Melbourne Getaway + Peony Melbourne Photo Essay

October 26, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Jump across and enter our by Kilian GIVEAWAY<<<JUMP

Hey Hey APJ Family and Friends,
Last weekend BF Jin, BFF Kath and I took ourselves to Australia’s fashion and food capital Melbourne, though we bypassed the fashion food was definitely on the agenda. So was fragrance! More on that in a moment.

Melbourne Getaway

Kath had organised us a terrific 2 bed serviced apartment in Docklands in the 16th floor with views over Docklands, wheel and out to the sea. It was compact but super well laid out and the views, breeze and whole atmosphere felt wonderful. We hired a car and drove ourselves around and the weekend getaway has me both recharged and relaxed.
On Friday night we wandered around Docklands (a bit like Sydney’s Ultimo/Pyrmont area) and found Medici, an Italian eatery where we had Pizza and Antipasto with great service from friendly staff and it was surprisingly reasonable, then some more Docklands wandering before home to a long hot soak in the bath and bed.
Saturday morning we met a mate I lived with in London, an Aussie called Ben, and we reminisced for the crew. Breakfast at Time Out in Federation Square was fun and full of laughter, catching up after about 15 years it felt like Ben and I had never spent a day apart, it was really magic. Kath and Jin adored him and the breakfast was YUMMO! I had Eggs Benedict, my favourite breakfast ever, sorry I can’t remember what everyone else ate.

Peony Melbourne Photo Essay

Taking our leave of Ben we trotted out to Peony Melbourne, Australia’s best known and loved Haute Perfumery. I had written to the proprietor Jill and warned her of our coming and Clayton from What Men Should Smell Like had warned me that she is a beautiful, fun, vibrant lady who knows EVERYONE in the perfume world and more about fine fragrance than he or I will ever know.

Clayton was right on for the money. Jill welcomed us in and talked, coached, guided and wandered us through her vast and beautifully presented collection in the shop. Kath was trying fresh citric fragrances with amber nuances, Jin was hoping to find an oudh and I wanted EVERYTHING!!!

What did we end up buying? Kath found a lovely square black bottle called Haram
Jin had tried Mona di Orio’s Oud in Budapest and wanted to see if it was the one and Jill also introduced him to Creed’s Royal oud, which is my favourite of their whole line. Both hit his skin and they were worn and sniffed all evening and still Sunday morning there were traces of Mona di Orio’s lavish and luscious Oud hanging around and stuck fast to his watch band. I wonder which he will chose?

I was ready to shop and picked up some soaps by a brand that Victoria from Bois de Jasmin had written about recently, incense and a bottle of Naomi Goodsir’s Bois Encens. So freaking good that I could not leave it to languish in the Peony shelves. Review coming.

Special thanks to my BFF Kath for these fabulous photos, and to the lovely Jill at Peony Melbourne. They send all over Australia and have a super online range.

Biggest kisses from

Portia xx

by Kilian: Garden of Good and Evil

October 25, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hello lovelies,

If you have read any of the scentbloggospherre over the past few months you will probably have heard and read a LOT of chatter about the Garden of Good & Evil by Kilian range. The amazing offspring down the line of the Hennessy cognac empire that is part of LVMH, Kilian Hennessy, has done some pretty superb work that totally blew me away. My taste is for bolder and bigger fragrances so his initial series were very much my taste, his depth and sensuality in fragrance, the obvious correlations between his families cognac and his creations unmistakeable.

Photo stolen CognacExpert

Then he did his Asian Tales and now the Garden of Good and Evil, both in fabulous packaging and they have polarised perfumistas everywhere. Now it’s your chance to try the original three Garden of Good and Evil fragrances for yourself……

by Kilian: Garden of Good and Evil GIVEAWAY

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be one winner, who will receive

1 Manufacturers Carded Sample Spray Pack of Forbidden Games, Good Girl Gone Bad and In The City Of Sin
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide. LIKE Australian Perfume Junkies on FaceBook. <<<JUMP
Leave a one word LIKE on the Australian Perfume Junkies feed on FB when you do or if you already LIKE so I can enter you.
Winners will be chosen from the FB feed, not from here.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Monday 28th October 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 31st October 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

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Good Luck Everyone,
Portia xx

L’Occitane Divine Cream: Week One of Challenge

October 25, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Hello Gorgeous Australian Perfume Junkies,

So it’s the end of my first week of testing out the DIVINE CREAM by L’Occitane (See original post<<JUMP). I have been such a facial care Philistine for so many years that I had very low expectations of any results at all. I wonder how many of you have taken the challenge and done the first of our 2 week challenge?

L’Occitane Divine Cream: Week One

Photo Stolen L’Occitane

From L’Occitane site :
Divine anti-aging care fights the signs of aging, so you can face up the passing of time with absolute serenity. The divine combination of organic Immortelle and Myrtle Essential Oils offers:
A complete regenerating care: Combined action to stimulate the production of collagens and improve skin microcirculation helps to reduce damage caused by time and restore substance and vitality.
A second youth: Myrtle essential oil stimulates within the skin, the action of the longevity protein- to help increase cellular vitality preserve the skin’s appearance.

Awarded the highest rated Anti-Aging Miracle Cream in the 2011 Anti-Aging Beauty Bible. Independently tested by a panel of women across the UK

My L’Occitane Divine Cream Experience

The first weeks experience starts with the very luxe golden box, shiny and new. Inside is a spatula, Divine Cream and an instruction manual (which I instantly binned because I’ve seen the video, it’s below). The bottle opened easily, fits in my hand well and has a lovely heftiness to it. I wish it were not glass though because it will smash on my tiles if I drop it and I’m barefoot after a bath, must remember to bring thongs into the bathroom just in case. The spatula is a good size but I wish the bottle had somewhere to click it on so I don’t have to keep the box, also mildly annoying.

The creams smell is soft floral clean and is quite thick, silky and rich feeling and way more creamy than my after shave balm, it does go on beautifully though with the face, neck, forehead and temple massage shown in the video. I do it exactly as they show it but I take 2-3 minutes to apply and then cover my ears, take three deep breaths and release them slowly. At the end I feel like I have done something wonderful, pampering and had a little selfish me moment. When your life is hectic it’s hard to find moments I can dedicate solely to myself, I feel a little centered after application of Divine Cream. The soft scent stays with me for about 20 minutes before either it goes or I become anosmic.

Photo Stolen Wikimedia

I have also been using the eye cream which comes in a sensational little pump pack so I know exactly how much to use, it is a little thinner and my skin drinks it up in under a minute. I wish I’d taken a before pic because though I am tired still my crows feet are less than normal, IN ONE WEEK!

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

How is the rest of my face skin? Already it is glowing. Softer, more supple and satiny. Divine Cream hasn’t given me a facelift but my skin does look and feel a lot more elastic, youthful and plumped.

If you’d told me this would be the payoff of taking care of my skin for a week I’d have NEVER believed you.

Next week we will hear from the other test cases and see how my skin finishes up.
Portia xx

28 by Le Cherche Midi GIVEAWAY WINNERS

October 22, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Hey Hey APJ,

What a great giveaway!! Special thanks to Le Cherche Midi for their super generous support of APJ by providing these giveaways, there’s another one coming very soon for another of their gorgeous fragrances so look out for that.

28 by Le Cherche Midi GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Photo Stolen Le Cherche Midi

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week there are three winners, each will receive

1 x 5ml Manufacturers Travel Spray of 28 by Le Cherche Midi
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

To be eligible for the draw you had to go to Le Cherche Midi<<JUMP find a fragrance NUMBER and ONE INGREDIENT IN IT.

NO DOUBLE UPS

Then leave a comment with NUMBER + INGREDIENT and how you follow APJ.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Monday 21st October 2013 10pm Australian EST
Winners will be chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen berryreview

Martin, Cheri, DkChocoMan

The winners will have till Thursday 24th October 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.

Jasmine Summer by Liz Zorn for Soivohle 2011

October 20, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Hi There Indie Perfume Ho’s and lovers of the finest fragrance,

I like to think that Liz Zorn, the perfumer behind the Soivohle range, artist and general creative genius and guru, and I are buddies. I adore her perfumes and own quite a few now, also recently she put some of her artworks up for sale and I was lucky enough to grab the one made for this fragrance, Jasmine Summer. It is a fabulous little painting and reflects the perfume excellently.

Jasmine Summer by Liz Zorn for Soivohle 2011

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Jasmine, lime, fruity notes, white lily, orchid, vanilla, musk

Jasmine Summer is a sheer, very slightly fruity, floral that creates an elegant soft nimbus of the real deal of jasmine, as if you have it growing outside your window and in full bloom. It is heady and intoxicating but not indolic, not a sign of breath or animal. Though Jasmine Summer is sheer it has terrific sillage and projects fabulously for the first few hours. Through the whole fragrance life jasmine is front and centre, it opens sizzling and citric before mildly warming, it does sweeten up a bit but it’s not till a couple of hours have passed that vanilla comes out to play and then it isn’t fully featured till the end dry down where the jasmine and vanilla get funky with the musks.

Photo Stolen Inga Munsinger Cotton Flickr

For anyone who eschews jasmine or big white florals for their nasty sensual breathy indoles then Jasmine Summer could be a good place for you to come and sniff, this is super soft and clean jasmine with plenty of air around it. It is a little like sitting in a wedding in India with all the women sitting with jasmine in their hair and the cool of evening after everyone has eaten their fill and is now sitting around eating fruits and chatting quietly, awaiting the next event.

I also love how Jasmine Summer lingers, around 6-7 hours with the second half softer and more intimate, a come hither fragrance. Sweet sixteen or septuagenarian will love wearing this beautiful fragrance.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Now Smell This and Best things In Beauty
At the SOIVOHLE site they have $25/15ml or $110/50ml (I love the 15ml bottles and often order a few as gifts
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/.5ml

See you tomorrow, until then take a few deep breaths and relax, just a little.
Portia xx

Voyage d’Hermès mini movie

October 20, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hello Gorgeous APJ Peoples,

We do a full Voyage d’Hermes review<<<JUMP but I thought you may like to watch the mini movie again, I think it supremely beautiful and love coming across it.

Portia xx

Voyage d’Hermès mini movie

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Amalfi lemon, spices, cardamom
Heart: Green notes, floral notes, tea
Base: Woodsy notes, Musk

28 by Cecile Hua for Le Cherche Midi 2013

October 18, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 47 Comments

Hello Niche Nerds,

Not so long ago the crew at Le Cherche Midi came to my attention through the Perfume Shrine and at the time they were doing a Kickstarter fundraising drive. The crew seemed very dedicated to producing beautiful scents and I thought it a good idea to get behind them and help with a post. Though they didn’t make their goal I have kept in touch with proprietor Nathan Motylinski and he has kindly sent us 5ml Travel Sprays of their current fragrance 28 to give away so a few of you can try their great product.

28 by Le Cherche Midi 2013

Photo Stolen Le Cherche Midi

Le Cherche Midi gives these featured accords in one line:
Gunpowder, warm milk, leather flower, English pear blossom, midnight iris, amber incense

From the Le Cherche Midi site: 28 brings two opposing worlds together, combining the explosive fury of the Greek Gods with the nurturing comfort of Mother’s milk in an olfactive tour de force.

The opening of 28 is all cold oily gunmetal and something sweetly, awkwardly floral which has a hint of the metal zing of blood and a slight fruity flavour that is both interesting and unusual. There is also a wet smell, not like wet anything but as if the metal has dew upon it. I have never smelt anything like 28 but there are parts of it that remind me of other sideways fragrances like Bull’s Blood by Imaginary Authors, LEau d’Issey and , dare I say it, Secretions Magnifiques. NO, don’t get all freaked out: not the same just a couple of similarities I am wondering if it’s the milky accord which doesn’t read like milk to me at all.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

28 is so beautifully other and lasts on my skin for hours and hours, being so different from anything else I wear it catches my attention every huff and again I think how lovely it is. As if aliens had created a perfume, or if a computer wanted to take the next step into olfactory stimuli, then this is what they would create and wear. There is something clinically clean and industrial about 28 until around the four hour mark where there comes a very slight warming through bet it’s still cool as a cucumber. This is my 3rd morning in a row choosing to wear 28, that speaks volumes about its inherent enjoyability, mornings are all about my enjoyment of fragrance.

Le Cherche Midi has 28 in EdT $110/100ml or $15/5ml Travel spray

Photo Stolen TheTruthAboutMummy

28 by Le Cherche Midi GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there are three winners, each will receive

1 x 5ml Manufacturers Travel Spray of 28 by Le Cherche Midi
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.

To be eligible for the draw go to Le Cherche Midi<<JUMP find a fragrance NUMBER and ONE INGREDIENT IN IT.

NO DOUBLE UPS

Then leave a comment with NUMBER + INGREDIENT and how you follow APJ.

Extra Chances?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Le Cherche Midi 28 GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-26b #Perfume #Giveaway @lecherchemidi

Also get an extra chance if you LIKE Australian Perfume Junkies on FB. Leave a one word LIKE on the Australian Perfume Junkies feed on FB when you do or if you already LIKE so I can enter you.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Monday 21st October 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 24th October 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.

Australian Perfume Junkies has MOVED!!

October 18, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Australian Perfume Junkies has MOVED!!

Hey there APJ Peeps, Family, Friends and all Newcomers,

We have moved sideways across the WordPress world and if you were following through WordPress you’ll have to follow again please. Sorry for the bother, this was a completely unexpected by product of the move and I’d have warned you all in advance had I known.

So please re-follow. we miss you.

Portia xx

Photo Stolen KingadowProductions

L’Occitane: Divine Cream

October 18, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Hello Fabulous Fragrance Fiends,

Last weekend I was at Melbourne airport with Jin and had some time to kill so we dropped into the L’Occitane store there. I haven’t really paid much attention to L’Occitane since 1994 while at the Cannes Film Festival I grabbed some for my Mum and Sister and sent it back to Australia. Sadly, by the time I returned from living in the UK they had finished their bottles and hadn’t kept them so I could repurchase next time I was in Europe. Since then L’Occitane has arrived in Australia and has loads of stand alone stores in large cities, airports and also in department stores. Olivier Baussan founded the company in 1976 because he wanted to create a company that celebrates and preserves the traditions of his home region of France: Provence.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

From the L’Occitane site:
L’OCCITANE is anchored in Provence, where fragrant fields of lavender are a continual reminder of the region’s natural bounty. Each of our ranges is inspired by ingredients harvested from the south of France and the Mediterranean. Our products offer the many benefits of these ingredients, while translating the traditional savoir-faire of the regional artisans.
In the time of the Byzantine Empire, the south of France was a region called “Occitania”. The name “L’OCCITANE” is derived from this, meaning “woman of Occitania.” L’OCCITANE symbolizes this woman, her beauty and her relationship with nature.

L’Occitane: Divine Cream

Photo Stolen L’Occitane

So while we were there I spritzed one of their new La Collection de Grasse fragrances Vanilla and Narcisse and I liked it so much that I decided to get in touch with the L’Occitane crew here in Australia and ask for some review samples.

If a product or company can be judged in any way by the front line of people that you talk to on the phone then L’Occitane is a winner. Everyone I spoke to was thrilled that I would call, was interested, enjoyed their product and that I wanted to write about L’Occitane for the blog. We talked fragrance but the one thing they wanted me to try was Divine Cream, apparently the most talked about new product to hit the stores and gaining huge market share already. Sure they would send me some fragrance but even more they wanted me to try this amazing product that works better than anything else they’d tried. No, I didn’t have to write about it, yes they understand I do fragrance, please just try it and tell us how you like it. OK, guinea pig Portia into action.

Photo Stolen Alain C. Flickr

I don’t know if I’ve told you before but I take extremely poor care of my skin, spending so much time with a full face of TV make up and taking it off with grape seed/olive/baby oil, in the bath I am a soap and water cleaner of my face, shave with Gillette shave products, after shave balm by Nivea and that’s the extent of my beauty routine. I have been blessed with good skin and mostly small pores. What I thought I could do though is spread the product out through some of my friends and see their reactions to it too.

There will be four of us trialling for 2 weeks and I’ll give you weekly updates, sound good?

Katie: is my office helper/life organiser two days a week, has 2 lovely daughters and an Architect husband. I think she may be just under 30.

Kath: My BFF who works as an Executive Assistsant to the CEO and CFO of a business involved in English Language Studies at Macquarie University. Kath will be 40 next year.

Natasha: Another very close friend Natasha was my Tupperware manager and mentor. She coached me to being the No 1 Tupperware Demonstrator in Australia & New Zealand in 2007. Tash is a single Mum of three mostly grown up boys and is just over the 40 mark.

Portia: Me a Drag Queen, Homestay Provider and Perfume Blogger who is now 45.

You should go to L’Occitane and as for some samples so you can do the 2 week challenge too. I’d love to read what YOU all are thinking about L’Occitane Divine Cream too. At the end there will be a VERY SPECIAL PRIZE for a couple of people so get involved.

Awarded the highest rated Anti-Aging Miracle Cream in the 2011 Anti-Aging Beauty Bible. Independently tested by a panel of women across the UK
.

My question is, “Have any of you tried L’Occitane Divine Cream?” If so, how was it, did it give you better feeling and looking skin, would you purchase or repurchase? I do understand that this is a cream not surgery but did you feel that it had benefited you in any way?

Here are the most interesting to me of the Marie Clare video report on the L’Occitane Divine Cream. Enjoy.

Portia xx

I have started at #2 video because the first one was just a bit ad-ish.

#3 was about the jar that Divine Cream comes in and was boring so I have skipped it in favour of the process and studies

#5 is about sourcing and sustainability but was not in depth enough about either, sorry.

Niche & Mainstream Manufacturers Sample GIVEAWAY WINNER

October 14, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hello Lovely and Luscious Fragrant Friends,

Another super draw this week and Thank you to so many of you who got involved. I loved reading your wish lists and hope that you had a good time organising your thoughts for the inevitablew Christmas Question, “What Do You Want?”

Niche & Mainstream Manufacturers Sample GIVEAWAY WINNER

Photo Stolen angkorone

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

The winner will receive one each of these Manufacturers Samples:

Flash Back by Olfactive Studio
Acqua Di Gio Essenza by Giorgio Armani
Accord 119 by Caron
Jour d’Hermès by Hermes
Esvedra by Laboratorio Olfattivo
Coco Noir by CHANEL
Modern Muse by Estee Lauder
Guilietta by Tocca
Angeliques Sous La Pluie by Frederic Malle
Treffpunkt 8 Uhr by J F Schwartzlose Berlin

P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

All I need is you to say a perfume on your wish list, and why, and how you follow for you to be eligible for the draw.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closes Sunday 13th October 2013 10pm Australian EDST
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin will pick a winner (unless he asleep or studying then I’ll use random.org). So I used Random.org.

Photo Stolen amberinblunderland

SCOTT STEWARD

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winner will have till Wednesday 16th October 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.