Discover how Byredo’s Desert Dawn captures the desert’s shifting moods and how it can bring comfort to your autumn.

This is Product of the Week – a round-up of the Dazed Beauty team and wider community’s must-have beauty buys.

WHAT IS IT?

Brand: Byredo

Product: Desert Dawn

Price: £150 (50ml)

WHY IS IT SO GOOD? 

As autumn approaches, the light softens, the days shorten, and the sun hangs lower in the sky. While summer may have been perfumed by scents reminiscent of whirlwind flings and crowded pub gardens, it’s time to put these aside and make a subtle shift to more comforting scents, like Byredo’s Desert Dawn.

Desert Dawn uses the desert as a metaphor for the creative mind. Inspired by the arid oasis, the scent captures the essence of the desert’s shifting moods: gusts of sandy winds, then total stillness; warm days turning into cool nights. It’s a welcome escape from the forthcoming hustle of colder morning commutes and crowded trains. 

Unlike Byredo’s iconic scents like Gypsy Water and Mojave Ghost, this scent brings a warm blend of cardamom and rose petals, with sandalwood and cedarwood at its core, capturing the dry desert heat with a hint of earthiness. Other notes include vetiver, silk musk and fresh papyrus. 

The product’s warmth is balanced by a subtle freshness, making it versatile for both crisp autumn mornings and the evenings that follow. It’s the type of scent that clings onto jackets and scarves, and you’ll catch it through the day when queuing for a coffee or waiting for the lift. Ideal if you want a fragrance that feels like a warm hug.

QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS

This product feels like…

The welcomed rush of body heat when you step into a packed club from the freezing cold smoking area.

The fictional character who would use this product is... 

Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) in Killing Eve. Thoughtful, layered, grounded.  Warmth but with an edge.

If this product was a song it would be…

Eusexua by FKA Twigs — It starts subtle and warm, evolving into something deeper and more intense. With an euphoric ambience that builds slowly, just as Desert Dawn unfolds throughout the day.

If I was communicating to an alien only using hand gestures, I would describe it with... 🙏

Revisit our previous Product of the Week picks below.