Merry Christmas 2017

December 16, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Portia

To all who are celebrating, and those who are not, APJ wishes you a safe and peaceful holiday season. Here are some healthy young lads to help you celebrate. If they’re not your cup of tea for sexy time elf play then they double as handymen and will get all the stuff that needs doing around your house done. Now isn’t THAT the best Christmas Wish anyone ever gave you?

We are having a lovely warm day here in Sydney. Lunch with Kath’s sister & family and then a sneaky swim at her parents place. Jin worked Christmas Eve overnight so he is sound asleep till at least midday.

Fragrance wise I wanted something cool and calming, also something I had a small travel size to take with me for respritzes throughout the day. What better a choice than my lovely old standby Niki de Saint Phalle.

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Artemisia, mint, green notes, peach, bergamot
Middle: Carnation, patchouli, orris root, jasmine, ylang-ylang, cedar, rose
Base: Leather, sandalwood, amber, musk, oakmoss

FragranceNet has $22/14ml before coupon

So what did you wear for the festivities?
Portia x

Bois Noir by Aurelien Guichard for Robert Piguet 2012

December 15, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Portia

Hey All,

Mildly amusing story. When I was shopping at Surrender To Chance for my decants recently (it was a 5ml Friday Frenzy) and I thought I’d ordered Bois Bleu by Robert Piguet. Anyway, it turns up and I don’t really look at the label because I know what I ordered right? Wrong. So I’m sniffing myself as I walk the dogs this morning and I’m thinking to myself, “This is bloody familiar. I can’t quite place it but Bois Bleu smells EXACTLY like something I already have. Like, EXACTLY!!

Yeah dumbass, because you ordered Bois Noir, that you already have a paid retail for bottle of when Joe Garces was out here in 2012. Ha Ha Ha Ha ha. Sometimes I surprise myself. No sweat.

Then I noticed it never got a post of its own, so…….

Bois Noir by Robert Piguet 2012

Bois Noir by Aurelien Guichard

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gaiac wood, Cedarwood
Heart: Patchouli, Sandalwood
Base: Balsam, Labdanum absolute

Can we talk about the Piguet bottle please? It is the super coolest. Clean lined, easy to hold and spritz, nice heft and if you are a one bottle person this would make such a statement. Cunningly retro but wholly modern, it looks and feels like an old school movie stars fragrance.

PDI

Woodsiness, what Scott and I call Bro Woods. Here it’s tempered with patchouli in a luxurious dose and an earthy sweet labdanum. Bois Noir is a very chill customer, smooth and well worn, a comfortable fit. This is your favourite jeans after a weekend of wear, super comfy and a bit raunchy.

The woods manage to be dry pencils, tea chest and creamy sandalwood all rolled into one, then add some smoky incense. Hyper masculine scent that will smell fabulous on the girls. I’d love to smell it on a couple of my cool sexy girlfriends and some suits.

Longevity and projection are slightly above average, I can totally imagine Bois Noir as the hipsters choice.

PDI

Further reading: Non Blonde and Persolaise
Libertine has $299/100ml FREE Australian Delivery
Surrender To Chance has $5/ml

Have you tried any of the modern Robert Piguet perfumes? Did they tickle your fancy?
Portia xx

Charlatan by Rasei Fort for Fort & Manle 2017

December 14, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 39 Comments

Portia

Hey Hey APJ,

I have a mate who makes perfumes, yeah a quiet creative genius. He is Rasei Fort of Fort & Manle. In Australia it’s hard to get a perfume company started because we have a small population with an even smaller affluent few who can afford luxury perfume as a hobby. Most people have a small fragrance wardrobe under 5 bottles and never even venture near a niche brand, let alone an Indie one. So it has been a wonder of the modern world when their Fatih Sultan Mehmed became a finalist in the Art and Olfaction Awards 2017!

Just so you know, Rasei has taken the reins of Fort & Manle by himself now. Charlatan has been given a reboot this year so it is utterly his composition. He sent me a bottle to try and also to share.

Charlatan by Fort & Manle 2017

Charlatan by Rasei Fort (2018 Reboot)

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pear, dark chocolate
Heart: Damask rose, Moroccan jasmine, vanilla, tuber
Base: Osmanthus, Australian sandalwood, amber, Madagascar vanilla

Colour me IMPRESSED! This could easily be one of the Armani Prive line or an early by Kilian. YET, it is infinitely more interesting. Smooth and balmy, a fragrant highly polished stone, at once earthy and yet utterly manufactured to be just this scent.

Notes? My nose reads very little as notes. It seems the whole has melded so seamlessly that Charlatan is only of itself.

Pear, light frisky on open and into the heart. Vanilla done in sheer and weightless new planes. Woods as creamy and resinous as caramel malted milk. Everything else has melded to a magnificent, magnifiscent.

How did this young man create something so perfect?

Can we also talk about the bottle and presentation? Stellar. Although pedestal opening boxes shit me to the rage, everything else is stunningly perfect. I am in love and gushing like a young thing.

If you love perfume and fragrance then you must try Charlatan. For me, this is what the idea of niche really should mean. Small batch independent work ruled by passion but with an eye to business. Bravo Rasei, excellent work.

Fort & Manle parfum has $230/50ml
Peony Melbourne also has the range
Fort & Manle Discovery Set $60/8 x 2ml

Charlatan GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 10 winners who will receive:
1 x Fort & Manle Charlatan decant (from my bottle)
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 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 go to the Fort & Manle site. Pick a fragrance and tell us its name, plus ONE note it has. (NO DOUBLE UPS)
If you put more than one note you will be disqualified, that’s being greedy.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 17th December 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 21st December 2017 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

Respect Your Elders soap by Lush

December 13, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Erica Golding

Warmly fragrant greetings to you all, hope you’re having a fabulous week so far!

Question: Do you ever smell a fragrance that is hauntingly familiar and yet you can’t place it? Your brain says, “Oh! This smells just like…….” and leaves you hanging. Isn’t it so frustrating? I think it’s a pretty common experience, but for a perfume enthusiast, the quest to solve the mystery can easily become an obsession! Can you help me out?

I’ve been trying to figure out what this soap reminds me of, and it’s making me nuts:

Respect Your Elders soap by Lush

LUSH

LUSH gives these featured accords:
Elderflower, Elderberries, Olibanum (frankincense), and Bergamot

About a year ago, I tried this soap for the first time and had an immediate reaction. The aroma is so familiar, I could just scream from not knowing what it reminds me of! I am so in love with the scent. If it was a perfume, I would just buy bottles until I was broke.

The label on my slice of soap heaven classifies the aroma as fruity, but I don’t agree. The scent is delicately floral, incredibly elegant, and really would make just the most breathtaking perfume. Why oh why doesn’t this exist as perfume??? The signature Lush shot of bergamot lends its own specific associations, but truly, my scent memory trigger feels so very distant, definitely from childhood (which, for me, was the 80s).

Is there a story behind the inspiration for this scent? Have you smelled this soap and been reminded of something else (pretty please)? I will just fall over laughing if it was inspired by Chanel No 5 or something that should be obvious to me!

PDI

LUSH Australia has $6.95/100gm

From LUSH Australia: Black-berried elder. A tree of legend, but also a great way to describe this magical blackcurrant-scented soap. Elderflower infusion, elderberries and olibanum oil create a potent spell for warding off evil (niffs that is!) Respect Your Elders will leave your skin silky soft and beautifully scented. Everything you look at can be turned into a story, so we say cancel storytime and let this become a part of your daily ritual.

Until next time, Love and Light
-Erica

2017 Top 5 by Cookie Queen

December 12, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

Val the Cookie Queen

Yuletide Greetings APJ

Although there has been a ton of new stuff launched this year I cannot pretend to have been interested in much of it. I try to select a few that spark my passion out of a sea of dross. Call me a bitch, I really don’t care. My selection comes in no particular order. If was to chose one that heads my short list, there would be no prizes for guessing which one it would be.

2017 Top 5 by Cookie Queen

Naja by Vero Kern for Vero Profumo

Please note that Naja is a voile formulation and not an edp. In truth it is parfum strength and needs to be treated as such. I feel a deep connection to Vero Kern and had the privilege of accompanying her on the creative voyage as she brought Naja to life. It was a bloody hard trek. Completion took nearly three years of pleasure and pain. The rich tobacco and deeply fragrant osmanthus is narcotic.

Superstitious by Dominique Robin for Frederic Malle

Freaking fabulous. Jasmin, rose, peach, amber, incense, a vetiver that melts into patchouli.
All wrapped in waxy aldehydes. I was stopped at traffic lights the other day, and took a moment to close my eyes and sniffed my wrist, until I could breathe in no more.
As the car behind me beeped, and I opened my eyes, I saw the bloke in the car next to mine staring at me. I am still laughing. My ten mls has nearly gone.

811 Absolute by Mathilde Bijaoui for Giovanna Antonelli Perfumes

A deeply aromatic spicy oriental. This was the surprise of the year. If it hadn’t been for The Silver Fox telling me to get a hold of the collection, I would have written off the perfumes
Fronted Giovanna Antonelli, a Brazilian actress. I mean, really? The 811 lingers for hours on the skin, and I swear there is a golden tobacco running through it. I took the bottle to my hairdresser a couple of
weeks ago to grab a SOTD shot for Instagram (yep, I am a sad person) and left with every stylist wearing it. Came home and did two decants.

Black Perfecto by La Petite Robe Noir for Guerlain

Commercial and fairly mainstream – meaning I can buy it in a store not 3 km away from me. Black tea, black cherry, black licorice and an marvelous black bottle. With the almond and a slight smokiness it´s just the bizz in our frosty and foggy winter. I would go so far as to say I wouldn’t wear it in the summer

L’Animal Sauvage for Marlou

This is the first perfume from Marlou. Claire from Take One Thing Off recommended I give it a go.
I wore a musk from the head shop when I was about seventeen. My mother would tell me that I stank like a polecat. And really since this time I have not explored the musk shelf, although I did use up 10mls of MKK from Lutens a couple of years ago.
This is sexiness pure, wrapped in florals that lie to you.

I have also worn a lot of Hiram Green´s Arbolè Arbolè, Malle`s Portrait of a Lady and Dries Van Noten, and Luten`s La Fille de Berlin.

Perfumista highlights 2017 would be meeting Portia and Jin in Milan, and finally making it to Aus Liebe Zum Duft/First in Fragrance up in Germany.

Perfume tips for 2018 would be Dusita`s Fleur de Lalita and Hiram Green´s Slowdive.

That’s it. A fabulously scented year, as always.
Tune back in on the Feast of Stephen. I´ll give away something you might like.

Thanks for tuning in.
Have a Cool Yule.
Misteltoe Bussis.
CQ

(ED: Photos by Val)

SOTD 11 – 17 December 2017

December 11, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 170 Comments

Portia

Hi APJ,

I see these SOTD (Scent Of The Day) threads all the time on Facebook and they are really good conversation generators.

SOTD 11 – 17 December 2017

The idea is you’ll chime in through the week with whatever scent you are wearing. You don’t need to be super knowledgable, have high faluting tastes or be a published author to comment. Just tell us what fragrance you’re wearing, smelling, buying etc.

You probably won’t have time to write every scent, every spritz but whenever you feel the mood take you share your current spritz and a few things about it. Maybe you love/loathe it, want it, are excited by the notes/bottle/SA who sold it: WHATEVER! As always here at APJ, taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

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

This week:

Neela Vermeire Creations Pichola
Hermès Monsieur Li
Bogue Gardelia
Guerlain Meteorites
Vintage Bal a Versailles EdT

Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Sunday.

LAST WEEKS WINNER: JackieB

Send your address to portia_turbo AT yahoo DOT com DOT au

Go To It Crew.
Portia xxx

Vintage CHANEL No 22 EdC WINNERS

December 11, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Portia

YAY! A wonderful competition, thanks for getting involved crew.
Let’s see who the winners are!
Portia xx

Vintage CHANEL No 22 EdC WINNERS

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, Lily, Lily-of-the-valley, Neroli, Orange blossom, Tuberose
Heart: Jasmine, Nutmeg, Rose, Ylang-ylang
Base: Iris, Vanilla, Vetiver, Frankincense

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 3 winners who will receive:
1 x Vintage CHANEL No 22 EdC decant (from my bottle)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 10th December 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winners were chosen by random.org

ClaudiaS

Alice

Hamamelis

The winners will have till Thursday 14th December 2017 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

Scent Diary: 4.12 – 10.12.2017

December 10, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Portia

Hello Australian Perfume Junkies,

SO MUCH PERFUME this week. It seems I have spritzed every two hours.

Also loads of fun and excitement in the rest of my life. BIG week.

Scent Diary: 4.12 – 10.12.2017

Monday 4:

MONDAY morning! It started out sunny and warm while walking the dogs but just as we came home soft persistent rain appeared. It’s misty and warm rain, very nice.

Lunch with Jin at a Vietnamese place up the road.

Working tonight, filling in for one of my girls because tonight is Sydney’s gala Night of Nights; the DIVAs. Drag Industry Variety Awards. Every queen and her hairdo will be out to see who won and who lost. It used to be my favourite night of the year, something changed and now I don’t think I’ve been for a decade.

Annick Goutal Musc Nomade bubble bath, Keihl’s Original Musk lotion and Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur fragrance. It’s a musky moment here at Chez Turbo.

Great fun tonight at Stonewall filling in. It was nice to catch up with all the girls and have hellos. I didn’t stay to party but came home, had dinner, watched a movie and cleaned the kitchen.

Now I’m sitting down to finish and send the Trivia Q&A. Just spritzed Parfumerie General Suede Osmanthe. I sit swathed in beauty.

Busy boy, busy life.

Tuesday 5:

I was up at sparrows fart to clean the apartment. Just the regular weekly vacuuming, bathroom (Jin cleans his own bathroom), kitchen and bin emptying. I had it all done by 9am, sat down and had a cuppa then got the dogs fed and out walking.

Wearing Goldfield & Banks Wood Infusion and loving myself sick.

Scotty is here. We got so much done today. Emails, Post Office, Bank, APJ Mailouts, Lunch and general chatter.

Bathed in Bath & Body Works Rainkissed Leaves, wearing Aedes de Venustas Palissandre d’Or. So pretty, a woodsy fragrance but the woods are tempered by a zing of pink pepper and the earthy smoothness of modern patchouli. Aides de Venustas are clever, they do fragrances that are interesting and extremely wearable, this is no exception. Not a big scent but quietly confident.

Wednesday 6:

Up early, well early for me. Dogs fed and walked, had a cuppa and off for a perfume adventure with my mate Tim. A couple of chest spritzes of Guerlain Meteorites from a decant to keep me fragrant till the real sniffing starts.

So first stop was the Annual CosMax SALE. It was quite fabulous. We were like kids in a candy store. I bought Guerlain Angelique Noire and Oriental Brulant, 2 x Burberry wet packs and a 30ml each JPG Classique and Le Male. There was SO MUCH great stuff I could have spent $2000 but only spent $360! YAY!

Then we went to the Estee Lauder Staff Shop where we bumped into Willa Zheng, ex APJ writer and all round good time girl. I bought 2 x Clinique Aromatics Elixir Shower Gels and Scott’s Xmas present, sorry can’t tell you in case he reads it.

Then home for a nap on the couch, then off to work tonight again.

I’m home now but tomorrow is a very early start. Good night.

Thursday 7:

3am bedtime. Original Lolita Lempicka EdP. Sweet liquorice cotton candy. Perfect to float off to la la land.

Woke up in a sweet violet liquorice fog, beautiful scent. Straight in the bath, even before feeding and walking the dogs, because I have a daytime Christmas party gig today.

What to wear for a daytime Christmas Party? Mugler Womanity! What else?

Came home and got undressed, had a little lie down. Got back up, fixed my makeup and went out to do tonights gig. This time I was wearing CHANEL Boy. It fit in perfectly over the Womanity and I got three lovely compliments on how good I smelled. YAY!

Now I’m home and completely stuffed.

A sneaky spritz of Tom Ford Ombre de Hyacinth before bed. NIGHT!

Friday 8:

Neela Vermeire Creations Pichola for a warm morning, full sunshine and not very humid. Perfect dog walking morning. The grevillias are blooming.

Jin and I were approved to buy a new townhouse nearby. This is a big deal. Having sold the Tasmanian properties we now have an excellent deposit for it. With it being so close it means there will be no travel to fix problems. It’s already tenanted with a family that loves it and doesn’t expect us to do a thousand improvements. Borrowing this kind of money makes me very jumpy and nervous and I relied on my Pichola to act as a calming agent, it did.

Parfum d’Empire Equistrius for a shot of gorgeous after lunch.

I can say honestly that my afternoon/evening was spent sleeping and watching TV. Nothing got done, no Trivia work, no house work, almost no blog work. It was blissful. I ate junk food, drank coffee, juice, water and was generally a slob. Currently re-watching The Crown on Netflix. Wonderful time, by myself with the dogs.

Saturday 9:

Arrivals Guerlain Lui & Insolence parfum

For the afternoon/evening I was wearing vintage Miss Dior parfum. Took Kath out for her birthday to our fave steak joint, Alice came too. It was bloody delicious. Afterwards we had ice-cream in cones YUMMMMM.

Bed Guerlain Floral Romantique from a decant.

Sunday 10:

Annick Goutal Songes inspired by a SOTD post this week. Great choice for this warm humid weather.

Jin and I grabbed charcoal chickens for Kath’s Birthday Lunch. It was a very nice morning hanging with the family.

O M G !! Walked into the house after work tonight and Jin had been cooking stuff. It stank. On top of that he had candles of all different scents burning to muffle it. My head exploded in a headache immediately. It was like being in a scent nightmare. I grabbed the dogs and fed and walked them as soon as I could to get some fresh air. Came back and it is much better, not perfect but bearable. PHEW!

It’s YOUR turn. What’s happening in your world?

Did you do anything Fun or Fragrant, with Friends and Family or maybe even had some less than Fabulous news you want to share? Now’s the time, in the comments below.
We love to read what’s happening to YOU.
Portia xx

Saturday Question: My Three Next Full Bottle Purchases Will Be?

December 9, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 94 Comments

Portia

Hello Fellow Fumies,

Every Saturday we have a Question, an idea purloined from Olfactoria’s Travels. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it is 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 and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a $10 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Over 200 responses I will draw a $20 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Friday.

Last Weeks Winner: Erica

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with the eMail you’d like me to send your Gift Card to.

Saturday Question: My Three Next Full Bottle Purchases Will Be?

Do you have a wishlist? What’s at the top currently? Are you saving for some special things or are they going to be an impulse buy at the mall, or trolling the discounters late at night? Do you have separate wishlists for different things? Vintage, expensive, bargain, discontinued?

My Answer:

Still trying to work this list down to zero but instead of concentrating on fulfilling my list I tend to get distracted by new and shiny things. Especially if there is a sale or someone is selling a half bottle on the Facebook pages.

So here are my current Top 3 most wanted in bold. I can’t believe that Grandiflora Michel still isn’t in my collection, it’s a freaking masterpiece. SO, by New Year 2018 I’m going to try and own these 3 fabulous fragrances. Wish me luck.

Portia’s TO-BUY List Nov 2017

Grandiflora Michel by Magnolia Grandiflora
Oriental Mint by Phaedon Paris
Sables by Annick Goutal
Aedes de Venustas – Original
Ambra di Luna by Ramon Monegal
Ambra Mediterranea by Profumi del Forte
Barkhane by Teo Cabanel
Cuir Cuba Intense by Parfums De Nicolai
Hedonist by Viktoria Minya
Moon Bloom by Hiram Green
Jasmin et Cigarette by Etat Libre d’Orange
Lea by Calypso St. Barth
Rozy Eau de Parfum by Vero Profumo
Tobacco Rose by Papillon Perfumery
Wit by Parfums DelRae
No 18 EdP by CHANEL
Bois des Iles EdP by CHANEL
Dõjima by Mona di Orio
Suède de Suède by Mona di Orio
Tadzio by Homoelegans

My Saturday Question to you is:

My Three Next Full Bottle Purchases Will Be?

Tarragon and Bitter Orange Finishing Salts by Aftelier Perfumes

December 8, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Portia

Hey APJ Peeps,

It’s no secret how much I love baths. I find a 15-20 minute soak in the tub more relaxing that almost anything else you can mention. It’s a short sharp shot of bliss that can be done whenever a window appears. Quite often I will do all my chores at the end of a night because the days are hectic. It may be 2 or 3am after a busy day, working at night, getting the blog stuff done and then doing a few loads of washing or cleaning the kitchen. A great way for me to go from supersonic to sleepy tired is to have a bath with a warm drink, dry, moisturise, scent and bed. My head hits the pillow and lights out till the alarm goes off in the morning for the dogs feeding and walking.

Why have I rambled on yet again about baths? Well, Mandy Aftel has made some incredibly luxurious eating salts that I naughtily used a capful of in my bath and O M G it was a transcendent experience. Talk about sending me into the stratosphere; amazing! You need hardly any to scent the whole bathroom very softly and it is calming and head clearing. Do it as you get in the bath. Beautiful. SHHHH! Don’t tell Mandy I did it though.

Tarragon and Bitter Orange Finishing Salts by Aftelier Perfumes

So, how are we supposed to use Tarragon and Bitter Orange Finishing Salts? Follow this recipe and your family will think you are the best cook in the history of all cooks. I use one fillet each but your crew may like more.

4 large Snapper Fillets
1 x lemon cut into very thin slices
2 TBsp butter
2 x parsley fronds chopped finely
1 x crushed large garlic clove
Pinch white pepper
Tarragon and Bitter Orange Finishing Salts

Baking Tray
Aluminium Foil

Pre heat oven to 180C
Mix butter, parsley, garlic and pepper together to make a paste
Tear 2 sheets of foil big enough to wrap 2 fillets each
Spread 1/4 of butter mix all over each fillet
Place fillets on shiny foil side
Put lemon slices top of fillets and close up the foil.
Pop onto bake tray and into the oven for 15-20 minutes (you know if your oven is a little slow or fast)

Make whatever salad or vegetable sides you like while fish is cooking

When the fillets come out of the oven they will be meltingly soft so be careful as you transfer to the plate
Add a sprinkling of Tarragon and Bitter Orange Finishing Salts
Add your sides

Serve and watch your family go crazy with excitement

I didn’t know this was going to be a post so no pictures were taken. SORRY!

Obviously your mileage may vary but this was a complete winner around here. Hopefully your crew loves it too.

From Aftelier only $15: Our sel gris is stone-ground by hand until it reaches a fine consistency; it melts into other flavors seamlessly, imparting a briny mineral richness. Sel gris French gray sea salt is hand-harvested from the clay-lined salt ponds in the Guérande region of France, giving it a soft grey color and mineral-rich moisture. These salts are not to be used during the cooking process, but rather to add a pop of flavor to everything from meat to salads to vegetables just before serving. These salts will lift the other flavors of a dish, making it special and delicious.

What a freaking great Christmas Gift for the friends and family that cook, and so affordable.
Portia xx