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Val the Cookie Queen
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Hi Guys
This is gonna be a bit of a babbling post. I just got home from work, I wanna go to the gym, APJ deadline is looming, as ever, and Portia kind of stole my post theme on his Saturday Question. Which I have chosen to kind of answer here. Please take a look at her post first!
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Portia
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Hello Fellow Fumies,
Every Saturday we have a Question, an idea purloined from Olfactoria’s Travels. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it is a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.
The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.
I’m currently away on holidays in India and will have limited internet but be assured that I’ll read every comment and answer when I can.
You’ve been invited to a Gala Fundraiser. It’s not exactly the Met Ball but you’ll be required to wear a dress or suit. Not necessarily a gown or dinner suit but if you have such refinements then by all means go all the way. The question today is about Dressed Up Perfume. What do you wear when you have to look and smell a million dollars? Do you go soft and refined? Is it a wall of scent situation? Do you want to fly your freak flag? Maybe you want to keep your scent deliberately low key?
Unlike most of our APJ readers my job is dressing up and wearing gowns, looking well over the top and shimmering. So my chances to wear Dressed Up Perfume are far more numerous than most. At least four times a week I’m glammed up to go host rooms. I have a range of scents depending on mood and weather but the ones I reach for most when going for Dressed Up Perfume are these.
The original Mitzah herself was famous as Christian Dior’s fashion muse. I can’t think of a more dressed up place in the world you could find. She was not a typical beauty either but a fun and frivolous gal pal who was often seen decked out in outlandish leopard print everything. She could command a room with her style and Mitzah the fragrance reflects that chutzpah. Honeyed and spiced rose over a lightly feral labdanum and patchouli with a whisper of burning incense. VERY dressed up.
Original Alien done with a salted caramel twist. There is something commanding and elegant hiding under the sweetness. I feel like the world is mine when I wear this beautiful fragrance. Sometimes when I really want to stand fragrantly head & shoulders above the crowd I layer Alien The Taste of Fragrance over Amouage Dia Woman lotion. Seriously, you have no idea how magical a concoction it is.
There is something restrained and effortless about the slightly OTT aldehydic white floral glamour that is Divine EdP. It’s like CHANEL No 5s uber wealthy, less abrasive sister.Presence without pretence, Divine EdP manages to feel society luscious. A grande dame of a scent that sparkles and shimmers exactly like the most fabulous gowns.
Who would be your three Dressed Up Perfumes, where would you where them and why?
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Portia
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Hey Crew,
I’m drowning in samples here. It’s getting out of hand so I’ve decided this week to put a few samples in the giveaway. They’re all carded manufacturers samples. Good luck.
These samples were given to me on my 2013 first visit to the Serge Lutens Palais Royale store in Paris. I was so overwhelmed at even being there I didn’t notice that the SA was giving me samples for bottles already in my collection. They have sat forlorn and untouched since. It’s time to move them on.
While buying Mon Guerlain, A*Men Kryptomint and something for Jin in Luxembourg earlier this year, as we were leaving to catch the train, I was given a bag of samples by the SA which was full of wonderful stuff. I have bottles of both of these though and they really need a new home. Bugler has done some really excellent scents, these two are just the beginning.
I love the stories that came with this set of fragrances, go look them up. Hilarious and naughty. The quirky (and extremely heavy) brass heads are fun too. I had longevity issues with these but hopefully they will hold to your skin better than mine because the scents are very nice.
This week there will be 3 winners who will receive:
2 x Carded Samples from the above, not matching (NO you don’t get to choose)
There will also be some interesting extras
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 of these you would most like to try
Entries Close Wednesday 2nd August 2017 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 9th August 2017 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
Hi hi APJers,
Here is a new release that I was unaware of till right now. To be honest I’ve never heard of this young American designer. I love his sense of fun and quirk in the design of the bottle though. It really does feel like a layered and pleated gown, the colours are interesting too. I would not have been surprised if Kenzo had brought out this look.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Grapefruit, black currant, green apple, freesia, purple berries, green notes, woody tones, oak moss
I’ve not smelled the fragrance yet and it looks fairly formulaic designer 21st century froth but who knows, they may surprise us.
Portia xx
Photo Stolen FragranticaCoco Rocha looks divine in the campaign! (source)
Hello Lovely APJ Family,
Today’s fragrance is said to be named for Anna Sui’s motto. It’s also the reason I bought it. If I was to really have a “MOTTO” it would probably be something as banal and obvious as this. Sometimes you have to remind yourself that what’s important is quality of life, and quality of life for me is remembering to make sure the life I live is as much MY dream as I can make it. Sure, there will always be some mean, ungrateful, torturous or awful people who like to come and besmirch your buzz, trample your dreams and grind your good deeds into dust. Those people are sent to try us. Without them we would not need to look for the good, it would be everywhere. So with all that rubbishy blather behind us it’s time to….
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Floral notes, white pepper, lily-of-the-valley, water lily
Heart: Jasmine, Bulgarian rose
Base: Sandalwood, tonka beans, musk, cedar, teak wood
Right. I bought this bottle back in 2009 or 2010 and it gets used only rarely but when I crave it I wear it for 3 or 4 days and then it goes away for 3 months or more till my next Live Your Dream inkling. My bottle is 30ml and I’ve not even used a quarter yet. Speaking of the bottle it is the campest, kitchiest thing with vintage roses/retro-molding, little girl cum Barbie doll stylings that has always struck me as a little Lolita-esque. This is a girl/woman bottle and I could imagine it being in the purse of Anna Nicole Smith types.
Photo Stolen DeviantArt
So, what does Live Your Dream smell like? Lily, water, vases of lilies, greenery, fresh fruit (maybe pear or cantaloupe), rain, cold metal, cutting a bell pepper, plastic, lily of the valley (leaves and flowers), wet grass, air conditioned rooms are the impression the first few minutes give me. An unnatural, aromachemical melange that is sheer but weighty, very good sillage and projection for the first 2 hours until it calms to a dull roar. I love the way the industrial wet flowers give way to something only a little warmer that feels like it might be some resinous vanilla reinvention. This does not smell very real at any time, nor does Live Your Dream smell like there is very much money in the juice, it skirts the cleaning product aisle but never really goes there, it feels like it might though at any minute. It’s weird wearing a fragrance that you’ve had in your collection for a long while and for the first time trying to dissect it, instead of floating along and enjoying the ride.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Through the heart I get much more of a peony smell than rose or jasmine, it’s that lovely sweet and watery vegetal feel that fresh bunch of peonies from the florist have. Powder is here too, but more like the smell of some powders that the powder or texture of powder, still it makes me think powder. Then at around the 4 hour mark Live Your dreams stops smelling of anything in particular and becomes an incredibly soft murmur of wet, green, resinous wood that has no real distinctive notes but is more a close to the skin wash.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
Reading this post you would think I don’t like Live Your Dream, but I REALLY like it, I love it. Live Your Dream fills a space that I crave.
FragranceNet has $26/30ml before coupon
My Perfume Samples have $1/ml
Are there some cheapies that you adore in your cupboard? How much wear do they get?
Australian Perfume Junkies 