Make Perfume NOT War – The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc

July 27, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Hey there Perfume Junkies,

Following on from FeralJasmine’s story this week about Afghanistan Orange Blossom my friend and APJ contributor Jordan River, from The Fragrant Man, has put together a story about The Noble Rose: another of The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc fragrances aimed at giving farmers in Afghanistan something else as a cash crop than poppies. This is world changing economics in action and all through fragrance. AH MAY ZING!!
Portia xx

Guest Post by Jordan River

Pashtun People, Afghanistan 2007, Oil on canvas.
Artist: Durar Bacri, Palestine.

Make Perfume NOT War

The Story of The Noble Rose

Fields of rose bushes have replaced some opium growing areas in Afghanistan. The petals are handpicked and distilled into rose oils and absolutes for the world markets.

Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Aghanistan. Photo: Sandra Calligaro

There is one fragrance company that has placed the Afghan Rose on the new ingredient shelf – The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc – and so far, only one perfume has been released from this rose source.

Noble Rose of Afghanistan was signed by Canadian perfumer Susanne Langmuir in 2010. This company is owned by Barb Stegemann, the same person who dreamt up the concept of an export path for the harvest conversion. Stegemann was considering the consequences of war and peace, and her considerations became reality after investment through the TV program Dragons’ Den where she found her investor and business partner, W. Brett Wilson.

Stegemann sources her rose oil from Abdullah Arsala who owns Gulestan Essential Oils based in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Abdullah also grows orange blossoms and distills them into essential oils for The 7 Virtues Afghanistan Orange Blossom Eau de Parfum.

Abdullah Arsala, Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

These essential oils travel to market on what Stegemann says is the most dangerous highway in the world.

Barb Stegemann

The 7 Virtues pays $10,000 USD per litre of rose oil to the Afghan supplier, Abdullah Arsala and the farmers.

There are 178 hand picked rose petals in every bottle of The 7 Virtues Noble Rose of Afghanistan. Viewers of Name This – a show on History TV – chose the name of the fragrance, naming it Noble Rose to honour soldiers, and to reference the rose farmers who no longer grow poppies.

Photos: Abdullah Arsala

Notes
Afghan Rose, Carnation, Clove, Peppercorn

This spicy rose, Noble Rose of Afghanistan is available from The 7 Virtues.
International shipping rates are available via email.

Samples from The Perfumed Court start at $US4.95 / 1 ml to $US36.95 / 8ml.

Pushtan People, Afghanistan
via The Pushtan Forum

Tribal people, Pakistan / Afghanistan

Further Reading & Viewing
Afghanistan Orange Blossom – APJ review by FeralJasmine
Gathering the Ingredients for a Love Story
Elements New York
Barb Stegemann on Dragons’ Den
Naming the Fragrance
The 7 Virtues Review at Cafleurebon
Oil on Canvas $3,600 – Alhoush, House of Arab Art and Design

Afghanistan Orange Blossom by The 7 Virtues 2010

July 25, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Post by FeralJasmine

Lately I have been trying out The 7 Virtues. I do not mean by this that I have been leading a balanced and philosophical life. Far from it, in fact. But I have been thinking about the perfume habit that we all share and the effect that it has on the larger community. First, of course, there is the personal benefit: we are harmlessly occupied sniffing our own and each others’ wrists rather than other mischief that we could get into, and none of us is likely to get into a more dangerous addiction problem because, after buying perfume, we couldn’t possibly afford street drugs. If lovely scents lighten our moods at dark times and make us kinder to those around us, that certainly serves the greater good. Many Islamic cultures consider the wearing of scent to be a gift to others, and our sillage may lighten a moment for somebody else. And then there is the larger community, our nations and our planet. Do perfumes serve a purpose there?

Afghanistan Orange Blossom by The 7 Virtues 2010

Photo Stolen The 7 Virtues

Definitely, in my view, and in all kinds of ways. Some are easy to define and some are more ephemeral. Lately I’ve become interested in a Canadian Company, The 7 Virtues, that wants perfume to serve a very specific and practical purpose. Their mission is to create perfumes that use raw materials sourced from communities in Afganistan and other war-torn areas that are trying to rebuild themselves. CEO Barb Stegemann wants to offer farmers a financially viable alternative to the poppy crops that create such hazards both in their communities and in our own. You can read more about their mission at http://www.the7virtues.com/about.html

So okay, this is a noble mission that we can all appreciate, but how’s the juice? The one I chose to try first is their original scent, Afganistan Orange Blossom. Their website tempted me toward this one: “This precious organic oil is made from delicate orange blossoms harvested by Afghan farmers who bravely choose to tend these ancient groves instead of the poppy crop. We buy this excellent oil at fair market value from our supplier who is rebuilding his community. Poetry festivals are held during the harvest in Jalalabad to celebrate the historic orange blossom groves. If you look closely, you can see tiny flecks of orange blossom petals in your bottle of perfume!”

Photo Stolen National Geographic

The idea of reading poetry under blooming ancient Afghanistan Orange Blossom trees is irresistible, hypnotic, ironically narcotic. The fragrance itself goes on in a cloud of orange blossoms, but rather than hypnotic they are light, ethereal, and purely pretty. There is a slight touch of soap, enough for freshness but not enough to be annoying. The scent is not prim, but it is modest, entirely befitting a philosopher queen. Some jasmine joins the orange blossom as it develops but it is light, fresh jasmine with nothing of the narcotic or indolic about it. Freesia notes do appear as promised. This is a clean scent in the best possible sense: not some awful fabric-softener knockoff, but a sunlit natural smell that makes me happy for the moment that is given to me.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

Afghanistan Orange Blossom is an EDP but seems more like EDC strength to me. Longevity is a few hours on skin for me, and I like to spray a scarf or put some on my blouse to continue the pleasure (no stains so far.) It has become my favorite work scent, and I can’t imagine anybody being offended by it. Do take into account that I live in a desert climate, and in damper air it may be stronger than I describe. You can feel good about buying this fragrance, and it will return the compliment.

Further reading: Perfume Posse and BoTO
The Perfumed Court starts at $5/ml

Check out The 7 Virtues Website for buying in North America & Europe

FeralJasmine x

London Scent Shopping and Serial Killers 2013

July 24, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 34 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

London Scent Shopping and Serial Killers

CQ´s way to Bloom Perfumery

I headed to London a couple of weeks ago for a wedding and to purchase two Vero Profumo fragrances. There are times when ordering online is just perfect, and others where I chose to wait until I can purchase from a shop. I saw that Vero´s perfumes were available in Harrod´s and in Bloom Perfumery in Spitalfields. Concept Scents Store. In the East End of London. No question in my mind where I was heading.

I stayed with at 23 Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill with a couple of girlfriends. They were kind enough to take a few days off work, so off we went first thing on Monday morning. I was über-excited. Finally I could stop stretching my samples of Rubj EdP and Mito. We jumped off the bus in Spitalfields, and walked through the beautiful covered market, although newly renovated, it has been there since about 1887.

So we arrived. 4 Hanbury Street, London. Walking into the shop, felt like landing at the bottom of the proverbial rabbit hole. It smelled absolutely divine. I have not been into that many perfume stores, but enough to know that this one was special. It gave me the same feeling I used to get when I would discover small indie/reggae record stores off the beaten track when I was much younger. That feeling of having discovered something totally unique, cool, and not for the masses.

Oxana, the delightful owner, came to greet us. Originally from Moscow, she has now lived in London for about seven years. After making sure that my two Vero fragrances were there, we started to talk. I wondered how she had ended up selling Vero Profumo.

Oxana: “Yes, I met Vero a couple of years before I decided to open the boutique. er passion and great craftsmanship at making her perfume creations has influenced me somewhat. I eventually thought that there should be a place (just normal, not elitist like the Harrod´s establishment) where people can buy the very best of modern perfume made with creativity and passion. It´s disappointing how much the generic mass market perfumes get promoted and how little people know about the finest niche brands- Hopefully I am making my small contribution to change that and that independent perfumers get more attention.”

From Bloom

Oxana also told me that a Russian lady will have about 7 fragrances in her collection. If not full bottles, then at least decants. I found that very interesting actually, because that is about the number I regularly wear over a year. No counting samples I try of course, but how many of them do I go onto purchase?

The shop is elegantly simple. Perfumes I knew of, and those I had never heard of. I intend to work my way through, sniffing all of them. There are hand written labels on the perfumes giving the list of top, middle and base notes. There are small black glass jars next to some of the perfumes, and these contain only the base notes. Brilliant. If you don´t care for the base notes then you know you can move onto something else. (A bit like allowing special customers to smell my vanillas!!)

I left the shop elated, and fell exhausted into the iconic Poppie´s Fish and Chips restaurant, situated conveniently right next door. The best fish and chips in the world.

So APJ, this is CQ´s direction now. Scents from the here and now. For blogging at least. Because I do love other scents too!

Serial Killers? The first to recognize why this was a part of my fragrant trip, will receive a nice fat sample of Phaedon`s Rouge Avignon, my new love. Courtesy of Oxana.

If you’d like to shop at Bloom UK Website(<<<<JUMP)

Rock on and lock your doors at night.

CQ supplied all the photos from her iPhone

Top 5 Perfume Wishlist 2013

July 23, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Post by Gabriella

As many of you know, I had a bit of a cleanout of my collection last weekend, thanks to the terrific APJ sniff-together at Portia’s. Early on this journey, I made the mistake that many of us do, buying stuff too quickly without ample skin time or just falling prey to the thought: “Oh my god, everyone else loves this, I need to have it.”

Well, I’ve now gone back to basics. I will only acquire full bottles of fumes that have worn the test of time, the ones that when they hit my skin again and again are greeted with an enthusiastic “YES!” Samples and decants only for the ones that intrigue and stuff I just want to test and write about.

So, let’s just pretend that last’s week’s sale gave me enough money to buy five brand new bottles. What are those loves that I need to get?

Gabriella’s Top 5 Perfume Wishlist 2013

Bubblegum Chic by James Heeley for Heeley 2011

Jasmine is one white floral that doesn’t usually agree on my skin, but here it is perfect. Bubblegum Chic is playful green jasmine made more narcotic with the addition of tuberose. The name is apt as it’s playful and vampy at the same time. It’s that nonchalant, happy girl at work that once you get to know her has a hefty dose of je ne sais quoi.

Bubblegum Chic is available at Peony Melbourne $275/50ml Extrait de Parfum and Luckyscent $230/50ml Extrait de Parfum; Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $7/.5ml

Fleurissimo by James Henry Creed for Creed 1956

A lovely perfumista friend said I’d love it back when I was getting started in this game. Many years and bottles later, she’s still right. Grace Kelly associations aside, this is a magnificently elegant and understated white floral that just oozes sophistication.

Fleurissimo is available at Libertine Parfumerie $259/75ml; Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $3/.5ml.

Lady Caron by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2000

Very much an unloved gem in my opinion, this perfume just makes me incredibly happy. It’s a floral chypre, but here the usual peach is replaced with raspberry, rounded out with jasmine and moss. Lady Caron is truly golden sunlight on skin. It also reminds me of those times my parents had proper dinner parties back when I was a little girl. It’s the wonderful melange of smells on my pajamas after kissing and hugging the beautifully dressed female guests. Comforting but very elegant.

Lady Caron is available at Luckyscent $95/50ml; The Perfumed Court samples start at $3/ml

Tubereuse by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2003

You already know why thanks to my last review. But this is also very special to me for the very reason that it was the first fragrance I bought on my first romantic getaway to Paris with my gorgeous Mr M.

Tubereuse by Caron is available at LuckyScent, which has the EDP for $130/50ml and the parfum extrait for $150/15ml; Surrender to Chance has samples of the parfum starting at $5/.5ml

Tubereuse Couture by Pierre Guillame for Parfumerie Generale 2009

All you oriental/vanilla/patchouli/vetiver lovers must be shaking your heads and rolling your eyes about now, thinking “not another goddamn tuberose!!” but yes, more is more for me when it comes to the vampy flower. Tubereuse Couture like the aforementioned Caron is also a little bit of a sleeper when it comes to the genre, but it is divine. Here, sugar cane and banana leaf lend a lovely tropical vibe, but make no mistake, this is a scent for ballgowns, not the beach.

Tubereuse Couture is available at Luckyscent $100/50ml; Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $4.99/ml

So there you have it! My wishlist of loves. What would your wishlist look like?

With much love till next time!
M x

Purr 2010 + Meow! 2011 by Katy Perry

July 22, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Katrina

Excitement is building with pop singer Katy Perry about to launch her third perfume, Killer Queen created by Laurent Le Guernec who was also responsible for Lovely by SJP, twelve of the Bond No 9 releases and Viva by Fergie for Avon. In anticipation of the latest Katy Perry perfume I thought I would review her first two fragrances…..

Purr 2010 and Meow! 2011 by Katy Perry

Photo Stolen SynergyByDesign Flickr

Purr and Meow! (with an exclamation mark) are fun and playful just like Katy Perry and the cat figurine bottles in purple and pink are ‘to die for’.

Katy Perry Purr

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Peach, forbidden apple, gardenia, green bamboo
Heart: Jasmine, pink freesia, Bulgarian rose
Base: Vanilla orchid, creamy sandalwood, white amber, coconut, musk

Purr in the purple bottle was the first Katy Perry perfume and is a fruity floral perfume that starts out sweet with apple and peach. The fruit smells fresh, juicy and bright. There are pretty floral notes and a creamy vanilla that sits nicely in the background. The gardenia and jasmine are distinct but not too strong for Katy Perry’s teen fans. I really love the Purr bottle and the perfume is a good choice for everyday use but the perfume is not as impressive as the gorgeous bottle. It doesn’t push boundaries or include any surprises. The perfume is good but very safe. I’m not as crazy about the perfume as I am about the purple cat.

Katy Perry Meow!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica givees these featured accords:
Top: Tangerine, pear, jasmine, gardenia
Heart: Honeysuckle, lily of the valley, orange blossom
Base: Amber, vanilla, sandalwood, musk.

Meow! is cloudy lilac/pink with an M dangling from its collar and is very girly and smells delicious from beginning to end. Meow! is super sweet and fruity at the start. The fruit notes are candy-like and smell more like cherry and banana to me, rather than the tangerine and pear listed in the fragrance notes. When the fruity sugar hit passes the vanilla and musk take over and the perfume smells a lot like a soft gooey marshmallow, which ever so slowly dissolves and disappears.

Meow! with its pale pink bottle smells softer than the deep purple Purr. The floral notes in Purr smell quite intense compared with Meow!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Although the perfumes smell good, the most impressive thing about Katy Perry’s Purr and Meow! is probably the bottles, so lets hope that Killer Queen lives up to its name and delivers something kick-arse.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin
FragranceNet has both Purr & Meow! from $23
My Perfume Samples start at $2/ml for both Purr & Meow!

For celebrity perfume news and reviews including more details on Killer Queen, please check out my website: Celebrity Perfume News

Katrina xx

Jungle L’Elephant by Dominique Ropion for Kenzo 1996

July 18, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Post by Chairman Meow

Jungle L’Elephant by Kenzo 1996

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, Cardamom, Cumin, Clove
Middle: Ylang-Ylang, Licorice, Mango, Heliotrope
Base: Patchouli, Vanilla, Amber, Cashmeran

You’ll notice that plum is not listed as a note, which is intriguing, because to me it is the overarching theme in this scent. And what a shape shifter of a plum it is, taking on various guises, some more pleasant than others.
Pernicious Plum

L’Elephant opens off as a melange of dried fruit peel and spices, of which clove is quite prominent. I often have difficulty with this little nail of a flower bud, and its fondness of hijacking whatever perfume it takes a ride in, though thankfully here it is more dulcet compared with the rugged variety you might encounter in, say, Noir Epices. I can detect cinnamon, the everyman, the spice equivalent of Bruce Willis, who offends no one. It took some convincing that I could smell any cardamom, so for sport’s sake I spent some time snuffling away on some bashed up cardamom seeds that I balanced on the scented part of my arm. It’s there! It works! A random but recommended activity. Sitting in the background of the peel and the spices, like some shady trench-coated nogoodnik, is a sinister almond-y waft redolent of cyanide from the pit of the plum, which I’m taking to be the heliotrope.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

A recurring theme that you’ll encounter in reading reviews about L’Elephant is that it is a “strong” perfume, ambiguous word such as it is. People could be referring to the sillage, which is certainly impressive for the first hour or so before settling to a much more sociable pitch. They may be speaking of the longevity, for indeed it does have the endurance of several oxen. Alternatively, they may be talking about the paint blistering gust of nail varnish remover that sears the nostrils on first spray. I call it The Curse of Sally Hansen, and it persists for quite some time. Sally does eventually pack up her nail file and shuffle off, albeit reluctantly and with furtive backwards glances, and that’s when L’Elephant is at its most enjoyable. Yum Plum

The sinophiles (lovers of Chinese culture) amongst us may be familiar with the salty-sweet dried plums that go by variety of different names. I know them by their Cantonese name of Wah Mui. Imagine something that Shrek might excavate from his nose and you get a pretty good idea of what they look like.

Picture Stolen WantChinaTimes

Wah Mui are coated with a liquorice infused powdered sugar which, as a 7 year old, I found to be the best bit, actually the only edible bit, which would be licked off before abandoning the actual plum. I am transported to this memory in the late dry down of L’Elephant, hours after application, when you can finally approach the thing without a hazmat suit, and can detect the soft purr of the vanilla and amber. Later still, as L’Elephant is in its death throes, I think I can smell something indefinably wood-like, and then it expires.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

Further reading: Another Perfume Blog and Bois de Jasmin
Beauty Encounter have $45/50ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $3/ml

I haven’t found L’Elephant an easy love, but it does have legions of admirers. I suspect that had it been produced by a niche house, was double the price, had a slick ad copy and had listed as one of its notes an “accord of oriental desiccated plum snack”, it would have had the cogniscenti misty- eyed and lisping “JEEY-nius!”, and been awarded a swathe of Fifi’s.

See you next month,
Chairman Meow xxx

Fahrenheit Absolute by Francois Demachy for DIOR 2009

July 17, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Post by Margeaux

Hello everyone again! Dior’s Fahrenheit is 25 years old in 2013 and is still one of the best selling men’s scents of all time. The version I’m reviewing, Absolute, was released in 2009 to mark the fragrances 21st birthday. One of my ex’s was a huge fan of the original Fahrenheit and still wears it to this day so I tend to associate it with him. I’m not quite sure how I feel about a different version of such a classic scent, but I also have the Aqua version to try in a future review so here goes nothing!

Dior Fahrenheit Absolute 2009

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

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

Immediately I’m intrigued – surely 4 notes is too few for what is billed as a bold and sensual, woodsy, ultra masculine scent? Can it be done? We’ll see.

Although I’m using a sample tester for this review, I’ve always loved the original bottle shape and styling, and Absolute carries on this tradition with darker colouring that signifies the juice inside is more potent than the original.

Ok, time to spritz and wait for the alcohol to evaporate so I can start to get a decent whiff happening. And oh boy, is this something good to my nose. The devilish simplicity of those opening notes, sweet and yet not sweet at all, nearly soapy but again not quite there. I had to go reading some more about Myrrh just to be sure of what I was supposed to be smelling and even after all that, I’m not sure if that is what my nose gets to start with, but whatever is going on its tantalizing and sensual and exotic and I am hooked.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

Its very flowery and gently sweet as the fragrance settles into my skin. I’m sniffing and writing while I work on some of my clients projects and it’s a soothing, comforting warm smell that wafts up from the back of my hand as I type. Francois Demachy who created this perfume is credited with just about all of the Dior range and is surely one of the hardest working perfumers out there with Fragrantica listing over 80 fragrances that he’s had a hand in creating – amazing!

Deeper into the drydown and the oud and incense caress and envelop and warm my senses and my soul. I can’t get much projection from this but that kind of suits me that it stays pretty close to my body. I think if I spritzed with abandon as I like to that it may become overwhelming both to me and those around me and perhaps this is a good late evening (read bedtime) kind of scent. I find it quite sensual.

Photo Stolen GoogleCommons

Having read a few reviews around other sites and the general consensus is pretty evenly split between those who love Absolute and those who don’t like it at all. This is a wonderful fragrance on me but the real test will be when I wear it when I am with the boyf next.

Further reading: The Scentrist and The Scentualist
My Perfume Samples has Absolute starting at just $2.49/ml
FragranceNet has 50ml from $64

I’m looking forward to testing the Aqua version soon too. Thanks for reading and as always, please leave me a comment if you’ve enjoyed the review or have tried this fragrance yourself. I love hearing from you all.

Until next time,
Margeaux x

The Fahrenheit Absolute Mini Movie

Oud Yaqoub by Ensar Oud

July 16, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Guest Post by Jordan River

There are very few wild Agarwood trees left in the world due to over-harvesting. This has created another issue; the early-harvesting of cultivated trees. Harvesting these trees early has resulted in a less potent Oud oil, because the resin has not been aged long enough while the tree is alive.

Many of you will be familiar with the smell of synthetic Oud in modern perfumes. This is not what we are talking about. We are talking about Oud from nature, from a tree.

Oud is a journey through scent with all sorts of interesting ‘breezes’ making appearances over time; like a treasure trove of nature referencing smells from the barnyard to spring blossoms.

I like to think of ‘barnyard’ as the smell of Mother Nature regenerating. There are also other words used to describe this aspect of some Oud oils, especially the Hindi oils. Cambodi Ouds (agarwood trees grown in the Cambodia/Thailand area) are less barnyardy while the Papuan Oud is more floral. The medicinal note is a fleeting feature of many true Oud oils. These are very broad descriptions; a universe of scent swirls around in each Oud oil. We interviewed Ensar from Ensar Oud last month about The End of Oud and the beginning of sustainable cultivation.

Oud Yaqoub was distilled from the resin of this 60-year-old cultivated agarwood tree.

Ensar has been keeping his eye on a 60-year-old cultivated tree in Thailand that just recently began to show signs of readiness for harvest. An ethical choice to harvest, this tree at 60 years old instead of earlier means that a rare oil has just been produced. There is a video; you can follow the making of this oil from harvest, through distillation to its manifestation as Oud Yaqoub.

This is an Oud oil to keep and age as the scent profile will change with time. Keep away from sunlight and smell or swipe every year or as suits your yearning.

Oud Yaqoub
Single Tree Harvested
Cultivated
Organic
Rare

A perfumer-to-be would think this a rare ingredient. I would consider this release to be a collector’s item. The yield from the tree was 23 tolas ~ 268 grams.
Oud Yaqoub
Scent profile

Narcotic à la the finest jasmine, Oud Yaqoub is already the finest Cambodi you’ll ever lay nostrils on. Age it a year or two, and you’ll be in possession of one of the Greats of all time.
-Ensar Oud

The most interesting aspects of this oil are the intoxicating flowers: jasmine sambac, ylang ylang, sweet violet and rose that permeate the whole journey.
-Andrej, Croatia

Oud Yaqoub Experiment
3 grams is $US 299.99 from Ensar Oud
You can choose a decorative or sturdy glass bottle.
For Arabic readers you can visit Ensar Oud in Arabic.

Nomenclature: Lest you be confused by the word ‘experiment’ in the name Oud Yaqoub Experiment I have asked for clarification from Thomas at Ensar Oud. Here is his explanation.

When we started our journey with organic oud, our focus was not only on ethical and sustainable harvesting practices. We also wanted to imbue these new distillations with the techniques and standards that you find in our vintage ouds. The ‘Experiment’ not only refers to this oud being a custom distillation, but also that it’s a departure from the norm. Oud Yaqoub’s fragrance attests to how the distillation tweaks we put in place were able to produce an oil that’s against the grain when it comes to the typical Cambodi/Thai scent profile.
Thomas Kruger
Ensar Oud

See you next month,
Jordan River

Fragrant Get Together at Portia’s

July 15, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Post by Michael

Fragrant Get Together at Portia’s

So today a group frag-aholics descended upon the lovely Portia’s place for an all in frag fest – and it was amaaaazing!

Madeleine, Margeaux, Dino, Emma, Glen, Portia and my self played fragrant pass the parcel.

Kicking off with the salty transparent vetiver that is Celine Ellena’s Sel de Vetiver for The Different Company. Not my style by any stretch but a lovely little number to get the day started. This was closely followed by the classic Jean Paul Guerlain: Vetiver which is considered the benchmark vetiver by many. The pungency of this one really shines through when compared to CE’s modern piece.

From there it was onto the very green Les Colognes Hermes Eau de Gentiane Blanche, a very Green and a little floral number from Jean Claude Ellena at Hermes.

Onto some classics, and seeing the analogy between sister fragrances that legend has coming from the same Russian recipe, with some vintage Chanel No 5 EdC (which everyone but Portia poo-poo’d!) and the classic floral L’Aimant by Coty (generally considered just OK but way better than the #5).

(Ed. Some of the reactions to No 5 included: Older Statement Floral, Very Soapy, Skanky Bum Floral, EWWW Yuck! What is THIS?)

Siovohle’s Leather Krem was another interesting and very different fragrance – smokey suede-y vanillic, a tough and dark pleasure. Somehow it smelled better on the strip than on my skin but others had better luck.

On and on from there, there were various Annick Goutals (Duel, Eau de Sud, Mandragore), Cartier, ELDO, Aftelier (Parfum de Maroc), Tauer (Lonestar Memories) and many many MANY more!

Madeleine also brought some of her unloved fragrances, in a coupe of small boxes, and we descended upon them like seagulls on a lonely chip! Margeaux got himself some Ambre Sultan – he’ll be smelling amazing in its dry, resinous, herbal, ambery goodness. Portia, of course, showed total restraint and only purchased four…..FOUR fragrances! Lipstick Rose by Frederic Malle, for which I harbor a secret love, was one of Portia’s grabs and I’m totally jealous!! Amoureuse by Delrae, Arabie by Serge Lutens and a current EdP formulation of Guerlain’s L’Heure Bleue made up the rest of Portia’s bargain haul and Madeleine threw in a half bottle of KAI as a thank you! Jealous!!

After that a few other of Portia’s buddies dropped in and there were home made nachos for dinner and Portia had also made a champagne punch that we went through jugs of so there was a lot of fun and laughter during dinner. Including star turns from our youngest member Lola who decided telling jokes was what dinner tables are for.

After most of the crew had left I was asked if I had done my monthly piece for the blog, shamefecedly I admitted to my unfinished post and Portia made me sit down with iPad and keyboard and write about today, so here it is. Sorry there are no photos of us all, we were having too much fun to capture it.

All in all it was a wonderful day full of fragrances, laughs and Portia’s tasty nacho’s! More days should be like these.

All pictures from Fragrantica

CQ`S Cooking Tips #2 TABBŪLE Variation

July 10, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

COOKIE QUEEN`S INFREQUENT COOKING TIPS No 2

VARIATION ON A TABBŪLE THEME

Hey Aromatic Friends!

My lunch today. With a side of avocado and grilled mushrooms. Not pictured. :)))

I spend most of the time making and baking cookies these days. That makes it kind of tough on my family as there was a time when they got awesome home cooked meals every day. Fortunately, due to their great upbringing, they all cook for themselves and sometimes even for me! But I still love to prepare food. But I want it to be healthy, quick and damn good. After all, I do have a reputation to keep up.

I love Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern food. So today boys and girls, we are going to have a tabbouleh inspired dish.

Tabbouleh is arguably, originally from Syria and Lebanon. The Levantine Arabic word “tabbūle” is derived from the Arabic word “taabil” meaning seasoning. Use of the English word first appeared in the 1950s. Useless information fact of the day – the largest recorded dish of tabbouleh weighed in at 4,324 kilos!

I throw together tabbouleh type dishes a lot, no skill needed, unlike baking where it is useful if you have an idea of what you are doing!

Photo Stolen bonappetit.com

Ingredients of the day:

Bulghur, couscous, or Havuçlu Piyale Kuskus* (this is fat round balls of couscous that swell up to be the size of peppercorns – totally cool!)
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Feta cheese, or cheese of choice
Tons of chopped basil
Tons of chopped parsley
A good amount of chopped mint
Decent olive oil (if you can afford good perfume, you can afford good oil)
Lemon peel/zest
Lemon juice and/or balsmic vinegar (I use white but red will do)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Thin slices of red pinion
Pomegranate molassess*
Tahini* (Use the white)

* get this stuff in a funky supermarket, or a middle eastern grocery store. It´s damn cheap and adds style and fragrance.

Prepare the grain according to whatever instructions are on the box. Traditional tabbouleh uses very little grain and more herbs. But use whatever you want.
Let it cool of course.

Chop the tomatoes, peel, de-seed and chop the cucumber, chop the cheese into chunks, then chuck it all into the bowl with the bulgur or whatever. Add all the chopped herbs, the more the merrier, but if you don´t have many then who cares? When all else fails you can always use dried oregano!! Stir it all up. Add a few good glugs of olive oil, throw in a little lemon zest, add some lemon juice ……… taste it, then add however much vinegar you want. Season with salt and pepper to taste, obviously. Before you serve it, drizzle it with pomegranate molasses. If you have not tried that yet, you must. It is sour and delicious and adds such a wonderful flavour. (It´s good on green salad too, and more …..) My daughter elegantly pours tahini onto everything at the moment. That works too. If you like it, do it. I decorate it with thin slices of red onion, but not too much. Onion breath plus perfume ………… Ugh.

Photo Stolen maresfoodandfun

Doesn´t matter if it´s winter or summer. It is always a welcome salad. I made a version for Christmas this year, and we barbecued on the balcony. Winter? Who cares.

So there you go. It is not rocket science. If you are sat there thinking, wow, that sounds nice, then get off your arses and make it. Add it to your repertoire. It never fails to impress. Off you go then.

Bussis
CQ xxx

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