La Douceur de Siam
Dusita (2016)

La Douceur de Siam is, for me, the perfect rendering of that moment in Snow White when the little birds are helping Snow White to clean up the cottage of the seven dwarves by dropping fresh flowers into a vase and hanging shirts up on the line. It also reminds me of that orgasmic moment in the Herbal Essences ad when the girl throws back her head in ecstasy as soon as a dollop of that clear pink gel hits her hair.

Wearing La Douceur de Siam gives me the same feeling of childlike joy as those scenes suggest – when I first tried it, the first thought that jumped to my mind was how grateful I was that florals like this are still being made, by which I mean juicy, clear, uncluttered, and happiness-inducing without being too self-conscious about it.

The first stage of La Douceur de Siam strongly features the minty bubblegum aspects of ylang, against a backdrop of a tropical, fruity custard of frangipani, magnolia, and champaca. It might prove almost too pretty were it not for the overdose of benzoin or some other resin up front that gives the texture a strangely raw, doughy feel, like a bowl of potato flour moistened with a few drops of water. This central accord is lifted at the corners by small flourishes of green tea, banana, wet violet leaf, and cinnamon, like those little Disney birds lifting the corners of a tablecloth.

The scent goes on in this fruity, floral track for a while, getting sweeter as time goes on, while all the time avoiding that metallic, tinned-fruit aspect that dogs most tropical florals. Interestingly, the champaca begins to take over at some point, imbuing La Douceur de Siam with the rich, steamy rice and green tea character of champaca flower. Champaca is often strangely musky to my nose, like a curl of green apple peel dipped into a resinous cream, but here the clean, fruity facets of the flower dominate.

Thanks mostly to the strong presence of the champaca, the scent takes on a pleasant soapiness. This is not the thick, opaque soapiness of, say, Ivoire (Balmain) or even Noa (Cacherel), but the clear, fruity soapiness of shampoos like Herbal Essences or Garnier Fructis. Fun fact: champaca blossom gave rise to the word “shampoo” by way of the Sanskrit word for champaca, “champo”, which means “to massage”. Champaca oil was traditionally used throughout Asia to fragrance all kinds of hygiene products such as soap and shampoo.

Later on, I notice a creamy vanilla and sandalwood duo coming in and settling all the floral notes. This is a truly delicious part of the fragrance, making me think of both dry book paper and a creamy chai sprinkled with dark cocoa and flakes of coconut. A silky, jammy rose emerges strongly at the end, and combined with the lingering traces of the fruity, tropical shampoo notes conspires to make me think of Liasons Dangereuses (By Kilian), another fragrance that conjures up the vision of a clear shampoo with droplets of pear and peach nectar suspended in the gel, popping and bursting juicily against one’s head when massaged in. They are not smellalikes, but in both these perfumes, there are mouthwatering gourmand notes like rose jam, dark chocolate shavings, cinnamon, and coconut flakes that work perfectly against the canvas of sharp, green-fruity shampoo.

The only drawback I see to such out-and-out gorgeousness is the lightness of the perfume – it settles rather too quickly into that papery cinnamon rose-ambergris-sandalwood base, losing the crispy green juiciness of the tropical flowers. But while it lasts, there is little to match the beauty of that floral bouquet, which I find intensely moving in its purity and gentleness.

My favorite of the collection. Very floral and sweet fragrance, it has a beautiful opening and keeps shining through its evolution. Very great sillage and long lasting perfume. More feminine than masculine but I like to wear it and mix it with a more woody perfume. Definitely recommend

Floriental

Flowers on flowers. Opens up with rose. Just had me thinking, oh, just a rose frag. But then its yellow florals. In an hour the incense and sandalwood are more aparent.

Really well blended. Nice ingredients. Very feminine.

The rose, violet, and ylang-ylang are ever present from start to finish. Wonderful balance of florals with a new flower coming into it's own as the one before finishes. La Douceur de Siam starts out strong with the violet and ylang-ylang with a the Champa flower in the background and eventually fades to vanilla rose.

I enjoyed every re-application of my sample and found new notes to adore. Longevity is around 6 hours.

Dusita La Douceur de Siam is one of the best musky rose/violet/ylang-ylang-combos out there. Spicy, soapy, refined, vaguely sultry and extremely floral. If you like scents a la Givenchy Ysatis, Cartier La Panthere or Armani Onde Mystere you will definitely appreciate this carefree and bright floral bouquet. A musky/classy fragrance rich of charme and exoticism, founded on a resinous ambery sandalwood's basis. Ylang-ylang utterly enhances the musky/lipstick/kind of cosmetical widespread refinement finally counteracted by a more realistic and natural earthy/leafy floral vibe. A spacious fragrance with a powerful projection. Spices and ylang-ylang play a central role imo. Along the way rose becomes dominant, gradually more and more musky, spicy and soapy. Extremely sophisticated and feminine accord for a dynamic indipendent kind of woman.

I absolutely adore La Douceur de Siam. It is simply stunning! Unfortunately, it falls to a skin scent rather rapidly before completely vanishing on my skin. I keep testing it hoping for a different result but alas, it leaves me disappointed. This had the potential to be an absolute holy grail, but I need more performance from it. Its SO beautiful, I WANT others to smell it...I want to smell it after an hour or so...

The rose, frangipani, ylang-ylang and champaca are marvelous and meticulously blended. I may end with a full bottle even with the lacking performance.