“Life is golden” – Hiram Green
Notes: Bulgarian Rose, Citrus, Orris and Olibanum
Hiram Green’s strikingly dark and moody Hyde recently won the Artisan Perfume Award at the Art & Olfaction Awards in Amsterdam. It was the worthiest of winners. Hiram is an uncommon talent using naturals to create compositions of great sophistication and complexity.
At Esxence this year he surprised everyone by unveiling a brand new rose soliflore: Lustre.
However stunning a rose perfume may be, it rarely smells like the real thing. Lustre does. It’s the pure perfume you get when you poke your nose into the heart of the open flower. We had a rose garden when I was growing up and it’s a joy to find this scent captured so beautifully: A true bottled rose. Not to say that this is a simplistic natural concoction. It is an expertly crafted, well-rounded, fine fragrance.
The sweet scent of the Bulgarian rose is there (of course) but it is edged with citrus tartness. There is something lemony about the scent of real roses and it’s present here, most notably in the opening.
From looking at the notes you may expect to find prominent iris and incense. I can clearly pick up on the resinous tones of olibanum if I get in close and sometimes I sense iris powder. However, the supporting accords are chiefly working together behind the scenes to create this vivid illusion of a rose in full bloom. Somehow Hiram found a way to do this without relying heavily on tried and tested materials like patchouli, geranium or vetiver.
Where Hyde is night, Lustre is day. It is a fresh summer rose bathed in golden sunlight, as heat begins to warm the petals and releases its scent. Its radiance is a pleasure in itself and it takes a considerable amount of time to die down completely. It encompasses the flower’s multi-faceted aroma and makes it seem as if one has suddenly bloomed somewhere close by.
Lustre proves how a linear soliflore can retain your attention. It’s captivating when a fragrance unfolds on the skin and develops in distinct stages, moving through head, heart and base. But then a perfume will come along to remind me that blanket preferences can’t be set in stone. Lustre is rose, rose, rose and I don’t tire of it because of its depth and beauty. The intrigue is vertical, rather than horizontal. You can reach down, layer after layer, petal after petal and experience a world of rose in a single inhalation.
Do you like the idea of a sunlit garden rose?
A Bottled Rose 
THIS SOUNDS DIVINE
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It really is.
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So want this! It seems to have been a huge hit.
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Jillie, it’s heart-warming for a rose soliflore to get so much attention.
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Gorgeous review Tara of what will no doubt be my favourite perfume of the year, as was Hyde last year. Hiram‘s work is amazing. It is a perfect rose. My most worn scent of 2019, which says a lot as I‘ve only had it for what, a month? 💞
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For someone like us with so many options to wear a perfume day after day after day, it says a lot. I’ve no idea how Hiram does it.
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Your reviews are always so spot on and beautiful! I am all with you with regards to Lustre, it is addictively gorgeous and so easy to wear and it is not intrusive, but it offers surprises every time you sniff. Perfect company.
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Exactly! Sometimes it’s more citrusy and sometimes more sweet. It’s rare that a perfume is easy to wear AND addictive. So happy you feel the same.
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It is, it is a bottled rose! What a perfect signature scent for the blog. Having spent a fair old while trying to find my friend Jessica a really rosy rose perfume, only to have her chance across Mogador and declare that to be ‘the one’, I think there is a new ‘the one’ on the block!
Btw, did you by any chance get a fuzzy sensation in the opening, a bit like Tauer perfumes can be? Or Sheiduna by Puredistance? I wasn’t sure about that, but it lasted mere moments before you dived / dove? Into the gorgeous hyper-realistic petals proper.
Thanks for such a lovely rendering of Lustre!
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Hi V!
I’ve drained my sample so can’t double check now but didn’t get anything disconcerting in the opening, just that tart, fizzy(?) citrus.
Nice to hear you enjoyed my take. Little has been written about it yet.
Trying to match a civilian with their idea of what they’re looking for is so hard but Lustre is a good option if Jessica is still looking.
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I think she couldn’t fail to love it, however she reads the opening fizz / fuzz! 😉
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Great. You’d be very kind to share your sanple with her 🙂
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Beautiful review, Tara! I do love the smell of roses and find that pure essential oils capture this fragrance perfectly for me.
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Thanks Brigitte!
Lustre does a great job of accentuating the Bulgarian rose oil.
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Fabulous review. This sounds amazing.
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Thanks, matty. It’s a beauty.
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This should be at Etiket in Montreal shortly if not already, can’t wait to give it a sniff. Love HG’s work and love roses.
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I’ll keep everything crossed but there is an excellent chance you’ll fall for it in that case.
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I have heard so many positive reviews of Lustre, and I love Hiram Green fragrances. I will seek out a sample asap!
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Great. Hope you love it, Kathleen.
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What Val said ^^^^ I’ve worn it every day for the past week! Easily one of the best of 2019!
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Fantastic!
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Thank you for that lovely review!I adore rose perfumes in all their different shapes, nocturnal and dark ones (Une Rose, PoaL, Le Mat), boozy, sour, happy- but have yet to find the pure unadulterated rose, this might be it!!
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Thanks for reading, ariane. I really hope so!
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What an inspiring review! I look forward to trying this perfume, though I’m sad that there will be no small bottles: not only those are more practical for me, they are very nice, if to judge by my Arbole Arbole bottle.
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I know. I was contemplating a travel bottle until Val told me they’d be discontinued. Maybe it’s not economical for him. It’s a lovely fresh, garden rose though with a fantastic resinous backbone.
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What a lovely review. I am so tempted to buy a sample, and yet I already need Moon Bloom and Dilettante – do I dare fall in love with another HG?
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Hi empliau,
It isn’t an easy position to be in 🙂 Lustre has joined Dilettante on my Wish List.
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