Eau de Velours by Michel Almairac, Mylène Alran for Bottega Veneta 2017

January 2, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Sandra

Happy New Year dear APJ!

Wishing you all a healthy, happy and safe 2018. 2017 was a turbulent year for many and I hope that the new year will show us a kinder side.

We spent the holidays with my folks in town. It has been wonderful having them here and my son has enjoyed the extra attention. We have been blessed with an extraordinary mild winter so far and I can only hope that continues.

I gifted my mum the new Bottega Veneta Eau de Velours and I find myself sneaking a spritz or two here and there. It is such a surprise for me that I love this one so much. The original Bottega Veneta was not a huge love – it was far too creamy for me.

Eau de Velours by Bottega Veneta 2017

Eau de Velours by Michel Almairac, Mylène Alran

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accord:
Top: Bergamot, pink pepper
Heart: Rose, jasmine, plum, spices
Base: Patchouli, leather

The first impression of the deep burgundy (leaning towards purple) bottle tied with a velvet ribbon makes me think that a luxurious perfume awaits me.

First sprayed, it starts out with a fresh blast of bergamot. It is quite refreshing but moves along quickly turning a bit spicy, rosey and plummy, with just a hint of leather in the background. I personally love the plum and spices because it reminds me of certain aspects of vintage Shiseido Feminite du Bois with its rich and deep plum note. Most fresh plums I have eaten have been rather tart in taste with only a hint of sweetness that could have been had it been left on the tree to ripen. The plum note in Eau de Velours is not juicy, nor is it sweet – it is slightly tart at the beginning. Then the plum is mixed with the intense rose and floral notes. Speaking of floral notes, the Bottega Veneta website says that Eau de Velours includes iris butter. Personally, I do not detect any iris butter, but hopefully others will experience the iris.

WikiMedia

The rose accompanies me from first spray all the way to the late dry down. It is a lovely deep and velvety dark rose with the natural scent of actual rose. I bury my nose into my wrist and inhale deeply feeling the opulence surround me. Throughout the development, Eau de Velours has a sophisticated smooth leather note reminiscent of new kid leather gloves. Patchouli is added and it is quite prominent at first but dries down differently than what I normally expect from patchouli. It is faintly beautiful leaving me feeling elegant and dressed up. Now it is time for the red lipstick to come out!

PDI

Further reading: Colognoisseur
David Jones has $170/50ml

Do you like dark, gothic rose perfumes? What did you do for New Year’s? What did you wear on New Year’s Eve?

Oodles of fragrant kisses,
Sandra

SOTD 1 – 7 January 2018

January 1, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 193 Comments

Portia

Hi APJ,

I see these SOTD (Scent Of The Day) threads all the time on Facebook and they are really good conversation generators.

SOTD 1 – 7 January 2018

The idea is you’ll chime in through the week with whatever scent you are wearing. You don’t need to be super knowledgable, have high faluting tastes or be a published author to comment. Just tell us what fragrance you’re wearing, smelling, buying etc.

You probably won’t have time to write every scent, every spritz but whenever you feel the mood take you share your current spritz and a few things about it. Maybe you love/loathe it, want it, are excited by the notes/bottle/SA who sold it: WHATEVER! As always here at APJ, taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:

Monsieur Chanel vintage
Jacob Silences parfum
Guerlain Chamade EdP (vintish)
Diptyque Rose de Mai 2016
Le Galion Sang Bleu

Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Sunday.

Last Weeks WINNER: Neva

Go To It Crew.
Portia xxx

Souffle de Soie GIVEAWAY WINNERS

January 1, 2018 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Portia

AHHH APJ,

The lure of DIOR! I get it, can’t wait to get my sniff on the rest of the line in Paris next year.
Let’s see who our lucky winners are
Portia xx

Souffle de Soie GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 2 winners who will receive:
1 x DIOR Souffle de Soie decant (from my decant)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 31st December 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winners were chosen by random.org

Miriam Nussbaum

Amanda Kheng

The winners will have till Thursday 4th January 2018 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

Up The Apples and Pears by Sarah McCartney for 4160 Tuesdays 2016

December 29, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Portia

Hey there APJ,

Sarah McCartney has been trying to get samples to me FOREVER! It has been a complete labour of love and finally it has happened thanks to a perfume mule who brought the set all the way from the UK and then sent it to me here. I won’t name you but a million thanks indeed.

The box arrived and I couldn’t stop myself from jumping in and finding something to spritz. One of the names that has often stood out, among a series of names that could positively beguile you, as fun and fabulous. From cockney rhyming slang Up The Apples and Pears means up the stairs to bed.

Up The Apples and Pears by 4160 Tuesdays 2016

Up The Apples and Pears by Sarah McCartney

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Hops, apple, pear, gin
Heart: Whiskey, woody notes
Base: Bread

From 4160 Tuesdays: Up the Apples & Pears – an unusual fragrance that evokes the scent of a London pub in 1933; apple pie, pear syllabub, gin, beer, roll-ups, wooden floor and bread rolls.

Now I can’t say the note list looks particularly promising. Terrifying in fact, and the blurb from the website is equally freaky. An old drinking pub from 1933? Sounds ghastly, right? Well, I’m going to give it a go anyways….

Sweet fruits and tart gin, like apple lollies done sour. It’s an attention grabbing opening, fun and reckless. Can’t help but smile at the utter whimsy Up The Apples and Pears begins with. It’s lovely.

This fun opening takes a few minutes to segue into the whiskey section and its booziness rem,ends me faintly of Jessica Simpson’s Fancy Nights but the treacle thick patchouli is missing, or greatly diminished.

Now HERE is where I get the idea of a pub. Having lived and worked in the UK in 1994-5 I was lucky enough to work in some of the smaller country gay bars. We’d catch the train out, work, stay the night and come back to London next morning. These smaller pubs would have a lived in a loved smell about them that was partly old beer and carpets, but also had fruity cleaning products and a woodsy smell. Though not captured exactly and definitely glamorised into a fragrance form Sarah has definitely hit the memory mark.

Flickr

Without the story and knowledge of the meaning I think anyone could wear Up The Apples and Pears and smell good doing so. It is a lovely smelling fragrance.

One thing I really love here is the fearlessness, the bold adventure undertaken and the immediate, raw and fun look at how perfume can be created from a story. That is the grand prize that small batch independent perfumery can bring to the table. Clearly not created to sell billions of bottles and make Sarah McCartney the next by Kilian or Annick Goutal in department stores the world over. This is for lovers of the fun and whimsy of perfumistahood.

Further reading: I Scent You A Day
4160 Tuesdays has £120/100ml and Samples
ParfuMaria has a great selection of 4160 Tuesdays and ships worldwide

This is so exciting for me, which 4160 Tuesdays should I try next?
Portia xx

CHANGED!! Fleur de Lalita GIVEAWAY WINNERS

December 29, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Portia

Hey APJ,

Wonderful giveaway! Thanks to Dusita and Val for their generosity.
It was so good to read all your amazing comments. Each and every one of you gave us a piece of yourselves.
Portia xx

Fleur de Lalita GIVEAWAY WINNER

Fragrantica

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Fleur de Lalita 7.5ml travel atomizer
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 28th December 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
I´ll chuck all the names into my dead armadillo basket and pick one out.

Fleur de Lalita 7.5ml:

Jillian

Runner Ups: win a Dusita Sample Set

Elaine Richard

Diana

The winners will have till Sunday 31st December 2017 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

Camel extrait de parfum by Christian Carbonnel for Zoologist 2017

December 27, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Erica Golding

Hello and loving winter greetings to you all, whether you’re steaming in the southern hemisphere or shivering up north with me!

Here’s a beauty that has already received a tsunami of glowing praise, and I’m here to offer up my thoughts. I’ve got a sample of Zoologist Camel!

Camel extrait de parfum by Zoologist

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Dates, dried fruits, rose, olibanum, amber, jasmine, myrrh, orange blossom, incense, cedar, cinnamon, musk, agarwood (oud), sandalwood, tonka bean, vanilla, vetiver, civet

I have sampled a few Zoologist offerings, and they’ve been fun and unique, but this is the first one that has me breathing deeply with ecstasy! I’ve noticed by reading reviews that this perfume seems to vary quite a bit from person to person, and my experience is unique as well.

On my skin, Camel opens with a delicious ripe red fruit accord, which makes me think of sweetened pomegranate juice. This sweet fruit-forward cloak is intense and addictive, and completely dominates the majority of the wearlength on me. I can practically taste the sensual delight! It’s juicy, really it is. When I over-apply with fervor, I can faintly detect the oud, but only at the beginning and not very noticeably. The resinous notes are very quiet to start, and have a crackling dry quality thanks to the woody frankincense and cedar. They warm up a bit more once the fruits have calmed, but overall Camel is really a fruity perfume on me.

Flickr

LuckyScent has $135/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $4/0.5ml

So there you have it, Camel is a softly delicious fruity delight for me! Have you gotten your nose on this perfume yet? What is it like for you? Everyone seems to report back different impressions, it’s fun to read them as they pop up!

Love and light,

-Erica

2017. Music, Films, Book and Fleur de Lalita by Dusita

December 26, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 105 Comments

Val the Cookie Queen

Happy Feast Of St Stephen APJ

It has been one fabulous year for music, I have a deep rooted love for the older stuff, Velvets, Stooges, MC5, Doors, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, Bowie etc etc. But I love pop music and crank up the commercial music in the car too. Mostly though I listen to my music on headphones in the gym. It motivates and inspires me to get right into both cardio and weights. So what have I been mainlining this year?

Cookie Queen 2017. The Music, The Films, A Book

Plus A Boxing Day Perfume Giveaway

MUSE. Everything.
Imagine Dragons. Going to see them next May,
Placebo. Never get sick of them.
Rag and Bone Man. Human. Love this hip-hop, rap, grime influenced stuff. He has such a wonderful voice.
London Grammar. Although they have been around for a few years, I only came across them in 2017. Check out there amazing cover of Chris Isaac´s “Wicked Game“.
Eminem. Eminem. Eminem. The new album Revival. His recent 5 songs for the BBC with Skylar Grey. I’m dying. It makes every nerve in my body stand on end.
(And Blondeswunder wants to marry him. I want to see him. Would travel.)
The Lumineers. Everything.
Lorde. Everything.
Stormzy. Gang Signs and Prayer. English rapper. First grime album to reach number one. Great for pushing weights.
Foo Fighters. Never tire.

IMDb

Two films stick out. Both of which I went to twice.
“Hell or High Water” A Neo-Western crime thriller. With Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Gil Birmingham. Superb music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
Brilliant cinematography.
“The Party“. A British black comedy. A sharp satire of love and politics. Very very good.

Books.
Just one. Philip Pullman. His dark materials Trilogy. Twenty years later than most, but just in time for his new trilogy, The Book of Dust. Part one, La Belle Sauvage. I read other books, but these were my highlights.

My good friend Kirk, who has featured several times in posts, found himself hanging out in Jovoy this year, and seems to have been buying rather a lot of `fumes. I believe young perfumista status has been reached. I claim all responsibilty. I began to train with a personal trainer five months ago, coincidentally Kirk was with me when I started. He showed an interest in the perfume conversation we were having. As Kirk conveniently purchased a bottle of Malle´s Monsieur the next day, we grabbed him some samples. Now he’s spiralling.

Fleur de Lalita by Dusita 2017

Fragrantica

Which brings me to my Giveaway. I missed the Parfum Dusitas party last year. Getting to try every new thing is just not possible. Pissara Umavijani was kind enough to send me a couple of travel sized samples of her new creation Fleur de Lalita. It will not be launched until next year. A very lovely white floral, including jasmine, with a bitter galbanum threader through them. It slowly dries down to a soft sandalwood and tonic base. It is very elegant, quite feminine and beautifully done. I have a 7.5ml travel atomizer to giveaway.

Happy New Year to the APJ Family.
Bussis
CQ

Fleur de Lalita GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Fleur de Lalita 7.5ml travel atomizer
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

Please tell us in the comments: Music, films, books? What have you been listening to, or reading or watching

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 28th December 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
I´ll chuck all the names into my dead armadillo basket and pick one out.
The winners will have till Sunday 31st December 2017 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

SOTD 25 – 31 December 2017

December 25, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 136 Comments

Portia

Hi APJ,

I see these SOTD (Scent Of The Day) threads all the time on Facebook and they are really good conversation generators.

SOTD 25 – 31 December 2017

Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:

Thierry Mugler Womanity
Oliver & Co Vaninger
Neela Vermeire Creations Trayee
Etat Libre d’Orange Yes I Do
Evocative Perfumes Vanille Tonique

Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Sunday.

Last Weeks WINNER: Jyotsna

Go To It Crew.
Portia xxx

Saturday Question: Of your 2017 scent purchases, which did you wear most?

December 23, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 90 Comments

Portia

Hello Fellow Fumies,

Every Saturday we have a Question, an idea purloined from Olfactoria’s Travels. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it is a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a $10 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Over 200 responses I will draw a $20 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Friday.

Last Weeks Winner: Sadly we only made 63 comments last week.

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with the eMail you’d like me to send your Gift Card to.

Saturday Question:

Of your 2017 scent purchases, which did you wear most?

Most of us shudder as we think of how much money we spend on fragrance in all its forms each year. This addiction is expensive, wasteful and hardly environmentally friendly. Yet still the thrill of the chase, the spend, the bargain and the vintage keeps us plowing through our cash reserves as if money grows on trees. Trolling the WWW at night to read reviews, search out deals, catch up on the FaceBook boards etc inevitably leads to sample, bottle, set purchases.

One of the guys I know online asked this question and it REALLY got me thinking. What have I used from this years spectacular haul? Has there been a favourite that I reach for constantly, or even often?

What I realised was that though I keep buying new bottles on the back of loving a sample or decant, what I wear the most are my collection and samples/decants. When I’m not trying oodles of new to review then I like to be reminded of the bottles I love, give them an airing and reconnect.

My Answer:

There are a couple of ways I can answer this because quite a biot of my fragrant spend goes to buying extras of discontinued fragrances that I adore and whenever I see a bargain snap it up. So vintage parfum atomisers of Miss Dior, Mitsouko, Samsara, Shalimar and Bal a Versailles along with Silences PdT & Niki de Saint Phalle EdT are regular purchases and they get worn a LOT!

If we are talking buying of new bottles then I think that there are two that have seen a bit of use

Serge Lutens: La Fille de Berlin: The very first week that the new bottles came out in the Palais Royale store I rang Elvire and had her send my package via a mate in Europe. The 100ml bottle is lovely, I really like the way it feels and spritzes. It arrived here through the cooler months which meant La Fille de Berlin went into instant rotation and got some serious skin time. Roses done right with a honeyed sweetness that always feels like raspberries to me.

Penhaligon’s: Ostara: Having gone through a good sized decant and seeing a new bottle for sale at a reasonable price I finally caved and bought Ostara. It has been a spring staple for me in 2017, so fresh and bright. Yellow/white flowers and a weird earthy undertone. It’s pretty and unusual. Can’t work out why it wasn’t a bigger hit.

My Saturday Question to you is:

Of your 2017 scent purchases, which did you wear most?

Ummagumma by Bruno Fazzolari 2017

December 22, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Portia

Hi there lovers of NEW!

Ummagumma arrived in the December LuckyScent Sample Pack. People whose noses I admire have praised it unconditionally and with great gusto. I admit to be excited at this new release from and independent perfumer making interesting and beautiful fragrance.

Ummagumma by Bruno Fazzolari 2017

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Saffron, Carnation, Chocolate, Tobacco, Leather, Labdanum, Sandalwood, Cedar, Frankincense, Tonka bean, Vanilla

Imagine. It’s 42C (107F) and I am wearing Ummagumma. Chocolate, tobacco and labdanum. It’s thick, rich and ropey and I have brought to the table sweaty fat man to add to the cacophony. Choc/amber done majestically. Ummagumma smells a little like something I can’t quite place.

It’s about 2 hours later now and Ummagumma has lost most of its potency. What remains is a soft focus, vanilla heavy amber. It is clean and sweet, but not confectionary sugar sweet, resinously sweet. A comfortable amber that doesn’t really live up to the explosive extravagance of the opening or the name. Ummagumma sounds like it’s going to maintain its fragrance like gum does as you chew it for hours. Not here. Maybe I was over-expecting because I did read Claire’s post at Take One Thing Off.

I also think that I may be paralleling this work with unfavourable comparison to the way Pierre Guillaume does sweet amber heavy scents. Now I question myself, would I buy this if I were sniffing in a store? The answer feels like it might be a yes. It is lovely and the opening spectacular.

Not a bad dry down scent, very nice, extremely wearable, comfortable and unchallenging. Second and third wearings have shown me that it is a seamless and smooth blend. The ingredients smell expensive and lavish to me (though I have no real knowledge of ingredients or costs) and I find myself enjoying the ride much more. Sadly, that’s the end of my sample, I have my eye on the Portfolio Discovery Set now.

LuckyScent

Further reading: Take One Thing Off and Colognoisseur
LuckyScent has $125/30ml
LuckyScent also has $30/Portfolio Discovery Set: 5 x 1.7ml atomizer vials

Have you tried any of the Bruno Fazzolari fragrances?
Portia xx

Australian Perfume Junkies

Olfactory Opinions from Oz

beauty

Eau de Velours by Michel Almairac, Mylène Alran for Bottega Veneta 2017

Eau de Velours by Bottega Veneta 2017

Eau de Velours by Michel Almairac, Mylène Alran

SOTD 1 – 7 January 2018

SOTD 1 – 7 January 2018

Souffle de Soie GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Souffle de Soie GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING

Miriam Nussbaum

Amanda Kheng

Up The Apples and Pears by Sarah McCartney for 4160 Tuesdays 2016

Up The Apples and Pears by 4160 Tuesdays 2016

Up The Apples and Pears by Sarah McCartney

Camel extrait de parfum by Christian Carbonnel for Zoologist 2017

Camel extrait de parfum by Zoologist

SOTD 25 – 31 December 2017

SOTD 25 – 31 December 2017

Saturday Question: Of your 2017 scent purchases, which did you wear most?

Last Weeks Winner: Sadly we only made 63 comments last week.

Saturday Question:

Of your 2017 scent purchases, which did you wear most?

My Answer:

My Saturday Question to you is:

Of your 2017 scent purchases, which did you wear most?

Ummagumma by Bruno Fazzolari 2017

Ummagumma by Bruno Fazzolari 2017