Fashion

Cologne du Maghreb by Tauer Perfumes 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Hi there Niche Nerds,

As you may know already I really like Andy Tauer’s work. Not all of his fragrances work on my skin or to my nose but the ones that do are fantastic and I enjoy them very much. Usually with a Tauer fragrance you need to put aside a full day of wearing because they linger for hours and you will wake up next morning with a delicious Tauer-ade hangover on your skin. I never tried today’s offering last time it was released but Jeffrey Dame from Hypoluxe, the distributor through the Americas, asked if I’d like to try it. SURE, said I and a week or so later a pack arrived from Switzerland with a hand written note from Andy Tauer. COOL!!!

Cologne du Maghreb by Tauer Perfumes 2011

Cologne du Maghreb Tauer Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, bergamot, clary sage
Heart: Rosemary, orange blossom, lavender, neroli, rose
Base: Atlas cedar, labdanum, vetiver, amber

I wore Cologne du Maghreb yesterday and I was surprised. Not because it’s lovely, it is but that’s not surprising. Not because it’s very required manly cologne-esque, it is that too. My surprise was how long it lasted on my skin. One of the things Andy Tauer is stressing is that this all natural fragrance is a short lived adventure. I got over three hours of fragrance, from top to dry down, then I couldn’t smell it but this morning I awoke and there it was the amber/wood had made it through the night and while drinking my first coffee of the day in the very cool morning temps I put my face into my top to suck out the cold air and add some hot and there it was. Faint but noticeable traces of Cologne du Maghreb.

Something else I love is that Cologne du Maghreb has a terrific scent story going from brightest, neon, dazzling citrus to dark, sweet, herbal, woodsy dankness. There are plenty of shades of floral, green, lavender, bracing and cuddly along the way and the whole fragrance has a smooth quality that moves beautifully between stages. No wonder Andy wanted to re-release this treasure, it’s great.

The experience was so fun that I decided to live it all again tonight. The picture below reflects my whole experience of Cologne du Maghreb perfectly. Bright, citrus, fresh, wet, green, shade, woods, sunlight, warmth, comfort.

Cologne du Maghreb Tauer Perfumes fresh_start identifyed_tehself DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Though the smell is different, what Cologne du Maghreb most reminds me of is my Dad. He was a Tabac Original by Maurer & Wurtz wearer and one of the things I loved about him was his smell. I still keep Tabac original around and often use the soap, deodorant and/or fragrance. So my question is, has Andy Tauer pushed an Eau de Cologne towards being an Aromatic Fougere?

From IndieScents: The Cologne du Maghreb is hand crafted and created in the traditional way of cologne making: With all natural and all botanical raw materials only. Essential oils, absolutes, resins and love find their way into this Cologne…..

Further reading: Chemist In The Bottle and Bonkers About Perfume
IndieScents has $85/50mlSurrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/ml

Have you tried Cologne du Maghreb? What did you think? Would you like to?
See below,

Portia xx

Photo Stolen kbaird

Cologne du Maghreb GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will each get:
1 x 1.5ml carded manufacturers sample of Cologne du Maghreb by Tauer Perfumes (both I have spritzed from for review purposes)
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

Please tell me your favourite Eau de Cologne or Aromatic Fougere fragrance, experience, memory or why you would like to try this one.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Cologne du Maghreb by Tauer Perfumes GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2WJ #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 6th July 2014 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 10th July 2014 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.

 

 

Louis Vuitton Presents The Spirit of Travel Campaign Film

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Well, well, well, Louis Vuitton.

Sometimes advertising people reach into me and grab one of my key concepts. This then makes me feel like I’m part of a movement, that I belong, part of a thought process that could become a credo. It’s extremely clever marketing and I wonder how many other people are taken in by it too. The feeling that a multi national profit driven money making machine is a part of you, or that it is riding the same wave as you. Interesting, and repulsive and gently alluring all at once.

Louis Vuitton has reached into me and grabbed “To Travel Is To Live” from deep inside me and created a film.

Here is what the Louids Vuitton people have to say: A new Louis Vuitton advertising campaign conjures the original spirit of travel for the next generation. The allure of the unknown, the thrill of exploration, the wonder of discovery — all are captured in a series of stunning images, shot in South Africa by Peter Lindbergh, styled by Carine Roitfeld, and starring models Karen Elson and Edie Campbell.

Do enjoy, please
Portia xx

Louis Vuitton Resort Mykonos Mathieu Lebreton FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Louis Vuitton Presents The Spirit of Travel Campaign Film

Alien Taste of Fragrance: Thierry Mugler 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Hi Hi Hi APJ Crew,

I hope this finds you all happy and well. Some time ago I grabbed a few unloved bottles from Birgit at Olfactoria’s Travels. Every now and then she clears out some of her wardrobe to make way for new loves. I really love the Alien line, the Aqua Chic was a bit crap, and the Sunessence and Amber ones are particularly excellent on my skin though I don’t have bottles of either of them. I tried a buddies Taste and fell deeply in love but by then it had disappeared from our stores and hadn’t made it to the discounters yet, so right time, right place…

Alien Taste of Fragrance: Thierry Mugler 2011

Alien Le Gôut du Parfum: Salted Butter Caramel

Alien Taste Fragrance Alien Thierry Mugler FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Sambac jasmine, caramel
Heart: Cashmere wood, solar notes
Base: White amber

OsMoz gives these featured accords:
Top: Citrus, spices
Heart: Jasmine, caramel
Base: Cashmeran, Amber

So, um, SALTED BUTTER CARAMEL!! Oh My Freaking Gawd! You had me at hello. Whenever I spritz Alien Taste of Fragrance instantly that hit of Salted Caramel Macaroons (which are Jin’s specialty, you can not even imagine how divinely delicious) makes me smile and my mouth water in remembrance. Just like the macaroons the whole experience is so good that it borders on overkill. No surprise there, Mugler is famous for pushing the boundaries as far as he can and then pushing some more.

Almost every time I wear Alien Taste of Fragrance a couple of people ask what it is and I have also had one Trivia mate that I know of go and buy a bottle. You know how some fragrances feel like they are made for you from the very first moment? That is how Alien Taste of Fragrance wears on me. It’s like a warm, sweet, comfortable jumper and filled with the kind of fun that only old friends can bring, fun that comes of knowledge.

Alien Taste Fragrance Alien Thierry Mugler CreativityOnlinePhoto Stolen CreativityOnline (problem with the image? tell me I’ll remove it)

How does Alien Taste of Fragrance smell on me? Well, all the notes are present but I get some extras. After the initial caramel and spice opening I get a lovely creaminess, like the cream part of a Strawberry & Cream lolly. Fresh cream whipped with vanilla and sugar, yum. Then everything proceeds with more caramel and here I get the salt but not like salt, more a nod to where salt should be but through all this I get a very animalic, slightly urinous honey: this mixed with the caramel is utterly startling but fits perfectly into the fragrance and it lasts for quite a while. The amber is smooth a still sweet but there is a very manly, sweaty undercurrent in the dry down of Alien Taste of Fragrance that is both gorgeous and disgusting. Sometimes I have to check to make sure I’m not a sweaty mess.

Sillage is awesome for the first 2-3 hours, with good projection for that long too. I have to be careful not to overspray Alien Taste of Fragrance because it can become completely overbearing even for me. Lifespan can be up to 8 hours depending, this is one fragrance where an amber-ish lotion will give you far greater longevity. Using Halle by Halle Berry body lotion means that I will smell great until lunchtime tomorrow. For work? Keep the spritzes to a minimum, maybe just one on your chest so you can enjoy the magic.

I think I will finish my Birgit bottle fairly soon, that’s how much I’m loving it.

Further reading: Perfume Candy Boy and Katie Puckrik Smells
Beauty Encounter has $42/30ml tester
Surrender To Chance has $5/.5ml

So, are you a fan? Did you try the Alien Taste of Fragrance? Was it all you hoped?
Portia xx
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Vetiver Extraordinaire by Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2002

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hi there Frag Family,

Do you ever read blog posts and think about the sly sexism of fragrance? We are taught through advertising images, sales people and our general community to think of certain things as Masculine or Feminine. I know this discussion goes on quite a bit but today’s fragrance is one that is sold towards the masculine side of the tracks and for many people that is right and proper. To me though it’s another way that we are manipulated to conform, which is not something I’m completely down with so I am asking all you lovely ladies to take a moment next time you are at the counter or sample site to have a go at this fragrance. With an open mind and a keen nose so you too can enjoy a fragrance that I think is worthy of your attention.

Vetiver Extraordinaire by Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2002

Vetiver Extraordinaire Frederic Malle FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, bitter orange
Heart: Pink pepper, cloves, vetiver
Base: Sandalwood, cedar, oakmoss, myrhh, musk

Well, straight off the spritz the fun, wet, citrus is so intense that I feel almost as if I have spritzed a cologne, that instant burst of feel good refreshment that orange is known throughout the aromatherapy world grabs me a whisks me to my happy place. I think the pink pepper and clove come in pretty quickly to add a zingy spicy whirl and the whole experience is very foody, but not in a bakery way. There are all foods that we eat and it comes through here for the initial 5 minute rush of fireworks before the composition is grounded by the slightly salty, grassy, wet earthy addition of vetiver. Though this aspect arrives it is never dank or dark, there is a light breeziness to Vetiver Extraordinaire, a more interesting and nuanced take than Guerlain’s Vetiver with a much longer lifespan and speaking of lifespan L’Artisan’s Coeur de Vetiver Sacre, while having a sensational story also isn’t much of a longevity monster either.

Vetiver Extraordinaire Malle Vetiver Nursery TreesForTheFuture FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Vetiver Extraordinaire grabs what I feel is the essence of vetiver, an amazing plant originally from India but now grown and used all over the world for such important stuff as fighting soil erosion, cleaning polluted water of deadly metals and detergents and stabilising hills as well as as a crop. Few people talk about the saltiness of vetiver, I wonder if I am the only person who gets that particular correlation? I find something very clean seaside air in Vetiver Extraordinaire that wants to wrap me up and fly me away.

In dry down I find Vetiver Extraordinaire a very clean wood, slightly herbal. I can’t put my fingers on exactly what happens here but it remains fresh, without the many poor connotations that that has come to include in modern fragrance writing. Clean in a very nice human way, no I’m not making sense and can’t explain it any better, sorry.

Vetiver Extraordinaire Malle gangsters & mole itterbiirmalin DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Vetiver Extraordinaire is both interesting and long lasting. I get more than 5 hours fragrant to my nose, longer in cool weather or the evening and a second spritz an hour or so later will add hours to that. Projection is very good for the first 30 minutes and then it comes close, by the end it is a mere whisper of fresh skin overlaying your personal fragrance. Ladies should take this fragrance and wear the freaking hell out of it, wonderful for everyone.

Further reading: What Men Should Smell Like and Perfume Shrine
Aedes de Venustas had $280/100ml
Surrender To Chance have samples starting at $7/ml

What gender boundaries do you cross already? Do you like to mix it up and play with scent image? Did you try Vetiver Extraordinaire by Frederic Malle or any other vetivers that caught your fancy?
Do leave a comment, we love to read your thoughts too,
Portia xx

Vohina by Pierre Guillaume for Huitieme Art Parfums 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hiya Niche Nerds,

I know how much you all love Pierre Guillaume’s physique, handsome face and abject fear of wearing too many clothes. The fact that he makes lovely, wearable, interesting fragrances can be bypassed quite easily for a lingering look at some of his images, he is quite stunningly spectacular. One of the great things for me about this man and his frags is that all three of his perfume companies, I think they are his businesses but he may be their perfumer only, feel like they are a good fit for me. Huitieme Art Parfums, Parfumerie Generale and Phaedon all have something intrinsic that invites me in, as if I’m already part of the gang and I can just come and have a casual sniff that may tuirn into full blown love at any moment. I feel much the same way about Guerlain, Olympic Orchids, L’Artisan and Estee Lauder: not that all of these companies offerings work for or on me but they feel friendly.

Vohina by Pierre Guillaume for Huitieme Art Parfums 2010

Vohina Huitieme Art Parfums FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
White honey, peach blossom, hay (LuckyScent calls it Lavender Honey)

Huitieme Art Parfums is a brand that I particularly like. The scents that I have spent any real time with have all worked on some level for me. So today I want to look at Vohina, I tried it in BLOOM Perfumery in London back in February and because I was too excited and couldn’t concentrate properly the girls have me a lovely carded sample which I’ve only just come across. Now I can spend some dedicated sniffing time with Vohina, YAY!

SMILE! This is so different to my memory and expectations. The white honey is waxy and animal, peach blossoms are pretty and surprisingly sweet (to be honest I get more fruit than blossom) and the hay seems still green at the beginning. I love how Birgit says in the middle of her winter, “I need the warmth of the sun, not an oven, I need blue skies and green meadows, not my living room. I need the sparkling freshness of a light summer scent.” Yes, Vohina is spring in a bottle, perfect for wear in any season and shot through with the splendid zing that can only come from the huge resurgence of life that spring is, like the world’s annual heart beat.

Vohina Huitieme Art Parfums Spring Blossom Catherine FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The honey takes a waltz with the peach right through the centre of Vohina, they are beautifully paired and in constant frisson. There are more things going on but if I told you I get a soft BarBQ and smoke through the heart you would think me bananas, and when I say that there is also a candy sweet sugariness like the strawberry part of Strawberries & Cream lollies and the pink Musk Sticks I know you will think I’ve gone barmy but there they are for me. Bold as brass.

As Vohina moves through its lifespan the spring turns to summer, the honey becomes less apparent, fruitiness recedes and the green haystacks brown off to straw. There is a clean-ness to Vohinas dry down, the musks? Could it be the lavender? Is there a whisper of it twisting through?

Sometimes I think my nose has gone a bit haywire, Vohina bears closer inspection.

Vohina Huitieme Art Parfums Haystacks Geograph.UKPhoto Stolen Geograph.org.uk

Vohina is lovely but my skin eats most of it in under two hours and leaves me with a very soft, a faint sweet musky woodsiness. It is pretty and wearable and I could imagine Vohina being an excellent gateway fragrance for someone who is testing the niche waters from a steady diet of designer.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Scented Hound
LuckyScent has $125/50ml and samples
First In Fragrance has €95/50ml and samples

Which of this line have you tried? Do you like Pierre or his fragrant aesthetic?
Come on, join the conversation, we love to read what you think in the comments below.
Portia xx

 

 

Laine de Verre by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2014

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 20 Comments

Woo Hoo!

Always a little frisson zings through me when I read of a new Serge Lutens. Living on the other side of the world from most of the fragrant action I usually get my sniff on through samples or splits and so I have in my hot little hands a decant from Surrender To Chance, have you seen their New Perfume Releases page? Broken down into the last couple of months of release, it means you can tell as soon as something new hits the store, excellent if you are living in a fragrant backwater.

Laine de Verre by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2014

Laine de Verre Serge Lutens FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Citruses, aldehydes, musk, woody cashmeran molecule

So loads of people not loving this one. Usually I don’t read reviews before I sniff but a way back in November 2013 I was introduced to Laine de Verre by Denyse at Grain de Musc and then caught Victoria’s post on Bois de Jasmin both of whom were interesting for the differences in their wear story. Because they had such different experiences, these two women I revere, it caught my attention though I did not feel that this would be a fragrance that I could like, or love. So my sample is here, it’s a beautiful sunny 20C in Sydney and I have been out sunbaking. Time to try Laine de Verre or Glass Wool.

Laine de Verre Serge Lutens Rockwool WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Whoa! Cold, sharp, sparkling. The moment I spritz I think “This is what the palace in Disney’s Frozen would smell like.” CLEAN! Stainless steel spoon on tongue. Brand newly finished cycle on the dishwasher after all the heat has gone. It doesn’t stay this shiny for long, maybe 20-30 minutes, then something a bit feral crawls out.  All clean, angular, reflective lines and an antiseptic clean hiding filth, well not filth but something jarringly unclean.

I’ll give you an analogy, sometimes after a huge day out on holidays you run back to your hotel lobby and have to use the toilet immediately because you’ve been out all day. So you walk into this frigid, antiseptic and cover fragranced toilet, everything is immaculate. As you sit down to use the toilet up huffs a whiff of your humanity, you aren’t dirty or anything more than a bit sunburned and slightly sweaty but in this arctic smelling environment you are a surprise. All the while though you can still smell the UBER clean bathroom smells. Does that register?

Laine de Verre Serge Lutens Hotel Toilet WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

So I originally spritzed Laine de Verre at around 5pm tonight, it’s now midnight and there is a lingering metallic musk with a dash of rubber that is both interesting and slightly freaky. It’s very close to the skin but I smell completely other and quite inhuman, I imagine this to be the smell of a humanoid robot trying to pass for life. Though I can’t imagine spritzing this regularly I will keep the sample and see if the mood does take me. Do I like it? Only on an intellectual basis, it doesn’t move me towards it. Actually it might be a good scent for giving the stay away vibe…

Laine de Verre Serge Lutens space PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

LuckyScent has $110/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/ml

Did you try Laine de Verre? Lover or hater? Is Serge Lutens a house you feel fits you?
Do something nice for yourself today, something simple like walk for 10 minutes in the day to enjoy the weather if it’s good, or under an umbrella if it’s rubbish. Maybe spend 10 minutes pulling weeds in your yard or cleaning out your fridge. I always feel good after doing any of these.
Portia xx

 

Balenciaga Fall Winter 2014 Ad Campaign

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Good Morning Frag Heads,

Here is one of the most beautiful and inspiring images of fashion this season. Gisele Bündchen looking like a rocker cross pixie plotting her next move in a crystal cave of reflection. Hair shorn and very androgynous looking, it could be a poster for a modern take on Peter Pan.

Balenciaga Fall Winter 2014 Ad Campaign

As so often is the case I found this at my go to fashion image news page art8amby

 

Balenciaga’s dark ad campaign for fall features Gisele Bündchen, who in February walked the brand’s runway show in a rare catwalk appearance.

In one image from the campaign, shot by Steven Klein, a moody-looking Bündchen, her typically long locks apparently shorn and slicked, sports thigh-high patent boots against an infinitely reflecting backdrop of cracked mirrored surfaces.

“This is how I see Gisele for Balenciaga; strong, powerful, mysterious and uncompromising,” Balenciaga artistic director Alexander Wang said of the campaign.

Behind the makeup look is Diane Kendal, while Anthony Turner styled the hair for the shoot. (source)

Givenchy: Dahlia Divin Fragrance 2014 Ad Campaign

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hello Frag & Music Lovers,

Here is a pretty sensational pairing. Givenchy, once the home base of Audrey Hepburn, has taken a new and modern beauty as its face. Although I have loved Alicia Keys voice since “Fallin'” when she was a meer slip of a girl now having seen some recent interviews I am completely smitten. Alicia offers smart, sassy, soulful and a whole truckload of other positive things. I think her a role model for generations to come. Fingers crossed.

Portia xx

Givenchy Dahlia Divin Fragrance 2014 Ad Campaign

I grabbed this tasty piece from my Go-To fashion blog that keeps me way ahead: art8amby

Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys is sitting pretty is a Riccardo Tisci-designed embellished champagne-hued gown for the new fragrance campaign of Givenchy Dahlia Divin. The prices range from $65 to $110 a bottle, with a Skin Dew option for $53. (source)

Black Cashmere by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Donna Karan 2002

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

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Post by FeralJasmine

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Here in the southwestern USA it’s hot as hell and my winter scents are taking a break at the back of the cabinet, but it’s the perfect season to inflict my highly personal opinions about cool-weather scents upon the unsuspecting Aussies. So here is my first opinion: mass-market fragrances used to be a lot better than they are now. Part of it is that this is a tough decade for someone who despises most fruit notes, but also it used to be that, when companies went to the trouble and expense of launching a new perfume, they actually wanted you to be able to tell it from other perfumes. Now, I would swear that they’re all jostling for the rail in the Just-Like-Everybody-Else Sweepstakes. The wise and lovely Portia once reminded me in a comment that it’s all cyclical, and that in a few decades today’s mass-market consumers will be 2044’s aging perfumistas, grumpily complaining that you just can’t find good fruity florals anymore. Probably true. But Black Cashmere, with its hefty dose of wenge, has always smelled unlike anything else on the market.

Black Cashmere by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Donna Karan 2002

Black Cashmere Donna Karan FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Saffron, nutmeg
Heart: Red pepper, white pepper, carnation, rose
Base: Woody notes, patchouli, African woods, vanilla, amber

Here’s my second strongly help opinion: reformulation is not a bad thing if it keeps a distinctive perfume on the post-IFRA market in a recognizable form. Case in point: my winter favorite, Donna Karan Black Cashmere. The first really distinctive perfume that I fell for, the one that tripped me so badly that I fell right down the rabbit hole, was the original DK Black Cashmere. I bought a dab sample and was lost in the wonder of something unlike anything else that I had ever smelled. Rich, plush, highly distinctive, and beautiful. What an evening that was.

Then I went on EBay to look for a vintage bottle, and it occurred to me that I had acquired a very expensive obsession indeed. Finally I did find a bottle of the vintage that I could afford, more or less, but I also swallowed hard and bought a decant of the reissue.

Black Cashmere Donna Karan WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Was it a shocking disappointment? Not really. Certainly the vintage has more depth and more oomph. But unlike the current Opium, which is a sick travesty, the current Black Cashmere makes a real effort to transmit the scent and spirit of the original. It’s a little lighter and extends itself a little further into warm weather. Overall, I dare you to find something more distinctive at that price point, which is a little over a dollar a milliliter if bought off the DK website. I have since bought a full bottle of the reissue, and often I wear the current one on one arm and the vintage on the other, to make my precious vintage last.

So why don’t more firms make an actual effort with their reissues? Beats me. But I also have both vintage and reissued Chaos from DK, and the reissue is a bit lacking compared to the vintage but is a genuine attempt to reproduce the very distinctive vintage recognizably in an IFRA-friendly form. DK Inc. seems to make real efforts to meet their fans halfway.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This
Donna Karan has $120/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

I hate to rub salt into my readers’ wounds, but what’s your most distressing reissue story?
FeralJasmine xx