beauty

Greg Lauren by Ralf Schwieger for Barneys New York 2013

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Post by Portia

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Heya APJ,

Here is another from the Natalie APB Gift Bag. As I slowly make my waythrough them I am finding it increasingly interesting the things that she felt I ought to try, or that would be very me. This looks like a 5 or 8ml decant and when Natalie gave me the bag she said to pay special attention to anything larger than a sample.

Greg_Lauren_and_Elizabeth_Berkley Wikipedia

The backstory is that Greg Lauren is the nephew of “Ralph”, an actor turned artist and fashion designer. His 2016 S/S Mens is very down & out in Beverly Hills, working in a coal mine, plantation worker, op shop chic and sleeping rough. I saw only two pieces in the whole parade that had me even mildly interested but I think perhaps I’m no longer his target market. The boots in the first half reminded me of Van Gogh’s boots and some of the hats were killer in an Oliver kind of way. Actually, even though I hated most of it and thought it pretentious pap I did enjoy the theatricality and the bleak colour palette, there was also a fair amount of whimsy in there.

Greg Lauren by Barneys New York 2013

Greg Lauren by Ralf Schwieger

Greg Lauren Barneys New York FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Sea notes, tonka bean, vanilla

Greg Lauren for Barneys is really good. Fragrant but demure, yet it is insistent that you notice it. It calmly straddles the department store/designer/niche divide and elegantly plants itself as something other, something a little more interesting. For me the sea notes reign, they are a great crossover between the gym set aquatics of the 1990s and the modern beach scent, there is something oddly disquieting about the notes as if you are near the boardwalk and every now and then you get a hint of the seaweed and scunge collected there.

Tonka and vanilla are there right from the start and in the beginning it is ALL about the thick, sweet resinous warmth which is cut through with this seaside something other. My mind is taken firmly to one of the Andrea Maack frags and also to a crew that did seasonal frags that I liked but can’t remember their name. There is also a salty-buttered popcorn thing that wanders around and in & out.

Greg-lauren-edp-barneys-new-yorkPhoto Stolen Barneys New York

Every Greg Lauren for Barneys wear is different and each time I pick up new things: caramel, dried flowers, burning oil, spices, coconut, hair wax, Indian milk sweets and bread. There is also a salty-buttered popcorn thing that wanders around and in & out. Freaky fragrance but Oh-So-Wearable. This one will definitely get you noticed and it sticks like glue, 19 hours later there is still a hum of difference over my skin.

If I was in the USA right now I would have been on my way to the store by now and have bought myself a bottle, Natalie was right, this is totally freaking YUMMY!

A few of the reviewers talk about the perfumer Ralf Schwieger who has made some fairly sensational niche stuff including Afternoon of a Faun by ELdO, Iris Nazarena by Aedes de Venustas, Orange Sanguine for Atelier Cologne and Christopher Street for Charenton Macerations. Everyone talks about how he hand finished every bottle in a paint splattered, antiqued, derelict hipster way. I think that’s cool.

Greg Lauren Patchwork Hoodie Barneys New YorkPhoto Stolen Barneys New York

Further reading: Now Smell This and Ca Fleure Bon
Barneys New York site has $195/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

Did you get to try it? Has Greg Lauren shown up on your radar yet?
Portia xx

Silk by Richard Ibanez for Andrea Maack 2011

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Woo Hoo APJers,

Andrea Maack, artist, fashion designer and fragrance curator. Her stark, vivid, linear creations are bold and shocking but within the bounds of mainstream beauty. Though I find them confronting and they give me pause for question I could also see many of her art creations in peoples homes, comfortably setting themselves beside a big family couch and the TV. They would be interesting talking points but hardly steal air from the room and make it awkward to sit.

This too is how I see the fragrance line. Different enough to maintain my interest yet wearable every day as a second, fragrant skin that you offer to the world as your scent. The line has been called derivative and a follower but when I wear Andrea Maack fragrances I find no parallels, and yes this could be my lack as a medium. Whether they are or not is a moot point because I enjoy wearing them, they tickle my fabulous bone and they tick so many boxes on my fragrant list that I am impressed with them on their own merits.

Silk by Andrea Maack 2011

Silk by Richard Ibanez

Silk Andrea Maack FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Citruses, violet leaf, freesia, magnolia, soil tincture, papyrus, vanille, amber, lemon tree, lime (linden) blossom

LuckyScent offers this list of featured accords in one line:
Violet leaves, freesia, lime tree, linen, magnolia, Spanish cistus, earth accord, papyrus, vanilla, amber

Sweet citrus opens but it’s firmly undercut by green grasses and a fresh, dewy, air conditioned bouquet (I’m quite surprised there’s no LotV mentioned in the notes). A lovely and very pretty green, delicate, cooling and …… imagine you are in an orchard filled with blossom, the day is brisk but when you stand in the sun it’s lovely, there’s a breeze that is strong enough to ruffle your hair and it carries a floral bouquet from the nearby market gardens, some trodden grass and a dry rasp that is a little vetiver reminiscent. Then the sprinklers come on, they don’t wet you but it does change the taste of the air and suddenly the whole orchard seems cooler: that moment in your dream is what Silk smells like.

silk-andrea-maack orchard blossom AnneMarieBon PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

The freshness and brightness are carried over into the heart and it’s reminiscent of the freshly cut cucumber scent, or cut wet stems of flowers before arranging. It’s amazing how intoxicating silk is, not a big perfume but it does have the ability to change the air around you and in the first hour the sillage is excellent.

Like the Andrea Maack art piece below Silk is a bundled net of scent pieces with light pouting through and creating a gauzy, soft focus fragrance that still manages to be fully present and fragrant. For me Silk dries down to a melon scent softly warmed by the amber that I can feel but not really smell.

Silk Andrea Maack Art FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Further reading: Ca Fleure Bon and Bonkers About Perfume
LuckyScent has $135/50ml and samples
Libertine has $185/50ml and FREE delivery in Australia

Have you experienced any of the Andrea Maack fragrances? Favourites?
Portia x

AllSteele giveaway 1Photo Stolen AllSteele

Andrea Maack Sampler GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 3ml Andrea Maack Sampler (I have used them a bit, about 2ml in each)
Dark
Smart
Craft
Silk
Sharp
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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) 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 your favourite artist

Extra Chance?
Tweet: Andrea Maack Sampler GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3hC #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 30th August 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 3rd September 2015 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.

Zuhair Murad – Fall Winter 2015/2016 Haute Couture Show in Paris

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

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Post by Portia

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Glamour. I know it’s not for everyone. Sometimes though it’s nice to get caught up in someone elses fantasy and in this fashion parade we see plenty of glamour and fantasy, I’m not sure if it’s fashion but if you love theatrical gowns and glittery fabrics then you will melt when you see some of these. Very historical Hollywood shapes and it’s nice to see shoulder pads back in business after a 20+ year hiatus. The wedding dress is fabulously ridiculous, poor girl looks completely out of her depth in it, but still it is incredible and OMG worthy.

Untitled-2Photo Stolen Zuhair Murad

I hope you enjoy this 15 minutes devoid of reality as much as I did.

Portia xxx

Zuhair Murad – Fall Winter 2015/2016 Haute Couture Show in Paris

Dame Perfumery Artist Series Set GIVEAWAY WINNERS

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Woo Hoo APJ,

Thanks to Azar and Jeffrey Dame for this amazing giveaway. I’m glad you all got on board and I wish that I could have been in the running, what a great prize.
Let’s see who won,

Portia xx

Dame Perfumery Artist Series Set GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Dark Horse Dame Perfumery

Dark Horse – 2015
Perfumer’s notes:  Bergamot, lemon, cinnamon, jasmine, carnation, rose, cloves, guaiac wood oil, vetiver, vanilla and musk.

From Azar: I mentioned in the comments to the post that, in addition to the artist series set, I would also send along a sample of Pear Waterlily and Amber to the winner.  I rummaged through my samples but couldn’t find a Pear, Waterlily and Amber (I think they were used up by me!) but I did find an extra set of Artist Series samples…so instead of one winner there are now two.

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 ml sample set of the 3 Dame Perfumery Artist Series
P&H Worldwide

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 27th August 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

WINNERS markmontanoblogsPhoto Stolen markmontanoblogs

Patty Pong 

lena

The winners will have till Monday 31st August 2015 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.

Coco by CHANEL: Saddest Saga Ever

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

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Post by Portia

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Hey there crew,

You know the excitement of buying some vintage lovely for a friend for whom it’s their Holy Grail? The thrill of the hunt, trolling eBay, ETSY and the Facebook pages looking for your current mad perfumista desire? Finding your Holy Grail on eBay at an affordable price, bidding, waiting, last minute flurry bid and then OMG! You’ve won it! High fives and back slapping all around. You rush quickly to your Pay Now button and PayPal the shit outta that thing. Then you wait………….

Coco by CHANEL: Saddest Saga Ever

Coco Parfum Chanel FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, mandarin orange, peach, jasmine, Bulgarian rose
Heart: Mimosa, cloves, orange blossom, clover, rose
Base: Labdanum, amber, sandalwood, tonka bean, opoponax, civet, vanilla

and you wait………

You write to the eBay seller and ‘Quell Surprise’ it hasn’t been sent yet. “Sending it today. sorry Sorry SORRY”

Now you start to worry because if they send it now and it arrives faulty, for whatever reason, you may not be covered to lodge an eBay claim. So, you wait……

and you fume……

and you wait…….

The worry has turned to mild panic, even though you’ve dealt with this seller before and everything has been 100% perfect there is the gnawing worry at the back of your mind, especially because you have bought a couple of other things from the same seller since. Could they have been above board and now readying to do a grab and run? You know, put a whole load of really excellent pics up of things they’ve sold before and sell their fake stuff for good money before disappearing forever? This is not completely unknown on the net, there are shady enough people in face to face dealings, anonymity adds a whole new meaning to the word dodgy.

Teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown and obsessing madly over your lost precious you write again. It’s only a few days before the 45 day claim cut-off-period and you worry that this may become unsaveable, even though you paid through PayPal which will cover the loss but who needs the freaking drama. I just want my stuff. They write back, and they are really good Customer Service people. “It’s coming my friend. Please be patient. We are so sorry, it will be there”

Then…… It Arrived! So excited. We did a little happy dance, YAY! As the package is opened, we start to worry. It’s too fragrant. This does not bode well…..

Coco by Chanel Saga 2015 #1

Coco by Chanel Saga 2015 #3As you can see, disaster has struck. The nozzle has been damaged when they pulled the insert out to show fluid levels and the juice has all run out. It has bubbled the gold foil on the bottle and run riot through the packaging. The smell is unbelievably amazing. At least we know the product is authentic. GAWD it smells incredible in here. Scott has rubbed the box and wrapping all over his arms and smells like a very high class establishment for sexual satisfaction, of a cash for gratification style.

Obviously I am bummed and write to the seller who immediately says they’ll refund my full purchase amount. They are so sweet about it and say that I’m their best customer etc it’s nice. So though I have no fragrance I will give my buddy the bottle and packaging which she can leave in her undies drawer and they will now smell like the rest of her. DELICIOUS!

Sad Sage, an only mildly unhappy ending.

What stuff has arrived imperfect for you?
Portia xx

 

North by Amelie Bourgeois and Anne-Sophie Behaghel for Mendittorosa (Odori d’Anima) 2013

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Post by Trésor

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I have a confession to make: I am not a fan of summer, of all the four seasons it is easily my least favourite. I know what you’re thinking. “Have you no heart, Trésor?! How can you not love the summer?!” While I admit there are few things more delightful than the aureate hue of summertime sunlight there are also few things I despise more than the heat that accompanies this precious gift. I revel in the embrace of graceful autumn zephyrs and even within the frost-bound chill of the Canadian winters in which I grew up. Naturally, when August rolled around and the heat *really* hit I was scrambling to find just about anything I could to satiate my desire for hyperborean delight. It was around this time I just so happened to have serendipitously received a sample kit from Italian niche house Mendittorosa Odori d’Anima and I was delighted to find that nestled within was a potion authored by perfumers Amelie Bourgeois and Anne-Sophie Behaghel called North, a pulchritudinous ode to Scandinavian minimalism and the elegant austerity that so harmoniously exemplifies this exquisite aesthetic.

North by Mendittorosa (Odori d’Anima) 2013

North by Amelie Bourgeois and Anne-Sophie Behaghel

North Mendittorosa FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Black pepper, aldehydes, bergamot
Heart: Sea notes, floral notes, jasmine
Base: Atlas cedar, Virginian cedar, nutmeg

North opens with a diffuse aurora of shimmering aldehydes, refracting light in a way that so viscerally resembles a premonition of fractured crystal suspended in perpetuity within rays of December sunlight. A verdant scythe of emerald bergamot penetrates the crystalline aurora, setting the sky alight in a flash of vivid green, the threads of which fall daintily like stardust into the Baltic sea. Holograms of gelid flowers float on the water’s surface, breathing in the salty brine and exhaling piercing clouds of glacial ozone bound for the shore. Hologram materializes into tangibility as the composition approaches land and the bounty which it bares.

North Mendittorosa Cedrus_deodara WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

The frozen petals of this ephemeral white flower now rest at the feet of towering cedars, singing unto the borealis with their sylvan essence. There is little warmth to be found here in this landscape but is within this hiemal serenity that the beauty of the composition lays. The notes seem to flow into each other as the river to delta and delta to the sea, naturally and with a sophisticated ease.

North exists on my skin for about 6 hours in total though on the warmest of days I can get just a bit longer. The sillage is gentle, an ethereal aura of divine fragrance as opposed to a diffuse cloud. I’ve found this to be just the antidote to my admittedly cantankerous disposition towards the heat and humidity as it reminds me so beautifully of the seasons which bring me the greatest joy and those of which I have the fondest memories.

North Mendittorosa Anchorage Wildlife refuge Paxson Woelber FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Val the Cookie Queen writes about another Mendittorosa (Odori d’Anima) fragrance Id
First In Fragrance have €185/100ml
Mendittorosa Odori d’Anima have a fabulous Discovery Pack (7 x 1.4ml samples, literature, message from founder, world postage) €40

Do you have a favourite fragrance who’s atmosphere mirrors the glacial chill of North?

Until next time, my darlings.

Trésor x

Cookie Queen USA 2015: Packing for a Trip

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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Each time I see a photo of a collection of perfume on Facebook or in a magazine I zoom in on it and take a look. If the photos is too small I enlarge it or take a screenshot so that I can make it even bigger! Now come on, I know I am not alone in this perfume voyeurism. We all like to play the “How many can I recognize” game and are smugly satisfied when we get the lot.

Cookie Queen USA 2015: Packing for a Trip

As you read this I am either on the road to Vienna or sat in a plane enjoying the idea of a 17 hour trip, and not the psychedelickind. I really don´t know if anyone is interested in what I am doing, but I will give you a brief perfume rundown. You can always skip this bit and look at the photos and have done with it.

I will be meeting up in Seattle with the amazing Azar of APJ and Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids. As I move on down to San Francisco I look
forward to having tea with Undina of Undina´s Looking Glass and hooking up with Virginia of Té de Violetas. I have dates here too with a couple of Verophiles. I will pay a trip to Tiger Lily of course. Way further south I will get to look at the perfume scene in Los Angeles with Jtd Jtd from the ScentHurdle. Can it get any more exciting than all of that? I do hasten to add that I am actually going to California to visit with my family, but combined it with some perfume fun! My husband will be joining me for all of this after having a week downhilling up on Whistler Mountain.

Cookie Queen USA 2015 #4 Chris Downhilling

The last three days of the trip will be in New York. Perfume partying there too with Indieperfumes and Peace, Love and Perfume/Goodsmellas.

Cookie Queen USA 2015 #1

My traveling perfume and paraphernalia is pictured below, or above, depending where Portia puts the pictures. 🙂

Cookie Queen USA 2015 #2

Neela Vermeire purple suede clutch
Mohur EdP
Travel sizes of Pichola and Ashoka
Shalimar Extrait
Hermès Cuir d´Ange travel size
Vero Profumo Rubj EdP
Vero Profumo Mito EdP
In the pink felt bags are samples of the all the Vero Profumo EdPs and Voiles
and I am taking all of the Vero Profumo Extraits
The lovely small leather perfume pouch was a gift from a perfumista and it means a lot to me.
(The VP extraits will be in there)
The gold shiny bag? Ha! Top Secret. Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more.

Cookie Queen USA 2015 #3

I will take a decant of Eau de Magnolia, at time of writing not yet done.
And a bottle of MAAI.

Cookie Queen USA 2015 #5

I will wear mostly extraits, and the NVCs can all be dabbed. I don´t care to spray when I am traveling – planes, trains and automobiles
don´t warrant spritzing! Do they? What would YOU have packed?

Stars´n´Striped Bussis
CQ

The Artist Series by Dame Perfumery Scottsdale

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 43 Comments

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Post by Azar

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Hi APJ!

A few months ago I reviewed Dame Perfumery Scottsdale’s Matte, Heliotrope and Patchouli.  Today’s post is a brief overview of the perfumes in Jeffrey Dame’s Artist Series.
Currently Dame Perfumery offers three lines:  A group of eight EdTs for woman, three colognes for men and the unisex Artist Series, a group of three EdPs inspired by the visual art of Jeffrey Dame’s father, Dave Dame.

The Artist Series by Dame Perfumery Scottsdale

The first in the Artist Series,

Black Flower Mexican Vanilla Dame Perfumery

Black Flower Mexican Vanilla – 2014
Here are the perfumer’s notes:  Mexican vanilla absolute, lemon, grapefruit, caramel, nutmeg, gardenia, jasmine, sandalwood, patchouli, vetiver, musk and tonka bean.

Black Flower Mexican Vanilla grabs my attention with a concentrated, intense, smoky vanilla spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon.  Additions of lemon and grapefruit keep it from sinking into sweet, heavy darkness. Even with the citrus and the listed caramel this EdP is definitely NOT your teenage daughter’s vanilla! As Black Flower Mexican Vanilla dries there is a momentary hint of a burnt cream and gardenia that quickly moves on to sandalwood, vetiver and a lingering edgy floral vanilla.  A long-lived and bold fragrance with a powerful but never overwhelming sillage, suitable for both men and woman.

Desert-Rose-Dame Perfumery

Desert Rose – 2015
Listed notes:  Turkish rose otto, Damask rose, peach, Sicilian lemon, Egyptian jasmine, geranium, carnation, heliotrope, sandalwood, amber, musk and vanilla.

The first time I tried Desert Rose, on a very cold winter’s day, all I experienced was rose water and amber.  Spritzing in summer proved to be much more rewarding.  Desert Rose blooms in the heat with traces of dry pavement, rock and sand.  The perfume progresses from a scorched, dusty rose to a buttery, peachy vanilla sparkling with citrus and spice, finishing with a suggestion of booze, amber and musk.  Desert Rose is more intimate than Black Flower and lasts about six hours on my skin.

Dark Horse Dame Perfumery

Dark Horse – 2015
Perfumer’s notes:  Bergamot, lemon, cinnamon, jasmine, carnation, rose, cloves, guaiac wood oil, vetiver, vanilla and musk.

Dark Horse opens with an arresting and pithy lemon, tweaked with cloves and cinnamon.  In a moment the fragrance transforms to jasmine and carnation supported by golden vanilla.  At about five minutes carnation totally takes over and stays in place for at least an hour before the phenolic, oudy, vegetal sweetness of guaiac wood is revealed.  At this point the perfume reminds me of my favorite woody fragrances by M. Micallef, projecting well and easily lasting ten hours on skin and longer on clothing.  Toward the end of its long run Dark Horse wafts smoky vetiver, traces of musk and more carnation.  This latest offering in the Dame Perfumery Artist Series is a truly beautiful and unique perfume for an unbelievably low price.

Every fragrance offered by Dame Perfumery Scottsdale is testament to Jeffrey Dame’s knowledge, creativity and years of experience and to the amazing skill of his perfumer/collaborator.  The use of lemon in the Artist Series fragrances is masterful.  The perfumer manages to totally avoid the smell of home cleaning products and the ubiquitous lemon bar, using lemon more as fragrance modifier than as a discrete fragrance note.

Dame Perfumery has 7ml Trial Size, perfect size to see how you love them.

Azar xx

Giveaway Kesha&CoPhoto Stolen Kesha&Co

Dame Perfumery Artist Series Set GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 ml sample set of the 3 Dame Perfumery Artist Series
P&H Worldwide

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to anyone in the world who follow 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. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us your favorite Jeffrey Dame fragrance or your most cherished vanilla perfume

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 27th August 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Monday 31st August 2015 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.

Deluxe Giverny In Bloom Set GIVEAWAY WINNER

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

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Post by Portia

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Hiya APJ,

What a sensational giveaway. Thank you to Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for her incredible generosity, and excellent fragrances. What a superstar. Please go and have a look at the DSH Perfumes site.

Portia xx

Giverny In Bloom GIVEAWAY WINNER

Giverny in Bloom DSH Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x The deluxe Giverny In Bloom discovery set: 4 x 3ml atomisers:
Giverny In Bloom EdT (only the dregs)
La Danse des Bleus et des Violettes EdT
l’Opera des Rouges et des Roses EdP
Le Jardin Vert EdP
along with a leaflet about the Denver Art Museum exhibit
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 23rd August 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner was chosen by random.org

Winner EverythingHealthPhoto Stolen EverythingHealth

FlowerGirlBee!

The winner will have till Thursday 27th August 2015 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.

Cleansing? Super Budget Perfection

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

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Post by AF Beauty

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Hi APJ,

Today we are looking at Process or Product

There are definitely some amazing skincare and makeup in the world, but sometimes the difference in the efficacy of either, for me, is to do with the process rather than the product. By that I mean the techniques used to apply or use rather than the product itself.

Cleansing? Super Budget Perfection

Budget Cleanse? Granny Doll blickpixel PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

The one technique I wish I’d known about at 15 rather than 35 is the highly technical: How to wash your face! As a teenager I believed the hype of product companies and magazines that persuaded the methodology of cleanse, tone, moisturise. And in fairness, it wasn’t all disastrous but probably around age 35 I learned of “hot cloth cleansing” or as your nanna would have called it, “washing your face with a flannel.” If you don’t already use this technique then I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re smirking at the naiveté of the APJ Beauty Writer! I’m totally OK with that, just you wait and see! ☺

This is the deal:

First you need a flannel. You can buy a luxe face cloth or a multi-pack from Ikea. The flannel itself doesn’t need to be any special quality or type or colour. I use the Ikea multi-pack type myself. Cheap and cheerful, I can buy a couple of packs and use them on rotation; easy.

Next choose your facewash. This will be any facial cleanser that you can use with water. It could be gentle, physically exfoliating or chemically exfoliating, gel, cream, foaming, non-foaming – you get the idea – just your favourite.

Photo Stolen Flickr

I usually just splash my face with water and apply the cleanser, in the meantime I run the hot tap and let it soak the flannel – depending on you’re the temperature from your hot tap, this will be workable or you’ll need to add a splash of cold. I then squeeze the flannel and wipe my face clean with the hot cloth and repeat soaking and squeezing the cloth between wipes until I’m happy my face is clean.

THAT’S IT!

I know this sounds deceptively simple but I thoroughly recommend giving it a go. For me, the cheap and cheerful flannel is ever so slightly exfoliating and the repeat process of wiping with fresh water gets my skin cleaner than any non-water cleansing process. I did always like a milky cleanser and softening toner, but the necessity to repeat toner was time consuming and ultimately expensive and I never felt my skin was properly clean.

Some people will use a fresh flannel at every clean, could be twice a day, but I’m happy enough, or maybe dirty enough to just let the flannel dry between uses and swap it out every couple of days or so and wash the old one in a hot wash in the machine.

I can honestly say, this process is at least as important in my skincare routine as any product. I’d love to hear if any of you do this already or if you’ll give it a go?