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Portia
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Hey Hey Perfume Junkies,
I’d love it if you get involved: agree, respectfully disagree, have any thought-out opinion and want to share, do so in the comments below. The point is starting a conversation.
Anything worthy of comment, either good or bad, that’s passed under my nose through the week will get a short write up. If I think something is terrible, shamefully lazy, greedy or stupid and you should know about it, it will be said. As always YMMV.
Thunk is the sound of an empty hitting the bin but there is some leeway here, selling or gifting away can also count.
We also want to know what you have tried or thunked each week too, please share in the comments below. You don’t need to be a hardcore perfumista to join in, just give your impressions. Others will join in with their impressions too, everyone has a slightly or hugely different experience with scent. That’s part of the fun.
New Sniffs + Thunked: 25.4.2019
Over 50 responses I will draw a Secret Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
Last Weeks Winner: We didn’t have New sniffs last week
eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please
I popped my head into City Perfume on Saturday and tried some new stuff. I didn’t keep all m,y card, which is annoying, so can’t give you real run downs on anything except the ones I put on skin.
New Sniffs:
Mon Guerlain Bloom of Rose
WOW! WOW! WOW! A light lavender, citrus and rose fragrance that wears so beautifully on me. I’m so close to buying a FB. Very unisex and smells amazing. I sold two of them while in store just because it smelled so freaking good on me. Soft focus nutty vanilla dry down.
OScent Pink by AlexandreJ
Nice. Berry fruity with vanilla and a hint of woods. Not really my style but I can see it being a big seller.
Petroleum by Histoires de Parfums
O M G! I haven’t work Petroleum for a while and being surrounded by the usual floral fruity fragrances spritzed so often in a store it was utter culture shock. Like dousing yourself in petrol. SO WEIRD but fabulous. Interestingly, once that screechy petrol burns off a lovely cozy amber with patchouli and leather comes shining through.
Wasabi Shiso by DSH Perfumes
This is weird and lovely. Spicy and green and utterly unlike any other fragrance I ever smelled in my life. It is so reminiscent of soups from Asia and even has the smell of sizzle. You must try Wasabi Shiso, it’s uncanny. Still manages to also be a beautiful fragrance as well as a smell.
Thunked:
Finished the bar of soap in the bathroom. I think it might have been an Annick Goutal Louvre Hotel, Paris one from back in 2013/4. I really am not 100% sure what it was but I have a vague memory of opening that packet…….
Have you tried any of these? How did they work for you?
Portia xx
I haven’t tried any of these, but I’d like to sniff the Guerlain.
My new sniff has been a sample from Portia…American Perfumers Desert Flower. It really is lovely. Thank you Portia. XX
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YAY!V Glad you’re enjoying it Matty,
Portia xx
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Yes, I really did. I’ve got a tiny bit left for another day !!
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that new Guerlain sounds nice! As for the petrol scent: how life-like is it? I have always had a thing for the smell of petrol… i am guessing it has the same notes as for example permanent markers, nail polish etc…. those that slowly pop all your brain cells i’m afraid! anyway, might be interesting to be on the lookout for. Histoires de Parfums are not too hard to find in Europe. SOTD: La Pluie by Miller Harris. Such a delightfully weird perfume! Cheers Wendy
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My hunting instinct has been a bit subdued recently, nothing new has called to me. Revisited Chanel 19 Poudre and liked it a lot more than I thought I did, a nice surprise.
You can keep your petroleum perfume by the sound of it!
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HA! Yeah, Petroleum probably isn’t for everyone JackieB. I really love it though,
Portia x
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My new sniffs have been the Chris Rusak perfumes. So far I admire Timbre, really like Io (incense/piney) for the right occasion, meh on 33 (I’m not too much of a vetiver person), love for Quasi una absurdia and Bluer Skies. Bluer Skies (jasmine sambac and sandalwood) is the most appealing at this point. Chris seems like a super interesting guy and great to interact with on Facebook/Instagram.
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They are really good, aren’t they? I’ve got a bottle of 33 in the post–I *am* a vetiver person–and it was awfully tempting to get QUA as well. Io is already a firm favourite for me.
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Bluer Skies sounds very nice MMKinPA,
I love it when the APJ crew finds a new house.
Portia xx
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No thunks this week but u made me really curious now about this “Petroleum”. I’ve tried few things from their house and they were really nice.
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OOOOH! Yay! I’m so glad someone else likes the sound of weird ass shit Alen.
Portia xx
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As usual none of these perfumes are really known to me. I wouldn’t want even a hint of petroleum in a perfume, just like I wouldn’t care for anything smelling of tar or burnt rubber.
I’m finishing a tube of Molton Brown replenishing hand cream perfumed with ylang-ylang. Not very strongly scented and a too light formula for my super dry hands, so won’t be repurchasing this particular cream. No perfume samples thunked this week, but putting three of my perfumes to good use given I don’t have my whole collection at hand (also spraying a little as room spray!).
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Hey there Ingeborg,
The first time I fell for the petroleum smell of white flower was Carnal Flower but this is 100% more intense. You’ll probably not like it.
Portia xx
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I don’t mind CarnL Flower (long time since I tried it), but yeah, intense petroleum is not for me.
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None of your new sniffs are known to me. I have several to try, some samples and decants have arrived but life is too busy to give them any skin time yet. IT will have to wait a couple of days. I have one thunk, Cuir D’Ange. Still have another large sample of this so I’m happy!
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CUIR d’ANGE is freaking amazing Cassieflower, what a lovely scent.
Portia xx
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Have a set of samples from The Zoo to try out. Starting with Rhubarb My Love, in honour of my rhubarb-loving cousin, for whom I have found rhubarb soap, shower gel AND bitters so far.
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AnnieA,
You win best cousin of the week award here at APJ.
Portia xx
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Haven’t tried any of your new sniffs, P.
No new sniffs for me. Late work nights so it’s been quiet perfume wise.
Thunked two bottles….eau Fraiche and Lavender eau de Merveilles.
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Hey Brigitte,
Is Lavender eau de Merveilles an Hermès? Did I mess something?
Portia xx
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It’s me being naughty and adding a hefty dose of lavender essential oil to the fragrance so that I can actually smell it.
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Yesterday I wandered through the fragrance department at Kohls department store and tried a few newer things, such as CK Eternity Flame, CK Eternity Air, Jennifer Aniston Chapter 2, SJP Born Lovely (new to me, anyway), and all the new pretty-colored Marc Jacob spring releases, and didn’t care for any of these. Today I hit up Ulta and liberally sprayed myself with their testers :), Escada Miami Blossom (overwhelming fruity floral), Jimmy Choo Floral (a much better but still in-your-face fruity floral), Philosophy Pure Grace Desert Summer (on the fence with purchasing this one, really liked it but couldn’t detect within minutes of spraying), and D&G LB Sun (fun suntan lotion scent, bought it!) So some success and got caught up on a few mass market spring releases. New sniffs only, no thunks this week.
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LOaDS of new sniffs for you Verbenaluvvr,
Nice to hit the department stores and smell the retail stuff. It’s often a bit of an eye closer but glad you found something fun.
Portia xx
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I was testing some perfumes in the drugstore, but most of them were not interesting. I liked Nomade the most.
I have a problem thunking scents, but i used up a face cream and The Ordinary Peptide Serum and some Japanese sunscreen.
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That’s HEAPS of thunks.
How good is Nomade? Head & shoulders above so much else in the department store floor.
Portia xx
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I got petroleum not long after it was released. Your experience pretty much sums up what I experienced, it really ends up on ambery notes. I was a little bit disappointed because I was looking for too literal interpretation of petrol or gasoline for those who use the latter term.
BTW, Thank you Portia. My new snuff is the Nevermore Decant you sent and which I received day before yesterday. It came at the same time as Kingdom McQueen Parfum. I tried Nevermore without looking at the notes and I immed. got what seemed like a combination of oud and rose. Checking the notes revealed it is rose and pepper. I think it is challenging for me to tell the difference between oud and rose and oud and pepper combinations. POAL is also spicy rose but if it were released today, i might have mistaken it for oud rose. Peppery rose perfumes came first but oud and rose perfumes have mimicked the styles of peppery roses perfumes a bit too much. Of course, I am talking about rose and synthetic oud combinations since real oud is easier to tell apart from pepper notes.
I have not tried Kingdom parfum yet and want to keep it unused for a while. But a sniff of the bottle makes me think I might like it more than the EDP. I think cumin is lighter though still present and floral notes are more prominent in parfum. I am not sure whether I would have pursued Kingdom if it were not for Alexander McQueen. Alexander and McQueen and Thierry Mugler are two of the designers who I consider genius and whose avant garde creations from the 90s I really love. Mugler really killed with those space and alien-inspired creations and McQueen with those melancholy and death-inspired creations that were depressing but at the same time you could not deny their beauty.
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It seems Portia does get the petrol vibe. I guess I was looking for something along the lines of famous gasoline note in vintage Fahrenheit. VIntage fahrenheit remains the most authentic gasoline perfume for me to this day.
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WOW! So glad it got to you Fazal.
You’ve been merrily busy with your frags. Kingdom Parfum! Can’t wait to read how it wears for you.
Portia xx
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Haven’t tried any new sniffs this week, but that new Mon Guerlain rose sounds good. Most of the other reviews I’ve seen on it were meh. I love the original. Very close to thunking a decant of Micallef Note Vanillée, hopefully next week I’ll be able to report it.
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Hey TaraC,
I love the original Mon Guerlain too. The rose is INFINITELY easier to wear and very pretty.
WOO HOO! You go with that thunk.
Portia xx
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Hello nothing has been thunked this week. I decided I deserved a treat ,so I splurged on Fragrancenet ,and bought a few shower gels/perfume bottles of the 4711 Aqua Colonia range. Don’t ask me which coz I can’t remember.
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Those Acqua Colonia are excellent value SallyAnne,
What a great way to brighten your day. A splurge!
Portia xx
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Please report back!!! Those 4711s have been on my radar for a long time but I am afraid to blind buy!
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I had a few sniffing adventures in HK last week…
one instant bottle purchase: Medittarosa Rituale, all red-golden and swoony. Yum! I tried Archetipo as well which struck me as a dangerously good incense-based scent, but I deliberately ignored it to prevent buying two bottles at once.
two incredibly generous gifts: Puredistance Black (omg this is good spicy dark incense/leather/patch/rose/??) and Bortnikoff L’heure Exquise (which I need to give proper skin and brain time to very soon)
one abject can’t-scrub-fast-enough dislike: Yosh Stargazer which went from promising to vile cleaning products in about ten minutes. But I’d managed to get it all over my watch strap so was stuck for hours.
A bunch of extra sniffs of the new MDCI “paintings” which were incredibly disappointing, and a lot of stuff that was instantly forgettable…and one which was a really nice osmanthus which I can’t bloody remember what it was. Argh.
thunks: a few samples and decants given away/swapped.
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You got Puredistance Black as a GIFT Crikey!! WOW! That’s a serious present. Amazing!
How does it wear for you?
Portia xx
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I know, right?!! We had a drink with Mr Scented Niche after his crew had told him that I was all chatty-informative when I’d been in the shop. So we met to talk indie perfumes, and I’d taken along all the bits and pieces I had travelled with (some Bogue, Vero, Chris Rusak, etc…) and he gave me these two. Almost awkwardly generous. I’ve only had one brief wear of it, and it’s kind of amazing. Going to wear it again and think about it properly and will then write more.
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Oh, I love osmanthus in perfume. If the name of that perfume comes back to you, do tell me!
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That’s what I call real sniffing adventures. How amazing it turned out! Hope the wedding was good too.
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I haven’t sniffed any of your new sniffs Portia. Diesel and petroleum have never smelled good to me.
I’ve had so many new sniffs this week! Thank you for the winner samples Portia. Nevermore is a beautiful spicy rose, and Opium Poesie de Chine stunning sweet oriental floral.
I received my 1000Flowers sampler. I am particularly loving Narcotic Flowers but my only complaint of these perfumes is that they don’t last on my skin at all, maybe 30 minutes sadly.
I also received the sample coffret from Cult of Scent. I am really enjoying Fire Amber Baby and Something Beautiful.
New purchases include Estee Lauder White Linen and Azuree (thank you Brigitte for the encouragement). Now these last on my skin for hours! I appreciate that so much. I’ve found Azuree is an amazing fragrance for me to wear to the gym; a wonderful smelling salt that I wear just for me.
Another new purchase is L’Instant de Guerlain (thank you Matty for the encouragement). A gorgeous powdery, musky floral.
Now I am researching vintage Shalimar cologne (thank you Diana for all of your tips). I ordered a spray bottle from eBay and am working on a disk bottle. Busy week for me sniffing and therefore, no thunks. xx
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The only new sniff of the week so far is Ann Gerard Rose Cut, a drunken rose similar to Nasomatto Baraonda.
No thunks yet 🙂
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Thunks – so many shower gels etc. They all had one bath left in them, so used one a day. Also finished up the No 5 soap. Gone are a fair few samples too.
New Scents – Jovoy Psychedelique and Sex and the Sea by Francesca Bianchi are two I have my eye on.
Tried Bloom of Rose again. Just isn’t for me. Too light and wispy. I need the heavier original. I find the MG edt very elusive too. Ethereal, I suppose.
Trying a bunch of Kyse scents. They are fun. I hated them two years ago, but now I am more seasoned to sweeter scents, I appreciate them more. More in a future post about these.
Winding my way through Map of the Heart series. All so 2D. Nice, pleasant, but lacking something…
Tried Bella Blanca by de la Renta. Pretty, yet similar to Lauder’s Beautiful Belle. Belle wins due to its nougat-white choc edge. Blanca hasn’t that boring musk though.
Going weirdly gaga for Lancome’s Oud Bouquet. Who am I??
Found a random bottle of JPG’s Classique Intense edp. Glory be! A Classique I really love! A tiny tinge of that orange sherbet found in the original, BUT so much like Cinema by YSL and Fendi’s Palazzo edp. I am so glad I snapped it up. Stupid cheap!
Been a busy perfume week.
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Wow. How did you have enough hours in the day? Or skin? What do you think of the Francesca Bianchi? I’m a bit head over heels about it❤️ I will finish out my decant and then ponder. And Classique Intense! I will bust out my bottle, I forgot about it completely. It has a gorgeous gold glittery corset.
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I change perfume twice a day at work. I am on the go, so my body heats up and evaporates my scent.
Classique Intense was a welcome surprise, I’ll tell you!
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I loved the Out Bouquet enough to thunk the decant that Tara C sent me a while ago. Was curious about the de la Renta. Looking forward to what you have to say about Kyse .. another house on my radar.
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OMG!!!! This freaking auto correct!!!!!! OUD OUD OUD!!!!!!!!!
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Update!!!
New sniffs…
Pacific Rock Moss!!! Love it!!
Thank you, P!!!
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Brigitte, I like this one too. Didn’t really like it first time I tried it but have given it another go and I really like it. It’s quite different from the other scents in their range. Desert Rosewood and White Sandalwood are my favs xx
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I have tried quite a few from this brand but White Sandalwood I have not. It sounds good to me though. I will also say that the longevity is amazing… 12 hours and still going.
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Hey Portia, not tried any of those but have seen HdP Petroleum on sale on a few sites.
New sniffs for me – thanks to City Perfume for their sample pack. I wanted Vcanto Mandragola but that wasn’t available so said TF Sahara Noir and let them pick the others.
YSL Sleek Suede – chocolate and spice, do like it but it doesn’t last very long.
Tom Ford Sahara Noir – love it but wish I didn’t as it’s super expensive now it’s discontinued.
And, Hamlet by Shakespeare Perfumes – spicy oriental, very Montale like. Say like Arabians, not sharp like Black Oud but softer and bit creamy. There’s a couple others I’ll try during the week.
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OOOH! That sounds like a splendid pack. Aren’t City Perfume cool? I really love the boys and they love perfume.
Portia xx
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Sahara Noir is amazing. That incense note is sublime.
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I’m having issues with WordPress, not saving my posts grrrrrr. Will try again!
Busy week with new sniffs. Thank you Portia for the winner samples! I so appreciate your kindness and generosity. Nevermore is a beautiful spicy rose which I’m really enjoying. And the YSL Poesie de Chine, swoon!
I also received my sampler coffrets from 1000Flowers and Cult of Scent and am so enjoying each scent. My favorites from 1000Flowers are Narcotic Flower(beautiful blend of white flowers) and Rose Cassis Paradis (black current) I love them but sadly the fragrances sit very close to my skin and last maybe 30 minutes. Cult of Scent Fire Amber Baby and Something Beautiful are both gorgeous and live up to their reviews. Thank you Brigitte and Portia for introducing me to those perfumers!
New purchase was L’Instant de Guerlain, I love the powdery musky floral, so pretty. Thank you Matty for piquing my interest with this Guerlain!
And I am actively searching for vintage Shalimar cologne. Thank you Diana for your insight and tips! I purchased a tall ribbed bottle from eBay which appears in great condition,.Super excited for it’s arrival and I will be bidding on the disc bottle this week.
No thunks, too busy sniffing new! I am so fragrant with all of my sampling!
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Hi Kathleen
I’m so glad you are enjoying L’Instant. It’s gorgeous isn’t it? I also love Shalimar Souffle.Have you had a sniff of this one? xx
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The Narcotic Flowers is an all natural so it probably needs copious sprays to last!! Cassie had the same problem with it. I love Rose Cassis too. I had a travel spray but my eldest borrowed it.
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WOW! Big perfume week for you.
WordPress has been glitching all over the place on loads of sites and for all sorts of people. It happens every couple of years and then settles down again.
WOO HOO! So happy you are loving Cult of scent.
HA! Love that you are SO FRAGRANT. What better way to be?
Portia xx
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I made a commitment to start trying all the 2-5ml decants sellers had thrown in for free with other purchases. My new sniffs this week are a couple of Zara fragrances that I received quite some time ago:
Lisboa – is very close to Acqua di Gio Essenza. Essenza is easily my favourite from the AdG line so this was a winner.
Rich Warm Addictive – it is your pretty standard honey tobacco combo but with added coconut. Longevity is outstanding.
I haven’t tried a huge amount of Zara offerings but I will definitely now seek out more. For the price these present amazing value and quality.
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Unlike last week, where I had a huge crop of new smells at a Sydney meetup, this week I was very boring and tried nothing new. I managed to thunk some Milk toiletries that I got at my hotel, but the op shop gods smiled on me and I found a set of Floris toiletries at the shop, so I went home with the same amount that I’d thunked.
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