by Kilian

Sharing Perfumes With …

/ Sandra / 42 Comments

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Sandra

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Hi dear APJ! How are you?

I am feeling blessed at the moment. My mom and dad flew in from the US a month ago and have been exploring Switzerland with us. My mom left this past weekend and my dad will stay on for another three weeks while she tours around Europe. Towards the end of September they will fly back home together.

They are both fit for their age and have quite a bit of energy to run around. It never ceases to amaze me of how much they can actually do. If memory serves me right they are walking over 10,000 steps on an almost daily basis.

Sharing Perfumes with Family

Normally I am quite shy about my love of perfume and I tend to keep this aspect close to my chest. Perfume is such a personal experience, and I get uncomfortable when someone asks me what I am wearing. Will they love it or loathe it? Also, I enjoy being uniquely fragrant! Shallow? Yes, perhaps.

But when my mom comes into town, it is another story all together. She arrives practically empty handed and looks forward to rummaging through my perfumes to find out what she is going to wear on any given day. I enjoy watching her face light up with happiness and joy when she finds something to wear.

Many times, mom will choose a perfume that I never would have pegged her for. For instance, on this trip, she chose Kilian Rose Oud and Kilian Incense Oud on a regular basis. If I am completely honest with you, they both smell fantastic on her (much better than on me) and gifted her my bottles. Incense Oud tends to be quite masculine on my skin and surprisingly the rose really shines on mom’s skin chemistry and leans more feminine. Same thing with Rose Oud.

Now, over the years, I have always thought of my mom as person who cannot stand sweetness in perfumes. Imagine my surprise when I brought out a box of perfumes for her to sniff and she kept going back to the Guerlains and Diors. I only had a couple of empty bottles and was able to decant Cuir Beluga, Myrrhe & Délires, Ambra Aurea, New Look 1947, Bois des Iles and Tokyo for her. Now she can continue on her European vacation smelling like a million bucks!

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be able to share my love of perfume with my mom.

Do you open up about your perfumed life? Does your family know about it? Do you like to share your perfumes with loved ones?

Until next time.

Oodles of fragrant kisses.

Sandra xo

New Sniffs + Thunked: 31.1.2019

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies / 59 Comments

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Portia

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Hey Hey Perfume Junkies,

OK I’m adding a THUNKED section here too. It’s becoming an APJ obsession and I love the idea of us using our fragrances and hoiking the vial, decant or bottle. Thunk is the sound of an empty hitting the bin so you must empty it for the thunk to count.

Anything worthy of comment, either good or bad, that’s passed under my nose through the week will get a short write up. If I think something is terrible, shamefully lazy, greedy or stupid and you should know about it, it will be said. As always YMMV.

I’d love it if you get involved: agree, respectfully disagree, have any thought-out opinion and want to share, do so in the comments below. The point is starting a conversation.

New Sniffs + Thunked: 31.1.2019

Continue reading →

New Sniffs: 22.11.2018

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies / 45 Comments

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Portia

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Hey Hey Perfume Junkies,

The idea is that anything worthy of comment, either good or bad, that’s passed under my nose through the week will get a short write up. Up till now I have kept APJ positive comments only, those days are gone. If I think something is terrible, shamefully lazy, greedy or stupid and you should know about it, it will be said. Not everything works for everyone and it would be pretty boring if it did >>> YMMV. I’d love it if you all agree, respectfully disagree, have any thought-out opinion and want to share, do so in the comments below. The point is starting a conversation.

New Sniffs Aug 2018 Continue reading →

Scent Diary: 2.7 – 8.7.2018

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies / 41 Comments

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Portia

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Hey there APJ Crew,

We are back in business. Yes, things look a bit different around here and there will be some change. Please understand that this has been a big deal and now we are coming g back from the dead. We have lost all our followers & subscribers and will have to work really hard to  get as many people back, and hopefully add a bunch of newbies too.

Scent Diary is a birdseye view of my week. Often there is a whole lot of living mixed in with the perfumes. Friends & family, food, travel, momentous events, everyday living. I love to read about your adventures too in the comments and often we get lively discussion down there. I try to reply to every comment and add my 2c, feel free to add yours when and wherever. We only ask that you keep it respectful.

Continue reading →

Tea and Sympathy: Scent Memories of Mum

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

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Post by Anonymous

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Hello APJ,

She died in the early hours of a Monday morning. There was no pain, just hours of quiet ragged breathing interspersed by pauses until, finally, one pause became permanent.

My mother had always loved tea. In the last years of her life she hardly ever ate a full meal, but she was always up for a cuppa and a biscuit. She loved visitors and was always quick to offer a cuppa and a chat to anybody who dropped by.

Tea and Sympathy chezbeate pixabayPixabay

Once she had left, I decided a good way to remember her would be to wear tea fragrances for a while. No great thinking lay behind this, just one of those things you reach for to help you deal with the news. It was a way of reminding myself of what she liked.

Tea and Sympathy: Scent Memories of Mum

Masque Russian Tea FragranticaFragrantica

On the day of her passing, I chose Masque Russian Tea. This is the most overt tea fragrance that I own, a real hit of lapsang souchong, almost exactly like breathing in the heady fumes of a stiff brew in one of mum’s fine china cups.

Silver Mountain Water Creed FragranticaFragrantica

Tuesday was dreadfully hot, and I was in no mood to deal with that. Creed’s Silver Mountain Water was the right tea fragrance in the heat. This one is a crisp cup of white tea, not huge in flavour but elegant and refined. Like a lot of Creeds on me, this one didn’t stay long in the extreme heat, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Oolang Infini Atelier Cologne FragranticaFragrantica

My favourite style of tea is oolong, and I thought Atelier Oolang Infini would be a good one for me. Sad to report, it isn’t. I could barely tell that I had perfume on, even after applying it for a second time. Atelier have a few stars in the line-up, but this was a disappointment.

Eau Parfumee au The Vert Bvlgari FragranticaFragrantica

Green tea is another favourite, and Bvlgari Au The Vert was my pick as the classic green tea style in my collection. This never disappoints; a really nice scent that doesn’t impose itself on people and it can deal with the heat. A fairly linear bergamot and tea concoction; is this what Earl Grey would smell like with green tea instead of black?

Tea for Two L`Artisan Parfumeur FragranticaFragrantica

L’Artisan’s Tea For Two takes a different direction, blending tea and tobacco notes for a rich, warming fragrance rounded out by spices and wood. This one is a winter fragrance for me, and didn’t work too well on this hot Friday, but it is one of my favourite tea scents, and I wasn’t going to leave it out.

I had my doubts about Saturday, the day of the funeral, and seriously considered not wearing any perfume at all, out of respect for the occasion. But this is not our way; funerals are sad occasions, sure, but they are also celebrations of a life lived, and a rare occasion where our far-flung extended family can get together. People came from interstate and all around the world to join us, and I decided that celebrating was the best way to think of the day.

By Kilian Bamboo Harmony FragranticaFragrantica

I chose By Kilian Bamboo Harmony for the funeral. It might sound macabre, but there is something about the plush-lined black box that it comes in that seemed appropriate. This is another white tea and bergamot blend, like Silver Mountain Water, but it nods towards Asia rather than Europe. It’s discreet and long-lasting, and proved to be a good choice.

Yerbamate Lorenzo Villoresi FragranticaFragrantica

Sunday was worse than Saturday. An empty, numb feeling all day, now that something truly was missing. Brunch with the family, but I really didn’t feel like it. What I wanted was to be by myself at last, go for a long walk in the sunshine and listen to some music. I did all that later and my feeling was buoyed by the perfect tea scent for a bright sunny day – Lorenzo Villoresi’s Yerbamate.

From now on the scent of tea will unlock something in me that it never has before,
Thanks for reading.

Amber Oud by Calice Becker for By Kilian 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

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Post by Portia

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Hi there Fragrant Fiends,

Oudh. The 21st centuries answer to IFRA compliant base notes. It is the ubiquitous fully fragrant, dark, deep and dirty base note giving a solid grounding to an industry that has lost its regular, centuries old palette to drug companies greed: the modern multinational fragrance component creators. I’m sure it’s a more complex problem and that I’ve missed most of the memos but from the other side of the world this is how it looks to me. Sorry, end rant.

So, I tried Amber Oud around the time it came out and could not justify the spend to myself at that time, 5 years on I wondered if my thoughts had changed with the ever increasing price of fragrance. Was $395 a reasonable price for something I remember being so lovely, and reading the other reviews written at that time it was as special as I remember and many others were happy to drop that kind of cash on it.

Amber Oud by By Kilian 2011

Amber Oud by Calice Becker

Amber Oud By Kilian FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Amber, Benzoin, Spices, Oud, Vanilla, Cedar

Softest, plushest, tamest oudh ever. So gorgeously rolled and folded into the spicy vanilla/amber bakery and only held slightly dry by the crispness of cedar. Warm and enveloping I can see why even the oudh haters love Amber Oud so. Lightly medicinal, a tiny hint of band aid and only the merest waft of poop Amber Oud is almost a gourmand oudh, oudh light or kiddies oudh. So velvet soft and cozy, as close to a warm beige cashmere lounge throw as oudh can be. Delightful, sweet, sensational and gorgeous: the words that jump into my head while sniffing are not the usual ones associated with oudh in my experience. The By Kilian crew have created the most fabulous general public oudh and it makes me smile.

The amber is sweet and caramelised, lit from within and effulgent Ambre Oud grows more and more lovely. Very reminiscent through its heart of the L’Artisan L’Eau d’Ambre, a similar warmth and purity. It stays pretty and buoyant and luxurious, the most expensive caramel toffee.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Here’s my quandry: yes this is lovely. It’s incredibly wearable, luxurious and gorgeous, no doubt about it. When I press my nose to my fragrant spots it is utterly swoon worthy. When it’s not so close, when I’m catching whiffs of it as I go about my day, Amber Oud is not a lot better than 50 other ambers on the market. From Queen Latifah through L’Artisan, Nicolai to Giorgio Armani: yes they are all different but at arms length the differences are not so pronounced, yummy amber. Is Amber Oud at $395 from $370-$150 better? Is it really? I hang my head in shame because for me the answer is no…. I’ll put my decant away and try it again one day, maybe then?

Amber Oud By Kilian red No Entry Pixabay

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Bois de Jasmin
LuckyScent has $395/50ml
Surrender To Chance has $5/0.5ml

What is your cut off point? Do you have one? How important is having something in your collection?
Portia xx

 

 

 

By Kilian Launch in Harrold’s Sydney

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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By Kilian has finally graced Australian shores, exclusive to Harrold’s Sydney and Melbourne. By Kilian was originally launched in 2007 by Kilian Hennessey.

Kilian hails from a long heritage of cognac makers and gained his interest in perfumery through a curiosity of “the angels share;” the mysterious percentage of alcohol, which disappears during cognac’s aging process. He studied with perfumers Jacques Cavallier, Thierry Wasser, Alberto Morillas, Calice Becker and worked with perfume houses including Dior, McQueen and Armani.

Luxury and beauty is the core of the brand but there is an edgier side too exploring daring themes such as forbidden pleasures and addictive states of mind. With Kilian citing “perfume should be a messenger who opens a thousand doors in the memory” we can sense his passion. He believes a great perfume is firstly a great story, which evolves into a fragrance, comparable to film making, in that a director cannot make a film before first writing the script. Packaging states “Perfume is an Art” but Kilian says it should also have a conscience, therefore all bottle a are refillable and can be kept and reused for a lifetime ecoluxe philosophy:

By Kilian Launch in Harrold’s Sydney

I shimmied into Harrold’s, Sydney to have a long awaited sniff. The shelves looked gorgeous in black and white while packaging glistened opulently, obviously inspired by art deco.

by Killian Ainslie Harrolds Launch #2

First smelling Straight to Heaven and Liaisons Dangereuses, both florals from the L’œuvre Noire collection. These contain the highest quality and most expensive raw materials in perfumery today. The goal was to create a collection with no limits to imagination or price. The scents are inspired by art and literature working around themes of love, its prohibitions and temptations.

by Killian Ainslie Harrolds Launch #1

Asian Tales collection is a spiritual olfactive journey inspired by traditional Asian folklore. The red adorning the bottles and boxes salutes Chinese culture and considered a lucky color. The silver coin amulet with eight letter k’s engraved on it, dangling from a red tassel is intended to bring success to the fragrance wearer. I smelt Bamboo Harmony, the only citrus fragrance from the brand.

In the Garden of Good and Evil explores carnal sin and is supposed to manifest sexually charged desires. A jeweled clutch featuring a snake protects the bottles and doubles as an evening bag, even fitting an iPhone! I smelt woody In the City of Sin, floral Good Girl Gone Bad and floral oriental Forbidden Games.

by Killian Ainslie Harrolds Launch #5

The most recent released collection, Addictive State of Mind nods to the highs of olfactive dependence and give a sense of escapism. Containing ingredients such as coffee, tobacco and sugar Intoxicated, Light My Fire and Smoke for the Soul are all classed as wood fragrances and are all so tempting!! The packaging is a heavy and solid keepsake and reminiscent of a vintage cigar box.

by Killian Ainslie Harrolds Launch #3

Have you been down to experience the collections? Have you tried them before? Tell me some stories of your encounters with By Kilian brand!!