beauty

Cookie Queen on Portia, Perfume & Packing Less

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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Happy Australia Day APJ!

 

My bag is packed and I´m ready to go. Lalalalalala.

Portia, Perfume & Packing Less

I am leaving on a small jet plane tomorrow for London, and I have packed very little. I am positive that any able-bodied adult going away for a few days can easily get all their stuff into a 10 kilo cabin bag. No? Try it. It is liberating. You are instantly more mobile, probably better off as it usually costs for checked baggage on the economy flights, and you reduce the risk to zero that your bag will end up in London, Texas. Straight through the gates and no eternal lining up with thousands of people to check your bag in, thus saving on meds.

Val and Portia Vienna Laughing 2013

I am so excited to see Portia and Jin. Have you ever had a Portia hug? I feel inextricably linked to him. It has been just over three years of a friendship that changed the direction of my life. As you may know from a previous APJ post Portia Turbo will be presenting a Perfume Lovers London event on the 28th of January. Whoo-bloody-hoo!! I shall have a couple of batches of fudgey white chocolate chunk brownies stuffed into my small case to celebrate. Easier to travel with than cookies.

Hannah Val Portia London 2014

I want something new to wear something for the event. A few drops from the lab testers of the up and coming Vero Profumo tobacco fragrances should suffice.

Vero Profumo Lab Testers

Val Portia Austria 2014

Not going to take any other perfumes with me. I have no doubt at all that my leather perfume pouch will fill up very quickly on its own.

Perfume stash bag from The Thinking Magpie.

James Portia Austria Chocolate Shop 2014

As you read this I am running around Salzburg like a chipmunk on crack, delivering cookies.

Val Portia Austria Home 2014

My husband is coming with me, without his bike.

Val Christian Portia Bike shop 2014

I am also taking my therapist with me. Not in my suitcase. She bought her own ticket.
All bases covered I believe.

Great British Bussis
CQ

White Cattleya by Ellen Covey for Olympic Orchids 2015 + GIVEAWAY

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Post by Azar

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Happy New Year APJ!

I am a citrus junkie. I love eating and smelling the new crops of grapefruits, pomelos, lemons, limes, oranges and tangerines that come into our local markets in November through early December. I also adore the flowers of the early winter blooming (Northern hemisphere) Cattleya orchid hybrids that, coincidentally, often smell like citrus fruits or flowers. On December 15th Ellen Covey introduced her new White Cattleya fragrance happily coinciding with the arrival of fresh citrus in the stores and the opening of cattleya blossoms in greenhouses everywhere.

White Cattleya by Olympic Orchids 2015

White Cattleya by Ellen Covey

White_Cattleya Olympic OrchidsOlympic Orchids

Olympic Orchids give these featured accords:
Citron, lemon, neroli, jasmine, heliotrope, orchid accord, light vanilla, musk.

White Cattleya was created as a wedding fragrance but to me it is the ultimate semi-gourmand citrus perfume opening with an oily-sweet lemon zest. Imagine the pores of a yellow lemon rind exuding droplets of fragrance and you have an idea what I smell right off the top. There are almost fifty varieties of lemons grown commercially these days. In our local stores we see a lot of “Meyers” lemons (a lemon x orange hybrid), “Villafranca”, Florida’s leading lemon and “Eureka”, the top US commercial variety. For me the zesty, sweet opening of White Cattleya is very close to the fragrance and flavor of the sweet Persian lemon “Limoo Shirin” (C. limetta). This mildly sweet, slightly bitter, low acid fruit has a smooth, thin skin and is about the size and shape of a tennis ball.

White_Cattleya Olympic Orchids Citrus_limetta WikipediaWikipedia

As we all know certain citrus top notes are flighty and evaporate within moments of application. Not so in White Cattleya. What I perceive as Persian lemon zest stays in place on my skin for at least 30 minutes before its starts to shift to the scent of one of my favorite Italian liqueurs – Limoncello. As Limoncello comes to the fore I begin to detect one of my least favorite florals, the dreaded heliotrope. Fortunately for me, the gooey sweet marzipan aspect of heliotrope is tempered with jasmine and the tenacious citron. The floral/citrus heart of White Cattleya stays in place for hours, eventually morphing (but not fading) to an ethereal vanilla and musk. White Cattleya is a powerful fragrance with strong to moderate sillage, easily lasting for 14 to 16 hours. Also, on my skin, it does not wash off even after a hot shower. If you are not a lemon lover, be careful how you apply this fragrance! That being said, lemon and jasmine scents are both known to sharpen our wits and help us feel better about ourselves

Further reading:
Olympic Orchids has $65/30ml + Samples

Azar X

Giveaway myprettypaintsmyprettypaints

White Cattleya GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 5ml refillable purse spray of White Cattleya
P&H Worldwide

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged. 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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us if you love or hate lemons. BTW – have you tried the new White Cattleya?

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 14th January 2016 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Sunday 17th January 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.

 

Shower Time Fun + Beauty

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Post by AF Beauty

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Hi APJ,

So, in the last few years there has been a bit of a move towards products which can be used in the shower in order to save time and make you feel amazing. For me, the verdict is still out on whether they do actually save money or make you feel amazing.

Shower Time Fun + Beauty

Nivea In-Shower Rich Body Lotion Skin Conditioner

First up, Nivea In-Shower Rich Body Lotion. I’ve had this in my shower for about a year. The bottle is massive to start with – and while that might sound great, let me tell you two things. First, massive bottles are difficult to handle with wet shower hands. Second, massive bottles cause massive bruises when you drop them on your feet. (You’re welcome.)

Well, ONCE you’ve managed to dispense some product, then you need to apply and actually it’s not too bad. It has the classic Nivea aroma, which is comforting to me. The product is thick and feels a little waxy as you apply. It’s a very difficult texture to describe – initially you’d not notice anything different to a standard lotion, but if you rub your hands together it feels that you’ve rubbed your hands in lip balm! That said, if you apply as instructed and rinse, basically don’t rub your hands together, it’s not too noticeable.
Once out of the shower your bod is, undeniably, softer and smoother although I did find some parts didn’t sink in as well as I expected.

An hour after the shower and the Nivea scent is gone, which is a bit of shame. However, all that said, I will make more of an effort to use it again and when I run out; I’ll try a different variation. I’ll also look for a pump-action dispenser for my inept hands!

St Tropez Gradual Tan In Shower

Next up, a newbie in Australia, St Tropez In Shower Gradual Tan. At a pretty expensive price point compared to other self-tan products ($40!!) I was expecting good things from this. I ordered on a pre-order and was thrilled when it arrived. I went to use it the first time after the gym in the shower at work one day. I have to get lifts into the basement at work to use the showers, it would appear that the lift destination is actually the Antarctic, it’s freezing!

The instruction for this product is to apply with the shower off and let it sit for three minutes. Let me tell you, three minutes in the cold shower without water is actually eternity. I tried this a few times and I was bargaining with myself on how long I would be able to stand the cold. I have no idea how this is so popular in the UK where it’s freezing!

The product still had that biscuity smell of self-tan and I didn’t really notice a change, I guess because I couldn’t tolerate the wait.
Personally I would prefer to use an out of shower self-tan and tolerate the smell.

I’d love to hear if there are any fans of either product here?

Turtle Vetiver Front by Isabelle Doyen for Les Nez 2012

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Post by Portia

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Hiya Fume Family,

Do you have a few scents that got away. You tried it when it was released, loved it but couldn’t afford it at the time? Or you were going to buy it but something else caught your eye? Or the craving didn’t start till well after your first sniff?

Turtle Vetiver Front by Les Nez 2012

Turtle Vetiver Front by Isabelle Doyen

Turtle Vetiver Front Les Nez FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vetiver, coconut milk, moss, ambergris

I don’t remember when or how I got this decant. Turtle Vetiver Front was never on my radar and though I’ve loved vetiver as a note and also for its innumerable uses in modern society it’s not a note I pursue. My skin throws much different fragrance to me than what I read about in others reviews too so maybe I was let down in my expectations on first sniffing. Anyway, I dismissed Turtle Vetiver Front on my first round with it.

Turtle Vetiver Front Les Nez Vetiver WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Fast forward a ways to quite recently and I was writing about Vetiver Dance 07 by Tauer Perfumes and trying to see if anything in my history would correlate. Anyway, I came across this decant again and had a little sniff and though it wasn’t what I was looking for at the time the soft focus sweet swamp and light, lilting greenness of Turtle Vetiver Front made me want to come back and wear it again. I wanted to get my thoughts down because this is the last dregs of my decant and there are no bottles to be found. Maybe I’ll buy a decant from Surrender To Chance and get to live it some more.

Imagine vetiver. All the ink, swamp, smoke, dry rasp, oily, grassy, twiggy, metallic and salty aspects. Now take all of these amazing facets and remove the spikes and rough edges, shake to blend and give the wearer little or no hint of notes, create a new scent of them all like looking at the world through a lightly frosty green tinted pair of glasses. The edges are blurred and vegetally sweetened, one spritz and the whole world seems a little cooler and a lot smoother and there is air between the notes, sheer yet fragrant.

As the heart burns away my skin chemistry leaves me with a dry vetiver and a lightly salted breeze over sun warmed skin which dwindles and dwindles without collapsing to fade.

DAMN, I wish I had more of this….

Turtle Vetiver Front Les Nez Green World Alosh Bennett FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Grain de Musc and Non Blonde
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/ml

What is one of your lost scents? Which one got away for you?
Portia xxx

 

 

Eau de Cédrat by L’Occitane 2015

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Post by Portia

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When Eau de Cedrat (I call it Cedrat in my head, so we’ll use that for this post). When Cedrat was first released by L’Occitane I was given some of the range to try. I kept the Shower Gel and Soap for myself and gave the rest to friends or in giveaways so other people could try the products and give me feedback. One person said they are so impressed that they already went to a L’Occitane store and purchased more of the range, another friend loves the fragrance and has used quite a bit of his bottle and I went and repurchased at full retail a new shower gel.

Eau de Cedrat by L’Occitane 2015

Eau de Cedrat L`Occitane FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cedrat bark, bergamot
Heart: Blue ginger, nutmeg
Base: Cedar, cashmere wood

Currently I have drenched myself in Cedrat to combat the humid night heat we are having in Sydney at the moment. Don’t misunderstand me, I love the heat and relish the Sydney summer. Night time though I find it hard to sleep in muggy heat, it’s 1am and still 21C (70F) with 86% humidity so I’ve slipped into my office and spritzed liberally. A cool, sharp, sweet citrus opening that is bold and energising, clear bergamot with almost no breath or pith that runs headlong into zinging, singing ginger. They are quite the pair, fizzing merrily away like a lemon squash and yet managing to be refreshing.

L'Occitane Cedrat Collection 1

Cedrat is not nearly as nuanced or storied as a cologne, it’s a bright and forthright citrus fortified by a few bit players that help it maintain buoyancy. I’m fragrantly wafting off to bed now, Jin has installed new ceiling fans and it would be rude not to go lie under one with him. I know that there will be a very slight waft of amorphous woods and a hint of citrus left tomorrow morning.

This is a perfect gift for anyone who is aware of their appearance but not deeply into the whole vanity trip. A casual, easy care set that means you or your partner can have a single scent right through the bathing and living process. Easy peasy, looks and smells great and it won’t break the bank.

L'Occitane Cedrat Collection

Further reading: Mr Neo Luxe and Red Lips Blue Eyes
L’Occitane Australia has the range from $8.50 up

Do you love a fully integrated regime?
Portia xx

 

Vanille Tonka by Parfums de Nicolai: LIVE Video Sniff

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

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Post by Portia

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Hey Hey Crew,

I’m about to jump on a plane with Jin for our 2016 European Adventure. 10 cities in 5 weeks! It’s come around so freaking quickly and now it’s really happening!
WOO HOO!

Vanille Tonka by Parfums de Nicolai

Vanille Tonka: LIVE Video Sniff

Vanille Tonka Nicolai Parfumeur Createur FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Basil, lemon, mandarin oils
Heart: Carnation, orange blossom absolute, pepper oil, cinnamon oil
Base: Incense, vanilla absolutes, Tonka bean

Scotty and I on the back verandah being fools with a super great fragrance. So good, one of the yummy ones.

Mata Hari by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes 2010

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Post by Portia

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Hi there Independent Fragrance Lovers,

It’s no secret that I’m a Dawn Spencer Hurwitz fan boy. I love her aesthetic, the fragrances are mostly a perfect fit for me and I also love that being an independent perfumer the fragrances are more alive and interesting than a lot of the modern, ultra smooth, panel tested to mediocrity fragrances available in both the mainstream and niche lines. Dawn is free to use ratios that would be unheard of in the mainstream and is allowed to let her own charisma show through in the fragrances. Add to that how lovely she is to deal with and the obvious delight she gets from creating fabulous scents and I am lost. I bought a dram of Mata Hari after a sample I had positively sent me gaga.

Mata Hari by DSH Perfumes 2010

Mata Hari by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Mata Hari DSH PerfumesPhoto Stolen DSH Perfumes

DSH Perfumes gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, coriander, fruity notes No.1 (botanical accord), green mandarin, neroli, orange blossom, sweet orange, blood orange, tarragon
Heart: Blackcurrant, champaca, cinnamon, cloves, lilac cocktail (botanical accord), Moroccan rose, orris root, marigold, davana, may rose, otto rose, osmanthus, nutmeg, angelica root, honey, Sambac jasmine, tuberose, vintage orchid ( botanical accord)
Base: Sandalwood, ambrette seed, peru balm, cumin, cedar, myrrh, tobacco, benzoin, Buddah wood, cassis bud, labdanum, patchouli, green oak moss, vetiver, leather (botanical accord), musk, tonka, cade, vanilla

If you have read anything about Mata Hari by DSH Perfumes you’ll know that the scent is Dawn’s recreation of Greta Garbo as Mata Hari in the 1931 film. Mata Hari (1876 – 1917), an artistic name taken in 1897 is Malay for “sun” (literally, “eye of the day”, was a Dutch born erotic dancer who was accused of being a German spy in France in WWI and was executed by French firing squad.

Mata Hari DSH Perfumes Mata-Hari Garbo 1931 WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Mata Hari has a really old school, vintage fragrance feel and is a second cousin to things like Rochas Femme and Guerlain Mitsouko. It’s a parfum concentration so you get a thick, rich and syrupy opening full of fruit and herbs but already backed by balms, resins, woods and leather. It’s hard to believe that there is no animal product because Mata Hari is as feral as you can imagine, maybe the honey.

As the initial blast calms to a dull roar the bittersweet heart comes through and the spicy notes, rose, honey and white flowers are only noticable when I put my mind to finding them, really Mata Hari is a spicy, floral bouquet with dark green broken leaves and some snapped twig. Then Mata Hari becomes softest moss, leather and amber, it hovers lightly on my skin for a couple of hours before I lose all traces of it.

Mata Hari DSH Perfumes Mata-Hari_1910 WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Perfume Posse
DSH Perfumes has $75/1 dram and samples

Who is your favourite independent perfumer? Have you tried Dawn’s work?
Portia xx

Desert Thunderstorm Eau de Parfum by Solstice Scents

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

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Post by Erica Golding

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Greetings from the frigid winter tundra!

Yes, I’m exaggerating, but winter is in full force where I live, and the cold bite of the icy wind really slices into the soul. On days where I cringe at the very thought of stepping outside into the sub-zero wasteland, I love to indulge in a perfume that evokes blazing summer heat. With that in mind, today I am reaching for a brand new love, one that reaches into happy memories of dry desert heat and white hot sunlight.

Desert Thunderstorm EdP by Solstice Scents

Desert Thunderstorm Solstice ScentsSolstice Scents

Solstice Scents give these featured accords:
Desert Sage, Pinyon Pine & Resin, Petrichor, Sweetgrass, Creosote Bush, Sand, Ponderosa Pine, Smoke

I recently purchased a sample of the new Desert Thunderstorm EdP from Solstice Scents, giddy with anticipation after having drooled over the preview Angela shared online. When I first tested my sample, I braced myself, feeling like it would either be an epic win or a soul-shattering fail on my skin, and cautiously hoped for the former. Immediately, I plunged into a vision of intensely focused awe, deeply inhaled breaths of gratitude and wonder. I had lofty expectations for this creation, and as it rose from my skin, I felt like I already knew it from a dream. It was exactly what I was hoping for – Angela’s poetic description on her website is exceptionally precise.

The opening is complex, a torrent of notes I can’t truly recognize, and the mysterious symphony is absolutely exhilarating. I sense the humidity of hot stone steaming, slick from the sudden downpour, a cooling mineral note. As the perfume evolves and settles, the botanical elements begin to dominate with elegant simplicity.

desertthunderstorm Solstice ScentsSolstice Scents

The pinyon pine resin is the dominant, mystical note for me. I bought a little pot of pinyon pine balm in Arizona on vacation many years ago, and this distinctive, intoxicating aroma glows within Desert Thunderstorm. The sweetgrass lends just the right velvet-soft balance to the composition. Delicate accents of smoke and sage are barely-there, finishing touches executed with refined grace. I am so deeply moved every time I gift myself with this precious indulgence.

Solstice scents LogoSolstice Scents

Solstice Scents has $85/50ml

What do you wear on a blistering cold winter’s day? Do you have a special Solstice Scents fragrance that warms your heart?

Best wishes to keep you roasty-toasty and finely fragranced, my friends!

-Erica

Australian Sandalwood Oil Spectacular

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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Hello APJ Peeps!

I hope you are all well and fabulously fragrant. I wanted to share a captivating documentary I discovered today. It takes an hour to view, but well worth the time invested for its fascinating content, based in Western Australia and France, all about delicious Australian Sandalwood and more!

Australian Sandalwood Oil Spectacular

The documentary outlines the Australian Sandalwood and Indian Sandalwood oil industries in Australia and highlights environmental issues, indigenous community involvement, poaching, uses of, industry’s worth and traces the oil right through to Givaudon’s laboratory in France where they now use both species of oils for fine fragrance and beauty products.

How would you describe the smell of Sandalwood Oil? Have you had the luck to smell both Indian AND Australian native sandalwood oil? What differences did your nose perceive?

I learnt so much from watching and hope you do too! Make yourself a cuppa or some popcorn, relax and enjoy!

Australian Sandalwood and Indian Sandalwood oil industries in Australia Documentary Link <<<JUMP

Here is an additional ABC news story, which outlines the dodgy poaching industry that is occurring in greater volume than the legal exporting of Sandalwood Oil from Australia. Who knew?!? SO interesting!

After watching the above my mind was inspired, racing in all different directions. My legs took me to my bathroom where I found a bottle of Mecca Cosmetica: Scrub Up Smoothing Body Polish. The reason I raced to find it was I knew it was the only product I had containing Sandalwood KERNEL (i.e. not from the wood) oil CO2 extracted AND the nuts themselves as the exfoliation component. It is from the species Santalum Spicatum which is indeed the Australian Sandalwood kernels. If you remember from the program they were the bigger nuts and sound like they often go to waste…perhaps not anymore!? It seems they have made a slightly more “luxurious version” of the traditional indigenous “chew and spit” kernel poultice/scrub. (..And I do recommend it!)

Sandalwood Mecca Cosmetica

We at APJ would love to hear your thoughts on the above programs including anyone who has personally visited the plantations in Western Australia.

Finally, which are your favorite Sandalwood containing fragrances and do you think they contain Australian or Indian oil…or synthetic molecules?

Pas De Mal(le)! EDP by Le Bienaimé Parfums

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

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Post by Robert Herrmann

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Hello Fragrant Friends!

This is Robert H. again, writing from my small island home in Washington state, exactly halfway between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. I am an inveterate fragrance lover, occasional writer, full-time business owner, world traveller, ex-Broadway singer, and happily married to an ever-suffering spouse who descends into allergic hell at the faintest whiff of perfume. Just my luck.

“Everything Old Is New Again….”

Pas De Mal(le)! EDP by Le Bienaimé Parfums

Now this is a perfume that speaks directly to my heart!

I live in a community that takes recycling VERY seriously! At our local dump (tip) you not only drop off your trash, but also separate ALL your recyclables (up to 20 various categories) and there’s also a section called the “take it or leave it” if it can be reused, you can drop it off, and someone else can walk off with it at no cost. (Ron and I have found some great treasures, like a vintage Oleg Cassini Jackie O-style suit which we ended up selling for $600!)

Le Bienaimé #1

So when I got word of a new European perfume house dedicated to perfume “upcycling” my fragrant heart went pitter-pat! I went to their website, loved what I saw, and blind-bought 2 bottles right out the gate.

The first one I’m wearing is “Pas De Malle” (a play on words meaning ‘Not bad’), an amalgam of different Frederic Malle perfumes that is far beyond “not bad” and more like “bloody brilliant”!

Le Bienaimé #2

The perfume is composed of various amounts of the following:
Bigarde Concentree, Cologne Indelible, Lipstick Rose, Un Rose, Vetiver Extrordinaire, and a splash of Oud by Robert Piguet.

This was an easy buy for me, I LOVES me some Frederic Malle, and what is most interesting to me is how very vintage the perfume wears on my skin! Categorized as a woody floriental, it is indeed that. Powdery, floral, with a darkness that you can’t exactly put your finger on yet vaguely familiar. This is a wonderful unisex perfume. Who would wear it? Someone who doesn’t want to smell like anyone else. On earth. Ever.

Le Bienaimé #3

Yup, that would be me. Renew, re-use, recycle, re-spray!
Check out their website Le Bienaimé

(Ed: LATE NEWS: “Annindraya Perfume Lounge” in Amsterdam. The owners name is Tanja Deurloo and she’s a total sweetheart, and made my transaction smooth as silk! RH)

Do you have a favorite Malle? (Besides Carnal Flower, because…well….Carnal Flower.)