The APJ Crew

APJ Starters:

Evie C; world traveling, super glamorous Mum about town, Fragrance Junkie.

Portia Turbo; Turbo Trivia Hostess, Homestay Domestic Goddess, Fragrance Junkie.

APJ Crew Contributors:

Ainslie Walker: Ainslie started in naturopathy, operations management and product development for Spa and skincare for 13 years in London. She has progressed into scent design and bespoke scent branding for companies since returning to Australia in 2013. Ainslie collaborated with Mud Australia on 2 scented candles released in 2014.
Fragrance journalism is also a focus and Ainslie won a Jasmine award in 2014 for Best Blog with a post on Australian Perfume Junkies and also writes for Esprit magazine and Spa Australasia magazine.
In February 2015 she collaborated with Tamara Dean on her Here and Now exhibition, interpreting Tamara’s photography with ambient scent.
www.ainsliewalker.com

Azar: My earliest memories are of the insides of flowers, smelling and eating them.  My mother was able to save her garden by introducing me to the piano when I was four years old. Over the years, wherever I found myself, I have maintained an interest in gardening, fragrance and music.  In addition to forty years of piano teaching and composing, I have occasionally worked as a plant nurseryman, journalist and set designer. Current projects include writing/arranging a stack of tangos for string orchestra, organizing a half-century of accumulated perfumes and caring for family and pets.

Erica Golding: Erica Golding has always been enchanted by our most luxurious sense. Rooted in her earliest scent memories, fragrance became the key that unlocked precious moments, leading to devoted obsession. Erica earned degrees in biology and creative writing, and has built a career in the biotech field. Reviewing perfume is her sacred exercise for the spirit, a creative outlet to balance the coldly analytical challenges of her day job. She sets no boundaries to the scope of her scent interests, and enjoys everything – whether it’s collectible perfume oil, niche, designer, or natural perfumery; as long as it’s beautiful, she will wear it with love.

Liam: Addicted to learning, Liam seizes any opportunity to experience new things and reciprocate this to a wider audience. Driven strongly by his senses and aesthetics, Liam combines this passion with linguistic flair to add spark and palpability to his fragrance reviews. Shared and acknowledged by the likes of Christopher Chong of Amouage, Monsieur Guerlain, Chandler Burr, Andy Tauer, and Thierry Wasser of Guerlain – Liam’s dedication to perfume extends itself to the highest levels, and is showcased best through his writing, which is at once abstract yet totally approachable.

Madeleine: is a former banker and journalist who now embraces the dark arts of PR. Many, many years ago she acquired her first fragrance, Revlon Jontue, bought by her Mum and Dad on a hot and steamy night in Hong Kong. Much sniffing has ensued since and she has annoyed many a friend and family member with a thrust of her wrist and the command, ‘Smell!’. Her complete fall down the rabbit hole came when she met a perfume expert at the launch of Frederic Malle in Sydney. Madeleine is a tuberose junkie and generally likes white florals, green scents and the occasional chypre.

Poodle: Poodle is from the USA, loves perfume and generally what her nose loves, her wallet can’t afford.  She’s usually wafting incense, white florals, and gourmands, sometimes all at once.  Poodle is a big perfume kind of girl, what’s the point if you can’t smell it?  She has many interests like art, gardening, cosmetics, and cooking.  The closest Poodle has so far been to Australia was hugging Portia while in NYC but she hopes to visit someday.

Suzanne: has been an Aromatherapist for 15 years. Her blog (suzannerbanks.wordpress.com) spans individual oil profiles through to the expansion of consciousness through Aromatherapy and soon to be published book tackles how to reveal your destiny with essential oils.
Suzanne’s work uses a blend of Aromatherapy, remedial and Swedish techniques incorporating Reiki and energetic healing.
Her passion for scent, and creating scented spaces has been instrumental in her work, producing aromatic experiences for 3 major Sydney dance parties, corporate events and retreats including an intensive week meditation retreat with Deepak Chopra -“Seduction of Spirit”.
Her clients include Kylie Minogue, Louise L. Hay and Doreen Virtue.

Trésor: Stiletto clad 90s kid from the east coast of Canada with an obscene affection for Eau de Parfum. Lipstick hoarder, skincare aficionado and notorious rambler. Named after that one perfume, considers croissants their own food group and could probably beat you in a Pokémon battle. Ravenous for honey, tuberose, maybe a filthy musk or two and always in the mood for cloud of Aromatics Elixir loud enough to shatter a champagne flute. Best friends with a German Shepherd named Mack who takes great pleasure in hogging the bed and eating the last of the brie. Frequently snorts assorted beverages out their nose in spontaneous busts of laughter.

Val, The Cookie Queen, Mature British/American woman.  Living in Austria, where the hills are not all that alive. Wife to a hard core downhilling guy, two kids, both black belt karatekas. Lived in many places. Perfected cookie baking skills in Amsterdam. :)) Been into perfume since age 5, after stealing it from mother, dropping and breaking in the process. (1963. Must have been good stuff)  Definite perfume snob.

Willa Zheng: In the beginning, Willa was a girl on a mission, to find a signature perfume.  A good nose, a better memory and unfettered access to glossy magazines meant Willa developed an encyclopedic knowledge of nearly every major department store women’s fragrance released in the 90s.  Then Willa discovered the internet (niche), and sobered to the fact that she is fickle and will probably never commit to wearing one perfume. Willa’s niche is florals.  Big luscious photorealistic ones.

Want to Guest Post on APJ?

We are always on the lookout for new and exciting angles on fragrance and fun new people to present them. We follow a few simple guidelines and more than anything enthusiasm will get you across the line. All of us started with no experience and a dream. We’d love to hear from you.
Paid-For Guest Post: We will accept payments for Guest Posts but they will be clearly signposted so our readers understand that it is a Paid-For presentation.
Contact: portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au

APJ Crew Past Contributors:

Brie, a middle aged American perfumaniac, had her first perfume collection at age six and for over 40 years has owned and sampled over 400 fragrances. Her original loves were vintage/classic scents but currently she takes an interest in natural perfumes and essential oils. She also guest posts on ” The Fragrant Man” and is now on APJ where she muses about perfume and tea (did we mention that she LOVES tea??). She lives in New York with her “perfume adverse” husband and “perfume obsessed” children (yeah, the apple never falls far from the tree!!).  When she is not working as a speech language pathologist she is busy dabbling in essential oil blending, practicing yoga and being a “super-mum”.

Dionne, is the token Canadian on the APJ crew, but claims pseudo-Aussie status because her MIL’s from Sydney. One of Portia’s favorite blogs, Canadian Hiking Photography, is located in her neck of the woods. Visit it and envy! She spends most of her time chasing after her five children (yes, that isn’t a typo), teaching piano and generally being a giant geek. You’d think that with a B.A. in English Lit she’d follow the rules about not using so many ellipses and dashes and parentheses in her writing….. yeah, whatever. She’s having too much fun to care.

Kymme CV

Kymme CV, British ex-pat Kymme has been a Sydneysider since 1999.  Whilst being a complete amateur when it comes to things of a fragrant nature, he has a good nose and nose (boom-tish) what smells good on him and what doesn’t.  Kymme comes from a sports medicine background and now works for the University of New South Wales at the Faculty of Medicine.  He has many interests and creative flair, and has been buddies with Portia for more than a decade.  He is currently trying new things in an attempt to get that work/life balance ‘in check’.

Margeaux (David) runs his own marketing consultancy by day and is an aspiring creative by night. The first significant fragrance in his life was a bottle of Shiseido Basala for Men that was given to him by a lover in 1998 and quickly became his signature scent. Although now long discontinued, it’s still the smell that he dreams about rediscovering one day. (Apologies to Shiseido for all the emails!). Margeaux’s nose tends to stay close to the big names of fashion and perfume but he is slowly being schooled in niche or lesser known fragrant delights with the rest of the APJ crew.