Boucheron

JAZZ by YSL, Thursday GIVEAWAY COMPETITION!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Hey all,

What a week we’ve had here at AustralianPerfumeJunkies. As the weather cools here we are probably doing temperature crossovers with the Northern Hemisphere.

When I was a teenager still in Fashion School but working weekends I bought myself a bottle of JAZZ by YSL. Although I’d had different fragrances before from family and friends this was the first time I felt like I had a scent of my own. I still keep a bottle but much of the oomph seems to have left it over time and reformulation sadly. There is still a lingering thrill though when I put it on, a frission of excitement when that spicy, sparkly, herbal squeak as you spray that is both warm and cool hits your nostrils, its steady progression through musky, resinous florals to its leather, earth and woods base. More people should wear this lovely 1986 Woody Aromatic by Jean-Francois Latty for Yves Saint Laurent, a lovely fit for discerning men and women everywhere, not to mention dirt cheap online. And being so yesterday hardly anyone will recognise it, it will be your own scent as it has been mine on and off for over 25 years (OMFG! How did that happen?). When I wear JAZZ, then as now, you can bounce rocks off my self confidence. JAZZ is the scent of centre, the cool calm feeling of being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right thing to say. Although there were plenty of other times I wore JAZZ when things went regularly, or horribly wrong, more often than not it was JAZZ that was there during my early wins.


Photo Stolen from shoppingheavendotnet

This week we’ve done some interesting stuff and we’d like to share some of our discoveries with you in our Thursday GIVEAWAY COMPETITION!

How to enter?

Please give us a short perfume memory in the comments about your first scent that you really feel you owned, that you felt supremely comfortable in.

As we met the Opus Oils Jitterbug Perfume Parlour and their all natural Divine Collection I thought I’d give the rest of my Venus perfume oil sample for you to try.

Then we talked about Miss Boucheron EdP, how about a 1.5ml decant spray so you can have a go at that

Guerlain Terracotta Voile d’Ete was our next target so a 1.5ml decant spray of that also

And then we had our huge 2 day special on Parfum d’Empire so you can have what’s left of my Cuir Ottoman and Ambre Russe manufacturers samples, which were generous to begin with (I have Full Bottles, I’m not depriving myself)

plus postage and packing to anywhere in the world

We want to thank you all for returning each day. Today after you’ve entered the draw please enjoy the 1992 ad for JAZZ by YSL.

Much love and hope for your well being,

Portia xx

Miss Boucheron review, Competition WINNER ANNOUNCED

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Hey gang

I hope your weekend is treating you well. Life is good here in sunny autumnal Sydney, crisp and cool. We keep having Bar B Q’s in case it’s the last one before winter really digs in. I love Bar B Q’d sausages and mushrooms. We even ate outside in the sunshine

I’m wearing Miss Boucheron today for fun. It’s a fruity flowery nothing that was so discounted on the net that I blind bought a 50ml refill Eau de Parfum. The noses behind this scent have such good stuff in their repertoires that I felt justified in ignoring Luca Turin’s one star scathing dismissal of the whole product. Anne Flipo (2012 Lady Million Eau de Toilette, 2010 Acqua di Gioia, 2006 YSL  L’Homme, 2005 Fleur D’Oranger) and Dominique Ropion (2012 What We Do In Paris Is Secret, 2005  Carnal Flower, 2005 Alien, 2004 Pure Poison, 1991 Amarige) have such an outstanding history that I wanted him to be wrong. He’s not 100% wrong, in all honesty. It’s similar to plenty of other fragrances, has pink pepper, bergamot and pomegranate as its top notes and is supposed to go through the floral to white suede; but all I get is a waxy flower after a couple of hours that stays for a while, quite nice, and then gone.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a perfectly wearable scent and nobody will be hurt by your wearing of it. It was designed to be an inexpensive fresh fragrance to bring some younger custom to house Boucheron.  You will smell bright and flowery with a little musky & pink peppery sparkle. I will use this bottle up but will probably not buy another. I may become addicted to it though and have to. Never say….


Photo Stolen from supermodels.nl

Now Smell This has done a wonderful review back when Miss Boucheron first appeared, Fragrantica has the skinny.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Here’s what you had to do and what you’ll be winning should you be our lucky contestant. I’m so sad we don’t have prizes for everyone who entered, thank you all for contributing. I enjoy reading your responses more than you could know. THANK YOU! We’ll have another giveaway next Thursday, see you then.

Please give us a short perfume memory in the comments about you, a friend, colleague or relative’s favourite old school perfume (pre 2000) WINNER Lindaloo for her beautiful Mum story.

1.5ml spray decant Casmir by Chopard
Manufacturers sample COURAGE by One seed
1.5ml Posh Peasant decant spray of Parfumerie Generale; Jardin de Kerylos
1.5ml Posh Peasant decant spray of Diptyque; Philosykos
1ml Posh Peasant decant of Ambre Russe by Parfum d”Empire

Tell your fave CELEBUSCENT WINNER Mark Evans for SJP’s Lovely

1.5ml manufacturers sample spray Haute Claire by Aftelier Perfumes
Aftelier Perfumes Apricot and Lemon Candle in a Tin
Gucci; 2ml decanted sample spray Gucci by Gucci pour homme
Estee Lauder; 2ml decanted sample spray Brasil Dreams
Jessica Simpson; 2ml decanted sample spray Fancy Nights
LUSH Cosmetics; 1.5ml decanted sample spray Orange Blossom

Plus postage and packing to anywhere in the world. You must get in touch before Wednesday 2.5.12 to claim your prize or I’ll give it to someone in the street!

Have a wonderful fragrant weekend all. Enjoy!

Portia xx

Scents Of Memory, Big Time Floral Self Love!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Hey all,

Wasn’t Evie C’s blog awesome yesterday? I am so happy for her. Now that she is enthroned in her new home (read Cape Cod Mansion. Party at Evie C’s!!!) we’ll be seeing an Evie C post every Monday!! YAY!

I have a bunch of fragrances that I wear only for myself, even though I may be wearing them in company. They are either personal memory jogs, scents that are too out there for close contact with other human beings on a number of different levels, fragrances that I feel like certain internally different people when I wear them (a bit like the United Fragrances Of Tara) or maybe just because I don’t want to be interrupted while enjoying the story they tell me in olfactoric terms. I know, I just invented a word, call me William Shakespeare and paint me plum. This is not a complete list but a smattering of ones I’ve put on today and yesterday.

Byzance by Rochas; In 1987 this perfume was released and my parents bought it for my younger sister. It is a dizzying Floral Chypre confection full of spices, woods and flowers. Byzance has such gusto and is quite a force of nature. So 80’s in its size and character that it is almost a parody. When I put it on it fills the room with memories. Mum used to steal it too and when both girls were wearing Byzance the whole house smelled like it had been transported to my idea, at the time, of a night market in India, Saudi Arabia or Persia. With dancing women wearing enormous copper jeweled bracelets and gauzy nothings and the mustachioed men all armed and dangerous. I recently bought a replacement 100ml EDT bottle that is so far inferior to my last Mini EDP that it fair makes me want to weep. I have corrected the error this evening ordering a BIG, FAT 100ml EDP. Budget BLOWN! We are not eating till next Friday, we’ll have to scour the suburbs bins for left overs. Fragrantica and Bonkers About Perfume can give you notes and stories and reviews.

Sung by Alfred Sung; In 1986 the world was first graced with this huge Classic Floral. It is like wearing a jewel bright, shoulder padded jacket with a peplum and gold buttons, spike heels and has a certain breath of air in the hair. Unlike Byzance though, Sung is dreamy and floaty, there is no earth or spice market, just fruit, flowers and sky. Nothing smoky here. It is flowers and the lightest of woods, vanilla and balms. I always feel transported somewhere beautiful when I wear Sung. It has probably been reformulated 100 times but all those past formulations I have no reference for, sorry, this Sung is the one. A bright coruscating trill of warm summer that leaves me dazzled by its effervescent radiance. This is a good Nana nap fragrance for me, I can really lose myself in the scent as I drift off. What’s more, this juice is CHEAP! Fragrantica and Fragrance Bouquet have the nitty gritty and stories, go see them, you’ll learn stuff.

Salvador Dali  by Salvador Dali; We seem to be jumping back in time by a year for each of these scents, and here we are in 1985! Here we have a rerun of a fragrant milestone. Salvador Dali and his perfumista wife Gala had designed this glorious Floral Chypre together before she tragically died in 1983, it was so successful as a limited edition that Dali decided to make it commercially available. I have only heard of the original scent and must content myself with the modern remake until I win the lottery. It is hardly a settle for though. Rose, citrus, musk and jasmine with a breathy vanilla and musk all give a lighter and lovelier tone and is a little more modern than our last 2 offerings, though it does have a slightly grungy undertone if you look for it. There is air between the notes here giving it room to show itself to best advantage. Very linear and it is not a long lasting scent, maximum 2 hours on my skin, which is great because by then I want a change usually. I am sending you to the Fragrantica Dali page, the whole Dali shebang.

Lastly I want to offer you a fragrance that came to me through another love. A few years ago one of the guys I was in ballet school with as a kid made it into the Vienna State Opera Ballet. At the time I was living in the UK so it was the work of a moment to trot over and spend a week with him. Hey David! Of course, he was at rehearsals all day so I was largely left to explore a foreign city alone and without the local language, not even a sprinkling. Fortunately Vienna at that time was a lavish and glorious city with friendly, welcoming people who were used to language dunderheads coming up to them and trying to make themselves understood. It was not a big city then either and mostly you kept within walking distance of the Ringstrasse when doing touristy stuff, so I felt cocooned within a friendly and safe environment. So that is how I met and fell in love with Empress Elisabeth, on my solitary wanders around Vienna. Something she would become famous for as her madness descended into its depths, walking till she dropped of exhaustion. Famed as the most beautiful woman in Europe at the time, the first at the jumps in the hunt (riding side saddle no less), an exercise junkie who had terrible trouble getting to sleep, Creed made a perfume especially for her. It was Fantasia de Fleurs. As soon as I found out the story of this perfume I wanted it in my fragrance wardrobe. It is the most hauntingly beautiful perfume I own, certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. Surprising that the Empress was wearing a bouquet of flowers, rose and iris, rather than a soliflor and it is tooth achingly sweet. As with most Creed perfumes, fleeting, at most I get an hour of scent but the joy of holding this heavy embossed bottle and spritzing with abandon is enormous, so spritz again right. Fragrantica and I Smell Therefore I Am will give you notes, breakdowns and buying ideas, Abigail is also the Posh Peasant where you can get samples and decants of these and a gazillion other things.

I’m thrilled you’ve shared my fragrant thoughts today. Do you have a selfish perfume that you wear only for you but sometimes in company? Please tell us in the comments. We are dying to read your secret loves,

Portia xxx

All photos today are stolen from Fragrantica with these exceptions

Byzance ad stolen from PharmacyAtHand

Sung stolen from stylebugs

Empress Elisabeth stolen from Wikipedia

I am not affiliated with any of the companies I mention in my posts.