OMG!
If you loved the previous DIOR Secret Garden movies then be aware that they are day compared to this vision of night. Rihanna is the model and both she and the soundtrack are beautiful and ethereal and menacing. She is like the perfectly dressed and presented evil queen wandering through her deserted palace in the black of night.
Photo Stolen YouTube
Unbelievably gorgeous….
Enjoy,
Portia xx
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Post by Joseph Sagona
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(Ed: APJ is pleased to have Joseph: The Scented Apprentice come Guest with us today. Please jump across and have a look at The Scented Apprentice too, Great stuff)
Hello fragrance friends, have you ever sat there and wondered what is the perfect fragrance for you? What suits you best? Fits your personality? Is it a certain note that makes your nose and body tingle with pure ecstasy? Perhaps it’s oud, amber or oakmoss? Mine is leather and to me Tom Ford’s Tuscan Leather is the quintessential leather fragrance. It’s the perfect balance between dark and sweet, no other fragrance I have ever smelled comes close to it, welcome to my Tuscan Leather journey.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Saffron, thyme, raspberry
Heart: Jasmine, olibanum
Base: Leather, suede, amber, woody notes
I get the Saffron, Raspberry, Leather, Suede, Woody Notes and Olibanum, it starts off with some saffron and raspberry making it bitter, tangy and dry, the saffron is soft and the raspberry is mild.
Then after about thirty minutes the saffron dissipates along with the bitterness, the raspberry softens and remains, in comes the leather and suede, making it dark, pungent and musky, the leather is mild, the suede is soft. After about three hours the raspberry dissipates along with the suede, the leather softens and remains, in comes the olibanum and woody notes making it incensed, creamy and a touch woody. the olibanum is soft, the woody notes are mild.
Imagine being in Las Vegas “The City Of Sin” in the early 1960’s as a twenty one year old paparazzi photographer, you’re working the red carpet of the major motion picture movie premier of Ocean’s 11, you see the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Angie Dickinson in the crowd of many actors and actresses of the day.
Photo Stolen Flickr
Everyone is anticipating the big entrance of “The Rat Pack”, the stars of the show, they finally walk in to cheers and screams. You especially idolize Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, you grew up watching their movies and listening to their music. You wanted to be just like them and also have the utmost respect for Sammy Davis Jr. Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. They’re all signing autographs and having a great time. You yell out “Dean, Frank over here, over here!” They walk over to you and you can’t believe it, this is a moment you have been dreaming about since you were a little boy.
As they are being cordial to their fans, Dean lights up a cigarette and Frank lights up a big fat cigar, they have on beautiful leather overcoats that you take notice of, you can’t help but slightly lean over and take a slow, deep whiff. You close your eyes and smell the sweet, aromatic, soft supple leather, the cigarette and cigar smoke is pulsating off their jackets, it’s such a transparent heavenly odor, this is a magical moment you will never forget and treasure forever. Tuscan Leather is just that.
Photo Stolen Tumbler
Further reading: The Muse In Wooden Shoes and EauMG
Most large Department Stores have Tom Ford
Nordstrom have $215/50ml with FREE US Shipping
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml
What I love most about Tuscan Leather is how in the first two hours it’s very rough, rugged and masculine, then it changes into almost a feminine fragrance with the soft floral notes, it’s totally unisex., this would be perfect for cool fall days and the winter, I get good projection and average longevity.
What’s your leather?
Joseph Sagona x
Another great giveaway thanks to the incredible Azar, and Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids. Thanks to you girls for being amazing. Consistently amazing.
Portia xx
Photo Stolen Olympic Orchids
This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x 2 ml decant of the new Mardi Gras
1 x 1 ml decant from my bottle of Version #1
1 x mystery sample of a dark and musky perfume oil
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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) 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 if you have tried Olympic Orchids new Mardi Gras fragrance or about your favorite “parfum de puta”!
Entries Closed Thursday 28th May 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org
Photo Stolen brooklodge
The winners will have till Sunday 31st May 2015 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 FeralJasmine
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Originally from Musette on Perfume Posse: Sunshine, is that brightest gold! It’s the summer sunlight as you emerge from a shaded canopy in a primeval forest, where darkness really does have its own backstory. You can sense the spirits of Nature that have gone before but there is also a thread of new life that is woven within that forest and once you come out of the canopy the brilliance of the sun affirms that life. Sunshine weaves all of those feelings into its composition – this is no sparkly little citrus, with a frilly sort of charm. It’s a grounded, warm scent, with a core of burnished brightness…….
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Artemisia, black currant, almond
Heart: Osmanthus, jasmine, magnolia, vanilla
Base: Juniper, patchouli, papyrus, white tobacco
This is a pretty perfume. From the rush of blackcurrant softened with almond and apricot (probably the davana and osmanthus),through the jasmine-floral musky heart, to the drydown of blond tobacco and an earthy touch of patchouli, this one is just plain pretty on me. I love warm florals, and this one is definitely warm. It has some fresh notes but they aren’t obnoxious. It is light. It sparkles and effervesces. It smells like spring. It comes in a bottle that reminds me of a yellow Chanel handbag that I once desperately wanted for most of a day (I got over it.) It lasts about four hours even on my skin, which means it would probably last eight on normal skin. Pretty, pretty, pretty.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Sure, I’ll take a bottle. It will be a nice addition to my summer line-up. And it costs what? Really??? Areyoufuckinkiddingme? You are trying to charge me 450 American dollars for this? I’ll give you $150. Okay, 200, I’ll throw in 50 for the bottle, and that’s my final offer. What do you mean, you won’t haggle?
So I will never own a bottle of this, as much as I want one. Like that brilliant Chanel handbag, I long for it but the value-for-money factor just isn’t there. I am not among the reviewers who think it’s an awful synthetic mess; I like it a lot. But I just can’t get my mind around the idea of paying that sort of money for it. At the end of the day, it’s a warm and pretty floral in a nice package. No more, no less.
Photo Stolen DeviantArt
Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Perfume Posse
Libertine Parfumerie has $499/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/.5ml
What was Amouage thinking? What do you think?
FeralJasmine xxx
Hey Frag Family,
My mate Natalie from the now sadly defunct Not Another Perfume Blog gave me a bunch of samples and decants when she quit blogging. It has been really interesting slowly going through her bag because some of the things lurking inside are brand new to me, others are fragrances I’ve tried earlier in my obsession and while I liked them well enough when I first tried them I may have been too green or have had a much more limited understanding of scent. It is really fabulous to come across a scent that became lost in the multitudes again and have a second chance with it.
Today I am going to look at exactly one such……
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cinnamon, bay, bergamot, lemon, Clementine orange
Heart: Bulgarian rose, rose absolue, Bourbon geranium Base: Labdanum, oakmoss, patchouli, vetiver, vanilla
Sizzling spices and citrus burst out of the nozzle immediately and my office is filled with the scent of sun, fun, joy and playfulness. An explosion, a riot, a zinging zesty carnival of scent. The citruses are marvellously shown off with the addition of spice and I feel a real hot chilli effect too. It’s like you’ve thrown the spices in the pan to cook together before you add your meat to a sweet curry. Yesterday I complained of A La Rose not living on my skin, well here is a fragrance that not only lives but makes a cacophony! Une Rose Chypree is F U N and fabulous.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
One of the things I usually love about Andy Tauer’s work is the slow progression of stages, I get to really live and smell each transformation and enjoy the pieces of his puzzle. Maybe I’m lucky because his work really seems to like my skin chemistry. In the heart of Une Rose Chypree I get this amazing caramel/toffee/rose melange, it is delicious, unusual and crunchy. Warm and cozy yet totally good for hot weather. Today is a very pleasant 21C (70F) and Une Rose Chypree is a perfect scent to take me through the day and into evening.
Dry down comes hours later and lasts into the next morning with Andy’s famous Tuer-ade lingering and getting sweeter and softer as it progresses. In the morning a whisper of sweet Une Rose Chypree resins lays over my skin making my early morning funk smell pleasant and still edible. MMMMMMM
Photo Stolen WikiCommons
One thing I will say is that if you have a zero fragrance policy at your work then this humdinger is probably not going to fit the bill, no matter how lightly you spray Une Rose Chypree is a big scent and an attention grabber for the first 3-4 hours. More often than not I will be complimented on my fragrance when wearing Une Rose Chypree, she is a showstopper.
Photo Stolen Tauer Perfumes
Further reading: Perfume Shrine and Perfume Shrine
IndieScents has $140/50ml
Tauer Perfumes has samples starting at $5.40
Have you ever revisited a fragrance that you liked to find that it was true love? Which one, or ones?
Portia xx
Hey there APJ,
This is a well loved sentence from the more dude-ish of the fragrant communiry and a few of us were chatting about it the other week which inspired me to write a post both serious and completely tongue-in-cheek. I am so proud to be writing for My Perfume Samples and I think they have a wonderful business model and are a super great crew to work for.
Please drop over and have a little laugh at my Panty Dropper post. It comes with a 15% Discount Code across the entire store too. My Perfume Samples<<JUMP
Photo Stolen My Perfume Samples
I hope you’re all having a lovely Sunday and that we catch you over there.
See you
Portia xx
Cooee APJers,
I ordered this decant a while ago and then must have put it in the samples box I just rediscovered. HOORAY that I found it. Does this ever happen to you? Decants lost among the most enormous number of other samples/decants? One day I will take the time to really organise my shit, till then surprise finds will be a part of my life…..
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, orange, lemon
Heart: Turkish red rose, Damask rose, violets
Base: Cedar
Maison Francis Kurkdjian gives these featured accords in one line:
Damascena Rose from Bulgaria – Bergamot from Calabria – Orange from California – Violet – Magnolia blossom – Cedar wood – Musk – Centifolia Rose from Grasse
Before we talk fragrance can I just put it out there that I think Francis Kurkdjian looks like a very nice man. There is something engaging about him, every time I see a photo or video my mind thinks that he would be a lovely friend to have. Do any of you think the same?
So on to A La Rose. I like the sweet citrus, slightly pithy opening. There are no white flowers mentioned but I get a distinct hint, maybe the magnolia? Magnolia kind of fits, especially with the citrus; and musk, white musk, lashings in the opening or is it some resin that’s making my mouth go quietly fuzzy. A La Rose wears more as a wash than a fragrance on me. Subtle, airy, loads of space between the notes. Free and clean, it’s like Francis Kurkdjian has captured a spring breeze in a rose garden, or standing among the roses at the end of the row of a citrus orchard.
Photo P.D.I.
When we get to the roses they are sheer, luxe and sadly for me a bit boring. To be fair though I can see this being exactly how many people would want to smell. It’s a lovely soft focus rose with a lightly citrus fizz and a small crackle of green behind it all. It does smell expensive and gives a very rich feel but if this was the kind of scent I was hoping to wear I would probably choose the MUCH cheaper, louder and less nuanced brashness of 1977s Tea Rose by Perfumer`s Workshop.
A La Rose hums along nicely for a while and very slightly woodies up before fading from my skin completely. Really I think that my skin has not married well with this particular scent and I urge you to try it yourself, you wear will hopefully be completely different. What a shame.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Further reading: Now Smell This and Candy Perfume Boy
LuckyScent has $245/70ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5.25/.5ml
Have you tried A La Rose? What are your impressions?
Portia xx
Hi there Niche Nerds,
Here we have a crew from Hamburg who really want to give perfumers free reign. They make small batches of juice and use simple packaging, everything is about the fragrance. That’s a pretty cool way to work, “Quality NOT Quantity” but it does make me wonder how they make any money? To be honest I’ve not tried very much of the line before but when I did try them was in major sniff mode on holidays so my memories are hazy at best.
What you’ll get today is a stream of consciousness first impression, pretty sure I’ve never sniffed pc01 before and I haven’t looked up the notes yet, come on, it’ll be fun……
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Tangerine, neroli, davana, mango leaves
Heart: Peony, iris, mango
Base: Kashmir wood, vetiver, musk
So on opening I get a lovely aquatic fruity melange that is reminiscent of one of the Hermès Jardin range, a fruit salad with a lovely nearly ripe mango and some other fruits that is sheer and mildly salted. I think even in the opening I can smell the vetiver where the brackish water feature of its dry greenness is the focus they’ve chosen. There is something slightly wild and unfettered about pc01 even though I get no growl, it’s just a feeling.
MMMMMMMMMM yes, I smell summer, boating on a bay, everything I smell here is tinged with water and wind. A warm day but you’re sitting in the shade, maybe you’re drinking fruity cocktails. Maybe you’ve had lunch, some drinks and a fruits salad to finish. This then is the scent in your mouth and nose just before you dive into the bay to work off those calories.
Photo Stolen Flickr
The heart is slightly sweet peony that is still quite sheer and lightly fruity, a fresh (as in fresh flowers not super jock blue frags) fragrance that is cool and collected. I don’t get much wood at all but loads of white musk and a little dry vetiver in the base. Simple and it smells nice. An extremely expensive feeling department store fragrance that you could easily gift.
SURPRISE!!! I thought this was going to be way too challenging, arty farty, unwearable, head up their ass perfume that I would have to be totally objective about. Um, NO! It’s lovely, wearable and not challenging at all. Actually it’s so pretty I could imagine it becoming a go to, spritz & go fragrance.
Photo Stolen DeviantArt
Further reading: From Pyrgos and Now Smell This
First In Fragrance has €150/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml
Have you tried any of these biehl parfumkunstwerke fragrances?
Portia xx
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 Erica Golding
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Warmly fragrant greetings to all of my scented loves out there, I hope these words find you well and swimming in a beloved gorgeous aroma today!
I don’t wish to sound conceited, but I must proclaim that I am appreciating this precise zone of scent euphoria on this fine morning. You know that magnetic pull, when you anoint your skin with a precious potion and you just can’t stop huffing your wrist constantly? That’s the pure pleasure of my choice today, the all-natural and extremely limited:
Photo Stolen Phoenix Botanicals @ Etsy
Phoenix Botanicals @ Etsy gives these featured accords in one line:
Galbanum, vintage Hyacinth, Tahitian Gardenia, Ylang Ylang, Honeysuckle, Jasmine, Clove, Vanilla, Tobacco, Sweet Clover, vintage Vetiver, vintage Hay, sustainable Sandalwood, Moss.
Ella is a rare example of natural perfumery in its highest art form. I’m hardly able to withstand the intensity of my bliss with each inhale! This perfume was created using a treasure trove of vintage essences dating back as far as the 1920s. The effect is modern and timeless all at once, a young dewy maiden rocking her grandmother’s silk scarf and looking way too goddamn gorgeous!
And the fragrance – oh, it is just astonishing. The first impression wet on the skin is of richly bohemian, luxurious oakmoss. If you love resonant oakmoss at the base of your tender florals, Ella is seriously your holy grail! As the essences sink in and meld with the skin, the serene blossoms begin to unfurl and reveal their innocent brilliance. A lightly sweet bouquet releases fluttering petals into the warm late spring atmosphere, highlighted by darling hyacinth and accented with the nectar of white flowers. A hazy, languishing hum of sweet dried grasses softens and deepens the perfume. It is in this stage that I am transported to a windless hot summer noon, with bits of hay and clover tangled in a playfully tousled mane.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
The musky smoothness of genuine sandalwood unites the composition, helping to extend the pleasure of a divine beauty that would be ephemeral otherwise. The wearlength of this natural tranquility is impressive to say the least – the vintage, aged absolutes cast a lingering spell indeed.
I highly recommend experiencing this masterpiece while you still have the chance. Ella was composed as a one-time formulation, and once she sells out, she is gone forever. Some of my other favorites from Phoenix Botanicals include the charming jasmine of Night Bloom, the tropical moonlit breath of Ka Pueo (The Owl), and the simple ecstasy of Triple Vanilla.
Phoenix Botanicals @ Etsy has Ella samples from US$10
Thank you for indulging me with your attention, much love to you all. Have a spectacular day, happy scenting!
Erica Golding XoX
Australian Perfume Junkies 