Nirvana Black by Pierre Negrin for Elizabeth and James 2013

March 14, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hi there APJ,

I know many of you have already tried and RAVED about this little designer/celebuscent. The Olsen twins launched the fashion label named after their siblings and the fragrances are meant to fit this aesthetic, they do.I also want to say how impressed I am by these two girls who got a lucky break as babies but somehow have managed to transcend their past and create this incredible empire. They are really cool girls and I have really enjoyed following their story which could so easily have ended in train wrecks.

Photo Stolen Sephora

Let’s talk about the bottle, it’s got to be the coolest, Glomesh styled, retro glam offering I’ve seen in EVER. Feels good and heavy in your hand, excellent grip because the bottle portion is rounded dots and the lid is pointy dots for ease of opening, snazzy gold tone side stripes and join band. I freaking love it. The bottle also survived Ainslie Walker dropping it from shoulder height to the tiles in Sydney’s new Sephora, noisy but unbroken. I bought my bottle in America in November and only now am I getting around to writing about it for you…

Nirvana Black by Elizabeth and James 2013

Nirvana Black by Pierre Negrin

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Violet, sandalwood, vanilla

I have to tell you that the hype had me really worried, you know what it’s like when everyone has been raving about something to the point of nausea? So I kept my expectations as low as I could. Yes, I was pretending. This was one very excited perfumista.

Nirvana Black opens with a full on camphorous blast of what smells like the eucalyptal* top of Australian sandalwood, sharp and biting over the top of this lovely creamy vanilla. It’s an excellent, eye popping dichotomy that makes me smile from the get go. My skin gives me little violet, only the merest hint of it because Nirvana Black is ALL about a creamy, sweet, sensual & boozy vanilla/sandalwood/amber with the merest hint of spice and herb to keep it interesting.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

It stays pretty linear to for the 5+ hours I can smell it but by morning there is not even a hint that I’d been wearing fragrance. Nirvana Black is quite fragrant, densely packed and gives good sillage for the first three hours, that’s really good for my skin. After that it softens out and boy is it a smooth musky vanilla, like rubbing the most exquisite chocolate velvet across your cheek.

I like too that the Olsen girls have kept Nirvana Black’s price reasonable. It’s affordable to most, smells great and looks like it cost a LOT more. Now I’m sure most of the die hard perfumistas will poo poo but even though Nirvana Black is simple and wearable it is not boring. This is fun and yummy.

Photo Stolen Pinterest

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
Sephora has US$55/30ml
Surrender To Chance has the manufacturers roll on mini $19/7ml

What are your thoughts on Nirvana Black, or indeed the Olsen twins?
Portia x

eucalyptal: I made it up but you know what I mean

Moon Dance by Juliette Has A Gun 2014

March 13, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Hey there Frag Family,

We got to spend the afternoon with the gorgeous Romano Ricci today. He was handsome, rumpled, friendly and flirty. Who are we? Ainslie Walker and Catherine de Peloux Menage from APJ, Clayton Ilolahia from What Men Should Smell Like and Yelena from BeautyDirectory. Nick was there from Libertine Parfumerie because he imports JHaG to Australia and the great girls of ÉLYSÉE COLLECTIVE promotions.

We were the last group of the afternoon and it was champagne all round, a fun and friendly vibe and Romano was very happy to have a group who knew fragrance and could talk intelligently with him on his subject. Our half hour stretched into one and a half hours and we had a wonderful time. Romano Ricci is charming, so freaking charming.

Moon Dance by Juliette Has A Gun 2014

Moon Dance by Romano Ricci

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, rose, violet
Base: Patchouli

Released in 2014 and created by Romano Ricci with a little help from his friends Moon Dance, and its 2013 sister Oil Fiction, is so far sideways to the Juliette Has A Gun aesthetic that I’m surprised he didn’t start a new brand line rather than calling it the Luxury Collection. I’ve always felt that the Juliette Has A Gun label was heavily marketed to working Goths, a dark edged house with well put together and presented fragrances. I have slightly missed Romano’s point though. He tells us that he wanted Juliette to stand for the ill fated Shakespearean heroine and the gun to be her polar opposite but when working together create a new, powerful woman for which such tragedy could be avoided. My limited experience though tells me that a world without guns would be a better place.

When I spritz the bergamot fizzes off in an instant and I have a lush, slightly metallic bouquet with a waxy overtone that I would normally associate with saffron or orange blossom. My skin plays silly buggers with fragrance as you may know and even Romano was surprised how his fragrances live on my skin. What Moon Dance does smell is expensive and elegant, a nocturnal wander through the dream of an island paradise. The tuberose is fatty and yet the rose makes it crisp, the violets play a very lovely background, all is underpinned by animal and I am in paradise. The modern patchouli is sheer and I get very little of the murky depths that I often associate with it, here it is bathed in moonlight and twined through with night blooming flowers that call their seductive siren song. Moon Dance is the call of the temptress: a fairy queen that beguiles and calls to you through her glamour to come die in her embrace as she feeds off your spirit. Irresisistable, you will gladly succumb.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

Further reading: Grain de Musc and Colognoisseur
LuckyScent has $285/75ml
Libertine Parfumerie has $350/75ml with FREE Australian Shipping!

Are you ready to be tempted by the newest of the luxury Collection for Juliette Has A Gnu? The incredible Nick at Libertine Parfumerie gave me a bottle that had been dropped and the spritzer broken, it was the work of a moment to wrestle the top off and decant for you all to have a chance at winning some below.
Portia xx

Photo Stolen YouTube

Moon Dance GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will receive:
1 x 10ml decant of Moon Dance by Juliette Has A Gun (from my broken Press bottle)
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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Tell me a Juliette Has A Gun story or a new fragrance that speaks to you of the past glory of perfumery.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Moon Dance: Juliette Has A Gun #GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3H9 #Perfume @signoricci @JulietteHasaGun

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 15th March 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 19th March 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.

Please Be Gentle

March 13, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hi APJ,

Sometimes i read some of those dumb memes and they strike me so powerfully that I have to catch my breath. In 2 simple sentences my day is turned around for the better, I can breathe and everything is in a more realistic perspective.

Please Be Gentle

I hope it helps you too.

Portia xx

Olfactif: Synesthesia GIVEAWAY WINNER!

March 13, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Hiya APJ

Great response for this giveaway. Can’t wait to see who won.

Special thanks to the generous gang at Olfactif .
Portia xx

SPECIAL Olfactics Deal

If you are not a winner you can still purchase the February collection. Beginning today Olfactif will be offering past collections as part of a special promotion lasting through the end of March 2015.

Azar xx

Olfactif: Synesthesia GIVEAWAY WINNER!

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Tara Swords, founder of Olfactif, has generously provided one “Smelling in Color and Texture” collection
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 on any of today’s reviewed fragrances or tell us about your own synesthetic experiences

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Olfactif #GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3GA #Perfume @artofperfume @IAParfumerie @ProfumidelForte

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 12th March 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen HighestSelf

SCAR

The winners has till Thursday 19th March 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.

Arpege Parfum (Vintage) GIVEAWAY WINNER!

March 9, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Thanks APJers,

I’m glad to see you get involved for a vintage frag, and such a lovely one too. Let’s see who won.

Portia xx

Arpege Parfum (Vintage) GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, aldehydes, peach, orange bloom, honeysuckle, orris
Heart: Rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, coriander, sensitive plant, tuberose, violet, geranium
Base: Sandalwood, vetiver, patchoulis, vanilla, musk

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Arpege Parfum (Vintage) sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Tell me an Arpege memory? Do you have one? Any scent your Aunties wore then?

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Arpege Parfum (Vintage) #GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3Fm #Perfume @LANVINofficial @lanvin_news

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 8th March 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen nodepositforum

FlowerGirlBee!

The winners will have till Thursday 12th March 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.

CHANEL S-S 2015 Making Of Video

March 8, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hey All,

Recently we showed the CHANEL S/S 2015 Haute Couture show. Here is a little snippet of what it took to make those fabulous gowns the 3D extravaganza that they are. If you love seeing some of the tricks behind the scenes then you will be mesmerised by this 2.34 minute video.

I hope you enjoy,

Portia xx

Photo Stolen Twitter

CHANEL S-S 2015 Haute Couture Collection

CHANEL S-S 2015 Making Of Video

HAPPY MARDI GRAS 2015

March 7, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey there APJ,

Tonight in Sydney we celebrate. The culmination of nearly a month worth of fun and festivities that annually celebrate our nearing equality and our special magic.

It’s Mardi Gras.

Be safe and have fun Sydney,
Portia x

Arpege Parfum (Vintage) by Andre Fraysse for Lanvin 1927

March 6, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Heya Scented Sniffers,

I bought this bottle from Odona on Etsy. They are reasonably priced and when one of their frags had leaked about 70% of its contents in transit they gave me a refund on it. They are very nice people and their frags are fabulous.

Arpege Parfum (Vintage) by Andre Fraysse for Lanvin 1927

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Arpege, I know that it was worn by some of the Aunties but it was definitely seen as being for the younger or quieter of them when I was growing up. The louder or more mature were wearing Giorgio, Shalimar, No 5 and Poison. Sometimes, though the memory is faint, I do remember seeing the famously ridged glass atomiser bottle with the black bakelite cap come out of purses for resprays. There is something very soft, and soft focus, about the Eau of Arpege. Today though I would like to chat about the parfum.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

I think my top notes are about to turn, they are a good deal less sparkling and radiant than they should be, but less than a minute in the gorgeous thick and rich scent comes alive, so many aldehydes that it’s almost oily in its intensity. Fruity and thick like the syrup from a can of peaches but more pronounced, more effervescent and way more lavish. A thick sinuous rope of fragrance that is hefty enough to lift you up and carry you away.

Multi-faceted Arpege parfum, so many flowers and fruits, herbs and aldehydes all mixed together in a less sophisticated bouquet than CHANEL No 5 but giving a girlish laugh, nod and wink in its direction. Fascinating in its various hues and gilded like a Klimt painting, imagine the perfumer looking at this one of Adele Bloch Bauer 20 years after it was created and Jeannie Lanvin asking the perfumer to recreate it in scent. And that’s what we have, a big fragrance by today’s standards that is filled to the brim with beautiful notes yet lives as one perfectly cohesive and elegant fragrance.

Photo Stolen Flickr

After the fireworks of the opening subside and we are well into the heart of this vintage Arpege parfum I find myself transported back to my youth and cuddling some of the Aunties who smelled so fabulous.

I only dab so I’m not ridiculously fragrant but I a sweetly perfumed and would be a bit overwhelming in most modern workplaces I think. Though this is so good and lasts so long that I think it would be an excellent day out frag, you’d still be smelling gorgeous even after a huge day of picnics, art galleries or shopping. I have been dabbing myself on Saturdays as we continue the search for our new home and it is a welcome relief from some of the smells we’ve encountered along the way.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Non Blonde
My Perfume Samples has current EdP $6/5ml
Vintage Arpege Extrait is still widely available on Ebay & Etsy

Portia xx

Photo Stolen Kesha&Co

Arpege Parfum (Vintage) GIVEAWAY!

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Arpege Parfum (Vintage) sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Tell me an Arpege memory? Do you have one? Any scent your Aunties wore then?

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Arpege Parfum (Vintage) #GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3Fm #Perfume @LANVINofficial @lanvin_news

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 8th March 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 12th March 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.

Fragrances of the World 2015: 31st Annual Edition

March 6, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Hi there APJ Crew,

Every year a new and improved version of our Fragrance Bible is released by Fragrances Of the World. This years cover is the prettiest shade of mint green ever and I can’t wait to add it to my collection. The cover is the least impressive thing about this book though. Michael Edwards knowledge and years in the industry are what makes this so special.

Portia xx

PRESS RELEASE

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Book Launch:

Fragrances of the World 2015

The Fragrance Bible ®

31st Annual Edition

Fully Revised and Updated

In 2014, more than 1600 new perfumes appeared on the market. How to keep track?

Fragrances Of the World continues to be the leading guide for fragrance classification. Universally regarded as the ‘bible’ of perfumery, independent and impartial, unsurpassed in both its research and scope, this is the definitive reference trusted by perfumers, executives, journalists, retailers, collectors and shoppers worldwide.

“For me, Fragrances of the World is more than a guide book,” says Sumit Bhasin, Head of P&G Prestige’s Creative Development team. “It is the reference book for our industry. Michael’s in-depth knowledge combined with the very factual and up-to-date of fragrance references, makes it the go-to guide. Both the book and the online databank are widely used by my team.”

Hanuš Wolf, owner of Burgins Perfumery says “The guide has proved an invaluable sales tool. I introduced the Fragrance Bible as a tool to offer a level of service previously unknown to York, and within the first week alone, the incremental sales more than paid for the Fragrance Bible.”

It all began 31 years ago when fragrance expert Michael Edwards created an annual guide to help perfume retailers advise their customers. The book organises perfumes into 14 fragrance families – including Woods, Oriental, Floral, Fruity and Citrus – and even more subfamilies from which to choose. Refreshed weekly the online databank provides current and up to date details on new launches, while the annual guide book is an iconic sales tool with current and historic references at your fingertips.

Around the world people are consulting Fragrances Of the World:

“You wear J’Adore by Dior? Now let’s see. That’s a citrus fruity floral. You should try In Love Again by Yves Saint Laurent.”

“Your enduring favourite is Terre d’Hermès? That’s a crisp woods. Try Spicebomb by Viktor & Rolf.”

“Your signature fragrance is Chloé but would like to try something new for day wear? That’s a classical rose floral. La Fille de Berlin by Serge Lutens is the new one for her.”

More information: Fragrances Of the World

Néroli & Orchidée by L`Occitane GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

March 2, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Hey Hey APJ!

As always we are thrilled to have been able to host this lavish GIVEAWAY with our super generous friends at L’Occitane. If you haven’t yet then please trot down to your nearest L’Occitane stare, I promise you’ll find something to love.

Portia xx

Néroli & Orchidée by L`Occitane en Provence

GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange, mandarin
Heart: Neroli, lily of the valley, fig milk, peach
Base: Madagascar orchid absolute, iris, musk

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 4 winners who will each get:
1 x 75ml bottle of Néroli & Orchidée by L’Occitane (Australians will get a special surprise extra)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please go to L’Occitane and find me a fragrance and one of its notes. NO DOUBLE UPS!!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Neroli & Orchidee #GIVEAWAY @LOCCITANE @LOCCITANE_au http://wp.me/p3PURw-3E6 #Perfume

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closd Sunday 1st March 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Photo stolen prospectsplus

Chris Hartnett

Erica Golding (via Twitter)

Katherine Mittas

Jaybee

CONGRATULATIONS! The winners will have till Thursday 5th March 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.