The Scented Hound

Perfume blog with abbreviated perfume reviews & fragrance reviews.

Category Archives: DSH Perfumes


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New Release: DSH Perfumes Chinchilla

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WHAT I SMELL: Yowsa…so musky, so lusty and so full of sweet delicious honey…Chinchilla’s introduction is amazing.  At its core, the perfume’s opening is set with a delicious honeyed floral civet that’s lightly waxy and full on scintillating.  And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, the perfume becomes a bit thicker as it feels like a light honey is being dripped over the burgeoning florals.  In a short while, what started off as pure sex, begins to move to the more sensual.  The animalic notes are still there, but they begin to tone down and tame.  I’m not going to try to pick apart any notes because they are so seamlessly blended, but I do notice just a hint of cinnamon peppering the honeyed florals.    In the end, Chinchilla lightens to a wonderfully soft semi sweet honeyed floral that leaves a perfect trail of come-hither behind you as you wear it.  Chinchilla is a stunningly sexy and sensual perfume. 

From the DSH Perfumes website:

A ‘retro nouveau’  floriental/honey musk animalic  fragrance.  It’s gorgeously sexy, and yet so very cozy and comforting.

Chinchilla notes include hyrax, ambrette (musk mallow), bergamot, vetiver, oakmoss, carnation, castoreum, rose de mai, cinnamon, civet, beeswax, gardenia, honey, musk, nard himalayan (jatamansi), tonka bean and white pepper.

chinchilla-couchWHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  The art of seduction.

THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE CHINCHILLA: alluring, tempting, magnetic

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT CHINCHILLA:  The Fragrant Journey, Scent Hussy

BOTTOM LINE:  Chinchilla is a beautifully smooth seductress.  It has just the right amount of animalic elements without being over the top; which means it whispers it’s seduction rather than screams it.  The other plus is that Chinchilla could easily be worn by a man or a woman, being easily captivating on both.

  • Bone Rating:  4 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Floral Woody Musk
  • Nose:  Dawn Spencer Horowitz
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: $125 for 1 oz. eau de parfum.  Available in various sizes and concentrations.  Check out the DSH Perfumes website for the full line.

Sample courtesy of DSH Perfumes.  Opinion my own.


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New Release: Rendezvous by DSH Perfumes

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WHAT I SMELL:  Rendezvous opens up as pure animal with a strong and breathtaking civet.  It’s powerful and primal and it draws you in to take you prisoner.  After a few minutes, the initial wave of animalic prowess begins to soften with a light creaminess, but at the same time a dry oakmoss begins to appear along with the most subdued of florals.  A dirtied jasmine, mixed with the animalic  makes for an interesting play because at times the jasmine comes to the forefront and a minute later the civet and castoreum come to the center stage.  After some more time however, the florals win out…still deep, rich and creamy, they provide this heady and voluminous and achingly beautiful arrangement that is wrapped up in an ambered and golden aura.  After quite some time, the perfume reveals its final treasure, a gorgeous soft rounded lightly dirty and spicy powdered floral that’s warm, intoxicating and incredibly nostalgic.

Perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz:

I let my imagination go to a time and place when animalic perfumes reigned supreme.  Of course, I included the four traditional animal notes: musk, civet, ambergris, and castoreum with added elements of aged oakmoss, and botanical “animalics”; ambrette co2, labdanum, and  hyracium tincture (aka African Stone).  The heart is filled with indolic juhi jasmine, orange flower absolute, and gardenia balanced by a slightly sharp and spicy white pepper and aldehyde top note.  The result is a lush, provocative, and thoroughly sexy perfume for both men and women.

beautiful decayWHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: beautiful decay

THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE RENDEZVOUS:  haunting, breathtaking, careworn

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT RENDEZVOUS: None to be found as of yet.

BOTTOM LINE:  I love it when perfumes can stir something inside your core.  Too often, new releases tend to be pleasant and nice but rather uninteresting.  Rendezvous however, evoked an emotional response in me that took me by surprise.  I don’t know if my words convey exactly how beautiful the perfume is and I don’t want my visual to denigrate its effect.  But to me, there’s a fragility in the perfume, like a magnificent beauty that has faded in time…you can see the ravages of time, but at its heart it still possesses a grand presence.  Rendezvous is a stunning perfume.

  • Bone Rating:  5 out of possible 5 bones
  • Scent:  Aromatic
  • Nose: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: $165 for 1 oz. eau de parfum or $295 for .5 oz parfum extrait (also available in additional sizes and strengths).  Available via the DSH Perfumes website.

Sample courtesy of DSH Perfumes.  Opinion my own.  Review based on the eau de parfum concentration.


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PANDORA by DSH PERFUMES – VISIONS OF MERIDA

pandora_present11We just got back to the States after visiting Merida, Mexico this past week.  Merida is one of the spots that we are visiting in our search for the ideal place to retire in a few years.  We’re ready for an adventure and are both drawn to Mexico.  So after hearing wonderful things about the city, we decided to take a visit.  Merida didn’t disappoint.  Without getting too much into details, Merida is the capital city in the state of Yucatan.  It was founded over 472 years ago and is city full of culture, good restaurants and wonderful people.  We met with a real estate agent and looked at various options in the central city which is comprised of colonial homes which sit flush to the sidewalk, only to reveal high ceiling grandeur with gardens in the back.  They were stunning.  We also managed to get out of the city for a bit visiting a hacienda that was unrestored but in which you could see the magnificence that once existed as well as the Mayan ruins at Uxmal which after in the past visiting other ruins rated the best as the details on the building were very well-preserved.  Both of decided that we need to go back in the fall and do some more investigation into this Yucatan jewel.  It really felt like home.

A rare pic of the Hound!
Uxmal! Magical.
A fierce Mayan warrior god!
A picture taken at the hacienda. Ummm, no, that’s not the house, it’s the rope manufacturing plant. I think they had some money!
The yellow house is the house with the pool dividing the main house from the master bedroom. But this gives you a good idea of how the streets look in the city.
Another home we looked at. Picture is taken from the main house looking over the pool to the master bedroom. Enchanting.
One of the homes we looked at had a pool in the middle of the house!
Our Bed and Breakfast – Villa Verde. Beautiful.
Exploring the Mercado (the market) was so much fun.
Sunday dancing on the main square.

So what does this have to do with DSH’s Pandora?  Well, let’s just say that it became my Merida Mexico perfume of choice.  A few days prior to leaving for Mexico I received my order from DSH with my order of Pandora.  After reading some wonderful reviews by Kafkaesque, I wondered why I hadn’t sought DSH out before so I gave their website a spin and for some reason, was drawn towards Pandora.  Have you ever been drawn into a perfume because of its name?  I don’t believe I have in the past, but this time the name was the key!  I must do this more often, because like Merida, Pandora is a jewel.

WHAT I SMELL:  Opens with this beautiful lightly sugared suede along with this rounded deep floral mix that’s deeply soothing and strangely intoxicating and exotic.  After some time, Pandora starts to reveal its oakmoss, but without drying the fragrance too much, and as such, the otherworldly quality that gives the Pandora its mystery remains intact.  The fragrance doesn’t much morph beyond this, but what it does is radiate off your skin like a living force field that mixed with your body heat, will grow and pulse to match your warmth.

Pandora’s Notes:

Top notes: Aldehyde/Aldehydic, Bergamot, Cassis Bud, Davana, Green Peppercorn, Ozone, Pink Peppercorn, Ruby Red Fruits (botanical accord), Spice Notes, Violet Leaf Absolute.

Middle notes: Cabreuva Wood, Centifolia Rose Absolute, Green Tea Absolute, Juhi Jasmine Absolute, Linden Blossom Absolute, Orris Root, Yerba Mate Absolute.

Base notes: Ambergris Tincture, Australian Sandalwood, Cyperus, Fossilized Amber, Green Oakmoss, Mousse de Saxe no.1 (botanical accord), Muhuhu, Patchouli co2, Tonka Bean Absolute, Vanilla Absolute, Vetiver co2.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  Sexiness.  This was well suited for the warm Mexican nights and for dining al fresco at Merida’s lovely restaurants.  It made me feel alive, confident and surprisingly sexy.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE PANDORA:  warm, deep, soulful

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT PANDORA: The Perfume Critic, Scent Hive, EauMG

BOTTOM LINE:  This is so good that the 10ml bottle that I purchase has now been reduced to around 3 remaining mls.  I must have more.  Pandora has me under her spell!  Now, I must have the parfum extrait!

  • Bone Rating: 5 out of 5 possible bones
  • Scent: Chypre Floral
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense: $63 for 10ml EdP from the DSH Perfumes website.  It should be noted that the picture above is for the 15ml parfum extrait which sells for $227 (sorry, I couldn’t find a picture of the EdP version!)