Portia

Bottega Veneta: Emotion of Sound: Mini Movie

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hi there Fashion and Fragrance Fiends,

Like so much of the work done by Bottega Veneta this 1.45m mini movie is beautifully crafted. As one of the leading new forces in designer perfumery as well as being my favoured brand of leathergoods, that woven leather is just irresistible.

Bottega Veneta says: Bottega Veneta is pleased to present its latest creative collaboration through a unique endeavor that seemingly brings Tomas Maier’s Spring-Summer 2015 collection for Bottega Veneta to life. The film, entitled “Emotion of Sound”, is the centerpiece of a unique initiative designed to emotionally engage and indulge the senses.

emotion-of-sound Bottege VenetaPhoto Stolen Bottega Veneta

I hope you enjoy this lovely piece,
Portia xx

Emotion Of Sound: Bottega Veneta

Wisteria Hysteria by Nathalie Feisthauer for CdG/Stephen Jones 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hi there Niche Nerds,

Sometimes I look at a notes list and an idea of what a fragrance will smell like pops into my head, an olfactory guess. When I first wore Wisteria Hysteria it was a complete surprise. That pretty white bottle, those interesting green/spicy notes, I thought they would be a blind for a modern, sweet, light, slightly green, spicy and creamy composition. BOY was I wrong.

Wisteria Hysteria by Nathalie Feisthauer for CdG/Stephen Jones 2014

Wisteria Hysteria Stephen Jones FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cloves, mate, carnation
Heart: Wisteria, rose, incense
Base: Musk, styrax, benzoin, amber

Wisteria Hysteria opens GREEN, so outrageously green I find it hard to believe this is a mainstream UK designer release, well Stephen Jones is a milliner and hats are part of design right? This is a fabulously edgy green, very Comme des Garcons metallic science fiction and also verging on a natural perfumery style, quite the dichotomy.

Wisteria Hysteria Stephen Jones Millinery FashionStrokePhoto Stolen FashionStroke

Sweet green, a funky, gothic, marshland fragrance. There is nothing here of my memory of our enormous wisteria vine that grew over two 30 foot tall tree stumps in our back yard. Spicy green, that only softens slightly with the introduction of the bouquet in the heart yet still has a cool unburned incense mixed with old BarBQ coals. Weird, unusual, interesting and moreish.

Wisteria Hysteria Stephen Jones wisteria Cliff FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

After about an hour Wisteria Hysteria calms down considerably, becomes a softer, creamier version of itself but still holds the green tight. At some point through the heart I get a scent that reminds me of Indian spices on some of their packet snack foods, spicy and delicious but HOT!

At this point I am instantly transported to some of my earlier visits to India. I would be there for around 6 weeks and the first 2-3 weeks I would be eating as much Indian food as I could and loving every bite. Then at around the 3 week point I would suddenly get overwhelmingly homesick and turn bitchy. Varun would be waiting for this and produce some Indian snack foods and mandarins or mangoes depending on the season. Those delicious snack foods would tide me over and I would be OK to deal with till the end of the trip. So Wisteria Hysteria brings to mind some incredibly happy reminiscences of some of the best times of my life.

Wisteria Hysteria Stephen Jones Indian Snack Foods OpenCagePhoto Stolen OpenCage

Then it is softly, softly green to sweet, warm, still green dry down.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Grain de Musc
LuckyScent has $165/55mlSurrender To Chance has samples starting at $4.50/.5ml

Did you get to try this? Is Stephen Jones a milliner that you know?
Portia xx

 

 

Fendi by Fendi 2004

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Hello Sniffer Peeps,

Many years ago I wore Fendi Donna, wore it like a wall of fragrance, spritzed and spritzed. It was more than a signature scent, it was armor. Sadly it was discontinued, as so many of the greats are, and I bought all I could get my hands on and used it up. Because I freaking loved it so much. What a fragrance.

Then in 2004 Fendi launched a Fendi with a white saddle on the bottle and i thought they had re-released my long lost love. I spritzed it and was so let down that I walked away. This was not what I was expecting or wanted. Where was my screaming, fizzy, superpowered scent?! Too saddened by my let down to ever give Fendi 2004 a chance. Until one day a couple of years ago my friend Cassandra had a bottle of it on her sale list. I’ll buy it, said I and buy it I did.

Fendi by Fendi 2004

Fendi 2004 Fendi FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Freesia, Tunisian neroli, Sicilian mandarin
Heart: Iris, tiare flower, gardenia
Base: Amber, sandalwood, vanilla

You are dreaming. It’s the most lavish greenhouse in a tropical paradise. As you wander though you pass citrus in flower and fruit, bulbs are being forced in pots and the profusion of flowers is both heady and mesmerising, all so perfect it smells totally unreal. Warm and sensual as you wander through in your sarong your calves and knees brush the gardenia flowers on their bushes and you can reach out and pluck the gloriously outrageous tiare flowers and smoosh them right into your nose. If your dreams had an olfactory facet, this Fendi from 2004 is exactly what it would smell like.

Fendi 2004 is sweet but not sugary or bakery style, it is sweet flowers with that fabulous vanilla/amber wash running through the bouquet creating a very elegant warmth over all and really giving that tropical feeling. Like you’ve been plucked from your life and landed in a Paul Gauguin painting.

Fendi 2004 Fendi Paul_Gauguin Three_Tahitians WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Quite a noticeable fragrance but not a BWF, just a beautiful tropical wash that will float you away to another place and time…..

Universal Perfumes & Cosmetics have $80/50ml

Am I glad that Fendi 2004 is in my collection? Yes. Will I search out another bottle when this one is empty? No. Very pretty, super wearable but a little synthetic smelling. No, I have nothing against synthetic fragrances but this has a cheapish, drugstore feel about it more reminiscent of a Paris Hilton price range than a Fendi one.

Did you try it when it was available? Is there a Fendi fragrance that you love?
Portia xx

The Talk – Dame Edna on 60-Year Career & Joan Rivers: Video

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hey Hey APJ,

One of my heroes is Dame Edna Everidge. She paved a form of drag that made it a good deal more acceptable to make my own career choices. With her fun, caustic, witty and well researched brand of humour she reached millions of people who would never have even thought about seeing a drag show in its Gay Land form but who would cough up big bickies to see this mad maven mock and reduce everything they were and loved. Did it in such a way that both victim and audience were laughing. That is an amazing talent.

Dame_Edna_at_the_royal_wedding WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

I have only met Barry Humphries on a couple of occasions and he was extremely charming. When I thanked him for making my career choices easier, made it so much easier to say to Mum that I was going to be like Dame Edna, in fact made what I do verge on acceptable he was so humble and modest. It had never occurred to him that his being Dame Edna changed anyone’s life for the better other than the moments he spent making them laugh and think in theatres and on TV around the globe.

60 years in a profession notorious for its brevity. Amazing.

Here you see a chat on The Talk in America. Even though Dame Edna is her usual caustic self you can tell there has been long, hard thought about life and the place in it that Barry and Edna hold by both the cast and Edna. A lovely 3.20 minutes.

Enjoy,
Portia xx

The Talk – Dame Edna on 60-Year Career & Joan Rivers

Libertine Sydney Perfume Masterclass

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hello fellow fumies,

Nick Smart (of Libertine), Ainslie Walker and I have a special invitation for you to join us and attend a master class at the new Sydney Libertine store.

We are arranging for a small group to go together on the Wednesday 4th March and see the new Libertine Sydney premises.

Nick is Australia’s most knowledgeable importer of niche perfumery, Ainslie is one of APJ’s contributors, perfumer and scent/product designer. They will take us through the Libertine ranges and show things still unavailable in Australian stores. We get to have some fun with the Michael Edwards Fragrance Wheel, sniff, laugh, mingle and shop. What better way to spend a Wednesday evening?

Sydney Libertine Masterclass #5
Please come and join us for this FAB event. Hopefully you’ll get to spend some quality time with fragrances you’ve only ever read about on blogs, this is the time you can really smell them on your skin.

Also, selfishly I love to see you all and hang out. Afterwards we can go grab a drink.

HURRY UP, BOOK NOW! 8002 4488
Portia xxox

Australian Perfume Junkies Niche Perfumery Masterclass

Hosts: Nick Smart + Ainslie Walker

Date: Wednesday 4th March 2015

Price: $49 (redeemable against purchases on the night)

Time: 6pm for a 6:30 start

To Book call Libertine Sydney on 8002 4488. Payment is required to secure your booking

 Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 11.52.00 AM Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 11.52.31 AM

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (A Husbands point of view)

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Hiya APJ Crew,

As the movie has been re-released I thought it high time we revisited the FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (A Husbands point of view). I still laugh out loud when reading it and coming back to it after this long while I read it with new eyes and had to hold myself a bit still so I wouldn’t wake the whole house.

This is a RePost of an original Australian Perfume Junkies piece from 2013

I hope you all get a smile,
Portia xx

Fifty Shades Of Grey BookDepositoryPhoto Stolen Book Depository – Box Set $40 Delivered Worldwide

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY – (a husband’s point of view)

By Pam Ayers (MAYBE!)

By John Summers (DEFINITELY!!)

The missus bought a Paperback,
down Shepton Mallet way,
I had a look inside her bag; ….
T’was “Fifty Shades of Grey”.

Well I just left her to it,
And at ten I went to bed.
An hour later she appeared;
The sight filled me with dread…

In her left hand she held a rope;
And in her right a whip!
She threw them down upon the floor,
And then began to strip.

Well fifty years or so ago;
I might have had a peek;
But Mabel hasn’t weathered well;
She’s eighty four next week!!

Watching Mabel bump and grind;
Could not have been much grimmer.
And things then went from bad to worse;
She toppled off her Zimmer!

She struggled back upon her feet;
A couple minutes later;
She put her teeth back in and said
I had to dominate her!!

Now if you knew our Mabel,
You’d see just why I spluttered,
I’d spent two months in traction
For the last complaint I’d uttered.

She stood there nude and naked
Bent forward just a bit
I went to hold her, sensual like
and stood on her left tit!

Mabel screamed, her teeth shot out;
My god what had I done!?
She moaned and groaned then shouted out :
“Step on the other one”!!

Well readers, I can’t tell no more;
About what occurred that day.
Suffice to say my jet black hair,
Turned fifty shades of grey!

Alibi by Perfume & Skincare Company: Australia 2015

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hey hey Crew,

You know how much I love Australian independent Perfumers. We are getting quite a few and I am always excited when they send me their newest releases. Recently I replenished my Gardenia by the Perfume & Skincare Company. I bought fragrance, soap and a candle. As you can tell I really love it a dirty blue cheese gardenia that combines all the creamy and fatty white flower gorgeousness with the rank and fecal. It smell exactly like gardenias off the bush, beautiful.

With it I got two new samples and today we will talk about the first….

Alibi by Perfume & Skincare Company: Australia 2015

Alibi by Sheila Massetti

There is no note list or picture on the site yet, just two sizes to buy, that’s how new and exciting Alibi is. So we will be walking blind together on my second wearing of Alibi.

Obviously I have no idea what this is supposed to smell like but imagine burying your face in a mink coat just out of cold storage while being dusted in baby powder by a naked, slightly sweaty man. Ha Ha Ha! It most reminds me of a softer version of M/Mink by Byredo, kind of gorgeous and disgusting. It’s true and real arm sniffing compulsion walking a knife edge between amazingly beautiful and stomach turningly gross. I am kind of hooked. To be honest I’m unsure whether I’d wear Alibi outside the house, it’s just too intense. In fairness, though I love M/Mink I would not wear it outside the front door either.

Alibi by Perfume & Skincare Company Black_cross_mink_fur_cape WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Remember too that all Perfume & Skincare Company fragrances are extrait strength with over 40% ingredients before the alcohol is added. You get a really beautiful and intense ride and the fragrances are spritzed. PERFECT!! It’s heady and hefty, great projection and has excellent longevity, I’m at around the 4-5 hour mark and still Alibi is as outrageous as when I first spritzed.

OK, so Jin came home and he told me I had to shower. It was too intense and slightly stomach churning for him, in our three years together the only other time this happened was with a Slumberhouse frag. Goodbye Alibi.

Alibi by Perfume & Skincare Company Bright Nude Man HaydenWeal PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Skincare And Perfume Company starts a $15/5ml

Sheila Massetti the perfumer sent me through this after I asked: “soft and powdery with a touch of musk and light floral”.  Any more and I’d have to give you the recipe.

If you are a serious, boundary pushing perfumista who likes to be fabulously outraged then Alibi could be for you. It could also be my skin chemistry and there may be a single note inclusion that doesn’t work for me. Try Alibi, it’s a ride and a half.

Portia xx

 

 

 

 

SmellBent GIVEAWAY WINNER!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

SmellBent GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Brent Leonesio Facebook

Till Valentines Day Feb 14 you can get FREE SHIPPING with SmellBent orders over $30. You have only a day to get in there.

Go to it crew,
Portia xx

SmellBent GIVEAWAY!

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 Winner who will receive:
5 x SmellBent 4ml samples: slightly used (FrankenSmellie s13#916, Gimme A Break!, Ice Station Zebra, Pere Noel Coward, Winter Vixen)
P&H

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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Go to SmellBent and find me a fragrance and one of its notes. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet:  http://wp.me/p3PURw-3C9 SmellBent GIVEAWAY!   @smellbent

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Friday 13th February 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner was chosen by random.org

winner-is HighestSelfPhoto Stolen HighestSelf

Elia

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winner will have till Monday 16th February 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.

Manto di Rugiada by i Profumi di Firenze 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Hey HeyGorgeous APJ!

Back in 2013 when I went on the Perfume Posse ScentSation Bus tour of Los Angeles we were introduced to the American importer of i Profumi di Firenze. She was extremely knowledgeable and I really loved her passion for the products. I really wanted to buy two fragrances on the spot but they were out of Ambra del Nepal at the time (they were also out of it in Barney’s Chicago and NYC in 2014) so I grabbed their Dolce Patchouly, a very refined fragrance that I adore. So I always get excited when I grab a new decant or sample from the line and this one I got in the 5ml Fridays at Surrender To Chance..

Manto di Rugiada by i Profumi di Firenze 2011

Manto di Rugiada i Profumi di Firenze BaseNotesPhoto Stolen BaseNotes

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Verbena, Basil, Bergamot
Heart: Amber, Sandalwood
Base: Opoponax, Musk

From Beauty Habit: An i Profumi di Firenze bestseller in Italy, now available stateside, this delicately sensual fragrance quietly mesmerizes with its duality of lightness and ambery depth. Top notes of verbena, basil and bergamot flow effortlessly onto a base of sandalwood, amber, opoponax and musk. Opoponax (“sweet myrrh”) is renowned for its protective qualities by increasing awareness and intuition, hence the poetic name, Cloak of Dewy Mist.

SONY DSCPhoto Stolen Flickr

Opening with a fabulously fun hairspray sizzle that quickly calms to a herbaceous sweet creamy green, a bit like Matcha Tea Powder. It’s not long before lovely soft balmy resins, beautiful resins, sweet and cuddly and some floral action but it’s all so beautifully blended I am finding it hard to parse stuff out. I can see why Manto di Rugiada is cloakish but I get very little of the dew or any coolness at all. Maybe the cloak is warmth against dewy mist? I see it as a warm red cloak with soft velour inside. MMMMM. Doesn’t matter.

As the heart warms up the word amber perfectly equates, like light shining through a beautiful clear piece of amber and as balmy and smooth as the feel of vintage body warmed opaque amber beads. Really, though the notes are there all I want to do with Manto di Rugiada is lie back and float away on the lovely fragrance, the combination that works so beautifully together. Interestingly, the green comes back through the heart, it’s a dry raspy green, quite nice as a layer through the soft cuddly balms.

Manto di Rugiada i Profumi di Firenze Sweet-dreams-dreaming-of-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarves WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Manto di Rugiada will be my bedtime scent tonight. I can imagine myself floating away on it to the isle of nod.

This is not a BIG fragrance, I think it would be wearable even in an office. Very pretty, good longevity but not overpowering in any way.

Further reading: Now Smell This
Beauty Habit have $110/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

Have you spent any time with the i Profumi di Firenze brand? Do you have a favourite?
Portia xx