With all the kerfuffle and change happening around Miss Dior I thought we should take a new look at the frag and we also get to have a sneak peek at the ads. Enjoy
DIOR: Miss Dior 2012 by Francois Demachy
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Italian mandarin Heart: Egyptian jasmine absolute and rose Base: patchouli and musk
Sorry but this is about as far away from how I want to smell as you can get. Not a bad fragrance, just so completely not my cup of tea. I know there are many fans of 2012 Miss Dior and I wish you well wearing it. The ads on the other hand are FABULOUS!!!
DIOR: Miss Dior 2013 Ad. and Making of with Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman is Jin’s favourite actress, mainly for her perfect beauty, and via osmosis one of mine. I love the 2013 mini movie and here we also get to glimpse a moment behind the scenes. This movie was shot by Sofia Coppola and has a transcendent, ethereal quality that feels very big screen and Natalie Portman is exsquisite. I love to feel a little like I’ve been there, don’t you?
We have a wonderful new DIOR flagship store in Sydney. That means that the exclusive collection perfumes are now here for me to sample at my leisure. WOO HOOO! Not quite as lavish as the Harrods productions but Andy has twice taken friends and I through the store, been incredibly helpful and knowledgeable, and shown us absolute courtesy. If you happen to be in Sydney, ask for Andy, he is the best SA DIOR in Sydney has.
Here are a couple of shots of a day recently when two girlfriends of mine Domenica (from VogueVandal fashion blog) and her Mum Anna and I went for a grand tour of the establishment. At the top you’ll see them with Andy, then on the menswear level catwalk, the stairs to the underground and Domenica holding one of the fabulous new peachy orange coloured bags. Super fun day. Thanks DIOR.
From March 14th to April 16th, the department store Harrods in London, UK celebrates the House of Dior, hosting a pop-up store with exclusive items as well as a unique ‘So Dior’ exhibition and a Dior Café.
Most of us can only dream of being there. But dream we must.
Hiya,
Here’s one for the boys and the ladies, and men, who love them. This was originally one of my favourite masculine fragrances, the 2011 reformulation has changed it and at least DIOR was kind enough to give us a complete heads up about it all. It is different, and that is sad but still a worthy fragrance to hold the masculine mainstream at DIOR.
DIOR Homme by Francois Demarchy 2011
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Lavender, sage, bergamot Heart: Iris, amber, cacao Base: Vetiver, patchouli, leather.
I hope you love the movie, like I do,
Portia xx
Dior Homme Shadow Movie by Willy Vanderperre released 13/9/12
With the Christmas gift shopping window of opportunity slowly getting smaller in the lead up to Christmas do you get stuck on what to buy? Perhaps you do a Chris Cringle like my family. Sometimes I am wandering aimlessly around under pressure, amongst holiday crowds scratching my head thinking of what they would like.Out of all the people in my family I buy for it’s my Grandma that I find I am at my most inspired when things need to be wrapped and under the tree by the 25th. Bless her heart, she excitedly accepted my presents given over the years. Sometimes fragrant, sometimes not. This year I’m
I’ve been referencing the past to find new interpretations and variations on the popular and classic fragrances that were trending at a time when our grandmas were becoming women. I have included some new flankers of vintage classics from iconic houses and beautiful compositions she will relate to and make a new connection with. These are a festive selection of fragrances suitable for a woman.
Chanel, No 5 Eau Premiere 2008 by Jaques Polge. An inspired choice for a Classic Alderhydeic floral. Fresher and lighter on the Alderhydes, it strips away time and date, softening the edges and modernising the famous formulation. Eau premier presents a little rosier than iconic No 5. Grasse grown jasmine, neroli and ylang ylang from the Comoro Islands keep it luxe. Generous in 125 ml bottle .
Photo Stolen dezire
Chanel, Crystal eau Vert 2009 by Jaques Polge. Introducing an ozonic citrus white floral. Retaining the original ‘honeysuckle’ accord and adding magnolia with abstract white flowers, 1974 classic Crystal has been given a breath of fresh air, greener and cleaner. Sicilian lemon noticeably flaring on opening, quickly settling into a powdery green heart that wears fresh and cool, this to me feels perfect for summer.
Christian Dior, Les Creations de Monsieur Dior, Dioressence 2009 original by Guy Robeert. Everything old is new again is the theme song of this classic chypre. Representing a review on a vintage edition, Dioressence presents a timeless opus of Dior which resists time and trends. An olde worlde opening of alderhydes under tart citrus which fades to a bouquet of violet, tuberose, jasmine, carnation, Lily of the valley , ylang and iris root. I’m hoping for a bottle too. Hint hint.
Estée Lauder Private Collection, Jasmine White Moss 2009 by Aerin Lauder , nose Jean Mark Chaillan. Hardly stock standard or obvious, this release is packing earth moss and wet woods. Rumour has it this is an unfinished fragrance from 1980, there are subtle hints of jasmine floating through this superb mossy green floral. New notes added by Aerin are mandarin and black current absolute, this is a fragrance created to honour heritage and family tradition.
Chanel, No 19 Poudre 2011 by Jaques Polge. A new directions for this classic green alderhydeic floral. Sheer powder, more balmy and musky. Iris is the angle on the tree in this rendition of my personal favorite No 19. Poudre is adorned with jasmine, galbanum, vetiver and hyacinth which subtly floats into a soft focus musk with sweet tonka bean. My favourite Chanel flacon.
Guerlian, Shalimar Parfum Initial 2011 by Thierry Wasser. Entirely representing the outer trappings of the original and giving it rose coloured glasses. It’s vaguely related to the famous Shalimar, but think of it as the basics rethought, while still being able to tie it back to the original. No dirty bits to be found anywhere with white musk , Wasser uses popular iris paired with nutty almond nuances, over time drying down to woods and amber; less smokey and vanillic than the original.
Yves Saint Laurent, Opium Vapeurs de Parfum 2012. The tender salmon pink bottle that was once home to super elixir Opium. Pink pepper in the opening gives it initial sparkle, orange blossom and mandarin take it up a notch as the oriental citrus incense becomes gentle and caressing. The Vapeurs edition has less spice than the original and is thankfully low on the sugary calories.
Lancôme, La Vie est Belle 2012 by Oliver Polge, Dominique Ropion and Anne Phillip. The latest mainstream release representing the gourmand sweet fruitchouli category. With three noted noses behind its release, 5000 claimed variations and given a three year probation you would hope ‘life is beautiful’ with this latest from Lancôme. Well I can say it is, grown up and elegant. Feeling over all polished in it’s composition, reflected through the pretty glass bottle design. Heart notes praline and patchouli mix festively with vanilla and the almond-like accords in the base pushing it well into a gourmand territory.
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I found this wonderful interview with the new DIOR designer Raf Simmons, he talks very well about some of the places he sees DIOR venturing and how he has brought Christian Dior’s vision to the catwalk in 21st century styling. He also engages me when he smiles about how short his lead in time was, extraordinary that the work is as good as it is. I will be very interested to see how he takes the reins and how he manages to reinvent DIOR’s couture after the ghastly bigoted debacle that was. As this is a fragrance blog I needed a tie in so I went looking through the DIOR Couturier Collection (now known as the Dior La Collection Privée) samples I bought from SurrenderToChance to find a scent that I hadn’t yet reviewed that I felt fitted with the Spring/Summer 2013 DIOR Pret-A-Porter.
Ambre Nuit by DIOR 2009
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line: Grapefruit, bergamot, Turkish rose, pink pepper, amber (spices, Turkish rose, ambergris, gaiac wood, cedar wood and patchouli: extras from Olfactoria’sTravels)
Ambre Nuit opens on my skin with a burning amber and sharp, sweet, peppered citrus. It’s all spicy confusion for a moment and then quickly as it started the madness calms and lightest woods come through with a salty, oily, wet ambergris and everything goes soft focus for a while. I am fragrant but my nose picks out nothing more than that, TSO Jin says it is still very fragrant and that he can smell me still from the other end of the couch, but Ambre Nuit is quite lost to me unless I move around and it huffs from my top and then I am surprised by its delightful intensity.
It’s nearly an hour before I smell the rose but when it comes through the whole fragrance changes and goes almost tea-ish, definitely a spicy, gourmand, tea rose. A full bodied stunner of a rose fragrance, though not loud at all, Ambre Nuit is a whisper fragrance that has good sillage but its scent bubble is slight, noticeable if you are looking for it but otherwise ambient. a perfect work scent for him or her. Almost a clean scent but with none of the laundry style clean connotations. Clean skin, freshly washed and presented for edification. Ambre Nuit smells to me like you are wearing an incredibly lavish and luxe body lotion, that’s how quiet and clean it feels. Not even the most fragrance phobic work spaces could complain of this subtle and delicious beauty.
For something so soft it is surprisingly tenacious and Jin can smell it next morning on me still, though I am completely anosmic to it.
Photo Stolen plus.google
For further reading OlfactoriasTravels and CandyPerfumeBoy both have fallen for Ambre Nuit’s charms, albeit in different ways. SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml
Bottles are available at VERY select Department Stores and DIOR boutiques
This is a perfect mid season fragrance to me, are there a couple you like to grab when it’s neither hot nor cold? The in betweenies that you pull out in anticipation of the extreme seasons but could not wear during the super hot or cold? Please share them in the comments. we love the conversation.
Also PerfumePosse Guest Post this week is about the new CHANEL No 5 marketing magic with a mini movie that tells a rose coloured version of the CHANEL No 5 story, take it with a grain of salt but it is GORGEOUS!!
Whatever you have to do today, make sure there is a window left for you. It can only take 5 minutes of “you” time to get through another 24 hours, clear your head, revitalise you.
Till tomorrow,wishing you a day with at least a moment of happiness, hopefully more.
Portia xx
Interview Raf Simons – After DIOR Spring/Summer 2013 Ready-To-Wear Show
Hey Hey Perfumista Buddies,
I hope today has been awesome for you all! Of course, if it’s been shite then things will no doubt get better sometime in the near future. Peaks and troughs, or as I say PIGS and TROUGHS. It will get better, the sun will shine again. Promise. Whenever I feel the black dog at my back I try a new fragrance sample and really move into the fragrance and do my best to understand the story and twists & turns of its life cycle. though not currently in a bad patch it’s good to remember them when life is going well and prepare, as much as anyone can, for the next time. So there are a GAZILLION untried samples in this house. When I found these 2 lovely mini movies from DIOR I wanted a fragrance from the house as an excuse to give you these as a present. I have the complete La Collection Privee from SurrenderToChance a while back and today Bois Argent EdC by Annick Menardo took my fancy.
Bois D’Argent EdC by Annick Menardo for DIOR 2004
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Juniper berries, cypress, iris Heart: Incense, Somalia myrrh, patchouli, wine, woods Base: Vanilla, musk, amber, woody notes, honey and leather
I love the fresh, juniper and cypress opening on my skin, it is a very citrus blast that is quickly cooled by the iris and the cypress soon gets quite woody. A surprising reminder of the fragrant Hindu rites in Varanasi as the patchouli and incense/myrrh take their allotted places there is already a quiet waft of vanilla and a honeyed sweetening coming up behind and sitting just under the full radar but hinting at great things to come. It doesn’t say it in the notes but there seems to be a whisper of oudh here also: earth, livestock and dander. I don’t get wine at all, and the musk is well hidden, both must be bit players used to fill the fragrance out or maybe my skin/nose overlooks them. I love that the powdery goodness stays quite a way into the fragrance life and that the leather isn’t even noticeable until a couple of hours in, and then it’s like a change in the wind and back to sweet honeyed amber and then it pops its lovely soft leather head out again to remind you to notice it for a while and then flits away. Though not a big sillage fragrance it is tenacious, pumping out its lovely story for hours and hours, ever more quietly till it is a whisper more than you. I like that this EdC lasts so well and tells a beautiful story while it lives. Wearable even in the most zero fragrance tolerant workplaces, you could get away with saying Bois D’Argent is a scented body lotion because it is quietly gorgeous and rich. A completely selfish guilty pleasure. 12 hours later I am still skin scented and TSO Jin can definitely still smell a difference.
I wish this was easy to get hold of here in Australia but it is not stocked. I will continue with samples till I see a split on one of the Facebook pages, or till I get to the Northern Hemisphere.
Welcome back this lovely Saturday,
We have all been hanging out and had a Bar B Q, a few drinks and loads of laughs. The world seems to be a happy place. So good in fact that I have got a beautiful new video for you to watch The Floral Waltz was released to the DIOR site last week to celebrate Miss Dior, which used to be Miss Dior Cherie
During the week we have had a super draw for the Perfume And Skincare Company fragrances. Here is their WEBSITE JUMP
We decided to have a draw so that 3 lucky readers could get to try the 5 awesome fragrances we reviewed too. All you had to do was name the town where The Perfume And Skincare Company is located and your favourite of the 5 we reviewed by review alone. It was EASY PEASY!!
How did it work? The draw was open to anyone in the world who follows this blog by email, RSS etc till 9pm Saturday 22.9.12 Australian EST that correctly included the 2 items of information necessary. All the names were written on pieces of paper and TSO Jin picked three to get the packs.So who did Jin pick?
Photo Stolen berryreview
POODLE, TONY, LUCASAI
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Winners must get in touch by 9pm Wednesday 26.9.12 Australian EST with your address details or I will give your prize to someone else.
Facebook: Portia Turbo-Gear
Twitter: @OzPerfumeJunkie
I am becoming a Francois Demachy fan Queen! Though not all of La Collection Couturier Parfumeur have been super wins on my skin the line is so great and who honestly expects all perfume to work for you? Not me, everybody’s chemistry is different and my scent hungry skin sometimes hampers long term enjoyment of fragrances. I have yet to smell a perfume from this line that I don’t like.
Photo stolen customfad
In the blogs I’ve read about New Look 1947 there is a lot of talk about how Christian Dior changed the world of fashion to a more feminine silhouette at a time when fragrance was becoming less in your face, more about wearing it as lingerie, a lady like accessory. Expensive, mostly hidden decoration for you and your lucky lovers to enjoy and screw the world. This is clearly not my fragrant mantra so it took me a while to wear New Look 1947 for blogging purposes. At my buddy Undina’s urging I have given it a whirl and…..
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
White flowers (mostly tuberose), ylang-ylang, iris, Damask rose, Sambac jasmine, peony, vanilla, benzoin
What do I smell when wearing DIOR New Look 1947? Well it opens with a big flashy and fleshy burst of white floral, I love to just stand and drink in the warm aromatic glamour that lasts about 10-20 minutes. All the accords are already there but the tuberose is at this point king. It’s like a fantasy fragrance, all the good stuff without being heady, overwhelming or an oxygen stealing white floral screamer (which I also love BTW) so those of you who are repelled by such overt displays will be thrilled. I find this whole range to be extremely classy, after the initial fireworks rush New Look 1947 settles into a lovely sheer glamour girl of a scent. At about the half hour mark I am starting to get a brightening of the vanilla and ylang ylang, which adds a sensual, feminine womanliness to the whole and the white flowers start to take a turn for the sexy, present but not making a song and dance, I am discreetly perfumed and fragrant.
After the first hour I am getting a slightly spicy powder over the top or through the bouquet, and the white flowers give me more jasmine now, almost photo realism jasmine which no other review I read has noticed. It’s like wearing perfume in a jasmine glade, quite pronounced. I am pleasantly surprised at how well New Look 1947 behaves on my skin, at nearly 2 hours there is only the faintest diminution of fragrance but I can tell it is going to head for skin scent soon because the white flowers are packing their bags and putting their gloves and coats on.
I’ve been out and done the grocery and post office and come home so we are at about 4 hours and I am a very, very quiet floral vanilla, so soft I can barely register it but it is beautiful and lush.
The sillage throughout the fragrance life is barely there, a whispered change in the air as you pass, for a moment. Otherwise you are wearing New Look 1947 for yourself, an introverts lavishness, or for the lucky people who are in your closest orbit.
Raf Simons 2012 DIOR Photo Stolen thefrisky
1000Fragrances and MuseInWoodenShoes have very different experiences with New Look 1947 if you care to read more about it. SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml or you can but the 13 x 1ml samples $36 or for super extravagant testing the 13 x 3ml set only $105
Thanks for coming along on today’s scented journey. I hope to see you tomorrow too.
As always we at APJ wish you great health, wealth and happiness.
Portia xx
Today we are going to delve again into that magnificent La Collection Couturier Parfumeur by Francois Demachy for DIOR. Having ordered a decant set recently we will be looking at the collection over the next few weeks.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Olfactoria’s Travels gives these featured notes/accords:
Sicilian mandarin, Calabrian bergamot, Russian coriander, Indonesian patchouli, cedarwood and sandalwood essence
My skin gives me the quickest burst of citrus and corriander before a dirty patchouli waltzes through, lasting about an hour and then my skin eats the whole damn thing and I’m left scentless. So ANNOYING! I felt as if I was going for an incredible ride and to have it so truncated was very disappointing, to say the very least.
DIOR Gown Photo Stolen pilarrossiblog
This is still an interesting fragrance because when I couldn’t get a handle on it for myself I decided to spray TSO Jin with it last night and the first thing he said was Old Spice!! I laughed in his face and asked him to be serious but he made me go and get the Old Spice and put it on him. I’ll be damned but it’s a darker, less sweet version of Old Spice on him. HA HA HA HA HA!! This morning there was a lovely warm, woody, suede-like extra zing to his personal body scent that I found very sexy, skin scent but SOOO good. I think I will give my decant to him, as a present to me.
Sorry I couldn’t be more help in your search for the one today but there are plenty of loving reviews for Patchouli Imperial, I just can’t be among them.
DIOR is special. I’ve never owned anything from the fashion house except fragrance but when I was studying fashion in the 1980’s and then working in the industry they were already stand out leaders in the field. I did buy my long term partner Varun a Christian Dior suit a few years ago and it was, like him, incredibly gorgeous. Christian Dior the man’s story is a good one too if you like biographies. Whenever I go to try a new to me fragrance from DIOR I have to steel myself because when I am disappointed by their work it makes me sad. Not to worry here though, this one is a hit!
Photo stolen allurabeauty
Mitzah is painted in the Press Releases as an elegant, feminine and mysterious oriental fragrance and I guess that is a pretty fair assessment but it is more than that too. Like the woman the fragrance is named for, Mitzah Bricard, one of Christian Dior’s most important muses throughout his amazing career, Mitzah the fragrance has ZING. It is a spectacular leap into gorgeousness. It seems to me that Mitzah has in fact taken the very best of all the other great Ambers and collected them into one extraordinary fragrance with great sillage and longevity thrown in for extra good measure. I ask you, “What more could you possibly want?” If your answer is a smaller bottle then I do agree, a 50ml would sell like hot cakes, and I would also like it to be available in more stores.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives its notes/accords as:
Coriander, rose, spices, cinnamon, labdanum, vanilla, honey, patchouli and incense.
I love how Mitzah opens all hot smoky spices and incense, I feel that there are unmentioned leather and tobacco notes too but maybe they are some of the rose facets, roses have a million faces so it’s hard for me to pinpoint. A cracker of a perfume, swirling around itself, making me feel all glamorous and giving me the va va voom of a Gabor sister in her prime. This is not an intense journey through the perfume with mountainous peaks and troughs, while there are definite start middle and end notes it’s more of a progression. The kick at the start warms slowly and languidly through mildly sweet towards a honeyed amber dry down. On a good day I get 8+ hours before Mitzah is lost. As the PR says elegant, feminine and mysterious, but I think not so feminine; a man could wear it very comfortably because it is spicy amber.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
