Bronze Goddess by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Estée Lauder

July 1, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Hi there Crew!

The beach scent! One of my all time favourite groupings and I’ve noticed that my collection overfloweth with them. An excellent summer spritz but also perfect in the depths of winter to remind you that the sun will come again. I love the Bronze Goddess line and that each year they get a new perfumer in to do their own take on the idea. I have two bottles 2008s Bronze Goddess Eau Fraîche Skinscent and …..

Bronze Goddess 2011 by Estée Lauder

Bronze Goddess by Rodrigo Flores-Roux

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, bergamot
Heart: Magnolia, orange blossom, tiare flower, jasmine, myrrh
Base: Coconut, caramel, sandalwood, amber, vetiver

No matter when I use Bronze Goddess it fits like a glove. One little spray and my world is filled with the heart and memory of summer, if I close my eyes I am completely transported to my dream day at the beach. 28C with a very light breeze from the water and a few clouds dappling the world, the beach must have a tide pool and some excellent eateries nearby and I prefer to hang with a smell crew, around 5 or 6 maximum. Give me a book to read and I am in HEAVEN! I particularly like beaches with a grassy area behind the sand where I can comfortably lay my towel and gear and only get all the sand in my feet on the way to the water.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

2011s Bronze Goddess is all about tiare/jasmine, coconut, caramel and amber on me. While every other note is presented in a wash of smooth and beautifully blended tropical holiday it’s these accords that stand out distinctly through my wear and I particularly love the warmth of the dry down, it still feels beachy and fun but it’s the kind of scent you imagine being present while you walk along the waterfront past moored boats, eateries, palm trees and watching the sun going down with a crew of people you love or someone special. Bronze Goddess is a summer holiday fantasy in a bottle.

Though Bronze Goddess is a very fragrant perfume with good projection and longevity its very nature makes it seem light as air and much like wearing a tropical moisturiser. Though it is a tropical beachy scent I find there is a lovely fresh cleanliness (not in the obvious laundry way, though I think there is also a place for that in perfumery) that continues all day. Sensual and alluring I often wear Bronze Goddess for date night and also for times when I can feel myself falling into a funk. Bronze Goddess is the perfect foil, it’s hard to feel gloomy or blue when you smell this lovely.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Into The Gloss and Now Smell This
FragranceNet has a couple of choices from $61/100ml before Coupon
Surrender To Chance has a few different samples from $3/ml

Do you have a favourite Beach Scent? What is it and why?
Portia xx

Rose de Grasse by Aerin Lauder 2015

April 26, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Heya All,

I grabbed this in the Surrender To Chance 5ml Fabulous Fragrance Fridays and I think they were trying to empty the bottle because I can’t find it on the site at all now. BUM!

Rose de Grasse by Aerin Lauder 2015

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Watery accord
Heart: Rose Centifolia, Bulgarian rose otto, Rose absolute
Base: Violet wood, Ambrox, Musk

These Aerin bottles look super luxe in the pictures, have any of you held them? Do they measure up in life? It looks like cool white porcelain.

Dewy rose buds at dawn, cool and just beginning to open, high up in the Himalayas because the air is brittle and thin. The rose is lightly fizzy and sweet but not jammy, far too crisp for that. There’s something green and leafy too like crushing aphids against the stem to attract more lady bugs who feed on them, crush a few and the lady bugs will do the rest. I am severely underwhelmed by the projection but think Rose de Grasse would make a perfect office scent. Really, during the first 15 minutes it smells more like a very nice fabric softener or body wash than a fine fragrance. This is on my skin and to my nose your results will vary. Having said that it does warm very nicely through after that point and also has a nice pithy background, it’s all extremely muted. Jin says it smells like Acacia and once he said it I get what he means, there is that slightly waxy green wetness I smell with acacia here in Rose de Grasse. Interesting.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

The soft muted scent of Rose de Grasse is lovely but far too thin for my liking. I’m going to give my decant to a non perfumista girlfriend who likes fragrance and works corporate to see if she likes it for a work scent. It’s like they’ve added too much perfumers alcohol and not enough perfume, insipid. For $185/50ml I want more, more of everything.

What I have after 4 hours is a very soft geranium and carnation cross waft, very very soft. A bit spicy and floral over a soft musk base. Actually I like this almost scent better than the heart of the fragrance by far, a bit clove-y, stark and frosty. It tingles my tongue as I sniff it. I really cannot tell you enough how quiet it is but it does smell nice.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Now Smell This and Luxury Daily
Aerin is available in the USA at Estee Lauder online $185/50ml

Will I buy a bottle? No. Should you try it? Yes, at least so you feel that you have. You can also come back and tell me if I got it totally wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time I had.
Portia xxx

Youth-Dew by Josephine Catapano for Estée Lauder 1955

March 11, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Post by Trésor

I usually like to begin my reviews with an abstract impression of the fragrance I going to be speaking of, but for a couple of weeks now I have sat in front of my computer and found myself completely unable to articulate my feelings for this fragrance in any way that made a lick of sense. So now, as I sit here at the eleventh hour, I am going to give this another go and see if I can somehow put into words the inimitable mesmerism contained within the omnipotent fumes captured in this murky amber fluid. Youth Dew, the fragrance I consider to be the matriarch of American perfume royalty, here you are again leaving me breathless and without the words to express how I feel about you once more.

Youth-Dew by Josephine Catapano for Estée Lauder 1955

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, orange, spices, peach, bergamot, narcissus, lavender
Heart: Cinnamon, cassia, orchid, jasmine, cloves, ylang-ylang, rose, lily-of-the-valley, spicy notes
Base: Tolu balsam, peru balsam, amber, patchouli, musk, vanilla, oakmoss, vetiver, incense

The way Youth Dew opens detonates on the skin is simply extraordinary, I can guarantee it is one of the most forcefully dense clouds of fragrance you may ever encounter in your perfume-smelling career. Once the utter onslaught (and I truly mean this in the most complimentary way) of aroma begins to disperse you are greeted with a visceral symphony of resins which seem to swallow the light like some phantasmic quasar. The resins have this incredible sequence of olfactory motion that to my nose resembles the collapse of a star in a continuous loop, imploding and exploding in brilliant succession. As the composition progresses rich and sensuous spices begin to unfold like a blanket of scintillating stars splashed across a mahogany sky, meteor showers of cinnamon and clove raining down from above and setting the atmosphere alight with their luminous eruptions. Though not listed in notes I detect the obvious presence of leather, perhaps it’s just my imagination running wild but I swear I can smell it. The fragrance lives in this state for quite some time until it begins to morph once more into a luxuriant accord of liquid amber infused with vanilla that’s been drizzled atop the smouldering remains of the resins which preceded. It is in this stage where Youth Dew finally begins its lengthy (and I so mean lengthy) decent into a redolent hum of amorphous warmth hovering just above the skin.

Photo Donated Trésor

Now, onto longevity and sillage. Oh, boy. The sillage on Youth Dew is….enormous, incredibly so. You will be noticed and people will be able to smell you a continent over if you are the slightest bit overzealous with application. A wonderful tip for calming the monster that is Youth Dew’s gargantuan aura is to take a tiny bit, mix it with a fragrance free oil (I find a bit of fractionated coconut does the trick nicely) and apply as you would any other body oil.

Photo stolen Fragrantica

As for longevity, I am almost certain that this fragrance just fuses with your DNA and will never truly disappear. In my attempts to review I have worn Youth Dew a number of times over the past couple of weeks and it’s lasted upwards of 18 hours on my skin and strangely enough even though a shower when I chose to be a bit heavy handed. If you are a density junkie like me or simply want to experience what I consider to be one of the very best compositions in American perfumery I urge you to give Youth Dew a try. Even if you don’t like it you will up your fumehead street cred just by having tried it.

Further reading: The Non Blonde and Yesterday’s Perfume
Youth Dew is available in department stores and vintage on Ebay
My Perfume Samples start at $2/ml

What do you feel when you wear Youth Dew? Do you have memories of it on others?
Trésor xxox

All I Do Is Beach: Natalie: Another Perfume Blog

February 16, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Post by Natalie APB

Friends, it’s confession time! My name is Natalie, and I am no longer a perfume junkie. Since I closed Another Perfume Blog last year, my perfume consumption is down by approximately 1000%. So why am I writing a post for APJ? Well, first because Portia asked me to, and no one can say no to Portia. And second, because I do have a little area of specialization to share with you all: beach fragrances! Today I’m going to share my personal categories of beach perfumes, and my top favorite in each category.

Photo Stolen ManlyAustralia

Beach Fragrances 2015: All I Do is Beach

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Beach Fragrance Category 1: The Hawaiian Tropic

Hawaiian Tropic suntan oil is the iconic coconut oil beach smell. Unbelievably rich and full of creamy, coconutty lactones. This category of beach fragrances is also creamy and coconutty, but the best ones invoke some sourness to call up the smell of skin rather than dessert. My favorite in this category is from DSH’s Essence Studios: Hippie Chic. It’s heavy on black coconut and clove, and the longer I have my bottle, the more present the ambergris is. Longevity is excellent, and the heaviness of this scent does well on the beach (naturally) and on a hot summer night when you don’t plan to get home until dawn. If you can’t find Hippie Chic, try anything from Comptoir Sud Pacifique or Indian Coconut Nectar from Pacifica.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Beach Fragrance Category 2: The Bain de Soleil

Ban de Soleil is the sun cream that says “I’m European, bitch,” and so do the perfumes in this category. Less about coconut and less accessible than some other beach perfumes, they are all about solar notes. They can read as space-age takes on sunscreen (MiN New York’s Long Board is an amazing, wearable example) or simply as very chic. I go for the Guerlain’s Terracotta Le Parfum, where the solar notes are matched with spice and white flowers. The scent is elusive, but ce est les francais, non? Bobbi Brown’s Beach and CB I Hate Perfume At the Beach 1966 are a few others in this group.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Beach Fragrance Category 3: The Bronzer

For the beach bunny who could care less about sunscreen, and just wants to look (and smell) sexy, we look no further than Bronze Goddess. The Bronzers are the beach fragrances that makes everyone smell like a supermodel, and Bronze Goddess is the queen of them all. A perfectly balanced, sexy mix of coconut, white flowers, citrus, balsamic, and suntan oil notes. The poor longevity is actually a benefit, since it’s an excuse to re-mist yourself every few hours. I could recommend other “Bronzer” perfumes, but why would I? This category is owned by Bronze Goddess, folks.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Category 4: The Skinnydipper

These fragrances are all about summer nights. Nuxe’s Le Prodigiuex has an introspective feeling, spotlighting white flowers. Its longevity is incredible, especially if you buy the oil and use it in your hair. Or try the less subtle (but more fleeting) Guerlain Lys Soleia. And don’t miss the extra glam Michael by Michael Kors.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Which category of beach fragrances appeals to you, or do you not agree with my categories at all? Be sure to share your favorite beach frags, too (I wouldn’t mind adding to my collection, even if I’m not a real perfume junkie anymore)!

Natalie xx

Costa Azzura by Tom Ford 2014

December 14, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Post by Liam

Hello fabulous fragrance fiends,

I’m back! Thanks for the kind reception on my first post, I didn’t expect such a torrent of kindness! Today I shift away from vintage perfume and look at a 2014 release from the house of Tom Ford….

Costa Azzura by Tom Ford 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Seaweed, driftwood, agarwood (oud), ambrette (musk mallow), celery seeds, cardamom
Heart: Juniper, myrtle, lavender, lemon, yellow mandarin, artemisi
Base: Mastic or lentisque, olibanum, incense, vanilla, vetiver, oak

Generally I’m a descriptivist of smell, because you naturally have to be when you’re reviewing fragrance. It was Maurice Roucel who described himself as “an explorer wandering amidst his formulas”, and I personally like to wander amidst smell in general, using words to grapple and express the emotions stemming from perfumery. I feel sinful writing about fragrance in a bad light, but I think it’s impossible to like everything; someone has to do it anyway – dissent, that is.

Costa Azzura, you almost had it. You’re salty and drab like a preserved and tinned anchovy at the back of the pantry. For the most part, Tom Ford’s private line is an impressive lineup, presenting a powerhouse of fragrances with a more-than-modest appeal. Costa Azzura however, is familiar like pale grey skies over a beach.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Can we talk about mirepoix – a mixture of carrot, celery, onion, and bay leaf sautéed in olive oil? Why? Because Costa Azzura is a soppy concoction like a limp boiled carrot macerated with herbs- and smells like it too! Costa Azzura is salty and dank to the same extent the low tide is, why oh why Tom? It smells incomplete and dull without addictive heart notes resultantly feeling like cold steel on the skin and is redolent of the uncomfortable chill of sea water. There is no gravitas! No body! It’s lacking in its sensuality.

Photo Stolen Flickr

A hyper-gourmand, Costa Azzura fuses lemon, cardamon, celery seed, ambrette, vanilla, mastic, juniper … One might confuse this for a shopping list. An additional overload of lavender, driftwood, oud, and incense remind me of Pollock artwork; fuelled by chance and in the end disappointingly linear (unlike Pollock, of course). For those wanting to smell literally like the sea, in the most realistic way possible, Costa Azzura is your friend. A marine-woods scent presenting the perfect contradiction of ‘light heaviness’. This fragrance embodies the archetypical male musky fougere fragrance whilst trying very hard to escape that labelling, in turn smelling overloaded, superfluously enigmatic and, most importantly yet ashamedly generic in nature… also, no calone/watermelon ketones in sight!

This certainly exudes a beach-y smell, there’s no doubt about that. But is dirty seawater appealing? That’s up to you. Personally, I’m not a fan of smelling like seaweed; despite the novel nature of this fragrance.

I get excellent longevity with Costa Azzura, with about 8 to 10 hours (too long!). Sillage is surprisingly subtle, perfect for lazy days.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Chemist In A Bottle
LuckyScent has $215/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

Sometimes writing about fragrances like this is a written cathartic exercise. I recommend you try this fragrance, and see if you can pick up on any overly gourmand nuances. What fragrances do you dissent in opinion with?

Come across and check out my blog when you get a chance: Olfactics

Have a lovely lovely day!

-Liam

Beyond Paradise by Calice Becker for Estée Lauder 2003

November 21, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Hello Hello Hello,

While moving I have rediscovered an old favourite bottle.

Way back in the early years of this century I had a beautiful partner called Varun, we traveled often to his homeland India. On our first journey to India I was taken by the lovely smell of jasmine and marigold that women would wear in ropes in their hair, a thick, rich and intoxicating smell that could become completely overpowering in a small shop with two or three women thus adorned.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

So 2000, 2001 and 2002 visits were filled with this glorious and enchanting waft at unexpected times, not every woman would wear the garlands and I never found out what prompted it though at weddings they were everywhere. Sadly the practice is seen less and less in modern Incredible India.

Beyond Paradise by Calice Becker for Estée Lauder 2003

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange blossom, blue hyacinth, Jaboticaba berry, lemon, bergamot, grapefruit
Heart: Laelia orchid, pink honeysuckle, Japanese mahonia, jasmine, gardenia
Base: Natal plum blossom, golden melaleuca, zebrano wood, ambrette seed, amber

Fast forward now to 2003, and I am traveling alone to meet Varun who has had to go home to run the family business. As I’m walking though the Duty Free an Estee Lauder rep hands me a miniature bottle shaped like a teardrop with my gifting purchases. The bottle itself was so beautiful, exquisite, a rainbow teardrop and inside was a fragrance filled with bittersweet heartache. The smell of glamotous Indian women wearing their jasmine and marigold hair garlands, the hot wet heat of southern India’s spring and the cooling breeze blowing over lotus ponds into Kerala wooden pole houses. On my first sniff I was overcome with nostalgia and nervous tummy butterflies of anticipation.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Ha ha ha! Of course, I arrive in India and Varun is like, “What for are you wearing that nasty cheap roadside stall jasmine oil?” Ha Ha ha! So away my little bottle went for that holiday but on my return Beyond Paradise became the scent of India for me. Even though I have been to the oldest and most reputable scent wallahs in Old and New Delhi, Jaipur and Kerala it is Beyond Paradise that takes me to the first few visits to India every time.

Varun & Portia 2004

Basically Beyond Paradise opens like a vase of flowers, all wet, green leaves, a little crackle of bitterness, crisp white flowers and softly sweet fruits, it goes more white flowers through the heart and then dries down to dry white flowers, a very little bit fleshy and ripe, then fades to nothing musky woods. The story isn’t big and the shifts aren’t monumental, Beyond Paradise is fresh and light but gives you really good sillage and projection for most of the day.

Photo Stolen LuckyScent ($18 at LuckyScent)

Fast forward again to 2011 and I am given a book called The Little Book Of Perfumes by Luca Turin & Tanya Sanchez. Though I had been a mad collector of frags on and off through my life never had I been given such purpose in my collecting as that book gave me. Instantly I wanted to try ALL 100 fragrances in that book, but to find something I have loved so well for so long in that book was a complete surprise.

Further reading: Sweet Diva and Scentualist
Beauty Encounter has $55/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

Are you a Beyond Paradise fan? What was one of your excited fragrance epiphanies?
Portia xx

Tom Ford Noir 2012

September 17, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

Post by ElizaD

Tom Ford Noir 2012

Laquer, Pepper, roses, spice, iris, and sweet oranges. Tobacco perhaps? Interesting.

These were my thoughts as I stood in the Sephora sniffing my arm after spritzing Tom Ford’s Noir. The ladies in the Sephora always frown when they see me coming. I SNIFF my perfume. I don’t gently waft the tester under my nose, I spray forcefully and inhale. And I ask for samples! They’re limiting me to two these days. No matter, I am quickly making my way through the whole line of Sephora-approved fragrances at my local outlet. I’m almost done.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

But this was a store in Portland, with many more choices, and saleswomen who were not on to me. I was trying to be discreet, but when you are a head taller and twice as old as almost everyone else in the store, it’s challenging.

Anyway, back to the fragrance. This one gave me pause. With a name like Noir I expected something much more intense. Some oud perhaps, or liquor notes: something thick and viscuous. This was beautiful. It opened with a sparkle of pink pepper and herbs, quickly followed by a sweet laquer note, but quickly settled to a lovely floral bouquet. Powdery with a little spice. Soft and graceful. I could even detect a note of baby shampoo. It reminded me of Jean Charles Broussea’s Ombre Rose. Like the lovely Margaux, who reviewed Noir exactly a year ago, I was intrigued.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Italian bergamot, verbena, caraway, baie rose (pink pepper), violet flower
Heart: Black pepper, nutmeg, Tuscan Iris resin, Egyptian Geranium, Bulgarian Rose, Clary Sage
Base: Opoponax, amber, Indonesian patchouli, vetiver, civet, vanilla

So imagine my double surprise when I returned home with my sample and pulled up the information on Fragrantica. A men’s fragrance? Because it has violets and vetiver and verbena? Two months ago I suggested that Essence Aromatique might be suited for a man, and now I seem to be swooning over a men’s fragrance. Hmmm, perhaps after a couple of years my tastes are starting to expand.

Photo Stolen Flickr

It was in the women’s section. I swear.

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Bois de Jasmin
FragranceNet has 50ml/$95 before discount
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

So tell me, APJers, where do you find fragrances to try locally? Are you lucky enough to have sympathetic salespeople at your local stores, or do you have to travel to satisfy your senses? I think I need a roadtrip, STAT!

Scents of an Australian Christmas 2013 + Recipe

December 17, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

Christmas 2013 will be my first summer Christmas in 14 years. It’s already scorching and I am in a conundrum about what fragrance to wear on the day…its got to be lighter, brighter, cooler and less spicy than what works for Europe… and yet it needs to be perfect.

In colder climes it’s a time to rug up and reach for spicier, smokier, coniferous, wood and resin filled frags…for those of you out there in the cold this year, here is my hint list:

– Spicy Floral like Carnation by Comme De Garcons
– Frankincense, smoking, straight from a church is Tom Ford Sahara Noir
– For Frankincense, clove and red fruits, I would douse in Jo Malone’s Pomegranate Noir
– Fir/Pine/Woods – a woody gourmand, like Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice, which combines both the evergreens pine and fir and some gourmand sugary, vanilla odors
– Spicy, Clove and Herbal would be Pot Pouri by Santa Maria Novella. There is even something about this one that will help mask the hangovers, colds and flus of the season…perhaps a medicinal quality and a breath of health!
– Cinnamon and Ginger notes from 5 o’clock Au Gingembre by Serge Lutens
– Resinous and Smoky Myrrh, like Eu Sauvage – Dior

NB I have a feeling some of the above would also fair well, even on a hot Christmas day – see how you go!

Scents of an Australian Christmas 2013

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Australian Christmas smells include…pine, fir, cherries, raspberries, sunscreen, aftersun, leather (err cricket balls), salty air, coconut, mandarins, vanilla,, frangipanis, lemon merange, trifles, chocolate, mangoes, lychees, tropical fruits and flowers, melons, gardenias, honeysuckle, figs, dust, grasses and tropical summer storms…and the odd bbq!!

A few fragrances containing the above:

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Chanel Les Exclusif Bel Respiro feels to me like the end of a hot summer day, gives the feeling of showering and using after sun lotion after a day at the beach. It’s a gusty summer holiday house. Conjuring lots of green –grass and evergreen trees-fir/pine, some citrus, some crisp moisture as a cool breeze starts to take temperatures down…its definitely outdoorsy…I can almost hear the cicadas now….Oh, and a leather note

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche 2013 warm, sparkling sunshine, beach, sand between your toes, exotic and sensual this is my top choice for summer nights, hot dates, romance and Christmas parties. When I spray this, I melt…it’s HOT, glamorous and gorgeous – milky white floral, coconut oil, tropical flowers, neroli, and a touch of mandarin, something sweet and edible like caramel all combine. So many ‘Pacific Island” style fragrances smell too sweet, cheap and tacky – not this one

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Cacherel Scarlett From a retro white flacon, blasts a zesty summer, fruity floral fragrance containing jasmine, honeysuckle, citrus, pear and melon. It’s flirty. Drydown is very fruity and strong , good for an outdoor event- barbeque, a park picnic, something sporty, like Frisbee in the back yard.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Comme Des Garcons Amazing Green unisex, green and leafy, aquatic with spice and smoke, woody and fresh –an Australian Rainforest Christmas! When I sprayed this I got green and citrus, followed by a yummy first rain on bitumen/slightly smoky type of lingering scent. It’s fresh, yet smoky.

My gift to you: Here’s my fave fragrant recipe for Christmas Down Under

Mandarin Ice, with Lychees and Vanilla Ice Cream

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

625g can lychees
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
315g can mandarin segments
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier
¼ cup lemon juice
315g can mandarin segments (extra)

1. Put sugar and water into pan and stir over low heat until dissolved, boil uncovered for 3 minutes – allow to cool
2. put 1 can of undrained mandarins in blender and blend 1 minute- sieve
3. Add mandarin juice, lemon juice, and Grand Marnier to syrup, stir
4. Pour into tray, pop into freezer until set, stirring occasionally
5. Chill lychees and extra segments, drain and reserve syrup of lychees
6. Put lychees and segments into serving bowls with syrup spooned over
7. Flake mandarin ice with fork and spoon on top of lychees
8. Add scoop of vanilla ice cream

5 Sexy Scents for Seduction! 2013

September 21, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Hey Hey Y’All,

One of the things that I sometimes get asked is, “Which perfume should I wear to get lucky?” The short answer is the sweet smell of success and happiness. Of course, sometimes romance needs a little push or maybe we need to smell a certain way to have the confidence to create the opportunity. I have a few frags in my weaponry that I like to wear when being noticed in the right way is important. You also need to have a bit of strategy too. What kind of person do you want to smell like? Here are 5 types and fragrances to go with them. Remember, this is all in fun, it’s not just about the way you smell that’s going to hook your intended but it might just be the final push they need…….

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

1: Having a ball with my friends: Bronze Goddess by Estée Lauder

I have the 2010 version of Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche but they are all a fun holiday tropical type spritz that is extremely pretty, has good sillage and projection and they last well too. Coconut and/or jasmine seem to be the standout notes in the whole set and it’s the kind of carefree summery scent that smells like you are out for fun and an uncomplicated, happy, breezy person ready for what ever the night holds.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

2: I may look a bit uptight but underneath…..: CHANEL No 19

This is a good old fashioned beauty. The cool, crisp snap of a green fragrance at once aloof and haughty. You want to smell like an ice king/queen that needs a bit of thawing. That iris undercut by warm woods and leather, all frost and fire will keep your partner a little off balance till you want to show them the way. CHANEL No 19 is a wonderful back straightener and focus fragrance if you need to feel in control of the situation while waiting to exhale.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

3: I am a soft silken dove: DIOR La Collection Couturier Parfumeur Milly-la-Foret

Sometimes being quietly, tastefully understated is the best way to get someone to come close and stay there. That first waft as they come in close to you could be the clincher. Milly-la-Foret is a beautiful soft musky powder, it’s there but only up close, and it smells so good and expensive, a winner. So soft and light that it will give an impression of fragility yet if you sniff a bit closer you can tell it’s real quality and perfectly at peace. Milly-la-Foret is the scent of success and the contented wind down after the celebration parties.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

4: If you grab this there will be all sorts of: Trouble by Boucheron

Trouble is one of my all time favourite siren scents. Sweet jasmine over a hefty amber base. This is the scent of a heartbreaker, and men go crazy for it. You can find Trouble at the discounters but soon it will be all gone, it’s getting harder and harder to find for a reasonable price. Slated by Turin/Sanchez but a fabulously outrageous and over the top fragrance that will certainly bring you attention. Smells especially great on the men, believe it.

5: Seriously seeking physical attentions, all offers considered: Le Male by Jean Paul Gaultier

This smells so good I follow people around in venues that wear it just to catch an errant whiff. Le Male is the most sensual, engaging and stridently sexual scent I know on both sexes. Ignore the ad spiel ladies, Le Male is killer on everyone and in today’s age of scentless fragrant wash you will stand out like dogs balls, ready to be licked. Be careful when you spritz Le Male, you may need security guards. Looking for action, then this is your choice.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this fun look at how to smell for seduction. Fragrance does not care who wears it, never be mislead by the advertising copy or who a fragrance is aimed at. If they smell good, wear them. Cross the gender divide,you’ll be glad you did,

What are your special seduction fragrances? Please add to the list in the comments. Share your hard won knowledge please.

See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Noir for Men by Tom Ford 2012

September 18, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by Margeaux

Hullo again stinkers!

6 months after falling nose first into the world of fragrances, I have inhaled more perfumes than I ever imagined. Some have been good, a few have been exceptional, and a lot have been nice, which is just my way of saying they were boring or uninspired.

Today’s scent is one that I had been dying to whiff, and finally thanks to Portia’s ingenuity with scheduling, I was able to do just that recently when we had our big day out in the city to partake in the incredible Piguet Masterclass. Post class we sashayed straight up to the Tom Ford counter in David Jones (department store) and I made a beeline to the gorgeously modern sleek and striking bottle of Noir for Men.

I spritzed the tester a couple of times onto the back of my hand and waited to learn exactly what this newish fragrance was all about.

Tom Ford Noir for Men 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, verbena, caraway, pink pepper and violet
Heart: Black pepper, nutmeg, Tuscan iris, geranium, Bulgarian rose and clary sage
Base: Opoponax, amber, Indonesian patchouli leaf, vetiver, civet, vanilla, styrax, leather and benzoin.

To be completely honest, I am still feeling my way through the individual notes, so I am kind of no help to you there. But what I do know, is that Noir is quickly becoming one of my favourite scents. The opening is good, solidly manly without a hint of lumberjack anywhere to be found thanks to (and I’m guessing here) the bergamot and violet. Once it settles down, the beautiful flowers play delicately with the spices in a deliciously sensuous embrace that is both comforting and comfortable. Tom Ford isn’t out on a limb here people, this is totally accessible.

For me however, the ending is where the magic happens, and although having a good look again at the myriad of notes, it could’ve possible gone terribly awry but Noir somehow builds to a crescendo of sophistication and elegance that I cannot get enough of. In particular, I’m loving the patchouli, amber and leather combo for some serious stench, with a tiny hint of vanilla to keep everything in check. Nothing here is too much.

As this is an EDP, it seems willing to hang around for many hours and even on my thirsty skin I can get a full 10-12 hours of gorgeous smell, with it lingering for many hours afterwards if I manage to avoid the shower. I’ve already gone through a 2ml sample and quickly nearing the end of a 5ml sample so I fully expect that this will become my newest full bottle purchase or perhaps someone will gift it to me for my birthday??? 🙂

Photo Stolen noision1 Flickr

Either way, Tom Ford has scored another winner for the man who desires class and elegance without fuss. Noir is beautiful and nuanced and wholly recommended.

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Black Narcissus
FragranceNet has $124/100ml
Surrender To Chance offers samples from $4/ml

If you’ve smelled it, what did you think?

(Ed: I still think he looks like TVs M.A.S.H. Major Frank Burns)

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