Month: February 2015

SmellBent GIVEAWAY WINNER!

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SmellBent GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Brent Leonesio Facebook

Till Valentines Day Feb 14 you can get FREE SHIPPING with SmellBent orders over $30. You have only a day to get in there.

Go to it crew,
Portia xx

SmellBent GIVEAWAY!

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 Winner who will receive:
5 x SmellBent 4ml samples: slightly used (FrankenSmellie s13#916, Gimme A Break!, Ice Station Zebra, Pere Noel Coward, Winter Vixen)
P&H

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.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Go to SmellBent and find me a fragrance and one of its notes. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet:  http://wp.me/p3PURw-3C9 SmellBent GIVEAWAY!   @smellbent

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Friday 13th February 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner was chosen by random.org

winner-is HighestSelfPhoto Stolen HighestSelf

Elia

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winner will have till Monday 16th February 2015 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.

Manto di Rugiada by i Profumi di Firenze 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Hey HeyGorgeous APJ!

Back in 2013 when I went on the Perfume Posse ScentSation Bus tour of Los Angeles we were introduced to the American importer of i Profumi di Firenze. She was extremely knowledgeable and I really loved her passion for the products. I really wanted to buy two fragrances on the spot but they were out of Ambra del Nepal at the time (they were also out of it in Barney’s Chicago and NYC in 2014) so I grabbed their Dolce Patchouly, a very refined fragrance that I adore. So I always get excited when I grab a new decant or sample from the line and this one I got in the 5ml Fridays at Surrender To Chance..

Manto di Rugiada by i Profumi di Firenze 2011

Manto di Rugiada i Profumi di Firenze BaseNotesPhoto Stolen BaseNotes

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Verbena, Basil, Bergamot
Heart: Amber, Sandalwood
Base: Opoponax, Musk

From Beauty Habit: An i Profumi di Firenze bestseller in Italy, now available stateside, this delicately sensual fragrance quietly mesmerizes with its duality of lightness and ambery depth. Top notes of verbena, basil and bergamot flow effortlessly onto a base of sandalwood, amber, opoponax and musk. Opoponax (“sweet myrrh”) is renowned for its protective qualities by increasing awareness and intuition, hence the poetic name, Cloak of Dewy Mist.

SONY DSCPhoto Stolen Flickr

Opening with a fabulously fun hairspray sizzle that quickly calms to a herbaceous sweet creamy green, a bit like Matcha Tea Powder. It’s not long before lovely soft balmy resins, beautiful resins, sweet and cuddly and some floral action but it’s all so beautifully blended I am finding it hard to parse stuff out. I can see why Manto di Rugiada is cloakish but I get very little of the dew or any coolness at all. Maybe the cloak is warmth against dewy mist? I see it as a warm red cloak with soft velour inside. MMMMM. Doesn’t matter.

As the heart warms up the word amber perfectly equates, like light shining through a beautiful clear piece of amber and as balmy and smooth as the feel of vintage body warmed opaque amber beads. Really, though the notes are there all I want to do with Manto di Rugiada is lie back and float away on the lovely fragrance, the combination that works so beautifully together. Interestingly, the green comes back through the heart, it’s a dry raspy green, quite nice as a layer through the soft cuddly balms.

Manto di Rugiada i Profumi di Firenze Sweet-dreams-dreaming-of-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarves WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Manto di Rugiada will be my bedtime scent tonight. I can imagine myself floating away on it to the isle of nod.

This is not a BIG fragrance, I think it would be wearable even in an office. Very pretty, good longevity but not overpowering in any way.

Further reading: Now Smell This
Beauty Habit have $110/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

Have you spent any time with the i Profumi di Firenze brand? Do you have a favourite?
Portia xx

Valentine's Day 2015

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 27 Comments

Hi there APJ Crew,

Don’t forget it is Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

Valentine’s Day 2015

If you are your only Valentine then treat yourself nice. Bathe and moisturise with your favourite, most luxurious lotions and potions, wear something that you love and take yourself and your book or interactive device down to a coffee shop and spend some quality time with you, a cuppa, some good reading (what a great time to get you blog reading up to date) and the knowledge that it’s only YOU that you need to please.

valentine PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

For the rest of us, good luck picking something your partner likes, a place they feel special in for dinner and a card that doesn’t sound too cheesy. Valentine’s Day is so business oriented now that there is no way anyone will come out happy. I’m not a Scrooge but I like my special gestures to be spontaneous, not contrived and boxed.

Korea 2014 Jeju Love Seat Jin:Portia

What will Jin & I do? I don’t know. Jin is working all day and I’m looking at houses. When we get home I’ll probably order us some take away and we will watch a movie, maybe we’ll go out but the night of Valentine’s is HELL. Maybe I’ll give him an IOU? He knows I love him, that I’m proud to be his partner and that I genuinely enjoy his company 99% of the time. He gets (and gives) little mini gifts and dinners every week, we still hold hands in the movies and sometimes on the street. We love to plan stuff, do stuff, even arguing with him is fun, we laugh a lot. That’s enough for me.

What are you guys up to for Valentine’s Day 2015? Whatever you do, I hope it’s with a joyful heart.

Portia xx

 

 

Gardenia by Aurelien Guichard for Robert Piguet 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

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Post by Poodle

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The word gardenia strikes terror in the heart of many. For a flower that has no perfume essence of its own and must be replicated by using other flower essences it has many variations and strengths. Most of these are dependent on the perfumers interpretation of what gardenia is. For some it always a bit too much and they shy away from anything called gardenia. Other times, when people smell a gardenia perfume the first comment made is “that’s not gardenia”. In that respect Gardenia will be no different.

Gardenia by Aurelien Guichard for Robert Piguet 2014

Gardenia Robert Piguet FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, lily, ylang ylang
Heart: Madagascar vanilla
Base: Black leather, cashmeran, spice, woods

Gardenia opens with lilies and ylang-ylang. There a certain freshness to the top notes, a watery green-ness that stops it from veering into the big white floral territory of Fracas. It makes me think of a bouquet of flowers cut in the early morning after a spring rain. My nose detects a hint of gardenia every now and then but it’s not the headlining act here. After the top notes settle Gardenia is not as bold as you might think. I wouldn’t call it a big white floral either.

Gardenia Robert Piguet gardenia Flower oom_endro PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

The freshness gives way to warmth. Cashmeran and leather start to appear. They are soft and seem almost powdery combined with the vanilla. The lily notes linger throughout the development and now have a little spice to them. It’s not a huge hit of spice but just that tiny bit that you sometimes smell in real lilies. Gardenia reminds me most of gardenias early on and later in the dry down. When I was extremely young I’d take the spent blossoms from my grandmothers gardenia and smoosh the petals into my arm hoping to transfer the scent. Even at the age of 4 I had the makings or a perfume nerd. Anyway, that’s what I’m reminded of in the dry down. Salty sweet skin with the barest hint of a fleshy floral petals.

Gardenia Robert Piguet Creamy Nude ContemoraryArts PixabayPicture Stolen Pixabay

I wish they had named this something different because I fear the name will deter people from sniffing. Anyone who is gardenia shy will just pass it by. Those who are looking for a true to life gardenia will sniff but perhaps it won’t be enough gardenia for them. I think men who tend to like florals would like this as well because I don’t think it smells too girly. It’s a lovely scent though so please do sniff if you see it.

Further reading: Ca Fleure Bon and Australian Perfume Junkies
Libertine Parfumerie has $239/100ml (with FREE Australian shipping)
Harrods has £150/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/ml

What is your favourite gardenia scent?

Hugs,
Poodle

SmellBent

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

Hey Hey Hey APJ!

As you may know we have been moving house, repainting, reorganising, decluttering etc to sell this apartment. Well during that madness I’ve found a few larger samples that did not get used, the sheer weight of samples and full bottles in this house would give you pause to think about my sanity, or lack of.

A favourite Independent Fragrance House, SmellBent makes affordable, fun filled fragrance that is both beautiful and sometime quite challenging. Owner Brent Leonesio is quite the hunk and has a super brilliant LA white smile and last time I caught up with him electric blue hair.

Brent Leonesio Facebook
Today on APJ we are giving away a supercool set of mostly discontinued SmellBent samples.

FrankenSmellie s13#916: Absolutely no idea what this is meant to smell like. I’m getting incense, wood, resins, some unnamed florals and musk. I think there may be some honey or something else quite sweetly animal.

Gimme A Break!: My skin amps the musks in Gimme A Break and it smells like a hookers Christmas panties, tenacity is extreme.

Ice Station Zebra: Resins and musk, a little bit of Vicks Vapour Rub too. I don’t get the zebra…

Pere Noel Coward: Dry, dusty, woodpile with the teeniest hint of syrup and a nod to the sauna.

Winter Vixen: Imagine the yummiest chocolate mud cake ever with rich chocolate, butter and cream icing. You have just been to the gym, you get home all sweaty and disheveled, you are taking a bite….

Till Valentines Day Feb 14 you can get FREE SHIPPING with SmellBent orders over $30

Go to it crew,
Portia xx

giveaway kbairdPhoto Stolen kbaird

SmellBent GIVEAWAY!

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 Winner who will receive:
5 x SmellBent 4ml samples: slightly used (FrankenSmellie s13#916, Gimme A Break!, Ice Station Zebra, Pere Noel Coward, Winter Vixen)
P&H

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

Go to SmellBent and find me a fragrance and one of its notes. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet:  http://wp.me/p3PURw-3C9 SmellBent GIVEAWAY!   @smellbent

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Friday 13th February 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Monday 16th February 2015 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.

Rozy EdP + Voille d'Extrait by Vero Kern for Vero Profumo 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 31 Comments

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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We are coming up to the launch of the Rozy Extrait. I have been smacking my head against a wall for the last year trying to come up with something to say about the Rozys – Edp and the Voile. Verges on the impossible. If we are familiar with a fragrance before we read about it, we can then do something with what has been written. However if we do not know the perfume of which we are reading, it is much more difficult, if not impossible to know how it will smell. Hands up those who have read about something, only to try it and wonder where it all went wrong.

Rozy Vero Profumo The_Night_Watch Rembrandt WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

The Militia Company of District II under the Command of Frans Banninck Cocq (better known albeit incorrectly as Rembrandt´s “The Night Watch”) is a stunning piece of art, and one of the most famous paintings in the world. But until you have seen it you have no idea how awe inspiring it is. It is housed in it´s own room the “Nachtwachtzaal” in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It is 363 cm x 437 cm (142.9 in x 172.0 in). You can try to describe it but the only way to be able to see the fine nuances of the painting’s complex colour palette is to go to the Rijksmuseum. The only way to smell the fine nuances in Vero Kern´s Rozys is to wear them.

Imagine that you need to describe honey to someone who has never tasted sweet.

Rozy EdP + Voille d’Extrait by Vero Kern for Vero Profumo 2014

Rozy Vero Profumo FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Oriental rose, tuberose, currant buds and leaves, honey, spices, sandalwood, labdanum, powdery notes, tarragon, peach, passionfruit, hyacinth

Both Rozys are objects of desire, lust and adoration, stains on the skin.

The Rozy EdP is hazy, peachy, rosy, sweet, divine, innocent and yet full of desire. Warm and erotic. It melts into the skin, thus becoming as one with the wearer. Bewitching. This perfume spills its secrets only over time. My most worn .vero.profumo..

Rozy Chilling Vero ProfumoPhoto Donated Val CQ

The Rozy Voile d’Extrait?

“Gather your wits and hold on fast,
Your mind must learn to roam.
Just as the Gypsy Queen must do
You´re gonna hit the road” (The Acid Queen. Pete Townsend)

Wearing this is making a pledge or a vow to hold on until the end. A cerise ocean with and honey-capped sandalwood waves. A blushing rosy pink, tangerine colored aura, as near to radio-active as a perfume can get, shockingly surreal, and yet in perfect harmony. Astounding.

Rozy Vero Profumo Bee_pollenating_a_rose WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

“The rose is the flower of virgins and women, but also of vice and prostitution. Thorns and roses symbolize the ambivalence of love and sorrow – the drama of finite love.” Vero Kern

How beautiful are the Rozys? How long is a piece of string?

Further re4ading: Bonkers About Perfume and Smelly Thoughts
LuckyScent has Rozy EdP $235/50ml
First In Fragrance has Rozy Voile d’Extrait €168/50ml
Surrender To Chance has Rozy EdP samples starting at $6/.5ml

The Rozy Extrait. March in Milan. My lips are sealed.

Kiss my Roses
CQ

Jungle Gardenia by Tuvaché 1933

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

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Post by Azar

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Portia: Hi there APJ, Azar is suffering the busy life syndrome too. You may know that she is a music teacher and I asked her to give me some music to put with one of her all time favourite fragrances, Jungle Gardenia by Tuvaché, Jovan and now Coty. I edited up an email she sent me after talking about losing myself in music and fragrance simultaneously, thanks Azar for opening my ears to something new. I love the way this piece jumps and spins, even when my mind wanbts to wandfer into thought it is jolted back to the music by its mood and force changes. Lovely.

Jungle Gardenia by Tuvaché 1933

Jungle Gardenia Tuvaché FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Greens, bitter orange, clary sage, cyclamen, heliotrope
Heart: Gardenia, tuberose, tarragon, violet leaf, lily of the valley, jasmine, ylang-ylang
Base: Oakmoss, benzoin, sandalwood, musk

I don’t think I ever did a Jungle Gardenia post…just commented a lot and mentioned Jungle Gardenia in some other reviews of vintage fragrances. I have a nice little stash of the really good old stuff (parfum and skin scent) and should probably do a review one of these days. The sillage is astounding and the longevity unbelievable. I spilled a little on a tissue in June. Not wanting to waste a drop I stored the tissue in my sock drawer. Every time I open that drawer I am greeted with an indolic floral blast and now my feet even smell like gardenias!

Jungle Gardenia Tuvaché Socks HelenaRay DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Below is a great piece of music by the Brazilian composer Hector Villa Lobos, Choros #5, Alma Brasilieras. This piece is rich, dark, deep and humid…not unlike Jungle Gardenia. This was originally written for piano. I have performed and taught the original solo piano version numerous times over the years. I have never made a recording myself and so hoped to find one on You Tube. Every single version I found had numerous rhythmic errors…so annoying. The YoYo Ma cello/piano version is beautiful and correct. I hope it gives you some idea of the piece as it was originally written for piano.

I have always loved Villa Lobos’ music. When Brad needed a companion piece to the Beethoven Triple I suggested another piece by Villa Lobos that was originally for piano and subsequently arranged by the composer for string orchestra – the Prelude from Bachianis Brasilieras 4 – the first 10 minutes of this second You tube video –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mf3SQ3dVz8. Notice the musician wiping the tears away at about 6:16 minutes into the recording.

Azar xx

 

02.- Choros No 5 “Alma Brasiliera” (Villa-Lobos)

Yo-Yo Ma’s Brazil, LIve Concert

Tiare Moana by Crystelle Darchicourt for L`Atelier Boheme 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Heya Crew,

Right now we are doing a February Sample Challenge on Facebook’s Aussie Fragrance Network. It’s a very simple idea. We are trying to wear some of our never tried samples, we record our usage and give a little insight into what we wore and how it went. You have to do at least one sample a day, more if possible, and you don’t get disqualified if you just can’t help but break out a bottle. More about the fun and the using up of long owned and neglected samples, of which most of us have WAY TOO MANY! I am trying to use up my 1ml samples so I’m also going through a bunch of new mini atomisers because I believe that if it comes in a spritz bottle it should be spritzed for sampling.

I have no idea where this sample came from. It is beautifully carded and a 2ml sample vial. When researching where to buy it I only found Russian blogger reviews on the first 3 pages of Google other than Fragrantica which had only 2 loves and no reviews. Colour me intrigued…..

Tiare Moana by Crystelle Darchicourt for L`Atelier Boheme 2009

Tiare Moana L`Atelier Boheme FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green banana, tangerine
Heart: Tiara, coconut
Base: Patchouli, hibiscus seeds

Wikipedia says: Gardenia taitensis (also called Tahitian Gardenia or Tiaré Flower) is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family. It is an evergreen tropical shrub…. The flower is creamy white…. and very fragrant. Native to the highland shores of the South Pacific, it has the distinction of being one of the few cultivated plants native to Polynesia. It is the national flower of French Polynesia and the Cook Islands.

IMG_6074Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Sweet, tart and sizzling, Tiara Moana is a very juicy fruit and the opening is like biting into a mango that is so soft and juicy but you can tell that by tomorrow it will go nasty. Right now though it is heavenly, not a sugary sweetness in the modern fruitchouli experience but a sweetness with some depth and green-ness to it. It may even be green banana-ish.

Tiara, coconut and still a waft of dry greenery, like papyrus or vetiver, or maybe it is a dry, clean patchouli collide beautifully in the heart. Tiara Moana still manages to maintain it’s juiciness too and the heart is luscious and very reminiscent of a tropical island dream. Imagine if Annick Goutal’s Songes was both fruit-juicier and had a dry counterpoint, add this to the creamy texture of white flowers (without the vanilla) and you have a very good approximation of what Tiare Moana smells like.

Tiare Moana L`Atelier Boheme Les_Petits_Chanteurs_de_Sainte-Croix_-_The_Paris_Boys_Choir WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

This is not a sensual or sexual fragrance on me. I get no fecal, blue cheese, body or breath from Tiara Moana. While being gorgeous and glorious it is pure and clean. Attractive but aloof right through the heart with only a touch of earthiness in the dry down. If this fragrance were song it would be the young sporty tenor lead in a choir, all the divine exuberance of youth unsullied.

Good longevity and having sprayed myself completely with the whole 2ml I’m saying excellent projection. In fact I’m a little scared to leave the house in case I set of fire alarms, in the next suburb. I am completely and utterly engulfed in this glorious scent and enjoying the ride immensely. This would make a splendid Wedding Fragrance for both bride & groom.

Tiare Moana L`Atelier Boheme Bride_and_Groom FantasyStock DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

L`Atelier Boheme has €120/50ml

From L’Atelier Boheme: A perfume duet : two cross matters, two universes…mother-of-pearl and perfume.
For its 7th perfume, L’Atelier Bohème has chosen Rivières d’Océanie as a partner, specialized in the Tahiti black Pearl and polynesian jewellery : www.rivieresoceanie.com. Rivières d’Océanie Treasure pretty dressed the flask-jewel concealing in its heart the tiara with 7 petals in mother-of-pearl and perfume 

Have you tried Tiara Moana? Any of the L`Atelier Boheme line?
Portia xx

 

 

Freeing A Humpback Whale: Video

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hi Crew,

This video has nothing to do with fragrance and everything to do with humanity. I don’t know why it came up in my YouTube feed but it was so unexpected that I watched it. What a fabulous thing it is, yet also very sad when you think how few get saved and how many die.

A humpback tail. California, Gulf of the Farallones NMS Sanc0116 WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

I got so emotionally involved that by the end I had a big cheesy smile on my face.

You may like to go on this journey with 5 people in a metal runabout boat and a humpback whale.
Enjoy,
Portia xxx

Humpback Whale Shows AMAZING Appreciation After Being Freed From Nets

Tibetan Mountain Temple by Pacifica 2007

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hi there Perfume Junkies,

Sometimes a cheap and cheerful fragrance grabs my attention. I know it’s not got the finest ingredients and am quite aware that its scent is probably more suited to product scenting than fine fragrance but the sheer joy I get from spritzing and wearing completely overshadows all else. The genuine snob in me sometimes grinds its teeth but to be honest I don’t give two hoots, this is the one I’m reaching for today.

Tibetan Mountain Temple by Pacifica 2007

Tibetan Mountain Temple Pacifica FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Patchouli, orange, vetiver, ginger, violet, incense

Sweet and spicy citrus pith and woods(?) open up Tibetan Mountain Temple, TOTALLY ginger-ific, and a fun Gingerbread Man accord. I’m surprised that clove isn’t one of the featured notes and that vanilla or sugar isn’t mentioned either.  I haven’t been to Tibet but have been to McLeodgang in the Himalayas of India where the Dali Lama lives a couple of times. I can smell nothing of my time there in this fragrance so please don’t go buying it for reminiscence sake. It’s like an American dream, totally Disney-ised, of what a Tibetan Mountain Temple might smell like. A lot of its lifespan smells like a heavily cinnamoned pumpkin pie.

Tibetan Mountain Temple Pacifica Pumpkin_Pie WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Tibetan Mountain Temple becomes a sweet resinous incense that evolves through the wear and a delicious creaminess comes in through the heart that collides perfectly with the clean patchouli. This is a warming fragrance that smells a LOT more expensive than it is.

On Now Smell This the word sophisticated is used referring to Tibetan Mountain Temple and I agree. I bet in blind sniff that no one would guess that this is an uber cheapy, though they may guess it as a very expensive ambient scent.

oliban keiko mecheri Prayer Flags Shawn Allen FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

My longevity is really good, for fully fragrant I get about 1-2 hours and a very soft warm wash that is clearly discernible to me in the morning. It’s not in your face loud but you are fragrant with better sillage than projection. Once you sit for a while though it does fill the space slowly and you may be sitting next to someone for 15 or more minutes before they really notice your scent. Up close and personal though it is a wonderful additive to my own scent and quite delicious.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Female Daily
Scentiments has $30/29ml in Australia
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/2ml

Do you have a cheap and cheerful fragrance that you spritz regularly? One that almost none of the perfumistas ever talk about? Share, I love to find new budget loves.

Portia xx