Burberry Body (Rose Gold) by Michel Almairac 2012

October 9, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hello Perfume Junkies,

Over the last couple of days the conversation on FFF (Facebook Fragrance friends) has been quite spirited, I asked if anyone has any mainstream designer fragrances in their closets. Considering the FFF crew are about as hard core a bunch of perfumistas as you’ll find anywhere in the world I was expecting to be chided mildly, ignored or snidely dissed. What I did not expect was an overflowing of love for the designer genre and mainstream in general. Fullsome praise for the YSL, DIOR, CHANEL, Mugler, many of the make up companies like Estee Lauder and even some of the celebuscents. It was a general and obviously cathartic experience and heaps of people let their dirty little fragrant secrets out as if holding them in was hurting.

Burberry Body (Rose Gold) 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Wormwood, peach, freesia
Heart: Iris, rose absolute, sandalwood
Base: Cashmere wood, vanilla, amber, musk

In my reading I have discovered that this is the original Burberry Body in a new bottle, the notes are exactly the same. The first rush is all synthetic peach, a bright, sharp and plastic peach with freesia adding a swoony accompaniment and some green that could be wormwood but just as easily could be something coniferous. One the whooosh of the opening everything settles down to play nice and the whole composition seems to fade to a fancy, wet, shimmering, hum of fruity floral. To be honest I would love Burberry Body Rose Gold in a soap or laundry softener, it has that clean, fresh, breezy attitude and I can imagine it being an excellent workhorse of a fragrance, a spritz and forget, long lasting, fragrant nothing in a fun bottle, though I bet it’s really annoying to try and keep upright.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

As we wend our way into the heart I can smell the extra rose facets, pretty, murmuring rose-ish, fruity and spicy like a garden rose, I get the correlation though Burberry Body Rose Gold is a nod to it not a realistic replication and behind the rose is a hint of metal, as if you’ve just put a cold spoon in your mouth. The iris and sandalwood are playing way down low, I can’t pick them. The dry down is a soft focus sweet, but not cloying, still fruity wood with a bunch of clean musk, the vanilla only a hint. Through the heart I do get hints of peony though, that sweet, watery, green floralcy that they get as you cut them and put them in a vase, there are moments of real prettiness in Burberry Body Rose Gold that are better than you expect.

Photo Stolen Akban Martial arts academy Flickr

It reads like I don’t like Burberry Body Rose Gold, which is a false impression because I do like it. I don’t love it, probably will not buy a bottle when my decant is finished and think that Burberry can afford to do better, BUT there is definitely a place for Burberry Body Rose Gold. It’s ageless, easy wear fragrance that will not be too strong even if you are a wicked oversprayer. You can spritz it in the morning and know that you’ll still be softly fragrant for drinks after work. Spritzed into your moisturiser or body lotion/oil it will give you a clean fresh feeling all day, there are way worse offerings that cost a lot more.

Photo Stolen Rie Shimizu Flickr

Further reading: Now Smell This and Beauty Basics
FragranceNet has $45/60ml in the Limited Edition EdP
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml but I got the $7/5ml

Have you or do you wear Burberry Body Rose Gold? Have you tried it?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Fragrance Oils GIVEAWAY WINNERS

October 9, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

Hello APJ,

Great response, as only you guys can give. Thanks for getting on board and enjoying the fun. Sadly Jin was fast asleep when I remembered to do this so Random.Org it was.

Fragrance Oils GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

We will have 2 winners for this draw. It would be more but postage is outrageous! Each winner will receive

1 x 1ml sample vial of all 5 Fragrant Oils (Almond, Carnation, Geranium, Honey, Peony)
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.

All I need is you to tell me your favourite perfume note and how you follow for you to be eligible for the draw.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Tuesday 8th October 2013 10pm Australian EST
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).

Photo Stolen shannonmayer

Mihaela U, Gilda

CONGRATULATIONS!!The winners will have till Friday 11th 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.

Thanks All,

Portia xx

CHANEL Bois des Iles by Ernest Beaux 1926

October 6, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 35 Comments

Hello Fume Heads,

Not so long ago friend and APJ reviewer Michael was over and he was wondering about Bois des Iles (Wood Islands or Islands of Wood) so I went and grabbed my decant. Though I’d spritzed it a couple of times and have a few wonderful memories of wearing it on our holiday this year, I had never taken time to understand the beauty behind this CHANEL princess of a perfume.

CHANEL Bois des Iles 1926

Photon Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, bergamot, neroli , coriander, mandarin, peach
Heart: Jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, orris, iris, ylang-ylang, lilac
Base: Vetiver, amber, sandalwood, benzoin, vanilla, opoponax, musk

Bois des Iles fizzy, fun and fruity opening with a slightly green bent opens up bigger than expected, I know it doesn’t last but the first few minutes could be the slightly muted grand entrance of an 80s blockbuster, so much going on in a fleeting snippet like watching the cars zoom off at the start of an all day car race. After the fireworks Bois des Iles settles into a still slightly zingy, spicy, floral bouquet but sadly on my skin I completely miss the oft talked about and loved gingerbread accord. I get jasmine and ylang ylang as my stand out performers, though the rest are there it is as harmonious background with a quietly insistent sweet woody baseline.

Photo Stolen FoxHarbor

Later we welcome the musky woods with vanilla and various resins in the base. This is the sandalwood dream I remember of early Samsara, a smooth creamy, buttery sweet sandalwood with none of the camphorous/eucalyptus squeaky dryness of modern sandalwoods or the thin artificiality of many of the reinventions through science. Interestingly, Kafkaesque writes that Jacques Polge’s modern Bois des Iles is an imagined sandalwood, an accord created without the use of sandalwood, WOW and Double WOW! A sensual, soft yet lingering masterpiece.

Bois des Iles will forever remind me of Paris, Jin and my journey there earlier in 2013, our friends Aaran & Gerard hosted us while we were there and in their home was a beautiful stained glass double door panel by a very famous glass artist, sadly he sold it recently, and the wonderful art deco/industrial piece is what I was most astonished by in his home while wearing Bois des Iles. Made around the same time, I think, as the glass doors cum art wall piece it all felt very elegant at the time and now that I’ve done some homework the resonances are striking.

From the CHANEL site: Paris, 1926. ‘Art deco’ is all the rage, exoticism fascinates, and jazz stirs passions. People dream of faraway lands and precious woods. Once again, Coco Chanel shakes up the history of perfume by launching the first woody fragrance for women. An intoxicating, enveloping, warm, sensual, spiraling scent. It’s all there: the precious woods, the opiate scents and magnificent, languid flowers. The fragrance is a mysterious, faraway continent in itself.

Further reading: Kafkaesque and Olfactoria’s Travels
Available exclusively in the CHANEL Fragrance and Beauty Boutiques
Surrender To Chance has Bois des Iles EdT from $4/ml and Parfum from $6/.25 ml

What was your Bois des Iles experience? Have you, or do you want to try it?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Karl Lagerfeld Interview – CHANEL S/S14 Ready-to-Wear

October 6, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hi Gang,

Karl Lagerfield has been inspiring and creating since before I went to Fashion School. His name is synonymous with innovation, elegance and lately with wearability: one of the most credible designers who I think will go down in history as one of the greats. Here he talks about the CHANEL Spring and Summer Ready To Wear collection for 2014. I like him and his take on fashion.

Photo stolen Jerine Lay Flickr

Please enjoy.

Portia xx

CHANEL Karl Lagerfeld Interview

Spring-Summer 2014 Ready-to-Wear CHANEL show

Lanvin Spanish Geranium GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

October 6, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hey there APJ,

Another fab contest and you all got involved. EXCELLENT!! We are so happy that you come by and check out our stuff and this is just the best Thank You we can think of. Of course this GIVEAWAY was run by the lovely Azar so big snaps to Azar for going to all this trouble too.

Photo Stolen WorthPoint