Another great GIVEAWAY!! Thanks all for getting on board.
Bat-Sheba GIVEAWAY WINNERS
WHAT COULD YOU WIN?
A draw for two winners, each will receive
2ml decants of Bat-Sheba Exotic Oriental.
P&H Anywhere in the world
HOW DID YOU WIN?
To be eligible for the draw just leave a comment on a favorite commercial perfume bottle and how you follow APJ, with an extra chance for tweeting
HOUSEKEEPING
Entries Closed Thursday 17th October 2013 10pm Australian EDST
Winners will be chosen by random.org (I’m so technically challenged that I can’t even figure out how to use Random.org. Once again B-Azar pulled the winning names, this time from a hat, while Fender the dog observed to make sure everything was on the up and up.?
Photo Stolen thegarfieldshow-diary
The winners will have till Sunday 20th October 2013 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.
Now I start to gather essential oils that I have chosen, luckily having the gift of being able to smell a combination of essential oils in my mind before I actually put them together. Of course I have worked with combining a wide variety of essential oils for 20 years and there is so much stored in my brain that this can be easy for me. Sometimes it’s a struggle creating a synergy that is pleasing. However I keep building on it until my nose takes pleasure in the scent and it reaches down to the depths of my soul.
Anointing or spraying a perfume is a ritual to me and one of my favourite times to wear a perfume is when I go to bed. I find myself smiling, my heart opens and I feel simply divine, in a place of absolute contentment, how beautiful it is to go to sleep feeling like this.
Ok let us have a peak at Portia’s perfume; I am going to share a few of the emotional representations/properties of some of the oils used in this Portia’s perfume creation.
There are 3 citrus essential oils in this blend and one of the most significant emotional and psychological properties of citrus essential oils is that they are very uplifting to the emotions, they are highly used in aromatherapy because they are what we classify as having a happy, joyful effect. Citrus essential oils lend themselves beautifully to most combinations giving very pleasing top notes that are of course the first aroma smelt in a perfume. They are fresh, clean and lively.
Middle notes include the divine exotic ylang ylang meaning flower of flowers. This is a very sweet, heady intoxicating aroma that adds elegance, sensuality and body. Combined with Patchouli they are pure eroticism.
Oakmoss and vetiver are 2 of my most favourite essential oils. I love the depth of their earthiness. Oakmoss is full of mystery and vetiver has a deep smokey aroma that I personally find very sexy! Both are excellent fixatives that linger in your heart and mind.
Cardamom is a spice and I love using it in perfumes and like petitgrain has beautiful refreshing and uplifting qualities.
Peru Balsam is divinely sweet and balsamic and has a vanilla like scent.
Vanilla co2 is perfect to combine with spices, woods, citrus and florals, it gives warmth to any blend.
Smell is the potent wizard that transports us across the miles and all the years we have lived ~ Helen Keller
I love that quote and it really rings true to me. I have spent near on 20 years working with aromatherapy and the plant world therapeutically, emotionally and energetically depending on what my clients have wanted.
Not so long ago the crew at Le Cherche Midi came to my attention through the Perfume Shrine and at the time they were doing a Kickstarter fundraising drive. The crew seemed very dedicated to producing beautiful scents and I thought it a good idea to get behind them and help with a post. Though they didn’t make their goal I have kept in touch with proprietor Nathan Motylinski and he has kindly sent us 5ml Travel Sprays of their current fragrance 28 to give away so a few of you can try their great product.
Le Cherche Midi gives these featured accords in one line:
Gunpowder, warm milk, leather flower, English pear blossom, midnight iris, amber incense
From the Le Cherche Midi site: 28 brings two opposing worlds together, combining the explosive fury of the Greek Gods with the nurturing comfort of Mother’s milk in an olfactive tour de force.
The opening of 28 is all cold oily gunmetal and something sweetly, awkwardly floral which has a hint of the metal zing of blood and a slight fruity flavour that is both interesting and unusual. There is also a wet smell, not like wet anything but as if the metal has dew upon it. I have never smelt anything like 28 but there are parts of it that remind me of other sideways fragrances like Bull’s Blood by Imaginary Authors, LEau d’Issey and , dare I say it, Secretions Magnifiques. NO, don’t get all freaked out: not the same just a couple of similarities I am wondering if it’s the milky accord which doesn’t read like milk to me at all.
28 is so beautifully other and lasts on my skin for hours and hours, being so different from anything else I wear it catches my attention every huff and again I think how lovely it is. As if aliens had created a perfume, or if a computer wanted to take the next step into olfactory stimuli, then this is what they would create and wear. There is something clinically clean and industrial about 28 until around the four hour mark where there comes a very slight warming through bet it’s still cool as a cucumber. This is my 3rd morning in a row choosing to wear 28, that speaks volumes about its inherent enjoyability, mornings are all about my enjoyment of fragrance.
Le Cherche Midi has 28 in EdT $110/100ml or $15/5ml Travel spray
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Photo Stolen TheTruthAboutMummy
28 by Le Cherche Midi GIVEAWAY
WHAT CAN YOU WIN?
This week there are three winners, each will receive
1 x 5ml Manufacturers Travel Spray of 28 by Le Cherche Midi
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.
To be eligible for the draw go to Le Cherche Midi<<JUMP find a fragrance NUMBER and ONE INGREDIENT IN IT.
NO DOUBLE UPS
Then leave a comment with NUMBER + INGREDIENT and how you follow APJ.
Also get an extra chance if you LIKE Australian Perfume Junkies on FB. Leave a one word LIKE on the Australian Perfume Junkies feed on FB when you do or if you already LIKE so I can enter you.
HOUSEKEEPING
Entries Close Monday 21st October 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 24th October 2013 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.
Hey there APJ Peeps, Family, Friends and all Newcomers,
We have moved sideways across the WordPress world and if you were following through WordPress you’ll have to follow again please. Sorry for the bother, this was a completely unexpected by product of the move and I’d have warned you all in advance had I known.
Last weekend I was at Melbourne airport with Jin and had some time to kill so we dropped into the L’Occitane store there. I haven’t really paid much attention to L’Occitane since 1994 while at the Cannes Film Festival I grabbed some for my Mum and Sister and sent it back to Australia. Sadly, by the time I returned from living in the UK they had finished their bottles and hadn’t kept them so I could repurchase next time I was in Europe. Since then L’Occitane has arrived in Australia and has loads of stand alone stores in large cities, airports and also in department stores. Olivier Baussan founded the company in 1976 because he wanted to create a company that celebrates and preserves the traditions of his home region of France: Provence.
From the L’Occitane site: L’OCCITANE is anchored in Provence, where fragrant fields of lavender are a continual reminder of the region’s natural bounty. Each of our ranges is inspired by ingredients harvested from the south of France and the Mediterranean. Our products offer the many benefits of these ingredients, while translating the traditional savoir-faire of the regional artisans. In the time of the Byzantine Empire, the south of France was a region called “Occitania”. The name “L’OCCITANE” is derived from this, meaning “woman of Occitania.” L’OCCITANE symbolizes this woman, her beauty and her relationship with nature.
So while we were there I spritzed one of their new La Collection de Grasse fragrances Vanilla and Narcisse and I liked it so much that I decided to get in touch with the L’Occitane crew here in Australia and ask for some review samples.
If a product or company can be judged in any way by the front line of people that you talk to on the phone then L’Occitane is a winner. Everyone I spoke to was thrilled that I would call, was interested, enjoyed their product and that I wanted to write about L’Occitane for the blog. We talked fragrance but the one thing they wanted me to try was Divine Cream, apparently the most talked about new product to hit the stores and gaining huge market share already. Sure they would send me some fragrance but even more they wanted me to try this amazing product that works better than anything else they’d tried. No, I didn’t have to write about it, yes they understand I do fragrance, please just try it and tell us how you like it. OK, guinea pig Portia into action.
I don’t know if I’ve told you before but I take extremely poor care of my skin, spending so much time with a full face of TV make up and taking it off with grape seed/olive/baby oil, in the bath I am a soap and water cleaner of my face, shave with Gillette shave products, after shave balm by Nivea and that’s the extent of my beauty routine. I have been blessed with good skin and mostly small pores. What I thought I could do though is spread the product out through some of my friends and see their reactions to it too.
There will be four of us trialling for 2 weeks and I’ll give you weekly updates, sound good?
Katie: is my office helper/life organiser two days a week, has 2 lovely daughters and an Architect husband. I think she may be just under 30.
Kath: My BFF who works as an Executive Assistsant to the CEO and CFO of a business involved in English Language Studies at Macquarie University. Kath will be 40 next year.
Natasha: Another very close friend Natasha was my Tupperware manager and mentor. She coached me to being the No 1 Tupperware Demonstrator in Australia & New Zealand in 2007. Tash is a single Mum of three mostly grown up boys and is just over the 40 mark.
Portia: Me a Drag Queen, Homestay Provider and Perfume Blogger who is now 45.
You should go to L’Occitane and as for some samples so you can do the 2 week challenge too. I’d love to read what YOU all are thinking about L’Occitane Divine Cream too. At the end there will be a VERY SPECIAL PRIZE for a couple of people so get involved.
From L’Occitane site : Divine anti-aging care fights the signs of aging, so you can face up the passing of time with absolute serenity. The divine combination of organic Immortelle and Myrtle Essential Oils offers: A complete regenerating care: Combined action to stimulate the production of collagens and improve skin microcirculation helps to reduce damage caused by time and restore substance and vitality. A second youth: Myrtle essential oil stimulates within the skin, the action of the longevity protein- to help increase cellular vitality preserve the skin’s appearance.
Awarded the highest rated Anti-Aging Miracle Cream in the 2011 Anti-Aging Beauty Bible. Independently tested by a panel of women across the UK
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My question is, “Have any of you tried L’Occitane Divine Cream?” If so, how was it, did it give you better feeling and looking skin, would you purchase or repurchase? I do understand that this is a cream not surgery but did you feel that it had benefited you in any way?
Here are the most interesting to me of the Marie Clare video report on the L’Occitane Divine Cream. Enjoy.
Portia xx
I have started at #2 video because the first one was just a bit ad-ish.
#3 was about the jar that Divine Cream comes in and was boring so I have skipped it in favour of the process and studies
#5 is about sourcing and sustainability but was not in depth enough about either, sorry.
When she was younger she had to sit far away because that’s all she could afford. In her teenage years she spent hours locked away in her room listening to his albums and dreaming of what she’d say when she met him. Now she was up close and he would be right there in front of her, close enough to make eye contact. Everyone would say she was too old for a crush on a rock star but what fun is life without a little fantasy?
She brought a bouquet of roses to toss on the stage. The night was cool so she had worn her leather jacket but the rain earlier in the day was making it feel a but humid. As she was waiting for the concert to start she began to wonder if it would become too warm. The roses were cradled close to her chest now and the seats around her filled with people. She was definitely feeling warm and with the heat rising from her body she could smell the roses and the leather. Traces of perfumes she had worn before swirled around her, released from her jacket by the rising temperature.
The house lights dimmed. The scent of roses and leather intensified with the rising temperature. The music started to play and then, there he was. So close but really still so far. She lost herself in the moment. Sure, she was too old for schoolgirl fantasies but for that moment she relived them all. She’d almost forgotten about the roses which she was practically crushing now. She held them up to him and when she was able to hand him the bouquet their eyes met. He was singing to her. At least that’s what she wanted to believe, that he was hers for that moment in time. She hugged her leather jacket closer, cradling herself in its warm, musky softness.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot, blood orange, rose, jasmine, gardenia, iris, sandalwood, musk, leather
Whips and Roses is a perfume that I have loved from the very first sniff. When I first got a sample of it I was smitten. I tried to forget it but the memory of it stayed with me. Eventually I just broke down and got a full bottle. It might just be my favorite rose scent. It’s not a fussy floral nor does it smell like some of the classic leather scents. The name describes it perfectly. It does smell of leather and roses. It’s the first perfume that truly smelled like leather to me. It’s not powdery at all which is how some leathers are to my nose. Whips and Roses reminds me of walking into a leather goods store or the smell of looking at fine purses.
The rose isn’t fresh or powdery. It’s the smell of roses past their prime in a bouquet of flowers, some of which have wilted and died. There is an almost green, humid quality to the scent as well, maybe thatʼs the jasmine or gardenia peeking through. Something about this perfume feels almost melancholy or perhaps bittersweet. I could probably pick the notes apart more if I really tried, but I never want to do that when I wear it. It’s a scent I just like to lose myself in.
Like the other Kerosene scents I’ve tried this one has good projection and longevity, which are two wonderful qualities to me. I’ve worn it to work but I wear almost anything to work. Most people might not find this a good office scent although if applied with a light hand it might work. Give it a try if you like your roses a little darker and heavier. If you love the smell of leather but find a lot of leather perfumes are too powdery this might work for you. Probably more of a cool weather choice for most people but that green, humid quality to it makes me reach for in in summer as well and it really blooms on me.
So far I’ve loved all the Kerosene scents I’ve tried. I’m hoping that trend changes because if I keep falling in love it’s going to be tough on my wallet.
I am heading of to Greece in about 5 hours. Yes, I have procrastinated writing this for days. Days of trying to decide which perfumes to take with me. I mean, come on!! Now, I am guessing at this but I reckon most folk think about their wardrobe, swim wear, evening wear, how many pairs of shoes to take ….. Not giving themselves brain meltdown over fragrance. Please correct me if I am wrong. I wake up in the night in the throws of postmenopausal dreaming, and lie awake going through my scent wardrobe in my head. Now, I would have though that was really quite sad BUT since Portia introduced me to several fragrant groups, I can see that I am not alone. (How many times a day do YOU think of perfume, huh?????)
Val’s Travel Fragrances
Vero Profumo, Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle, Amouage
What I have found most intriguing is people´s SOTD ………. I read through them all in absolute fascination. At first I thought, “Holy Cow!”, people have nothing better to do than post what perfume they are wearing?? So many perfume I have never heard of, perfume fodder to keep me Googling my heart out.
So on the assumption, and the law of fragrant averages, that someone might be interested in what I am taking on vacation, here we go.
After much deliberation, including contemplating taking nothing at all (so as to give my nose a break – yeah right, hahaha!) this is my final decision.
Taking a full bottle of this. Just in case there is an air strike, or world crisis of some sort. This is the one perfume I would not want to be without. Ever.
This is sweet, sexy and animalic. The perfect in-the-sun scent. I will dab this because I don´t want to upset the other guests. The ones with 8 different bikinis and matching sarongs.
Hello fragrant friends! Today’s post is inspired by something I saw recently on the Vampy Varnish makeup blog. The blogger had photographed and diarised her hair and makeup trends from an early age to the present. I thought it would be fun to present and discuss five perfumes from my past that are meaningful in some way and chronicle a bit of my perfumed history….
It’s 1984 and I am the tender age of nine. My family and I are in Hong Kong en route to England for my uncle’s wedding and for some reason, it’s decided that I am old enough to have my first fragrance. I remember the scene more than Jontue itself. It’s late at night and I am amazed that shops are still open, there’s the buzz and hum of the bright neon signs and the slightly salted smell of the humid night air. I’m feeling very grown up (despite my now cringeworthy sartorial choice of a orange tie-dyed jump suit to match my Mum’s one in blue). Jontue, with its powerful green and white floral elements felt exciting. Looking back, it did indeed set a trend as this remains my favourite genre.
FragranceNet has Jontue in its current formulation from $14/2.3oz EdC before discount
2. My first signature scent: Anais Anais by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan for Cacharel 1978
Anais Anais was my signature for years and years. The scent of birthdays and Christmases past, often being accompanied by the beautiful matching soap and body cream. It remains a favourite to this very day, the bright green lily and hyacinth combination is irrevocably part of my identity.
Anais Anais is available at most department stores and online sellers. Fragrance Shop has the EdT starting at $23/30ml before discount Surrender To Chance starts at $3/ml
3. The occasion scent: Aromatics Elixir by Bernard Chant for Clinique 1971
My first real obsession was makeup, not perfume. My teenage years marked my first tentative foray and back then, Clinique was the brand of choice as it was seen as a safe option for young girls. The brand’s Raspberry Glace lipstick was my premiere purchase, only to be worn on weekends and most probably washed off with the Clinique 3-step skincare regime that was all the rage. Clinique of course, offered gifts with purchase which is how I discovered Aromatics Elixir. It was the scent associated with Christmas for me, as I would stock up at that time of year to get the gift. The woody aromatic chypre was so unlike anything I’d usually wear and so exciting and daring. When I found out that I was to be presented with a prize in my final year of high school, something I had waited five years for, I chose to wear this scent. Dabbed naughtily (against school rules) under my navy and white school uniform, it will forever be a scent of achievement and power for me.
Aromatics Elixir is available from most Clinique counters Beauty Encounter has the parfum starting at $11/4ml Surrender To Chance starts at $3/ml
4. The happy memory scent: Samsara by Jean-Paul Guerlain for Guerlain 1989
I was 17, I had finished school and we were spending our first Christmas away from home on a holiday in Hawaii. It was an exciting time both because the future was full of possibilities and Hawaii had more makeup and clothes and stuff to buy than I’d ever laid eyes on. By this time, Dior and Chanel and Guerlain were the brands of makeup I now chose to spend my hard earned savings on and a purchase of the latter in Hawaii was accompanied by a sample of Samsara. The beautiful combination of jasmine and sandalwood reminds me of the New Year’s Eve party at our hotel. Everyone was eating, drinking and dancing and having a great time, the air was twinkling with fairy lights and the smell of anticipation.
Samsara is available at most department stores. FragranceNet has the EdT $36/50ml before coupon Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $3/ml
5. The rabbit hole scent: Lys Mediterranee by Edouard Flechier for Frederic Malle 2000
I had started to dabble in a perfume hobby by the time the Frederic Malle range had launched in Sydney, but it was Lys Mediterranee that really pushed me over the edge. The green slightly salty, tropical lily was perfection on my skin and I knew I had found something stupendous and magical.
International Flavors and Fragrances (through various incarnations) has been in the business of creating scents and tastes for every imaginable application since 1833. In the late 1960’s the Hungarian born, Israeli perfumer, cosmetologist and entrepreneur Judith Muller (1935-2012) chose IFF to develop a fine fragrance designed for the mass market as well as for her personal and business clients (including El Al Airlines). Her flagship fragrance, Bat-Sheba, named after the biblical beauty, would be one of the first perfumes created by the IFF employee, soon to be super star perfumer, Sophia Grojsman.
Photo Stolen hetek.hu
Bat-Sheba appeared as two distinct scents, Exotic Oriental and Woody Modern. A number of other fragrances, including Judith, King David and Shalom, were produced in Muller’s Mt. Carmel plant and exported to 17 countries.
Judith Muller’s perfumery enjoyed over twenty years of success until the sudden death of her husband/business partner forced her to stop production and close her Haifa operation. She moved to Tel Aviv in the late 1990’s where she continued to create bespoke and private label fragrances for personal and corporate clients. Eventually she relocated to Budapest, remaining creative and vibrant as ever, returning at last to Israel just before her death in 2012.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
Sophia Grojsman, the nose who is credited with the creation of Bat-Sheba, was born in Belarus in 1945. She was educated as a chemist in Poland and immigrated to New York in1965 where she began working for IFF as a lab assistant to Ellie Fox. Eventually IFF realized her talent. She was encouraged and mentored by world-renowned perfumers Ernest Shiftan and Josephine Catapano. Her long and productive career at IFF included her appointment as corporate VP in 1998 and the creation of over 30 of the most successful and well known fragrances of our time, including Eternity by Calvin Klein, Prescriptive’s Calyx, Paris by Yves Saint Laurent and Tresor by Lancome.
So much more can be said of these legendary women and we all know the story of passion and betrayal, murder and atonement surrounding the biblical legend Bat-Sheba. Now what about the Perfume Bottle?
Judith Muller designed gorgeous, collectable bottles for her exotic, evocative perfumes.
Most of these bottles from the Haifa period were shaped like tiny, ancient amphorae painted with one of a kind, watery, organic patterns. The patterns and coloring of every bottle was different, ranging from muted and silky mauves to brilliant, sparkling purples and golds.
I have several full bottles of different Judith Muller perfumes and perfume “trinkets”. These lovelies should have been displayed but instead have been squirreled away for years in my cool, dark perfume storage. The Exotic Oriental fragrance has been described as a dry, dusty floral chypre with a honeyed heart.
Photo Stolen myprettypaints
Bat-Sheba GIVEAWAY
WHAT CAN YOU WIN?
I am offering a draw for two winners, each will receive
2ml decants of Bat-Sheba Exotic Oriental.
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.
To be eligible for the draw just leave a comment on a favorite commercial perfume bottle and how you follow APJ.
Entries Close Thursday 17th October 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Sunday 20th October 2013 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.
Another super draw this week and Thank you to so many of you who got involved. I loved reading your wish lists and hope that you had a good time organising your thoughts for the inevitablew Christmas Question, “What Do You Want?”
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.
All I need is you to say a perfume on your wish list, and why, and how you follow for you to be eligible for the draw.
HOUSEKEEPING
Entries Closes Sunday 13th October 2013 10pm Australian EDST
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin will pick a winner (unless he asleep or studying then I’ll use random.org). So I used Random.org.
Photo Stolen amberinblunderland
SCOTT STEWARD
CONGRATULATIONS!! The winner will have till Wednesday 16th October 2013 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.
Photo Stolen thegarfieldshow-diary
Australian Perfume Junkies 