DIOR, DIOR, DIOR!
One of my great loves is the house of DIOR. Here we see the making of a DIOR handbag. It’s a beautiful thing and one day I shall own me a DIOR handbag, probably a second hand one but nevertheless.
Photo Stolen DIOR Tumbler
I hope you enjoy seeing how the real deal are made.
Tell me in the comments your handbag fantasies.
Portia xx
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Post by Ainslie Walker
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Hello fragrance fans, I’ve realised some members of my fragrance collection have become a fragrant first-aid kit for my more common ailments. Grabbing fragrances based on how I am feeling physically, loosely based on the aromatherapeutic properties of their notes, cheers me up no end.
*Please note all the below has only been tested on one human being, no animals and are not recommended without perhaps some other medications, where prescribed
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Nausea – Etat Libre d’Orange – Like This – full of carminative baked ginger cookie smell this warm combination can ease waves of nausea like no tomorrow. Dosage: spritz on stomach 2 x per day
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Insomnia – Crawling into bed and suddenly my eyes pop open and my brain comes alive with activity!! So I reach for Aqua Allegoria Lavande Velours by Guerlain, which stays, on my bedside table. Sprayed onto my pillow and sheets the powdery combination of lavender, iris and sandalwood takes me off to the land of nod in no time.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Muscular Aches, Pains and Tension – Sycomore by Chanel Les Exclusifs Earthy vetiver and grounding sandalwood I just love this fragrance sprayed just above a hot steamy bath, or when I’m feeling “extravagantly ache-y” a capful poured into the bath does wonders for ridding my body of all tension, aches and pains.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Run Down and Generally Germy – Potpourri by Santa Maria Novella’s mix of Italian herbs rosemary, thyme, patchouli and cloves make this an immune booster for those days when you know you’re coming down with something. Despite some prettier notes of carnation, bergamot, and peru balsam this fragrance smells deliciously medicinal and purifying.
(Side note, the Santa Maria Novella Collection will soon be available from Peony Melbourne)
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Chills – Serge Lutens – Jeux de Peau warms me up and makes me feel cosy and comfy. Almost like having a cup of hot milky tea and a massage with the warmest of warm hands. Use this fragrance when you feel chilled to the bone. A few spritz 1-2 x per day, once sprayed it just keeps on getting better and better as osmanthus reveals itself amongst the warm baked bread and buttery toasted coconut notes. Divine!
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Sore Throat – everyone knows a teaspoon of honey with cinnamon and spices soothes a sore throat and Mitzah by DIOR is the queen bee that soothes mine. Dosage: Spritz throat/chest area and wrap neck, where possible, with a leopard print scarf to stay warm and glamorous.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Headache – nanah mint features in Comme Des Garcons’ Play Green and applied to my temples and back of neck it cools and refreshes when I have a headache. Supporting notes of Basil, lime and juniper mean even when I am brain fatigued and lacking concentration this fragrances helps put some life back into me.
I think you can find samples of all of these at Surrender To Chance<<JUMP
So my fine fragrant friends tell me if you too use fragrant for your ills and if so in what combinations?
Xx Your Fragrant Nurse, Ainslie ;D
Hello Gorgeous APJ Family,
It’s Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances time again, my favourite seasons are Autumn and Spring, the mid seasons. I love that in both these seasons the weather can be remarkably similar, sunny and warm on one day, freezing or blustery on another, nights are cool to cold and so the overall wearings are quite similar. These fragrances are on my desk and within easy spritz reach and they only stay on the desk while they are getting regular spritz time, if they’ve been sitting there for more than a few days without attention they go back in the cupboard.
Photo Stolen Flickr
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Futur* – Robert Piguet: The ungreenest green ever. Sappy, sweet, green and extremely wearable all year round. Futur has been out of the cupboard and on my skin quite a bit lately and it fits any occasion.
Liberte* – Cacharel: A screaming, sizzling, BarBQ’d orange that is so sugary and ends up in a vanilla/patchouli/orange finale. I’ve loved it for years and now that it seems to be discontinued I’ve had to grab a couple of back up bottles.
Shalimar EdP* + Parfum – Guerlain: My old faithful. Shalimar fits every season, every mood and every event. From it’s citrus gelato opening to the resinous, vanilla and leather dry down I love Shalimar through and through. If I had to pick a fragrance to be my one and only Shalimar would be it.
CHANEL No 22: Yes, it’s the modern EdT. I bought it in NYC on our trip and that aldehydic zwoosh is too fabulous for words. Lasts all day, smells incredible and I feel like a million dollars from spritz to shower.
Mitzah – DIOR Prive: For those cooler nights Mitzah. Sweet, spicy, animal roses that feel like they have a whisper of oud in with the patchouli. Warm and sensual but cool enough to wear all year.
Neroli & Orchidee – L’Occitane: Another great L’Occitane cheap and cheerful fragrance! Spring has definitely sprung. I have been loving it sick but the final stamp of approval was given by Willa Zheng on Friday, she totally agrees and I trust her nose completely.
Niki de Saint Phalle: I can’t stop spritzing this glamorous green. Bright, fun and energetic. Niki de Saint Phalle is take charge with a twinkle in your eye. I think it’s the mint in the opening contrasting with the fruit and galbanum, gets me every time.
Nirvana Black by Elizabeth & James: Warm sandalwoodsy vanilla. Great price, excellent packaging. Wear this shit everywhere.
Pichola – Neela Vermeire Creations: The softest, most complex and wonderful tuberose. Surrounded by other notes and accords but it is the tuberose, sheer and clean, shorn of all its intimate, breathy and shitty bits we are left with the clearest, green herbs and spice overlaid tuberose. Beautiful, wearable and a complete divergence for the line while maintaining so many of the things I love.
Un Jardin Apres la Mousson by Hermes: That thick oily, wet, sweet, herbaceous freak of a fragrance. I find it addictive and love to lose myself in its heavy sheer wafts.
There are my current mid-season Top 10. They will probably be changed by next week but right now these ten fragrances are getting good skin time and working extremely well in the changeable conditions that the mid-seasons hand us.
What are you wearing right now? Give me a Top 3 if you’ve got one…..
Loads of love to you all, wherever and in what ever weather,
Portia x
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
* Second year in the Top 10
Hi there Crew,
I am less taken with this show, Raf Simons does some great and exciting stuff with surreal animal print, fabric uses are interesting and some of the colours are killer. I love the side ponytails and the long plastic boots (which seem to be a favourite of his) but the collection has only rare highlights for me. There is quite a bit of repetition through the DIOR couture and pret a porter ranges and over seasons. It has me wondering if Raf is creating a signature for himself at DIOR or if he is doing a timeline of incremental change?
The reason that he created this show as he did it is much more interesting so I’ve given you the interview today instead of the show. you’ll see enough of the frocks to make your own decisions.
Photo Stolen DIOR.com
I’d love to read what you think about it in the comments,
Portia xx
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Post by Gabriella
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Hello fragrance friends! While I’m a huge floral lover, I’ve got to say that when it comes to rose, I’m pretty finicky. I tend to love darker, spicier roses or those with a chypre edge rather than the perfumes that make you feel like you’ve stuck your nose into a big bouquet full of blooms. It’s ironic really as the rose is where perfume all started for me. As a young girl (I’m quite sure many of you did this too) I decided to create my own perfume by plucking the petals off Mum and Dad’s rose bushes and soaking them in water, desperately hoping I’d get some glorious ladylike scent in the process. What resulted was a rank and fetid smelling water, but thank god, this did not put me off perfume or roses forever.
My favourite rose perfumes smell much more glorious than those failed experiments, so without further ado, I present to you:
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these accords:
Top: Bergamot and violet
Heart: May rose and iris
Base: Sandalwood
The formative rose. I was 14, I wanted to be all woman and this bold, shapeshifting scent in its iconic pink and black topped bottle was it. Paris, now vastly reformulated and lost in a mass of flankers, was a mesmerising concoction of violet, rose and iris, that managed to be bold and confident but demure and sweet all at the same time. I wore copious amounts underneath my school uniform and how I didn’t get expelled for overpowering the whole school with my sillage, I’ll never know.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
The funny-story rose. I started to wear Stella around the time I was dating Mr M the first time around many years ago. I asked him what he thought of the green-tinged, but voluptuously warm amber rose creation. He said: “Smells like Grandma.” So, I stopped wearing it and it became my very expensive room spray. But then, every time Mr M came round, this is what my place and I smelt of. So, it was to my amusement a month or two later that he presented me with a bottle, completely forgetting the backstory and thinking that he done something wonderfully romantic because it “reminded him of me.”
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
The va-va-voom rose. I tried Agent Provocateur firstly because the whole ethos of the scent was something I had to have. I was called “cute” even at age 30 and I all I wanted to be was a sexy and sultry goddess. The first whiff of Agent Provocateur had me in a spin because I had smelt nothing quite like it. A dark woody and utterly captivating chypre rose that says strength and sex all at the same time.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
The surprising rose. As I said, I’m finicky about rose. I’m also especially finicky when it comes to patchouli and as for vanilla and gourmands, they are usually no-go zones, but Francis Kurdjian has managed to create something with all four that I adore. It’s a sweet but dark rose that manages to be both pretty but voluptuous and vivacious at the same time with glorious sillage and lasting power.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
The new rose. I enter the Christian Dior boutique expecting it would be New Look 1947 or Grand Bal I would buy as my upcoming birthday present. And although I’d smelt them before, I was underwhelmed as I stood there, nose to wrist. The SA kept pushing me towards Gris Montaigne with the assurance that “This is the one for you.” One sniff and my eyes rolled back in pleasure as I softly cooed. Gris Montaigne is surprising, because, if you read the notes, one would expect a spicy chypre rose a la Agent. What it actually is a very pretty, sparkling and sophisticated rose bouquet that is imminently wearable and utterly special.
So, do you like any of my choices? Is rose love it or leave it for you? If you like rose, what are your faves?
With much love till next time!
M x
Aha! Hey gang,
I was not crazy about Miss Dior really but recently my mate Natalie from Another Perfume Blog (now defunct) gave me some vintage Miss Dior Cherie and I have to admit it rocked my socks off.
Photo Stolen YouTube
As always Natalie Portman is perfect in her role. This time as the grand daughter of the super wealthy. DIOR has done a wonderful job dressing her and the sets.
Enjoy a couple of minutes of pure escapism.
Portia xx
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Post by Gabriella
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Hello perfume peeps,
As time has gone by, I have become less shy talking about my blogging and sharing my love of scent with the wider public. When I do mention my passion to colleagues and friends, I often get questions such as: “I need a new perfume. I love Coco Mademoiselle, what do you recommend?” or “What is the perfume you like the most?” Pleasingly, men are as curious as women, with most asking whether I review men’s colognes or aftershaves?
Photo stolen DeviantArt
This always brings a wry smile to my face as most of us here in perfume land have long ignored the gender divide enforced by the “men’s” and “women’s” sections of department stores. However, it did get me thinking as most of what I wear and write about are the Big White Florals and uber-feminine scents. Apart from the experiment when Mr M let me douse him in Fracas, how many non-perfumista menfolk would wear something like Carnal Flower or Fleurissimo?
So, as an attempt to address the issue, I present my top five traditional masculine scents:
The strong virile hero scent. Antaeus is a machismo concoction of bold proportions that still feels seamless thanks to Mr Polge’s genius. A powerful blend of verdant bergamot and clary sage amplified with rich spices and smooth leather. If you want a scent to put hair on your chest, this is the one.
Fragrantica lists the following accords:
Top: Lemon, lime, coriander, myrtle, clary sage, and bergamot
Heart: Thyme, basil, rose and jasmine
Base: Patchouli, castoreum, labdanum and oak moss
The epitome of effortless elegance. Eau Sauvage is the Adam of the men’s fragrance world that spawned the Eve of Diorella. To me, the luminosity of the citrus, verdant herbs and something a little sinister and sexy underneath it all means the scent trumps more modern citrus and cologne compositions despite the current watered-down reformulation.
Fragrantica lists the following accords:
Top: Lemon, basil, bergamot, cumin, lavender and fruit
Heart: Jasmine, rose, carnation, iris root, coriander, patchouli and sandalwood
Base: Oak moss, vetiver, musk and amber
It is just that good. Say lavender and bergamot and I usually run a mile, hence why you’ll never find me raving about Jicky or Bois du Portugal. New York, however, took me from hate to love when we were searching for a new scent for Mr M as I think it is the smoothest, most well- rounded of the combinations on the market. Plus there’s a candied, powdery vibe to the lavender, which makes manages to be both sexy and snuggly.
Fragrantica lists the following accords:
Top: Bergamot, amalfi lemon, cloves, lavender and green notes
Heart: Thyme, cinnamon, pepper, paprika, patchouli and cedar
Base: Amber, vanilla and leather
Debonair in a bottle. A quintessential fougere with piquant notes of rosemary and clary sage, what strikes me most about Pour Homme is the quality and depth of the musk in the drydown. It’s earthy, animalic and seductive, like snuggling into your man’s chest after a heated, passionate night.
Fragrantica lists the following accords:
Top: Rosemary, clary sage and brazilian rosewood
Heart: Tonka bean, lavender and geranium
Base: Honey, amber, musk and oakmoss
The scent of boyfriends past. Probably a bit OTT now, but god, how I loved this back in the day. Even though it was pretty much ubiquitous in the early 1990s, Polo stood out for being a brooding Heathcliff of a scent amid the onslaught of flimsy aquatics and calones. Deep greens, herbs, spiky woods and a powerful wallop of pine makes this not for the fainthearted.
Fragrantica lists the following accords:
Top: Artemisia, basil and thyme, with spicy notes of cumin, coriander and cloves
Heart: Conifer woods, decorated with notes of patchouli, oakmoss and vetiver
Base: Leather, tobacco and thyme
So what are your top ‘traditional’ masculine scents? Ladies, do you wear any of these? What was the scent that broke the gender divide perfume wise for you once you got past department store classifications?
With much love till next time!
M x
All photos stolen Fragrantica unless specified
Hi there DIOR Couture and Fragrance fans,
I love the house of DIOR. It has been with me through my childhood years making clothes for Barbie dolls, the years of fashion school and the fashion industry, even after I have tried to keep up with what is happening on the world’s runways. So here is a very interesting piece of information that I was only vaguely aware of. Christian Dior loved Japan! Now that it’s pointed out so simply it makes complete sense.
Photo Stolen wallpaper
Here then is a short film introducing the idea and giving a potted history of their engagement through time. I really enjoyed it as a forerunner to the DIOR Esprit Tokyo show.
Enjoy,
Portia xx
WOW!
From DIOR: “A black and white voyage of hypnotic beauty.
A new genre of film presents the Dior Homme composition in a way that no other fragrance has ever been seen. Poetic and in-depth, modern and sophisticated, it allows itself the luxury of stopping time.”
Photo Stolen DIOR
Here is Australian Perfume Junkies look at the original DIOR Homme
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lavender, sage, bergamot
Heart: Iris, amber, cacao
Base: Vetiver, patchouli, leather
Beauty Encounter currently has $51/50ml
My Perfume Samples starts at $2.50/ml
Hi there Fashion Face Crew,
I don’t know if you’ve ever worn high fashion make up? I have rarely in my life used them because for stage we need something a little more heavy duty, the man to woman trick is hard on make up and we are at heart (working Drag Queens anyway) blokes.
Recently I bought TinaG some DIOR cosmetics for her birthday. The thrill of shopping for these incredible products in their out of this world packaging was exquisite. I kept texting her saying how excited I was buying her presents and how lucky she would feel when she used the purchases. It was a total home run of a present, Tina’s eyes lit up and I knew her thrill was equal or greater than mine. Good feeling, great gift.
Photo Stolen DIOR
Here is a step by step How To for the hottest Xmas 2014 make up look from DIOR. Definitely you will be party ready in this gorgeous, shimmering face.
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 