beauty

Midnight In Paris on Perfume Posse, David Gandy DnG Undies Video, Winners Announced

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Hi Everyone!
The exciting news is that the Perfume Posse has taken another piece of my writing and put it on their site!! What an awesome feeling to be a guest writer on such an entrenched and valuable learning tool for perfumistas the world over. My smile is broad today. Go have a look at Midnight In Paris please and leave me a message so I know you’ve dropped by. Thrilled, I tell ya!

David Gandy in Dolce & Gabbana underwear 2008 just for a delicious bit of eye candy. Why not?

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THURSDAY COMPETITION WINNERS

Picture Stolen covenantbuilders

This week the deal was the most Twitter shout outs and we had a few. Only one person retweeted more than once and interestingly nobody onward tweeted from your tweets. So this week the second prize goes to the first retweeter.

Here’s what our 2 lovely winners receive:

2ml spray decant of Mackie by Bob Mackie
2ml spray decant of Dreaming by Tommy Hilfiger
.5ml spray decant of a Kerosene fragrance (remains of my samples)
.5ml decant of an Arquiste fragrance
P&H anywhere in the world

Picture Stolen berryreview

Amy Orvin had the most.
Tarleisio was first.

Congratulations to you both. Please get in touch with addresses so I can send your prizes by Wednesday 13.6.12 Midnight Australian EST or I’ll give you prizes to the homeless.

I hope the rest of your weekend is AWESOME!!
Portia xx

Reindeer Games and Hippie Holidaze by Smell Bent

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Hey Smell People,

Don’t forget to enter our THURSDAY GIVEAWAY COMPETITION

Recently on Smell Bent the lovely Brent Leonesio had a warehouse clearance sale. So never one to let an opportunity for gratuitous fragrance shopping go by I ordered half the shop and a bag of chips. I love Brent’s irreverent style and sense of fun. He seems absolutely unafraid to experiment and aside from the quirky names and funky home made feel to his artwork the fragrances are the BOMB! My first true love from the Smell Bent range was Tibet Ur Bottom $, a super incense laden sparkly juice that would wash over me like waves of religion, it almost had me speaking in tongues. So what did my current haul turn up? And this is only a tiny sneak preview…

HIPPIE HOLIDAZE oil 2009: This was the Smell Bent Christmas offering for 2009. In the past I have always felt a bit, ” Gourmand? Really, smells like food? I don’t get it? I can’t smell that this is foodie.” Hippie Holidaze has changed my tune. On my skin we open with a a crisp tangerine (citrus anyway, but not a screechy bergamot) and then after about 15 minutes straight to pancakes and maple syrup with a cinnamon dusting. OMG! It is so rich and delicious, almost burnt. I am salivating. Ha Ha HAH! I can’t believe what I’m smelling on myself. Genius! Now I get the patchouli, yes here it is. I have nothing in the fragrance world that I’ve sniffed to compare it to except Angel by Mugler, this is cooler but hotter. All the ways that I hate Angel have been shorn away into something that I love. Great work Brent!

REINDEER GAMES oil 2010: Built for the Yuletide season again a year later this is like a grown ups version of Hippie Holidaze, the citrus is brighter, with incense to add a cool churchy feel at the beginning, instead of maple syrup this fragrance gives us hot and spicy, Christmas pudding with custard and freshly polished wood furniture, freshly cut wood for the fire that remains unlit and I know there’s no note listed as floral but I am getting something that I can’t pinpoint but it feels like a flower I should remember. This is Christmas done elegantly, or the dream and vision of it anyway. Not only is this a lovely body perfume but I think it would be gorgeous as a candle or room diffuser oil, especially for showing houses.

LIBERTY FOR ALL 2012: I don’t have this yet but the Smell Bent team have, um, maybe I better let the website explain

In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve kinda got a thing for animals.  so do the folks over at liberty wildlife.  when they asked us to come up with a perfume to help celebrate their annual fundraiser, we were happy to oblige.
One of our favorite memories of our Phoenician adolescence is the smell of orange blossoms in the desert spring.  so that is where our composition begins.  and though it goes without saying, liberty for all was designed to be enjoyed by both men and women.
Notes: desert orange blossom with bergamot, ozone, tonka bean, hay, vetyver and sandalwood.
For each full bottle purchased, $25 will be donated directly to liberty wildlife

Go and have a look at Smell Bent they do some really inexpensive samples and ship worldwide, I have particularly enjoyed his Vocabulary range and Incensed. We do have an interview on its way with Brent Leonesio so look out for that in a couple of Mondays time. As always, thank you for spending your leisure time with us,

Portia xx

Making of DIOR’s Secret Garden, Thursday Giveaway Competition

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Hey Hey Everyone!

I hope your weeks have been lovely. Most of this week has been cool and wet here in Sydney but today is sunny and glorious. I’ve just come in from sitting in the front yard reading in the sun with a cuppa and watching the cockatoos, galahs and lorikeets eating the seed rings I put on the liquidamber. It’s easy to be grateful when life is so lovely.

Last week we nearly made 1000 IVs, 994! We also nearly had a 200 IVs day, 197! AH MAY ZING! We also had our first guest blog on Perfume Posse if you didn’t get a chance to see it. Wrote about the old and the new, Bob Mackie & Kerosene’s John Pegg. Hit lightly on Viktor & Rolf’s Spicebomb and a multitude of other great stuff. With any luck you’ve enjoyed reading all these as much as I’ve enjoyed bringing them to you. Here’s the payoff.

THURSDAY GIVEAWAY COMPETITION

Picture Stolen hemodernhome

It’s my favourite day of the week again. The day where we get to look through all the great stuff we’ve talked about during the week and decide what will go in the draw and how we are going to get a winner.

This week we will have 2 winners, each will receive.

2ml spray decant of Mackie by Bob Mackie
2ml spray decant of Dreaming by Tommy Hilfiger
.5ml spray decant of a Kerosene fragrance (remains of my samples)
.5ml decant of an Arquiste fragrance
P&H anywhere in the world

How do you win? This is a complete no brainer, copy and paste the below sentence into your Twitter. EASY PEASY! The 2 people who tweet or have retweeted the most number of times with their handle included will win. I will see each tweet and retweet in my interactions so it will be super easy to follow. If anyone reaches 50 retweets (that’s 50 of your friends retweeting) they will get a special prize 2ml of something niche & discontinued.

https://australianperfumejunkies.com/ I smell a GIVEAWAY COMPETITION Retweet to enter Go to it @ozperfumejunkie

These giveaway competitions are our way of saying THANK YOU for your support. Even if you enter and don’t win you will have earned a million thank yous, just for being part of our AustralianPerfumeJunkies family. It is noticed and appreciated. As a special thank you I’ve added the making of DIOR’s Secret Garden mini movie. You’ll get the full movie tomorrow, see you then.

Wishing all of your good dreams come true,

Portia xx

Making of Secret Garden Versailles

Mackie by Bob Mackie

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Hey everyone,

Photo from Unknown Source

Let’s go down memory lane together today. I remember as a kid sitting around with Mum & Dad watching the Sonny and Cher show. It was a hugely popular weekly musical/comedy TV show with some seriously special guests that looked largely thrown together in an afternoon by a bunch of totally un-gifted high school students. At the time, there was nothing to compare it to in suburban Australia, even living in Sydney. We would laugh at Cher’s deadpan, Sonny’s bad Dad jokes and completely over the top delivery, the terrible skits and the fun they all seemed to be having. It was a time of peace and laughter that we could all share. The real stand out star of the show though were the incredible Bob Mackie costumes. Every week there would be something more fabulous, gala, showstopping than last. Of course Cher was the perfect clothes horse then as now and would wear these sometimes ridiculously extravagant creations as if she was in jeans and t-shirt down the local shops.

Photo Stolen vlistings

It wasn’t just Cher that Bob Mackie designed for though. Every star had at least one Bob Mackie gown in her wardrobe, from uber glam to sophisticated and elegant, to Las Vegas showgirl. He was the king of amazing.

Photo Stolen stylenews

Then Bob Mackie decided to go with the designer flow and introduce fragrance.

Photo stolen Fragrantica

According to Fragrantica; An Oriental Floral fragrance for women. Mackie was launched in 1991.
Top notes are pineapple, raspberry and peach
Middle notes are tuberose, orange blossom, narcissus, jasmine, ylang-ylang and rose
Base notes are sandalwood, amber, patchouli, musk and vetiver

My question to you all is, HAS THIS BEEN REFORMULATED?

An aqueous, light, fresh scent. I was expecting to have to spray this and walk through the mist because it was going to be a blockbuster. If this is how it smelled in 1991 was it not a ground breaking fragrance? Cartier Declaration wasn’t released till 1998 and I thought that it was the original aqueous fragrance? Does anyone know because I am baffled. What I’m smelling from a bottle bought from a reputable online store is pretty much the ubiquitous pastel water that we are being given currently instead of perfume. WTF?

Don’t get me wrong this is pretty and very wearable, and I’m over reacting because I was expecting something different. I could see this being a go to daywear scent, weekends, cinema and dinners. It doesn’t scream, it blends and melds. Now that I’ve given myself a decent spritz there is charm and intrigue.  I am surprised though that this is what Bob Mackie chooses as his signature scent for women.

Thanks for coming along on my fragrant carpet ride. Underneath is a super Bob Mackie retrospective video. You’ll LOVE it.

Portia xx

Kerosene by John Pegg

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Hey lovers of fragrance and all stinks,

I have had on the periphery of my vision a man who has taken his amateur love of scent and his reviews of same to the next level. He came from factory work in his home near Detroit, Michigan but was bored and, for a reason that remains unexplained as far as I have read (because in my mind there should be a catalyst for such change), decided to chuck the old life for a new and more creative one. He has become Musician, Artist, YouTube Fragrance Reviewer and now self taught Perfumer and purveyor of fine fragrance. There has been a lot of talk about Kerosene and the man behind the moniker John Pegg on the scentbloggosphere since he made the jump.

Photo Stolen CafeFleurBon

It’s a good story: humble, ultra sexy mechanic/processing plant worker wants more; throws his old crap life for new; becomes obsessed with something ephemeral and impossible to break into; believes in himself and works hard to overcome obstacles of lack of education and contacts in said profession; tears through all barriers like they were tissue paper; lives his dream; becomes a financial and critical success; in doing so helps the world around him understand that hard work and perseverance pays off. It should be a movie, or at least a novel.

Photo Stolen thisblogreallystinksperfume

If there is a movie there would be Jake Gyllenhall, Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling all fighting for the right to play John Pegg I bet. If this had happened 20 years ago it would have been William Hurt, Judd Nelson and Tom Cruise fighting. MMMMMMMMM sorry just had a momentary in head movie experience of the 6 actors fighting in a jelly wrestling pool while at their physical peaks and in Speedos.

Anyway, there are a bunch of things to like about the Kerosene brand. Currently, every bottle is hand spray painted by John Pegg, making not only the juice but the bottles works of art, every one different and gorgeous. So if you get in now and keep a spare bottle and this brand takes off like I think it will, you will have something extraordinary and valuable in the future. Also, John Pegg is reputed to be a complete sweetheart; heart throb, talented and nice guy! SCORE! The price point is incredibly reasonable at $140 for 100ml on MinNewYork. And, lastly, but most importantly, the juice is getting rave reviews everywhere.

Photo Stolen edle-essenzen

I wanted to see for myself so I ordered a 3 piece sample set from either Posh Peasant, Perfumed Court or Surrender To Chance but I can’t tell you which because I decanted the samples into spray vials so I could try them like they’d come from an atomiser and didn’t note their heritage. I will give my first impressions of each fragrance over a 30 minute period, then the notes on MinNewYork, and then my review of the story through my nose. Remember that my skin and nose will give different results to yours but this is a good starting point.

KEROSENE: CREATURE Tree Lopping and Wood Chipping, Cutting Floor Tiles, Electricity Sparks, Tin, Green, Fresh.
MinNewYork Notes: Sweet birch, Mint, Lemon, Jasmine, Green tea, Sage, Violet leaves, Cypress, Cedar, Patchouli, and Moss.

Photo Stolen MinNY

HAH! As you can see my nose was somewhere else for the opening of this. I am laughing though because those were the things I smelled. On my skin it is an interesting cacophony of bitter, industrial, and parklands during its lengthy opening sequence which definitely deserves the name Creature, what a blockbuster. It calms down to a softer, more rationalised with the notes, greenish wood scent that is pretty for both men and women while still retaining its sharp freshness. I am going to try this on my partner to see if it smells as good as I think it will on someone else.

KEROSENE: WHIPS AND ROSES Green, Nearly Stale Water, Darkness, Broken Branch, Humus, Rose Petals, Pot Pouri.
MinNewYork Notes: Bergamot, Blood Orange, Rose, Jasmine, Gardenia, Orris, Sandalwood, Musk and Leather.

Photo Stolen MinNY

This has been a bit of a failure on my skin. The story just didn’t blossom for me and turned totally skin scent very quickly, them pretty much gone. Notoriously a scent eater, this one was gobbled up too quickly. I am going to come back and try this another day, it could be me, the day, something I ate. Currently though all Whips and Roses gets is a Meh.
UPDATE: First spritz gets eaten quickly but as I lose it and spritz again the scent becomes a cling on, still pumping soft dusty roses and a spicy, suede-ish leather for hours.

KEROSENE: COPPER SKIES Coffee, Caramel, Biscuits, Tea, Flowers, Sweet & Savoury, Bar B Q.
MinNewYork Notes: Amber, Cedar, Sweet tobacco leaves, Honeycomb, Basil and Cloves

Photo Stolen MinNY

This time my experience is not so different from the notes. I am not a gourmand fan but this is suitably off the beaten track story wise that I am completely enamored. A constantly changing panoply of rich and delicious scents with a slight salty/savoury edge that keeps me coming back to check where it’s going now. One minute it’s sweet baking, the next sharp, smoky and woodsy, then savoury, then mixtures of the 3 in cycles. This is the one for me. I am going to use up my sample very quickly and buy a bottle. Perfect cool spring/autumn wear and definitely winter wear. You should at least sample this baby, WOW!

Hopefully this has given you a little peek into 3 of the 5 Kerosene fragrances. They are worth a look see at the very least. If you want more info there is a wonderful interview on EssensaNobile and another on PerfumeAngels; do have a look.

Happy and fragrant thoughts to you,

Portia xx

PS If you are wondering why the title has changed, John Pegg was in touch and the fragrance brand name is Kerosene. His YouTube name is Kerosene Trewthe and I was mistaken. He was even lovely about giving me the note. I am a fan.

Clever Graffiti Artists, Spicebomb by Viktor N Rolf, Timebomb by Kylie Minogue

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Hey Stink Junkies,

I know this is a perfume blog but sometimes I get sent stuff that I want to share. Unfortunately the email had no photo credits but my mate Wendy sent it to me if that helps. These are just my favourite of an enormous collection of crazy graffiti done by super clever creatives.

SPICEBOMB by VIKTOR & ROLF 2012. It is amazing to me that Spicebomb only came out January this year. There has been so much talk about it that it seems like it’s been around longer. I don’t feel quite so remiss in coming to it this late then, especially because it was generally dismissed rather than applauded. I did find 2 positive reviews below. Opening with citrus, red berries and the sharp, resinous, pine/lemon scent of elemi you could be forgiven for expecting Spicebomb to travel towards generic barbershop but NO WAY! The spicy, sizzling, warmth really ramps up as the paprika and cinnamon move in (I can’t smell the saffron) and then tobacco and leather, which have been sitting there unnoticed, take more of a lead role. Funnily, I really start to smell the pink pepper distinctly over the top of the second and third stages before real dry down begins rather than during the opening sequence, where it is peripheral. The amalgam of these featured scents is fun, spicy and punchy.

Photo Stolen winterfashions

I like the feeling of wearing a fragrance and I like to be fragrant, without skunking those at the next table. It’s awesome that Viktor & Rolf have offered such a sweet and spicy fragrance to the men, even though it’s perfectly unisex and would smell dynamite on a woman. The advertisement (below) features a sexy, buff man chewing on a matchstick, (above) about to pull the pin on a grenade; model Sean O’Pry photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.. He’s hot and so is Spicebomb. This is a General Public winner, I reckon.
NowSmellThis and 1000Fragrances do excellent reviews from different viewpoints and Fragrantica has notes, accords and GP reviews.

TIMEBOMB by KYLIE MINOGUE 2012. At the very start of my drag career I was lucky enough to be one of the cast of The Kylie Show at the Albury Hotel on Oxford St in Sydney, Australia with Miss 3D and Bernina Bod. We put the soundtrack, costumes and choreography together in a week. The year was 1990 and I’d only been doing professional Drag work for about a year. For some reason this show became the focus of a phenomenon, it ran for over a year, was written up in national papers, talked about on TV and radio and the venue was so crazy crowded that people were standing on tables, sweat ran down the mirrors and people fainted from the crush. It was the “only” thing to do on a Sunday night and many real stars came to see us do our thing if they were in town, and every week the rumour would be that Kylie was coming in person (she didn’t). Over the next 4 years we put together 2 more Kylie Shows with dancers and bigger costumes but it was never the same. Funny thing is, in this Timebomb video, Kylie doesn’t look a day older. Time Machine would be a good name too, she must have one.

I’ve tortured you all enough,
Thanks for dropping by.
What did you think of Spicebomb?
Hopefully see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

SUNDAY QUICKSNIFF REVIEW #4

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Hey Perfume Junkies,

I wear a lot of perfume and write about surprisingly little of it, you probably find that hard to believe?  The Sunday QuickSniff Review page is opened on Monday morning and every time I spritz and am near the computer I’ll give a 3 sentence review with a rating out of 5 each for, well, see the key after the reviews.

SMELL OF FREEDOM PART 2: OLD DELHI STATION.  I love how this scent was inspired by LUSH perfumer Simon’s journey through India to meet a Tibetan monk in exile, and this being the smell of Old Delhi station when he returned; spices, flowers and people. Glorious warm and sexy perfume but has little correlation to my memories of Old Delhi Station at any time of day. Unfortunately not available in Australia, I need to find a fragrance mule. S=**** L=**** D=****

DREAMING EdP by TOMMY HILFIGER 2007. This is a sweet, fresh scent that starts pretty and then goes to that slightly boring clean peach scent. This is very similar to but much lighter than Gwen Stefani’s L. It is saved from absolute nothingness by its lovely bottle. FragrancesAndCosmetics have 30ml for $19 S=** L=** D=**

CHANEL No 5 EdP (FAKE). This fake smells much more like my memory of Mum’s Chanel No 5 EdP than the real thing. Same opening burst of magic, wears right alongside the real deal till about 35 mins in then a glorious, urinous, skanky, sexual undertone flows through the flowers, woods and spice giving it a depth and darkness that current No 5 just can’t match. I bought it off Ebay thinking it was the real deal but this is better. S=***** L=**** D=****

L’ANTIMATIERE by ISABELLA DOYEN for LES NEZ 2006. This was sent to me by Birgit at Olfactoria’s Travels, THANK YOU! If you read my blog you’ll know that I love big brassy 80’s fragrances but this is not one and I am enjoying it immensely. No top notes; just burning off alcohol and then nothing for a minute or so and then delicately warm and sweaty, like children who have been playing at the beach, swimming, playing some more back home and as you ready them for bed at the end of a weeks wear of pyjamas there is a soft whispery, salt and sweat smell mixed with warm cuddly child and bed head. I smell great. It’s $105 for 50ml at LuckyScent which is $20 cheaper than Lez Nes site S=***** L=*** D=****


Photo Stolen from shirtsays

Scent, Obviously the number 1 priority here is how does it smell. My reviews are completely subjective and will differ widely from your own experience with the scent but it’s a good starting point. As yet I am not a trained perfumer so any and all descriptions are merely that, descriptions. There are plenty of blogs that offer technical details and chemistry, in 3 sentences I’ll pass.
Longevity, This is a biggie for me because like enfleurage where flower petals are left in fats to steal the scent, my fatty body works the same and eats it up, yum. So for a scent to last well on me, it will probably last a whole day on you and need a radioactive decontamination shower to defuse it from your skin.
Desirabilty, Wrapped up in this is scent, price, house, history, longevity, packaging, availability and a billion other things.

Photo Stolen from bittbox

* in any of these being the, “You couldn’t pay enough to spray this God awful stink on me again, it smells like public toilets in India, long time fridge malfunction while on Summer holiday and the vile stench of poverty all rolled into one.” You are putting innocent people in danger if you wear this.
** means it’s a nothing, wearable, boring, maybe the price is prohibitive for what you get or it’s ubiquitous. You should definitely get a sample of this to stop a buying boo boo.
*** is a perfectly good product that smells good and lasts a while at a decent price. You should definitely think about trying a sample or squirt but should you miss out your life will continue. Sample size worthy.
**** is the one you try, want a lot but can wait for a birthday/Christmas. It’s better than most of the stuff you’ve sniffed and may fill a void in your library. This is also an excellent decant product 5ml will get you through the season and maybe buy it next year.
***** meaning, stop reading this, grab your cash, credit card (or partners), roll the elderly or rob a petrol station and purchase this product. NOW! If you don’t have this fragrance you could die.

Hopefully this has given you a little inside track on fragrances to buy, want, avoid, sample. What did you try this week?

Portia xx

OMFG Paris Hilton!, Momento by Sicily, Winner Announced

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hey everyone,

One thing I had to get out of the way is “According to Women’s Wear Daily, the blonde heiress (Paris Hilton) has sold $1.5 billion worth of perfume since 2004, the New York Daily News reported….There are more than twenty Paris Hilton Handbags and Accessories boutiques in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. She also has four stores in the Philippines. (In the Hindustan Times 2.6.12)” I took this from Nathan Branch’s Luxury Is A Trillion Dollar Industry in NZ. OMG!! Who knew? About to launch her 15th fragrance and all of them are still on sale and selling. So I guess Paris is laughing all the way to the bank.

Photo Stolen fanpop

SICILY (Piazza Duomo Ortigia Siracusa) by MOMENTO Italian Olfactive Landscapes 2008. This was the second fragrance in the Momento range and seems to have been the last. I don’t even see it for sale anymore so maybe it has been discontinued.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Green and freshly floral, it has been surprisingly enjoyable to wear on our cool Autumnal rainy day here in Sydney. The spiel runs that this fragrance is designed around a spring day, 6 March 2008, at the Piazza Duomo on the island of Ortigia, south of Siracusa. Not having been there I cannot verify the veracity of their claim but I do like the imagery it presents and am happy to suspend my disbelief.

ParcoMuseo Jalari Sicily piazza aromi e sapori1 (1)
Photo Stolen Flickr

According to Fragrantica the basic notes are: neroli, freesia, jasmine, immortelle, note of hay, cedar, amber, patchouli, myrrh and agarwood.

I get the fresh blast of neroli, the sweet bright and clear freesia and immortelle, green hay/grass and woods as it opens; not squeaky or screechy but a calm cool customer with nice sillage. The jasmine here is not the sexy deep jasmine you’ll find elsewhere more a clean sparkly highlight playing piccolo in staccato, this while the amber, myrrh and patchouli sing very quietly underneath to add size and shape to the fragrance without coming out as a set of star players. I smell no agarwood at all through the very long, delicious life of the fragrance, getting about 5 hours before it become a skin scent lost to me but discernible to TSO Jin.

THURSDAY COMPETITION GIVEAWAY WINNER

How did you win the swag this week? Just Tweet this Competition Page (http://australianperfumejunkies.com) and put @OzPerfumeJunkie in your Tweet so I know you’ve done it.

2ml Manufacturers Sample Chanel No 5 Eau Premier
1ml Decant L’Heure Convoitee II by Cartier.
1ml Decant Rasheeqa Concentrated Perfume Oil by Swiss Arabian.
.5ml Decant Myrrhe et Delires by Guerlain.
P&H anywhere in the world

Thank you to our contestants and the


Photo Stolen from sistersavealot.com

is Sharryn Stormonth.
You must get in touch by Wednesday June 6th 2012 or I will give your goodie bag away to someone else.

Have a lovely weekend all,
Wishing you the best of everything,
Portia xx

OMG!! Portia on Perfume Posse?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hello everyone,

This is a seriously BIG DEAL. Recently there was a shout out for, and after a small series of lost in the ethernet emails I was invited to submit, guest blog material on one of the world’s most popular fragrance blogs, Perfume Posse. Today is my first published Guest Spot on there and I am fit to WIDDLE myself with excitement.

I chose to write about a new kid on the block perfumer, his new perfume house and one of his most popular fragrances.
Carlos Huber (below, I know! HUBBA HUBBA) is the perfumer, Arquiste is his company and Aleksander the fragrance. So please scoot on over to PerfumePosse and have a quick squiz, there are more delicious Carlos Huber pics and the fragrance is so damn yummy. I’ll be tickled PINK if you leave he a Hello so I know you dropped in on me there.

Sometimes life just reminds you to be grateful, doesn’t it.

Have a great day, don’t forget to enter our THURSDAY GIVEAWAY COMPETITION
See you back here tomorrow,
Portia xx

Photo Stolen notablescents

Honey Badger Deal Sampler.

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey gang,

This is the glorious colour I get to look at every day at the moment. I love Autumn. So pretty.

You know how much I love to order decants and samples? Well, let me tell you, I love it.

Recently I was trolling around one of my favourite decants and samples stores, SurrenderToChance, and found a sample set called the Honey Badger. Gosh, thought I. What on earth could be in a Honey Badger Special Deal Sampler?

This sampler contains .5 ml (1 ml sample vial filled half full) sample of the following new releases, but you can buy bigger amounts, I went all out and ordered the 2ml sprays:

  • Guerlain Myrrhe et Delires
  • Serge Lutens L’Eau Froide
  • Tom Ford Lavender Palm
  • By Kilian Amber Oud
  • Byredo Seven Veils
  • Aedes de Venutas
  • Hilde Soliani Tutti Matti per Colorno
  • Thirdman Eau Monumentale

So they arrived and I am so excited to be writing about brand new things, fresh pressed as it were and I thought I’d give you a snapshot view of four of them. How does that sound? Terrific? I thought you’d like it. Just a reminder that my nose will smell things differently to yours but it’s always nice to have a starting point, especially with new stuff.

Guerlain Myrrhe et Delires. The citrus opening in this soft oriental wood is sensational, with just a touch of balmy sweetness keeping the squeal under control. The floral heart seems to rush by on my skin, a shame because the fleeting glimpse I get of it is magic, and I’m left with a skin scent that is mainly soft vanilla/myrrhe that is almost leathery. I think you need to sample this, my scent hungry skin just doesn’t want to let it do itself justice, barely discernible after 1 hour. Still barely discernible next morning. If I was about, or had any use for, understated glamour skin fragrances then I would certainly think about buying this.
Olfactoria’s Travels reviewed Myrrhe et Delires last week and here’s Fragrantica

Serge Lutens L’Eau Froide. Boy, this aquatic opens all vetiver, incense and mint like an icy cold blast from Antarctica, maybe ginger, so fresh it made my nostrils tingle. Quickly the blast dies away to nothing, really nothing just fresh air by the beach in Autumn, and then the fragrance warms on my skin and the frankincense comes to dance with the musk and warms the waters and I think I can smell the memory of mint weaving very quietly through but never quite revealing itself. I want my partner to come home and smell me. Maybe it’s my own smell mingling with fresh air? I’m so glad I bought this as a sample spray because I’m glad to have experienced it and will use up my 2ml, just to get the opening 12 minute rush again, but will probably not buy a bottle.
GrainDeMusc does an awesome review and here Fragrantica

Byredo Seven Veils. This spicy oriental opens up green, boozy, spicy and sweet, quite different to anything I’ve tried before, like the pink pepper has been harnessed by the spicy pimento and carrot and something else that I can’t find in the notes that’s giving me cognac. The warmth of the sandalwood and vanilla swing in quickly though and run through leaving flowers in their wake. then a moment later they all play through again. I think the orchid is adding dark, sexy presence as we travel along at the 2 hour point and I LOVE THIS. We are now at 5 hours and I’ve cleaned the whole house, including bathrooms and kitchen, there is still a vanilla, spicy fruit roll on my skin. This is how fragrance should be done. Congratulations Ben Gorham of Byredo, I am seriously thinking FB.
CafeFleurBon does an informative review with some great Salome history and Fragrantica has the notes etc.

Hilde Soliani Tutti Matti per Colorno. This is my first look at Hilde Soliani’s work. The spiel says that this is the Autumn smell of Colorno where she lives in Italy; hay, fennel, grass, wildflowers and weeds on a fresh Autumn day. I can smell it but I think there is also the smell of decomposing Autumn leaves after you’ve raked them, also something sweet and warm, a little smoke/charcoal, even though the notes don’t allow all that.  I can even almost smell the sun shining. Even if you don’t like crisp, light green, fresh fragrances this is a lovely story, not to be missed.
NowSmellThis introduces the whole range and here’s Fragrantica too

Thanks for coming along for a quick look at half of the Honey Badger Deal Sampler with me today. I hope you liked it, and learned something. It’s been a most enjoyable couple of days trying them. Why did I choose these 4? They were the first 4 to come to my hands. What new stuff have you tried this week?

I wish you the best of everything, thanks for dropping by,
Hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow.
Portia xx

PS All fragrance photos today were stolen from Fragrantica and I used my own photo of the tree in my front yard.