La Douceur De Siam
“A fragrance of strange, nocturnal beauty, a scent that resembles a walk in a Thai spice garden with overhanging night blooming flowers. Hypnotically lovely, La Doucher de Siam is like half-walking from an enchanting dream.”
You know I love a soapy floral, so my dreams have been answered with ‘La Doucher de Siam.’ It’s an exquisitely exotic, heady tropical, born of sundrenched days and night blooming florals. But is it my ultimate scent?
‘La Doucher de Siam’ is all about the soft, creamy, peachy frangipani. This performs alongside champaka’s smooth but rich, waxy aroma, reminiscent of tea, spices and orange blossom-like florals. These tropical flowers are combined with Thai chalood bark, giving a dusty, woody, smoky incense and vanillic dry spice. There’s a subtle sweet cinnamon and a barely noticeable violet leaf.
The frangipani, with its thick custard floral nectar, is certainly the star of the show. The aphrodisiac ylang ylang encourages a full-bodied, honeysuckle-like floral, whilst a touch of amber adds warm, powdery sweetness. Sandalwood gentles relaxes in the background as he casts his governing eye over the frivolous florals.
There’s almost too much vanilla for me, but Dusita doesn’t use the type of garishly cheap vanilla that tortures me so. Dusita epitomises luxury and is always carefully thought-out and expertly balanced.
The opening is my only concern - there’s an ill-fitting, bitter, metallic fish scale note that I just can’t put my finger on. It lasts for the first hour, before swimming away. Maybe it’s the earthy-sweet marine odor of the ambergris (which I usually like) that’s making me feel like a fish out of water?
I would have loved this when I first started discovering perfume. My unsophisticated nose would have found the luxuriously soft, soapy, powdery florals so clean and comforting. It would have been EVERYTHING I looked for. But since developing my nose to appreciate Arabic scents of faecal, skanky, animalic tones, I’m now on the hard stuff and require more of an unusual hit.
‘La Doucher de Siam’ is exotic, radiant, absolutely charming and faultless. She smells like the gracefully twirling, soft yellow ballgown worn by Belle in Beauty and the Beast. In my reluctance to not acquire her, I feel I’m turning down a perfectly marriageable virgin princess, in favour of chasing a (possibly unobtainable) debauched and hedonistic queen. I’m not Prince Charming anymore, somewhere along the lines I became Jafar. I’ll WILL find you one day my queen…
TOP – Rose de Mai, Frangipani, Champaka, Ylang Ylang, Violet Leaf
MIDDLE – Cinnamon, Thai Chalood Bark, Vanilla
BASE – Vanilla, Sandalwood, Amber, Ambergris