Just because you've never heard of her doesn't mean she's not a terrific perfumer. I'm speaking of Haydria Bish, whose Haydria Perfumery specializes in hand-blended, vintage-inspired scents, glamorous ones that harken back to the days when ladies wore garter belts and powdered their noses. She learned her craft in France under master perfumer Jacques Maurel of Galimard, and it shows - all of her fragrances are extremely well-blended, rich and luxurious.Currently, she has eight scents available:
Bernie! is gardenia, jasmine and sandalwood accented with soft exotic notes
Burlesque Blue has notes of myrrh, sandalwood and plum cascaded over a cool undercurrent of exotic Eastern flowers
My Geisha has notes of green tea, orange blossom, white flowers and musk
Gypsy Queen with lush florals and rich spices smoldering with deep wood notes
Harem Girl with notes of iris, musk and opoponax veiled with incense
L'Eau Exotique features aquatic notes, Asian champa flowers and sandalwood
Pure Sin has passion fruit, champagne, dark chocolate and white musk
Tainted Love with notes of violets, berries and light amber drizzled with honey
One sniff of any of these, apart from My Geisha, takes me back to my childhood, when I played with my mother's collection of perfumes and scented soaps. My Geisha is a more modern fragrance, a lovely white floral-and-tea scent that dries down to a very clean white musk. To my nose, it's like a stepchild of Chanel Beige, with some Gendarme thrown in, and definitely my favorite of the collection. But then vintage scents are not my thing. However, if you appreciate the bold florals and deep woodsy notes of scents of yore, you will love Haydria's collection of pin-up inspired fragrances. You can find them at HaydriaPerfumery.com, including samples. And they are priced right - $35 for 1 fl oz.
