Habit Rouge by Jean-Paul Guerlain 2003 (Or: 1965)

November 9, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Post by Liam

Hello fantastic fragrance heads,

It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I’m Liam and I love to smell anything and everything, which I’m sure everyone else loves to do also! Appropriately, for my first post on this marvelous website I felt it was only appropriate I talk about the introductory Guerlain fragrance that changed my life – Habit Rouge (EdT). It’s really bloody good. It’s novel, it’s historical, it’s a reference fragrance! When I become king of the world my first order of business is to rename Habit Rouge to ‘Happiness’.

Habit Rouge by Jean-Paul Guerlain 2003 (Or: 1965)

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Lemon, Rosewood, Basil, Pimento
Heart: Sandal, Carnation, Patchouli, Cedar, Rose, Cinnamon
Base: Vanilla, Amber, Moss, Leather, Benzoin, Labdanum, Olibanum

Habit Rouge embodies effortlessly what I love in a fragrance. It’s somewhat pompous without being obvious or nauseating. It has a gentlemanly quality that is comforting, very exciting and delicious! It opens like a lemony orange soda with a sherbet-like crispness. It’s a citrus accord moulded with opopanax and sweet and sticky tree resins. It’s incredibly toothsome, and has these light floral nuances that tickle the feminine side… Carnation and rose especially.

My favourite thing with Habit Rouge is the fact that it was (according to Guerlain) the first male fragrance to use a heavy dosage of vanilla. I love vanilla – I mean, who dare say that vanilla is a boring ingredient? The vanilla stems from Shalimar also by Guerlain, but in this fragrance the vanilla presents itself with less of a coumarin spike and more of a refined stickiness softened with discreet herbs. Vanilla, benzoin and a touch of orange blossom create the Guerlain Marshmallow accord, which is obvious… A tart and somewhat sugary smell reminiscent of white marshmallow.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Subdued modulations of leather are to be found here. The carnal quality is lost, or at least pushed to the very back whilst a buttery and more rounded form of supple leather can be smelt. The underlying oriental spiciness differs heavily from the female archetype, and the oriental category has been made for men.

Habit Rouge is effervescent like lemonade and trails like sweet orange dust. It’s slightly poignant at stages with a gloomy quality, but I’ve found this often entails a sense of complexity. Habit Rouge is perfectly crafted for a man with a sincere and dapper facet, yet also has a mild primal quality that suggests something a little more after that.

Have you seen the advertisement with the red whip?! Grr that’s hot!

“Non, Habit Rouge c’est comme les petits pains,” — [Habit Rouge is] a French institution as constant as croissants

Habit Rouge has a slightly above average longevity and a mild sillage on my skin. It’s inoffensive and universal. You can wear it whenever, wherever and however. Work, rest, play.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: Now Smell This and Memory of Scent
FragranceNet has $45/50ml (before coupon)
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

Thanks for reading! For more please check out my site Olfactics. My journey is still in my infancy! Can you think of any other male oriented orientals? Spare me the Paco Rabanne pl-ease! See ya later!

Liam 🙂

Cruise 2014/15 CHANEL: Dubai

November 9, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom

OK Gang,

A little more CHANEL footage. Here we have a behind the scenes look at the Dubai Cruise Collection for 2014/15. Perfect timing for an Australian summer, which is looming large, and great for the Northern Hemisphere to remember how hot works.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Please enjoy watching how the other .001% live.
Portia xx

The Behind the Scenes Film – Cruise 2014/15 CHANEL show

Eau Sublime by Jeanne Sandra Rancé for Rancé 1795

November 8, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hiya Crew,

I have had some of the Rancé soaps for a while now. For a creamy soft bathing experience they are pretty damn awesome but I’ve always felt the fragrances were a little generic. Not bad but not something to get mega excited about either. Recently my mate Nick at Libertine Parfumerie sent me a bottle of Eau Sublime…..

Eau Sublime by Jeanne Sandra Rancé for Rancé 1795

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, Neroli, Hyacinth, Lime
Heart: Lily-of-the-valley, Lilac, Myrtle
Base: White Musk, Vanilla, Florentine Iris

From Rancé 1795 site: Eau Sublime Eau de Toilette pour Femme dedicated to Josephine, Napoleon’s bride, by François Rancé in 1801.

Eau Sublime is pretty. It opens green, juicy citrus and sparkles. There’s a dewy note and it’s all rather cool to begin. As we get further into the heart there is a pretty bouquet with a slight metallic tinge. Then the fragrance basically leaves my ability to smell for an hour or two, yes it has happened on repeated wearings, with and without moisturiser, on different parts of my body. Then an aquatic iris comes in and stays at a very low hum for ages, hours in fact, barely discernible except when I move and get a huff from my wrist or out of my top. It’s almost not there at all but the air cools, like air conditioning in a florist shop but without very many flowers in there. Maybe the end of the day when only the memory of flowers and a bunch of cut stalks are in the bins.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

I do love these recreated houses, and I’m sure that Eau Sublime owes a debt in part to the original, more than just the name hopefully. Somewhere though, in the fragrance, the story doesn’t ring quite true. Eau Sublime in this time is very synthetic to my nose, way too unnatural for 1801. It’s a minor thing but……

I can see why Rancé’s Eau Sublime is popular currently. It’s a pretty green whisper of nothing on my skin. Lovely opening that leaves a very slight hint of fragrance for the rest of the day. A clean, fresh, cool and dewy freshness. I can totally understand that that’s what some people want from their scent experience. The bottle is lovely and fun and no one will be skunked by you. I want my fragrance to work harder than that though. More projection, more story, more everything.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

First In Fragrance has €59/50ml

Where do you stand? Have you tried Eau Sublime? Was it what you want from a fragrance? Did it live on you like it does on me or did you get a different ride?
Portia xx

Violet Disguise by Josh Meyer for Imaginary Authors 2012

November 7, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hi Gang,

It’s taken me forever to get to this bottle. I bought it and it has sat at the front of stuff awaiting its time. Of course, as in all things, I had the best intentions. “Wear it, write about it. Josh Meyer seems so freaking lovely, give the poor bastard a break, a little push,” inside my head every time I looked at the bottle. Josh, if you’re reading this I apologise profusely that it’s taken so long. Every so often I would spritz and then leave the house on an errand, get busy on the phone or work and I wouldn’t get my thoughts on paper. Today I have spritzed already and fingers crossed we get results.

Violet Disguise by Josh Meyer for Imaginary Authors 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Plum, Violet, Dried Fruits, Balsam, Amber, Evening Air, The Month of May

SPRITZZZZZZZ! Wet, sweet, fruity melon or at a pinch plum. Imagine a fresh plum, cool from the fridge, you bite through the tart skin and into the soft, sweet flesh. I am naughty and I’m sniffing while eating peanuts so I completely miss Freddie’s salty olive note and dive directly into cool wet fruit. Is it the violets that give the metallic vibe or is there a chemical in Josh’s base that I notice particularly? I call it the cold spoon note and niche lines often give me it. I think it’s one ingredient that shouts above the rest for me. Here in Violet Disguise it is brilliant, a perfect cut crystal glass under light, sparkling and gleaming in the opening. Lustrous.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Suddenly, and I mean suddenly, Violet Disguise changes to a resinous, warmer fragrance that is like putting on a favourite coat over the cool air of an autumn/spring evening. A breathy, intimate moment where everything feels burnished, giving its warm glow in much the same way that the opening was cool shards of light reflected except now those beams are soft focused and furry. MMMMMM. I love the way Violet Disguise morphs so abruptly, not it has definite nods to old school perfumery, purrrrrrrfumery. A couple of hours in and I am absolutely gobsmacked at how lovely Violet Disguise is, hairy balsam.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

A very warm end, well a very warm fade to nothing. A soft resinous amber. Lovely. Even next morning I have a distinct Violet Disguise remnant, no I can’t tell you what I’m smelling other than green twig and cold metal……

Further reading: This Blog Really Stinks and Smelly Thoughts
IndieScents has $85/60ml and samples

We are TOTALLY affiliated with IndieScents and are 100% proud of it.

Portia xx

Photo Stolen hemodernhome

Violet Disguise GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 Winners who will each get:
1 x Violet Disguise decant from my bottle
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

Go to IndieScents and tell me any fragrance they sell online and a note that it contains…….. NO DOUBLE UPS!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p3PURw-3jJ Imaginary Authors GIVEAWAY @indiescents #Perfume #Giveaway @IAParfumerie

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 9th November 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 14th November 2014 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.

Catherine Tate – the offensive translator

November 7, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

OMG!! I am sitting here and have had to shut my office door because I’m making stupid noises and tears are streaming down my face. This is so freaking funny and so awful. I can’t help but put myself in the bosses place and it’s a wretched place to be.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Please enjoy.

Portia xxx

Catherine Tate – the offensive translator

Dia Pour Femme by Jean-Claude Ellena for Amouage 2002

November 6, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Gabriella

Hello perfumed peeps,
Today I want to delve into the perfume archives and revisit a fragrance that I featured in my very first post here on APJ. This fragrance captured my heart all those years ago, then other sniffing fests and bottles came my way, so it then got put on the backburner and largely forgotten. Last weekend, I spritzed some again and it’s had me swooning ever since. That perfumed delight is Amouage Dia.

Dia Pour Femme by Jean-Claude Ellena for Amouage 2002

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Fig, cyclamen, bergamot, tarragon, sage, violet leaves
Heart: Precious and fresh flowers: peach blossom, rose oil, orange flower, peony. orris
Base: White musk, mysterious incense, vanilla, heliotrope, cedarwood, sandalwood, Guaiac wood

On my skin, Dia opens up with the gentlest of aldehydes and the subtle juicy warmth of fig, tempered by a fresh burst of cyclamen and the gentle greenness of violet leaves. I can’t really detect the herbs here, they’re more playing a supportive role to give the fig and the floral notes some depth. The heart of Dia is all floral richness, there’s definitely rose and peony which are just smooth and warm. It then segues gently into the woody base.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Overall, the notes are so well-blended that Dia presents as a whole picture of a fragrance rather than a simple sum of the notes. The overall feeling is one of staid elegance and sophistication, something I noted in my original review:
Dia is all about a refined wool sheath dress, pearls and leather ballet flats.

Dia is something I’d imagine that Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Onassis wearing with ease. For me, because of its inherent chicness, it’s also very much an aspirational fragrance. It makes me feel calm, put together and above all supremely beautiful, even when I’m feeling anything but. At a time when I have been working all hours of the day and weekends too, it’s been both a tremendously uplifting and calming companion. I feel like I could wear it any day at any time and just feel like a million bucks.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

As for the staying power, what on earth was I thinking when I wrote my original review?:
My only complaint is that it lasts barely two hours on me.

Let me eat my words! Dia’s lasting power is well over eight hours from one or two small spritzes. The other morning, I put on a cardigan which had the remnants of a Dia application from a couple of days before. I then proceeded to spray myself lavishly with Le Parfum de Therese, and let me tell you, the remnants of Dia outshone the latter.

Photo Stolen MrPilgrim

Dia is a classical beauty and one that I just can’t afford to ignore again.

Further reading: The Non Blonde and Suzanne’s Perfume Journal
First in Fragrance has €240/50ml
Libertine Parfumerie has $387/100ml
Posh peasant has samples starting at $7/ml

What fragrances have you ignored and come back to love? What fragrance makes you feel a million bucks?
With much love till next time!

M x

Weddings – My Top 5 Perfume Oils For Brides – Part 1

November 5, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Suzanne R Banks

Essential oils are great for anybody to use but there are some stand-out oils for brides.

Why?

The wedding planning can be stressful and it can also take up a lot of time. Of course it’s different for everyone, and whether you have a casual beach wedding or a party in a 5 star resort, you do have to think about a lot of fine details. You are also entering into a contract with your partner, and quite possibly changing your life forever. You are entering a new phase of your life too, with lots of new family members you are required to deal with. There can be many issues surrounding your wedding and marriage, and essential oils can be your scented support system on the journey.

Essential oils not only smell beautiful, they can help minimise stress and help you focus on the things that really matter – like your health and happiness rather than the seating plan, or the boyfriend of his friend who you don’t really like but have to invite anyway. You get the drift.

Weddings – My Top 5 Perfume Oils For Brides – Part 1

Essential oils work in an holistic way with your own energy, emotions and thoughts to provide a connection to the divine spirit within you.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

1.Wedding Perfume Oils – Neroli

Neroli is a traditional oil for brides as it’s best qualities are those of relieving anxiety and tension – the flowers were strewn over the marital bed to ease tension, and included in the wedding bouquet to help you stay calm. The word Neroli comes from the name of an Italian princess who brought the oil into popular culture a few hundred years ago, so it’s actually quite a new oil to the field of Aromatherapy. Many oils and tinctures of plants have been around for thousands of years, and this is how we know they work.

Neroli is a wonderful oil to use as a perfume straight from the bottle from the moment your wedding fever kicks in. Use it when you are stressed about something not going the way you want it, or simply as a scent to help you cope with any mild anxiety. it is a beautiful scent to wear on your wedding day to give you a stunning, floral perfume and support your emotions and the butterflies in your stomach. This oil is an expensive oil and usually comes already diluted in jojoba to lower costs. The label will say “Neroli oil in 3% Jojoba and you can see my article for more info on 3% blends in jojoba.

Men tend to love this oil too, as it has a bitterness about it even though it’s a floral oil. If your man is stressing try some bergamot in place of neroli to relieve stress! A drop on his solar plexus chakra wouldn’t go astray on the big day.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

2. Wedding Perfume Oils – Rose

Rose oil is the oil of Cleopatra – the oil of queens. It is sometimes referred to as the Queen of Oils too! Rose is the oil of loving yourself, and others. Whatever you think a Queen embodies – then so does this oil. Not only wonderful for skin, and as a regulator for heat, rose oil will bring a sense of calm and inner strength. This really is a woman’s oil. It is the essence of femininity and strength, of subtlety and fortitude.

Use rose oil during your lead-up to the wedding to help you stay centered and loving.

As for Neroli, rose will often already be diluted in 3% jojoba. Use it a perfume straight from the bottle, use it in your skincare regime in some rosehip oil and even give some the other women in your life who support you. Nurture yourself with rose oil.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

3. Wedding Perfume Oils – Lavender

Lavender is the oil of calming, soothing and grounding. It brings all your scattered energy together. Lavender can be used to help induce sleep, to use in a bath when you a feeling overwhelmed, and to vapourise around you when you need to make difficult decisions. if you could only have one oil in your life, I suggest it would be lavender, as it has so many uses. It is the perfect first aid all because it helps cuts and wounds heal, helps burns lose their sting and is perfect for shock. Take some lavender with you to the wedding and have a huge sniff straight from the bottle to give you a blast of solidarity. Share it amongst the bridesmaids and if anyone has a headache a drop on the temples will aid the pain.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

4. Wedding Perfume Oils – Geranium

This oil is made from the flower and it very definitely a strong floral oil! Geranium is another good oil for skincare -face and body. It is an oil of happiness and playfulness and is bright and full. I use geranium oil when I feel I need a boost, and when I need a bit of stability in my emotions. It’s great for brides who are quite emotional and teary and will help you as you plan your wedding – when you need help looking for the fun and joy in the process. It’s easy to get bogged down in the “doing” of the wedding but it’s just as important to enjoy and be present in this process too. Have fun with geranium oil and it’s floral cheeriness.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

5. Wedding Perfume Oils – Frankincense

Frankincense is the oil of breathing deeply. By taking deep, slow breaths you will automatically relax. Vapourise frankincense oil in your home for relaxation and as an oil to help you connect more deeply with your spirit. Traditionally used in the Catholic church to inspire the congregation reach a meditative and spiritual state, it is also used as a symbol of faithfulness to God, and in worship rituals. This oil is also good in skincare and is particularly indicated for more mature or dry skins. Once again add some of this stunning oil into your rosehip oil and use a a facial moisturiser. I use rosehip everyday on my face and I couldnt recommend anything better and more simple. When you add some essential oils to it, it becomes a powerful softening and nourishing treatment.

Remember to treat yourself first , then everyone will benefit.

Suzanne R Banks XXX

Suzanne R Banks Blog
Suzanne R Banks Aromatherapy
Suzanne R Banks FaceBook

Please check out my new book REVELATION! – Reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils

Amazon USA Amazon AU Amazon UK

Une Fleur de Cassie by Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2000

November 5, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers

Again we gather in awe and reverence to give thanks for our inspiration – perfume. Today I am wondering am I more than usually sensitive to being moved in my soul by artistic creation? Because scents preserve us, I have had quite a response to this divine composition. Although in faith, given the path I have trod in life, there is no doubt my spirit is unusually sensitive…

Une Fleur de Cassie by Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2000

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one linew:
Mimosa, jasmine, black locust, rose, carnation, sandalwood, vanilla, cassis

Let us spray!

Like the flight of an albatross, this one. Such heavy molecules to become airborne – and it’s an effort – but after some lumbering along the ground and some ungainly flapping it finds my thermals and flies!

And there it is, aloft. Gliding for what seems an unreasonable time, this beauty is such a resolved whole it seems that evolutionary forces are responsible in bringing about an entity so fit for its purpose.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Its purpose? To soar. That it brings me pleasure through its being seems an irrelevant aside to its joyous existence. Certainly not all its aspects are uncomplicated or simply pleasing, but there is much simple pleasure herein. It rises far above mere prettiness; I would certainly not call it accessible.

That I am by turns and simultaneously aware of the details and the whole is a brilliant work of balance. I am aware of an effortless grace, of a creaminess, of a softness, of an intimate warm animal smell, of a distant elegance. From some angles I see that extraordinary wingspan, if I turn my head I catch the beaked profile or the curve of primary feathers, the tucked webbed feet that indicate this bird can (but doesn’t often) come to ground or water.

Always it appears a live, breathing thing. It distills the abject magnificence of embodiment, seems connected to earth and heavens but independent of both.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Une Fleur de Cassie is a creation that brings me to tears with its sheer magnificence. Not brought quite undone like weeping Margery Kempe, mystic of the Middle Ages, yet I am moved by such visions and associations. Obviously *I* must take care where I wear this one as I am rendered (spiritually) raw skinned, but practically speaking this is a great one for hot weather, perhaps a little intimate for some of your workplaces, but a lovely combination of gentle, radiant and long-lasting.

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Smelly Thoughts
MECCA Australia has $209/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/ml

Am I alone, or are there any perfumes that transport you?

In raptures,

Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers.

O’DRIÙ: Art in Olfaction

November 4, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

One morning in July 2014 Angelo Orazio Pregoni aka O’DRIÙ woke up with an idea – a wet dream, so to speak.

“WHAAAT?” I hear you ask.

O’DRIÙ: Art in Olfaction

Via email he told me his idea of Wet Dream-Coming Perfumery was based on a search for new expressive horizons, free of limitations. He included a video link and a promise that some of his weird yet wonderful sounding fragrances were in the post to me from Italy.

His video was released during Milan Fashion week in response to Vogue and New York Times criticism that the event “lacked novelty.” It shows a live performance of the initial creation of N°1 PI-SCIANEL by eccentric nose and artist Pregoni and N°2 PI-SCIANEL by Tom Rebl, fashion designer. The N°5 performance was showcased at Pitti Fragranze, an Italian event which gathers the best in artistic perfumery.

Here we see them empty a bottle each of Chanel N°5, fill them with Peety (a conceptual art in the form of perfume, customizable with 10 drops of pee) and add to this their own urine. (Errm gross!)

The duo’s only rule is to break the barriers that prevent communication of new ideas. With perfumes N°5 and PI-SCIANEL together with O’DRIÙ, Pregoni attempts to revolutionize niche perfumery via his artistic path and olfactory research. All the while provoking debate and controversy, leaving no one indifferent.

The following (as he puts it) “contemporary artworks” arrive in the post a week later, along with some strange marketing items:
1. Pathetique – 2014 A woody aromatic featuring tuber, bergamot, incense, juniper berry, black pepper, woody notes, oakmoss, mimosa, vetiver and amyris
2. Peety – 2013 A floral woody musk with top notes of jasmine, rose, tobacco leaf and moss; middle notes are mandarin orange, bitter orange, amber, cinnamon and pink pepper; base notes are patchouli, sandalwood and tonka bean
3. Eva Kant – 2013 An oriental spice for women with top notes of grapefruit, lavender and wood; middle notes are myrrh, sandalwood, ginger, magnolia and ylang-ylang; base notes are chamomile, cardamom, vanilla and benzoin

If scent as art and design is seen as a whole concept along with structure, perfume is then the result of a creative process which represents an expression in its entirety and has a value or disvalue in its totality. Pregoni believes “olfactory analysis of a perfume is subcultural distortion. Perfume should not be described through its ingredients, only through olfactory vibrations and oscillations of emotions, not smells.” Further pondering his work we can absorb the performance; the dream, the coming, the awakening/realization/reality, “the mess”(!!) and of what it still might become.

If we can reprogram ourselves from the clichés of mass-market perfumery in order to reignite our “paleo” (Palaeolithic) sensations and emotions, we can believe that olfactory “orgasms” do awaken us from sensory numbness and bring us into abstract reality. A “wet dream” – complete before we even register it as real?

Is this what Pregoni is saying? With “coming perfumery” he wanted to create a perfume that “lives” one step ahead of the present, whose identity is defined by what it will be tomorrow much more than what it is in the moment it is being observed.

Ainslie Walker

Mona di Orio Discovery Set + Tasmania Photo Essay

November 3, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Tina G

Perfume choices are, by their nature, exceedingly personal. I enjoy sharing my enthusiasm for fragrance with family and friends, but how to do this in a way that lets them make their own choices is tricky. What I may recommend could be abhorrent to someone else, and I don’t want to risk putting anyone off the joys of exploring new fragrances! So, while on holiday in Australia’s largest island Tasmania with some friends, I decided to set up a perfume testing session as a bit of fun and see where it led us.

Mona di Orio Discovery Set

Photo Stolen Peony Melbourne

I chose to take along Mona di Orio’s Discovery Pack, which is the set of eight Les Nombres d’Or line presented in 5ml roller ball applicators. Each of the eight fragrances – Cuir, Eau Absolue, Musc, Vanille, Ambre, Rose, Vétyver and Tubéreuse – were decanted into spray containers for travel.

Tasmania is a beautiful part of the world. The island State lies to the South-East of Australia, across the wilds of Bass Strait from Melbourne. The four of us went for a long weekend, staying on the rugged East Coast in a little stone cottage by the ocean. Yes, it was as gorgeous as it sounds! We had a great time exploring, eating, drinking, and just generally resting up. I’ve included a few photos of the trip as a taster of what we experienced, it was wonderful.

For the testing, the Discovery Set was set up with fragrance strips and I explained the way fragrance works, top, mid and base notes and how perfume evolves over time, particularly on skin. We all sat down and tried each of the line. The Cuir was the least popular, with an “Oh, God, no!!” reaction being the strongest of the day! Two friends decided on what they’d like to wear the next day and give a proper run though. One friend decided to decline, as family members are particularly sensitive to chemicals and wearing perfume on a regular basis wouldn’t work for her. The fragrances chosen were Musc, and Rose. I chose Vétyver.

We noted that all three fragrances got us through the day – at least 8 hours. The Rose was BIG on opening, a really full and rich ‘real’ rose scent. My friend was a bit worried that it would be too big, but it did settle nicely into something softer and more wearable. The Musc I had trouble smelling, but my other friend enjoyed it very much. I encouraged them both to keep sniffing through the day and see if there were any changes.

Peony Melbourne has Mona di Orio Discovery Set $145
Parfum1 has the Mona di Orio Discovery Set $145

At the end of the trip I then let them choose a small 1ml decant to take home and play with. Musc, Eau Absolue, and Vanille went to one home, Rose went to another with my encouragement of Amber, and I took back Cuir, Vétyver, and Tubéreuse – which happen to be my favourites anyway. Funny the way things work out!

Tina G

Tasmania Photo Essay