Celadon: A Velvet Green, Perfume Review

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz created a limited edition perfume called Celadon: A Velvet Green. Celadon is among her Parfums des Beaux Arts, LLC collection. Let me begin by saying I'm not usually a "green" perfume fan, but since I'm carrying several of the Dawn Spencer Hurwitz (DSH) fragrances at The Posh Peasant, I figured I'd take this one out for a test drive.

Upon first application, I smell a burst of what I can only describe as "green," a combination of crushed grasses, plant stems, leaves, fern, perhaps aloe plant, moss and a smidgen of dirt. I almost always describe the smell of perfume by what it makes me visualize - so here's the image: I'm sitting under an enormous balsam tree, at the edge of a forest, carpeted in moss, on the coast of Maine. My Aunt has an old farmhouse in Maine, on Penobscot Bay, in a small town that time forgot called Brooklin. If you walk in the backyard at my Aunt's house you'll come to the edge of a very dense forest. I always marvel at the bright green color of the moss here, it's like a carpet, covering the entire underbrush, literally wall-to-wall. Celadon makes me think of walking into this forest. There's a crystal clear quality to the air and the smell of trees, plants, moss and earth make you want to take deeper and deeper breaths until you nearly hyperventilate.

Celandon is a gentle green, like new buds or new growth that's just pushing forth from the earth, still in it's infancy, still fragile. I wouldn't call it a refreshing green, there's nothing brisk, sharp or jarring about Celadon, it's all verrry gentle, soft and calming. Once Celadon dries down it becomes an even softer scent. I smell sheer musk, a whiff of hay, an ever-so-slightly detectable violet scent. There is something mildly sweet, perhaps it's the grassy/hay note, perhaps there's a floral note hidden in the base, but the slight sweetness never overtakes the overall soft budding greenness of the fragrance.

I must admit that this is a green scent that I will wear. I chose this particular fragrance today because it's 95 degrees in the shade and I couldn't fathom wearing anything floral or sweet or heavy. Celadon is very light, gentle and soothing. It wears fairly close to the skin but I keep getting whiffs of it from time to time so it has good lasting power (it's been 3.5 hours). I now have something other than citrus scents to wear in hot weather. This is the first time I have ever smelt a fragrance quite like this and I'm enjoying it to the extreme. I'm thoroughly impressed, way to go Dawn Spencer Hurwitz!

According to DSH website, the following are the notes for Celadon: A Velvet Green:

Composition
Top notes: Clover Leaf, Cucumber, Lime Peel
Middle notes: Green Grass, Liatrix, Orris, Orris Root
Base notes: Balsam Fir, Hay absolute, Narcissus Absolute, Tonka Bean, Violet Leaf Absolute