WHAT I SMELL: Raw Secret opens with a wave of muted aldehydes which are quickly met with a light tea surrounded by a leveled and flattened mandarin. After a few minutes, the perfume begins to project with the tea at the center. The tea is warmed, rounded and thickened in a chewy and slightly rubbery consistency. The perfume is absolutely dreamy and it feels like a lullaby that is rocking you softly and gently leaving you in an envelopment of content. As the perfume continues to develop, the tea moves more towards a dried lily of the valley. It’s incredibly soft and green without being dewy. Here, the lily blooms alongside a bed of delicate white flowers which feel like a floating embrace above a woodied amber radiating base. The perfume then starts to dry and lightly powder…and the gleaming flowers are magnificent in a way that makes me want to wrap the entire perfume around me. In the end, Raw Secret grows in projection to become a beautifully powdered floral hug warmed by amber that’s oh so comforting.
From the Phuong Dang website:
“You reach out to touch me. Linger… I smile because I am happy. Feel so safe in your warm embrace… I just want to hold on, so tightly. Please get closer, to know me… I am only me. And yet with you, I am so much stronger.” —Phuong Dang
Raw Secret Notes –
Top: Aldehydes, Bergamot, Mandarin, Red Pepper, Tea Leaves, Ginger
Heart: Jasmine Absolute, Lily of the Valley, Imaginary White Flowers
Base: Amber, Sandalwood
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: love
THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE RAW SECRET: incandescent, embracing, at peace
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT RAW SECRET: None to be found.
BOTTOM LINE: Brand creator and namesake, Phuong Dang has launched a debut collection of ten perfumes, primarily created with perfumer Bertrand Duchafour. Raw Secret is the only perfume that steps outside the Duchafour collaboration and was created by perfumer Marina Jung Allegret… and it’s one of my favorite in the line. In all, the entire collection is comprised of extraits which are incredibly smooth, refined and easy to wear.
- Bone Rating: 4 out of possible 5 bones
- Scent Floral Citrus
- Nose: Maria Jung Allegret
- Classification: Unisex
- Expense: $450 for 100 ml parfum extrait. Available exclusively at Barneys.
The Scented Hound 
November 17, 2016 at 8:58 am
This sounds fantastic and I hope to be able to try it, but the price- eeek!!! Definitely going to sample it somehow! Thanks for a beautiful review. The notes and development sound right up my alley.
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November 17, 2016 at 5:31 pm
Ricky…ah yes, the price.
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November 17, 2016 at 9:01 am
Next time we get together, you really must tell me where you find these things! This sounds fantastic, and I love the quote from Phuong Dang.
Whine alert! : Releasing multiple perfumes at once seems to have become the norm for many now, and I can’t wrap my head around it. There’s got to be a reason for it, but damned if I know! I guess if I lived in NYC, I would be able to stroll into Barneys, etc and peruse these lines at my leisure, but something in my brain shuts down at the thought of ever actually getting around to it. My Sample Sea is a tsunami at this point … what’s a poor soul to do? Sigh …
So I have a confession … whenever I read the word “flattened” I immediately think “dull” or perhaps “squashed”? You obviously don’t mean that, so I hope you’ll clarify.
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November 17, 2016 at 5:34 pm
I think the SAs would get sick of us if we were in NYC…but we have a Barneys here in Georgetown but not sure if they have this in stock at the store. As for flattened…it’s hard to describe besides saying flattened…hmmm, to me it feels compressed, layered and is muted. Dull is kind of right…think about a flattened mandarin note as I cite…with mandarin it could be juicy and sweet…here, it smells like mandarin, but without the sweet and juice if that makes sense.
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November 17, 2016 at 10:45 am
But would you pay $450?
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November 17, 2016 at 5:35 pm
If I LOOOOOOOVED a perfume I probably would. Have I ever purchased a perfume for $450? No. How’s that for avoiding the question? LOL.
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November 17, 2016 at 1:55 pm
This sounds fabulous, but that price?? For a never-heard-of house!! It sadly brings up everything I find so tragic and off kilter about the “business of perfume”, this whole idea of releasing a 10 bottle range, but pricing it well above many other well known and potentially better houses. I know…bitch bitch bitch.
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November 17, 2016 at 5:36 pm
9 Perfumes by Duchafour is pretty amazing for a launch. Yes, the price is high….I’ll let you test it and tell me if it’s worth the cost. 🙂
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November 28, 2016 at 12:39 am
Who, on Earth, needs 100 ml of perfume extrait?? And 10 perfumes at the same time?! Pfft… As much as I like many Duchafour’s creations, if he had anything to “say”, he would have said it by now – and not for some “artist” who suddenly decided that there was money to be made in perfumes as well. And $450?! I love the audacity of these nobodies. But if they find suckers who buy their perfumes, my hat off to them.
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