New Sniffs: 6.9.2018

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

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Portia

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Hey Hey Australian Perfume Junkies,

I’m going to try a new Thursday thing for September.

Hoping to combat the guilt I feel when so much arrives and so little gets written about the idea of New Sniffs emerged.

The idea is that anything new that’s passed under my nose through the week will get a short write up. It must feel worthy of comment, either good or bad, and will have a YMMV caveat. Up till now I have kept APJ positive comments only, those days are gone. If I think something is terrible, shamefully lazy, greedy or stupid and you should know about it, it will be said. As you know, not everything works for everyone and it would be pretty boring if it did. I’d love it if you all agree, respectfully disagree, have any thought-out opinion and want to share, do so in the comments below. As always the point is starting a conversation with you all.

Anything that I’m not going to keep will become a GIVEAWAY. A super simple one. All comments are instantly entered. Next week I’ll tell you who random.org picked. If the winner doesn’t get in touch with me during the week it will JACKPOT to next week and that winner will get both.

New Sniffs Aug 2018

New Sniffs: 6.9.2018

With a recent purchase Amara sent me two IDEO Parfumeurs minis. I’d never heard of this brand. Looking it up they are a Lebanese brand owned and produced by wife and husband team, Lyudmila and Antoine Bitar, in 2016. Intrigued? Yep.

Prison Blues by Ideo Parfumeurs 2016

A patchouli fragrance from the very outset. Prison Blues is cool and wet. The green creaminess of cardamom and some sharp woodsiness that at a pinch could be clove or pepper. Though the notes list seems a million miles from what I’m smelling this seems a very competent modern niche patchouli with some ozonic incense bells & whistles.

Tarbouch Afandi by Ideo Parfumeurs 2016

Citrus and juniper done in a modern interpretation of L’Eau d’Issey. Water darkened by woods and ambergris. This is a really interesting aquatic woods and I think a lot of the traditional suit wearing, gym going menfolk would go crazy for it.

At Libertine Parfumerie‘s Winter Collection launch recently we met these two new L’Artisans.

Mont de Narcisse by L’Artisan Parfumeur 2018

The first time I smelled this at the launch it was boring and too wimpy. I was yawning in Ainslie Walker’s face about it, yet she was loving it and chose it as her bottle. Now, in the calm of my home I can see why she liked it. The sweet honeyed hay of immortelle combined with pepper and vanilla are pretty.
I’m still bored to death by  it. Why did they bother? Where is the Narcissus?

Mandarina Corsica by L’Artisan Parfumeur 2018

Sweet, fizzy citrus candy and tonka backed by a hefty immortelle and a little sprinkle of coconut (not listed but I definitely smell it). This one is fabulous. Totally unexpected within the L’Artisan oeuvre. Imagine if the fruity, candy fragrances grow up and became deeper, warmer, more interesting and had better ingredients. Then add a dash of Pierre Guillaume sweetness. There you have it; Mandarina Corsica. I can see a bottle of this coming home soon.

Twilly d’Hermès by Hermès

This is 100% better than expected. I love the salty citrus and white floral adventure it gives. Does anybody else get a greenness and a lemonade vibe? While you may not all love this it is a good sidestep from what the others are producing lately and it’s fun! Yes, it has some 21st century lolly-ness but more like one of those blackcurrant hard travel lollies Mum used to make us suck for plane take offs and landings. As soon as the discounters get this I’m shopping.

 

Have you tried any ofd these? How did they work for you?
Portia xx

66 thoughts on “New Sniffs: 6.9.2018”

  1. I love your new sniff conversation! The only fragrance I’ve sampled from your new sniffs was Twilly. I really truly was hoping to love it, and I didn’t. Which I don’t understand, because it is generally well-loved. I didn’t like the ginger note I think. My new sniff has been Blocki A Grand Affair. I love it!

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      • This Grand Affair is an Oriental floral. The description says it pays homage to the grand perfumes of bygone times, which is right up my alley! It shares traits with Chanel No5 and Shalimar. Created by Kevin Verspoor in 2015.
        Top: grapefruit, neroli, Dayana
        Middle: lavender, rose, petigrain, mandarin
        Base: vanilla, musk, tonka, patchouli
        Gorgeous!
        Blocki is an American perfume house with vintage feel perfumes. Their For Walks Perfume is beautiful too, especially as name says, out in nature.

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  2. Honesty is great; let your opinions free! I like the sound of Twilly and the L’Artisan perfumes best. I tried L’Artisan’s Voleur de Roses once but the patchouli was too strong for me.

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  3. I smelt the newest L’ Artisans recently, but only for a few minutes at Masterclass. None of them ‘spoke’ to me at the time. I might go in next week and give them a proper sniff. If I had the funds I’d buy a bottle of Twilly,simply for the cute hatted bottle.

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  4. Bravo, great idea! Ron and I were just talking about how the house is drowning in samples, and how to organize them, do I keep them for reference etc… He then pulled out a box of samples from 2014 which I never got to. Oy freaking Vey!🤦🏻‍♂️ Loved Twilly, the ginger and tuberose pushed all the right buttons for me, can’t wait to get my nose around the new L’Artisan’s. Did they say who the perfumers were by any chance?? Hope you and Jin are deliriously happy!😘😘😘😘

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  5. Twilly from Hermes is indeed an unexpected surprise cause it’s actually really good in all terms as smell , versatillity and performance. And yes, i can feel that lemonade-ish vibe also and the nice flowery touch. It is just good compared to the new releases of designers (joy -dior mehh). I love your description of Mandarina Corsica from L’ Artisan , fizzy citrus with sprinkles of coconut, sounds awesome for my taste. I would love to try it.

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  6. I’m SO here for the negatives as well as the positives. In life, if someone never says anything negative, I wonder how much of the positive I can trust!
    Looking forward to trying the new L’Artisans. Have you sniffed L’Artisan Haute Voltige? Another playful, left field L’Artisan based on peony (PEE-ONEE) and pomegranate, I love it but nobody else really seems to talk about it.

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      • Not sure you’ll ever see those black bee bottles at discounters as they were sued by Guerlain and stopped producing them. Not sure if the scents will be re-released in different packaging. I snapped up a few of them when I heard the bottles were dc’ed.

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      • Naw, this was one of the Explosions d’Emotions, same style as classic L’Artisan bottles but larger, squat, and more gold. Haha. I laugh when i imagine them being designed.

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        • Oh yes! Tell you a little second hand story about those bottles. L’Artisan had them designed and made and hated them. They sat around for a decade or so gathering dust. Someone found them in a clean up and they thought they’d better use them up.
          Cool story, huh?
          Portia x

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          • Ha! They might’ve regretted their decision. The first batches of Parfum Sacre had golden bees on their tops, – I believe it had something to do with one of the French royal dynasties, – that was the time when Jean-Paul held the reins, methinks the man didn’t give two shits about someone using the same symbol.

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  7. LOVE this new series!!! Sometimes short and sweet is just what my wandering mind needs. I think I may have tried Twilly a while back in Sephora but don’t remember my thoughts on it (pretty sure I tried about 20 different fragrances that day!). Out of your list Mandarina Corsica sounds right up my alley…but then again so does the other L’Artisan because I really like immortelle as a note.

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  9. I went to smell amont de Narcisse yesterday. I was left unmoved. I find it rather wimpy and like you said, where’s the narcissus? Still I asked for a sample and I’m gonna give it a proper wear today to make up my mind.

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  10. New Sniffs is a great idea. Short reviews can be a good reference point for what to try next. Twilly did not move me at all. I don’t like the sweetness. Ideo sounds interesting, especially the woody aquatic one. This phrase reminds me instantly of Molecule One which I like a lot.

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  11. Great idea, Portia. Mini reviews are always a fun read. The L’Artisans sound well worth a try for me as love both mandarin and narcissus (not sure about the immortelle note mind you). I thought Twilly was really clever, bright and quirky. Need to try again to check for lemonade 🙂

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  12. I don’t remember lemonade in Twilly but I did buy the 30ml during a Sephora sale event so I will give it a sniff tomorrow. I like it and it is different enough from anything else in my collection that I decided I needed it (and the bottle is cute if a bit twee). I need to sniff the Mandarina Corsica (love immortelle) but who knows when- not available around here and I’m on a no buy!

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  13. Oh I love the New Sniffs series!!
    I haven’t tried any of the ones you mentioned. But Mandarina Corsica is going on my list! Hope it’s not too coconutty.
    Twilly is already on my list. But I’m kinda on a no-buy too.

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  14. Snagged Twilly at US discounter Fragrancenet earlier this year, cute bottle and fun fragrance. Need to try Mandarine Corsica but l’Artisan is thin on the ground here lately, very poor representation.

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  15. Another fan of a New Sniffs column as well as hearing what you don’t like. Am hoping to find a mandarin scent I love some day so will check out the LAP.

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  16. Great new format, Portia! Quick reviews are fun, and I appreciate honesty: good or bad, I always want to know the truth, at least about perfumes and such. I haven’t tried any of these but my new sniff of today is Peau de Soie by Starck. It’s not bad per se but this floral musk with woody base notes reminds me of some of the frags released in the last decade. I hear their new perfumes are much more interesting.

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  17. Wow, that Mandarina Corsica has a whole lot if me stuff going on😉 Sounds like a great summer scent.
    Liking this new initiative Portia.

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  18. The only one from this list that I’ve tried is Twilly. I have zero recollection of it, though. Obvs didn’t make an impression on me, so will retest when I get the opportunity.

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  19. YAY for honest perfume reviews, they really are in short supply! I thought I was on top of the newest L’Artisan releases, but apparently not… these I need to track down as I suspect they would be fragrances more to my liking out of the group. I was bored by Twilly, it seemed so bland and honestly, I just don’t get all the fuss.

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    • Hey VerbenaLuvvr,
      L’Artisan has been releasing so much new stuff. At least 4 per Summer or Winter season. I don’t know how they keep up with their enormous range.
      Yeah, compared to the really good niche and indie Twilly is twaddle, compared to most new designer releases though I think it’s excellent.
      Portia x

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  20. Digging the new short and sweet (and not so sweet) quick sniffs addition to the week! Also, that adorable snoot photo…

    Twilly is the only one I’ve tried. I like that they were clearly trying to break away from the pack and offer something a bit zingier than the usual sweetie-flowers, something with a bit more personality but it didn’t hold my interest on skin.

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  21. I like this new format. A short text is especially good those times you don’t have a lot of nice things to say about a new release.

    I only tried Twilly from your list. All I remember at the moment is that it didn’t feel like something I needed.

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  22. I’m so curious about that Mandarina Corsica! I’m always on the hunt for summer scents with a point of difference so that might fit the bill. Any idea when they launch? I also like this new topic of quick sniffs!

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  23. Since I rarely read long reviews for perfumes that I haven’t tried but plan to (or want to), short form is just perfect for me.
    The only perfume I tried from your list was Twilly, and for the life of me I can’t understand what everyone who likes it can like about it. I don’t think it’s unpleasant but I barely register it on my skin as a very generic scent that I probably won’t recognize if I were to smell it without seeing a bottle. I’ll try it again at a store – just on the off chance that I had a bad sample…

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