Australia

Scents of an Australian Christmas 2013 + Recipe

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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Christmas 2013 will be my first summer Christmas in 14 years. It’s already scorching and I am in a conundrum about what fragrance to wear on the day…its got to be lighter, brighter, cooler and less spicy than what works for Europe… and yet it needs to be perfect.

In colder climes it’s a time to rug up and reach for spicier, smokier, coniferous, wood and resin filled frags…for those of you out there in the cold this year, here is my hint list:

– Spicy Floral like Carnation by Comme De Garcons
– Frankincense, smoking, straight from a church is Tom Ford Sahara Noir
– For Frankincense, clove and red fruits, I would douse in Jo Malone’s Pomegranate Noir
– Fir/Pine/Woods – a woody gourmand, like Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice, which combines both the evergreens pine and fir and some gourmand sugary, vanilla odors
– Spicy, Clove and Herbal would be Pot Pouri by Santa Maria Novella. There is even something about this one that will help mask the hangovers, colds and flus of the season…perhaps a medicinal quality and a breath of health!
– Cinnamon and Ginger notes from 5 o’clock Au Gingembre by Serge Lutens
– Resinous and Smoky Myrrh, like Eu Sauvage – Dior

NB I have a feeling some of the above would also fair well, even on a hot Christmas day – see how you go!

Scents of an Australian Christmas 2013

Australian Christmas Al_Fresco_Dining WikipediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Australian Christmas smells include…pine, fir, cherries, raspberries, sunscreen, aftersun, leather (err cricket balls), salty air, coconut, mandarins, vanilla,, frangipanis, lemon merange, trifles, chocolate, mangoes, lychees, tropical fruits and flowers, melons, gardenias, honeysuckle, figs, dust, grasses and tropical summer storms…and the odd bbq!!

A few fragrances containing the above:

Les Exclusifs de Chanel Bel Respiro Chanel FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Chanel Les Exclusif Bel Respiro feels to me like the end of a hot summer day, gives the feeling of showering and using after sun lotion after a day at the beach. It’s a gusty summer holiday house. Conjuring lots of green –grass and evergreen trees-fir/pine, some citrus, some crisp moisture as a cool breeze starts to take temperatures down…its definitely outdoorsy…I can almost hear the cicadas now….Oh, and a leather note

Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche SkinScent 2013 FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche 2013 warm, sparkling sunshine, beach, sand between your toes, exotic and sensual this is my top choice for summer nights, hot dates, romance and Christmas parties. When I spray this, I melt…it’s HOT, glamorous and gorgeous – milky white floral, coconut oil, tropical flowers, neroli, and a touch of mandarin, something sweet and edible like caramel all combine. So many ‘Pacific Island” style fragrances smell too sweet, cheap and tacky – not this one

Scarlett Cacharel FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Cacherel Scarlett From a retro white flacon, blasts a zesty summer, fruity floral fragrance containing jasmine, honeysuckle, citrus, pear and melon. It’s flirty. Drydown is very fruity and strong , good for an outdoor event- barbeque, a park picnic, something sporty, like Frisbee in the back yard.

Amazingreen Comme des Garcons FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Comme Des Garcons Amazing Green unisex, green and leafy, aquatic with spice and smoke, woody and fresh –an Australian Rainforest Christmas! When I sprayed this I got green and citrus, followed by a yummy first rain on bitumen/slightly smoky type of lingering scent. It’s fresh, yet smoky.

My gift to you: Here’s my fave fragrant recipe for Christmas Down Under

Mandarin Ice, with Lychees and Vanilla Ice Cream

Australian Christmas Lychee WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

625g can lychees
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
315g can mandarin segments
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier
¼ cup lemon juice
315g can mandarin segments (extra)

1. Put sugar and water into pan and stir over low heat until dissolved, boil uncovered for 3 minutes – allow to cool
2. put 1 can of undrained mandarins in blender and blend 1 minute- sieve
3. Add mandarin juice, lemon juice, and Grand Marnier to syrup, stir
4. Pour into tray, pop into freezer until set, stirring occasionally
5. Chill lychees and extra segments, drain and reserve syrup of lychees
6. Put lychees and segments into serving bowls with syrup spooned over
7. Flake mandarin ice with fork and spoon on top of lychees
8. Add scoop of vanilla ice cream

Gilvo Perfume Company: Australian History

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Post by Greg Young

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Gilvo Perfume Company

A Piece of Perfume Australiana

Gilvo Perfume Company #3 Gilvo Perfume Company #1 Gilvo Perfume Company #2This is something that I saw on eBay and was intrigued. It’s a bottle of No. 7777 Eau de Cologne, from the Gilvo Perfumery Company, who were manufacturing in Melbourne during the 1940s.
Gilvo Perfume Company #4
According to Perfume Intelligence, Gilvo launched 7777 in 1947, and both company and cologne have long since disappeared. I did find some newspaper ads for No. 7777 from late 1946, so I suspect it was on the market slightly earlier than that, in time for Christmas 1946.

Gilvo Perfume Company #5Launceston Examiner, Thursday 10 October, 1946

No. 7777 was sold in a range of sizes, including a 30 fluid ounce flacon (almost 900 mls!). My bottle looks like it is 2 fl. oz – the size is not marked anywhere.

Gilvo also sold a Cologne called Three Crown Stardust Bouquet, which appears to have preceded 7777 to market, having being on sale in 1945.

Gilvo Perfume Company #6Adelaide Advertiser, Friday 22 June, 1945

Gilvo were not only selling to women. By 1947, they were also selling an aftershave called Straight 8.

Gilvo Perfume Company #3Launceston Examiner, Saturday 15 February 1947

As early as 1940, Gilvo were selling perfume in major stores. This ad does not refer to the brands that were in use later in the decade, but to eau-de-cologne generically. There is no earlier mention of the company in the archives, so this may have been their first product launch.

Gilvo Perfume Company #7! Adelaide Advertiser, Thursday 12 December 1940

Gilvo fragrances were stocked at both Myer’s and David Jones, and featured in their 1946 Christmas promotions.

Gilvo Perfume Company #8SMH, Wednesday 20 November 1946

Gilvo Perfume Company #9The Argus, Tuesday 10 December 1946

A close-up of the DJ’s ad shows that Gilvo were keeping some pretty good company with the likes of Roger and Gallet and Bourjois and were commanding comparable prices to the imported fragrances.

Gilvo Perfume Company #10Gilvo were headquartered in the Melbourne CBD and were hiring labour during the war years. Here’s an example of the sort of job they had on offer .

Gilvo Perfume Company #11The Argus, Saturday 13 November 1943

Gilvo Perfume Company #12The Argus, Tuesday 7 November 1944.

The age limit stated may seem a little odd to us these days. I believe it was because there was a desire for single women aged 18–45 to work in wartime industries exclusively. So I guess the company was seeking to recruit from the ladies who were not required for those roles. Menfolk, of course, were expected to be in war service.

The company’s premises at 360 Little Bourke St was a tiny Art Deco building that is now called Melbourne House, next door to a pizzeria and nestled in the midst of a forest of outdoors shops such as Paddy Pallin. Not exactly perfume central these days!

Gilvo Perfume Company #13The company also had premises in a tiny laneway in North Melbourne called Howard St, as evidenced by this ad.

Gilvo Perfume Company #14The Argus, Saturday 7 September 1946

This job ad appeared around the time that No. 7777 was launched. Notably, by then Gilvo was also describing itself as an export company, suggesting that they were possibly selling perfume into overseas markets.

The perfume business was still operating in Howard St in 1950.

Gilvo Perfume Company #15The Argus, Saturday 17 June 1950

By this time though, Gilvo had started to diversify into quite a different area.

Gilvo Perfume Company #16The Argus, Saturday 21 January 1950

Something does seem to have happened in the perfume trade, because all of the job ads in later years are for roles in Gilvo’s fabric printing business, the last of them in 1955.

Gilvo Perfume Company #17The Argus (Melbourne, Vic). Saturday 25 June, 1955

This is typical of a series of job ads for printing positions from 1953 onwards, so it looks like Gilvo may have changed direction in the early ’50s, so that may be when No. 7777 was finally discontinued.

That would seem to indicate that my bottle is between 60 and 67 years old. Given that age, you can see from the photos that the bottle and box are in great condition. The packaging still has a sweet powdery smell, but the little juice that is left has turned an ugly inky-brown colour and the scent is pretty dubious, shall we say.

Gilvo Perfume Company #18

So, Gilvo were a small perfume company that operated in Melbourne and established a national brand that was able to compete in major retail stores with the imported big names for more than a decade. I guess they were the Tommi Sooni of their day! A little piece of Australia’s fragrance history.

Perfume Intelligence references

http://www.perfumeintelligence.co.uk/library/perfume/n/n3/n3p9.htm http://perfumeintelligence.co.uk/library/perfume/g/g5/g5p3.htm

Advertising references

http://trove.nla.gov.au

© Greg Young 2013

Halloween Music Fun

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Hey there APJ Crew,

So I was looking through YouTube and found some fun and creepy Australian music to remind you how much fun you had on Halloween. I hope you enjoy some historical Aussie music.
Portia xx

Australia_animal_warning_sign WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Skyhooks – Horror Movie (1975)


AC/DC – Highway To Hell (1979)

Divinyls – Science Fiction (1982)

Kate Ceberano – “Unchained Melody” 2006

Lisa Mitchell – Oh! Hark! (2010)

Bohemia EdP by Liz Cook for One Seed

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Hey there Indie Perfume Lovers,

Just so you know ONE SEED is having a Gift With Purchase till Sunday 8/9/13 Australian EST

one seed text logo

spring flowers(plus 2 free samples of your choice with every order over $50 this week only)

In Australia we are gaining quite a perfume creation culture, one of my favourites is Liz Cook’s One Seed who also fly the 100% All Natural flag. Though I am not swayed by whether something is natural or created I know many of you are. There is something deep and real about good natural perfume that is so different from a lot of the fragrances we deal with on a regular basis that they are an acquired taste. Remember your first Serge Lutens after years of Elizabeth Arden or even mainstream CHANEL? It was quite a revelation and for many it took a while to recalibrate to this artistic and a little outrageous perfume ideal.

Bohemia EdP by Liz Cook for One Seed

bohemia One SeedPhoto Stolen One Seed

Top: Blood orange, pink grapefruit
Heart: Jasmine, apricot, rose
Base: Cocoa, tonka, black tea, amber accord, vanilla

From One Seed site: Both broody & playful; a bitter-sweet composition of alluring amber, smoked tea & dark chocolate set against luscious blood orange & vanilla tones, with a delicate heart of jasmine & apricot.

From the very first whiff I get JAFFA, a confectionary here in Australia that is chocolate/orange, like those yummy segmented chocolate oranges that the Christian segment of the world got in their Xmas stockings. I don’t get the tartness of grapefruit it smells more like a mildly bitter, dark orange chocolate. It doesn’t take very long, maybe 5-190 minutes for the jasmine to waft through sinuously. If you liked Olympic Orchids California Chocolate then this is a creamier, richer and less scratchy version, still dark chocolate but much milder and more processed. I find Bohemia to be the closest to a mass market niche fragrance that One Seed has yet produced, it opens intensely sweet gourmand then levels out to sensual foody, good enough to eat rather than cake or cookie, in the heart and dry down and could easily have come from Serge Lutens or Robert Piguet. In fact, Bohemia is even more intense and interesting than many of the modern day offerings from mass market niche houses.

bohemia One Seed ClockLady linda FlickrPhoto Stolen linda Flickr

After the initial 1-30 minute fireworks, depending on the day, Bohemia settles down to something warm, suede plush, elegant and lavishly chic. You know those people who make everything look effortless, great hair, well put together clothes without fussiness, who always look relaxed either in an Armani suit or jeans, at the races, beach, boardroom or buying yachts. It’s like they’ve worked out something in life, like they were given a playbook or thought so much about it when they were young that now they just coast secure in the knowledge that the hard part is over. This is the kind of person I think could wear Bohemia, or anyone who wanted to smell like that. It’s unusual, yes, but not wild, ridiculous or trying hard. This could very easily be a signature scent if you were that way inclined. AWESOME! I love the black tea that has a smoky vibe and cuts through the vanilla sweetness perfectly keeping it a little bit tough and edgy.

bohemia One Seed Incense Lady Gianni Cumbo FlickrPhoto Stolen Gianni Cumbo Flickr

Another great thing about Bohemia is its longevity, I get around 5-6 hours of fragrant life and another couple of very close and skinnish scent. Nice sillage for the first two or three hours but never a huge scent bubble. After that it’s a friends and family scent, only those within your comfort zone.

One Seed site: 5ml Travel Spray $14.95 or $97/50ml
9 x 1ml Complete Range Sample Set $35 including World Wide Postage

 

giveaway ThinkDigitalWorldPhoto Stolen ThinkDigitalWorld

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

There are 2 prizes this week in our ONE SEED GIVEAWAY. Each winner will receive:

1 x 4ml manufacturers spray sample of Bohemia
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.

All I need is a HELLO, with how you follow for you to be eligible for the draw.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie One Seed GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-1Wp I FOLLOWED @oneseedperfumes #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 8th September 2013 10pm 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 11th September 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.

Kings Canyon Easter Getaway Photo Essay!

/ 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!!)

Easter 13.1

Easter 13.2

Easter 13.3

Easter 13.4

Easter 13.5

Easter 13.6

Easter 13.7

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Easter 13.11

Easter 13.12

This pic from my BFF Kath…

Jin&Portia KingsCanyon 2013 Kath

Aussie Fragrance Day.

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hi all,

Well it’s Good Friday and the shops are ALL closed. OMG! Well almost all, we went a nearby Korean grocery store and got everything except bread, which we forgot because we are dumb asses. Happy and safe Easter to all those who care about such things.

Photo Stolen from HomesSchoolsOases

So I’ve taken the chance today to try a couple of recent purchases that arrived on my doorstep from within this glorious country, Australia. We have a burgeoning fragrance industry down here and Evie C and I would like to find as many companies, groups or even solo perfumers in Australia as we can and hopefully help to create more of a community. We’d like also to meet and talk to any that are interested and find out bunches about them all and how they got to be perfumers and where their dreams are taking them. I know our Aussie readers love to hear about our own and I’m pretty sure that all over the world they’ll be inspired.

This dream is not, of course, just for Aussie perfumers. We want to meet and grill them all.

HOPE by ONE SEED

A delicious citrus opening, so sweet, spicy and sparkly it (you know pear, rocket and parmesan salad where the pear has been dipped in lemon to hold its colour and then a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar? That is exactly what I’m smelling, my mouth is watering from this fragrance). They call this a meditative scent on their site but I feel perky and ready for anything. About 40 minutes later while the citrus is still playing descant quietly, the woods and vanilla have moved in, I don’t get lavender but my nose can be unresponsive at times. This is a bright and alluring scent, a constant intriguing dichotomy between the citrus and warm dark sweetness, it’s nearly 2 hours since first spritz and still powering away on my, usually scent hungry, skin. It changes its mood and tone constantly, offering different depths and layers of scent harmonies, now showing lime, now vanilla, now woods. I had no idea of how good this fragrance would be and am madly impressed, this could be the citrus I’ve been looking for to add to my fragrance wardrobe. I will spend a week trying my sample.

One Seed is a super cool crew from Adelaide, Australia that use 100% botanical, nothing synthetic and are organic-focused and GMO-free (genetically modified organisms) headed by Liz Cook (stay tuned for Evie C’s interview coming soon) that gives 10% of all profits to charities close to their hearts. Snaps! Here’s what they have to say about Hope.

Hope EDP

Hope eau de parfumPhoto Stolen from OneSeedCompany.com

Fragrance Family: Soft, mossy & magnetic.

A meditative blend of Australian sandalwood & dewy oakmoss, with a delicate undertone of lavender & cedarwood, and sunny citrus accents.

Top notes: bergamot, lime Heart notes: cedarwood, lavender, vanilla

Base notes: Australian sandalwood, oakmoss, musk ambrette

Hope available at ONE SEED in 50ml and 5ml bottles or you can get the complete 7 x 1ml sample set from ETSY for AUS$28

SANDALWOOD VANILLA by INNER EARTH

GOSH! Sandalwood, Vanilla and Patchouli! So simple, an oil based 10ml roll on but it is so damn gorgeous, and affordable beyond your wildest dreams. Like the sweet, woodsy, dry down of some very expensive big name perfumes (which is often my favourite bit and I wish it was stronger) but all at once and lasts eternally! I have been wafting discretely and delectably through the house and enjoying this big, quiet, cuddly, sweet, furry fragrance. After about 3 hours you are left with a vanilla candy ice cream. it’s now over 5 hours and I am still sweetly delicious, Sandalwood Vanilla has now an amber-ish, musky depth that is so quiet but still discernible. Honestly, I can’t get over how good this smells for so little money. You must try this.

Erin, the brain behind Inner Earth says

The Sandalwood Vanilla perfume oil is a blend of fragrance and essential oils in a light base of fractionated coconut oil. The notes are sandalwood, vanilla and patchouli. That’s it! Over time I have completely gotten rid of my spray perfumes and just use perfume oils … I find them a softer, more understated way of wearing perfume, plus they’re moisturising and easy to pop into your handbag 🙂

Photo Stolen from InnerEarthSoaps.com.au

Inner Earth Soaps are based in Bondi, Sydney, Australia (of Bondi Beach fame) and are famous for interesting and quirky bath soaps handcrafted in the traditional cold process method and use only sustainable palm oil. I came to them because I was looking for a non chocolate Easter present for my BFF Kath who has lost 35kgs (I know, AH MAY ZING!!!) and has to be careful not to fall back into bad habits. Trolling the web I came across the Inner Earth Ducky Soap and thought, ‘It’s almost a chicky” and so that’s what she got. It has already graced her enormous spa bath and passed all tests for cuteness, fragrance and cleanliness.

Photo stolen from InnerEarthSoaps.com.au

Thank you all so much for sharing what’s inside my mind today, don’t forget our GIVEAWAY COMPETITION is drawn tomorrow night, so easy and you could win a swag of perfumes to try.

I was supposed to have a special video tonight of my mate Margeaux and I doing a video review but there has been a technical hiccup, hopefully resolved by tomorrow.

In its place I offer you this extremely gorgeous 2 minute extravaganza featuring our own Nicole Kidman