Perfumed Truth: New Dame Soliflore Eau de Toilette Sprays

by: Jodi Battershell

The newest collection from Dame Perfumery Scottsdale began with a single scent. Or really, before that, it began with an idea. "The Dame Soliflore project, you might recall began with last summer’s 2015 'Unreleased' program at Tigerlily Perfumery in San Francisco," says Jeffrey. "I created a Soliflore Gardenia Perfume, pulled from my workbench, as one of the 'Unreleased' scents from 10 different perfumers in that Tigerlily collection."

Our dear Ida reviewed each fragrance in the Unreleased project and gave rave reviews to all—"there isn't a clunker among the lot!"—with Gardenia leaving a particularly memorable impression.

"I really enjoyed the scent, and the response was outstanding," notes Jeffrey. So much so, in fact, that Dame Perfumery decided to add Soliflore Gardenia to its permanent collection, along with five other Soliflore companions: Tuberose, Rose de Mai, Narcissus, Osmanthus and Mimosa.

"The creative concept behind my Dame Soliflore perfumes is quite special. I wanted to create true scents, the smell of the flower as it blooms and the scent drifts in the air. For the scent of a flower exists in three forms—as a plant in soil, growing in life, and then next blooming and throwing the scent into the air, floating in all its glory, and then at last, dead and gone, the last oils of life squeezed from picked petals. It is the magic I wanted to capture, the scent which makes your heart sing, and that is the scent as it floats in the air. This is the hardest to capture, as it is all creative interpretation." —Jeffrey Dame

The Dame Soliflore fragrances were initially released as 10 ml oil-based rollerball fragrances. In reviewing the comments left on the article, it appears Ida's review of the entire Soliflore oils collection had many of us reaching for our wallets. If your curiosity was piqued, the news that the Soliflore collection is now available in 100 ml Eau de Toilette sprays will no doubt add fuel to the fire.

(And for our friends outside the U.S. who have not yet experienced the Dame Perfumery Scottsdale fragrances, perhaps the news that Dame has made the Soliflore Perfume Oils and New Musk Oil available to international customers in more than 25 countries—and with free shipping! see the entire list here—will have you rejoicing.)

Jeffrey assures us the quality of both formats is high. "The essential oil formula recipe is the same for both products, but the concentration, the form and the character is different for each one. The Soliflore Perfume Oil rollerballs have a very high perfume concentration and are in an oil base, so the scents are deep and rich and tend to stay close to the skin. The Soliflore Perfume eau de toilette sprays are in a lighter concentration than the perfume, and are also in a more volatile alcohol base. And here the character of the scent becomes brighter and more delicate."

Though both the oil-based and alcohol-based formats have great longevity and good sillage on their own, the Soliflore Perfumes in the two forms can be used together or separately.

And to Jeffrey's surprise, customers are also layering the scents in unexpected ways. "A good number of my customers have purchased the collection, all six Soliflore Perfumes. I love that. And while I created them to be worn on their own, my customers are adventurous and are mixing and matching on their own at will, wearing Soliflore Gardenia on top of Soliflore Tuberose. Going all in." (Have any of you tried layering these scents? We'd love to hear about it in the comments.)

All six fragrances in the collection are beautiful and highly wearable. Mimosa was the first one I tried and it's mouth-wateringly gorgeous—an olfactory "Jolly Rancher" candy in a floral flavor. Tuberose is surprisingly earthy and very unisex. Narcissusreminds me of freshly-mown fields of hay from the farms of Nebraska (that's a good thing!). Rose de Mai would give a vase of the  long-stemmed variety a run for its money. Osmanthus captures those elusive peach and apricot notes without veering too far into "doll head" territory.

And then I got to Gardenia.

I can honestly say I never cared much for the solo gardenia scents I have tried in the past, but I join the legions of fans of Soliflore Gardenia. This one is truly something special. When the box arrived, I sprayed and then tweeted Dame Perfumery Scottsdale immediately:

"I will say the Soliflore Gardenia has been the bestseller," Jeffrey confirms. "I think Gardenia is such a hard scent to capture properly—so many are 'fantasy accords' and not true, and customers are always searching for a 'true' gardenia, and here they have found it."

"Truth" is actually the concept that links the Soliflore collection with its customers. "Gorgeous, simple, true and clear," is how Jeffrey describes the Soliflore collection in a nutshell and this truth is borne out by reactions from Dame Perfumery customers. "I have been struck by how many women have reached out to me with notes of how perfectly true the Soliflore Perfumes are, and how they captured a childhood experience of gardens, in particular walking through gardens with grandparents. My heart is warmed with those memories." (Another truth: perfume for Jeffrey is all about the personal connections, as is evident with his Postcard Program if you're in the United States.)

The following review of Gardenia by our member kinetisphere is very telling, on more than one level:

"This takes me back to my childhood playing in my mum's flower garden here in Florida. The best damn gardenia soliflore I have ever smelled. This is on point, it totally captures the essence of the flowers. It's kinda sweet,very deep, white floraly goodness! My mother would totally approve this. As do I. Would be a great scent to layer with Dame's musk."
 

Right there is affirmation of the true flower aroma of this fragrance, and another truth about the Soliflore collection that Jeffrey hadn't anticipated: men are buying these fragrances. 

"About one-fourth of my customers for the Soliflore Perfumes have been to men for their own use, which surprised and pleased me," Jeffrey says.  "It’s tapered off a little with the men recently to around 15% of sales, but still—how cool is that?  Totally unexpected, at least by me—big white florals and all, and I think it speaks to the sophistication of the American perfume clientele."

A final truth, in keeping with Dame Perfumery's philosophy on fragrance pricing: "The price points for the Soliflore Perfumes, as you know from my other Dame fragrances, are accessible and within reach at $35.00 [10 ml perfume oil rollerball] and $65.00 [100 ml EDT]," says Jeffrey. "I very much want my perfumes to be worn with abandon, loved and experienced."

Dame Perfumery Soliflore Collection EDTs were released in February 2016 and are available on the Dame Perfumery Scottsdale official website. Try Dame Perfumery Scottsdale fragrances in person at Tigerlily and Indigo in the US and Etiket in Canada.

Thank you to Dame Perfumery for the opportunity to try the Soliflore EDT collection!