Lovely APJ Peeps!
Here is a sneak peek at the creating of CHANEL’s newest Kristen Stewart advertising. Though I am no great fan of Kristen in this particular piece she shines and Mr Karl Lagerfield taking the shots and art directing make the whole piece feel like a historical event. I am loving the Americana in the fashion and enjoyed the video immensely.
I hope you do too.
Portia x
Photo Stolen Flickr
Hiya Fragrance Feinds,
You may remember my post about Michael & my time at First In Fragrance and how much fun we had, how welcoming they were and how much stuff we bought. It was a wonderful couple of days and we couldn’t have smelled more if we tried. Believe me, we tried!
Beate, the most wonderful, warm and clever lady. SO knowledgeable.
By the end my nose was broken, completely burned out. Today’s fragrance was one I tried after complete and utter burnout, it sang to me through my anosmia and filled me with joy.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange, neroli
Heart: Tuberose
Base: Amber, patchouli
From the man who brought us the Cerchi Nell’Acqua and Sigilli lines and created Alambar for Laboratorio Olfattivo comes his newest line Les Voiles Depliees. A sensibly priced range that comes in blocky, sleek, modern, funky 50ml bottles. The bottles are not beautiful nor particularly comfortable to hold, and the labels are less than glamorous too with no company name just the fragrance. It all seems like the prototype has been put out on the sale racks, I feel something decidedly unfinished about the whole experience.
I tell you what though, take the fat, square plastic lid off and give yourself a squirt. Just one will be enough. And SWEET! This is the loveliest soapy orange that I’ve ever smelled, there is a lolly-ish tinge to it too that reminds me of pink musk sticks and a synthetic squeal that makes me think of hairspray. I am smiling while sitting here typing. Having worn Tuberosa for about an hour tonight already I am well into the tuberose heartland, it’s super sweet and still green, there is a run your finger down a daffodil leaf, sappy green-ness that is both waxy
and verdantly lush. This tuberose is fun and flirty with a sensual warmth floating through the heart. Cleaner than I usually like, not a lot of breath or bed head, and wearable without ruining dinner.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
Longevity is great, even on my usually scent hungry skin I’m getting over 5 hours fully fragrant. Nice journey, though the patchouli is so clean I hardly even notice it, no I don’t notice it at all unless there’s a smidge hiding beneath the amber which isn’t a large player either. Tuberosa is a white flower highlight fragrance, not a soliflor because there is a byplay between the tuberose and orange, I also get some lovely banana reminders (like those banana lollies) and whispers of other tropical fruits.
I’m pretty sure that Tuberosa is built around aromachemicals with only a very few naturals or isolates mixed through but still it is pretty, fun and totally wearable. I layered it after a good couple of hours with Chillum by La Via Del Profumo and together they were a fabulous match. All the dirt and raunch that has been removed was back with a vengeance. AWESOME!
First In Fragrance has €60/50ml and samples
Have you tried the line? Do you know any of Enrico Buccella’s work? Does any of it stand out for you?
Please chat with me, I love to read your views.
Portia xx
Heya Fragrance and Visual art lovers,
Sometimes the advertisements are even more iconic than the scents. Did I just write sometimes? Anyway, here is a fabulous set up: Russian catwalk model Sasha Luss, photographed by Ryan McGinley for Christain DIOR. I grabbed this from one of my favourite fashion online mags: art8amby.
(source)
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin leaves, mulberry flowers
Heart: Night queen flower, Bulgarian rose, orange flower
Base: Bourbon vanilla, sandal wood, Tonka bean
Victoria at Bois et Jasmin sums DIOR Addict up perfectly: While my relationship with Addict is ridden with ambivalence at best, I would rather be intrigued by a fragrance than bored.
Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
FragranceX has $104/50ml
My Perfume Samples starts at $3/ml to $9/5ml
Did you run away screaming, roll your eyes or move in for a closer sniff? Have you walked past again and again over the last 12 years? Aren’t you the least bit curious?
Portia xx
Hey Y’All,
Here’s another amazing piece I re-found in my YouTube trawlings. While you may have seen Myoko Shida before sometimes it pays to watch incredible control and ability, the zone in action, to remind you that there is such a thing and that we’ve all been there. Many people call it flow, where you are creating and everything falls into place exactly. This is a perfect example of it for me and when I watch this video I am reminded how life should be like a swan in the water. Graceful to the eye but paddling furiously underneath.
Be well and peaceful, even if it’s just for 2 minutes, today. Close your eyes and think only about your breathing for 10-20 breaths, analyse them, slow them and make it feel like you’ve filled all the way down to your stomach with air before releasing slowly. Then slowly open your eyes and senses to the world again refreshed.
Portia xxx
Photo Stolen ExUa
This Saturday is Derby Day. To be precise Kentucky Derby Day. To celebrate my Kentucky roots and birth state I am releasing Kentucky Bourbon Rose on Saturday. This is a Numbered Edition of 25/4.5ml bottles.
We will have a pre-order period beginning today. Included in all pre order packages will be an early release 11ml atomizer of our Spring 2014 Limited Release: Magnolia 826 eau fraiche. Magnolia 826 will be available mid-May.
If we sell out during the pre-launch all orders will ship with the Magnolia 826.
Orders placed with a May 3rd or later date stamp will not have the Magnolia 826.
There are only 25 bottles in this edition that was created over a period of years. A fine Kentucky Bourbon was tinctured with organic Mexican Vanilla Beans to create the carrier/base for the parfum.
Rose Absolutes from Morocco, Bulgaria and Egypt were blended with a harmonious accord of spices including a touch of clove and cinnamon, with a natural oakmoss accord that included green and brown oakmoss. The concentration is +50%.
To insure that this is a truly artistic work there was no formula kept, no notes taken or measurements of any kind recorded other than the amount of carrier to materials used.
Kentucky Bourbon Rose will never be made again..
Hey there APJ,
Imagine, it’s the 21st of January 2014 and I get an email from Jordan River of The Fragrant Man, and a contributor here at APJ. Normally an effusive writer, even in emails, I was surprised to get this “These are the Australian Jasmine Awards for Fragrance writing” and a link. Now I love hosting awards ceremonies, or even chaperoning nominees, and the whole general hubub of excitement that these things generate. Through the years I have been nominated for many awards and won a few too but I find the whole experience debilitating. Australians may understand me when I write Ja’mie from We Can Be Heroes, played by Chris Lillie. For everyone else when awards come knocking I turn into a freak. I pretend to the world they mean nothing but inside I do a complete about face and it becomes my whole universe, eating me up night and day and when it comes to the awards presentation I am so invested that losing can send me into a downward spiral. Let’s just say I prefer not to put myself in that position.
On the other hand, what a splendid opportunity for the rest of the APJ crew to get a spotlight moment. I zipped off an email to everyone that writes for us to send in their posts as entries. I didn’t note that the author had to be in Australia to be considered so a few of the crew entered but were very politely told no. I’m not sure how many did enter but Ainslie Walker put in a few of hers, she couldn’t decide on one and I told her my favourite post so she put that in and a couple of others. Then we basically forgot about the whole shebang.
Then Ainslie gets a reminder that she has been nominated and asked if she was coming, to which she asked if she could take me. Everything always feels safer, easier and more fun with a friend and at that time we hoped Chairman Meow would be joining us also (BUM, she couldn’t make it). It was all arranged, right down to our outfits and fragrance choices both of which changed on the morning of course. Did I mention MORNING? 8 am. I know that doesn’t sound early to you all but I’m not home and out of drag till 11pm, I need to do my blogging and generally wind down so it’s usually around 3am I hit the hay. 8AM dressed. ready, in town at venue is basically unheard of for me.
When we walked in, Ainslie in an aqua parachute silk dress with rolled over shoulder sleeve slits and a huge Vivienne Westwood bag in matching aqua and purple looking super elegant and spiffy and I in a black skivvy, jeans a deep, deep aqua sports coat and bright aqua longline handmade shoes it was clear that we were OTHER. Fiona Keogh greeted us and showed us where to sit, bummed I didn’t get a photo of the girls together, thanks Fiona for being a sweetheart. What we walked into was a fashion plate show of extremely thin, gorgeous mainly women in cocktail dresses, hair perfect, makeup as heavy as a drag queen with that totally natural look and all about the tonal shadings and tricks. WOW! We’d walked onto the set of Dynasty.
Without doing a head count there were about 100-120 uber fabulous people in the room and they all seemed to know each other. We were lucky enough to be at great seats on a central table towards the back with a view of the stage, room and butterflies within as well as Darling harbour directly over our shoulders. We shared with some lovely people who made us feel very welcome right from the start, Rozy was on Ainslie’s right and Koula Zerefos was on my left. I wish I had taken notes but what they do has completely fallen out of my head, as have the names of the other groups at our table SORRY!
You may not have noticed in the photo essay but Ainslie WON!!! Yes, we have a Jasmine Award winning writer here at APJ. There were 6 awards and Ainslie took home Best Blog Post for her Tom Ford: Meet-Up with Matthew Tyler: International Director of Tom Ford Beauty post. WOW! Other winners were from tomes as illustrious as Vogue Australia
The whole event was totally fun and Ainslie was perfect, so poised and confident. As you can see she also managed to schmooze most of the room including the judges, hosts and fashion and beauty icons from some of the biggest magazines and houses. A complete triumph and my pride for and in Ainslie is boundless.
Jasmine Award for Journalistic Excellence
Sigourney Cantelo
‘Distilling Provence’ Vogue Australia
July 2013
Best In-depth Feature on Fragrance
Sigourney Cantelo, Vogue Australia
Distilling Provence
Best Short Feature on Fragrance
Aimee Leabon, Prevention magazine
Heaven Scent
Best Visual Story on Fragrance
Sarah Brooks-Wilson, Instyle Magazine
Instyle Fragrance Awards 2013
Best Practical Guide to Fragrance
Sigourney Cantelo, Vogue Australia
Scents of Style
Best Online Feature on Fragrance
Kristina Ioannou, dropdeadgorgeousdaily.com.au
Eaux so In Love
Best Blog Post on Fragrance
Ainslie Walker, AustralianPerfumeJunkies.com
Tom Ford Meet Up
This is just the beginning Ainslie Walker.
Portia xx
Hey APJ,
Yesterday Azar started her amazing in-depth look into the life and work on one of APJs favourite Independent Perfumers, Roxana Villa. Today we continue the fascinating story. I hope you are enjoying this insight as much as I am.
Portia xx
You use vital, natural materials to create your perfumes. How many of these materials do you distill, tincture and create yourself from what you gather in your own garden?
I prefer using the word botanical rather than natural since the terminology more accurately and authentically represents what I do. The word natural doesn’t mean anything and can be ascribed to all sorts of materials which are far from nature and what I personally would ever term as natural.
I currently do not distill any of my materials, I do work with small distillers and am extremely mindful where my essences come from. I am not interested in working with materials that have anything to do with the petroleum industry, which is where synthetics and most isolates come from. I’m also making more of an effort to use ingredients from companies that do not do animal testing or offer historical animal ingredients such as civet and castoreum.
I do extract scent and vital components from plants in my garden using processes that stem out of herbalism and ancient perfumery such as infusing, tincturing and enfleurage . A few weeks ago my jasmine sambac plants started their flowering cycle. Everyday I check for blossoms that will go into 190 proof alcohol, jojoba oil and a wax+oil preparation. The end result of the process will go into different products I offer and ones that are just for myself.
I find your artwork both profound and light hearted. The pieces entitled “Botanicus” and “Pollinate” are two of my favorites. Could you describe the process that brings your perfume and visual art into being?
Thanks so much for your sweet comment about my illustrations. Conceptual thinking is a skill set I learned while studying illustration at Otis Art Institute in the mid 80’s. The talent for taking an idea and transcribing into a visual image easily translates into a fragrance. For example, the fragrance Q in my line came out of the intention to save seven California native oaks on a lot next to our home. As a visual artist I would do a drawing and or painting to bring attention to the challenge, in this case I decided to take action by gathering leaves from the trees on the high holiday of Beltane, putting them into 190 proof alcohol to extract their essence and scent and creating a fragrance. At the time I did not have a line of perfumes, I was making my living as an illustrator, teaching aromatherapy on the side and creating custom fragrances. The oak is called Duir by the Druids, stemming from the Sanskrit Dwr meaning door. Q was the perfume which motivated me to launch my line so that I could bring awareness to the plight of this glorious native tree. My intention as an artist, whether working in the visual or aromatic realm is to illuminate, bring light, to the connection between humans and the realm of plants so that we may live in harmony.
I am curious about your work with feral bees. Are these bees the same genus-species (Apis mellifera) as our domesticated honeybees? Do you manage them in commercial style hives or just hope they will return to wild hives on your property?
The feral honey bee we have here in the US is indeed Apis mellifera. The difference between her and the genetically modified version used by industrial bee keepers is that she
hasn’t been tinkered with in a lab to make her larger with the intention of producing more honey. The feral bee is smaller and contains a diversity of genetics making her resistant to the perils of her larger, frankensteined sisters. She is surviving quite well in urban areas where there is a diverse diet of plants and flowers versus the chemically treated crops of commercial agriculture. A great film to watch that addresses this topic really well is More Than Honey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NT05qEJxUk
There is a lack on consciousness when corporations get involved with nature, greed takes over and methodologies are practiced with no long term thinking. The current situation with GMOs is a great example. The major sources of media are all owned by giant conglomerates which choose what the masses need to hear. They edit information without fact checking and present views that further their causes.
The two hives on my property are feral bees saved from three different locations around Los Angeles. The methods I use are those of holistic beekeepers, or my new favorite term bee guardians. My mentor, Kirk Anderson, teaches us that the bees know exactly what they are doing, its humans who are messing things up. I allow the bees to build their own comb and I use absolutely no pesticides, fungicides, sugar water, etc. The honey bee is very fastidious and keeps the hive very tidy, at 98 degrees and knows what to do if things go out of balance. The more we stay out of the way the healthier they are and the more they can concentrate on the task given to them.
If you could chose only three people who have had the most influence on your life as an artist and perfumer who would they be?
While attending Otis Art Institute in downtown LA I had an illustration teacher named Laurence Carroll that was really different because he was passionate, full of energy and visionary. He encouraged me to follow the personal style he was seeing in the drawings in my sketchbook instead of doing standard representational type of illustration that was acceptable. Since then I’ve been using my own authenticity as my guiding light.
Here’s a quote by Steve Jobs that sums up what I learned from Laurence:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
Second on the list is Dr, Streicher who I heard speak at the very first World of Aromatherapy Conference in San Francisco. At the time I was still a newbie to aromatics. During his presentation he made a comment that really resonated with me about how some individuals entering into the field of aromatherapy have been called upon by the plants. That simple phrase resonated very deeply and made me feel like I was on the correct course.
The third person is the support of the collective from my family, which includes my mother, daughter, husbands, uncle, grandmother and ancestors.
I understand you will be launching an exciting new project soon. Can you describe it now or will you let us know when and where we can learn more about it?
I have multiple projects going on all the time, most of them are kept secret until they have manifested, they seem to have their own schedule. I’ve learned to stay in the act of flow. The one that is about to be birthed is still in secrecy mode. I can’t wait to shout about it from the roof tops. I may have more details once this interview is published.
Last question – I’ll keep it short: Do you have a favorite flower?
As a visual artist I would get asked “Do you have a favorite color” which as a perfumer is similar to having a favorite flower. I like different flowers for different reasons. In terms
of my palette I seem to be most drawn to all the jasmines, particularly jasmine sambac, although auriculatum and grandiflorium are also favorites. The earthy, sexiness of labdanum and the soft, powdery cucumber notes of orris are others I am constantly attracted to.
Thank you so much, Roxana, for answering these questions and for taking the time to join us at APJ. I’m looking forward to reviewing the new version of your Impromptu and perhaps the 2014 edition of Gracing the Dawn as well. Best wishes for every success. I hope to make it to the NAHA conference this year to hear you speak in person.
It’s been a pleasure to chat with you Azar, I appreciate your intellect with the research and mindfulness you’ve displayed in preparing these questions.
All Photos Stolen Roxana Illuminated Perfume
Stay tuned Friday for a review and MAYBE a GIVEAWAY…….
Roxana & Greg at home May 2013 taken by Portia
Hello APJ,
Today it is my privilege to speak with Roxana Villa of Roxana Illuminated Perfume about her life and work as artist and perfumer.
Welcome to APJ, Roxana! You are a multi-talented artist with abiding interests in various fields including aromatherapy. Has your professional training in aromatherapy contributed to your skills as a perfumer?
The skill sets I learned in professional aromatherapy training have absolutely influenced my work as a perfumer! I use what I learned in aromatherapy training and working as a practitioner everyday. I came to aromatherapy via a little bottle of Juniperus viriginiana at a sweat lodge. That little amber bottle had me witness firsthand the power of essential oils as agents that facilitate mind body wellness in a very holistic framework. Later on, as my knowledge and experience deepened on the healing power of plants, I yearned to combine my two skill sets. At an artists’ workshop in Austria titled “Old Masters, New Visions,” I witnessed the divine interconnection between the visual arts, alchemy and perfume. I then decided to weave all my talents into a perfume business highlighted with the word “illuminated,” referencing the 15th century, when the arts were united by the use of raw plant matter.
Do you consider your perfumes to be therapeutic as well as beautiful and if so could you give us an example of what you consider to be a “therapeutic” perfume and explain how (why) it works?
All my fragrances have a therapeutic imprint because of the intention I hold when creating them and due to the vitality of the materials in my palette. Just today one of my customers sent me this note: “A simple note to say a tremendous thank you for doing what you do. I have not found another perfumer quite as outstanding as you. Your perfumes make me feel instantly uplifted when I am enveloped in their mystical fragrances.” On a more scientific level, looking at the ingredients contained in my fragrances, you will see that my palette is composed of elements that contain life force, vital energy from the plant world. My fragrances go beyond being a “chemical soup”, I use materials that are as close to nature as possible, no hybrids, no isolates, no historical animal ingredients, etc.
Therapeutic can be defined differently by individual human experience. I am looking at therapeutics on a very holistic level from how and where a plant is
grown, the manner the essence is obtained and distilled to the integrity of the company that sells the aromatic. For example I choose to buy and support companies that are having a positive affect on the planet because that energetic is all part of end product.
At one of the many aromatherapy conferences I attended in the nineties Jan Kusmirek of Fragrant Earth showed us the difference between a lavender essential oil obtained from plants that were harvested by hand using a sickle versus one where a machine was used. These kind of subtleties contribute to quality and what might be considered a therapeutic perfume.
This year you will be one of the main presenters at the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA) “Beyond Aromatics” conference at the Bastyr University campus near Seattle. Your topic “The Tree of Life: A Mystical Approach to the Art of Botanical Perfumery” is fascinating to me. Can you give the APJ a brief overview of your presentation? I am especially interested in your take on “essential oils and the elementals”.
The presentation I am giving at the Beyond Aromatics conference is based on ideas of intuition and creativity from William Blake combined with a book proposal I created in 1998. There are many ways to approach creating a fragrance, a mystical approach requires freedom from rational constraints and strict rules. To be in creative flow requires the ability to break free of guidelines and courageously jump into the watery realm of the circle and intuitive mind.
In the end both the left and the right brain are important but its crucial for those seeking to ascend the art of perfumery and their consciousness. I will delve into the multiple meanings of The Tree of Life and how it is the perfect metaphor for creating botanical perfume.
I discovered essential oils at a time when I was working as an initiate with a shaman, learning Celtic and magical wisdom alongside with aromatherapy studies. As I did so, I began to see parallels and thus created content for a book and card deck. Publishers back then felt the content was too niche and progressive. Over the years I’ve refined the ideas which are part of the presentation for the conference. Here’s a link to a post on my blog that gets into some of the elemental aspects I will be referring to.
Since I was a child I have been convinced of a type of sentience unique to plants and to the earth itself. I believe that there is much more to a creating a real fragrance than using an analysis derived from headspace technology to chemically copy the scent of a flower. Is it possible to make the life and the sentient spirit of flowers, plants and the earth really come alive in a fragrance?
The fragrance industry is very much like the art world, there’s a lot of variety in the equation from those who work as an art director or figure head to those working on a deep level with the plants and earth elementals. I completely agree with your observation on the sentience of plants and the earth. The challenge is to assist humans in connecting to the refined, subtle energies of the plant divas. When we do this as a collective then Mother Earth will begin to sense our awakening and respond to us. One of my teachers said that dancing outside on the land is acupuncture for the planet. The simple gesture is a conduit between heaven and earth that gets us out of the logical brain, away from electronics, connecting to our physical bodies and the subtle earth energies.
There have been a number of recent scientific studies of plant communication involving enzymes and mycorrhizal networks. Do you believe that there is a historical precedent or background to this work?
It’s fabulous how modern science is now validating ideas that great yogis and masters have been communicating for centuries within sacred texts like the Bhagavad Gita and our 
more modern sages like Rudolf Steiner and Machaelle Small Wright. In the answer to your first question in this interview, I briefly mentioned an experience a little bottle of Juniperus virginiana. Inhaling the aromatic molecules of the red cedar produced a moment out of time where I was transported to a dense forest of ancient Redwoods. I felt as if I was deeply rooted, connected with the trees and a feeling of expansion that traveled upward up to the sky. Then, pop, I came back to the scene of the women and sweat lodge feeling with a sense of profound gift from the plant kingdom.
Where do you stand on plant communication, plant sentience and this “secret life of plants”?
I stand amongst the ancient redwoods and the California native oaks. The mycorrhizal networks is another example of how the plant, insect and segments of the animal kingdom function as a collective. For example in an ancient forest you will have a “Mother” tree while in a hive of european honey bees you will have a Queen, in both instances the Mother and the Queen are integral to the whole. These are examples of systems that work together as a team that benefit their own community and the greater good. As humans we seem to be stuck in a cycle, like the Karmic Wheel, we have periods of enlightenment like the stage in the mid 50’s when we became conscious of civil rights. Then the wheel turns and dark forces of unconscious behavior of corruption and greed take root where we once again must awaken and ascend. There are many metaphors of this cycle in traditions throughout the world, one of my favorites from western story telling is the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings.
Here’s are two examples of how in tune nature is, the first explains how the mycorrhizal networks work:
Everything is connected.
(Ed: Please watch the two under 5 minute videos, they will change the way you see the world)
All Photos Stolen Roxana Illuminated Perfume
Stay tuned tomorrow for a continuation of Roxana Villa’s incredible and inspirational journey to now…….
Hiya APJ,
A lot of what we as perfume, fragrance and scent lovers do is done solo. We read our computers, test, smell, enjoy and buy a lot of our fragrance alone. It’s one of the things I really love about the whole perfumista life. Never having to wait for anyone else to do what I love, smell scents. Sometimes though getting together and sharing the love is as much or, Gods forbid, more fun. Imagine a crew of about 12 frag hounds all sitting around eating, drinking, laughing and sniffing. That’s what happened today here at my house. I don’t know if you’ve seen online a thing called MeetUp? In our modern day, high pressure, quick moving, ever changing world sometimes we lose touch with those that are near and dear and find ourselves unable to create new ones, or maybe what you love is very niche and you’re looking for some mates to enjoy it with, whatever the reason a friend of mine Catherine de Peloux Menage (Writer, Fragrance Finder, Personal Scent Consultant and glamorous, great girl about town) decided she would start a crew of her own called Sydney Perfume Lovers – MeetUp. From the tiny germ of an idea there are now well over a hundred members, events scheduled regularly and we have created a Sunday Scent Salon in my home once a month where we come together about a fragrance related topic and have a wonderful morning tea, here’s how today’s went down.
So the topic this month was “I Hate That Perfume Because…” and we were challenged to find a fragrance that really irks us in some way, drives us batshit crazy when we smell it, gives us hives, creates confusion or any other reason that we hate it. There was a catch though, we weren’t there to be only negative, we had to provide an explanation that went further than “YUCK, Disgusting shit. Hate it.” We had to bring a reasonable argument and scent memory with us, and preferably the fragrance too so we could all tell what you were thinking when you gave your spiel.
WOW! We got some DOOZIES!!! People had really gone all out to obtain their anti-elixir and had their stories primed and ready.
Some of the fragrances we hated included, L’Heure Bleue by Guerlain because it smells like urinal cakes. Fahrenheit because it smells like bug spray, Rexona Men’s Sport Deodorant because it’s cheap, nasty and ubiquitous, BVLGARI BLV Pour homme because it is a nasty mess and melange of everything unwanted in a fragrance, La Petit Robe Noire Parfum by Guerlain because it is nice for the first hour but then lasts eternally and becomes both sickly and boring at the end, Tweed by Lentheric due to family remembrances, Giorgio Beverly Hills because of its overuse in the 1980s but we all agreed that it smells rather lovely now having not smelled it for years, L’Eau d’Issey Femme because it is a solid wall of scent that lasts eternally and is a metallic, super sweet mess. There were others including an art book infused with the scent of fear obtained by putting swatches on the inside legs and armpits a men and making them do really scary stuff, then recreating those scents artificially for a book which was strange, subversive and extremely compelling.
There was heaps of lighthearted banter and no one took offense, we all really had a great time and as always I feel like I’ve made some new friends. People who like something I am completely beserko about. Good people who I was lucky enough to spend some time getting to know today, a couple I’ve met before and some others who are already my friends. More than anything it reminds me how lucky we all are. Without the internet I would still be a completely solo fragrance lover, which can be nice but now I can share my love with people all over the world.
Be it these lovely MeetUp Scent Salons we organise, on the Facebook pages, reading blogs and articles or here in this wondrous space (APJ) where I feel like there is a whole fragrance family where we can share our Cuckoo, fly our freak flag and generally unleash our love of fragrance.
I do apologise for my TERRIBLE photo taking, getting the lights in and rotten framing. We were having too much fun to be sensible and I am glad.
Today was great, you should think about starting a MeetUp where you are. Nobody has too many friends and you never know where your next BFF will come from. Should you wish to join us at a Sunday Scent Salon you must first join Sydney Perfume Lovers – MeetUp. We can’t wait to meet you and hear your stories over some great food, some champagne and tea.
Love and fragrant hugs from me,
Portia xx
Hi there APJ,
Sometimes while trolling the net I am lucky enough to fall across some gold. Seriously. This is doing the rounds and you may have seen it but I thought it worth a share.
Photo wn.com
I have whole weeks when I feel like poor Fanny Flambo and this lucky man found her in a Pound Store. All I can imagine is the damage this doll could have done if we’d had her in our childhoods.
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 