Contributors

Finishing a Bottle – To Repurchase or Not…

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 54 Comments

.

Sandra

.

Hi there APJ! How are you doing?

We are two weeks into the new year and I am feeling the January blues. After all of the merrying, socializing and festive lights, I feel down with the grey weather, short days and routine. This happens every year and I know it will pass soon. In order to get myself out of my funk I do a bit of tidying up and organizing. Sounds weird I know. But after I get through the general house cleaning, stowing away all the Christmas decorations and getting back into the school rhythm, I like to get into my perfume closet and shuffle things around a bit.

Finished bottle replacements Ann Larie Valentine Party mess FlickrFlickr Continue reading →

Classic Patchouli Balmy by Von Eusersdorff 2018

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

.

Val the Cookie Queen

.

Hello Fragrant Fraggie Fiends,

This is a Patchouli Public Service Announcement

Classic Patchouli Balmy by Von Eusersdorff 2018

The Seven Year Jubilee Limited Edition

Patchouli essential oil can be an antidepressant, an aphrodisiac, a sedative, it can fill one with hope. It is not adored by all, but for those who do fall in love with it, the relationship usually Continue reading →

Top 5 2017 Perfumes: Gabriella

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

.

Gabriella

.

Hiya Perfume Junkies!
A happy and fragrant New Year to you all.

Today I’m talking about my top five fragrances for 2017. These were not all new releases for the year – just the top perfumes that I discovered over the past twelve months. Last year was a bit of a watershed fragrance-wise: I visited Paris for the first time since falling down the perfumista rabbit hole and I also explored a bit more outside my white floral comfort zone. So what scents made the cut for me?

Top 5 2017 Perfumes: Gabriella

Melodie de L'Amour Parfums Dusita FragranticaFragrantica

Melodie de L’Amour by Pissara Umavijani for Dusita 2015

The heartstopper. I’d given up on finding another lush gardenia-centered fragrance when Tom Ford’s Velvet Gardenia was discontinued some years ago, but when Melodie de L’Amour hit my skin, it was utter devotion at first sniff. A buttery gardenia at the height of its bloom paired with sultry tuberose, jasmine and a hint of honey. This exquisite white floral was made all the more special due to the fact that I acquired my bottle in the city of lights.

First in Fragrance has €295/50ml

1996 Inez & Vinoodh Byredo FragranticaFragrantica

1996 by Ben Gorham for Byredo 2013

The vintage starlet. I didn’t expect to fall in love with 1996’s soft hush of iris and violet that’s powdery, delicate and slightly sweet. Just when you think the floral notes are the only things going on, an ambery leather lends a touch of old school decadence. It’s the scent of vintage luggage, fur stoles and black mesh pillbox hats paired with a slick of red lipstick.

Mecca Cosmetica starts at $187/50ml

Stilettos on Lex Jul et Mad Paris FragranticaFragrantica

Stilettos on Lex by Dorothee Piot for Jules et Mad 2012

The Parisian chic. I found Stilettos thanks to the lovely staff at Jovoy in Paris who included it with an enormous bunch of samples when I purchased my bottle of Melodie de L’Amour. Stilettos is a grown up fruity floral with a touch of 1980’s powerhouse about it. A bright plum transcends into a rich melange of violet, rose and lily of the valley tempered by aldehydes.

Jules et Mad starts at EUR22.50/5ml

Velvet Haze Byredo FragranticaFragrantica

Velvet Haze by Ben Gorham for Byredo 2017

The hippie luxe. I usually only like patchouli with rose, but this proved to me that coconut and patchouli is a pretty awesome combination. Here the patchouli is gauze-like, it usual pungent head-shop vibe has been stripped back and white washed, all pale and ethereal. The coconut is slightly salty in tone, giving the scent a tropical but edible quality.

Mecca Cosmetica starts at $160/50ml

Vetiver 46 Le Labo FragranticaFragrantica

Vetiver 46 by Mark Buxton for Le Labo 2006

The unexpected choice. Vetiver is about as far away from a big white floral as you can get, but this still enraptured me from the get go. A strikingly green bergamot gives way to piney incense, cloves and a touch of vetiver. A brooding scent that’s strangely comforting.

Mecca Cosmetica starts at $264/50ml

So, what were your top perfume picks for 2017?
With much love till next time!
G x

Eau de Velours by Michel Almairac, Mylène Alran for Bottega Veneta 2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

.

Sandra

.

Happy New Year dear APJ!

Wishing you all a healthy, happy and safe 2018. 2017 was a turbulent year for many and I hope that the new year will show us a kinder side.

We spent the holidays with my folks in town. It has been wonderful having them here and my son has enjoyed the extra attention. We have been blessed with an extraordinary mild winter so far and I can only hope that continues.

I gifted my mum the new Bottega Veneta Eau de Velours and I find myself sneaking a spritz or two here and there. It is such a surprise for me that I love this one so much. The original Bottega Veneta was not a huge love – it was far too creamy for me.

Eau de Velours by Bottega Veneta 2017

Eau de Velours by Michel Almairac, Mylène Alran

Eau de Velours Bottega Veneta FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accord:
Top: Bergamot, pink pepper
Heart: Rose, jasmine, plum, spices
Base: Patchouli, leather

The first impression of the deep burgundy (leaning towards purple) bottle tied with a velvet ribbon makes me think that a luxurious perfume awaits me.

First sprayed, it starts out with a fresh blast of bergamot. It is quite refreshing but moves along quickly turning a bit spicy, rosey and plummy, with just a hint of leather in the background. I personally love the plum and spices because it reminds me of certain aspects of vintage Shiseido Feminite du Bois with its rich and deep plum note. Most fresh plums I have eaten have been rather tart in taste with only a hint of sweetness that could have been had it been left on the tree to ripen. The plum note in Eau de Velours is not juicy, nor is it sweet – it is slightly tart at the beginning. Then the plum is mixed with the intense rose and floral notes. Speaking of floral notes, the Bottega Veneta website says that Eau de Velours includes iris butter. Personally, I do not detect any iris butter, but hopefully others will experience the iris.

Eau de Velours Bottega Veneta edro_de_Camprobín_Still_Life_of_Iris,_Lilies,_Roses_and_Carnations_In_Elaborate_Urn WikiMediaWikiMedia

The rose accompanies me from first spray all the way to the late dry down. It is a lovely deep and velvety dark rose with the natural scent of actual rose. I bury my nose into my wrist and inhale deeply feeling the opulence surround me. Throughout the development, Eau de Velours has a sophisticated smooth leather note reminiscent of new kid leather gloves. Patchouli is added and it is quite prominent at first but dries down differently than what I normally expect from patchouli. It is faintly beautiful leaving me feeling elegant and dressed up. Now it is time for the red lipstick to come out!

Eau de Velours Bottega Veneta still life PXHerePDI

Further reading: Colognoisseur
David Jones has $170/50ml

Do you like dark, gothic rose perfumes? What did you do for New Year’s? What did you wear on New Year’s Eve?

Oodles of fragrant kisses,
Sandra

CHANGED!! Fleur de Lalita GIVEAWAY WINNERS

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

.

Portia

.

Hey APJ,

Wonderful giveaway! Thanks to Dusita and Val for their generosity.
It was so good to read all your amazing comments. Each and every one of you gave us a piece of yourselves.
Portia xx

Fleur de Lalita GIVEAWAY WINNER

Fleur de Lalita Parfums Dusita FragranticaFragrantica

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Fleur de Lalita 7.5ml travel atomizer
P&H Anywhere in the world

 

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 28th December 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
I´ll chuck all the names into my dead armadillo basket and pick one out.

Fleur de Lalita 7.5ml:

Jillian

Runner Ups: win a Dusita Sample Set

Elaine Richard

Diana

The winners will have till Sunday 31st 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

Camel extrait de parfum by Christian Carbonnel for Zoologist 2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

.

Erica Golding

.

Hello and loving winter greetings to you all, whether you’re steaming in the southern hemisphere or shivering up north with me!

Here’s a beauty that has already received a tsunami of glowing praise, and I’m here to offer up my thoughts. I’ve got a sample of Zoologist Camel!

Camel extrait de parfum by Zoologist

Camel Zoologist Perfumes FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Dates, dried fruits, rose, olibanum, amber, jasmine, myrrh, orange blossom, incense, cedar, cinnamon, musk, agarwood (oud), sandalwood, tonka bean, vanilla, vetiver, civet

I have sampled a few Zoologist offerings, and they’ve been fun and unique, but this is the first one that has me breathing deeply with ecstasy! I’ve noticed by reading reviews that this perfume seems to vary quite a bit from person to person, and my experience is unique as well.

On my skin, Camel opens with a delicious ripe red fruit accord, which makes me think of sweetened pomegranate juice. This sweet fruit-forward cloak is intense and addictive, and completely dominates the majority of the wearlength on me. I can practically taste the sensual delight! It’s juicy, really it is. When I over-apply with fervor, I can faintly detect the oud, but only at the beginning and not very noticeably. The resinous notes are very quiet to start, and have a crackling dry quality thanks to the woody frankincense and cedar. They warm up a bit more once the fruits have calmed, but overall Camel is really a fruity perfume on me.

Camel Zoologist David Stanley Camel Caravan FlickrFlickr

LuckyScent has $135/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $4/0.5ml

So there you have it, Camel is a softly delicious fruity delight for me! Have you gotten your nose on this perfume yet? What is it like for you? Everyone seems to report back different impressions, it’s fun to read them as they pop up!

Love and light,

-Erica

 2017. Music, Films, Book and Fleur de Lalita by Dusita

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 105 Comments

.

Val the Cookie Queen

.

Happy Feast Of St Stephen APJ

It has been one fabulous year for music, I have a deep rooted love for the older stuff, Velvets, Stooges, MC5, Doors, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, Bowie etc etc. But I love pop music and crank up the commercial music in the car too. Mostly though I listen to my music on headphones in the gym. It motivates and inspires me to get right into both cardio and weights. So what have I been mainlining this year?

Cookie Queen 2017. The Music, The Films, A Book

Plus A Boxing Day Perfume Giveaway

MUSE. Everything.
Imagine Dragons. Going to see them next May,
Placebo. Never get sick of them.
Rag and Bone Man. Human. Love this hip-hop, rap, grime influenced stuff. He has such a wonderful voice.
London Grammar. Although they have been around for a few years, I only came across them in 2017. Check out there amazing cover of Chris Isaac´s “Wicked Game“.
Eminem. Eminem. Eminem. The new album Revival. His recent 5 songs for the BBC with Skylar Grey. I’m dying. It makes every nerve in my body stand on end.
(And Blondeswunder wants to marry him. I want to see him. Would travel.)
The Lumineers. Everything.
Lorde. Everything.
Stormzy. Gang Signs and Prayer. English rapper. First grime album to reach number one. Great for pushing weights.
Foo Fighters. Never tire.

Hell or High Water (2016) IMDbIMDb

Two films stick out. Both of which I went to twice.
“Hell or High Water” A Neo-Western crime thriller. With Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Gil Birmingham. Superb music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
Brilliant cinematography.
“The Party“. A British black comedy. A sharp satire of love and politics. Very very good.

Books.
Just one. Philip Pullman. His dark materials Trilogy. Twenty years later than most, but just in time for his new trilogy, The Book of Dust. Part one, La Belle Sauvage. I read other books, but these were my highlights.

My good friend Kirk, who has featured several times in posts, found himself hanging out in Jovoy this year, and seems to have been buying rather a lot of `fumes. I believe young perfumista status has been reached. I claim all responsibilty. I began to train with a personal trainer five months ago, coincidentally Kirk was with me when I started. He showed an interest in the perfume conversation we were having. As Kirk conveniently purchased a bottle of Malle´s Monsieur the next day, we grabbed him some samples. Now he’s spiralling.

Fleur de Lalita by Dusita 2017

Fleur de Lalita Parfums Dusita FragranticaFragrantica

Which brings me to my Giveaway. I missed the Parfum Dusitas party last year. Getting to try every new thing is just not possible. Pissara Umavijani was kind enough to send me a couple of travel sized samples of her new creation Fleur de Lalita. It will not be launched until next year. A very lovely white floral, including jasmine, with a bitter galbanum threader through them. It slowly dries down to a soft sandalwood and tonic base. It is very elegant, quite feminine and beautifully done. I have a 7.5ml travel atomizer to giveaway.

Happy New Year to the APJ Family.
Bussis
CQ

Fleur de Lalita GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Fleur de Lalita 7.5ml travel atomizer
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: Music, films, books? What have you been listening to, or reading or watching

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 28th December 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
I´ll chuck all the names into my dead armadillo basket and pick one out.
The winners will have till Sunday 31st 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

 

 

Helicriss by Sylvaine Delacourte 2016

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

.

Kate Apted

.

G’day APJ family,

The weather in the southern states of Australia has not been particularly ‘spring-like’ lately. I finally got around to separating my scent collection into four piles; one for each season. I am beginning to think this somewhat futile an exercise, simply because I never know what each day will be like. As a result, I dig into my other piles for more temperate offerings. It is pretty much back to disordered mayhem. I did, however, find a little 7.5ml bottle of summery sunshine I’d completely forgotten I had!

Way back at the beginning of the year, I ordered Sylvaine Delacourte’s sample set. I quite liked the range, but I found them a little quiet in general. Musk based, with each scent promoting a different facet based on Ms Delacourte’s memories. I was drawn to the powderiness of Florentina and the smooth ylang ylang of Lilylang. The most interesting I found was Helicriss. So, over the winter months, I ordered travel sizes of four of them. In time, they got lost amongst all my smaller sized bottles. The one it seems I had used the most of, though, was Helicriss.

Helicriss by Sylvaine Delacourte 2016

Helicriss Sylvaine Delacourte FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, cinnamon, rosemary
Heart: Grapefruit, lemon, tonka bean
Base: Immortelle, patchouli, benzoin, musk

What is so enticing about this one? It has a very unusual blend of notes to produce a musky curry. There is no doubt immortelle is a major note, but it is the blend of patchouli, grapefruit, benzoin and the musk that gives it a firey heat. I am grateful this is a skin hugging scent. It would be completely headache inducing if it projected Poison or Angel like. It is the constant reminder of the scent just being there that makes it pique my curiosity.


Helicriss Sylvaine Delacourt green-curry PixabayPDI

I have absolutely no idea how others find it. Thirty minutes after applying, the curry accord dies down to leave a warm, aromatic rosemary and musk. So, by the time I leave the house, Helicriss has already begun its metamorphosis into a herbally musk. No one has ever made mention of this scent at all, so I guess it is polite enough to wear around others. Interestingly, of the entire range, which does lean to a slight ballet-pink-feminine feel, I think this would smell heavenly on a man. There is one guy at work I am hoping I can get to spray this on himself. After months of helping him search for THE scent, I secretly suspect Helicriss is it.

When I used Helicriss over winter, it always gave a feel of dried grass, hay and the dense heat of the midday humidity of an Australian summer day. It has a dusty, wind like sense that makes me yearn for a sudden rainstorm. I am unsure how Helicriss will fare over the blistering heat of summer, but now that it has joined my spring pile, I’ll get to find out. In the meantime, Helicriss will bring sunshine on a temperamental grey spring day.

Helicriss Sylvaine Delacourt australian wheatfield PixabayPDI

Further reading: Now Smell This and Scent for Thought
LuckyScent has $160/100ml and Samples

Which scents suggest, or are indicative of, summer months in your country?
K xxx

Ambient Scent Wishlist for Santa

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

.

Sandra

.

Hello dear APJ! How are you all doing?

The holidays are a around the corner and thankfully I am done with the shopping and just have to finish wrapping everything. We are having my parents over for Christmas this year and it will be special as my eight year old has not spent Christmas with his grandparents since he was six months old.

While I was telling my husband what I had bought for our son, he exclaimed that I am the most difficult person to buy a gift for! Seriously???!!! Me -difficult to shop for??!!! If he would listen to what I have been whispering to him (not so much whispering as it is me telling him what I wish for)… He was in Tokyo for a week and went looking but came back empty handed because he could not find it despite the fact that he had Japanese colleagues helping. He is off to Rome this week so fingers crossed… In all honesty I would love a new set of sheets and new bath towels but he says that he refuses to buy household items for Christmas – I understand his problem. So if I am honest with myself, perhaps I am a tad challenging to shop for.

The one luxury item that I am loving this year is ambient scents. So, while I am not holding my breath on receiving something scented for Christmas, I would love to share with you what has had me intrigued over the past six months.

Ambient Scent Wishlist for Santa

While buying the roses for the perfume talk at the school, I spotted a brand which was completely new to me. L’Objet. The florist carries the bath salts, bars of soap and room sprays. I started out smelling all of the bath salts and loved each one of them and would have bought one on the spot if I had not seen the room sprays.

Rose Noire Room Spray L'ObjetL’Objet

The black bottle is heavy and has a white label with the name of the scent and two reliefs on either side of the name. Very modern and elegant. The one that came home with me is called Rose Noire which is all about the exquisite rose and tea with some added spices for good measure. I spray the room, the upholstery and sit back and dream of walking through a garden of rare fragrant roses. Divine. I will certainly be trying out the two other room sprays in the collection.

Flora Di Fornasetti Room Spray MeccaMecca

Another brand that I have always loved is Fornasetti. Their incense sticks are subtle and leave the room scented for hours. This summer I splurged on the Fornasetti room spray Flora which leaves a scented trail of a white floral bouquet which I find stunning on a warm day. It of course helps that it comes in a gorgeous ceramic holder with a lid and looks like a piece of art.

Cire Trudon Becker MintyBecker Minty

Cire Trudon is another brand that I started exploring this summer. I am eyeing one of their Christmas candles with the festive scents and colours of the ceramic holders.

There is a whole new world out there with home fragrances that I have yet to tap into. If I cannot have flowers every week, why not a room spray or a candle that brings a smile to my face.

Do you like to scent your home? Do you use candles, incense or room sprays? Any suggestions for me? I would love to hear what you have to say.

Be safe over the holidays.
Oodles of fragrant kisses, Sandra