Thanks APJ for getting so on board and involved. The people at L’Occitane are so happy that we are talking about doing some more wonderful giveaways. THANK YOU L’OCCITANE!!! You are such a great company and APJ is proud to associate with you, totally generous.
L’Occitane La Collection de Grasse GIVEAWAY WINNERS
WHAT COULD YOU WIN?
This week there will be 2 winners who will receive one used for review purposes only bottle of L’Occitane La Collection de Grasse (NO you don’t get to chose)
1 winner will receive:
Cèdre & Oranger EdT 75ml
P&H Anywhere in the world
1 winner will receive:
Fleur d’Or Acacia EdT 75ml
P&H Anywhere in the world
HOW DID 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.
To be eligible for the draw just mention how you follow the APJs and tell us any L’Occitane product that you’ve used or like the sound of
HOUSEKEEPING
Entries Closed Sunday 24th November 2013 10pm Australian EDST
Winners will be chosen by random.org
Photo Stolen markmontanoblogs
Camilla, Elise Johnson
WOO HOO CONGRATULATIONS!!! The winners will have till Thursday 28th November 2013 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.
Great to see you all. I thought that you could probably all do with something cool and calm after your big Friday & Saturday nights out, so today I thought a fragrance called Starry Night or Nuit Etoilée would be a perfect balm.
Nuit Etoilée by Isabelle Doyen for Annick Goutal 2012
Fragrantica gives these featured acords: Top: Citron, sweet orange, peppermint Heart: Siberian pine, fir resin Base: Angelica seed, tonka, immortal
The picture above is for the old bottle, the new clear bottle is below. What a shame Pacific Amore has decided to change the very beautiful blue. The minute I heard I ran out and bought a square mens bottles from one of the Facebook groups because I love them so much, it’s about 99% full and I got a very good deal. YAY!! Happy days.
That sweet minty citrus burst at the open is like drinking champagne punch with little green chewy bits of mint chopped and floating through it. It was my Mum’s favourite family party drink and she would make a large glass punch bowl up as everyone started arriving, we kids were given a beaker when we were small just to have a taste so that we felt part of it all. As we got older we were given glasses and when I finally realised that I was a big kid was when I was handed one of the glass punch cups with grapes and fruit embossed around the outside, there seemed to be HUNDREDS of these glasses when we were young but when Mum died and we had to clean out the stuff she’d amassed there were only 24 and the whole set was packed away perfectly awaiting the next party. Memories!! Joyous, fun, sun filled memories.
Yes, Nuit Etoilee warms up after the open but the lovely minty, citric fizz doesn’t leave for quite a while. Underneath it though comes a warm resinous woodsy melange that flirts underneath for ages before it decides it is time to take over. Like getting out of a cool pool and lying in the sun to dry, warm/cold then warmer and then dry. The immortelle, resins and tonka are sweet and dry. Nuit Etoilee really does dry down, the whole fragrance changes to earthy, dry flowers that have a slight vanilla/amber sweetness that has nothing to do with food.
Nuit Etoilee is not a super long lasting fragrance, I’m lucky to get four hours before I lose all traces of it. Soft enough for most workplaces, great for the calm and cool stuff. In fact, I could see Nuit Etoilee very easily becoming a go to signature scent. I has the lovely fresh opening that becomes a warm bear hug of a fragrance, it could work all year for you.
APJ and the Sydney Perfume Lovers have teamed up to run monthly Sunday Scent Salons. Perfume evokes memories and few memories are deeper than those associated with a mother, which is how thirteen men and women, some of them complete strangers met to talk about Scents Of My Mother, bearing photographs, perfumes and recollections. It was a moving, warm and sometimes funny event.
Scents Of My Mother
Sydney Perfume Lovers Scent Salon
Complex is the best word to describe the relationships we brought to the table.
We met many mothers. The one who smoked a joint with her son on his 18th birthday, the one who said ‘disgusting’ about a daughter’s folds of flesh, the one who criticised her naturally slender daughter for deliberately being too thin, the one who still tidies up when entering her daughter’s home, the insightful one who told her son that she thought he probably wouldn’t marry a girl…
There was a gentle woman whose softness didn’t prepare her daughter for the tough world which awaited, the timid one who couldn’t give her daughter the strong role model she craved, the one who came out as a lesbian and couldn’t forgive her daughter for leading a different life. The one who had a child at 15 and brought him up with her own mother.
Many were artists or studied art. Few fulfilled themselves in the workplace. Many were clean and tidy freaks who always look good. (No prizes for making a connection between the last two sentences.) Many were critical, many were loving and most were both at the same time. Many of us around the table described our feelings of love or pain or both for Glenda, Jane, Lauraine, Cheryl, Marie, Rosemary, Waina, Joan, Francoise, Teresa.
What were our scent memories? One of us recollected trying to please her mother by making perfume for her by soaking flowers in water. Another brought biscuits from her mother’s handwritten recipe book to evoke the smell of baking. There were memories of babysitters arriving and mothers leaving in clouds of Chanel N’5, Chant d’Aromes and L’Air du Temps. I would love to have met the mother who wore Shalimar parfum during the day. Her child was fated not to be timid!
Fresh green beans evoked one mother who survived breast cancer. Another always had acrid smelling salts in the bathroom cupboard in case they were needed and wore Arpege – a startling juxtaposition. Rive Gauche featured twice. It is still worn today by one daughter to differentiate herself as the opposite to her mother who like more run of the mill Avon fragrances, and was worn by another mother when it came out to stamp herself as modern. She also wore Tabu and Oleg Cassini. We encountered one generous perfume collector mother with over 300 bottles who loves giving her daughter bottles of Serge Lutens as well as one who never wears scent but does have scented handcream which smells like Fragonard’s Billet Doux. Cie Perfume (with Candace Bergen as its face) was an early favourite of a mother who also wore Tresor but now is faithful to Champs Elysees. La Cabrasella, a bergamot citrus scent from Calabria has always sat on the dressing table of one Italian mother.
We could have talked for many more hours and left feeling happy to have shared these perfumes and memories. I’m sure another Scent Salon will revisit this topic one day for another group.
Here at APJ we did a L’Occitane Divine Cream Review and Challenge, you can watch the progression in L’Occitane Divine Cream Challenge Week 1 and L’Occitane Divine Cream Challenge Week 2 where we challenged you all to grab a sample and see how it left your skin in 2 weeks. At the time L’Occitane also sent me a set of the first four four of their La Collection de Grasse fragrances to try and if I wanted to APJ could review them. Well, I WANTED TO! These fragrances are beautiful, wearable, spritz and go winners. Last week we did a L’Occitane La Collection de Grasse Review and Giveaway that L’Occitane were so happy with they sent me the THREE LATEST IN THE SERIES!!! We have the BRAND NEWEST available, so exciting.
Pictured above is the L’Occitane 7.5ml La Collection de Grasse Miniatures Christmas pack, an excellent choice and currently only $35 on the L’Occitane Australia Site
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Bergamot, rosemary Heart: Fig leaf, rose Base: Sandalwood, cedar, labdanum, vanilla
I can’t believe that Ambre & Santal is made for this price. It is as warm, rich and complex as some of the VERY expensive niche offerings. This is so good I’m keeping it. Sorry folks.
Right from the beginning you can already smell the vanilla and resins coated in a very light hint of herbaceous green and a tiny glitter of citrus. Fig leaf and rose? Maybe through the heart there is a leafiness but it is a bit less specific than fig, or maybe I’ve been spoilt by so many other fig releases at a much higher price point and the rose is such a bit player I can barely detect it. What does shine so bright about Ambre & Santal is its base, which is basically the whole life of the fragrance, it is the loveliest, creamy woods and resinous vanilla. Ambre & Santal sings on my skin as if they were made for each other. I repeat, I can’t believe this excellent price point. I smell so good and have been asked what I’m wearing a couple of times while I have sported it. Totally unisex and an excellent fragrance.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Orange, bergamot, pine needles Heart: Cardamom, red berries, Virginian cedar Base: Vetiver, musk
I don’t like to create gender boundaries but of the people I’ve tried it on only one woman said she would wear it but EVERY man was very impressed. Jin who usually wears Bottega Veneta original and Mona di Orio Oud asked if he could keep it. I had to do divert and grab to get it back or it would have been lost forever in his frag stash.
The opening is bright and fresh and very clean, this is what all those sport and blue fragrances wish they were. It is the richest and prettiest of that genre that I’ve yet smelled and I can definitely see it being a good gift for the guys. Cèdre & Oranger warms up very slightly through the heart but essentially stays green and woodsy to its still clean musk dry down. After about an hour Cèdre & Oranger is very close to the body, maintaining a just showered freshness without pushing itself far beyond your skin. Ideal for even the closest office work and later for drinks an extra spritz will freshen it, and you, up considerably and last till next morning, quietly clean.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Lemon, bergamot Heart: Mimose, genet Base: White woods, musk
Fleur d’Or & Acacia is the latest offering from the L’Occitane La Collection de Grasse and I predict it being the biggest seller of them all. It is a very pretty Acacia/Mimosa fragrance that opens refreshingly citrus/green, invigorating and happy enough to make a grey sky blue and then the Acacia/Mimosa steps in and they all become that lovely waxy sweet crushed wattle flower green. Fleur d’Or & Acacia is sweet but not sugar sweet or vanilla sweet just sweet and pretty flowers over a sappy green-ness. Simple and wearable, a perfect mid season go to that will become a staple of your wardrobe and make an excellent gift. Surprisingly good longevity and though not a big fragrance has a lovely sheer penetration into your surrounds. The dry down is very easy wear, no surprises, but good solid fragrance that you’ll be happy to spritz and go in. BTW the Body oil above is also TO DIE FOR!!!
One of the jokes around this house is that seven out of ten things I spray on Jin he says, “Acacia” so today when I spritzed him I was hoping he would not say it but, damnit, he did.
L’Occitane La Collection de Grasse GIVEAWAY
WHAT CAN YOU WIN?
This week there will be 2 winners who will receive one used for review purposes only bottle of L’Occitane La Collection de Grasse (NO you don’t get to chose)
1 winner will receive:
Cèdre & Oranger EdT 75ml
P&H Anywhere in the world
1 winner will receive:
Fleur d’Or Acacia EdT 75ml
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.
To be eligible for the draw just mention how you follow the APJs and tell us any L’Occitane product that you’ve used or like the sound of
Entries Close Sunday 24th November 2013 10pm Australian EDST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 28th November 2013 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.
Louis Vuitton, as so often is the case, have made something beautiful and luxurious. These ads are clearly the start of a story to be continued throughout the world. I wonder where we will be taken next in the magical Louis Vuitton Balloon? I hope this keeps you interested while we wait for the Louis Vuitton fragrance, I do hope it’s soon……..
Portia xx
Photo Stolen replicaguide
L’Invitation Au Voyage (Paris)
Louis Vuitton featuring Arizona Muse
L’Invitation au Voyage (Venice)- Making Of
Louis Vuitton featuring David Bowie and Arizona Muse
L’Invitation au Voyage (Venice) – Director’s Cut
Louis Vuitton featuring David Bowie and Arizona Muse
I like me a good gourmand, and from my many readings about this scent, this was meant to be a good gourmand, so I went about sniffing Fils de Dieu with high hopes. Its billing as the New Skool Shalimar did nothing to lower expectations.
Fragrantica lists the following accords: Top: Ginger, coriander, lime, shiso Heart: Coconut, cardamom, jasmine, cinnamon, rose Base: Tonka bean, vetiver, musk, amber, leather, castoreum
And indeed the first nanosecond of its performance, with that recognisable dusty vanillic citrus intro, is familiar. But thenceforth Shalimar and Fils de Dieu (FdD) set out on quite different trajectories. Shalimar, animalic and belching plumes of smoky opoponax, flounces off in one direction, loudly crying “dahling!” to all and sundry. FdD, on the other hand, has eased into a pair of Birkenstocks and has gone backpacking around Thailand, and before I could wheeze “for shaaaaaaame”, I died in ecstasy and face planted into a bowl of steaming coconut rice.
From first huff to its expiration a lamentably short period later, FdD is an ode to the fluffy cooked grain. Its moniker is quite apt (Son of God, Rice and Citrus). The notes read like an ingredient list for a laksa, yet it remarkably it smells quite restrained, spartan almost, with the muted, powdery qualities of rice being showcased by the other elements. Bemusingly, rice itself not listed above, illustrating yet again what a load of twaddle this notes business is, and how we should all just make of things What We Will. Rather than being overtly tart or astringent, the lime lends a certain buoyancy, with much the same role as lemongrass or kaffir lime leaf in a dish, and with a little imagination I can just detect the soapy zing of coriander leaf/cilantro right at those first few seconds. Tonka is also evident, tinting everything with a little of its caramel hue.
But all this sounds too gourmand, too literal a take on cooking, which is it most assuredly not. It’s as if Heston Blumenthal has come along with his lab gear, extracted the qi or life force out of south east Asian cuisine and infused the distillate into a perfume for the global citizen. Just to remind you that you are perfumed, and have not just finished a double shift in the kitchen of your local Thai eatery, there is a soupcon of musk and castoreum, endowing the composition with that unctuous, slightly vomitous twang. With time, FdD remains rice-y, but becomes more rosy, and is the sweeter for it.
It is a short ride (on me at least), requiring a top-up spritz or three ere I’d finished writing a paragraph of this review. Ordinarily, I would find this pretty irksome, but in this case I’m content to reapply because it is so terrifically evocative: sweat, gods, ruby-skinned tourists, anarchic markets, decay. It’s witty yet eminently accessible. Consider me a fan.
I’ve been in a bit of a rut fragrance-wise for a few months, then I got to go to The Perfume House in Portland and I was instantly lifted out of my snit. Though the two samples I brought home were not right for me, there was a fragrance on the sleeve of my sweater that had to be a Guerlain, since I spent a lot of time in that corner of the store, sniffing fragrance and making weird murmery noises that scared the other shoppers.
First on was Vol de Nuit. Oh my gosh, how wondrous! The bergamot and light top notes gave way very quickly to that incredible powdery dry down anchored with vanilla and moss that is so familiar to me from the other two Guerlains that I have owned or tried: Samsara and Mitsouko (the latter of which instantly transports me to my mother’s bedroom in the 60s…she did not wear perfume, but her friends did, and when we had parties the impromptu coat room was a glorious treasure trove), but I was disappointed with its longevity.
Next day was Chamade. Oh my word! Lovely cripsness followed by flowers and then sandalwood. Could this be my new forever fragrance? Could I wear this to work and not feel as if I was pushing the limit of acceptance? Was it better suited for home, when I was alone with my loved one? What an amazing feat, and of course created in the era I consider to be my formative time.
Monday was Champs Elysees, and of all the five, this was the most disappointing. No bones, just fluff, and too sweet. Yes roses, but grocery store roses, not boutique roses…I almost washed it off.
Then I tried Shalimar Parfum Initial. This was the one I almost did not order. I had read so much about how it was JUST a flanker, and what was Thierry Wasser thinking to mess with an old classic and how it was made for soccer moms and teenagers. I sprayed with trepidation. First came the citrusy top notes calling out while the rest of the perfume gathered in the wings. Then jasmine and iris and some rose, but a different rose. Yes, sweet, but not bubble gum headache sweet…more precious. Lovely, soft, modern, patchouli and vanilla. Incredible. I loved this from first sniff. Great sillage! Could it be the one?
But I still had one more to go: L’Heure Bleue. I chose this because it is a classic, and because of the line in the Bond Movie about it…
I sprayed it on after arriving home from work. Immediately I knew this was not the same as the others, but still somehow similar. Licorice topnotes warm and balmy from the start, it deepened as I wore it with neroli and tuberose taking main stage. I was swept away to a place where the air is thick with fragrance all the day long, this is an after the hot tub fragrance, a bundle up in fur in winter and dream of longer days fragrance.
I am so grateful to Guerlain for continuing the art of perfumery through the years. Perfumery is divine. I am blessed. And I am wearing Shalimar PI.
I have a soft spot for fig. I always try any perfume, hand cream, candle, bath product etc containing fig… But my truest love is standing under or near a fig tree and breathing in it’s complete smell. The whole tree. The woody, slightly milky, slightly coconut, a little sweet and a little sharp and vast green smell gives me a sense of stillness.
The first fig fragrance I wore was Diptych Philosokos and I wore it for at least 10 years almost religiously. I was in London during that whole time and the perfume always took me straight back to Australia when I sprtitzed it, to memories of my favorite Moreton Bay fig tree in Sydney that I used to climb and sniff in the early 90s. The fragrance encompasses the whole tree and is a very green and robust scent with beautiful coconutty undertones.
In my travels I’ve smelt many a fig tree. In Sardinia growing in a cave, in London parks, on Greek Islands, in Spain, Perth, Brisbane, Byron Bay, in Croatia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Corfu, Italy…the list goes on. Always bringing my first thought back to that tree in Sydney.
I have also smelt many a fig based perfume; L’Artisan Parfumeur Premier and Intense Figeur, Hermes, Aqua Di Parma Fico di Amalfi, Marc Jacobs, Theirry Mugler’s Womanity and of course Figeur Eden.
Armani Prive Figuier Eden by Mane for Giorgio Armani 2012
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Mandarin, bergamot, red pepper Heart: Tea, grass, green fig Base: Moroccan iris, amber
And then, 2 weeks ago a gorgeous and generous friend gave me her bottle of Armani Prive Figeur Eden. Sadly, rejected by her husband, this fragrance was neglected on her shelf. I’d tried this fragrance a number of times over the years and found it soft with no real impact…perhaps as I usually smelt it after a full sniff through a beauty hall such as Selfridges or Myers, or perhaps as I’d never wanted a fig fragrance to bring more than just pure fig? But this time I was on a solo 16 hour drive through country NSW and Victoria and it was the only fragrance I had access too!! Just me, the road and a bottle of Figuer Eden….
After dousing myself and starting the drive I started to get excited…was I smelling a fresher, zestier less heady fig…perhaps even a prettier more feminine fig? My first thought was to drive back, tell my friend to ditch her hubby and take the bottle back…my second thought was to step on the accelerator and enjoy every spritz of this new found love.
The prettiness comes slightly powdery and could be a soft iris note. It is not dense and heady as expected, but it is almost airy like a cool breeze carrying the scent. I feel a light fragrant citrus note like a light green tea, perhaps bergamot. It’s a harmony of smells, rather than my robust, phylosikos, which is straight up fig tree. It’s not sweet, plenty of soft blonde woods..sandal rather than cedar, of philosokos, perhaps, and a dry olive tree scent help keep the sweetness to a minimum? There is something spicey but not black or green pepper that I a familiar with….*enter google*…RED PEPPER! I am impressed. Fig leaves are taken down a notch revealing more of a grass note, as if one is lying under the tree on the lawn. The coconut in the breeze reminiscent of someone upwind drinking a pina colada…or similar.
There is something rounded and natural about this one, which I love. The drydown is gorgeous! Gentle and yet unique. Perfect for layering, even with something else…any suggestions out there???
It’s with mixed feelings that I first picked up the sample vial of Micallef’s relatively new Rouge No2. I’ve been circling the liturgical Shanaan for a while. Should I get a full bottle? I just can’t decide. In any case it’s one of the finest frankincense fragrances I’ve tried, but then, how often am I really going to wear incense? Then there’s Vanille Aoud – so wonderfully intimate and snugly. It’s one of the few fragrances I’d love to be around someone else wearing. Then there’s been misses like Le Seducteur (too pungent) and the Les 4 Saisons that somehow felt unfinished. So with a little trepidation I gave Rouge No2 a sniff.
Collection Rouge No2 by Jean Claude Astier for M. Micallef 2013
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Citruses, black currant, nutmeg
Heart: Jasmine, violet, orchid
Base: Vanilla, labdanum, amber, castoreum
Rouge No2 opens fruity, resinous and animalic. The fruit is miscellaneous red candied fruit, the resins ultimately a vanillic amber and some animalic tendencies courtesy of some nutty castoreum. This fragrance is SWEET, literally. I can’t remember a fragrance I’ve tried that’s sweeter. As it dries down the vanillic amber becomes more prominent supported by the labdanum. A leatherish note comes through a bit later but ultimately this is a sweet fruity fragrance over a sweet vanillic amber base.
For my taste this is just far too sweet but for those that like sweet fruity vanilla fragrances this is a must try, especially if you’re comfortable with animalic notes. Rouge No2 is miles ahead of the sweet fruity fragrances you’ll find in your typical department store.
Sillage is average on my skin and longevity is excellent.
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose; By any other name would smell as sweet.” — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Lately I have been haunted by roses and I wanted to know more about them. I found that references to roses are everywhere in history and mythology and symbolism.They are an ancient flower. Fossils of roses have been found going back 35 million years. They thrived across the entire northern hemisphere with flowers that were originally all shades of pink, with a few white ones. Wild yellow roses were only discovered in Afghanistan and Southwest Asia in the 18th century. The Chinese cultivated them 5000 years ago and Egyptians planted rose gardens in their palaces at about the same time.
These beautiful flowers were found in ancient Egyptian tombs, in the form of mixed floral garlands believed to have been worn by mourners and then left in the tombs. The ancient Greeks and Romans identified the rose with the goddess of love, Aphrodite and Venus respectively, but it was the goddess nymph of flowers, Chloris, who created it. Chloris found the lifeless body of a nymph in the forest. She called the gods and goddesses to help her. Aphrodite gave the body beauty, Dionysus added nectar to give a sweet scent and Zephyr blew away the clouds so Apollo could shine and make the flower bloom. So the rose was born, the beautiful symbol of an immortal love that will never fade – even through time or death.
In India, Brahma, the creator of the world, and Vishnu, the protector of the world, argued over whether the lotus was more beautiful than the rose. Vishnu said the rose; Brahma said the lotus. Brahma, who had never seen a rose, admitted he was wrong when he saw one. He then created a bride for Vishnu and called her Lakshmi. She was created from 108 large and 1008 small rose petals. Ancient peoples made and used rosewater. It was the Persians who first extracted pure rose oil from varieties of the Damask rose. And in their poetry, the longing song of the nightingale is said to be caused by the beauty of the rose. Even today, rose symbolism is strong. The rose is the national flower of England, dating from the time of Henry VII and the War of the Roses and in 1986, it was named the floral emblem of the United States. This leads me to another rose:
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Bergamot, pink grapefruit, olibanum, saffron, ginger Heart: Palmarosa, damask rose, palisander rosewood Base: Rose, amber, patchouli, myrhh, benzoin, white musk
Pink Quartz starts out as a very spicy rose. The citrusy notes listed as top notes are lost on my skin, overwhelmed by the ginger, a note I’m not usually fond of, but it works well here. The rose in this scent is ALWAYS first and foremost. It’s a big red rose that lasts and lasts! It never really fades but does eventually mellow to a more musky rose with less ginger and hints of patchouli and amber. It is one of those fragrances that the more I wear it, the more I like it.The spicy aspect to Pink Quartz makes it a warm scent, but not a winter scent. It is for all seasons with a pleasant medium silage that I doubt would offend anyone and it lasts for 7-8 hours.
Photo Stolen markmontanoblogs
Photo Stolen 
Australian Perfume Junkies 