Australian Perfume Junkies

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Rice flower, rose, aldehydes
Heart: Iris, water jasmine, violet
Base: Vetiver, cedar, heliotrope, musk, tonka bean, iris, resins

For all the notes in the formula, Dorina smells like IRIS, or rather a dreamy sun dappled Monet watercolor of the perfect Iris. Floral? Yes and sweet at times but never cloyingly so. Just beautiful, deep and sensuous Iris, root! stem, leaves and bloom. Powdery but never loud and screechy, just resplendent with quality and that certain “je ne sais quoi” through and through.

Donated Robert Herrmann

From the Dorin site: “ON STAGE OR OUT ON THE DOWN, DORINA SPARKLES WITH THE LIGHT OF A THOUSAND FLAMES.”
This powdery iris fragrance has been created as a tribute to those most rare women who have become timeless icons.
Secretively screened from view by the opaque glass of the bottle, this sophisticated fragrance is the perfect accompaniment to every aspect of a talented and daring woman’s life. From home to the red carpet, she is elegant whatever the occasion.

With 28 perfumes in the range, I can’t wait to get my nose around some of the others!

Dorin has a Retailers Page where you can find your countries stockists

What are some of YOUR favorite Iris scents?

Eau Parfumée Au Thé Bleu by Daniela (Roche) Andrier for BVLGARI 2015

February 22, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Post by TinaG

Hello APJ!

I have a soft spot for the Bvlgari tea series, as Au Thé Rouge was the first fragrance I ever wrote up for APJ and it holds special memories of that summer. And it changed my life. It all started with a travel size sample of Au Thé Rouge and subsequent hunt for and purchase of rooibos, the “rouge” tea in Au Thé Rouge. From there I started investigating styles of tea, and tea as a fragrance note. Two years later and my life is richer for these experiences; I’ve widened my knowledge of the world, found some beautiful “tea” fragrances, and thoroughly enjoy a quiet cuppa and breathing space now and then.

Eau Parfumée Au Thé Bleu by BVLGARI 2015

Eau Parfumée Au Thé Bleu by Daniela (Roche) Andrier

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lavender, shiso
Heart: Violet, tea
Base: Iris, musk

I was excited to hear about the release last year of Au Thé Bleu, Bvlgari’s fourth in the tea series. It showcases a ‘blue’ tea accord, inspired by one of my favourite teas, Chinese oolong.

Au Thé Bleu is a great cologne to both counteract and compliment a hot summers day. It opens with a smoky tea, cool lavender and subtle iris. The lavender is the star here. The fragrance stays crisp and cool for about an hour, before it warms up with a touch of tonka, giving the whole silage a comforting feel. Over the next two hours it flits around, alternating between warm and cool, supported by wonderfully light musk notes. The best way to describe the musk is clean but warm, not like a cool laundry musk. It’s sweeter, slightly in to musk-stick / lolly territory.

At 4 hours the fragrance has a peppery feel about it. I didn’t remember seeing any spicy notes listed but when I went back to Fragrantica and the Bvlgari website, there is a note listed of Shiso leaf which is described as having a peppery spicyness about it. It fits in well. As a cologne strength the dry down is surprising long-lasting, staying on my skin for about 8 hours.

Flickr

There is a fabulous uplifting quality to this scent, and it makes me feel as if I’m being warmed by the sun, whilst looking up at a blue summer sky across wide fields of lavender. The ‘blue’ accord is sheer and radiant – like holding up a corn-flower blue sapphire to the sun and watching the sparkles of light dance. ‘Happy’ is a simple word but the feeling of being happy can be profound. This fragrance makes me happy, it has a pureness from simplicity which is a pleasure to enjoy.

Further reading: Persolaise and Colognoisseur
David Jones has $184/150ml with FREE Australian delivery

Do you have a favourite fragrance you wear, which makes you feel happy?

Tina G xx

Not All Wrinkles Are Bad

February 21, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by AF Beauty

These few weeks I have been traveling, you will be pleased, I hope, to discover I have filled my suitcase with enough goodies to start my own shop, but hopefully it’s not so much that will incur the $300 excess baggage charges….

I have a few items I’m looking forward to reviewing – but this week I’m not writing a review.

Not All Wrinkles Are Bad

I have been here in the mother country with the people I grew up with. Some, quite literally, others I’ve known since Uni. Being here, spending time with them, it is an interesting challenge. I love many of them as though they were my family. We laugh until we cry; we talk of this that happened twenty and thirty years ago. We make plans for the next ten years and predict our futures. At the same time, we mourn deaths of the people in our lives, reminded by the loss of famous stars, already this year David Bowie and Alan Rickman and we are reminded life is short.

But while I’m here with these people, I have left behind my other family in Australia. Not my blood but my choice, people I laugh with until I cry, we talk of what happened, five and ten years ago and fill in the blanks of the other years to twenty and thirty. While I’m away, there have been laughs, deaths and changes that I’ve missed and I feel bereft that I wasn’t there for them in person. There is no substitute for a hand or hug that says more than words over email, text or Skype.

When it comes to beauty and my face, I often wish for the skin and face and condition of my youth. I teeter on the edge of aging, fighting time with a few of my favourite products but I look at furrowed forehead lines and wish for times where I never noticed it. I look at the lines at my cheeks and wonder how my years of laughter as a child has manifested in this?!

But I am also thankful. Those lines tell the story of my personal stresses and pain and that of my friends and family. If they could talk, they would tell stories of poorly constructed and unfunny jokes, made funny by being unfunny. They reflect the years of emotion I’ve felt. But in honesty, while I would sometimes with for smooth skin, I would not trade any of those lines for any of my tears or laughter. Each one contributes towards the face I see in the mirror as much as the person behind that.

It used to be more that we would see a life lived in a face wrinkled with time, whereas now we see only age. Isn’t it time we started to see again that not all wrinkles are bad?

Flickr

Some of the people I admire the most are not fresh faced teenagers but men and women who’s faces tell their story, think Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench, Dawn French, Daniel Craig and George Cloony. I wonder if they have taken Botox over tears?!!

How do you feel about your wrinkles? Would you sign up for Botox and fillers, or are you prepared to show them as evidence of your life lived?

Versilia Vintage Boise by Profumi del Forte 2009

February 21, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

Post by Joseph Sagona

Hi APJ

Versilia Vintage Boise by Profumi del Forte 2009

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bitter orange, bergamot, vetiver
Heart: Lavender, Bourbon geranium, honey
Base: Texas cedar, Indonesian patchouli, Tonka, elemi

I get the Honey, Virginia Cedar, Indian Patchouli, Tonka Bean and Lavender and Geranium, it opens up with a smoky, lemon tinged geranium and a bitter, soapy lavender, strong geranium and the lavender is mild. Twenty minutes in and the lavender and bitterness dissipates, in comes a warm, vanilla tinged Tonka bean, and a sweet, syrupy honey, the Tonka is soft and mild honey. After three hours the geranium and Tonka dissipate, the honey softens, in comes a dry, piney, Virginia Cedar, and an earthy with a touch of dirtiness patchouli, the Virginia Cedar is mild and the Indonesian patchouli is soft.

Versilia Vintage Boise reminds me of Thierry Mugler’s B’Men and Yohji Homme Yamamoto. B’Men is spicy, musky and woodier, Yamamoto is softer, sweeter and boozy.

This is a really lovely spicy, woody composition, that is very warm, vibrant, appealing, timeless, well balanced, smooth, with a little bit of character and flare.

Versilia Vintage Boise is a very, aromatic, fresh, balmy, slightly dirty, high quality, medicinal nuances, with soft citric undertones Oriental Woody fragrance. This can be worn all year ’round, it would be better suited for the Spring and Summer, I get average projection and average longevity, this was a great offering from Profumi del Forte.

From LuckyScent: “Being last in admiration for the wonder of the pinewood, while all around the world seethed with protest and marches: Versilia, isle of happiness in the magma of the Sixties. I reached the beach following the longest route, emerging amoung the shadows and silence of the residential areas, only to cast my boyish eye on the gardens full of flowers, to read the story of their creation in the pine bark, to enjoy that perfect concerto of aromas and wellbeing. Today I have rewritten those melodies on a pentagram of essences, with perfumed notes and rhythms of rediscovered serenity.”

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies
LuckyScent has $170/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/ml

Do you like the line?
Portia xx

Pichola by Bertrand Dachaufour for Neela Vermeire Creations 2015

February 17, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Erica Golding

Hello all of you gorgeous fragrance lovers!

Let’s just jump in and get personal. Pull up a velvet floor pillow, and please enjoy this glass of wine. My question today is:

Do you believe in love at first sight?

For me, I will say that my own sunlit optimism always battled with my analytical realism. This made me enjoy the idea of instantaneous true love, but I was never capable of believing in it. Of course, perfume truly possesses a force of enchantment, and all it took was a breath of this precious fragrance to make me believe (in love at first sniff, anyhow):

Pichola by Neela Vermeire Créations 2015

Pichola by Bertrand Duchafour

Photo Donated Neela Vermeire Creations

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Saffron, Juniper, Magnolia, Neroli, Clementine, Bergamot
Heart: Orange blossom absolute, Rose absolute, Tuberose absolute, Jasmine sambac, Ylang-ylang
Base: Benzoin absolute, Sandalwood, Driftwood, Haitian vetiver

I received a generous decant of Pichola as a gifted sample from a friend. Uncharacteristically, I decided to just go for it and spray it on my skin – no checking the notes, no sniffing from the vial first, no tiny skin test with just a drop. I don’t know why I chose to be so reckless that day, but let me tell you – it was a fabulous decision!

My first inhale shocked me. My instinctual reaction was overwhelmingly joyous bliss: visions of glittering light, giggling childlike innocence, warm tender breezes. This was soon tempered by my protective, cynical pessimism. The aroma was so intensely delightful that my fear of being let down soon took over, and I convinced myself that the beauty I beheld was only fleeting top notes, soon to disappear. So, I left my house for work, and huffed and huffed the magic of Pichola all day long. Slowly, I allowed myself to accept the exquisite truth – the blissful charm of that first sniff had lasted all day!!

I wore Pichola the next day. And then again for a third. I NEVER wear the same perfume twice in a row, and to wear it for three days – I mean, it just doesn’t happen. But when it comes to true love, it seems I’ve broken all my rules. J

On my skin, the aroma features a fresh tropical bouquet of dewy blossoms, balanced beautifully by sweet golden ice wine and precious woods. The accent notes make the composition shimmer with touches of saffron, vetiver, and bergamot. It is clean yet lush to me, a very difficult effect to execute in perfumery. I will say that jotting down my impressions of the notes is entirely insufficient and practically a useless exercise. Pichola is more than a swirl of perfumery materials. It is an emotion, it is a memory, it is a dream. It is unabashedly saturated with love, light, innocence, positivity, and joy. It is love at first sight.

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and What Men Should Smell Like
Neela Vermeire Creations has €205/60ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/.5ml

Have you ever felt this way about a new perfume? Do you have a favorite from Neela Vermiere Creations? Get comfy on that pillow, and let’s dish!

Stay sensationally scented,

-Erica

Atelier Cologne: Big Fuss About Atelier Cologne!

February 16, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

Hello APJ gang!

During the windup of last year I popped into Agence de Parfums Head Quarters and found Nick Smart bent over an interestingly archaic looking machine. It was in fact a leather embossing tool and array of cool looking metal fonts that went with. It was the personalizing tool for the Atelier Cologne travel cases I heard were coming into Australia in time for Christmas. Four of the machines will be on circulation in Australia and New Zealand, ongoing, so perhaps you’ll get to go see?! I know Myers Melbourne had an event in December and Sephora have one planned for the early 2016.

I sat down for a demo and had a play with the range, making a few delicious discoveries from the brand I have neglected until the recent renaissance Down Under! A curious creature, I sniffed about until I had a good overview and here are some snippets I learnt about Atelier Cologne

Atelier Cologne: Big Fuss About Atelier Cologne!

The brand started in 2009 aiming to be the first fragrance house to exclusively “deal” in cologne. However owners Sylvie Ganter and Christophe Cervasel pushed boundaries and have given the classic cologne a big squeeze (get it??), inventing the Cologne Absolue…designed not to disappear but evolve on the skin.

The formula? Take an overdose of traditional citrus notes for transparency, add to these additional raw materials for depth and richness then add a high percentage of this “juice” (15-20%) to the base! The result should be longer lasting power out of cologne style fragrances.

So have they managed it?

My instant eyebrow raises went to:

Blanche Immortelle was an instant knockout. Packaged in a metallic bottle, smelling unique, heavy and beautiful. Australian sandalwood, immortelle absolute, jasmine, rose, patchouli and vetiver give great velvety depth and impact. Orange, mimosa, mandarin and bergamot add sparkle. For development on skin this is just WOW. Quite a beautiful, intimate journey. I will buy a bottle of this as autumn kicks in.

Trefle Pur – I JUST LOVE IT. Listed as bitter orange, violet leaves and patchouli I also get a fig and freshly GREEN cut wet grass, moss, patchouli and basil. So so very green and cooling. I feel like a frog hiding under rainforest canopy!

Beth on Perfume Smellin’ Things on Guerlain Shalimar.

Bois Blonds – Light, crisp, musky-wood and citrusy white floral blend. It was my final pick to go in my personalized case. Orange blossom for me is always my “happy place”. Combined with jasmine, amber, musk, bergamot, lemon and neroli, it’s an easy to wear, portable fragrance for the upcoming heat of summer. I want to layer this with other fragrances in the day as a “top up” and it will live in my handbag. Not sweet, but CRISP. Perfect.

How cute that Atelier Cologne invites wearers to create their own signature spray bottle by engraving a 30ml leather case for free, to complement any purchase of a full sized bottle! Do you have a stockest near you? Which of the range have you tried? Which were your favourites?

Further reading: Now Smell This
Libertine Perfumerie has the range
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

I look forwards to hearing!

Ainslie X

Back-up Bottles: Obsession or Collection?

February 15, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 76 Comments

Post by Azar

Hello Perfume Pals,

The other day, while digging through “the collection” in search of an old Bal a Versailles, I was surprised to find a number of un-opened back-up bottles of fragrances that I still like or even love but rarely use. I had forgotten that I had so many of these extras lying around and began to wonder what had prompted me to purchase them. Had I been dreading a reformulation or discontinuation? Were the extras received as gifts? Did I find such a good deal that yet another bottle was simply irresistible? Why wasn’t I using up these scents? This last question opened up a real can of worms: How much perfume do I actually use?

Back-up Bottles: Obsession or Collection?

YouTube

I pondered this for a while and realized that I probably average no more than two sprays or dabs per day – unless, of course, I am testing or sampling or writing a post. At two per day I will need several lifetimes to use up all the perfume I’ve stashed away over the many years I’ve been collecting and enjoying fragrance. Here is an incomplete list of partially full bottles, ranging in size from 30 to 300 ml, all backed up with at least two extra, full size bottles:

Annick Goutal Grand Amour
Aramis Calligraphy Rose
Basile EdP – vintage
Bourbon French Oriental Rose
Dior Hypnotic Poison EdT – vintage
Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls EdP – vintage
Fidji EdT – vintage
Jacomo Silences EdT – vintage
L’eau de Monteil EdP – vintage
Lucien Lelong Sirocco cologne – very vintage
Maria Amalia
Micallef Black
Micallef Gardenia
Niki de Saint Phalle EdT – vintage
Olympic Orchids Siam Proun
Queen Latifah
Rasasi Amber Oud
Red Moscow
Sung EdT – vintage
Tom Ford Estee Lauder Youth Dew Amber Nude (I’d forgotten I had this and bought another!)

The list goes on, but there is simply not enough room to complete it in this post! I have reviewed several of these, either on APJ or on Perfume NW.

There will be a HUGE giveaway in March when Portia gets back from Europe.

How many back-up bottles do you have in your collection? How much fragrance in the form of parfum, extrait, cologne, EdP or EdT do you use on a daily basis? It’s OK to guess!

Azar xx

Anne-Marie’s Perfume & Mothers

February 14, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by Anne-Marie

No, it’s not Mother’s Day just yet, don’t panic!
I was mucking about on the perfume blogs the other day and came across a very striking post by March on Perfume Posse dating right back to 2006. Not a review, but a meditation, you might say, on her mother’s perfume, Lanvin’s My Sin.

Perfume & Mothers

It reminded me of a few other posts of this nature that I have read over the years. A few bloggers – mostly women – have written very movingly about the perfumes worn by their mothers, and the emotions that a whiff of perfume can elicit. These posts make for very interesting reading and I thought it might be good to bring them together here.

The mothers have left their daughters with very strong perfume memories. Usually the women were indeed very strong women, and a girl’s first lessons in femininity are often learned at the dressing table through the wonder of watching her mother apply perfume. If you are familiar with the latest Chanel No 5 ad, featuring Gisele Bündchen, you will remember how beautifully this moment is evoked.
In different ways the bloggers’ daughters have tried to ‘read’ their mothers’ lives through their perfumes. They conjure up the mother as young woman, younger perhaps than her daughter is at the time of writing. They try to imagine their mothers as people separate from their children, as career women perhaps, or lovers to their husbands, or trying to juggle all their many roles.

Flickr

What were my parents like before we children came along? Can I gain any insight into them just as people, not as parents? Does perfume open a different window on to my mother’s life and personality than the person I normally remember? If so, where do I belong in that picture?

Anyway, here are the posts.
March on Perfume Posse on Lanvin My Sin.

Shelia on the Alembicated Genie on a variety of classic perfumes, especially VC&A’s First.

Michelle on Glass Petal Smoke on Dior Miss Dior.

Gaia, the Non-Blonde, on the original Chloe.

Barbara on Yesterday’s Perfume on Revlon Charlie. (Her mother also wore Rochas Femme, Lancome Magie Noir, Scherrer No 1, and Ungaro Diva.)

After you’ve had a browse, come back and share your own memories, if you would like to. And if know of similar posts about fathers, I’d love to know. These seem to be much rarer. And please share your own memories of what your Dad wore.

Anne-Marie

Pink Sugar Sensual by Aqualina 2009

February 10, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Post by Poodle

Definition of Sensual: of or arousing gratification of the senses and physical, especially sexual, pleasure

I always think Pink Sugar is one of those perfumes whose target audience is the younger crowd, I’m talking tweens and teens. It seems odd to me to have a flanker called Sensual for that demographic but hey, what do I know?

Pink Sugar Sensual by Aqualina 2009

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Black currant, tangerine, bergamot
Heart: Orange blossom, jasmine petals, tiare
Base: Vanilla, black sugar, sandalwood

I do know that the original Pink Sugar is a guilty pleasure for a lot of you. You’ve got a bottle or maybe a rollerball hidden on your perfume shelf and you never tell anyone about it for fear that’ll revoke your perfumista card. I received Pink Sugar Sensual as a gift. I like the original but don’t own it. I had hopes for Pink Sugar Sensual as being more grown up and less candy floss but my idea of sensual is not what this perfume is.

Bright, juicy sugar crusted mandarins, oranges, clementines…pick any orange citrus fruit. It’s in here. Citrus isn’t sensual to me but let’s see where this goes.

Not very far actually. The citrus and some other fruity notes linger a bit. It’s sweet and I don’t think there’s much that’s natural in this bottle so to sniff my skin up close it’s a bit harsh to me. Better to sniff from a safe distance. It’s not bad just not something I’d want to cuddle up with.

I know there are floral notes because the list tells me there are but honestly all I get is fruit. Eventually the vanilla becomes noticeable and tempers the juiciness. I don’t smell the licorice which others have mentioned in other reviews. I’m assuming that’s what the black sugar note might be but I really have to force myself to find any licorice.

I know I’m not making a strong case for this one. It’s really not terrible but in my opinion the original is more sensual than Sensual. If you’re looking for a sweet citrusy scent that is cheap and cheerful give this one a try. If you’ve got a fruity perfume like one of the Britney Spears or Taylor Swift perfumes you probably don’t need this. I’ll also add that at no point during wearing this do I feel sensual or want to writhe around on the floor in my unmentionables like the model in the ad. I’m sure the husband would be thrilled if it worked like that. Sadly, as I’m writing this I’m in my pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers, none of which match, and I’m not feeling the least bit sexy or sensual. Warm and comfy? Yes. Sensual? Not so much. We both agree that at least I smell reasonably good compared to some other things I’ve sampled recently.