Portia

Mardi Gras GIVEAWAY WINNERS

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Another great giveaway thanks to the incredible Azar, and Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids. Thanks to you girls for being amazing. Consistently amazing.

Portia xx

Mardi Gras GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Mardi_Gras Olympic OrchidsPhoto Stolen Olympic Orchids

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x 2 ml decant of the new Mardi Gras
1 x 1 ml decant from my bottle of Version #1
1 x mystery sample of a dark and musky perfume oil
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID 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 us if you have tried Olympic Orchids new Mardi Gras fragrance or about your favorite “parfum de puta”!

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 28th May 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

 

Winners brooklodgePhoto Stolen brooklodge

Laura Matheson

Claudia

The winners will have till Sunday 31st May 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.

Une Rose Chypree by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Hey Frag Family,

My mate Natalie from the now sadly defunct Not Another Perfume Blog gave me a bunch of samples and decants when she quit blogging. It has been really interesting slowly going through her bag because some of the things lurking inside are brand new to me, others are fragrances I’ve tried earlier in my obsession and while I liked them well enough when I first tried them I may have been too green or have had a much more limited understanding of scent. It is really fabulous to come across a scent that became lost in the multitudes again and have a second chance with it.

Today I am going to look at exactly one such……

Une Rose Chypree by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2009

Une Rose Chypree Tauer Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cinnamon, bay, bergamot, lemon, Clementine orange
Heart: Bulgarian rose, rose absolue, Bourbon geranium Base: Labdanum, oakmoss, patchouli, vetiver, vanilla

Sizzling spices and citrus burst out of the nozzle immediately and my office is filled with the scent of sun, fun, joy and playfulness. An explosion, a riot, a zinging zesty carnival of scent. The citruses are marvellously shown off with the addition of spice and I feel a real hot chilli effect too. It’s like you’ve thrown the spices in the pan to cook together before you add your meat to a sweet curry. Yesterday I complained of A La Rose not living on my skin, well here is a fragrance that not only lives but makes a cacophony! Une Rose Chypree is F U N and fabulous.

Une Rose Chypree Tauer Perfumes frying-pan olafBroeker PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

One of the things I usually love about Andy Tauer’s work is the slow progression of stages, I get to really live and smell each transformation and enjoy the pieces of his puzzle. Maybe I’m lucky because his work really seems to like my skin chemistry. In the heart of Une Rose Chypree I get this amazing caramel/toffee/rose melange, it is delicious, unusual and crunchy. Warm and cozy yet totally good for hot weather. Today is a very pleasant 21C (70F) and Une Rose Chypree is a perfect scent to take me through the day and into evening.

Dry down comes hours later and lasts into the next morning with Andy’s famous Tuer-ade lingering and getting sweeter and softer as it progresses. In the morning a whisper of sweet Une Rose Chypree resins lays over my skin making my early morning funk smell pleasant and still edible. MMMMMMM

Une Rose Chypree Tauer Perfumes Fondant_Rose WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

One thing I will say is that if you have a zero fragrance policy at your work then this humdinger is probably not going to fit the bill, no matter how lightly you spray Une Rose Chypree is a big scent and an attention grabber for the first 3-4 hours. More often than not I will be complimented on my fragrance when wearing Une Rose Chypree, she is a showstopper.

Une Rose Chypree sample Tauer PerfumesPhoto Stolen Tauer Perfumes

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and Perfume Shrine
IndieScents has $140/50ml
Tauer Perfumes has samples starting at $5.40

Have you ever revisited a fragrance that you liked to find that it was true love? Which one, or ones?
Portia xx

OMG! The Panty Dropper

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hey there APJ,

This is a well loved sentence from the more dude-ish of the fragrant communiry and a few of us were chatting about it the other week which inspired me to write a post both serious and completely tongue-in-cheek. I am so proud to be writing for My Perfume Samples and I think they have a wonderful business model and are a super great crew to work for.

Please drop over and have a little laugh at my Panty Dropper post. It comes with a 15% Discount Code across the entire store too. My Perfume Samples<<JUMP

OMG! The Panty Dropper

portia-post-4
Photo Stolen My Perfume Samples

I hope you’re all having a lovely Sunday and that we catch you over there.
See you

Portia xx

A La Rose by Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Cooee APJers,

I ordered this decant a while ago and then must have put it in the samples box I just rediscovered. HOORAY that I found it. Does this ever happen to you? Decants lost among the most enormous number of other samples/decants? One day I will take the time to really organise my shit, till then surprise finds will be a part of my life…..

A La Rose by Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2014

A La Rose Maison Francis Kurkdjian FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, orange, lemon
Heart: Turkish red rose, Damask rose, violets
Base: Cedar

Maison Francis Kurkdjian gives these featured accords in one line:
Damascena Rose from Bulgaria – Bergamot from Calabria – Orange from California – Violet – Magnolia blossom – Cedar wood – Musk – Centifolia Rose from Grasse

Before we talk fragrance can I just put it out there that I think Francis Kurkdjian looks like a very nice man. There is something engaging about him, every time I see a photo or video my mind thinks that he would be a lovely friend to have. Do any of you think the same?

So on to A La Rose. I like the sweet citrus, slightly pithy opening. There are no white flowers mentioned but I get a distinct hint, maybe the magnolia? Magnolia kind of fits, especially with the citrus; and musk, white musk, lashings in the opening or is it some resin that’s making my mouth go quietly fuzzy. A La Rose wears more as a wash than a fragrance on me. Subtle, airy, loads of space between the notes. Free and clean, it’s like Francis Kurkdjian has captured a spring breeze in a rose garden, or standing among the roses at the end of the row of a citrus orchard.

A La Rose by Maison Francis Kurkdjian rose Public Domain ImagesPhoto P.D.I.

When we get to the roses they are sheer, luxe and sadly for me a bit boring. To be fair though I can see this being exactly how many people would want to smell. It’s a lovely soft focus rose with a lightly citrus fizz and a small crackle of green behind it all. It does smell expensive and gives a very rich feel but if this was the kind of scent I was hoping to wear I would probably choose the MUCH cheaper, louder and less nuanced brashness of 1977s Tea Rose by Perfumer`s Workshop.

A La Rose hums along nicely for a while and very slightly woodies up before fading from my skin completely. Really I think that my skin has not married well with this particular scent and I urge you to try it yourself, you wear will hopefully be completely different. What a shame.

A La Rose by Maison Francis Kurkdjian rose JamesDeMeres PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Now Smell This and Candy Perfume Boy
LuckyScent has $245/70ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5.25/.5ml

Have you tried A La Rose? What are your impressions?
Portia xx

pc01 by Patricia Choux for biehl parfumkunstwerke 2007

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Hi there Niche Nerds,

Here we have a crew from Hamburg who really want to give perfumers free reign. They make small batches of juice and use simple packaging, everything is about the fragrance. That’s a pretty cool way to work, “Quality NOT Quantity” but it does make me wonder how they make any money? To be honest I’ve not tried very much of the line before but when I did try them was in major sniff mode on holidays so my memories are hazy at best.

What you’ll get today is a stream of consciousness first impression, pretty sure I’ve never sniffed pc01 before and I haven’t looked up the notes yet, come on, it’ll be fun……

pc01 by Patricia Choux for biehl parfumkunstwerke 2007

eo03 biehl parfumkunstwerke FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Tangerine, neroli, davana, mango leaves
Heart: Peony, iris, mango
Base: Kashmir wood, vetiver, musk

So on opening I get a lovely aquatic fruity melange that is reminiscent of one of the Hermès Jardin range, a fruit salad with a lovely nearly ripe mango and some other fruits that is sheer and mildly salted. I think even in the opening I can smell the vetiver where the brackish water feature of its dry greenness is the focus they’ve chosen. There is something slightly wild and unfettered about pc01 even though I get no growl, it’s just a feeling.

MMMMMMMMMM yes, I smell summer, boating on a bay, everything I smell here is tinged with water and wind. A warm day but you’re sitting in the shade, maybe you’re drinking fruity cocktails. Maybe you’ve had lunch, some drinks and a fruits salad to finish. This then is the scent in your mouth and nose just before you dive into the bay to work off those calories.

pc01-biehl-parfumkunstwerke Roger FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The heart is slightly sweet peony that is still quite sheer and lightly fruity, a fresh (as in fresh flowers not super jock blue frags) fragrance that is cool and collected. I don’t get much wood at all but loads of white musk and a little dry vetiver in the base. Simple and it smells nice. An extremely expensive feeling department store fragrance that you could easily gift.

SURPRISE!!! I thought this was going to be way too challenging, arty farty, unwearable, head up their ass perfume that I would have to be totally objective about. Um, NO! It’s lovely, wearable and not challenging at all. Actually it’s so pretty I could imagine it becoming a go to, spritz & go fragrance.

pc01-biehl-parfumkunstwerke girl sina_rose DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Further reading: From Pyrgos and Now Smell This
First In Fragrance has €150/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Have you tried any of these biehl parfumkunstwerke fragrances?
Portia xx

Fille d`Eve GIVEAWAY WINNERS

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Hi Gang,

Nice crew of you with some lovely fragrances mentioned and some great memories too. Thanks for getting involved.

Portia xx

Fille d`Eve GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Fille d`Eve Nina Ricci FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot, Oakmoss, Jasmine, Patchouli, Rose

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x Fille d`Eve by Nina Ricci decant from the bottle that Michael Edwards gave me
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID 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 us a favorite vintage fragrance OR a story of a late morning rumpled wake up OR someone you know that rocks vintage frags

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 17th May 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Winners brooklodgePhoto stolen brooklodge

Cookie Queen (Via Twitter)

Shmuli Cohen

The winners will have till Thuesday 21st May 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.

L'Occitane Launch May 2015 with Scott Steward

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hey crew,

Monday was a great morning to L’Occitane. Scottt Steward and I trolled down to the Sydney Observatory area and couldn’t find the damn place so I just kept driving till we came across it, AT LAST! Greeted with drinks and some easy finger food at arrival we were wowed by the lovely transformation that the L’Occitane crew had given a very white old-school hanger of an art gallery. There was colour and bunches of real flowers everywhere.

L’Occitane Launch May 2015 with Scott Steward

I apologise that I didn’t get more crowd and happening shots but one of the Sydney Beauty Society Mavins was really rude to me as we arrived and It put me a bit off my game. Not to be deterred we listened to the beautiful French General Manager of L’Occitane Australia Caroline LeRoch who welcomed us and introduced the new Australian face/brand Ambassador of L’Occitane, Australian TV & Radio star Sami Lukis who chatted with Lucy Primrose, international project leader and skincare innovator at L’Occitane.

The spiel was interesting, the finger food delicious and most of the company fun and friendly. The L’Occitane crew are a great bunch of girls and my mate Lesley Bowen the loveliest of them all.

L'Occitane Launch May 2015 #1

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #5

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #4

L'Occitane Launch May 2015 #2

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #3

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #2

L'Occitane Launch May 2015 #4

L'Occitane Launch May 2015 #5

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #1

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #6

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #8

L'Occitane Launch May 2015 #7

L'Occitane Launch May 2015 #10And the swag?

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #9

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #10

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #11

L'Occitane Launch Pics 2015 May #12The last photo is the ABSOLUTE FREAKING WINNER! An oil based make up remover that takes every skerrick of my drag make up off in seconds, including waterproof mascara. First time in my life I’ve woken up without PANDA EYES! Thank you L’Occitane.

Portia xx

PS Most of these photos I took but some were donated by L’Occitane after I asked for extras.

 

Men's Standards Of Beauty Around The World: BuzzFeed

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey Crew,

I often hear women complain about how hard it is to live in a world where every image they are being shown of how they are expected to look is almost unattainable to someone with a real life. I agree, it can be hard looking in the mirror after being bombarded with images of perfection from dusk till dawn.

So instead of decreasing the pressure on women to look a certain way men have been giving them a twisted sense of equality by creating exactly the same stupid unhappiness drain by creating the male Adonis Syndrome. Basically another form of body dysmorphia but this time it’s hitting the men.

Standards Of Beauty David Goehring FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

It makes me so mad and I feel absolutely helpless in the face of this absolute idiocracy that the media has become. I want real people that I can idolise because they have done interesting, amazing, entrepreneurial or culturally sensitive things, people who have made a difference, people who can talk books and life after having read or thought about them. GRRRR!

End rant, enjoy the video, there is no denying how lovely these men look.
Portia xx

Men’s Standards Of Beauty Around The World

Vétiver Tonka by Jean Claude Ellena for Hermès 2004

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Heya APJ Frag Family,

You might remember that I bought an Hermès 4 x 15ml Travel Set while on holidays. Vetiver is one of my favourite notes, not just for its amazingly versatile scent profile but also because the grass is so useful in many different ways, anyway here is one of the clever ways Jean-Claude Ellena sees vetiver.

Vétiver Tonka by Jean Claude Ellena for Hermès 2004

Vetiver Tonka Hermes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords in one line:
Hazelnut, Lily-of-the-valley, Praliné, Sandalwood, Tobacco, Tonka bean, Vetiver

I really enjoy the melange that Vétiver Tonka offers up while still wet on your skin; it’s like the whole note list wants to meet you all at once. In the first 10 seconds I smell quite distinctly the austere, dry yet fresh greenness of vetiver, the sweetness of sugared lollies and nutty sweets, creamy sandalwood and a whisper of the dewy fresh prim white floral that is lily of the valley. They all pop out in succession as if you are meeting them on a conveyor belt.

Then something interesting happens on my skin, at about the two minute mark they all decide it’s time to get friendly and create a fragrance. The beautiful slightly salty, little bit bitter green smoky dryness of vetiver is front and center but everything else then becomes a fragrant cushion that surrounds and bolsters the star.

vertiver-tonka HermesPhoto Stolen Hermès

As we go further into the heart of Vétiver Tonka the sweetness starts to really shine through. A lovely shiny patina of creamy caramel with the slightly dry bite of nuts waltz through and around the vetiver creating some very interesting fragrant formations that keep my nose fresh to the scent and my wrist lifted permanently in front of my face. Thank goodness I’m home and not out, it would be embarrassing.

It’s interesting wearing Vétiver Tonka to review rather than as my scent of the day. I am much more able to detect subtle differences in its moods, during a regular wear I get occasional wafts of sweet creamy woods that make me smile through the day but in my room on close inspection the heart is caramelised and smoky, the nuttiness shines through more too. A sweet dryness prevails to the end, very elegant and totally unisex.

Longevity is really good most days but some days I spray on Vétiver Tonka and it seems to disappear before the two hour mark. No I can’t work out why, there seems to be no defining circumstances but I have only worn a 3ml sample in the past and now this is my fourth wear since buying my 15ml four pack.

Vetiver Tonka Hermes Bamboo_forest WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: What Men Should Smell Like and Olfactoria’s Travels
Hermessence are available only in Hermès stores or onlineSurrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

How do you like your vetiver? Dry and stark or warm and delicious?
Portia xx