After using the last drops of a recently discontinued tobacco-based cologne I bought him years ago, Troy recently asked “do you think I can learn to make my own cologne?”
Now, we make A LOT of things from scratch in our house. From brewing gnarly-looking batches of kombucha to saving a month’s worth of veggie scraps to boil down to a rich broth, you’ll often find us in the kitchen testing recipes rather than simply reaching for a bottle or box from the grocery store shelves. This leaves us with a sense of pride and accomplishment but very little free time.
Starting a perfumery, though, was not a journey I was prepared to embark on. Rather than crushing Troy’s dream of having a never-ending supply of manly-scented colognes, I decided to take this mission to the streets and find the real professionals. (‘cause, let’s face it… ladies love to shop. right? right?)
There are many offensive colognes out there. You can practically smell them through the TV when you’re watching Jersey Shore. But D.S. & Durga’s hand-crafted olfactory tonics change everything. Oh yes, I said olfactory tonics, but, sadly, I can’t take credit for that.
The duo behind D.S & Durga has thought of everything when creating their line of fragrances. Beautifully bottled and boxed, these colognes and perfumes do more than combine high quality ingredients. They tell a tale. For instance, their scent Mississippi Medicine is based on the “rituals for the proto-Mississippian death cult of the 1200s” and contains native birch tar, viola & white spruce grounded in incense & cypress root. I can’t attest to the accuracy of the scent, but I’m pretty sure the death cult would be pleased. Another favorite, Burning Barbershop, smells like it sounds – a slightly charred bottle of shaving tonics. It’s a rich, masculine scent, and nothing like you’ve smelled before… unless you’re in the habit of burning down barbershops, something this blog does not endorse.
And, of course, we wouldn’t sing their praises if they weren’t also compassionate. Their cruelty-free fragrances are tested on themselves and their friends only.
So, in the end, Troy is happy to have a beautiful bottle of cologne to douse himself with, and I have more time to read the classics or watch Jersey Shore. Win-win indeed!
You can find their line of colognes and perfumes at many of our favorite Brooklyn boutiques, including Bird and In God We Trust but you should visit the beautiful D.S. & Durga site for a complete list of stores.
