Portia

Montaigne by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2007

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hi there Frag Family,

Caron is a fragrance house that is very hit and miss for me. A bunch of my all time favourite fragrances are from them. With Bellodgia I have a horde of the parfum as well as an ample stash of the EdP. Infini, Parfun Sacre, Nocturnes, 119, Nuit de Noel, Tabac Blond and Royal Bain are all in my collection and that’s a LOT from one house. There are a bunch that don’t work though, and they REALLY don’t work, so it’s always nice to find a new one that does. My frag buddy Scott and I were shopping the importer sale the other day and we spied a Caron I’d not yet tried…..

Montaigne by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2007

Montaigne Caron FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Jasmine, coriander, bitter orange, mimosa, tangerine
Heart: Narcissus, black currant
Base: Sandalwood, amber, vanilla

So my batch code tells me my Montaigne is a 2007, so re-released with the reformulation and I think it did not do so well. It’s certainly not one of the Caron’s you read or hear much love for, Victoria at Bois de Jasmin delightfully scathing of the sandalwood accord and the frag in general. Her nose is 100 times better attuned to picking such things and I miss the screech completely. Maybe my bottle has had a lot longer to settle?

Opening spritz has me smelling this fabulous fruity hairspray and makeup scent, there’s something completely over the top and carnival about Mointaigne, it feels irrepressible to me. It’s so perfumey it’s almost a caricature of perfume. honestly the notes bear very little resemblance to what my nose and brain smell. I get a high octane, 100% synthetic, dance all night, laughing, singing along, party girl scent. If ever a scent swang from the chandelier then Montaigne is it.

montaigne-caron disco PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Part of me is just laughing inside at how much fun someone wearing Montaigne could have.

Basically Montaigne wears pretty linearly for me, hairspray, nailpolish, makeup mixed with fun fruity tingles and a very thin dry down with a little amber/woods but really it is just a soft wash of sweet woods with a shade of fruit. This wash wafts softly around me for a few hours, longevity is quite good.

Further reading: Perfume Posse and EauMG
Beauty Encounter has $45/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4.50/ml

Do you have a Caron favourite? Tell me…. and why?
Portia xx

Costume National GIVEAWAY WINNERS

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

WOO HOO! Thanks for getting involved APJ, this is a particularly good giveaway. Thanks again to the whole crew at Libertine Parfumerie. You guys are amazing.

Portia xx

Costume National GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Costume National 10 ml Rollerballs

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive one of these sets:
1. 10ml Rollerballs of Cyber Garden and Pop Collection
2. 10ml Rollerballs of Scent Intense and Homme
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 go to Libertine Parfumerie<<JUMP, find any Costume National fragrance and ONE of its notes…. NO DOUBLE UPS!

Extra Chance?
Tweet:  Costume National Rollerball  http://wp.me/p3PURw-3Mn  

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 9th April 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

winners-are prospectsplusPhoto stolen prospectsplus

Connie

Gregory Young

The winners will have till Monday 13th April 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.

Patrick & Wayne: Magnolia Grandiflora

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hi there APJ,

I don’t have a perfume post for you tonight. Life has been very hectic around here and somehow there is no post for now. OOOOPS! Jin & I have been out to dinner with a couple of totally top blokes that I have been friends with for 20 years and some other long standing friends. Though Jin & I have been together for 3 years still they’d not met him. So to make it happen they organised a dinner party. Roast goats chees stuffed figs wrapped in prosciutto and drizzled with honey & balsamic vinegar. Slow cooked curried chicken breasts with cous cous and sugar snap peas with a spicy jus. Chocolate souffle with raspberries and clotted cream. Fabulous drinks served to suit each course and basically a heaven night out.

Patrick & Wayne: Magnolia Grandiflora

Through the whole dinner though I was mesmerised by the perfection and beauty of the centerpiece, a couple of dinner plate sized magnolias from the front garden. Their ginger, lemongrass, citrus, vanilla and sweat scent wafting over towards me and completelyt breaking my train of thought again and again throughout the evening.

I stole one and brought it home. Here it is in the kitchen.

Perfection.
Portia xx

Patrick & Wayne Magnolia 2015b

Patrick & Wayne Magnolia 2015a

NEW! Costume National 10 ml Rollerballs

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

Woo Hoo APJ Family,

I was at the Libertine Parfumerie New Season Launches last week. There is so much great new stuff out this time I got carried away. It was quite the Aussie beauty biz room, Sydney Morning Herald Lifestyle Liftout Beauty Editor, Vogue Living Beauty Editor, Beauty Directory Editor,  Elysée Collective PR Director, Libertine Parfumerie Director and me. I felt like I was swimming with the big boys and they were all really fun & sweet, it was a great hour with champagne, chi chi sparkle water and sweet nibbles.

Libertine New season April 2015 #3
Nick smart, as always, the host with the most took us through some great new things and new ways of packaging things. It seems the Rollerball is back in a big way, L’Artisan and Costume National especially. There were new Penhaligon’s, Dear Rose, Creed has a new LE golden bottle, Le galion, Cire Trudon and heaps of other stuff I can’t even remember.

Libertine New season April 2015 #1

So, long story short: Nick has given me some Costume National Rollerballs valued at $59 each to give away! I’ve made up 2 sets. Set 1. Homme by Dominique Ropion with Scent Intense by Laurent Bruyere and Set 2. Cyber Garden by Ennio Capasa + Antoine Lie with Pop Collection by Dominique Ropion. How freaking cool? So each pack is worth $118!

Go To It Crew!
Portia xx

Save From YouTube giveaway 4Photo Stolen YouTube

Costume National 10 ml Rollerballs

Costume National 10 ml Rollerballs GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive one of these sets:
1. 10ml Rollerballs of Cyber Garden and Pop Collection
2. 10ml Rollerballs of Scent Intense and Homme
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 go to Libertine Parfumerie<<JUMP, find any Costume National fragrance and ONE of its notes…. NO DOUBLE UPS!

Extra Chance?
Tweet:  Costume National Rollerball  http://wp.me/p3PURw-3Mn  

HOUSEKEEPING

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

 

 

 

Le Galion GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hey there APJ,

As you all know, I FREAKING LOVE GIVEAWAYS! There are so many more coming up in the near future too, stick around.

Portia xx

Le Galion GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Snob Le Galion FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 4 winners who will receive:
1 x Manufacturers Mini (Iris, La Rose Snob, Whip. NO you don’t get to choose)
1 x decant of Sortilege
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 comment with a Le Galion memory or a favoured resurrected scent.

Extra Chance?
Tweet:  Le Galion http://wp.me/p3PURw-3Lk  @nicolas27637539

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 5th April 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Winners thegarfieldshow-diaryPhoto Stolen thegarfieldshow-diary

Nemo
Bube (via Twitter)
Ferris
Azar

CONGRATULATIONS!!

The winners will have till Thursday 9th April 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.

Misia by Olivier Polge for CHANEL 2015

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

Hello Happy Huffers,

Imagine. Your Dad has been in charge of CHANEL perfumes and his first two creations for the house were Anteaus (1981) and Coco (1984), and that was just the beginning of the amazing saga of Jaques Polge reign. We all know that fragrance is a nepotistic arena so no one was surprised that Mr J Polge’s successor would be his prolific son Olivier Polge (89 fragrances and counting) who has produced some of my personal favourites including Midnight In Paris, Spicebomb, DIOR Homme, Cuir Beluga, Liberte and The Beat Man: These are just the ones I have FB of in my collection.

Then you get offered the BIG job, in house perfumer for CHANEL! What will your first fragrance be? How can you carry on the CHANEL ideal and your father’s legacy while still putting your own stamp on the product? While I don’t envy Olivier Polge the shoes he has to fill I am agog to wear the produce of his labours……….

Misia by Olivier Polge for CHANEL 2015

Chanel Misia Chanel FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Powdery notes, violet, iris, orris root, Turkish rose, Grasse rose, Laos benzoin, tonka bean

Misia, I wonder who decided that Misia Sert would be the muse for this CHANEL creation? A modern woman of wealth. taste and an arts-centric philanthropist, ahead of her time yet fully a part of that time. A mover and a shaker, a catalyst, incredibly modern and yet a long time ago. It’s a perfect choice because almost anything fragrant you do can point to a facet of Misia, as long as it is brought to life impeccably.

Chanel Misia Chanel Misia Henri de Toulouse-Lautec WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

So many things Misia opens like. It’s a magical roll-a-dex of plush fragrant memories from that very first spritz, all of them expensive and lavish. Coco Chanel once said, “The best things in life are free but the second best are very, very expensive.” Many other bloggers have dwelt on its similarities so I’ll leave it there. I will say that a part of the mix that I’d always pegged as saffron is here, and I think it may be the violet/iris combo: balmy and cool yet slightly plastic. It smells like the feel of one of those old black bakelite CHANEL No 5 refillable canisters or the black case of a lipstick with the interlocking Cs at the tip and also some of the lipstick inside. More than any other CHANEL fragrance Misia smells like the essence of CHANEL, the dream and ideal we are being sold.

Chanel Misia Chanel large_classic_flap CHANELPhoto Stolen CHANEL

As we move into the heart of Misia the roses bloom, again vaguely reminiscent of other famous and beautiful fragrances but smoother, prettier, more tasteful and woven through with the violet/iris and very softly hinting of elegant leather handbags and folios. There is too a reminder of makeup and fragrances within, tidy but well loved. Sheer, a cloud of good fortune to surround you, the smell that money only wishes it could have but also a stark unclutteredness* like contemporary minimalism. Everything so perfectly placed and balanced, a harmonious whole.

Chanel Misia Chanel chanel-pret-a-porter-2014-15 CHANEL NewsPhoto Stolen CHANEL News

The end, a now whisper of what an old fashioned fragrance could have been in a dream. Bravo Olivier Polge, it feels to me as if you’ve hit the nail on the head.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
CHANEL Les exclusives are available at large Department Stores and CHANEL stand alone beauty
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Which is your favourite CHANEL Exclusive? Are you excited for the new era in CHANEL fragrance?
What do YOU think of Misia?
Portia xx

*Unclutteredness – clunky word, made it up, you know what I mean. Ironically the using of this word is an antonym of what I think it stand for.

NEWS! Portia Now Writing for My Perfume Samples!!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 44 Comments

Well APJ,

Here is an exciting development. Over the last while My Perfume Samples and I have been nutting out a wonderful deal. I will now be writing for them every fortnight for 3 months to see how it goes! It’s a very good invitation and a paid gig. Already before we started talking about my coming to write for them I liked the site a lot and use them regularly. My Perfume Samples have an incredible stock of mainstream fragrances and are currently adding more and more Mass-Tige (Mass Market Niche). Already included in their online store are such luminaries as Malle, Lutens, Penhaligon’s, L’Artisan, JHaG, Byredo and many others at VERY competitive prices.

Portia Now Writing for My Perfume Samples!!

My Perfume samples logo

For my initial My Perfume Samples piece I decided to look at some Work Safe Fragrances. Perfume in the work environment is becoming more of a minefield and sometimes you just have to suck it up but maybe there is another way. What you want are some good quality, interesting and fun fragrances for work that will fly under the radar and not get you banned for Skunking The Workplace. These beauties across a wide range of styles and price points should be safe bets. The great thing about sampling is that with a 3ml decant you get a real sense of how a fragrance will work on and for you

Top 10 Safe For Work Perfumes

Each fortnight there will be DISCOUNTS or FREE GIFTS and this fortnight the code is for a free gift with orders over $15.
This fortnight’s free gift includes 1 x 3ml atomiser each of 2 featured samples, valued at around $8!

Please jump over to My Perfume Samples and have a look. Leave a message too so I know you’ve been. I can see them but the My Perfume Samples crew still has to OK them.
This is totally exciting for me and I’m really nervous. It’s a big step and My Perfume Samples are trusting me to help them make their online shop the best it can be.

Portia xx

Tudor Rose & Amber by Christine Nagel for Jo Malone 2015

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hi there APJ,

Don’t forget to enter our Le Galion GIVEAWAY!<<JUMP

Jo Malone has decided to do a limited edition range that depicts different eras of British history, great idea! In this, my favourite of the releases, the bloody and turbulent Tudor years, 1485 to 1603 in England and Wales. A time of rebellion, religious strife, war, the widening of the rich/poor gap and also change in the way Monarchy and Government proceeded.

How has Christine Nagal seen this time in fragrance?

Tudor Rose & Amber by Jo Malone 2015

Tudor Rose & Amber Jo Malone FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pink pepper, clove
Heart: Damask rose, Tudor rose, ginger
Base: Amber, patchouli, white musk

Sparkling, lightly sizzling roses, a little musky and very pot-pouri (but in a nice way). Tudor Roses & Amber takes me back to the 1980s walking into friends houses and there would be a wooden or porcelain bowl with a many holed lid, from that little receptacle would gush glamorous fragrance that welcomed you into the house. I used to love that initial waft as you walked into a house and would often go and smell it later in the day.

Jo Malone has let Christine Nagel do it with fun spices and the clove/ginger mix keeps it zinging well into the heart. I can smell the depths of the velvets and the sparkle of brocade, Tudor Rose and Amber deals only in the beauty present, none of the danger or bleakness. Here is a fragrance that captures the wealth and glamour of Tudor England, the upper echelons and only after their annual bath.

Tudor Rose & Amber Jo Malone Elizabeth_I WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

There is nothing challenging hiding in Tudor Rose & Amber. There are no great divergences and no innovations but what Jo Malone (via Estee Lauder) has done is make a very pretty and wearable rose. Maybe Tudor Rose is a little deeper and darker in the heart but it comes with a very light, warm and generic amber/white musk base.

To be honest, for this kind of money you can do better but I also understand that not everyone wants to change the world or light up a room with their fragrance. Here we have a perfectly good, wearable rose scent that lasts about 3 hours before it fades into unnoticeability which is quite good on my scent hungry skin for a Jo Malone cologne.

Tudor Rose & Amber Jo Malone geographPhoto Stolen Geograph

Further reading: A Model Recommends and The Sunday Girl
Jo Malone has kiosks in most major Department Stores
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3.50/.5ml

Have you tried the Jo Malone Rock the Ages Collection? Did you have a fabvourite?
Portia x

Le Galion

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Hi there APJ Crew,

Today I have a carry on story from Catherine de Peloux-Menage’s introduction to the Le Galion range. We were lucky enough to get to meet the head of the new Le Galion, Nicolas Chabot, while he was in Sydney and I loved the story of his finding the old fragrance house and resurrecting it with the help of it’s founders Daughter and the perfumer. Quite a beautiful and romantic beginning or re-emergence.

Snob Le Galion FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

I have 4 Manufacturers Minis to give away today: Iris, La Rose Snob & Whip. Along with one of these you’ll get a decant of Sortilege, their most famous fragrance, an aldehydic floral that is quite over the top and lavish. Perfect spring/autumn wear.

Portia xx

Le Galion Logo FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Le Galion GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 4 winners who will receive:
1 x Manufacturers Mini (Iris, La Rose Snob, Whip. NO you don’t get to choose)
1 x decant of Sortilege
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 comment with a Le Galion memory or a favoured resurrected scent.

Extra Chance?
Tweet:  Le Galion http://wp.me/p3PURw-3Lk  @nicolas27637539

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 5th April 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 9th April 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.