Dirty Flower Factory by Kerosene 2014

August 14, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey APJ,

It’s been a while since I got my nose on any of ex perfume reviewer and self-taught perfumer John Pegg’s work. I have liked some of his stuff a lot and he is pretty damn handsome too, here’s a pic…

Photo Stolen Kerosene

Dirty Flower Factory by Kerosene 2014

Dirty Flower Factory by John Pegg

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Rose, jasmine, orange blossom, pink pepper, chili pepper, sandalwood, ambergris, musk

Dirty Flower Factory starts out smelling like a fabulously old school rose floral with a lovely green bite that could be the chili pepper, cool and hot simultaneously. It’s a fun, sizzling bunch of flowers that are pretty but more than pretty, they are fabulous. To my nose the Kerosene label has grown up. Dirty Flower Factory is a unisex rose that feels absolutely and utterly “Special Event” wear. Though I could imagine it being important day wear too but in my head it’s saying black tie. The bouquet is really tenacious and I get hours of this fab, fresh, alive smelling floral extravaganza.

As we dry down the rose, greenery and chili settle into some lightly animalic cream but still the sharp rose persists over all. Very nicely executed and totally wearable. The more I wear Dirty Flower Factory the more I think this would also work as a Sunday afternoon out in the sun too.

Photo Stolen Kerosene

Further reading: Memory of Scent and The Silver Fox
IndieScents has $140/100ml and samples

Better yet, why don’t you try Dirty Flower Factory? See below…
Portia xx

Photo Stolen kbaird

Dirty Flower Factory GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Dirty Flower Factory decant (about 3ml in a spritz)
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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) 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 me your favourite Kerosene fragrance or Independent Perfumer.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Dirty Flower Factory by Kerosene GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-4aT #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 16th August 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 20th August 2015 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.

Bottega Veneta: The Art Of Collaboration

August 14, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Portia

Hiya APJ,

This is a beautiful, eerie piece of film. Gritty and dark, black & white mini movie with one of the most incredible models I’ve seen in years. She is flawless as the wealthy, languid, dissipated young socialite.

Photo Stolen vimeo

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Portia xx

Bottega Veneta: The Art Of Collaboration

Fall-Winter 2015/2016 with Juergen Teller

Introducing the Fall-Winter 2015/2016 campaign captured by Juergen Teller
Photographed in the former home of Carlo Mollino, one of Italy’s most influential mid-20th century designers, the campaign is the latest in the series of Tomas Maier’s ongoing collaborations with renowned artists.

Vol de Nuit GIVEAWAY WINNER

August 10, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Hey Hey APJ,

Heaps of interest in today’s giveaway. So glad to hit the nail on the head this time. Let’s see who won.

Portia xx

Vol de Nuit by Jacques Guerlain for Guerlain 1933

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, galbanum, aldehydes, orange, lemon, mandarin, narcissus, petit grain
Heart: Jasmine, daffodil, rose, violet, iris, carnation
Base: Woods, orris, vanilla, amber, musk, sandalwood, oakmoss, spices

Vol de Nuit GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x .5ml sample from my vintage Vol de Nuit parfum quadrilobe bottle
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell me if you like the old Guerlain stuff? Have you tried Vol de Nuit?

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Guerlain Vol de Nuit GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-493 #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 9th August 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner was chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen HighestSelf

Mirjam Bayer

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winner will have till Thursday 13th August 2015 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.

Vidi by Gérald Ghislain for Histoires de Parfums 2013

August 8, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey Fragrance Family,

It seems we are getting more and more ozone in our fragrances over the last couple of years. I’m glad because I quite like the new ways perfumers are incorporating the fresh air into scent. Gérald Ghislain does some really interesting stuff; I loved his Scent Of Departure range and have quite a few decants but by the time I decided the one I wanted it was gone GRRRRRR. He also has done some of the Alice & Peter fragrances in the cupcake bottles. It would be really interesting to one day meet him and have a chat, if he is as interesting as his fragrances and some of the ideas behind them then I think it would be a wonderful chat.

Vidi by Gérald Ghislain for Histoires de Parfums 2013

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cardamom, cucumber, ozonic notes
Heart: Rose, cyclamen, saffron
Base: Immortelle, musk, amber, vanilla, blonde woods

It’s 2013 and I am sitting here wearing the remnants of last nights hefty spritzing of Vidi. I have spent the waking parts of the last 14 hours trying to find a different way of putting this but then I realised I should just blurt it out and then we can move forward with the review.

This is exactly how my last partner smelled when he wore L’Eau d’Issey Man. It is unbelievable how well Gérald Ghislain has married one of the iconic scents of the 20th century and my exes chemistry. Varun is a subcontinental Indian and has very spicy skin, it makes fragrance take on completely different hues. We could wear the same fragrance, and often did, and they would smell utterly different. Interestingly if we’d been out boozing and partying and went home to make love the smell of him wearing L’Eau d’Issey Man would so overwhelm me that I would be sick, yes you read right I would need to go and do a technicolour yawn, drive the porcelain bus, spew or chunder (whichever idiom your area uses). It was a damper indeed and it happened a few times before we worked out the root cause.

Nevertheless it is a happy smell for me, so reminiscent of a super fun part of my life…….

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Anyway, Vidi is supposed to smell like air that Caesar smelled when he said his immortal, and I’ve always thought pre-prepared in advance for such an outcome, words Veni, Vidi, Vici. On me it smells like water, or the dream of water. It’s cool and refreshing. The cucumber and ozone are particularly appealing together and when I spritz it’s like the first dip in the pool on the 25th September each year. Thrilling and terrifying. The flowers are a complete abstract and as such don’t really register as themselves but I do get a twang of iced water in a metal vase and air conditioning in a florist. Of warmth I get very little, it’s more a lessening of the cool and the immortelle has been shorn of all its lovely natural weirdness.

The jolt was so real and so potent in my fragrant memory bulb that I had to call Varun and tell him. I think that I’ll buy him a bottle and take it to him, any excuse to visit him and India.

Further reading: Chemist In A Bottle and Ca Fleure Bon
LuckyScent has $175/60ml + Samples
First In Fragrance has €125/60ml + Samples

What have you smelled lately that reminds you of the past?
Portia xx

Vol de Nuit by Jacques Guerlain for Guerlain 1933

August 7, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 50 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Guerlain fans,

Vol de Nuit is one of the oft talked about historical Guerlain fragrances. Created in 1933, the same year as Sous le Vent which is another of my faves, and named from a book by Antoine de St. Exupéry “Night Flight” who was a pilot in WWI, Head Post pilot and lost during WWII on a mission. What drew me to the fragrance originally is the fabulous bottle designed to be reminiscent of a propeller going full tilt. This grey glass beauty was enough in itself but once I tried the fragrance I was lost.

Vol de Nuit by Jacques Guerlain for Guerlain 1933

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

If you read the notes list and thought Vol de Nuit was going to be a big fat blockbuster of a fragrance you will be sorely disappointed. From an era that brought us such overt beauties as Sirrocco by Lucien Lelong, Jungle Gardenia by Tuvaché, Tabu by Dana and French Cancan by Caron it surprises me that Guerlain made something so discrete and intimate. A green floral veil backed by slightly warm vanilla/amber and mossy woods. A fragrance that is almost introverted in its sillage and projection until you sit quite close and suddenly you are drawn into its captivating spell.

I have a couple of bottles but the one that gets the most wear is the 2012 EdT in the Habit de Fete cannister. Yes, I know that people complain of the modern versions thinness and lack of base. Sure, it’s different to my vintage parfum and different to the vintage EdT I have a decant of. It’s brighter, more sparkling and I admit a little screechier but it’s still beautiful. Beautiful in and of itself. So wearable and pretty. The narcissus is not so dirty as the vintage and the base is less furry and plush, though they seem to have padded the violet and iris to compensate. My main gripe is that the longevity is affected, becoming a soft whispered wash of itself within 30 minutes and barely there after an hour.

While Jin and I were in Europe in 2013 I went into Guerlain L’Institute in Prague and I was determined to buy a L’Heure de Nuit but something made me ask if they had the Vol de Nuit propeller bottle. Yes, they did. With my heart beating 16 to the dozen I handed over my card and asked them to “Charge and wrap it. Please don’t say the price.” Every now and then I have been getting the box out; looking at it and holding it, happiness bubbling up inside me. Today, for you guys, I unwrappeed it and finally got to touch my perfect jewel of a bottle so I could photograph it. No, I’m not yet ready to open it, to cut the cord, but it’s one step closer.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Bois de Jasmin
Guerlain counters often have some in the drawers, ask
Surrender To Chance have vintage EdT samples from $7/ml

Photo Stolen TheTruthAboutMummy

Vol de Nuit GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x .5ml sample from my vintage Vol de Nuit parfum quadrilobe bottle
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell me if you like the old Guerlain stuff? Have you tried Vol de Nuit?

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Guerlain Vol de Nuit GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-493 #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 9th August 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 13th August 2015 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.

Miss Dior Web Documentary – Episode 1: The fragrance creation behind the scenes

August 7, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom

G’Day,

Actually I almost never say G’Day unless I’m using the Aussie card in a gay bar and trying to pick up. I do love it when out in the rural parts of Australia and everyone says it.

So, Jin has a couple of actresses that he really loves and Natalie Portman is one of them. Here she meets perfumer Francois Demachy and he takes her through some of the notes and the behind the scenes fun of creating a fragrance, Miss Dior 2012. I love that they are talking as if it’s a fragrance made for Natalie Portman alone, it adds a very cool side interest.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Even if you hate the bullshit that goes with selling a fragrance this Miss Dior video captures so nicely the lovely face of Natalie Portman.

Enjoy,
Portia xx

Miss Dior Web Documentary

Episode 1: The fragrance creation behind the scenes

SAMPLE PACK ROAK GIVEAWAY WINNERS

August 3, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

Heya APJ,

Thanks for getting involved in this weeks giveaway. Someone is going to have a lot of fun sniffing over the next few weeks.

Portia xx

SAMPLE PACK ROAK GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x SAMPLE PACK RAOK
P&H Anywhere in the world

Craft by Andrea Maack
Olympic Amber by Olympic Orchids
Midsummer Day’s Dream by Olympic Orchids
Secretions Magnifiques by Etat Libre de Orange
Vintage Vogade Parfum by Charrier
Amouage Opus VI
Amouage Opus V
Nepal Aoud by Montale
Indian Coconut Nectar by Pacifica
Six Scents Series Two 3 Henrik Vibskov: Solar Donkey Power
Unknown/Unnamed Fragrance
Souffle des Indies by Comptor Sud Pacific
Cologne for Alice by Evocative Perfumes Manufacturers Sample
CHANEL Jersey Manufacturers Sample
Elixer by Penhaligon’s
Amber Nuit by Atelier Cologne
Knize Ten Gold Edition
Cold Water Canyon by Surrender To Chance

HOW DID YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us which one from the pack you would most like to sample

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie SAMPLE PACK RAOK GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-486 #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 2nd August 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner will be chosen by random.org

Photo stolen sistersavealot

SaffyIsHere via Twitter

CONGRATULATIONS! The winner will have till Thursday 6th August 2015 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.

Elektra by Ellen Covey for Olympic Orchids 2010

August 2, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hey hey APJ,

I hope life is treating you all well. You may know we have moved house and that we have been in the middle of a renovation for months. The kitchen man offered us a very nice benchtop in Caesar Stone that he had on the cheap because the colour is being discontinued. Well, he sent off the measurements, they ordered the stone and then found they needed another piece but there was NONE LEFT! Drama ensued and it’s already at the 5 week mark but fortunately the call came through and we are hoping with all out hearts that there will be benchtop in the very near future. Why am I telling you this? Well the move has brought to light some lovely forgotten treasures and I am loving finding them and spritzing.

Today’s offering got a bit lost in the excitement of my love for Olympic Amber, Ballets Rouges and Golden Cattleya but I have grabbed it out and spritzed with gay abandon.

Elektra by Ellen Covey for Olympic Orchids 2010

Photo Stolen Olympic Orchids

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Black currant, ripe fig, green fig leaves, amber

You may remember this fragrance as A Midsummer Day’s Dream, that’s how it was originally marketed but it didn’t fit on the new packaging so Ellen changed it. The juice in the bottle is exactly the same.

Sweet green but bitter-sweet green. Elektra is a high octane green fragrance that is so fabulously unusual and of itself that it’s hard to find a broad descriptive reference that can really apply. Forget every other fig or berry fragrance you have ever smelled because Elektra is nothing like any of them. Somehow Ellen Covey manages to create scents that are so far beyond my expectations and into the deep realms of fragrant art pieces. Yes, there are fig and black current but they are reimagined here as stark green and spiky sweets, like I am smelling what a crystaline Swarovski fig and black currant would smell like if you could go through the looking glass and smell the unsmellable.

Photo Stolen GeographUK

Elektra does not smell earthly or earthy, it bypasses all your 21st century fruity expectations and lands in this otherworldly, weird and super saturated cyber garden. Could this be what Elphaba smells like? Can it be that Ellen Covey has discovered the scent of a green witch?

Photo Stolen Flickr

One of the marvellous things about being an Independent Perfumer is that you get to experiment and build your dreams. It’s very easy to build my own fragrant dreams on Ellen Coveys beautiful fragrant gems because they are so magical, every drop a dreamers elixir.

Olympic Orchids has samples from only $3 and $65/30ml
Surrender To Chance has samples under the old name $4/ml

Are you an Ellen Covey convert yet? Which Olympic Orchids have you tried?
Portia xx

Chanel | Haute Couture Fall Winter 2015/2016 Full Show

August 2, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Heya Fragrant Fashionistas,

I’ve watched the DIOR and Versace FW 15/16 shows and they left me cool to say the least. Here at CHANEL Karl Lagerfeld has brought us a redefined vision of the CHANEL suit and some really interesting fabrics and shapes. The shoes are freaking KILLER and I also love the severe uber Desange bobs that seem to be laughing at the 90s. For every frock I love there are 10 I merely like and three I loathe. Interesting that the last two frocks resemble some shapes and treatments of DIOR’s Belgian designer Raf Simons work over the last few seasons.

Photo Stolen CHANEL news

This is the whole show and pay attention at the start, there are some very interesting people at the gambling tables. If you get bored FF to the last 5 minutes, that’s where my favourite stuff happens and I really love the final wedding outfit.

Enjoy,
Portia xx

Chanel | Haute Couture F/W 2015/16 Full Show

A Few to Sniff at Gino's

August 1, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hi there Fragrant Fellowship,

You know those really great days? So today was a REALLY great day (I’m writing now and you’re reading a couple of days away). I was able to have a pretty good sleep in after working last night, then I lazed around the house for an hour before trotting off to a mini sniff at my mate Gino’s house with a very fun crew of people including MsKerri, KerriC & SimonC, SonyaY & JedY, Scott and our beautiful host Gino who had gone to outrageous lengths on the food and refreshments and had the house spotless.

A Few to Sniff at Gino’s

The crew arrived willy-nilly and there was some coming & going but EVERYONE brought some gems from their fragrant hoard for us to share & sniff. There were pasties, cheeses and dips, biscuits and a slew of other yummy munchies. Gino did percolated coffee, my favourite. I still have my Mum’s Cornflower Corningware percolator and love to get it on the hob. Gino’s was perfection.

There was some major sniffing and sharing going on. Lonestar Memories and L`Air du Desert Marocain by Tauer Perfumes, Gentlewoman by JHaG, Dubai Next To Me by Ramon Monegal, Bull’s Blood and Violet Disguise by Imaginary Authors. There were many different incarnations of Tabu, Magie Noir, Bal a Versailles and some rare vintage finds like Fille d’Eve by Nina Ricci and Gino has a mini collection hat would make you weep. We also got to try Antonia and M by Puredistance, some Frederic Malles and a slew of stuff that I’ve completely forgotten. It was a hoot and a half and I can’t wait to hang with them all again.

One of my favourite moments of the day was Jed & my “Who can scream the loudest competition”. I may have just edged Jed out and taken the prize but it was a very close race. So much fun. He kept creeing up on me and saying, “I’m going to get you.” Before he could even finish the sentence I would grab him and scream it at him. Then I was acting scared of him and when he got close I would scream full throttle in his face and he would nearly shit himself. The above picture is us both trying to be the loudest but Jed is laughing too hard to really make a bid for the trophy. To be honest I don’t think he’d ever met an adult who is such a baffoon and he loved it.

Then Jin & I went for dinner to a very clean but cheap & cheerful Vietnamese restaurant. I ordered some stuff and Jin tried to remind me what I liked there but I really thought I was on top of the whole game and ordered something that came out and was DISGUSTING!! BLAH! So I ended up eating Spring Rolls and Fried Rice, it was yummy. There he is below, really tired after a LONG days work and just happy to be eating and hanging out.

After that we went to BUNNINGs. It’s our version of a giant hardware store and they have everything. Jin bought some shelves and then he put them up in our new garage. I helped a little bit but then Jin was like, “You go do your blog and I’ll finish here” so I have and I did, and he did. Then he came into my office and kissed me goodnight before he went off to the land of nod. I can hear him snoring from here.

Most of the mentioned fragrances are available as samples on Surrender To Chance or My Perfume Samples.

I walked the dog and now I too am ready for bed. Goodnight all.
Portia xx