Massive Sample Sept ’16

September 1, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 56 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey There APJ!

I have a bunch of samples that I have tried, written about and loved or not. Some are carded manufacturers samples, shop bought decants, gifted decants etc. They are lying around in my office and will probably never be looked for again. A couple of them are only half full but others are only 2 spritzes used or brand new, some I have bottles or doubles of. There are .7ml all the way up to 3ml. So what better way to share the love than a FABULOUS GIVEAWAY!!

Sample GIVEAWAY September 2016

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

The winner will receive one each of these samples:
Manhattan Rose by Krigler
Fiore del Dragone by Tesori d`Oriente
Poopoo Pidoo by Egofacto
Jamais le Dimanche by Egofacto
Le Americhe Caribbean Fruits by Compagnia Delle Indie
Bleu de Nice Santal by PierSaintPier
Equinox Bloom by Penhaligon’s
Opus X by Amouage
San Francisco by A Wing & A Prayer
Dreams & Visions by A Wing & A Prayer
Bella by A Wing & A Prayer
Coeur de Vetiver scare by L’Artisan
Holiday No. 14 by DSH Perfumes
JaLouSie by perfumes Lalun
Vetiver des Sables by Montale
Aoud Lime by Montale
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 a perfume on your wish list.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 3rd September 2016 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Wednesday 7th 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.

Myrrh Casati by Melanie Leroux for Mona di Orio 2014

August 30, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by Portia

Hello Perfume Peeps.

Myrrh Casati! How did it take me so long to find you? I have hazy recollections of this being released. Mainly because it’s the first MdO not created by Mona. Here’s where it all gets weird because I remember the fragrance being soundly trounced by loads of reviewers. Woo Hoo! So my wallet breathed a sigh of relief that I need not try one fragrance. PHEW! Then, recently I was on Surrender To Chance seeing what was available and about and suddenly, seemingly without even trying, I had bought a couple of really big 8ml decants: Grandiflora Madagascan Jasmine and ………

Myrrh Casati by Mona di Orio 2014

Myrrh Casati by Melanie Leroux

Myrrh Casati Mona di Orio Fragrantica Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Peruvian pink pepper, Guatemala cardamom, Saffron, Licorice, Siam benzoin, Somalian myrrh, Somalian frankincense, Indonesian patchouli, Indian cypriol, Paraguayan gaiac wood

Spicy, dry spices, walking through the spice markets in India or Dubai. A melding of heat, dust, humanity and spices. Cardamom! I can smell it plain as day, as if I pulled a pod from its Tupperware to put into a curry or soup. Saffron and woods. It’s like market day here in Sydney and I smell amazing. All the resins come together in Myrrh Casati and create a balmy, smoky cushion for the spices to rest on.

Myrrh Casati Mona di Orio Curry Spices PDP Pixabay Pixabay

The fireworks burn off after about 15-20 minutes and Myrrh Casati and it softens off to a comfortable, warm, resinous fragrance, only lightly spiced. Totally wearable and beautiful. The woods are present after a while, they smell fresh hewn but dry, no greenness here at all. Woods and resins float over you and around you softly but insistently. Myrrh Casati is calm, like being in a South Korean temple on a hill in the morning quiet when there’s just you, the monks and whatever your idea of god is. Incense, woods, lingering balms used for polishing, clean air and an internal conversation.

From Luckyscent: Inspired by Marchesa Casati, the legendary patron of the arts and muse of eccentricity, known for her extravagant dark fashion and lavish fetes replete with exotic animals, gilded servants, and an infectious waft of incense and mystery that surrounded her.

Wikipedia

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Chemist In A Bottle
Luckyscent has $195/75ml
Peony Melbourne has $245/75ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/ml

Did you try it when Myrrh Casati was released, or since? What were your impressions?
Portia xx

Neela Vermeire Creations Take Two

August 29, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Fragrant Travellers,

As you know Neela is one of my mates, we chat on Skype pretty regularly and whenever Jin & I are in Paris we always get some Neela time. Talking about travelling, one of the bummers about having full bottles of fragrance is that when you are abroad it becomes a bit of a pain carrying them in your checked baggage. Isn’t it always great to have a few decants or travel sizes that you can keep conveniently in your carry on? Up till now I thought the Hermès ones were my favourite, all that has changed though because Neela has unveiled her own travel sizes.

Neela Vermeire Creations Take Two

The Neela Vermeire Creations Take Two sets come in a very sensible two pack of 15ml each. The glass is hefty and sturdy and they are perfectly created for life in your bag. As always Neela’s packaging is super swish and the whole shebang looks very Ra Cha Cha.

Another clever idea is to buy the set with a friend and you’ll each have 15ml, meaning you can collect the whole Neela Vermeire Creations set at just over half the price of buying the big bottles. It’s a really good deal. Other fragrance houses make their smaller sizes nearly 80% of the big ones (looking at you sexy Pierre Guillaume, Amouage and a bunch of the others).

LuckyScent sells Ashoka in the 60ml for $230, the 2 x 15ml Take Two set is only $125

Neela Vermeire Creations has the 2 x 15ml Take Two set €112

You may know that Mohur is my favourite of the NVC range followed closely by Ashoka and then Pichola. I’m going to start sussing out my mates about who would like to go halves in each of these sets. Those three combined with a few Hermès travels will mean I never have to think about my holiday frags, they’ll be packed and ready to go.

So, which Neela Vermeire Creations fragrance would you like to have a Take Two Travel Set of?
Portia xx

Myths GIVEAWAY WINNERS

August 28, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Post by Portia

Heya Crew,

Thanks for getting involved. Do go check out Libertine Parfumerie if you’d like to purchase in Australia, the ship for FREE!
Portia xxx

Myths GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Chrysanthemum, Iris
Heart: Rum, Rose, Vetiver, Elemi resin
Base: Labdanum, Ash, Leather

Libertine Parfumerie has Myths $399/100ml
Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $4/0.5ml

Myths Woman by Amouage

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Narcissus, Violet leaf, Galbanum, Chrysanthemum
Heart: Carnation, Patchouli, Ambergris
Base: Leather, Moss, Musk

Libertine Parfumerie has Myths $399/100ml
Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $4/0.5ml

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Sample Myths Man by Amouage
1 x Sample Myths Woman by Amouage
P&H Anywhere in the world

These are remains of 2ml samples bought from Surrender To Chance used for reviewing

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Saturday 27th August 2016 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

flowergirlbee!

The winners will have till Wednesday 31st August 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.

Mainstream Mania: Department + Drug Store Gems

August 27, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Post by Portia

Heya Crew,

My mate Scott and I often talk about our love for Department Store and Drug Store (Chemist in Australia) fragrances. Many of our vintage loves are from the genre, also some of the designer and celebrity scents, as well as the huge multinational beauty companies. The mainstream has an enormous range and encompasses some of the best and worst of todays perfume market. So today we ask you a question……

Mainstream Mania

Department + Drug Store Gems

What do you love from the Department or Drug Store?

We spend so much time talking vintage, niche, indie and natural on the Scentblkggoshpere but what is your easy to find, grab it anywhere, no need to hoard it fragrance? I have a few but let’s chat about two nearly empty samples I’ve had rattling around in my box and one bottle that I adore today.

Fragrantica

Dana Tabu EdC 1932

Top: Bergamot, Spices, Coriander, Neroli, Orange
Hear: Clove, Ylang-ylang, Oriental rose, Jasmine, Narcissus, Clover
Base: Amber, Benzoin, Oakmoss, Musk, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Cedar, Civet

Tabu is one of my favourites, it’s so pickable in public and one of my friends Lyndall has worn it forever. I have some of the older perfume and EdT but my absolute favourite version is the modern EdC. The opening notes smell like a sari shop in Alwar, Rajasthan that I love to shop at when in India. No idea what I’m smelling really because Tabu smells only of itself. Interestingly for me Jean Carles who created Tabu also created such fragrant luminaries as Shocking by Schiaparelli, Miss Dior, Indiscrete by Lucien Lelong and Ma Griffe by Carven: quite a roll call.

Fragrantica

Prada L’Eau Ambrée 2009

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, Citruses
Heart: Patchouli, Rose
Base: Ambergris, Opoponax, Vanilla

Prada L’Eau Ambree is so weirdly named because to me most of the fragrance smells of anything but amber. The cool, wet, juicy citrus opening that morphs into a dirty patchouli/rose and wet cardboard. Finally I get a resinous salted vanilla that is completely inedible but dark and mysterious. I love the mood changes and byplay in L’Eau Ambree, it’s all about surprise and it never plays it safe. It’s not often talked about by the perfumista crew and that’s strange to me because it’s a solid fragrance that tells an enjoyable story.

Fragrantica

Lancôme Trésor in Love 2010

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Pear, Nectarine, Peach, Pink pepper
Heart: Jasmine, Peach, Taif rose, Violet
Base: Musk, Virginia cedar

Recently my mate Victoria at EauMG talked about Trésor In Love and I have always gravitated towards Lancôme Midnight Rose in the same bottle but purple. While looking for something else I came across 5ml of Trésor In Love and have been using it as my morning wake up scent to the point that it’s almost gone. As Victoria says, “It reminds me of a many perfumes launched around the same time that are like an abstract fruity-floral with clean, synth ambers.” Somehow though Trésor In Love is a more comfortable, easy wear, life is fun, zingy fragrance than most of the others and I find myself really enjoying the ride.

So what is your Mainstream Mania? Share your readily available favourites in the comments below please?
Portia xx

Stercus by Alessandro Guiltier for Orto Parisi 2014

August 26, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Portia

Heya APJ,

So I have had this decant rattling around my sample box. It’s hand written and has the First In Fragrance unicorn sticker, plus the date 05/16 so I’m thinking May this year. Really, I don’t know how it got to be there as I haven’t ordered from this wonderful people this year at all (OOOPS! Sorry guys). It is a mystery. If someone remembers why I have it could they enlighten me please?

LIGHTBULB!! TinaG, is this from you? WOW! Thank you.

Stercus by Orto Parisi 2014

Stercus by Alessandro Guiltier

Fragrantica

Well it opens sweet and balmy. Coffee, urine, woods, birch, honey and balmy resins are my guesses. It’s a pretty aggressive introduction to Stercus and has the smell of animals and urine soaked hay after a flatulent night in the barn. I smell something that I’ve smelled before with Roxana from Illuminated Perfumes when we were composing a Feral Feet accord back in 2013. Well, I say we but it was her composition with Tom Pease and I egging her on to greater heights of outrageous.

Is this a natural perfume? It has a bit of that feel too, the dark, dank, murkiness that makes many of them so enveloping and deep. Labdanum and an oudh-ish barnyard seem to be the heart that still maintains a honeyed sweetness, the feral bits not the pretty modern sweet kind. Is it tobacco? Could be but honestly I am pretty lost. Why don’t we talk more about how Stercus makes me feel?

PDI

Stercus feels cold, alone and windswept. Imagine you are caught out in a very large and wooded park at dusk after a cool sunny autumn day. Now you’ve stayed too long feeding the ducks, the light is dwindling, the wind now has no sunlight to cut its icy blast and you are not dressed for the change. The leaves have fallen from many of the trees and they are stuck wetly to each other. As you walk briskly over them you disturb the smell of their decomposition and close by there is the smell of possums, or maybe it’s a fruit bat roost. That is how Stercus affects me, there is my vision.

Eight hours later and I’m still surrounded by a soft fog of Stercus. It’s green, sweet and funky. Still has the call of wilderness stamped upon it. Beautiful.

Flickr

Further reading: Scented Hound
First In Fragrance have €138/50ml
Surrender To Chance have samples starting at $7.80/ml

Do you like your fragrances just a little feral? Which one do you love?
Portia xx

Myths Man + Woman by Amouage 2016

August 25, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 27 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi There Fragrant Fumies,

Amouage has been at the top of my Mass-tige fragrant houses for a long time. It sits up there with Serge Lutens. Exclusively priced, beautifully produced, readily available in big city department stores and their stand alone stores. I am always ambivalent about new fragrances from my faves. Excited and pleased because there’s something new to try yet fearful and worried in case they have made something I hate. Obviously not every fragrance works for me, even if the house is a huge favourite. These sample sprays, bought from Surrender To Chance, have been here for a while but every time I go to spritz them I am called away or sidetracked in some way.

Finally, I’ve spent a couple of days with these babies, come smell with me.

Myths Man + Woman by Amouage 2016

Myths Man by Amouage

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Chrysanthemum, Iris
Heart: Rum, Rose, Vetiver, Elemi resin
Base: Labdanum, Ash, Leather

Plush leather and a dewy sharp citrus opens flawlessly before the dry, cool iris and elemi wash over it. I’ve read that the chrysanthemum is strong opening for others but I get none of it, leather and resins through the heart with a dry, lightly salted vetiver. Myths Man continues to dry through its wear till the base is cold, desiccated BarBQ ash and old, cracked and crushed, unloved leather driving gloves.

Myths Man is a solid, beautifully blended fragrance, a very wearable, safe, comfortable scent. I can easily imagine it becoming the go-to of wealthy young business people. Ones who love to smell good and also have a little bit of glam theatre on their bureau.

Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $4/0.5ml

Myths Woman by Amouage

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Narcissus, Violet leaf, Galbanum, Chrysanthemum
Heart: Carnation, Patchouli, Ambergris
Base: Leather, Moss, Musk

This one has come in for a lot of snark. I was expecting it to be a virtually unwearable mess. It’s not, for me anyway. Galbanum and narcissus together in the opening are pretty ferocious. Dark, waxy and foreboding with a slight taint of dirty vase water. Crystal clear, sappy and balmy Amouage Myths Woman is how I imagine a tree spirit would smell, the patchouli has a really interesting earthiness that is offset by the imaginations recreation of animal/sea salt ambergris.

Myths woman has a hint of the small batch indie perfumer about it, yet most of the rough edges have been smoothed away and it smells in the end like high end niche at its best. Slightly challenging, beautiful and mysterious. As always longevity is epic and I can smell Myths Woman at lunch next day.

Libertine Parfumerie has Myths $399/100ml (FREE Delivery in Australia)
Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $4/0.5ml

Because we love you all so much here at AustralianPerfumejunkies we have a GIVEAWAY!
Portia xx

Myths GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Sample Myths Man by Amouage
1 x Sample Myths Woman by Amouage
P&H Anywhere in the world

These are remains of 2ml samples bought from Surrender To Chance used for reviewing

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Tell us your favourite Amouage fragrance or which one you’d like to try

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 27th August 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 31st August 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.

Chai by Spyros Drosopoulos for Baruti 2015

August 22, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Post by TinaG

Hi APJ!

Tea fragrances excite me. It is the anticipation of finding a fragrance that captures that wonderful mix of invigoration and relaxation experienced through the ritual of making and enjoying a great cup of tea. Many types of tea are reflected in fragrances, and usually done very well – Oolong, rooibos, black tea, mate, mint, lapsang souchong, ginger, fruit tea, floral tea, you name it , chances are it’s out there. Today I’m reviewing a Dutch perfume line Baruti and their fragrance Chai.

Chai by Baruti 2015

Chai by Spyros Drosopoulos

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, Cardamom, Pepper, Black Tea, Steamed Milk, Cocoa, Roses, Vanilla, Musk, Leather

Chai opens with a waft of coca that disappears into the aether as a troupe of spices claim their olfactory territory. Cinnamon, cardamom and clove are supported by a background milkiness and a tannic black tea. A light spray and I’m instantly warmed and feel relaxed. We are just at the tail end of winter here in Australia, and I have enjoyed wearing this fragrance on bright and cold Sunday mornings, pulling on an oversized knitted jumper and snuggling into a sunny sofa corner to read a book. Such a great way of spending a few hours. Chai is the perfect comfort fragrance.

Myrrh Casati Mona di Orio Laura D'Alessandro Comfy Couch Nook Flickr Flickr

I do need to put in a warning note here – keep this to a light spray only. An over application makes it a massive spice bomb with the milk note turning waxy on skin. I made this mistake in an office environment – it was OK, my colleagues loved it! Two of which were craving a chai tea after smelling it, but it was too much for me in close proximity to fragrance ground zero (my arms).

This black tea/spice/milk combo has a great staying power and lasts at a reasonable strength for around 3 hours. At this time, during one of my first trials, I had noticed a rose scent in the room but couldn’t work out where it was coming from. I thought one of my colleagues had possibly put on a rose scented hand cream, but no! The rose scent was coming from me! Chai had opened up to a gentle pink rose which was remarkable. It reminded me of Perfumers Workshop “Tea Rose”, and it definitely was not a skin scent, had a sillage of at least a metre.

PDI

This fragrance lasted at least 10 hours, the spices eventually fading and leaving a musk rose on my skin with the faintest ghost of vanilla. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed giving Chai a run through, it is a wonderfully comforting fragrance and the rose note was an enjoyable surprise. And – a quick shout out to Annindriya Perfume Lounge, my source of Baruti samples. Yes they ship to Australia.

Annindriya Perfume Lounge has €98/30ml

Do any of the features of this perfume appeal to you?

Thanks all, have a great start to the week.

xx Tina G

Sang Bleu GIVEAWAY WINNERS

August 21, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Post by Portia

Hey there beautiful people,

I get really excited when I can bring you new and fabulous fragrances. Thanks for getting involved.

Let’s find out who our winners are.
Portia xx

Sang Bleu GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Galbanum, orange, bergamot, lemon, wormwood, rosemary, eucalyptus, geranium, jasmine, rose, violet, pink pepper, carnation, cedar, patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver

Le Galion has €140/100ml and send to the world!

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x 10ml decant of Sang Bleu by Le Galion
3 x 1ml decants from the Le Galion range
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Saturday 20th August 2016 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Patty Pong

Bolortsetseg

The winners will have till Wednesday 24th August 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.

Grateful Granny Wins Wireless

August 20, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Portia

The other day I was trolling FaceBook and one of my friends posted this Grateful Granny Wins Wireless story. I know that sometimes life is rough and we all need a good story to cheer us up. Today’s story will hopefully warm you all the way through, it’s a bit like a parable really.

Big squishy hugs across the internet to you all. I’m wearing ridiculous amounts of Knize Ten right now. ALL the leathers, all the time.

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Petit grain, orange, lemon, rosemary, bergamot
Heart: Cedar, patchouli, sandalwood, rose, iris, carnation, cinnamon, clove
Base: Leather, castor oil, ambergris, musk, moss

Remember to be nice to yourself, it’s hard to be happy when someone’s picking on you all the time.
Portia xx

Grateful Granny Wins Wireless