An introduction to the Science of Scent. This is an interesting short course in “how we smell” theories. Light and informative. Neil Morris and Luca Turin are both interviewed about their perfume practice and theories.
This weeks winner is receiving by mail.
1ml spray remains of manufacturers sample Eau de Maroc EDP by Aftelier Perfumes
I know you didn’t want to be entered Undina but I am also surpised and inspired by people who look like they have an amazing team working for and with them, especially when it is mainly their own hard work, perseverence and drive that has made their dream come true. If you really don’t want to win I will redraw but please do win.
Following on from our mini life story and history of Annick Goutal on Wednesday, and our reviews yesterday, we have 3 more reviews and an extract from a fellow perfumista’s comments.
This is citrus, but not the modern candied and tortured variety. Fresh, vibrant and alive citrus plucked directly from the tree, leaves too. Like a basket of citrus, all sorts, but warmed by the ylang ylang and sharpened by the cypress. It was the first fragrance made for the line back in 1981, apparently also an homage to Marguerite Yourcenar’s novel “Memoirs of Hadrien”, which I’ve not read, or heard of, but just ordered it from BookDepository for AUS$13 incl delivery to my door! Unfortunately, L’Eau d’Hadrien leaves me cold. Too nice, too colognesque, too nothing, yes it’s fresh and a little zesty but I want more. Sorry Annick Goutal, I know it’s your best seller and quite pretty but not for me.
UPDATE: Today while at group pedicure and lunch I gave my sample of L’Eau d’Hadrien to a girlfriend. We all tried it on, including me, and though it lasted less than an hour on us there was a delicious fresh dry down that I had missed before on just me. It was a soft and delicious skin scent. Sorry L’Eau d’Hadrien, you are better than I thought. Of course my friend was THRILLED!
A symphony of glistening, refreshing citrus notes, orchestrated through the Sicilian lemon. Creation date : 1981 Olfactory family : Citrus (Sicilian lemon, citron, grapefruit, green mandarine, cypress, aldehyde notes, ylang-ylang)
Ce Soir Ou Jamais (Tonight or Never)
This opens like the most delicious old fashioned rose, truly bittersweet, almost honeyed in its sweet intensity but packing a bark and leaf grain tartness. My BFF Kath’s father has roses that smell like this; sweet, dark and bitter all at once. I am not a soliflorous (I know, not a word) person. Give me a bouquet and then twist it a bit and then TURN THE SMELL UP! Make it enormous please. Which is why I am astounded at my love for this enchanting and bewitching rose soliflor. It is calm yet mysterious and lasts for ages on my skin, I can still smell delicious traces of it lingering next morning. It is polarising though. Last night while hosting Turbo Trivia I wore Ce Soir Ou Jamais and had 2 lovely unsolicited compliments and one, “OMG! What is that you have on? Yuck!.” Win some, lose some. I did have to remind the rude one that, in fact, I was wearing it for my own enjoyment and she could continue to wear her Avon (which I admit smelled really, REALLY good on her. It was yummy) for ever.
The scent of pure rose, breathtaking and elegant in its femininity Creation date : 1999 Olfactory family : Floral (Turkish rose, ambrette seed, and a blend of essences kept secret…)
Eau de Camille
I love Eau de Camille too. I had a girlfriend during our teenage years and this scent reminds me of her every time I wear it. It begins sparse and almost spiky like cutting the ivy back every year at autumn and sweetens mildly as you get to know it and it warms on your skin, then gone. Not much longevity but pretty, vivacious and sparkly while it lasts nonetheless. Just like youth. Eau de Camille was the first fragrance that Annick Goutal created especially for her daughter Camille when she was 8 years old.
Green, like an ivy garden, as fresh as a dewy morning Creation date : 1983 Olfactory family : Floral, green (Ivy, privet tree, honeysuckle, seringa, cut grass)
Ambre Fetiche
I have never smelled Ambre Fetiche but I have a rave review from my comments strings. The lovely Dionne from BeautyOnTheOutside (BOTO) had this to say about it, I am now looking (lemming like) for a decent priced bottle but it looks discontinued around here.
A recent discovery for me was how much Annick Goutal’s Ambre Fétiche calms me down. I got a generous sample about a month ago from Dee, and put it on on a Monday morning when I was soooo sick of the gloom and overcast and snow (meanwhile a whole bunch of blogs were all “Let’s talk about perfume for spring while we skip through the daisies…” which didn’t help), and was majorly grumpy. Something about that amber/incense combo just made me slow down and find peace. The other part of the story is that I reapplied it Monday night to show The Engineer, he took one sniff and said, “I want you to buy that.” In my two years of being a perfumista, he’s never had that reaction before.
Bought a 100ml of it the following day.
If you need any more reason than that to go shopping Fragrantica has the details
The Annick Goutal site says
Classic and modern at the same time, a very textured and sensual interpretation of the amber. Creation date : 2007 Olfactory family : Amber, Vanilla, Leather (Frankincense, labdanum, styrax – Benzoin, absolute of iris – Vanilla, geranium, patchouli, Russian leather)
I hope you’ve enjoyed our 3 days of Annick Goutal. it has been our pleasure to bring it to you.
Yesterday I became completely sidetracked by the Annick Goutal story. I wish now I had taken a month to really research her and the magnificent job she did creating a niche perfume company that went global. Awe inspiring. One day there will be a book, mini series or movie about the rise and rise of an indomitable spirit. Does anybody remember meeting her? Have an anecdote to share? Please leave it in the comments, good or bad, so I can get a fuller picture of who Annick Goutal was.
Photo Stolen from multi-brand
For now, all I have is her fragrances to remember her by. I have 6 in my collection so far (3 bottles, 3 decants) but I can feel already that I would like to at least sample the range. You can have 3 reviews today and three tomorrow.
Eau de Sud EDT
This was my first meeting with an Annick Goutal fragrance. The scentbloggosphere somewhere told me this was the go to fragrance for the whole range and it was fairly indicative of the general style of fragrance produced at Annick Goutal, though I think the range has quite a lot more light and shade than that. Having reviewed it earlier this month I won’t bore you again but it is a bright citrus that softens to a vanilla herbal citrus as it wears.
Photo Stolen from 99perfume.com
The Annick Goutal website says,
The sparkling freshness of citrus fruits ripened under the warmth of the Mediterranean sun. Creation date : 1997 Olfactory family : Citrus, Chypre, Green (Bergamot, Persian lime, grapefruit, mandarine, verbena, peppermint, basil, hint of jasmine and vetiver, patchouli, oakmoss)
Songes EDT (Dreams)
Songes was my first Annick Goutal FBW fragrance. When the sample arrived I loved it so much I sprayed it on all and sundry till it ran dry just so they could experience the enormous grand white floral opening. What a fragrance! Designed around a dusk ramble on Camille Goutal’s honeymoon and the frangipani’s nighttime scent song of dreams.
Photo Stolen from escentual-com
The Annick Goutal website says
The twilight in Tahiti, transcending into a inspiring combination of frangipani and tiare flowers. Creation date : 2005 Olfactory family : Floral, oriental, amber (Frangipani, Tiare flower, Sambac jasmine absolute, ylang-ylang absolute, olibanum, French vanilla absolute, sandalwood, amber)
This is a fragrance I had tried and loved but been annoyed by its lack of staying power on my scent hungry skin. Finding it at a knock down price online I couldn’t resist a purchase. It is a hot and spicy citrus that lasts a maximum of 2 hours on me. the ride is fun though. Camille Goutal wanted this fragrance to reference her love of fairies and magic as a child, and the bright fun and dark depths of current fiction and film that her own children were enjoying. It doesn’t give me particularly dark and deep depths but I can sense the fun and wonder of white magic lurking here. It’s almost cologne-esque on me. If you want something darker and deeper the Annick Goutal Mandragore Pourpe is for you.
Photo Stolen from stylehive.com
The Annick Goutal website says
A burst of energy brought by the liveliness of the aromatic notes. Creation date : 2005 Olfactory family : Citrus, aromatic, spicy (Bergamot, blackpepper, peppermint, star anis, boxwood, ginger, sage, iris, ciste roots, labdanum)
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading some of Annick Goutal’s masterpieces reviewed. Three more tomorrow.
COMPETITION GIVEAWAY!!
So for today’s Thursday Competition Giveaway please leave us a comment on a perfumer who has inspired you in some way. It could be Guerlain, Chanel, Jennifer Lopez, Karine Dubreuil, David Beckham, Alberto Morillas, Loc Dong, Patti LaBelle or Andy Tauer. Anybody who has put their name to a perfume. Maybe their dedication, lifestyle, car, a scent that changed you, pet, cooking, scent history, breakaway or interesting choices. Whatever! Who; and how did they inspire you? Easy Peasy!!
This weeks swag includes;
NB all measures are approximate.
1ml spray remains of manufacturers sample Eau de Maroc EDP by Aftelier Perfumes
1.5ml spray decant Mandgradore EDT by Annick Goutal
1.5ml spray decant Carriere EDP by Gendarme
1.5mml spray decant Muscho Nobile EDT by Nobile 1942
and a SURPRISE 1.5ml spray decant that you’ll find out about tomorrow
Go to it gang. winner will be judged on Saturday 10pm-ish Australian EST
Annick Goutal Parfums was created in 1981 by a young lady, brought up in a chocolatier’s household, rebelling against a career as a pianist. After fleeing the rigour of piano for modeling she met a man and soon found herself alone with a baby (her daughter Camille). Next she was diagnosed with breast cancer and married her childhood sweetheart.
Photo Stolen from multi-brand
Her first venture into beauty was a skin cream business with a friend and Goutal felt they were missing two things, fragrance and packaging. “My fingers remembered”, she says, reflecting on her father’s confectionery. “I had acquired a great manual facility thanks to all the chocolate arranging. I had the idea of presenting the pots of cream like dainty packets of sweets. In beautiful handwriting we inscribed hundreds of tags to go with the bags”. After an encounter in 1977 with perfumer Henri Sorsana while talking of perfuming some creams, Goutal spent the next seven years memorising ingredients, discovering a talent and honing her skills, culminating in the creation of brand “Annick Goutal Parfums”.
Photo Stolen from ParisPerfect
Her boutique opened in 1980 on Rue de Bellechasse, presenting her first fragrances Folavril, Passion and Eau d’Hadrien which has become the most successful perfume in the Annick Goutal range. In time, as her talent, client list and reputation grew, customers and journalist friends spread the word of something wonderful happening in Paris. “It is very rare that a perfume creator can be free, because they are always linked to a big perfume company”, said Goutal. In the age of the corporate perfumer she provided a truly bespoke service. “I have always had complete freedom… It is like making music by myself”.
Photo Stolen from Escentual
“When my daughter Camille was seven, she was up on the terrace feeling the ivy and saying: “Maman, I want a fragrance like this.” So she was the inspiration for Eau de Camille-honeysuckle and privet tree mingle with freshly cut grass”. Her stepdaughter Charlotte wanted something less naive, more sophisticated, so Goutal used mimosa and cocoa. “This makes Eau de Charlotte a bit more gourmand…And for my husband (cellist Alain Meunier), I created Sables…”
Camille Goutal Photo Stolen from Vanity Fair
By 1985, the Taittinger group merged with and invested heavily in exposing Annick Goutal Parfums, both in France and abroad. The brand is extremely successful in the USA and was ranked number one in Saks and Neiman Marcus, they also began to export to Asia and European markets.
Annick Goutal added new fragrances with less citrus directions in 1996 such as Grand Amour, Eau du Sud, Petite Chérie, and Ce Soir ou Jamais and a range of candles and home sprays.
Photo Stolen from sassisamblog
In 1999 at the age of 53 Annick Goutal passed away. After, Brigitte Taittinger entrusted Camille Goutal (Annick Goutal’s Daughter) and Isabelle Doyen (a longtime perfumer in the Annick Goutal company) with the company’s development and they are responsible for bringing forth Mandragore, Songes, Un Matin d’Orage, Ninfeo mio and many more, following the brands history of creativity, authenticity and excellence.
In September 2005, Starwood Capital Group acquired Taittinger Group and Annick Goutal Parfums.
By August 2011 Korean group AMORE PACIFIC had purchased Annick Goutal Parfums, they are also licensees for Lolita Lempicka and French fashion house JC de Castelbajac’s perfumes.
Photo Stolen from CafeFleurBon
Thanks for coming on an Annick Goutal journey. tomorrow we’ll meet some of the perfumes,
Portia xx
These words are barely re arranged from their original forms on Annick Goutal’s site, FragranceX, Squidoo and Fragrantica.
Don’t you love Emma Watson? Great choice for Lancome’s Midnight Rose.
So ever had a day that from the moment you were awakened it all seemed like shit on toast? Not even!! No one took the time to do toast, it was shit sandwich.
Well, I am being over dramatic, of course, but I did have a major case of the grumps yesterday which meant people who are my nearest and dearest were finding other rooms (read suburbs) to be in. I kept having to say to TSO Jin, “I’m not really angry about this. Please excuse me,” after flying off the handle at tiny little things that irk me usually but today generated seismic tremors. I felt like Ouisa Boudreaux (Shirley MacLean) from Steel Magnolias, and usually I’m Claree Belcher (Olympia Dukakis).
What do grumpy people wear?
L’Eau D’Ambre
In the morning L’Artisam Parfumeur’s 1978 release L’Eau D’Ambre got a run. I’ve talked about this scent recently so won’t bore you all but L’Eau D’Ambre is a pants fragrance that stiffens by back and fills up my cajones when I have to get business accomplished.
Photo Stolen from L’Artisan Parfumeur
Green Tea
Home in the afternoon and wanting something fresh and lively to lift my spirits and give a breath of fresh air I chose Elizabeth Arden’s 1999 offering, Green Tea. How do they get all those delicious notes in this perfume to smell exactly like a fresh cuppa? It’s a budget scent but Francis Kurkdjian, Green Tea’s nose, has done extraordinary work on some of your favourites: JPGaultier Le Male; Ellie Saab Le Parfum, Narciso Rodriguez For Her, and his own Maison Francis Kurkdjian line. This is quality breeding folks. It is a short, sharp shot of lovely and lively that helps me to center. PS Yesterday we featured a Francis Kurkdjian interview.
Photo Stolen from Fragrantica
No 5
Late afternoon and still grumpy so I thought the splendid and extravagant thrill of Chanel’s 1921 visionary/copycat (depending on who you believe) No 5 might lift and separate the gloom. That effervescent flash of citrus & aldehydes, followed by ylang-ylang, jasmine, rose, iris & more, warmed by vanilla, musk, woods and patchouli. So; sharp, bouquet, deep clay earth is how it runs in my mind as the notes (that I mostly can’t follow definitively anyway) float over and around me. It is sexy, stately and gorgeous, and for a while, so am I. Lost in the absolute bliss, and Mum memories, of a masterpiece.
Photo Stolen from oo.com.au
Evening saw me restless and wanting more glamour; so off for a HOT Radox bath with some lightly scented body wash for bubbles and moisturising non-soap. MMMMM My most delicious and sensual waste of time, usually with a book. (Currently The Widow Clicqout by Tilar J. Mazzeo, the Chanel No 5 biographer. Good stuff.)
Parfum de Maroc
Warm, clean and fresh it was time for something more niche and exclusive. A sample of Parfum de Maroc by Aftelier Perfumes that swept me away when I first tried it was put aside when i fell heavily for Crepes & Tuberose and invested in a bottle. I forgot what a delicious journey Parfum de Maroc (perfume of Morocco) takes you on. Harvested directly from Aftelier Perfumes website; they say…
Photo Stolen from Aftelier
Scent Family: Spicy Floral Inspired by an ancient Moroccan spice recipe Ras el Hanout or “top of the shop” – a mixture of the best spices a seller has to offer….
..Notes Top: saffron, galangal. Heart: Turkish rose, nutmeg. Base: cardamom, myrrh.
This is how Francis Kurkdjian views his eponymous fragrance range. The video is an interesting watch, made by LibertyStoreTV, and has odd cutaways to his lunchy jeans, which is awkward, no… it is AWKWARD! It has a 2010 date on it.
Francis Kurkdjian is charming and engaging. The video feels to me as if I am interviewing him. Some of the questions that I’d ask are answered here.
Evie has had some hold ups with interviews and will have her next update on Monday. Sorry for the delay tonight.
One thing I would like to ask though is if you could all please get the word out about our blog. It’s one month and we’ve had over 2000 separate people visit us, which is beyond AH MAY ZING! To really help create the community we dream of though we would like to take that to the moon and back. So if you enjoy reading our blather, know someone who loves fragrance or have an enemy that you’d like to torture with us, please go ahead. Facebook, Twitter, Phone, Email, Letter, Sky-write, Radio or TV, please mention us at every stop. Some of the Independent/Natural/Niche Perfumers that we are reviewing, interviewing and writing about just need a nudge to make them global concerns. We’d like to be part of making that happen for them and you are the only people who can help. Thank you in advance and please enjoy today’s offering.
L’ANONYME OU OP-1475-A by A LAB ON FIRE
This is minimalist, like a clean scent but with a bit more balls. It starts quite citrusy and wears softly to a slight, lovely warmth. My skin eats it pretty quickly, a whisper in 40 mins; gone in 2 hours. But it’s so affordable that you won’t feel guilty for respritzing.
Fragrantica has the notes, accords and reviews LuckyScent does an admirable pitch and you can buy.
AMBER OUD by BY KILLAIN
This is the most easily accessible Oud scent I’ve tried so far. It is warm vanilla, spicy bay and amber with a hint of Oud. Extremely expensive in feel, smell and fact.
Looking on the first 3 pages of Google I could not find single English review for this lovely soft Italian fragrance that wasn’t a press release revisited. The notes tell me a story that my nose doesn’t smell though. I miss the musk and citrus completely after the initial rush and am left with a linear floral and woodsy fragrance quite unlike anything I’ve smelled before. I find this fresh, light and unusual fragrance quite cool but friendly. I will get a 5ml decant to really try it out.
WOOF! Want an Auod faceplant with a block of freshly hewn wood in a barn with livestock and a rock hard Romeo just off his horse and ready for action? YES YOU DO. Insanely FBW!
This starts with the same candied fried citrus that we have seen in loads of stuff and took me completely off guard because I was expecting a skanky ho of a fragrance. The gang were saying what a sexy masculine fragrance this is but all I smelled throughout was spicy citrus. My nose is MENTAL! She Wolf, I think I love you!
Fragrantica has the stuff and CaFleurBon writes about the whole SmellBent North by Northwest range
Thanks for making it to the bottom of my sniffy thoughts for today.
Here are 2 citrus fragrances from my LuckyScent Spring 15 2012 showbag. I have not been much of a citrus person but am becoming acclimated to its zesty rush and the fun of it. I am taking for granted that LuckyScent is sending me the best of.
Bright, fresh, warm, citrus opening! I know that doesn’t make sense but I think the lemon and lemon blossom opening is sweet and warming. A welcoming opening, rather than an austere aloof one. My memory of the Gendarme original scent is that it is a lot less robust that this EDP. I think the Lavender, Lily and Jasmine give Gendarme’s Carrier for women EDP a prettier and softer citrus adventure over the incense of the original. It still has elements of mens cologne, which I love here, but in a ladylike way. LuckyScent calls it fresh and refreshing, and they are right.
Photo Stolen from Wikipedia
From Gendarme site
You’ll never know how beautiful fragrance can make you feel until you wear Carrière. This elegant yet professional fragrance embodies the powerful and yet luxurious modern woman with the aroma of jasmine and lilac.
GRAND NEROLI by ATELIER COLOGNE
Grand Neroli by Atelier Cologne is a 12% Cologne Absolue concentration.
Photo Stolen from alanilagan.com
Lifted wholesale from LuckyScent Beautiful, transporting, dream-inducing neroli, in all its giddily romantic glory. Neroli comes from orange blossoms – those white flowers that glowed like stars against the green leaves and transformed the spring air of our childhood into a magical elixir.
Photo Stolen from NeroliOil.org
I don’t know about transporting or dream inducing but the opening does remind me of playing around the orange tree as a kid, the smell of broken citrus leaves and twigs as Mum would shape the tree each year, my sister and I picking the flowers and the first pulling back of the ripe orange skin before you’d bite. The vanilla, musk and amber walk in quickly here and warm the whole fragrance up, pushing the citrus aside. In fact the fragrance makes such a definitive change it could be 2 different scents; there is still a citrus but warm and welcoming. Now, at the 40 minute stage, getting a soft powdery scent, almost like the smell of freshly washed kids in summer.
Of the 2 fragrances that I’ve tried today Grand Neroli wins on storyline and Carriere wins on lifespan. Citrus are notoriously short lived but Carriere stayed for hours.
COMPETITION GIVEAWAY WINNER!
“What is your dirty little perfume secret?” got some wonderful replies but none so stupendously and happily dirty as our winners favourite, Can Can by Paris Hilton!!
THE WINNER IS
sujaan212
In the winners pack all measures are approximate;
1 x manufacturers sample pot of Roxana’s Illuminated Perfumes, Hedera Helix
1 x 5ml manufacturers sample One Seed, Freedom EDP
1 x 2ml decanted spray sample Estee Lauder, Youth Dew
1 x 1ml remains manufacturers sample Bottega Veneta
1 x .5ml decanted sample spray L’Artisan Parfumeur, Passage D’Enfer
plus postage and packing anywhere in the world that it’s legal to send to
Thanks for dropping by and sharing the inside of my head.
As promised I thought I’d chat about a perfume that I didn’t know I should be ashamed of till I started reading about it.
POEME by LANCOME
This time to start with I’m giving you extra reading, Brian at I Smell Therefore I Am did such a wonderful job on Poeme back in 2009 that I would like you to read it. It is the only review I found on the first 3 pages of Google that didn’t just dish the Lancome spiel back at me. He has thought about the perfume and worn it. Kudos!
Here is a late entrant into the reviews BoisDeJasmine has done a less enamored review with some better quality, same accord, substitutes. Thanks Undina for bringing it to my attention.
Photo Stolen from aaajs.com
Fortunately, there were no preconceived ideas of Poeme as the Lancome loser here, because it’s still on the shelves when fragrances like Cuir de Lancome, Climat, and Sagamore, among many others, are gone. That people like Luca Turin despise Poeme had completely passed me by. What a shame for everyone. Poeme is lovely, a perfume for a woman, a lady. Someone not afraid to smell lovely, to be fruity, floral and very slightly spicy. to me this is a no brainer, how can anyone not like Poeme. It is fragrant, yes. Intrusive? Really? It does have awesome staying power but why is that seen as a negative? Surely, spritz in the morning and respritz at night should be the way perfumes are made. You want to smell lovely and not have to worry about making sure you have your scent in your purse. No?
I love the warmth in Poeme as the citrus top notes melt into a vanilla floral bouquet. I can’t pick the notes but I’m sure I can smell some jasmine and tuberose, and they say mimosa is the strongest but I wouldn’t know mimosa in a fragrance if you slapped me with it, sorry. The notes in Fragrantica mention leather too, but I need leather to be a bit more in your face before I can parse it. It is warm and green simultaneously, the spice is quiet but when you warm up so does it. I know many of you are unimpressed by perfumey smelling fragrances, as if they are too easy to enjoy, like fragrance should be an endurance sport, extreme scents etc, and I do think there is a big fat wondferful place for such things, but that does not preclude the lovely, does it?
Poeme by Lancome is a well put together Floriental and if perfume should first and foremost smell good, then to me Poeme is on the money. Maybe it suffers from its availability, price point and old fashioned image but if one of the niche perfumers, that was hard to find and wildly expensive, brought this out now, I think the scentbloggosphere would be gushing and squawking with praise at their absolute refusal to follow the pack and at their dedication to the art of smelling beautiful. HAH! I am part of the scentbloggosphere and I just did. Please go and try Poeme at a Lancome fragrance counter near you. It costs nothing to have a go and you may like it.
As a Thank You for making it to the bottom of my thoughts here is one of the Poeme ads,
Much love,
Portia xx
This week’s weather in Sydney is completely bonkers, warm and sunny, freezing and windy, wet, cold and sunny; all today! Choosing a perfume for today was hard work, so this morning I tried an old favourite, and this evening something brand spanking new!
ROXANA’S ILLUMINATED PERFUMES
So I lemminged onto Roxana’s Illuminated Perfumes through ThePerfumeShrine who did a wonderful piece on one of the fragrances, Hedera Helix, based on the Ivy it’s named after. Thank You for introducing me gang. The picture below shows Roxana’s enormous attention to detail when she sends. So pretty, and it makes the whole experience even more special.
Photo Stolen from ETSY
I went and found Roxana on ETSY and this is what she has to say about her fragrances
I create whole, vital, organic perfumes with stories. These fragrances are from nature, there are absolutely NO synthetic materials contained or tortured animal ingredients in my fragrances. The perfumes I create are from the highest-grade botanical materials; including pure essences sourced from the deserts of Arabia, tropical forests of Madagascar as well as Mediterranean meadows. In the tradition of alchemists and perfumers of ancient times, I create an illuminated line of exclusive, signature fragrances along with extraordinary custom perfumes. Every fragrance is created in small batches by hand and resonates with a deep connection to the land, utilizing intoxicating scents drawn from the botanical world.
I ordered the Organic Botanical Perfume Sampler Eco d’Lux Six Pack for US$45 and a Hedera Helix Nature Perfume in a Mini Compact for US $30 and, gorgeous girl that Roxanna is, there came a surprise for you (see below in COMPETITION GIVEAWAY).
Photo Stolen from Etsy
IMPROMPTU
As always I went straight for the sample that came to my fingers. Didn’t check the name, just applied with abandon, well not too much, they are extremely small samples. Really, really small. I got the original application before work and a reapplication now to jog my memory. Gone! Anyway, this is called Impromptu and is not on the current list.
OMG BETTY! Deep earthy green, like a sexy swamp lady, I smell moss, river water and weed, herbs, torn fig leaves, mown lawn and compost, and some spices that elude me but it is AWESOME!
Photo Stolen from ETSY
One of the men at Trivia tonight, that I would never have expected it from, leaned over and said, “You smell great, that perfume is….Wow!” As Evie C was also there I have back up collaboration on this. He was blown away, and so am I. You can be sure I’ve already written to Roxana asking for 5 litres of it, well, asking if I could buy any of it actually.
It’s morning now and there is still a delicious fat curl and waft of deepest green lingering upon my person. I am mesmerised, sitting still for minutes at a time (not something I do easily) trying to track this amazing scent. It is now a rank, dank thing clawing its way from the sea with a briny broken branch smell. I’m sorry, the words I have are not making this scent sound appealing; it is. I wish there were more words in my head to give you an accurate picture of how majestic this fragrance is, like primordial soup and magic. There was the tiniest skerrick left in the bottle and I have drained the dregs to live this wonderful fragrance again. One thing is for sure, you’ll not find anything this wild, untamed and confronting at your local fragrance counter. This is the good stuff.
HEDERA HELIX
I have the solid mini compact of Hedera Helix, being a solid it is much tamer in sillage, but it is a very crisp Green Floral Chypre that is less brash than Impromptu. It smells like a reserved, elegant and willowy sister in comparison. It’s edges are buffed and polished to an easy wearabilty for everyone, and being solid it is also good for people allergic to mass market perfumes. I like the mini compact especially for gym goers who are forever losing lids in gym bags and precious juice being squirted into damp towels and soggy lycra. Also, after a workout it goes on beautifully and the extra warmth and bloodflow help to give softer solid perfume a bit more strength.
Photo Stolen from ETSY
Roxanna says of the Hedera Helix fragrance
The best words I can use are to describe this scent is mossy green, floral Chypre. I utilized many essences with a green profile as well as those that come from green leaves like Geranium, Peach Leaf, Rhododendron Leaf, and Violet Leaf. On the skin of those who have tested it the aroma is quite beautiful.
COMPETITION GIVEAWAY
This Thursday the question you must answer in the comments is, “What is your dirty little perfume secret? The one guilty fragrance pleasure that you wear even though it has been reviled by all and sundry? Maybe it’s a cheapy, maybe it’s a one star Sanchez/Turin or maybe it’s something so old fashioned you can’t bring yourself to tell. Now’s the time to spill.” and I’ll pick the comment that resonates most with me. Doesn’t have to be long or flamboyant, just give it to me straight.
One of my personal favourites that fits into this category is Poeme by Lancome. I will be writing about it tomorrow, so before my dirty little secret is really out I’d like to hear yours.
What’s in the winners pack this week? All measures are approximate and winner drawn Sunday 10pm-ish Australian EST.
1 x manufacturers sample pot of Roxana’s Illuminated Perfumes, Hedera Helix
1 x 5ml manufacturers sample One Seed, Freedom EDP
1 x 2ml decanted spray sample Estee Lauder, Youth Dew
1 x 1ml remains manufacturers sample Bottega Veneta
1 x .5ml decanted sample spray L’Artisan Parfumeur, Passage D’Enfer
plus postage and packing anywhere in the world that it’s legal to send to
SO GO TO IT!!
Thanks for getting all the way to the bottom of my random smelly thoughts,
Here is a special present, I was reminded of it today by my buddy Radium Maxwell. MWAAA
Australian Perfume Junkies 