So APJ,
What happens when The Doctor meets Lauren Cooper, OMFG, this is still absolute GOLD! I laugh more now than I did when I first saw it.
Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!
Portia xx
Photo Stolen YouTube
So APJ,
What happens when The Doctor meets Lauren Cooper, OMFG, this is still absolute GOLD! I laugh more now than I did when I first saw it.
Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!
Portia xx
Photo Stolen YouTube
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Post by Poodle
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Let the Music Play…
That’s the name of a song by an artist named Shannon that was released in 1984. It’s the song that came on the radio as I was writing this and since it’s about a dance, it seemed fitting. Fragrance Republic FR! 01/04 is supposed to call to mind a dance, the tango specifically, and a weekend getaway.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: (slightly different in words & pictures)
Top: Yellow Italian Mandarin, Sweet Orange
Heart: Jasmine, Fleur de Cassie, Mimosa Maroc, Black Locust, Magnolia
Base: Sesame, Tonka Bean, White Musks
FR! 01/04 was not what I expected from reading the note list. I was expecting a citrusy, tropical thing that I would quickly dismiss. Instead I got something completely different that’s grown on me a lot.
It opens on my skin with a huge bouquet of flowers. The florals here are big and bold. There’s a creaminess to the magnolia that evokes the idea of big, fleshy petals. The sesame is also noticeable from the start to the finish. That and the Tonka bean give the scent an edible note that hums just below the surface. It’s not woody but rather nutty. I imagine a Latin dancer with flowers in her hair. It’s a hot summer night. She’s dancing with a handsome man to the pulsating beat of the tango. The song ends and they step away to share a sip of a tropical drink with orange slices garnishing the glass. All these aromas mingle with the musky sweetness of their skin covered in just a shimmer of sweat.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
The idea behind the perfume is Argentina and the sensuality of two bodies dancing the tango. At the start it’s musky, nutty floral. The citrus notes are nowhere to be found for me. It isn’t until later in the development they make a little flirting appearance. The perfume has an earthy quality to it but it never smells dirty to me. There’s a sensual facet from the big flowers but even the musks in this are clean and not animalic. While I was able to piece together the imagery it wasn’t the down and dirty fragrance I thought it would be. These two dancing bodies are keeping all their contact on the dance floor.
And she sang;
“I thought it was clear,
the plan was we would share
this feeling just between ourselves,
But when the music changed
the plan was rearranged,
he went to dance with someone else.”
There’s no roll in the sheets to end the evening for them. It’s all about the dance. In the end the perfume is all about the clean musks with that touch of sesame. That being said, it’s got just enough going on to keep it from smelling too clean and the sesame gives it a unique quality that I really like.
Further reading: Ca Fleur Bon
Fragrance Republic has $45/15ml
Poodle x
Hi there APJ,
Who can resist kittens! They are so cute, cuddly and gorgeous. We used to have cats as kids but since greyhounds and fostering them has happened in my life there seems no room, so safe room anyway, to fit them in my life. Oh well cutesy pictures and videos will have to fill the void.
Enjoy
Portia xx
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Photo Stolen Flickr
Photo Stolen DeviantArt
Photo Stolen Flickr
Photo Stolen DeviantArt
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
NSFW! Put HEADPHONES on. I found this very naughty but quite amusing Perfume Ad while trollng around YouTube, or maybe someone sent it to me? Oh well, can’t remember but I nearly spat my coffee at the screen when I saw this.
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Post by Val the Cookie Queen
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I was invited by Campomarzio70 for the “Inspiring Paintings, Perfumes on Canvas” Vernissage. At the same time Vero Profumo would be presenting their new fragrance “Rozy”. This had me in an uncontrollable state of excitement. I called my BFF Dr Judith Fox, a cognitive behaviour therapist, and invited her to come along with me. Better safe than sorry.
Whilst down there I planned to nip into the Esxence too, seeing as it was so close
We left at 07.00 with 648 kilometers to go. About a seven hour trip not including pee stops and caffeine top ups. With the exception of a bug hurling itself into the windscreen with such thud that we both jumped, the trip was uneventful, the weather glorious. We arrived at our hotel under the guidance of Alice, our navigation system. At this point we still liked her. A quick freshen up and time to marvel at the flush in our bathroom and off to the show. Grabbing our press passes at the door we headed in. (For an in depth coverage of the event please see Chemist in a Bottle or Colognoisseur)
We had a date with Antonio Gardoni from Bogue Profumo and I was stoked. Antonio is so passionate about what he is doing it was a joy to talk with him. Bugs and juniper barrels, cypress oil and seasons. We sniffed Bogue´s Cologne Reloaded, which Antonio spritzed into the clay masks. Literally breathtaking. A post featuring Bogue´s Reloaded coming up soon. Antonio introduced us to the Nu_Be crew afterwards. Funky people. We saw Neela Vermeire a while later, but there are no good pictures and I will NOT post a crappy picture, so you´ll have to imagine it.
Hungry and tired we headed back to the hotel. It took a while because Alice totally freaked out and tried to get us to drive through a pedestrian zone several times from a number of different angles. We tricked her by heading to Rome so that she would finally recalculate. Eventually we made it. We ate at a superb working class cafeteria, delicious fish and spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and buffalo mozarella, accompanied by several televisions all showing the Juventus game. Excellent.
Early start the next day and after a caffeinated breakfast, we were on our way to Via Dante 14, downtown Milan, where Campomarzio70 were located. We parked the Mini Fox close by, and went to pick up Vero Kern from her hotel. We met Nicola Pozzani of “ssence – the senses of perfume” at the hotel as well. He would be giving an interactive lecture on Scent in Saudi Arabia at the Esxence later that afternoon.
Off we went together. The Essential Culture event was artistic, elegant, and intimate. Each perfume house with a small display. Want a list? Isabey. Amorvero. Von Eusersdorf. Cire Trudon. Grossmith. By Kilan. Mona di Orio. Brecourt. Vero Profumo. Ramon Monegal. Maison Francis Kurkdjian. Memo. Yosh. Fuegia 1833. As some of you know Jordi Molla painted a picture inspired by one particular fragrance from each house. Extremely stylish. Dr Fox and I both loved the artwork.
I überspritzed Vero Profumo´s Rozys, one on each arm. They were after all the reason I was there.
We attended Nicola´s interactive lecture over at the Esxence later in the afternoon, which I will cover in a future post. Fascinating. Saudi Arabia Kingdom of Odours. A stroll around the Esxence had us leaving with the new ELdO Cologne (yum) and the amped up Rien (bring it on!!) a couple from Humieki & Graef, including Blask, all of the Rouge Bunny Rouge range, and Ulrich Lang´s Nightscape. Ulrich incidentally was charming.
The evening vernissage back at Via Dante was graceful and welcoming, good food and great company. Cocktails and music, perfumes and perfumers, art and artists. From Nasomatto to Monegal. We left later in the evening and went with Vero across the road to a cafe for a quiet drink. Except we didn´t reckon on our four foot waiter, Letcherous Luigi, who was intent on trying to grope all of our boobs. Hahahahahahaha! The Essential Culture, forsooth.
Saturday we headed back home. With a pit stop at a supermarket to stack up on Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pasta, drinks and other scrumptious Italian things. Over the Brenner Pass, and back into Austria. The following day we would have needed snow chains so it was good we left when we did.
Was it worth it? I came home with a tiny stash of both the Rozy Voile and the EdP clutched to my groped bosom. Italian Job successful.
Bussis
CQ (APJ´s Raving Reporter)
With the utmost gratitude to Dr Judith Fox for keeping me sane and the hilarious time. And Lisa from Campomarzio for the invite.
All photographs donated by Cookie Queen
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Post by Azar
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Hello APJ,
The sun is finally shining here in the Pacific North West (PNW) – at least for a few more days. March 2014 has been the wettest on record in Western Washington, USA. The rain totaled 9.44 inches, at least three times the normal rainfall for the month of March. With all that precipitation and a little sunshine the flowers are now popping open everywhere. At long last spring is really here and what better way to enhance this natural seasonal bouquet than with a scent from Antonia’s Flowers!
Antonia Bellanca began her circuitous route to perfumery as a visual artist, studying in Boston and later in France. Exposure to Flemish floral art turned her innate love of flowers into a new career. Upon returning to the US she began working as a florist in New York City. In the early 1980s Ms. Bellanca opened her own shop, Antonia’s Flowers in East Hampton, NY. Spending so much of everyday with beautiful natural scents inspired Antonia Bellanca to create her own perfume. She worked with perfumer Bernard Chant (the creator of Aramis, Aramis Devin and Estee Lauder Aromatics Elixir among others) to recreate the scent of freesia, one of her favorite flowers. Her first fragrance debuted in 1985 and was named after her florist shop. Antonia’s Flowers EDT was a great success and for many years a best seller at Barney’s in NYC where you can find her latest fragrance Rokka.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
The popularity of the original Antonia’s Flowers fragrance led to the creation of an EDP and also an Absolute version. In 1990 Ms. Bellanca closed the florist shop to devote her time to the perfumery. In 1995 Antonia’s Flowers introduced Floret EDT, a fragrance with top notes of the illusive sweet pea. Floret eventually appeared as an EDP. (I prefer the lighter quality of the original version.)
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
In the late 90s Antonia Bellanca moved Antonia’s Flowers to the small seaside town of Osterville, MA. The next perfume to appear in the line, Tiempe Passate, was created in 1999 in collaboration with Norbert Bijaoui, the perfumer who developed Esteban Classic Chypre, Givenchy Organza Indecent and TL Pour Lui. Tiempe Passate was named after a love song written by Antonia’s grandfather, the title translating simply as “time passes” in Sicilian. On my skin Tiempe Passate is a light, clean and soapy classic with elements of mandarin and cedar wood.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
My favorite Antonia’s Flowers fragrance is Sogni del Mare (Dreams – or thoughts – of the Sea) launched in 2007. The AF website describes the fragrance as “a watery, fruity floral with notes of Italian bergamot, cassis buds, wild rhubarb, orange and lotus”. My first breath of Sogni del Mare is of salt, rhubarb and lotus, watery but not really oceanic. On my skin this fragrance is kin to OdlR’s Oriental Lace but without the overt gourmand notes of almond and honey. For me Sogni del Mare is an understated, salty floral with a hint of slightly tart rhubarb pie. This fragrance is intimate and ephemeral, lasting only an hour or two on my skin, the perfect scent for crowded places, spring mornings or hot summer days at the beach.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
The latest addition to the line is Rokka, a men’s cologne launched in 2013. This new fragrance was included in a sample pack I ordered in March from Antonia’s Flowers. Rokka opens with top notes of violet and citrus, develops a heart of cedar, moss, nutmeg and tonka bean and finishes with amber and patchouli. I find Rokka considerably lighter and greener than the listed notes imply. It reminds me a little of the Italian shaving products by Proraso but definitely unisex and very fresh. The name Rokka puzzles me. Perhaps it is a reference to the Rokka noYuusha series of novels about the Heroes (or Warriors) of the Six Flowers by Ishio Yamagata.
Antonia’s Flowers site has the complete range and very reasonable sample sets.
This week we will have ONE Winner who will get:
One complete sample set of Antonia’s Flowers fragrances including 1 ml of each of the following:
Antonia’s Flowers EDT
Antonia’s Flowers EDP
Floret EDT
Floret EDP
Tiempe Passate EDP
Sogni del Mare EDT
Rokka cologne
P&H Anywhere in the world
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
To be eligible for the draw please comment on any Antonia’s Flowers fragrance OR let us know what scent you will be wearing to the beach this summer!
Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Antonia’s Flowers Sample Set GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2F0 #Perfume #Giveaway
Entries Close Thursday 10th April 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org or any other madcap but fair way Azar can choose
The winners will have till Monday 14th April 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.
Azar xx
Hi there junkies,
Thanks for all getting so on board with this giveaway. Clearly we hit a fave frag manufacturer and the prohibitive cost of these lovelies must be another factor. I have enjoyed these immensely and can’t wait to read what our winners think.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
This week we will have 2 winners who will get:
1 x .5ml sample Narcissus Water Perfume by CB I Hate Perfumes
1 x .5ml sample Tuberose Water Perfume by CB I Hate Perfumes
P&H Anywhere in the world
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 me any memory of daffodils or narcissus, their smell, how they look, a fragrance you love with them. Maybe you grew them, grow them or love them as a cut flower, anything narcissus related will get you in.
Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie CB I Hate Perfume Narcissus GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2Eq #Perfume #Giveaway @CBrosius712
Entries Closed Sunday 6th April 2014 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 10th April 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.
Hi There Crew,
I have only spent real time with one Frapin fragrance before and that was L’Humaniste which I liked very much, interestingly today’s fragrance was also re-created by the same perfumer. The original 1270 was created by Beatrice Cointreau. I don’t know why they had it reformulated, anyone?
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Dried orange, pineapple, hazelnut, resins, dried plums, cocoa, tonka, coffee
Heart: Lime blossom, linden tree, pepper, spices, dried fruits
Base: Wood, Guaiac wood, white honey, vanilla
I have spritzed 1270 Frapin a few times before. I don’t know why but it has not struck me before as very likeable. I think my tastes may be expanding to include much more fun and frivolous fragrances because while trying to use up my unloved decant I have fallen madly in love.
PINEAPPLE, like smoking a pineapple flavoured hookah while eating fairy floss. 1270 is weird and fun and a little bit crazy. I get sugar and pineapple, some other amorphous fruit and some smoky, warm resins. At no point do I get any chocolate, damnit. But still I just LOVE it. So fun. There is a fizziness that doesn’t seem at all aldehydic but like pineapple flavoured Fanta, bubbling around in your mouth with that delicious, sugar filled, fizzy rush that you get on your first swallow from the can. MMMMMMM. Boozy? Kind of. You know those sweet drinks that you can’t taste the alcohol in? The ones that often go down quickly and you drink them like soda pop because all that sugar makes you incredibly thirsty? Then BAM you are drunk. That’s the kind of booze here in 1270.
Lime blossom passes me by but the pepper, spices and dried fruits give a wonderful night in a Delhi bar in a bazaar vibe during the heart while still pumping out the fizzy pineapple right through the heart of 1270. Gradually the whole fragrance warms through as the honey, killing off the pineapple completely, takes centre stage standing right out front of the woods and vanilla but you can tell they are just waiting their turn to complete the story as we head to dry down. Warm soapy vanilla and woods, like VERY expensive mini bath soaps from the 1980s, are a beautiful end to a ride that has been so diverse, interesting, fun, frivolous at times and in the end a big gentle hug. How did I miss all this before?
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
Interestingly 1270 is not on the Frapin parfums site any more. Are they discontinuing it? Does anyone know? All the online stores have it…..
Wearing? Almost everywhere. After the first 30 minutes you won’t be skunking anyone unless you are an outrageous oversprayer. In frag phobic workplaces it may be a bit much but otherwise I see 1270 as an excellent and fun choice. It is pricey but now that I get it I feel that I might even contemplate a purchase, let’s see if I finish my 5ml decant first, only 1ml of it has gone yet.
Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Another Perfume Blog
Libertine Parfumerie has $199/100ml (with FREE postage in Australia)
First In Fragrance has €105/100ml and samples
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml
Have you spent any time with 1270? Any of the Frapin frags? Have you ever had one of their cognacs?
Portia xx
Pineapple Photo Stolen Flickr
Heya APJ,
You want to see how G L A M O U R should be done? Need a refresher course in absolutely over the top elegance that harks back to the days of Hollywood’s finest hours? This runway show may not push any boundaries but I bet it’s selling like crazy. This is fashion for the wealthy and I bet they lapped it up. So lavishly gorgeous and crazy that it could almost have been a Christian Dior or Oscar de la Renta show from the 1990s. Perfect.
Photo Stolen Telegraph (any problem with me using this shot, tell me and I’ll remove immediately)
Enjoy
Portia x
Hey there Fellow Fumie Family.
Today we are chatting about one of Yves Saint Laurent’s newest lineup, the Oriental Collection. These are a new last year, extremely spendy, designer try at regaining some of their lost consumer ground through their own, and enforced, ruthless reformulations and cheapening of many of their products. Here is the big ticket item to lure us back. There are now four in the Oriental Collection with the addition of Splendid Wood this year.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Fruity notes
Heart: Ylang ylang, tuberose, jasmine
Base: Patchouli, amber, musk
Supreme Bouquet, seems like they have made the bar pretty high, Supreme? Really Supreme? I was already pre disposed to not like it just from the name, which seems both overblown and lame. Who is in charge of this stuff at YSL Fragrance, it just makes me squirm with embarrassment that out of the WHOLE English language (and the thousands of others available) that Supreme Bouquet is the BEST name they could come up with. Let’s wear it and see if it lives down to it’s moniker.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
Peaches from a can, mango and pineapple? Like a fruit cocktail with added sugar syrup, actually, like the syrup that canned fruit comes in. YUMMY! I am taken directly back to my childhood in the first spritz, sadly this crazy fun, 100% unnatural scent only blasts for about 3-5 minutes before it is lost in a very honey-like sweetness that still manages to be dry, as the white flowers come strolling in with a sinuous, sensuous, insouciant abandon and wrap their lovely coils around the fruit till all you can smell are sweet, buttery, green, fatty white flowers. So beautiful there is almost a fairytale quality, Supreme Bouquet is ethereal but solid and wafting gently around me like a nimbus. It is like you have sat yourself in an arbour of exotic dream flowers that bear only a passing resemblance to anything of this world, more like the flowers I would expect Queen Amidala to cultivate. Sometimes I worry that I have TERRIBLE taste in fragrance, I think these are nearly completely aroma chemicals but still they smell fabulous to me. I love it.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
The amber highlights and warms the flowers as they start to fade, they don’t really leave but they do become less assertive, relax their hold and give some space to everything else, sadly the uber clean patchouli and musks smell a trifle generic and that lets the whole composition down a bit, after the fireworks of the opening and heart it would have been nice if the patchouli had given us a raspy, earthy depth. It doesn’t.
Photo Stolen Flickr
Further reading: Katie Puckrik Smells and Kafkaesque
Available in department stores (not in Australia yet) UK YSL site £195
I bought my sample from Surrender To Chance from $5/.5ml
OK, so is this the SUPREME Bouquet? Naah, but it is lovely, wearable and sexy, super perfume-y and a look back at fragrances of the past till its slightly boring, but very nice, dry down. Would I pay £195 for a bottle? Probably not. On 50% discount? I’d be definitely thinking about it. Actually, for US$100 I would have been online and purchased a bottle already. It is very nice, great gift for someone but extremely overpriced to me.
Have you tried any from the new Oriental line at Yves Saint Laurent yet?
Portia x
Hi there FUMIES!
I have been lucky enough to try this amazing, no amazing is too banal & used a word for the experience, sadly my vocabulary doesn’t stretch to how joyful and wonderful my experience has been trying today’s fragrance. I feel like one of the luckiest people just to have spent time with this magnificent creation that has bloomed so spectacularly on my skin in ways completely unexpected. I am moved.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
OK the note here is Narcissus, pure and practically unadulterated. Here are the words I wrote on my first wearing to refer back to while writing this review: Bitter, dark, tobacco-esque, green, earthy, herbal, poisonous, hay, urine, wind, fresh, sunshine, picnic, happiness, love. This is NOTHING like I expected. Narcissus is a complete revelation and not all of it lovely. I find myself twisting and turning with the notes as if caught in a flurry during a storm, or buffeted by the sea when you misjudge a wave. Narcissus smells like a concentration on the leaves and stem of the plant, not the flower, or at least very little of the flower.
Photo Stolen GeographUK
From CB I Hate Perfume: Narcissus Absolute is one of the rarest and most fabulously expensive floral absolutes still available in the world today. It is also to my mind one of the most stunningly beautiful and therefore very much a personal favorite. Although obtained from the flower of a quite common plant, the scent of Narcissus absolute smells not in the least like a pot of paperwhites. To me, the scent of the actual blooming flower is overpowering, piercing and usually quite nauseating. I really can’t stay long in a room where paperwhites are blooming. The perfume of Narcissus absolute on the other hand is magical. Have you ever walked though a field in spring when thousands of narcissus were blooming? It’s like that – a delicate spicy breath of spring.
Please note that the water perfume is translucent, and may have some sedimentation. If this happens gentle rock the bottle back and forth to reincorporate. This will not detract from the fragrance in any way.
Further reading: and Perfume Posse
CB I Hate Perfume has $500/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/.5ml
This week we will have 2 winners who will get:
1 x .5ml sample Narcissus Water Perfume by CB I Hate Perfumes
1 x .5ml sample Tuberose Water Perfume by CB I Hate Perfumes
P&H Anywhere in the world
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 me any memory of daffodils or narcissus, their smell, how they look, a fragrance you love with them. Maybe you grew them, grow them or love them as a cut flower, anything narcissus related will get you in.
Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie CB I Hate Perfume Narcissus GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2Eq #Perfume #Giveaway @CBrosius712
Entries Close Sunday 6th April 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 10th April 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.