Calice Becker

DIOR: J’Adore the Movie

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hello Frag Heads!!

One of the best known perfumes in the world is J’Adore by DIOR. That fabulously iconic bottle, so simple yet so evocative, elegant and luxe. I have a recentish 2011 EdP. This little beauty by Calice Becker was launched in 1999 and has become so outrageously successful that for a while it was all you smelled, you could pick people in the street wearing it. Sensational projection and sillage it gives a very definite nod to the power frags of the 1980s. A fun, rich, sizzling fruity floral that is so far beyond all the other department store offerings of the genre that it stands alone. even now that it has had some surgery, is leaner and more transparent. So many copy cats have missed the whole allure of …

J’Adore by Calice Becker for DIOR 1999

J`adore Dior FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Magnolia, melon, peach, pear, mandarin, bergamot
Heart: Freesia, orchid, rose, violet, lily of the valley, plum, jasmine, tuberose
Base: Musk, vanilla, cedar, blackberry

An opening that all the celebuscents and drug store offerings try so hard to imitate, but they never seem to get the melon just at that point of pre-dustbin overripeness, the magnolia doesn’t have that gorgeously plush waxinessand the background fruit salad never seems like it could lead you astray with a wink.Here the proportions are perfect and when I smell J’Adore I think of all those fabulous women that are secure and wonderful enough to wear such a beauty.

The bouquet in the heart is pretty and wafts for hours with its plummy, very slightly indolic, siren call. Even through the heart of J’Adore’s 7-8 hour lifespan the woods and vanilla plump up the flowers and give them a cozy breadth, the musks may be helping too at this point but I miss them completely. Towards the end J’Adore goes transparent and has a pretty woodsy/vanilla/musk wash that has become a little generic because it smells good and everyone wanted their inferior products to smell like that. The dry down reminds me of the Our Moment dry down but it lasts less long and can be washed off, unlike the One Direction offering.

If you spray J’Adore on your scarf or in your handbag it will smell like that for the whole season with one spritz.

DIOR J'Adore Ana_Cotta FlickrPhoto Stolen Ana_Cotta  Flickr

Most of the time we aren’t trolling the department stores for our scents now the wormhole has claimed us, but if you happen to be walking by spritz a card, or skin if you have some spare, and enjoy the ride.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin takes a look at the changes that have happened to J’Adore and Perfume Shrine
FragranceNet starts at $75/30ml before coupon
Surrender To Chance has EdP in current $3/ml and vintage $5/ml

Today we have a wonderful film about J’Adore, created by the DIOR company so it’s really a 22 minute advert. There is some very interesting stuff in here too though if you have the time.

See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

J’Adore the film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y27pCmK0m3c&NR=1&feature=endscreen

Back To Black: Aphrodisiac by Calice Becker for by Kilian 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Hello All,
Here I am surrounded by the magical mystery of Back To Black, a Calice Becker produced powerhouse for by Kilian, Kilian Hennessy’s glamour fragrance company, from the discreet and wallflowerish-ly named L`Oiuvre Noire (Black Masterpieces). I have read so much about Back To Black that I feel like I’m living other peoples fragrant lives but I really want to write about this interesting fragrance today. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Aphrodisiac Box Photo Stolen cupslj

Back To Black was allegedly made in tune with the Amy Winehouse song in mind. I was introduced to that album, rather than just Rehab, in India by my then partner and played Back To Black incessantly thinking it would be a super great number to do. It is still the #1 most played song on my iTunes and that’s big numbers. In fact it was playing in the car tonight on my way home from a gig and that was when I decided that it was time to confront my self created demons (aren’t they all?). The video is at the bottom, I think it sums up the sweet darkness that is Back To Black by Kilian.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these official featured accords:
Bergamot, saffron, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, raspberry, chamomile, olibanum, honey, cedar, oak, tobacco, patchouli, almond, vanilla, labdanum

Back To Black opens like a lolly shop on my skin all sugary sweet fruits, dusty shelves and old people, then goes completely boozy like Grappa, the spices and honey come waltzing in through the booze, and we have a really lovely gourmand, the tobacco is sweet on my body early, not smoky until hours into the fragrance life where it turns pipe-crud-ish, and the woods clean and beeswax polished and the sweet amber-ish base notes are there too. It’s all here on my skin and I just have to look for a note and there it is. They are masterfully blended though so even when one is showing itself in new and beautiful array the others are still wafting around waiting for your attention. This is how I would like to smell, rich, multi-layered, deep, warm and dark. This is how mystery smells, enticing, beguiling, in my mind Rita Hayworth as Gilda singing Put The Blame On Mame smelled like this and so did Paul Newman in everything and nothing.

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to finally write about this magnificent fragrance. Yes, it is expensive but I think after I save up for Sweet Redemption that I might just do the same for a bottle of this afterwards; it’s wearable most seasons, interesting, luxurious, long lasting and ultimately suits my chemistry.

Photo Stolen wellbeing

TheNonBlonde, CandyPerfumeBoy and NowSmellThis for further reading.
I bought my Back To Black sample from SurrenderToChance from $7/ml

Here’s a present. Paul Newman. Hubba Hubba!

Paul Newman Photo Stolen Tumbler@2 years ago with 103 notes

What did you splurge on lately, or what’s on the list, that may take a while to recover from? Do any of the by Kilian line call your name? Please leave us a message below, they will all be answered and we LOVE visitors, and let’s face it: Your input is usually way more interesting than mine anyway.

Till we see you tomorrow we at APJ wish all of you only the good stuff you wish for yourselves.
Love, Love, Love,
Portia xx

Here is the wonderful Amy Winehouse. RIP Princess.