Welcome To 2016: Some Helpful Insights

January 16, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey Hey Crew,

This is the other side! You’ve made it through the western festive season and new year. OK, you now have had a little time to reflect on 2015 and what it taught you. I learned some valuable things in 2015 and I’d like to share some of them with you. Yes, most of you have already learned these but maybe having them reiterated will give you a great 2016.

Welcome To 2016: Some Helpful Insights

Jin & I often talk about how lucky we are. Not just in the Health, Wealth and Happiness sectors but in our friends. You may know I sometimes suffer black dog days, they are rare but intense. Jin is pretty good most of the time only experiencing anything nearing depression when his work life is toxic or unsteady. We do have friends though that battle depression on a daily basis and though we can’t help them with their demons we do provide a good distraction and try and give people new focus. Sometimes after a completely random day a friend will thank us for lifting their blues, even though we were completely unaware they were in a hole….

One of the pieces of advice we live by, and offer our friends as an antidote, is to step outside of our comfort zone. Even just for a short time and with a get out of jail plan if things turn out less fabulous than expected. Often depression is fed by fear, knowing you have the ability not only to make a decision but that you have the where-with-all to note drama or disaster and deal with it is an effective way of lifting depression or habitual poor choices. Also, knowing beforehand that not everything will work out perfectly and that it will be alright can be helpful.

Next we have something that took me 47 years to learn. I can’t believe that I am so freaking dense sometimes and am thinking about many instances in my life where I have behaved poorly because someone did not share my headspace. An opinion or a lifestyle is not an attack. GAWD! So simple. You don’t have to bring someone around to your point of view, it’s not a challenge or a threat. Conversation is full of disagreements, it’s good to know people who will challenge your thought processes, you may not change your minds but it’s excellent to hear and understand the other side of a point of view. Just because we don’t agree doesn’t mean the people you are interacting with are less of an anything than you, be nice to them. They are doing their best to live in this crazy, fucked up world too.

And lastly for today. Cut yourself some slack. The world will not end if your bathroom isn’t spotless for guests, in 100 years nobody will care that you were outrageous at the Christmas party and life will go on if you didn’t get your list finished and finalised today. Not everything we do in 2016 will be successful, you may not get the new set of information into your brain on the first go, any change takes time so be prepared to help yourself along. We are all a work in progress, no one was born the dream they have for themselves.

YOU are special to us at APJ. Thank you for being here, reading, commenting and being a part of the APJ family.

WE LOVE YOU and wish you a wonderful 2016.
Portia xxx

Pink Marshmallows in the Morning by Banks Botanicals 2014

January 15, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there crew,

More than anything I get asked about the Hand Wash in my bathroom. Every time we have visitors at least one of them question the provenance of what I consoder to be the best smelling and most effective Hand Wash in the history of the universe. I love it so much that this December I bought ten of them, two for my home and eight to give as gifts over the festive season.

Pink Marshmallows in the Morning by Banks Botanicals 2014

Pink Marshmallows in the Morning by Suzanne R Banks

Based on coconut oil and glycerine, 100% natural and as eco-friendly as possible to find, Suzanne adds a dazzling fragrance that is marshmallows and Australian bushlands all rolled into one. The bite & twang of boronia and eucalyptus set in a sweet base that is so unusual that I find it doesn’t really compare with anything concrete but may bear some links with pink marshmallows. Naah, it doesn’t really but when you smell it you’ll understand why it is so named.

One of things I really like about Pink Marshmallows in the Morning is the enormous burst of fragrance as you wash your hands that goes a long way towards masking any unsavoury human de-catering smells. Yet once you leave the bathroom it disappears in a couple of minutes, meaning you won’t compromise your fragrance choice for the day.

Something else I love is the simple, no nonsense packaging. No boxes, just the recyclable plastic bottle and a pump that screws up. Plastic is so much better in the bathroom where I am often barefoot and the tiles are unforgiving of dropped glass. Also, ALL the ingredients are listed on the side of the container and Suzanne makes sure everything she puts into her products are the most harm free she can find and fair trade.

The price is particularly reasonable too. Normally $25, I got a great discount because I bought 10 bottles at only $20/bottle and I went and picked them up. Because Pink Marshmallows in the Morning is a Hand Wash and not alcohol based fragrance Suzanne can send to the world, but postage from Australia is a bit pricey.

Pink Marshmallows in the Morning from Suzanne R Banks FaceBook. Send Suzanne a message if you’d like to purchase. You won’t regret it.

What is your favourite handwash? Would you try a 100% natural and as eco-friendly as possible hand wash if it smelled amazing and cleaned your hands?
Portia xxx

Guerlain x JonOne – The Dark and Wild Becoming: Video

January 14, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Guerlainophiles,

You’ve probably seen the newest way to wear your bee bottle. Custom painted by artist JonOne. They are priced far out of reach of the normal mortals pocket but they are beautiful and utterly desirable. I find myself torn. Should I eat this year and keep my lovely home, or should I buy a JonOne Bee Bottle?

Guerlain

It’s a trifle at €9000 and this startling orange one is filed chock full of Rose Barbare, there is blue for Shalimar and pink for La Petite Robe Noire.

Maybe not, for me. Still the video is sensational. So full of existential artist angst.
Enjoy.
Portia xx

Guerlain x JonOne – The Dark and Wild Becoming

RIP Gucci Marie Turbo 200? – 13.1.2016

January 13, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 39 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi APJ,

Gucci is gone. She looked me straight in the eyes when the vet gave her the injection and then she laid her head down and died. It was peaceful and dignified. I am sad but curiously happy for her too.

Thank you all for your messages of support, your love and for sharing your stories of your beautiful pets.

Perfume people are the best. I floated on the wings of your love and Gucci left this world in as perfect a way as could be arranged.

What fragrance did I wear? For the night before I drenched myself in Gucci Envy Me and then for the day I wore Gucci Eau de Parfum, tonight I will wear Gucci No 3, tomorrow I will wear Gucci Envy Men.

RIP Gucci Marie Turbo

Here are some shots of our last days together.

Final family photo, it was a sad moment but thank goodness for Kath & Jin. No one could ask for better people in their lives.

Gucci’s last morning, she is telling me it can’t be time to wake up yet.

Jin says his final goodbye before going to work.

Once Jin has left Gucci & I scurry onto the main bed. He He he. Don’t tell Jin.

Here is Gucci’s last photo. I walked her the two short blocks to the vet so I wouldn’t have to drive afterwards. We took 20 minutes to get there because Gucci needed to stop and rest and also to give her one last sniff of this world. It looks like she is smiling but in reality she cannot breathe and is desperately trying to get some air.

The vet was so sweet. Every time she sees Gucci she asks what we did to keep her in such good condition, even though she can’t breathe and she has lost a lot of weight she still has silky soft fur, is alert and looks old but healthy.

Gucci had the needle, looked me straight in my eyes and was desperately trying to communicate something (I’m so stupid I couldn’t tell if it was Thank you or Why?) and with the vet repeating “Good Girl” and me repeating “Thank You” and “Good Luck Gucci” she went on to the next big adventure.

Farewell my beautiful skinny blonde bitch, there is now a Gucci shaped hole in my world.

Thank you all for your messages. Be well.
Portia xx

Lunch + Sniff: Great Afternoon Fun

January 9, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Post by Portia

One of the things that we really like to do here in Sydney is organise to meet up with mates and share some happy sniffing times. Over lunch, a cuppa or even an alcoholic beverage should the atmosphere be conducive we sniff and chatter, gossip and parse. No one else ever quite gets the excitement of a vintage find or an extravagant splurge. It’s really nice to be able to use the vocabulary of scent with people who speak it.

Lunch + Sniff: Great Afternoon Fun

Something else super fun about having a lunch + Sniff is that you get to try things previously off your radar, out of your price range or so far out of your personal comfort zone and all at no cost other than a spot of lunch. There’s also the fun of meeting someone else who adores that thing your other friends would prefer you not wear, a scent twin, a J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin, Knize, DIOR, Humiecki & Graef or vintage Rochas Femme aficionado. The thrill of hanging out with someone else who even knows what you mean when you say these things is undeniable. Lately I have been quite lucky and over the holiday period have had two chances to Sniff + Lunch.

Both days were spent in the Art Gallery of NSW Members Lounge. I love it there, food is cheap, comfortable seating and they let us spray (Except one day when we fumigated the place with vintage Ungaro Diva) to our hearts content. Currently the walls are hung with about 12 Lloyd Rees paintings that would usually be kept in the vaults, they change the Members Lounge exhibition regularly and it’s always interesting pieces unseen in the main gallery areas.

Scott, Sonya and I are catching up pre-Christmas and smelling vintage CHANEL, Nina Ricci, Guy Laroche and a few others. Sonya & I are so busy it’s rare that we get a chance to chat properly and it was terrific fun. We all discussed fragrance and our addiction to both the scents and the shopping for them, kids, jobs, family, home and the upcoming Christmas festivities. Besides the catch up stuff it was also really good to listen to Scott & Sonya chat fragrance, their noses and ability to parse are well above mine and it’s always instructional to listen to them when they strike fragrant gold.

Here Tim and I smelling the newest Dawn Spencer Hurwitz fragrances, vintage DIOR & CHANEL and some of the early Oliver & Co fragrances. Tim is an avid enthusiast and his fragrance sniffing history is more the menswear reals so I like to bring him some unusual, interesting and vintage stuff. We spend most of the time laughing. It was really fun getting our first sniff of the new DSH lines together, his assistance invaluable in helping me understand the different levels of fragrance held within their gorgeous folds. Yes, there will be a couple of reviews in the near future.

Do you ever get to spend Sniff + Lunch time? It’s so worth it and you learn a LOT more in company.
Can’t find any perfumistas in your area? Try the facebook fragrance boards, here are three of my favourites: Australian Fragrance Network, Facebook Fragrance Friends or Peace, Love & Perfume. You could also start a Meet-Up group in your area, you’ll be surprised how many people nearby are into fragrance.

Who has too many friends? Nobody. Imagine spending some time once a month, or every couple of months, with people who get you…… Be the change you want to see in the new year. Make 2016 the year you connect with some fumies in real life.
Portia xx

Gucci: 200?-2016

January 8, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 88 Comments

Post by Portia

WARNING: TRAGIC UN FRAG RELATED SOPPINESS AHEAD

Hey APJ,

Since 2005 I have had 2 best friends. Kath that you know and one you probably don’t know so much about.

Let me give you some history to help you understand. Both my parents died quite early, both age 64 years 10 months, 11 years apart and we were late life children for them. Once they were gone my sister became a Jehovah’s Witness and a gay, drag queen brother does not fit into that life in any way. I do have cousins but most live at far corners of the country and others have become unavailable for a variety of reasons.

When Mum died two families stepped up to heal the wounds and especially my BFF Kath. It’s amazing how love can heal the breach caused by heartache. During this time I was also conducting an on again off again 10 year relationship with a subcontinental Indian man, 2+ years with him here in Sydney and 8 more with him in India.

At the time NSW greyhound rehomers had a problem with putting greyhounds in apartments, I still don’t understand why because they are the perfect apartment dogs. Having done my research though and knowing that it was perfectly feasible I looked further afield. There were 3 that I had my eye on but at the start of January a woman in Perth who I had been in contact with about another dog asked if I would take a young fawn bitch who was due to be killed the next day. She had fallen in love with this beautiful, placid, ex Grand Champion and did not want to see her killed. The die was cast.

On the same day that my mother died, a few years later, another skinny blonde bitch came into my life. Gucci, the retired racing greyhound (racing name Diamond Starlight). She could have been the doggy reincarnation of my mother, smart, beautiful, willfull, naughty, funny and full of boundless energy, affection and unconditional love. Gucci was also the perfect size to curl up with on the couch. She arrived in a crate off an airplane, the moment I locked eyes with her I was lost. She was, and is, the most elegant of her line. Regal, arrogant, self assured and the ultimate Egyptian and Art Deco accessory that any drag queen could hope to be owned by.

I’m not saying it was easy. It was NOT. There was a battle of wills of titanic proportions. She would show her displeasure at my non attendance by destroying things. One morning I came into the lounge to find she had disemboweled a 25 year old King Furniture leather couch that had been my mothers pride & joy, not to mention the most comfortable crash site ever. Coming home from work one morning to find that she had shredded one of my most gorgeous gowns and had pulled off every diamante before tearing it apart. Stairs were a nightmare because she’d never seen them and getting her to sit took nearly two months (every foster dog we’ve had since learns stairs & sit in a week because she shows them how). I had to put empty tin cans tied together on the kitchen bench so when she jumped up the noise of them falling would scare the shit out of her, to the point where she now needs to be invited to walk on tiles. There were times we both despaired.

98% of the time though she was perfect. The very best things a companion can be. Everything you’ve heard, read or lived about dogs that is wonderful, it was describing Gucci.

Now though she is old. Can’t walk as well, trouble seeing, breathing is becoming impossible when she is excited, has gone off her food. You can’t tell by looking but she is ready to go, this life has become a burden for her.

Next Wednesday, at 10am, 11 years to the day since this incredible, magical, wonderful love of my life, the bright eyed, eager, loving and charming girl that has shown me so much about love, acceptance, sharing and fun has to be put down. I cannot tel you what an ocean of pain this gives me. Writing this farewell has taken nearly a box of tissues and I am ugly crying like Toni Collette in Muriel’s Wedding. Snot, dribble, can’t even breathe crying, crying like a lost and wounded child. The call to the vet took nearly 10 minutes because I could not get the words out.

This is what I wrote after making that call. Yes, so over the top and ridiculously dramatic but fuck it, I am dramatic. It’s in the blood.

I am laid waste, desolate and barren but for pain, searing agony of terror

alone

Breathing is impossible

How will I even

Ever

Wretched. I am undone

How can

Heart is breaking. Mind is numb.

FOG

Thank you for the unrelenting love and fun and craziness and running and cuddles and

thank you, my love

everything’s easier with you on my side and when you had my back I ruled the world

thank you

Thank you forever.

Portia

Impromptu by Roxana Villa for Roxana Illuminated Perfume 2012

January 7, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there,

Natural perfume is a term often reviled by perfumistas. It’s an interesting conundrum because people say they are looking for something different and unusual, a fragrance to blow away the cobwebs of humdrum yet when offered something completely outside their sphere of reference it seems that they only want something different that’s pretty much the same. Is it the human condition in a nutshell? Roxana makes fragrances that are completely and utterly different, they are attached to no familiar trope, speak of the earth and plants that they are produced from and have a connection to the powers of the plants themselves. When I wear a fragrance by Roxana it’s as if I’m an active participant of the world’s natural green spaces.

Impromptu by Roxana Illuminated Perfume 2012

Impromptu by Roxana Villa

Photo Stolen Roxana Illuminated Perfume

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Woody notes, herbal notes, camphor, geranium, leather, tarragon, basil, clary sage, mimosa

Impromptu, even dabbed, opens larger than life. That it is so real, earthy and alive is so totally unexpected after wearing designer and niche mainly. You have to let your nose recalibrate a bit. Deep earthy green, like a sexy swamp lady, I smell moss, river water and weed, herbs, torn fig leaves, mown lawn and compost, and some spices. You’ll not find anything this wild, untamed and confronting at your local fragrance counter. Impromptu is the good stuff.

Impromptu opens angular, green and spiky. Challenging and unashamed it wraps tender green shoots around your heart and sets root in your soul. Spicy woods and still a herbal tint fill the fragrance heart and much of the ferocity has left. Imagine hiding in the wood shed next to the kitchen and someone is cooking curry, there is also a smoky fire somewhere nearby maybe it’s a wood stove.

Photo Stolen Roxana Illuminated Perfume

A couple of hours later and still my skin is thrumming with a woodsy green but now the spiciness is cut through with leather, old shoe leather, some well loved and oiled boots. Further in my skin throws a beautiful amber that takes Impromptu into a warmer, friendlier environment. Not sweet but resinous and shiny, woods that have been waxed shiny in a room lit by the warmth of a fire.

Further reading: EauMG and Australian Perfume Junkies
Roxana Illuminated Perfume has $12/1grm EdP

Do you know Rovane Illuminated Perfume? Have you ever tried naturals?
Portia xx

Whips and Roses GIVEAWAY WINNERS

January 4, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Post by Portia

Hey Hey Crew,

Thanks for getting involved. It’s nice to share a discontinued gem.
Good luck,
Portia xx

Whips and Roses GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, Blood orange, Bulgarian rose, Iris, Jasmine, Leather, Musk, Rose stems, Sandalwood

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x Sample Whips and Roses
some extras
P&H Worldwide

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 3rd January 2016 10pm Australian ES
Winners were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen Flickr

Fazal

Jaybee

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winners will have till Thursday 7th January 2016 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.

D600 by Christophe Raynaud for Carner Barcelona 2010

January 3, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Post by Portia

Heya Fragrant Fumies,

D600 is a stupid name for a fragrance, GAK! Then I find out it’s affiliated with their address in Barcelona according to Birgit at Olfactoria’s Travels it stands for Avenida Diagonal 600, the headquarters of the line in Barcelona. Onwards from that the Carner Barcelona site says All senses are captivated by the dynamism of Avenida Diagonal, the grandeur of Paseo de Gracia…A seamless blending of old and new. At night, the pulse deepens and darkens as the city reveals its mysterious and most sensual side.

D600 by Carner Barcelona 2010

D600 by Christophe Raynaud

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Carner Barcelona gives these featured accords:
Top: Madagascan Black Pepper, Sicilian Bergamot, Grapefruit
Heart: Guatemalan Cardamom, Italian Iris, Egyptian Jasmine Absolut
Base: Virginian Cedar Wood, Madagascan Vanilla Absolut, Vetyver.

I love the zip, fizz and sizzle of grapefruit in fragrance. Here Christophe Raynaud has paired it strikingly with fresh crushed black pepper which serves to dry and remove all the ultra sweet, urinous notes that people find so problematic. The introduction lasts very little time before a lovely cardboard and rooty iris come through and the cardamom is playing a lightly green spicy role that is exactly like ground cardamom in the bottle before you cook it. For all its ingenuity D600 is perfectly wearable, actually while remaining quite fragrant it seems to meld with and melt into my skin. Too noticeable to be a skin scent but not air altering enough to become a major, stop traffic statement.

It seems the jasmine and vanilla arrive together, creamy, balmy, smooth and elegant they wander in and D600 becomes a warm, cozy, comfort scent with a hint of cardamom and vetiver keeping the whole fragrance from becoming a gourmand.

Pixabay

My review makes D600 seem simple but it’s not, there is a lot of soft nuance and dappled sweet/dryness byplay. The vanilla is fleshy and sensual, human and cuddly. For hard core perfumistas it may be too easy to like, too reminiscent of other comfortable vanilla/amber fragrances and too nice. That’s what I want from a fragrance, I want to smell so good that not hugging me to get a closer whiff would be unthinkable. An excellent mother or father scent worn as a signature and a comfort, being both very intimate and lovingly safe. Perfect as a work scent that would work under the radar to make you even more likable and assured.

Wear is soft and projection mild but anyone lucky enough to get in close to you over the next 6 or 7 hours will get a waft of wonderful. I love it.

D600 had the same luminous, luxurious feeling that I get when wearing Mona di Orio’s Vanille. It’s a plush languor and tranquillity that feels so deliciously me, as if it were made for me alone. LOVE it!

Pexels

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Scented Hound
First In Fragrance has €89/50ml + Samples

Have you tried any of the Carner Barcelona fragrances? What is your languorous fragrance?
Portia xx

Louis Vuitton Alphabet Film

January 3, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there Jewellery Lovers,

Could this be a dream come true for you? Louis Vuitton is doing letter charms or pendants. So if you got a load of shit for Christmas and wanted to gift yourself something fabulous, maybe a little trip to Vuitton could be in order….

Enjoy the video,
Portia xx

Photo Stolen Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton: LV and Me Jewellery Collection