Saturday Question: What New Brands Did You Discover In 2019?

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

.

Portia

.

Hello Fellow Fumies,

At APJ we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.

Over 100 responses I will draw a Secret Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)

Last Weeks Winner:

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please

Saturday Question: What New Brands Did You Discover In 2019?

I have an admission. 2019 was the least I have looked for, bought samples of and tried new brands since 2010 and falling fully down the rabbit hole. It feels like there has been a real shift in my perfume habits and collecting. I’m not reading every blog, FB page or fragrantica post searching for the Next Best Thing. I’m also spending less than half what I was spending over the last few years, mainly because my play money has been cut and/or diverted elsewhere for the next couple of years, but that changes the way I view stuff too.

My Answer:

Hiram Green

Yeah, I know. You guys were well ahead of me on this one. Val the Cookie Queen is mates with Hiram so I really felt relief that it was a brand I could ignore. Then I bought SlowDive. Suddenly I wanted to smell, and then own, everything this guy ever made. What an amazing creator. WOW! Now I have quite a few in the collection, including the new, reworked Voyage 2019. Fan Girling madly.

Anat Fritz

Yep, I am SLOW on this beauty too. In my defence Tzora had been tried and on the list to own for YEARS. It just kept getting pushed out of the cart by other more pressing needs. WHY DID I WAIT? So a very generous discount code at LKNU had me finally grabbing Tzora, well while there I decided to grab Classical too. So glad I did, it could even be my favourite, umm, no, umm, yes. They are both really special.

Hermetica

This is the first 2019 launch that I really got to know well. Libertine are importing and distributing the line and I love that they are using a non alcoholic base and so much recycling and environmentally conscious packaging. Brought out by the Memo people and a wonderful step in fragrant evolution. I have The Source and Vaninger but am craving Jade888 also.

My Saturday Question to you is:

What New Brands Did You Discover In 2019?

143 thoughts on “Saturday Question: What New Brands Did You Discover In 2019?”

  1. Just off the top of my head I can think of St. Claire Scents. Definitely made an impact on me. I haven’t tried her two recent releases but I will. That’s on next year’s to do list. I’m a late entrant into the Francesca Bianchi fan club but am a definite card carrier now. I’m not madly seeking out new, hip, cult or unsniffed stuff, just toodling along enjoying whatever pops up to surprise me.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Wow, Portia! I don’t know how to answer this question! Like you I do a lot less reading and participating in the blogs so don’t really keep up with new releases or new brands. I have had the opportunity to sample lots of what you guys like and wear from some very generous APJers but right now a particular brand doesn’t spring to mind for me. If anything does I will chime in later 😁

    Like

    • Okay so Undina reminded me of Kyse. I already knew and loved this brand when it was known as Fresh Scents by Terri.
      I thunked quite a few full bottles and also bought bottles for family and friends.
      Thanks to Tara C I tried several Kyse and loved them all. This is definitely a brand I will be exploring in the future. And the price of full bottles are amazing!!!

      Like

  3. What a great question! I found Anat Fritz for the first time this year too. I was also introduced to Atelier des Ors (and its founder) by Megan, of the blog “Megan In Sainte Maxime”, who is just as lovely in person as one could hope. Rogue Perfumery was new to me this year, and so were some lines I encountered in Italy: I Profumi di Firenze, Aquaflor, Merchant of Venice, Farmacia SS Annunziata dal 1561. I tried Elisire, Confessions of a Rebel, Regime des Fleurs, and Room 1015 for the first time, thanks to a Scentbird subscription.

    Like

  4. Hello my lovely perfume family! I have missed you! I haven’t discovered anything new (and have stuck to my no-buy promise). So yay me! Hiram Green is so on my wishlist.

    Hope you all are ready for a lovely, relaxing break. And a Wonderful Christmas. To my Aussie mates, these are heart-wrenching times; do take care. Much love to you & yours😘

    Liked by 1 person

    • I recently tried Trimorous and really dig it. But that’s all I have sampled from Jorum. But like you not particularly lemming anything at the moment. Everything I already own is making me happy.

      Like

  8. I was introduced to two new brands in 2019, thanks to Brigitte sharing generously.
    Jeffrey Dame and St. Claire Scents were both new to me, and both US-baed perfumers. Both equally fantastic. I’ve purchased full bottles of JD Duality,Vanilla Farfelue, and Labdanum Doux (his price points are incredible for the quality of the perfume), and St. Claire Eve, Pandora, and Casablanca FB on my future wishlist.
    Another US-based perfumer is Rogue Perfume also new to me this year, and I so enjoyed the vintage inspired perfumes. Manuel Cross created bold and beautiful perfumes, and Champs Lunaires is the most beautiful and wearable tuberose (I’m not usually a tuberose fan).

    Like

  9. New to me: Vero. Counts for a few new brands I suppose! Next will be IUNX, but I am also really enjoying my collection as it is now. For now.

    Well wishes to everyone here, Portia and Jin ofcourse, and all readers. May the 20’s bring what you hope for.

    Liked by 2 people

  10. For the life of me I can’t remember what I discovered this year. I know Francesca Bianchi was new to me thanks to Cassie’s involvement in the cartel. I enjoyed them well enough, but am not hurrying to add FB.
    I think Hiram Green was also new to me this year. Slowdive made it onto my purchases. Loved Shangri-La as well but discontinued?
    I’m sure there were plenty of others thanks to Brigitte’s tsunami of samples, but I don’t suppose any stood out well enough to be remembered and sought after.
    In general I find the number of lines being introduced overwhelming. So much so that it kills any desire to try them. I mean, where does one start?
    If anything I’m more likely to explore amongst perfumers and houses that I have already established a liking for.

    Like

  11. Everything is new to me since I have Blind Buy Sickness. I, too, Portia want to own everything Hiram Green has made but have none. I just don’t pay retail and haven’t found a bargain. If anyone ever wants to sell a used bottle reasonably, please contact me!!!!!!

    Like

  12. I love to sample. Most are *meh* or *ok* and a few are *yuck* but the occasional *oh yes* makes it all worth while. The perfume lines I remember are those that have perfumes that I really like or love.
    Fragrance du Bois
    Memo
    Rogue
    St. Clair Scents
    Frassaï
    Provision
    There are probably more. It has been a great perfume year for me.

    Like

    • Ooo yes Memo! They are lovely…but full bottles out of my price range. I enjoyed the sampling but that’s as far as I will take it.
      Nice to see another mention of St Clair Scents.

      Like

          • This year I discovered Anka Kus by Al Manle. There should be an acute accent on the ‘e’ but I don’t know how to do it!
            Available on Etsy Australia and there are some lovely reviews there, too. Jezebel is my favourite so far . Rich, dark, deep, boozy, decadent. My nose is not well-trained but notes include chocolate, vanilla, pear and osmanthus. Stunningly opulent. And I’m not even a gourmand lover. Lovely personal service from Al himself.

            Liked by 1 person

            • How good is Jezebel!?! It is sort of like Lush’s Rose Jam, but deeper, bloodier and silk goth.

              I am also VERY keen on a prototype of his called Sojourn at the Lillies. It has a Paris*LA A Lab on Fire vibe to it. Sweet, but in a modern twist that isn’t fruchouli or juvenile.

              Like

  13. I have been sampling so many new brands this year that it is quite difficult to mention all of them. IUNX, Jorum and Vero come to mind right now. Fabulous brands!

    Like

  14. In due time I’ll do my regular post with year stats, but off the top of my head, thanks to Brigitte 🙂 (is anybody counting the number of times this was said in this topic?), I tried St. Claire Scents (unfortunately, those couple that I tried were absolutely not for me) and one more American independent perfume brand – Kyse Perfumes (this one I liked and even bought a mini bottle of perfume I liked).
    I think I sampled more this year than I did the last year, but mostly because I spent hours in different perfume stores while in London on vacation in October. And since I was buying less FBs, I spent some of my perfume budget on buying samples, which I normally don’t do.

    Like

  15. Jorum Studio thanks fo Val, but also the perfumes of Senyoko – same nose – which are amazing and the I think wildly underrated and under-discussed Indemodable line. Antoine Lie did a number of them, including the amazing Iris Perle. I own that and Chypre Azural and would gladly own just about every one.

    Like

  16. Papillon! I loved all of them when I tried the samples and I now own three already and have been hankering after Anubis recently. Liz Moores is a genius.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Ohhh, i’ve discovered 2 amazing houses: Masque Milano (i had no ideea about this fantastic house, tested like 6-7 fragrances from them and i was blowned away) , and a pretty new one on the market Exaltatum, they have only 3 perfumes but Eglija Vaitkevice (the perfumer behind) has created some amazing elixirs. I highly recommend the perfume Osmanthus Noble, simply brilliant composition 👌🏻👌🏻

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Quite a few this year including:

    MDCI: first time trying this house (hard to find in Australia). Invasion Barbare Immediately went to the top of my a time favourites list. I haven’t tried any others due to the high price and availability.

    Fragrance du Bois: I’ve tried a few of their fragrances which have all been good to great. I’m not a huge fan of oud but I like how FDB seem to use it (fairly ‘safe’ and often as a supporting note despite the fragrance names).

    D.S. & Durga: Intriguing house I reluctantly discovered at Mecca. I wasn’t really interested but the SA insisted. Burning Barbershop was the standout and I immediately sought out a decant, but I’d like to revisit the entire range.

    Comme des Garçons: Crazy right? I obviously knew about their fragrances but they just did not appeal to me at all on paper. Luckily another persistent SA had me try most of their range and surprise, surprise they are now one of my favourite houses. I need to try their full incense range as Kyoto and Avignon blew me away!

    Xerjoff: I went completely down the (rather expansive) rabbit hole with this house and ended up sampling most of their range, save their oud collection which doesn’t really appeal to me. I also was able to sample a fair few Sospiro fragrances which I haven’t listed separately as they now fall under the Xerjoff umbrella.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. So many. I participated in a traveling box of perfume started by Lukasz of chemistinthebottle and there were so many new to me brands. I also got to Tigerlily Perfumery in San Francisco and came out with travel sprays by Heretic and Blocki, and samples from Kerosene. Also discovered Chris Rusak, Ineke and Bruno Fazzolari.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Hey MMKinPA,
      I love the idea of a travelling box of samples. Isn’t there one a small crew of North American APJers do too? Sadly the restrictions on perfume sending out of Australia are getting tighter and tighter.
      Kerosene and INeKE are lovely brands, polar opposites.
      Portia xx

      Like

  21. January Scent Project was new to me this year, I did a deeper dive into Hiram Green and 4160 Tuesdays, plus resniffed some recently reissued Sonoma Scent Studios. Oh, and I’ve also explored Arte Profumi a bit. Plan to sample more of that line.

    Liked by 2 people

  22. New to me – Ormonde Jayne (I’m a bit behind the times!). My fragrance journey down this line has proved a little $$$.
    My perfume budget has more than expired this year 😦

    Liked by 1 person

  23. A new house I love this year is Rogue and I simple love Chyre Siam and Flos Mortis. I might have to get some samples of the others. The other one is Prissana. I own Mandarava which is champaca and incense and I keep thinking about Ma Nishstana. I am waiting on Nirvana Rose by Elizabeth and James. Not sure if I will receive before year end 🙂

    Like

  24. Vero was one (through samples though). Another was JAR which I got lucky due to getting a great deal on original Golconda bottle (Golconda is a straight up carnation bomb, better suited to inhaling from the bottle than wearing it). Satori is another through Iris Homme though grapefruit seems a more dominant note in Iris Homme than Iris. Can only think of these three brands at the moment that I experienced for the first time this year.

    Like

    • Also Diane Von Furstenberg Volcan d’Amour. The perfume had a very interesting background story but too much old-fashioned violet. Me did not like it 🙂

      Like

      • Thank you Brigitte. Yeah Undina, Golconda is kinda overpowering. But if you have no idea of what carnation is supposed to smell like, Golconda does a pretty good job of introducing you to carnation. It almost seems like a soliflore creation though I am sure it will show some evolution on skin.

        Like

  25. None of the brands that I discovered in 2019 is new but I am well behind time with sampling and discovering new stuff. Like you, my perfume habits changed during the last few years. I was really into it 10 years ago, tried a lot and read all the blogs around that time. My collection changed constantly and grew over the years.

    Now I don’t get excited so often anymore. Many brands jumped on the niche or indie perfume train with fancy notes and high price points and they are are all a mere “meh”. Former favourites got reformulated (mainly due to being taken over by larger companies…) or vanished from the market entirely (why DelRae, why?).

    Still, “new” brands that I liked and discovered this year are:
    Reminiscence, including the Les Notes Gourmandes line (Dragee is a favourite)
    Bois 1920
    The Merchant of Venice (favourite so far is Arabesque but La Fenice pour Femme is nice as well)
    Costume National.

    Like

  26. Too many to mention, – Portia’s gifts never cease to surprise me, – but the one that I fell in love with is Carven. A generous friend sent me samples of vintage Ma Griffe and Paris-Manille, both are magnificent!

    Like

  28. I tried Hiram Green for the first time this year, Slowdive is very good, but I suspect some of his other perfumes are even better! I think this year was the first time I tried a Grandiflora scent, and same with van Cleef and Arpels. Also, tried Chabaud fragrances (mainly on paper, need to try on skin at some point), Eight and Bob and Aerin for the first time (that honeysuckle something, too similar to many other offerings).

    I would have tried moe American indie and niche, but didn’t manage to organise for a perfume mule to take samples over here, Next year our import tax rules change for the worse, so it is going to be difficult to order smaller quantities of samples by post, we will see if I can pool my resources with others to avoid paying more than one custom clearance fee at least.

    Like

  29. This was a VERY enabling thread! I’m behind on everything so I couldn’t begin to list the new ones, but as far as new and love Liquides Imaginaires has some beauties. I’ve only had 2 samples of Hiram one of which was Hyde which I bought off someone thinking it was “the green one” because of Hyde Park but it was the birch tar from hell one instead. I’ll pass it on at some point when I find an aussie who lives for birch tar. But anyway.. this is all a reminder to go have a big ol’ sniff of Slow Dive.

    Like

  30. Not much this year. Biggest surprise, and new to me, is Agent Provocateur. I found one of them at my local chemist for under 20 bucks, so blind bought. It was nice, so bought another two over the weeks.

    Fatale Intense is my favourite. The mix of licorice, chilli and whatever else is calming. I adore licorice, and now I cannot eat it, I am finding myself seeking licorice scents. I am also a chilli fiend, but cannot have any sort of stimulant, so that has to be smelled instead of eaten too.

    Like

    • I know what you mean about Agent Provocateur. .I bought the original for a very good price on All Beauty. I really liked it. Very affordable. A friend of a friend was selling some AP for a very, very ,very good price. Of course I had to buy them !!!! I now have…….
      Blue Silk
      Electric
      Lace Noir
      Maitresse
      Fatale Pink
      Petale Noir
      X

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.