Libertine Sydney Perfume Masterclass

February 15, 2015 / 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?

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

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (A Husbands point of view)

February 15, 2015 / 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

Photo 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

February 14, 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.

Photo 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.

Photo 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!

February 14, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Woo Hoo! Great response crew.

Thanks for joining in the fun. Let’s see who our lucky WINNER is. You can go to SmellBent and check out their stuff too. It’s AWESOME!

SmellBent GIVEAWAY WINNER!

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: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p3PURw-3C9 SmellBent GIVEAWAY! #Perfume #Giveaway @smellbent

HOUSEKEEPING

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

Photo 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

February 13, 2015 / 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

Photo 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.

Photo 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.

Photo 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

SmellBent

February 11, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

Hey Hey Hey APJ!

As you may know we have been moving house, repainting, reorganising, decluttering etc to sell this apartment. Well during that madness I’ve found a few larger samples that did not get used, the sheer weight of samples and full bottles in this house would give you pause to think about my sanity, or lack of.

A favourite Independent Fragrance House, SmellBent makes affordable, fun filled fragrance that is both beautiful and sometime quite challenging. Owner Brent Leonesio is quite the hunk and has a super brilliant LA white smile and last time I caught up with him electric blue hair.

Today on APJ we are giving away a supercool set of mostly discontinued SmellBent samples.

FrankenSmellie s13#916: Absolutely no idea what this is meant to smell like. I’m getting incense, wood, resins, some unnamed florals and musk. I think there may be some honey or something else quite sweetly animal.

Gimme A Break!: My skin amps the musks in Gimme A Break and it smells like a hookers Christmas panties, tenacity is extreme.

Ice Station Zebra: Resins and musk, a little bit of Vicks Vapour Rub too. I don’t get the zebra…

Pere Noel Coward: Dry, dusty, woodpile with the teeniest hint of syrup and a nod to the sauna.

Winter Vixen: Imagine the yummiest chocolate mud cake ever with rich chocolate, butter and cream icing. You have just been to the gym, you get home all sweaty and disheveled, you are taking a bite….

Till Valentines Day Feb 14 you can get FREE SHIPPING with SmellBent orders over $30

Go to it crew,
Portia xx

Photo Stolen kbaird

SmellBent GIVEAWAY!

WHAT CAN 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 DO YOU WIN?

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: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p3PURw-3C9 SmellBent GIVEAWAY! #Perfume #Giveaway @smellbent

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Friday 13th February 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 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.

Tiare Moana by Crystelle Darchicourt for L`Atelier Boheme 2009

February 8, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Heya Crew,

Right now we are doing a February Sample Challenge on Facebook’s Aussie Fragrance Network. It’s a very simple idea. We are trying to wear some of our never tried samples, we record our usage and give a little insight into what we wore and how it went. You have to do at least one sample a day, more if possible, and you don’t get disqualified if you just can’t help but break out a bottle. More about the fun and the using up of long owned and neglected samples, of which most of us have WAY TOO MANY! I am trying to use up my 1ml samples so I’m also going through a bunch of new mini atomisers because I believe that if it comes in a spritz bottle it should be spritzed for sampling.

I have no idea where this sample came from. It is beautifully carded and a 2ml sample vial. When researching where to buy it I only found Russian blogger reviews on the first 3 pages of Google other than Fragrantica which had only 2 loves and no reviews. Colour me intrigued…..

Tiare Moana by Crystelle Darchicourt for L`Atelier Boheme 2009

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green banana, tangerine
Heart: Tiara, coconut
Base: Patchouli, hibiscus seeds

Wikipedia says: Gardenia taitensis (also called Tahitian Gardenia or Tiaré Flower) is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family. It is an evergreen tropical shrub…. The flower is creamy white…. and very fragrant. Native to the highland shores of the South Pacific, it has the distinction of being one of the few cultivated plants native to Polynesia. It is the national flower of French Polynesia and the Cook Islands.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Sweet, tart and sizzling, Tiara Moana is a very juicy fruit and the opening is like biting into a mango that is so soft and juicy but you can tell that by tomorrow it will go nasty. Right now though it is heavenly, not a sugary sweetness in the modern fruitchouli experience but a sweetness with some depth and green-ness to it. It may even be green banana-ish.

Tiara, coconut and still a waft of dry greenery, like papyrus or vetiver, or maybe it is a dry, clean patchouli collide beautifully in the heart. Tiara Moana still manages to maintain it’s juiciness too and the heart is luscious and very reminiscent of a tropical island dream. Imagine if Annick Goutal’s Songes was both fruit-juicier and had a dry counterpoint, add this to the creamy texture of white flowers (without the vanilla) and you have a very good approximation of what Tiare Moana smells like.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

This is not a sensual or sexual fragrance on me. I get no fecal, blue cheese, body or breath from Tiara Moana. While being gorgeous and glorious it is pure and clean. Attractive but aloof right through the heart with only a touch of earthiness in the dry down. If this fragrance were song it would be the young sporty tenor lead in a choir, all the divine exuberance of youth unsullied.

Good longevity and having sprayed myself completely with the whole 2ml I’m saying excellent projection. In fact I’m a little scared to leave the house in case I set of fire alarms, in the next suburb. I am completely and utterly engulfed in this glorious scent and enjoying the ride immensely. This would make a splendid Wedding Fragrance for both bride & groom.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

L`Atelier Boheme has €120/50ml

From L’Atelier Boheme: A perfume duet : two cross matters, two universes…mother-of-pearl and perfume.
For its 7th perfume, L’Atelier Bohème has chosen Rivières d’Océanie as a partner, specialized in the Tahiti black Pearl and polynesian jewellery : www.rivieresoceanie.com. Rivières d’Océanie Treasure pretty dressed the flask-jewel concealing in its heart the tiara with 7 petals in mother-of-pearl and perfume

Have you tried Tiara Moana? Any of the L`Atelier Boheme line?
Portia xx

Freeing A Humpback Whale: Video

February 8, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hi Crew,

This video has nothing to do with fragrance and everything to do with humanity. I don’t know why it came up in my YouTube feed but it was so unexpected that I watched it. What a fabulous thing it is, yet also very sad when you think how few get saved and how many die.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

I got so emotionally involved that by the end I had a big cheesy smile on my face.

You may like to go on this journey with 5 people in a metal runabout boat and a humpback whale.
Enjoy,
Portia xxx

Humpback Whale Shows AMAZING Appreciation After Being Freed From Nets

Tibetan Mountain Temple by Pacifica 2007

February 7, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hi there Perfume Junkies,

Sometimes a cheap and cheerful fragrance grabs my attention. I know it’s not got the finest ingredients and am quite aware that its scent is probably more suited to product scenting than fine fragrance but the sheer joy I get from spritzing and wearing completely overshadows all else. The genuine snob in me sometimes grinds its teeth but to be honest I don’t give two hoots, this is the one I’m reaching for today.

Tibetan Mountain Temple by Pacifica 2007

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Patchouli, orange, vetiver, ginger, violet, incense

Sweet and spicy citrus pith and woods(?) open up Tibetan Mountain Temple, TOTALLY ginger-ific, and a fun Gingerbread Man accord. I’m surprised that clove isn’t one of the featured notes and that vanilla or sugar isn’t mentioned either. I haven’t been to Tibet but have been to McLeodgang in the Himalayas of India where the Dali Lama lives a couple of times. I can smell nothing of my time there in this fragrance so please don’t go buying it for reminiscence sake. It’s like an American dream, totally Disney-ised, of what a Tibetan Mountain Temple might smell like. A lot of its lifespan smells like a heavily cinnamoned pumpkin pie.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Tibetan Mountain Temple becomes a sweet resinous incense that evolves through the wear and a delicious creaminess comes in through the heart that collides perfectly with the clean patchouli. This is a warming fragrance that smells a LOT more expensive than it is.

On Now Smell This the word sophisticated is used referring to Tibetan Mountain Temple and I agree. I bet in blind sniff that no one would guess that this is an uber cheapy, though they may guess it as a very expensive ambient scent.

Photo Stolen Flickr

My longevity is really good, for fully fragrant I get about 1-2 hours and a very soft warm wash that is clearly discernible to me in the morning. It’s not in your face loud but you are fragrant with better sillage than projection. Once you sit for a while though it does fill the space slowly and you may be sitting next to someone for 15 or more minutes before they really notice your scent. Up close and personal though it is a wonderful additive to my own scent and quite delicious.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Female Daily
Scentiments has $30/29ml in Australia
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/2ml

Do you have a cheap and cheerful fragrance that you spritz regularly? One that almost none of the perfumistas ever talk about? Share, I love to find new budget loves.

Portia xx

Muguet Fleuri by Oriza L. Legrand 2014

February 6, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hi there Happy Huffers,

Early in 2014 Michael B and I went and visited Hugo and Franck of Oriza L Legrand at their 18 Rue Saint-Augustin, Paris store. We had an excellent time going through their collection with them, having some laughs and I purchased some soaps and a bottle of Jardin d’Armide. The space is gorgeous and chock full of fabulous fragrant delights. Soaps, candles and fine fragrance. Did you know that Oriza L Legrand patented the idea of solid perfume?

Hugo is named as perfumer on Basenotes but I think he is a curator, overseeing the creation process. I may be wrong but that was my impression.

Muguet Fleuri by Hugo Lambert for Oriza L. Legrand 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green leaves, grass, lily-of-the-valley
Heart : Galbanum, angelica, violet leaf, lily-of-the-valley
Base: Lily-of-the-valley, oakmoss, lily

Firstly, what welcome relief, a new niche house that is affordable. Bravo to the boys that they’ve managed to recreate this beautiful old fragrance house and keep their prices down to a very reasonable level. I, and my wallet, thank you boys.

I love the wetness, the cooling and calming feeling of a Lily of the Valley fragrance, dewy and air conditioned. The opening so often feels slightly plastic to me, so perfect as to be unreal if you know what I mean? Cool and slightly mentholated, of grass I get nothing but I get the impression of squeezing the juice our of Aloe Vera plants, that soft, fresh, ultra green oiliness that smells like it could cool the world. Flore by Carolina Herrera has a very similar Lily of the Valley note but in Muguet Fleuri I find it subtle and refreshing, the angelica keeps everything soft focus green and of galbanum my skin throws it as a very background player here, a presence that helps lift and frame the Lily of the Valley.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

It’s excellent to me how they keep the focus so firmly on Lily of the Valley in Muguet Fleuri, one of my favourites in the Lily of the Valley lineup is Muguet de Bois by Coty (yes, I know it’s a shriveled, castrated, bastardised version of itself currently but I still like and wear it), I love the way that Oriza L Legrand makes the scent feel luxurious and refined while creating a thick and luscious fragrance that has a very nice silage for the first hour or so. Fairly linear througfhout its life, there are slight increments of difference and a gradual earthing of the scent towards the end.

Photo Stolen DailyMailUK

If you often, or even sometimes, wish for a fragrance as true to cut Lily of the Valley stems from the florist as possible but still interesting and beautiful then I would send you immediately to try Muguet Fleuri. It does last but only the first two hours are super fragrant, then it hums along quietly as a wash. I find Muguet Fleuri serene, calm, cool and dewy: everything you’d hope for in a fragrance about Lily of the Valley.

Further reading: The Smelly Vagabond and Kafkaesque
First In Fragrance has €90/100ml
Oriza L Legrand has a €20/7 x 2ml Sample Set (delivered worldwide)

Are you a Lily of the Valley fan? Do you have a favourite?
Portia xx