We are cleaning the Perfume Room and giving it a new paint job. It’s quite a BIG DEAL so over the next couple of days I am dropping in some Video stuff that I’ve found interesting, educational or took me outside my box. Some of it is ONE TOPIC but some will also be TOTALLY OFF TOPIC!
Today we are going way off topic to animal communication and interaction with humans. This is a 13 minute story of Diablo the black panther and his life change to Spirit. There is a certain amount of Woo Woo and other stuff I’m not 100% on board with but the results speak volumes, and that’s enough for me.
Enjoy
The incredible story of how leopard Diabolo became Spirit
Every year Brent Leonesio from Smell Bent and his crew create a madcap/wonderful range of seasonal scent specialties, this year has been no different and I ordered myself a set of the 4ml EdTs this year to see what the buzz would be about. I have reviewed my favourite 3 from the 5 piece set today, they are the most Pop-Out-And-Surprise for me. They are available for purchase till February 2014 but don’t wait, they are awesome…
Smell Bent Holiday Limited Editions 2013/4
Gimme A Break
Smell Bent gives these featured accords:
Silky patchouli, smokey wood, sheer jasmine and sultry musk drenched in sticky honeycomb
My skin amps the musks in Gimme A Break and it smells like a hookers Christmas panties, tenacity is extreme. I spritzed it last night at around 10pm and have had 2 swims since then yet still I can smell dirty patchouli, jasmine and musks. I think it doesn’t smell as intended on me, but maybe it does. Naughty!! It is excellent under other fragrances too to reinvigorate a thinner reformulation, my Mitsouko modern smells positively vintage with it.
Pere Noël Coward
Smell Bent gives these featured accords:
Sweet immortelle, atlas cedar, jasmine, fir balsam and pinon sap
Dry, dusty, woodpile with the teeniest hint of syrup and a nod to the sauna. Pere Noël Coward is intensely woody and I feel like a lumberjack when I wear it. Oddly disconcerting but fun, wearing this is like playing dress ups. Brent has a way of making the most deliciously nuanced and interesting fragrant rides. I am not a person for whom the season normally matters for frag wearing but I am going to save my Pere Noël Coward for Europe in Jan/Feb where I think it will be perfection, right now it’s opening is almost a caricature. I get around the 5-7 hour mark in summer here.
Snobirds
Smell Bent gives these featured accords:
Orange flower, aged amber, candied resins and dark patchouli spiced with cardamom and golden ginger
Snobirds is my favourite of the 2013/4 Holiday set. Gourmand, spicy, amber with cake-ish depths and glace fruit heights. You want to smell delicious, edible and sexy? This is your friend. Bakery with a sensual backbeat, I received my set about 3 weeks ago and Snobirds has seen more wear than the others put together. YUMMY McYUMMY!
Smell Bent has the 5 in a 4ml each Travel Set for only $28,
add their current Frankinsmellie as an extra and it only comes to $33 (that is what I grabbed)
Wishing you a wonderful, joyful, peaceful and profitable 2014, filled with good health, great friends and some of whatever it is that you like.
Portia xx
We are cleaning the Perfume Room and giving it a new paint job. It’s quite a BIG DEAL so over the next couple of days I am dropping in some Video stuff that I’ve found interesting, educational or took me outside my box. Some of it is ONE TOPIC but some will alsao be TOTALLY OFF TOPIC!
Here are a couple of the beautiful Holiday Wish series the big guns are putting out this year. They are getting less outrageously gorgeous each year and a bit generic, these are two of the better offerings.
We are cleaning the Perfume Room and giving it a new paint job. It’s quite a BIG DEAL so over the next couple of days I am dropping in some Video stuff that I’ve found interesting, educational or took me outside my box. Some of it is ONE TOPIC but some will alsao be TOTALLY OFF TOPIC!
Today we are meeting Davers from the Fragrance Bros who will be talking Essence and Alchemy by Mandy Aftel. I hope you enjoy meeting him and seeing his take on a book that was so interesting , sometimes way over my head and full of re readable bits that I needed to digest and then come back to.
Mandy Aftel, of Aftelier Perfumes, is one of our favourite Independent perfumers here at APJ. She is American small batch perfumery at its finest. Not only is she a great perfumer but also writes books about fragrance creation, notes and their many sources, chemistry, uses and functions (Essence and Alchemy) and another on its way soon. There is also a book on living your life well (The Story Of Your Life). On top of all this through my interactions and the general interactions of everyone I’ve spoken to Mandy Aftel is a great girl, filled with the joy of life.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Elemi resin, orange, blood orange, olibanum Base: Agarwood (oud), opoponax, benzoin, patchouli, resins
The opening of resinous citrus is intense and vegetal, the sweetest oudh I’ve yet smelled and very much like putting your nose into citrus pith after eating the meat near a freshly turned, healthy compost heat and a waxy flavourless lip balm feeling of both softness and being caged. I also get a grated carrot, fresh, vegetable but sweet scent that is always unexpected but inviting.
I am spared almost any barnyard, poo or band aid, but now I’ve thought band aid I do get a little of it. It’s a hint and may be because I thought it as it’s never featured in previous wearings. Oud Luban is like an Oudh Lite. It’s pretty, wearable and sensual. I am reminded of the smell of Art Galleries, airy, light, dusty and waxed. The resins offer a sweetness that is also earthy but earthy is a bad analogy, Sky/Earth, tree-ish. But a tree still alive and growing. Oud Luban is the scent of the freedom of climbing trees, and scrub and bushland. Humanity there is too as Oud Lubin becomes softer, warmer, I am a spicy skinned sensual adventurer. Towards dry down my skin smells a bit boat-ish, that salty sweet smell of woods/resins/leather/saltwater but the one constant through the whole crazy ride of Oud Luban Extrait is how sexy it lets me feel. The end is not certain as Oud Luban sinks gently into my skin and I am sure it’s not all gone after 5 hours and a swim, but maybe I do smell this good.
Sometimes while swanning around the department store I go check out the frag counters even though we don’t get all the good stuff that the world gets. Sometimes I get a lovely surprise when we have the goods and I spritz away. Never have I ever even thought about spritzing todays fragrance, I don’t know why but it always gets overlooked. well, my buddy Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels recently sent me a care package and inside was a 5ml boxed manufacturers sample of…
L’Instant de Guerlain by Maurice Roucel for Guerlain 2003
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Bergamot, mandarin, red apple Heart: Iris, magnolia, ylang ylang, jasmine Base: Musk, honey, vanilla, benzoin, amber
So right out of the gate I get a sweet, resinous toffee that is sticky and sweet, all warm sugary deliciousness. Citrus and most of the flowers are bypassed in favour of a very edible candy/confectionary scent that is reminiscent of a thing we have in Australia called a Musk Stick. They have been one of my favourite lollies since childhood but Jin wont eat them because he thinks it’s like eating soap. There is definite soapy reference in L’Instant and it has a clean feel without all the usual connotations of blandness and the current overuse of laundry stylings in fragrance. Though they are not the same I am reminded of JPG Le Male a bit, L’Instant has that same hefty, dense, sweetness that is both insistent and moreish. A hint of baklava even, mmmmmmmm
Guerlain is so good at this stuff. Clearly the success of L’Instant became a beacon to celebuscenters everywhere. The style and warm vivacity that is so deliciously enjoyable here is reflected in many of the celeb offerings of the last 10 years. Guerlain does it better, of course. I’m surprised there is no almond note because I can smell some yummy toasted almonds too.
L’Instant is pretty, sweet and very easy wearing. The bottle is beautiful and I can understand why it’s a big hit for Guerlain. You could give this to someone 16 or 86 and they would both smell beautiful wearing it. Longevity on my skin is under 4 hours of fragrant and then another couple of hours of very soft base notes that really do give me a vanilla, amber, almond blur. Lovely.
Sometimes it’s wonderful to dream. I will probably never own a hand crafted or bespoke piece of CHANEL jewellery and I can live with that. Something that does excite me though is watching somebody put so much attention, love and pure magic into what they do. Doesn’t mater what it is, it’s always good to watch masters at their task. There is a certain ease and relaxedness about them, it inspires me every time.
I hope you enjoy the creation of a spectacular piece of CHANEL jewellery.
Portia xx
CHANEL: L’esprit De La Haute Joaillerie (The spirit of hand crafted jewellery)
For anyone who is battling sadness, loneliness or depression this Christmas then that is shit. I am sorry. All I can say is do something that you like, doesn’t have to be something big or crazy or life changing. Just think of something that you like that you can do. When I’m down and there’s nobody around to talk to I spritz some fragrance, light a candle, make a coffee, eat a biscuit or chocolate or read a book. Any of these are guaranteed to change my downward spiral trajectory enough to realise it’s depression and it will go, like rain. It also reminds me that like rain I can’t make it go away but just have to wait it out.
Another good thing to do is go to the fragrance boards on FaceBook, there are plenty of options. FACEBOOK FRAGRANCE FRIENDS, Peace ☮ Love ❤ Perfume, MyMickers Fragrance Community, International Fragrance Split Association or Aussie Fragrance Network are the crews that I belong to but they are only the tip of the iceberg. They are running 24/7 and no matter what time you are at there is bound to be someone else from somewhere else around who might chat with you, even reading the madness that goes on can be fun. Comment on a post with respect and about fragrance and pretty soon you’ll have a new frag family from the WORLD!
Even the bleakest Christmas can be lightened by watching the Dolce & Gabbana Christmas video below. The singing is atrocious but the sentiment good.
Still I wish you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, we love you and are grateful that you drop in to see us.
Portia xx
Woo Hoo!
Firstly, thank you to LibertinePerfumerie, Nick especially. You are always ready to go the extra mile and we at APJ love you and are grateful. To the contestants, thank you for participating so whole heartedly on everything we do here at APJ all year. We write for the love of communication, you guys make it all amazing with your looks, likes, comments and shares. THANK YOU!!!
This week we will have one winner who will receive:
1 x 100ml TESTER bottle with lid of Vaara by Penhaligons (with about 15ml missing)
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 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 Libertine Perfumes<<<JUMPand find me a perfume and its manufacturer. NO DOUBLE UPS!!
Entries Closed Sunday 22nd December 2013 10pm Australian EST
Winner chosen random.org
Photo Stolen EverythingHealth
Susan Burgess
(and let me tell you I could not be happier)
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! The winner will have till Thursday 26th December 2013 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.
Special THANKS to LibertinePerfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are sometimes more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing, and buying the right to import, alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post air system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.
Having loved the Claude Debussy Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun as a child, it was on one of my Dad’s records and it had some heavy hitters after it but I thought that this was so beautiful and soft by comparison. A gentle, pastoral piece of loveliness. I could imagine the naughty faun watching beautiful languid girls going down through a paddock to the water to bathe, laughing and carefree, the trill of their voices mixing with the gurgle of the river. Anyway enough of that, Etat Libre d’Orange released their fragrance in 2012 with a sister, Dangerous Complicity (which I found a bit meh) but…
Afternoon Of A Faun by Ralf Schwieger for Etat Libre d’Orange 2012
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot, pepper, cinnamon, incense, immortelle, orris root, myrrh, leather, benzoin, rose, jasmine, oakmoss
Afternoon of a Faun is a totally different and much more enjoyable piece of fragrant art. Unusual, nuanced, enveloping and slightly awkward it is both fun and pretty. The lovely wet pepper and citrus opening that quickly becomes deepened and broadened by the spices and immortelle, it’s cool and elegant iris all underpinned by a sweet darkness that feels both alluring and a little bit wicked. Afternoon of a Faun is not sensual in the bodily scent or skank way but it does have a wonderful frission of notes that keep me sniffing my hand compulsively because i can’t quite believe that it smells like it does. There is a vegetal funkiness, a dankness or earthiness that must be the oakmoss, immortelle and leather combination (or quite possibly something unmentioned in the notes list). Sadly i am too unschooled to really be able to parse this out. Through the heart I am seriously thinking Afternoon Of A Faun is a vetiver fragrance on my skin, not in the notes but it does have that feel and later the spice and rose make definite star turns.
Excellent sillage but only moderate projection and a good life at around the 6 hours mark before I lose the ability to smell it completely, Afternoon of a Faun becomes a softly insistent resinous wash in its last couple of hours and I find the ride enjoyable and interesting when I take special note but easy enough to wear as a daily scent too.
Gaia says, “The Afternoon of a Faun” is the name of a French poem written by Stéphane Mallarmé between 1865 and 1867 and published in 1976 (thank you, Wikipedia). Lucasz tells us that it was the 100 year anniversary of original L’après-midi d’un faune ballet choreographed for The Ballets Russes by Vaslav Nijinsky and that the inspiration here are the nymphs and fauns playing together.
I don’t know if you ever read E M Forsters short stories but The Story Of A Panic tells the story of young Eustace being changed forever by the attentions of a faun. The whole omnibus is excellent reading but I always loved The Story Of A Panic especially. There is something of the foreboding in ELdO’s Afternoon Of A Faun that we get in the E M Forster story.
Here is Prelude to Afternoon Of A Faun by Claude Debussy, the music and fragrance are a perfectly symmetrical accompaniment.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia 
Australian Perfume Junkies 