Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2015

December 19, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Independent Niche Nerds,

Andy Tauer became known on the frag scene through blogging about his fragrance creation adventures. He was the first perfumer to engage the world in such a way and he and his style of perfumery are loved even though his scents can be polarising. Many people have problems with his Tauer-ade: a sweet citrus/honey/amber baseline to my nose that can last days on skin and indefinitely in fabrics. Personally I really like his style and I purchased a decant of his newest offering from Surrender To Chance which has just arrived. Scott was over and we decided to trial it first on paper and then on skin. It’s even more fun testing fragrances with a mate because different people pick up different nuance.

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Tauer Perfumes 2015

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Andy Tauer

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cinnamon, cloves, geranium, galbanum
Heart: Tuberose, ylang-ylang, jasmine
Base: Tuberose, patchouli, amber

I can’t tell you what I was expecting from Sotto La Luna Tuberose but I was surprised by what I got. The green and oily, petrochemical reminiscent opening still manages to be smooth and is offset by sweet bubblegum. It’s an engaging dichotomy that keeps my nose glued to my wrist. Tuberose, imagine a bunch of tuberose on a table in an air conditioned office, Sotto La Luna Tuberose. Tuberose with that unreal, artificial coolness. We get a lovely sappiness of whitest green, like cutting hydrangeas and their sap.

There are also herbal, tropical, balmy and resinous notes flowing through and both Scott and I were convinced (without looking at notes) that there is a honey that is cleaned of most of its animalics but leaving a thick, glutinous sweetness that has nothing to do with the 21st century craze for confectionery. Maybe this is Andy’s amber.

Photo Stolen Flickr

After about 30-40 minutes we couldn’t decide how to describe the smell and came up with three similar but all just wide of the mark: smoky caramel, lightly burnt vanilla or sun pinked skin after a day at the beach. It’s an undercurrent running beneath the tuberose which stays right to the end of the fragrance. For anyone who has ever been upset by the longevity of the tuberose ferociousness in Versace Blonde, SL Tubereuse Criminale, L’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse, Piguet Fracas or Ava Luxe Tubereuse Diabolique then here is a tuberose for you. Ferocious at the start and maintaining a fun level of outrageous throughout its lengthy lifespan. NSFW people unless you are in a very cool workplace where they like people to be fully fragrant.

How is Sotto La Luna Tuberose different? Longevity, tuberose staying power, opening oily green and bubblegum together and the patchouli/amber is different, unpickable for us as exactly a thing to reference we spent ages trying to find good and easily understandable correlations. Scott said he will now buy a decant to see if he loves it as much as he thinks, being a bit of a BWF hater. Different enough? Definitely.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
IndieScents has $145/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $3.45/.5ml

What is your Tauer favourite?
Portia xxx

ck2 by Calvin Klein 2016: New Ad

December 18, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Post by Portia

Hey Gang,

New stuff from Calvin Klein is always enough to set my heart aflutter. Though I was never a big wearer of the Calvin Klein range I was surrounded by it and once I did discover them, either through memory or their general bonhomie, I really enjoy them. There are quite a few in the collection now. Some vintage, some new, all worn with enjoyment.

ck2 by Calvin Klein 2016

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Wasabi, mandarin, violet leaf
Heart: Wet cobblestones, concrete, pebbles, orris root, rose absolute
Base: Vetiver, sandalwood, incense

They are saying available 2016 but I think it might be already available some places. Cool bottle.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

ck2 by Calvin Klein 2016: New Ad

The ad is cool. MOST of Calvin Klein’s ads are cool, this one goes a step further. Even hinting at same sex couples. I love the gritty fun rawness it captures, like remembering a summer of love in the depths of winter.
Enjoy,
Portia xx

Lann-Aël by Amélie Bourgeois for Lostmarc’h 2007

December 17, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by Portia

The Lostmarc’h thing passed me by. I remember there being a flurry of excitement at release but since then I haven’t really noticed much buzz. Someone sent me a handwritten sample of todays fragrance and I had to go do some digging once I sprayed. Having been released in 2007 and still around in the current niche market speaks volumes, also its price is unbelievably reasonable for niche. It was nearly impossible to get into the decant, which is why it’s taken so long to get to it but curiosity can overcome all barriers. I think I may be hooked….

Lann-Aël by Lostmarc’h 2007

Lann-Aël by Amélie Bourgeois

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vanilla, hay, apple, wheat, milk

The Lann-Aël opening is slightly dry and a hint of apple but no big whack of it. Quite rightly, general consensus on the blogs is sweet breakfast cereal, think Fruit Loops or Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, sugary, a little nutty and with milk splashed over all liberally. It’s not the smell in the bowl though, no way, it’s the smell in your mouth as you start to chomp it all together.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

There’s something a little rice-ish about Lann-Aël, Jin’s rice has a very particular smell when he reheats it in the microwave and I am getting scent memory flashes. No wonder this is a hit. It’s summer here in Sydney, temperature is around 35C (95F) at 10am and the sweet warmth of Lann-Aël and its yummy vanilla dry down is working a treat. Not cloying or sickly but balmy and rich feeling.

The opening is the big ticket item in Lann-Aël, after that it smooths to a comfortable vanilla plus some light spices and resins, a sweet amber. It’s not bad or generic but it isn’t ground breaking either. I smell good for hours, 5-6 even in this heat.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

From LuckyScent: Breakfast in fairyland: lighter-than-air buckwheat cakes; bowls of warm, pudding like cereal topped with cream ladled from the top of the milking bucket; sweet apples “borrowed” by the pixies from a nearby orchard. A delectable honeyed fruit opening eases into a soft and mellow vanilla-tinged milkiness that is as comforting as a mother’s embrace.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Perfume Posse
LuckyScent has $85/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

Do you ever feel the need to wear something fun, frivolous and foody? This could be it for you
Portia xx

India Temple Oil by Song of India

December 16, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by Erica Golding

Hello you wonderful people! My, don’t you smell amazing today. 🙂

Not to brag, but I smell pretty gorgeous myself right now, and it’s all thanks to my evil enabler friend Kelly. She let me in on a secret, whispering about a little unassuming potion that delivers a breathtaking experience – for less than $10. Tonight, I am luxuriating in a the shockingly lovely glow of:

India Temple Oil by Song of India

Photo Stolen Amazon

My expectations were completely blown away when I first inhaled this complex beauty. I haven’t found official notes online for India Temple Oil, so I can only share my wild guesses as to what I have fallen in love with. (Many have told me that it smells exactly like the incense of the same name, so joy of joys, I have even more shopping to do now.)

An initial blossoming rose gives way to a pleasing jasmine bouquet. Jasmine and champaca balance on a fulcrum between round humidity and knife-edged intrigue. Citrusy bergamot lifts the aroma, while a touch of vetiver lends a crisp yet almost smoky accent. Smoothly mellow at the base, familiar sandalwood hums with a hint of oudh.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

This captivating poetry comes boxed in an 8 mL rollerbottle. I especially appreciate how the bottle arrives with a plastic cork, and the rollerball separate. As convenient as they are, rollerbottles have a tendency to leak (especially when exposed to varying pressures during shipping). Securing the bottle with a stopper is a thoughtful detail, and ensures that the precious liquid arrives intact after its journeys.

It’s not easy to find something so special at such an affordable price point. This is truly a diamond in the rough, and a really low-risk blind buy.

Photo Donated Erica

Amazon has $8.84/8ml

Do you have this little delight tucked into your collection? What is your favorite inexpensive perfumed pleasure?

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
Fragrant hugs,
Erica

Last Minute Gift List 2015

December 15, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

Hello Australian Perfume Junkies!

How are you coping with the fast approaching “festive season?!” At this point most are either in their element or completely over it! Which are you? If you are like me you might still need to buy some gifts, so I thought I would make another little list of some favorite products I personally recommend…all scent-based of course!

PS Remember: you can just highlight the relevant items and hope Santa or someone finds it and takes the hint!

Last Minute Gift List 2015

Perfume Legends – French Feminine Fragrances by Michael Edwards
I bought this special classic book from Amazon last year (approx. $195) and it’s worth its weight in gold. The ultimate gift for anyone with an interest in history and perfumery right through to design buffs, fashionistas, French obsessed and complete fragrance heads. The book is now out of print and is a collector’s item, yet second hand copies still do pop up on eBay/amazon. The ultimate cult coffee table book, who’s content continually expands my depth of knowledge on fragrance and the fragrance industry, as I flick through its beautiful pages. I would like to halt time so I can cozy up and read it from cover to cover a few more times.

Photo Stolen Libertine Perfumery

L’Artisan L’Hiver reed diffuser
I have always resisted reed diffusers, however this one is truly delicious. I bought the same fragrance last year in candle form and enjoyed it, but here in diffuser form the fragrance is set off nicely with a great throw. The scent is not too “up the nose” and rather floats around in an atmospheric way. A possibly more appropriate method to create Christmas ambience during the complete fire ban across most of Australia at this time of year. Pine needles, smoky wood all riding on a sweet, dry vanillin/wood base. A personal favorite home scent available from Libertine Perfumery and online for $96.

Photo Stolen Santa Maria Novella

Santa Maria Novella – Wax Tablets
Beautiful and distinctive are Santa Maria’s scented beeswax tablets which for wardrobes or placed in draws to scent clothes and repel moths. Gorgeously packaged and old-worldly to look at, each tablet is decorated with flowers and dried fruits by hand. The scent is super strong so I am just using one at a time. If they were not so beautiful I would break one in half, as that would be plenty for each draw. Peony Melbourne and Franque Melbourne are the stockists in Australia I have seen them in. I have Relax Orange but there was a rose, pot pouri and lavender available too. $48

Photo Stolen The Beauty Apothecary

Edible Beauty – Exotic Goddess Ageless Serum
This Hyaluronic acid based natural serum gives skin additional hydration without adding more oil or grease. I have been adding it under my normal moisturizer and tinted sunscreen to help my skin hold onto more moisture on these hot days AND it’s weightless! Skin stays nice and plump and on top of that I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell. It makes me happy every time I slap it on! Available from Sephora and The Beauty Apothecary

Please let us hear about any yummy scent-based presents you are giving or wanting this Christmas??

Gardenia Soliflore by Dame Perfumery 2015

December 14, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Post by Robert Herrmann

NEWSFLASH: Jeffrey Dame has opened shipping for the Dame Perfumery Oils to Australia. FREE SHIPPING!

Hello Fragrant Friends!

This is Robert H. again, writing from my small island home in Washington state, exactly halfway between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. I am an inveterate fragrance lover, occasional writer, full-time business owner, world traveller, ex-Broadway singer, and happily married to an ever-suffering spouse who descends into allergic hell, at the faintest whiff of perfume. Just my luck.

So what’s my SOTD?

Gardenia Soliflore by Dame Perfumery 2015

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives only the note gardenia.

-“What’s the matter? You don’t like Gardenias?”
-“They’re o.k”
-“So?”
-“So you don’t put them on just to…..go to someone’s apartment….for a late-night supper…”
-“So that’s how it is?”
-“That’s how it is.”
Lady Sings The Blues- Warner Brothers 1972

…..and after that first meeting, Billie Holiday wore gardenias for almost every performance for the rest of her life. It became her personal symbol, a flower that like her life blooms for a short while intoxicating everyone who catches the scent, and then once picked droops and dies.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

True gardenia is a scent that has been difficult for perfumers to capture, and I have any number of various bottles to prove that point….but THIS Gardenia by perfumer Jeffrey Dame is honestly the most photo-realistic gardenia it has ever been my pleasure to wear!

This is not your hot house gardenia, nor the one from the florist’s cooler, ubiquitous accoutrement for so many Prom corsages.

This is a flower blooming in a garden, in it’s natural environment, opening cool and green, medicinal, slightly indolic, but quickly settling down to……REAL Gardenia.

Even my spouse an avowed perfume allergen magnet turned to me yesterday and asked “Hey..did someone give us a potted Gardenia? Again? To kill?” (We don’t have the best of luck with gardenia plants…!”)

I stuck my wrist in front of his nose, he inhaled and smiled and just said “Wow!”

Wow indeed!

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Dame Perfumery has $35/10ml oil
Now available to Australia with FREE SHIPPING!

Have you tried the Dame Gardenia or any others from Dame Perfumery? What was your favorite?

Amarige by Dominic Ropion for Givenchy 1991

December 13, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by Anne-Marie

For some time I have wanted to tackle a review of Givenchy’s 1991 powerhouse fragrance Amarige but in thinking about Amarige, one of the most divisive fragrances on the counter today, I began browsing not just the online reviews, but some perfume books in my collection. I don’t have an extensive library on perfume but I have a few works, and very interesting they can be, especially the older ones.

So today I thought I would bring you a taste of these diverse published opinions on a fragrance upon which no-one seems to be neutral. Everyone has an opinion on Amarige!

Amarige by Dominic Ropion for Givenchy 1991

A review of reviews

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, Neroli, Peach, Plum, Rosewood, Violet Heart
Heart: Gardenia, Carnation, Jasmine, Cassia, Mimosa, Orchid, Black locust, Rose, Red berries, Black currant, Tuberose, Ylang-ylang
Base: Amber, Woody notes, Musk, Sandalwood, Tonka bean, Vanilla, Cedar

Released in 1991, Amarige is a colossal white floral which somehow missed the memo that the 90s would be the era of clean, simple fragrances.

Jan Moran:
Amarige is a romantic floral creation, youthful and fresh, lightened by sparkling notes of mandarin and neroli, followed by rich white flowers embedded in a sensual musk, wood and vanilla base. A delicately feminine fragrance.
Jan Moran, Fabulous Fragrances: how to select your perfume wardrobe (Crescent House Publishing, 1994)
Fresh? Delicate? Ye Gods and Little Fishes Jan! I know your book came out in 1994 and that the 1980sa were not far behind you, but really! Even then you must have known that Amarige is about as delicate as the water tumbling over the Hoover Dam. Sheesh!

John Oakes:
Sultry is probably the word to describe this strong, elaborate and passionate perfume … Its unconventionality and breeding place it well above the usual shriek and clamour of reckless ‘moderns’. A woman will either fall immediately in love with it or avoid its uncompromising demands. It is a lusciously exotic perfume – mesmerising and sophisticated. It is Givenchy’s most daring adventure.
John Oakes, The New Book of Perfumes (Prion Books, 2000)
Considering that Oakes’ declared favourite perfume is Balmain’s Vent Vert (‘green wind’), which is stratospherically different from Amarige, his review is a masterpiece of diplomacy. I wonder what were the ‘reckless “moderns” ‘ he was thinking of in 2000?

Luca Turin:
This is the review that put Amarige on the map for innocents like me who had until encountering his book had never tried it. Many of us probably recite this one by heart, can’t we? Here we go:
We nearly gave it four stars: the soapy-green tobacco tuberose accord Dominique Ropion designed for Amarige is unmissable, unmistakable, and unforgettable. However, it is also truly loathsome, perceptible even at parts-per-billion levels, and at all times incompatible with others’ enjoyment of food, music, sex and travel. If you are reading this because it’s your darling fragrance, please wear it at home exclusively, and tape the windows shut. LT
Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, Perfumes: the guide (Penguin, 2008)
Equal parts amusing and insulting, like so many Turin-Sanchez reviews. Only one star was actually awarded, meaning I suppose that while he and TS find Amarige technically accomplished, LT personally loathes it. Fair enough.

Barbara Herman:
With a jumble of synthetic-smelling fruit notes that smell as jarring as spandex shorts with headbands and fanny packs now look, Amarige’s predictable progression in a tuberose-sweet floral heart and vanilla/amber woody base makes it hard to separate from its sisters (Cabotine, Giorgio, Animale, etc). … Amarige’s sandalwood and cedar base at least helps redeem it by providing depth and texture to the chemical stew that bubbles at its heart. … It’s hard to imagine this style of sweetness will ever come back into perfume, even ironically.
Barbara Herman, Scent & Subversion: decoding a century of provocative perfume (Lyon Press, 2013)

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

FragranceNet has $28/30ml
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

So, what in 1994 was ‘fresh’ and ‘delicate’ is now a ‘chemical stew’ which should only be worn in privacy among consenting adults. What a difference 20 years makes!

Have you worn Amarige?
Anne-Marie

Apollo Hyacinth by Alberto Morillas for Eric Buterbaugh Florals 2015

December 12, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Fragrant Family,

There are some perfumers whose name will make me prick up my nose in anticipation. A name that I know, though usually cannot pinpoint what it is they did that I love. Alberto Morillas is one such, he has done some of my all time favourite fragrances and a slew of my mates signatures through the years. Let’s talk Byzance by Rochas, M7 by YSL, Mugler Cologne, Kenzo Flower, BVLGARI BLV Pour Homme, BVLGARI Man, Lanvin Oxygene and the original Salvador Dali. These are just my favourites from the plethora of major blockbusters and some very good, well created flops and some absolute shite that I wouldn’t clean my driveway with.

Apollo Hyacinth by Eric Buterbaugh Florals 2015

Apollo Hyacinth by Alberto Morillas

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, pear, galbanum
Heart: Hyacinth, lily of the valley, angelica
Base: Haitian vetiver, oakmoss, cedar

Apollo Hyacinth opens with unruffled calm. Natural fresh cut fruit sweet and the pear smells cool, ripe and juicy: there’s even a hint of the dry and tarter skin. Galbanum smooths the opening giving green resinous porcelain, breath steals in and suddenly the sweetness becomes a litle candied.

Our heart has arrived and it’s a bouquet, fresh, green and stark. An angular, other worldly bouquet that says broken twig, lichen, moss and the gel like sap of aloe vera. There is peace and calm in Apollo Hyacinth, a breath of fresh air and a humid hothouse in the cool of evening. The energy of healthy soil and growing plants. The angelica adds a wild waywardness that the other flowers never possess, it’s enchanting, riveting. Like hyacinth is all grown and ready to rock.

Lasting power is unbelievable, though after 4 hours you have to be close to notice. Next day, 20+ hours later I can still smell the tiniest trace of sweet oily green that is only smellable with my nose against my arm. If it was a sexual tryst though whoever my lucky partner was would be getting a waft from me that is freaking gorgeous, I’m me and I want to root me.

Apollo Hyacinth is 100% unisex, a beautiful, billowing cloud of fresh green and white flowers. I cannot think of a place where you would feel mismatched were you lucky enough to own this glamour frag. SERIOUSLY WANT!!

Further reading: Perfume Posse and Scented Hound
Eric Buterbaugh Florals has EdP $300/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $5/.5ml

Aren’t the bottles stellar? How lavish. Do you want one yet?
Portia xx

Shalimar by Guerlain: Back To My Favourite

December 11, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 33 Comments

Post by Portia

Hiya Frag Fiends,

Shalimar has been my enduring fragrant love. Since it was the fragrance of my Mum for years and some of her friends continued to wear it right through our childhood. Then working a couple of summers at the fragrance counter in a suburban mall, Carlingford Grace Bros. and getting to know a slew of fragrances it still held sway as the most beautiful of them all. Even now after being down the fragrant worm hole for years I still come back to Shalimar regularly and every time I do I quietly ask myself why I ever needed to stray from its billowing extravagance.

Shalimar by Guerlain 1925: Back To My Favourite

Shalimar by Jacques Guerlain

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Citruses, mandarin orange, cedar, lemon, bergamot
Heart: Iris, rose, vetiver, jasmine, patchouli
Base: Civet, musk, tonka bean, opoponax, leather, incense, vanilla, sandalwood

All I knew of Shalimar through my childhood was that it smelled incredible: its sweet, lemon ice-creamy vanilla over a hefty dollop of animal warmth, woodsy incense and plush leathers was so alluring and engulfing.

Named for the Shalimar gardens of Lahore (and Kapurthala’s homage) but the back story is of the love of Shah Jahan for a princess from the Persian nobility who he fell in love with, married and made her his favourite queen, after she died giving birth to their 14th child he nearly bankrupted his kingdom building the Taj Mahal as her crypt. The second time I was at the Taj Mahal the whole experience was so overwhelming that I needed to sit on the steps leading into the park and have a little moment. Yes, I was wearing Shalimar.

Above is a picture of my Shalimar collection. Only the bottles of open boxes are shown, quite a few remain unopened because they are doubles, I have decants or they are discontinued and having/holding/looking at them is as good as smelling them. One of my parfums is not parfum at all (maybe EdC?) and another smells like it has been stretched with perfumers alcohol. The rosebud bottle is still sealed as are the 16oz watchface bottle and the little parfum on the navy box. The batwing bottle that is 1/3 full is my 4th bottle of EdT over the years, I really want to buy one of the newest but feel naughty as I have 2 backups bought at extremely reasonable prices when buying this one. What is interesting is that though the Shalimars are all different, they are so similar that if you’re wearing them for pleasure rather than parsing and blogging they are all pretty much one. No matter what era though the lemon ice-creamy fizz with the vanilla and an animal growl fits me like a glove. My number one.

Further reading: Erica Golding at APJ and Portia on EdC at APJ
FragranceNet has EdT $49/90ml before Coupon
Surrender To Chance has EdP samples from $3/ml

What is your number one?
Portia xx

RandomRec GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

December 11, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey Y’All,

Another great giveaway thanks to Azar!! Superstar.

Don’t forget the….

We are offering a special APJ ONLY 20% discount valid through December 31, 2015. To receive the discount and a free packet of randomly chosen perfume samples with your order enter the code – APJ20 – at checkout.

Please hop over to the RandomRec.com site

Happy Holidays!

RandomRec GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

USA: 1 x Lolita Lempicka Elle L’aime 1.4 oz EdP
Elsewhere: Lolita Lempicka Elle L’aime 6.7 oz body milk
P&H Worldwide

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 10th December 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen markmontanoblogs

RuthF for Elsewhere

FeralJasmine for the USA

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winners will have till Monday 14th December 2015 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.