Portia

Clever Graffiti Artists, Spicebomb by Viktor N Rolf, Timebomb by Kylie Minogue

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Hey Stink Junkies,

I know this is a perfume blog but sometimes I get sent stuff that I want to share. Unfortunately the email had no photo credits but my mate Wendy sent it to me if that helps. These are just my favourite of an enormous collection of crazy graffiti done by super clever creatives.

SPICEBOMB by VIKTOR & ROLF 2012. It is amazing to me that Spicebomb only came out January this year. There has been so much talk about it that it seems like it’s been around longer. I don’t feel quite so remiss in coming to it this late then, especially because it was generally dismissed rather than applauded. I did find 2 positive reviews below. Opening with citrus, red berries and the sharp, resinous, pine/lemon scent of elemi you could be forgiven for expecting Spicebomb to travel towards generic barbershop but NO WAY! The spicy, sizzling, warmth really ramps up as the paprika and cinnamon move in (I can’t smell the saffron) and then tobacco and leather, which have been sitting there unnoticed, take more of a lead role. Funnily, I really start to smell the pink pepper distinctly over the top of the second and third stages before real dry down begins rather than during the opening sequence, where it is peripheral. The amalgam of these featured scents is fun, spicy and punchy.

Photo Stolen winterfashions

I like the feeling of wearing a fragrance and I like to be fragrant, without skunking those at the next table. It’s awesome that Viktor & Rolf have offered such a sweet and spicy fragrance to the men, even though it’s perfectly unisex and would smell dynamite on a woman. The advertisement (below) features a sexy, buff man chewing on a matchstick, (above) about to pull the pin on a grenade; model Sean O’Pry photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.. He’s hot and so is Spicebomb. This is a General Public winner, I reckon.
NowSmellThis and 1000Fragrances do excellent reviews from different viewpoints and Fragrantica has notes, accords and GP reviews.

TIMEBOMB by KYLIE MINOGUE 2012. At the very start of my drag career I was lucky enough to be one of the cast of The Kylie Show at the Albury Hotel on Oxford St in Sydney, Australia with Miss 3D and Bernina Bod. We put the soundtrack, costumes and choreography together in a week. The year was 1990 and I’d only been doing professional Drag work for about a year. For some reason this show became the focus of a phenomenon, it ran for over a year, was written up in national papers, talked about on TV and radio and the venue was so crazy crowded that people were standing on tables, sweat ran down the mirrors and people fainted from the crush. It was the “only” thing to do on a Sunday night and many real stars came to see us do our thing if they were in town, and every week the rumour would be that Kylie was coming in person (she didn’t). Over the next 4 years we put together 2 more Kylie Shows with dancers and bigger costumes but it was never the same. Funny thing is, in this Timebomb video, Kylie doesn’t look a day older. Time Machine would be a good name too, she must have one.

I’ve tortured you all enough,
Thanks for dropping by.
What did you think of Spicebomb?
Hopefully see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

SUNDAY QUICKSNIFF REVIEW #4

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Hey Perfume Junkies,

I wear a lot of perfume and write about surprisingly little of it, you probably find that hard to believe?  The Sunday QuickSniff Review page is opened on Monday morning and every time I spritz and am near the computer I’ll give a 3 sentence review with a rating out of 5 each for, well, see the key after the reviews.

SMELL OF FREEDOM PART 2: OLD DELHI STATION.  I love how this scent was inspired by LUSH perfumer Simon’s journey through India to meet a Tibetan monk in exile, and this being the smell of Old Delhi station when he returned; spices, flowers and people. Glorious warm and sexy perfume but has little correlation to my memories of Old Delhi Station at any time of day. Unfortunately not available in Australia, I need to find a fragrance mule. S=**** L=**** D=****

DREAMING EdP by TOMMY HILFIGER 2007. This is a sweet, fresh scent that starts pretty and then goes to that slightly boring clean peach scent. This is very similar to but much lighter than Gwen Stefani’s L. It is saved from absolute nothingness by its lovely bottle. FragrancesAndCosmetics have 30ml for $19 S=** L=** D=**

CHANEL No 5 EdP (FAKE). This fake smells much more like my memory of Mum’s Chanel No 5 EdP than the real thing. Same opening burst of magic, wears right alongside the real deal till about 35 mins in then a glorious, urinous, skanky, sexual undertone flows through the flowers, woods and spice giving it a depth and darkness that current No 5 just can’t match. I bought it off Ebay thinking it was the real deal but this is better. S=***** L=**** D=****

L’ANTIMATIERE by ISABELLA DOYEN for LES NEZ 2006. This was sent to me by Birgit at Olfactoria’s Travels, THANK YOU! If you read my blog you’ll know that I love big brassy 80’s fragrances but this is not one and I am enjoying it immensely. No top notes; just burning off alcohol and then nothing for a minute or so and then delicately warm and sweaty, like children who have been playing at the beach, swimming, playing some more back home and as you ready them for bed at the end of a weeks wear of pyjamas there is a soft whispery, salt and sweat smell mixed with warm cuddly child and bed head. I smell great. It’s $105 for 50ml at LuckyScent which is $20 cheaper than Lez Nes site S=***** L=*** D=****


Photo Stolen from shirtsays

Scent, Obviously the number 1 priority here is how does it smell. My reviews are completely subjective and will differ widely from your own experience with the scent but it’s a good starting point. As yet I am not a trained perfumer so any and all descriptions are merely that, descriptions. There are plenty of blogs that offer technical details and chemistry, in 3 sentences I’ll pass.
Longevity, This is a biggie for me because like enfleurage where flower petals are left in fats to steal the scent, my fatty body works the same and eats it up, yum. So for a scent to last well on me, it will probably last a whole day on you and need a radioactive decontamination shower to defuse it from your skin.
Desirabilty, Wrapped up in this is scent, price, house, history, longevity, packaging, availability and a billion other things.

Photo Stolen from bittbox

* in any of these being the, “You couldn’t pay enough to spray this God awful stink on me again, it smells like public toilets in India, long time fridge malfunction while on Summer holiday and the vile stench of poverty all rolled into one.” You are putting innocent people in danger if you wear this.
** means it’s a nothing, wearable, boring, maybe the price is prohibitive for what you get or it’s ubiquitous. You should definitely get a sample of this to stop a buying boo boo.
*** is a perfectly good product that smells good and lasts a while at a decent price. You should definitely think about trying a sample or squirt but should you miss out your life will continue. Sample size worthy.
**** is the one you try, want a lot but can wait for a birthday/Christmas. It’s better than most of the stuff you’ve sniffed and may fill a void in your library. This is also an excellent decant product 5ml will get you through the season and maybe buy it next year.
***** meaning, stop reading this, grab your cash, credit card (or partners), roll the elderly or rob a petrol station and purchase this product. NOW! If you don’t have this fragrance you could die.

Hopefully this has given you a little inside track on fragrances to buy, want, avoid, sample. What did you try this week?

Portia xx

OMFG Paris Hilton!, Momento by Sicily, Winner Announced

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Hey everyone,

One thing I had to get out of the way is “According to Women’s Wear Daily, the blonde heiress (Paris Hilton) has sold $1.5 billion worth of perfume since 2004, the New York Daily News reported….There are more than twenty Paris Hilton Handbags and Accessories boutiques in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. She also has four stores in the Philippines. (In the Hindustan Times 2.6.12)” I took this from Nathan Branch’s Luxury Is A Trillion Dollar Industry in NZ. OMG!! Who knew? About to launch her 15th fragrance and all of them are still on sale and selling. So I guess Paris is laughing all the way to the bank.

Photo Stolen fanpop

SICILY (Piazza Duomo Ortigia Siracusa) by MOMENTO Italian Olfactive Landscapes 2008. This was the second fragrance in the Momento range and seems to have been the last. I don’t even see it for sale anymore so maybe it has been discontinued.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Green and freshly floral, it has been surprisingly enjoyable to wear on our cool Autumnal rainy day here in Sydney. The spiel runs that this fragrance is designed around a spring day, 6 March 2008, at the Piazza Duomo on the island of Ortigia, south of Siracusa. Not having been there I cannot verify the veracity of their claim but I do like the imagery it presents and am happy to suspend my disbelief.

ParcoMuseo Jalari Sicily piazza aromi e sapori1 (1)
Photo Stolen Flickr

According to Fragrantica the basic notes are: neroli, freesia, jasmine, immortelle, note of hay, cedar, amber, patchouli, myrrh and agarwood.

I get the fresh blast of neroli, the sweet bright and clear freesia and immortelle, green hay/grass and woods as it opens; not squeaky or screechy but a calm cool customer with nice sillage. The jasmine here is not the sexy deep jasmine you’ll find elsewhere more a clean sparkly highlight playing piccolo in staccato, this while the amber, myrrh and patchouli sing very quietly underneath to add size and shape to the fragrance without coming out as a set of star players. I smell no agarwood at all through the very long, delicious life of the fragrance, getting about 5 hours before it become a skin scent lost to me but discernible to TSO Jin.

THURSDAY COMPETITION GIVEAWAY WINNER

How did you win the swag this week? Just Tweet this Competition Page (http://australianperfumejunkies.com) and put @OzPerfumeJunkie in your Tweet so I know you’ve done it.

2ml Manufacturers Sample Chanel No 5 Eau Premier
1ml Decant L’Heure Convoitee II by Cartier.
1ml Decant Rasheeqa Concentrated Perfume Oil by Swiss Arabian.
.5ml Decant Myrrhe et Delires by Guerlain.
P&H anywhere in the world

Thank you to our contestants and the


Photo Stolen from sistersavealot.com

is Sharryn Stormonth.
You must get in touch by Wednesday June 6th 2012 or I will give your goodie bag away to someone else.

Have a lovely weekend all,
Wishing you the best of everything,
Portia xx

OMG!! Portia on Perfume Posse?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hello everyone,

This is a seriously BIG DEAL. Recently there was a shout out for, and after a small series of lost in the ethernet emails I was invited to submit, guest blog material on one of the world’s most popular fragrance blogs, Perfume Posse. Today is my first published Guest Spot on there and I am fit to WIDDLE myself with excitement.

I chose to write about a new kid on the block perfumer, his new perfume house and one of his most popular fragrances.
Carlos Huber (below, I know! HUBBA HUBBA) is the perfumer, Arquiste is his company and Aleksander the fragrance. So please scoot on over to PerfumePosse and have a quick squiz, there are more delicious Carlos Huber pics and the fragrance is so damn yummy. I’ll be tickled PINK if you leave he a Hello so I know you dropped in on me there.

Sometimes life just reminds you to be grateful, doesn’t it.

Have a great day, don’t forget to enter our THURSDAY GIVEAWAY COMPETITION
See you back here tomorrow,
Portia xx

Photo Stolen notablescents

Louis Vuitton Making Of, Thursday Giveaway Competition

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Hey Everyone,

What a super week we’ve had here at AustralianPerfumeJunkies. So much going on I am in a whirl, some very exciting news to share with you on the weekend. We also managed our second best views to date yesterday with Robert “Radium” Maxwell and my Video Sniff of Comme des Garcons Series 6 Synthetics. Look out for more Video Sniffs in the very near future, we have something extraordinary and odd coming up.

THURSDAY GIVEAWAY COMPETITION

Click here for more graphics and gifs!

This weeks Thursday giveaway Competition has a super swag of goodies. Some new, some old, some revised.  How do you win? Easy peasy! Just Tweet this Competition Page (http://australianperfumejunkies.com) and put @OzPerfumeJunkie in your Tweet so I know you’ve done it. You might as well follow my ass while you’re there. SEE? EASY PEASY!

2ml Manufacturers Sample Chanel No 5 Eau Premier
1ml Decant L’Heure Convoitee II by Cartier.
1ml Decant Rasheeqa Concentrated Perfume Oil by Swiss Arabian.
.5ml Decant Myrrhe et Delires by Guerlain.
P&H anywhere in the world

The winner will be Tweeted on Saturday June 2nd at around 10pm Australian EST and must get in touch by Wednesday June 6th 2012 or I will give your goodie bag away to someone else.

Photo Stolen replicaguide

Making Of – Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 Ad Campaign

Here is a special little treat for you all. Louis Vuitton has done a super fun ice cream and candy coloured season, the ads are magic. Here’s a little sneak peek behind the scenes.

I hope your day is lovely, drama free and has at least one special moment, don’t forget to look for it,

Vale Guy Robert, perfumer extraordinaire RIP
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Honey Badger Deal Sampler.

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Hey gang,

This is the glorious colour I get to look at every day at the moment. I love Autumn. So pretty.

You know how much I love to order decants and samples? Well, let me tell you, I love it.

Recently I was trolling around one of my favourite decants and samples stores, SurrenderToChance, and found a sample set called the Honey Badger. Gosh, thought I. What on earth could be in a Honey Badger Special Deal Sampler?

This sampler contains .5 ml (1 ml sample vial filled half full) sample of the following new releases, but you can buy bigger amounts, I went all out and ordered the 2ml sprays:

  • Guerlain Myrrhe et Delires
  • Serge Lutens L’Eau Froide
  • Tom Ford Lavender Palm
  • By Kilian Amber Oud
  • Byredo Seven Veils
  • Aedes de Venutas
  • Hilde Soliani Tutti Matti per Colorno
  • Thirdman Eau Monumentale

So they arrived and I am so excited to be writing about brand new things, fresh pressed as it were and I thought I’d give you a snapshot view of four of them. How does that sound? Terrific? I thought you’d like it. Just a reminder that my nose will smell things differently to yours but it’s always nice to have a starting point, especially with new stuff.

Guerlain Myrrhe et Delires. The citrus opening in this soft oriental wood is sensational, with just a touch of balmy sweetness keeping the squeal under control. The floral heart seems to rush by on my skin, a shame because the fleeting glimpse I get of it is magic, and I’m left with a skin scent that is mainly soft vanilla/myrrhe that is almost leathery. I think you need to sample this, my scent hungry skin just doesn’t want to let it do itself justice, barely discernible after 1 hour. Still barely discernible next morning. If I was about, or had any use for, understated glamour skin fragrances then I would certainly think about buying this.
Olfactoria’s Travels reviewed Myrrhe et Delires last week and here’s Fragrantica

Serge Lutens L’Eau Froide. Boy, this aquatic opens all vetiver, incense and mint like an icy cold blast from Antarctica, maybe ginger, so fresh it made my nostrils tingle. Quickly the blast dies away to nothing, really nothing just fresh air by the beach in Autumn, and then the fragrance warms on my skin and the frankincense comes to dance with the musk and warms the waters and I think I can smell the memory of mint weaving very quietly through but never quite revealing itself. I want my partner to come home and smell me. Maybe it’s my own smell mingling with fresh air? I’m so glad I bought this as a sample spray because I’m glad to have experienced it and will use up my 2ml, just to get the opening 12 minute rush again, but will probably not buy a bottle.
GrainDeMusc does an awesome review and here Fragrantica

Byredo Seven Veils. This spicy oriental opens up green, boozy, spicy and sweet, quite different to anything I’ve tried before, like the pink pepper has been harnessed by the spicy pimento and carrot and something else that I can’t find in the notes that’s giving me cognac. The warmth of the sandalwood and vanilla swing in quickly though and run through leaving flowers in their wake. then a moment later they all play through again. I think the orchid is adding dark, sexy presence as we travel along at the 2 hour point and I LOVE THIS. We are now at 5 hours and I’ve cleaned the whole house, including bathrooms and kitchen, there is still a vanilla, spicy fruit roll on my skin. This is how fragrance should be done. Congratulations Ben Gorham of Byredo, I am seriously thinking FB.
CafeFleurBon does an informative review with some great Salome history and Fragrantica has the notes etc.

Hilde Soliani Tutti Matti per Colorno. This is my first look at Hilde Soliani’s work. The spiel says that this is the Autumn smell of Colorno where she lives in Italy; hay, fennel, grass, wildflowers and weeds on a fresh Autumn day. I can smell it but I think there is also the smell of decomposing Autumn leaves after you’ve raked them, also something sweet and warm, a little smoke/charcoal, even though the notes don’t allow all that.  I can even almost smell the sun shining. Even if you don’t like crisp, light green, fresh fragrances this is a lovely story, not to be missed.
NowSmellThis introduces the whole range and here’s Fragrantica too

Thanks for coming along for a quick look at half of the Honey Badger Deal Sampler with me today. I hope you liked it, and learned something. It’s been a most enjoyable couple of days trying them. Why did I choose these 4? They were the first 4 to come to my hands. What new stuff have you tried this week?

I wish you the best of everything, thanks for dropping by,
Hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow.
Portia xx

PS All fragrance photos today were stolen from Fragrantica and I used my own photo of the tree in my front yard.

Comme des Garcons series 6 Synthetic; Garage, Skai, Tar. LIVE Video Sniff!

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Hey Hey gang,

You may never have heard of the CdG series 6. They were deleted before I became a serious perfumista and though they have come into my radar area a couple of times I’d not ever thought of possessing them. There was so much else to be snorted that I really, really wanted to try.

Then, not so long ago, my mate Radium (AKA Robert Maxwell) asked if I knew where to procure such hard to find gems. So as an essay in “I can do that” I set out to. It wasn’t easy, in fact I could only find the 3 that Radium asked for at SurrenderToChance and so, as a great way to have them, smell them and share them, I offered to purchase if he would come and sniff them with me LIVE! for a video presentation. He jumped at the chance and here is the outcome. Do please enjoy.

Both the photos stolen from Number3store.com where you can but these 3 lovelies currently. Woo Hoo!

I must also congratulate the extraordinary talents of my BFF Kath who shot ans edited and TSO Jin who made it blog ready. You 2 are awesome, great joys and I’m lucky to have you both. XX

Much love,
Portia xxx

Towards 10,000 IVs, Cartier Film

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Hiya Everyone,

We made our 6,000th individual view (IVs) over the weekend! For anyone who’s run a blog for a long time that doesn’t seem like a lot but we only started in mid March 2012. Individual views (IVs) is the amount of separate people who’ve viewed the site, each day you can make a new entry. If you come to the site and look at 10 pages you count as 10 in page views, only 1 in individual views. So you can imagine there were a few rowdy Woo Hoo’s when we noticed it had clicked over.

Click here for more graphics and gifs!Click here for more graphics and gifs!Click here for more graphics and gifs!Click here for more graphics and gifs!

GIF Stolen from picgifs

This got me to thinking, can we make it to 10,000 individual views (IVs) by the end of June? On stats it should be doable; March we did around 700, April just over 2000, May we’ll fly over the 3,000 mark. So then the CHALLENGE for June is to do 4,000 individual views (IVs). If we hit 10,000 IVs all up in June I think there should be a SUPER DOOPER GIVEAWAY.

Photo Stolen dancingastronaut

How can you help to make this happen? Easy Peasy!
TWITTER = Portia@OzPerfumeJunkie
FACEBOOK = Portia Turbo
Every time there’s a new post that you find interesting, reTweet or share on Facebook with all your buddies. Hopefully some of them will have a look, like what they see and continue the process.

Here’s what we at AustralianPerfumeJunkies will give away if we make 10,000 IVs in June.

Brand New Box In Plastic Wrap L’Homme Sport 50ml EdT by Lanvin
5ml spray decant Smell Bent Tibet Ur bottom $ EdT (Discontinued)
5ml spray decant Rochas Byzance EdT (Discontinued)
5ml spray decant CHANEL No 5 Eau Premier EdT

WOW! 4 lucky winners will win one of these great prizes each with postage anywhere in the world.

If you are a regular scentbloggosphere reader you will have seen this lovely Cartier mini movie before. Every time I am about to post it someone else I read puts it up, last time it was Birgit at Olfactoria’s Travels (AT) and this time Nathan Branch at Good Taste Is A Trillion Dollar Industry (NZ) but I’m going ahead today because it’s so incredibly and ridiculously lovely. Please enjoy.

I hope you loved it and on a completely different track I re-found this wonderful quote on the weekend and thought it would be fun to share it.
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months, Oscar Wilde

Thanks for tuning in again, we are grateful that you do. Don’t forget to help us reach

Photo Stolen brisseaux

Wishing you only the good stuff,

Portia xx

SUNDAY QUICKSNIFF REVIEW #3

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hiya all,

I wear a lot of perfume and write about surprisingly little of it, hard to believe isn’t it?  The Sunday QuickSniff Review page is opened on Monday morning and every time I spritz and am near the computer I’ll give a 3 sentence review with a rating out of 5 each for, well, see the key after the reviews.

BADGLEY MISCHKA EdP by BADGLEY MISCHKA 2006. Can someone please tell me what all the fuss is about this fragrance? (Tania Sanchez gives this a full page, 5 star rave? Was she smoking crack?) It is a pretty light fruity floral that is modern and fresh for a young girl or office wear. The dry down is scrummy though, all warm and delicious woods, almost a skin scent that lasts well and now I kind of get some of the fuss. FragranceNet has 30ml for $22 S=** L=**** D=**

LES HEURES DE CARTIER: L’HEURE CONVOITEE II by CARTIER 2011. This is a sparkling, bright, pretty floral with the crackling, whiplike carnation sitting in a fluffy bed of powdery iris and ever so spicy clove; moves slowly through its dance to end up traditionally wood and vanilla. Charming, playful and enticing, I can imagine a girl or granny wearing this Cartier scent, it does double time as fresh and antique, light and deep, prim and adventurous, intriguing. Buy at Cartier stores. S=**** L=*** D=***

SIRA DES INDIES EdP by JEAN PATOU 2006. To me this is one of the best of the modern soft light office friendly, no one can be offended, fragrances that I don’t really understand. It doesn’t say India to me though, more island; like the fantasy you have of how your 6 star, 150 staff, 40 guest maximum, no children, island paradise holiday destination should smell. This is a background hum of wealthy excess and the bottle is such a delicious classic. FragranceShop has 50ml for under $30 S=*** L=** D=***

VANILLA NOIRE EdP by YVES ROCHER 2010. WOW! Perfume! This is all the world’s best vanillas put together in a ramped up, sexy, glamour girl of a fragrance. It is warm, dark and dense, perfectly unisex and quite hard to come by unfortunately. Yves Rocher still has it. S=**** L=*** D=****


Photo Stolen from shirtsays

Scent, Obviously the number 1 priority here is how does it smell. My reviews are completely subjective and will differ widely from your own experience with the scent but it’s a good starting point. As yet I am not a trained perfumer so any and all descriptions are merely that, descriptions. There are plenty of blogs that offer technical details and chemistry, in 3 sentences I’ll pass.
Longevity, This is a biggie for me because like enfleurage where flower petals are left in fats to steal the scent, my fatty body works the same and eats it up, yum. So for a scent to last well on me, it will probably last a whole day on you and need a radioactive decontamination shower to defuse it from your skin.
Desirabilty, Wrapped up in this is scent, price, house, history, longevity, packaging, availability and a billion other things.

Photo Stolen from bittbox

* in any of these being the, “You couldn’t pay enough to spray this God awful stink on me again, it smells like public toilets in India, long time fridge malfunction while on Summer holiday and the vile stench of poverty all rolled into one.” You are putting innocent people in danger if you wear this.
** means it’s a nothing, wearable, boring, maybe the price is prohibitive for what you get or it’s ubiquitous. You should definitely get a sample of this to stop a buying boo boo.
*** is a perfectly good product that smells good and lasts a while at a decent price. You should definitely think about trying a sample or squirt but should you miss out your life will continue. Sample size worthy.
**** is the one you try, want a lot but can wait for a birthday/Christmas. It’s better than most of the stuff you’ve sniffed and may fill a void in your library. This is also an excellent decant product 5ml will get you through the season and maybe buy it next year.
***** meaning, stop reading this, grab your cash, credit card (or partners), roll the elderly or rob a petrol station and purchase this product. NOW! If you don’t have this fragrance you could die.

Hopefully this has given you a little inside track on fragrances to buy, want, avoid, sample. Isn’t scent the best fun EVER? What did you try this week?

Portia xx

Scent Mum takes us Day Tripping! Winners Announced

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hiya everyone!

Today was AWESOME!! My BFF Kath and I went into town to meet the amazing Emma who was the MECCA manager for years, involved with setting the store up, bringing Le Labo out to Oz and making that run, grew the Frederic Malle business here and worked with him on Australian launches (and these are just the highlights as I remember them). She has also kindly offered to become my scent mother. I know, right! TOTALLY AH MAY ZING!!! Sorry, I know I’m shouting but I’m so terrifically excited. It’s been quite a day.

First stop was, of course, Mecca in the Myer building Pitt St Mall, Sydney. Amy was our SA and made sure we were well looked after, gossiping with Emma and doing workmates catch up. Brendan was also there but he was busy at the Le Labo bar and we only chatted to him briefly at the end while looking at the wonderful selection of Dyptique, Serge Lutens, Comme des Garcons, Kai, and a horde of others.

Brendan at the Le Labo Bar in Mecca

Emma asked me to pick some of the Frederic Malle that I was interested in sampling on paper so I pulled out;

Musk Ravager which to me was a nice girl version of Muscs Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens which is already in my library. I did take a sample of this though to try, and compare, at my leisure.

Fleur de Cassis gave me a sweeping, playful and deep look into cassis and mimosa and I would like to try this on my skin one day soon.

Portrait of a Lady was a spicy, fruity, floral that took my breath away because it’s so lovely. Powerhouse on the card, still pumping like crazy after 5 hours.

Bigarade Concentree is a little too citrus and wood, the rose doesn’t develop for me and nor does the grass, though I have only had it on a card. This is what Kath bought today and it is a terrific choice on and for her.

I know, crap shot of Emma and BFF Kath

Lipstick Rose is delicious and if I had not already Rosa Sur Reuse by SOIVOHLE and Ce Soir Ou Jamais by Goutal it would be adorning my collection now.

Noir Epices is lovely dark and spicy as the name hints but Eau D’Epices from Tauer fills that niche here.

Geranium Pour Monsieur is amazing, mint, geranium, spices, licorice, woods and cloves wrapped up in a cool incense. This is going on my FB list. What a lovely fragrance. Very mad I didn’t get a sample size of Geranium Pour Monsieur but will return.

Carnal Flower is, of course, divine. Unfortunately I just got Truth or Dare so there is no need for me to splurge so outrageously on even something as jaw droppingly gorgeous as Carnal Flower. I did take a sample size of this one too.

It was great having Emma with us, she knows the product back to front and was able to give us insights and interesting over views that you only get from  working in the industry. I should have had a tape recorder because much of it went straight out of my head. GRRRR! One really good thing was that Emma noticed 2 of the testers were off and so we got brand new ones to try. As you probably already know, lights and temperature changes are killer for fragrances, as is exposure to air. If you are serious about your perfumes a cupboard away from external walls, or even better a fridge, will keep your most precious babies fresh and ready for decades.

SA Amy & BFF Kath at Mecca

Then we went and stood in line at David Jones to have a picture taken with Nicole Richie, who also signed a pre-fab shot of herself. She was doing an in store to sell her new range of bags, sunglasses and jewellery. The bags were fun and well thought out, not ridiculously expensive and had great finishes that looked like you’d get 10 years heavy wear from them. Nicole was all business because I had 3 cards for her to sign but I wished her, “Painless, easy and harmless world domination,” and she immediately looked me straight in the eye and laughed, wishing the same for herself and sharing a tiny little real person connection time with me. It left a really good taste in my mouth. Nicole Richie, you have a fan.

After lunch downstairs in the David Jones Food Hall Emma had to go find herself a frock for an awards night so we parted ways.

Kath and I trotted back to Myer bumping into a dear old friend, Joe, at the CHANEL counter and he loaded us up with samples of cosmetics and a No 5 Eau Premier sample that is going in the Thursday Giveaway Competition next week because I already have 5oz here. It is good news that I have a buddy there because I’ve just learned that my No 5 Parfum spray is an out of date bottle and case necessitating a complete change next time I buy, unless Joe can find me an old one. My bottle and juice are about 15 years old so pre-reformulation and it will be quite a change sadly.

While we were in town I thought I’d go check the Clinique counter to see if they had the Aromatics Elixer 40th Anniversary Perfumers Reserve Edition Prestige Parfum Extrait. The last one!!! I have been asking at every Clinique counter I passed thinking the suburbs would have it but Sydney had it! YAY!! Purchase. Even the box is gorgeous. Opening Ceremony sometime this week! SCORE!! So happy. This may be the last one in Australia.

Photo Stolen idealo

One gripe for today though. Tom Ford doesn’t do samples. So, you want me to pay over $600 for a bottle of your fragrance and you can’t even give me a sample to see if I like it? You can shove your juice darling. Having had my bitch, the SA Joel was great, had no problem giving us the low down on the products we were interested in and happy to spray our cards for us, and us if we weren’t on a sniff mission. But, no samples?

THURSDAY GIVEAWAY COMPETITION WINNERS

This week instead of doing one big giveaway I thought I’d do 2 small ones. Both winning parties will receive

1ml Rasheeqa Concentrated Perfume Oil
1.5ml Vintage by Kate Moss EdT Spray Decant
1.5ml Hermessence Vanille Galante EdT Spray Decant
Plus P&H anywhere in the world

What did you have to do to be in the running to win these lovelies? Tell me a fragrance by a fashion house that you particularly love.

And the

Photo Stolen dryicons

are JESSE and COLLEEN. Congratulations! If you don’t get in touch with your details by midnight Wednesday 30.5.12 I’ll give your prize to someone else.

Well I’ve had a super great day. Now time for some dinner, cuddles and bed. I’ve earned it.

See you tomorrow,

Portia xx