Steamed Rainbow D.S. & Durga 2023

Summertime! Hose! Water! This is summertime hose water! Clean earth, chlorophyll, a ghost of sunscreen, and this green-toned chemical scent somewhere between rubber and plastic. But the magic is how all this is conjured up though a cleverly-blended cocktail of citrus, violet, and grass. A truly sorcerous aquatic. If someone ever questions the creative artistry in perfumery, point them to this bad boy. This is aerosolized nostalgia right here; hundreds of memories stoppered in one little vial. A pity it vanishes after an hour or two on my skin, but easily forgiven for a hit of childhood Elysium.

Mental Snapshot: Midway through grade school you move from the city to the burbs. It’s your first time having a backyard. A lawn. A garden hose. You spend hours capering about the fresh sod, playing with its settings. Shower, cone, mist, jet. That $7 adjustable nozzle brings you more joy than any birthday gift.

tl;dr: the chemtrails are turning the frogs gay

First, a TL;DR: You’re 10 years old and you just hopped out of the pool, your still-soaked swimsuit dripping on the hot concrete as you run past sun beaten flowerbeds and across the fresh-cut lawn in pursuit of the pitcher of now-diluted orange kool-aid your mom left out for you.

Full review: I absolutely love this fragrance, as hard to classify as it is. I’m not surprised that the formulation allegedly took years (a decade?) to develop, as all of the notes seem to effortlessly glide into one another. Not one note being an overt base throughout the entire process of the drydown is a treat, when many perfumes tend to eventually end up as a straight up vanilla, or sandalwood, or what have you.

I, like another reviewer, was worried the orange would overshadow other notes. But the orange doesn’t overshadow…anything. In fact, nothing outshines anything else - the blend has become a nearly singular scent that is both evocative and familiar. It makes sense most amateur perfume enthusiasts like myself tend to describe this perfume with atmospheric imagery because “fresh orange” or “intense vetiver” are the last kind of descriptions I could rightfully use for this perfume.
To lean hypocritical on my statement that there isn’t a clear base note: the grass note is ever-present, yes, but it….isn’t. It’s constantly enveloped in petrichor (of the urban variety), a pleasant dose of indoor pool, fresh summer air, the tiniest whisper of fruit, varying summer greenery, and ozonics…it’s not just “grass” boldly standing out amongst the rest. It’s very much its *own thing.*

There’s a potent “fresh” quality that is simultaneously synthetic (a la chlorine) and natural (a la summer air.) Reviews claiming the sillage and longevity are poor confuse me - the sillage is great, inducing compliments across the room, and the longevity is fantastic. I’ve frequently sprayed this before bed only to wake up still smelling the fragrance on my pulse points. Maybe it is dependent on your skin chemistry, or maybe an unlucky few go nose blind to this scent quickly and *think* there is poor longevity.

If you’re a gambler like me, go ahead and blind-buy the whole bottle just to own a collector’s item type fragrance that is sure to dredge up some sweet nostalgia from your youth. If you’re hesitant to dive into such an obscure fragrance, grab a sample. But a big sample. With an atomizer. 9ml at least, to really sit with it…Fuck it, grab the whole bottle.

8.5/10

Very evocative. I am immediately reminded of bubble wand mixture, playing in the garden sprinkler as a child, and wet pavement after a summer storm. Also quite specifically of the fountains (or the area around them) in a mall I used to visit. Such a rush of nostalgic connections all at once; scent can be so powerful.

In terms of scent, the orange and elemi are definitely prominent in the opening. There is then a faint hint of grass, and a damp sort of scent conjuring images of wet indoor places like swimming pools (without the chlorine). As the citrus fades it gives way to a lightly woody floral. Does it smell like a rainbow? Who knows! But it is probably the most intriguing fragrance I’ve encountered in a while.

This is a quiet scent in terms of projection, staying close and intimate. Longevity is average, around 4 hours or so on me. Definitely not my usual kind of scent, but one I am considering a full bottle of simply to relive the experience. Very liminal, and perfect for humid days.

My experience with Steamed Rainbow from DS& Durga leaves me in a state of mind to offer impressions rather than a proper review of the perfume: childhood summers scooted out of the house from sunup to sundown by a harried single mother tired of children underfoot during times of day when they are typically in school/dewdrops on grass clippings and neon hibiscus petals hastily evaporating in early July morning Florida heat/my mother's rare appearances on those afternoons, the scent of those synthetic citrusy florals of her Bain de Soleil sun oil/a rare sprinkler day, the small device rotating and twisting and spitting thin streams of ice cold water, shocking on sun-warmed skin, sizzling on scalding asphalt/that dizzying kaleidoscopic shimmer and spray as a sunbeam prisms stars through a small splash, a magic summer star in my palm, toes cool in already warming puddles.

I love this scent. When I was a child, during the summer, I'd cure my boredom by drawing all over our entire long driveway over the course of days. No spot left untouched. When it finally stormed, I'd stand in the driveway and watch the rain wash away my art while steam rose up from the asphalt. I love the scent of the hot rain, steam, and greenery and the promise of a blank slate. That's Steamed Rainbow!

Unfortunately, I don't think this lasts very long or has great projection. But what a wonderful scent to have experienced.