Fashion

Bottega Veneta: Emotion of Sound: Mini Movie

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Hi there Fashion and Fragrance Fiends,

Like so much of the work done by Bottega Veneta this 1.45m mini movie is beautifully crafted. As one of the leading new forces in designer perfumery as well as being my favoured brand of leathergoods, that woven leather is just irresistible.

Bottega Veneta says: Bottega Veneta is pleased to present its latest creative collaboration through a unique endeavor that seemingly brings Tomas Maier’s Spring-Summer 2015 collection for Bottega Veneta to life. The film, entitled “Emotion of Sound”, is the centerpiece of a unique initiative designed to emotionally engage and indulge the senses.

emotion-of-sound Bottege VenetaPhoto Stolen Bottega Veneta

I hope you enjoy this lovely piece,
Portia xx

Emotion Of Sound: Bottega Veneta

J'ai Fait un Reve – Elle by Dorothée Piot for Majda Bekkali 2010

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Post by FeralJasmine

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The main thing that I remember about childhood vacations in Florida was the extraordinary scent of orange blossoms. The cottage that we rented was rural at that time, and when I left the house early in the morning I could nearly always smell orange trees blossoming nearby. That extraordinary mix of hypnotic sweetness and underlying spice and indoles is not something that I will ever forget. I love a lot of orange blossom perfumes, but to interest me they have to be fairly complex and have enough sweetness to at least somewhat resemble the real thing. Orange Blossom is a traditional bridal flower both because of its sweet and innocent aspects and its underlying narcotic properties. Drifting along like an angel, it wafts hints of the demonic and the damned. That’s for me.

J’ai Fait un Reve by Dorothée Piot for Majda Bekkali 2010

J’ai Fait Un Reve - Clair (Elle) Majda Bekkali LuckyScentPhoto Stolen LuckyScent

LuckyScent gives these featured accords in one line:
Petitgrain, elemi, cumin, currant leaves, orange blossom, jasmine, lisylang, castoreum, white musk, white cedar, guaiac, leather, labdanum, incense, papyrus

I always become fervently interested in Orange Blossom perfumes in late winter, and this year I am loving J’ai Fait un Reve Elle by Madja Bekkali. The notes are simple enough. There are drifts of orange blossoms, a few fruits hanging in the background, the sweet white musk (on the clean side) underlying the flowers, a bit of petitgrain, with the whole given a sensual undertone by a hint of cumin.I am no fan of cumin in perfumes, but this is very subtle and really well done. It has a quality of movement on the skin that reminds me of the blossoms blowing gently in an early morning breeze. Right now, I can’t get enough of it. My orange blossom addiction usually crashes by late February, so this is a time-limited pleasure, and I use it to the hilt while it lasts.

J’ai Fait Un Reve - Clair (Elle) Majda Bekkali Orange_Blossom WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

I suspect that J’ai Fait un Reve will have a difficult time finding its audience, or maybe the audience is rather limited. It isn’t elegant and structured like 24, Faubourg. It isn’t a cuminy skank bomb like Rubj. It isn’t indolic, cumin-laden, and narcotically sweet like the SL Fleurs d’Oranger, and it isn’t a sweet delight like the Houbigant Orangers et Fleurs with its absurdly pretty nutmeg note. I love all of these except Rubj and will be wearing them constantly for the next month. But I reach for J’ai Fait un Reve more often than any of the others, simply because, right now, it smells like my orange grove, the one where I long to be lying, within hearing distance of the sea.

J’ai Fait Un Reve - Clair (Elle) Majda Bekkali Jacek Yerka PlayingWithSpacesPhoto Stolen PlayingWithSpaces

Further reading: Now Smell This (the whole line overview)
LuckyScent has $125/50ml (Currently the 120ml is on special for $125)

Dream with me, gang! What orange grove scent do you long to lounge in right now?
FeralJasmine x

Cédre Atlas by Jerome Epinette for Atelier Cologne 2015

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Post by Trésor

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It is this time of year when I most like to indulge myself in longing daydreams of summertime sunlight and balmy afternoons passed to combat what seems to be a lifetime sentence within a glacial dimension of never-ending ice and snow, otherwise known as a typical Canadian winter. I imagine myself not far off, lounging in tranquility on the crystalline white sands of the Maldives but within the splendid embrace of an evening’s breeze on a midsummer’s stroll through the forest behind my home. The exquisite fragrance of the trees dancing a gossamer tango with the vapours of an eau de cologne I’d lavishly splashed prior to my departure, unifying in paradisiacal harmony and guiding me so gracefully through my frost-bound reality. It is within the vitreous sapphire flacon of Atelier Cologne’s new Cédre Atlas where perfumer Jerome Epinette has mirrored this dream sequence so effortlessly, an olfactory time machine into one of my most treasured escapes.

Cédre Atlas by Jerome Epinette for Atelier Cologne 2015

cedre-atlas-atelier-cologne SephoraPhoto Stolen Sephora

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, Bergamot, Blackcurrant bud
Heart: Atlas cedarwood, Egyptian jasmine, Apricot
Base: White amber, Indian papyrus, Haitian vetiver

Cédre Atlas opens on my skin with the most ebullient note of radiant lemon underscored ever so slightly by a gentle whisper of bitter bergamot. It is not long after the initial burst of lustrous citrine that cedar begins to take centre stage. The cedar in Cédre Atlas has been executed with such visceral clarity and grows increasingly powerful the longer it spends on the skin, pushing my personal boundaries of what I would consider to be “too much” without ever actually crossing the line. I find this bit particularly fascinating and if I am being honest it is quickly becoming my favourite use of cedar I have ever encountered in a fragrance, forceful but delicate; a dichotomy and harmonious synchronicity. After about the sixth hour the cedar begins to ebb and flourishing jasmine petals descend upon the composition and make way for a sweet juxtaposition of juicy apricot painted in empyreal watercolour. The extreme dry down reveals silken tendrils of vetiver enraptured within a sensuous veil of soft, transparent amber. It is within this graceful descent that the composition becomes a skin scent and then finally becomes but a sublime memory.

cedre-atlas-atelier-cologne peace-of-mind PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

The sillage with Cédre Atlas is subtle but most certainly present, hovering around you as a soft cloud of aromatic cirrus. Longevity is what I think impressed me most, managing to cling to my skin for upwards of ten hours and finally dissipating entirely around twelve, an attribute I find rather impressive not only with this fragrance but with most of the offerings within the entirety of the Atelier Cologne range. I urge you to give Cédre Atlas a go if you are looking to experience a cedar note executed with both dynamism and grace or simply wish to take an alternative route to reliving a state of summertime bliss.

cedre-atlas-atelier-cologne Winter_Wonderland SimplyBackgrounds DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Further reading: Colognoisseur and Now Smell This
Sephora has $125/200ml
PeonyMelbourne doesn’t have it yet but I’m sure they will soon!

Do you have a favourite Atelier Cologne? Which and why?

Until next time, my darlings!
Trésor xx

Wisteria Hysteria by Nathalie Feisthauer for CdG/Stephen Jones 2014

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Hi there Niche Nerds,

Sometimes I look at a notes list and an idea of what a fragrance will smell like pops into my head, an olfactory guess. When I first wore Wisteria Hysteria it was a complete surprise. That pretty white bottle, those interesting green/spicy notes, I thought they would be a blind for a modern, sweet, light, slightly green, spicy and creamy composition. BOY was I wrong.

Wisteria Hysteria by Nathalie Feisthauer for CdG/Stephen Jones 2014

Wisteria Hysteria Stephen Jones FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cloves, mate, carnation
Heart: Wisteria, rose, incense
Base: Musk, styrax, benzoin, amber

Wisteria Hysteria opens GREEN, so outrageously green I find it hard to believe this is a mainstream UK designer release, well Stephen Jones is a milliner and hats are part of design right? This is a fabulously edgy green, very Comme des Garcons metallic science fiction and also verging on a natural perfumery style, quite the dichotomy.

Wisteria Hysteria Stephen Jones Millinery FashionStrokePhoto Stolen FashionStroke

Sweet green, a funky, gothic, marshland fragrance. There is nothing here of my memory of our enormous wisteria vine that grew over two 30 foot tall tree stumps in our back yard. Spicy green, that only softens slightly with the introduction of the bouquet in the heart yet still has a cool unburned incense mixed with old BarBQ coals. Weird, unusual, interesting and moreish.

Wisteria Hysteria Stephen Jones wisteria Cliff FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

After about an hour Wisteria Hysteria calms down considerably, becomes a softer, creamier version of itself but still holds the green tight. At some point through the heart I get a scent that reminds me of Indian spices on some of their packet snack foods, spicy and delicious but HOT!

At this point I am instantly transported to some of my earlier visits to India. I would be there for around 6 weeks and the first 2-3 weeks I would be eating as much Indian food as I could and loving every bite. Then at around the 3 week point I would suddenly get overwhelmingly homesick and turn bitchy. Varun would be waiting for this and produce some Indian snack foods and mandarins or mangoes depending on the season. Those delicious snack foods would tide me over and I would be OK to deal with till the end of the trip. So Wisteria Hysteria brings to mind some incredibly happy reminiscences of some of the best times of my life.

Wisteria Hysteria Stephen Jones Indian Snack Foods OpenCagePhoto Stolen OpenCage

Then it is softly, softly green to sweet, warm, still green dry down.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Grain de Musc
LuckyScent has $165/55mlSurrender To Chance has samples starting at $4.50/.5ml

Did you get to try this? Is Stephen Jones a milliner that you know?
Portia xx

 

 

Fendi by Fendi 2004

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Hello Sniffer Peeps,

Many years ago I wore Fendi Donna, wore it like a wall of fragrance, spritzed and spritzed. It was more than a signature scent, it was armor. Sadly it was discontinued, as so many of the greats are, and I bought all I could get my hands on and used it up. Because I freaking loved it so much. What a fragrance.

Then in 2004 Fendi launched a Fendi with a white saddle on the bottle and i thought they had re-released my long lost love. I spritzed it and was so let down that I walked away. This was not what I was expecting or wanted. Where was my screaming, fizzy, superpowered scent?! Too saddened by my let down to ever give Fendi 2004 a chance. Until one day a couple of years ago my friend Cassandra had a bottle of it on her sale list. I’ll buy it, said I and buy it I did.

Fendi by Fendi 2004

Fendi 2004 Fendi FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Freesia, Tunisian neroli, Sicilian mandarin
Heart: Iris, tiare flower, gardenia
Base: Amber, sandalwood, vanilla

You are dreaming. It’s the most lavish greenhouse in a tropical paradise. As you wander though you pass citrus in flower and fruit, bulbs are being forced in pots and the profusion of flowers is both heady and mesmerising, all so perfect it smells totally unreal. Warm and sensual as you wander through in your sarong your calves and knees brush the gardenia flowers on their bushes and you can reach out and pluck the gloriously outrageous tiare flowers and smoosh them right into your nose. If your dreams had an olfactory facet, this Fendi from 2004 is exactly what it would smell like.

Fendi 2004 is sweet but not sugary or bakery style, it is sweet flowers with that fabulous vanilla/amber wash running through the bouquet creating a very elegant warmth over all and really giving that tropical feeling. Like you’ve been plucked from your life and landed in a Paul Gauguin painting.

Fendi 2004 Fendi Paul_Gauguin Three_Tahitians WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Quite a noticeable fragrance but not a BWF, just a beautiful tropical wash that will float you away to another place and time…..

Universal Perfumes & Cosmetics have $80/50ml

Am I glad that Fendi 2004 is in my collection? Yes. Will I search out another bottle when this one is empty? No. Very pretty, super wearable but a little synthetic smelling. No, I have nothing against synthetic fragrances but this has a cheapish, drugstore feel about it more reminiscent of a Paris Hilton price range than a Fendi one.

Did you try it when it was available? Is there a Fendi fragrance that you love?
Portia xx

The Talk – Dame Edna on 60-Year Career & Joan Rivers: Video

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Hey Hey APJ,

One of my heroes is Dame Edna Everidge. She paved a form of drag that made it a good deal more acceptable to make my own career choices. With her fun, caustic, witty and well researched brand of humour she reached millions of people who would never have even thought about seeing a drag show in its Gay Land form but who would cough up big bickies to see this mad maven mock and reduce everything they were and loved. Did it in such a way that both victim and audience were laughing. That is an amazing talent.

Dame_Edna_at_the_royal_wedding WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

I have only met Barry Humphries on a couple of occasions and he was extremely charming. When I thanked him for making my career choices easier, made it so much easier to say to Mum that I was going to be like Dame Edna, in fact made what I do verge on acceptable he was so humble and modest. It had never occurred to him that his being Dame Edna changed anyone’s life for the better other than the moments he spent making them laugh and think in theatres and on TV around the globe.

60 years in a profession notorious for its brevity. Amazing.

Here you see a chat on The Talk in America. Even though Dame Edna is her usual caustic self you can tell there has been long, hard thought about life and the place in it that Barry and Edna hold by both the cast and Edna. A lovely 3.20 minutes.

Enjoy,
Portia xx

The Talk – Dame Edna on 60-Year Career & Joan Rivers

Providence Perfume Co.

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Post by Erica Golding

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Fragrant greetings to all of you beautiful souls!

I am passionate about fragrance to the point of insanity. I love it all – mass market, niche, oils, cheap thrills, luxurious extravagances, synthetics, naturals, whatever! If it smells beautiful to me, I love it, and it’s a simple as that. From Bath and Body Works to Amouage.

I became intrigued by natural perfumery several years ago, when my scented journey touched upon Ayala Moriel, Aftelier Perfumes, Ajne, and April Aromatics. I became enchanted by the intense emotional responses I experienced with these all-natural masterpieces. The fragrance art was just so vivid, it was like standing in a breathtaking landscape rather than looking at a photograph.

One day, I came across a perfumery called Providence Perfume Company. They had just opened a brick-and-mortar shop and it was within my realm of feasibility to visit in person. I jumped in my car on a day off…. little did I know, my existence would be profoundly impacted by Charna Ethier’s little oasis of pure euphoria.

Providence Perfume Co.

Beauty Elixir Oil Gift Set Providence Perfume CoPhoto Stolen Providence Perfume Co

The first Providence Perfume Co. fragrance that made my heart explode with delight: Beauty Elixir Oil.

Beauty Elixir oil is genuinely the scent of my spirit – an exquisite orange blossom aroma blessed with honeyed apricot and tender jasmine. The orange blossom olessance featured in this potion is absolute perfection – Charna spared no expense choosing the finest material possible. It is zesty without being sharp, fresh without being soapy, and sweet without being cloying. The aroma opens up to reveal newly blossomed jasmine flowers, and sun-ripened apricots heavy with succulent ecstasy. A barely-there green accent from the neem oil grounds the fragrance, a golden thread keeping me from floating straight up into the clouds and off for good.

Providence Perfume Company Hindu HoneysucklePhoto Stolen Providence Perfume Company

That same day, I sniffed the gorgeous Providence Perfume Co. perfumes lined up for display. I left with a bottle of: Hindu Honeysuckle eau de parfum.

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot, jasmine, rose, coriander, vetiver, ambrette (musk mallow)

Hindu Honeysuckle moves me to tears with joy, a perfume that showcases the most summery, pure, sweet jasmine sambac absolute I have ever had the pleasure of sniffing. The luscious white flower is juxtaposed with an unexpectedly exquisite vetiver, whose smokiness is tempered and brightened by a sparkling bergamot. The overall fragrance is exhilarating to me, and possesses two distinct phases. First, the perfume opens with the unabashedly floral honeysuckle accord, as bewitching as the true nectar. As the top notes fade, the vetiver becomes more noticeable, a dark hay-like essence that harmonizes exceptionally well as it anchors the top notes. I adore each and every second of this carefully balanced work of art.

I have since learned many precious lessons about perfumery from Charna, and I was even fortunate enough to attend her weekend perfumery course last year. My appreciation and understanding has exponentially skyrocketed thanks to her patient, altruistic knowledge sharing. If you are curious about natural perfumery and don’t know where to start, I highly recommend her amicable new line of perfume oils, as well as beloved favorites Rose Bohème, Branch and Vine, and Tabac Citron.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Colognoisseur
Providence Perfume Co. can be bought from their Providence Perfume Co. site or Parfum1

Have you explored the world of natural perfume? Do you have a favorite?

Have a gorgeously scented day,

~Erica

Vetiver by Jean-Paul Guerlain for Guerlain 1961/2000

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Post by Liam

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Do we love classics because we have to? Do I utter that Shalimar is the best oriental because of its luxuriously rich history? Do I really think Mitsouko is the greatest perfume ever? In my opinion, the answers don’t matter. I like to surf around ambivalence. I don’t think Vetiver is that great nowadays. Yes, I said it, but hear me out.

Vetiver by Jean-Paul Guerlain for Guerlain 1961/2000

Vetiver Guerlain FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, coriander, lemon, mandarin, neroli
Heart: Vetiver, cedar wood
Base: Tobacco, walnuts, pepper, tonka bean

My post today draws attention to reformulation, former glory, and in some respects – moving on. For example, I refrain from saying Mitsouko is the greatest chypre in existence, but rather, it was. I own a parfum of Mitsouko dating from 2013. It is marvellous – it is a symphonic fragrance with movements so clear and so obvious it sings from the skin at a tight languid timbre. But I know that once upon a time it was better, and probably more dramatic and poising.

Vetiver Guerlain Biorremediacion vetiver canal_contaminado WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

The same is true for Guerlain’s Vetiver. Vetiver is vetiver. It either smells smoky in the style of Chanel’s Sycomore, clean like Tom Ford’s Grey Vetiver or in between the two. This falls in the middle, contrasting between both labellings pleasantly with a blurry and crunchy angular-ness.

A revivified lemon opens, with a peppery tobacco note swirling around the predominant root note of vetiver. It begs the question, can dirt be clean? This smells of rich fertile soil dampened with crisp rainwater. Like rich green grass seen through a misty glaze, then eventually cut by warm crepuscular rays from the sun. Our opening accord is dispersive and wet, matured with a base of vetiver and spice. This is unfussy; lax unlike much of Guerlain’s uptight feminine works. It is a still, and somewhat tranquil piece of work as it is neither overly rough or overly smooth. It is merely balanced masterfully.

Vetiver Guerlain Vetiveria_zizanoides WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

But here’s my problem. Balance is great, but shock and awe is better. Chanel’s Sycomore excites me with its wood varnish quality. Terre D’Hermes presents a mineral flintiness unlike anything else. Do I have to love it? No. Rather, I should appreciate this scent for its historical importance and its reference value. On a critical level this is a linear perfume, spiced slowly and worn in with a dry cedar. The unctuousness is made refined, somewhat mellow in its progression; and yet despite this, it feels eternally thin, lacking a few features that cause great desire. Novel then (1959), and nowadays a traditionalist masterpiece that deserves nothing more than reverence. Guerlain paved the way for greats that have crafted vetiver masterpieces like Ellena, Ropion, Sheldrake, and Polge.

Vetiver Guerlain Tradition stux PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and What Men Should Smell Like
FragranceNet has $43/100ml before coupon
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

All in all, Vetiver by Guerlain is solid and dependable; for the man who is comfortable in the background. This has an eternally redolent quality, reminding me of my grandfather who would come home smelling of lawn clippings and the industrial smell of fuel. Wear it throughout the working day and it will last all day long without any risk of offence or dangerous projection, as it should be.

What do you think of the Guerlain Vetiver? Masterpiece or Museum piece?
Liam x

Creed Aqua Originale Collection: Sydney Launch

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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My last “perfume mission” for 2014 was when I met with Erwin Creed who was in Sydney in December launching Creed’s Aqua Originale Collection at QT. Erwin is the 7th generation Creed to work in the Creed family business, established in 1760, he will eventually take over from his father and perfumer, Olivier Creed. The packaging states, “From father to son since 1760” which is very touching and amazing because it’s true.

Creed Aqua Originale Collection Launch 2015 2Photo Donated Ainslie Walker

Creed Aqua Originale Collection Launch

Erwin Creed in Sydney at QT

Creed Aqua Originale Collection FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

There are 5 in the new collection that Erwin guided me through, and here’s my evaluation:

Iris Tubereuse I instantly loved, with its top notes of galbanum, orange and violet leaf; middle notes of tuberose, lily-of-the-valley and lily; base notes of musk, orange blossom and vanilla. I found it a deep and fresh green tuberose (as if tuberose and lily of the valley have just been cut) and only in the drydown did the iris come through for me amongst the reasonably prominent orange blossom. It is strong, but dewy and water drenched. I feel very beautiful wearing this.

Vetiver Geranium has top notes of granny smith apple, bergamot and lemon; middle notes of geranium, cinnamon and rose; base notes of patchouli, cedar, musk and amber. It is marketed towards men, however I have worn this frequently during the hot Australian summer. Best jaunt was an afternoon garden party because on my skin, it starts so fresh -perfect for a hot day. Geranium stays in the forefront, the apple and rose come to play with hinting at amber and cinnamon and the vetiver and patchouli just hang back, which is perfect partying on into the evening.

Aberdeen Lavander with it’s strange spelling mistake and top notes of bergamot, rosemary, lemon and artemisia; middle notes of lavender, lily, tuberose and rose; base notes of patchouli, leather and vetiver, is unusual yet beautiful, perhaps the most interesting of the collection. Rounded notes of tuberose. Sweet gourmand coumarin make the sweetest rosemary notes I have ever smelt, and these all peak through gentle citrus wafts. A distinct nod to the classic Guerlain Jicky here- I would love to compare them. The leather and shy lavender fascinates and is kind of soapy…my father used to use Imperial Leather’s soap in the 80s – perhaps that’s why. Dry down is gorgeous.

Cedre Blanc is more robust citrus woods and herbs, and to me, more traditionally masculine than feminine. It has top notes of bergamot, cardamom, galbanum and bay leaf; middle notes of geranium, lily and jasmine; base notes of cedar, vetiver and sandalwood. I immediately experience the galbanum and citrus sewn together with bay, but something, almost oakmoss is lurking…I am guessing a big dash of Calone. The geranium is crisp and natural but I am not getting the normally dry scent of cedar. Overall I expect it to become super strong, but it would actually be a good office scent, with all the nuances of the fragrances men often cannot wear in offices without overwhelming their colleagues – and definitely more natural smelling. I would love to smell this on a man.

Asian Green Tea Erwin says, was released for the Asian market being light, fresh and sweet citrus with top notes of bergamot, mandarin orange, lemon and neroli; middle notes of violet, green tea, heliotrope, rose and black currant; base notes of sandalwood, musk and amber. It has the freshness of citrus without the bitterness, perhaps from mandarin. I pick up a rock melon scent and with the heliotrope/vanilla it’s like tropical icecream in parts. My skin then pumps out the tarty blackcurrant atop of an amber and heliotrope cocktail. The drydown brings more green notes; I think it’s the neroli and finally the green tea rearing its head. Fresh and gourmand, no woods and definitely not linear – do try!

Creed Aqua Originale Collection Launch 2015 1Photo Donated Ainslie Walker

Surrender To Chance has the Creed Aqua Originale sample set $24/5 x .5ml

Overall I find the collection to be uncomplicated with ingredients being of high quality. Scents feel very natural, asides from the tubereuse and Aberdeen lavender, which are more surreal and hypernatural. What’s your favorite?

Ainslie Walker x