Fashion

Auburn & Andy Tauer’s Dark Passage? Really?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Good Day to you,

This morning I woke to send TSO on his way with a hearty yoghurt, chopped banana, cereal and full cream milk day starter with side order of strong coffee and then flopped back into bed. Ah… luxury of luxuries a sleep in.  Raining outside, I could hear it on the tin out the back, snug in bed. Heaven! My mate Phil rang and we chatted for a while about the blog, him, work, back operations etc and at the wonderful hour of 11am I was finally ready to leave the cocoon and fly.

How to start such a day? Well, for me there was no other choice but Andy Tauer’s Auburn, which I received as a sample with my first Tauer order (see below) and then was so mesmerised by its amazing smell, sillage (distance the fragrance travels from your body, scent circumference said like say arjze) and longevity that I bought FB. It’s amazing how long this gorgeous scent lasts, between 7-8 hours on my scent hungry skin without any re-spritz. AWESOME!

The  Tauer website says

Auburn is the melody of warm cinnamon in accord with a citrus tree in rich bloom.
The softest sandalwood melts into dry amber and subtly adds depth to the perfume.
A warm spicy tobacco closes the oriental round dance and starts it again.

You can read The Perfume Shrine Now Smell This and Tara has done a guest spot on Olfactorias Travels. These will tell you the whole story of the creation of the 3 Pentachord fragrances and help you pick one for yourself.

My personal Andy Tauer story doesn’t start till around September last year when the Pentachords were all anyone on the scentbloggosphere were writing about. I was looking for interesting niche perfume brands to give as Christmas gifts for super discerning family. It had to be good quality, small run, critically acclaimed and slightly off the beaten track, In my reading I had found a review of “L’Air du desert marocain” in “Perfume: The Guide” by Tania Sanchez and it looked perfect. I was hoping to impress.

Off I went to the Tauer (this will link you direct to the Tauer Samples page because the 5 piece sample set is a wonderful way to test the waters) site and picked “L’Air du desert marocain” and also “L’eau d’épices”.  The site said around a 10 working day send time to Australia from Switzerland where Andy is based; (of course if you read his blog you’ll see he is rarely there) so I continued my hunt, pretty sure that these would be my purchases. It got to late November, a decent window, and I decided to order them but, Murphy’s Law, somewhere in the mail system or customs they became bogged. Oy Vey! So on nearly Christmas Eve I could only vent my frustration in one place, I wrote To Mr Tauer. It wasn’t a screaming email but I was distressed at having no gifts.

Well, blow me down but Andy Tauer himself replied overnight with a heartfelt and genuine apology filled with regret. It was quite a reminder that there are people who care deeply about what they do and understand customer service, and people; so I printed off his apologies and put them in the Christmas Cards of the unfortunately presentless. They were awed that I’d gone to the trouble to track such goodies down and that they were now in possession of a missive from a perfumer. Andy Tauer is constantly talked about as perfumes nicest guy on blogs everywhere BTW. In the end they arrived and are loved.

Andy Tauer is also involved with the…………… actually, I’ll let him tell you. This was lifted wholesale from Andy Tauer’s blog. I am a backer of this film, not because I’m a good person, because I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to get some Dark Passage, the fragrance made ONLY for backers of this film. I will have it, and if you don’t become a backer, YOU WON’T!

Check the bloggosphere, it is awhirl with critiques, reviews, comments and chatter, mostly about Andy Tauer’s Dark Passage. Which frankly makes me dirty bitch snigger up my sleeve. Andy Tauer’s Dark Passage. NAUGHTY!! Did he think of that? I hope so because I love it.

There are only 7 days to get this offer and then GONE FOREVER!!

your support makes the difference…

March 13th, 2012

Today, I am asking you for your contribution to help us finance the production of Brian Peras’s film project ONLY CHILD, featuring Grace Zabrinski, through the kickstarter campaign. But I do not ask you to just give money. No, I came up with a lot of specials and fragrant goods for you, to reward you for your support, some of them ONE TIME specials, available only now until end March. I make fragrant soaps, 30 days LIMITED perfume DARK PASSAGE, sneak previews of LORETTA and even my products available. All this without one cent profit from all these offerings.
This is among other things how I support Brian Pera’s Kickstarter campaign, and I invite you to support it, too. And not to miss the unique opportunities offered.

Actually, it is only by our perfume loving fans that we will manage to get this movie produced. Thus, your support matters.

It is very easy: Visit the kickstarter page, select your combination of fragrant or other goods, and then follow the process that will bring you in the end to Amazon. Only if the funding goals are reached, only then, you will be charged by amazon and get your promised goodies later. If we fail, nobody gets anything. Thus: Spread the message, please.

You can get the  fragrance DARK PASSAGE, edp, 7 ml, in a  nice purse spray, offered only now until the end of March (29th) and then it is gone. You can combine it with a 7 ml purse spray of LORETTA, the fragrance. This is a sneak preview of the fragrance that will launch end autumn 2012. You can be the first to sniff my first fragrance where tuberose plays a major role! And you may even combine all this and more and get a fragrance from my entire line, at a discount that rocks: For a pledge of 300$ you can get 7ml purse sprays of LORETTA, DARK PASSAGE, MIRIAM, all three soaps (rose, mandarines ambrée, tuberose scented Loretta soap) and one fragrance, full bottle,  from my line, your choice. You can’t beat that.

Thus, yes. We need your contribution. And for this I made a tuberose scented soap that is just wonderful. As is the tuberose rich fragrance, Loretta, a slightly fragrance, rich, sensual. I use a lot of the “real stuff” in there: Tuberose absolute. A honey like, dark orange absolute that is unbelievable rich and voluminous. Together with rose oil, rose absolute, orange blossom absolute and many other naturals, it blends into a perfume that is one of the richest I have ever done.

Today’s picture shows you such a natural tuberose. I took the pictures in 2005 and fell in love with its natural fragrance that is overwhelming. It took me a while… but when I saw Loretta, the film, I knew that tuberose is her flower. So to say.

You can experience why before all others. Thank you for your support.

Bold and Pictures STOLEN FROM ANDY TAUER’S BLOG

Auburn a picture of my own.

Eau de Joy Vintage & L by Gwen Stefani

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hey all,

One of the interesting things, for me, about being a complete novice at something as ubiquitous as perfume is that I am not yet swayed by price point, other opinions or publicity. If something smells good to me, excellent! And because I am so poorly trained to understand the why and wherefore of fragrance and am still basing my opinions of completely olfactory sensation, I like almost everything. EXCELLENT!! Today I was reading Beauty On The Outside who had taught herself to like a fragrance that she had shied away from due to her perception of it as toxic. A very interesting experiment. As yet I have not come across a toxic reaction, though there are some things that I can’t smell and think they are air but TSO Jin can.

Anyway, a short while ago Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels tweeted that there was nothing so good as wearing Vintage Shalimar Parfum by Guerlain to do the shopping. Serendipitously, that morning one of my BFF girlfriends the lovely Miss Alice had had a sleep-over and we were talking about Shalimar and she had never smelt or worn it. WTF!! As a smart, sexy, earning and fashion forward babe it had totally dropped under her radar. So instead of spritzing her with an EDT or EDP I went straight to the glorious 15ml parfum from 1983. I’m not sure if it’s the best Shalimar vintage but it is AH MAY ZING! and so off we trotted to do a mall and grocery shop smelling like the hard core, super frivolous, naughty, sexy, in your face DIVA’s that we are, while wearing thongs, jeans and T’Shirts. It was empowering.

The reason I bring this up is because I received in the post yesterday a vintage bottle of Eau de JOY by Patou. I can’t find the date by looking up serial numbers unfortunately (if anybody can help date it I would be most grateful) but it smells glorious. Fragrantica has the story, the notes and an enormous list of reviews. Perfume Shrine has a wonderful article that covers all the stuff you need to know. I will say though that the perfumer Henri Alméras was spot on when he made this luscious, stately and irrepressible perfume in 1926 for his loyal customers.

My Mum had a HUGE bottle of JOY Eau de Cologne it was a big square splash bottle and to me it signified the height of glamour and luxury, the whole house would smell of it when Mum would fume up to go out at night. There was so much glamour attached to this iconic bottle that I used to play with it, until one day (Quell surprise!) the still 1/3rd full bottle fell from my hands in the bathroom and smashed on the tiles. OH HEAVENLY AROMA. Oh screaming Mum. Wooden spoon or belt? I can’t remember but I do remember the look of “You will pay dearly for this,” that I was subjected to.

Ironically, today I couldn’t wait to wear it so even though it was bathroom cleaning day I splashed on the Eau de JOY Vintage and scrubbed till the sweat poured off me, wearing what was once known as the most expensive perfume in the world. It was truly JOYous, an Ode to JOY and any other nasty pun you have handy. Of course the bathrooms were spotless for about 6 hours but for a bit of that I stood at the door smelling my Eau de JOY and loving them.

This afternoon I thought I would try something that has been sitting in my wardrobe for a while. L by Gwen Stefani was released back in 2007 and was tepidly received by critics; Robyn at Now Smell This offers a fair indication and review; Fragrantica has all the notes and info and a totally mixed bunch of reviews.

So I used the Shower Gel, Body Lotion and EDP. The body lotions fragrance is yummy too BTW. I felt that this was a peachy version of Lovely by SJP. I liked it, the scent stuck around all night but was not intrusive. I felt pretty but not heart breaking in it and when I got home Jin stopped mid hello and said he liked whatever I was wearing very much. So for me it was win, Win, WIN!

Thanks for sharing some time with me, please leave me a comment so I know who has dropped by.

Have a lovely and fragrant day,

Portia xx

Versace; Dreamer + Profumo; Oud Caravan No. 3

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hey gang!

I am so excited that over 150 people have clocked in to have a look over the weekend till now. Awesome. I hope you all felt suitably welcome. You are.

Today my fellow Bloggette Evie and I went to the Picasso exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales with Kath (my bestie and sister by non legal but just as binding familial adoption) & Will (Eve’s handsome, dashing husband and friend). It was great, of course Picasso was a genius and changed the way we look at art, very long though, my brain had gone into meltdown so the last 2 rooms are a blur. I wish they had cut the exhibition in half and I could have paid twice to see early and late work, which would have been good because in the end he was homage-ing and deriving from himself anyway.

I was recently reminded of an old favourite perfume of mine by…

Chandler Burr | Five Favorite Scents | August 2004

The Dreamer | Versace

After all those goddamn, tired out, hairy chested, cliché macho, standardized masculine fragrances you find out there, you have to wonder: Who the hell at Versace was the genius who came up with The Dreamer? First, this is so utterly not your father’s aftershave that it smells like it fell to earth from the strange, powdery stellar globulous pictured on its box. Like Angel, The Dreamer startles you. Smell Eau Sauvage, and you think, “Oh, men’s cologne.” (Ho hum.) You smell this thing, and not only do you not think men’s cologne (because you can’t possibly), you think “My God!…” and then “What the hell is it?!” “It” is, first, absolutely mouthwatering. It is walking through a French pastry shop next to a spice market in southern Thailand. Then there’s ice cream, gun powder, fruit candy, hot cocoa, marshmallows, blood orange peel, and probably some DDT. It is the most mesmeric fragrance I know.

I think it’s interesting that Chandler (one of my heroes) Burr was so delighted with something I love, but also that he mentions Angel next to it. When I first met Dreamer and Angel’s brother A*Men, we were hostessing a party at one of Sydney’s still extant hot spots, Home Nightclub (one of Stephen Craddock’s extravaganzas like Home-sexual or Hey Homo). and two fragrances were being released on the same night. Armed with about 1000 5ml give-aways and testers, dressed up to the elevens we mindlessly sashayed through the heaving crowds, doling out freebees. Well A*Men got caught in my nostrils and throat and stayed lodged there for weeks. Even the merest whiff of A*Men would send me flying in the other direction at high speed. So I bacame part of the Versace Dreamer camp and many of our friends and cronies took sides one way or the other, not viciously but definitely. So back then I had a bottle and drained it, not understanding the finer nuances but loving its scent none the less.

The reason I write of this is because I wore it today to see Picasso and hang with my buddies. It was there, but not invasive, all day till I took my bath at 3.30pm to get ready for work. I am so glad that I have a bottle of Versace Dreamer in my Fragrance wardrobe, for its good memories and associations as well as its awesome and delicious smell.

When I got back home today there were 4 parcels at my door awaiting inspection. They were all very, VERY interesting. One box held a rebuy of one of my favourites; Trouble by Boucheron. Next came a small pack of LUSH fragrances (sample pack and 2 stick frags-we’ll talk about them soon). A vintage bottle of JOY by Patou with a smidge left in the bottle via ebay (yes, I have a whole page to write you about it, don’t worry).

Lastly was an exquisitely packed coffret from Dominique Dubrana of La Via del Profumo who does an amazing array of natural, aromatherapy, order your own and even vegan fragrances. Hit the link and have a look, I think the 6 pack coffret is a super good testing deal and looks right out of a Middle Eastern movie done in Hollywood. Just so you know I will be trialing Hindu Kush, Tartar Leather, Sharif, Tabac, Mecca Balsam (just sniffing at bottles this seems to be most me) and African Night.

What came with them though is so astounding to my senses. Oud Caravan No.3. a VEGAN fragrance.

Here is what Dominique Dubrana of La Via del Profumo has to say on the site

It is an authentic Oud, wild and full fledged, hose animalic notes have been at last tamed. Real Oud is not a perfume for all. It is not an easy scent to wear, you must have a lion’s heart. He is somehow like the mythical Dragon, if your inner force is too weak you will not bear it.
In the Oud Caravan N°3 the Dragon has been briddled and saddled, made ready for you to ride him. Oud is the perfume of the Bedouin princes of the desert. I have tempered with exotic fruitty notes the aspect of excessive power that caracterize the head notes of a good Oud.

My aim was to smooth and temper the initial notes and to control their energy in order to make the scent real Oud accessible to a greater number.

I have not been a dedicated perfumista long enough, nor have I read enough to be able to give you the notes and chemical balances. What I can give you is my smell experience

Oud Caravan No. 3 starts on my skin smelling like the tack room of an extremely well kept, run, maintained and busy horse stud. There is animal, hay, leather and leather polish, horse and horse apples (shit, but that special grassy, herbivore, almost cow pat shit), smoke and maybe just outside the door a small garden of fragrant plants that waft in with the breeze, did I say honey? If Andy Tauer’s Lonestar Memories smells like a saddle that a cowboy has just left after a long summer day riding, this is the tack room of an estate after muster, in the afternoon as the heat starts to fade and everybody is ready for a strong cup of tea before dressing for dinner.

The initial rush fades after about half an hour and I am here with a scent that smells like healthy man working in the sun as a gardener or labourer. Sexy, masculine and ready for action. Even on me, the girliest chubby dress up kink ever! And I’d like to welcome the flowers too now please, I am enjoying this immensely and think you should definitely try Oud caravan No. 3.

So a COMPETITION to win this magical triumvirate.

A 1/4ml sample of La Via del Profumo “Oud Caravan No. 3”

A 1.5ml sample of Tommi Sooni “Tarantella”

A 1.5ml sample of Boucheron “Trouble edt” (now sadly discontinued, panned and greatly reviled. I LOVE IT!)

Please leave a note underneath in 55 words or less telling us your first pricey fragrance splurge. I will leave the competition open till March 30th 2012 and will put everyone’s name in a hat and draw randomly. Judges pick is final. I’ll announce winner 31st March 2012  and the winner will need to get in touch with address details so I can send your lovely prize,

Thanks for reading my fragrant thoughts.

Portia xx

 

Versace “Dreamer” photo stolen from Fragrantica click link to see the notes and some history and reviews

My photo of the La Via del Profumo coffret

La Via del Profumo “Oud Caravan No. 3” photo stolen from La Via del Profumo