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Portia
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OK Folks,
Great to see you, as always.
Have you ever wondered about the piece of skin that they put around the neck of perfume to keep the air out? Me too. So it’s called a Baudruchage and it used to be animal, then became vegetal and I think it’s a petroleum product now.
YouTube
Anyway, here is a fascinating mini movie about how it’s done.
Enjoy.
Portia xxx
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Val the Cookie Queen
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Happy New Year APJ Readers. Glad you made it.
Following a brilliant Christmas week with friends and family I got a fever. After eighteen years of running my business, and more than five years of The Cookie Run I called in sick and gave myself a week off. I was so excited to have a nine days on the sofa with telly and books you can´t imagine. Of course I have been unwell before but I self medicate with Advil and various forms of caffeine, hot or cold, and carry on. BUT a fever is a different kettle-of-fish and I took that seriously.
Christmas Week and Post Sickness Scents, including a Nasal Mystery.
In the days leading up to Christmas, and immediately afterwards I wore Vero Profumo´s Mito Extrait, a lot of the limited edition Chanel N°5 body oil
(absolutely to die for, stronger than an EdP), a decent amount of N°5 Parfum,and couple of good hits of Lutens La Myrrhe. Christmas Day I over-sprayed
Guerlain´s Vega, and wished I had a bottle of the stuff.
And then I had five proper sick days and couldn´t smell or taste a bloody thing. Not even the Italian menthol and licorice cure everything including leprosy throat lozenges. Nada. But lurking on a shelf in BlondesWunder`s bedroom was a box with a LUSH Tubereuse Kryptonite bath bomb in it. I could smell that
I promise you. So weird. It smelled the same pre, during and post sickness. Very mysterious don´t cha think?
Perfumistas’ evil eyes will no doubt notice the exquisite enameled blue and white spray in my photo. As I was getting better it turned up in the post,
a total surprise from a dear friend. It´s Mitsouko Parfum. I am perhaps the last person to find out how drop-dead gorgeous it is, but better late than never.
I may just have joined the snotty ranks of the “Oh no I couldn`t possibly, I only wear vintage Guerlain you know!” brigade.
I received samples of the Dusita perfume line in the post and I am curious to try them as and when I muster up the courage.
Official Naja pic.
After a host of technical challenges, and it has been quite a ride, Vero Profumo´s NAJA will be launched. No precise date yet.
I will be meeting up with Portia and we are gonna go Italian together. Watch this space.
It is gonna be the year that I try attars. A whole new ball game for me.
And I am getting two more stores to supply with cookies. February and September.
2017. We´ll enjoy the ride together. What are you looking forward to?
Bath Bomb Bussis
CQ xxx
Official Naja pic. Done by: Kasia Jackowska @tierlirevolution Snake ring by Ania Anka Krystyniak.
All other photos donated and taken by Val the Cookie Quieen. Thanks love XXX
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Portia
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Hi there Fashion Forward Fumies,
I love the CHANEL videos. Though I am ambivalent about Coco the person I do love the video creations of propaganda that the company makes. They are slick and watchable, even if they are not always 100% fact accurate.
Enjoy the latest in the series,
Portia xx
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Post by Sandra
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Hiya APJ! I hope ya’ll are doing well and enjoying the holiday season.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a kid once a year when the holidays come around and that I love every moment. This year is a weird year as we are moving to the The Netherlands on 21 December and into the house on 23 December. Santa will definitely have to show up but how much decorating will get done depends largely on how many of the decorations I can find. My priority this year is to mark a box which will contain my son’s presents so that he at least can enjoy some of the magic.
The holidays are an onslaught to my senses in Vienna and this year is no different. The streets are finally all decked out (they prepare for weeks) and lit, brightly lighting our way. It sure makes the darkness of winter seem more friendly and inviting. The Christmas markets are full of bright coloured ornaments, toys and knick knacks which bring grins to many children and panicked faces of their parents trying desperately to ensure that nothing breaks (picture my son reaching for one snowglobe in a stand with over 100 snowglobes). However pale I may be from fear of breaks, I still love seeing his face light up and his eyes twinkle with joy. There are stands selling hot mulled wine all over the city too. The kids can have warm spiced juice and enjoy the delicacies of roasted chestnuts and cookies. Magic is in the air but also the despair of so many who live on the streets. And with this despair I also see strangers performing random acts of kindness on an almost daily basis.
My son and his friend Maxi who were great sales assistants at the Christmas market today.
The holidays are a feast for my senses but especialy for my sense of smell. The caramelized almonds, roasted chestnuts, hot mulled wine, ornaments made with cloves, anise, cinnamon and dried fruits, incense in the cathedral and even the smell of pine needles all around are pure sensory overload. How do I find a perfume that wraps up all of these into a perfume that is even wearable? I have not found a perfume that suits the holidays yet, but I tend to reach for gourmands and vanilla or almond notes. So I tend to veer off on a tangent and think of what perfume would I like to receive for Christmas and I then go and have a sniff.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Powdery notes, violet, iris, orris root, Turkish rose, Grasse rose, Laos benzoin, tonka bean
Well, needless to say I have found two that I would love to see under the tree – so let me dream please. How about Chanel Misia EdP and Chanel Beige EdP please – and if Santa is being more than generous I would love Chanel Boy too.
I did not read about the Chanel EdP releases because I wanted to form my own opinion and to be perfectly honest with you – I like several of them more in the EdP strength. Beige and Misia smelled pretty similar to the EdT but lasted quite a bit longer. 31 rue Cambon I am torn about – something is different but it does somehow resemble the EdT and yet it lasts. I wore both versions of Coromandel on the same day and even though the EdT has more incense I liked the EdP quite a bit.
What are your scents for the holidays – be it culinary, perfumed or floral? Do you have any perfumes on your wishlist?
Wishing you all a joyful, peaceful and safe holiday season.
Sandra xoxo
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Post by Val the Cookie Queen
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Good Day APJ.
What is a REAL blogger anyway?
Over the years I have thoroughly enjoyed bloggers’ roundups of best perfumes including what have they have been wearing. Not considering myself a proper blogger it did not occur me that I could do my own list. However, it will be four years with APJ for me next year so bloody hell, I will award myself the status of “blogger”
I do not wear samples. I try samples out on my left wrist, and if I get over excited perhaps on both wrists. I only wear perfumes that I have full bottles of. (All perfumistas have idiosyncratic behaviours – don´t you?)
VERO PROFUMO. All of them of course! Most worn this year would be the Kikis, I nearly finished a bottle of the juicy, delicious, erotic, sadly under-rated Kiki EdP. The Kiki Extrait is laced with ambergris and is so divine I worked my way through at least 15 mls of it. The Kiki Voile a Prozac of a perfume. 🙂
HERMÈS. I received a bottle of Hermès Doblis as a gift at the beginning of the year, a belated birthday present. Probably the most exquisite perfume I have ever been given. Also in heavy rotation was the Muguet Porcelaine. This stunning lily-of-the-valley is wonderful in cool weather. Cuir d’Ange, a favourite for the last couple of years, was worn as much ever. And more recently Osmanthe Yunnan also fab in cold weather, although if you believe all you read you would be forgiven for assuming it is a summer scent.
CHANEL. Bois des Iles Parfum and EdT. Cuir de Russie Parfum and EdT. Misia EdT. Coromandel EdT. And the heliotrope heavy Boy EdP.
GUERLAIN. Shalimar Extrait Vintage, Shalimar Extrait current. Shalimar Eau de Cologne.
AROMA M. Geisha Noire EdP and Oil. Vanilla Hinoki EdP and Oil.
LANCÔME. Cuir de Lancôme.
I don´t want to get carried away with my newfound status as a real blogger so I will only select one. Without a second thought it goes to Hermès Galop d’Hermès Parfum. A poised and elegant perfume. The rose, the quince, the saffron and leather. It´s a work of art.
There are a number of new fragrances that I did try and enjoy, but they did not make the full bottle grade. I love the scene, the people, the perfume shows, and the vibe of the fragrant world. But the many hundred of new launches have me running for cover. I do own other perfumes, including a number of Lutens but this was not their year.
What perfumes do you REALLY wear huh? I am über-interested.
Real Blogger Bussis
CQ
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Post by Claire Vukcevic
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Hello APJ peeps!
My husband came to me the other day and told me that he’d seen Burberry Touch for Men for €20 at a local pharmacy and was thinking of getting it. I held my hand up in the universal sign language of “Lemme Stop You There”, remembering the last time he bought perfume on his own (Dior Sauvage, oh the horror, the HORROR), and glumly handed him over a big bottle of Egoiste. “You wear men’s perfumes?” he asked me, confused.
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, Mahogany, Mandarin, Rosewood
Heart: Carnation, Rose, Cinnamon
Base: Amber, Leather, Sandalwood, Tobacco, Vanilla
Yes, husband. Yes, I do. When perfumes are as good as Egoiste, women will purloin them and claim them as their own. He doesn’t even know about my Dior Homme Intense habit yet.
Anyway, the great thing about my act of supreme generosity is that Egoiste now lives in our downstairs loo, where it gets splashed on with gay abandon onto the husband, me (whenever I go in there), and my two children upon whom I use it as a body spray. The very act of bringing it out into the light has meant that we are all currently luxuriating in the fabulousity of Egoiste.
Egoiste opens with a tight little nubbin of spice, its mandarin orange oil, cinnamon, rose, and lemon notes swirling together to form an effervescent coca-cola accord that never fails to lift the spirits. Sometimes the rose becomes very big, sometimes I barely notice it, as I think it knits itself into the smooth rosewood and tobacco very cleverly.
The new version is definitely weaker and thinner than how I remember it smelling in the late 1990’s, when I recall it being a big hit with several boyfriends. To my nose, the tobacco has been amped up, and it is the crumbling, dusty sort that can smell a little like earth and dried leaves – similar to the tobacco note in Journey Man.
Thank God, though, that the sandalwood in the drydown is still the rich, sweet, spicy gingerbread sandalwood that I love so much in Bois des Iles and Mona di Orio Vanille. Before I moved from Montenegro to Ireland last summer, I sent all my perfumes on ahead of me (strapped to donkeys, over the Alps), and I found I missed my sandalwoods the most. My Egoiste is therefore a bottle I bought in Montenegro a week before I left, procured solely to give me comfort during that tumultuous time of my life, and I clung to it despite the sweltering 40 degree heat. Of course, reunited with my perfumes back in Ireland, I kind of forgot about Egoiste. Until now.
Longevity is ok – about 4 hours and definitely not as strong or as rich as the older versions. It’s perfect for men AND WOMEN who love big, spicy woods perfumes with a coca cola twang and a creamy drydown. For me, it’s pure cold weather comfort in a bottle.
Further reading: What Men Should Smell Like and Bois de Jasmin
CHANEL counters everywhere have Egoiste, go grab a free spritz
What about you guys? Do you wear and love any perfumes from the other side of the gender aisle?
Slán!
Claire
Claire also writes for Take One Thing Off
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Post by Portia
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Hello Fancy Fragrance Freaks,
Today I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for my Mum who died back in 2001 of leukaemia. She was an excellent Mum, not perfect of course but perfect for me. Sometimes when I’m cooking the meals she used to regularly make, there was a rotation of about 10 regular dinner meals and a couple of extra special ones, grocery shopping or cleaning the house I will be struck again by what a huge hole she left when she went. Questions that Mum always had the answers to, little bits of quiet advice or even the yelled loudly kind, I still miss them all.
So I thought we could all get in the mood and remember our Mums together through our shared hobby, fragrance.
Mum loved fragrance. Not in a perfumista way but in an “It feels so glam to spritz with abandon” way. Never one to spritz the air and wander through mum wanted it on her skin and her scarf, a blazing scent trail riding slightly ahead and half a block behind. Why? Well my Dad was a notoriously stingy bastard and when Mum worked in their Jewellery and Watch shop as the saleswoman for the first few years of their marriage she made Dad get in Gifts as well. These included everything from Lladro and Wedgwood to Fragrance. Because it was good business for the shop person to be wearing the scents they sold the reps would give Mum bottles to liberally spritz and she fell in love with that luxury. For the rest of her life she always had a couple of fragrances in the house and one respritzer in her purse.
So which ones stand out in my memory? I have touched on most of these before in comments and posts but I thought it high time I brought them all together.
Anais Anais by Cacharel: This was only a one bottle fragrance for Mum because we all laughed so hard at her wearing Anus Anus. It does stand out in memory though because of that. Can’t remember the smell at all.
CHANEL No 5: Mum LOVED No 5 all the way through her life. It was the ultimate signal of luxury for her and that love has rubbed off on me. It was her “Going Out” fragrance for the big events. If ever Dad was winning awards, or charity events, her golfing dos or big birthdays it would be the waft throughout the house. I remember her hugging us goodbye and introducing us to whatever babysitter we had and CHANEL No 5 was the scent.
Giorgio Beverly Hills: HA! Even thinking about Giorgio makes me remember Mum’s cars. In my later teen years it was the respritz bottle in her handbag and the car would smell so strongly of it your clothes would basically be dry cleaned in a 10 minute drive. No matter what fragrance I was wearing I’d get out of the car smelling like Giorgio.
Samsara by Guerlain: I remember buying mum Samsara one Christmas with my pay check from being a Squirt Bitch at the Department Store as a Christmas holiday job. She was so thrilled that I had bought her fragrance and I remember her bragging to her girlfriends at the shop when they noticed her scent. I felt a million miles tall.
Shalimar by Guerlain: Shalimar wasn’t just my Mum’s perfume, a whole bunch ofd the crew wore it and sometimes sitting in the living room with them was like being in the middle of a Shalimar fumigation. It’s the fragrance I most relate to Mum even though she had other loves. Whenever I spritz its magical oriental dream I am immediately taken back to days when there seemed almost no cares other than swimming, running, biking and eating delicious home cooked meals.
There were a few more but now I want to hear what your mum wore please?
Portia xx
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Post by Portia
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Heya Fumies,
Great response. Fingers crossed for all of you. Thank you Esther at David Jones Sydney City Store CHANEL Counter. We love you.
Portia xx
This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x manufacturers carded sample of CHANEL Misia EdT
1 x manufacturers carded sample of CHANEL Jersey EdT
1 x manufacturers carded sample of CHANEL Coromandel EdT
P&H Anywhere in the world
Entries Closed Saturday 29th October 2016 10pm Australian EdsT
Winner waschosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 2nd November 2016 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
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Post by Portia
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Hello CHANEL-ophiles,
I was looking through my sample drawer the other day and noticed I had some of the CHANEL EdT carded manufacturer samples. Seeing that that are now discontinued for the EdP I wondered if you’d like to have them as reminders of that which went before? Thank you to the gorgeous Esther at David Jones Sydney City Store for her friendly and informative service, it’s always a pleasure buying CHANEL with you.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Powdery notes, violet, iris, orris root, Turkish rose, Grasse rose, Laos benzoin, tonka bean
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Tonka bean, rose, musk, lavender, jasmine, vanilla, grass, wildflowers
Fragrantica gives these featured accordfs:
Top: Bitter orange,citruses, neroli
Heart: Jasmine, rose, patchouli, orris
Base: Musk, woodsy notes, benzoin, olibanum, incense, vanilla, white chocolate
This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x manufacturers carded sample of CHANEL Misia EdT
1 x manufacturers carded sample of CHANEL Jersey EdT
1 x manufacturers carded sample of CHANEL Coromandel EdT
P&H Anywhere in the world
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 which is your favourite CHANEL fragrance or the one you’re most interested to try?
Entries Close Saturday 29th October 2016 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 2nd November 2016 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
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Post by Anne-Marie
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Hi all
What is the perfume you have worn the longest in your life?
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, bergamot, green notes
Heart: Iris, narcissus, rose, lily of the valley
Base: Sandalwood, leather, vetiver, oakmoss
I’ve worn Chanel No 19 on and off for … ahem … something like thirty years. I don’t know how I could afford it but I bought my first 50ml bottle of the EDT in the mid-80s when I was a student. Between then and 1991 (still a student) I went through that bottle and bought two more. I still have them all; the first completely drained, the latter two are nearly used and rather on the turn now. (Why did I buy a third before the second was drained? I can’t remember.)
In later years I added more bottles of the EDT and EDP to my collection. I still wear it No 19. It’s the perfume I’ve worn the longest, more than half my life.
In those early years I also bought Estée Lauder White Linen, Lancome Magie Noire, Laura Ashley No. 1, and Eau Sauvage (two bottles). Later, after I moved cities, I remember buying Paloma Picasso, Patou Joy, Estee Lauder Pleasures, and Eau de Givenchy. The last was a souvenir of a trip to the UK and Europe in 1996. I bought it in Paris. Squeee!
This was all before I had started having children in 1998, and ceased spending money on perfume for several years.
I don’t wear any of those regularly any more. I’ve moved on from the Lauders, as you do. Paloma Picasso has some sad memories. Magie Noire I wear occasionally still. Joy I never really liked and still don’t. I bought it to celebrate the fact that I could actually afford a perfume once touted as ‘the most costly perfume in the world’. By 1993 it wasn’t, but I loved the idea of it. Eau de Givenchy has to compete every summer with a clutch of other eaux, though it is still the best of the bunch probably.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Grapefruit, mandarin, bergamot, mint, red fruit
Heart: Ylang-ylang, honeysuckle, pure jasmine, narcissus, tuberose, lily-of-the-valley, rose, cyclamen, orris root
Base: Sandalwood, musk, cedar, oakmoss
Anyway – I’m wondering what is the perfume you have worn the longest, and which you still wear? What is the perfume to which you keep returning, no matter how many other perfumed paths you have explored?
Does this long-standing choice suggest something fundamental and abiding about your taste? Note, for instance, that my early perfume collection contained no gourmands, and no orientals except Magie Noire which is part-chypre anyway. Note also that I skipped the marine/ozonic perfumes of the 90s altogether. Thank God. I’d rather squirt L’Eau d’Issey in my eye than wear it on skin.
Or, have you completely left behind all your early perfume explorations and discarded those early, embarrassing bottles?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Until next time, keep spritzing everyone!
AM
Australian Perfume Junkies 