Fashion

My Introduction to Thai Cuisine: Brie

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

.

Post by Brie

.

For the first thirty years of my life I resided in New York City. My first apartment as a young adult was within walking distance of a miniscule ten table restaurant called “Simply Thai”. It was owned and run by a fearsome threesome team :siblings from Thailand.  The brother was the chef while one sister served as hostess and the other as waitress. This restaurant quickly became my weekly haunt. For $8.95 the early bird special offered up a glass of wine, an appetizer, main entrée and dessert. Every Friday evening my friends and I would devour chicken sate, pad thai and black bean ice cream.

Perfume & Tea Musings: My Introduction to Thai Cuisine

Prescriptives: Calyx
Harney & Sons: Bangkok Green Thai Tea

Calyx Prescriptives FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

 

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Apricot, passionfruit, mint, mandarin orange, cassia, peach, mango, bergamot, grapefruit, papaya, guava
Heart: Cyclamen, lily, melon, freesia, orris root, jasmine, neroli, marigold, lily-of-the-valley, rose
Base: Musk, oakmoss, cedar, sandalwood, vetiver

The fragrance I always wore on those special nights was Prescriptive’s Calyx. The perfume’s overripe, fruity/tartness, with a green tropical vibe perfectly suited the atmosphere and food in Simply Thai.     Harney and Sons Bangkok Green Thai, a green tea with notes of ginger, lemongrass, coconut and vanilla might appear to be an oddity: a schism between the green/spicy lemongrass and ginger combo and the creaminess of the coconut/vanilla mix. Nonetheless, the notes manage to come together to make this an unusually, yet delectable tea. It is the perfect accompaniment to the Thai food and Calyx perfume.

Brie Tea BrittanyPhoto taken by Brittany

My introduction to Thai food in this quaint little restaurant whetted my appetite and desire to explore other cultural and ethnically diverse cuisines which developed into a lifelong endeavor. When I drink Bangkok Green Thai tea and wear my Calyx perfume, I reflect back to that time and place. It serves as a powerful reminder of how truly blessed I was to be surrounded by the very best of friends, great food and an unusual, yet fabulous, fragrance!

(Sadly, Calyx has been reformulated. I own a small vial of the current version. Although it bears the skeletal remains of the original, the overripe fruit, extremely tart concoction has been replaced with a milder, more floral, fresher scent).

Harney and Sons site has Bangkok starts at as little as $2 for samples.
FragranceNet starts at $22/15ml for Calyx
Surrender To Chance starts at $5/2ml

Brie XX

ED: Yes, this a not a new post, I was drinking some Harney & Sons White Mutan tea and thinking of Brie so I have reused one of her posts, the next one will be her last. I am sad. Brie wrote this post ahead of time and will not be responding to comments. I (Portia) will pick up the slack though so please leave a message in the comments if you’d like to continue the conversation. I don’t know why Brie needed to leave us but there is a Brie sized hole in my life without her. Brie, if you are reading, we miss you and hope you are happy and well. Drop in if you are around, we’d love to chat. XXX

Jasmin et Cigarette by Antoine Maisondieu for Etat Libre d’Orange 2006

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

.

Post by Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers

.

Worshippers rejoice! Another year given us to praise the fragrance!

New Year usually means hot and dry midsummer where I am, and although on the calendar Summer commenced a month ago, this season she drags her feet. I’m delighting in this extended Spring with its long season of jasmine flowering.

The earliest variety is even now providing heady sprays of indolic pinky tipped blooms borne on their vigorous vine. When the flowers first appeared I dipped some briefly in vodka and the result served over sorrel sorbet was a taste of spring garden. Later the Chinese Star variety popped, its dark handsome foliage and pure white flowers providing such pretty visual contrast to complement the quite different fresh citrus blossom fragrance of those blooms. Both these jasmines seem to feature in today’s fragrance.

Let us spray…

Jasmin et Cigarette by Antoine Maisondieu for Etat Libre d’Orange 2006

Jasmin et Cigarette Etat Libre d`Orange FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Jasmine asbolute, tobacco notes, apricot, tonka beans, curcuma, cedar, amber, musc, hay

When I first smelled Etat Libre d’Orange Jasmin et Cigarette I was startled to have novel nuances of that indolic pink tipped jasmine flower brought front and centre. These smoky stale aspects evident both in the flowers’ natural bouquet and in jasmine absolute became so obvious to me as Antoine Maisondieu accentuates them in this composition. He gave me an “Aha!” moment of observational clarity that was enough to intrigue me with this perfume from the outset.

Ah and a memory came – shameful confession – of my younger self, a mere novice, happened upon in a clandestine moment behind the chapel where the exuberant jasmine vine frothed and tumbled. I had just inhaled the fug exhaled by the flowers commingled with my first (and last) gasp of a gasper. Sister Ignatia’s smile on seeing me was quiet and indulgent. She wisely intoned: “Tread carefully with anything you cannot set down as readily as you have taken it up…” and strolled on.

Jasmin et Cigarette Etat Libre d`Orange Frederick Dennstedt FlickrPhoto Stolen Frederick Dennstedt  Flickr

Ancient entwined echoes of shame swirling with Jasmin et Cigarette’s initial intoxicating headrush of indolic jasmine fragrance and ashy, smoky cigarette fumes soon dissipate. The fragrance becomes expansive with notes of crushed greenery, fresh tobacco and earthiness, all scents that also arose long ago as I hastily snuffed my illicit cigarette underfoot!

Jasmin et Cigarette might commence slightly left of centre for some, the bitter earthy note of curcuma (turmeric) reading too ashy or metallic. These dimensions soon recede as the earthier side of turmeric emerges, a sweet dust that merges with the anchoring warm cedar whilst the tonka lends hints of honey and hay to the now rather delectable aromas of fresh cured tobacco. Over all this a light citrusy jasmine blossom floats and the fragrance hums thusly quiet and elegant for several hours.

Jasmin et Cigarette Etat Libre d`Orange Princess Jasmine DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Although it seems to wear quite close, I have several times wandered into the delicious light floral breeze of my own sillage. I have worn Jasmin et Cigarette in a range of contexts to numerous yums and no condemnation. After 5 or 6 hours its last whisper fades with the warmth, sweetness and wisdom of a benediction.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin
LuckyScent has $80/50ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $4.75/ml

Fragrant blessings,
Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers.

Japanese Rose by Korres

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hi There Crew,

A couple of years ago now one of my besties bought me a Korres set with Body Milk and Shower Gel. It was completely serendipitous because I had run low on my shower gel at the time and didn’t have a lick of moisturiser in the house anywhere. What did I do? I used it, used it all up in record time and have always got extra on hand in case, I have also gifted this duo to a bunch of my mates, yes it’s that good….

Japanese Rose by Korres

Korres Japanese Rose Body Milk Bath & Unwind

Absolutely expecting it to be a LUSH style scent, bold, big, in your face and take no prisoners I was pleasantly surprised by the quiet grandeur yet tenacious staying power of the fragrance. Roses, roses and more roses, though I don’t get the Japanese connection. Are their Japanese roses known especially for being a spicy, boozy, citrus smelling variety? Apparently they grow in sand dunes near the seaside and have very interesting bark effects so the plant is beautiful when leafed and bare. It’s fun and refreshing in the shower and the lotion makes a fabulous base for any rose fragrance and I also use it for my ambers, it adds a glow that emphasises rose notes but also creates lovely new variants on perfumes without rose. I also find it an extra good fragrance life extender.

Loads of people work in fragrance free environments, Japanese Rose is good because it leaves you softly and subtly fragrant all by itself. After work you can add a spritz of your favourite frag and it will smell gorgeous over the top. Win Win! Today I’m wearing Guerlain’s Shalimar over the top and it gives a whole new rosy sheen to my favourite grand dame of a perfume.

Korres Japanese Rose Showergel Bath & UnwindPhotos Stolen Bath & Unwind

Nowadays I grab mine from Bath & Unwind where you can get both Shower Gel and Body Milk for under $40 delivered anywhere in the world. So not only lovely and lavish but a cheap thrill too.
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx

CHANEL: Coco Mademoiselle: Mini Movie + Making of

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Heya.

We are cleaning the Perfume Room and giving it a new paint job. Also I am culling my collection, it’s so freaking painful I can’t write, sorry. It’s quite a BIG DEAL so over the next couple of days I am dropping in some Video stuff that I’ve found interesting, educational or took me outside my box. Some of it is ONE TOPIC but some will also be TOTALLY OFF TOPIC!

CHANEL: Coco Mademoiselle: Mini Movie + Making of

CocoMademoisell FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Kiera Knightly, CHANEL, beige catsuit, motorbike and a super dooper budget shot in what looks to me like Paris. YES PLEASE!!

Enjoy!
Portia xx

Coco Mademoiselle: Behind The Scenes – CHANEL

Coco Mademoiselle: The Film – CHANEL

Holiday Wishes 2013/4: DIOR, CHANEL mini movies

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hiya Holiday Campers,

We are cleaning the Perfume Room and giving it a new paint job. It’s quite a BIG DEAL so over the next couple of days I am dropping in some Video stuff that I’ve found interesting, educational or took me outside my box. Some of it is ONE TOPIC but some will alsao be TOTALLY OFF TOPIC!

Here are a couple of the beautiful Holiday Wish series the big guns are putting out this year. They are getting less outrageously gorgeous each year and a bit generic, these are two of the better offerings.

Holiday Wishes: DIOR, CHANEL

Dior Holidays wishes 2013/4

Coco CHANEL Jerine Lay FlickrPhoto Stolen  Jerine Lay  Flickr

CHANEL Holiday Wishes 2013/4

L’Instant de Guerlain EdP by Maurice Roucel for Guerlain 2003

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Hello Frag Nerds,

Sometimes while swanning around the department store I go check out the frag counters even though we don’t get all the good stuff that the world gets. Sometimes I get a lovely surprise when we have the goods and I spritz away. Never have I ever even thought about spritzing todays fragrance, I don’t know why but it always gets overlooked. well, my buddy Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels recently sent me a care package and inside was a 5ml boxed manufacturers sample of…

L’Instant de Guerlain by Maurice Roucel for Guerlain 2003

L'Instant de Guerlain Guerlain FragragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, mandarin, red apple
Heart: Iris, magnolia, ylang ylang, jasmine
Base: Musk, honey, vanilla, benzoin, amber

So right out of the gate I get a sweet, resinous toffee that is sticky and sweet, all warm sugary deliciousness. Citrus and most of the flowers are bypassed in favour of a very edible candy/confectionary scent that is reminiscent of a thing we have in Australia called a Musk Stick. They have been one of my favourite lollies since childhood but Jin wont eat them because he thinks it’s like eating soap. There is definite soapy reference in L’Instant and it has a clean feel without all the usual connotations of blandness and the current overuse of laundry stylings in fragrance. Though they are not the same I am reminded of JPG Le Male a bit, L’Instant has that same hefty, dense, sweetness that is both insistent and moreish. A hint of baklava even, mmmmmmmm

L'Instant de Guerlain Baklawa WikimediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Guerlain is so good at this stuff. Clearly the success of L’Instant became a beacon to celebuscenters everywhere. The style and warm vivacity that is so deliciously enjoyable here is reflected in many of the celeb offerings of the last 10 years. Guerlain does it better, of course. I’m surprised there is no almond note because I can smell some yummy toasted almonds too.

L’Instant is pretty, sweet and very easy wearing. The bottle is beautiful and I can understand why it’s a big hit for Guerlain. You could give this to someone 16 or 86 and they would both smell beautiful wearing it. Longevity on my skin is under 4 hours of fragrant and then another couple of hours of very soft base notes that really do give me a vanilla, amber, almond blur. Lovely.

L'Instant de Guerlain Women Generations WikiPediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: I Scent You A Day
Beauty Encounter has $52/50ml
My Perfume Samples has EdP starting from $3/ml to $9/5ml

Do you ever get a pleasant surprise from something you’ve bypassed for years? Tell me, I love to read your stories too.
Portia xx

 

 

CHANEL: L’esprit De La Haute Joaillerie Movie

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

G’Day all from the land of Oz,

Sometimes it’s wonderful to dream. I will probably never own a hand crafted or bespoke piece of CHANEL jewellery and I can live with that. Something that does excite me though is watching somebody put so much attention, love and pure magic into what they do. Doesn’t mater what it is, it’s always good to watch masters at their task. There is a certain ease and relaxedness about them, it inspires me every time.

Free VERY Expensive CHANEL

I hope you enjoy the creation of a spectacular piece of CHANEL jewellery.
Portia xx

CHANEL: L’esprit De La Haute Joaillerie (The spirit of hand crafted jewellery)

CHANEL SeedOfHappinessPhoto Stolen SeedOfHappiness

Christmas Trilogy: Tom Ford, Profumi Del Forte, L’Artisan Parfumeur

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

.

Post by Gabriella

.

Hello fragrance friends!

Right now most of you are probably preparing for Christmas festivities. It’s Christmas Eve here in Australia and I’m up visiting my Mum and Dad on New South Wales’ north coast. It’s nice and hot and I’m really looking forward to some quality family time, sunshine and good food and, of course, smelling gorgeous.
So, what perfumes did I bring with me and what am I looking forward to scent-wise in terms of Christmas gifts? I present to you my Trio of Fragrant Christmas Trinkets:

Christmas Trilogy: Tom Ford, Profumi Del Forte, L’Artisan Parfumeur

1. Velvet Gardenia by Tom Ford 2007

The scent that I packedVelvet Gardenia Tom Ford Fragrantica

Photo stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, orange
Heart: Plum, tuberose, beeswax, honey, rose, jasmine, lily of the valley
Base: Frankincense, labdanum

Christmas and summer for me is all about the smell of pool chlorine, Christmas cake and gardenias. I’ve waxed lyrical about my love of the white flower before and the meaning it has for me. Tom Ford’s scent is the most realistic, buttery and intense gardenia I know, so it was a natural addition to my fragrance packing. The only problem it’s been discontinued and I think I’ll feel a bit lost when my bottle finally runs out.

You might be able to find Velvet Gardenia on eBay.
Surrender to Chance starts at $5/0.5ml.

2. Vaiana Dea by Profumi Del Forte 2013

My Christmas present to myself

Vaiana Dei Profumi del Forte FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, peach, coconut, bergamot, milky notes, violet leaf
Heart: Tuberose, ylang-ylang, orchid, jasmine, lily, white rose, cocoa, honey
Base: Benzoin, white musk, sandalwood, vetiver, vanilla, oakmoss

This is a recent addition to my collection and an absolutely swoon-worthy one at that. Reading the notes list, one might be expecting a true gourmand fragrance with a hint of tuberose, but on my skin, these roles are reversed. It starts off as a bright and fresh tuberose before becoming a bit more lactonic and sweet. The peach, coconut and jasmine blend seamlessly with the cocoa and the tuberose to create a soft, sweet but dazzlingly pretty scent. And who was I to try and resist that gorgeous art deco bottle?

LuckyScent has $195/100ml and samples

3. La Chasse Aux Papillons by Anne Flipo for L’Artisan Parfumeur 1999

What I am expecting Santa to bring

La Chasse aux Papillons L`Artisan Parfumeur FragranticaPhoto stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Tuberose, orange blossom, jasmine, lime blossom, white flowers

Well, saying I am expecting Santa to bring this is a bit of a lie as I actually supervised Mr M’s purchase of this the other week. I’d forgotten about this beauty until recently but it is such a pretty girly pink scent that I had to have it again. And it brings back some fond memories. I was visiting Paris with my brother and a friend years and years ago. Already been bitten by the scent bug, I wandered into Galeries Lafayette and asked the saleswoman in (my then perfect) French that I was looking for a pretty white floral perfume. This is the bottle she handed to me. The scent inside is as attractive as the name that adores it. A fun, frivolous blend of linden, tuberose and jasmine, it is indeed summer in a bottle.

Libertine Parfumerie has it for $169/100ml
Surrender to Chance start at $4/ml.

Well, what do you think of my trinkets? What are you wearing over the holiday season? What are you giving or receiving scent-wise this Christmas?

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
Madeleine x

Afternoon Of A Faun by Ralf Schwieger for Etat Libre d’Orange 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

Hey Fragrance Fiends,

Having loved the Claude Debussy Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun as a child, it was on one of my Dad’s records and it had some heavy hitters after it but I thought that this was so beautiful and soft by comparison. A gentle, pastoral piece of loveliness. I could imagine the naughty faun watching beautiful languid girls going down through a paddock to the water to bathe, laughing and carefree, the trill of their voices mixing with the gurgle of the river. Anyway enough of that, Etat Libre d’Orange released their fragrance in 2012 with a sister, Dangerous Complicity (which I found a bit meh) but…

Afternoon Of A Faun by Ralf Schwieger for Etat Libre d’Orange 2012

The Afternoon of a Faun Etat Libre d`Orange fragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot, pepper, cinnamon, incense, immortelle, orris root, myrrh, leather, benzoin, rose, jasmine, oakmoss

Afternoon of a Faun is a totally different and much more enjoyable piece of fragrant art. Unusual, nuanced, enveloping and slightly awkward it is both fun and pretty. The lovely wet pepper and citrus opening that quickly becomes deepened and broadened by the spices and immortelle, it’s cool and elegant iris all underpinned by a sweet darkness that feels both alluring and a little bit wicked. Afternoon of a Faun is not sensual in the bodily scent or skank way but it does have a wonderful frission of notes that keep me sniffing my hand compulsively because i can’t quite believe that it smells like it does. There is a vegetal funkiness, a dankness or earthiness that must be the oakmoss, immortelle and leather combination (or quite possibly something unmentioned in the notes list). Sadly i am too unschooled to really be able to parse this out. Through the heart I am seriously thinking Afternoon Of A Faun is a vetiver fragrance on my skin, not in the notes but it does have that feel and later the spice and rose make definite star turns.

The Afternoon of a Faun Etat Libre d`Orange Henri_Rousseau wikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Excellent sillage but only moderate projection and a good life at around the 6 hours mark before I lose the ability to smell it completely, Afternoon of a Faun becomes a softly insistent resinous wash in its last couple of hours and I find the ride enjoyable and interesting when I take special note but easy enough to wear as a daily scent too.

Gaia says, “The Afternoon of a Faun” is the name of a French poem written by Stéphane Mallarmé between 1865 and 1867 and published in 1976 (thank you, Wikipedia). Lucasz tells us that it was the 100 year anniversary of original L’après-midi d’un faune ballet choreographed for The Ballets Russes by Vaslav Nijinsky and that the inspiration here are the nymphs and fauns playing together.

The Afternoon of a Faun Etat Libre d`Orange John_Reinhard_Weguelin WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

I don’t know if you ever read E M Forsters short stories but The Story Of A Panic tells the story of young Eustace being changed forever by the attentions of a faun. The whole omnibus is excellent reading but I always loved The Story Of A Panic especially. There is something of the foreboding in ELdO’s Afternoon Of A Faun that we get in the E M Forster story.

Here is Prelude to Afternoon Of A Faun by Claude Debussy, the music and fragrance are a perfectly symmetrical accompaniment.

Further reading: Chemist In A Bottle and The Non-Blonde
LuckyScent has $149/100ml
Etat Libre d’Orange has €110/100ml (Delivers to the world)
Surrender To Chance starts at $4.50/ml

What are your thoughts? Tried it? Wanted to?
Come on and join the conversation, I’d love to read your musings too>
Portia xx