Bulgari

Bulgari Jasmin Noir by Carlos Benaim and Sophie Labbe for BVLGARI 2008

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

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Post by Portia

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Heya APJ Family,

Since 2008 I have longed to wear this fragrance. Every now and then I give myself a spritz in the mall but it’s too busy there to contemplate fragrance and Jasmin Noir doesn’t seem to be big enough to maintain my attention when otherwise occupied. So I bought a decant, now I get to spend some time in peaceful surroundings and really test drive it. Don’t worry, my expectations are very low but sometimes you just have to scratch the itch.

Bulgari Jasmin Noir by BVLGARI 2008

Bulgari Jasmin Noir by Carlos Benaim and Sophie Labbe

Jasmin Noir Bvlgari FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, Green plant juice
Heart: Jasmine sambac absolute, Almond
Base: Precious woods, Glycyrrhiza, Tonka bean absolute

Sheer radiant sappy floral, pretty and slightly plastic smelling that is airy and sparse. This fresh greenness never really points to one flower but smells to me like an amorphous white floral bouquet and when the jasmine arrives it feels fizzy and metallic, are there some aldehydes hidden in the mix? As far as flowers go my skin is throwing floral holograms rather than the flowers themselves, space flowers, crystal floral replicas. I am just not getting the notes I’m supposed to be smelling, except the green plant juice. Green plant juice and woods as if what I’m smelling is in a dream about standing next to a council shredder and they are putting through leafy branches of soft stemmed plants like hydrangea, tied old air conditioning and maybe some arum lilies, there is a petroleum/exhaust hint too that I would normally love. They must have used the cleanest isolates of flowers or chemical representations of them.

Jasmin Noir Bvlgari Fragrantica adPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

I wanted to like this, was ready to love it and buy one of those gorgeous bottles, but sadly on me Jasmin Noir smells bad. My skin throws some awful thing up at me that is not the way I would like to be, or imagine myself, smelling. Sorry if it’s your favourite, more power to you if it smells better on you than me.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Shrine
FragranceNet has $50/50ml before Coupon
My Perfume Samples has $7/5ml

Do you ever crave to try something even though you’re 98% sure that it’s going to be a complete failure? Does Jasmin Noir work on you? I’d love to read reports of it being fabulous.
Portia xx

N.B. If you hit the My Perfume Samples link and shop I get a kickback.

Eau Parfumée Au Thé Rouge by Olivier Polge for Bvlgari 2006

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

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Post by TinaG

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Hi APJ,

So many people have been making the effort to travel during this holiday period. For those of us in Australia with overseas relatives and friends, it can mean extended flight and transit times. In what is essentially an enclosed public space (ie: open to anyone with a valid passport and money) consideration of others, whilst trying to make yourself comfortable enough to endure what can be a challenging trip, is an interesting balance. For those of us who have a regular wrist-to-nose sniffing habit, should we really be going fragrance free? What, if any, fragrances could actually be suitable for these close-quarter random encounters?

I had this question partially answered by one of my brothers, as he was was upgraded to Emirates Business Class on his return trip to Australia in December.

Eau Parfumée Au Thé Rouge by Olivier Polge for Bvlgari 2006

Eau Parfumee au The Rouge Bvlgari FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange, pink pepper, bergamot
Heart: Tea, fig
Base: Musk, walnut, resin

Emirates have chosen Eau Parfumée Au Thé Rouge by Bvlgari for their Business Class amenities pack. A 5ml eau de cologne, 40ml body lotion and 40ml after shave emulsion are beautifully presented in a pretty little red branded box. The “Au Thé” series from Bvlgari have been formulated to incorporate notes of various tea varieties, specifically green, white and red tea. Au Thé Vert was launched in 1992, Au Thé Blanc followed in 2003 with Au Thé Rouge released in 2006.

Eau Parfumee au The Rouge Bulgari Tina

Fragrantica advises that Au Thé Rouge is created using two red tea extracts, a Roiboos from South Africa, and a Yunnan which is of Chinese origin. The first splash of the cologne brought on a whoosh of fresh alcohol which disappeared after 20 seconds. I could imagine how invigorating that would be in a stale aircraft cabin, it certainly worked wonders on a steamy summer afternoon. This was followed by what I interpreted as tea – I’m afraid my nose is just not that sensitive to be able to distinguish subtleties of tea types in fragrance, but practice makes perfect. I wafted my wrist under my brother’s nose and he immediately likened the scent to Thé Blanc (White Tea) by L’Occitane. 20minutes later, pepper elbows its way in to the fray along with orange and bergamot that creates a warm, uplifting vibe. Tea, pepper and citrus are an invigorating combination which I really enjoy. After two hours there are wood and resin notes which bring a comforting sophistication to the blend. I can’t seem to find the walnut or musk in the drydown but that is probably just me.

Eau Parfumee au The Rouge Bvlgari Sydney Evening AdventureJay2Photo Stolen AdventureJay

The silage of Au Thé Rouge is very much on an up close and personal basis. I’ve worn this scent now in multiple social situations and not had one person comment on it, even after extremely generous re-applications. Longevity is good albeit subtle. It would be an appropriate choice for travel or the office, but it has also been a lovely experience to wear in an evening winding down as the day cools and settles into dusk.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin
Fragrance Shop has $27/50ml before coupon
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

I’m interested to hear of any other scent-related travel experiences, good or bad! What has been your travel scent of choice?

xx Tina

Bulgari Black by Annick Menardo 1998

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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There’s nothing like the smell of Petrol. Grease. Rubber. Tyres. Oil. Smoke. Welding. They are smells that smell naughty yet nice. Bad, but so very good.

Bulgari Black by Annick Menardo 1998

Black Bvlgari FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lapsang souchon, bergamot, rose, green tea
Heart: Jasmine, cedar, sandalwood
Base: Leather, musk, vanilla, oakmoss, amber

Bulgari Black is almost all those things. If it had a soundtrack it would be from the movie grease or cry baby . You have all the grease, leather and slick of a hot mechanic working on a vintage car in the 50’s combined with the pretty and innocent puff of floral rose-pink powder coming from a cardigan and pigtail wearing prom queen, perched picnicking on some grassy knoll drinking tea from a thermos. (yes there is a touch of green and also some tea in the midst of this fragrance)

Black Bvlgari Drag_racing WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

This scent is like drag racing on a track of bitumen wearing a leather jacket. We have smoke, leather, burning rubber, black rubber, woods, tyres…a little bit of animal…pheromones?? Bold and verging on overpowering for the first 20 minutes or so when suddenly the sweet vanillas of hers seep through…vanilla-rose riding through with a cloud of smoke following…giving the sweetness a slight candied and almost amber touch. Top notes hint at bergamot, rounded and citrus. It’s a busy highway in a city next to a park.

There is another familiar smell…it’s hard to describe but it reminds me of the smell of inside my pencil case at school…pencils? wood shavings? Perhaps this is the ingredient that makes this scent matte to me…a suede leather, if you will. Even as an adult the interiors of my handbags smell a little of this in time…paper/pencils/pens/leather/fabric/the hint of some old perfume samples. One cannot overlook the packaging of this one either. It is a gorgeous bottle, no lid, encased in black rubber. Sexy.

Black Bvlgari Handbag danielle_blue FlickrPhoto Stolen danielle_blue  Flickr

I like this tough, soft, modern yet retro frag. It’s kind of mainstream with a big beautiful twist…it’s the sort of thing we would of expected from Lady Gaga’s frag/hype/marketing, but didn’t receive. It also comes at a great price.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Muse In Wooden Shoes
FragranceShop has $28/75ml before coupon
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

Put it on your Christmas list, girls and boys as I am positive this can be worn by both men and women!!

I cannot wait to hear how it wears on you!