Author: australianperfumejunkiescom

Grand Soir by Francis Kurkdjian for Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2016

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Portia

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Hey Hey Lovers Of NEW!

So many people with noses that I revere are raving about Grand Soir. I tried it a couple of times while out shopping and it left me bored to tears and cold. By the note list I should be madly in love with Grand Soir. All those fabulous resins, tonka and amber? I’m not quite sure why it didn’t grab me by the scruff of the neck, shake me around and throw me to the ground with my eyes rolling into my head, panting and palpitating.  Pretty sure that it’s not the fragrances fault so I’m going to give it a home along wearing. I ordered 3ml from Surrender To Chance and I’m ready to go.

Grand Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2016

Grand Soir by Francis Kurkdjian

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Spanish labdanum
Heart:Siamese benzoin
Base: Brazilian tonka bean, Amber, Vanilla

So, in the comfort of my home with no other fragrant distractions grand Soir is a beautiful resinous amber. Softly comforting, tree sap sweet and cuddly. Actually the light touch here reminds me of Pierre Guillaume’s work. Toffee, maple syrup, salted caramel icing and peanut brittle are the images and tastes created in my mind & mouth.

Imagine if you took Absolue Pour Le Soir and dialled the animal back from 20 to one. Grand Soir has the same furry yet porcelain smooth feeling. Through the heart the sweetness lessens and Grand Soir becomes drier, more sweet warm summer evening winds.

PDI

My thoughts are that Francis Kurkdjian is a bit like Serge Lutens, he makes a rare few challenging and outrageous fragrances and a bunch of more accessible ones. These accessible ones are the bread and butter of his business, have a wide department store appeal but with the niche cachet. It’s a clever business model and it has worked for him, bringing MFK the brand to a place where it’s become one of LVMHs new acquisitions.

So Grand Soir is a beautifully blended amber/resinous scent. Easy to wear, lasts well and smells good. If I didn’t already have a dozen ambers in my collection or if I was newer to the perfumista life I would definitely put down my dollars for a bottle.

Wikipedia

Further reading: BLeauG
LuckyScent has $215/70ml
Surrender To Chance have samples from $4.50/0.5ml

Does Grand Soir appeal to you?
Portia x

Fumee d’Or by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes 2014

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Portia

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Hello Independent Fragrance Lovers,

A bunch of DSH samples arrived at once a while ago and I liked so many of them but having been trying to space them out so you all don’t get overwhelmed our bored. You know I love Dawn’s work, something about her style fits me really well and I LOVE the way she picks a note or style and creates the perfect setting to highlight it. The more fragrances I spend time with in her collection the more impressed she makes me.

A note of advice though. This is Independent Small Batch Perfumery. If you ONLY know or like the department store, super smooth, focus group tested out of all ingenuity or flair, ultra sweet fragrances that you are offered on a daily basis then you are in for a surprise. Give yourself a moment to adjust, don’t put your nose to the wet patch you just spritzed, give it at least a full 20 seconds before you go in for the up close sniff. These fragrances have top notes but they are also deeper, more interesting and have a real journey that you will have much more fun with if your nose hasn’t been blown out.

Fumee d’Or by DSH Perfumes 2014

Fumee d’Or by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

DSH Perfumes

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Aldehydes, Australian sandalwood, bergamot, oakmoss, Bulgarian rose, civet, jasmine, immortelle, incense, leather, myrrh, neroli, agarwood (oud), jasmine sambas, tobacco

Created as part of the Brilliant Collection for Denver Art Museum’s “Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century”. Fumee d’Or is designed as a stand alone AND to be used as a base for the other three fragrances in the DSH Brilliant Collection, to add the lustre of the goldsmiths creative process. I bloody wish I’d read that before I used up all the others. Oh well.

The first thing I smell is immortelle, civet and oudh. I swear there is also honey in here. Imagine the most gorgeous, brilliant cut cognac diamond set in a ring of clear pave diamonds in a matte yellow gold setting and you have some idea of how Fumee d’Or smells.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gottlieb-Salome%27s_Dance_1879.jpgWikiMedia

I’m sure all the notes listed are inside but I am solely captivated by the metal and animal facets. This is exactly my level of animals. They are friendly and furry, plush even. As thick as bear fur and as light as caribou. A very interesting juxtaposition of the dense and sheer that is absolutely captivating.

Here Dawn shows her absolute power over notes that in many others hands would become clunky, cumbersome and sickening. This is vintage done 21st century and without the stringent IFRA laws. A fun feral frolic with depth, elegance and a sense of having been made especially for me. Luminous, yet deep, hot and exotic.

Wikimedia

Further reading: IndiePerfumes and Colognoissseur
DSH Perfumes has a variety of strengths and sizes from $6

Does Fumee d’Or sound like something you might wear?
Portia xx

Miller et Berceaux GIVEAWAY WINNER

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Portia

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Thanks APJ and Miller et Bertaux,

This was a really popular giveaway. Good luck.

Libertine has the range in Australia
Aedes has the range in the USA

Portia xxx

 

Miller et Berceaux GIVEAWAY WINNER

Fragrantica

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x set of Carded Manufacturers Samples of the above
NB: The A Quiet Morning will be a decant from my bottle
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Wednesday 3rd May 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winner was chosen by random.org

Robert H.

The winners will have till Wednesday 10th May 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

Xerjoff Xerjoff Xerjoff: Dipping My Toes In

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

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Sandra

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Hi APJ! Hope everyone is having a lovely smelling spring or autumn. I am currently surrounded by beautiful spring flowers and blooming trees and all of my senses are in overdrive. Here are a few pictures of the mesmerizing spring in the Netherlands. Every turn I take and every day brings a new colourful image to lock away in my memory chest. What is your favorite part of spring or autumn?

Rotterdam Photos by Sandra

Xerjoff: Dipping My Toes In

I am sure you are all well ahead of me when it comes to Xerjoff. It is an overwhelming brand for me and I have only really sniffed and enjoyed the Casamorati line and a couple from the Join the Club line. As a Vienna farewell gift I received three minis from the Shooting Stars collection. (Thank you so much – you know who you are.)

So, here I am freezing my butt off in chilly and beautiful Rotterdam and eagerly sniffing these little gems from Xerjoff. They are harbingers of early summer days. Here are my thoughts.

Fragrantica

Xerjoff: Shingl

Notes are: bergamot, basil, anise and artemisia, iris, rum, patchouli and vetiver, vanilla, amber and musk.
Shingl opens up quite sharp and spicey making my nose cringe. The sharp opening is herbal as well and it was confusing until the rum settled in. I always thought that rum or alcohol notes are not appealing, but the note here is subtle. It smooths out the opening together with the introduction of iris. What I find not only interesting but also addictive about Shingl is that it moves into a powdery, woody scent and is an intoxicatingly easy to wear good mood scent.

Fragrantica

Xerjoff: Lua

Notes are: bergamot, orange, lemon, melon, rose, iris, pink pepper, lily, cedar, vanilla and musk.
Lua opens up fresh, floral and full of spring promises. I love the touch of melon here as it cuts into the citrus nicely. This is a perfume for spring days where the vast changing skies provide a dramatic backdrop to the new young green leaves and grass cropping up everywhere. I cannot help but smile when I smell Lua. It is a beautiful perfume full of hope for the next six months of gorgeous long days. I will be wearing this through the warmer months here.

Fragrantica

Xerjoff: Dhajala

Notes are: african orange flower, galbanum, bergamot and orange, pink pepper, jasmine and rose, resin, amber, vanilla and musk.
To be perfectly honest with you, when I first spritzed Dhajala I recoiled. Something was not working for me. Perhaps it was the orange flower or the citrus vibe (which I normally have issues with), I do not know exactly. I promptly forgot about it being on my wrist and I put it in the pass pile. Well, after another hour or two I was taken aback of how good my wrist smelled. It was well rounded and very pretty but also easily unisex. I would love to smell this on a man.

I have been pleasantly surprised by these perfumes and would love to take the time to try others.

LuckyScent has the Xerjoff line
Surrender To Chance has a selection of Xerjoff samples

Do you know Xerjoff? Do you have any recommendations or favourites?
Sandra

 

Fragrance Shopping – USA Premium Outlet Centres

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

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TinaG

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Hi APJ!

During my trip to Southern California in April 2017, we had an opportunity to check out two Premium Outlet Centres, one in Camarillo on the way to Santa Barbara, and Desert Hills which is just outside of Palm Springs. If you’re ever heading to one of these massive shopping areas, my top tips are:

* Take water, snacks and lunch. Yes there’s food there but you’ll need actual sustenance to get through the shopping day.
* Time evaporates there. If you think you’ll be 2 hours, basically just double it. We had multiple text messages between us saying “1/2 hour more? 1 hour more?”.
* Do you research before-hand of what is top of your hit list, and roughly the RRP. Then grab a centre map and plan your shop visits. This will save you heaps of time and possibly money. Don’t forget that tax is variable and added on at the register.

USA Premium Outlet Centres TinaG 2017

Fragrance Shopping – USA Premium Outlet Centres

Of course I went straight to the fragrance stores. As these are outlets / seconds, the content of the shops varied from place to place. I found the shops such as Perfumania and the Fragrance Outlet very similar to Chemist Warehouse back in Aus. The prices weren’t what I would call a bargain – for example I found Bvlgari Black at $34US, before tax and conversion this is not cheaper than what I can pick it up for at home. One shop (I think Perfumania in Desert Hills) had a whole section dedicated to Paris Hilton fragrances, and a similar display for Britney Spears.

USA Premium Outlet Centres TinaG 2017 a

I did get to try Ivanka Trump’s fragrance which was OK, actually. It was a fruity floral, of course, but it had a coolness about it which I think was brought on by a decent apple accord, keeping the sweetness in check. After I picked this up the sales assistant kept coming over with some horrendous options for me to “try as you might like this”. After the third sniff to be ‘polite’ I had to say no – just – No, you need to stop doing that please! My nose was full of pink gunk smells by that stage and I had to literally run out, much to the SA’s surprise.

USA Premium Outlet Centres TinaG 2017 b

After trying the dedicated fragrance stores I looked at branded stores for fragrances & interest. Barneys and Etro were clothes-only. Aww. I came across a Porche Design store in Desert Hills, which I’d never heard of before. WOW!!!! They’ve got some great gear, the mens shoes were amazing and the handbags sleek and functional. I had a lot of fun chatting with the sales assistant who was beyond helpful, was a great experience and I’m glad I dropped in.

My visit to SoCal did have fragrant leanings but would you believe all I brought home with me were three small samples from Lucky Scent in LA. I think that’s a first. I did get some jeans, jacket, shoes and an iron. But that’s another story.

What about you – do you hit up the fragrance stores hard when you travel, or is it more of a reconnaissance like my US trip?

Till next time,
Tina G xx

NEW! NEW! NEW! Miller et Bertaux

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 48 Comments

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Portia

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Hi there Fragrance Family,

One of the houses that flies under everyones radar is Miller et Bertaux. I really love their lack of trend following and general wearable outrageousness. From people so obviously Arty they work really well to create unusual, challenging, mood altering scents that also can be worn as a daily go-to. My personal thought is that spritz volume makes the difference. When I’m home alone sometimes I do 15 chest spritzes so they fumes engulf me, it’s really trippy. In the world though my usual 5 or 6 spritzes is ample, for some the openings could still be formidable.

At Esxence in Milan this year as I was wandering through the overwhelming tunnel of scent I spied the miller et Beaux stand. Fortuitously the gent manning it was available and I wanted to tell him how much I loved their work. When I’m overwhelmed my social ability goes right out the window and so I walked up and blurted out with zero preamble how much I loved their brand and that I’d paid retail for three of their scents, and also had a backup of A Quiet Morning because something so exquisitely me could never last. So this handsome smiling man offers me the newest bottle in their range, that they’re launching. Embarrassed, I declined but when he offered a full set of the Miller et Bertaux range samples I jumped, knowing you guys would LOVE to try them too.

There is a part of me that associates this fragrance house with what niche could have been if greed, laziness and cynicism didn’t become the overriding factors.

Libertine has the range in Australia
Aedes has the range in the USA

Here’s a snapshot of the ones I’m giving away today. Many reviews to follow.

Miller et Bertaux

Fragrantica

New Study/Postcard 2017: Opening citrus is air mail adventure, the hearts warm fig is the arrival and dry down is a woodsy/sweet-fig-milk that could be the postcard on the fridge in the kitchen that gets looked at and brings a smile.

A Quiet Morning 2008: This saffron, turmeric, woods fragrance doesn’t seem so new nearly 10 years from its inception but though the imitators have tried they miss the sheer effortlessness and comfort of wearing A Quiet Morning.

Shanti Shanti 2008: Shanti (from Sanskrit शान्तिः śāntiḥ) means peace, rest. Rose, iris, spices and sandalwood, all backed by patchouli. It opens so cool and dewy before sizzling through the heart to a creamy, earthbound base.

For You/Parfum Trouvé EdP 1 2006: Sweet and spicy like Indian cooking, yet a dewy rose keeps the whole fragrance cool. Once the woods flow through they stay focused and linear till dry down. The perfumes idea is to be a base/dry down.

Spiritus/Land EdP 2 2006: Ahhhh, new incense sticks, soap and spices. Clean without the well worn connotations of marine and citrus. Like the ghosts of Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime Spiritus/Land floats through and above the earth.

Green, Green, Green and Green EdP 3 2006: HA! Surprise, surprise this is a super green fragrance, yet through all the broken leaf and twig shines some soft focus florals and sweet herbs. A soaring green, like the birds smell at the top of trees.

Miller et Berceaux GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x set of Carded Manufacturers Samples of the above
NB: The A Quiet Morning will be a 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 tell us in the comments which of the above Miller et Bertaux scents most interested you?

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Wednesday 3rd May 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 Wednesday 10th May 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 24.4 – 30.4.17

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

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Portia

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Hey Hey Frag Family,

This week has been a watercolour about getting life back to normal. We are both back working, looking after the dogs, trying to scrape together time and see our friends. There have been a few losing control moments, where everything has seemed to spiral and grow overwhelming, skating the edges of darkness. Jin still seems to be existing in the fog lands of grief but we will come out OK.

Scent Diary 24.4 – 30.4.17

Monday 24:

Jin and I both had the day off today so we decided to go into Parramatta and get my hair cut and his sexual health tests done.

From there we trained into town to organise our trains across Australia trip later in the year. We are hoping to do the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Adelaide, then the Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin. It’s already heavily booked so Jin has to get his motor running to make it happen in 2017.

Todays fragrance was brought to you by IUNX Splash Forte. I’m nearly out.

After that we wandered around Broadway & Chippendale seeing the new areas opened up as public green spaces, foodie areas, shopping and how much the UTS university has spread. It’s the most modern and happening part of Sydney right now and reminded us of Asia with its high rise apartments and shared green (faux grass) living areas. High density living which still manages to feel spacious.

We caught the train in and back and felt pretty good about using that much less petrol and not clogging up the roadways.

I wore Parfum d’Empire Equistrius tonight. LOVE it. One of the best iris + scents I know.

Tuesday 25:

Woke up, walked dogs, cleaned house. THEN I spritzed a bit of Daniel Barros Cuir Mojito. Freakiest damn shit I ever smelled. LOVE IT! Perfectly named, smells like drinking booze in a horsetack shop. Bit rangier than an Hermès event.

Jin and I had our mate TinaG over for lunch, it was a fun catch-up after her USA holiday. I forgot everything closed on ANZAC Day here so I grabbed a loaf of bread from the local Convenience Store and we had ham, cheese, tomato waffle sandwiches and loads of tea. TinaG had bought us some souvenir USA chocolate and we made that our dessert. We were having so much fun I forgot to take photos so I text and asked them for a car shot, this is what they sent……

The only thing new-to-me that TinaG wanted was Ulrich Lang Lightscape so I thought she better have 5ml. VERY happy girl.

For work I heavily spritzed my Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin. I have gone through a couple of decants and saw it for a good price in someones sale list a while ago so I jumped on it. Not really much different from the rest of the range, male and female centric, but I do like the bottle.

Wednesday 26:

Sleep in. I know, gloating is so unattractive. 8.22am my body woke up of my own accord. It was a blissful rising from the depths of slumber. I feel alive, awake, refreshed and ready for the day. A couple of spritzes of Armani Prive: Cuir Amethyst and I’m ready to feed and walk the dogs in the cool autumn sunshine.

Today is about playing catch-up on the blog so I’m kind of desk bound. It seems very naughty and ungrateful to be inside on a day so gorgeous. I’ll have my lunch in the park across the road to make up for it. Almost ZERO catch up done but the sun was lovely.

Boring for you but exciting for us, new screen door! Now we can have full cross ventilation through the apartment. This is a BIG win. We ordered the damn thing in January but then we were overseas and when we came back he was booked out for mornings weeks in advance. So today it finally arrived and I am so happy. Yeah, little things.

Work tonight in the original Agent Provocateur EdP rosiness. This frag is so good and still cheap as chips. I predict it will become a very expensive, highly sought after vintage in 40 years time.

Going to bed before midnight! Unheard of. Keiko Mecheri Un Jour d’Ete and a sleeping tablet. Fingers crossed for 8 hours of blissful sweet nothingness.

Thursday 27:

WOW! Woke up at 7.49am and it was like rising from the dead, surfacing from deep slumber is beautiful when your body does it of its own accord. That’s only my second sleeping tablet this year but sometimes I need to get the ultimate sleep, this was it.

Sun is shining on a newly chill Parramatta, the air is crisp and frosty. I can still smell soft, floral/vanilla hints from last nights Keiko Mecheri Un Jour d’Ete, I’m not wanting to smell exactly like that this morning and am happy to divert slightly so I’m hitting the Tom Ford Vert Boheme.

This evening it’s all the fabulous shit with Thierry Mugler A*Men Kryptomint. PHWOAR! Outrageous.

Friday 28:

It’s Friday morning and Jin has arrived home from work. Apparently I left the door to the apartment open last night and now I have the heebejeebees, as if people were wandering through here last night. To dispel any lasting discomfort I gave myself 5 big spitzes of Ramon Monegal Umbra. It’s a non candy kinda sweet, herbal concoction. Very grounding and beautiful.

For lunch I wanted to add some candy so some Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille was a perfect, sweet, boozy, vanilla custard slice. Already more than halfway through my 10ml decant but I’m pretty sure when it’s done I won’t repurchase. It is fabulous but the wearings are few & far between.

Tonight it was Ainslie Walker’s birthday. We had too much food & fun to take any photos but I wore DIOR Mitzah. Loads of it. I was 100% fragrant. Fuck the world, I smelled so good.

Saturday 29:

DIOR Mitzah. Still smelling it as I wake up and lay peacefully in bed in half slumber.

Today I’m trying to get as much of next weeks blog done as possible. Having no post ready on Friday and then doing a half assed job after arriving home from a beautiful dinner upset me. I’m finding it hard to shift the disquiet so my best plan is to action myself out of the angst hole.

Currently I have a couple of the Miller et Bertaux fragrances on my fingers because there’s going to be a Monday GIVEAWAY. Finishing a sample of a Dawn Spencer Hurwitz on the wrist that has been on the back burner to review for a while now, review next week. There’s also some Maison Francis Kurkdjian from 2016 on my left forearm. I like having a few scents around my person, especially if I know them, it helps compare & contrast and brings out things I’d otherwise miss.

Jin and I were going to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 but decided at the last minute we would rather stay home, get pizza and watch a Gilmore Girls marathon. It was super fun. We just slothed around the couch. I had a very hot bath, we fed and walked the dogs. I can’t think of a nicer way to spend a Saturday night.

There was some very late night drama though. Our BFFs Mum fell over during the evening and broke some ribs and fractured her arm. Bloody hell, getting old is tough. Thankfully fully insured and close to good hospital care but nevertheless……

Sunday 30:

This morning Paris, my perfect, gorgeous, smart and beautiful dog decided to wee in the carpeted stairwell as I was locking our front door. Thank goodness Jin was with me to catch it happening so we could run him outside quickly. So I spent some time while they were walking cleaning that mess up. What a way to wake up on a Sunday.

I’m wearing Maison Francis Kurkdjian Grand Soir. I find it a neutered, prettified version of the Le Soirs and it reminds me of Pierre Guillaume’s work, in a complimentary way. Review to come.

Off to work this evening. I’m thinking it might be a Versace Blonde evening but yet to be fully decided at this point.

Mitzah by Francois Demachy for Christian Dior 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

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Portia

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Hey Crew,

I am so sorry but I have no bloody post for you tonight. Somehow we ended up without on a Friday night. I was wearing Mitzah tonight so here’s how it went.

Mitzah by Francois Demachy for Christian Dior 2010

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Coriander, rose, spices, cinnamon, labdanum, vanilla, honey, patchouli, incense

I love how Mitzah opens all hot smoky spices and incense. Honey gives a sweet animalic, tobacco feel and the patchouli & labdanum make me think of flesh, earth and leather.  A cracker of a perfume, swirling around itself, making me feel all glamorous and giving me the va va voom of a Gabor sister in her prime. This is not an intense journey through the perfume with mountainous peaks and troughs, while there are definite start middle and end notes it’s more of a progression. The kick at the start warms slowly and languidly through mildly sweet towards a honey ouded amber dry down. On a good day I get 8+ hours before Mitzah is lost. As the PR says elegant, feminine and mysterious, but I think not so feminine; a man could wear it very comfortably because it is spicy amber.

I was out to dinner with Ainslie Walker and her partner Ben. We have loved Mitzah since it was released and often talk about it. I wore it in Ainslie’s honour and funnily she almost wore it too. It was a lovely night full of good food and laughs.

Further reading: ISmellThereforeIAm and Olfactoria’s Travels

Have you ever swanned around in lashings of Mitzah?
Portia xx

Atelier des Ors GIVEAWAY WINNER

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

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Portia

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Het Crew,

You all are amazing. Thank you all so much for getting involved and being a part of the APJ family.

HUGE thanks also go to Megan In St Maxime who works for Atelier des Ors and gave me the set to give.
Portia xxx

Atelier des Ors GIVEAWAY WINNER

Fragrantica

Kate Apted

You have till Monday May 1st 2017 to get in touch [portia (underscore) turbo (at) yahoo (dot) com (dot) au] with your address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit