Self-curated discovery set: Damask Haus - great value oil-based gourmands from an indie brand

One of the things I have been doing to expand my perfume horizons is ordering what I call “self-curated discovery sets”: collections of (usually around 10) samples of perfumes from a particular house, or focused on a particular note, which I have picked out based on my personal preferences.

This blog post is about my discovery set from Damask Haus, a small indie perfume house based in the US.
I was immediately captivated by the aesthetics of their brand and consistently interesting, complex and surprising note pyramids. Then I saw how good their prices were (even with the exchange rate) and I wasted no time in curating a discovery set. Now that I’ve spent some time with these fragrances, it’s time to do a deep dive into Damask Haus.

I ordered the oil based perfume rollers, since shipping alcohol based perfume internationally is not allowed. You have the option of either purchasing a set of 5x1ml samples, or ordering each perfume individually in a bottle size of your choice (they range from 2ml to 30ml). I opted for the second option, choosing the 2ml size, since I wanted more than 5 samples and I like having a larger sample size to work with.

I’m delighted with the bottles I received - they are so cute! Measuring about an inch high including the cap, and made of glass with a roller ball cap, they feel very sturdy and more like miniature perfume bottles than samples. It takes a bit of force to “pop” the roller ball so it starts moving, and then a bit more time to get the oil to start flowing, but it’s all smooth sailing from then on. I will also add that a little goes a long way, and I have yet to use up any of my 2ml samples.

On sniffing all my samples, I immediately became aware of the Damask Haus DNA. I noticed that cashmere is a commonly listed note in their perfumes, and while it's not listed in all of them, I suspect that some quantity of cashmeran is used in almost every perfume. This produces a pleasant, rounded smoothness with a cosy feeling similar to a scented candle, but it makes many of the perfumes smell a bit the same to my nose, especially in the drydown.

Besides this, the other thing I noticed right away is that Damask Haus is dominated by gourmands. If you read the “about” page on their website, the perfumer actually explains that she started out creating perfumes as a way to capture the memory of delicious foods encountered on her travels, so this makes a lot of sense. And it’s abundantly clear that Damask Haus absolutely EXCELS at gourmands. I am not someone who usually seeks to smell like food, but smelling these perfumes gives me a profound appreciation for the genre. The sample that really made me respect the culinary arts in perfumery was actually a freebie that they threw in, not one I had hand-picked: Ube Malasada Perfume Oil. Every time I smell it my mouth waters and I feel hungry. It’s such a masterful recreation of the smell of fried, cinnamon-sugar coated dough.

Damask Haus perfumes tend to evolve on the skin - and even on paper! - in a really captivating way. For some reason, until now I’ve not had many perfumes in my collection that go through distinct top/middle/base phases, or those that do have insufficient longevity for the changes to really be noticeable. But in my Damask Haus perfumes, I can actually smell the notes changing without having to bury my face in my wrist to detect what’s going on. It’s so delightful to start out smelling something floral and woody and then half an hour later, become aware that I’m now smelling tea instead. Or something like that. Just such a cool experience!

Another thing that’s really cool is how evocative these scents are of the scenes they are trying to recreate. I mentioned before that I really like the branding Damask Haus uses, and I like it even more now knowing that the scents live up to their promises. I feel that all too often in more mainstream perfumery, the marketing is just marketing, with little connection to the emotions or memories it claims to evoke. But with Damask Haus, i get the impression that these perfumes really are crafted to conjure a specific scene.

Last but not least, the performance of some of these scents is phenomenal, and I've noticed in particular that the sillage really blooms when moving around - body heat of course plays a role in the projection of all perfumes, but I particularly notice it with these as the oil based formulation needs to heat up on your skin before it starts projecting, and then it becomes really strong. They also last 8-10 hours with residual scent still detectable on my skin the next day.

Unfortunately, many of the scents I got don’t work for me personally, either being too gourmand for me, or just incompatible with my skin chemistry. These perfumes are STRONG, and given the gourmand focus, many contain notes that become too sweet and cloying on my skin. That said, some REALLY work for me.

My top 5 are:
1. Bat Song Perfume Oil: simple but cosy, creamy lavender, perfect for bedtime. I’ll probably get another bottle when it runs out
2. Fleeting Light Perfume Oil: complex and evolving earthy+floral autumnal scent
3. Grecian Fig Perfume Oil: great combination of incense and fig
4. Filthy Femme Perfume Oil: delicious dirty musk
5. Ube Malasada Perfume Oil: cinnamon donut, described earlier

Runners up:
- Polaris Perfume Oil - slightly gothic creamy-fruity shampoo, which I love for personal scent association reasons
- Crown Shy Perfume Oil - very piney fougere
- Candlelight Service Perfume Oil - tea and biscuits in a dark, woody church; turned too sweet on me but I love the concept

Although I've been tempted to purchase more from this brand because of the great quality and value for money, I will probably refrain from doing so because their gourmand focus doesn't really align with my tastes, and there's a high risk of everything being too sweet on my skin. However, I do highly recommend checking Damask Haus out if you love gourmands!