Fashion

5 QUICK SNIFFS and JUDE LAW

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hey fellow FumeHeads,

Quick Sniffs! Reviews <5 sentences each.

One thing I would like to ask though is if you could all please get the word out about our blog. It’s one month and we’ve had over 2000 separate people visit us, which is beyond AH MAY ZING! To really help create the community we dream of though we would like to take that to the moon and back. So if you enjoy reading our blather, know someone who loves fragrance or have an enemy that you’d like to torture with us, please go ahead. Facebook, Twitter, Phone, Email, Letter, Sky-write, Radio or TV, please mention us at every stop. Some of the Independent/Natural/Niche Perfumers that we are reviewing, interviewing and writing about just need a nudge to make them global concerns. We’d like to be part of making that happen for them and you are the only people who can help. Thank you in advance and please enjoy today’s offering.

L’ANONYME OU OP-1475-A by A LAB ON FIRE

This is minimalist, like a clean scent but with a bit more balls. It starts quite citrusy and wears softly to a slight, lovely warmth.  My skin eats it pretty quickly, a whisper in 40 mins; gone in 2 hours. But it’s so affordable that you won’t feel guilty for respritzing.

Fragrantica has the notes, accords and reviews LuckyScent does an admirable pitch and you can buy.

AMBER OUD by BY KILLAIN

This is the most easily accessible Oud scent I’ve tried so far. It is warm vanilla, spicy bay and amber with a hint of Oud. Extremely expensive in feel, smell and fact.

Notes etc by Fragrantica while TheCandyPerfumeBoy and BoisDeJasmine do reviews from different perspectives

MUSCHIO NOBILE by NOBILE 1942

Looking on the first 3 pages of Google I could not find single English review for this lovely soft Italian fragrance that wasn’t a press release revisited. The notes tell me a story that my nose doesn’t smell though. I miss the musk and citrus completely after the initial rush and am left with a linear floral and woodsy fragrance quite unlike anything I’ve smelled before. I find this fresh, light and unusual fragrance quite cool but friendly. I will get a 5ml decant to really try it out.

Fragrantica has the skinny, LuckyScent has a blurb and shopping

AOUD CUIR D’ARABIE by MONTALE

WOOF! Want an Auod faceplant with a block of freshly hewn wood in a barn with livestock and a rock hard Romeo just off his horse and ready for action? YES YOU DO. Insanely FBW!

Fragrantica for notes and stuff Scentrist & NathanBranch have opposing views to each other.

SHE WOLF by SMELLBENT

This starts with the same candied fried citrus that we have seen in loads of stuff and took me completely off guard because I was expecting a skanky ho of a fragrance. The gang were saying what a sexy masculine fragrance this is but all I smelled throughout was spicy citrus. My nose is MENTAL! She Wolf, I think I love you!

Fragrantica has the stuff and CaFleurBon writes about the whole SmellBent North by Northwest range

Thanks for making it to the bottom of my sniffy thoughts for today.

Portia xx

All photos Stolen from Fragrantica today.

The delicious Jude Law, Enjoy!

Poeme by Lancome Review

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Hey all,

As promised I thought I’d chat about a perfume that I didn’t know I should be ashamed of till I started reading about it.

POEME by LANCOME

This time to start with I’m giving you extra reading, Brian at I Smell Therefore I Am did such a wonderful job on Poeme back in 2009 that I would like you to read it. It is the only review I found on the first 3 pages of Google that didn’t just dish the Lancome spiel back at me. He has thought about the perfume and worn it. Kudos!

Here is a late entrant into the reviews BoisDeJasmine has done a less enamored review with some better quality, same accord, substitutes. Thanks Undina for bringing it to my attention.

Photo Stolen from aaajs.com

Fortunately, there were no preconceived ideas of Poeme as the Lancome loser here, because it’s still on the shelves when fragrances like Cuir de Lancome, Climat, and Sagamore, among many others, are gone. That people like Luca Turin despise Poeme had completely passed me by. What a shame for everyone. Poeme is lovely, a perfume for a woman, a lady. Someone not afraid to smell lovely, to be fruity, floral and very slightly spicy. to me this is a no brainer, how can anyone not like Poeme. It is fragrant, yes. Intrusive? Really? It does have awesome staying power but why is that seen as a negative? Surely, spritz in the morning and respritz at night should be the way perfumes are made. You want to smell lovely and not have to worry about making sure you have your scent in your purse. No?

I love the warmth in Poeme as the citrus top notes melt into a vanilla floral bouquet. I can’t pick the notes but I’m sure I can smell some jasmine and tuberose, and they say mimosa is the strongest but I wouldn’t know mimosa in a fragrance if you slapped me with it, sorry. The notes in Fragrantica mention leather too, but I need leather to be a bit more in your face before I can parse it. It is warm and green simultaneously, the spice is quiet but when you warm up so does it. I know many of you are unimpressed by perfumey smelling fragrances, as if they are too easy to enjoy, like fragrance should be an endurance sport, extreme scents etc, and I do think there is a big fat wondferful place for such things, but that does not preclude the lovely, does it?

Poeme by Lancome is a well put together Floriental and if perfume should first and foremost smell good, then to me Poeme is on the money. Maybe it suffers from its availability, price point and old fashioned image but if one of the niche perfumers, that was hard to find and wildly expensive, brought this out now, I think the scentbloggosphere would be gushing and squawking with praise at their absolute refusal to follow the pack and at their dedication to the art of smelling beautiful. HAH! I am part of the scentbloggosphere and I just did. Please go and try Poeme at a Lancome fragrance counter near you. It costs nothing to have a go and you may like it.

As a Thank You for making it to the bottom of my thoughts here is one of the Poeme ads,
Much love,
Portia xx

Roxana’s Illuminated Perfumes

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Hey gang,

This week’s weather in Sydney is completely bonkers, warm and sunny, freezing and windy, wet, cold and sunny; all today! Choosing a perfume for today was hard work, so this morning I tried an old favourite,  and this evening something brand spanking new!

ROXANA’S ILLUMINATED PERFUMES

So I lemminged onto Roxana’s Illuminated Perfumes through ThePerfumeShrine who did a wonderful piece on one of the fragrances, Hedera Helix, based on the Ivy it’s named after. Thank You for introducing me gang. The picture below shows Roxana’s enormous attention to detail when she sends. So pretty, and it makes the whole experience even more special.

Photo Stolen from ETSY

I went and found Roxana on ETSY and this is what she has to say about her fragrances

I create whole, vital, organic perfumes with stories. These fragrances are from nature, there are absolutely NO synthetic materials contained or tortured animal ingredients in my fragrances.
The perfumes I create are from the highest-grade botanical materials; including pure essences sourced from the deserts of Arabia, tropical forests of Madagascar as well as Mediterranean meadows.
In the tradition of alchemists and perfumers of ancient times, I create an illuminated line of exclusive, signature fragrances along with extraordinary custom perfumes. Every fragrance is created in small batches by hand and resonates with a deep connection to the land, utilizing intoxicating scents drawn from the botanical world.

I ordered the Organic Botanical Perfume Sampler Eco d’Lux Six Pack for US$45 and a Hedera Helix Nature Perfume in a Mini Compact for US $30 and, gorgeous girl that Roxanna is, there came a surprise for you (see below in COMPETITION GIVEAWAY).

Photo Stolen from Etsy

IMPROMPTU

As always I went straight for the sample that came to my fingers. Didn’t check the name, just applied with abandon, well not too much, they are extremely small samples. Really, really small. I got the original application before work and a reapplication now to jog my memory. Gone! Anyway, this is called Impromptu and is not on the current list.

OMG BETTY! Deep earthy green, like a sexy swamp lady, I smell moss, river water and weed, herbs, torn fig leaves, mown lawn and compost, and some spices that elude me but it is AWESOME!

Photo Stolen from ETSY

One of the men at Trivia tonight, that I would never have expected it from, leaned over and said, “You smell great, that perfume is….Wow!” As Evie C was also there I have back up collaboration on this. He was blown away, and so am I. You can be sure I’ve already written to Roxana asking for 5 litres of it, well, asking if I could buy any of it actually.

It’s morning now and there is still a delicious fat curl and waft of deepest green lingering upon my person. I am mesmerised, sitting still for minutes at a time (not something I do easily) trying to track this amazing scent. It is now a rank, dank thing clawing its way from the sea with a briny broken branch smell. I’m sorry, the words I have are not making this scent sound appealing; it is. I wish there were more words in my head to give you an accurate picture of how majestic this fragrance is, like primordial soup and magic. There was the tiniest skerrick left in the bottle and I have drained the dregs to live this wonderful fragrance again. One thing is for sure, you’ll not find anything this wild, untamed and confronting at your local fragrance counter. This is the good stuff.

HEDERA HELIX

I have the solid mini compact of Hedera Helix, being a solid it is much tamer in sillage, but it is a very crisp Green Floral Chypre that is less brash than Impromptu. It smells like a reserved, elegant and willowy sister in comparison. It’s edges are buffed and polished to an easy wearabilty for everyone, and being solid it is also good for people allergic to mass market perfumes. I like the mini compact especially for gym goers who are forever losing lids in gym bags and precious juice being squirted into damp towels and soggy lycra. Also, after a workout it goes on beautifully and the extra warmth and bloodflow help to give softer solid perfume a bit more strength.

Photo Stolen from ETSY

Roxanna says of the Hedera Helix fragrance

The best words I can use are to describe this scent is mossy green, floral Chypre. I utilized many essences with a green profile as well as those that come from green leaves like Geranium, Peach Leaf, Rhododendron Leaf, and Violet Leaf. On the skin of those who have tested it the aroma is quite beautiful.

COMPETITION GIVEAWAY

This Thursday the question you must answer in the comments is, “What is your dirty little perfume secret? The one guilty fragrance pleasure that you wear even though it has been reviled by all and sundry? Maybe it’s a cheapy, maybe it’s a one star Sanchez/Turin or maybe it’s something so old fashioned you can’t bring yourself to tell. Now’s the time to spill.” and I’ll pick the comment that resonates most with me. Doesn’t have to be long or flamboyant, just give it to me straight.

One of my personal favourites that fits into this category is Poeme by Lancome. I will be writing about it tomorrow, so before my dirty little secret is really out I’d like to hear yours.

What’s in the winners pack this week? All measures are approximate and winner drawn Sunday 10pm-ish Australian EST.

1 x manufacturers sample pot of Roxana’s Illuminated Perfumes, Hedera Helix

1 x 5ml manufacturers sample One Seed, Freedom EDP

1 x 2ml decanted spray sample Estee Lauder, Youth Dew

1 x 1ml remains manufacturers sample Bottega Veneta

1 x .5ml decanted sample spray L’Artisan Parfumeur, Passage D’Enfer

plus postage and packing anywhere in the world that it’s legal to send to

SO GO TO IT!!

Thanks for getting all the way to the bottom of my random smelly thoughts,

Here is a special present, I was reminded of it today by my buddy Radium Maxwell. MWAAA

Portia x

Youth-Dew by Joséphine Catapano for Estée Lauder 1953

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Today was odd because Monday was a public holiday and so things started out with me realising the bins had not been put out (my job) and that we have a very full bin already, how were we going to last the week? Not to mention that it’s already high on the whiffo meter!

On a brighter note Evie C and I got together and discussed strategy, weekends, partners, kids (hers), Trivia Nights (mine), fragrances and best of all all the wonderful interviews we have lined up over the coming Mondays, interspersed with all my palaver on other days. So what was I wearing today?

Youth-Dew by Joséphine Catapano for Estée Lauder 1953

The box. Pale aqua, gold and white, the box is old school of the best and worst kind. 70s-80’s classy. Is it tongue in cheek? Are they messing with me? Should I hate it/love it/loathe it. I can’t tell. I am ambivalent, violently opposed forces within me trying to reconcile this box that would look correct in a thrift store or a penthouse armoire. Who do they think they are selling this juice to? It’s schizophrenic marketing to me.The bottle too, with that dickie little bow. I LOVE IT! Although I know it’s awful. Or is it? Bugger, another 15 minutes wasted as I hold the damn bottle up and try to decide whether I adore or abhor it.

Photo Stolen from BaseNotes

In 1953, Youth Dew was released. That is 60 years ago. It was Estee Lauder’s first attempt at fragrance and came as a bath oil. It is a hot, sexy and spicy Oriental. Unashamed at its stupendous wafts of glamour and alluring mystique. A powerhouse perfume that takes courage, poise and a certain savoir faire to be able to pull it off. At the time it bucked the norm, and anyone who dares to wear it today in the face of a multitude of clean musks and sheer scents says loud and proud that they are a contender. Unafraid of you and your wishy washy nothings, no matter how gorgeously crafted and close to the skin it is (see below). So glamorous, seductive and spirited that it was Joan Crawford’s scent of choice! When I wear Youth Dew I feel as though I can rule the world, and that I am decidedly perfumed.

What is it like, I hear you think?

Well it opens with a big fat aldehydic, fruity, spicy, citrus that runs laps around you and plays the cymbals, drums and trumpet in your nose and brain. This fragrance has balls. Almost obnoxious, it is saved by its own good breeding. as the opening notes soften off we are gifted with a sparkly, spicy, almost spiky, floriental that is both red hot and cool green. An oriental fragrance that smells like no part of Asia that I’ve ever been to or sniffed. The spices and incense we come across here are also nothing like we are offered nowadays, it is viscous and luscious. I can’t get the words on the paper. This is perfume! If you ever wanted to take over a room, banquet, board meeting, or country; if you ever wanted to be remembered for the searing and glorious scent that you, and only you, of your age group wears, then this little Mo Fo is the one for you. Currently the aged are having it all to themselves. Try it, this is living.

Fragrantica gives you the details and NowSmellThis did a review back in 2007 that is still worth a look.

ELLIE Eau De Parfum by ELLIE D

Firstly and amusingly, is this name supposed to remind me of LED Lights? Great drag name.

Ellie D donates a portion of its proceeds to entrepreneurs in developing world through www.kiva.com (100% of every dollar you lend on KIVA goes directly towards funding loans; KIVA does not take a cut. Furthermore, KIVA does not charge interest to our Field Partners, who administer the loans)

Photo Stolen from LuckyScent

Ellie EDP came in my February LuckyScent showbag. If you join the mailing list they send you an invitation to order their new stuff in a sample pack. It’s quite addictive because the give you .7 of a ml of each fragrance (I think they should do a 2ml set for those of us who need a couple of wears to become addicted, I’d be willing to pay the extra for the privilege) to try for a day. It keeps you up to date with the newest trends, is pretty inexpensive and is delivered to your door. Be careful though, you will like a few of them. I’ve been so distracted by other stuff though that I have only just got to the February showbag, sorry folks.

Let’s talk about the product then. It is a sheer floral in the modern style. People who are reviewing it say that it harks back to the old days of perfume, enormous florals, great big burst of….. BULLSHIT!! On me it is a severely cool floral, sheer and fresh. It is a luminous, fairy lit, musky floral with a hint of citrus and twig. It will shimmer around you rather than perfume you, does that make sense? I think this is a perfume for people who either don’t really like perfume, or perhaps young (or young at heart) girls who like to smell fresh and lovely, or even workers who need to not broadcast that they are fragrant. Compared to other sheer scents like SJP Lovely and Royal Apothis, City of Angels this is even quieter, and almost milky, but up close is gorgeous. I have a girlfriend I’ve earmarked this sample for, Alice will smell so pretty in it, I’m sure.

Photo Stolen from LetterShop_NYC

For me this is too refined and soft. I understand that many of you like to be dressed in sheerest of sheer but for me it defeats the purpose of being scented. I think as my nose gets more refined that these scents may become more differentiated but currently they are all much of a muchness and practically interchangeable. As lovely, soft and dewy as Ellie is I can’t see why it needed to be produced at all with such a plethora of similar scent in the marketplace. Sorry. Although they are slightly improved in my eyes through their generous donations to KIVA, there is no percentage given and a one off donation of $25 could facilitate the tag line.

LuckyScent has a great review, notes etc and you can buy from them, PerfumeSmellingThings agrees with me but says it better; AromaScope says something else.

Thanks for sharing what’s in my stinky old mind. Glad to have you along,

Portia xx

 

Cuir Pleine Fleur, Knize Ten; Cher Uninhibited LIVE Video Sniff; Reviews

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hey all,

It’s Easter Sunday and I was LAZY, LAZY, LAZY!! Lolled around in bed this morning, had brunch and basically let the world pass me by till it was time to put my Blogging and Trivia hats on.

While I was having my lovely lazy day I thought I’d try a couple of new to me scents from the leather family. Leather is my favourite note in a fragrance, I love the feeling that it gives me.

Photo Stolen from BridlewoodEquestrian

From my childhood horses and tack, leather driving gloves that my Dad had, leather golfing gloves that my Mum had, her new handbags or shoes, the formative years provided that super delicious scent of new leather couches and car interiors, my first ever, and only, leather jacket (in exquisitely soft and subtle, almost rubbery, sheep hide that was stolen from my car and I have not been able to bring myself to replace because I loved it so much and nothing will ever feel the same),

Photo Stolen from BLUFER

getting my groove on with sexy hairy chested muscle men in leather partywear,

Photo Stolen from TheTickleCompany

nowadays the subtle but delicious fragrance of new boots, belts, bags, the list goes on and on.

KNIZE TEN by KNIZE

Released all the way back in 1924 Knize (you pronounce it kah-neesh-ah) Ten’s 90th birthday is around the corner. This is a “Perfumes the A-Z Guide” by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez 5 star worthy offering. OH YES IT IS! This is exactly how I like to smell from top to bottom. It is a flowery, woody, leather, it has grunt, smells like a very expensive barber shop fragrance and lasts for ages, gradually warming itself on your skin till you wish it was on someone else so you could tell them how frigging delicious they smell and give them a great big snog, before you tear their clothes off and…

Photo Stolen from engrandepompe

Sorry, I had to go and have a cup of tea. Twinings’ Australian Afternoon to calm myself.

I put this on my right arm this morning and have given my neck a crick bending in to whiffle it so often. Cor blimey! I really like this.

Photo Stolen from Fragrantica

Opening with greens, citrus and herbs Knize Ten quickly moves away to the flowers, woods, musk, moss and leather for me, warming up with amber and an almost caramel flavoured vanilla as it progresses over hours and hours. I have reapplied to write to you tonight at 9pm Australian EST but could still have written from my arm because this yummy scent was still extant as a warm and sexy fragrance, not loud but discernibly not me. This could be the bulletproof fragrance for me. The one that helps stiffen your spine on those cowardly lion days.

You want the notes, accords and real people reviews? Fragrantica is your spot. Want to know a lot about how it is? Reviews that I read from YesterdaysPerfume and NowSmellThis filled in what I have left out. If you want to buy it LuckyScent will have it back in mid April.

CUIR PLEINE FLEUR by JAMES HEELEY

When I first sprayed Cuir Pleine Fleur it was musty morning wake up and ooh I smelled a leather and citrus cocktail, spiky and abrasive, yummy. I had enormously high hopes for a scruffy but refined journey through a magical wonderland. But no. I felt that the scent left me in about an hour except for this almost nothing, barely there memory of Muscs Koublai Khan-ishness that I tried the other day. Like scent resonance, as if the ultimate dry down of it had been reached a few days later, to near invisibility in this other fragrance.

Photo Stolen from JamesHeeley

Don’t get me wrong, this scent IS delicious. It is also interesting. Like new expensive leather gloves left overnight in a freshly turned and fertilised garden bed featuring an orange tree and fragrant shrubs in full bloom, maybe down the back near the old incinerator. For an hour. Then it becomes a skin scent. Way too quiet for me and my unresponsive nose.

Photo Stolen from BaseNotes

Something that should be noted though is TSO Jin thought Cuir Pleine Fleur was the winner out of todays 2 scents. Funny isn’t it? Oh well, if he likes it so much, he can buy it.

If he wanted to he could buy it at LuckyScent where there is also a beautiful description of the fragrance, better than I can give you and PerfumeNiche, where I got my samples for today, has a lovely story about first sniffing Cuir Pleine Fleur in James Heeley’s studio and review.

UNINHIBITED by CHER

A couple of weeks ago I got my hands on a very special vintage coffret of Uninhibited by Cher. My friend David/Margeaux (who just happens to be Cher’s greatest ever fan) and I decided to do a video presentation of it, I hope you enjoy watching as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Video shot and edited by my BFF Kath and cyber-tech work done by TSO Jin.

The Cher Uninhibited fragrance was lovely but I think the Body Lotion had turned due to air, or bottle, exposure because it smelled like plastic after 20 min’s and was IMPOSSIBLE to get off my skin.

Thanks for wandering around inside my fragrant thoughts today, see you tomorrow for Evie C’s update!

Portia xx

Bottega Veneta Review, WINNER ANNOUNCED

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Hey gang,

Well it has been a lovely day here, sunny, warm and delightful. Better than most of our summer here in Sydney. We spent it extremely lazily, couching, Sleeping, a bit of house re arrangement then off to the Greyhound Races. Awesome day. We even had a couple of wins. I even have a lovely greyhound bitch as a pet, Gucci is her name, and also retrain greyhounds for living with families. So, yes, I do know about the awful and tragic way they are treated after their racing career is over, but it is getting better and we are making a difference, dog by dog. If you have any interest in rehoming a lovely greyhound please get in touch with Greyhound Rescue here in Sydney, Australia. Best pets ever.

My greyhounds

Recently I ordered a bunch of sample sized fragrances in sets from The Perfume Niche and in with my lovely samples came a couple of surprises. One of those was a small manufacturers sample of Bottega Veneta EDT and what a surprise. I had been reading gorgeous things about this particular fragrance and was fully prepared to fall in love due to its notes and the favourable stuff being written by all and sundry.

Photo Stolen from Fragrantica

When I first put it on though I was MASSIVELY disappointed because there was no fragrance there at all. I felt like I’d been completely cheated by all these awesome reports and thought that maybe the perfume world was playing an enormous joke on all of us no knowledge dunderheads, like the Emperor’s new clothes. So frankly I was a little bit peeved and went to the bedroom and used Gwen Stefani’s L LAMB body lotion on my arms so at least I could feel like I had something glorious upon my self. I was GRRR McGRRR. Off we trotted to the Greyhounds and I’d been there about half an hour and I started smelling this incredible sweet, floral leather scent and was looking around to see who had such ridiculously good taste in perfume, could it have been TSO Jin, Bestie Alice or one other of the crew? I asked and no luck. There was no one in the vicinity that fit my idea of scent whore, fume head or even perfumista, which made it even more intriguing, was it in fact one of the laddish blokes or swamp donkeyish girlfriends, could it be one of an elderly couple, that super hot drooly drooly poorly dressed handsome clueless guy. Then I leaned over in my chair to look further afield and a great big gust of glorious flew up my polo shirt. OMG! It was me. I smelled gorgeous, leathery and sweet all at once. This fragrance is not big but it is beautiful and persistent. I’ve now been wearing Bottega Vanetta for 6 hours and I smell better than ever. I could wear this baby for anything, this would be office, party, dinner, sex date, kids from school, walk down the back yard or watch TV scent, and it would not be out of place doing any of these. What a fragrance. Nobody is telling fibs when they praise this perfume, it is all that and a bag of chips. Try it only if you have spare money to purchase, you’ll buy it and be glad you did.

Now Smell This does an awesome review with some extra reading tags within, Fragrantica has the accords, notes and people reviews.

This weeks winner of our spectacular Giveaway Competition for

We are giving away approximately

1.5ml JINX by Tommi Sooni decanted spray sample

1.5ml L’Eau D’Ambre by L Artisan Parfumeur decanted spray sample

1.5ml City of Angels by Royal Apothic decanted spray sample

1.5ml Fantasia de Fleurs by Creed decanted spray sample

1ml Fig by Aftelier Perfumes remains of manufacturers sample spray

plus postage and packing to anywhere in the world

is Dionne. YAY!! DIONNE! WHOO WHOO!!

You have till Wednesday night to get in touch with an address so I can send you your prize. CONGRATULATIONS!!

To all our other contestants, Thank you. I love reading your stories and they all would have won in a perfect world. There will be another weekly GIVEAWAY COMPETITION next Thursday.

Scents Of Memory, Big Time Floral Self Love!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Hey all,

Wasn’t Evie C’s blog awesome yesterday? I am so happy for her. Now that she is enthroned in her new home (read Cape Cod Mansion. Party at Evie C’s!!!) we’ll be seeing an Evie C post every Monday!! YAY!

I have a bunch of fragrances that I wear only for myself, even though I may be wearing them in company. They are either personal memory jogs, scents that are too out there for close contact with other human beings on a number of different levels, fragrances that I feel like certain internally different people when I wear them (a bit like the United Fragrances Of Tara) or maybe just because I don’t want to be interrupted while enjoying the story they tell me in olfactoric terms. I know, I just invented a word, call me William Shakespeare and paint me plum. This is not a complete list but a smattering of ones I’ve put on today and yesterday.

Byzance by Rochas; In 1987 this perfume was released and my parents bought it for my younger sister. It is a dizzying Floral Chypre confection full of spices, woods and flowers. Byzance has such gusto and is quite a force of nature. So 80’s in its size and character that it is almost a parody. When I put it on it fills the room with memories. Mum used to steal it too and when both girls were wearing Byzance the whole house smelled like it had been transported to my idea, at the time, of a night market in India, Saudi Arabia or Persia. With dancing women wearing enormous copper jeweled bracelets and gauzy nothings and the mustachioed men all armed and dangerous. I recently bought a replacement 100ml EDT bottle that is so far inferior to my last Mini EDP that it fair makes me want to weep. I have corrected the error this evening ordering a BIG, FAT 100ml EDP. Budget BLOWN! We are not eating till next Friday, we’ll have to scour the suburbs bins for left overs. Fragrantica and Bonkers About Perfume can give you notes and stories and reviews.

Sung by Alfred Sung; In 1986 the world was first graced with this huge Classic Floral. It is like wearing a jewel bright, shoulder padded jacket with a peplum and gold buttons, spike heels and has a certain breath of air in the hair. Unlike Byzance though, Sung is dreamy and floaty, there is no earth or spice market, just fruit, flowers and sky. Nothing smoky here. It is flowers and the lightest of woods, vanilla and balms. I always feel transported somewhere beautiful when I wear Sung. It has probably been reformulated 100 times but all those past formulations I have no reference for, sorry, this Sung is the one. A bright coruscating trill of warm summer that leaves me dazzled by its effervescent radiance. This is a good Nana nap fragrance for me, I can really lose myself in the scent as I drift off. What’s more, this juice is CHEAP! Fragrantica and Fragrance Bouquet have the nitty gritty and stories, go see them, you’ll learn stuff.

Salvador Dali  by Salvador Dali; We seem to be jumping back in time by a year for each of these scents, and here we are in 1985! Here we have a rerun of a fragrant milestone. Salvador Dali and his perfumista wife Gala had designed this glorious Floral Chypre together before she tragically died in 1983, it was so successful as a limited edition that Dali decided to make it commercially available. I have only heard of the original scent and must content myself with the modern remake until I win the lottery. It is hardly a settle for though. Rose, citrus, musk and jasmine with a breathy vanilla and musk all give a lighter and lovelier tone and is a little more modern than our last 2 offerings, though it does have a slightly grungy undertone if you look for it. There is air between the notes here giving it room to show itself to best advantage. Very linear and it is not a long lasting scent, maximum 2 hours on my skin, which is great because by then I want a change usually. I am sending you to the Fragrantica Dali page, the whole Dali shebang.

Lastly I want to offer you a fragrance that came to me through another love. A few years ago one of the guys I was in ballet school with as a kid made it into the Vienna State Opera Ballet. At the time I was living in the UK so it was the work of a moment to trot over and spend a week with him. Hey David! Of course, he was at rehearsals all day so I was largely left to explore a foreign city alone and without the local language, not even a sprinkling. Fortunately Vienna at that time was a lavish and glorious city with friendly, welcoming people who were used to language dunderheads coming up to them and trying to make themselves understood. It was not a big city then either and mostly you kept within walking distance of the Ringstrasse when doing touristy stuff, so I felt cocooned within a friendly and safe environment. So that is how I met and fell in love with Empress Elisabeth, on my solitary wanders around Vienna. Something she would become famous for as her madness descended into its depths, walking till she dropped of exhaustion. Famed as the most beautiful woman in Europe at the time, the first at the jumps in the hunt (riding side saddle no less), an exercise junkie who had terrible trouble getting to sleep, Creed made a perfume especially for her. It was Fantasia de Fleurs. As soon as I found out the story of this perfume I wanted it in my fragrance wardrobe. It is the most hauntingly beautiful perfume I own, certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. Surprising that the Empress was wearing a bouquet of flowers, rose and iris, rather than a soliflor and it is tooth achingly sweet. As with most Creed perfumes, fleeting, at most I get an hour of scent but the joy of holding this heavy embossed bottle and spritzing with abandon is enormous, so spritz again right. Fragrantica and I Smell Therefore I Am will give you notes, breakdowns and buying ideas, Abigail is also the Posh Peasant where you can get samples and decants of these and a gazillion other things.

I’m thrilled you’ve shared my fragrant thoughts today. Do you have a selfish perfume that you wear only for you but sometimes in company? Please tell us in the comments. We are dying to read your secret loves,

Portia xxx

All photos today are stolen from Fragrantica with these exceptions

Byzance ad stolen from PharmacyAtHand

Sung stolen from stylebugs

Empress Elisabeth stolen from Wikipedia

I am not affiliated with any of the companies I mention in my posts.

SEX, FRAGRANCE and quick stuff I smelled this week!

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Sex and fragrance. There is a lot written about whether a scent is made with a man or woman in mind, whether it will work on either or both of the sexes. This note for her, this note for him, this combination for them. More and more I’m finding that scents are universal and I’m pretty sure the fragrance doesn’t care who is wearing it.

Photo stolen from canihelpyousir.com

It’s quite deliciously confronting when a woman wears a traditionally masculine fragrance and the boys make you take a second sniff, and look, if they have crossed over into girl germs territory. I like the dichotomy, especially something uber the-other-sex on a great, fun, clever and healthy specimen of personhood. It can give them an edge.

Photo stolen from allwomenstalk.com

Recently at one of my Turbo Trivia gigs I was gifted a cheapy mans fragrance that was sweet, floral and ambery. Way too cloying for my taste but I went to one of the butcher specimens of twenty something tradie manhood in the room and asked him if he would guinea pig it for me. Shock, Horror! He loved it! So much so that he asked if I decided on calm reflection that it wasn’t for me, could he have it. His girlfriend would LOVE him wearing it. It’s nice when people surprise you. And on him it WAS delicious. Everything that on me was shrill, headache inducing, tooth rottingly sweet and budget; on him, smelt like a deliciously gourmand million dollars, thank you very much. If you’re reading Chris, it’s yours buddy.

Photo stolen from

Photo stolen from Hethu’s Techno Babble

Also, making my partner in crime Evie C wear mens fragrances that I like on me, I adore them on her. They are WAY chic-er and it gives these tired and sometimes boring masculine fragrances new nuances and makes them bright and sparkly again to my nose. Which, as we’ve established, is functioning but not nose worthy.

Photo stolen from The Punch

THINGS I SMELLED THIS WEEK, QUICKIES!!

L’Eau d’Ambre by L Artisan Parfumeur; OMG! Launched all the way back in 1978 this is still the most gloriously deep and sweet amber with dark hints of posh nasty. Autumn is here and L’Eau D’Ambre is the perfect companion for it. Dead sexy.  Fragrantica, OlfactoriasTravels both have this to say, check them out too. This was one of my Smell Good, Do Good super cheap, no postage costs, amazingly awesome value, pick ups. I am SO happy with my purchase.

L’Aimant EDT by Coty; I already have the cologne in this and wanted to see if the EDT was different. Both of them are excellently like the Chanel No 5 but a little dirtier, they have impressive sillage and the L’Aimant EDT lasts for a lot longer than the current No 5 EDP that I have but equally to a vintage No 5 EDT. They are RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP!!! This is an awesome switcheroo. Created in 1927 and still good. Fragrantica, muse in wooden shoes both have their say. I’ve not smelled the vintage stuff so have no comparison point but I think these 2 versions of L’Aimant are yummy. And they’re so cheap that if you hate them on you they will always work as room freshener.

Tresor by Lancome; Hello big fat floriental!! This perfume was released in 1990 and you can feel the 1980’s breathing down its neck. That glorious spicy, sizzling, peachy floral extravaganza that is still a favourite at department store Lancome counters everywhere. It’s so wearable, juicy and gorgeous. This is perfume for the masses because, quite simply, it smells good. Here is Fragrantica, and Now Smell This does a wonderful fragrance review with knowledge far exceeding mine. Please check them out.

Hindu Kush by La Via Del Profumo; This is a power pack of memories. For years I had a partner who had moved back to India to run the family business. So for 10 years I was in and out of India quite a lot, and was fortunate enough to travel from Kerala to Kashmir, Macleod Gang to Chennai and much in between. This fragrance is a flood of memories for me, it was quite a shock to wear it and feel things long buried.

As AbdesSalaam Attar, owner of the compagny “La Via del Profumo” says on his website

Close your eyes and breathe in, Hindu Kush is like taking a walk in an Indian market, where clouds of incense smoke escape through the open doors of temples to be mixed with the perfumes of the east, ginger, cumin, nutmeg and pepper. Take a step inside and all is peace, silence and meditation, take a step outside and you find the crowd rushing here and there, noises and confusion.

This perfume is the real deal, a must try on any olfactory journey. Sanchez and Turin give it only four stars in their guide but I give it a 5 star rating. Awesome, majestic, dusty, dry, spicy and sweaty. It’s like gazing at the Taj Mahal or praying with the Dalai Lama or taking tea in the gardens of Deeg Palace or riding in a river boat drinking Kingfisher beer. All of these things and more are contained so let your mind wander as it will.

Thanks for sharing my fragrant thoughts,

I am so happy you dropped by, please leave me a message.

Portia xx

L’Eau D’Ambre, Tresor and L’aimant photos stolen from Fragrantica

Hindu Kush photo stolen from La Via Del Profumo

Gucci by Gucci pour homme, LUSH Fragrance sample pack

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Hey Hey Hey

Today Evie C (AustralianPerfumeJunkies co-creator) and I had a super productive get together. There will soon be a widget so you can get email updates of our blog into your inbox (or spam perhaps) every day. that way you won’t have to come looking for us, we’ll find you! Evie C has been quiet till now as she is just settling back into Australian life after over 20 years absence globetrotting, first on her own and then with increasingly large family in tow. Evie will now be contributing every Monday and we are THRILLED that she has found a family home in which to put down firm roots.

We were chatting and trying on fragrances today, as we do when we get together, and were going through some of my previous posts and having a go at some stinkies that Eve had not encountered in her own search for fragrance perfection. She was a fragrant cloud by the time she left with Oud Caravan 3 by La Via Del Profumo on one elbow, City of Angels by Royal Apothic on same wrist (this review is coming up on Friday), Eau de Tommi Sooni 1 (EdTS1) by the Australian Tommi Sooni crew (I let Evie C have this sample because she was ENRAPTURED!!! It was like When Harry Met Sally in the diner), in her boobs we spritzed Casual by Paul Sebastian and lastly on her last remaining elbow it was Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme.

Gucci By Gucci Pour Homme with James franco

Above is the link to the advertisement which is worth seeing.

Photo stolen from perfumeseduction.com

I like this scent on me but it has this funny habit of disappearing on my skin for about 20 minutes after the top notes have faded, then it returns, a softly charming fragrance that is not controversial in any way, this is the right choice if you just want to smell good without making a fashion statement. An excellent office choice. It stays old-worldy and very barbershop throughout on my skin. I don’t get much floral, but that could be my lack of experience and knowledge.

On Evie C though we have a completely different story, it was GLORIOUS! So streamlined and grand, it was like a gorgeous art deco chrome and glass skyscraper of a fragrance. Almost mesmeric in its allure and very interesting, we would chat and keep coming back to smell her elbow. This should be a woman’s perfume, if Evie C is anything to go by. Evie is already like a Gucci/Ralph Laurent pin up woman, fresh and clever and beautiful. On me Gucci by Gucci pour Homme is quietly confident but on her it soars.

Here is what Scentrist had to say about Gucci By Gucci pour Homme, it is the only one I could find on a 3 page Google search.

Now, moving on, a few days ago arrived a package from LUSH. I had ordered the Gorilla Perfume Sample Set and 2 of their famous fragrances in Perfume Solid Stick Form!

My photo

My bestie BFF Kath W is a total LUSH convert and has been talking about their bath bombs and personal hygiene products for years. Even giving me LUSH gifts over the years which I took little notice of other than to be thrilled that she’d thought of me and then absently using her gifts, thinking more about the giver than gift. I was unaware that LUSH even did fragrance until one day, looking for something else, in the Sanchez/Turin perfume bible (Perfumes; The A_Z Guide) and I came across the Breath Of God reviewed by Tania Sanchez which got 5 stars and was called a smoked fruit fragrance and goes on to say, “Wearing it, I feel a sense of wonder that so late in the perfume game there still can be such profound invention”

Photo stolen from LUSH

Inspired by Simon’s travels to Tibet.

Simon created a masculine, musky fragrance, inspired by the incense, cedarwood, and sandalwood he smelled in Tibetan temples. He also made a lighter, floral feminine fragrance with lemon, melon and neroli for a ‘breath of fresh air’ – and then mixed them together. The (happy) end result was Breath of God.

Better together.

Breath of God is a divine perfume of two halves, the light, refreshing notes of Inhale and the smoky contemplation of Exhale; these are available exclusively on Gorilla Perfume, where you can get even closer to God.

Fragrantica says here

I have had the Solid perfume as a base after my three S’s today and had my nana nap with that on. Reapplying after my make up was done I also dabbed some of the Liquid on wrists, elbows, sternum and collar bones. When I came home transferring what was left of the sample Liquid into a fresh spray bottle to see if spritzing changed the outcome. It is a lovely scent with dark and light, wood and smoke, gas, incense, fruit and flowers and reminds me of my times in McLeod Gang in India’s Himalayas where the Dalai Lama has his compound (before it became the crazy tourist destination it has become and its streets going far down the hill and full of eco tourists, teachers that the Dalai Lama has brought in from every cultural corner of the earth to teach his second in command team to deal with the greater world and hordes of gap year trustafarians). It is evocative of happy, peaceful, interesting, exciting and adventurous times so I like it, maybe even love it, but I do not find myself enraptured, I will try it again next week, just for myself.

Tuca-Tuca is WAY more lovely to me, approachable, easy and fun. Unlike Breath of God which is an extreme fragrance.

I stole this directly from Fragrantica;

Like any good summer day, Tuca Tuca starts with a blast of fresh summer air, violet top notes accompany a rich floral feel from cassie absolute. As the sun reaches midday the warm vanilla and ylang ylang move the perfume into its middle notes and then, as the sun sets, we’re left with a slightly naughty violet leaf and vetivert bottom, the end to a perfect day!

I hope you’ve enjoyed tonights discourse. Tomorrow we’ll chat about learning of,  finding, and buying decants. Why you would, could and should.

Hopefully see you then,

Much love,

Portia xx

I am not affiliated in any way with any of the businesses in this post. All bolded sentences are stolen from other people’s sites.

Shopping Experience, The SA Counts (Dune by DIOR, Cuir Amethyst by Armani)

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Hey gang,

It’s been a lazy day here in dappled sunny Sydney, Australia. I had a super smart blog friend around to help me do some stuff and to teach me some basics that I am as yet uninstructed in. We got some done but before Julie, and her partner David, came over for our Sunday Bar B Q I had washed the keyboard, um, BROKEN!!! You spray the cloth not the keyboard. I have a new keyboard now.

Photo stolen from ECorner Secure Ebusiness Solutions

As we had to go out to get a new keyboard TSO Jin and I decided to troll the fragrance counter at our local suburban shopping center while out.

This can be a harrowing experience. Often the 16 year old sales person (absolutely gender non specific) will sneer down their prolapsed rhinoplasty at you and mumble a curt something unintelligible about your desired perfume try, as if you’re ruining their day by being interested in the product. Other times they are so desperate for the sale that you think they might get a bit stabby if you turn them down or dare walk to another counter. Even worse are the ambush marketers who come round behind you and spray you liberally and without warning, often with scents that burn holes in your clothes and singe your skin, if walking too near a cigarette smoking person you are liable to need an extinguisher. And just because you work at a cosmetics counter doesn’t mean you need to wear everything in the line, AT ONCE. What was the Golden Girls line? “Just because you put your make up on with a butter knife, doesn’t make you Tammy Faye Baker.” I wish I was a stronger person so I could cut all three of these people types where they stand with a withering two sentence cut, but no, every time they get me and I obsess about what I would, could or should have said. Sad, I know. First world problems? Definitely! Honestly, I don’t even have a hearty “Fuck you” in me sometimes.

Having said all this then it’s lovely to find an SA that is charming, interested and involved in their job. one that knows about personal space and limits, and boundaries. One who has obviously done most of their homework and can help you understand what you are smelling on the card and your skin, why the price point is where it is and maybe some extra items to help keep the scent on you. I will try just about anything the SA says to keep scent on my HUNGRY skin, I swear it eats everything. Like host, like skin, I suppose.

Today was such a day. We were dressed like Sunday arvo (Australian for afternoon) homeless looking for a berth, unshowered, unshaven and under dressed for a jaunt through the hallowed halls of perfumery. Yet, by happy coincidence, we were welcomed into the Armani counter at David Jones, Chatswood, (where I wanted to sample the Cuir Amethyst from the Prive series. Spectacular BTW I liked the card so much that I let her spritz me. On my skin, to DIE for, the leather has stayed front and center for about 2 hours and the amber and vanilla are singing along in the middle to background) as if we’d just jumped out of a helicopter with Tom Cruise at the helm. But as we made our way around found that she was not in fact the Armani girl particularly but a general dogs body and she was all over the place, helping, hinting, smiling, generally making the few customers in the area feel welcome and giving as much information as she had, even going as far as looking up the book for a new release. I was not shopping, but I will go back and order something from her because she earned it. Not this month though. Fragrantica has this to say about notes and accords, BoisDeJasmin has a far less than loving review, and is pretty indicative of the other reviews I read. I am still enjoying the fragrance though. Maybe my untutored nose is a blessing.

Photo stolen from Fragrantica

Moving on to the DIOR counter, as Jin was being served sample sizes at CHANEL, there was another lady, also smiling and wanting to help: rather than intimidate or push. Had I tried the new DIOR Homme Sport? So fresh, so manly? No, sorry, not interested today but can I please have a spritz of Dune on a card? Certainly but it’s women’s. Yes, I understood but do you think the perfume minds who wears it? Without even blinking she said, “All perfumes are unisex and it’s only tradition that has taught us otherwise.” She had clearly thought about it too, come to a fair conclusion and was happy to be able to set it out for me. I was so happy that I let her spritz me with a double whammy on my other arm.WhooooooEEEEEEYYY! Nearly blew my damn head off. WOW! What a perfume, what a punch. Fragrantica has it all here, the PerfumePosse has an excellent Dune review, I wish I was so eloquent. This is definitely FBW (full bottle worthy) a good 6 hours later and I can still smell gentle wafty reminders that I’m perfumed on that arm.

Photo stolen from Fragrantica

Oh my, these two perfumes are AWESOME alone but together they are EPIC!! Maybe you all know a fragrance that is a mash of these two that I am ignorant of? Leave me a message if you do.

Thanks for sharing what’s in my fragrant mind today. Hopefully see you tomorrow too,

Portia xx

I am not in any way affiliated with any of the businesses within this article.