How to Scent your Space, Naturally

April 2, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Guest Post by Suzanne R Banks

How to Scent your Space, Naturally

Hey all you perfume lovers out there – use your divine connection to scent to create a beautiful natural aromatic moment in your home or office, and even your car.

Of course you could spritz your perfume around and even though that will work, why not try a more natural approach? By using less chemicals in your life and being mindful about your purchasing decisions, you will be helping your brain and body, by giving them a rest from these toxic ingredients. You CAN have beautiful, natural scent. You don’t have to buy synthetically scented household products or personal care products anymore. There are so many fantastic natural and organic products that are reasonably priced and accessible to everyone.

Photo Stolen MoonTree

The most obvious choice for me is to use essential oils. You can put them in a classic oil burner with a candle, an electric vapouriser or make a mist in a simple mist bottle with oils and water.

For your home try:

“Boudoir”

to get the vibe going for an intimate evening at home add these oils to an oil burner with water, and a candle. The candle also acts as a transformative energy, a cleansing and renewing agent.

Ylang Ylang             8 drops
Orange                   10 drops
Patchouli                  2 drops
Cedarwood Atlas    5 drops

“Doucement”

a chill-out blend for the end of a long day or to get the kids settled quickly

Mandarin                10 drops
Lavender                  8 drops
Marjoram                  6 drops
Vetiver                       1 drop

Photo Stolen OLX.in

For the office try:

(If you have your own office it’s great but if you are working with other people in close proximity it may be better to place a few drops of oil on a tissue and keep it close by. We don’t want to offend or upset others in the work environment).

“That’s a Great Idea”

To inspire creativity and focus

Lemon       10 drops
Lime             5 drops
Basil              5 drops
Rosewood   5 drops

“Come On Friday”

A stress-less blend to take the edge off a difficult day

Cedarwood Virginian     3 drops
Pink Grapefruit               17 drops
Spearmint                         5 drops

Photo Stolen CarAdvice

And for your car, you can simply place a few drops of oil onto a tissue, a cotton makeup pad or even a bit of paper towel and stick it in one of the vents.

Wake up and concentration oils:

Lemon
Basil
Rosemary

Calm down oils:

Lavender
Orange
Geranium
Bergamot
Petitgrain

Photo Stolen Taste.Com.Au

And if that gets a bit too hard you can always:

For home, office or car – buy or pick some scented flowers like gardenias, roses, jasmine, tuberoses, hyacinths, lilies, and anything else you can think of. It’s a great natural way to bring scent into your environment and as it can be quite seasonal you are also more in tune with nature
At home you could bake a cake, roast some almonds or make a crème brullee with real vanilla pods
At home – add a few drops of essential oils into your cleaning products and mop the floor (you get scent and cleanliness in one go)
In the car – eat an orange or mandarin and squeeze the rind around the seats. You’ll be amazed how effective it can be, especially when you get back into the car – it will be a citrus paradise!

I’m sure you can think of some more too. Let your imagination run wild with the scented bounty of nature.

Ed: If you thought this was good go see the Suzanne R Banks site (LINK JUMP) or like her Facebook Page (LINK JUMP)

Suzanne R Banks

Perfume and Tea. Musings – Pairings #1

April 1, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 60 Comments

Guest Post by Brie

Springtime Perfume and Tea Musings

Photo Courtesy Brittany and Courtney

Two Classic Discontinued Perfumes Paired With Aromatic Teas

Classic perfumes have always been a ubiquitous part of my life. Growing up in the early 1970s high end niche and artisanal perfume houses were unknown to me. The perfumes that were so prevalent in my house were the classics of Chanel, Guerlain, Dior, Caron, etc. As I got older I sought out my own perfume landscape, venturing out into other territories, sampling innovative, popular fragrances being sold in the high end department stores in New York City. Unfortunately many of the “contemporary” fragrances I adored from back then have now been either reformulated or discontinued. Below are two of my favorite springtime “classic/discontinued” perfumes and aromatic teas.

Photo Courtesy Brittany and Courtney

CHANEL’s Cristalle EdT with Tazo’s Om Tea

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Sicilian lemon,
Heart: Hyacinth, Brazilian rosewood
Base: Vetiver, oakmoss

Tazo’s OM tea is a wonderful amalgamation of black and green teas paired with notes of peach and cucumber. Drinking this tea puts me in a subdued, serene state of mind, making the name of the tea quite appropriate. I began drinking this tea several years ago in the month of March, when one begins to sense spring in the smell and feel of the air. I would awaken at five in the morning and stand on my outdoor deck with a hot cup of OM tea. Gazing at the black sky illuminated by the full moon and a vast array of stars, I was awed by the simplistic beauty presented to me. The coolness of the air, the stillness and quiet surrounding me was pure, powerful and meditative. With its ability to resonate pure tranquility, I pair OM tea with Chanel’s Cristalle.

From the time I was thirteen years old and wore Cristalle EDT, this has been the classic fragrance that comes to mind when the seasons segue from winter to spring. The grassy, woody quality created by the lemon, rosewood, oakmoss and vetiver always proves to be the perfect scent for ushering in the spring season. Cristalle exudes austerity: a simplistic, serene, yet powerful, beauty. In the early morning hours of spring you will find me standing on my deck, wafting of Cristalle whilst drinking my Tazo tea and chanting “OMMMMM…..”

NOTES IN CRISTALLE EDT: Italian lemon, bergamot, basil, petitgrain, rosewood, galbanum, hyacinth, jasmine, oakmoss, vetiver

Escada’s Un Ete En Provence L.E. with Republic Of Tea’s Beginners Mind Green Tea Spring Cherry

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pineapple, apple, cherry, nectarine and pear
Heart: Jasmine, peony, lotus, cyclamen, lychee and watermelon
Base: Praline, amber, cedar and sandalwood

Republic of Tea’s Spring Cherry was the tea that originally propagated my tea and perfume musings several years ago. Spring Cherry tea is a delicate green tea enhanced with the almond-like floral essence of cherry blossoms. During my initial whiff and taste of this tea I had an epiphany and exclaimed to myself, “This is ‘Un Ete en Provence’ in drinkable form”!

Out of all the perfumes I brought back from my first trip to Paris, Escada’s 1994 limited edition EDT, Un Ete en Provence, proved to be the most magical. With its sweet, fruity, praline notes and cherry colored bottle of muted glass with a beveled gold cap it brings to mind nothing more spectacular than delicate, ethereal cherry blossoms. Every year in the late spring as I gaze out my bedroom window admiring my budding plum blossom trees, I am drinking Spring Cherry tea and wearing this fragrance. Pure bliss…..

Photo Courtesy Brittany and Courtney

GIVEAWAY COMPETITION!!

THE PRIZE

We have a draw and win for one lucky commenter- a 1ml sample each of Vintage Cristalle, Un Ete En Provence and a sampler of spring inspired teas.

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You have to leave a comment welcoming our newest Guest Post writer Brie. That’s IT!

For an Extra Chance you can Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1rt Perfume and Tea GIVEAWAY

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday April 4th 2013 10pm AusEDST and will be announced in a special post that day.
We are giving Jin a break from his draw choosing duties and Brie, with the aide of her daughters, is taking on the arduous task. The names will be placed on the same sized papers, folded similarly, placed in Brie’s ceramic owl, the contents stirred by Courtney and the name chosen by Brittany.

The winners will have till Sunday 7th April 2013 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or I will give the prize to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Photo Courtesy Brittany and Courtney

Kings Canyon Easter Getaway Photo Essay!

March 31, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Hello fabulous FUMIES!

A crew of five of us fled the city on Thursday and went bush to one of Australia’s best kept secrets. Kings Canyon is the place in the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert where the three drag queens climb to the top before they go home to Sydney. Having only been involved in the Sydney part of the shooting process I have wanted to come and see the majesty of this place since 1993/4 when Priscilla was filmed as we spent so much time with the cast and crew preparing them for their roles. It was also my first full sighting of Ayers Rock, which beggars the imagination in real life, one day I will come back and climb it.

Here is a short photo essay of our time there. Unfortunately the main camera belonging to Kath has not yet been downloaded but I will add some photos of the climb itself when she returns on Monday from an overnight camping trip. The four I was lucky enough to travel with are all in the top shot, all Australian citizens but I’ll put where each was born for interests sake. From left: Seb (France), Kath (Australia), Alice (UK) and Jin (South Korea). At the bottom I’ve added a choral rendition of one of Australia’s most famous poems, My Country by Dorathea Mackeller. It’s kind of dopey but does show some of Australia’s most wonderful scenery.

On the perfume front I took two The Different Company travel size fragrances, Sel & Vetiver and Oriental Lounge. (The jump I’ve added at the name is for 3 x 10ml Travel Size mixture at $105. I think it’s a super bargain!!)

This pic from my BFF Kath…

Spikenard Giveaway Winner

March 31, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hello Gorgeous!!

As you may remember we had a sensational week of 1st Birthday Giveaways last week that culminated in a giveaway that was transcontinental and trans-blog. There were 6 blogs involved in an Easter Giveaway for an amount of foot oil that harks back to the Jesus and Mary Magdalen story in the Bible and the washing of the feet. This giveaway was made particularly poignant by the current Pope’s decision to wash 6 young prisoners feet, including 2 young girls one of whom was a Muslim. It was a courageous act that may not change the world and bring about peace but it certainly had us that can thinking. Symbolically the gesture is enormous.

Pope Francis on Holy Thursday 2013 Stolen Patheos

Brie in New York has made a small batch and sent it to The Fragrant Man (Jordan River who is one of our esteemed Guest Writers here at APJ). Would you like to know a bit more about this amazing Brie? Jump to read her Guest Posts from CaFleurBon December 30 2012 and CoolCookStyle February 25 2013. If you like her style, and we certainly hope you do, then you will be thrilled to know that Brie has come on board at APJ as a regular guest writer the first Monday of the month. YES TOMORROW!!

SPIKENARD GIVEAWAY WINNER

Photo Stolen TheFragrantMan

If you entered the Spikenard Giveaway then you must jump to TheFragrantMan blog (<<<JUMP) where you will find out if you’ve won. Thank you to everyone who became a part of this wonderful giveaway by commenting, thanks to Jordan river and Brie for hosting it.

Later today I’ll upload some pics from our trip to Kings Canyon this weekend. I hope you’ve had a happy Easter, whether or not you believe the stories, are religious, Catholic, Christian or in fact anyone. We hope that the idea of giving and helping, and doing things for others without counting the cost sometimes becomes a universally accepted mode of action.

Here are the other blogs involved in the Spikenard Giveaway, as well as TheFragrantMan, as it’s Easter and you may have some spare time why not have a little squiz at them. Their names are jumps.
AllIAmARedhead
CoolCookStyle
ScentsMemory
ThePerfumeDandy

Wishing you all great and wonderful weekends.

Portia xx

Lanvin Me Fragrance 2013 Ad Campaign

March 30, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

Lanvin Me Fragrance 2013 Ad Campaign

Yet again stolen a fresh and lovely advertising image from. art8amby

Released April 2013, Lanvin used a reprint image of Iselin Steiro by Steven Meisel from the mainline Spring Summer 2009 campaign.

Can’t wait to see if they have given us a masterpiece or an insult to our olfactory systems. Could this be the new Arpege? Maybe? A fragrance to stand the test of time and reformulation? Let’s cross our fingers.

Portia x

Image via TFS.

Ambre Gris by Guillaume Flavigny for Pierre Balmain 2008

March 29, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Hello Happy Huffers,

Today we look at a fairly new acquisition for me. I went through a 5ml decant in record time so gave myself permission to indulge.

Ambre Gris by Pierre Balmain 2008

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Myrrhe, benzoin, pink pepper, cinnamon
Heart: Immortelle, tuberose
Base: White musc, benzoin, amber, guaiac wood (tree of life)

Before I started researching Ambre Gris I was under the impression that it was a vintage fragrance from the house of Pierre Balmain. Not so, released in 2008 it sparked a veritable sensation throughout the scentbloggosphere for a few reasons: the last few Balmain frags had been met with surly derision by the perfumista community, this one was only available in a few select locations in Europe, named after that intriguing and hard to source perfumers magic ingredient ambergris from the intestines of one perr cent of sperm whales and because it was rumored to be fabulous. This was before my time on the scentbloggosphere, at this point I was a lone hoarder.

I love the fabulously hefty 100ml bottle with its thick, greyed glass and the golden disco ball on top is perfect to me, though many do not love it. In fact the whole package screams quality to me, even the understated label and box it comes in. I can imagine it fitting well into a mans or wamans wardrobe.

Photo Stolen FortunePhotography

How does it smell? Having read the other blogs I feel that I have a completely different product because my skin amplifies the salt in a fragrance, even though there is none in the note list. Ambre Gris opens warm and sweet on my skin, like eating Brighton Rock on the pebble beach. There is a common complaint about Ambre Gris that it has a plastic vibe through the centre of it, which I often find in real life white flowers, it is not here for me sadly because I quite like that note. My experience with the heart are not everlasting daisies and tuberose, at all, unless it’s a small chemical found in both that also smells like the ocean, it feels breezy and windswept to me, and gives me a sense of freedom. Really, the notes list reads like gibberish compared to what I smell. The dry down is pretty and here I do get a salty amber and a little smoke. In the heat of Sydney summer Ambre Gris is giving me about 4-5 hours of discernible fragrance but I bought it so cheaply that I am very happy to reapply. I like it as my morning scent for some reason.

Ambre Gris works as a super base during its dry down adding a lovely heft to every perfume I have layered over the top for an afternoon or evening refresh, including: Sandflowers, Geranium Pour Monsieur, Bombay Bling, Coco and Songes (And many others)

Photo Stolen meteotimes

Further reading PerfumeSmellingThings and TheNonBlonde

FragranceNet has 50ml around $32
MyPerfumeSamples starts at $2/ml but the $7/5ml is EXCELLENT value

Have you tried Balmain’s Ambre Gris? Was it love or hate? Were you one of the frenzy buyers in 2008/9?

Until tomorrow,

Portia xx

New Ferrari Hybrid Supercar Debut

March 28, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hey Frag Hags,

Normally I would probably not think a car release was news worthy enough for a frag blog but O M F G This is quite the lovely. If you hit the links you can read the full story and see all the pictures.

YEARN, YEARN, YEARN!!!
Portia xx

Posted by Fashion & Style Guru in LUXURY By Noah Joseph

Photos Courtesy of Ferrari

It’s not every day that a new flagship Ferrari debuts; the 288 GTO was released in 1984 and the F40 that replaced it arrived just a few years later in 1987. Eight years passed before the F50 came along in 1995 and the Enzo succeeded that model in 2002. Now eleven years later the Prancing Horse marque has revealed its new hybrid supercar at the Geneva Motor Show.

Words courtesy Noah Joseph

LA Scentsation MAY 11 2013 The MAD MAD MAD Bus Tour!!

March 28, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Hey Hey

Sometimes in my life I have been asked to do some mad-assed cer-ay-zee shit! This is another one of those fabulous moments in time. If you are in, or can be in, LA on MAY 11 2013 then you need to get on board this bus for the MOST PERFUME EVER SNIFFED IN ONE DAY BY A BUS LOAD OF CRAZY BITCHES TOUR!! Organised by Patty and Musette from The Perfume Posse, so you know it’s going to be AH MAY ZING!!

Photo Stolen RockyMusic

From the Perfume Posse

So is this perfume sample habit you’ve got going getting you a little frustrated because you want to Smell.Them.All – NOW!? Ever want to just spend a whole day sampling a huge amount of perfumes? For $19-59 (well, plus travel and hotel if you don’t live in the area), join Perfume Posse for LA Scentsation on May 11, 2013. It is a full day at Luckyscent, Beautyhabit, Barney’s, Opus Oils, smelling everything they have on their counters and some brand new lines, plus there will be entertainment on the bus (if you choose that option) with the fabulous Portia Turbo (appeared in Priscilla Queen of the Desert and runs Australian Perfume Junkies. If you haven’t seen one of Portia’s Live Video Sniffs, you’ve missed something special), giveaways, fabulous gift bags full of samples to take home, and an amazing time. Click here for more details and the registration form. There are a limited number of registrations available for the bus and the full day of events.

SO, please get cracking and get on board the FRAGBUS!!

Portia xx

Here I am starring in the Shake Your Groove Thing clip from 1994 for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Patchouli Noir Osmo by Sylvana Casoli for Il Profumo 2006

March 27, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Guest Post by Val The Cookie Queen

PATCHOULI NOIR OSMO BY IL PROFUMO 2006

Hi to all you new APJ friends.

It was 1973 when I got my first full bottle of perfume. Miss Dior. Little knowing at the time of it´s ultra cool status. Mum was a Guerlain/Chanel lady. She taught me that it didn’t matter what I wore, as long as I smelled good and expensive! I also learned from her that as I got older, I would be able to wear more grown up perfumes. Which was, of course the reason, that she would not let me spray my thirteen year old neck with copious amounts of Mitsouko.

Photo Stolen KalleoSoaps

This would explain why she was not a happy camper when I changed, to straight up patchouli oil in about 1976. Scored from my local headshop, it was thick enough to need a paintbrush to apply it, and stained my neck a dark yellow. She informed me that I smelled as if I had just stepped out of the local whorehouse. (I wonder to this day on what that was based.) It was around the same time, as I walked through the streets of Bristol, with my boyfriend, (he too drenched in the stuff) that two bobbies on the beat stopped us. They seemed to take great delight in informing us that people who didn’t take baths, and those who smoked wacky backy, were partial to patchouli oil. Wow! Brilliant that a scent could cause such a strong reaction.

So began a lifelong love of patchouli. And the cops were right. I became a perfume junkie.

I don´t buy my oil from headshops any more. There is just the one oil that I use.

Picture stolen from Lucky Scent

LuckyScent lists just five notes in a line:
Mint, cedarwood, patchouli, poppy, vanilla

With my eyes closed, I inhale deeply. I am transported back to another time. It calms me, relaxes me, and gives me a feeling of well being. And it´s legal. (Despite wearing, owning, and loving many other fragrances, it is always the heavy patchouli smells that get me the compliments) This stuff is soooo smooth an soft and gorgeous. It is perfect to layer with other fragrances as it is a fixative. Patchouli belongs to the mint family, and the short lived hit of mint in this patchouli is fabulous. The vanilla delectable. The hint of cedarwood sublime. A little goes a long way. I have had my bottle for more than 5 years. It only gets better. It ages like a fine wine.

LuckyScent has 100ml/$165

Straight up patchouli. You either love it or hate it. As my girlfriend says, “Whatever blows your skirt!“ And Patchouli Noir blows mine sky high.

I had a splendid time with Portia and Jin in Vienna in January. We went together to the Chanel Les Exclusifs counter, where I bought a bottle of Coromandel. Finally. I wanted to write about it, Portia beat me to it. But as my daughter said to me ,what more can you say than: “It´s freaking awesome!“? Patchouli and Miss P??? Was I not warned it would get me into trouble?

Bussis

Cookie Queen

Un Lys by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 1997

March 26, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Gabriella

Hello fellow perfumaholics. I hope you enjoy my story today on one of my favourite scents.

Un Lys by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens (1997)

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords on one line:

Lily, musk and vanilla

Many years ago, a long, long time before I became a perfumista and perhaps even before the advent of perfume blogging, I found an exquisite bottle of fragrance in a local boutique. It was housed in the most elegant rectangular bottle I’d ever seen and emblazoned with a peculiar name: Serge Lutens. It was called Un Lys.

I fell in love with its clear bright beauty immediately. It was simply the best thing I had ever smelled. Its price tag, however, was another matter. (You see, back then, I thought that anything over $100 way just way, waaay too much money to spend on a bottle of perfume. How things have changed!) I winced at the price, stood there for a while, decided against it and left. And I then promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward some years later, and it was actually another lily perfume, the magnificent Lys Mediterrannee that sent me tumbling down the rabbit hole of full-blown perfume obsession. Its hold on me was so great, that for years, I did not think I needed another lily fragrance in my collection.

Photo Stolen mi9

However, earlier this year, Un Lys started calling my name again. I ordered a bottle, completely unsniffed besides that brief, but powerful encounter many years ago.

Second time around, Un Lys took her time to ensconce me with her charms. I pulled it out one steamy Sydney morning thinking it would be the perfect accompaniment to a summery Saturday. But now, compared to Lys Med’s spicy voluptuousness, Un Lys struck me as rather wan, pale and uninteresting but therein lies the rub, Un Lys’ lack of complexity is its beauty and its simplicity is its mark of exquisiteness. Whereas Lys Med emphasises the tropical, heady, vampy vibe of the lily and others, like Donna Karan Gold, emphasise its green qualities, Un Lys is aims to be no more than an olfactory portrait of the flower. It needs no adornments and no bells and whistles to amplify its serene and quiet beauty.

Photo Stolen travelization

Further reading BoisDeJasmin and NowSmellThis

ThePerfumeShoppe sends 50ml to the world $140 before shipping

SurrenderToChance starts at $4/.5ml

Till next time.