Description
“what is the heart??? how do I want to speak to this? how can I speak to her heart break? her necklace of thorns?”
These were the questions asked when looking to create the second in my series “Frida Stories” for the Women Artist Series. How can one possibly get to the recesses of Frida Kahlo’s loss; the depth of her beauty, strength, pain, and heartbreak? “Flores Bonitas y Corozones Rotos” is my attempt to honor her in all of these facets.
Many admirers of Frida are attracted to her deeply feminine expression of beauty: the fresh flowers in her hair, her dresses, and her beautiful jewelry, without knowing the personal pain she suffered both physically and emotionally. Her persona is almost larger than life, while her frail body carried unimaginable scars; her psyche, too.
“Flores Bonitas y Corozones Rotos” is directly inspired by two of her more famous paintings: “Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird”, 1940 and “The Wounded Deer”, 1946. Both of these incredible self portraits give us insight into Frida’s own experience of herself. Both are very beautiful, and so difficult to sit with. Both tell the story of her pain and suffering.
Unlike “La Casa Azul”, with its bold, proud quality, this design is more intimate; more emotional. The Blood Roses and Azalea accords that open the fragrance may seem deceptive as they are quite pretty and feel like pure love in a blossoming garden…but wait. There are thorns. There are arrows. There are tears. As the fragrance shifts through the heart note, the animals come out. The deer musk has coarse textured fur for it’s a wild animal that lives in the woods.
Flores Bonitas y Corozones Rotos is a perfume of beauty, pain, and Frida’s inner world.
BostonScentGuy (verified owner) –
This is absolutely lovely! If I concentrate, I can pick out a lot of individual notes–namely rose and all sorts of complementary facets of it (lemon, fruit, citronella, etc), cumin, civet, hay–but I much prefer to bask in the overall impression of the scent. This is a wonderfully balanced animalic floral with a beautiful spicy and mossy drydown. The hay aspect is especially lovely and subtle! A perfect “vintage meets modern” sensibility.
impromptu1992 (verified owner) –
I love the top, a sheer rose and cassis, thorns and and all. It bleeds away to reveal some of Dawn’s artful retro-animalic glam. Just the merest impression of cumin slides into view, accentuating the florals. The real beauty here is the dry down. So seductive.
katykatt –
I am not a fan of rose scents. I usually avoid them. While this fragrance has a clearly rose-centered phase, it is not just a rose fragrance. Like many of DSH’s best fragrances, this is a multi-faceted fragrance journey and has a vintage feel but is in no way old-fashioned. I was prepared to skip this one due to the mention of rose, but after a sample I’ll be purchasing and wearing this beauty.
Emily Hartmann (verified owner) –
This is a challenging fragrance, but it makes me feel like I know something secret and esoteric. This is one I keep reaching for, and I’m thrilled to have discovered it.
Kayla Rae (verified owner) –
This is so gorgeous. I’m obsessed with rose of every kind, and this gives plenty of full red rose on me, but it is never heavy, sharp, or overpowering. The top is fruity and delicious, almost candy-like. The cumin and salt, sweet, mellow hay, amber, and sexy animalics gradually settle around my beautiful lush rose, creating a complex warmth. Flores Bonitas y Corazones Rotos is breathtakingly passionate and emotionally raw. I thought, finally, a stormy enough rose scent for me! It is divine.
Adam Guerin (verified owner) –
absolutely gorgeous. get the the extrait if you can it’ll last a while. what made me fall in love with rose perfumes.