Make Perfume NOT War – The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc

July 27, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Hey there Perfume Junkies,

Following on from FeralJasmine’s story this week about Afghanistan Orange Blossom my friend and APJ contributor Jordan River, from The Fragrant Man, has put together a story about The Noble Rose: another of The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc fragrances aimed at giving farmers in Afghanistan something else as a cash crop than poppies. This is world changing economics in action and all through fragrance. AH MAY ZING!!
Portia xx

Guest Post by Jordan River

Pashtun People, Afghanistan 2007, Oil on canvas.
Artist: Durar Bacri, Palestine.

Make Perfume NOT War

The Story of The Noble Rose

Fields of rose bushes have replaced some opium growing areas in Afghanistan. The petals are handpicked and distilled into rose oils and absolutes for the world markets.

Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Aghanistan. Photo: Sandra Calligaro

There is one fragrance company that has placed the Afghan Rose on the new ingredient shelf – The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc – and so far, only one perfume has been released from this rose source.

Noble Rose of Afghanistan was signed by Canadian perfumer Susanne Langmuir in 2010. This company is owned by Barb Stegemann, the same person who dreamt up the concept of an export path for the harvest conversion. Stegemann was considering the consequences of war and peace, and her considerations became reality after investment through the TV program Dragons’ Den where she found her investor and business partner, W. Brett Wilson.

Stegemann sources her rose oil from Abdullah Arsala who owns Gulestan Essential Oils based in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Abdullah also grows orange blossoms and distills them into essential oils for The 7 Virtues Afghanistan Orange Blossom Eau de Parfum.

Abdullah Arsala, Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

These essential oils travel to market on what Stegemann says is the most dangerous highway in the world.

Barb Stegemann

The 7 Virtues pays $10,000 USD per litre of rose oil to the Afghan supplier, Abdullah Arsala and the farmers.

There are 178 hand picked rose petals in every bottle of The 7 Virtues Noble Rose of Afghanistan. Viewers of Name This – a show on History TV – chose the name of the fragrance, naming it Noble Rose to honour soldiers, and to reference the rose farmers who no longer grow poppies.

Photos: Abdullah Arsala

Notes
Afghan Rose, Carnation, Clove, Peppercorn

This spicy rose, Noble Rose of Afghanistan is available from The 7 Virtues.
International shipping rates are available via email.

Samples from The Perfumed Court start at $US4.95 / 1 ml to $US36.95 / 8ml.

Pushtan People, Afghanistan
via The Pushtan Forum

Tribal people, Pakistan / Afghanistan

Further Reading & Viewing
Afghanistan Orange Blossom – APJ review by FeralJasmine
Gathering the Ingredients for a Love Story
Elements New York
Barb Stegemann on Dragons’ Den
Naming the Fragrance
The 7 Virtues Review at Cafleurebon
Oil on Canvas $3,600 – Alhoush, House of Arab Art and Design

Enchanted Forest by Bertrand Duchafour for The Vagabond Prince 2012

July 26, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 61 Comments

Hey Niche Nerds,

I know, I know. It’s taken me ages to write this review. There was so much chatter about it when it first came out that I wanted to let the dust settle. I was also deeply ambivalent about the fragrance and still am but having spent some time with it now, and having two people’s opinions that I respect highly with me as I’ve smelt it was interesting too, so welcome to

Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pink pepper, aldehydes, sweet orange, blackcurrant (flower, fruit & leaf), hawthorn, rum, wine, rosemary, davana
Heart: Blackcurrant buds absolute, CO2 blackcurrant, Russian coriander seed, honeysuckle, rose, carnation, vetiver
Base: Opoponax resinoid, Siam benzoin, amber, oakmoss, fir balsam absolute, Patchouli, castoreum absolute, cedar, vanilla, musk

The first time I smelled Enchanted Forest was with Denyse of Grain De Musc and The Perfume Lover (available softback soon) at Jovoy in Paris early in 2013 and I found it interesting and a nit naughty, with a slight kitty litter accent that made me smile. Of everything we smelled that glorious sunny winter day it was Enchanted Forest that I kept the strip of and went back to over the next couple of weeks till it lost all memory of itself.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

Months went by, as quickly as they do, and other fragrant launches and tests mounted and I forgot about Enchanted Forest until we started doing a Sample Round Robin here in Australia, along came a generous sample of Enchanted Forest that I swapped out for 3 or 4 things that I had here in the swap box. I put Enchanted Forest in the MUST TRY AGAIN pile and forgot completely because I went to Scentsation in LA and then India (bragging is a disgusting habit and I am fully ashamed). So yesterday I was having lunch with Catherine du Peloux Menagé, the producer of Sydney Perfume Lovers (a meet-up group), who is an avid fragrance lover and has started a business helping people choose a scent through education and interest rather than showing them gleaming ad copy bullshit: she is clever, fun and lovely and I wanted to take some fragrances for us to try over lunch, as we do. I pulled out the Enchanted Forest to get Catherine’s take on it.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

So what did I smell? Sweet fruity opening that reminds me of very ripe melon or guava, it’s bright, fizzy and in your face taking the modern fruity fragrance by the neck and giving it a shake till its teeth rattle. All the green herbaceous notes slotted in here stop Enchanted Forest from being a so so SO sweet train wreck. Though it opens both sweeter and neon brighter than I would choose, once the initial screaming opening sequence calms it is surprisingly wearable. I get no real cat but can understand the sweetness could be a public urinal far enough away that you can smell only the sweet but not the disgusting, make sense?

Honeysuckle often skews nasty on me but here it plays along well with the others, I get a little Ribena syrup through the middle section, a sweet blackcurrant children’s cordial that was responsible in Australia for more dental bills than all the other sweet stuff put together. I don’t get coriander, rose, carnation or vetiver, I do get booze through the middle and down into the base and the vanilla comes in giving a pudding vibe. Resins come through but I miss so many of the things that they write as notes: woods? No not really. Patchouli? I don’t know. I think my nose is too poorly tuned to catch a lot of what’s happening.

Enchanted Forest is intriguing and I have been wanting to spend some alone time with it. This is a statement fragrance, fun and ebullient. It is a modern fruit take on Giorgio Beverly Hills (though only by comparison, not scent) and I can imagine it on big haired, shoulder padded women with high heels, nipped in waists and peplums (anyone been looking at fashion lately?). They are ready to make an entrance and unafraid of fragphobes and the boorish who feel that less is more. It’s exciting, naughty and possibly the next step in frag evolution if we could just get it on the kids who’ve been wearing celeb fruitchouli (as they get bored) then it may be the perfect gateway scent.

Further reading: Kafkaesque, The Fragrant Man and The Muse In Wooden Shoes
LuckyScent has $180/100ml and samples

What did you think? Have you tried it? Would you like to? well, here’s your chance….

Photo Stolen kbaird

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

There are 2 prizes this week. Each winner will receive:

1.5ml Enchanted Forest Manufacturers Carded Sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

All you need to do is be a follower, tell us how you follow and leave a hello in the comments! EASY PEASY!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Enchanted Forest PERFUME SAMPLES GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1Ld #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 28th July 2013 11pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin will pick a winner.
The winners will have till Wednesday 31st July 2013 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.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE,

Portia xx

L’Invitation Au Voyage – The Louis Vuitton Advertising Campaign Film

July 26, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Hello Fragrance Freaks,

I know you only want to know about scent but this is beautiful. Marc Jacobs is doing sensational things at Louis Vuitton. If only they would get their damn perfume on the shelves. GRRRR!

BTW Does anyone know if this is Kiera Knightly? It sure does look like her to this blind old tranny.

Photo Stolen ChicsFilles

Do please enjoy.
Portia xxx

L’Invitation Au Voyage – The Louis Vuitton Advertising Campaign Film

Afghanistan Orange Blossom by The 7 Virtues 2010

July 25, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Post by FeralJasmine

Lately I have been trying out The 7 Virtues. I do not mean by this that I have been leading a balanced and philosophical life. Far from it, in fact. But I have been thinking about the perfume habit that we all share and the effect that it has on the larger community. First, of course, there is the personal benefit: we are harmlessly occupied sniffing our own and each others’ wrists rather than other mischief that we could get into, and none of us is likely to get into a more dangerous addiction problem because, after buying perfume, we couldn’t possibly afford street drugs. If lovely scents lighten our moods at dark times and make us kinder to those around us, that certainly serves the greater good. Many Islamic cultures consider the wearing of scent to be a gift to others, and our sillage may lighten a moment for somebody else. And then there is the larger community, our nations and our planet. Do perfumes serve a purpose there?

Afghanistan Orange Blossom by The 7 Virtues 2010

Photo Stolen The 7 Virtues

Definitely, in my view, and in all kinds of ways. Some are easy to define and some are more ephemeral. Lately I’ve become interested in a Canadian Company, The 7 Virtues, that wants perfume to serve a very specific and practical purpose. Their mission is to create perfumes that use raw materials sourced from communities in Afganistan and other war-torn areas that are trying to rebuild themselves. CEO Barb Stegemann wants to offer farmers a financially viable alternative to the poppy crops that create such hazards both in their communities and in our own. You can read more about their mission at http://www.the7virtues.com/about.html

So okay, this is a noble mission that we can all appreciate, but how’s the juice? The one I chose to try first is their original scent, Afganistan Orange Blossom. Their website tempted me toward this one: “This precious organic oil is made from delicate orange blossoms harvested by Afghan farmers who bravely choose to tend these ancient groves instead of the poppy crop. We buy this excellent oil at fair market value from our supplier who is rebuilding his community. Poetry festivals are held during the harvest in Jalalabad to celebrate the historic orange blossom groves. If you look closely, you can see tiny flecks of orange blossom petals in your bottle of perfume!”

Photo Stolen National Geographic

The idea of reading poetry under blooming ancient Afghanistan Orange Blossom trees is irresistible, hypnotic, ironically narcotic. The fragrance itself goes on in a cloud of orange blossoms, but rather than hypnotic they are light, ethereal, and purely pretty. There is a slight touch of soap, enough for freshness but not enough to be annoying. The scent is not prim, but it is modest, entirely befitting a philosopher queen. Some jasmine joins the orange blossom as it develops but it is light, fresh jasmine with nothing of the narcotic or indolic about it. Freesia notes do appear as promised. This is a clean scent in the best possible sense: not some awful fabric-softener knockoff, but a sunlit natural smell that makes me happy for the moment that is given to me.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

Afghanistan Orange Blossom is an EDP but seems more like EDC strength to me. Longevity is a few hours on skin for me, and I like to spray a scarf or put some on my blouse to continue the pleasure (no stains so far.) It has become my favorite work scent, and I can’t imagine anybody being offended by it. Do take into account that I live in a desert climate, and in damper air it may be stronger than I describe. You can feel good about buying this fragrance, and it will return the compliment.

Further reading: Perfume Posse and BoTO
The Perfumed Court starts at $5/ml

Check out The 7 Virtues Website for buying in North America & Europe

FeralJasmine x

London Scent Shopping and Serial Killers 2013

July 24, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 34 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

London Scent Shopping and Serial Killers

CQ´s way to Bloom Perfumery

I headed to London a couple of weeks ago for a wedding and to purchase two Vero Profumo fragrances. There are times when ordering online is just perfect, and others where I chose to wait until I can purchase from a shop. I saw that Vero´s perfumes were available in Harrod´s and in Bloom Perfumery in Spitalfields. Concept Scents Store. In the East End of London. No question in my mind where I was heading.

I stayed with at 23 Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill with a couple of girlfriends. They were kind enough to take a few days off work, so off we went first thing on Monday morning. I was über-excited. Finally I could stop stretching my samples of Rubj EdP and Mito. We jumped off the bus in Spitalfields, and walked through the beautiful covered market, although newly renovated, it has been there since about 1887.

So we arrived. 4 Hanbury Street, London. Walking into the shop, felt like landing at the bottom of the proverbial rabbit hole. It smelled absolutely divine. I have not been into that many perfume stores, but enough to know that this one was special. It gave me the same feeling I used to get when I would discover small indie/reggae record stores off the beaten track when I was much younger. That feeling of having discovered something totally unique, cool, and not for the masses.

Oxana, the delightful owner, came to greet us. Originally from Moscow, she has now lived in London for about seven years. After making sure that my two Vero fragrances were there, we started to talk. I wondered how she had ended up selling Vero Profumo.

Oxana: “Yes, I met Vero a couple of years before I decided to open the boutique. er passion and great craftsmanship at making her perfume creations has influenced me somewhat. I eventually thought that there should be a place (just normal, not elitist like the Harrod´s establishment) where people can buy the very best of modern perfume made with creativity and passion. It´s disappointing how much the generic mass market perfumes get promoted and how little people know about the finest niche brands- Hopefully I am making my small contribution to change that and that independent perfumers get more attention.”

From Bloom

Oxana also told me that a Russian lady will have about 7 fragrances in her collection. If not full bottles, then at least decants. I found that very interesting actually, because that is about the number I regularly wear over a year. No counting samples I try of course, but how many of them do I go onto purchase?

The shop is elegantly simple. Perfumes I knew of, and those I had never heard of. I intend to work my way through, sniffing all of them. There are hand written labels on the perfumes giving the list of top, middle and base notes. There are small black glass jars next to some of the perfumes, and these contain only the base notes. Brilliant. If you don´t care for the base notes then you know you can move onto something else. (A bit like allowing special customers to smell my vanillas!!)

I left the shop elated, and fell exhausted into the iconic Poppie´s Fish and Chips restaurant, situated conveniently right next door. The best fish and chips in the world.

So APJ, this is CQ´s direction now. Scents from the here and now. For blogging at least. Because I do love other scents too!

Serial Killers? The first to recognize why this was a part of my fragrant trip, will receive a nice fat sample of Phaedon`s Rouge Avignon, my new love. Courtesy of Oxana.

If you’d like to shop at Bloom UK Website(<<<<JUMP)

Rock on and lock your doors at night.

CQ supplied all the photos from her iPhone

Top 5 Perfume Wishlist 2013

July 23, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Post by Gabriella

As many of you know, I had a bit of a cleanout of my collection last weekend, thanks to the terrific APJ sniff-together at Portia’s. Early on this journey, I made the mistake that many of us do, buying stuff too quickly without ample skin time or just falling prey to the thought: “Oh my god, everyone else loves this, I need to have it.”

Well, I’ve now gone back to basics. I will only acquire full bottles of fumes that have worn the test of time, the ones that when they hit my skin again and again are greeted with an enthusiastic “YES!” Samples and decants only for the ones that intrigue and stuff I just want to test and write about.

So, let’s just pretend that last’s week’s sale gave me enough money to buy five brand new bottles. What are those loves that I need to get?

Gabriella’s Top 5 Perfume Wishlist 2013

Bubblegum Chic by James Heeley for Heeley 2011

Jasmine is one white floral that doesn’t usually agree on my skin, but here it is perfect. Bubblegum Chic is playful green jasmine made more narcotic with the addition of tuberose. The name is apt as it’s playful and vampy at the same time. It’s that nonchalant, happy girl at work that once you get to know her has a hefty dose of je ne sais quoi.

Bubblegum Chic is available at Peony Melbourne $275/50ml Extrait de Parfum and Luckyscent $230/50ml Extrait de Parfum; Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $7/.5ml

Fleurissimo by James Henry Creed for Creed 1956

A lovely perfumista friend said I’d love it back when I was getting started in this game. Many years and bottles later, she’s still right. Grace Kelly associations aside, this is a magnificently elegant and understated white floral that just oozes sophistication.

Fleurissimo is available at Libertine Parfumerie $259/75ml; Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $3/.5ml.

Lady Caron by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2000

Very much an unloved gem in my opinion, this perfume just makes me incredibly happy. It’s a floral chypre, but here the usual peach is replaced with raspberry, rounded out with jasmine and moss. Lady Caron is truly golden sunlight on skin. It also reminds me of those times my parents had proper dinner parties back when I was a little girl. It’s the wonderful melange of smells on my pajamas after kissing and hugging the beautifully dressed female guests. Comforting but very elegant.

Lady Caron is available at Luckyscent $95/50ml; The Perfumed Court samples start at $3/ml

Tubereuse by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2003

You already know why thanks to my last review. But this is also very special to me for the very reason that it was the first fragrance I bought on my first romantic getaway to Paris with my gorgeous Mr M.

Tubereuse by Caron is available at LuckyScent, which has the EDP for $130/50ml and the parfum extrait for $150/15ml; Surrender to Chance has samples of the parfum starting at $5/.5ml

Tubereuse Couture by Pierre Guillame for Parfumerie Generale 2009

All you oriental/vanilla/patchouli/vetiver lovers must be shaking your heads and rolling your eyes about now, thinking “not another goddamn tuberose!!” but yes, more is more for me when it comes to the vampy flower. Tubereuse Couture like the aforementioned Caron is also a little bit of a sleeper when it comes to the genre, but it is divine. Here, sugar cane and banana leaf lend a lovely tropical vibe, but make no mistake, this is a scent for ballgowns, not the beach.

Tubereuse Couture is available at Luckyscent $100/50ml; Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $4.99/ml

So there you have it! My wishlist of loves. What would your wishlist look like?

With much love till next time!
M x

Purr 2010 + Meow! 2011 by Katy Perry

July 22, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Katrina

Excitement is building with pop singer Katy Perry about to launch her third perfume, Killer Queen created by Laurent Le Guernec who was also responsible for Lovely by SJP, twelve of the Bond No 9 releases and Viva by Fergie for Avon. In anticipation of the latest Katy Perry perfume I thought I would review her first two fragrances…..

Purr 2010 and Meow! 2011 by Katy Perry

Photo Stolen SynergyByDesign Flickr

Purr and Meow! (with an exclamation mark) are fun and playful just like Katy Perry and the cat figurine bottles in purple and pink are ‘to die for’.

Katy Perry Purr

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Peach, forbidden apple, gardenia, green bamboo
Heart: Jasmine, pink freesia, Bulgarian rose
Base: Vanilla orchid, creamy sandalwood, white amber, coconut, musk

Purr in the purple bottle was the first Katy Perry perfume and is a fruity floral perfume that starts out sweet with apple and peach. The fruit smells fresh, juicy and bright. There are pretty floral notes and a creamy vanilla that sits nicely in the background. The gardenia and jasmine are distinct but not too strong for Katy Perry’s teen fans. I really love the Purr bottle and the perfume is a good choice for everyday use but the perfume is not as impressive as the gorgeous bottle. It doesn’t push boundaries or include any surprises. The perfume is good but very safe. I’m not as crazy about the perfume as I am about the purple cat.

Katy Perry Meow!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica givees these featured accords:
Top: Tangerine, pear, jasmine, gardenia
Heart: Honeysuckle, lily of the valley, orange blossom
Base: Amber, vanilla, sandalwood, musk.

Meow! is cloudy lilac/pink with an M dangling from its collar and is very girly and smells delicious from beginning to end. Meow! is super sweet and fruity at the start. The fruit notes are candy-like and smell more like cherry and banana to me, rather than the tangerine and pear listed in the fragrance notes. When the fruity sugar hit passes the vanilla and musk take over and the perfume smells a lot like a soft gooey marshmallow, which ever so slowly dissolves and disappears.

Meow! with its pale pink bottle smells softer than the deep purple Purr. The floral notes in Purr smell quite intense compared with Meow!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Although the perfumes smell good, the most impressive thing about Katy Perry’s Purr and Meow! is probably the bottles, so lets hope that Killer Queen lives up to its name and delivers something kick-arse.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin
FragranceNet has both Purr & Meow! from $23
My Perfume Samples start at $2/ml for both Purr & Meow!

For celebrity perfume news and reviews including more details on Killer Queen, please check out my website: Celebrity Perfume News

Katrina xx

SO NUDE GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

July 22, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Heya Crew,

thanks for all getting so excited about our fab Costume National So Nude GIVEAWAY! We had a great response and LibertinePerfumerie were trampled in the stampede, they are thrilled and I know Nick hope you’ll come back and have a look at the site at your leisure. Thanks LibertinePerfumerie for your continued support and generosity.

SO NUDE GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Do go and take a moment to read about this very pretty and wearable fragrance Portia review: SO NUDE by Costume National<<<JUMP

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

There are 3 prizes this week in our So Nude by Costume National GIVEAWAY. Each winner will receive:

2 x So Nude 1.5ml Manufacturers carded samples (one for you and one for a friend)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. You had to leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible.

You had to go to Libertine Perfumes and find me a perfume and its manufacturer. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 21st July 2013 10pm Australian EST.
Winners were chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin (was sound asleep so Portia) picked a winner.

Photon Stolen propercourse

FATIMA, ANNAMARIA, JANET HOOVER

Winners have till Thursday 25th July 2013 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.

Special THANKS to LibertinePerfumerie for the So Nude Samples. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing, and buying the right to import, alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

Amoureuse by Michel Roudniska for Parfums Delrae 2002

July 21, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Hey Hey Crew,

Recently we had a fragrant get together at my house and the lovely Madeleine brought some frags that were not getting any skin time for various reasons, growing taste, changing chemistry, poor choice whatever. It was fun to go through her box of rejects and in it I found a few things I really love or needed a back up bottle of, and Madeleine’s “mark it up and move it on” box is full of the stuff that perfumistas dreams are made of. Here is the second of my purchases.

Amoureuse by Parfums Delrae 2002

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tangerine, cardamom
Heart: Tuberose, jasmine, lily
Base: Oakmoss, honey, sandalwood

First I need to tell you that the bottle looks way more desirable in real life, the photo does not do it justice in any way. Also, the juice in my Amoureuse is peachy, not green, like a tea made out of a tea bag used twice already or a scotch and water, and I think that also adds to the aged, luxe vibe of the fragrance itself.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Tangerine and cardamom say the notes and I get a lovely sweetness that could be tangerine but it seems a little amorphous, not specific enough to be so named. There is the sweetly herbal swish of cardamom but there’s a dirty, sweaty, animal underneath that feels very cumin-esque. Amoureuse walks a very fine line between gorgeous and disgusting in its first 30 minutes, not falling to either side definitively until the white flowers have almost taken over and then it becomes this fabulous and slightly raunchy attention grabber to people around. Between 45 minutes and two hours people really take notice of Amoureuse and compliments run thick & fast, well maybe that’s an exaggeration but there are spontaneous, heartfelt compliments.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

The white flowers are deep, narcotic and sensual. They are green, lactic, breathy, ripe, sappy, languorous, fecal and sweet, sometimes a combination of these together. The ride is great fun, and lovely. Still in the background there is a dark hint of animal that becomes less and less obvious as the honey and sandalwood working together (beautifully with no urinous facets from the honey) sweeten and soften the fragrance. Maybe I am immune to the oakmoss used here because it doesn’t register at all.

In Amoureuse Michel Roudniska, son of legendary Edmond, has made a wonderful fragrance. I was looking at his father’s works and there are some definite nods to Vintage Femme by Rochas here in Amoureuse, maybe I’m just being fanciful but it did slip through my mind a couple of times through the fragrant journey.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Katie Puckrik Smells
Beauty Habit has $135/50ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $3/.5ml

Have you spent any time with Parfums Delrae? Do you think you could wear this naughty vixen?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Arabie by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2000

July 20, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey There Fellow FUMIES,

We recently had a fragrant get togetrher at my place and Madeleine brought some unloved bottles and I bought this…

Arabie by Serge Lutens 2000

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Cedar, sandalwood, mandarin, dried fig, date, nutmeg, cumin, caraway, clove, bay-leaf, Tonka, Siamese benzoin, myrrh, labdanum

My first whiff of Arabie is all cooking spices and humanity: cooking, slightly blackened toast, baking too with loads of vanilla, spice and citrus/fruit. I get a heavy tea backnote but I could be mistaking resins/incense for smoky tea. My question is how has anyone found Arabie hard to wear? Potent? Yes, but not scorchingly so like Angel or Giorgio Beverly Hills. Warm, dusty, foody, like eating sweets at a Dhaba in rural India sitting on plastic Coca Cola chairs with only a piece of cloth as roof between you and the desert sun, or in the freezing winter cold of a Korean fishing village where you duck out of the stormy winds to get a Korean version of a donut, searingly hot with sizzling spicy sugar and juices inside, straight from the hot oil, that is guaranteed to warm you up.

Arabie is sweet and dessicated, it could be a million miles from anyone or right by their side cuddled safe and warm under a blanket in front of a fire. Each wear is slightly different for me and I think much of the difference is what I bring in my demeanor, happiness, what I am mindful of. No wonder Arabie is still talked and written about as one of the Serge Lutens must try, must have fragrances.

Photo Stolen Flickr (NehaSingh7)

Arabie, maybe the name has swayed my thinking, feels like wearing adventure. It is busy and interesting, beautiful and welcoming, lavish and sparse, all of these things at different times. Unfortunately it doesn’t have an enormous longevity on my skin as a fragrant event but turns soft and skin warmed by sun scent-ish after only a couple of hours. Then it is a wash of resinous warmth both sensual and exotic but alas only for those very close.

Photo Stolen EnvironmentalGraffiti

Further reading: Perfume Smellin’ Things and My Perfume Diaries
FragranceNet has $106/50ml
Posh Peasant starts at $6/ml

Did you try Arabie yet? What was your experience? If not, what have you tried that correlates?
Thanks so much for wandering through my fragrant musings today,
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Australian Perfume Junkies

Olfactory Opinions from Oz

Make Perfume NOT War – The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc

Make Perfume NOT War

The Story of The Noble Rose

Enchanted Forest by Bertrand Duchafour for The Vagabond Prince 2012

Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince 2012

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

HOW DO YOU WIN?

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L’Invitation Au Voyage – The Louis Vuitton Advertising Campaign Film

L’Invitation Au Voyage – The Louis Vuitton Advertising Campaign Film

Afghanistan Orange Blossom by The 7 Virtues 2010

Afghanistan Orange Blossom by The 7 Virtues 2010

Top 5 Perfume Wishlist 2013

Gabriella’s Top 5 Perfume Wishlist 2013

Bubblegum Chic by James Heeley for Heeley 2011

Fleurissimo by James Henry Creed for Creed 1956

Lady Caron by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2000

Tubereuse by Richard Fraysse for Caron 2003

Tubereuse Couture by Pierre Guillame for Parfumerie Generale 2009

Purr 2010 + Meow! 2011 by Katy Perry

Purr 2010 and Meow! 2011 by Katy Perry

Katy Perry Purr

Katy Perry Meow!

SO NUDE GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

SO NUDE GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

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FATIMA, ANNAMARIA, JANET HOOVER

Amoureuse by Michel Roudniska for Parfums Delrae 2002

Amoureuse by Parfums Delrae 2002

Arabie by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2000

Arabie by Serge Lutens 2000