Dirty Flower Factory GIVEAWAY WINNER

August 17, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Hey Crew,

It was great to have you along for the draw. Thanks to John Pegg for creating such a beautiful scent, whoever wins Dirty Flower Factory is getting a gem. We love giving you the opportunity to try stuff that you may have missed.

Do go check out the Kerosene site.

Let’s find out who won!
Portia xx

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 GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT COULD 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

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 16th August 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner was chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen cemre-ile-hertelden

PATTY-PONG

CONGRATULATIONS!! 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.

Fougère Bengale by Marc-Antoine Corticchiato for Parfum d`Empire 2007

August 16, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Fragrance Fiends,

I have long lusted after the Parfum d’Empire perfumer. Marc-Antoine Corticchiato is a friggen hottie, so suave and handsome looking, so finished and grand. Here’s a photo to get you in the mood….

Fougère Bengale by Parfum d`Empire 2007

Fougère Bengale by Marc-Antoine Corticchiato

Photo Stolen Parfum d’Empire

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lavender, tea, ginger, mint
Heart: Hay, tobacco, pepper
Base: Oakmoss, patchouli, vanilla, tonka bean

From Parfum d’Empire: Edwardian dandies scented themselves with fougère, a classic fragrance family based on lavender, tonka bean and oak moss. Fougère Bengale revisits the genre with a powerful, honeyed blond tobacco accord, and carries us off to India…

Smoky tea, spice and hay are what come through initially on my skin and honeyed sweet tobacco. I know there’s lavender here, my brain is saying lavender, lavender, lavender but my nose doesn’t smell it at all. The smoky tea goees pretty quickly and the spice changes, not so energetic and I really do feel like I’m about to light a cigarette in a hayloft.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Then the main notes take a balmy turn, everything smooths out and the honeyed sweetness that often catches in the back of my throat becomes a softer, suppler and more comfortable beast all together. All of a sudden I am in a cozy, warm fragrance that is still dappled with light but now it’s a less golden and more burnished copper. Calmer, sweeter, smoother and cuddlier. The tiger is now a kitten purring happily in your lap or cuddled in the crook of your arm.

Photo Stolen Flickr

I still get wafts of tobacco and hay through the heart and into the base but they are quickly quelled by the lovely resins. To be honest I get very little of India in Fougere Bengale at all. It’s too clean and too European elegant, once the fireworks die down I get much more Professor Higgins library than Shah Jahan’s tiger hunt. Yet I find it both appealing and wearable, it’s interesting enough to keep me sniffing and the longevity is excellent.

Further reading: Scented Hound and Non Blonde
Parfum d’Empire has €120/100ml
LuckyScent has $145/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3.50/ml

India! Have you been? Is it on your list?
Portia xx

Shalimar + Mountain Adventure Photo Essay

August 15, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there Perfume Peeps,

Today was so wonderful. One of the guys (Jean-Luc) that comes to my Tuesday Trivia has recently started an Art Shop in the mountains near Sydney. They are called the Blue Mountains because something in the eucalyptus trees shimmers blue through the air and thus the mountains look blue from afar, it’s lovely if you have them in your view. Another of the boys from Tuesday Trivia (Leo) is a motorbike rider and we have been chatting for a while about going on a bike excursion to Katoomba to see Jean-Luc. Today was the day.

It started out lovely in the sun, warm and toasty. Figuring it would stay that way I eschewed the thermals, wet weather gear, beany and puffer jacket under my riding kit. BAD IDEA! As soon as we got 20 minutes along the highway, freezing, stinging rain and the strongest winds I’ve ever ridden in. OMG! So freaking cold. It was incredibly exhilarating though and I was kept on constant alert, it was like a ride at a fairground except I was the one who had to be in control of the bike.

Anyway, we get to the top and have the most wonderful coffee before Jean-Luc opens the store. It’s a very modern artists place, mainly catering to spray paint artists who have covered the walls of the store with murals and the back alley has been given to artists from all over the world to paint, each wall a different and magical scene. It’s astounding the intricate detail they are able to bring with a spray can.

After looking at the murals in the area we popped across the road to the funkiest food place ever. The Yellow Deli. An ex-hippy hang if ever there was one. It seems to be a cross between rural, historical, hysterical and home improvements. Every piece lovingly hand rendered, something happening everywhere you turn and all seemingly with little rhyme or reason: eclectic and fun. We were ushered upstairs by a friendly waiter who thought we were a band (super cool US!!) and spent a few minutes just drinking in the ambiance. I had been told what to order and I dutifully did. I think it was called a Darling Rose Sandwich. OMG! Disgusting. Ha Ha Ha ha!! It was too much super salty ham, some onion with tomato chutney and tomato sauce AND mayonnaise. BLEAUGH! I was so hungry though that I ate every bite, and by the end of it I kind of got used to it.

Then the unbelievable happened. 2 hours from the heart of Sydney and it SNOWED!! Big, puffy, soft looking gusts of snow that got so heavy the street was obscured. Totally fabulous. Not enough to cover the world white but it was snow, and from our comfortable seat in the deli it was magical.

After that Leo & I went and had a look at a piece of land I’m quite interested in and then we rode home. While in the mountains I purchased (at 50% Discount!) a pair of electric green merino wool leggings and matching beany, I donned my puffer jacket under my bike jacket and the ride home was considerably warmer, and dryer because the snow and rain had stopped.

When I got home to really warm myself up I drew a bath and used Shalimar Gel Douche as my Bubble Bath. It was fiery hot and deliciously scented. There is no better place in the world to warm a cold, tired body and relax an overactive mind. It was bliss. I have spritzed some recent Shalimar EdP and am now bathed in a cloud of my own sweet smelling loveliness. Sometimes life feels really good.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Further reading: APJ Shalimar Parfum, APJ Shalimar EdP and APJ Shalimar EdC
FragranceNet has $73/90ml current EdP before coupon
Surrender To Chance has EdP samples starting at $3/ml

How do you like to wind down? Do you have a favourite bath soak?

Portia xx

Classic Patchouli GIVEAWAY WINNERS

August 15, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

WOO HOO! Great giveaway thanks to Val and the Von Eusersdorff crew. Thanks everyone for getting involved and Val got so excited she wants to send 4 packs. YAY!!!
Portia xx

Classic Patchouli by Von Eusersdorff 2011

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Patchouli
Base: Vanilla, tonka bean, sandalwood

Classic Patchouli GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 (NOW 4) winners who will each receive:
1 x sample Classic Patchouli by Von Eusersdorff
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Friday 14th August 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen prospectsplus

HOLLY
BEC
PATSI
TIM

The winners will have till Monday 17th 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.

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

Dirty Flower Factory by Kerosene 2014

Dirty Flower Factory by John Pegg

Dirty Flower Factory GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING

PATTY-PONG

Fougère Bengale by Parfum d`Empire 2007

Fougère Bengale by Marc-Antoine Corticchiato

Classic Patchouli by Von Eusersdorff 2011

Classic Patchouli GIVEAWAY WINNERS

HOUSEKEEPING

HOLLY BEC PATSI TIM

Dirty Flower Factory by Kerosene 2014

Dirty Flower Factory by John Pegg

Dirty Flower Factory GIVEAWAY

HOW DO YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING

Bottega Veneta: The Art Of Collaboration

Fall-Winter 2015/2016 with Juergen Teller

Vol de Nuit by Jacques Guerlain for Guerlain 1933

Vol de Nuit GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

HOW DID YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING

Mirjam Bayer

Vidi by Gérald Ghislain for Histoires de Parfums 2013

Vol de Nuit by Jacques Guerlain for Guerlain 1933

Vol de Nuit GIVEAWAY

HOW DO YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING

Miss Dior Web Documentary

Episode 1: The fragrance creation behind the scenes

HOLLY
BEC
PATSI
TIM