Portia

Memento Mori by Mandy Aftel for Aftelier Perfumes 2016

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Post by Portia

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Dear APJ Reader,

Do you ever put fragrance on your skin with no knowledge or expectation of what it will be? With some of my independent perfumer friends that’s exactly what I do. For the sheer joy of experiencing the scent without prejudice. That can make for some pretty far fetched guesses as to what has gone into a fragrance, and the ideas behind it. It’s also one of the reasons I love doing Live Video Sniffs, you get to come on the ride……. Scott and I spend a few minutes smelling the opening and… well, you’ll see….

Memento Mori by Aftelier Perfumes 2016

Memento Mori by Mandy Aftel

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Butter, orris, floral notes (Phyenylacetic acid)
Heart: Turkish rose, beta ionone (woody violet)
Base: Ambreine (amber), ambergris, antique civet, patchoulyl acetate (patchouli isolate)

From Aftelier: A memento mori is designed to “remind the viewer [or wearer] of their mortality and the shortness and fragility of human life” (Tate Museum). Memento mori jewelry was known for its intimate workmanship, beautiful delicacy and close associations with eternal love and remembrance. Mourning jewelry was a way for the bereaved to hold on to the memory of a loved one who had passed away: a way of saying “gone but not lost” or “sacred to memory.” It brought comfort and consolation and was not morbid or ghoulish, but touching and loving.

Further reading: Now Smell This and A Bottled Rose
Aftelier has samples from $6/0.25ml

Just so you know, while Momento Mori opens outrageously it does soften off considerable within the first hour. It’s indolic/fecal/barley butter gives way to the softest and plushest comfort scent. Like cuddling your partner first thing in the morning before tooth brushing and shower, still lived in and slightly rank but the smell of shared sleep and awakenings.

You’ve done it again Mandy, bravo.
Portia xxx

 

Teazzurra GIVEAWAY WINNERS

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Post by Portia

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Heya APJ,

Thanks Guerlain, and thank you all for getting involved.

Portia xx

Teazzurra GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Teazzurra Guerlain FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, lemon, yuzu, grapefruit
Heart: Green tea, chamomile, jasmine
Base: Musk, calone, vanilla

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Carded Manufacturers Sample Teazzurra by Guerlain
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

Tell us your favourite Guerlain Aqua Allegoria fragrance or which one you’d like to try

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Saturday 24th September 2016 10pm Australian EST
Winner was chosen by random.org

APJ Winner Is

Sue Mills

The winner will have till Wednesday 28th September 2016 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.

The Spirit of the CHANEL Fall-Winter 2016/17 Collection

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Post by Portia

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Hey there Fashion Lovers,

I love to watch the runway shows. This one is especially fun because CHANEL have recreated an Atelier for the parade. At the end Karl Lagerfeld even gathers four of the women that works for CHANEL and they take his walk of honour with him, very nice touch. Bravo KL.

I love the first video because it’s shot in the Palais Royale where Serge Lutens and Parfums de Rosine have their shops. Every time I see it I get a thrill of recognition. The second one shows quite a bit of how a garment is created on the model stand and then how all the work progresses painstakingly by hand. The third is the full runway show and quite a lot of it is hideous this season but the rare jewels are worth waiting for.

All the CHANEL perfume sales go towards keeping these ridiculously extravagant fashion shows alive. No wonder they keep upping the prices.

I hope you enjoy,
Portia xx

The Spirit of the CHANEL Fall-Winter 2016/17 Collection

Making-of the Fall-Winter 2016/17 Haute Couture CHANEL Collection

Fall-Winter 2016/17 Haute Couture CHANEL Show

Moon Shadow by Library of Flowers 2013

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Post by Portia

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Hi there APJ,

You know when you’re rummaging around in your samples and you find THE ONE? Your nose explodes, eyes roll back in your head, you take deep lungfuls of fragrant air and nearly sniff the skin off your hand to get more of this magnetic and all encompassing magic into your sensory stations? You get so excited that you immediately start to look for a bottle of this incredible, fabulous, unbelievably amazing fragrance that has just blown your brains out?

Right, so now you know how I felt smelling todays fragrance. Then I went to the Library of Flowers site to buy a bottle and DISCONTINUED!!!! Aaaaaarrgghhhh. Thank goodness Surrender To Chance has more. I’ve just ordered the lAST 5ml they had and it’s not being restocked. You can find it on Amazon though.

Moon Shadow by Library of Flowers 2013

Moon Shadow: Bottled by Margot Ellena

Moon Shadow Library of Flowers FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Waterlily
Heart: Lotus
Base: Jasmine

Library of Flowers is a house produced by Margot Ellena who you may know from Bloom, Lollia, Tokyo Milk & Love and Toast. I don;’t know how she does it but her fragrances are often really good and at excellent prices. I’m not sure exactly what a Botanical Perfume is but my assumption is that they have a high percentage of “natural” ingredients.

Never before have I smelt such a photo realistic jasmine. So real that I was given a stem of fresh cut vine jasmine the night I was wearing Moon Shadow and they were indistinguishable, melding into each other perfectly. I was not the only one to notice how eerily similar they were. As to the waterlily and lotus notes, sorry but I really don’t get any of them. I get a perfect jasmine.

Jasmine Portia 2016

One problem that often happens with jasmine-centric fragrances is that they open with a huge bang and then fade almost instantly to a quiet, safe, discrete wash that bores the fricken socks off me. Here we have a scent that stays pretty powerful for over two hours before softening in projection but still maintaining a good sillage. I also love that I can still smell it hours later, my nose doesn’t get that tired anosmia that so often happens for me with jasmines. It still smells like sticking your head in a fully flowering jasmine vine all the way to losing the scent all together.

Amazon still has a few bottles at around $37/50ml

What has rung your bell so hard that you had to find more lately?
Portia xx

Teazzurra by Thierry Wasser for Guerlain 2015

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Post by Portia

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Hello Tea Freaks,

I was in David Jones city store recently and was chatting with the Guerlain SA. She was so kind and offered a couple of Teazzurra samples, one for me and one for you.

I would like to take a moment here to say how distressed I am about Guerlain stopping the Sample/Decant services selling their product. As an Australian far from the Guerlain main markets it is nearly impossible to get my sniff on their products any other way. My list of Guerlain purchases while overseas is made in the year or so leading up to travel by sampling through these services. Not to mention being able to do as early as possible writing for APJ.  GRRRRR!

Teazzurra by Guerlain 2015

Teazzurra by Thierry Wasser

Teazzurra Guerlain FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, lemon, yuzu, grapefruit
Heart: Green tea, chamomile, jasmine
Base: Musk, calone, vanilla

Love the fizzy citrus opening that tickles my nose and feels luminous and fun. My nose does get the yuzu in there originally that bittersweet’s up to grapefruit. It does dry out through the heart and is slightly like a herbal infusion but basically it heads straight for a very soft, radiant vanilla/jasmine over laundry musks. Sadly I even miss out on the calone, which could have given me that fun salty melon thing it does so well. I fear Teazzurra has been a miss for me. BUMMER! If the opening and heart had lasted into 30 minute territory on me I would have forgiven it the less than exciting rest of its lifespan.

maxresdefaultYouTube

I used up my whole sample to write this so there was plenty of fragrance on my skin but it just did not live up to my expectations. I think I will pass on Teazzurra. If it was a lot less expensive, maybe. It’s not terrible scrubber material, just boring.

Obviously your mileage may vary and Teazzurra might be heavenly on you. Lucky you, I wish it was for me.

Further reading: Arabia Style and Now Smell This
GalaxyPerfumes has Au$86/125ml

Giveaway Kesha&Co

Teazzurra GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Carded Manufacturers Sample Teazzurra by Guerlain
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

Tell us your favourite Guerlain Aqua Allegoria fragrance or which one you’d like to try

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 24th September 2016 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 28th September 2016 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.

USA: Save The Day: Enrol & Vote

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Post by Portia

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Dear USA Readers,

Please enrol to vote. Show up and vote. Please save the world from the ultimate dystopian reality, President Trump.

You get a chance on November 8 to make a historical move. You get to be a hero, you get to Save The Day.

Remember also, your vote for a minor party is one less vote Trump has to get to win power.

USA: Save The Day: Enrol & Vote

josswhedon

Enrol to vote now.

Vote on November 8.

The world is holding its breath, you can make a difference.

Save The Day
Portia xx

 

Limanakia GIVEAWAY WINNERS

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

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Post by Portia

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Hey Crew,

Thanks to Pierre Guillaume for sending this advance sample to share. What a honey. He even sent me this super sexy and tanned pic in his excitement. Next time I’m going to get him to write it in the nude…..

pierre-guillaume-thanks-portia

Limanakia GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Limanakia Parfumerie Generale FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Artemisia, cumin, flint, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, tiare flower, immortelle, patchouli, woody notes, cashmere wood, labdanum

Pierre Guillaume has sizes starting at €65/30ml

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x Limanakia sample (decanted from my press sample)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Saturday 17th September 2016 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

APJ Winner Is

Jackie b

Patty Pong

The winners will have till Wednesday 21st September 2016 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

Lovely by Laurent Le Guernec and Clement Gavarry for Sarah Jessica Parker 2005

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

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Post by Portia

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Hello Fragrance Friends,

Last week in Australia on our AFN FaceBook page we had a Wear Your Celebrity Scents week. We often have special Wear Your weeks because by highlighting a particular section of our collections to wear we remember to bring out things that have sat neglected. It’s been over a year since I last spritzed todays fragrant offering, and it used to be one of my go-to, wear everywhere frags. So it was really nice to spend a full day re-engaging with it. Fully respritzed it for morning, noon and night.

Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker 2005

Lovely by Laurent Le Guernec and Clement Gavarry

Lovely Sarah Jessica Parker FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives the following accords:
Top: Nectarine, bergamot, rosewood, lavender
Heart: Apple martini, white daffodil, orchid
Base: White amber, cedar, woody notes, white musk

The shimmery, hefty/sheer fruity opening of Lovely is skimming the edge of screechy as you apply it. I hold my breath for that first few seconds of zing because it’s completely overwhelming to me. It only lasts a few seconds and then  Lovely becomes well named. My mind has always told me that lovely is a fruity rose and jasmine bouquet fragrance over the most enormous hit of fluffy, powdery, clean woody musks. So there are no roses or jasmine in the notes list but even now that I’ve read the note list my nose is not getting the memo.

What I love about Lovely is how softly insistent it is. While you may not be strong smelling the fragrance does tend to have legs and will fill a room if you spritz in one room, leave for whatever reason and come back 20 minutes later you’ll still smell juicy/musky remnants. So when I wear Lovely I can sit down with someone and it may take 10 minutes for the fragrance to make itself known and then I’ll get a compliment.

Lovely-by-Sarah-Jessica-Parker

Longevity is excellent and because it’s now so cheap I can spritz with abandon. Lovely also leaves excellent sillage, people will look up about 30 seconds after you’ve walked past and will be looking for where that fabulous smell is coming form. Dressed up or lounging around the house Lovely feels like a perfect fit.

Further reading at Bois de Jasmin and Australian Perfume Junkies
FragranceNet has $20/30ml Before Coupon
My Perfume Samples starts from $2/ml to $7/5ml

What has been left loveless around your place that needs to see some spritzing?
Portia xx

Shagya by Sidonie Lancesseur for Parfums de Marly 2013

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Post by Portia

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Hi there Frag Heads,

When the niche bomb exploded one of the houses that became an instant line in loads of high end scent stores was perfumes de Marly. Pegasus in 2011, 5 more in 2012, 7 in 2013, 4 in 2014, 3 in 2015 and 3 more in 2016. That’s 23 fragrances in 5 years, almost Montale-ish. Strangely we haven’t yet written about any of their scents here on APJ, I have had some samples but they got ignored so I moved them on. I have just found the amusingly titled Shagya in a carded manufacturers sample and the green caught my eye. Come and have a first impression ride with me.

Shagya by Parfums de Marly 2013

Shagya by Sidonie Lancesseur

Shagya Parfums de Marly FragranticaFragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Lime, Pink pepper
Heart: Geranium, Oud, Cedarwood
Base: Gaiac wood, Musk, Papyrus, Vetiver

Lime and pepper fizz merrily on open and I can already smell the woods/oud giving a dry, dusty, summer in a country woodmill feeling. Hot and muddy like after a summer storm. Having a cold lemonade in the sunshine after the storm. A grown up cologne for wealthy business people with just enough gravitas to feel like old farm money comes to town.

This is not a whole new scent, it’s an old trope that seems smooth and debonairly executed up top with a very nice, crisp woodsy dry down. The scent becomes less and less juicy as the heart progresses and finishes as brittle dried grasses and well polished woods.

I bet this is one of Marly’s best sellers. While not rocking my socks off it is different enough to add that extra edge to the business of making people smell good. In the modern tradition of mens fragrance but I think a woman would smell divine in it, that would be so unexpected.

Wikipedia

From Parfums de Marly: The Shagya Arabian horse was developed in Austro Hungaria and is known for its inborn friendliness towards humans. Named after the majestic Arabian breed of horses, Shagya is the most exclusive of the Royal Essence collection. The top notes of the fragrance tingle with the Citric freshness of Limette, Bergamot and Pink Berries and gently give way to a heart of Geranium, Cedar wood and Oud. The fragrance settles with woody scents of Vetyver, wood of Guaiac, Papyrus and musk.

First in Fragrance has €150/125ml (Spend €300 FREE World Shipping!)
(Even FragranceNet is more expensive at €229.60)

Have you tried any of the Parfums de Marly?
Portia xx

Limanakia by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale 2016

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Post by Portia

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Hello New Fragrance Fans,

HOT off the Press Release I’ve been sent Pierre Guillaume’s newest fragrance to try. Anyone who is a fan of his earlier work will be thrilled. We have this so early that only Pierre has it for sale on his site, it was only released at Pitti this week!

Let’s try it together…

Limanakia by Parfumerie Generale 2016

Limanakia by Pierre Guillaume

Limanakia Parfumerie Generale FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Artemisia, cumin, flint, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, tiare flower, immortelle, patchouli, woody notes, cashmere wood, labdanum

One of the people whose opinion I trust about all things fragrant is Josie from OSSWALD NYC. When Josie said that Pierre Guillaume is an extremely gifted perfumer who makes really good smelling scents I really started to take notice of the brand. I’d always liked his style and had a couple FBs of his work and was totally infatuated with his handsome self already. It was the tiny push I needed to go from impressed to fan boy. Then earlier this year I met him, FAINT! He he he, what a charming, sexy and amusing man.

Green! The opening is curiously green and dusty, a dried herbiness then segues into a sweet immortelle wound tightly with a very pretty backing track of creamy white flowers. The transition is so smooth and feels utterly effortless, as if the new notes float in, creep in, gently until they completely take over. OOOOHHHH it’s so good. The green comes back after about 15 minutes but is less stark now, entwined with the floral bouquet and becoming softly balmy, maybe it’s the labdanum.  I am reminded of the Tommi Sooni range, that same old-world glamour girl feel.

After about an hour patchouli reigns supreme, a sheer, clean patchouli all tidied up and with floral flourishes. Still, it does nod to the headshop and the woods create a lovely setting for it to shine.

There is definitely a FB in my future.

Pierre Guillaume has sizes starting at €65/30ml

AllSteele giveaway 1

Limanakia GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x Limanakia sample (decanted from my press 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

Go to Pierre Guillaume’s Site<< JUMP. Tell us ONE of your favourite fragrances of his and ONE of its notes. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 17th September 2016 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 21st September 2016 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