Portia

Fleur d'Oranger 27 by Francoise Caron for Le Labo 2006

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Heya All,

I have had this little stash of Le Labo since May 2013. A small crew of us went up to the Venice, LA store and were treated like royalty there. I purchased a couple of the small bottles which I’ll tell you about another time but the sweet manager of the store gave me some samples to take with me and I, churlish frag glutton that I am, never got to the samples. Well, now I have…

Fleur d’Oranger 27 by Francoise Caron for Le Labo 2006

Fleur d`Oranger 27 Le Labo FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Orange blossom, petitgrain, bergamot and lemon

Opening with a zing of citrus, obviously, I find Fleur d’Oranger 27 to be a wonderful, fresh and fun cologne style scent. It is all pettigrain and bergamot for a moment and then it gets a soft orange blossom breathiness that at the same time is pithy and dry. This is smiley, happy juice and I feel invigorated and refreshed. There it stays for a while, pretty and sweet, slightly worn.

Fleur d'Oranger 27 Le Labo Orange blossom WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

As it wears on Fleur d’Oranger 27 becomes a bit bead head-ish and it NEVER smells at all cleaning fluid-esque. Great maintenance of the citrus throughout and there is something vegetal/herbal that isn’t explained in the notes and I have no idea what it could be, and I also get a prickling of spice, again no idea. I wish I had more to tell you but other than the spice and green-ness which comes and goes I basically get citrus from beginning to end. It smells good and I have enjoyed Fleur d’Oranger 27 but if you need massive development, a story, then you will be sad. Especially for the price. If though you want to smell like a happy burst of citrus for around 4-5 hours then Fleur d’Oranger 27 could be the one for you.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Best Things In Beauty
LuckyScent has $160/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4.25/ml

What is your Le Labo fave? Do you like Orange blossom as a note in general or does it send you screaming, reminded of toilets and dish washing liquids?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Thai First Class Pyjamas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!

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Thai First Class Pyjamas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have TWO winners:

Who will each receive:
ONE of the Thai Airways First Class Pyjamas (S & M)
P&H Anywhere in the world

Thai_Airways Bangkok WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

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

Please tell me your preferred size (S or M) and the destination which you would most want to be flying to wear your Thai First Class pyjamas

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Thai Airways First Class http://wp.me/p3PURw-2t5 @ThaiAirwaysAust @ThaiAirways #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 20th February 2014 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Winners brooklodgePhoto Stolen brooklodge

Small -UNDINA (from Twitter)

Medium – FIFI

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winners will have till Monday 24th February 2014 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.

Thai First Class Pyjamas

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 25 Comments

Hey Gang,

Yes, you’re right. This has NOTHING to do with perfume. I was lucky enough to score some Thai Airways First Class Pyjamas but they didn’t have my size so I grabbed you all some. There are two pairs and I haven’t even looked to check the colours. They are absolutely unisex and we had both men and women sporting them in the nose of the plane. Here’s Michael ROCKING the blue ones but there are also cream and caramel sets. They are quite generous fits as pyjamas should be and Michael was wearing a large.

image

I have more stories of our adventures coming up, most of them wonderful but a couple of awful ones too, with some more fabulous giveaways.

Good Luck in the giveaway,

Portia xx

Thai First Class Pyjamas GIVEAWAY!!

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have TWO winners:

Who will each receive:
ONE of the Thai Airways First Class Pyjamas (S & M)
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

Please tell me your preferred size (S or M) and the destination which you would most want to be flying to wear your Thai First Class pyjamas

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Thai Airways First Class http://wp.me/p3PURw-2t5 @ThaiAirwaysAust @ThaiAirways #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 20th February 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org or some other more fun way at the discretion of Azar, our host for this giveaway
The winners will have till Monday 24th February 2014 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.

Vienna Take Two. Photo Essay 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 37 Comments

Righto,

So have taken you on our flight to Vienna through it’s stops and starts, shown you Michael eating a schnitzel bigger than his head and now we are up to the meeting up with mates section We sampled fragrances, ate, drank, laughed and Michael shopped up a whole new wardrobe because he’s 6 foot 4 inches and whippet thin so Austria is the first place he’s been where they cut for his shape.

Birgit, Sandra (both of Olfactoria’s Travels), Michael and Sandra’s sweet and hilarious son Sean made our stay so fun and we saw Vienna the city to live in as well as the tourist city. I was so happy to have dinner with Birgit’s gorgeous husband again, he is sharp, handsome and funny and I am completely smitten.

You may wonder why there’s a dirty great ginger cat but Sandra took us to a Cat Cafe, where people who can’t have pets of their own can spend some time with a bunch of glorious cats. This was my favourite and reminded me a little of Undina from Undina’s Looking Glass cat Rusty, except this one would NOT pose.

Again we stayed in the Hotel Royal on the Stefansplatz, a very comfortable and affordable option in the heart of Vienna that serves an excellent breakfast. These are my three criteria for accommodation: Comfortable, Affordable, Excellent breakfast. Also add to that: Near the station.

Here are a few pics, enjoy a glimpse of Vienna, Austria with us.
Portia xxx

Hoffburg Vienna

Hoffburg Stairs

Church Vienna

Model of Church Vienna

Salzburg #2

Belvedere Gardens Vienna

St Stephan's Vienna

Salzburg #1

Sandra Michael Vienna

Cat store 2

Sandra, Michael, Portia Cat Store

Birgit M & P Vienna

Birgit & Michael

Michael OT & Portia Vienna

Wien Museum

Sacher Torte

Le parfum Vienna

Mercedes Benz Perfume by Michel Almairac for Mercedes Benz 2013: 2014 Ads

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Hey all,

Well I’m back home and have nothing scheduled for tonight. AAAARRGGGHHH!!! I have found the ad campaign for the new Mercedes Benz Perfume though on art8amby.

Do I think the fragrance will be as good as the ads? My fingers are crossed.

Mercedes Benz Perfume by Michel Almairac for Mercedes Benz 2013

Mercedes Benz for Her Mercedes-Benz FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Peach, bergamot
Heart: Rose, lily-of-the-valley, mimose, violet
Base: Patchouli, white musk, vanilla

Mercedes Benz Perfume #1

Mercedes Benz Perfume #2

Mercedes Benz Perfume #3

Patchouli Intense by Patricia de Nicolai for Parfums de Nicolaï 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Hoiya Perfumed Peeps,

Going through my stuff in the cleanup I came across dozens of samples and manufacturers carded stuff that never got a sniff. I don’t know hot this one got overlooked, it’s on a huge card with beautiful pictures and this from Patricia de Nicolaï: Patchouli oil is an essential oil of great importance in my perfumer’s palette. Among all woody notes, it is the most sensuous. Here I wanted to work with patchouli in a very unusual way, with an accord rose-geranium, on a deep amber vanilla and incense body.

Patchouli Intense by Patricia de Nicolai for Parfums de Nicolaï 2009

 

Patchouli Intense Parfums de Nicolai FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Patchouli, oakmoss, bergamot and musk

Oooh sizzling citrus rush at the open and then quickly it calms to a green, woodsy, earthy scent. No Essential Oil style patchouli from the oil burner here folks. This is forest floor in the just warming, still brisk weather. Sunlight dappled meanderings with no destination till tea time. Pretty and unisex, I can imagine Patchouli Intense could become very addictive if smelled on a new partner or someone you have recently met. It must be the combination of oakmoss and patchouli that gives such a parkland woods feeling. Though there are no flowers named I get some distinctly floral leanings mixed in too, like a marigold (tagettes) flower about half an hour after you crush/crumble it up. I keep thinking the word “verdant” and cannot for the life of me put it into a sentence that reads remotely real. Damnit! I think the word lovely and it does indeed conjure in my mind images of the merry growth spurt that is spring. Now that I’ve thought spring I also get a feeling from Patchouli Intense that is a lot like holding baby budgerigars when you are hand rearing them, they get a particular powdery, earthy, clean, alive smell as their feathers start to fuzz up. Though Patchouli Intense doesn’t smell like that, the feeling, the essence of the experience feels remarkably similar.

Patchouli Intense Parfums de Nicolai Baby_Budgie wikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Booze? I get a boozy, casual wisp of something alcoholic, maybe dark rum? It coruscates out through the earthy middle ground. I also get almond milk and something a little sweet. As Patchouli Intense dries down it dries out and gets a very lived in feel, a musky, dusky, dusty cooling like the inside of a forgotten attic filled with the scent of the death of books, leather, wood and fabrics. Then it starts to fade and somewhere between 5-6 hours I can no longer smell it at all.

I have found in my three wears that an extra spritz at the 3 hour mark will more than double the fragrant life of Patchouli Intense, I can spritz before dinner, eat, hang, sleep. Then when I wake up in the morning I can smell it all over again, beautiful and sensuous the patchouli and musk have made sexy smell babies. MMMMMMMM

Patchouli Intense Patricia de Nicolai Fountain_Grass DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Patricia de Nicolai has worked a wonder in this beautifully nuanced, soft but rugged, comfortable scent. It nods vigorously to mens cologne from a bygone era but is smoother, more sophisticated and easier to wear. This is the kind of scent I would have bought my Dad if he was still alive and Mum would have stolen more than half the bottle because it’s so good.

Further reading: Per Fumus
LuckyScent has $65/30ml
Parfum de Nicolai has €153/100ml

The more I wear Patchouli Intense the less masculine it reads to me, this is a totally unisex beauty, if you like a soft friendly patchouli then this could be the one.
Portia x

Gucci Premier: Blake Lively: Mini Movies

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Heya Crew,

Best line ever, “How do you make a baby happy? Say Gucci, Gucci, Gucci” Blake Lively is a great fit for what Gucci is trying to achieve with their Gucci Premier campaign.

Gucci Premier by Gucci 2012

Gucci Premiere Gucci FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Blackcurrant, bergamot
Heart: White flowers, musk, orange blossom
Base: Sandalwood, leather, patchouli, woodsy notes

I haven’t smelled the frag yet. have you? What did you think?
Portia xx

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Gucci Premier: Blake Lively: Mini Movies

Gucci Premiere: Behind the Scenes with Blake Lively and Nicolas Winding Refn

GUCCI Premiere New Music, feat. Blake Lively

Blake Lively at the Dubai Mall’s Galleries Lafayette to celebrate GUCCI Première – 3rd January 2014

Champs-Élysées by Jean Paul Guerlain 1996

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 51 Comments

Hey there Frag Hags,

So much hate for this lovely scent. I have managed to find a couple of other lovers in further reading but the majority don’t like it. Apparently people think it loud, really? I just don’t get loud…..

Champs Elysees by Jean Paul Guerlain 1996

Champs Elysees Guerlain FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Blackcurrant, almond, anise, melon, peach, violet
Heart: Lilac, lily of the valley, hibiscus, almond flower, rose, mimosa, peony
Base: Almond tree, cedar, benzoin, vanilla, sandalwood

I have a story, it’s a little bit embarrassing because I’m worried you are all going to kick me to the perfumista curb. I have Champs-Élysées in EdT, EdP and Parfum strengths and also have the body wash. I love it so much and you can get it at the discounters for NOTHING!! Like, seriously, they almost pay you to take their excess stock off their hands. I bet there are a dedicated few who love and wear Champs-Élysées almost exclusively and they are going to be GUTTED when it dies the death of the unloved scent, discontinuation. My belief is that 10 years after this is axed it will be worth a fortune. That core of lovers will be bereft and RICH.

Champs-Élysées Guerlain Champs-Élysées WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Today I’m wearing a 2011 Champs-Élysées EdP, it’s the 75ml and while I adore the bottle design, to me it harks back to the art deco era but there is a stupid, ugly whilt plastic shoulder and neck that gives the air of a budget $3 “Smells Like” scent from the dollar shop.

Straight out of the gate I get a watery melon backed up by the soft waxy plastic feel of mimosa, that recedes into the background quite quickly as a sweet milky green-ness flows through. Champs-Élysées is so GIRLY! Soft , fresh, innocent and totally animalic or humanity free. The cleanest of all my Guerlains I can understand why hardcore perfumistas eschew its sheer, even prim and airy charms, there is only floating, no heft or pushiness, just a breeze blowing through that happens to be beautifully scented. The almonds milk stays softly insistent through Champs-Élysées life and is the closest thing to a grounding force that it has. This is what 60% of the celebuscents are trying to be and I can imagine it being a perfect first grown up fragrance for a teen or tween.

Fortunately Guerlain, while keeping Champs-Élysées light and youthful, has done it with such a deft hand that it is ageless, the lilacs and peonies through the heart blend beautifully with the return of mimosa and if you are 16 or 600 years old I think you will be pleased, if this is what you are after. Normally my skin sweetens scents but here I get the almonds all the way through and the woods and vanilla play only supporting roles as an amorphous chorus.

Surprisingly, for something so ethereal and wispy, Champs-Élysées has good longevity and 5-6 hours go by before I lose the scent completely. The sillage is quite mild as is the projection, I think you could wear Champs-Élysées to work as long as the space is not confined or your workplace completely fragrance averse. Really, I don’t get the loud thing, not loud on me at all.

Further reading: Scents Of Self and EauMG
Beauty Encounter has $20/30ml EdT, $55/50ml EdP and $125/30ml Parfum
Surrender To Chance only have $5/.5ml Parfum

Are you a Champs Elysees lover or a hater? Please leave your feelings and a short why in the comments. No judgements made on any answers, either way, as long as you keep it respectful.
Portia xx

The below photo is me standing outside Guerlain 68 Champs-Élysées, Jin and I decided to leave it to the last night we were in Paris February 2013. That afternoon it closed for renovation!! I KNOW!! This photo was the last thing done just before I broke down crying like a little bitch. Poor Jin, he had his hands full. It still makes me sad, thank goodness I have been back to Paris, in fact all going to plan I have just left it for London. From the Sydney Summer of my writing I have everything crossed that this time I will have been able to cross the threshold.

Guerlain CLOSED Champs-Élysées 2013

Le Temps d’Une Fête by Patricia de Nicolai for Parfums de Nicolaï 2007

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hey Gorgeously Fragrant People.

Le Temps d’Une Fête (Time for a Party) is a fragrance I discovered through The Muse In Wooden Shoes, who adores it and writes so lovingly of it that I really felt I would like to know it but it was always shunted out of the Shopping Basket at the end of an online shopping extravaganza in favour of something more pressing. Then came the news that it would be either discontinued, or made limited distribution, and I realised it may be now or never.

Le Temps d’Une Fête by Parfums de Nicolaï 2007

Le Temps d'une Fête Parfums de Nicolaï FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Galbanum, opoponax
Heart: Narcissus, jasmine
Base: Oakmoss, sandalwood, patchouli, woody notes

Phwoar!! Just recently I was lucky enough to grab an old bottle of Le Temps d’Une Fête and the difference in opening sequence is astounding. Here I find immediate and awesome ZWOOOSH of narcissus, like you’ve crushed a flower in your hand with back ups by the resins creating a feeling of leaf pulp too, maybe even a bit of bulb. I also get a fruity, fun and waxy vibe floating through. More intense and deeper than my current edition, which I like very much BTW but they are like two similar sisters. If you were to meet them solo they would look alike but to see them together there are a bunch of differences. Patricia de Nicolai has made this very spare note list work super hard and Le Temps d’Une Fête is a full bodied sensual diva of a fragrance, in both old and new forms but now I completely understand where The Muse In Wooden Shoes is devastated at the changes.

Le Temps d'une Fête Parfums de Nicolai Sunflower_Pollen WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Someone on Fragrantica describes Le Temps d’Une Fête as having “pollen like skankiness” and I think that sums the earlier hour or so but as it starts to head into its late heart/early dry down that skankiness becomes the clearest ringing bell of narcissus, so lovely and so innocent smelling. Like a young person on the verge of discovery, restrained, pretty, sweet even but underneath beats a heart just learning its power.

The base reads warm, soft and buttery for me. It may be the summer heat that gives it that feeling. What I do get through the whole life of Le Temps d’Une Fête is a shine, luminescence, radiance, a feeling that something wonderful could happen while wearing it. Time for a Party? Yes indeed!

Le Temps d'une Fête Parfums de Nicolai Lockwood Mansion WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

I get around 4-5 hours from Le Temps d’Une Fête, though the last hour is not really fragrance but a hint that I smelled quite good earlier. First two hours had good projection and sillage before in moved to a quieter register and began the fade. Where would I wear Le Temps d’Une Fête? Date night, as a pick me up, reading, shopping, cleaning. Anything that could be enhanced by smelling beyond incredible is a good time for a sneaky spritz.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This
LuckyScent still has it $45/30ml and $115/100ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $3/ml

Have you spent some time with Le Temps d’Une Fête? Did you think it was time for a party?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx