The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Colorado is Dawn Spencer Hurwitz's ode to the landscape she calls home. An Eau de Parfum, it captures the unmistakable scent of Colorado rocky mountain air around Boulder, sunshine filtering through pine boughs, fresh conifer needles warmed by the sun, and the sugared mapled amber of ponderosa pines. Hurwitz has wanted to bottle this for years. The challenge: it's specific. Not forest in general. Not clean air. The particular smell of Colorado's open spaces at altitude. She worked with a high dose of natural materials to get there, naturals that behave like their source, not like a simulation of it. The result is a fragrance that shifts with the light, sometimes bright and resinous, sometimes deeply warm and golden, always unmistakably rooted in that high-altitude air.
The composition leans heavily on CO2 extracts, oak CO2 and black spruce CO2, because CO2 extraction produces something closer to the actual smell of the living plant than standard extracts. The immediacy matters. You smell conifer, not perfumery conifer. Immortelle absolute adds a honeyed, hay-like complexity that makes the pine forest feel inhabited rather than abandoned. The sweetness doesn't come from vanilla or gourmand accord. It comes from Ponderosa pine bark itself, balsam fir and Ponderosa pine resin create that dark maple quality that distinguishes this from other conifer fragrances.
The evolution
The opening is bright and immediate. Bergamot, lemon, blue spruce arrive together, the feel of trail air at sunrise, not a staged forest accord. Green notes lift the citrus away from soap. Within twenty minutes the heart emerges: jasmine absolute and immortelle provide a fleeting wildflower moment, but the conifer base never releases. Australian sandalwood and Texas cedar add warmth and texture without softening the evergreens. By the drydown, Colorado asserts itself fully. Balsam fir, Ponderosa pine bark, and cade oil create a resinous, maple-sweet base unique to this fragrance. Tolu balsam and amber warm it. Moss grounds it in earth. The final hours are intimate, skin-close, and persistent, jasmine lingers as a ghost. The fragrance wears long, evolving across the day as the different elements take their turn at prominence, with the evergreen foundation never fully fading.
Cultural impact
Colorado won the 2019 Art and Olfaction Award. It stands apart for its specificity, capturing a place with photorealistic clarity rather than offering a conceptual take. The high concentration of natural materials creates a sense of authenticity. Wearers describe it as transportive, a rare fragrance that genuinely smells like a place rather than suggesting one. It has found a devoted audience among those who want to carry Colorado with them, not as nostalgia but as something alive.
The House
American PerfumerAmerican Perfumer is a Louisville-based fragrance platform that connects enthusiasts with perfumes created by American perfumers. Founded in 2018 by Dave Kern, the business operates as a curated marketplace rather than a fragrance house, offering a selection of scents from independent American perfumers under one roof. The platform serves as a meeting point between American fragrance talent and collectors seeking domestically crafted perfumes. Kern himself is not a perfumer but rather a curator and facilitator, allowing him to maintain an objective focus on presenting diverse American fragrance voices. The collection spans a wide range of olfactory territories, from the warm spice of Bloodline to the green freshness of Honeyed Vetiver, reflecting the breadth of creative talent working in American perfumery today.
The Creator
Dawn Spencer HurwitzDawn’s signatures are rich, tactile woods, resinous amber, and finely tuned floral accords that recall the texture of a canvas. She favors natural extracts—cedar, sandalwood, frankincense, and hand‑picked botanicals—often pairing them with unexpected mineral or metallic notes…
