Saturday Question: Hands Up If You Got Fragrance In 2018

January 13, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 165 Comments

Portia

Hello Fellow Fumies,

Every Saturday we have a Question, an idea purloined from Olfactoria’s Travels. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it is a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Continue reading →

Cafe Rose by Tom Ford 2012

January 12, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Portia

Hi there Fine Fragrant Friends,

Tom Ford , even the name produces this weird reaction in me. I love that this out, gay, handsome man has taken the world by storm in a field that he never was trained for. On the other hand he seems like a complete head up arse twat totally obsessed with form. His fragrances for Estee Lauder create the same ambivalence within me. Many are lovely, others only for about 15 minutes till they collapse into quagmire or worse banality. It’s a long way Continue reading →

SOTD 8 – 14 January 2018

January 8, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 158 Comments

Portia

Hi APJ,

I see these SOTD (Scent Of The Day) threads all the time on Facebook and they are really good conversation generators.

SOTD 8 – 14 January 2018

The idea is you’ll chime in through the week with whatever scent you are wearing. You don’t need to be super knowledgable, have high faluting tastes or be a published author to comment. Just tell us what fragrance you’re wearing, smelling, buying etc. Continue reading →

Scent Diary: 1.1 – 7.1.2018

January 7, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

Portia

Happy New Year APJ,

What a week! It’s been super hot and sweaty here in Oz. Some of our peeps are in Sydney on holidays or have been off work for part of the week. So many fantastic catch ups.

Scent Diary: 1.1 – 7.1.2018

Monday 1:

This is what midnight looked like where we were. My BFF Kath took this photo just after we’d done the countdown. Cool shot huh?

Wishing you all a wonderful 2018. Fill it with loads of good stuff so the shit seems less deep. Continue reading →

Saturday Question: Which Serge Lutens is your favourite?

January 6, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 104 Comments

Portia

Hello Fellow Fumies,

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:

Neela Vermeire Creations Mohur EdP
Parfum d’Empire Fougere Bengale
L’Artisan Seville a l’Aube
Lolita Lempicka EdP
Rouge d’Hermès

Last Weeks Winner: Marie

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with the eMail you’d like me to send your Gift Card to.

Saturday Question: Which Serge Lutens is your favourite?

Serge Lutens, Uncle Serge, Lutens or however you know the house has been a groundbreaker. Held firm in the hands of Shiseido yet Creatively Directed by Serge Lutens: a mystery, enigma. Serge Lutens for most perfumistas is a slightly mad, eccentric perfume god whose genius was stewed fruit and pushing notes as far as they could go when being created. His new releases were, for decades, hyped and hyperbole-ed out of the stratosphere and still managed to blow us away when we got our sniff on them.

Sadly it seems his star has dimmed somewhat in the 21st century but the company is still putting out interesting works. I think it has been subsumed into Shideido completely now and Mr Lutens himself is less involved but that is hearsay, not fact confirmed.

My Answer:

This is an easy one for me. Though I have FBs for a lot of the Lutens line, there are only five that get heavy wear. Datura Noire, Arabie, Chergui, Fille en Aiguilles and my favourite Five O’clock au Gingembre.

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tea, bergamot
Heart: Ginger, cinnamon, woodsy notes
Base: Cacao, honey, amber, patchouli, pepper

The swirl of spices and dry tea that float over a honeyed woodsiness with a hint of patchouli is so wearable in warm or cold weather. It’s fragrant in the first hour but not outrageously so and softens of beautifully to a lightly sweetened woodsy hum that lasts for hours. It can be casual or dressed up and never seems out of place. Not one of his more challenging works, that’s fine by me. I want to smell good and Five O’clock au Gingembre can be relied upon every time.

My Saturday Question to you is:

Which Serge Lutens is your favourite?

Sogno Reale Talismans Collezione Preziosa by Amélie Bourgeois for Mendittorosa 2015

January 5, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Portia

Hey there APJ Crew,

I’ve worn Sogno Reale a few times now but I never seem to get a real hold on it. Each time the wear reads differently. So today I’m going to describe my wear for you but it is tinged by memories of previous wears. Because of this I’m definitely going to say that your mileage may vary, mine did every time.

This review is from a split decant that came a couple of months ago, I keep wearing and trying to write the post because I think the fragrance beautiful enough that you guys should know about it. Biting the bullet today.

Sogno Reale by Mendittorosa 2015

Sogno Reale Talismans Collezione Preziosa by Amélie Bourgeois

Fragrantica

Mendittorosa gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, Bergamot, Marine/Iodine Accord
Heart: Tuberose, Patchouli
Base: Volcanic Olibanum, Hyraceum, Rhum, Sandalwood, Styrax, Amber Woods

Interesting, I really smell the iodine and patchouli as I spray Sogno Reale. It’s not till a few seconds in that the citrus even gets any smell time. Not huge, here we have a very restrained fragrance, all the notes are accounted for but sotto voce. As if this kind of happy weirdness needs to whisper. If you can in expecting a Womanity or even a Sel Marin you will be disappointed indeed. That’s not to say Sogno Reale is unfragrant, no you can smell it, but it will creep up on you every now and again. A bit like some days I find Eau des Merveilles. Like smelling someone who has spent the day at the beach as they come home. Salty, suntanned, windblown and happy.

Actually the slightly oddballness is all in the opening 5 minutes, after that we settle down to a very pretty and expensive smelling Patch/Amber/Leather. The patchouli smells like someone you’re talking to is wearing it, not far away, and the leather steps up the scent into a luxurious jacket. A soft focus leather sweetened by amber. Very pretty, easy wear and comfortable……. supple, ultra cool leather jacket.

PDI

Then Sogno Reale softens to a lightly salty skin scent and continues murmuring for a couple of hours before I totally lose the ability to smell any difference from myself.

“All that we see or seem
is but a dream within a dream”
From ‘A Dream Within a Dream’ by Edgar Allen Poe
Sogno Reale is balm for the soul, a talisman dreamed into existence, the unconscious mind made extraordinary perfumed flesh.

Further reading: Colognoisseur
Mendittorosa has €230/100ml and FREE World Shipping
Surrender To Chance has a Mendittorosa Sampler from $11/3 x 0.75ml

Mendittorosa? Have you tried the brand yet?
Portia xx

Mélodie du Cygne de la Main by Alberto Morillas for Dali Haute Parfumerie 2016

January 4, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Portia

Hello Perfume Lovers,

There’s a new whisper running through the perfume world. Dali perfumes which started out ultra fabulously with the signature scent and then Laguna ultimately turned to shit. Lately though, and brand new to Australia and just in at First In Fragrance, they have been aiming at the prestige market. Yes, the lure of the fast buck has gripped everyone with something to hang the worlds interest on. I admit to being a little jaded by companies putting dross in bottles and expecting us to fork over enormous amounts of money.

Here’s the thing though, it looks like the Dali group are trying to make good perfume. It may not all be to your taste, it certainly isn’t all to mine, but it does smell like they’ve taken more than a modicum of interest in seeing these perfumes are beautiful, smooth and aristocratic feeling. The bottles look fabulous too and though I’ve not held one yet, I’m very excited to.

I had the Aussie Dali rep get in touch and send me a set of the latest Dali beauties and here is one I particularly liked.

Mélodie du Cygne de la Main by Dali Haute Parfumerie 2016

Mélodie du Cygne de la Main by Alberto Morillas

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, Violet, Florentine iris, Orange blossom, Sandalwood, Praliné, Vanilla

Sweet, slightly fizzy opening followed by a praline/vanilla. Smooth, very Guerlain modern or even Pierre Guillaume. The sweetness is bakery, not confectionary, and it smells expensive. The sandalwood is creamy and may even have a little dash of the real thing.

I keep thin king that this would be a wonderful fragrance to cuddle into. It smells so good if someone were to walk past you in the street trailing this sillage you might even be tempted to ask what they’re wearing.

Not boundary pushing or challenging in the slightest. Most perfumistas that like a warm, plush, bakehouse amber have something similar in their wardrobe already but Albert Morillas seems to have created quite a few fragrances that I adore: Rochas Byzance, original Salvador Dali, M7, Mugler cologne, Cacharel Scarlett, Gucci Guilty Absolute and Palissandre d`Or. This fragrance shows the same beautiful streamlined extravagance.

Just spoke to my mate Thierry at City Perfume and he has $390/100ml with Free Australian Shipping, 3 FREE samples and a 10% Discount till January 10 (code: AFG17).

Mélodie du Cygne de la Main GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 3ml Mélodie du Cygne de la Main Manufacturiers Sample (my review sample)
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.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us: Have you tried and loved any of the Dali perfumes?

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 7th January 2018 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 11th January 2018 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

SOTD 1 – 7 January 2018

January 1, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 193 Comments

Portia

Hi APJ,

I see these SOTD (Scent Of The Day) threads all the time on Facebook and they are really good conversation generators.

SOTD 1 – 7 January 2018

You probably won’t have time to write every scent, every spritz but whenever you feel the mood take you share your current spritz and a few things about it. Maybe you love/loathe it, want it, are excited by the notes/bottle/SA who sold it: WHATEVER! As always here at APJ, taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:

Monsieur Chanel vintage
Jacob Silences parfum
Guerlain Chamade EdP (vintish)
Diptyque Rose de Mai 2016
Le Galion Sang Bleu

Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Sunday.

Last Weeks WINNER: Neva

Go To It Crew.
Portia xxx

Souffle de Soie GIVEAWAY WINNERS

January 1, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Portia

AHHH APJ,

The lure of DIOR! I get it, can’t wait to get my sniff on the rest of the line in Paris next year.
Let’s see who our lucky winners are
Portia xx

Souffle de Soie GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 2 winners who will receive:
1 x DIOR Souffle de Soie decant (from my decant)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 31st December 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winners were chosen by random.org

Miriam Nussbaum

Amanda Kheng

The winners will have till Thursday 4th January 2018 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

Scent Diary: 25.12 – 31.12.2017

December 31, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Portia

Hello Australian Perfume Junkies,

CHRISTMAS! Fragrance, friends, chosen family. There were adventures and excitement enough for a month.

Scent Diary: 25.12 – 31.12.2017

Monday 25:

Jin came home from work at 5.30am and we had our Christmas moment then.It was lovely. He got some cool Aussie Bum undies, Petrol Cards to fill up his real present which was a car earlier in the year and a couple of T-Towels from his Parramatta Ells football team. I scored 9 pairs of my favourite glasses from Italian brand Campo Marzio in myriad colours, Jin imported them from the South Korean shop in Seoul. VERY freaking cool present buying.

I wanted to smell yummy for the mini Christmas so Rouge Hermès. It was a good choice, soft white floral with a few bells & whistles. Not to mention how Christmassy the bottle looks.

Dogs got a new chew toy each, fed and walked.

While Jin slept I went to Kath’s Mum & Dads to meet Kath and have a quiet christmas morning hang out. We did presents there too and Dad was Jin’s Secret Santa so he got 2 bottles of Spanish Rosé, Lindt chocolate balls and a Bunnings Gift Card.

Lunch with the rest of Kath’s family. It was nice to wander in, eat, do presents and leave. SO EASY!

Home and Jin was awake so we hung out and watched some shit movies together. Dinner was leftovers. HAPPY afternoon and night.

Tuesday 26:

Serge Lutens Clair de Musc from a decant. Yes, I do have a bottle but found this old 5ml decant that needed finishing. Going clean and fluffy for Boxing Day.

Off to Kath’s Mum & Dad’s place for early Boxing Day shenanigans. We stayed to have lunch with everyone and then split. From there I went and collected Wendy and Jin, she and I all hung out into the early evening. We ate a scruffily delicious cheese, ham & fruit platter while watching How To Train A Dragon and drinking lashings of tea.

10 hours later I can still smell soft musk wafts from Serge Lutens Clair de Musc but I’m wanting something else. Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely has won the day and I’m basking in its comfortable glow.

Wednesday 27:

We were woken by the apartment block across from us at 6.40am, they were having a right old barney. Screaming and fighting. It was pretty crazy but not up to their usual standards where I call the police. It raged on for 30 minutes.

Being wide awake I went and got the dogs and they came and snoozed with us on the bed. I’m changing the sheets today so no worries.

Feeling so lazy. It’s hot and humid. How about some James Heeley Esprit du Tigre?

This afternoon I added vintage Miss Dior EdT to go see Jumanji with Eve, Lola and Jin. I admit to being fairly unexcited to see it.

O M G! Jumanji was freaking EXCELLENT!! Cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it. The Rock and Jack Black totally steal this fun romp of a film. I was on the edge of my seat through quite a lot of it and laughed heartily.

IMDb

We came home and had some lunch with a delicious McLaren Vale Spanish inspired red wine and then watched most of Happy Feet till Lola started falling asleep. To be honest, I don’t drink very often so the heavy red wine sent me off to bed to sleep it off too.

Jin woke me at around 8.30pm when he came to bed and so now I’m up and awake. About to walk the dogs on this cooler summer evening. I thought a triple spritz of Peau d’Allures by Starck a perfect choice, green, boozy, swampy with a lovely ruinous undertow. This bottle was a gift from my friend Tim and I adore it.

Thursday 28:

Fort & Manlé Charlatan this morning. Maybe because I showered yesterday it smelled a bit funkier, a little pissy and hairy mannish. It was a good ride.

Yum Cha with Kath, Alice, TinaG and Tim. It was nice, chatty and fun.

You’ll note Alice was wearing the birthday earrings Jin picked out for here. SO CUTE!!

Came home and crashed on the couch. Ate Christmas Cake with cream and custard and watched Daniel Radcliffe in 2013 film Horns. It was OK, one thing I did notice was that after a minute he became this new character and had successfully sloughed off Harry Potter for me.

Jin came home and we had pizza for dinner while watching The Danish Girl (2015) with Eddie Redmayne. IMDb gives this blurb: “A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili’s groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.” Heavy and deep, we were moved by their plight and Gerda’s unstinting love.

IMDb

For bed I gave myself a solid dousing in Niki de Saint Phalle. It’s parched greenery helps to dry this muggy night.

Friday 29:

It was already warm this morning when I walked the dogs. They were puffing so much that I brought them home after only walking around the block. They gratefully came inside afterwards and sat on their beds in the cool.

Thinking tropical I went for Guerlain Lys Soleia. It was a good fit.

Hung out with Jin, Kath and Mum and had a swim with Kath in this outrageously muggy heat. It’s drier than the last couple of days but trying to get stuff done means I’m sweating much more.

Jin and I had KFC for lunch that we grabbed on the way home. It was freaking delicious.

After that I basically fell into a food coma and didn’t snap out of it till 9pm. While food coma-ing I started watching Luther on Netflix.

BTW, did you notice Netflix has been removing content? A few times this fortnight I’ve gone to rematch stuff and it’s disappeared. BUMMER!

Tonight I wear Sarah McCartney 4160 Tuesdays Up The Apples and Pears. Fun and freaky. LOVE it.

Saturday 30:

Stayed up VERY late watching Luther on Netflix. Idris Elba is my new celeb crush. Let’s get him to make a fragrance. I’ve put on some Gres Cabochard parfum in his honour.

So I fell asleep watching Luther and woke up with a mouth that tasted like the bottom of a cat litter box. GAH! Awful, ran straight for the bathroom to clean my teeth.

Feeling a little more human after feeding and walking the dogs. L’Artisan Batucada got some skin time today. I don’t understand why this is not lauded as a freaking genius perfume. It smells like a Pine Lime Splice, an Australian ice block with pine lime icy coat and creamy vanilla ice cream inside, with a hint of coconut. Batucada is YUM!

Went and had a coffee and baklava with my mate Nikki but TOTALLY forgot to take a photo. We chattered away a very happy hour.

Back home and doing some blogging for next week. Wearing a melange of scents.

Cool bath. No bubbles, just Radox Bath Salts.

Alice sent me this genius Scarf Knot map.

Sunday 31:

2am and I’m for bed. Tonight I’m wearing Estee Lauder Beyond Paradise Blue to bed, from the teardrop bottle that I love so much. That cold gasoline opening that melts into a white floral waterfall with lightly creamy and lavender touches.

It’s New Years Eve. I have a bunch of running around and organising to do but before I get started on all that I’m meeting Kath at her Mum & Dads for a SWIM!

Today I’m rocking Tom Ford Jasmine Rouge. It requires respritzes every two hours but that’s part of the fun!

Tonight I’ll be at Parramatta RSL ringing in the New Year with my besties Kath and Phil. Can’t think of a better way to do it. Can’t decide on my fragrance for tonight yet but I’m thinking Madonna Truth or Dare or Mugler Taste of Alien.

I would like to thank everyone involved in Australian Perfume Junkies. If you write, read, comment or are in any way involved THANK YOU for making 2017 a really wonderful year. Got to meet a few more of you too this year which is always special.

Wishing you and your crew a fun and fragrant 2018 chock full of all the good stuff and hardly any of the other.

It’s YOUR turn. What’s happening in your world?

Did you do anything Fun or Fragrant, with Friends and Family or maybe even had some less than Fabulous news you want to share? How is or was your New Year?
Now’s the time, in the comments below.
We love to read what’s happening to YOU.
Portia xx