Orris root adds a touch of earthiness that gradually evolves into more rooty & buttery facets typically associated with iris in perfumery. Heart of Le Pavillon d’Or offers a bounty of green notes. Boronia – flowers native to Australia, offer a fragrance that is slightly honeyed but also feels dusty and aged. Thyme adds a herbal impression that seamlessly transitions into fig leaf accord. You know me and how little of a fan of fig I am when it comes to my perfume. Here this leaf feels dusty too, with undertone of tree sap and something milky underneath. Heliotrope makes the fragrance feel smoother thanks to the creamy floral nuances it adds to this Dusita creation. Hints of frankincense are noticeable just like wisps of smoke floating lazily in the air. The drydown is a woody blend of oak wood – an accord created by Pissara herself. To my nose it really smells like some wooden barrels. Additionally sandalwood intensifies the perception of the woody notes in the base. Like all Dusita perfumes, Le Pavillon d’Or is a very pretty composition. It just doesn’t speak to me like her other perfumes do.

Cavatina is the most recent Dusita creation that joined the brand’s portfolio at the end of this April. As explained by Pissara during Instagram live launch event, the perfume is heavily inspired by vintage Diorissimo. The perfume opens with a very fresh & clean manner. Muted, citrusy scent of bergamot blends with some sparkling fizziness that smells like aldehydes, although they aren’t mentioned among official top notes (but they are in the heart). Slightly woody scent of litsea cubeba (a kind of aromatic shrub) marries with the scent of petitgrain, paving the way for the biggest star of Cavatina. Lily of the valley in Cavatina smells uber-realistic which is not an easy feat knowing that muguet cannot be naturally extracted at an efficient level. Pissara combined a number of other materials to create her own LOTV accord which smells like an open field full of tiny, white, bell-shaped flowers. Heart of this perfume is what makes it bloom – literally. Innocent smell of tea rose plays with tuberose & jasmine for a grand white floral experience. Cavatina is gentle but has a carnal side as well. Ylang-ylang adds an element of solar creaminess to the blend. In the base heliotrope gives off an aroma that sits between creamy tonka and smooth florals. Ambrette and cypress introduce a bit of greenness. Everything is topped with elegant vanilla that feels slightly oriental and a bit gourmand, it compliments the lily of the valley heart beautifully. I’m sure many people will find Cavatina special but it’s a very specific perfume that will find a niche in the niche. Not everyone will love it given that white florals are polarizing among fragrance lovers.

As they say – you can’t love them all. I don’t think there’s anything to be ashamed of if the brand you love and support releases a perfume that doesn’t fit your taste. Afterall perfume is very subjective and things like that are bound to happen on regular basis. You’ll love one perfume more, the other one less. But that doesn’t change the fact that I love Dusita for creativity & ingenuity in raw material use, but most of all for Pissara who is one of the warmest & the friendliest people in the industry. If you tried Le Pavillon d’Or or Cavatina, do let me know how much you liked them.

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Elusive Dream, Dusita Moonlight in Chiangmai

We’re almost halfway through December and Christmas will be upon us faster than singing the hit song “All I want for Christmas is you” from memory. Right now the days are becoming the shortest they can be and it’s a bit sad when it gets dark around 3 PM. It’s easy to feel down if you add to it a gloomy weather and the overall atmosphere of this year with covid. Especially now we need something that instantly brightens our mood and I’ve found just the thing. New from Parfums Dusita is an echanting concoction that brings back the smiles and introduces a Holiday mood to our homes.

Moonlight in Chiangmai starts with a kind of sharp, bitter, almost biting note of Japanese Yuzu that after a couple of seconds starts smelling incredibly inviting and sensual. Just after an eye blink it gains a smoothness & mellowness that presents itself as an aromatic citrus note, a little bit on a dry side, with a powdery albedo thread underneath the top layer. In the following minutes it seamlessly transitions to a truly appealing stage that unveils a night blooming jasmine. Is it really jasmine? – the question pops in my head on its own. Why, you might wonder? Well, because it smells so different.

You can forget about indolic jasmine or an overwhelming bouquet of white flowers because you won’t find any of these in Moonlight in Chiangmai. Night blooming jasmine gives this perfume an incredibly sensual, enveloping, semi-transparent veil & there’s something magical about it. It’s floral without a doubt and has a certain richness that blooms beautifully in the presence of one’s body warmth. The aura of this jasmine is very luminous & bright and personally I find the fragrance to have a twinkling, sparkling effect that is mesmerizing like the night sky lit up with 100s of paper lanterns.

Later on this wonderful jasmine note turns more creamy & lactonic, making the fragrance feel so comforting and familiar to the senses, like a second skin. After some time Moonlight in Chiangmai becomes softer and loses quite a bit of this magical floral vibe. This allows other scents to emerge. Slowly the perfume becomes more dry, a bit peppery but not quite. Nutmeg creates this impression that I immediately connect with the smell of old books – you know, the smell of aged paper pages, a visit to an old library. Benzoin adds a resinous charm and deepens the character of this composition.

Dusita Moonlight in Chiangmai dries down to a slightly saline, burning & spiced smell of myrrh. Pissara combined it with patchouli and this one is really multifaceted. Depending on the moment when I was smelling my wrist it was either more earthy & dirty or more clean, it also had a hint of prunes. The latter one gives it a festive spirit in my opinion. This new creation also features a realistic woody accord of Thai teak wood that Pissara blended from scratch in her Parisian atelier. It is additionally amplified by vetiver that brings an aromatic, tad coumaric edge to this fabulous perfume.

In this saddening and disastrous year the 2020 turned out to be, Moonlight in Chiangmai by Parfums Dusita is like a little light of hope that sparks joy and warms up the heart from the inside. Pissara Umavijani blended masterfully this magical potion, making it probably the most wearable fragrance in her current portfolio. To me it’s equally feminine and masculine and it was released in the ideal moment of the year. The new eau de parfum has a pretty sillage and very good longevity. The fragrances comes in various sizes, including 7.5 ml travel spray, 50 ml and 100 ml bottles.