beauty

Holiday Destinations?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 27 Comments

Hey there crew,

We are in South Korea and having a ball. Actually, by now we are flying home

Righto!
So I am running INCREDIBLY late with stuff for this holiday and my mind has turned to mush. Instead of writing a post I thought I could ask you all for your input:

Question_Mark_CloudPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

What destinations are on your holiday list? Where have you been that you’d like to return to or where would you LOVE to go? What do you prefer, an active, exciting holiday, lazy relaxing holiday? Is it shopping, sniffing, eating, scenery, friends or adventure?

Sleeping On The Plane Ian McKenzie FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

My answer: As you know I love to travel. What seems to happen is I either go to visit friends or go to check a new place and see as much of it as I can. When traveling with Jin that means being up at the crack of dawn and falling into the bed a couple of hours before the next dawn. We see Museums, walk the streets and get lost, find cafes. catch public transport and as Jin so eloquently puts it, “We act so local”.

One of things I like to have is a breakfast buffet, it’s so much better to tromp downstairs and grab food, that’s where I do my Post Card writing and Jin plans the days adventures. I prefer a 4* but will happily sleep No Star if the Breakfast is good.

Where do I like to go? Well, numerically I’ve spent the most visits to India, I think 15 or 16 trips now and every time India makes me want to go back again. When they wrote Incredible India they weren’t joking. Followed closely by the UK, I lived there for a couple of years in thew 1990s and have been back numerous times for all sorts of reasons from work to weddings.

Where have I not been that is on the list, I’ll give you my Top 5 Want To Destinations1. South America: Yes the whole damn continent. Recently Jin and I bought motorbikes to prepare for a trip following The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara.
2. Madagascar: The lovely island off Africa that DreamWorks made into a MUST SEE on my list.
3. Canada: I know, you’d think I would have been there but as yet it hasn’t happened. I had my fingers crossed for this November but the gods saw other things in my lifeline. that’s cool, I’ll get there.
4. Russia: Sadly they are going through some madness there but one day I will get to Russia, with love. Imagine me in full drag tramping through the major cities of Russia. Yes, me too!
5. Israel: The center of so many of the world’s faiths, filled with the icons of my childhood religious upbringing. It would be interesting and informative to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

Tell me about your travels or your “I Wish” list?
Portia xx

Luxe Champaca EdT Comme des Garcons 2007

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

.

Post by FeralJasmine

.

I have a secret fantasy about having my hair done in India. In this fantasy it would again be long and auburn, and would be skillfully braided with strands of jasmine. I would feel the smoothness of my light silk clothing, and smell the single Champaca flower floating in a bowl of water nearby, and wait… for what, exactly? I’m not sure. The whole point would be that moment of beauty, radiant and complete.

Luxe Champaca EdT Comme des Garcons 2007

Luxe Champaca Eau de Toilette Comme des Garcons FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
White pepper, angelica, champaca, cardamom, pepper, white musk, iris

I can’t claim that Luxe Champaca provides that exact moment, but then, how many perfumes do? It does offer a radiant sweetness, light but somehow penetrating, that floats around me like the memory of beauty. I haven’t yet sampled the Champaca EDP from the same line, and maybe it’s a richer scent. But the EDT has its place. Like everyone else, I have a million tasks a day to complete, and very little time to sit around having fantasies of beauty. But the memory of radiance that the EDT carries can follow me around, wafting lightly, appearing and disappearing unexpectedly, whispering to me to remember perfect beauty and believe that it could exist. It’s as if my waiting jasmine-braided self were reaching toward my professional persona with a calming hand. Stop, she whispers softly, and feel.

Eau de Toilette Comme des Garcons Lei_pikake WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

For such a delicate beauty, Champaca is surprisingly persistent and lasts hours on my perfume-eating skin, coming and going a bit but always there. It’s a good scent for spraying on scarves and lingerie. I can’t imagine this one on a man, but that may be due to a limited imagination, so gentlemen, try it if you feel so inclined and report back.

Eau de Toilette Comme des Garcons Flower_garland_sellers WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Smellin’ Things
First in Fragrance has €110/100ml and samples
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/.5ml

Now, I would love it if you shared one of your beauty fantasies with me. In your lovely thought, where are you, what are you doing, and what do you smell?

FeralJasmine

CHANEL Cuir de Russie (Les Exclusifs de Chanel) by Jaques Polge for CHANEL 1983

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

.

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

.

First composed by Master Perfumer Ernest Beaux 1927
and retuned by Jaques Polge in 1983

CHANEL Cuir de Russie by Jaques Polge for CHANEL 1983

(Les Exclusifs de Chanel)

Chanel Cuir de Russie Chanel FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featureed acciords:
Top: Tunisian orange blossom, Calabrian bergamot, Sicilian mandarin
Heart: Jasmine, oriental rose, ylang-ylang, oriental notes
Base: Albanian birch wood, tobacco, musk, leather

Cuir de Russie = Sybaritic Grandueur (Sybaritic – pertaining to or characteristic of a sybarite; characterized by or loving luxury or sensuous pleasure)

I have waited so long for this moment. I have had tiny samples, a lovely small dab bottle and finally a large decant. Being able to spray without a care really does make such a difference.

Chanel Cuir de Russie Church Spires PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

You know instantly it´s a Chanel classic, even not being familiar with the scent itself. It is so beautiful that I am sat here at a loss for words. Cuir de Russie has been written about so many times there is not really much I can add. Perhaps though there is someone out there reading about it for the first time. This then is for you.

Cuir de Russie, or Russian leather was quite the modern theme around the end of the 19th century. Women were smoking cigarettes and perfume houses were coming up with fragrances for them. Women who smoked were scandalous and Cuir de Russie was provocative and shocking, which was its purpose.

Chanel Cuir de Russie Orlov Trotter WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

From the CHANEL Website: “The tumultuous events in Russian history offered Mademoiselle Chanel the opportunity to meet the Grand Duke Dimitri, who introduced her to an ingenious perfumer: Ernest Beaux, born and trained in Moscow. In 1927, she worked with him to create Cuir de Russie. Through long musky, smoky notes, it evokes a wild yet elegant world, with its scent of leather boots tanned by birch bark and the essence of Virginia tobacco.” 

It is smoky and leathery, but it is softened by the sweet and lush floral notes. It is incredibly feminine, sensual and warm. It enticingly wraps itself around you like a smokescreen. It is elegantly animalic. It makes me feel fabulous.

Val CQ & Christian SperrerPhoto donated Val CQ

And when you work out after a long day, Cuir de Russie is reignited in the sweat. And it´s ravishing. It is your duty, if you haven´t already, to at least try this.

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and Olfactoria’s Travels
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml
You can try and purchase Cuir de Russie at most CHANEL boutiques and some CHANEL specialty stores

Cuir de Russie is who I was and who I am now.

CQ

M Mariah Carey by Carlos Benaim and Loc Dong for Mariah Carey 2007

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

.

Post by Katrina

.

Mariah Carey has released 14 perfumes to date and most of them are in cute bottles in a range of different colours with a butterfly cap. Many of Mariah’s gorgeous butterfly bottles contain sugary sweet and fruity perfumes like the Lollipop Bling and Lollipop Splash lines. The original purple bottle though is something quite different.

M Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey 2007

Carlos Benaim and Loc Dong

M Mariah Carey FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives the following notes:
Top: Marshmallow, sea notes
Heart: Tiara, gardenia
Base: Amber, patchouli, Moroccan incense

M by Mariah Carey in the very cute purple butterfly bottle was the first perfume released by Mariah Carey. M is quite a heavy mature floral fragrance in contrast to the rest of her sweet fruity floral fragrances perfumes. Mariah Carey has a wide range of different fragrance styles and Mariah Carey M is definitely a more mature fragrance.

Clotty from Fragrantica says: When I first sprayed this, I thought it smelled very familiar. Now I know what it is. It smells similar to what a vintage-formulation of Dior Poison smells like on the dry down.

NowGet2WorkBitch on Fragrantica says: Love this! it smells like marshmallows and is very sweet but when u wear it it also has hints of incense too but doesn’t lose it’s marshmallow scent which is just amazing!

2009 Armed Forces Inaugural CommitteePhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Mariah Carey M starts out with gardenia that is quite heavy and could be overpowering if you sprayed too much. There is also the scent of salty sea air. The sea note is one element of this fragrance that I really enjoy. Contrasting the salt is the sweetness of marshmallow, which is blended in without adding too much sweetness but it does smell delicious. Mariah Carey M is not a very sweet perfume, the fragrance is really dominated by the gardenia, a strong floral note until the base notes take over. M evolves with incense and patchouli giving the perfume an exotic oriental floral style. M is a strong feminine perfume with character and complexities. This is a beautiful perfume that I love to wear. M Mariah Carey is a grown up perfume in a girly bottle.

M Mariah Carey Beautiful WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Now Smell This
FragranceNet has M By Mariah Carey from $21.12/50ml
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

For more celebrity perfume reviews, check out my Celebrity Perfume Website

If you haven’t tried M by Mariah Carey I hope you give it a chance.
Katrina xx

Calvin Klein 2014: Christy Turlington and Edward Burns

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hi There APJ,

There has been a lot of talk about NECRO-Celebrity. The use of dead celebs images for advertising for many reasons: nostalgia, budget, no news worthy diatribes, mistakes or faux pas and best of all no 100% gold plated asshole of a celeb to deal with. I understand the lure of the dead, especially in a marketing game where one wrong sentence in an interview, or even said with friends and distributed, can cause millions of dollars in collateral damage and rebuilding.

In stark contrast to all other marketing trends Calvin Klein has gone for a living, mature couple to front a brand new launch and in one of their cases to re-front one of the Calvin Klein stable of fragrances 26 years later. That is longer than most alive frag models have been on this planet, by about 10 years. 45 year old Christy Turlington with her her husband Edward Burns. This needs a serious BRAVO for Calvin Klein’s marketing team. Still as unattainably gorgeous as ever but selling to a market who have been long neglected in the marketing departments of the big fashion houses: 40+. I think it will reap BIG rewards and I’m surprised the ads weren’t released a month ago for Mother’s Day.

Enjoy them, real; beautiful; people.
Portia xxx

I stole this stuff Lock, Stock and Barrel from art8amby

Calvin Klein Eternity Night Fragrance 2014 Ad Campaign

Shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in Turks & Caicos, the campaign is exactly what you would expect from Calvin Klein; passionate, intense but always understated. However admits Turlington, “it’s also funny to be intimate with your life partner and have people around.” (source)

Calvin Klein Eternity 2014 Ad Campaign

Christy Turlington and Edward Burns are also fronting the latest campaign image of Calvin Klein Eternity perfume.  (source)

Aromatique Essentials – Bespoke Soirée

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

.

Post by TinaG

.

Aromatique Essentials – Bespoke Soirée

Earlier this year I had an opportunity to attend an event hosted by Australian aromatherapist Julie Nelson of Aromatique Essentials. Julie is a holistic aromatherapist, with 20 years’ experience as aromatherapy practitioner and consultant. Julie also shares her wealth of knowledge through education, events and workshops, and leading the design and delivery of aromatherapy and beauty programs held in some of Australia’s natural therapy collages. Aromatique Essentials commits to “providing luxurious bespoke aromatherapy products with unwavering commitment and quality”, which is absolutely the case. Julie is very much committed to holistic beauty practices, and uses the finest quality organic essential oils in her work. One of her many skills is that of developing individually tailored essential oil perfumes. I found the concept fascinating so I was very pleased to be able to attend the Bespoke Soirée in Kirribilli, Sydney.

Aromatique essentials send credit Tina Gordon 1Photo donated TinaG

On arrival, I realised that this event was not simply about perfumes, but it was fundamentally a celebration of each of us as unique individuals – a focus and reconnection with “self” and recognising our own authenticity. We were greeted with a glass of bubbles and beautifully presented canapés and treats. I chatted to some of the other guests and metAromatique essentials Send credit - aromatique essentials facebook page 1 some fascinating people, as guests were predominantly from a professional network for women starting up or managing their own businesses. Presentations and talks for the evening were: the art of feminine presence by Maria Cucinotta, Emma Veiga-Malta designs bespoke chairs and cushions, Amanda Webb had some beautiful jewellery, and of course Julie Nelson – we were very spoilt! At the end of the night we were given a little “goodie” bag with samples of two of Julie’s perfumes Déesse and Amrita, a cucumber eye serum, organic cookies and tea, and loads of information.

Julie set up an Aroma Bar on the night, and was offering the creation of a personalised aromatherapy scent based on a short questionnaire, which of course I couldn’t resist. I completed a survey of my colour, scent, food and activity preferences, from which Julie used as a basis to create a 5ml vial of bespoke anointing perfumed oil.

My perfume contained: Sandalwood, Blood Orange, Coriander, Bergamot and Rose in jojoba (organic)

Aromatique essentials Send credit Tina Gordon 2

I don’t have much experience with essential oils on skin, so when I tested a few drops of my bespoke essential oil I was surprised to find a distinct top/mid/base notes layering, and evolution of the scent through dry down. There was a lovely fresh rush of a comforting warm orange, with the slightly smoky bergamot intertwined, and a hint of the sandalwood. The coriander oil is sourced from coriander seed, not leaf or stem, which I would have picked up on otherwise – I can’t tolerate green coriander notes. Here, the seed provides a dry spicy counterpoint as the rose starts to shine through. Warm citrus, sandalwood, and spicy rose – Julie really did hit all the right chords for me.

Tina G

Disclaimer: this article was reviewed by Julie Nelson prior to publication.

Aromatique essentials Send thank you picPhotos 1, 3 4 donated TinaG

Photo 2 Aromatique Essentials Facebook Page

Sniffa – Eugenie, Oregon 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

.

Post by ElizaD

.

Hi Australian Perfume junkies,

What do you get when you combine wine, food, perfume and friends in Eugene, Oregon USA? A Sniffa – Eugenie!!!!

Sniffa – Eugenie, Oregon 2014

Here’s the recipe:

Sniffa – Eugenie! Ingredients

1 tiny coffee table
5 fabulous fumehead friends
lots of small glasses
lots of cotton balls
your favorite perfumes–any size bottle or container will do
food
drink
stories

Sniffa - Eugenie 2014 girl Esri Nederland FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Sniffa – Eugenie! Instructions

Invite your friends over and ask them to each bring 3 to 5 of their favorite perfumes. If they only have one, tell them not to worry, you have lots! Encourage them to think of a story about their perfume and be ready to share it. Then ask them to bring a little something to nosh on and a complementary beverage.

Prepare your space by gathering as many small glasses as you can muster and a bag of cotton balls (which is what we call them here in the States–I think others call them cotton wool 😉 ). Place the glasses and the cotton on your coffee table, along with a small bowl of lemon slices (coffee beans make everything smell like coffee, lemon dissipates quickly). Spend the rest of the day thinking about what perfumes you will choose to share from your expansive collection of samples and bottles. Will it be your treasured 1978 bottle of Guerlain L’Heure Bleue, which you bought on eBay for a song, or your tiny sample of Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere? Your equally small sample of Cacharel LouLou or your mini of Prada L’Eau Ambrée? Remember, only three to five!

Vacuum your floors, puff the sofa pillows, prepare the food table, and wait for the magic to happen.

Which it did!

C brought an amazing walnut spread, olives, and a lovely bottle of Blanquette de Limoux, a sparkling wine from Languedoc; K brought home-made brie en croute; and E provided bread and veggies and other bottles of whites and reds.

Since C and E are enthralled with perfume history, they arranged the fragrances by release date, using the book Scent and Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume by Barbara Herman as a guide. As each perfume was introduced, the owner carefully sprayed or dabbed a cotton ball and then placed it under an upturned glass. As the scent released, it was caught in the glass from which each took a sniff. Anyone watching this group would surely had thought we were participating in something most illegal!

Sniffa - Eugenie 2014Photo Donated ElizaD

And the stories!

C had her treasured bottle of Guerlain’s Mitsouko, brought all the way from Paris, and her Andy Tauer minis. She told the stories of how she had been captured by Mitsouko’s incense notes, and how she had discovered Andy Tauer on her trip to the Perfume House in Portland. E shared how she had been sitting in a meeting when she found out that she had won the eBay bid for her bottle of L’Heure Bleue and had immediately launched into a hamster dance. K had everyone in fits of giggles as she related how her perfume, Revlon Intimate, had been a gift during high school and how it still made her feel oh so sexy, even fifty years later. S was so happy that she had found other fumeheads and how perfume was becoming a wonderful connection between her and her daughter. T brought a tiny bottle of Holy Smoke Oil….”one drop lasts all day”…and entertained us with the story of how she found it in a small shop on the lower East Side of Manhattan, far from where she lives now.

Sniffa - Eugenie 2014 The Perfume House Portland TwitterPhoto Stolen Twitter

And when the wine was drained and there were just crumbs left of the brie, we all agreed that this event had only sharpened our appetite for even more fragrance fun…Perfume House in Portland, here we come!

Have you ever participated in a fragrance get-together? DO TELL!
ElizaD xx

Ainslie Walker wins Australian Jasmine Award 2014! My Story

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

.

Post by Ainslie Walker

.

Jasmine Awards 2014

STOP PRESS!!!!

Ainslie Walker wins Australian Jasmine Award 2014! My Story

I had no idea what I was doing, back in January, when I entered the Jasmine Awards 2014. I’d received an email from Portia, but I’d not heard of them before, though, I’m relatively new to the fragrance world.

I mentioned entering the awards to my beauty PR friends a few weeks later and they were like “OMG do you know Vogue writers and Instyle writers win/enter that?” I shuffled off, embarrassed to have accidentally sent my rogue writings into some kind of “professionals only” competition. Eek!

I did a bit of research about the Jasmine Awards and found out:
They began in France 20 years ago, and were set up, to recognize the ongoing contributions of journalists to the fragrance industry. The Jasmine Awards are the most highly Ainslie Walker Jasmine Award 2014#4 coverrecognized and prestigious awards for fragrance journalism, internationally, and are held in France, Canada, USA, the UK and Australia. The first Australian Jasmine awards were held in 2003.
“The Jasmine Awards recognize journalistic excellence in the fields of literary and visual achievement for articles on the subject of fragrance. Journalists are acknowledged for communicating their specialist knowledge and information of fragrance to the public, as well as promoting further discovery of fragrance to readers.” (Jasmine award website)

In Early April, an invite arrived for the breakfast ceremony. I thought, “I’ll go if I can take Portia, it will be a hoot!” I got the OK, and suddenly the next week we were going!! Portia picked me up at 7am(!!). In the car, I said, “You don’t think I could actually win, do you?”– Neither Portia nor myself remember his response (…still FAR too early in the morning), but I think we both just thought “NO WAY” and talked about something else.

We arrived at Darling Harbor and were seated by Fiona Keogh, of Star PR, the organizer. The place was gorgeously laid out and filled with chatty industry types- all beautifully presented and seeming to know each other…we got a few “who are they?” glances, but were undeterred. It was then I picked up a brochure of the day and saw my name in print. HOLY SHIT! I suddenly started to SWEAT and the ceremony began.

There were 6 categories, with the following criteria:

• Best In-depth Feature on Fragrance Award – for the best in-depth feature in a printed publication (minimum 501 words)

• Best Short Feature on Fragrance Award – for the best short article in a printed publication (maximum 500 words)

• Best Online Feature on Fragrance Award* – for the best online article on fragrance published on an online beauty portal or beauty website ONLY

• Best Blog Post on Fragrance Award* – for the best personal blog post on fragrance published online (please note: entries must be written in a personalised style and in the 1st person)

• Best Practical Guide to Fragrance Award – for the best ‘how-to’ style article in a printed publication or online

• Best Visual Story on Fragrance Award – for the best visualisation of a fragrance story or pictorial feature in a printed publication or online

The ceremony started and the first prize was drawn. Suddenly “best blog post” was announced AND WAS ME!!! Squeals from Portia kept me conscious as I headed to theAinslie Walker Jasmine Award 2014#2 portia and I stage, my blog post projected, on the wall. Margaret from Fragrances Of The World presented the award. I was given a box containing the trophy, a huge bunch of flowers and a big purple envelope containing a big cheque! Ushered to the side for photo’s, finally Portia was in front of me – it was real! We were laughing in disbelief and sooooo excited. I was shaking. THANK GAWD Portia was there. What an absolute surprise!!

The awards have led me to consider fragrance journalism. How we put smell, perfumes and fragrance into words for readers to “see”. How we describe the senses: taste, smell, and art. It’s kind of tricky, but if we manage it, readers can gain an insight and an understanding that would normally perhaps, not be able to put into words on their own.

The words we read from fragrance journalism can draw from within us – an agreement on notes/ingredients/images provoked? Point out something we recognize as familiar, a memory, for example, until we can almost smell that perfume being described….and burst to go try it.

Articles can direct us into what to buy or wear for a particular occasion, season or outfit. Fragrance journalism is what helps the fragrance industry make those billions of dollars every year. And I guess that’s why the perfume industry recognizes the efforts of those behind these articles.

They’re not “news” as such, they won’t save the world, but they express creativity, and spread the beauty and magic of fragrance.

Ainslie Walker Jasmine Award 2014#1Perfumes and fragrances are one small luxury, that worldwide have always been used by humans to put a little extra spring in their step, attract some attention and or express themselves – I like to think that fragrance journalism can do the same – put a little spring in the step of the reader as they start their day at work, finding it in their inbox, or reading a magazine whilst on a train for example.

TF was the first ever fragrance blog I wrote. It came about by sweet coincidence. Portia, who had been invited to the TF meet up, but was too busy to go, so said I could go along in his place, as long as I wrote something for APJ. I said I’d never written anything before, and he said “don’t worry it will be fine!!” I had recently met Catherine, the meet up organizer, so I agreed to help out. It seemed I had accidentally fallen into something I am good at! Isn’t it funny how life maneuvers you? This was September 2013, I have written fortnightly ever since for APJ and love being part of the team.

For us folk in Australia, far far away from Paris/Grasse, stores like Harrods, Selfridges, Barneys etc, with their giant beauty halls, many fragrances are hard to experience and get our hands on, especially with such strict customs and postage laws here. I believe this is why APJ has become so popular and the network of people involved incredibly tight. I am proud and thankful to be a part of it and thank you all for your support, comments and incredible encouragement. It’s a win for us all!

Ainslie Walker x

Ainslie Walker Jasmine Award 2014#3 judges

Photos donated by Ainslie Walker

Sandalo by ETRO 1989

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

.

Post by SarahK

.

Hello fellow ‘fumeheads!

I hope you’re all in your happy spaces, but for anybody feeling pressed or stressed, today I’m going to talk about a beautiful calming fragrance. It’s not new, but I’ve only recently had the pleasure of discovering it.

There’s a residual scent that I get from a number of my favourite perfumes, a sort of musky sandalwood base note that lingers on my skin sometimes after showering. I love that scent and I’ve often stood in the shower wondering if someone could just create a fragrance with that note. Well apparently Etro did just that, and it’s called ……

Sandalo by ETRO 1989

Sandalo Etro FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Rose, lemon, bitter orange
Heart: Sandalwood, geranium, rose
Base: Amber, musk, patchouli, cypress, vanilla

Of course, Sandalo isn’t quite as simple as comparing it to residual base notes makes it seem, but its overall effect gives me the same feeling. When I first apply it, and for about 15 minutes afterwards, there’s a slight petrol-like note, but after that, Sandalo is a pretty linear experience of gentle musky woods. Which is just fine with me, because it is pretty close to my ideal sandalwood fragrance. I get hints of geranium, and some rose, but this is primarily about base notes of sandalwood, powdery musk and some very smooth patchouli. The musk is soft and clean, but with no laundry-musk screech. The sandalwood note is not green, or creamy, or buttery and it doesn’t have a scratchy cedarwood kick. Instead it reminds me of the restrained, musky, dry scent found in some Japanese sandalwood incenses. If it had a colour it would be pale, ashy, grey-brown. I find it very centering and meditative.

Sandalo Etro Dead Calm Ann Baekken FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

It’s an entirely unisex scent, evocative of calm, collected individuals of any persuasion. It is not particularly strong, which makes it perfectly office-friendly. In fact, I wish it was a touch more forceful sometimes, though I think part of the issue is probably that my nose just gets used to the scent. That, I suppose, is the downside of a fragrance that feels as if it is mostly made up of base notes, and which melds so well with my skin. This factor makes it somewhat difficult to accurately judge longevity. Sometimes it seems to disappear only to reappear half an hour or so later. At a guess I’d say it lasts around 7 hours on my skin, but I suspect it is actually detectable to others who get close to me for some time after I think it has disappeared for good.

Sandalo Etro Mounted_on_Metaphors LothorioArtPhoto Stolen LothorioArt

I seem to have spent half this review talking about what Sandalo is not, as much as what it is, but somehow that seems appropriate for a scent that represents calm and space for me.

Posh Peasant says: Etro Sandalo launched in 1989 and is a beautiful oriental woody fragrance.  It’s not often mentioned but it’s one of the great sandalwood fragrances.

I was able to try Sandalo thanks to a little decant acquired from a fellow fragrance fanatic. I am very pleased to have found it and I’m currently lusting after a full bottle. I’m also inspired to get hold of some more samples from the Etro line. Portia has reviewed a few before here on AJP and they all sound interesting to me.

Sandalo Etro Yoga-at-Wildflower-Hall-Shimla HillpostPhoto Stolen Hillpost

Further reading: Perfume Posse and Katie Puckrik Smells
Beauty Encounter has $75/50ml
Posh Peasant has samples starting at $3.50/ml

Do you have a favourite sandalwood-centric fragrance?

SarahK

What Fragrance Do You Wear On Public Transport?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Righto!
So I am running INCREDIBLY late with stuff for this holiday and my mind has turned to mush. By the time you get to read this we are now in South Korea and having a ball. It’s spring here and the crew is amazed; it is totally beautiful. Instead of writing a post I thought I could ask you all for your input:

Question_Mark_CloudPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

What Fragrance Do You Wear On Bus, Train, Plane or any Public Transport? Are you careful and try to be considerate or do you like to give them all a lesson in olfactory enormity? Is it Jean Claude Ellena or Thierry Mugler that is most likely to get the spritz?

Sleeping On The Plane Ian McKenzie FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

My answer:
I love to travel and have a stable of frags that I like to enjoy in public transport, some CHANEL No 5 Parfum, L’Occitane Vanille & Narcisse, Ava Luxe Tubereuse Diabolique or Geranium Pour Monsieur by Malle have all been worn with great relish. Last holiday though I had a shower in the lounge at Bangkok and didn’t have my glasses on, not thinking therew could be a scent bomb in my travel frags I spritzed 5 healthy wallops of A*Men Leather. WOW!! I felt like a neon sign but nobody even noticed until the very end of the flight and Michael said he could smell me still as I sat across from him at dinner.

So, what do you wear close up?