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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
The HONEYMOON! We have arrived in Europe!
Thailand, France, Estonia and Finland in one week. AMAZING!!
Paris
Saturday Question: What 3 Scent Stops Would You Make In Paris?
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Portia
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Hello Fellow Fumies,
At APJ we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.
The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.
Tranoï Paris 2016: Photo Essay
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Post by Portia
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Hey APJ Crew,
One of the great things about being in the frag crowd is getting to do things that few other people do. An invitation from a frag buddy can turn out to be something incredible. One of our great holiday highlights was hanging with the cool niche crews at Tranoï in Paris.
Tranoï Paris 2016
At the entrance I was met by Nicolas Chabot of Le Galion, he had invited Jin & I to come see the show and have some fun with the crew. Suitably attired with my PRESS PASS it was inside to the enormous room and the entryway was an aisle of some of Europe’s Independent Fragrance Houses. WOO HOO!
First stop was Le Galion, Nicolas and his partner Enno. They are a freaking RIOT! Here they are showing me the new range and they gave me a slew of stuff for giveaways. Coming very soon. My current favourite is Cologne Nocturne, a lush cologne that suits me to a T.
Here with Roberto Greco who is the creative genius behind the Le Galion advertising and product look. He was really sweet and I admit to crushing on him madly.
I really like Laboratorio Olfattivo’s clean style and want to spend some more time sniffing their brand. The couple I have smelled were YUMMY!
Woo Hoo! Neela Vermeire was there. So excited to see her and hang out. Any time in Neela’s company is good time. Her frags were very popular on the day and we had to leave her to the retailers and come back at intervals for mini chats.
The gorgeous Ulrich Lang was there too with his girl friend Erin. I noticed Lightscape before I noticed them and exclaimed how much I love it. Ulrich was thrilled and we spent a very happy half hour or so laughing and having a fine time, Neela wandered over because we were making so much noise. It was a really nice moment captured with some lovely people. We will be having a super Ulrich Lang giveaway soon here on APJ so keep your eyes peeled.
OMG! Really? Pierre Guillaume is here! WOO HOO! I’ve been freaking crushing on him for YEARS! The sea of people parted, he looked across and our eyes met, Pierre smiled an uncomplicated welcome and I was lost. Absolutely fucking lost. He had all his ranges there but was hoping to gain more interest in his Pierre Guillaume Croisiere Collection. They are at the freaky end of the fragrance spectrum and I didn’t really feel able to focus to smell anything because the man’s charisma had me firmly in its grip.
Pierre tried to get my opinion on his newest from the PG range but my head and nose weren’t communicating. To be honest I had to get away because I couldn’t breathe or make coherent or cogent conversation. Ha Ha Ha What an ass-hat I am.
Histiores de Parfums are so freaking cool. I love the way they make fragrance and the display was fun too.
After the event we went out to dinner at a super cool restaurant with Nicolas & Enno, one of my buddies happened to be in Paris too (Hey Andrew) and he came and joined the crew. As I was recounting my Pierre G story to the table none other than Mr Pierre G walked in with his partner & some mates and so he got to hear the end of my story before I knew he was directly behind me smiling from ear to ear. He’s cool, I like him.
After that we were absolutely smashed and went back to our hotel and slept like dead people. Our first full day in Paris was done.
LuckyScent, Libertine, Peony Melbourne and First In Fragrance have loads of the houses in stock, Surrender To Chance has samples.
I hope you liked the post, which of these fragrance houses do you like?
Portia xxx
Anne-Marie Sniffing in Paris 2015
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Post by Anne-Marie
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Hi All
Last month I spent about a week in Paris on a work trip, all expenses paid. This is NOT the sort of thing that normally happens to me, and right up until I boarded the plane I was expecting the dream to evaporate. But no, I got there, and had a fabulous – albeit hurried – trip to the City of Light.
Photo Stolen Flickr
The Pompidou Centre. Sadly, I did not have time to venture inside.
Anne-Marie Sniffing in Paris 2015
I was with a colleague and we were traveling and in meetings nearly all the time. We had very little time for sightseeing and shopping, but, well, it’s amazing what can be achieved with a bit determination!
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
We were staying at Les Halles and working in the Marais. This made it easy for me to get to my most longed-for shopping destination – a Nicolai boutique. Nicolai Parfumeur Createur was one of the first niche brands I fell in love with but never for an instant did I believe that I would step over the threshold of one of its Parisian boutiques. Well, I did, and it was as delightful as I had always dreamed. Purchases? 30 mls each of Fig-Tea, Weekend in Normandy, and some Vetyver soap.
Photo Stolen GoogleMaps
I must admit a grand fail though. I walked right past the Serge Lutens boutique in the Palais Royal and I was too scared to walk in. Okay, time to confess that I’m not a fan of the brand and never have been. I can’t afford one of its darned bell jars even if I wanted one. The shop exterior creeped me out. And I had a meeting at the Australian embassy later in the afternoon and could I turn up there reeking of Moroccan souks and stewed fruit? No. Just no.
But I stopped at the Parfums de Rosine boutique and was nearly – but not quite – charmed into purchasing Une Zeste de Rose. After that I was quite content with a cup of mint tea and a slice of cake in a café opposite Uncle Serge’s little shop. Tea and cake in the Palais Royal and strolling through the gardens were the highlights of the trip.
Photo Stolen WikiCommons
As for perfume sniffed on the street, I smelled a lot. Most of it I could not identify but I’m certain I got a whiff of Narciso Rodriguez for Her, and twice I smelled Terre d’Hermès quite distinctly. Once was as I was queuing for coffee at Gard du Nord, and once in the hotel lift at my hotel.
The Sephora store in the Marais was nothing grand, but I had fun exploring Yves Rocher (the brand is not sold in Australia), and picked up a bottle of Oriental Shower Oil – so decadent! Perfume shopping concluded with a Cartier mini set bought duty free on the way home.
How about you? Do you have Parisian sniffing adventures to share?
Until next time, have fragrant fun!
Anne-Marie xx
(Ed: Sadly Anne-Marie’s photos were in a form I was unable to translate to WordPress so I had to add some stock shots)
Zuhair Murad – Fall Winter 2015/2016 Haute Couture Show in Paris
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Post by Portia
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Glamour. I know it’s not for everyone. Sometimes though it’s nice to get caught up in someone elses fantasy and in this fashion parade we see plenty of glamour and fantasy, I’m not sure if it’s fashion but if you love theatrical gowns and glittery fabrics then you will melt when you see some of these. Very historical Hollywood shapes and it’s nice to see shoulder pads back in business after a 20+ year hiatus. The wedding dress is fabulously ridiculous, poor girl looks completely out of her depth in it, but still it is incredible and OMG worthy.
Photo Stolen Zuhair Murad
I hope you enjoy this 15 minutes devoid of reality as much as I did.
Portia xxx
Zuhair Murad – Fall Winter 2015/2016 Haute Couture Show in Paris
Paris by Chanel – Inside CHANEL: Mini Movie
Hello Fashion and Frag Hags,
Coco Chanel, twisted mavin of couture. A raging ball filled with contradictions. A fiercely talented woman possessed by a need for perfection and killer taste that was sometimes stark and others baroque, a woman who changed the world of fashion and with it the world of women. A ruthless and bigoted woman who sided with the Nazis and rumour has it she even tried to have her Jewish business partners sent to the gas chambers.
Photo Stolen WikiCommons
Yet still CHANEL is one of the biggest fashion houses in the world and its beauty and fragrances sell like crazy around the globe. Whoever has had the pleasure of lifting a CHANEL lipstick or powder from their purse and applying knows the thrill of ownership, if you’ve ever bought a CHANEL fragrance and spritzed the dream of a life beyond your own then you too have come under the CHANEL spell of opulence. We all know it’s marketing yet still there is a very real thrill to owning anything with the double C logo.
Today we have a lovewly video that shines a little light on Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel and some of the places in Paris where she lived and worked.
Please enjoy,
Portia xx
Paris by Chanel – Inside CHANEL
Passport à Paris by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes 2013
Hi there APJ Crew,
I have been slack, yes a slackard am I, but FINALLY I am getting to a beautiful set that Dawn Spencer Hurwitz sent to me through one of our fabulous APJ writers Willa Zheng. We had coffee and a sniff yesterday afternoon and she reminded me that I had to write up the DSH stuff immediately. So when I first sniffed the package here is the one that took my breath away immediately and I LOVE Paris, match made in heaven
Passport à Paris by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes 2013
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Lemon, bergamot, lavender, palisander rosewood, mandarin orange, jasmine, Bulgarian rose, orris root, clover, Australian sandalwood, amber, vanilla, coumarin, ambergris, Indian patchouli, civet
From DSH Perfumes site: My fragrant ode to two perfume greats of Paris, circa 1885: Jicky and Fougere Royale. Inspired by Claude Monet’s “The Beach at Trouville”, this universal perfume could be worn by both men and women on their holiday as well as about town. Passport a` Paris utilizes aroma molecules vanillin and coumarin. considered quite modern at the time.
Photo Stolen WikiCommons
Lovely, deep, burnished woods and resins lift off with a citrus side order. It must be Paris in spring or summer because while Passport à Paris is all of these beautiful things there is a dark and funky undertone. Through reading the notes I find that lavender is the component that I could smell but not identify, though now I know what it is I am smacking my head. Of course it is, a lightly sugared and vanilla’d lavender that is both charmingly warm and very slightly minty cool, a happy juxtaposition that keeps me on the edge of my nose wondering which way it will fall.
One of the lovely things Jin & I did in Paris in 2013 was have a hot chocolate banana waffle under the big Ferris Wheel, there is something here of that happy memory. The beauty, majesty, cool air and hot waffle: both cake and crispy caramelisation, the squished banana and drizzled chocolate. Jin was in heaven and when I had a little bit I could understand how happy he was in that instant, it was such a pure and unsullied moment that I had to capture it. One of those “God, I love him” snippets of time.
Jin eating hot choc-banana waffle Paris Feb ’13
So while I can make out the correlation between Jicky and Fougere Royal what I smell when I’m wearing Passport à Paris is my own special shared moment.
For those fiercely anti-natural you may find Passport à Paris, though full of courmarin and vanillin, to feel a little like the heft and deeper lay of a natural. This could never be confused with a mass market fragrance offering and I think Dawn never wanted it to. This is a beautiful, tonal, mesmerising fragrance that feels like it is still in touch with the earth and the power of natural perfumery. I love the soft, furry, powdery dry down too. What a beautiful ending, around 5-6 hours till I can smell no more…..
DSH Perffumes have EdP (which I reviewed) and Parfum strengths starting at only $5
Are you a Dawn Spencer Hurwitz fan? Do you have a favourite? Maybe you’ve tried Passport à Paris, what were your impressions?
Portia xxxx
CHANEL: Métiers d’Art 2014/15 Paris-Salzburg Show + Making of
Heya Fashionistas,
It looks like New Romantic is even newer! This is one of my all time favourite fashion trends and I am thrilled to see it back on the runways. Thanks CHANEL and Karl Lagerfeld. This time it’s fun, quirky, silly and beautiful. The jewellery alone is enough to elicit a gasp. Here I’ve given you the edited version and the making of.
Enjoy.
Portia xx
Photo Stolen ThisIsJaneWayne (Problem using image, get in touch please)
CHANEL: Métiers d’Art 2014/15: Edit
CHANEL: Métiers d’Art 14/15: Making Of
View the full film of the CHANEL Métiers d’Art 2014/15 show at http://youtu.be/4X86geNxxlA
Un Zeste de Rose by Les Parfums de Rosine 2002
Heya gang,
Les Parfums de Rosine is sadly neglected, I’m not sure if its their dated packaging which frankly looks 1960s drug store, their bottles which go only with Tiffany lamps and antimacassars and remind me of lace curtains or the little cutesy curtain ties with fringy bobs. The fragrances are solid and delicious, interesting and sometimes boundary pushing. Michael fell madly in love with a couple of the men’s scents while we were at the flagship store in the Palais Royale in Paris and bought a couple of bottles, including their discontinued men’s extrait. Now Michael’s nose is impeccable, if he says the juice is good then you better believe it.
Un Zeste de Rose by Les Parfums de Rosine 2002
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Amalfi lemon, orange, dried fruits
Heart: Jasmine, rose, tea
Base: Musk, holly, amber
Citrus, fresh cut and cool; a slightly pithy cut that has a dried apricot overtone and already there is the bite of tea in fragrance when Un Zeste de Rose opens on my skin. A dryness that smells of loose leaf tea in the packet. This then is a softly peach-coloured tea scented rose with nuances of fruits and a green acerbic backdrop that doesn’t make me think of leaves but twig, cut twig or stem of a rose from the garden.Maybe this rose is headed for a vase in your house, it could be dewy or you could be smelling the cool water in your cut crystal rose bowl.
A rose full of fragrance, a lightly spicy tea scented rose through the heart and I am surprised that there is no honey mentioned in the notes. Maybe the honey factor comes through the amber/musk combination? I don’t know but it is smooth and lovely. Actually, there is a lovely creaminess to Un Zeste de Rose that is like a fresh green and cream, mmmmmmm.
Much younger and more youthful that their marketing suggests Un Zeste de Rose is crisp and light enough for everyday wear. Lasting power is good too but after about 2 hours Un Zeste de Rose wears very close to your skin, as soft as a body lotion.
Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Scent for Thought
First In Fragrance has €78/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml
Un Zeste de Rose is no huge groundbreaker but I think its creamy tea, honey and green-ness make it special. Extremely wearable and would make a great gift.
Portia xx
Photo Stolen sassisamblog
Un Zeste de Rose GIVEAWAY
WHAT CAN YOU WIN?
This week we will have 2 Winners who will each get:
1 x 5ml Un Zeste de Rose decant
P&H Anywhere in the world
HOW DO YOU WIN?
Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. I must be able to check that you follow so if you have an email address on your gravatar that’s different to your follow address then please email me so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.
You must tell me how you follow APJ
and
Tell us about a rose fragrance that wins you over, or a memory of someone who wore one well
Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p3PURw-3je Les Parfums de Rosine GIVEAWAY #Perfume #Giveaway
HOUSEKEEPING
Entries Close Sunday 2nd November 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 6th November 2014 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.
Paris by Chanel – Inside CHANEL Movie
Hi there Fashionistas,
Here we have another block in the Gabriel “Coco” Chanel story/myth/legend. She has been so painted, glossed and glammed that she could be a decoupage. The house lives on in splendour and Karl Lagerfeld is the reigning monarch. Still the house CHANEL is a major player and an international billion dollar money making factory.
I hope you enjoy their latest mini movie, a piece about the atelier, store and apartment at 31 Rue Cambon and Coco. Magic.
Portia xx
Photo Stolen WallPaperMine
Australian Perfume Junkies 