Month: August 2015

Ubar by Robertet for Amouage 2009 remix

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Hi hi hi APJ,

I recently rediscovered an Ubar decant and have been spritzing madly. It is on equal footing with Interlude Man as my favourite Amouage and please don’t ever make me choose. Both are so freaking good and when I wear them I feel that I could rule the world.

Ubar by Robertet for Amouage 2009 remix

Ubar FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tangerine, orange, litsea cubeba, violet leaf
Heart: Jasmine, orange blossom, ylang-ylang, tuberose, freesia, lily-of-the-valley, palisander rosewood
Base: Sandalwood, vanilla, patchouli, vetiver, copahu balm, black amber

Ubar is a rarity, a gorgeous spiced white floral and woods extravaganza that is so chock full of ingredients that it’s hard for me to distinguish them. Ubar wears like it’s its own scent and nothing like anything else ever created. Ubar is like soup simmering on the stove: the whole house is filled with the smell of soup and as ingredients get put in the pot if you’re chatting in the kitchen then you’ll be able to pick some of them even if you haven’t seen what went in and if you look in the pot you’ll see some of the ingredients rise and fall. If though you are in your bedroom and the smell is wafting temptingly towards you then all you can smell is the melange, the soup itself. Maybe garlic will be noticeable or beef or tomato but everything else becomes a part of the soup. That’s how I wear Ubar.

ubar-amouage Chicken_noodle_soup WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Ubar starts out sharp green and citrus but already you can smell the base underneath them and the white florals just waiting behind the scenes to jump out at you and whirl you away on a veritable cloud of bouquet. The patchouli, resins and sweet vanilla all create the most stridently glorious dry down that hums away for ages on my skin and all the way to tomorrows bath or shower I can smell the magic that is Ubar.

When I think about it Ubar seems to be a cold weather fragrance, and I do love it to warm me up, but to really experience Ubar best you need to wear it in stifling heat. It blooms unbelievably and shows a whole other side to its luscious self.

Today is the last day of summer in the north and winter here in Australia. Perfect time at both ends to wear Ubar.

ubar-amouage sand-dunes unsplash PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Where do I wear Ubar? I love to give myself a big spritz and do very mundane things like cleaning, clothes washing and grocery shopping. I get funny looks sometimes because I’m so obviously scented for an EVENT yet there I am buying milk, bread and a bag of tomatoes. Fuck It! Fragrance helps me to celebrate the fact that I’m alive, helps me to waft on fabulously even through the most hum drum moments because I am the star of my life. So are you, go live life AND hug yourself from me.

Further reading NowSmellThis and PerfumeShrine
FragranceNet has $185/100ml unboxed Before Coupon
Posh Peasant has $4.50/.5ml

What fragrance makes you feel like the tedious is fabulous?
Portia xx

EDIT: Originally I had Creations Aromatics as the perfumers but the Amouage crew told me it was Robertet so I have fixed it.

Andrea Maack Sampler GIVEAWAY WINNER

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Post by Portia

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WOO HOO APJ! Thanks for getting involved. Another wonderful giveaway, you are lucky. I hope life is treating you well where ever you are.

Portia xx

Silk by Andrea Maack 2011

Silk by Richard Ibanez

Silk Andrea Maack FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Citruses, violet leaf, freesia, magnolia, soil tincture, papyrus, vanille, amber, lemon tree, lime (linden) blossom

Andrea Maack Sampler GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 3ml Andrea Maack Sampler (I have used them a bit, about 2ml in each)
Dark
Smart
Craft
Silk
Sharp
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 30th August 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner was chosen by random.org

winner sistersavealot.comPhoto Stolen sistersavealot

gina tabasso

The winner will have till Thursday 3rd September 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.

Eau de Gloire by Marc-Antoine Corticchiato for Parfum d’Empire 2003

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Post by Portia

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Hi there Fragrant Family,

When Michael Edwards of Fragrances Of The World fame had his cleanout this was one of the fragrances he gave me. I had liked it very much from my original Parfum d’Empire sample set (that I can’t find on the site anymore). So my review today is based on an older bottle like the top picture in the review. I have no idea if the fragrance has been reformulated for the new bottle but I’ve read nothing on the boards to indicate there has been a change.

Eau de Gloire by Parfum d’Empire 2003

Eau de Gloire by Marc-Antoine Corticchiato

Eau de Gloire Parfum d`Empire FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, amalfi lemon, lavender, rosemary, neroli, tangerine, myrtle
Heart: Tea, star anise, licorice, immortelle
Base: Leather, tobacco, olibanum, french labdanum, oakmoss

The first fragrance that Parfum d’Empire brought to the world in 2003, modeled on Marc-Antoine Corticchiato’s scent memory of his boyhood home Corsica, Eau de Gloire is literally translated as Water of Glory and dedicated as an homage to all those who’ve left their homelands to go into the world and conquer. Especially to his own home island boy Napoleon Bonaparte.

Photo Stolen HistoryFiles

The first words that jump into my head when wearing Eau de Gloire are Bracing, Citrus, Salt, Squeaky, Floral, Masculine. Yes, I know we don’t deal in masculine/feminine archetypes here but Eau de Gloire definitely skews towards what my upbringing has defined as a masculine scent, which does not minimise how spectacularly it will perform on the girls so please don’t get up in arms.

Eau de Gloire opens with a powerhouse icy cold screech of bergamot, citrus twig and broken branch and briny sea air then the herbs and flowers come and take the edge off. As the rosemary, lavender and star anise waltz in they warm the scent slightly but still it stays cool and laid back. I don’t believe in fragrances for the sexes but I keep imagining Eau de Gloire on a very masculine man though I would love to see how it smells on a woman. There is a squeaky dissonance here, the trilling of the citrus which lasts well into the heart of the fragrance and the rumbling of the incense, anise, oakmoss and tobacco. Unfortunately my nose misses the tea and leather in the composition completely, maybe you will have more luck.

Eau de Gloire comes and goes from my ability to smell it, very interesting, but when i concentrate I can. It’s like it hides from me to make me seek out its loose billowy freshness. At about 3-4 hours I get more soft and flowery notes over the various resins, this fragrance grows more interesting and textured as it matures. At 7 hours it is soft as butterfly kisses and almost as ephemeral.

Eau de Gloire Parfum d`EmpirePhoto Stolen Parfum d’Empire

I hadn’t worn Eau de Gloire for a while but last night when I wore it to work there were three compliments on my fragrance throughout the night. One of whom I am making a small decant for because her eyes were shining with enthusiasm. I think we have a new perfumista in our midst.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Chemist In A Bottle
Parfum d’Empire has €120/100ml
Libertine Parfumerie has $199/100ml and FREE AUSTRALIAN SHIPPING!
Surrender To Chance has samples that start at $3.50/ml

What have you worn lately that people have noticed?

Please treat yourself well, it’s hard to be happy when there’s someone being mean to you the whole time.
Portia xx

euphoria – film – Calvin Klein

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Post by Portia

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Heya Crew,

I’m not sure if this film is new or old. What it is is fabulous. I loved it and hope you all do too.

Shot on location in Hawaii, the campaign features Tyson Ballou and Natalia Vadianova

Portia xx

euphoria Calvin Klein FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Pomegranate, Persimmon
Heart: Champaca flower, Lotus, Black orchid
Base: Amber, Creamy accord, Mahogany wood

euphoria Calvin Klein

Greg Lauren by Ralf Schwieger for Barneys New York 2013

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Post by Portia

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Heya APJ,

Here is another from the Natalie APB Gift Bag. As I slowly make my waythrough them I am finding it increasingly interesting the things that she felt I ought to try, or that would be very me. This looks like a 5 or 8ml decant and when Natalie gave me the bag she said to pay special attention to anything larger than a sample.

Greg_Lauren_and_Elizabeth_Berkley Wikipedia

The backstory is that Greg Lauren is the nephew of “Ralph”, an actor turned artist and fashion designer. His 2016 S/S Mens is very down & out in Beverly Hills, working in a coal mine, plantation worker, op shop chic and sleeping rough. I saw only two pieces in the whole parade that had me even mildly interested but I think perhaps I’m no longer his target market. The boots in the first half reminded me of Van Gogh’s boots and some of the hats were killer in an Oliver kind of way. Actually, even though I hated most of it and thought it pretentious pap I did enjoy the theatricality and the bleak colour palette, there was also a fair amount of whimsy in there.

Greg Lauren by Barneys New York 2013

Greg Lauren by Ralf Schwieger

Greg Lauren Barneys New York FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Sea notes, tonka bean, vanilla

Greg Lauren for Barneys is really good. Fragrant but demure, yet it is insistent that you notice it. It calmly straddles the department store/designer/niche divide and elegantly plants itself as something other, something a little more interesting. For me the sea notes reign, they are a great crossover between the gym set aquatics of the 1990s and the modern beach scent, there is something oddly disquieting about the notes as if you are near the boardwalk and every now and then you get a hint of the seaweed and scunge collected there.

Tonka and vanilla are there right from the start and in the beginning it is ALL about the thick, sweet resinous warmth which is cut through with this seaside something other. My mind is taken firmly to one of the Andrea Maack frags and also to a crew that did seasonal frags that I liked but can’t remember their name. There is also a salty-buttered popcorn thing that wanders around and in & out.

Greg-lauren-edp-barneys-new-yorkPhoto Stolen Barneys New York

Every Greg Lauren for Barneys wear is different and each time I pick up new things: caramel, dried flowers, burning oil, spices, coconut, hair wax, Indian milk sweets and bread. There is also a salty-buttered popcorn thing that wanders around and in & out. Freaky fragrance but Oh-So-Wearable. This one will definitely get you noticed and it sticks like glue, 19 hours later there is still a hum of difference over my skin.

If I was in the USA right now I would have been on my way to the store by now and have bought myself a bottle, Natalie was right, this is totally freaking YUMMY!

A few of the reviewers talk about the perfumer Ralf Schwieger who has made some fairly sensational niche stuff including Afternoon of a Faun by ELdO, Iris Nazarena by Aedes de Venustas, Orange Sanguine for Atelier Cologne and Christopher Street for Charenton Macerations. Everyone talks about how he hand finished every bottle in a paint splattered, antiqued, derelict hipster way. I think that’s cool.

Greg Lauren Patchwork Hoodie Barneys New YorkPhoto Stolen Barneys New York

Further reading: Now Smell This and Ca Fleure Bon
Barneys New York site has $195/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

Did you get to try it? Has Greg Lauren shown up on your radar yet?
Portia xx

Silk by Richard Ibanez for Andrea Maack 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 31 Comments

Woo Hoo APJers,

Andrea Maack, artist, fashion designer and fragrance curator. Her stark, vivid, linear creations are bold and shocking but within the bounds of mainstream beauty. Though I find them confronting and they give me pause for question I could also see many of her art creations in peoples homes, comfortably setting themselves beside a big family couch and the TV. They would be interesting talking points but hardly steal air from the room and make it awkward to sit.

This too is how I see the fragrance line. Different enough to maintain my interest yet wearable every day as a second, fragrant skin that you offer to the world as your scent. The line has been called derivative and a follower but when I wear Andrea Maack fragrances I find no parallels, and yes this could be my lack as a medium. Whether they are or not is a moot point because I enjoy wearing them, they tickle my fabulous bone and they tick so many boxes on my fragrant list that I am impressed with them on their own merits.

Silk by Andrea Maack 2011

Silk by Richard Ibanez

Silk Andrea Maack FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Citruses, violet leaf, freesia, magnolia, soil tincture, papyrus, vanille, amber, lemon tree, lime (linden) blossom

LuckyScent offers this list of featured accords in one line:
Violet leaves, freesia, lime tree, linen, magnolia, Spanish cistus, earth accord, papyrus, vanilla, amber

Sweet citrus opens but it’s firmly undercut by green grasses and a fresh, dewy, air conditioned bouquet (I’m quite surprised there’s no LotV mentioned in the notes). A lovely and very pretty green, delicate, cooling and …… imagine you are in an orchard filled with blossom, the day is brisk but when you stand in the sun it’s lovely, there’s a breeze that is strong enough to ruffle your hair and it carries a floral bouquet from the nearby market gardens, some trodden grass and a dry rasp that is a little vetiver reminiscent. Then the sprinklers come on, they don’t wet you but it does change the taste of the air and suddenly the whole orchard seems cooler: that moment in your dream is what Silk smells like.

silk-andrea-maack orchard blossom AnneMarieBon PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

The freshness and brightness are carried over into the heart and it’s reminiscent of the freshly cut cucumber scent, or cut wet stems of flowers before arranging. It’s amazing how intoxicating silk is, not a big perfume but it does have the ability to change the air around you and in the first hour the sillage is excellent.

Like the Andrea Maack art piece below Silk is a bundled net of scent pieces with light pouting through and creating a gauzy, soft focus fragrance that still manages to be fully present and fragrant. For me Silk dries down to a melon scent softly warmed by the amber that I can feel but not really smell.

Silk Andrea Maack Art FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Further reading: Ca Fleure Bon and Bonkers About Perfume
LuckyScent has $135/50ml and samples
Libertine has $185/50ml and FREE delivery in Australia

Have you experienced any of the Andrea Maack fragrances? Favourites?
Portia x

AllSteele giveaway 1Photo Stolen AllSteele

Andrea Maack Sampler GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 3ml Andrea Maack Sampler (I have used them a bit, about 2ml in each)
Dark
Smart
Craft
Silk
Sharp
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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us your favourite artist

Extra Chance?
Tweet: Andrea Maack Sampler GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3hC #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 30th August 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 3rd September 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.

Zuhair Murad – Fall Winter 2015/2016 Haute Couture Show in Paris

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

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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.

Untitled-2Photo 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

Dame Perfumery Artist Series Set GIVEAWAY WINNERS

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Woo Hoo APJ,

Thanks to Azar and Jeffrey Dame for this amazing giveaway. I’m glad you all got on board and I wish that I could have been in the running, what a great prize.
Let’s see who won,

Portia xx

Dame Perfumery Artist Series Set GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Dark Horse Dame Perfumery

Dark Horse – 2015
Perfumer’s notes:  Bergamot, lemon, cinnamon, jasmine, carnation, rose, cloves, guaiac wood oil, vetiver, vanilla and musk.

From Azar: I mentioned in the comments to the post that, in addition to the artist series set, I would also send along a sample of Pear Waterlily and Amber to the winner.  I rummaged through my samples but couldn’t find a Pear, Waterlily and Amber (I think they were used up by me!) but I did find an extra set of Artist Series samples…so instead of one winner there are now two.

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 ml sample set of the 3 Dame Perfumery Artist Series
P&H Worldwide

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 27th August 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

WINNERS markmontanoblogsPhoto Stolen markmontanoblogs

Patty Pong 

lena

The winners will have till Monday 31st August 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.

Coco by CHANEL: Saddest Saga Ever

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

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Post by Portia

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Hey there crew,

You know the excitement of buying some vintage lovely for a friend for whom it’s their Holy Grail? The thrill of the hunt, trolling eBay, ETSY and the Facebook pages looking for your current mad perfumista desire? Finding your Holy Grail on eBay at an affordable price, bidding, waiting, last minute flurry bid and then OMG! You’ve won it! High fives and back slapping all around. You rush quickly to your Pay Now button and PayPal the shit outta that thing. Then you wait………….

Coco by CHANEL: Saddest Saga Ever

Coco Parfum Chanel FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, mandarin orange, peach, jasmine, Bulgarian rose
Heart: Mimosa, cloves, orange blossom, clover, rose
Base: Labdanum, amber, sandalwood, tonka bean, opoponax, civet, vanilla

and you wait………

You write to the eBay seller and ‘Quell Surprise’ it hasn’t been sent yet. “Sending it today. sorry Sorry SORRY”

Now you start to worry because if they send it now and it arrives faulty, for whatever reason, you may not be covered to lodge an eBay claim. So, you wait……

and you fume……

and you wait…….

The worry has turned to mild panic, even though you’ve dealt with this seller before and everything has been 100% perfect there is the gnawing worry at the back of your mind, especially because you have bought a couple of other things from the same seller since. Could they have been above board and now readying to do a grab and run? You know, put a whole load of really excellent pics up of things they’ve sold before and sell their fake stuff for good money before disappearing forever? This is not completely unknown on the net, there are shady enough people in face to face dealings, anonymity adds a whole new meaning to the word dodgy.

Teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown and obsessing madly over your lost precious you write again. It’s only a few days before the 45 day claim cut-off-period and you worry that this may become unsaveable, even though you paid through PayPal which will cover the loss but who needs the freaking drama. I just want my stuff. They write back, and they are really good Customer Service people. “It’s coming my friend. Please be patient. We are so sorry, it will be there”

Then…… It Arrived! So excited. We did a little happy dance, YAY! As the package is opened, we start to worry. It’s too fragrant. This does not bode well…..

Coco by Chanel Saga 2015 #1

Coco by Chanel Saga 2015 #3As you can see, disaster has struck. The nozzle has been damaged when they pulled the insert out to show fluid levels and the juice has all run out. It has bubbled the gold foil on the bottle and run riot through the packaging. The smell is unbelievably amazing. At least we know the product is authentic. GAWD it smells incredible in here. Scott has rubbed the box and wrapping all over his arms and smells like a very high class establishment for sexual satisfaction, of a cash for gratification style.

Obviously I am bummed and write to the seller who immediately says they’ll refund my full purchase amount. They are so sweet about it and say that I’m their best customer etc it’s nice. So though I have no fragrance I will give my buddy the bottle and packaging which she can leave in her undies drawer and they will now smell like the rest of her. DELICIOUS!

Sad Sage, an only mildly unhappy ending.

What stuff has arrived imperfect for you?
Portia xx

 

North by Amelie Bourgeois and Anne-Sophie Behaghel for Mendittorosa (Odori d’Anima) 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

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Post by Trésor

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I have a confession to make: I am not a fan of summer, of all the four seasons it is easily my least favourite. I know what you’re thinking. “Have you no heart, Trésor?! How can you not love the summer?!” While I admit there are few things more delightful than the aureate hue of summertime sunlight there are also few things I despise more than the heat that accompanies this precious gift. I revel in the embrace of graceful autumn zephyrs and even within the frost-bound chill of the Canadian winters in which I grew up. Naturally, when August rolled around and the heat *really* hit I was scrambling to find just about anything I could to satiate my desire for hyperborean delight. It was around this time I just so happened to have serendipitously received a sample kit from Italian niche house Mendittorosa Odori d’Anima and I was delighted to find that nestled within was a potion authored by perfumers Amelie Bourgeois and Anne-Sophie Behaghel called North, a pulchritudinous ode to Scandinavian minimalism and the elegant austerity that so harmoniously exemplifies this exquisite aesthetic.

North by Mendittorosa (Odori d’Anima) 2013

North by Amelie Bourgeois and Anne-Sophie Behaghel

North Mendittorosa FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Black pepper, aldehydes, bergamot
Heart: Sea notes, floral notes, jasmine
Base: Atlas cedar, Virginian cedar, nutmeg

North opens with a diffuse aurora of shimmering aldehydes, refracting light in a way that so viscerally resembles a premonition of fractured crystal suspended in perpetuity within rays of December sunlight. A verdant scythe of emerald bergamot penetrates the crystalline aurora, setting the sky alight in a flash of vivid green, the threads of which fall daintily like stardust into the Baltic sea. Holograms of gelid flowers float on the water’s surface, breathing in the salty brine and exhaling piercing clouds of glacial ozone bound for the shore. Hologram materializes into tangibility as the composition approaches land and the bounty which it bares.

North Mendittorosa Cedrus_deodara WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

The frozen petals of this ephemeral white flower now rest at the feet of towering cedars, singing unto the borealis with their sylvan essence. There is little warmth to be found here in this landscape but is within this hiemal serenity that the beauty of the composition lays. The notes seem to flow into each other as the river to delta and delta to the sea, naturally and with a sophisticated ease.

North exists on my skin for about 6 hours in total though on the warmest of days I can get just a bit longer. The sillage is gentle, an ethereal aura of divine fragrance as opposed to a diffuse cloud. I’ve found this to be just the antidote to my admittedly cantankerous disposition towards the heat and humidity as it reminds me so beautifully of the seasons which bring me the greatest joy and those of which I have the fondest memories.

North Mendittorosa Anchorage Wildlife refuge Paxson Woelber FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Val the Cookie Queen writes about another Mendittorosa (Odori d’Anima) fragrance Id
First In Fragrance have €185/100ml
Mendittorosa Odori d’Anima have a fabulous Discovery Pack (7 x 1.4ml samples, literature, message from founder, world postage) €40

Do you have a favourite fragrance who’s atmosphere mirrors the glacial chill of North?

Until next time, my darlings.

Trésor x