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?

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 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

100s Of Bottles And Nothing To Wear!!

August 19, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 31 Comments

Post by Portia

Hello APJ Fumies,

Sometimes I go to my fragrance wardrobe and am completely overwhelmed. The choice seems impossible because there is so much but also seems impossible because nothing seems to be 100% right either. It’s the grossest of first world problems and I am ashamed of myself but there you have it. So how do I cope with these titanic traumas?

I don’t cope at all, what happens is I do one of two things…..

100s Of Bottles And Nothing To Wear!!

A Perfumistas Problem

So imagine me, it’s work time. I have bathed, made up and am ready to spritz. Lets say for my bath today I have used a citrus bubble bath because I’m unsure of my fragrance choice and most fragrances have citrus somewhere through them, usually up top, so I feel it’s a fairly neutral choice. I’m at my cupboard, the boxes are all named so while my eyes run down them I get mental images of the bottles inside: Designer, Niche, “Hermès, Piguet, Versace, Jacomo”, “Rochas, Caron” etc etc. NOTHING is jumping out at me and I’m due to walk out the door in 10 minutes, I need to spritz, get dressed, grab my bag and go….

What do I do?

Hit The Sample Box

There are a few sample/decant boxes around here. One of them is my “I really liked this” box. It’s got a bunch of fragrances that worked for me when I tested them, may have stayed on the desk for a week or two and are then cleared away in the next influx. Sure they’re unfinished and I’ve probably not bought a bottle of them but they are fine fragrances awaiting their time to shine again.

Quite a lot of these are 3, 5 or 10ml decants that I have bought in splits, smaller bottles from the Indie houses and a couple of extraits. Sometimes when I sample something new but don’t feel I’d ever go through 50ml of it I go to Surrender To Chance or My Perfume Samples and grab 5 or 8ml. There are the gifts of things that I may like from perfumista friends, perfumers, perfume houses etc. Lastly there are a few manufacturers minis.

I can always come to this box and Lucky Dip. This is a sensational, fun, surprising way to solve the problem for me. It also has led to me finally falling in love with a couple of maybes and buying bottles. Lolita Lempicka Elle L’Aime, Miller Harris L’Air de Rien, Annick Goutal Ce Soir Ou Jamais and Divine EdP all came to be full bottles this way.

Spritz An Old Favourite

All of us have 5 or 10 scents that are our favourites. Having so much and sampling so much these beauties often get ignored. We love them, it’s already decided, they’ll be there tomorrow and all manner of other reasons get in the way of us wearing our special forever favourites as much as we can. This then is the perfect fix. We know that they work, we know they’re eye rollingly gorgeous and we know that they smell good to others while we wear them too.

Some of mine are Guerlain Shalimar and Mitsouko, CHANEL No 5, Neela Vermeire Creations Mohur (You’ll notice I’ve recently opened my second bottle!!), Madonna Truth or Dare, Liberté by Cacharel and SOIVOHLE Rosa sur Reuse. All over the top gorgeous and when I get to wear them it always a surprise that I don’t wear them more.

Do you ever get overwhelmed? What are your coping mechanisms?
Portia xx

Sang Bleu by Le Galion 2016

August 18, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

Post by Portia

Hello APJ,

I did what I try not to do. Yes I went to the Le Galion website and blind bought at full retail a bottle of Sang Bleu. I do feel justified sometimes to do it. These guys are creating lovely, interesting, wearable fragrance and I like their whole style. Though not everything in the line has been instant love or a super winner for me they do all have the same feeling of passion brought to life. If I was to pick a house that you could give me anything from the line and I could only wear that one fragrance for 6 months I would ask you to give me any bottle of Le Galion. Their smoothness and easy wear capabilities, they are interesting without being a challenge, can be every day or dressed up and their base lines all wear as a soft wash.

NEW! Sang Bleu by Le Galion 2016

Fragrantica

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

Sang Bleu GIVEAWAY

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

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Tell us about a Le Galion fragrance you love, or about a unisex scent that you wear

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 20th 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 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.

Mon Patchouly by Ramon Monegal 2009

August 13, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there Fragrant Friends,

Ramon Monegal’s line needs little selling for me. His general fragrant aesthetic works very well for me. The bottles are incredibly gorgeous to look at and hefty, the ink well design making them look both ultra modern and vintage. Though they are not the easiest to spritz yourself with but never mind when something looks this good we can work around the problems.

When Ramon Monegal first came to the world’s attention they arrived having already been a famous Spanish elite fragrance house for years. Which meant that they already had a huge back catalogue that they put on the market all at once. So much gets missed when this happens and is part of the problem with insta-lines, one huge rush of publicity and then nothing. I tried them all in passing and talked about the couple that took my attention at the start but the whole line seemed incredibly daunting. Already I have Impossible Iris and Dubai Next To Me in my collection and wish for Umbra, Ambre de Luna and Lovely Day.

Found this sample while trolling through one of my sample bags and it’s been getting a bit of skin time around here. Before it runs dry I thought I could share my enjoyment with you….

Mon Patchouly by Ramon Monegal 2009

Fragrantica

Ramon Monegal gives these featured accords:
Indonesian patchouli, Yugoslavian oak moss absolute, Somalian frankincense, geranium bourbon, Egyptian jasmine absolute, amber

Mon Patchouli opens with a cool, wet, lightly spicy geranium and sheer patchouli. It’s cool and refined speaking of elegant restaurants rather than the earthy beatnik and headshot. My first thought is that Ramon Monegal has created a sci-fi, 21st century patchouli. There are still soft remnants of when patchouli was the preferred oil of hippies but in an almost aquatic vein. It’s like smelling the joyful freshness of petrichor and someone walking by under their umbrella wearing a modern rose/patchouli fragrance.

As Mon Patchouli warms into my skin it becomes more earthy and is warmed by the amber, but it never really heats up because the cool incense, now rosy geranium and jasmines keep it aloof and restrained. I’m not really a patchouli soliflor wearer, it seems that my choices almost always have it as a backing note. My only real comparisons are DIOR’s Patchouli Imperial and patchouli oil, both of which are so much more intense and challenging than Mon Patchouli. Here the fragrance is muted and the house I think it smells like Mon Patchouli’s from is CHANEL. It could easily sit in line with the Les Exclusif range, the blending feels plush and even with no sharp or spiky extraneous additions.

Ramon Monegal

Mon Patchouli remains pretty linear from the heart onwards adding only a slight furriness. Not a huge perfume but you will be noticeable because it is so unlike what is currently being worn by the masses. Longevity is excellent and projection moderate to low.

From LuckyScent: Mon Patchouly perfectly represents the free-spirited essence of exotic patchouli, the ultimate emblem of “Flower Power.” Blended with vanilla, nutmeg, and amber, this archetypal scent puts down its daisy chain and picks up a different white flower – one that’s far more serious and sensual. This gorgeous jasmine note creates a beautiful balance with the earthy patchouli and amber – a stunning contrast that keeps it very unique and definitely grown-up. Mon Patchouly is a statement of identity. Pure Ibiza in its Mediterranean freshness and singularity.

Further reading: Non Blonde and Scented Hound
LuckyScent has $185/50ml + Samples
First In Fragrance has €145/50ml + Samples

Do you have a favourite Ramon Monegal fragrance? Or a fave Patchouli I should try?
Portia xx

Portia’s Fragrant Week 24 – 30 July 2016

August 12, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Frag Fiends,

Some of mates have been doing weekly wrap up shots of their fragrances. I loved the idea but kept forgetting to do it. Last week I put a box in my office and every time I spritzed something it went into the box. It was fun to watch the bottles and boxes pile up in there.

Portia’s Fragrant Week 24 – 30 July 2016

Yes, this is 7 days of fragrant wear for me. I think/hope I got them all. There were a couple of samples that I finished and threw away while not thinking, oops. (Bloody forgot Aesthete by Le Galion and Infini by Caron)

So from top to bottom 4 rows, left to right.

Miss Dior vintage parfum by DIOR: Pretty floral, furry dry down. Why did they have to change it? GRRR

Mohur by Neela Vermeire Creations: One of my all time faves. India meets Europe in a temple rose garden.

Exultat by Maria Candida Gentile: Incense and woods, one of the most comfortable incense bombs ever.

Epice Marine by Hermès: The modern aquatic, lifted by spices and that sheer oily JCE signature.

Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia by Guerlain: Lily and cool white flowers with a touch of coconut cream. Tropical yet elegant.

Midnight Oud by Juliette Has A Gun: Rose & oudh, smells great, lasts for the whole day, won’t break the bank.

Coco vintage parfum by CHANEL: Coco, is Coco, is Coco. Heavenly oriental, so spicy and full.

Fantasia de Fleurs by Creed: Sweet, jammy roses and marmalade. YUM!

Giverny In Bloom by DSH Perfumes: Put your head in a florists fridge while wearing a heavily galbanum fragrance and you will smell Giverny In Bloom.

LouLou by Cacharel: BOOM! LouLou is like wearing a technicolour shirt that glitters and shimmers. Careful of she’ll wear you out.

Tweed by Taylor of London: MEMORIES!!! Mum. Back then it was Tweed by Lentheric.

Truth or dare by Madonna: Yes. This is my current favourite big white floral. So good and practically free.

Amazone vintage by Hermès: Oakmoss and a little bit of other stuff. Furry and genteel.

What did you wear last week?
Portia x