Taklamakan by Stéphane Humbert Lucas 777 2016

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

.

Post by Sandra

.

Heya APJ!

Hope ya’ll are doing well.

School started at the beginning of September, the leaves are changing ever so slightly and I am getting excited about heavier perfumes already.

I have been a fan of Stéphane Humbert Lucas for a while now and once I heard that he was creating a vanilla centered perfume my ears perked up and I could not wait to sample it in Vienna.

Taklamakan hit the stores in August this year and truth be told I did not know what to expect. The name Taklamakan had me looking it up on wikipedia which states ‘It is the world’s second largest shifting sand desert with about 85% made up of shifting sand dunes ranking 16th in size in a ranking of the world’s largest deserts.’ The desert is in northwestern China and was part of the Silk Road route. This desert has also been nicknamed “the sea of death”. One can imagine why a desert would have that nickname but a perfume to bear this desert’s name? Intrigued I am…

Taklamakan by Stéphane Humbert Lucas 777 2016

taklamakan-stephane-humbert-lucas-777-fragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, rose, Chinese cedar, sandalwood, iris, patchouli, guaiac wood, benzoin, vanilla, labdanum, musk

Mr Lucas has a deft hand at creating some beautiful perfumes with incredible lasting power. As my skin usually eats up perfumes very quickly, I am always looking for some tenacity in that area. So, naturally I was curious as to what awaited me. Fragrantica gives us the following as notes for Taklamakan: bergamot, rose, chinese cedar, sandalwood, iris, patchouli, guaiac wood, benzoin, vanilla, labdanum and musk.

The perfume opens with a sharp spicy note reminiscent of cinnamon. The cinnamon is quite strong at first and I wondered if this was going to be off-putting at all – but thankfully this subsides quickly and then I do detect the delecate iris which is beautiful. Taklamakan shifts very quickly to a linear state and I will try to describe that as best a possible for you. The initial perfume dries down quickly to a contemplative, spiritual and quiet perfume not so much dark, brooding and extremely dry. This is more of a woody vanilla scent with little to no sweetness on my skin. In fact it has a hint of incense and smoke with amber and only a touch of vanilla in the dry down.

taklamakan_desert-wikipediaWikipedia

Having tried this in solely warmer weather and receiving the woodsy vanilla incense drydown with no sweetness I understand the link to a desert comprised of shifting dunes. Take a look at some of the pictures of the Taklamakan desert and the varying colours of the sands and dunes. However, I also wonder if the colder temperatures will bring forth more vanilla, more sweetness, or more incense and dryness. I will be going back to test this again as soon as the temperature shifts because this could possibly be a full bottle purchase in the near future.

%e9%9f%b5%e5%8d%87yunsheng-%e7%99%bdbai-taklamakan-desert-flickrFlickr

Thanks to Maison de Parfum in Vienna, I have one sample decant for a lucky winner to try.

SmoochyWoochy,
Sandra

Giveaway Kesha&Co

Taklamakan GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winners who will receive:
1 x decanted sample of Taklamakan
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 let me know what scents you consider to be meditative or spiritual in character. I would love to hear what you have to say.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Friday 30th 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 Monday 3rd October 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

 

Random Fragrant Ramblings + MFK

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 32 Comments

.

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

.

 

Good Day APJ

It has been chipmunk on crack mode the last couple of weeks. I am in the process of developing and selling vegan brownies and blondies, we have a trial run going on, and a new store has opened, one of the chain that offers my cookies. Absolute fun but hectic.

random-fragrant-ramblings-27-9-16-2

Val the CQ´S Random Fragrant Ramblings

CHANEL Boy, MFK Petit Matin and Grand Soir and a trip to London

random-fragrant-ramblings-27-9-16-3

CHANEL BOY EdP by Olivier Polge 2016

It opens with the radiant and gleaming brilliance of grapefruit and lemon wrapped in a muted lavender. The blend is very Chanel, the
lavender short lived. As these more volatile components evaporate, a sweet rose arises, perhaps a little orange blossom, and it effortlessly glides into a warm and a delectable heliotrope, swirling with sandalwood and musks. This is the first EdP in the Exclusifs collection and it does stay the course for a good twelve hours on my skin. Fab. I bought a bottle.

random-fragrant-ramblings-27-9-16-4

LONDON – A Conclave Of Bloggers

I fly to London tomorrow and am combining a trip round London with more than twenty bloggers and perfumers with a visit to my family. So excited to see everyone. Tara from A Bottled Rose is meeting me on the day that I arrive. We`ll fit a shifty sniff in, go on a red lipstick crusade, lunch together and drop into Bloom Perfumery to deliver some cookies. I don´t really have a sniff list but will take a look at the Grandifloras, and Le Galop from Hermès. Stay tuned to find out how it all went.

random-fragrant-ramblings-27-9-16-1

MFK Sample GIVEAWAY

The two new fragrances from Maison Francis Kurkdjian were on my London list, but I came across them in Linz yesterday. I tried both on paper and the lovely SA gave me carded samples of each one, Petit Matin and Grand Soir. I can get samples anytime I want but I know not everyone can. The Petit Matin is a delicious creamy lemon floral number and the Grand Soir is a kill you with vanilla benzoin and tonka bean number.

Drop me your thoughts on any of today’s randomness and you are in the draw. I will be extremely fast at sending them out because they are already prepared! Whoohoo. I hate decanting with a passion.

Loving Bussis
CQ

(Ed: All Photos Donated by Val. Thanks buddy)

MFK Sample GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Carded Manufacturers Sample Grand Soir
1 x Carded Manufacturers Sample Petit Matin
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:
Anything you think I should look for in London?
OR Do you like vegan baking?
OR Have you tried Boy yet? Thoughts?
OR Which MFK, if any calls to you?

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 29th 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 Sunday 2nd October 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.

Moonlight Patchouli by Van Cleef & Arpels 2016: Revisited

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

.

Post by TinaG

.

Hello and welcome to another fabulously fragrant week!

Back in June APJ & I gave away five decants of Moonlight Patchouli by Van Cleef & Arpels, to help me gather some feedback on the fragrance and whether I was going nuts in smelling some of the more unusual notes that I found.

Reviews have been received back from Koyel and Patsi, thank you! Neva, I’m sorry the post missed you while you were on holidays, I’ll resend, I promise! Bridget I hope you enjoyed the fragrance/s! Greg, offer is still open if you wish to get in touch. 🙂

Moonlight Patchouli by Van Cleef & Arpels 2016

Collection Extraordinaire

Moonlight Patchouli Van Cleef & Arpels FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cacao, patchouli leaf, woodsy notes
Heart: Iris flower, Bulgarian rose
Base: Fruity notes, leather, suede

Koyel wrote:
Moonlight Patchouli starts out in-your-face boozy for a moment, then burns off to a gorgeous, sweet, very green patchouli. There is a warmth to it that might be the cacao. After half an hour, a buttery iris starts poking its head out. Unfortunately, another half hour later, the sweet, buttery side of the iris has left behind a more cardboard-y iris note that I don’t like very much.

Maybe an hour later, the green-ness of the patchouli becomes more pronounced, and the sweet butter scent comes back. It mixes with a skin scent/warm leather (suede?) to make the absolute softest leather note. The soft, buttery leather/suede sticks quite close to the skin. I’m not quite sure when the smell faded away completely, but it lasted for far less time than a workday on multiple occasions.

I don’t get salty/seaweed/chlorine at all, luckily! Dewy, perhaps, at times, particularly in the beginning. I like this scent a lot, and find it quite wearable, though not FB-worthy. The cardboard note in the middle is a bit off-putting, but mild enough to be tolerable.

Patsi wrote:
Moonlight Patchouli is reminiscent of something familiar from way back. It reminds me of a sweet wine at the beginning becoming richer and syrupy like but with the patchouli and suede/leather notes keeping the sweetness from running over and ruining everything. The Iris and patchouli are soft and beautifully blended together with a light suede note.

The patchouli is not too strong and I love its presence with a bright fresh lemonade-like citrus, accompanied by white flowers and rose. I find it very comforting, not overpowering and it dries down to a wonderful sensual, rich base.

I kept getting wafts where the perfume had gone on my hair and I thought – who is that – what is that beautiful smell – ohhh its me!!! 🙂 I find it to be long lasting – a good 7 hours. The ladies at work loved it and declared that I smelled really good! 9/10 for me – Beautiful fragrance and definitely full bottle worthy!

moonlight-patchouli-by-van-cleef-arpels-dinesh-valke-pogostemon-benghalensis-flickrFlickr

Harrods has £126/75ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $4/0.5ml

Thank you both so much for your lovely reviews! I’m glad you enjoyed the decants.

What it has shown me is that the salt/chlorinated water note is just me, that it’s something to do with my skin or the way I interpret the smell. It is a consistent note, for a while I thought it might be the chlorinated water is stronger where I live, but I think not. I’ve been wearing Moonlight Patchouli this week and that middle note is consistent.

Thanks again guys!! It’s been fun.

Has anyone else had a chance to smell Moonlight Patchouli as yet?

Have a great week everyone.

Tina G xx

 

Extreme Perfumes

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

.

Post by Anne-Marie

.

Hi all
I’m interested to know what are extreme perfumes for you? How far can a perfume push a genre for you before it’s too much?

Extreme Perfumes?

What Pushes You Over The Edge?

First Van Cleef & ArpelsVan Clef & Arpels

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, Bergamot, Raspberry, Mandarin, Peach, Black currant
Heart: Carnation, Hyacinth, Orris root, Jasmine, Lily-of-the-valley, Narcissus, Orchid, Tuberose, Turkish rose, Ylang-ylang
Base: Amber, Oakmoss, Honey, Musk, Sandalwood, Tonka bean, Vanilla, Vetiver, Civet

I got thinking about this when I read Portia’s Van Cleef & Arpels’ First post which, as I said in a comment, is too rich and opulent for me. No matter how I wear it or try to dress it down, it seems to demand silks and satins, furs and pearls. I might aspire to that sort of glamour occasionally, but it’s like getting mum’s old patent leather stilettoes out of the dress-up basket and stumping around the lounge room in them. Fun, but I’m not going to step out the front door. Indeed I think that on release in 1976 First took us to the zenith of the aldehydic floral genre, beyond which no fragrance has ever gone since.

la-nuit-paco-rabanne-fragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Basil, bergamot, amalfi lemon, tangerine, artemisia
Heart: Jasmine, rose, peach, pepper, white honey
Base: Oak moss, woodsy notes, patchouli, leather, Virginia cedar, civetta

The civet and oakmoss in Paco Rabanne’s La Nuit make it unwearable for me – me! A chypre lover! But La Nuit out-chypres all chypres and I’m really not surprised that it was discontinued ages ago. Were it released today on the niche market, La Nuit would be a darling of the cognoscenti.

Fracas Robert Piguet FragranticaFragrantica

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Mandarin, Hyacinth, Green notes
Heart: Tuberose, Jasmine, Orange Flower, Lily of the valley, White iris, Violet, Jonquil, Carnation, Coriander, Peach, Osmanthus, Pink geranium
Base: Musk, Cedar, Moss, Sandalwood, Orris, Vetiver, Tolu balsam

Piguet’s Bandit and Fracas, now: they both take us to the edge – over the edge – in the leather chypre and white floral families, respectively. I can’t wear either of them. Bandit is too bitter and Fracas just too freakin’ weird for me. I’ve tried them, though. You need to test the boundaries, or you won’t know where your boundaries actually are.

I don’t wear orientals much, or certainly not extreme spicy or skanky ones, but I know that they are out there. Do share your experience with these. Love them or hate them?

And what about extreme powder in fragrances? Where does that take us?

Eau Sauvage Christian Dior FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, basil, bergamot, cumin, lavender, fruit
Heart: Jasmine, rose, carnation, iris root, coriander, patchouli, sandalwood
Base: Oakmoss, vetiver, musk, amber

Ultimately I think I must believe in that old maxim: restraint in all things. It’s not just a style choice, it’s a fundamental personality trait. I rarely go to extremes in anything. I can stop at two chocolate biscuits, two glasses of wine, and one (okay two) pairs of red shoes. Cheese is harder, admittedly.
Here’s a parting thought. Are there extremes in the citrus cologne genre, or are they inherently minimalist? Dior’s Eau Sauvage (or 4711, or insert your favourite here) may be the very best citrus cologne ever, but no-one is going to back away and call the scent police on you, are they?

Most of these fragrances are available at Surrender To Chance to sample

Bye for now everyone, but do drop in a comment and share your thoughts!
Anne-Marie xx

Teazzurra GIVEAWAY WINNERS

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

.

Post by Portia

.

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

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

.

Post by Portia

.

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

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

.

Post by Portia

.

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

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

.

Post by Portia

.

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

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 20 Comments

.

Post by Portia

.

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

 

Estate Rosewood EdP by Angela St. John for Solstice Scents 2016

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

.

Post by Erica Golding

.

Fragrant greetings to all of you wonderful scent lovers around the world!

Today, my aura is fully saturated with a generous infusion of my new favorite indie masterpiece. Angela has done it again, and her latest Eau de Parfum composition is a complete addiction for me. I can’t get to sleep without wearing it lately, it’s got me mental!

Estate Rosewood EdP by Solstice Scents 2016

Estate Rosewood EdP by Angela St. John

estate-rosewood-edp-by-solstice-scentsSolstice Scents

Solstice Scents gives these featured accords:
Vanilla, tea rose, oak casks, tobacco, woods, bourbon, rosewood, hinoki wood

When Estate Rosewood was released several weeks ago, I ordered a sample and rocked on my heels next to my mailbox until it arrived. (This took about 30 seconds, haha! Solstice Scents still boasts an exceptionally fast turnaround time despite their well-deserved exploding fan base.)

Naughty confession: I tested it immediately, the little glass sprayer still warm from cooking in a hot summer mailbox. I inhaled and – and, well, it was like only being able to see the tail of a comet from your peripheral vision. It was incomplete, narrow, flat, and left me wanting more. Specifically, it made me crave pure Estate Vanilla. I just wanted to fill the void. I tested the next night and it was the same. The woods were nice but too subtle, the tobacco note was a bit minty and high pitched, the vanilla was confined.
I shrugged, put it aside, and decided it was just not my style.

estate-rosewood-edp-by-solstice-scents-pexelsPDI

A few days later, I was on vacation visiting my dear bestie Sammy, my partner in crime for all things fragrance (and otherwise). She was so deeply in love with her Estate Rosewood. I smelled it on her skin, and suddenly – Glory! A harmonious symphony! Rich, balanced, resonant magic! Experiencing this perfume with her fantastic chemistry was a turning point for me. (You should all be jealous, she amps dark notes like you wouldn’t believe!) Let’s also factor in the mail shock that my sample had been exposed to, it really took over a week to recover. Travel conditions like temperature shifts, pressure changes, varied elevations, and physical agitation impacted this perfume significantly. I hadn’t given it enough time to settle.

I quickly drained my sample once I realized it had recovered from the mail. (Duh. Idiot!) Next I scored a full bottle, and I’ve dented the volume 10% in just a few weeks. Really, it’s that good! The first two batches sold out almost instantly. It’s a must-try if you enjoy feeling like a legend.

estate-rosewood-edp-by-solstice-scents-apothecary11

Solstice Scents has $85/60ml and Samples

Do you have a story about wrongly judging a mail-shocked fragrance too soon? Have you ever had the chance to evaluate the effects of skin chemistry on perfume? Let’s chat about it below!

Love and light and scented hugs,
Erica