Oscar de la Renta GIVEAWAY WINNER

March 15, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Oscar de la Renta Essential Luxuries Collection GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

Today’s give-away is for one, brand new complete sample set (about 1.5 ml each) of Oscar de la Renta’s Essential Luxuries Collection, including the following fragrances: Oriental Lace, Santo Domingo, Sargasso, Granada, Coraline and Mi Corazon, all in a small satin monogrammed pouch

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

Leave a comment about what YOUR workplace or home smells like. (Comments on any of the fragrances in the Essential Luxuries Collection are also welcome.)

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie ~~Oscar de la Renta~~ Oriental Lace GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2ym #Perfume #Giveaway @OscarPRGirl

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 13th March 2014 10pm Australian EST

Thank yo so much for your wonderful descriptions of the scents of home and workplace. Azar B once again pulled the winner’s name from the hat.

Photo Stolen sistersavealot.com

Jackie

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
You have till Monday 17th March 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.

Dot by Annie Buzantian and Ann Gottlieb for Marc Jacobs 2012

March 13, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 38 Comments

Post by Poodle

Dot, dot, dot…

This is not really a review but rather a tale of a perfume that I never thought I’d wear, never mind own.

Hubby went on a trip and got me a fragrant souvenir. I know I should have told him what to get but I was curious to see what he’d pick if left to his own devices. Well, he went to a Sephora and with some help from the SA, left with one of the newest releases at the time. Dot. Yes, the Marc Jacobs one.

Dot by Annie Buzantian and Ann Gottlieb for Marc Jacobs 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords (different in words & pics):
Top: Red berries, honeysuckle, pitaya fruit (dragon fruit)
Heart: Coconut, jasmine, orange blossom
Base: Vanilla, driftwood, musk

So there I sat with a polka dotted bottle of my very own dreading the thought that I might have to wear it. I thought perhaps I could wear it once or twice and when he didn’t notice it I could shove it to the back of the shelf and forget about it.

I bravely spritzed one morning before work. When I stepped into the kitchen after getting ready, hubby noticed immediately and commented on my fragrance. I told him it was the one he bought and he was so pleased that he picked out something that smelled so good. Of course I was not thinking that. This was not what I wanted to smell like. Not. At. All.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

At work there was a random comment that something smelled good in the office but I knew it couldn’t be me so I dismissed it. Then I was followed down the hall by a coworker who wanted to know if it was me she was smelling. It was. She had to know what my perfume was. I was forced to admit I was wearing Dot. I even brought her a sample the next day.

The next time I wore it I received similar reactions and hubby comments on it every time.

To this day Dot continues to be one of the perfumes that I get the most compliments on.I’ve accepted that fact now even though I don’t understand it.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

There’s no point in trying to dissect the perfume note by note. It smells like a lot of other fruity florals to me. I would not be able to pick it out of a scented line up. It’s sweet and dripping with red berries, white flowers, and vanilla. It’s girly and a bit loud at first. Yet people seem to love it on me. It’s not “me”, but I guess I’m not wearing it for me. I’m wearing it because hubby bought it for me and it makes him happy. Once in a while you have to take one for the team I guess.

Do you have perfumes you wear because someone gave them to you or because they like them on you even though they’re not favorites of yours? Please tell me I’m not the only one.

Poodle x

OLFACTORAMA AWARDS APRIL 5th 2013

March 11, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

OLFACTORAMA AWARDS

Le Prix des Amoureux du Parfum

Vero Profumo Mito Voile d´Extrait, one of five, nominated for the Olfactorama Prix de L´Enthousiasme 2013

I had French at school for five years. I also had two years of French tuition from a charming lady who taught me nothing except to love grenadine. Which is a shame really because now I sound like some Somerset farmer when attempting the odd French word. But I digress. For those of you who, like me cannot parlais a single word, here is a little information on the Olfactorama Awards. These were brought to my attention through my love of the Vero Profumo perfumes.

Vero Profumo´s Mito EdP won the 2012 Prix de la Virtuosité. (Most impressive niche fragrance)

After more than seven years in existence, hundreds of postings and comments, thousands of perfumes sniffed (and some bought!) five members of the French speaking Blogosphere founded the Olfactorama Awards. The awards would represent each year, the best of perfumery. They wanted to give a unique voice to this community, and a chance to define the passion and dynamism within it. Six organisers propose a selection of bloggers, both amateurs and experts, to be part of the Olfactorama Jury. There are 40 members of the jury this year.

The basic idea is to evaluate and select, by groups (both mainstream and niche) the best perfumes launched in the French market over the past year. Attention is also paid to the products and ideas that emerge from the perfume industry each year. This would include perfumed candles and room sprays, initiatives and enterprises related to perfume ………

The organisers establish a list of candidates and then ask the jury to select the ones they feel are the best for each group, which include:

MAINSTREAM PERFUMERY

Prix du Grand Féminin 2013

Prix du Grand Masculin 2013

NICHE PERFUMERY

Prix de la Virtuosité 2013 (award for technical and/or historical aspects)
Prix de l’Enthousiasme 2013 (award for emotional aspects)

APJ readers, if you have made it this far, well done. I am about to lose my mind writing all this factual information. I don´t want to make any mistakes. There are three more awards up for grabs too. Prix Atmosphère, Prix du Patrimoine Olfactif, and Prix de Focus. Take a look at http://www.olfactorama.fr or Olfactorama FB page for more information.
The sites are in French of course, but no problem. You can also see what/who has been nominated in the other groups.

The very helpful Juliette from the Olfactorama Organisation Team provided me with my information. She also explained why Mito Voile d`Extrait was selected:

“After much deliberation we came to the conclusion that Mito Voile d´Extrait was the most thrilling of Vero´s Voile range. Even if technically, this was already well realised, we believe that Mito invokes a deep emotional sensation with this version. And so we decided to nominate it for the Prix de l´Enthousiasme 2013.”

The nominations for the Prix de l´Enthousiasme 2013:

Vero Profumo – Mito Voile d´Extrait
Flash back – Olfactive Studio
Black – Comme des Garçons
Shanghai Lily – Tom Ford
Tam Dao – Diptyque

So if you will all excuse me, I need to pack. I am off to Milan to try out Vero Profumo´s latest creation – ROZY.
Well someone has to.

TTFN
CQ xxx

All photos supplied through Val from Musque-Moi!/Patrice Revillard

Oriental Lace by Calice Becker for Oscar de la Renta 2012

March 10, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 62 Comments

Post by Azar

A couple of months ago my daughter sent me a link to the July 3, 2013 Lauren Valenti/Styleite take on Oscar de la Renta’s Oriental Lace. This brief post included a number of comments, one of which likened Oriental Lace to the smell of “a piano teacher’s house”.

The notes listed for Oriental Lace on various websites include honey, bitter almond, cacao, wax plant (Hoya carnosa) and patchouli. I wondered what any of these scents had to do with the headspace of this piano teacher’s house?

The Smell of a Piano Teacher’s House

A lot of smelly things find their way to the first floor of our home where I maintain my music studio. In addition to the library of musty musical scores, anthologies, sheets and shelves of books there are the various musical instruments accumulated over 40 years of studio teaching. Each of these has it’s own peculiar odor. An inventory includes: Three violins and one viola smelling of lacquer and French polish, various bows and cakes of piney rosin, an old dusty harpsichord, two seven foot grand pianos – metallic and woody, a Persian setar (not a sitar), a Vietnamese dan bau, a couple of saxophones that reek of old brass and spit when the cases are opened (obviously I rarely play the saxophone anymore), a flamenco guitar, two ukuleles, a clarinet, various percussion instruments and an old accordion that reminds me of the scent of a long neglected closet in my grandmother’s house. In addition to the signature scents of these “tools of the trade” there are the often ripe odors of the younger students, the distinctly pungent smells of the high school girls and guys who come to their lessons directly from cross country and soccer practice and, of course, the scent of the piano teacher herself, oozing tuberose or some other powerful concoction. Add to this blend the odors from the upper floor – sandalwood incense, cooking odors, the smells of Fender the dog and Gomez the pionus parrot and you have my own L’Eau de Studio, the notes of which go something like this:

Turpentine, dust, mildew, paper, rosin, wood, salt, spit, sweat, tuberose, honey (from the pionus parrot), sandalwood, a general animalic, onions and toe jam.

Whoever made the Styleite comment was certainly not a student of mine! This person must have visited a piano teacher who baked buttery, almond cookies for her students (I don’t do that), wore a patchouli-scented shawl (not me), sipped hot chocolate (occasionally) and cared for an old, blooming Hoya carnosa (I’ve not been there).

Oriental Lace by Calice Becker for Oscar de la Renta 2012

Oscar de la Renta Essential Luxuries Collection

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Honey, almond, cacao, hoya carnosa, wax plant, patchouli

On my skin Oriental Lace opens with a greasy version of imitation butter. Thankfully that aspect is gone very quickly leaving something like buttered popcorn coated in vanilla-sugar and honey. After about 20 minutes the popcorn morphs into a honey-almond cookie and then to patchouli and what is probably Oscar de la Renta’s version of the scent of a blooming wax plant (the H. carnosa). This hoya-patchouli bouquet lingers for 10 or more hours finishing with a faint whiff of vanilla, cacao and butter. I’ve gone through a couple of samples but am not yet convinced that I need a full bottle of this gourmand, lightweight floral. There are five more Essential Luxuries in the collection, a couple that I like better than Oriental Lace and will probably review sometime soon. But for now, Oriental Lace is not a fragrance that is essential to my luxurious life as a piano teacher, although it is many times more appealing than L’Eau de Studio!

Further reading: Perfume Posse and Now Smell This does a great run down of the line
Oscar de la Renta has $150/100ml
Neiman Marcus has $150/100ml

Photo Stolen manoneileen

Oscar de la Renta Essential Luxuries Collection GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Leave a comment about what YOUR workplace or home smells like. (Comments on any of the fragrances in the Essential Luxuries Collection are also welcome.)

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie ~~Oscar de la Renta~~ Oriental Lace GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2ym #Perfume #Giveaway @OscarPRGirl

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 13th March 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 Monday 17th March 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.

Azar xx

CHANEL No 18 by Jacques Polge for CHANEL 1997

March 9, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 27 Comments

Hello Happy Huffers,

While in Vienna we dropped into the Douglas store near the Steffenplatz where the have a CHANEL room. I was quite naughty and grabbed a bottle each of Bois des Iles and Coromandel EdTs, only the small bottles and neither is opened yet. With my purchases though the girl who served us gave a wonderful bunch of samples. this then is one of those samples…

CHANEL No 18 by Jacques Polge for CHANEL 1997

Les Exclusifs de Chanel No 18 Chanel

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Ambrette (musk mallow), fruity notes, iris, woody notes, flowers

That musk mallow and iris opening is so soft and warm and plush, dry, slightly herbal and wearable. There seems to be loose tea leaves, or a nod to them. CHANEL No 18 reminds me of the scent as you walk into a very plush furniture showroom during the week. Part wood, part leather, air conditioning and the idea of those expensive cleaning agents that mask bad odour and have a very low refreshing murmur of their own try so hard to be, yes, that’s it. CHANEL No 18 smells clean, expensive and luxe. As you wear No 18 it becomes more comfortable, as if your own scent has a wash over it. My skin does not give me hardly any fruit or flowers in the usual sense of the words as I expect them, they are hints, supporting and filling and smoothing the composition. Maybe rose? Maybe carnation?

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

CHANEL No 18 is every inch an elegant beauty, not overpowering, fresh, modern, interesting and I can imagine it being a go-to scent for someone perfectly poised, or looking to smell that way, with a hidden warmth. The iris is cool and slightly carrot-ish, woods are an aromachemical(?) I wonder because when I smell them for a while they disappear to return as I bring my hand back within sniffing distance, and the musk mallow stays around playing fluffy, powder and hair at different times, though it’s not noted I think there are more musks too, clean white musks that continue pumping long after my skin has eaten the fragrance, maybe 2 hours fragrant and double that to nothing.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Perfume Posse
CHANEL No 18 is available at all CHANEL boutiques, especially the make-up ones and in Europe from some Douglas stores
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/m

Les exclusives are so easy to wear, perfectly blended, don’t last forever. These can all be exactly what I’m looking for in a fragrance, sometimes, no I take that back, often. It makes it very easy to understand why they are so successful, everyone knows CHANEL can be trusted to have them smelling good.

Which is your favourite CHANEL Les Exclusive?

Portia xx

Génie des Bois by Keiko Mecheri

March 8, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Heya Frag Friends,

After going through my fragrance wardrobe before leaving for holidays I came across a bunch of samples that remained untried, they needed some loving and skin time. I am trying to work my way through some of these and so over the next few weeks there will be a slew of fun new things to write about, new to me anyway. If you wonder I write about a fragrance usually after a minimum 3 wears, that gives me a slightly broader understanding of a fragrance and how it reacts in different situations. The first wear is often to bed, even for my afternoon nap, where I can focus on the fragrance and its subtleties without distraction. I find this also calms whatever worries or cares i may have and lets me really unwind.

Génie des Bois by Keiko Mecheri

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Violet, violet leaf, cacao pod, Brazillian rosewood, benzoin, tonka bean

Interesting, every time, there’s something slightly minty that comes out in the Genie des Bois opening that plays with the violet leaf and resinous wood. It doesn’t stay long but it adds a glamour of intrigue over what is essentially a simple and pretty fragrance, modern, extremely wearable with moderate sillage and projection. Does a cacao pod smell a bit like very bitter chocolate? Is it the resins keeping everything smooth because this is smooth and beautiful like a polished stone that has had time to warm in your hands.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Sugared violets? They are sweet and more like violet lollies, even a bit like the violet tea additive from Walter Reimer in Vienna. Then through all this comes the softest powdery violet (?), so fluffy, soft and downy. I cannot tell you what is happening really because the note list seems way too short for how much lovely fragrance action Genie des Bois offers up. Musk? There is a small reminder of Lolita Lempicka EdP but the sweetness is way less fizzy in Genie des Bois, if LL were to grow up and be made for a woman ready to go forth and glitter at an event then I think this could be an excellent choice. Do you remember the moment in Two Weeks Notice where Sandra Bullock arrives at the gala in that gown, hair done, perfect, radiant, soft focus and breathtaking. She is at once modern and eternal, a picture of lovely historic Hollywood glamour and every modern girls (and quite a few boys) dream of how good it can be. That’s what Genie des Bois says to me when I wear it.

Photo Stolen cameraluc

GAHHHH! I have no idea what I’m smelling here, violets and woods and a bunch of yummy other un-named stuff. What I can tell you is that it is very, very lovely and I am seriously thinking of a purchase.

LuckyScent says this: This is not an old-fashioned powdery violet by any means, this kitten’s got claws! As the name hints, this woods- based scent uses cedar and other exotic woods to impart an unusual base on which lies violet. A very green violet, that is, which gradually sweetens and softens as the fragrance evolves on your skin. Genie des Bois falls somewhere between a feathered-slipper wearing, gold cigarette holder-wielding, old-school movie star and a very naughty bacchanalian romp in a forest blanketed with wild violets. We think you’ll love it, dahling. Kiss kiss.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Il Mondo di Odore and The Fragrant Foodie
LuckyScent has $115/75ml
First In Fragrance has samples €5/3ml

Do you have a violet in your wardrobe? Do you like the Keiko Mecheri line?

Till tomorrow, be nice to yourself,
Portia xx

Lanvin: Fall/Winter 2014/2015 Full Fashion Show

March 8, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Hello Fashion Hounds,

I have spent part of the evening watching this season’s Paris Fashion Week. There are only a very few things that I found to be watchable at all this season and here I am giving you my favourite of them. It is the Lanvin show, all 11 minutes of it. There are some extremely interesting looks, some giving a nod to historical costume, some unashamedly modern. Absolutely NOTHING I could wear as an emsemble but certainly details I would be interested in thieving, the opening black marching band hats, the very Givenchy black singlet gown/pinafore with the broad brimmed hat, a sleeve, hem, cuff or some fur.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Please enjoy.

Portia xx

Lanvin: Fall Winter 2014/2015 Full Fashion Show

Liberté by Domitille Bertier + Olivier Polge for Cacharel 2007

March 7, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 32 Comments

Hello Frag Hags and Friends,

I have written of this fragrance before, it is one of my go-to frags and I have no idea why it is so addictive to me. What I can say is that it’s a hugely under-rated gem, it’s cheap as chips at the discounters and when I wear it I am instantly transported to a happy place, even from dark despair. When I am already feeling good it’s a mood matcher, bright, sparkling and super silly.

Liberté by Domitille Bertier + Olivier Polge for Cacharel 2007

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Amalfi lemon, bergamot, mandarin orange, bitter orange, orange, freesia
Heart: Marmalade, white honey, heliotrope, gardenia, frangipani, white flowers, sugar
Base: Patchouli, vetiver, spices, vanilla

So here we have a fruit-chouli, one of my least liked of the fragrance models. It’s fizzy, spicy, sweetness in most other versions of this frag type leave me cold or send me straight to the bathroom to bathe. Very similar to one of the Miss Dior incarnations, that I don’t like particularly, there is something in the mix that makes me happy. The first time I wore it I felt as if it had burned its way into my olfactory area with a cauterising pole. Since then the ride has been less fraught but I will always remember that first scary/fabulous ride.

Here’s how my skin reacts with Liberté. Opening up I get the sweetest, sparkliest whoosh of hot citrus, like someone has thrown and enormous amount of sugar and oranges on a Bar B Q, I think the Bar B Q effect is a dry, woody and raspy patchouli. This fun and crazy zing lasts only about 2 minutes but it’s so fabulous. Once that burns off we still have loads of sugar, spice and citrus but it feels more jellied, more like sugar coated soft jubes. The ones that you put three in your mouth at once and the flavour engulfs your whole body. It’s a sticky, fun fair flavour that could be fairy floss if it was just a trifle sweeter, I think still the patchouli keeps Liberté’s feet on the ground.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Can I say that there is nothing natural feeling about Cacharel’s Liberté, everything feels so completely synthesized and over processed, like a citrus version of single wrap sliced cheese where the wrapper is probably healthier to eat than its contents. Yes, I KNOW, but I love it. It stays fairly linear for a couple of hours, getting softer and softer, adds in some vanilla and ends its life sweetly as it has been all through the 3 hours fragrant and 2-3 hours close to your skin.

Further reading: The Scented Salamander and Australian Perfume Junkies
FragranceNet has $33/50ml before coupon

Here’s the thing. I know this is no masterpiece of fragrance. Liberté has been discontinued in Australia and is selling for peanuts on the discount stores that still have it. Frankly, I don’t care what the world thinks because when I wear Liberté I am instantly and unreservedly happy. It brings a smile to my face even thinking about spritzing it. So it’s not art, so what? Art is rarely this profoundly joyful and I’ll take smiling and bubbling with fun. In fact, I make that choice regularly when I spritz Liberté.

Portia xx

Liberté Cacharel – Gisele Bündchen

Dolce, The Perfume by Dolce&Gabbana 2014 – A Giuseppe Tornatore film

March 7, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Hey everyone!

Here is a film made about a fragrance that could, but probably won’t, be a fabulous, daring and beautiful creation. I love the film’s story and how perfect the whole scenario is, even though it’s old and trite there is a small shiver of magic through it.

Dolce, The Perfume by Dolce&Gabbana 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli leaf, papaya flower
Heart: White amaryllis, narcissus, white water lily
Base: Cashmere woods, musk

I do hope the fragrance is even nearly worthy of the film,

Enjoy.

Portia xx

Chambre Noire by Dorothee Piot for Olfactive Studio 2011

March 6, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by TinaG

Hi APJ,

The concept behind Olfactive Studio is the interplay between imagery and perfume – a picture can tell a thousand words, so can a perfume capture the essence of time and place. It is this junction where the two meet that is Olfactive Studio’s creative space. Each of Olfactive Studio’s five fragrances are the result of teamwork between a photographer and a perfumer, working together to capture not only a moment, but the interplay of thought and emotion around that moment.

Photo Stolen Olfactive Studio

Chambre Noire by Dorothee Piot for Olfactive Studio 2011

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Schinus (pink peppercorn)
Heart: Jasmine, papyrus, violet, incense, prune
Base: Sandalwood, patchouli, musk, vanilla, leather

Chambre Noire is another name for “Camera Obscura”, the first type of box camera using pinhole light exposure so there is a bit of mystery, play of light and dark and what is revealed in shadowy corners. The photograph that this fragrance was designed in conjunction with is a barely lit hotel room, the reflections revealing more about the room itself than the direct view.

On first opening I get a big waft of violet and sandalwood and what I think is amber, although it is not listed in the notes. Within 10 minutes the violet had dropped away, with incense, shinus and a woody scent that I can’t really place. Schinus is the genus of pink peppercorns, and are not related to ‘true’ pepper, in that pink pepper does not contain the fiery piperine of true pepper. Shinus has warm, fragrant, bright and uplifting qualities. I managed to get hold of some the other day, and could quite happily chew a few pink berries without my mouth slowly catching on fire.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

After 2 hours the violet & light florals make a return, along with some very gentle leather and the sandalwood humming in the background. A warm sensual mix, in a kick off your high heels & chat over a glass of wine kind of way. The feeling I get from it is more one of companionship rather than a mysterious liaison, like winding down for the day, but with enough of a zing in the air to keep conversation flowing.

The dry down at 4 hours has musk and vanilla joining sandalwood, which gently linger until it fades to a faint memory. I would wear Chambre Noir when going out with a small group of friends on weekends, or give myself a pick-me-up spritz in anticipation of Friday night after-work drinks.

Photo Stolen Olfactive Studio

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Smelly Thoughts
First In Fragrance has €125/100ml and €4/3ml samples
Olfactive Studio has $195/100ml Delivered to Australia

Have you tried Olfactive Studio’s fragrances? Did any of them stand out for you?

Tina G xx