Hi Gang,
Karl Lagerfield has been inspiring and creating since before I went to Fashion School. His name is synonymous with innovation, elegance and lately with wearability: one of the most credible designers who I think will go down in history as one of the greats. Here he talks about the CHANEL Spring and Summer Ready To Wear collection for 2014. I like him and his take on fashion.
Photo stolen Jerine Lay Flickr
Please enjoy.
Portia xx
Heya all you Niche Nerds,
My mate Clayton from What Men Should Smell Like and I recently caught up for lunch and a sniff, he generously bought me some of the J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin manufacturers samples to try. Having scanned the notes lists of the four Trance particularly caught my eye, there are two fruity/floral and two oudh based fragrances in the line up but when I see particularly short note lists I am often intrigued.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Oudh, labdanum, rose, artemisia (wormwood)
This opens with a beautiful full bodied and sensual Middle East meets West with fireworks and a party. A nod to the history of fragrance from a very elegant and French style, classic perfume, but also so modern and new. It smells at once like everything, and nothing, I’ve ever smelled before. Broad, dazzling brush strokes of fragrance done in an old palette but so interesting and fresh.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
Is this the new Chypre? Have they reinvented the wheel? It seems so effortless, graceful and chic. Artemisia as the crackling green in place of bergamot, rose as the heart and labdanum with oudh as the new oakmoss. Even more startling is that they don’t work to pyramid but are weaving from almost the first spritz through each other and having little star turns before sliding behind another player as that one takes the lead. What an absolute stunner of a fragrance this is on my skin, I can’t tell you because you have to grab a sample of Trance and try it for yourself. So beautifully blended that the notes rarely stand apart after the first hour, They become a beautiful linear melange and stay pretty much like that till tomorrow morning when I’ll still be smelling mighty fine, softer and less sparkly but warm and sensual.
Projection and sillage better than average, a bit strong for office wear unless you work somewhere relaxed about fragrance. Longevity is excellent on my usually scent hungry skin and what does Trance remind me of? A little, but not much, like Midnight Oud from Juliette Has A Gnu (which I adore) but even more ripe, lush and lavish. I could imagine Trance being very popular with the Goth scene.
Photo Stolen Wikimedia
Further reading:Both these reviews have the wonderful history of the house so I didn’t repeat it, What Men Should Smell Like and Ca Fleur Bon
Essenza Nobile has 125€/50ml and samples
Don’t you just LOVE finding new fragrances to lemming? This has skyrocketed to the top of my wish list.
See you tomorrow.
Portia xx
Hello Frag Heads!!
One of the best known perfumes in the world is J’Adore by DIOR. That fabulously iconic bottle, so simple yet so evocative, elegant and luxe. I have a recentish 2011 EdP. This little beauty by Calice Becker was launched in 1999 and has become so outrageously successful that for a while it was all you smelled, you could pick people in the street wearing it. Sensational projection and sillage it gives a very definite nod to the power frags of the 1980s. A fun, rich, sizzling fruity floral that is so far beyond all the other department store offerings of the genre that it stands alone. even now that it has had some surgery, is leaner and more transparent. So many copy cats have missed the whole allure of …
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Magnolia, melon, peach, pear, mandarin, bergamot
Heart: Freesia, orchid, rose, violet, lily of the valley, plum, jasmine, tuberose
Base: Musk, vanilla, cedar, blackberry
An opening that all the celebuscents and drug store offerings try so hard to imitate, but they never seem to get the melon just at that point of pre-dustbin overripeness, the magnolia doesn’t have that gorgeously plush waxinessand the background fruit salad never seems like it could lead you astray with a wink.Here the proportions are perfect and when I smell J’Adore I think of all those fabulous women that are secure and wonderful enough to wear such a beauty.
The bouquet in the heart is pretty and wafts for hours with its plummy, very slightly indolic, siren call. Even through the heart of J’Adore’s 7-8 hour lifespan the woods and vanilla plump up the flowers and give them a cozy breadth, the musks may be helping too at this point but I miss them completely. Towards the end J’Adore goes transparent and has a pretty woodsy/vanilla/musk wash that has become a little generic because it smells good and everyone wanted their inferior products to smell like that. The dry down reminds me of the Our Moment dry down but it lasts less long and can be washed off, unlike the One Direction offering.
If you spray J’Adore on your scarf or in your handbag it will smell like that for the whole season with one spritz.
Most of the time we aren’t trolling the department stores for our scents now the wormhole has claimed us, but if you happen to be walking by spritz a card, or skin if you have some spare, and enjoy the ride.
Further reading: Bois de Jasmin takes a look at the changes that have happened to J’Adore and Perfume Shrine
FragranceNet starts at $75/30ml before coupon
Surrender To Chance has EdP in current $3/ml and vintage $5/ml
Today we have a wonderful film about J’Adore, created by the DIOR company so it’s really a 22 minute advert. There is some very interesting stuff in here too though if you have the time.
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx
J’Adore the film
Hey Everyone,
While in Paris recently we went to the Guerlain counters in Galleries Lafayette. One of the new fragrances I was introduced to by our gorgeous SA was today’s offering. Not wanting to madly buy at Galleries Lafayette and saving myself for the Guerlain Flagship Store on the Champs Elysees I didn’t grab a bottle of it. We left the Guerlain store till our last evening, thinking it would be the Paris highlight. Sadly, that afternoon they started their renovation and we were unable to go in and purchase. No worries said I, next January I’ll come back and get one…….. DISCONTINUED!!!!! So off to my mate Ruth K, now at least I have 5ml.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lavender, tarragon and bergamot
Heart: Green notes, jasmine and carnation
Base: Iris and woodsy notes
Originally created by Jacques Guerlain in 1933, re-orchestrated by Jean Paul Guerlain in 2005 for the renovated flagship Guerlain store on the Champs-Elysees which has been fully renovated again in 2013. The style here was a chypre, named for Cypress the island and its evergreen trees, goats, crisp flowers, fresh sea air and dark mossy, earthy, fruit groves. The 2005 reformulation has taken much of the darkness and depth.
What does this famous fragrance smell like on me?
The opening is green, bright, soapy and citric and as soon as you put it on it smells like a Guerlain, heavenly, rich, beautifully blended and the citrus crescendos over the top of the herbs like a wave that peaks, breaks and then recedes. It’s like the world has disappeared and I am sitting alone on the lovely rock mount, under the tree in the picture below but there’s no salt just fresh, bracing air.
Photo Stolen DanielPaulKlein
The heart melds seamlessly and the citrus comes back at quite unexpected times to say hello, as the opening notes say farewell Sous Le Vent quiets and softens. The floral heart is pretty but unremarkable on my skin, actually I think my skin is eating some of it because it smells quite thin, maybe I am anosmic to the notes? I have a lovely floral wash that has nothing discernible. I was hoping for much more of the animal, labdanum and also mossy darkness. I understand that the world has changed and that it’s not possible to use those products anymore, still I am sad.
Please don’t think I do not love Sous Le Vent. I do love it and once I got over the initial surprise I have been able to visit and spend time really enjoying what it is. It still carries an amazingly bright and wonderful opening, though it softens considerably upon repeated wears it’s quiet dignity has impressed me and I think I am getting more of an understanding of the elegance that Sous Le Vent delivers. Perfect scent for glamour occassions but not so rigid it couldn’t be worn as a daytime signature scent. It is pricey at around the $300 mark, if you can get it, but if someone was rich, only wore a few scents and didn’t spend all their money on collecting then I think it makes sense to have a scent that is this perfectly proportioned and while harking back to the old days is still bang up to date.
I have a 10ml decant and that will probably do me till it’s re-released.
Photo Stolen FlickRiver
Further reading Olfactoria’sTravels and BoisDeJasmin
Sous Le Vent can be bought at very select Guerlain boutiques worldwide, I have not seen it in Australia though.
SurrenderToChance starts at $7/ml
I’m sure Sous Le Vent is old news to you, how did you enjoy the experience? Or if you haven’t tried it, will you?
Till tomorrow, be nice to yourself,
Portia xx
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Post by Azar
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Hello APJ,
Spanish Geranium (Geranium d’Espagne) was created for Lanvin in 1925 by the brilliant perfumer Andre Frysse. It sold for a short time, became unavailable for many years, was revived in the 1950’s and finally discontinued around 1970. The 20th century actress Joan Crawford (“Mommy Dearest” to some) was reported to have said of Spanish Geranium that it was one of the three fragrances she “would never want to live without”. The other two were Royall Lyme by Anthony Gaade and Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew. Jungle Gardenia was also one of her favorites. Unfortunately for Joan (and for the rest of us) Spanish Geranium and the original Jungle Gardenia that she loved so much are long gone while more mainstream, crowd-pleasing fragrances, like Royall Lyme and Youth Dew, remain.
In the 1960’s my mother was given a bottle of Spanish Geranium Eau de Lanvin (an EDT). She favored Arpege so gave me free access to the SG, which I used with a heavy hand. The scent of Spanish Geranium, as well as the characteristic Lanvin accord, are burned into my memory. In those days my application of this fragrance was so liberal that one of my music comp professors actually took me aside on a hot Spring day and advised me on the appropriate use of perfumes and colognes. I remember his exact words and often ignore them.
Spanish Geranium is a bracing, in your face, almost masculine rendition of its floral namesake. The top notes are a combination of the familiar scent of the flowers and foliage of the zonal geranium (Pelargonium zonale) and the crushed leaves of the hybrid spicy rose geranium (P. ‘Graveolins’). Citrus, perhaps unripe lemon or bergamot, and what might be pepper add a sparkle to the floral mix. The opening never truly fades, giving Spanish Geranium the illusion of a soliflore, which it definitely is not. After about five minutes oakmoss, palmarosa and a touch of patchouli join the geraniums, eventually drying down to a light amber, a woody resin and something animalic, perhaps civet. The entire SG fragrance mélange floats on the same Lanvin accord that supports Arpege and My Sin. I can’t really describe this accord, but if you have used vintage Lanvin you will know what I’m talking about .The sillage can vary between quite intimate to moderate and the longevity up to 4 hours on my skin and more on clothing.
When I first tried Spanish Geranium I thought it was the strangest fragrance I had ever experienced. Admittedly I was quite young at the time but, even now, I find SG to be hauntingly beautiful and (for lack of a better word) just a little bit “odd”. I LOVE odd! Perhaps you will too! Remember that this is a very vintage EDT. It has faded somewhat but has not turned. What I perceive to be a fascinating, odd smell is the same scent I’ve encountered, bottle after bottle, from my first sniff over 50 years ago up to and including what I’m enjoying today.
Further reading: Cleopatra’s Boudoir
The Perfumed Court has .5ml in with 6 other Lanvin fragrances from $28
I just asked Lucie Joly (the Assistante Chef de Produit, what does that title mean?) if there would be a modern revival. She was very cordial but said that an SP revival was not in the works right now, thanks for asking and she would let me know if they decided to do a reissue. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to put a “bee in their bonnet”. It might be interesting to see what kind of Spanish Geranium would emerge to suit modern tastes and restrictions. When I think of a modern revival of SP I get the the image of a strange mutated butterfly with a vague memory of another life as something else. This image was probably a result of reading Ellen Covey’s most recent post referring to butterfly memory, among other things.
AzarX
Photo Stolen hemodernhome
There will be 2 winners this week, each will receive:
1 x 2ml decant from my stash of Spanish Geranium EDT
P&H Anywhere in the world
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.
To be eligible just leave a comment about anything related to geraniums or pelargoniums and mention how you follow the APJ’s (e-mail, wordpress, whatever).
Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Vintage Lanvin Spanish Geranium GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-1Vs @LANVINofficial #Perfume #Giveaway
Entries Close Sunday October 6th 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
The winners will be chosen by B-Azar or by Gomez the pionus parrot from same sized folded papers on a tray.
The winners will have till Wednesday 9th October 2013 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.
DATES FIXED! OOOOPS! Naughty Portia with the cut & paste
Hello Fragrant Friends,
I have had this beautiful fragrance in my wardrobe for a while, it is often grabbed for but then I think, “Oh No there’s only 30ml” and go for something else. As it’s been an unusually warm winter down here in Sydney the warmers have largely stayed in the closet. As you are about to go into Autumn up there in the Northern Hemisphere though, and I decided to wear this beauty, it is time I gave you a heads up on how it wears for me….
Photo Stolen Shopping.com
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cardamom, pepper, mimosa, cinnamon
Heart: Clove, orange, tincture of rose, jasmine
Base: Myrrh, vanilla, musk
Caron has chosen an interesting name for Parfum Sacre. Every person on earth has a different version of what’s sacred in their heads, combined of their upbringing, study, travel, personal thoughts and doctrine. Ernest Daltroff had his work cut out for him and I wonder what the brief was? It was 1991 so CdG wasn’t yet taking the incense by the horns and Lutens had only begun the idea of his Palais Royal. From my readings it appears that Bellodgia is an Italian town on Lake Como, somewhere near George Clooney’s Laglio house I’d hope. Could he be considered sacred? Plenty of people adore him….
Photo Stolen lonny
So how does Parfum Sacre smell? On my skin it is bright, spicy and waxy at first, sharp and herbal as it burns off giving me a lovely pepper, cardamom and clove burst that if it was a good deal sheerer could be a modern wash opening, but it’s dense and fragrant, lovely in its complexity though I think I miss quite a bit of the nuance because the jasmine, cinnamon and rose are not featured players to my nose. The myrrh is king down the end and Parfum Sacre lasts for hours and hours. Even my scent hungry skin keeps it there, WOO HOO!
If you want to feel like a retro glamour movie star making a grand entrance and smelling like a billion dollars then Parfum Sacre is for you. NSFW unless you work alone or in a very airy office, Parfum Sacre can and will skunk if over applied. I was overly generous the other night at work, someone came in to give me a hug and started coughing with eyes streaming. It was a decidedly unglamorous moment and I felt really bad for him. It was the closeness I think but certainly less than ideal. So be careful with Parfum Sacre, sparingly unless you know you have 4 good hours of uncloseness. After 4 hours it calms to a dull roar and is pretty acceptable but still unsuitable for close working conditions or dining. Needless to say Parfum Sacre is one of my all time favourite cool weather fragrances, ever!!
Photo Stolen GoogleArtProject
Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Another Perfume Blog
FragranceNet has $35/50ml unboxed before coupon.
Surrender To Chance has modern EdT & EdP from $3/ml, Older Version from $4/ml and Vintage Extrait from $15/.25ml
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
Are you a Parfum Sacre fan?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx
Note on new Bellodgia reformulation from Perfume Shrine: Nothing to do with Parfum Sacre: Piu Bellodgia means “more Bellodgia” in Italian (fitting language since the original Bellodgia was inspired by the Italian countryside) but doesn’t appear to add more oomph to the already rich bouquet of the classicCaron Bellodgia. Reworked by Richard Fraysse, this was a composition that needed to adhere to the new IFRA directives on the regulation of eugenol/isoeugenol (spicy components used in fragrance replicating carnations, such as this one). The newer version is rosier than I get from my old bottle (which is a fuller floral symphony), with less of the spicy kick.
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Photo Stolen Wikimedia
Heya Hermès fans,
As we have discussed before, I love Hermès! It is a brand that I have always followed since Mum had some Caleche in her fragrant armory at some point in our childhood. Many of her friends had scarves and bags but for some reason Mum wasn’t interested in their other offerings, though both Dad and I were given Hermès ties. My memory tells me she did have an Hermès scarf ring but I could be making that up.
If Mum were alive today I would be banging down the door of Hermès THIS MORNING after seeing this video. I think this is the PERFECT Hermès idea, so versatile, wearable, fun and elegant. This is definitely what the cool kids will be wearing this year.
In Australia a printed silk Hermès Maxi-Twilly, 220x20cm will set you back AU$395.00.
In the UK a printed silk Hermès Maxi-Twilly, 220x20cm is £205.
In the USA a printed silk Hermès Maxi-Twilly, 87” x 8” is $290.
I hope you like this super fun ad/movie. I think Hermès has hit the nqail on the head again,
Loads of love,
Portia xx
Photos Stolen from the Hermès Australia site
Hello Gorgeous Perfume Peeps.
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. a tirelessly redefined model for success. In every era since her self inception Coco has been held up as the pinnacle of that eras aspirational success. That she was amazing, inventive, driven and well outside the norm is not ever under question. That her personal morals and judgements were often in poor taste and even evil is sometimes overlooked for her genius. If Coco was alive today with her way of thinking I would not buy the CHANEL product because she was a bigot, and an oppressor. Coco is gone and CHANEL remains. Long live CHANEL and I chose to look at the wonder, not the history, except to remember that not all is as it seems.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
Please enjoy this mini movie for the wonderful piece of propaganda that it is.
Portia xx
Photo Stolen girlwiththecuriousnose
Hello Fellow Fumies,
Some of you may know that way back in the dimness of time I was a Squirt Bitch for a department store in Sydney’s suburbs, my fragrance section was Guerlain, Oscar de la Renta, Worth and Nina Ricci. At the time I was so dazzled by the Guerlains and Oscars that poor old Nina Ricci got left behind, it was the 1980s and very few people were after such subtlety, especially once I started on my “Make a statement” spiel. I recently purchased some L’Air du Temps parfum just for old times sake. Then, a short while ago on Fragrantica Miguel Matos did a sensational L’Air du Temps 65th Birthday piece and judging by the packaging on my new acquisition it’s 1986-2008 juice, except the parfum has gold doves on the box. Which is a SCORE. Today was always going to be about L’Air du Temps but now it has an extra special reason, Happy 65th Birthday L’Air du Temps.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Rose, carnation, bergamot, neroli, aldehydes, Brazilian rosewood, peach
Heart: Cloves, carnation, orris root, gardenia, rosemary, jasmine, ylang ylang, violet, rose, orchid
Base: Musk, amber, sandalwood, iris, spices, vetiver, cedar, oakmoss, benzoin
I love a floral, fruity, aldehydic opening of yesteryear, there is so much depth and glamour. It’s spicy and sugared, crisp and warm and fizzy, L’Air du Temps is fun! The parfum version is so much fuller and more powerful in the opening than my memories of the EdT back in the 1980s but the scent is still the same, no not the same but same enough to feel the memories flood back. Both cozy and starched elegance at the same time. Luminous! I am back in time over 20 years and just getting my first perfumista stars.
After the first ten minutes L’Air du Temps takes a definite step towards soft, there become space between the various notes and the wall of scent becomes a lovely warm floral aura that is still spicy and punchy but more restrained. There is so much going on in L’Air du Temps that I find it hard to pick individual notes. The cloves are most discernible and I can smell flowers but it’s a dream of flowers nothing specific. While half the time feeling totally old fashioned and dated it also is still spare and pretty enough through the heart to be at ease in today’s fragrant climate. An hour in and I am softly fragrant, maybe if I was sitting in a small room for a while you’d smell a change in the air but otherwise you’d have to hug me to know I’m perfumed.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Amber and sandalwood/cedar are what I smell most of in the dry down, there are other things but I can’t decipher them as notes it’s more of a harmonious background hum. After around 4 hours L’Air du Temps goes so soft I can barely register it but I know that I’m not smelling me, it is definitely other, an amorphous wash that I lose at around 5-6 hours.
How does L’Air du Temps make me feel? Pretty, I feel pretty, no bold statement, very laid back and comfortable. Wearable on any occasion, even close working quarters would not be offended by L’Air du Temps parfum. It is subtle and glamorous without the hard work of appearing to be.
Further reading: Perfume Shrine and Bois de Jasmin
Fragrance Shop starts at $33/50ml EdTBeauty Encounter has $160/0.25 oz Parfum Classic Flacon Collection Cristal Lalique Bottle
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml
Have you worn L’Air du Temps? Does it have memories for you? Share with us please in the comments
Se you tomorrow,
Portia xx
Whoever got the job of creating this ad was both crazy and genius by the look of it. It is still super wow.
Hello Fumies and Friends,
There was a lot of kerfuffle when by Kilian brought out his newest set of fragrances “In The Garden Of Good And Evil”, we were all expecting way too much because of by Kilian’s history and price point. To be fair on the poor guy he did open with beyond amazing fragrances: Back to Black and Sweet Redemption being my two faves so far. Then came the Asian Tales, which for me were a complete and utter flop. So as a comeback series “In The Garden Of Good And Evil” needed to be so far above the bar, include new directions and exquisitely crafted fragrances. I have read Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil by John Berendt a couple of times and seen the John Cusack, Kevin Spacey and Jude Law film many times because I love The Lady Chablis. In my mind I hoped for something outrageous and dark, brooding dankness that was glossed over with beauty.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Apple, peach, plum, cinnamon
Heart: Bulgarian rose, bourbon geranium, jasmine
Base: Vanilla, honey, opoponax
I am glum. With Forbidden Games I had hoped that the jasmine, honey and to an extent vanilla/opoponax were going to undercut the fruit with a dirty, fleshy, breathy, urinous backbeat that would naughtily and subversively poke fun at the many fruity fragrances already in the market. Something gorgeous and devilish, a finger raised fearlessly at the quagmire of fizzy fruit cup crap. Sadly this was not to be. Forbidden Games leads us and our expectations astray, we get a very pretty, sweet, fruity and only the merest hint of anything not being ultra nice. I was hoping for Serial Mom but I got Mrs Brady.
Forbidden Games is not a bad scent, actually it is flawless in its genre, and will be perfect for those uber rich Dads to gift daughters and wives (They are giving their mistresses the Arabian Nights and L’oeuvre Noire collections). Especially good for a gateway fragrance that will take a girl to a perfumista woman. The packaging and copy are fabulous, of course, and they didn’t just release this for fun so there must be a clientele out there buying Forbidden Games, let’s hope so for the company’s sake.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
My skin eats most of Forbidden Games in the first half hour of application and after that I need to take a really up close focused whiff of myself to get anything much. If you like the idea of spritzing yourself with perfume and the initial rush of sweet, fruity girlishness but can’t or don’t want to wear fragrance at work then this could be for you. Fireworks and then the merest whiffle of something that is soft enough to pass off as body lotion because offices are so drying, don’t you know.
Photo Stolen Tormod Sandtorv Flickr
Further reading: The Non-Blonde and Patty really made me think about my review at Perfume Posse
Lucky Scent has $245/50ml or $145 for refill
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/.5ml
I am yet to try the rest of the “In The Garden Of Good And Evil” set but my buddies on FFF tell me there are a couple of perfect gems hiding in the range, my next “To Try” will be In The City Of Sin. How did they fare on you?
Portia xx
Photo Stolen MoviePilot
Australian Perfume Junkies 