Fragrance Reviews

Roxana Villa’s Illuminated Perfume: GracingThe Dawn, Part 1

07/03/12 09:24:44

By: Ida Meister

Gracing The Dawn drew its first breath in March 2008.

A brilliant writer and friend [Heather Ettlinger] initiated her unique, ground-breaking interactive project [on her blog Memory and Desire] in which fourteen perfumers interpreted. Ezra Pound’s ravishing haiku:

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

—Ezra Pound

[This was—to my knowledge—the very first collaborative endeavor of such a broad scope. I was fortunate enough to smell all the works, thanks to Heather’s largesse, and I also wrote extensively about it.]

Roxana’s inspiration was sprightly and fey, further illuminated by the exquisite paintings of her husband, fellow artist and immensely gifted Greg Spalenka.

This is how it began:

For The Three Graces, Roxana commenced with pepper orchid, Indian champa, and the lovely lotus; to evoke the earth: mitti, patchouli, vetiver, kewda, and black musk attar.

Her bough was hewn of cedar, oak, and Cabreuva wood, and the Dawn was spun from ginger, ho wood, pink pepper, and ambrette.

I found the original perfume to be an auspicious marriage of the elements conjoining Heaven and Earth. It felt bittersweet, earthy, intricate as a spiderweb. Its musky depths alluded to the nascent daybreak.

I loved the fact that the violets she utilized came from tinctures from her mother’s garden. The formula of Gracing The Dawn has undergone metamorphosis over time, and it now contains a cornucopia of aromatic materials!

The inspiration is still that of a very deep floral chypre, vintage in feel...

Most recently, Gracing The Dawn is being released in a concrete form, utilizing only the finest natural substances, lovingly blended in a beeswax base [those who know Roxana know that she is passionate about her bees!].

Here you may contemplate it in her inclusive LookBook :

http://journal.illuminatedperfume.com/2012/06/gracing-dawn-lookbook.html

[Just LOOK at that expansive list of ingredients!!!]

I can’t wait to sample the newer version—and will report right back to you!

Author: Ida Meister (chayaruchama) has been an avid collector and sniffeuse for over 40 years. She adores consulting and collaborating with niche, budding,and independent perfumers . Her hypervigilant nose has been of great help in her profession as a neuroscience/oncology nurse, where she often smells fear, suffering, stress, and can identify most micro-organisms, medications, stages of disease, and has written about the amygdala.

As a Senior and Natural Perfumery Editor, Ida has participated in many blog events with natural and mixed media perfumers and other writers. She has also been a teacher, translator, opera singer, dancer, and a caterer.