Fashion

Dior A/W 15/16 Show – Raf Simons Interview

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

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.

DIOR AW 15:16 ready-to-wear-show DIORPhoto Stolen DIOR.com

I’d love to read what you think about it in the comments,
Portia xx

 Dior A/W 15/16 Show – Raf Simons Interview

La Favorite GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Woo Hoo APJ,

Lovely to have you guys getting involved in our GIVEAWAY this week. I hope you’re all happy and well and that life is treating you kindly. Let’s see who our lucky winner is….

Portia xx

La Favorite GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

La Favorite Dear Rose FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Pink pepper, saffron, oud, patchouli

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x sample La Favorite by Dear Rose
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

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 comment with any rose fragrance in your collection and why you love it

Extra Chance?
Tweet:  La Favorite by Dear Rose    

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 19th March 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Winner Is amberinblunderlandPhoto Stolen amberinblunderland

Undina (via Twitter)

The winners will have till Thursday 26th March 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.

JoAnne Bassett: Erica Golding's Four Faves 2015

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

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Post by Erica Golding

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Hello, my beautifully fragranced favorite people!

I’ve enjoyed exploring indie natural perfumery so very much the last few years, and I have recently been graced with the opportunity to experience the transcendent art of JoAnne Bassett. Today, I am focusing on my favorites from my lovely samples.

JoAnne Bassett: Erica Golding’s Four Faves 2015

Marie Antoinette JoAnne Bassett FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Marie Antoinette by JoAnne Bassett

First up is Marie Antionette, a brightly refreshing perfume that opens on my skin with the freshly peeled orange rind from a delightfully fine neroli essential oil. The majestic floral heart hovers roundly beneath the shimmering neroli/lavender, a bouquet composed of sweet jasmine sambac, soft white rose otto, creamy tuberose, and candied ylang ylang. The overall fragrance maintains a glittering herbal tone while the uniquely green basil note gently sings. A light resinous base of frankincense and labdanum tenderly holds down the fort without weighing down the soaring, luminous composition. The fragrance spirals back to the opening as it fades, with a quietly diffuse citrus breath.

JoAnne Bassett Bottle JoAnne BassettPhoto Stolen JoAnne Bassett

Malmaison by JoAnne Bassett

Next, I am loving Malmaison, described as an aphrodisiac by the artist. The heartbreakingly gorgeous jasmine sambac stands out on me the most, lifted by a sweetly radiant citrus that actually reads more like a sparkling ice wine. The supporting notes swirl respectfully in the background, a complex aroma that exhibits a balance of white floral, aromatherapeutic rose and lavender, and freshly soft orange blossom. As the fragrance dissipates, it can oscillate smoothly between its meditative and revitalizing qualities depending on the focus of the wearer.

Malmaison JoAnne Bassett FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Magie d’ Or by JoAnne Bassett

Magie D’ Or, or Gold Magic, is a joyride of a morpher during the drydown. The opening blast of pink pepper is so unbelievably enthusiastic, it’s like a thrilling cliff dive. Then, a hint of cinnamon romances along with the sweetness of juicy clementine, all orbiting around a beautiful herbal-floral nexus featuring rose, lavender, and jasmine. It all dries down to a smooth, divine base of resonant patchouli, deliciously thick benzoin, and golden frankincense. Magie D’ Or is satisfying, and hums with peaceful positivity. I am especially enthralled with the deep, viscous end stage.

JoAnne Bassett Bottles JoAnne BassettPhoto Stolen JoAnne Bassett

Sensual Embrace by JoAnne Bassett

Lastly, let’s just obliterate all self-control and serenity, and tap into our deepest, sexiest desires with Sensual Embrace perfume. The flower petals strewn about exude a tender heartthrob of jasmine, rose, and a hint of other white flowers. The blossoms are more of an accent than a focus, because the center of this fragrance is a woody masterpiece that is so masterfully composed, it begs to be simply enjoyed rather than analyzed. I am swooning over what must be vintage aged oakmoss, highlighted and balanced by smooth musky sandalwood, dry crackling cedar, dark chewy tobacco, and warm familiar amber. Not a beginner’s fragrance, but fantastically alluring to me, and most definitely unisex.

Have a look at JoAnne Bassett’s website, there are many precious essences to lust after. And those artisan-made glass bottles are just to die for – I’ve got it bad. 😉

Well, that’s it for now! I hope you are enjoying a lovely day wherever you are, and that your perfume brings you great happiness.

-Erica

Vitriol d’œillet by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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Portia gifted me recently with a bottle of Serge Lutens’ Vitriol d’oeillet. I cherished the bottle and violet coloured juice, only giving it a good airing yesterday. It was perfect for a late afternoon BBQ in autumn. Powdery, airy and floral it felt beautiful and delicate to wear.

Vitriol d’œillet by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2011

Vitriol d’œillet Serge Lutens FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Nutmeg, clove, pink pepper, pepper, paprika, carnation, wallflower, lily, ylang-ylang

Initially waxy and slightly creamy, carnation and some sweet nutmeg. I expected it to be a clove spice bomb, but its pretty and floral on me. It is like smelling a bouquet of carnations in a vase, without any fresh or green notes. It’s also reminiscent in parts of a good powdery pot pouri, however not grannyish or dated. The ‘clovieness’ that people complain about on me is rounded out and far from medicinal.

An hour in, after a little soapiness something deeper is revealed: ylang ylang! An essential oil I used to wear a lot as a teenager, but I seem to rarely see now in the perfumes I wear. I really enjoy it in this fragrance. Chilli and pink peppercorns bring a sparkly element in for me. The chilli is not as strong as the chilli infusion in Arquiste’s ‘Anima Dulcis’ but the sharp lash of its tongue is most certainly present.

From Serge Lutens: “What is it, Doctor Jekyll?” Listen, my child, and I will tell you everything. Take a carnation and a sufficient quantity of Cayenne pepper. Firmly drive it into the very center, using the “nails” of a clove. Before committing the final act of violence, let wallflower throw in a few punches.

Vitriol d’œillet Serge Lutens Carnation_flower WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

So what exactly is wallflower (botanical name: Erysimum)? It’s a little yellow / orange flower from the mustard side of the brassicaceae (cabbage) family. Known as the ‘fragrant kings of the cabbage family’ they don’t sound glamorous to me! Found commonly in public parks and gardens as they are easy to grow. Originally from rocky parts of Syria, Turkey and Greece. They flower through spring and summer bringing a scent that is sweet and heady, somewhere between carnation and sweet peas.

In perfumery wallflower is a fantasy note, a unicorn of sorts. Thus ‘wallflower’ is usually made from a combination of salicylates, geranium oil and acetate, para cresyl acetate, eugenol, carnaline rhodia and nerol. Interestingly many of these ingredients are used when making carnation and sweet pea too – it’s all in the ratios for these flowers with similar chemical makeup.

Vitriol d’œillet Serge Lutens Wallflower GeographPhoto Stolen Geograph

To train your nose to pick Wallflower, first smell some at your local nursery and then try the following:

1991- Dior’s Dune mixes wallflower in the floral heart with jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, lily, wallflower, lichen. Accentuated with bergamot, mandarin, palisander, aldehyde, peony and broom in the top notes. Base notes include vanilla, patchouli, benzoin, sandalwood, amber, oakmoss, and musk.
2014 – Fendi’s Furiosa contains top notes of Calabrian bergamot, wallflower at the heart and amber in the base.
2000- L’Artisan’s Oeilet Sauvage is a honeyed carnation made of pink pepper, rose, carnation, ylang-ylang, lily, wallflower, morning glory, resin and vanilla.

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and Black Narcissus
FragranceNet has $110/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

Do you have wallflower growing in your garden? Can you pick it in a fragrance?
Ainslie Walker XX

Rima XI by Sara Carner and Sonia Constant for Carner Barcelona 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

Hey there Fellow Fumies,

Recently I went shopping at Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels sell out. Sadly Birgit has developed asthma brought on by her great love, fragrance, and there are only a few that she can still wear without them causing her distress. So, obviously, it was time to clear out some of her beauties and I bought a few. The moment I held this bottle in my hand it was love. So heavy and blocky, a gorgeously minimalist black and clear box that fits my hand like it was my measurements that they’d used. I can see these bottles being the choice of the modern, sleek and wealthy suit set who like things to be substantial yet quietly luxe.

Rima XI by Carner Barcelona 2013

Rima XI by Sara Carner and Sonia Constant

Rima XI Carner Barcelona FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Guatemalan cardamom, Madagascan black pepper, Moroccan mint, saffron
Heart: Ceylon cinnamon, Indonesian nutmeg, coriander, Indian jasmine sambac
Base: Virginia cedar wood, Australian sandalwood, Vanilla absolute, Laotian benzoin, amber, musk

Rima XI is created after the last verse of this Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer poem Rhyme 11 (I am ardent…). I have put the whole poem here in its English translation because I really love how the tone changes and the poem teasingly calls, like a very immature or mixed up person playing mind games with their intended.

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer – Rima 11 (Yo soy ardiente…)

I am ardent, I am brown,
I am the sign of passion,
of anxiety for pleasures is my soul full.
Are you looking for me?
It’s not for you: no.

My forehead is pale, my braids of gold,
I can give you endless happiness.
I keep a treasure of tenderness.
Are you calling me?
No: it’s not you.

I am a dream, an impossible,
vain ghost of mist and light;
I am bodiless, I am untouchable:
I cannot love you.
Oh, come, you come!

But how does it wear? The opening is fun and herbal and full of the dry sizzle of pepper. Rima XI’s opening doesn’t last long before the spices and vanilla/amber take over and while it is lovely and sweet, and smooth, the spices keep it also dry and a little dusty. Does the fragrance match the poem for me? No, not even a little bit. Rima XI is all about the soft cuddly warmth of surrender in your lovers arms, the deliciously beautiful moment when you feel safe, respected and loved. This is the sweet warm spring or autumn Sunday mornings where you lie between sleep and awake knowing that someone you choose to be partnered with is beside you and that you have beautiful bed linen too.

Rima XI Carner Barcelona Gay Russian Lovers EuroNewsPhoto Stolen EuroNews

Perfect for those crisp spring and autumn mornings and evenings Rima XI is warm, comforting and playful. Quite fragrant for its first hour but after that I get a soft hum that stays around for ages getting quieter and more diffuse till at some point that I can’t even tell it disappears. If you get it on your clothes though you’ll still smell it 3 or 4 days later when you get them out to wash. Seriously good longevity.

Rima XI Carner Barcelona Dahlia grandma_S DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Bonkers About Perfume
Parfum1 has $135/50ml
First In Fragrance has €89/50ml

Have you tried any of the Carner Barcelona range? Is amber your thing?
Portia xx

Fall-Winter 2015/16 Ready-to-Wear CHANEL Show

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hiya Fashion and Frag Nerds,

I don’t normally put the full runway show on APJ but this Pret a Porter range is VERY interesting. For me the point between gorgeous and disgusting are all filled in. there are some monstrosities but done with the usual CHANEL/Lagerfeld attention to detail and finish which takes them out of the merely awful and into a whole new realm.

We are treated to a wide and varied bunch of textures in this parade, in fact the whole show seems to be about texture more than fashion. Layering, pearls, 50’s suit meets 70s retro and all done in a fabulous arena, LOVED the working cafe idea with baristas and waiters serving the models.

chanel-fall-winter-2015-16-ready-to-wear-decor ChanelNewsPhoto Stolen CHANEL News

When it all goes right though there are some spectacular beauties. Collar treatments, bejewelled aprons, bomber jackets, at the end a fabulous chiffon set, the CHANEL suit is re-imagined and super wearable. I could see a couple of them on my Mum if she was still with us, especially the beige & black shoe. Fabulously thick and bold woven checks, almost an Issey Miyake use of 3 dimensions but all done in classical CHANEL style. The male models that sprinkle the show are also produced beautifully.

I hope you enjoy
Portia xx

Fall-Winter 2015/16 Ready-to-Wear CHANEL Show

Nirvana Black by Pierre Negrin for Elizabeth and James 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hi there APJ,

I know many of you have already tried and RAVED about this little designer/celebuscent. The Olsen twins launched the fashion label named after their siblings and the fragrances are meant to fit this aesthetic, they do.I also want to say how impressed I am by these two girls who got a lucky break as babies but somehow have managed to transcend their past and create this incredible empire. They are really cool girls and I have really enjoyed following their story which could so easily have ended in train wrecks.

Nirvana Black Elizabeth and James SephoraPhoto Stolen Sephora

Let’s talk about the bottle, it’s got to be the coolest, Glomesh styled, retro glam offering I’ve seen in EVER. Feels good and heavy in your hand, excellent grip because the bottle portion is rounded dots and the lid is pointy dots for ease of opening, snazzy gold tone side stripes and join band. I freaking love it. The bottle also survived Ainslie Walker dropping it from shoulder height to the tiles in Sydney’s new Sephora, noisy but unbroken. I bought my bottle in America in November and only now am I getting around to writing about it for you…

Nirvana Black by Elizabeth and James 2013

Nirvana Black by Pierre Negrin

Nirvana Black Elizabeth and James FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Violet, sandalwood, vanilla

I have to tell you that the hype had me really worried, you know what it’s like when everyone has been raving about something to the point of nausea? So I kept my expectations as low as I could. Yes, I was pretending. This was one very excited perfumista.

Nirvana Black opens with a full on camphorous blast of what smells like the eucalyptal* top of Australian sandalwood, sharp and biting over the top of this lovely creamy vanilla. It’s an excellent, eye popping dichotomy that makes me smile from the get go. My skin gives me little violet, only the merest hint of it because Nirvana Black is ALL about a creamy, sweet, sensual & boozy vanilla/sandalwood/amber with the merest hint of spice and herb to keep it interesting.

o.22734Photo Stolen Fragrantica

It stays pretty linear to for the 5+ hours I can smell it but by morning there is not even a hint that I’d been wearing fragrance. Nirvana Black is quite fragrant, densely packed and gives good sillage for the first three hours, that’s really good for my skin. After that it softens out and boy is it a smooth musky vanilla, like rubbing the most exquisite chocolate velvet across your cheek.

I like too that the Olsen girls have kept Nirvana Black’s price reasonable. It’s affordable to most, smells great and looks like it cost a LOT more. Now I’m sure most of the die hard perfumistas will poo poo but even though Nirvana Black is simple and wearable it is not boring. This is fun and yummy.

Nirvana Black Elizabeth and James Chocolate Velvet DIOR PinterestPhoto Stolen Pinterest

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
Sephora has US$55/30ml
Surrender To Chance has the manufacturers roll on mini $19/7ml

What are your thoughts on Nirvana Black, or indeed the Olsen twins?
Portia x

eucalyptal: I made it up but you know what I mean

Moon Dance by Juliette Has A Gun 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Hey there Frag Family,

We got to spend the afternoon with the gorgeous Romano Ricci today. He was handsome, rumpled, friendly and flirty. Who are we? Ainslie Walker and Catherine de Peloux Menage from APJ, Clayton Ilolahia from What Men Should Smell Like and Yelena from BeautyDirectory. Nick was there from Libertine Parfumerie because he imports JHaG to Australia and the great girls of ÉLYSÉE COLLECTIVE promotions.

Romano Ricci Sydney 2 3.15

We were the last group of the afternoon and it was champagne all round, a fun and friendly vibe and Romano was very happy to have a group who knew fragrance and could talk intelligently with him on his subject. Our half hour stretched into one and a half hours and we had a wonderful time. Romano Ricci is charming, so freaking charming.

Moon Dance by Juliette Has A Gun 2014

Moon Dance by Romano Ricci

Moon Dance Juliette Has A Gun FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, rose, violet
Base: Patchouli

Released in 2014 and created by Romano Ricci with a little help from his friends Moon Dance, and its 2013 sister Oil Fiction, is so far sideways to the Juliette Has A Gun aesthetic that I’m surprised he didn’t start a new brand line rather than calling it the Luxury Collection. I’ve always felt that the Juliette Has A Gun label was heavily marketed to working Goths, a dark edged house with well put together and presented fragrances. I have slightly missed Romano’s point though. He tells us that he wanted Juliette to stand for the ill fated Shakespearean heroine and the gun to be her polar opposite but when working together create a new, powerful woman for which such tragedy could be avoided. My limited experience though tells me that a world without guns would be a better place.

Romano Ricci Sydney 1 3.15

When I spritz the bergamot fizzes off in an instant and I have a lush, slightly metallic bouquet with a waxy overtone that I would normally associate with saffron or orange blossom. My skin plays silly buggers with fragrance as you may know and even Romano was surprised how his fragrances live on my skin. What Moon Dance does smell is expensive and elegant, a nocturnal wander through the dream of an island paradise. The tuberose is fatty and yet the rose makes it crisp, the violets play a very lovely background, all is underpinned by animal and I am in paradise. The modern patchouli is sheer and I get very little of the murky depths that I often associate with it, here it is bathed in moonlight and twined through with night blooming flowers that call their seductive siren song. Moon Dance is the call of the temptress: a fairy queen that beguiles and calls to you through her glamour to come die in her embrace as she feeds off your spirit. Irresisistable, you will gladly succumb.

Moon Dance Juliette Has A Gun evil_queen d_godknows DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Further reading: Grain de Musc and Colognoisseur
LuckyScent has $285/75ml
Libertine Parfumerie has $350/75ml with FREE Australian Shipping!

Are you ready to be tempted by the newest of the luxury Collection for Juliette Has A Gnu? The incredible Nick at Libertine Parfumerie gave me a bottle that had been dropped and the spritzer broken, it was the work of a moment to wrestle the top off and decant for you all to have a chance at winning some below.
Portia xx

Save From YouTube giveaway 4Photo Stolen YouTube

Moon Dance GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will receive:
1 x 10ml decant of Moon Dance by Juliette Has A Gun (from my broken Press bottle)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

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

Tell me a Juliette Has A Gun story or a new fragrance that speaks to you of the past glory of perfumery.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Moon Dance: Juliette Has A Gun #GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3H9 #Perfume @signoricci @JulietteHasaGun

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 15th March 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 19th March 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.

 

 

 

Secretions Magnifique by Antoine Lie for Etat Libre d'Orange 2006

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 32 Comments

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Post by Poodle

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Secretions Magnifique by Etat Libre d’Orange 2006

Secretions Magnifique by Antoine Lie

Secretions Magnifiques Etat Libre d`Orange FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Fucus, azurone (iodized accord), adrenaline accord, blood accord, milk accord, iris, coconut, sandalwood, Opoponax

Etat Libre d’Orange describes this as the “ode to the pinnacle of sexual pleasure.”

Umm…no.

There so much hype out there about this perfume I had to share my thoughts on it. In my opinion, Secretions Magnifique does not smell like sex. It’s not even sexy for that matter. Sex has a primal, animal quality to it even if you’re not in the mood and decide to lay back and think of England. Maybe on some level the notes call to mind certain body fluids but they are all contained in test tubes and Petrie dishes here, more like a lab or a crime scene instead of what remains clinging to warm sheets and skin after a sexual interlude. There’s no warmth here.

I’m not one of the people who wants to vomit when they smell this fragrance. That seems to be a common response to it. On my skin it’s VERY synthetic with flowers. Fake flowers. I can wear it but I find it to be depressing. It smells clinical. If I close my eyes and really think about the odor I am reminded of the years I worked as an Emergency Medical Technician. A friend said it reminded her of an emergency room too. It does, and to dissect it by the notes is difficult.

Enduring FreedomPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Secretions Magnifique is a scent of cold linoleum floors and fluorescent lights. It’s the air in the emergency room which seems a little chilly and the beads of sweat from the anxiety felt when you’re sitting there. It’s the look on the faces in the waiting room as they try not to cry when their Saturday night ends in a twist of metal on the road and someone close to them being looked at by a team of doctors behind a curtain. There’s that churning in the stomach from wondering is this going to turn out okay or will it be far worse than you imagined. It’s the metal of the stretchers and the hospital equipment shining in that cold, harsh light. It’s the bleach and disinfectants used to clean up what remains of someone, or of someone’s bad decision that will haunt them for a while. If you make it to the end there’s an almost plastic flowery sandalwood finish. I guess that’s the part where the patient gets out of the ER and into a room. Slightly warmer but still a far cry from sexy.

Secretions Magnifiques Etat Libre d`Orange Fragrantica 1Photo Stolen Fragrantica

No one is wearing Secretions Magnifique as a cuddle up scent. I don’t think it’s awful on me, just very, very cold. I’ve heard people say that some Chanel’s are cold due to the use of aldehydes. Those folks have never sniffed this I imagine.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Bois de Jasmin
LuckyScent has $85/50ml
Surrender To Chance has $4.75/ml

Have you dared to sniff this one? Is it sexy to you?

Hugs
Poodle

Youth-Dew by Josephine Catapano for Estée Lauder 1955

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

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Post by Trésor

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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

Youth-Dew Estée Lauder FragranticaPhoto 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.

YouthDewInstaPhoto 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.

Youth-Dew Ad Estée Lauder FragranticaPhoto 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