A Literary GIVEAWAY WINNER

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Good morning APJ,

Sun is shining here in Sydney and the world is warming up.

Let’s see who Val’s lucky winner is. Thanks for your kind generosity my love.
Portia xx

A Literary GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Brand New Book: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 26th January 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winners will be chosen by getting one of my family to pull a name out of my dead armadillo basket

Wendy Hardy

The winner will have till Sunday 29th January 2017 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.

Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade by Quentin Bisch for Etat Libre d`Orange 2016

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 31 Comments

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Portia

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Hi there APJ,

Recently I went and hung out with my mate Bronwyn of Gascoigne & King Candles. I did some Xmas shopping with her and 7 of my buddies got Gascoigne & King candles. PERFECT gift. Anyway she passed me this sample because she is also the distributor of Etat Libre d’Orange here in Australia. Well, I looked at the beautifully packaged sample and thought, “Those freaking bastards at ELdO want me to make a complete tit out of myself when telling people what frag I’m wearing.” Seriously guys, I’m just a unilingual dude that wears dresses from down under. This kind of long French name, any long name really, kills my joy in a scent. So I was already halfway ready to hate it just because of the name.

Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade by Etat Libre d`Orange 2016

Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade by Quentin Bisch

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Labdanum

Smells like labdanum incense. Unbelievably gorgeous. Simple yet complex, wearable, challenging. Glorious.

Then name and the ad are irrelevant (and pretty rubbish) but the fragrance is bloody good.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Colognoisseur
LuckyScent has $95/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $5/ml

Have you tried Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade?
Portia xx

Super Sample Pack GIVEAWAY Jan 2017

giveaway hemodernhome

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade Carded Manufacturers 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 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 tell us an Etat Libre d`Orange fragrance you like or love….

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 28th January 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 1st February 2017 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.

Favourite Fragrance Note?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 45 Comments

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Portia

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Hi there Fumies,

There are a few notes in fragrance that if I see them in a note list I definitely want to give them a sniff. Not all the fragrances that have these notes in them work for or on me. As a starting point though I am much more willing to try some new thing with these babies in on my skin. I’m WAY more inclined to order a sample or seek it out actively.

Favourite Fragrance Note?

Fragrantica

Amber

OK, probably no surprise to most people who read APJ regularly but Amber is one of the notes that I look for in note lists. Recently Fragrantica changed their note list icons and it took me a while to recalibrate my swift glance. Fortunately Amber wasn’t changed hugely. Now if I see Amber in the name of a fragrance then I’ll spray myself without even looking at the note list, not clever but often fun.

Some ambers I really love are: Ambre Cerulean by Huitieme Art Parfums, L’eau d’Amber by L’Artisan, Ambre Russe by Parfum d`Empire, Olympic Amber by Olympic Orchids, Amber Queen by A Dozen Roses, Ambre Narguile by Hermès, Chergui by Serge Lutens and Ambra del Nepal by I Profumi di Firenze. Obviously not a complete list, this is off the op of my head.

Fragrantica

Incense

Growing up Catholic and attending primary school with Nuns and secondary school with Jesuit Priests my early years were awash with incense. Then as late teens bloomed, in fashion school and my friends began to become more multicultural I got to smell incenses from around the world. Nowadays I have a cupboard full to overflowing of incense gathered from visiting many countries. From the cheapest to the quite expensive and I love them all. Put a hefty dose of incense into a perfume and I will try to get my nose on some ASAP.

Some of my adored incenses: Avignon by Comme des Garcons, Trayee by Neela Vermeire Creations, Oliban by Phaedon, Fille en Aiguilles by Serge Lutens, Encens Flamboyant (Shower Gel) by Annick Goutal, Bois d’Ascese by Naomi Goodish, Interlude Man by Amouage and Vintage Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. Trayee Neela Vermeire Creations

Fragrantica

Oakmoss

I think I am hyper-nosmic to oakmoss and its facsimiles. Even the merest smidgeon and it overtakes most fragrances for me. A good thing in my eyes because I love its soft, furry, green smokiness. In my nose a little bit of oakmoss makes every fragrance more stunning and desirable. If I see the word oakmoss in a note list I can be about 95% sure that it will be a winner only skin and that pretty soon there’ll be a FB and a backup in the cupboard.

Oakmoss-centric frags in my wardrobe: Mitsouko, L’Heure Bleue & Vol de Nuit by Guerlain, Chloe (1975), Antaeus by CHANEL, Niki de Saint Phalle, Magie Noire by Lancome, Bandit by Robert Piguet, Miss Dior by Christian Dior (1947), Farouche by Nina Ricci and Eau de Gucci (1993)

So, over to you. What note or notes ring your bells when looking through note lists?
Portia xx

Antibiotics, Assumptions, OCD and Perfume by Patrick Suskind

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 31 Comments

.

Val the Cookie Queen

.

Good day APJ Readers!

Antibiotics, Assumptions, OCD

The Joy Of Medication

Seriously. After nearly a month of swollen eyes and a slightly puffy face you´d have thought I´d have realized something was wrong. I took
steamy baths, put iced eye masks on, eye drops, a variety of concealers, and hung myself upside down to encourage drainage. Some stuff
drizzled out the corners of my eyes probably brain fluid. I was still completing menial tasks, shopping, baking and packing 500 cookies, but
needing three hour naps to get over the exertion. I finally hauled my sorry ass to the doctor and am the proud owner of a sinus infection, my first.
Rattling around with pretty blue antibiotics is now doing the trick.

Preconceived Ideas

I received “Perfume. The Story of a Murderer.” by Patrick Süskind for my birthday. I´ve been asked countless times if I have read it
to which I always replied “Absolutely not.” I never wanted to read it. All I knew was it had to do with murdering virgins for their innocence and
I´m like, nope, not for me. I mean for years I have skirted around this book and needless to say the film. But true to form my partner-in-crime,
cognitive behaviour therapist and BFF, Dr. Fox suggested I read it as though it was a text book that I HAD to read, being that it was perfume related.
I couldn´t put it down. Enthralling, astonishing, quite bizarre, and it is on the reading syllabuses in school in Germany as it comes under the
German literature category. I loved the book so much I have no intention of seeing the film. Not because of preconceived ideas, just the fact I
prefer to keep a book I so enjoyed in my mind. A film seldom matches my imagination.

Slightly Obsessive Behaviour

An extremely dear friend gave me “Perfume. The Story of a Murderer.” for my birthday. Uhm, two copies. The first copy he bought, that is the
one on the right-hand side of the photo was a secondhand copy, which he didn´t notice at the time of purchase. Giving a secondhand gift is
so far out of his comfort zone that he went into another book store and bought the one of the left, a brand new copy. I love secondhand books,
and also prefer the cover on that one, as indeed he did too. So you dearest APJ readers one of you gets the chance to receive my brand new copy.

Innocent Perfumed Bussis
CQ

giveaway hemodernhome

A Literary GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Brand New Book: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
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 share any of your own experiences in being proved wrong because of a preconceived or stubborn idea that you held onto firmly in
your head, but then were proved wrong. I´ll get one of my family to pull a name out of my dead armadillo basket and pop the book into the post
to the lucky winner.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 26th January 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by getting one of my family to pull a name out of my dead armadillo basket
The winner will have till Sunday 29th January 2017 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.

Un Jardin Après la Mousson by Jean-Claude Ellena for Hermès 2008

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

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TinaG

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Hi APJ!

In an effort to combat Sydney’s summer heat and humidity, I’ve been seeking out fragrances that I find refreshing. These have ranged through modern and retro aquatics, juicy citrus, and magnolia.

Un Jardin Après la Mousson by Hermès 2008

Un Jardin Après la Mousson by Jean-Claude Ellena

A new fragrance in my wardrobe is Un Jardin après la Mousson by Hermès. I can’t say what exactly made me race off to buy a full bottle of this, but one sniff in David Jones was enough to make me swoon – and so it’s now mine. The official blurb on this fragrance locates it somewhere unspecific in India, taking us to a garden which was in drought but has now been refreshed by monsoon rains. I’ve never been to India but I’ve experienced heavy tropical rains in Papua New Guinea, and the solid downpours can be quite punishing – here’s hoping that the imaginary garden of this fragrance survived the onslaught.

Un Jardin après la Mousson opens with a burst of warm spices and watery notes. Ginger, cardamom and black pepper waft up into the air. There’s a distinctive green melon note which develops at 5 minutes giving the watery effect but in a fruity and very mildly fetid way rather than anything specifically river/ocean/storm related. I really enjoy this combination, I have been finding that it cuts through the summer heat and provides a refreshing aura that even manages to get me through morning public transport in train carriages with no airconditioning. Urg. Speaking of punishing….

Wikipedia

And, as far as fragrance development goes, it is fundamentally linear. At 3 hours, the pepper and melon have softened appreciably, and there is a light white floral accord that I find very subtle and pretty. Reapplying at 4 hours for me brings out the sweet aspects of cardamom and a touch of coriander seed in the background. I’m not sure I find much ‘vetiver’ in there. Longevity is good – there’s still tangible scent on my skin at +8 hours even without a respritz.

The joy in this fragrance for me is very much in the wearing. In the summer heat, it becomes more beautiful and “lived-in” with an added touch of salty skin and dry summer dust. I think this fragrance is wonderful on its own but it is enhanced though use, it’s meant to be worn and be part of a day rather than placed up on a pedestal and admired.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Olfactoria’s Travels
Hermès stores and department stores carry the Jardin range

What fragrances do wear to cut through, or compliment, the summer heat?

Till next time,
Tina G

Scent Diary 16 – 22.1.17

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

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Portia

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Hi Hi Fragrant Fumies,

I thought it might be fun to add a scent diary. Over at Muse In Wooden Shoes Mals86 has been doing one for years and I always love reading her updates and SOTDs. Now I’m not promising to write every single fragrant thing I wore because most weeks it’s testing 20 and wearing 10 for pleasure, so you’ll get a snapshot. This is a trial though so maybe it will continue or maybe it will bore me to shit.

Scent Diary 16 – 22.1.17

Monday 16:

Morning Jin & I went and fixed some lights at the Redfern flat that Kath lives in, 37C at 10.30am SHEESH. I wore Eau Parfumee au The Noir by Bulgari, a cool leather/tobacco/tea and has a deliciously dark quality.
All afternoon, and at Indian for dinner in Harris Park with one of Jin’s ex flames Paul, I wore Kai EdP. A surprisingly good choice even though I got a massive headache halfway through dinner. In the evening writing Trivia Q&A I still had Kai remnants so I drowned that in Atelier Cologne Tobacco Nuit which opened  very nicely but I totally ignored it in my Trivia immersion.
Finished writing Q&A about 3am and gave myself a lavish triple spritz of Armani Privé Cuir Amethyst, which resulted in blissful, languid sleep.

Tuesday 17:

So today is 41C (106F) and humid. Not my ideal weather but luckily Jin discovered that our A/C has a dry mode. It uses about 1/3 the energy of regular cooling A/C and makes the room feel 15 degrees cooler. A mate gave me 10ml of original Sables by Annick Goutal. Immortelle, pepper and tea? As I was wearing it I thought it must be tobacco and honey with some vetiver, goes to show how much I know.
In the early afternoon I spritzed a little Niki de Saint Phalle on my hand and enjoyed it beauty while having a cup of tea and writing blog posts, including one on the ease of its very own loveliness.
For work I chose the lavish, radiant white floral of Reem Acra. It’s easy to wear in the heat, smells fab. It smelled so good I wore it to bed too.

Wednesday 18:

We got to 42C (108F) today and it says humidity is under 30% but it feels way higher so I continued the Reem Acra. My Fundraising gig cancelled this morning. They told everyone else except me. Thank everything I eMailed to check details last night. So I’m spending the day blogging and doing the clothes washing. You can imagine the scene: I’m sitting at the desk in boxers spritzing and sniffing, breaking off regularly to go grab clean clothes to hang and fill the next cycle. TBH it’s very relaxing except for the sweat running down me in rivulets. Above is a pic of the fabulous laundry that Jin built in our apartment, small but really well planned and easy to use. The baskets are Top for whites, Middle for yellow, orange, red, purple, brown, Bottom for green, blue, grey, black. Reds are currently washing and about to hit the lines on the balcony.

Once Jin got home we took the dogs to my BFFs Mum & Dad’s house around the corner for a cooling swim, blessed relief. OMG! In this photo I look like Demis Roussos. After the swim I spritzed some Niki de Saint Phalle and Jin cooked dinner.
Before bed I lavishly applied Bombay Bling by Neela Vermeire Creations. So much fruity fun on open. I was asleep before the heart set in…..

Thursday 19:

Quiet day at home. For Christmas BFF Kath had Vegemite named for us. There are 4 large jars Jin, Seo, Portia & Turbo. This week I opened the first of the set TURBO! We have a sourdough loaf that I’ve been toasting for my Vegemite in the mornings. When people say it’s the little things, sometimes they’re right.
Morning I lavishly spritzed Monsieur Li by Hermès. Floating on a cloud of citrus and greenery. Perfect for our cooler weather today.
We had a drama today, Jin’s dog Jinx ate a poo bag full of poo. BLOODY HELL! Freaking out? You bloody bet I was/am.
My bath time bubbles were provided by Robert Piguet’s  Bandit Shower Gel and followed by Bandit fragrance for work. We had a full house, excellent night

Friday 20:

Walked the dogs in the AM and it is hot and sticky here already.
Going to lunch with Natalie from the now defunct AnotherPerfumeBlog so to brave the heat I’m wearing Geranium Pour Monsieur by Malle. It’s cool minty greenness will hopefully help me remain fresh in this fiery furnace. Sadly lunch got the can because Sydney decided to rain so I did some stuff around the house, paid bills, post office run, groceries etc

Geranium Pour Monsieur Frederic Malle Need refill
Jin came home and we had KFC in the lounge watching TV. I had a Korres Guava bubble bath and tonight I’m wearing Mandragore Pourpe by Annick Goutal. Its sweet minty fresh opening is deliciously green, spicy and tingly pepper/geranium heart and ambers warm base.

Saturday 21:

I was watching a British program on Netflix last night and into this morning. Lovesick. Compulsive viewing, I feel like they’re my mates and I’m watching them go through life & love drama. Anyway, 3.30am I go clean my teeth and can smell no fragrance upon my person so I grabbed Coup de Foudre by Parfums DelRae and spritzed like crazy. Fizzy roses and a greeny/yellow that I thought was narcissus but who knows…

Pedicure by myself today and I really enjoyed the tranquility. I think it’s only the second time in nearly a decade. I wore Eau Parfumée au Thé Noir by Bulgari, its smoky tea and woods were a perfect fit for the acrid bustle of the nail joint. Don’t you love my hairy Hobbit feet?
Update on Jinx the dog. Passed the poo bag in his poo today. Was NOT allowed a second go at it. ARGHHH.

For the afternoon I have had a boxed sample of Celestial Rose by Ramon Bejar on my desk for ages, since December 2014 when I was in NYC and Josie at OSSWALD gave it to me as a GWP. I finally tried it today and it’s a torn green branch and rose. A little bit Tea Rose by Perfumers Workshop.
For bed I spritzed vintage Madame Rochas EdC. A perfectly fresh yet cosy floral aldehyde bomb that was zinging along happily till I started the ZZZZZZZs

Sunday 22:

Original Agent Provocateur in the morning. Yep, I was a rose BOMB! with herbal sidelines. I would have SWORN that this had patchouli in it but nope.
Jin came home and slept through the day so I occupied myself with watching The Crown on Netflix. I know you’ve all seen it and that you’ve all told me but OMG what a fabulous series, I’m completely and utterly enthralled and madly in love with every character. HEAVEN!

Fragrantica

Work tonight and I wore Madonna Truth or Dare. White flower extravaganza.

What a week, how was yours?
Portia xx

CHANEL: Le Baudruchage

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

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Portia

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OK Folks,

Great to see you, as always.

Have you ever wondered about the piece of skin that they put around the neck of perfume to keep the air out? Me too. So it’s called a Baudruchage and it used to be animal, then became vegetal and I think it’s a petroleum product now.

YouTube

Anyway, here is a fascinating mini movie about how it’s done.
Enjoy.
Portia xxx

CHANEL: Le Baudruchage

Seeker by Liz Cook for One Seed

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

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Portia

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Hello Indie Perfumery Lovers,

A while ago Liz sent me this sample to try, which I promptly lost and it has only now resurfaced in my New Year Cleanup. PHEW! So finally I get to tell you about it.

Seeker by Liz Cook for One Seed

One Seed

One Seed gives these featured accords:
Coriander, coconut, vanilla, roasted basmati rice, oakmoss, ambrette seed
Oganic sugar cane ethanol, 100% natural fragrance (natural and organic plant extracts), purified water

Food. My instant correlation in the opening was food. Ice cream in fact. One minute later you can smell the rice and coconut, it’s like a Penang Curry. Deliciously fragrant and my mouth is watering like I’m really going to get my favourite Thai dish. HA! I have a huge happy smile on my face and wonderful memories of going to our fave Thai restaurant in Gordon that looks like nothing, very simple. The food though is abundant, consistently excellent and cheap as chips. The staff are all so friendly and we drive nearly an hour to eat there nowadays. We always get a second order when we are there now to bring home as dinner in two nights time. Yes, we are quite in thrall and have had years of dinners there with so many friends, often just Jin and I will go alone.

Wikipedia

From One Seed: Seeker is a youthful scent created for the young and the young at heart. It is for endless adventures, for seeking truth in all things. Featuring fresh greens and delicate mossy notes entwined with milky coconut, vanilla and the scent of salt on damp skin.

So Seeker is an incredibly happy fragrance for me, the memories flowed for hours. Even as it softened to dry down Seeker still smells like happy memories but they turn more Indian and religious as the fragrance seems to become smokier and darker, more filled with humanity and all the way to the end rice steam. The musk mallow does excellent work as a fleshy backdrop, this frag rocks. You’ll never pick that it’s a natural.

One Seed has $85/30ml EdP
One Seed has a fabulous Sample Set. All 7 fragrances x 2.5ml atomisers

Is there a foody smell you love or wish was part of a fragrance?
Portia xx

Vintage Opium GIVEAWAY WINNER

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

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Portia

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Hey crew,

This has been a super fun one for me, let’s see who our winners are.
Portia xx

Vintage Opium GIVEAWAY WINNER

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, plum, citruses, mandarin orange, pepper, jasmine, cloves, West Indian bay, bergamot
Heart: Carnation, sandalwood, patchouli, cinnamon, orris root, peach, lily-of-the-valley, rose
Base: Labdanum, tolu balsam, sandalwood, opoponax, musk, coconut, vanilla, benzoin, vetiver, incense, cedar, myrrh, castoreum, amber

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 2 winners who will receive:
1 x Vintage Opium by YSL Sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 19th January 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winners were chosen by random.org

Gina Tabasso

Jc Loh

The winners will have till Sunday 22nd January 2017 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.