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Sandra
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Hello dear APJ readers. How are you all doing?
Life is quiet here at the moment. Loving the routine and no added stress this week. As I sit and write this post, the sun is shining and the sky is a brilliant blue. The trees and bushes are starting to bud and as I walk around doing all of my errands each day, I stop and smell flowers along the way. Not much is out yet, but give it a couple of weeks and it will be gorgeous. Continue reading
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Post by Poodle
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Hi folks! It’s Poodle again.
I wanted to love it, I did. I tried to. Sadly, White just wasn’t that into me.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
French may rose, Venezuelan tonka absolute, Italian orris root absolute, Mysore sandalwood, Italian bergamot, musk, Haitian vetiver, Indonesian patchouli
Sometimes I get caught up in the hype around a product. By all accounts I should love Puredistance White. It’s supposed to be almost magical. Happiness bottled is what they promised me. One sniff and I’m going to be grinning from ear to ear. That’s what the press release said. That’s what the bloggers said. It took a while for me to get a sample but finally I did. I was almost afraid to try it for fear I would fall hard and then have to figure out how to save my pennies to buy a bottle. The only reason I didn’t blind buy is the price. (I do have limits on how much I’ll spend on blind buys.) When the sample arrived I gave myself a couple of good sprays from the sample vial and then sniffed.
Hmmm…did I get an instant shot of happiness?
PDI
No. Not exactly.
A few days later I tried again. My impressions were a bit different the second time and the third time I tried it but I can tell you with certainty this one is not for me.
The first spraying was sweet. Toothache sweet. I’ve never snorted any type of white powder but each time I brought my wrist to nose I couldn’t help but think of how this must be what it’s like to do lines of confectioners sugar. I like a lot of sweet perfumes but this wasn’t working for me. It was very dry, powdery, and saccharine. I couldn’t pick out any notes. It stayed linear and sugary and either faded away or my nose just stopped registering it. My guess is my wacky skin chemistry amplified the Tonka and orris root and turned them into a powdery sweet mess.
The next try was a bit different but still not much better. I got a bit of rose which was soured by the bergamot and again dusted with a dry, confectioners sugar. This was followed by the musk which was very clean and white.
I wish I could say all the wonderful things everyone else did but it seems that White and I were just not destined to be friends. I’m not blaming the perfume at all. I’m quite sure it’s made with the best ingredients and is totally quality like other Puredistance perfumes. It’s all me. My skin can take notes in perfumes that smell horrible on others and make them magical but it also can do the exact opposite which is what I think happened here. I know the rest of the world loves this fragrance but I do suggest you try before you buy just in case.
PDI
Further reading: Non Blonde and Perfume Posse
LuckyScent has $190/17.5ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/0.25ml
Do tell, what perfume just didn’t play nicely with you?
Hugs
Poodle
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Post by Portia
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Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, pink pepper, orange blossom
Heart: Labdanum, Egyptian jasmine, allspice
Base: Atlas cedar, musk, seaweed
LuckyScent has $150/50ml and Samples
This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Belle de Jour Sample (my review sample remnants)
P&H Anywhere in the world
Entries Closed Tuesday 31st May 2016 10pm Australian EST
Winner was chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Wednesday 8th June 2016 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.
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Post by Poodle
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Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Fucus, azurone (iodized accord), adrenaline accord, blood accord, milk accord, iris, coconut, sandalwood, Opoponax
Etat Libre d’Orange describes this as the “ode to the pinnacle of sexual pleasure.”
Umm…no.
There so much hype out there about this perfume I had to share my thoughts on it. In my opinion, Secretions Magnifique does not smell like sex. It’s not even sexy for that matter. Sex has a primal, animal quality to it even if you’re not in the mood and decide to lay back and think of England. Maybe on some level the notes call to mind certain body fluids but they are all contained in test tubes and Petrie dishes here, more like a lab or a crime scene instead of what remains clinging to warm sheets and skin after a sexual interlude. There’s no warmth here.
I’m not one of the people who wants to vomit when they smell this fragrance. That seems to be a common response to it. On my skin it’s VERY synthetic with flowers. Fake flowers. I can wear it but I find it to be depressing. It smells clinical. If I close my eyes and really think about the odor I am reminded of the years I worked as an Emergency Medical Technician. A friend said it reminded her of an emergency room too. It does, and to dissect it by the notes is difficult.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
Secretions Magnifique is a scent of cold linoleum floors and fluorescent lights. It’s the air in the emergency room which seems a little chilly and the beads of sweat from the anxiety felt when you’re sitting there. It’s the look on the faces in the waiting room as they try not to cry when their Saturday night ends in a twist of metal on the road and someone close to them being looked at by a team of doctors behind a curtain. There’s that churning in the stomach from wondering is this going to turn out okay or will it be far worse than you imagined. It’s the metal of the stretchers and the hospital equipment shining in that cold, harsh light. It’s the bleach and disinfectants used to clean up what remains of someone, or of someone’s bad decision that will haunt them for a while. If you make it to the end there’s an almost plastic flowery sandalwood finish. I guess that’s the part where the patient gets out of the ER and into a room. Slightly warmer but still a far cry from sexy.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
No one is wearing Secretions Magnifique as a cuddle up scent. I don’t think it’s awful on me, just very, very cold. I’ve heard people say that some Chanel’s are cold due to the use of aldehydes. Those folks have never sniffed this I imagine.
Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Bois de Jasmin
LuckyScent has $85/50ml
Surrender To Chance has $4.75/ml
Have you dared to sniff this one? Is it sexy to you?
Hugs
Poodle
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Post by Trésor
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It is my honest opinion that all of the best things in this life are dichotomies. Be it the vivid contrast of petals of crimson velvet and piercing, sinister thorns or the magnificent juxtaposition of a beautiful woman wearing a luxuriant piece of jewellery with her lover’s threadbare t-shirt. It’s a marvelous balance as one entity seems to bless the other with splendid context. Rarely is this concept more evident than in one of my most beloved tuberose elixirs, a study in the contrast of unbridled eroticism and graceful fragility of pulchritudinous vestal blossoms. Rarely is it so poignant as in Vierges et Toreros, a positively bewitching brew from the house of Etat Libre d’Orange.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot, nutmeg, pepper, cardamom, ylang ylang, tuberose, leather, animalis, costus, patchouli, vetyver
The inception of Vierges et Toreros is something of a cataclysm, a bracing lightshow of sizzling black pepper and the undeniable titian hue of rich bergamot. The two collide with effervescent calamity, unapologetic and resolute in their tumultuous flight of combat. This sequence, harsh and captivating, makes way for a tremendously sexy accord of leather. Leather which I can only describe as possessing the naughty and immaculately subversive redolence of a man’s leather jock strap after a rather ambitious wearing. It’s unctuous, sweaty and blackened with oozing tar. An obsidian harness binds the blooming and narcotic tuberose that follows and defiles her virginal petals with exquisite filth.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
As she spirals downward into an atramentous underground she begins to erupt flares of icy menthol and releases a petrol fog as if to celebrate her newfound state of being. There is an auerate glimmer of sweet nectar upon the petals of ylang ylang that have been showered with scintillating particles of warm nutmeg and enveloping cardamom; a masterful juxtaposition which ricochets the ambience of this composition into an entirely different realm. The mood has changed and the vapours rising from my skin now call to mind the intangibly beautiful erotic essence that rises from the bodies of two people who have just made love. Gone is the bondage and, it is now a luminous stratosphere of tenderness and warmth; the afterglow. In this base lays a smoky note of vetiver, cradled upon the most beautifully delicate patchouli leaves. It is this stage that is my favourite, each element of the composition can be traced by their illuminated tendrils that are traipsing soulfully through the olfactory fantasy. Now, with the volume lowered to an opiate hum is where I simply sit and take in the soft symphony playing out before myself and revel in the aromas until it finally fades into oblivion.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
Vierges et Toreros lasts about 6 hours on my skin and wears quite beautifully with a sillage that is pronounced but not at all overpowering. A funny little side note: I often receive compliments when I wear this particular potion from just about everyone you could imagine. The last time I wore it both the receptionist at my dentist’s office and the man who prepared my drink at the coffee shop told me I smelled beautiful. Based upon that I can safely say it’s not just me enjoying another strange perfume, it’s actually pleasant to those around me as well. Trust me, that’s not always the case. Give Vierges et Toreros a go if you’re looking for a new twist on tuberose or just want to try a fragrance who’s beauty lays in how they are just a bit rough around the edges.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
Further reading: Smelly Thoughts and Bois de Jasmin
Parfum1 has $85/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4.75/ml
Have you tried this so called masculine tuberose? What did you think?
Trésor xx
Hello Lucky APJ Readers!
One of our contributors Michael has been in touch with Puredistance and they kindly sent TWO sample vials of BLACK for him to try. He is keeping one and has given the other to Australian Perfume Junkies to give to a lucky reader.
If you’d like to purchase Black
Puredistance has samples for sale already
LuckyScent has pre-order for December shipment
This week’s winner will receive
1 x 2ml Manufacturers Spray Sample of Black by Puredistance
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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.
To be eligible for the draw just mention how you follow the APJs and tell us any perfume that is black or noir that you like
Extra Chances?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie PUREDISTANCE Black GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2ah #Perfume #Giveaway @puredistance
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Entries Close Thursday 7th November 2013 10pm Australian EDST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Sunday 10th November 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.
Australian Perfume Junkies 