Charisma Cologne by Avon 1968

January 21, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

This afternoon, I feel like Miss Marple of the fragrance world.

The first fragrance I ever loved and owned as a child in the 80s was something contained in a little amber and pink, gingerbread house shaped bottle. I have just unearthed it from my mothers attic and opened it, expecting terrible things, when to mine and her surprise, on opening, out came a blast of something ‘Chanel number 5-esque’!!?? My mum actually had a stash of Chanel number 5 Eau De Cologne back then, and she exclaimed “Oh, you must’ve topped up from MY bottle!!”

It WAS quite feasible…. but I needed to clear my name…

Inspecting the underside of the bottle it read “AVON Charisma Cologne”. Intriguing. I went straight to the WWW and found the description listed as;

Floral, musky, aldehydic, powdery, animalic, balsamic

Charisma Cologne by Avon 1968

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, bergamot, peach, neroli, hyacinth, coriander
Heart: Iris root, carnation, jasmine, rose, narcissus, ylang-ylang, lily of the valley
Base: Sandalwood, amber, civets, musk, tonka bean, vanilla, styrax

WOW! To think I was enjoying green spicy florals even back then! It explains A LOT!! Not to mention that this fragrance was packaged in a gingerbread house for young girls –almost shocking!!

Avon’s Charisma was obviously heavily inspired by Chanel. For reference, Chanel number 5 Eu De Cologne, is listed as;

Woody, powdery, aldehydic, musky, white floral, amber, animalic

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Boom! I run for my Chanel number 5– a 100ml bottle of the eau de cologne from the late 60’s/early 70s, (which indeed was mums) which smells much stronger, smoother and heavier on the anamalic and rosey-powder ingredients than the Charisma, but still overall very similar, and surprising, considering the obvious price and branding differences. I would like to think the No 5 I have is full of beautiful naturals, due to its manufacturing date, and this could be why it is more rounded and full smelling.

I read on, many people compare Charisma to Coco, but I have none here to compare, from memory, this sounds feasible, but did not come straight to my mind. Coco is also balsamic, so perhaps.

Coco was launched in 1984. HANG ON, that was 16 years after Avon’s Charisma, which came out in 1968…..would Jaques Polgue actually have ‘borrowed’ some ideas from AVON?!?!?!?!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Either way we perfume lovers must realize, that what can come from a tacky brand or cheap novelty bottle, may in fact be almost identical ingredients as what some of the more “high end/exclusive” brands contain. Don’t judge a perfume by it’s package, price or branding, shut your eyes and smell- you and your bank balance may get a pleasant surprise!

Ainslie Walker X

Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine by Sandrine Videault for Grandiflora 2013

January 21, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Guest Post by Jordan River

The fragrance world lost a cherished luminary in 2013. Perfumer and fragrance visionary Sandrine Videault passed away on July 3rd last year. Today we remember not only her amazing fragrances, but her touching, inspiring words.

Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine by Sandrine Videault for Grandiflora 2013

Sandrine studied perfumery under Edmond Roudnitska. Her final perfume is Magnolia Grandiflora, which she worked on with floral artisan Saskia Havekes. This extraordinary fragrance has been highly anticipated by the fragrance community and was launched this month on Lucky Scent.

Magnolia Grandiflora
Perfumer: Sandrine Videault
Release Date: August 2013
Classification: Soliflore
EDP 100ml
Recommended Retail Price: $185 AUD / $168 EUR
Pre-orders: fragrance@grandiflora.net

Notes
Top citrus, grapefruit, pepper
Heart dry woods, fresh garden accord,
Drydown marine, musk

Many flowers today are bred to be beautiful but not necessarily fragrant. Saskia has sources for particularly fragrant flowers which she artfully combines with beautifully bred ones for a scented atmosphere with visual delights. Photographing nature is also a passion. Grandiflora is the name of Saskia’s atelier in Potts Point.

The story of this fragrance begins millions of years ago, before humans or many other creatures we know today existed. The ancient genus Magnolia appeared before bees did, and pollination occurred thanks to the help of beetles. The tree adapted to the strength of its hardworking pollinators, resulting in the longevity of this beautiful, fragrant tree.

The magnolia is a true sight to behold – tall trees mantled with startling blossoms come to life in the springtime, shrouding surrounding areas in a fragrance known to this earth for more than 20 million years. The magnolia’s timber is heavy and robust, and the flower has continued to bloom and burst with lush fragrance across the ages, yet the flowers fade so fast. To hold magnolia’s fragrance is a kind of magical blessing.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Many of us will remember Sandrine through the tropical intensity of Manoumalia. In the Pacific tourists are often charmed by the scent of the local manoi oils which are used for tanning, moisturising skin and hair as well as for bath and massage oil. Manoi oil is coconut oil usually blended with the Tahitian gardenia known as Tiare but also with frangipani, ylang ylang and vanilla, in an enfleurage type process. Coconut oil is the carrier fat for the scent. Unfortunately when these oils leave the tropics the scent changes to ‘off’ or more precisely, indolic at the unpleasant end of the spectrum. The amazingness of Manoumalia is how Sandrine captured the heady lush scent of The Perfume Tree (Fragrea), Tiare, Ylang Ylang, Amber, Vetiver and Sandalwood within a perfume that could then be enjoyed anywhere in the world like an instant tropical holiday. Truly an expression of the art of perfumery.

Her other notable works – Ambre Indien by Esteban, Violeta by Les Néréides, and the recreation of the ancient Egyptian Kyphi live on in the hearts and minds of those of us grieving her passing.

Sandrine lived in New Caledonia and loved working in her creative laboratory in Noumea. In an interview with Perfumes, Trends and Inspirations, she said:

“Avoir son lieu de création près de Dame Nature est un cadeau”
(“Having a place of creation near Mother Nature is a gift”)

In an interview with Perfume Shrine, she said living in New Caledonia connected her with her roots.

“I feel more beaming or blooming and I am more serene. If something is wrong inside of you then you won’t create with harmony. You can not cheat with perfume authoring. States of mind come to light in perfume authoring. Bad moods are forbidden. Moreover, New Caledonia with its nature and ethnic groups is a mine of inspiration for me.”

Sandrine was both a perfume visionary and a woman wise beyond her years. She will be remembered for the scents she created and the words she left behind. May we now cherish the gifts she has left behind, and learn from the lessons she sought to teach.

“The most important lesson…..that we know nothing! So many things left to learn, to discover, to live.”

Farewell Sandrine, you will be missed.

Further Reading
Grain de Musc – Manoumalia
Perfume Shrine – Manoumalia
Perfume Shrine – Interview with Sandrine
The Fragrant Man – Magnolia Grandiflora

In Memory of Sandrine Videault
Grain de Musc
Olfactoria’s Travels
Perfume Shrine – poetry
The Scented Salamander

Update
Grain de Musc – Two Magnolias will blossom in January 2014 at Grandiflora

Le Temps d’une Fête by Parfums de Nicolaï 2007

January 20, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Post by Maya

Happy New Year APJ,

I have always been amazed at how the same scent can be perceived in so many different ways. It often made me wonder if something was wrong with me. My perceptions were usually in with the minority; for example, those who only get green beans and nothing but green beans from The Unicorn Spell.

So thank you to the New Zealand study. Scent is genetic. Our scent realities are all unique! And on that note, I’m going to give my scent opinion on a sample that tragically laid around, ignored, for way too long.

Le Temps d’une Fête by Parfums de Nicolaï 2007

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Galbanum, opoponax
Heart: Narcissus, jasmine
Base: Oakmoss, sandalwood, patchouli, woody notes

Le Temps D’Une Fete is a green floral. There is an interesting green flash at opening, and it’s gone. Then comes the true opening of narcissus and hyacinth vying for attention. I sniff one, then the other, then back again and again and again. It’s like they’re dancing and with each twirl, the other appears. It’s the early spring garden when both are in bloom. The scents of both swirl around in the breeze. You smell one then the other. Sometimes they blend together. It’s wonderful.

Photo Stolen *higetiger Flickr

There is a pretty green, grassy, hay-like note that soon enters the dance floor. It has a lovely familiar element that I can’t name but really really like. This green overwhelms the flowers for a few minutes, but they will not be restrained and come out again, only more softly and gently blended. The jasmine, sadly, is sitting out the dance. The green eventually weakens a little as the oakmoss and patchouli appear on the dance floor. They twirl and swirl and here and there narcissus and hyacinth are dancing again too. This is their fete also and they’re staying. Sandalwood is shy and only does an occasional dance.

After more than an hour, the notes blend together in a happy waltz, except for narcissus. This diva makes sure she is always in the spotlight. Le Temps D’Une Fete teases me and surprises me. Most perfumes do not. With Le Temps D’Une Fete, the notes switch partners often. Both the green and the flowers share equal time. Neither takes over the dance. What fun! I have not enjoyed a new fragrance like this in a long time.

Le Temps D’Une Fete has a medium silage and I’m happy to say that I get to enjoy it on myself for at least 7+ hours.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: Perfume Posse and Bois de Jasmin
LuckyScent have $115/100ml
Surrender To Chance have samples starting at $3/ml

A happy and beautiful fragrance. I love it! I had heard that it was being discontinued, but have now heard, that at the very least, it will be available on demand! Have you found a new love recently or reacquainted yourself with an old one?

MayaXX

DIOR: How To Get the Trianon Look: Mini Movie

January 19, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hiya Junkies,

As you may know I have a bit of an addictive personality, also I am a Drag Queen, so you’d think I would have box loads of make up. The answer is no. Yes, I have backups of my favourite products but everything fits into a small drawer. I do love watching makeup fashions evolve though and this season I think DIOR has hit a home run. Looking like a pastel Bambi with eyes the surprised vacant look of a bunny about to get Dunlop disease, the model is absolutely outrageously gorgeous.

Of course it is referencing Marie Antoinette but in my mind it also harks back to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. GLAM.

Like the look? Want to know how to get it? Below is a how to video.

Enjoy,

Portia xx

Photo Stolen TheMalayMailOnline

DIOR SPRING 2014: Trianon Look

Photo Stolen DIOR

Kashmir Spice by Serena Ava Franco for Ava Luxe

January 17, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hey Hey Niche Nerds,

Ava Luxe is a super surprise package of fabulous frag gems. The great news is that for a micro niche brand the prices are extremely affordable and sizes are also kept small so you can try 4 or 5 Ava Luxe frags for the cost of a mainstream offering.

Kashmir Spice by Ava Luxe

KashmirSpice Fragrantica Photo Stolen Fragrantica

From the Ava Luxe site:
An alluring blend of exotic spices, cashmere woods, and incense. Turkish Rose absolute weaves it way through this sensual scent.
Featured Notes: East Indian spices, frankincense, myrrh, Cashmere woods, Turkish Rose Absolute, gaiacwood, amber.

WOW!! Kashmir Spice goes on hefty and gourmand, it’s a big fat glorious wander through one of the fabulous spice stores in Northern India. There is even the dry, throat raspy feeling of intense heat and spices in enclosed spaces during an Indian summer. Totally edible and smelling like a sweeter version of the first moment the spices hit hot oil in a pan Kashmir Spice is an assault on your senses that is both enticing and memorable. The amber, frankinsense and myrrh give a lively resinous counterpoint that is sweet, balmy and dusty (The dusty may be the spices actually) at the same time. The woods and rose play only background on my skin but on Jin the rose is quite prominent, maybe you have to be further than I can get to smell it, on him Kashmir Spice’s Turkish rose absolute is like honey and rosewater baklava. MMMM! I even get a hint of ginger through the body of the fragrance and it works in the heat and the cold. I’m thinking of taking it with me on my holidays next week, that’s how much I love it.

kashmirBoats ToshaliTours Photo Stolen ToshaliTours

I get a medium life span of around 4 hours of fragrance but after that my skin still smells better than reality, just ever so slightly vanillic, for another couple of hours and then gone. Way too perfumed for close working, borderline for dinner and cinema but perfect for all other moments when smelling gorgeous is important. At these prices you can afford to wear it as your daily after hours go-to frag, Kashmir Spice would be on a current short list for my 10 Desert Island frags.

KashmiriSpiceMarket ABC.net Photo Stolen ABC.net

I have worn Kashmir Spice to my work a few times and it is a guaranteed compliment gatherer and people want to get in for a big ole snuffle of you, then they ask what it is that you smell of and where can they get it. Every time so far! It has also seen some fairly intense wear on my skin over time, there’s quite a lot of air in my 15ml and I will soon need to replace it.

Further reading: I could only find reviews on Make Up Alley and there is love and hate in equal measure
AvaLuxe site has 15ml EdP/$30 and 5ml extrait/$27

Take care of yourselves,
Portia xx

Disclaimer: This is a repeat post. If you have been a long time reader and this twigged your memory. I was halfway through writing a new post about Kashmir Spice when my brain asked me to check, and yes, this was originally posted on December 30 2012. I have given it a couple of tweaks but it really is the same post.

Armani Privè Ambre Soie by Christina Nagel for Giorgio Armani 2004

January 16, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Post by Poodle

Armani Privè Ambre Soie by Christina Nagel for Giorgio Armani 2004

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Ginger, amber, patchouli, pepper, cloves

Ambre Soie is a perfume that has a little bite to it. It opens with a burst of amber and ginger. It’s more about sharp, fresh ginger than the dried one used in baking. I can smell the black pepper too. It’s not what I’d call sharp but there’s almost a warmth or heat to it in the opening. As the ginger fades the pepper becomes more evident. Pepper is one of those notes that is sometimes a deal breaker for me. I don’t mind it in this although I will say it’s not my favorite part of the perfume’s development. It gives a warm feeling to the perfume and I can imagine reaching for it on a cold winters night. A night like tonight for instance, where as I’m sniffing and writing, the wind is howling away and the wind chill is well below freezing. Somehow just the word Ambre in the name makes me feel like it will take the chill away.

Photo Stolen Geography.org

There’s a dry, spicy feeling to Ambre Soie before it all seems to mellow and soften. This is where I begin to really enjoy the scent. It becomes a touch sweeter as the amber really emerges with a spicy patchouli note. The patchouli hums along quietly and never veers into moldy decay like some patchoulis do. Amber scents can be sweet and almost cloying at times. Ambre Soie has a sweetness to it but it doesn’t cross that line. It doesn’t list incense as a note but as it wears on me it becomes more of an incense and amber scent. Somehow, up close, I smell menthol too. At this point it’s very cozy, like a warm blanket.

Photo Stolen Sarah Ackerman Flickr

I would say it could easily be worn by a man or a woman. I would wear it but some women might find it leans a little too masculine for them. I think that’s the pepper that gives it that little edge. It’s more of a scent to wear when you plan on snuggling up to someone special rather than wearing it to the office. It only lasted a few hours on my skin with minimal projection after the first hour. On my clothes though it lingered well into the next day. I’m sure both these factors could be adjusted based on whether you were to dab or spray and how much you applied. Also bear in mind my skin eats perfume and I’m using a sample vial.

While I enjoy Ambre Soie I don’t think I need a bottle of it. It’s not quite love.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and The Scented Hound
You can find Armani Privè Ambre Soie at big department stores.
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/.5ml

What scents warm you on a cold winter’s night? Have you tried Ambre Soie? What’s your favorite amber?

Mon Parfum Cherie Par Camille by Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal for Annick Goutal 2011

January 12, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Hiya all you lovers of fine fragrance,

Annick Goutal has been covered a lot on APJ, see under the sign off for other APJ reviews, life story and stuff about this extraordinary woman and her daughter who now carries on the Annick Goutal tradition, and has done under a few owners. It must be hard to work under such conditions and try to keep a multinational brand as true as possible to your beloved mother’s vision, which started out so small, French and independent.

Mon Parfum Cherie Par Camille EdT by Annick Goutal 2011

Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in the text:
Top: Indonesian patchouli, plum
Heart: iris, powder, violet, heliotrope
Base: patchouli

Plum and patchouli? Who’d have thought it would smell this good? Plush and plumped over a bed of the fluffiest and most powdery accords ever, I mean EVAH! Mon Parfum Cherie Par Camille is a beautiful modern perfume that nods heartily to history and gives us a full and throaty sensuality while remaining perfectly composed and restrained. Both innocent and alluring, like a girl/woman of a past era on the threshold of knowing. Still coltish but blossomed and ripe. Do you remember the early Julia Roberts, young Katherine Hepburn or even Cameron Diaz? They had a fresh exuberance that was self possessed, sensual and completely at ease. Being beautiful and unusual can sometimes give people an ease that even genius or the most moneyed can never attain. James Franco has it a little bit too and Brad Pitt fair oozed it. This is a fragrance for people who want to smell like that

Photo Stolen Alifia♥ Flickr

What do I smell exactly? A clean patchouli with no dust or rasp, plum that is ripe but unsweet in the modern sense of sweet in perfumery, green and rooty iris/heliotrope/violet powder (I find it hard to distinguish the difference and they all add up to one scent) and down the back I hardly even notice the patchouli though I know it’s there, I get more resinous sweetness than I expect from patchouli.

Mon Parfum Cherie Par Camille will have you softly fragrant with a low sillage, it’s nowhere near a skin scent but it won’t intrude on your work colleagues or dinner either. Should someone be lucky enough to come in for a hug then they will receive a fragrant reward.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

For a Goutal EdT I get about average fragrant life of 3-4 hours. Apparently the EdP survives longer but I like the short ride with Mon Parfum Cherie Par Camille so I can wear something else after lunch or before going out. I didn’t mention how much I love the plum coloured bottle and will be4 greatly saddened by the regimentation of bottles that has been put into effect by Pacific Amore. GRRRR! At least we will be able to tell vintage at a glance.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Candy Perfume Boy
FragranceNet has $75/100ml before coupon
Surrender To Chance starts at $3/ml

Loads of love to you and yours,
Portia xx

Annick Goutal (1948-99) on APJ before. We have done days of:
Annick Goutal Biography,
Eau de Sud/Songes/Mandragore,
Eau d”Hadrien/Eau de Camille/Ce Soir Ou Jamais,
Passion/Un Matin d’Orage/Ambre Fetiche,
Mandragore Pourpe,
Songes,
Grand Amour,
Rose Splendide,
Nuit Etoilée and
Duel

L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild by Aurélien Guichard for Kenzo 2011

January 11, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hi All,

You may remember the very lovely Emma Kate who wrote for APJ for a while and did a bunch of LIVE Video Sniffs with me. She moved to another Australian city for work recently and gave me a bunch of her unloved frags. This happened to be in the bunch and I had totally ignored it till the other day. The heat was making me scratchy and the bottle looks a little like a melting ice cube. PERFECT!!

L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild by Aurélien Guichard for Kenzo 2011

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, green lilac, wild mint, bois de roseau
Heart: Jasmine, amaryllis, lotus, Guinea pepper, white peach
Base: Vanilla, musk, Virginia blue cedar

This is a fresh, fruity, cool scent that is both sweet and tart. Nothing extraordinary but extremely cologne-ish with a sweet twist. I smell nothing natural and it is probably quite cheap to produce. The minty mandarine water opening, the peachy amorphous white flower bouquet has a hint of stem and bell pepper and it ends on a woodsy note that doesn’t really smell like anything particular, but is synthetically non intrusive. What I feel when I wear L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild is clean. Imagine it’s summer, you are hot and sweaty, L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild is like shaving/waxing your legs, having a beautiful soak in the pool afterwards and then slipping into fresh cool 100% Egyptian cotton sheets with the overhead fan on low. MMMMM Perfect.

Photo Stolen julien haler Flickr

I tried to find somewhere for you to buy L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild but though I could find the Homme version everywhere the Femme is SOLD OUT! I tried oodles of online sites and nothing. You may be lucky enough to find it on Ebay. Don’t worry if you can’t though, there are a million others quite similar. If you don’t have it you’re missing nothing. Having said that, it’s not going out in my cull.

Lolita Lempicka EdP by Annick Menardo for Lolita Lempicka 1997

January 9, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Hello Fabulous Fumies,

This is a fragrance I have long loved, every now and then I would spritz it in the department stores and never purchased it but often looked at it for a purchase but would be tempted away by something else, something newer or more towards the top of my list. I haven’t even owned a decant, and nowadays it’s extremely affordable at the discounters. Weird. The bottle is great with its fun pumper and I love the lilac so I bought a bottle for my BFF Kath a while back and today I’m stealing it off her to write a review.

Lolita Lempicka EdP by Annick Menardo for Lolita Lempicka 1997

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Anise, violet, green ivy
Heart: Licorice, almond, orris, iris, cherry, amaryllis, heliotrope
Base: Tonka, vanilla, white musk, vetiver, praline

What everyone else says about Lolita Lempicka EdP is not the way I smell it. It opens sweet sugar and almond, with a fizzy drink like Fanta bubbling over it. It’s fun, frivolous and totally fabulous. I don’t get any ivy or violet at all and cool rooty or even carroty iris seems nowhere to be found., not as I know it anyway. I do get the praline, vanilla and some resins through the heart and base though which offers some sweet depths, some heft that plays counterpoint with the lovely PEZ like fizz of the higher notes. I don’t really get a great change through Lolita Lempicka EdP but it gradually slides into the base without losing anything, just changing scent volumes. I think I need to spend some more time with Lolita Lempicka EdP, I’m sure it has some secrets hidden that only repeated wearings will unravel.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

I am no great fan of Angel but I am a fan of Lolita Lempicka EdP, it is a calmer, prettier and less strident good time, there is still the candy floss vibe but without the headache inducing size. Yes they have both become cliches but I think that Lolita Lempicka EdP is still an extremely viable fragrance choice. I get excellent projection and sillage, scent life is really good at over 5 hours before it has faded to a sweet nothing.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This
Fragrance Shop has $22/50ml
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

Have you spent any time in Lolita Lempicka EdP? Great fragrance, I’ve had such fun wearing it the last few days.
Portia xx

Tilleul by Olivia Giacobetti for D`Orsay 2008

January 7, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

Hiding in the back of my perfume shelf I found a fragrance I haven’t worn for years. TILLEUL D’Orsay. I’d forgotton how lovely it was. I originally bought it as it reminded me of honeysuckle, fresh freesias and lily of the valley combined, but in a way smelt far more natural and less sickly-toilet-sprayish than a fragrance with these ingredients would usually smell. (I find frags of these flowers often smell cheap and nasty)

On revisiting it I now realize its got plenty more to it and is put together incredibly well.

Tilleul by Olivia Giacobetti for D`Orsay 2008

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon blossom, angelica, watermelon
Heart: Cyclamen, linden blossom
Base: Acacia tree, bee wax, hay, black locust

Tilleul by D`Orsay is light and sparkles with a waxy floral, citrus-like, smell, especially straight from the bottle. Tileul is Linden blossom, mixed up with lemon blossom. It is fresh, pretty and bright. Summery to me.

Once sprayed, there’s gusts of watermelon, maybe slightly green, which surprisingly I am liking, considering I’m not a big one for fruity fragrances. The waxy undertones seem to be beeswax and I think this makes the whole combo tolerable, and not too sweet for me. The dryness, touching on powdery, could be hay , or grasses. I am still reminded of honeysuckle, but it’s almost like that smell has been re-constructed with the use of other flowers/ingredients, rather than containing any actual honeysuckle.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

The other factor leading me away from thinking it’s honeysuckle is a floral, citrus green note. A muguet? Perhaps not lily of the valley, or freesia as first thought, but cyclamen, a flower I consider to be quite underated. So often the pots sit flowering in peoples homes and no one stoops to smell them. Such a pretty scent, but so so faint, usually. Not here. Here it is amplified and enhanced by its co-ingredients.

If you like mimosa/acacia/floral green fragrances like L’Occitane Eau d’azur – this will be a hit for you – but far more natural and not as heavy on synthetics like calone, which gives me a nasty headache. This is a well balanced scent.

Tilleul by D`Orsay was first created in 1915, so there is definitely a beautiful vintage feel to the scent, and combination of ingredients is very “of that era”. Very French. In 2008 it was reformulated by Olivia Giacobetti, which might be why also I am getting a good whiff of freesia perhaps, as she was the nose behind Ofresia for Diptyche. (which is also very nice, but VERY VERY SWEET…and seems to get sweeter in the bottle over time). I love so many of her mixes, and seem to building a little collection/shrine to her over time.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

It’s a fresh green floral. It’s summer. Tilleul by D`Orsay is green watermelon!!!! Too much would be a bit sickly for me, but today- a hot 32 degrees in Byron Bay, a light spritz and I am off to the beach DEFINITELY smelling better than those in my way!! (someone should open a perfume shop up here!!)

Further reading: Confessions Of A Perfume Nerd and Now Smell This
Parfum1 has $75/50ml
The Posh Peasant starts at $3.50/ml

have you revisited the back of your cupboard lately- found anything you like?? Tell me more!!

Ainslie Walker

Australian Perfume Junkies

Olfactory Opinions from Oz

Fashion

Charisma Cologne by Avon 1968

Charisma Cologne by Avon 1968

Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine by Sandrine Videault for Grandiflora 2013

Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine by Sandrine Videault for Grandiflora 2013

Le Temps d’une Fête by Parfums de Nicolaï 2007

Le Temps d’une Fête by Parfums de Nicolaï 2007

DIOR: How To Get the Trianon Look: Mini Movie

DIOR SPRING 2014: Trianon Look

Kashmir Spice by Serena Ava Franco for Ava Luxe

Kashmir Spice by Ava Luxe

Armani Privè Ambre Soie by Christina Nagel for Giorgio Armani 2004

Armani Privè Ambre Soie by Christina Nagel for Giorgio Armani 2004

Mon Parfum Cherie Par Camille by Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal for Annick Goutal 2011

Mon Parfum Cherie Par Camille EdT by Annick Goutal 2011

Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal

L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild by Aurélien Guichard for Kenzo 2011

L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild by Aurélien Guichard for Kenzo 2011

Lolita Lempicka EdP by Annick Menardo for Lolita Lempicka 1997

Lolita Lempicka EdP by Annick Menardo for Lolita Lempicka 1997

Tilleul by Olivia Giacobetti for D`Orsay 2008

Tilleul by Olivia Giacobetti for D`Orsay 2008