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Post by Portia
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Hello Haunted Huffers,
Today being Halloween I thought it might be fun to give you a video about London’s creepiest cemetery, which was for a short while the site of dueling magicians and mobs of stake-carrying vampire hunters. As always Dylan Thuras is so freaking cute, 100% involved and full of useless but interesting facts.
I hope you have a great Halloween. I will be going to my first ever Halloween party. VERY excited.
Enjoy,
Portia xx
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Post by Portia
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Hi there APJ Crew,
I have a great penchant for vintage frags and particularly love to find parfum or extrait versions of them. Lately I have had a few really amazing finds and wins and I’d like to share the vintage largesse with you. Below are links to APJ reviews of each fragrance and an approximate year of production, the ones without years means I can’t find the correlating bottle years and/or there is no Batch Code. The samples will not be huge but you’ll get enough to have a couple of decent wears (or one really lavish one) so you have a mental reference when you see these lovelies in stores, on eBay or blogs.
These are the good stuff but I also have had a few fakes and dummy bottles come through too. Many times the seller doesn’t know or care enough about fragrance to tell the difference, a good fake can fool the average seller & headspace technology has made it easier to copy and then other times they are bad people. I have also started to notice that they are topping up their 1/2 full bottles with perfumers alcohol, REALLY annoying because you get kind of the right scent but the open is really alcoholic, which can feel like top notes going. Maybe one in 20 that I buy are not 100% genuine.
CHANEL No 5 (1970-87)
CHANEL Coco
DIOR Diorissimo (1987)
Guerlain Mitsouko (1990)
Guerlain Shalimar (<1980s)
Rochas Madame Rochas
Photo Stolen kbaird
This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x sample of all six vintage fragrances in extrait/parfum
CHANEL No 5
CHANEL Coco
DIOR Diorissimo
Guerlain Mitsouko
Guerlain Shalimar
Rochas Madame Rochas
P&H Anywhere in the world
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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.
You must tell me how you follow APJ
and
Please tell us which vintage fragrance you wish you had a free unlimited lifetime supply of and why
Entries Close Sunday 1st November 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 5th November 2015 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.
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Post by Portia
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Hey there APJ,
What a great surprise, Alanis Morrisette is a FUMIE! She just uploaded her Top 10 and they are a really cool and diverse mix of the rare, expensive, mass-tige and niche. It’s a clever line up that gives me even more reason to think she would be a fun person to know. Clearly Alanis has been reading frag blogs too because she has a solid frag vocab that makes her pithy mini reviews totally understandable and easy to follow.
You can go check Alanis Morisette’s Top 10 Perfumes on Alanis Morrisette Blog
Her collection includes a Serge Lutens (a bell jar bought at the Palais Royale store no less), Byredo and Santa Maria Novella with a slew of others. Beautifully curated collection.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
How about some Alanis Morrisette music to get you in the mood? Here is one of her less popular songs that I love. It makes me want to sing along. Go on, turn it up a bit and let the music wash over you. It’s Friday here in Sydney, let yourself go a bit.
Enjoy,
Portia xxx
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Post by Portia
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Hey Gang,
Thanks to Azar for another fun giveaway. Let’s see who the lucky winners are.
Portia xx
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Melon, mandarin orange, cassia, pear
Heart: Peony, passionfruit, freesia, lily-of-the-valley
Base: Sandalwood, vanilla, peach, vetiver, cedar
Today’s giveaway: There are two prizes, one each.
Curve Kicks for Women 5.4 ml minis
P&H Worldwide
Entries Closed Thursday 29th October 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org
Photo stolen brooklodge
The winners will have till Sunday 1st November 2015 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.
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Post by Robert Herrmann
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Hi APJ,
I cannot help but notice the irony in this…..
Imagine you are the owner of a successful Espresso Bar, located in a highly trafficked tourist destination for 13 years. All those years you’ve been searching for the perfect coffee-centric perfume to wear in the Cafe to no avail. A perfume that won’t clash with the scents of the shop. You’ve tried them all from designer to niche to uber-niche to “they’re SO niche that nobody knows their name and they only answer their phone once every two months……”
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Finally it’s time to sell the business and kick back a bit.
Then and only then, after 13 years with only two weeks left of ownership, the perfect perfume comes along.
Well, of COURSE it does. (Cue gnashing if teeth and rending of hair)
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Chestnut, orange
Heart: Orange blossom, coffee, maple sap
Base: Ebony, heliotrope, vanilla, tonka bean and sandalwood
From L’Artisan: Noir Exquis is a work of contrast and the unexpected. The addictive note of coffee, combined with the warm and comfortable notes of maple syrup, glazed chestnuts and orange blossom, brings an intriguing juxtaposition to this fragrance. Rich and velvety, Noir Exquis connects these two persons during this moment beyond time and place…… Opulent and gourmand, Noir Exquis is a fragrance with a warm and charistmatic aura. Notes: Glazed chestnut, Coffee, Maple syrup, Macassar Wood
Noir Exquis is beautiful, and everything you could possibly wish for in an espresso cafe-friendly scent. Lush, dark, and creamy. A mellow coffee note (dark roast clearly!), threaded with notes of vanilla, chestnut, spices, and a gorgeous hit of maple sap.
Photo Stolen Flickr
A perfume meant to bring to mind a tête-à-tête, a secret rendezvous for two lovers in a dark Parisian Cafe, windows steamed up and the low hum of conversation from the other customers. A mostly untouched meal sits on the table, the lovers too enchanted by each other to eat anything. Hands entwined, the screeching jet-roar of the espresso machine from behind the bar, the loud grating sound of the coffee grinder. The smell of steamed milk, cinnamon, and coffee permeates the humid air. On the sidewalk in front of the cafe, a man sells roasted chestnuts in newspaper coronets, and every time the cafe door swings open the nutty smell from the chestnuts comes inside.
All of this, bottled.
THIS is the heart of Noir Exquise. And it is gorgeous.
Further reading: Megan In St Maxime and Bois de Jasmin
LuckyScent has $120/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/ml
Have you tried L’Artisan Noir Exquis?
Robert Herrmann XX
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Post by Trésor
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My maternal grandmother lived in a quaint home, nestled in between two incredibly large hills with a small brook running down one side. Every so often we would gather iridescent stones that found their way to the tiny banks and pretend they were the scales of mermaid’s tails that had made their journey all the way from the Caspian sea to our little brook. We would take these stones into the house, clean them and place them inside the upstairs cabinet where she kept all of her finest china. She said they would stay there for safe keeping should the mermaids ever come looking in search for their missing glistening scales. These moments were some of the happiest of my entire childhood so you can just imagine my delight when I happened upon a fragrance by the name of Shiloh, authored by Michel Roudnitska for the French house of Hors La Monde that so flawlessly captured all of those exquisite iridescent colours I remember from those stones. All in one breathtaking journey though this perfume’s life on my skin.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot oil, Damask rose petals, Virginian cedar, patchouli, lemon, sandalwood, incense, green grass, oakmoss, vanilla, musk, wood notes
Shiloh opens upon my skin in the shape of an effulgent sensory orb, pulsating in hues of vibrant cinnabar, rust and gleaming tangerine that illuminate from within like holograms of fragrant fireflies, whizzing about as if captured inside a mason jar by a joyful child on a late summer’s eve. The aroma of a ripe and glowing citrus fruit, that which smells to my nose of lemon, graciously wafts her golden fragrance in excess as gossamer plumes of diaphanous incense smoke envelop the citric rays of aureate light and with them begin to paint the composition a shade deeper, a spirit guide into the embrace of red rose petals existing as soft sculpture in translucent velveteen. Her petals begin to gracefully bleed a mellifluous zephyr of black pepper and aldehydes which have taken form as the kaleidoscopically lambent shards of a nearby star. With each precious drop that leaves her petals the rose darkens into crimson and soon finds herself enraptured within an abating aura of patchouli who’s fragrant leaves are as smooth as silk and permeating the airspace with their exquisite balsamic aroma of rainsoaked flora and the earth from which they came.
Photo Stolen Flickr
As the composition dries down the roses and patchouli are laid to rest upon a bed of redolent Virginia cedar, creamy sandalwood and sensuous skin musks which dance upon the skin like phantasms of Bolshoi ballerinas illuminated in hues of auroral copper and gold. It is within this final act of spectral pirouettes that Shiloh finally becomes one with the skin.
Shiloh is a fragrance which wears closely to the skin, existing nearly as a skin scent the entire duration of its life. It is by no stretch of the imagination a weak fragrance but one that is meant for those you wish to draw close. Each time I wear Shiloh I tend to get about 6 hours wear before it trails into dancing wisps of ethereal musk, though I will admit that on warmer days I’ve gotten upwards of 9 hours before it was completely gone from my skin.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
Further reading: Now Smell This and Non Blonde
LuckyScent has $125/50ml
Have you tried Shiloh?
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Post by Val the Cookie Queen
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After posting a picture of my banana bread on FB and being swamped with requests (three) to share the recipe I thought I would. This is the recipe I use when customers order banana bread, so why not? I live in a country where banana bread is not part of their baked goods culture, so I do not have a lot of competition. Nevertheless this is a great recipe. I have tweaked it over the years and cannot remember where I got the original recipe.
It is moist and fragrant and delicious on its own. It toasts up a treat and is great with butter and lime marmalade. My therapist and partner-in-crime likes it with orange cream-cheese frosting. If you can get hold it guava jelly that would work too.
No great secrets, it is easy to make. Use the best ingredients you can. Baking does not magically turn crap into gourmet. Unless you are Rumpelstiltskin.
1 cup of unsalted and softened butter (225g)
1 cup of light brown sugar (180g)
6 large eggs (Yep – 6, that is not a mistake and best a room temperature)
2 cups of plain flour ( about 340g) (US call it all purpose flour)
2 tsps of baking powder (leveled off of course)
Good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (about 1/4 tsp, you can use powdered nutmeg but I wouldn’t!)
Pinch of salt
3 ripe bananas. Lightly mashed. ( I have used all sizes to be honest, but tend towards larger ones. The recipe is quite forgiving though.)
2 tsps of vanilla extract (real please)
Please note, unlike many banana breads, there is no cinnamon or nuts. You can chuck in half a tsp of cinnamon if you want, but cinnamon in baked goods makes them all taste so similar. The minute amount of nutmeg gives it just a lift, and compliments the bananas beautifully. I do love nuts, but not in this. Only as decoration.
Before starting always prepare the pan. A 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Butter and flour it. If the pan is rusted and a hundred years old because you never use it, then lightly butter the pan and line it with baking paper first. Mash the bananas and have them ready, I add the vanilla to the mashed bananas. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg in a bowl.
Preheat the oven to 180°c or 350°f. If you use a fan oven then drop it a few degrees, but you will know that yourselves.
1. Cream the butter and the sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating really well after each addition. (They may look like they curdle a little as you get towards the fourth or fifth egg, but it does not matter. Keep beating!)
3. Add your dry ingredients a little at a time, and beat well after each addition. (I do it in 4 goes)
4. Add the bananas and vanilla and then just mix to combine. Don´t beat the living daylights out of it, a few lumps of banana is good.
5. Pour your prepared batter into the pan. You can decorate it with nuts if you wish to.
6. Bung it in the preheated oven.
7. Bake it until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. (This is not brownies, we do not want batter dripping off of or clinging onto the skewer, toothpick or whatever.) Baking time seems to differ, anything from 60 to 80 minutes. You will have to see yourself.
8. Cool the loaf for about 15 minutes in the pan then turn it out onto a rack an let it cool.
If you get a perfect banana bread, message me. I need an assistant.
Sorry that there is only picture of the finished banana bread, I didn’t know I was gonna post this!!
Banana Bussis
CQ
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Post by Azar
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Hi APJ Pals,
Perfume junkies know that fragrance has a profound and powerful effect on emotions and memories. A perfume can literally make us happy, chemically force us into a state of bliss, put a spring in our step, a smile on our face and infuse our entire being with energetic optimism. Today I’m going to talk about a fragrance that does all of the above for me, my favorite cheap thrill in a perfume bottle – Curve Kicks for Women by Liz Claiborne.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Melon, mandarin orange, cassia, pear
Heart: Peony, passionfruit, freesia, lily-of-the-valley
Base: Sandalwood, vanilla, peach, vetiver, cedar
Kicks for Women is one of the 18 or so scents in the Liz Claiborne Curve Collection. That being said, parsing the notes in Kicks is really a meaningless exercise for me. Here is my experience of the fragrance.
Of all the cheapies in my collection Curve Kicks is my favorite. It has to be the least expensive fragrance I own and easily worth its weight in denatured alcohol. The price alone makes me smile, as does the bottle and the shiny metal can it comes in.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Kicks opens with a totally synthetic fruit cocktail featuring warm peach and orange fruit cooling rapidly to pear, melon and wet spring florals. It would be easy to dismiss this stuff as your average teenybopper body spray – but wait! At about thirty minutes Kicks jump starts my olfactory memories and returns me to mid 20th century Central Florida and the smell of the citrus processing plants. If you have ever experienced that overpowering fragrance (some call it a stench) you will, for good or ill, never be able to forget it.
Photo Stolen Pexels
After about an hour or so in the processing plant, Kicks begins a long, lovely eight-hour dry down toward a final, quiet, almost elegant combination of powdery sandalwood, vanilla, cedar and a breath of peach all wrapped in a subtle wisp of processed citrus steam. The conspicuous absence of even the slightest reference to patchouli sets Curve Kicks apart from its contemporary fruit-chouli sisters. To summarize: Curve Kicks for Woman is fruity, chemical sunshine mixed with powdery, sweet woods, diluted in perfumer’s alcohol and packaged in metal, glass and glitter.
FragranceNet has $17/100ml before Coupon
Today’s draw: I will be giving away two Curve Kicks for Women 5.4 ml minis, shipping and handling everywhere. To be eligible for the draw please let us know how you follow APJ and tell us a little about a fragrance that really MAKES you happy – a perfume that FORCES you into a state of happiness!
Photo Stolen manoneileen
Today’s giveaway: There are two prizes, one each.
Curve Kicks for Women 5.4 ml minis
P&H Worldwide
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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.
To be eligible please tell us how you follow APJ
AND
Tell us a little about a fragrance that really MAKES you happy – a perfume that FORCES you into a state of happiness!
Entries Close Thursday 29th October 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Sunday 1st November 2015 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.
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Post by Portia
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Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, green mandarin, lemon, sage
Heart: Jasmine, white rose
Base: Sandalwood, vanilla, musk, amber
This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x sample of Estratto di Colonia from my stash
P&H Anywhere in the world
Entries Closed Sunday 25th October 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org
Photo Stolen prospectsplus
The winner will have till Thursday 29th October 2015 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.
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Post by AF Beauty
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We’ve had a couple of mentions in previous comments about mascaras. I have never really subscribed to the idea of expensive mascaras because I have never really seen the benefit of spending $40 on black goo that I could otherwise buy for $20 at the local chemist. However, I have had a small epiphany.
In previous comments the famous Maybelline Great Lash Mascara was mentioned, so I dutifully toddled off and purchased this one:
I chose the washable version thinking that having to scrape off a waterproof version might kill my eyes. In retrospect that may have been a better outcome!
My present gym routine involves a boxing class three times a week. I LOVE boxing – SO much fun! Generally I start with a full-ish face of makeup but by the time I’ve punched and kicked till scarlet, my makeup has done it’s best to disappear. One particular day, my boxing trainer was giving me side eyes and then looks bold and says, “you have black all down your eyes!” I totally styled it out and retorted, “It’s because I’m so tough!” And I am tough, but truth is; my mascara had let me down in a big way. Bummer.
So I started looking online for more info about a type of mascara called tubing mascara. I had read about it a few years ago, I knew Clinique did one and wanted to find some more options. The idea of tubing mascara is that the mascara goo forms a tube around each of your lashes and therefore will not smudge down your face. It can also be washed off easily without waterproof makeup remover. Sounds too good to be true, right?!
Luckily my research coincided with a spare 15 minutes I had at Sydney Domestic Airport where they have a new beauty store called Amuse that sells a variety of beauty brands. My research had led me to a MAC mascara called Opulash, so off I went to purchase.
I told the MAC SA (who was super nice and helpful) about wanting a tubing mascara and not wanting smudginess. She told me all MAC mascaras were non-smudging, I admit I inwardly scoffed. She also told me of a different mascara which she said was tubing called Extended Play Gigblack Lash. She was that nice that I took her at her word and bought the Extended Play even though I’d read about the other one. I admit, I was feeling hopeful, but my expectations were almost nil. However, I have been using this mascara now for a couple of weeks and have deliberately been applying pre-workouts to see whether it will smudge – and NADA. Not even a hint of it. This is an angels singing moment!
Because I go to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, this has been a real gamechanger. I don’t feel like I need to give my makeup more than a second thought and I have confidence now that I’m not going to look dishevelled in my makeup, even if the rest of me looks like a mess!
Have you heard of tubing mascara? What’s your favourite?
AF Beauty xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 