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Hylnds - Isle Ryder D.S. & Durga 2013

7.8 / 10 127 Ratings

A popular perfume by D.S. & Durga for women and men, released in 2013. The scent is spicy-woody. The production was apparently discontinued.
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Main accords

Spicy

Woody

Green

Resinous

Floral

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Fir cone

Meadowsweet

Poplar bud

Heart Notes

European spruce Broom

Broom

Jasmine

Base Notes

Mead

Rush

Woodruff

Perfumer

David Seth Moltz

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

7.8127 Ratings

Longevity

7.5107 Ratings

Sillage

6.8107 Ratings

Bottle

7.385 Ratings

Value for money

6.613 Ratings

Submitted by Apicius · last update on 02/17/2026.

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Reviews

13 in-depth fragrance descriptions

05/10/2016

9Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

Silverfire
134 Reviews

Silverfire

Very helpful Review 4

Adventure Calls You

This is another winner in the Hylnds collection. Isle Ryder smells like leather, with a mineral-woody base, but it's more than that. Stone and moss are also present. There's also a touch of something medicinal, not camphorous, just what might emerge from a medicine bottle - dusty, musty - it just screams adventure. Unfortunately it lasts about 5 hours with at most 1' projection and it becomes a skin scent after that. However, I have only tested a pipette, so perhaps it lasts longer as a spray.

Recommended.

02/17/2026

DrB1414
282 Reviews

DrB1414

Tales of Forgotten Lore over Sweet Mead.

Roaming the Highlands at the dawn of Spring. The snow still covers the grounds, and yet the sun’s blaze warms the earth, causing it to melt away. From underneath, the dormant vegetation emerges. The scent of damp, drowsy grass slowly permeates the air. He stops by the thick fir tree forest to catch his breath and fills his horn with mead to warm his soul. It tastes wonderfully sweet. It reminds him of the honeyed jasmine flowers his beloved used to wear in her curly, long hair, once upon a Spring.

I’m thoroughly fascinated by this fragrance from the HYLNDS collection by D.S. & Durga. It is such an oddball. I have tried to think of what it reminded me of, and it finally clicked. It is one of the weirdest potions from Uncle Serge’s cabinet of curiosities, Chypre Rouge. To this date, it is the only Serge Lutens perfume I could never tolerate. Even so, it only shares the aesthetic, as they don’t smell all that close. After all, I very much enjoy Isle Ryder. The Lutens was more sickly-sweet and adorned with stewed fruits, in the characteristic Lutens fashion. Regardless, this is also a weird concoction, one that, at least for me, works. Yet I am left scratching my head about how to place it; a floral and boozy coniferous perfume, perhaps? The most prominent facets are: fir, jasmine, meadowsweet, and honey. There are other aromatic nuances that I cannot place, and a prickly-mineral quality in the dry-down that resembles ambergris to some extent. The most fascinating bit, however, is the vivid “mead accord,” an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey. I feel it was more or less accidental, perhaps a result of blending various facets of honey and meadowsweet, among others. It hits you in the face in the opening, effervescent, sweet, and boozy, and lingers throughout. It is never overpowering, yet constantly present. The coniferous nuances are also prevalent, fresh, resinous, and warm. The jasmine is surprisingly indolic. I’d say that, if there is a single most challenging aspect of this perfume, apart from the unusual pairing of notes, it has to be the unashamedly indolic jasmine. It also bears some faint fruity and honey-like undertones, but the indoles are most prominent. Rest assured, it doesn’t feel suffocating. It is rather ethereal. I don’t think I ever smelled a jasmine accord that feels indolic and light at the same time. Another thing I want to point out is this dampness that creeps about. A green, wet sensation that, in my mind, looks like the forest floor with grass and fir needles dampened by the melting snow. In the late dry-down, it becomes increasingly resinous and warm.

As a huge fan of this HYLNDS collection, Isle Ryder is the most fascinating among the ones I tried. It should be sampled just for fun. And while I’m not a “conehead,” I get along with the coniferous facets in here, well complemented by the funky jasmine and the boozy and heart-warming mead accord. The dampness, the prickly-mineral ghost accord, and the hard-to-place aromatics are just a bonus, as well as a forever puzzle to be solved by my nerdy brain and fruitful imagination.

IG:@memory.of.scents

12/18/2018

6.5Scent 9Longevity 8Sillage

Meggi
1018 Reviews

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Meggi

Top Review 27

Tried Everything

A fragrance, of which several ingredients are either unknown or at least not sufficiently present, can only be approached from another angle. I take the bittersweetness of Isle Ryder as an opportunity to refer to a recording of Scottish and Welsh folk songs - in an arrangement for voice, violin, cello, and piano by Joseph Haydn (youtube.com/watch?v=hu8mIKaH2D8)

“Papa” Haydn is…not exactly my favorite composer. I find many of his works (sorry…) simply boring. To justify myself, I can point out that even those more qualified sometimes feel similarly. When Gustav Mahler presented the first movement of his 2nd Symphony to conductor Hans von Bülow, he remarked that Wagner's Tristan was a piece by Joseph Haydn. This comment, by the way, was not meant as a compliment for Mahler; it merely serves to explain that Haydn… let’s leave it at that.

Because I greatly appreciate the aforementioned recording, and that is due to the fact that the already wonderfully unpretentious setting was further enhanced by the exceptional voice of the early deceased Fritz Wunderlich: Wunderlich was able - despite the almost unreal beauty of the performance - to always imbue the more cheerful songs with a gently mournful warmth, laced with quiet, underlying melancholy, and conversely, to protect the sadder pieces from pathos through clever restraint in tone.

Should the fragrance achieve something similar? I set out to find out.

A medicinally bitter herbal opening on a scratchy base, quickly joined by sweetness that hints at a honey-like origin. A pile of old leaves comes into olfactory range. Mushrooms have spread out on them. After ten minutes, a medicinal quality emerges, almost like a kind of natural cough syrup. As it develops, the (already mentioned) linden and the indicated poplar seem understandable. I can smell both in the vicinity of my office at the relevant times in considerable measure.

Unfortunately, I cannot deny that I increasingly perceive the fragrance as musty, especially when a dull, needly woodiness in the middle section follows the same direction. However, this does not exude any gloom; perhaps it is meant to convey a quiet, cozy melancholy - which is exactly why I thought of the music. However, I cannot follow this approach. The fragrance has become too much “just there,” without anything more touching happening. Except that in the afternoon, I would attribute a potato-grainy twist to it, bordering on the stinky. From afar, the sheep-must from ‘100 Tweeds’ by Euphorium Brooklyn comes to mind, here just without the cheesy prickliness.

Well, it seems that it won’t work. I have tried everything: warmer days, cooler days, hotter days, colder days; gentler and bolder applications. Nothing helps, the fragrance remains foreign and nebulous to me.

It just can’t always fit; after all, the Durgas are quirky - it would be more surprising to like them all. Moreover, Isle Ryder is far from a failure; it appears to be of high quality like its siblings and is certainly worth every test.

I thank Gerdi for the sample.

10/19/2020

8Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

Chizza
362 Reviews

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Chizza

Top Review 27

In the Footsteps of Störtebeker

D.S. & Durga is one of my favorite perfume labels. This is due to many creations telling stories that a fragrance from this house conveys and the sometimes unusual ingredients. I really appreciate this descriptive insert of the bottles and find the variety of ideas brought to perfume very charming, even if not everything appeals to me.

So today, Hylnds - Isle Ryder, a scent that is very linear for me and driven by unfamiliar notes. At first, I thought of civet, but no, that is not present here; rather, it is all about nature. Perhaps the idea behind it, behind the island raider, is a kind of insular panopticon of the flowers and trees thriving there, but it probably isn't a South Sea island; still, it is a warm fragrance.

For me, the real meadowsweet dominates. The name implies a certain sweetness; in fact, the scent of meadowsweet can be described as a kind of honey fragrance, which is very pronounced at the beginning. This now blends with the poplar bud, which comes across as resinous and viscous, slightly balsamic. It exudes inviting warmth without being too much; the balance is delicate.

I cannot claim that much will change in this basic orientation; rather, the additional notes underline the mélange. The broom supports the warmth, adds an herbaceous note to sharpen the character, jasmine provides the already present sweetness, and the spruce joins the poplar. Thus, the construct of Isle Ryder remains the same, but Durga manages to create a second layer, showing variations so that the sweet element is gradually toned down, and one perceives a certain saturation from the resins olfactorily.

I do miss some of the base notes, but I think that mead, spicy honey wine, knows how to fit in accordingly and begins precisely where the meadowsweet ends. This would at least explain the noticeable change over time.
The combination of dried woodruff and bulrush, both of which smell like straw in the broadest sense, will later be responsible for the dry, gnarled element that accompanies Isle Ryder after three hours. Not to be confused with henbane in mead.

I really like the progression of Isle Ryder because the initial honey note is significantly softened, while the hay scent is also not too pronounced. Both in moderation are finely balanced, and it is a pity that Durga has likely discontinued the fragrance.
Oh, and where could the island raider actually live? In fact, much could point to North America or Europe; ultimately, it might be the German islands since the common spruce is only native to Central Europe. Now the title also comes full circle.

Updated on 10/19/2020

12/23/2023

7.5Scent 6Longevity 5Sillage

loewenherz
920 Reviews

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loewenherz

Top Review 33

Sleep, Dearie Sleep

So goes the name of an old Scottish tune, originally written as a lullaby and cradle song. However, the piece is mostly performed today in a serious and dignified manner with the bagpipe at the gravesites of fallen soldiers. Elizabeth II. had already decreed during her lifetime in the so-called Operation London Bridge (the detailed planning of her funeral) that 'Sleep, Dearie Sleep' should be played at her burial - the legend says, on the recommendation of her personal 'Piper' - that is, bagpiper - Major Paul Burns, who was very close to her.

Sleep, Dearie Sleep. There is comfort and sadness in these words - and the end of duty and toil and deprivation as well as the promise of long-awaited rest and peace. And comfort and sadness and rest and peace may have been the inspiration for Hylnds - Isle Ryder, one of those quiet fragrances that D.S. & Durga dedicated ten years ago to the rugged land in the heart of Scotland, on the edge of which lies Balmoral Castle, the summer residence of the British royal family, where Elizabeth II. passed away in late summer last year.

Sleep, my darling, sleep. D.S. & Durga's Isle Ryder quotes much from that quiet Scottish lullaby and dirge. The rugged, the rough. Sketched by cracked and dry needlebrush. The unattainable, the harsh. Rendered through a dull, strangely muted green, lacking any freshness and youth. And finally the reconciling, the peace. Illustrated by a sweetness that is more resin and honey than flowers. And a wounded tenderness - like a quickly approaching light, yet still imbued with mourning and loss.

Isle Ryder is not a difficult fragrance if one does not wish to find it difficult. Then it is gray-green-brown and woody, restrained and perhaps a bit foreign. But when one opens up to it, allowing the rugged and the rough, the unattainable and the harsh as well as the reconciling and sweet - akin to the tones of that distant bagpipe tune, then it gives much more. Dry moors and deserted heath. Delicious tranquility and an unexpectedly soft base. And the memory of a queen in her beloved castle on the edge of the Highlands.

Conclusion: a fragrance for moments of reflection and silence. Perhaps a fragrance for the outdoors. One for the blue hour. And if a fragrance is sought for bagpipe music - here it is!

Updated on 12/23/2023

More reviews

Statements

49 short views on the fragrance

Eggi37

1 year ago

7Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

Not quite fresh mead anymore
Dull & flat without spirit
With honey-balm sweet aroma
Lying on a soft-dry hay pillow
In a herbal fir forest

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ElAttarine

11 months ago

8.5Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

come, let’s ride on pine cones
where resin buds drip
where meadowsweet heals every fever
broom jasmine in the heart of indole
grass wind of freedom

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Jeob

8 months ago

9Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

Between poplar buds
and meadowsweet
shy jasmine
blooms first on skin,
bees breathe honey mead,
& hum familiar longing.

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Danny264

1 year ago

7Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

from island to island raiding
in the pine cone boat the
Celts on sweet fragrant mead
honey drops adorn
delicate jasmine

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Floyd

5 years ago

8.5Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

Come, let’s steal little islands
With needle forests and sweet rushes
Dancing flower magic paste
In rain made of mead
And woodruff

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MonMedusa

2 years ago

8Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

I discovered the possibility of an island
Light and shadow play of the poplars in May
Raucous green-covered woodruff floors
Ancient wild herb knowledge

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