Vogue Diaries with Natalie Portman

Hey Everyone,

Today I had hoped to show a video of Radium Maxwell and I doing a LIVE Video Sniff of the Neela Vermeire Creations. The universe has said that it should be shown at a later date, a unilateral decision on its part.

Photo Stolen FashionMag

In its place I have for you a treat, Natalie Portman was the cover girl and did a pictorial piece photographed by Peter Lindbergh for the January 2011 edition of US Vogue. In this video she talks a little about the shoot, the fashion, her role in Black Swan and stuff. What is more interesting than what Natalie is saying is how she says it, very casual, natural and clearly she thinks about what she is saying, but not self consciously. I have watched this 2.30sec clip a few times and really like Natalie Portman playing herself.

Photo Stolen JustJared

Do please enjoy,
Don’t forget tomorrow we have a super Neela Vermeire Creations GIVEAWAY!!
Portia

Mohur by Bertrand Duchaufour for Neela Vermeire Creations 2011

Welcome back Perfumistas,

Yesterday we had an interview with the amazing Neela Vermeire of Neela Vermeire Creations. today we are going to look at one of her fragrances, Mohur, composed with Bertrand Duchaufour.

Photo Stolen guerlain.pl

From LuckyScent:
The name refers to the most valuable gold coin in India’s history, the last of which was minted in 1918. A way, perhaps, of underlining the value given to perfumery during the Mogul era, an art so highly considered that the most powerful empress of the Mughal dynasty, Noor Jahan, devoted herself to perfecting it.
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Photo Stolen worldofcoins.eu

Fragrantica LuckyScent and Neela Vermeire Creations give these notes and accords, each site is slightly different so I have melded them all:
Top: Cardamom, coriander, ambrette (musk mallow), carrot seeds, black pepper, elemi oil
Heart: Turkish rose oil, Moroccan Rose Absolute (rose accords around 11%),  jasmine, iris/orris, aubepin (midland hawthorn), almond milk accord, leather, violet
Base: Sandalwood, amber, patchouli, oudh Palao from Laos, benzoin, vanilla, tonka bean

Photo Stolen Neela Vermeire Creations

What do I smell when I wear Mohur? The very first whiff is pepper and spices jumping off my skin but it doesn’t take long for the ambrette and elemi to add their musky/woody tones though there is still a strong spicy/herbal wash over all. This is no big blockbuster of a fragrance, it’s more refined than that; it does give great scent and more than moderate sillage but not in an overwhelming way so I think very wearable for dinner, cocktails or dates, but maybe a little too much for close quarters working
The green hawthorn is the next player to make itself known heralding the rise of the flowers, and boy are they something! Like the lithe and lovely Indian women in their bright colours walking to get water each morning and evening they sway into the picture and ROSES, roses, ROSES backed up by a bouquet that is way beyond my meager abilities to parse. This is exactly the scent I would love to wear to dinner at the Lake Palace in Udaipur (where you can watch the chefs make reincarnations of the feasts of Mughal and Raj days), or the Wildflower Hall in Shimla (where I was lucky enough to spend my birthday in 2010) or the Neemrana Palace outside Delhi (where we spent our 8th Anniversary) or even the hall of the Dalai Lama in McLeod Gang (though McLeod Gang is now so much a tourist Mecca that I hardly recognised it from 2000-2010). I feel like I am in the lap of India’s most jaw droppingly awesome and outrageous luxury, even almost smelling the dust that has to be hand collected in wet rags three times a day by the servants, and still the snap and sizzle of lunch frying, that was present in the opening, persists alongside the roses. What an adventure!

At around the 2-3 hour mark I still have a green pepper fragrance behind a slight sweetening of the bouquet of roses and other flowers, like an amber/vanilla mist that is laid over the top. Mohur smells really expensive on the body, lavish, opulent and glamorous are words that instantly jump to my mind. The whole fragrance is much softer now; the sillage is maintained at slightly lower levels.

By nearly 5 hours I have a sweet vanillic, milky, woody and ever so slightly soapy dry down that continues for somewhere over an hour when I lose all sense of wearing fragrance. WOW!! Every time I wear Mohur it’s a slightly different ride but it was really fun today to document my wearing of it for you.

Photo Stolen Neela Vermeire Creations

Looking for other reviews? NowSmellThis looks specifically at Mohur and CandyPerfumeBoy does all three NVC in the line.
NeelaVermeireCreations was where I bought my 10ml x 3 frags discovery set for only 90 euro delivered anywhere in the world
LuckyScent has 55ml bottles $250

These are a must try fragrance line because there is real love poured into their creation, they use the best ingredients available, smell incredible and God Damn It, you deserve the best. Come see us Thursday for a very special Neela Vermeire give away!

Have you tried this line? Do you have a favourite? Why?
As always love to you and yours,

Portia xx

PS: The opening photo stolen openlib

Feels Like Spring In Sydney: SUNDAY QUICKSNIFF REVIEWS #16

Hi Fellow Perfume Junkies,
Click here for more graphics and gifs!

Today in Sydney was absolutely perfect so TSO Jin, EmmaKate, EvieC and I decided to go down to the Art Gallery of NSW and see the Eugène Atget Old Paris Photographic Exhibition which featured over 200 rare and original prints from the founder of documentary photography. He was quite a trailblazer because no one had properly recorded much of this architecture, era, or any of these rag n bone people, and Paris was making way for the grand designs of Baron Haussmann’s 19th-century modernisation program so loads of it was lost forever. After that we took a little side trip across the Domain and Hyde Park to David Jones, the world’s oldest department store trading under its original name, and slipped into their fragrance floor for a squiz.

What did I wear to look at art? What did we sniff? Below you’ll find a 3 line mini review and our ratings of a few of what we smelled today, it became a bit of an orgy of scent. Follow the jump to find our Rating System Page (<<jump).

Photo Stolen fragrantica

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DITA VON TEASE EdP 2012: Dita Von Tease has been peeking at me from her box, practically begging me to put her on, today I succumbed thinking she would be an excellent chaperone for the Art Gallery. This has a wonderful fresh opening that is citrus herbal to my nose, the pepper is wet not spicy. Warm, breathy, white flowers and rose slip in pretty quickly and tango with the wet pepper. I was still smelling a cool floral bouquet by the time I got lost in the photographs of Eugène Atget. After we lunched I was scentless, around 4-5 hours. CheapSmells 20ml/$23 S=**** L=** D=***

AQUA ALLEGORIA ???? by Guerlain: You want to know how angry I am at myself right now? I sprayed myself lavishly and didn’t get the name. WHAT AN IDIOT!!! I am going back for a bottle tomorrow, I smell AH MAY ZING. We all got coconut, white flowers, salt, honey and warm woods here but we are probably completely wrong. S=***** L=*** D=*****

Coco Noir Chanel for womenPhoto Stolen fragrantica

COCO NOIR by CHANEL 2012. I would like to take a moment to apologise to anyone that I have sneered at for loving Coco Noir. EvieC tried it on and it is fabulous, sexy, floral, tonka and musk. It has depth, charm, is present but not overpowering and that bottle is to kill for, don’t listen to people who say it’s not all that, it’s all that and a bag of chips. We only were together for 40 minutes while she was wearing it but, LORD oh Lord!! it smelled of a sweeter heaven: seriously impressed Chanel. S=***** L=? D=*****

WOODY 154 by JO MALONE. The SA gave Jin a spritz on each arm and told him that this arm is Woody 154. English is his second language and sometimes he misses the point of sentences but REALLY?? Woody 154? I hope the same girl is on tomorrow so I can ask her which one Woody 154 is because I can’t find that scent in the list on Fragrantica. Jin smells really good though, even after his bath I can smell it on him; tenacious much? S=**** L=***** D=****

Have you tried anything this week that you liked, loved, hated and want to share with us? Please do in the comments below.
Thank you for dropping by and being part of our APJ family, see you tomorrow.
Portia xx

Piment Brulant By Bertrand Duchaufour for L’Artisan Parfumeur 2002

Hey Perfume Junkies,

It feels like it’s not a week without a L’Artisan Parfumeur review. Today we are looking at an extremely discreet fragrance from their range, it starts out super fireworks but very quickly becomes an alluring skin scent, just enough to make you smell better than ever but not enough to pick unless you are very, very close. It’s like a reward for getting that close.

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

The L’Artisan Parfumeur site says:
Piment Brûlant was inspired by the Aztec drink of xocotatl, the bitter cocoa and chili drink beloved of the warrior king Montezuma. He was reputed to drink fifty cups a day. This is an aphrodisiac blend of cocoa, vanilla, clove and poppy all tempered with the fire and bite of chili. Surprisingly green and fresh on the skin, this wonderful study in contrasts brings the skin alive.

Photo Stolen flavors.me/marchudgins

Fragrantica gives these featured notes/accords all in a line:
Amber, cinnamon, musk, poppy, vanilla, dark chocolate, cacao, clove and chili pepper

What do I smell? I love the opening of Piment Brulant, it’s like that first cut into a Bell Pepper, we call it Capsicum in Australia, a fresh green, wet and herbaceous smell. This lasts about 10-20 minutes depending on the day but is gradually joined by spicy chocolate, not a sweet chocolate, nor an edible one yet, but an unrefined cocoa-ish will be chocolate. It’s almost like the fragrance is fighting itself with a very treble capsicum and this dark undertone. As the fragrance lives on my skin the two separate shades move together as the amber & vanilla weave their way through to the top of the pile making it all smell extremely good but not bakery style, did I mention that up super close you get the cinnamon but less so from far away.

Now at about the 1 hour point the whole fragrance kind of eats itself and becomes so close to the skin that it’s almost undetectable unless you are close or you stick your head in your top and breathe deep. This stage lasts indefinitely, I can never tell when it has truly gone but TSO Jin has still been able to smell traces the morning after if I wear 5 spritzes.

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

I love the freshness, the sprightly, springy, gorgeousness of Piment Brulant that is absolutely guaranteed to lift my mood. It fits well with warm weather but will also sit pretty on you in cool. Not too strong for work as long as there is no ANTI PERFUME LEAGUE there and I love to wear it for dinner and date night.

If you’re looking for other reviews NowSmellThis and EauMG
eGlobalBeauty has 50ml/$93 or 100ml/$131 including worldwide delivery!
SurrenderToChance has decants from $4/ml

What do you love in the world of spicy green fragrances? Does chocolate do it for you? Could you see yourself in this dizzying mixture? Where would you wear it?
I want to take a moment to thank you for your continued support, it means a lot to all of us at APJ that you have chosen to become part of our fragrance family, see you tomorrow,

Portia xx

Angeliques Sous La Pluie by Jean-Claude Ellena for Frederic Malle 2000

Hello Happy Huffers,

Not so long ago SurrenderToChance had a DailyChanceSpecial on Angeliques Sous La Pluie (Angelicas In The Rain) so I got 5ml for a very reasonable price. Do check by there every couple of days because sometimes the DailyChanceSpecials are incredible, never to be repeated bargains.

Angéliques Sous La Pluie Frederic Malle for women and menPhoto Stolen Fragrantica


Fragrrantica
gives the featured notes/accords all in one line:
Coriander, pink pepper, cedar, angelica, juniper and musk.

I love the crisp medicinal pepper and then warm woody opening that makes me think of jasmine, though there is none. I have been reading that angelicas smell like juniper and musk mainly so that’s a tick for them. I have an expectation that the corriander would smell different to this or maybe I’m missing it all together? There is definitely a wet woods smell, like you have walked out at the start or end of a shower, maybe a sunshower. There is also the feeling of that marvelous extra green almost yellow tinged air that makes everything seem more alive sometimes. They are right not to give notes in order because though the scent list is small it works like a kaliedescope, constant change with lovely segways in between that are all and nothing. I don’t understand why I get powder here? Is that usual? A very powdery woods and now I kind of get the corriander, there is something herbal and spicy here lingering and fluctuating up and through.

Photo Stolen wikipedia

Though this is light a fresh and feels amorphous there is a definite fragrance here that is quite tenacious, sillage is great leaving a lovely effervescent scent trail for people to look after at your back. Though it is soft it is intrusive and I think it may be too big for close office work but comfortable for coffee, dinner, movie and would also be a beautifully crisp and fresh scent for sport or afterwards. Though it leans toward feminine I like it for men too, almost cologne-ish and light enough for most masculine endeavours.

This is a winner for me. It fits totally with our near spring weather in Sydney and will probably work for you Northern Hemisphere lot in the coming months. Crisp, light, fresh and totally wearable in most situations, even work I think.
Have you tried Angeliques Sous La Pluie? What did you think? Is it on your list? Please comment, I love to read your thoughts too.

Don’t forget to pop over to the PerfumePosse to see my Guest post there today too. It’s so exciting and an honour to be on one of the world’s most famous and read frag blogs.

Thanks for reading through my fragrant thoughts today, see you tomorrow too,

Love,
Portia xx

Shalimar Parfum by Jacques Guerlain 1925

Hey Hey All,
I am wearing one of my Shalimar 1970-80s Parfums for the last time. It came in a lovely gold tone basket weave atomiser. The parfum version of the one pictured below. Unfortunately they don’t make the parfum inserts for this case anymore, or at least I can’t find them in Sydney, Australia. So instead of Boo Hoo-ing I’m sending my Shalimar far away to a new home where I know it will be treasured and used to the last dregs.

Shalimar Parfum by Jacques Guerlain 1925

From Fragrantica
Shalimar was created by Jacques Guerlain in 1925, as a tribute to the legendary love story between Emperor SHAHJAHAN and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Before he became emperor his name was Prince Khurram. According to the legend, twenty- year-old Prince Khurram met a young girl, named Arjumand Banu at the bazaar where her family worked. Mesmerized by her beauty, after becoming emperor, he made her his wife as Mumtaz Mahal, meaning the “Jewel of the Palace”. After the wedding ,the prince and Mumtaz were inseparable, in war and in peace. She had given 13 children to Shahjahan and died during the birth of their 14th child at the age of 39. Her death devastated Shah Jahan and had built Taj Mahal in memory of his wife and their undying love. Shalimar is named after ‘The Gardens of Shalimar’. It was Mumtaz’s favorite garden.

Shalimar Guerlain FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

In times of major events, stress, fun, worry, happiness, even going down to the shop or cleaning through the years this case and parfum have been right there with me. There’s not even 2ml left now but the juice is still perfect.

How does it smell? Well the first waft if you spray on your chest is a big fat animalic, citrus and vanilla rush so filled with the animals that unless you are prepared it can knock you a bit silly, and the rush isn’t over in a minute like many modern perfumes, no way! You get a full 40 minutes of this deliciously deranged magic. All warm and cuddly vanilla, spicy citrus and just got home from work, then gym and about to have sex manimal. GRRRR! How was this ever an elegant womens fragrance? Such raw and sexy content. Now that I know the term, “Ho Panies” I can’t get the image out of my nostrils, this is sex bottled.

As we mosey along together the rich powdery iris and vetiver take centre stage, still with all the musk and civet squaring up with the incense, resins and woods. I think I miss the patchouli because it’s so unlike the ones used today and I must be mistaking it for something else. Hours and hours of this section as the beautifully blended magic works through its own accords in Shalimar’s own time, I have never noticed a pepper note but there is definitely one lurking around and through today. In the very mild winter we are having I get nearly a full afternoon from this section before it starts heading towards the sweet vanilla, suede and wood dry down that anyone who loves Shalimar will know so well.

ADVERT Famous FRENCH Perfume SHALIMAR GENIE Art Deco
Photo Stolen eBay

You can read excellent Shalimar reviews with some fun historical data at PerfumeShrine and BoisDeJasmin

Love to you all, thanks for dropping by, see you tomorrow,

Portia xx

Patchouli Imperial by Francois Demachy for DIOR 2011

Well Hello There Fumies,

Today we are going to delve again into that magnificent La Collection Couturier Parfumeur by Francois Demachy for DIOR. Having ordered a decant set recently we will be looking at the collection over the next few weeks.

La Collection Couturier Parfumeur Patchouli Imperial Dior for menPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Olfactoria’s Travels gives these featured notes/accords:
Sicilian mandarin, Calabrian bergamot, Russian coriander, Indonesian patchouli, cedarwood and sandalwood essence

My skin gives me the quickest burst of citrus and corriander before a dirty patchouli waltzes through, lasting about an hour and then my skin eats the whole damn thing and I’m left scentless. So ANNOYING! I felt as if I was going for an incredible ride and to have it so truncated was very disappointing, to say the very least.

DIOR Gown Photo Stolen pilarrossiblog

This is still an interesting fragrance because when I couldn’t get a handle on it for myself I decided to spray TSO Jin with it last night and the first thing he said was Old Spice!! I laughed in his face and asked him to be serious but he made me go and get the Old Spice and put it on him. I’ll be damned but it’s a darker, less sweet version of Old Spice on him. HA HA HA HA HA!! This morning there was a lovely warm, woody, suede-like extra zing to his personal body scent that I found very sexy, skin scent but SOOO good. I think I will give my decant to him, as a present to me.

BoisDeJasmin and Perfume Shrine do almost black and white reviews they’re so opposite.

SurrenderToChance does decants starting at $3/ml

Sorry I couldn’t be more help in your search for the one today but there are plenty of loving reviews for Patchouli Imperial, I just can’t be among them.

See you tomorrow,

Portia xx

Champaca by Linda Pilkington for Ormonde Jayne 2002

Hey ho Perfume Junkies,

I have a super friend called Undina from Undina’s Looking Glass, (called Undinaba because she is Bloody Amazing) which is one of the frag blogs that I read EVERY installment of. We have sent each other a couple of fragrance care packages and my most recent one arrived just this week, a veritable scent filled goldmine of things long read & heard about, pored over and pondered upon while making hasty “Can I justify/afford this?” calculations in my head.  Ormonde Jayne’s Champaca is just such a one. Even the frickin box looks too posh for me. This stuff is SERIOUSLY GORGEOUS!!

I must now say that having done some looking I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the affordability of the range, well within reasonable splurge range even on a way less than CEO style financial package.

Photo Stolen fragrantica

The internet tells me that the Michelia champaca is closely related to the fragrant magnolia but the flowers are yellow and smaller but their scent stronger. It is native to South and South East Asia and some of China, and has been used for millenia in fragrance.

Fragrantica gives these main accords:
Top: Neroli, pink pepper, bamboo
Heart: Basmati rice, champaca, freesia
Base: Myrrh, musk, green tea

Photo Stolen fragrantica

That fizzy pink pepper and orange blossom opening that is so 21st century is only slightly softened by the dry light bamboo, had we not had a stand of bamboo in the back yard that we played in and around as children I would probably never have noticed its inclusion.

Basmati rice really does come through the champaca and freesia, like it’s buoying them up and they float beautifully above it. There is still a definite orange blossom through the very heart of the fragrance and still there 5 hours into my wear. I was expecting Champaca to become a skin scent much sooner than this, though the musk is making itself known. I think staying close to me rather than skin scent, Champaca doesn’t seem to need to announce itself to the room though for the first couple of hours on returning to a room I could smell I’d been there. My skin gives me no tea, everyone else raves about the green tea, I went and made myself a cup to check but to no avail, my skin drank the tea.

It’s now 8+ hours, we’ve been for dinner, watched a movie at home on TV and I’m finishing up my post, there is now a slightly musky smell but it’s a sweet sweat, the myrrh and still, amazingly, a little of that sexy neroli; but you have to be close enough to….

Photo Stolen OrmondeJayne

Above you can see pictured the ORMONDE JAYNE DISCOVERY SET 12 x 2ml for only 48 pound including postage worldwide!
If you’d rather spring for a bottle prices start at 64 pound for 4 x 10ml Travel Purse Sprays or 80 pound for 50ml EdP at the OrmondeJayne site which is a pretty good deal for such outstanding niche fragrance presented so beautifully.

I love the Olfactoria’sTravels review and BoisDeJasmin always knows the good stuff

Thank you for coming and wandering through my fragrant thoughts, I hope you have enjoyed yourself as much as I did to bring them to you.
Wishing each of you only the good stuff you wish for yourselves,
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx

This is Linda Pilkington chatting about Champaca from her Ormonde Jayne website.

LuckyScent Summer Samples: SUNDAY QUICKSNIFF REVIEWS #15

Hi Fumie Friends,
Click here for more graphics and gifs!

Last week the LuckyScent Summer Sample Collection arrived so I thought I would trot out 4 of the 10 new scents involved and give you the usual 3 sentences and a star rating. I figured you all liked this so much last week that we’d look at another 4 this week, cool? Follow the jump to find our Rating System Page (<<jump).

If you’d like to be a part of the LuckyScent Sample Program just join their eMail Newsletter Signup and every so often they will offer you a bunch of great new stuff to try, no pushy sales or minimum amount to buy, it’s either yes please or ignore. They are very reasonably priced; the 10 piece Summer Sample Collection was only $30 + P&H. There is a downside though, they are only .7ml vials so if you want to spritz you’ll have to self decant. I would pay double happily for a 1.5ml spray set, I have asked for it but you all need to too.

Summer Sample Pack   by  Luckyscent Sample PacksPhoto Stolen LuckyScent

In the bag:
The Different Company – After Midnight , Limon de Cordoza, Tokyo Bloom, Sienne d’Orange
Keiko MecheriUn Jour d’Ete
Mona di OrioRose Etoile de Hollande
Parfums MDCI – Un Coeur en Mai, newly reformulated
Penhaligon’s – Peoneve
L’Artisan ParfumeurSeville a l’Aube
Ramon MonegalLovely Day

AFTER MIDNIGHT by THE DIFFERENT COMPANY 2012: If you dab this you could be excused asking “why bother?” because this needs to be spritzed for me to even smell it. Once you do spritz though its a fun winter version of EdC with a warmer more vanilla and musk tone but with the light frothy approach so desirable in cologne. It is interesting and I think you could get away with it in  a work environment without feeling like you’d given up fragrance. It gets sexier the longer you have it on and respritzing after 4 hours will give you an even better, deeper, longer lasting version with itself as a base. $120/90ml S=**** L=** D=***

TOKYO BLOOM by THE DIFFERENT COMPANY 2012: This is interesting, it opens as sharply as hairspray and is a wonderful awkward blend of green, milky, musky, spicy and fizzy tones that I’ve never met together before yet still manages to smell GREAT! I was expecting an aqueous nothing and am beyond pleasantly surprised. You must at least take some time to try this marvelous, well priced, innovative fragrance. $120/90ml S=***** L=*** D=****

UN COEUR EN MAI EdP by PARFUMS MDCI 2012. A very lively green, peppery and citrus opening quickly leads to a spicy floral romp through a spring garden, white flowers, lily, rose, geranium all combine with some sweet (but not THAT sweet) fruity accords as if you’ve arrived at the garden lunch table for fresh fruit salad. I get a very slight cashmeran woods beneath the whole and towards the end but miss the musk unless it’s sprayed, I enjoyed this perfume immensely though it’s priced well out of my interest range. $250/60ml S=**** L=*** D=****

PEONEVE by PENHALIGON’S 2012. The violet leaf is a fresh, pretty, unpredictable, expensive feeling opening, such a change from pink pepper, bergamot or aldehydic blasts. I become almost complete anosmic to it for about 20 mins, just an extremely whispery floral tinkle in the air around me and then a beautiful light floral symphony surrounds me, reminiscent of a way less intense Gucci Guilty. Peoneve has an almost fruity, peppery rose and dry down is a little green, earth and musky at skin scent level then 4-5 hours gone. $120/50ml S=**** L=** D=***

These samples were from LuckyScent where you can buy full bottles of these fabulous perfumes and samples

Have you tried anything this week that you’d like to share with us? We’d love to read it so leave a message, you’ll get a response.
Thank you for dropping by and being part of our APJ family,
Portia xx

Le Nuit De l’Homme by YSL 2009 Video

Hey Hey All,

While I have never sniffed Le Nuit de l’Homme I do think they’ve done a great job with the ad. Not feminist inspired or even acceptable probably but I think it is the ultimate fantasy of most men. Wanted by 3 women at the same time, all gorgeous, all elegant all within a certain circle of society. The reality would be a disaster but it looks nice in this ad.

Out of interest, has anyone smelt this fragrance? Is it as good as the ad? Does the ad sell the correct product?I expect it to be screamingly masculine by the movie but….

Please enjoy the mini movie, even if it’s just to growl BASTARD at the computer,

Portia xx

Pics from Fragrantica, Video YouTube