The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
December landed in 2010 as the tenth entry in DSH Perfumes' Holiday series, and Dawn Spencer Hurwitz wasn't chasing novelty with this one. The brief was direct: bottle the best sensory memories of the season. Pomanders studded with clove. Gingerbread cooling on a counter. Long walks through pine stands where the ground stays frozen until midday. Incense lingering from a service the night before. She drew on years of formulating and a genuine affection for materials to compose something that reads less like a fragrance and more like a winter sketch, rendered in spice and resin. The composition leans on clove, ginger, and orange peel in the opening, then gives way to Bulgarian rose absolute at the heart, before settling into a base of frankincense, myrrh, tolu balsam, tonka, and oakmoss.
What's quietly unusual here is how Hurwitz built a winter composition without leaning on the usual gourmands. There's no peppermint. No hot chocolate accord. Instead she grounds the warmth in Bulgarian rose absolute and a layered resin accord built from tolu balsam, frankincense, and myrrh. The pine and balsam fir notes give it an evergreen backbone, while oakmoss, vanilla, and tonka anchor the base with an earthy sweetness. That structural choice gives December a meditative quality. It's festive, yes, but it carries the weight of ceremony with it.
The evolution
December opens like a doorway into a cold kitchen: ginger and galbanum cut the air first, then clove warms the palm, and orange peel curls through like ribbon on a wrapped gift. The pine and balsam fir arrive like a tree dragged through the front door, branches still cold, needles shedding onto the floorboards. Bulgarian rose passes through the middle like a single candle lit on a dark stairwell, brief but unmistakable. As the hours pass, the resins take over, myrrh and frankincense softening into tolu balsam, and the whole composition settles into a quiet incense-and-vanilla hum. Oakmoss and tonka lend a damp, earthy sweetness to the base, keeping the warmth grounded rather than letting it drift into pure sugar. It smells less like a composed accord and more like a specific winter evening folded into a bottle.
Cultural impact
December occupies a specific place within the Holiday series, a limited-edition release tied to the 2010 winter season that has remained a touchstone for collectors of the line. It appeals to wearers who want a holiday scent with substance, one that leans on spice, resin, and conifer rather than the sweeter gourmands that dominate the seasonal market. The composition reads as deliberate, layered, and built to last on skin rather than disappear after the first hour. For DSH, it's a defining entry in the Holiday series, the kind of release that rewards return visits each winter and earns its reputation slowly, bottle after bottle.
