Dilettante

House: Hiram Green

Release: 2016

Perfumer: Hiram Green

Fragrance Notes

Orange flower, Petitgrain, Orange

Review

Since 2013, perfumer Hiram Green has been advancing a modern, yet retro approach to natural perfumery that has drawn international acclaim. In 2019, his perfume Hyde won the Art & Olfaction Artisan award. Dilettante, released in 2016, follows on a handful of other soliflore compositions that maintain a tension between simplicity and complex narrative: Moon Bloom is a tuberose scent, but also a painting of the green of night and the creamy depth of the narcotic scent. Dilettante performs a similar feat, highlighting the fresh fruit, woody green of the stems and leaves, and the complex floral, indolic nature of the orange blossom. Some say that orange blossom absolute is a perfume all on its own, and it would be easy to think that this perfume is almost that simple, but this kind of scent cannot be achieved without the deft use of supporting materials, most likely natural isolates in addition to essential oils and absolutes.

From our wear of a 2020 decant, the fatty white floral or the orange blossom jumped off our arm with excellent projection. The petitgrain was bracing and clearly green, but more powdery than bitter sharp. Perhaps a bit of petitgrain absolute would do this using only naturals, or some orris butter. There is sweetness, but we were expecting a brighter and juicier citrus opening given the listed note. The drydown is sweet honey powder. It is missing something that makes this important period a bit disappointing after the clarity of the orange blossom heart note.

It is quite a challenge to make something smell like itself in natural perfumery. For most of the wear time, Dilettante surpasses this challenge. For this reason, we include Dilettante in our list of Top 10 Orange Blossom Perfumes.

Projection is good, sillage ok, and longevity good.