Australian Tea Towel + Mixed Samples GIVEAWAY WINNER

September 3, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Portia

OOOPSIE! APJ!
I forgot to draw.

Here it is. Sorry it’s late.

Australian Tea Towel + Mixed Samples GIVEAWAY WINNER

Samples include:
DIOR Privée: Oud Ispahan
DSH Perfumes: Vanille Tonique
Yves Saint Laurent: vintage Y parfum
Annick Goutal: Heure Exquise
Victoria Minya: Hedonist
Bogue: MAAI
CHANEL: vintage Cuir de Russie EdT
Guerlain: Jicky PdT
Armani Prive: Cuir Noir
IUNX: Eau Blanche
Abdes Salaam: Ambergris Tincture

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Australian Tea Towel
A bunch of 11 samples & decants (Mainstream, Indie & Niche most around 1/2 full)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Wednesday 30th August 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winner was chosen by random.org

Alen Miron

The winner will have till Wednesday 6th September 2017 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

Saturday Question: Respritz Happiness

September 2, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 48 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.

Saturday Question: Respritz Happiness

As you may know I have a very low level depression problem. It’s 98% of the time not even noticeable, just a quiet background hum of dis-ease or dis-quiet. After a childhood spent in therapy of one sort or another I have a few really simple coping mechanisms for the other 2% of the time. My depression is low level and though it can be sharply bleak and awful it’s usually caught at spiral stage. I’m not offering medical advice, just an insight into how my mind works.

One is cleaning. I get up and clean something, anything. It could be the kitchen bench, my bathroom mirror and vanity, grab the vacuum. Literally any cleaning. It derails my depression spiral and having done something positive and action based I’m usually back on track.

After Mum died I was finding it hard to even move off the couch or bed. The doctor said to me that if I could just get up and clean my teeth in the morning and before I went to bed at night then that would be a day not lost. Amazingly this small 2 minute moment of self care and hygiene would snap me out of my funk.

Anyway, I also discovered that spritzing perfume is also a magical depression derailer. A big old spritz of something I love or even better something new will take my mind away from the ill humours and put me onto a positively thoughtful track. It completely interrupts my sinking and helps me rise above.

Here are a couple of my favourite Respritz Happiness scents:

Fragrantica

Cacarel Liberté

Yeah, I talk about this one a lot. That zingy orange fizzy pop over a white musk/clean patchouli base is no great masterpiece but it does give me a joyful lift every time. I have hoarded a bunch of it for just such occasions but I also wear it when I’m happy.

Fragrantica

Serge Lutens Five O`Clock Au Gingembre

The opening spicy ginger tea makes me smile every time. There’s something totally engulfing about it that sends my mind on the happiest of neural paths. It remains pretty through the heart and base but it’s the opening that gets me every time.

Fragrantica

Guerlain Les Voyages Olfactifs 01 Paris-Moscow

SWEET! Zingy fruit and vanilla over a soft woodsy backdrop with a hint of white flowers. Paris-Moscow is so far removed from what I usually wear that it snaps me to attention. Very sadly I never bought a new bottle, thinking I had time, and then it was gone. Luckily I did find a partial bottle and I have some decants. Obviously I can’t spritz with abandon but there’s enough for now.

My Saturday Question to you is:

Who among you does this? Is it just me or do others among us use fragrance for more than just personal scenting? What fragrances do you use?

Maravilla by Daniela (Roche) Andrier for Bulgari 2014

September 1, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Portia

Hey Hey APJ,

I remember being in Paris the week these were released and they had a big stand in Galleries Lafayette and about six spritzers placed strategically. It was all very enticing and I did like a couple of the fragrances. Had they been around the €180 mark or less I would have bought at least one bottle but they were well over that and I’d already spent quite a lot of my ready cash. Since then though I have wished that I’d bought one of those space age bottles, just to have it in my collection.

Maravilla by Bulgari 2014

Maravilla by Daniela (Roche) Andrier

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Peach, jasmine, patchouli, Italian lemon, orange blossom

To start with I don’t think perfumistas are this ranges market. Certainly not this scent in the range anyway. I know there are a wide audience for this kind of scent and it’s pretty much what I smell 30 something shopgirls on their lunch break wafting. Fruity and sweetened with sugar crystals.

Fresh Fruit Splash Falling Water Orange PDI

What we have here is a fresh, fruity, lightly aquatic melange that is perky and quite frisky. It’s airy and a little dewy. The citrus is very soft focus and the very faint peach smells a little canned. There’s an amorphous white flower, completely cleaned of all indole and depth and the patchouli does not even register for me.

Maravilla would not be out of place in the Tocca range. They have a fairly similar line at about one fifth the cost or less. I think what you might be paying for here is a smoother blend and the fabulous bottle. A low key pretty perfume that is totally inoffensive to start and falls away to a soft focus white musk laundry scent to finish. Longevity is pretty good, you’ll continue to pump soft gouts of clean citrus clothes till work is finished.

WikiMedia

Harrods has £215/100ml (UK Delivery Only)
Some discounters now have it too.

What is one of your didn’t buy regrets?
Portia xx

Poivre by Michel Morsetti for Caron 1954

August 31, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Portia

Hey there APJ,

Today we are going old school. Caron has long been lauded as a house to revere. Their Tabac blond vintage extrait is enough to give even the most hardcore perfumista Stendahl Syndrome. I have quite a bit of their vintage Bellodgia and Infini in all forms, Nocturnes, Narcisse Noir, Parfum Sacre, Nuit de Noel and a sprinkling of others in samples and decants. There is even an old extrait bottle that has lost its label and I’ve given up deciding what it is and just wear it for the absolute pleasure it brings.

Poivre by Caron 1954

Poivre by Michel Morsetti

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Clove, Pepper, Red pepper
Heart: Carnation, Rose, Ylang-ylang
Base: Oakmoss, Opoponax, Sandalwood, Vetiver

Pepper and clove, zingy, dry, hot, smoky and ticklish in the back of my throat. It’s like fresh cracked black pepper and cloves. The bottle even looks like one of those clove studded oranges Mum would put in the bathroom over Christmas to give a spice/clean smell. The opening is big and surprising. Did you ever smoke those clove cigarettes? A bit like that but with added dryness.

This huge fanfare doesn’t stay at that level for long, maybe two minutes and then we start to smell a lessening in intensity and in swirls a mildly creamy ylang. It’s such a counterpoint to what comes before and really gives a smoothness, slightly banana peel and a little waxy. The rose and carnation are so much part of the clove that I’m finding real difficulty in telling them apart. Though the fragrance intensity has lessened still we have a fully fragrant spice bomb.

Poivre Caron Parfumo Parfumo

Even hours and hours later I still have cloves that are now lightly tempered by resins and a hint of dry grass. Longevity is out of this world and though not hugely projecting it still leaves a very interesting scent train (I can smell Poivre in the room when I walk out and back in again).

Further reading: Yesterday’s Perfume and Non Blonde
I bought my sample from Surrender To Chance but they don’t seem to have it anymore.

Do you have anything absolutely precious in your sample kit that you know once it’s gone you’ll never have again?
Portia xx

Australian Tea Towel + Mixed Samples GIVEAWAY

August 28, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 47 Comments

Portia

Hey there Fellow Fume Family,

I have a Brand New Australian Tea Towel that was supposed to be a gift but I can’t remember who to. There are also a bunch of samples & decants that need rehoming. Can you please help me out and take this lot off my hands?

YAY! If you said yes, see below for how to win.

Australian Tea Towel + Mixed Samples GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Australian Tea Towel
A bunch of 11 samples & decants (Mainstream, Indie & Niche most around 1/2 full)
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 what fragrance you would MOST like to try from the set

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Wednesday 30th August 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 6th September 2017 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: 21.8 – 27.8.2017

August 27, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Portia

Hey Ho APJ,

The kids are gone home and while I did not cope with having them here I do miss having them around. As always the week is full of friends and fragrance. It has felt pretty low key really but as always a million and one things to do.

Scent Diary: 21.8 – 27.8.2017

Monday 21:

Cooked home made hamburgers for all of us as brunch. Jin and the kids slept in till 10am so I got a few precious hours of peace.

We took Sindy to the doctor and the good news is that she is good to travel, ears healed perfectly.

Wearing some Agent Provocateur EdP. Those dirty roses make me smile.

Then we took the kids to Harry’s Cafe de Wheels in Parramatta where they were DISGUSTED at how we serve and eat pies. Potato yes but mushy peas and gravy, BLEAUGH! I’m with them. Give me pie, potato and sauce please.

Went for farewell Korean BarBQ with the kids, Jin, Kath, Alice and Rose. Perfect farewell except after we ate I was being a dickhead and skipping with Daniel when my foot landed on some broken pavement and went over badly. GAK! It’s all wrapped in bandage and Dencorub (heat balm) right now.

Tuesday 22:

2.30am and all the trivia Q&A is done and sent. I didn’t think I was going to get it done before falling asleep. This is a big win for tonight.

Spritzing old export bottle of Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois. So much more ginger than the modern one, and a little darker.

Today I basically slept and recuperated before work.

Wore more Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois to work but no one noticed.

Wednesday 23:

My foot hurts. Diptyque 34 Boulevard Saint Germain today. It’s sunshiny but cool weather and I think 34 BSG a perfect counterpoint.

Wore more of it to have dinner with Wendy and play some Turbo Trivia with April Fools up at Greystanes Hotel.

Thursday 24:

My foot still hurts but I was able to walk the dogs 4 blocks up and back down the street. It was slow but it felt a lot easier than yesterday. The dogs couldn’t believe how much time they got to sniff everything and were extremely grateful, looking to see if I was OK with them smelling a lamp post for 20 seconds. Though the walk was less km long they both came home completely bushed and went straight to sleep.

Funeral today for the Dad of one of my school years girlfriends. We were partnered for two or three of the middle teen years and I was constantly at their house. It was a Mecca for a small crew of us and I think we will all be there today. So glad to see them but sad for the occasion. I thought Jacomo Silences would be the perfect funeral scent.
Beautiful church service, the readings were particularly well done. Sat in the pew with the crew and got to see most of the family and friends. It was as good as a funeral gets.

Evan came over to sniff fragrances after that. My initial idea was to take him though the DIOR back catalogue. We did those and moved onto other stuff. It was totally fun. He’s good company.

Work was BUSY! So rowdy. We had a ball. Now I’m shattered.

Double spritz of Guerlain Mitsouko EdT and bed. night.

Friday 25:

It was supposed to be a day of lunching and sniffing with Tim, Kerri and Michael then off to see the Archibald with Mark but I wasn’t sure my ankle would make it through the day and I don’t want to hurt it again with only a week and a bit till India. So I stayed home and blogged the whole day away. Got 5 posts done! AMAZING!

Jin came home and we went out for Syrian dinner. Kebabs, hummus, garlic sauce, chips and tabouli. It was really yummy and Jin paid, which is always nice. I took him for Messina Ice Cream to say thanks. Poor bastard was up at 3.15am this morning so he hit the hay at 8.30pm.

Walking the dogs was a step;car pleasure tonight. We had to go slowly because of my foot but it mean we could really drink in the scents of night blooming jasmine. The area is swarming with vines over front and side fences and every time I walked past a gust of indolic jasmine would roll over us. Heavenly.

Doused in a sample of Fig Tree by Sonoma Scent Studio tonight. EXCELLENT Fig.

Yin And Ylang Sonoma Scent Studio Fragrantica

Saturday 26:

My ankle is starting to feel better. The swelling has decreased quite a bit and I’m walking without strapping. I think another few days and I’ll be happily back in heels and running around like a mad woman again. PHEW!

It’s BFF Kath & my BIL Mark’s birthday so we are going around to Mum & Dads for afternoon tea. I grabbed a Wild Berry Baked Cheesecake to take around and it was a hit. We all had great fun but I forgot to take a photo, SORRY! Loads of laughs and fun.

Wore Eau d’Italie Morn to Dusk and it’s crunchy vanilla caramel was a perfect mixer.

Our long time buddy Glen is going home to Canada to help care for his Mum who is in early stages of Alzheimers. We will miss him terribly. Tonight we all went for a farewell dinner because we can’t make it to his grand farewell party. It was a lovely, bittersweet evening. Kath, Jin and I went along with Glen to the Balkan and the food was fantastic, as always.

Sunday 27:

Woke up and spritzed Atelier Cologne Tobacco Nuit. Perfect lazy Sunday fragrance, even though my day will not be lazy.

Brunch with some of the girls I grew up with. Bec was my girlfriend for a couple of years, Catriona and her younger sibling were constant mates and we’d all wag school together, Eve you see here regularly. It was Din Tai Fung and catch ups. Conversations across a plethora of topics and a bunch of laughs. How lucky I am. Life would be so much less rich without all these beautiful friends. Really diverse lives lived across the globe so thoughtfully and interestingly yet we come back together and chatter like magpies. It’s as if no time has passed.

Work tonight. Hopefully my leg will be well enough next Tuesday to get back in my high heels, I miss dressing up.

Tonight I wore Aftelier Parfum de Maroc. Spicy swirls around saffron and rose over quite an animalic base. It smells like the dreams of souks.

What about you? How was your week? Do anything interesting, fun or fragrant? Tell us in the comments. We love to read your stuff too.

Portia x

Saturday Question: What Are You Reading?

August 26, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 46 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.

Saturday Question: What Are You Reading?

Maybe I’ve bragged about this before but I’ll do it again. When Jin bought me a kindle he also linked it to his credit card. Effectively he has bought me a never ending supply of reading material. It is an incredible gift.

Interestingly though, because I know Jin is paying I am far less likely to indiscriminately buy books than I would be if it were my own money. I know how hard he has to work for every single dollar earned and I feel very naughty when I’m profligate with his money.

My Answer:

Book Depository

The Kindle is currently on The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. Everyone is talking about the TV series and I wanted to read the book before I watched it. In my head I thought it would take me a couple of nights to read but I’m finding it a hard slog, extremely slow and it hasn’t yet resonated on any level with me. I find myself choosing other entertainments instead. So instead of a couple of nights we are now into week three.

Book Depository

Tara from A Bottled Rose sent me a paperback of The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. It’s the next on my list to delve into. Looks fabulous.

My Saturday Question to you is:

What Are You Reading?

Series 3 Incense: Zagorsk by Evelyne Boulanger for Comme des Garcons 2002

August 25, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Portia

Hey APJ,

Today I’m using up the last of my decant. It wasn’t a big one but I really liked the idea of smelling spacious today and emptying anything around here is cause for quiet rejoicing.

Series 3 Incense: Zagorsk by Comme des Garcons 2002

Series 3 Incense: Zagorsk by Evelyne Boulanger

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Frankincense, pine tree, chilli pepper, violet, cedar, iris, Hinoki cypress, birch

Cold, woods, wax, emptiness. It’s like you can feel yourself transported to a huge cathedral empty of humanity in the dark of night. There is something completely spacious about Zagorsk, so much room that the scents become thin, as if they are memories.

Zagorsk Comme des Garcons WikiMedia WikiMedia

Isn’t it interesting what comes to mind to write about. I was at a funeral yesterday for the father of a girlfriend I’d had in our mid teen years. I arrived about 40 minutes early and the Anglican church was quiet, cold and smelled a little like Zagorsk. There was the scent of incense burnings long past, candles burning, wooden pews waxed brightly by a century of cloth covered bottoms and the scratchy crackle in my nostrils of decades old dust. I spent about 10 minutes wandering through the two adjoining chapels and reminisced about my friend, our group, the amazingly fun times we had in their lavish old sandstone mansion in the best street in our suburb (by far). We were all so fearless, funny and beautiful.

Zagorsk is not a big scent. Most of the notes in it are blended way beyond my ability to parse for you. What I get more than a fragrance is a memory scent. Memories of getting to Catholic churches as a child/teen an hour before to sing in the schoolboys choir for mass, weddings, christenings and anything else they needed us for. It’s a feeling of expectation for me. The hurry up and wait, often in poorly warmed old buildings , and having time to reflect on stuff while looking at poor old Jesus stuck eternally on the crucifix.

WikiMedia

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This
Harold’s in Australia has the Incense range in store
LuckyScent has $95/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/ml

What do you wear that feels cool, airy and reflective?
Portia xx

Evan Came Over For A Sniff

August 24, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 27 Comments

Portia

Hey there APJ,

One of the best things about being a perfumista is sharing the fun. Today Evan came over Ainslie Walker had given me a bunch of stuff to pass ages ago on but we’ve not been able to co-ordinate ourselves till today. There was also a hiatus where I had misplaced the goodies.

Found them now and Evan was free so today it was.

Evan Came Over For A Sniff

Here we are as Evan arrived. We knew we were on a time budget so I snapped away quickly.

I thought we could meet some vintage DIOR fragrances. I brought out my best preserved of the earliest I have:
Diorissimo EdT
Dioressence EdT
Dune PdT
Diorella EdT
Miss Dior EdT
Poison EdT

Three of the newest DIOR Privee
Sakura
Souffle de Soie
Jasmin des Angles
Evan broughtEldorado _ a hefty rose/incense/woodsy/pooh

CHANEL No 5 EdC
Tabac Aurea by Sonoma Scent Studio
Rose Musc by Sonoma Scent Studio

Phantom by Ainslie Walker
Mr Finch by Ainslie Walker
Lavender Smoke by Olympic Orchids
Olympic Amber by Olympic Orchids
Ballets Rouges by Olympic Orchids

Here is Evan. His nose is blown, and his mind.
Then I kicked him out, ran to my computer to write this and now I’m of to get ready for work.

Evan has also agreed to try writing for APJ, you’ll be seeing him around here a bit.

Do you even get together with friends to sniff stuff?
Portia xx

Feminite du Bois by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2009

August 22, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Portia

Hello APJ,

Sorry but I forgot to post yesterday. With all that’s going on around here somehow it completely slipped my notice that we had nothing going up.

Anyway, today we are talking about a scent that I didn’t really take much notice of when I smelled it. Perhaps it was nasal fatigue from smelling it in a bunch of others or maybe my taste has changed. A couple of years ago Jin and I went to the Palais Royale Serge Lutens store and had a fabulous morning going through the whole of the Lutens line. While we were there Elvire also showed us a historical lineage of Feminite du Bois since the original bottles and suddenly I understood.

Feminite du Bois by Serge Lutens 2009

Feminite du Bois by Christopher Sheldrake

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Beeswax, Clove, Honey, Cardamom, Musk, Orange blossom, Peach, Plum, Rose, Vanilla, Violet, Ylang-ylang, Cedar, Cinnamon

OK, so anyone who loved the original Shiseido version of this baby is never going to be satisfied with the newer version. That’s OK, plenty of other perfume out there for you to sniff and enjoy. Mourn it’s passing, you’ll have to move on.

Here is my bottle, bought recently from a friend on the FB pages. As you can see it’s the original Palais Royale export bottle stamp. So not the 100% modern version but ahead of the Shiseido curved mauve bottle that looks disturbingly like a human organ.

What I smell mainly is ginger. A spiced ginger smoothed over by beeswax and honey to create a plush and velvety opening. The stewed fruit comes in later, swirled in like mixing it through a cake batter. None of these opening heavy hitters really leave but as the fragrance dries down I am left with a sweet vanilla woodsiness and the cool crispness of green leaves. Fully fragrant longevity is not excellent, Feminite du Bois seems to soften off alarmingly after less than an hour and the dry down hums along very close to my skin for a couple of hours till I lose it completely.

Féminité du bois Serge Lutens fruit-cake-batter publicdomainpictures PDI

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This
FragranceNet has around $100/50ml before Coupon
Surrender To Chance has samples from $6/ml

Hope your life is doing all right,
What has surprised you after years of neglect?
Portia xx