CH Carolina Herrera Fragrance 2013 Ad Campaign
Loving this new image from art8amby
Nathaniel Goldberg photographed the fragrance campaign featuring catwalker Julia Stegner.
Image via Models.com
beauty
Hothouse Flower by Ineke Ruhland for INeKE 2012
Hello Fellow Fumies.
I have a great online fragrance buddy, Undina from Undina’sLookingGlass, she is smart, cool and always a step ahead. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get a small Undina curated frag pack in the mail of things she thinks I will like, or that I must sniff. This one got slightly lost in transit but when the shiny blue package arrived I was over the moon. Swapping is a great way to find out more scents with only the charge of some decanting supplies and postage. Thank You Undina again
Hothouse Flower by INeKE 2012
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green tea, green leaves and cypress
Heart: Gardenia, galbanum, fig and olibanum
Base: Guaiac wood, musk and corn silk
My first thought upon spritzing is gardenia, I so love that fresh fragrance and when it feels green, broken branch, sap and crushed leaves overlaid with gardenia I am in fragrance heaven. There is a luscious creaminess in Hothouse Flower that hovers above the green making our cool, sunny Autumn day here in Sydney feel like Spring. I feel as if I should walk outside to see the daffodils and spring runner iris in bloom instead of the Camellias flowering and the Liquidamber just starting to turn red at the top. A fresh gardenia with only the very slightest nod to its skanky, animalic deep notes, Hothouse Flower is a fresh burst of crisp that warm slowly over time but not a lot. It sweetens and the resins add a hint of amber or caramel, maybe it’s the fig adding a sweet milky note? We have a long waist high gardenia hedge four doors down the street and when it’s in flower we get a beautiful soft and elegant waft of an evening that drowns all other natural smells in the street, this smells like that hedge from our front yard. It is both fabulous and alluring, no wonder Billie Holiday chose it as her signature flower. In case you haven’t got the message, I freaking LOVE Hothouse Flower and will make it my first purchase from Scentsation in LA, May 11.
Though I can smell Hothouse Flower and feel extremely fragrant it doesn’t have a huge projection, nor does it take over a room quickly but half an hour later I come back to the room and I can smell a tiny pretty faded gardenia memory. About 4 hours of fragrant before I am left with only a whisper.
Raw Umber on Fragrantica said it excellently: Hothouse Flower smells like Spring erupting on all sides. It’s Spring on steroids. It is extremely uplifting and soothing….. It’s like natural anti-depressants. If you like gardenia, but dislike those heavy, sneeze-inducing, overpowering florals, this variation on a true to life green gardenia should help you begin your day on the right foot.
Photo Stolen INeKE
Further reading NowSmellThis and Undina’sLookingGlass
INeKE has $95/75ml in the USA but doesn’t ship to Australia
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml
Have you tried this line? I liked Field Notes from Paris and thought it excellently done. Have you a favourite from the line yet?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx
Amouage Interlude Woman Perfume Review by Eliza
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Guest Post by Eliza
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Hello you lovely Perfume Peeps!
We are joined today by one of our fabulous APJ winners from the past who has written in praise of Amouage Interlude Woman. I’d like to thank Libertine Parfumerie for their incredible generosity in providing our giveaway today.
Amouage Interlude Woman Perfume Review by Eliza
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, grapefruit, ginger, tagete (marigold)
Heart: Rose, frankincense, jasmine, orange blossom, helichrysum (immortelle), opoponax, sandalwood, walnut, coffee, kiwi, honey
Base: Vanilla, benzoin, amber, sandalwood, oakmoss, leather, tonka, musk, agarwood
Eliza here from the US. The package arrived today. What treasures!!! I immediately sprayed on the Amouage Interlude Woman. Initial thoughts were herby medicinal, like echinacia, or chamomile, so I was not surprised to read that it lists tagetes (marigold) in the top notes. Then peppers and something floral. Within a few moments I could smell incense, which finally developed into frankincense and probably myrrh. Right now it is softening to a lovely warm scent with floral underpinnings. But I can still smell the woods, and a bit of the medicine. Incensey perfumes are not my cup of tea, but this is quite lovely.
Amouage Interlude W + M GIVEAWAY!!
Photo Stolen parfumerie
I have an idea! Well it’s not such a new idea, I’m sure someone else has done it before and better but here it is. If you enter this draw and win then you must write me a MINI REVIEW of one of the fragrances that you win. Cool? The same as Eliza did up the top. Around 100 words. You too can be an APJ GUEST POST WRITER!!
I have four sets of Interlude Man + Interlude Woman by Amouage to give away and some surprises.
If we reach 100 Individual Commenters I will also add a 5ml metal atomiser filled with L’Artisan Parfumeurs recently discontinued Coeur de Vetiver Sacre
WHAT CAN YOU WIN?
There are FOUR packs to give away this week, the winners will receive
1 x AMOUAGE Interlude Man carded 3ml Manufacturers Spray Sample
1 x AMOUAGE Interlude Woman carded 3ml Manufacturers Spray Sample
1 x Special Surprise Manufacturers Carded Sample
with P&H anywhere in the world
If we reach 100 Individual Commenters I will also add an extra draw -1 x 5ml metal atomiser filled with L’Artisan Parfumeurs recently discontinued Coeur de Vetiver Sacre
HOW DO YOU WIN?
Open to everyone worldwide who is a follower of AustralianPerfumeJunkies via email (eM), Bloglovin” (BGL), RSS, or WordPress (WP) and please leave how you follow in your comment. Yes, you may become a new follower to enter! In fact, we encourage it.
All you need to do this week is go to LibertinePerfumerie and get the name of any product they sell that hasn’t been used in this draw before! NO DOUBLE UPS!! That’s it!! EASY PEASY!
So 3 things you need to qualify!
1) Follow AustralianPerfumeJunkies
2) Tell us how you follow
3) Leave a fragrance sold by Libertine Parfumerie with your comment (no double ups)
Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie AMOUAGE Interlude GIVEAWAY!! http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1wJ @AmouagePerfumes
HOUSEKEEPING
Entries Close Sunday 21st 2013 10pm AusEST and winners will be announced in a separate post then.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and TSO Jin will pick them. He doesn’t even stop watching TV to do it usually.
The winners will have till Wednesday 24th 2013 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or I will give the prize to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.
Special THANKS to LibertinePerfumerie for the AMOUAGE Interlude Samples. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing and buying the right to import alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.
GO TO IT GANG!!!
See you tomorrow,
Portia xxx
LUSH Ultrabalm + Coriander, Green Chili, Walnut and Yoghurt Chutney Recipe
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Post by Val the Cookie Queen
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Greetings APJ Fragrance Fiends!
Lush. British slang term to describe something pleasing or desirable.
“I had the most lush meal last night.”
“That perfume is lush.”
“Look at him/ her …….. he/she is totally lush.”
LUSH ULTRABALM – by LUSH
Photo Stolen VegetarianLiving
Ingredients:
Organic Jojoba Oil
Candelilla Wax
Rose Wax
We´ll keep this short. This stuff is totally amazing. For a million things. Too long to list. You can look it up for homework.
Why am I writing about it? Well, for all you folks whose skin “eats fragrance”, or who just want their scent to last a little longer, Ultrabalm is the business.
If you know that already, then skip this and look at the recipe. For those who don´t, it´s simple.
Put a little of the Ultrabalm wherever you put your fragrance. Then put your fragrance on top. That´s it. Your perfume will last much longer. The very slight smell that the Ultrabalm has goes away.
I use it for any scent that I think of as an “anointing” scent. Rose, patchouli, amber, sandalwood, Tauer, Vermeire ………
But who cares?? Use it for whatever you want. I would never, ever be without it.
Coriander, Green Chili, Walnut and Yoghurt Chutney Recipe
CQ´s Occasional Fragrant Cooking Secrets
Photo Stolen FoodViva
This stuff is awesome.
Good sized bunch of fresh coriander (some stems are OK)
Yoghourt of your choice (I like Turkish or Greek) – maybe about a half cup, maybe a bit more
Fresh green chiles (too taste, obviously)
10 or 15 walnut halves
Salt
(slices of thin red onion to decorate if you are feeling creative)
Plug in a food processor (!)
Chuck the whole lot (EXCEPT the salt) in a food processor. Process. Not at rocket speed. Bit by bit.
Not thick enough – add some more walnuts, not hot enough – more chiles (remembering it gets hotter over the hours and days) want it more creamy – add more yoghourt. Add the salt at the end, you´ll probably need a decent amount. Anything with chiles needs lots of salt. You don´t add it to the food processor because it makes the chutney turn runny. I like it to be thickish. But make it how you want.
This chutney dances on your tongue. Eat it with everything. Well maybe not cornflakes. Keeps in the fridge for a few days just fine. Smells lush.
Bussis
CQ
Series 3 Incense: Avignon by Bertrand Duchaufour for Comme des Garcons 2002
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Gabriella
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Avignon by Comme des Garcons 2002
Hello Everyone, Do we need to have a strong memory association or reference for a perfume to really move us? This is the question that popped into my head as soon as I tested Avignon by Comme des Garcons. Why? Because it moved me in such a way and yet, I couldn’t really fathom why. It’s an incense-based perfume and meant to be a fragranced homage to Catholicism. Many reviews, including the lovely Portia’s a few months ago, have emphasised the evocation of childhood memories of Catholic rites: days spent at mass surrounded by swinging censers and altar boys.
Photo Stolen PoliticsDaily
But I’m not Catholic and I’ve always disliked incense. In fact, I avoided Avignon for many years, despite the glowing reviews for these very reasons. My scent impression of incense before trying the scent was of those cheap joss sticks they sell in two-dollar shops. And the closest I have come to being Catholic was having a serious girl crush on Josephine Byrnes in the mini-series Brides of Christ. For about a week or two, I thought how cool it would be to become a nun. (Ed: Josephine Burns and I were at the same drama school, lived in the same area and used to catch the train to and sometimes from school together. She was always the most beautiful young woman)
My fragrance loves tend to be white florals because I have spent my life surrounded by them. My grandmothers and mother wore white floral perfumes, Mum often had vases of lilies in the house and gardenias were a constant of my childhood summers. My first perfumes: Revlon’s Jontue and Cacharel’s Anais Anais built on that trajectory of association.
However, I also realise that we people who love perfumes can learn to appreciate and love new and different notes. But this, for me, is something different. As we sniff more and more, we can see beauty in the things that we once found ugly or appreciate a note that once we would have been happy to overlook. Perfume is an art form and as our noses become well trained, we can fall in love with something that we didn’t understand before. For a perfume to really well and truly move me though, to really feel like I am applying a second skin, I’d always thought it would need a strong evocation of something important or a strong memory.
And yet, that first drop of Avignon on flesh felt completely right. It was another lightbulb moment where I had the “wow” factor and I knew I’d end up buying a bottle.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
The perfume features notes of roman chamomile, cistus oil, elemi, incense, vanilla, patchouli, palisander, ambrette seeds.
For me, Avignon is all about the central theme of frankincense that undulates between smokiness, earthiness and brightness. It segues seamlessly on the skin between these different facets: the palisander bringing out the woody character, the patchouli amplifying the dark earthiness and the ambrette and chamomile giving the sense of brightness and joy. It’s quite a linear fragrance that moves softly and slowly on the skin. Its an introspective fragrance best suited to moments of quiet contemplation, evoking that sense of serenity you would need at times of prayer.
Photo Stolen ImpulseMagazin
And that’s why Avignon spoke to me so profoundly at a time in my life when everything felt discombobulated and stressful, Avignon took me to a place I needed to be. A place of tranquillity and reflection, a place where I could shut the door on the chaos that has been my life over the past month and I could just simply “be”. That is the magic of perfume.
For other more complete reviews, please see OlfactoryObsessed and Olfactoria’s review on PerfumeSmellin’Things
Luckyscent has Avignon for $US80/50ml.
SurrenderToChance has samples starting at $US4.59/ml.
Have you tried Avignon and what did you think of it? Have you ever tried a perfume that has completely floored you with it beauty and you can’t work out why?
With much love till next time!
M x
Believe by Britney Spears 2007
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Post by Katrina
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2007 was the year we saw Britney Spears suffer a very public breakdown. She spent time in rehab, shaved her head and lost custody of her children. 2007 is also the year that the Britney Spears fragrance Believe was released. Believe, one of the best perfumes from Britney Spears was released at a time when her life was in turmoil. Its times like this when you need to believe in the future. Britney managed to get through the tough times and get back in the spotlight for the right reasons appearing as a judge on America’s X-Factor in 2012.
Britney Spears Believe 2007
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrance notes from Fragrantica
Top: guava and tangerine.
Heart: honeysuckle and linden blossom.
Base: patchouli, amber and sweet praline notes.
The green Believe bottle is quite spectacular, shaped like a multi-faceted triangular prism.
Believe starts out fresh and juicy with a delicious opening of tangerine and guava. This perfume deserves more than a quick sniff because if you rely on first impressions you will miss the best of this fragrance as it develops into a warm and spicy scent. There are beautiful soft florals and the perfume opens up with earthy notes from the patchouli and amber. Believe feels comforting with an easygoing patchouli that is cozy and warm. The praline carries on a delicious quality to the fragrance.
(Ed: Believe uses a softened version of the Mugler Angel base and is surprisingly wearable)
Photo Stolen HotCosmetics
I haven’t been able to track down the name of the perfumer of Believe. Basenotes have the perfume listed as unknown. If I developed this fragrance I would proudly put my name on it.
Further reading at Now Smell This
FragranceNet starting at $15.95/30ml
MyPerfumeSamples has $2/ml or $4/5ml
Watch my video review of Britney Spears Believe on my CelebrityPerfume YouTube Channel
For more celebrity perfume reviews visit my website Celebrity Perfume Store
Katrina xx
Daniel Craig Undressed – Adele – 007 Perfume?
Hey Hey All,
Adele seems to have it all, including a quick rejoinder. My estimation of her has gone up a couple of notches after reading this. Her voice is such a magical thing I hope she stays around and grows old, rich and irrelevant instead of succumbing to drugs, madness or the 27 club as so many uber talents do. I have also dropped in, for your edification, the Skyfall video clip because Daniel Craig is a fabulous James Bond. Then down the bottom I added the 007 fragrance advertisement, OH DEAR!
Enjoy Adele and Daniel Craig.
Portia xx
Photo Stolen Facebook
Photo Stolen Billboard
And a little present for you all, Daniel Craig on the beach, wet and in swim trunks. OMG!! Faint!
Photo Stolen MyNewPlaidPants
Eau de Cartier Essence d`Orange by Mathilde Laurent 2010
Hello Lovely APJ Family,
Eau de Cartier Essence d`Orange 2010
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Oranges, bergamot
Heart: Violets
Base: Patchouli, cedar
I love the sparkly, fresh burst of opening here, all bright ORANGE! It’s so fun and frisky and perfect for warm weather wearing as the Northern Hemisphere heads towards summer. For us down here it is still eminently wearable on warm Autumnal days like today, we are rocking 25 degrees celcius and the sun is shining gloriously. The violets at the heart of Cartier Essence d`Orange are like woody and powdery soft whispers awaiting the magic of very clean patchouli and woods to round them out and make them more interesting. I love the barely there dry down, it really acts as if my skin smells better than it does, as if it has melded with my scent. Cartier Essence d`Orange becomes a shimmering subterfuge that makes it an excellent date night fragrance, especially if your skin needs to smell 100% on point for the late night playtime.
I am not swept away in a cloud of magical and wondrous memories, nor am I transported to other lands when I wear Cartier Essence d`Orange but it is a lovely scent, quiet and restrained, that gets quite a bit of skin time. I’ve nearly finished my second 5ml decant and ordered a FB online. Honestly, I am lucky to get 2 hours of full fragrance here but that whispering dry down is a killer on my skin and I love it.
Photo Stolen mosleyLane
Further reading NowSmellThis
FragranceNet has 100ml/$50
MyPerfumeSamples has $2/m but I bought $6/5ml Cer-Ay-Zee CHEAP!!
You better get a sample first, this may only be so good with my chemistry. If you have tried Cartier Essence d`Orange, what were your thoughts?
Portia xx
WE ARE BEAUTIFUL
Hello Everyone,
It’s interesting to me that people can not see how beautiful they are. This three minute movie inspired me to share with you all, because you are all beautiful. We are all beautiful, and so lucky to have life. It’s rude for us not to squeeze every drop of joy out of it that we can. Self worth and self respect,
Photo Stolen TheIdeasLab
WE ARE BEAUTIFUL
Portia xx
DOVE Real Beauty Sketches
Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle by Bruno Jovanovic 2013
Hello Fabulous Fumies,
If you have been anywhere around the scentbloggosphere this year then Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle by Bruno Jovanovic would certainly have registered on your radar. Uber famous frag royalty meets Belguim’s fashion icon in a scented cloud of mutual admiration. Quite the story…
Dries Van Noten par Frederic Malle 2013
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Sandalwood, guaiac wood, tonka bean, vanilla, saffron, jasmine, musk, bergamot, lemon, nutmeg, cloves, patchouli, woody notes and peru balsam
With all the hype I was totally ready to be underwhelmed by this offering, which is always a good place to start smelling because you can’t be let down. Warm marshmallow sweet and slightly spicy vanilla opens that smells so familiar, like someone I love is nearby, even though I’m sure that I’ve not smelled this mix before. Every time I wear Dries Van Noten it has instantly calmed and unruffled me, and today I am wearing the dregs of a 5ml decant.
Each previous time I have worn Dries Van Noten for the purpose of reviewing it has grabbed my head and asked me to just sit and enjoy its beauty. The whole fragrance feels extremely uncluttered, though it is dense. It goes through a milky, nutmeg stage that reads egg flip to me. An egg flip was dinner sometimes when we were young and made as a great treat for us kids, whole egg, nutmeg, vanilla, ice cream and milk. It was huge and delicious. Nowadays when I think how strict Mum’s budget was I think that maybe she was eeking out her ration by giving us a liquid dinner out of, at that time, extremely cheap materials. I’ll never know now but my sister Jodie and I would feel so great on an egg flip night.
There is the most beautiful woods here too, some resinous amber references, a soft whiff of jasmine that flies mainly under the radar and patchouli, clean and fresh washed. All there making a beautiful chorus under the egg flip.
You must try Dries Van Noten, it is a rich and glamorous fragrance that has me chomping at the bit for more, I’m so sad to have finished my decant. You know what that means!
Photo Stolen holzbau-brunner
Here’s the Frederic Malle site: A perfume built around natural sandalwood, chosen for its softness and its character, and the fact that it is simultaneously exotic and evocative of the tradition of great classic perfumes. This very short formula made of very precious materials, generates a sober but distinct sensuality. It is, in my eyes, a fair parallel to Dries van Noten’s world. ITS CREATOR: Bruno Jovanovic
Photo Stolen NYTMagazine
Tom at PerfumeSmellinThings reviewed Dries Van Noten today but has had a polar opposite experience to mine and also today ScentsOfSelf’s Dries Van Noten review is filled with ambivilence.
Further reading GrainDeMusc and Kafkaesque and Patty at PerfumePosse
Frederic Malle starts at $125/3 x 10ml (I think this is IDEAL for splitting)
SurrenderToChance starts at $6/ml
What a stunner of a fragrance. Have you tried it? Are you likely to?
Till tomorrow, take good care of yourselves and waft fragrantly,
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 