Fashion

Escale à Portofino by Francois Demachy for DIOR 2008

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Hello Happy Huffers,

In todays post we look at a fragrance that I’ve always thought of as a mid summer spritz to cool, calm and collect myself. I have rarely worn it in the cooler months and then only for memories of summer. It has always felt beautifully blended but today for the first time I am wearing it for review purposes.

Escale à Portofino for DIOR 2008

Escale & Portafino FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, petitgrain and lemon
Heart: Almond, orange blossom and juniper berries
Base: Cedar, cypress, galbanum, caraway and musk

BANG! WHOOSH! Citrus opens bright, effervescent and audacious. A sparkling and fun fizz that says summer is around the corner, we are gripped by spring, life is good and wonders will never cease. For a fun pick me up to any blue day then Escale à Portofino is the antidote. A big cheesy smile in every spritz. We maintain a green freshness as the juniper berries sweep in but my skin and nose doesn’t register the orange blossom except as background voices to the lovely green snap of those berries, and the citrus stays around for a very decent length of time into fragrance life.

Lemonade WallpapersCraftPhoto Stolen WallpapersCraft

When the almonds come through its a sweet milky surprise, woodsy too, adding a lovely depth to what is essentially a very cologne-esque adventure. I am surprised that Escale à Portofino hasn’t been marketed more directly to the men, it would be a perfect masculine as well as being a lovely feminine. The dry down never registered with me before today, it maintains its green heart but warming and unsweetening slightly and becoming a bit more herbal. Very interesting. A very Green Tea scent to close, gorgeous whispers and wafts before finally, gone.

My main qualm with Escale à Portofino is that usually when I wear it the lasting power is terrible, around 3 hours maximum. Today though when worn with the express purpose of reviewing it I got over 6 hours of fragrant life, interesting. This may be better in mid seasons rather that the heat or cold? Today is a lovely 20 degrees celcius with the sun shining and I feel like I have made a new fragrant friend, the whole life of Escale à Portofino got more interesting and longer.

GreenTea Fragrance-OilPhoto Stolen Fragrance-Oil

Further reading BoisDeJasmin and Olfactoria’sTravels
FragranceNet has $55/75ml
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml

Don’t you love it when an old favourite that you’ve worn for ages at a certain time changes its face for you? What frags have done this for you?
Portia xx

Baque by Slumberhouse 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Hello Niche Nerds.

I make no disguise of the fact that I love this crew. Every time I try a new fragrance from them there is something magnetic, audacious and animal in every bottle. This particular decant came from a split run by Ruth K on FFF if my memory serves me correctly.

Baque by Slumberhouse 2012

Baque FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Apricot, cedar, vanilla, tobacco leaf, artemisia and ambergris

I have an apology to make, Baque is no longer available and was a limited release made for IndieScents. Josh tells me though that Slumberhouse will be bringing back a couple of their previous Limited Editions, Sana and Flou, in coming weeks so do go check out the Slumberhouse website for those.

Baque Slumberhouse green girl SpiritPartagePhoto Stolen SpiritPartage

So Baque, opens woodsy, sweet, rough and dangerous! The artemesia giving a gorgeous bitter and herbal depth that is at once antiseptic-fresh clean and healthy-damp compost-heap earthy. The apricot and vanilla sweetness cuts across all this forest through the mid range of wear and gives a syrup like patina that would be welcome on pancakes. I am sad that I never bought a bottle because Baque is so deep and luscious. I also detect a hint of freshly used coffee grounds and bitter, dark chocolate. Extraordinary scent that you will never find the likes of in Sephora unless we see drastic change in GP consumer tastes.

Towards the dry down the whole fragrance warms slightly into the vanilla and wood giving a golden warm sepia tint to the whole, much like the below image.

As with all the other Slumberhouse fragrances that I’ve tried and worn sillage is wonderful and projection moderate. Too fragrant for close office quarters, and probably quite a few not too close workplaces, unless fragrance is a welcomed addition to your person. I am fragrant from one spritz for more than 6 hours.

Baque Slumberhouse Wood girl ListOfImagesPhoto Stolen ListOfImages

From Slumberhouse: Slumberhouse is a boutique cologne label in the heart of Portland, OR; created and inspired by urban and street culture, art, film and music – especially the new school of hiphop and graffiti artists. We are a group of young gents who march to our own beat, embracing an absolute disregard for other brands, trends and marketing cliches. Slumberhouse represents an unequivocal love for the art of fragrance making.

Further reading NotableScents and SmellyThoughts looks at a few in the Slumberhouse range
Slumberhouse Website
Parfum1 has a good selection also
SurenderToChance has a selection of the Slumberhouse samples and decants

What from the Slumberhouse range have you tried? Did you enjoy their work? I’d love to hear about your Slumberhouse experiences, good or bad.
Till tomorrow,

Portia xx

Pure Vanilla by Lavanila Laboratories 2007

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 27 Comments

Hello Vanilla Lovers,

Have I got a special treat for you today! Sophisticated vanilla…

Pure Vanilla by Lavanila Laboratories 2007

Pure Vanilla FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Patchouli, freesia, heliotrope, Madagascar vanilla and tonka bean

I have just realised how little vanilla-centric fragrance is in my collection. When I think vanilla I go straight for JPG Le Male, it’s still a fragrance that will make me follow a person wearing it to continue the sillage trail sniffing. Sure, many of my fragrances have or end in a vanilla of sorts but this is a whole new ballgame.

Pure Vanilla is a natural fragrance (whatever that means) and opens with a fabulous rush of lactic, spicy, vanilla. It’s awesome! Rich, warm and comforting, sexy and sensual. Great sillage and excellent scent bubble, though I wasn’t skunking people, and everyone elses fragrance was smelled through a vanilla haze tonight. I felt really beautiful while wearing Pure Vanilla, beautiful and rich. Considering how affordable it is, that is an awesome feat. I enjoyed the ride so much that at home tonight after work, 6 powerhouse hours later, I wanted to relive the fairly linear journey again. Maybe the flowers and patchouli add something elegant to this creation because it’s not just vanilla, it’s so much more: more interesting, more alluring and more beautiful. I am so impressed that I will track a bottle down while in the USA in May.

Pure Vanilla Beans chefleticiaPhoto Stolen chefleticia

If you live in the USA or Canada then go to Lavanila Laboratories with $58/50ml
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml

Till tomorrow,
Love, hugs and fragrant waftings.
Portia xx

Hothouse Flower by Ineke Ruhland for INeKE 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Hello Fellow Fumies.

I have a great online fragrance buddy, Undina from Undina’sLookingGlass, she is smart, cool and always a step ahead. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get a small Undina curated frag pack in the mail of things she thinks I will like, or that I must sniff. This one got slightly lost in transit but when the shiny blue package arrived I was over the moon. Swapping is a great way to find out more scents with only the charge of some decanting supplies and postage. Thank You Undina again

Hothouse Flower by INeKE 2012

HotHouse Flower FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green tea, green leaves and cypress
Heart: Gardenia, galbanum, fig and olibanum
Base: Guaiac wood, musk and corn silk

My first thought upon spritzing is gardenia, I so love that fresh fragrance and when it feels green, broken branch, sap and crushed leaves overlaid with gardenia I am in fragrance heaven. There is a luscious creaminess in Hothouse Flower that hovers above the green making our cool, sunny Autumn day here in Sydney feel like Spring. I feel as if I should walk outside to see the daffodils and spring runner iris in bloom instead of the Camellias flowering and the Liquidamber just starting to turn red at the top. A fresh gardenia with only the very slightest nod to its skanky, animalic deep notes, Hothouse Flower is a fresh burst of crisp that warm slowly over time but not a lot. It sweetens and the resins add a hint of amber or caramel, maybe it’s the fig adding a sweet milky note? We have a long waist high gardenia hedge four doors down the street and when it’s in flower we get a beautiful soft and elegant waft of an evening that drowns all other natural smells in the street, this smells like that hedge from our front yard. It is both fabulous and alluring, no wonder Billie Holiday chose it as her signature flower. In case you haven’t got the message, I freaking LOVE Hothouse Flower and will make it my first purchase from Scentsation in LA, May 11.

Though I can smell Hothouse Flower and feel extremely fragrant it doesn’t have a huge projection, nor does it take over a room quickly but half an hour later I come back to the room and I can smell a tiny pretty faded gardenia memory. About 4 hours of fragrant before I am left with only a whisper.

Raw Umber on Fragrantica said it excellently: Hothouse Flower smells like Spring erupting on all sides. It’s Spring on steroids. It is extremely uplifting and soothing….. It’s like natural anti-depressants. If you like gardenia, but dislike those heavy, sneeze-inducing, overpowering florals, this variation on a true to life green gardenia should help you begin your day on the right foot.

Hothouse Flower InekePhoto Stolen INeKE

Further reading NowSmellThis and Undina’sLookingGlass
INeKE has $95/75ml in the USA but doesn’t ship to Australia
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml

Have you tried this line? I liked Field Notes from Paris and thought it excellently done. Have you a favourite from the line yet?
See you tomorrow,

Portia xx

Amouage Interlude Woman Perfume Review by Eliza

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 47 Comments

.

Guest Post by Eliza

.

Hello you lovely Perfume Peeps!

We are joined today by one of our fabulous APJ winners from the past who has written in praise of Amouage Interlude Woman. I’d like to thank Libertine Parfumerie for their incredible generosity in providing our giveaway today.

Amouage Interlude Woman Perfume Review by Eliza

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, grapefruit, ginger, tagete (marigold)
Heart: Rose, frankincense, jasmine, orange blossom, helichrysum (immortelle), opoponax, sandalwood, walnut, coffee, kiwi, honey
Base: Vanilla, benzoin, amber, sandalwood, oakmoss, leather, tonka, musk, agarwood

Eliza here from the US. The package arrived today. What treasures!!! I immediately sprayed on the Amouage Interlude Woman. Initial thoughts were herby medicinal, like echinacia, or chamomile, so I was not surprised to read that it lists tagetes (marigold) in the top notes. Then peppers and something floral. Within a few moments I could smell incense, which finally developed into frankincense and probably myrrh. Right now it is softening to a lovely warm scent with floral underpinnings. But I can still smell the woods, and a bit of the medicine. Incensey perfumes are not my cup of tea, but this is quite lovely.

Amouage Interlude W + M GIVEAWAY!!

Interlude parfumeriePhoto Stolen parfumerie

I have an idea! Well it’s not such a new idea, I’m sure someone else has done it before and better but here it is. If you enter this draw and win then you must write me a MINI REVIEW of one of the fragrances that you win. Cool? The same as Eliza did up the top. Around 100 words. You too can be an APJ GUEST POST WRITER!!

I have four sets of Interlude Man + Interlude Woman by Amouage to give away and some surprises.

If we reach 100 Individual Commenters I will also add a 5ml metal atomiser filled with L’Artisan Parfumeurs recently discontinued Coeur de Vetiver Sacre

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

There are FOUR packs to give away this week, the winners will receive
1 x AMOUAGE Interlude Man carded 3ml Manufacturers Spray Sample
1 x AMOUAGE Interlude Woman carded 3ml Manufacturers Spray Sample
1 x Special Surprise Manufacturers Carded Sample
with P&H anywhere in the world

If we reach 100 Individual Commenters I will also add an extra draw -1 x 5ml metal atomiser filled with L’Artisan Parfumeurs recently discontinued Coeur de Vetiver Sacre

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who is a follower of AustralianPerfumeJunkies via email (eM), Bloglovin” (BGL), RSS, or WordPress (WP) and please leave how you follow in your comment. Yes, you may become a new follower to enter! In fact, we encourage it.
All you need to do this week is go to LibertinePerfumerie and get the name of any product they sell that hasn’t been used in this draw before! NO DOUBLE UPS!! That’s it!! EASY PEASY!

So 3 things you need to qualify!
1) Follow AustralianPerfumeJunkies
2) Tell us how you follow
3) Leave a fragrance sold by Libertine Parfumerie with your comment (no double ups)

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie AMOUAGE Interlude GIVEAWAY!! http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1wJ @AmouagePerfumes

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 21st 2013 10pm AusEST and winners will be announced in a separate post then.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and TSO Jin will pick them. He doesn’t even stop watching TV to do it usually.
The winners will have till Wednesday 24th 2013 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or I will give the prize to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Special THANKS to LibertinePerfumerie for the AMOUAGE Interlude Samples. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing and buying the right to import alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

GO TO IT GANG!!!

See you tomorrow,

Portia xxx

Series 3 Incense: Avignon by Bertrand Duchaufour for Comme des Garcons 2002

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

.

Gabriella

.

Avignon by Comme des Garcons 2002

Hello Everyone, Do we need to have a strong memory association or reference for a perfume to really move us? This is the question that popped into my head as soon as I tested Avignon by Comme des Garcons. Why? Because it moved me in such a way and yet, I couldn’t really fathom why. It’s an incense-based perfume and meant to be a fragranced homage to Catholicism. Many reviews, including the lovely Portia’s a few months ago, have emphasised the evocation of childhood memories of Catholic rites: days spent at mass surrounded by swinging censers and altar boys.

Avignon Mass Incense PoliticsDailyPhoto Stolen PoliticsDaily

But I’m not Catholic and I’ve always disliked incense. In fact, I avoided Avignon for many years, despite the glowing reviews for these very reasons. My scent impression of incense before trying the scent was of those cheap joss sticks they sell in two-dollar shops. And the closest I have come to being Catholic was having a serious girl crush on Josephine Byrnes in the mini-series Brides of Christ. For about a week or two, I thought how cool it would be to become a nun. (Ed: Josephine Burns and I were at the same drama school, lived in the same area and used to catch the train to and sometimes from school together. She was always the most beautiful young woman)

My fragrance loves tend to be white florals because I have spent my life surrounded by them. My grandmothers and mother wore white floral perfumes, Mum often had vases of lilies in the house and gardenias were a constant of my childhood summers. My first perfumes: Revlon’s Jontue and Cacharel’s Anais Anais built on that trajectory of association.

However, I also realise that we people who love perfumes can learn to appreciate and love new and different notes. But this, for me, is something different. As we sniff more and more, we can see beauty in the things that we once found ugly or appreciate a note that once we would have been happy to overlook. Perfume is an art form and as our noses become well trained, we can fall in love with something that we didn’t understand before. For a perfume to really well and truly move me though, to really feel like I am applying a second skin, I’d always thought it would need a strong evocation of something important or a strong memory.

And yet, that first drop of Avignon on flesh felt completely right. It was another lightbulb moment where I had the “wow” factor and I knew I’d end up buying a bottle.

Avignon FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

The perfume features notes of roman chamomile, cistus oil, elemi, incense, vanilla, patchouli, palisander, ambrette seeds.

For me, Avignon is all about the central theme of frankincense that undulates between smokiness, earthiness and brightness. It segues seamlessly on the skin between these different facets: the palisander bringing out the woody character, the patchouli amplifying the dark earthiness and the ambrette and chamomile giving the sense of brightness and joy. It’s quite a linear fragrance that moves softly and slowly on the skin. Its an introspective fragrance best suited to moments of quiet contemplation, evoking that sense of serenity you would need at times of prayer.

????????????????????????????????????????Photo Stolen ImpulseMagazin

And that’s why Avignon spoke to me so profoundly at a time in my life when everything felt discombobulated and stressful, Avignon took me to a place I needed to be. A place of tranquillity and reflection, a place where I could shut the door on the chaos that has been my life over the past month and I could just simply “be”. That is the magic of perfume.

For other more complete reviews, please see OlfactoryObsessed and Olfactoria’s review on PerfumeSmellin’Things
Luckyscent has Avignon for $US80/50ml.
SurrenderToChance has samples starting at $US4.59/ml.

Have you tried Avignon and what did you think of it? Have you ever tried a perfume that has completely floored you with it beauty and you can’t work out why?

With much love till next time!

M x

Daniel Craig Undressed – Adele – 007 Perfume?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 25 Comments

Hey Hey All,

Adele seems to have it all, including a quick rejoinder. My estimation of her has gone up a couple of notches after reading this. Her voice is such a magical thing I hope she stays around and grows old, rich and irrelevant instead of succumbing to drugs, madness or the 27 club as so many uber talents do. I have also dropped in, for your edification, the Skyfall video clip because Daniel Craig is a fabulous James Bond. Then down the bottom I added the 007 fragrance advertisement, OH DEAR!

Enjoy Adele and Daniel Craig.

Portia xx

Insecurities ADELEPhoto Stolen Facebook

Adele billboardPhoto Stolen Billboard

And a little present for you all, Daniel Craig on the beach, wet and in swim trunks. OMG!! Faint!

DanielCraig mynewplaidpantsPhoto Stolen MyNewPlaidPants

Eau de Cartier Essence d`Orange by Mathilde Laurent 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hello Lovely APJ Family,

Eau de Cartier Essence d`Orange 2010

EaudeCartierEssenced`Orange FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Oranges, bergamot
Heart: Violets
Base: Patchouli, cedar

I love the sparkly, fresh burst of opening here, all bright ORANGE! It’s so fun and frisky and perfect for warm weather wearing as the Northern Hemisphere heads towards summer. For us down here it is still eminently wearable on warm Autumnal days like today, we are rocking 25 degrees celcius and the sun is shining gloriously. The violets at the heart of Cartier Essence d`Orange are like woody and powdery soft whispers awaiting the magic of very clean patchouli and woods to round them out and make them more interesting. I love the barely there dry down, it really acts as if my skin smells better than it does, as if it has melded with my scent. Cartier Essence d`Orange becomes a shimmering subterfuge that makes it an excellent date night fragrance, especially if your skin needs to smell 100% on point for the late night playtime.

I am not swept away in a cloud of magical and wondrous memories, nor am I transported to other lands when I wear Cartier Essence d`Orange but it is a lovely scent, quiet and restrained, that gets quite a bit of skin time. I’ve nearly finished my second 5ml decant and ordered a FB online. Honestly, I am lucky to get 2 hours of full fragrance here but that whispering dry down is a killer on my skin and I love it.

OrangePatchouli mosleylanePhoto Stolen mosleyLane

Further reading NowSmellThis
FragranceNet has 100ml/$50
MyPerfumeSamples has $2/m but I bought $6/5ml Cer-Ay-Zee CHEAP!!

You better get a sample first, this may only be so good with my chemistry. If you have tried Cartier Essence d`Orange, what were your thoughts?
Portia xx