FeralJasmine

A Case of Perfume Tampering

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

I am a fiend for vanilla perfumes, and will try nearly anything along that line. It happened not terribly long ago that I got a sample from one of the decant houses of a vanilla perfume from an independent perfumer, never mind which one. It was a pretty little perfume indeed, with some jasmine and fruit notes, a bit of bergamot, and a pleasant base of vanilla and white musk. For evening wear I love Tihota, the contralto diva of the vanilla world, but this one warbled along in a pleasant little alto. I decided that it would be perfect for office wear where my stronger vanillas won’t fly, and because I found it online at a bargain price I bought two small bottles.

A Case of Perfume Tampering

Mauritius Vanilla drying PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Unfortunately, it became clear when the bottles arrived that a rather major reformulation had taken place between the decant that I had previously purchased and the new bottles. Or maybe this perfume is subject to significant batch variation, but whatever the reason, I had two bottles of something that I did not care for at all. The opening was still pleasant and attractive, but the vanilla was rather distant and sour and faded quickly, leaving me with nothing much to notice after the first 30 minutes. Foolishly, I had opened and tried both bottles before I was sure that something was wrong, so there was no reasonable option of returning them.

After some thought, I decided that I had very little to lose, and so I began tampering with one of the bottles. Leaving the opening undisturbed, I added a little bit of vanilla CO2 extract, and a modest amount of a commercial perfumers accord called “vanilla bean accord,” which I obtained from The Perfumer’s Apprentice. After several good shakes, I had something that I could spray and enjoy in a low-key sort of way, and that ended in a lovely vanilla skin scent which lasted several hours. I will be able to use it as a work scent, and eventually will probably do the same to the other bottle. As a bonus, I wore it one evening at home, and my husband noticed early the next morning that it had bloomed into an even more full and beautiful vanilla skin scent.

Perfume Bottle PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

I have read arguments against a simple intervention like layering, with some people feeling rather strongly that the perfume should be worn as created. All very well for perfumes that you like, but this was not one that I would ever have worn exactly as it came to me. And I clearly acknowledge that it would not be in any way okay to give out the name of the perfume, since I have altered it beyond recognition. However, for those of us who have some bottles sitting around that we don’t really care for and will never wear in their present iteration, is it wrong to make some creative changes? I don’t think so. It’s like changing a recipe; you can do anything you want with it, as long as you acknowledge that it is not exactly the recipe that the writer intended.

So I say, if you have aromachemicals and accords and essential oils and absolutes sitting around, and like so many of us you also have some perfumes that you are not wild about, but which have no significant resale value, go to town!

Have you ever tampered with a perfume? Do tell.

FeralJasmine xx

Black Cashmere by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Donna Karan 2002

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

Here in the southwestern USA it’s hot as hell and my winter scents are taking a break at the back of the cabinet, but it’s the perfect season to inflict my highly personal opinions about cool-weather scents upon the unsuspecting Aussies. So here is my first opinion: mass-market fragrances used to be a lot better than they are now. Part of it is that this is a tough decade for someone who despises most fruit notes, but also it used to be that, when companies went to the trouble and expense of launching a new perfume, they actually wanted you to be able to tell it from other perfumes. Now, I would swear that they’re all jostling for the rail in the Just-Like-Everybody-Else Sweepstakes. The wise and lovely Portia once reminded me in a comment that it’s all cyclical, and that in a few decades today’s mass-market consumers will be 2044’s aging perfumistas, grumpily complaining that you just can’t find good fruity florals anymore. Probably true. But Black Cashmere, with its hefty dose of wenge, has always smelled unlike anything else on the market.

Black Cashmere by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Donna Karan 2002

Black Cashmere Donna Karan FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Saffron, nutmeg
Heart: Red pepper, white pepper, carnation, rose
Base: Woody notes, patchouli, African woods, vanilla, amber

Here’s my second strongly help opinion: reformulation is not a bad thing if it keeps a distinctive perfume on the post-IFRA market in a recognizable form. Case in point: my winter favorite, Donna Karan Black Cashmere. The first really distinctive perfume that I fell for, the one that tripped me so badly that I fell right down the rabbit hole, was the original DK Black Cashmere. I bought a dab sample and was lost in the wonder of something unlike anything else that I had ever smelled. Rich, plush, highly distinctive, and beautiful. What an evening that was.

Then I went on EBay to look for a vintage bottle, and it occurred to me that I had acquired a very expensive obsession indeed. Finally I did find a bottle of the vintage that I could afford, more or less, but I also swallowed hard and bought a decant of the reissue.

Black Cashmere Donna Karan WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Was it a shocking disappointment? Not really. Certainly the vintage has more depth and more oomph. But unlike the current Opium, which is a sick travesty, the current Black Cashmere makes a real effort to transmit the scent and spirit of the original. It’s a little lighter and extends itself a little further into warm weather. Overall, I dare you to find something more distinctive at that price point, which is a little over a dollar a milliliter if bought off the DK website. I have since bought a full bottle of the reissue, and often I wear the current one on one arm and the vintage on the other, to make my precious vintage last.

So why don’t more firms make an actual effort with their reissues? Beats me. But I also have both vintage and reissued Chaos from DK, and the reissue is a bit lacking compared to the vintage but is a genuine attempt to reproduce the very distinctive vintage recognizably in an IFRA-friendly form. DK Inc. seems to make real efforts to meet their fans halfway.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This
Donna Karan has $120/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

I hate to rub salt into my readers’ wounds, but what’s your most distressing reissue story?
FeralJasmine xx

Luxe Champaca EdT Comme des Garcons 2007

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

I have a secret fantasy about having my hair done in India. In this fantasy it would again be long and auburn, and would be skillfully braided with strands of jasmine. I would feel the smoothness of my light silk clothing, and smell the single Champaca flower floating in a bowl of water nearby, and wait… for what, exactly? I’m not sure. The whole point would be that moment of beauty, radiant and complete.

Luxe Champaca EdT Comme des Garcons 2007

Luxe Champaca Eau de Toilette Comme des Garcons FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
White pepper, angelica, champaca, cardamom, pepper, white musk, iris

I can’t claim that Luxe Champaca provides that exact moment, but then, how many perfumes do? It does offer a radiant sweetness, light but somehow penetrating, that floats around me like the memory of beauty. I haven’t yet sampled the Champaca EDP from the same line, and maybe it’s a richer scent. But the EDT has its place. Like everyone else, I have a million tasks a day to complete, and very little time to sit around having fantasies of beauty. But the memory of radiance that the EDT carries can follow me around, wafting lightly, appearing and disappearing unexpectedly, whispering to me to remember perfect beauty and believe that it could exist. It’s as if my waiting jasmine-braided self were reaching toward my professional persona with a calming hand. Stop, she whispers softly, and feel.

Eau de Toilette Comme des Garcons Lei_pikake WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

For such a delicate beauty, Champaca is surprisingly persistent and lasts hours on my perfume-eating skin, coming and going a bit but always there. It’s a good scent for spraying on scarves and lingerie. I can’t imagine this one on a man, but that may be due to a limited imagination, so gentlemen, try it if you feel so inclined and report back.

Eau de Toilette Comme des Garcons Flower_garland_sellers WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Smellin’ Things
First in Fragrance has €110/100ml and samples
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/.5ml

Now, I would love it if you shared one of your beauty fantasies with me. In your lovely thought, where are you, what are you doing, and what do you smell?

FeralJasmine

Feral Favourites

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

I love wildness, and consider it the source of some of the best possibilities we carry in us, hence my screen name. When it comes to perfume, though, you can encounter some serious pushback about wearing your wildness, so to speak, on your sleeve. I often see scents designated “not office-appropriate,” and this distinction makes sense, but there are times to cut extravagantly loose and let your inner wildcat roar.

This evening, for instance. Never mind the tasks that still have to be completed before you head home, and the chores that await you there. Suppose, this time, you didn’t do that. Suppose you rushed home, tore off your clothes and anything else that constrains you, sprayed a carefully chosen something on yourself, and rolled around in a kind of catnip ecstasy. What would it be?

Feral Favorites from FeralJasmine

I have a number of rolling-in-catnip scents, so I’ll keep my descriptions brief:

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

VINTAGE OPIUM by Yves Saint Laurent
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, plum, citruses, mandarin orange, pepper, jasmine, cloves, west indian bay, bergamot
Heart: Carnation, sandalwood, patchouli, cinnamon, orris root, peach, lily-of-the-valley, rose
Base: Labdanum, tolu balsam, sandalwood, opoponax, musk, coconut, vanilla, benzoin, vetiver, incense, cedar, myrrh, castoreum, amber

The alpha and omega, the Bitch-Goddess, the sexiest perfume I know of. I have a precious stock of the earliest bottles, not just pre-IFRA but pre- any costcutting that reduced the Mysore and musk component. Glorious. I would never dream of layering it, and would no doubt be struck by lightning if I tried that.

Hard Leather LM Parfums FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

HARD LEATHER by LM Parfums
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Leather, rum
Heart: Iris, honey
Base: Sandalwood, cedar, agarwood (oud), olibanum, vanilla, styrax

A lovely sexy vanillic leather that manages to be firmly male and lusciously female at the same time. A perfume that invokes both Dionysus and Aphrodite is not to be ignored.

Panthere Cartier FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

VINTAGE PANTHERE by Cartier
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tangerine, grapefruit, pepper, ginger, incens, rose
Heart: Jasmine, gardenia, tuberose, freesia, orris, narcissus, ylang-ylang, vetiver, nutmeg
Base: Oak moss, Tonka, patchouli, sandal, civet, musk, amber, vanilla, cedar

The tuberose that roars. So intense that I’ve seen it referred to as “crass.” I beg to differ. Imagine a passionate night in a breezy bedroom in Mexico, with a huge bunch of tuberoses that have never seen the inside of a cooler tossed across a pillow, and you have the general idea. The modern version is quite genteel and doesn’t deserve skin time on a wild night.

Velvet Gardenia Tom Ford FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

VELVET GARDENIAby Tom Ford
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange, gardenia
Heart: Jasmine, rose, honey, beeswax, plum, lily of the valley, tuberose
Base: French labdanum, incense

This tragically discontinued Tom Ford captures to perfection the hint of death that hides within the vibrant life of a gardenia. When I remember growing up in Louisiana, and the sensuality of the climate, I want Velvet Gardenia. A few good sprays and I’m seventeen again.

Noir de Noir Tom Ford FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

NOIR DE NOIR by Tom Ford
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Saffron, patchouli, rose, tuber, oakmoss, vanilla, oudh

Another Tom Ford, a lovely rose with a delicious truffle note. When your mood is more languid than wild, this one will suit.

Tawaf La Via del Profumo fragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

TAWAF by La Via del Profumo
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Jasmine sambac, rose, opoponax, narcissus, myrrh

The growling jasmine from AbdesSalaam. The source of my screen name, it smells to me like an a Indian wedding night.

Muscs Koublai Khan Serge Lutens FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

MUSCS KOUBLAI KHAN by Serge Lutens
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Civet, castroneum, cistus labdanum, ambergris, Morrocan rose, cumin, ambrette seed (musk mallow), costus root, patchouli

A little sweaty, a little cuddly, profoundly sexual with notes of profound innocence, this is a genius creation. It will carry you from the earliest wild thought right through to the afterglow, or give you all of that at once.

A favorites list is always a moving target, and all I can say is that, today, these are the seven sexiest perfumes that I can think of. But the id contains an endless supply of wildness (mine does, anyway) and needs its outlet, so if you favor other perfumes for your wildcat moments, do tell…

FeralJasmine x

Hard Leather by Jerome Epinette for LM Parfums 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

Sometimes civilized people have to agree to disagree. There is a lot written about the fecal aspects of LM Parfums’ Hard Leather. To which I say: Really? Seriously? Have these people ever actually smelled feces?

Hard Leather by Jerome Epinette for LM Parfums 2014

A Night in Hard Leather

Hard Leather LM Parfums Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Leather, rum
Heart: Iris, honey
Base: Sandalwood, cedar, agarwood (oud), olibanum, vanilla, styrax

That is SO not what I smell. Initially, I smell clean, healthy barnyard, the kind you get with a really good oud. All the animals here are bursting with animal vitality, and you can smell it. The stroll through the barnyard lasts about 15 minutes on me. Then you come to the rough heavy wooden door into the tack room, and walk in among the leather. Through the scent of the wooden walls and the oiled and polished saddles and bridles hanging all around you, you smell a clean, vital male behind you. He is your wild lover, your animus, the one you’ve never confessed to anyone that you wanted, the one that you dream about and are sorry when you wake, the one you can only see out of the corner of your eye because he disappears when you turn to look straight at him. Dionysus. That’s what I smell.

Hard Leather LM Parfums Tack Room FotopediaPhoto Stolen Fotopedia

If I were in charge, which I certainly am not, all men in my vicinity would wear Hard Leather at least occasionally. Ah, what a world it would be.

Does that mean that a woman can’t wear this scent? Not by a long shot. There is a honeyed vanillic softness to the leather that makes it lovely on women. Probably all of us have a Dionysus aspect if we admit it, and scent is a splendid way to channel your inner incubus.

So where does the talk about feces come from? I think it’s possible that some people smell all strong animalics as having notes of urine or excrement. I have heard similar talk about Muscs Koublai Khan, which has animal notes but no urine or poop to most of us. To noses of the Fresh’n’Clean type, anything that suggests nature may suggest dirt or even excrement. Or it may be a genetic difference in the way we smell things, which is known to exist with some scents. In this context I always think of Hermès: Vanille Gallant, a lovely vanilla-lily scent to many, a fishy disaster to some.

Hard Leather LM Parfums Horse Beach Sunset Jimmy McIntyre FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Further reading: The Scented Hound and
First In Fragrance have €295/100ml and €9/4ml Samples

So, sample first, by all means. You should always sample first, because your olfactory universe is not like anybody else’s. But if part of your own olfactory realm is out on the fringes, beyond civilization and governed only by natural law, the primal beauty of Hard Leather is likely to produce an interesting degree of shock and awe.

FeralJasmine

 

Peety! by Angelo Orazio Pregoni for O'Driu 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

.

Post by Feral Jasmine

.

So here’s the deal: I am not going to shut up about O’Driu Peety until I see more reviews that skip the whole bit about adding your own pee to it. It’s not that adding 10 drops of your own urine is wrong. It’s cleaner and less harmful than sniffing many aromachemicals, in my opinion, and also cleaner than many of the old naturals that we cherish when we can get them. The reason that the concept annoys me is that people tend to get caught up in the “ewwww!” factor and never quite get around to trying the perfume.

Peety! by Angelo Orazio Pregoni for O’Driu 2013

Peety: Forget the Hype, Just Smell the Perfume!

Peety O`Driu FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Tobacco, jasmine, rose, sandalwood, tonka bean, pink pepper

That’s a pity, because Peety is lovely if you like animalics. The notes sound ordinary enough and do not really do justice to the composition. Fragrantica‘s brief description of it as a “woody floral musk” also sounds pedestrian and like something you’ve smelled a thousand times before. The single most discerning comment that I’ve read about it was by a Fragrantica commenter who called it “bearish.” This pretty much sums up Peety, except for the choice of wild animal. Personally, I think of it as “wolfish.” As in a clean and warm wolf who might sit next to you at your hearth for a while but would remain, forever and always, a wild animal and would come and go on his own terms, and just might come to your hearth with the scent of smaller prey on him. Peety is a warm, beasty smell. If you are a fan of vintage perfumes that contain some real musk, you know the warm furry scent that I refer to. Fortunately anti-cruelty laws make it impossible to use real musks these days, and Peety is tangible proof that we don’t need them. This scent also contains the single most interesting and un-kitcheny use of cinnamon that I have come across. Here’s what the maker has to say: “Rose and jasmine tingle the nose, muffled by vague suspicions of tobacco and lichens. Then, mandarin and bitter orange hurl us in a liberty world, made of fine ambers, cinnamon and pink pepper. Rounded as the brown patchouli, elegant as sandalwood and Tonka bean are. A masterpiece of technique and suggestions, Peety™ gains its strength from sub-cultural taboos, to come out of the mass-market perfumery stereotypes and to become a pure emotional footprint of the one who has it on, unique!” I guess that’s more poetic than saying “hmm, smells like a subtle use of cinnamon.”

Nature PhotographyPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Peety is perfect for evenings by the fire. I also enjoy it for evenings out, and have worn it to work, dabbed rather than sprayed and applied well before leaving the house, to acclaim from a generally perfume-hating coworker. I suspect that it may be a cold-weather scent for me, but we have enough cool spring evenings that I expect to drain my little decant well before summer comes. When I have the money I will definitely get a bottle.

Further reading: Azar hosts a wonderful interview with Peety Perfumer Angelo Orazio Pregon
O’Driu has €150/50ml and samples
Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $6/.5ml

Nonetheless, get a sample somewhere and try it. I spent a recent weekend at a wolf sanctuary, and Peety makes me feel like a congenial wolf is walking close beside me.

Feral Jasmine X

Vanilla Faves: Notes in Fragrance

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 35 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

I’m given to understand that fetishists refer to ordinary sex as “vanilla sex.” I will not waste time in commenting about how I come to know this, except that it reflects on the peculiar nature of the people I encounter in the course of my work. To me it seems like an incongruous association in several ways. For one thing, vanilla is said to be a note that men almost invariably find sexy, making it a bit fetishistic to begin with. Then there is the nature of vanilla itself. Dark, deep, rich, complex, delicious… How did this come to be conflated with “ordinary?”

VanillaWood 123rfPhoto Stolen 123rf

Vanilla scents are anything but ordinary to me. Of all the perfume bottles in my collection, at least half contain vanilla in some form and to some degree. And never mind just how many I have; probably not as many as Portia, so go check up on her instead ;-). But even if I limit myself to the vanilla-centric scents, there are lots of options. There is probably no note that lends itself to so many different approaches. I can’t do more than list a few of my favorites, but I will try to spread them across the vanilla spectrum.

Vanilla: Notes in Fragrance

Fifty Shades of Vanilla

Tihota Indult FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

First, Indult Tihota. This one was created by Francis Kurkdjian and was recently reissued in what is supposed to be its original form, although he is no longer connected with the company. Listed notes are vanilla, florals, and spices. As an aficionado of good vanilla beans, I do not see how floral and spice notes could possibly be disconnected from vanilla. They are there naturally. This one is like rich, creamy, pure vanilla extract of the highest quality that lasts for hours. This is the one for those of us who would stuff vanilla beans in our bras if we could get away with it. (Gentle reader, kindly do not try this. Over the course of a few hours the seeds tend to end up in your cleavage, where they look very disconcerting.) When you want a shot of vanilla in all its glory, straight up, Tihota is the one to reach for.

Tom Ford’s Tobacco Vanille is a perfume that I used to criticize at every opportunity. I called it heavy, cloying, and unbalanced. Then I tried it on a cold winter day and had to eat my words, and also had to eat the bill for a large decant. Now, instead of heavy, I find it rich and satisfying. I suspect that, when the weather warms up, it will begin to seem cloying again and will be put away for next winter.

7 BILLION HEARTS CB I Hate PerfumePhoto Stolen CB I Hate Perfume

A profound vanilla favorite of mine is the gorgeous 7 Billion Hearts, by CB I Hate Perfume. I tried this one in late fall, bought a bottle without reckoning the cost, and wore it happily all winter. I loved the vanilla on a bed of cedar, with a smoky resiny fire in the background, and others loved it on me. Then on the first really warm day of spring, it turned on me. In fact, it drove harsh cedary fingernails right into my skin and refused to let go. I could barely smell vanilla in the pile of partially burnt pencil shavings that it turned into. Now that cold weather is back, it is cuddling up against me again, purring softly. Next spring I will put it aside without regret, knowing that come fall, all will be well between us.

Les Nombres d`Or Vanille Mona di Orio FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Finally, there is the exquisite Mona di Orio Vanille. I will not go into the famous shipwreck story that goes with it, because I don’t feel that you should need to hear a story to know whether you like the perfume or not. Bales of spices and woods, eventually giving way to as lovely a spiced vanilla as I can imagine. It also contains a subtle but highly effective use of nutmeg, a note that can be tricky to manage. Try this one, if you haven’t already.

Now, what are your favorites? I need to know what to add to my wish list.

A Tale of Two Ambers

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 35 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

Here in New Mexico fall brings us exquisite clear brisk days, cold nights, and a sense of stirring and coming to life after the oppressive late summer. I become obsessed with amber and spice in late October, and stay that way until late February, when I turn wishfully to the earliest florals. I tend to start buying new ambers as soon as the interest develops, as if I must compulsively store up provisions against the winter. This year, though, I’m trying to behave more sensibly, and to hold the thought that a person only needs so many ambers. My heart isn’t in this, but I’m testing the theory.

Ambre Noir Sonoma Scent Studio Ann Porteus FlickrPhoto Stolen Ann Porteus Flickr

With this in mind, over the last month I’ve tried to make a point of noticing which ambers I reach for most. There are a lot of contenders that I wear regularly, and two clear winners that I reach for whenever the amber craving comes over me.

A Tale of Two Ambers

Ambra Aurea from Profumum Roma

Ambra Aurea Profumum Roma FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Amber, incense, myrrh

The first is Ambra Aurea from Profumum Roma. This is a strong and intense amber for amber lovers, not jazzed up with many other notes. I find it a touch harsh when first applied, and it needs light and judicious application. When I say light, I mean that one small spray may be enough. Soon it is smooth dark deep amber, absolutely lovely. I have the ultimate in scent-eating skin; most perfumes don’t last more than a few hours on me, and many don’t even last 60 minutes. But this one gives me projection and sillage for an incredible four hours, then fades to one of the most beautiful skin scents that I have ever experienced. I still have lovely skin scent in the morning after applying it early in the previous evening. This is unheard of for me. A person with scent-retaining skin, after one application, might be scented for life. I like to put this one on in early evening when I come home from work, and relax with it by the woodstove. I have worn it to work, two small dabs rather than sprayed, and gotten an appreciative response. But bear in mind that Ambra Aurea is an elegant beast, but a beast indeed.

LuckyScent has $240/100ml

Ambre Noir by Sonoma Scent Studio 2008

Ambre Noir Sonoma Scent Studio FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Labdanum absolute, amber, rose, olibanum, myrrh, vetiver codistilled with mitti (clay), oakmoss absolute, aged Indian patchouli, texas cedarwood, sandalwood, castoreum

The second is Ambre Noir from Sonoma Scent Studio. This one is based on labdanum, one of my favorite notes, with plenty of amber along for the ride. Oakmoss and spice notes are present, but subtle. I would swear that there’s a subtle touch of vanilla; perfumer Laurie Erickson refers to a minimal amount of vanilla in the write-up, but doesn’t list it among the notes. This one is rich and elegant to wear, and I have frequently worn one spray to work, but I apply a full hour before arriving at my workplace. It makes me feel sexy, warm, and comfortable, a good feeling all around.

Sonoma Scent Studios have $16/5ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $5/ml

There is no doubt that if I were limited to two ambers (Perfume Goddess, keep this fate far from me,) it would be these two. But for Oz readers, I can’t resist mentioning one more that isn’t limited to winter: Barbara Bui by Barbara Bui. This one is light and powdery vanillic amber, can be picked up for a song on EBay, and is one if those scents that can please the perfumista without overpowering innocent bystanders.

I would love to hear about your favorite ambers, because despite good intentions I’m always looking for new ones to try. When I first wrote the previous sentence, my Autocorrect altered it to read “I live to hear about your favorite ambers,” which I’m afraid is more or less correct. Share your favorites and join in the fun!

FeralJasmineXX

Fleur Blanche Ajne

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.
In my last column I talked about my current obsession with realistic gardenia scents and my search for a new one now that (I can’t resist throwing this in again) the corporate jackals at Tom Ford have discontinued Velvet Gardenia, the best photorealistic gardenia fragrance ever bottled. There, now that the bashing is out of my system I can proceed more constructively.

Fleur Blanche Ajne DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

While I have always loved gardenias, my obsession stems from the day after my father’s death in hospice care, when I was packing to go home and on some impulse I can’t explain broke a lot of gardenia flowers off my mother’s bush and put them in the top of my suitcase. Back home, the rush of pure scent when I opened my suitcase is something I will never forget. I think of it every time I think about gardenias, or grief, or joy. I have spent a small fortune on samples to try to duplicate that experience, and have learned a lot about how gardenia scents are put together in the process.

Fleur Blanche Ajne

My Gardenia Fetish, Part 2

Fleur Blanche - White Flower Ajne FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Gardenia, white flowers, woody notes, fruity notes

Today’s find is Fleur Blanche, by Ajne perfumers in Carmel, California. It’s available as an oil or an extrait. I have only sampled the extrait. This is described by the maker as a pure gardenia scent, but to my nose it’s a complex walk through a garden of white flowers. The open is pure lovely jasmine. Clouds of jasmine, indolic enough to make this a complete sensual experience. You pause under the jasmine arbor, intoxicated, your skin quivering. Slowly you drift on past tuberoses, maybe a little white rose, an orange tree blossoming in the background. And then, gradually, you realize that gardenia has emerged and taken over. Not a fleshly gardenia with its faintly fungal undertone of the earth from which it sprung, but a dream-gardenia, floating above its origin. The very earthly beginning comes to an angelic conclusion.
The garden of white flowers is the primal garden, the origin and center, the place where Goddess meets God or two gods or two goddesses merge and everything else ceases to matter and love begins anew. We may never completely enter it, mundane concerns may seem to shut us out of it, but stand at the threshold and sniff and, if you don’t exactly enter that shimmering world, surely you will be lifted out of your own for a while.

Fleur Blanche Ajne Gardenia juantiagues FlickrPhoto Stolen juantiagues  Flickr

As with any other blissfully sensual experience, choose your occasion. These scents are not for the office, unless your office is a lot more liberal than mine.

Further reading: ScentHive and That Smell
Ajne has Fleur Blanc from $40/15ml Roll On Oil to $195/30ml Parfum Spray

Ajne makes a lot of other interesting 100% natural and organic oils that I’m happily testing my way through. The oils can be shipped anywhere. They do have a special permit to ship the extraits overseas, but it’s expensive. It might be more practical if a group of friends ordered together.

FeralJasmine

Olivine by Julie Wray for Olivine Atelier: Perfume Oil

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

My Gardenia Fetish, Part 1

It’s part of my nature to periodically become happily obsessed with a new subject or experience. While the obsession lasts, I must know everything I can find out about my current love, experience it in as many ways as possible, think about it day and night. I’m lucky that I have a profession and a husband that have never run short of new aspects for me to explore, and my obsession with perfume is turning out much the same way, because every note is the start of a million potential symphonies. Will any riff on a theme of jasmine ever be exactly like any other? In one respect my usual fascination with variation fails me, because I firmly believe that when you’ve smelled one mainstream fruity floral, you’ve smelled them all. However, that does not negate the principle.

Olivine Atelier Gardenia_II_by_Ivette_Stock DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

My current happy fascination is the scent of gardenias. There is no more beautiful floral scent in the world, and no scent harder to capture. As all avid gardenia fanciers know, the scent can’t be captured from the blossom by distillation or other standard methods, and has to be created through combinations of other scents. This is more or less successful, usually less. I enjoy all the scents that play with various aspects of gardenia, but I want the whole: the fleshy breathing mesmerizing flower in front of me, with its fascinating undertone of death, usually described as a fungal tone. I have heard it called the blue-cheese note, but I don’t smell it that way. To me it’s the scent of humid decay that rises from the moist Louisiana earth where my mother’s gardenias grew, the scent of old life being transmuted to new.

Olivine Atelier Olivine Ishikawa Ken FlickrPhoto Stolen Ishikawa Ken Flickr

The most photorealistic and completely gorgeous gardenia perfume that I know of is Tom Ford’s Velvet Gardenia, and curses on the TF corporate hyenas for discontinuing it. But it isn’t healthy to go around cursing people, and besides it wasn’t hurting them a bit, so I turned my attention to finding other gardenia scents. Today and in my next column I want to talk about two that you may not have come across.

Olivine by Olivine Atelier: Perfume Oil

Olivine Atelier Olivine EtsyPhoto Stolen Olivine Atelier Etsy

Today I want to introduce you to Olivine, from the indie scent company of the same name. It’s the love-child of perfumer Julie Wray, who may be more obsessed with gardenias than I am. She sells EDP and oil, and I strongly recommend the oil even if you usually prefer to spray. This is luscious creamy gardenia, bridal and yet very sensual. It is one of the most purely pretty things that you can put on yourself, and at 40 US dollars for 5 ml of potent oil, it’s a bargain. The fungal note is present but it’s very subtle, as if wafted away by the clean ocean breezes of Hawaii where the perfumer spends her free time. This gardenia goes everywhere in my purse, and at bad moments a dab on the back of my hand will remind me of the beauty of the moment, the shimmer of Now. She makes four other scents, all of which contain (surprise!) gardenia. Olivine is my favorite, but Oxley is a lovely take on the same theme, rounded out with other tropical flowers. I smell definite plumeria in Oxley, and I like it, but generally will opt for the pure gardenia.

Further reading: Eye Heart It
Beauty Habit has Olivine Atelier fragrances $48/5ml oil & $80/50ml EdP and ship to the world
Olivine Atelier Etsy Store has some great Sample Sets

Julie can ship her oils to Oz, although not the edps, and has a number of Australian customers already. You can find her on Etsy, and her shop is named Olivine. I love supporting Indie perfumers when the juice is good, and this oil is a pleasure to recommend.

Do you have a favourite gardenia fragrance?

FeralJasmine