Fig-tea by Patricia de Nicolai for Nicolai Parfumeur Createur 2007

September 27, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Anne-Marie

Love at first sniff: Fig-tea by Patricia de Nicolai for Nicolai Parfumeur Createur 2007

Do you trust love at first sight? Or sniff? On the whole, I don’t. Still, when I smelled Fig-tea in a Nicolai boutique in Paris recently, there was no question that it was coming home with me.

Fig-tea by Nicolai Parfumeur Createur 2007

Fig-tea by Patricia de Nicolai

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Fig, osmanthus, artemisia
Heart: Mate, coriander, jasmine
Base: Guaiac wood, amber

When I was a kid we had an apricot tree in the backyard, and after a swim in the pool I would gorge myself on ripe apricots, water still dripping off me and apricot juice running all over my fingers. This was what I remembered when I first sniffed Fig-tea. I could see, smell and taste apricots so clearly I think I must have laughed with delight, right in front of the (very dishy) young male SA in the Nicolai boutique. He was amused, in typically cool Parisian style, but really I was paying him no attention. It was apricots, sunshine, and the kind of happiness you are still too young to treasure because life has so far delivered no stings.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Osmanthus is known for its apricot facet, so it must be is osmanthus that delivers me this powerful memory of apricots ripening in the sun. I’m probably the wrong person to review this fragrance because I smell no fig at all in Fig-Tea. Most people do, but not me. I know what fig smells like as fresh fruit and in perfume, but here I just don’t get it. So don’t ask me if the fig is nuanced with creamy coconut, leaves, earth, or just the fruit. I wouldn’t know.

A number of notes combine to prevent the apricot – so prominent for me – from becoming too syrupy-sweet: mate tea, coriander, and … ahem … calone. Do you hate calone? Yes, me too. Calone is not listed as a note in Fig-tea and you might not smell it at all. I can detect it in parts per billion and I do smell it in Fig-tea. But it’s subtle. It pulls the fragrance in a refreshing direction and after its opening few minutes, Fig-Tea is brisk and cool, slightly salty, and skews unisex.

For reference, Carthusia puts out a fig-tea fragrance named Io Capri. Here I do smell fig quite clearly, rather tart, and accompanied by notes of citrus, tea, mint and eucalyptus. ‘Seaweed’ in the base contributes a briny accent not unlike the calone in Fig-Tea. But Io Capri is rough, outdoorsy and a little strident compared to the walled-garden Parisian refinement of Nicolai’s Fig-tea.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Fig-tea was released by Nicolai as an Eau Fraiche but these days is listed as an EDT. Sillage is moderate, but longevity on me is about five hours, at least. Although a warm weather fragrance, at the height of summer I still expect to reach for the invigorating freshness of Io Capri.
Figs, apricots, tea, tangy breezes and sweet memories. It’s amazing what will come out of a perfume bottle.

Further reading: Best Things In Beauty and This Side Of Perfume
Luckyscent has $130/100ml and samples

What’s brightening up your life right now?

Until next time, keep spritzing!
Anne-Marie xx

Paradise Lost by Yann Vasnier for Keiko Mecheri 2011

September 26, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there APJ Frag Family,

I found this random sample in my clear up around here. I have no idea where it came from, or whom, and certainly can’t remember ever ordering it. I even went and checked my order histories, no luck. So I think the universe is telling me to put some on and wear it. Let’s see how this baby purrs……

“Then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess
A Paradise within thee, happier far.”
― John Milton, Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost by Keiko Mecheri 2011

Paradise Lost by Yann Vasnier

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gices these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, lime
Heart: Jasmine, tuberose
Base: Sandalwood, musk, Bourbon vanilla

Softest wash, barely there, citrus open with white flowers and vanilla already noticeable. A young, extremely sheer, elegant, out of focus white floral that smells like the fruits are way more tropical, maybe it’s the banana facets of the tuberose and there feels like a coconut kick. All drenched with clean musks and Paradise Lost makes me think it was made for people who love the smell of clean clothes and hair rather than perfume, it’s not a laundry scent but it makes me think virile.

There is a fleshy component but imagining it’s a guy he’s fresh from the shower, dry and cooling on the bed. You are still sleep rumpled but the sheets have been slept in only once and you can smell his clean skin as he wraps you in his still warm embrace. Paradise Lost is a modern fragrance that I could easily imagine myself exhaling for, though it’s not groundbreaking or even very different to a lot of other stuff on the market. What I smell is a beautifully blended version of them, an excellent, better remake done for people who want to smell quietly and subtly luxe.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Paradise Lost could very easily be dismissed as boring, and I almost did, but as you wear it a few times it becomes a second skin. Even well into the heart there is a shimmer of fruit through the flowers and vanilla. After a couple of hours I become almost anosmic to it but I have had someone say how nice I smell nearly 5 hours after application. That’s pretty good for something so amorphous.

Work, date, opera, dinner or casual Saturday with the crew, Paradise Lost will fit them all. I think it especially good though for Booty Calls, this is exactly how I would want someone to show up smelling.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Libertine Parfumerie has $229/75ml with FREE Australian Postage
First In Fragrance has €145/75ml

What do you like your lovers to arrive smelling like? Past or present favourites?
Portia xxx

Friday Night Fragrance Choices: Cartier, CHANEL, Hermès, L’Occitane?

September 25, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Hello Party People,

It’s Friday night. You’re dressed up, looking fine. You’re off with your crew or your partner to do something fun, foody, outrageous, or a film. There’ll be loads of interaction with someone or a group and while you have all the other bases covered there is always the burning question: What fragrance do I wear? I have put together a short list of some long term faves and reasons why I would choose them.

Friday Night Fragrance Choices

FUN!

OK! So it’s a party night, the gang is getting ready and you want to be a super scent siren with the whole world’s nose leading straight to you. How can you stand out from your mates and be the Queen Bee of fragrant memories? Firstly, choose something very different from what the rest of your friends wear. I’m figuring if you are reading this for information (rather than pleasure) that you are young or new to perfume and that many of your friends are probably wearing fruity/floral/patchouli fragrances that are extremely popular and at a reasonable price point. Let’s step outside that box then:

Queen by Queen Latifah: So think oranges, vanilla, booze and resins. This super cheap thrill is totally different from the current fruit/choulis, is fun and flirty, lasts forever and smells awesome. Queen Latifa had her nose on the prize while creating Queen, sultry and sexy, yum.

Petit Fracas by Robert Piguet: Here we have an old favourite, Fracas, remade in a 21st Century way by adding loads of chocolate and pear. Still an outrageously glamorous white floral but with a depth and breadth that Fracas lacks. In Petit Fracas you will definitely smell head and shoulders above the crew but be such a fun burst of fragrance that it will fit with them too, and you’ll probably cause a small disturbance wherever you go.

Oriental Mint/Noir Marine by Phaedon: Here we have something totally different to anything the crew will be wearing I bet. Cold salty sea water, mint, leather and a bunch of resins (I also detect a lovely creamy dark chocolate not mentioned) all combine to make a super alluring, fizzy, fun waft of fresh, but not your 1990s fresh, this is twisted by Pierre Guillaume into something new and very exotic but still so fun. The mint is not too outrageous but it does add a wonderful sizzle.

FOODY!

Here is a different kettle of fish (pun intended) because now you are trying to be alluring across a table but don’t want to skunk the room or hamper the enjoyment of everyone’s food. What you wear to dinner needs to be subtly insinuating and has to last all night because after dinner you’ll want a bit of a walk or a cuddle and that’s when your fragrance needs to do the hard work, making you the most delicious and desirable thing your date, or crew, has smelled all night. This is tricky but let’s look at a couple of options:

Épice Marine by Hermès: Created by Jean Claude Ellena and Breton “pirate chef” Olivier Roellinger it is both totally and completely not foody. Being a soft focus salt, spice and woodsy fragrance it will be both alluring and unexpected once the dinner is over and you really get close enough to smell your scent. I find Épice Marine to be an epic stayer, still pumping out its magic hours and hours later.

Vanille & Narcisse by L’Occitane: OK, so this one has become a go-to spritz as I walk out the door for everything. Cool or warm, dressed up or down, anytime Vanille & Narcisse seems to fit. Not overpowering or weird it is a comfortable scent that will work wonders at dinner, no matter who you’re with. If it’s someone special then let lovely sensual vanilla do all the hard work, you just enjoy your meal and company.

L’Heure Convoiteé II by Cartier: For me L’Heure Convoiteé II Cartier wears like a beautiful cool crystal dream made up of lovely powdery carnation and iris. Itr doesn’t say it in the notes but I get amazing wetness, and some slightly metallic twang. So otherworldly and not so strong to overpower your meal but still enough ooomph to be noticed. Meant as a summer scent but I love to wear it in the dead of winter too.

OUTRAGEOUS!

Centre of attention fragrance, traffic stopper, blow the back of your head off fabulousness? It’s your party, you are being feted, book launch, presentation at an event, wedding, or so many other reasons. This is the fragrance that you want bookmarked by every nose in your orbit. Every time they smell it you want YOU to be the scent memory. A glorious diamond of a scent that will make you shine.

Bombay Bling! by Neela Vermeire Creations: I love how Bombay Bling opens with a supersonic blast of fruit and sweetness, morphs into a sweet bouquet and then grinds down to a woody/earthy dark and sexy thing that will have everyone sniffing around you curiously. All the stages are lovely and exotic, you will smell killer from go to whoa and if you need to stand out in a crowd then Bombay Bling! will definitely get you across the line. If serious money smelled captivating, this is what it would smell like.

Jardins d’Armide by Oriza L Legrand: One of my pick ups in Europe earlier in 2014 and what an excellent choice, Jardins d’Armide is a cool iris, floral, powdery and animalic wonder that smells drop dead gorgeous on me and always garners attention. You really have to live up to this amazing scent and it will help to lift your game, just deep breaths of Jardins d’Armide.

FILM!

2-3 hours sitting so close your arms and legs are touching, here subtlety is the key. A whisper of lavish loveliness that will draw your partner in to your neck for some sniffing. A great way to get them close enough to kiss.

Splash Forte by IUNX: I have worn Splash Forte through the heat of India in summer, the cool of French winter and in Sydney’s summer and autumn. In that particularly sparse way that Olivia Giacobetti has it is a beautiful, haunting, modern masterpiece. That’s my opinion anyway. Spices, herbs, woods and a very naughty musk. All done just below the radar in terms of projection, your partner will smell you but won’t be aware how devastatingly your fragrance is playing and luring them into your light. Excellent close wear, silent assassin.

Ma Folie de Noël by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz: Seriously scrummy, sweet spiced cream and incense. Opens big but pretty soon is a soft edible waft from your shirt whenever you move or your wrists every time you gesture. If this doesn’t get your date to snuggle in closer then you are with some poor bugger who has anosmia. Be extra nice to them and enjoy the film and your fragrance selfishly. MMMMMM This is the good stuff.

What do you wear for Friday nights? How do you like to spend them?
Portia xx

TEA TOWEL GIVEAWAY WINNERS

September 25, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Post by Portia

This was a fun one APJ. Thanks for all getting involved.

Vintage Beauties samples the winners will be getting are:
Quelques Fleurs by Houbigant
Mitsouko parfum by Guerlain
Oscar by Oscar de la Renta
Magie Noire by Lancome

Let’s see who won!
Portia xx

TEA TOWEL GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 5 winners who will receive:
Tea-Towels (some will be Aussie or International)
4 x Samples of Fragrance from my collection (Vintish/Vintage Beauties)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 24th September 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen brooklodge

Fifi

Lavanya

jalesley

Pats

odbayar

Azar (extra)

The winners will have till Sunday 27th September 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.

Dark Horse by Dame Perfumery Scottsdale 2015

September 24, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Erica Golding

Scented greetings to my kindred spirits!

Today I am sparkling in a haze of friendly, approachable confidence. I feel bright and serene, energetic and focused. This is because today I chose to spritz my sample of:

Dark Horse by Dame Perfumery Scottsdale 2015

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, lemon, cinnamon
Heart: Jasmine, carnation, rose, cloves
Base: Guaiac wood, vetiver, vanilla and musk

This fragrance is loosely marketed with an air of masculinity, but as with all of Jeffrey’s Artist Collection offerings, Dark Horse can be effortlessly worn by all genders.

I am enamored with this surprising juxtaposition of two scents I normally enjoy only as accents: citrus and spice. They are both finely tuned and harmonized with careful attention. The solar tone features fine shimmering bergamot, sun-ripened lemon, and warm vetiver. The spice is composed of cinnamon and clove (and I suspect nutmeg too), but they are not loud, sharp, or overpowering as they often are in perfumery. The spices are soft and subtle, caressing your skin and your spirit.

Photo Stolen Dame Perfumery Scottsdale

The modern elegance and attractiveness of Dark Horse is centered within its personality. This EdP is easygoing and laid back, but cleanly put together. Brilliant, cheerful, and living in the moment – this is the Dark Horse wearer.

Dame Perfumery Scottsdale says: A scent full of raw charisma; quite unpredictable and completely charming. Animal magnetism at its best. Smooth, balanced and …

Further reading: Looking Feeling Smelling Great
Dame Perfumery Scottsdale has samples $10/7ml, bottles $65/50ml

Have you tried Dark Horse? How about New Musk Man/New Musk Oil (next on my list of must-try)? I’d love to hear your experiences with Dame Perfumery fragrance!

Love and light,
Erica

The Modern Fougere: Kurkdjian, Malle, Penhaligon’s

September 23, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Post by Liam

Howdy Hum Salubrious Scentophiles.

Of the entire gamut of fragrances, I am most cautious of the Fougere.

Why? Do this for me- play a game of covert ops (if you are a man, this is easy. If you are a woman, pretend you are buying a gift for a boyfriend). Head on down to your local department store and ask the question: “I am looking for a safe fragrance at around the one-hundred dollar mark”. Tell them he doesn’t often wear scent, perhaps only for special occasions.

I am willing and happy to wager that if they do not offer you an aquatic to try, they will then offer you either a fragrance in the wood category or the Aromatic Fougere.

The Modern Fougere: Kurkdjian, Malle, Penhaligon’s

What’s wrong with the mass market Fougere? The structure of a Fougere is largely complex, richly layered with a harmonious topdown structure from a vibrant citrus top note, an aromatic hum in the middle, and a weighty wooded base at the bottom. When perfumes mess with these transitions, with cloying drydowns and/or linalool and ambroxan driven facets, piercing top notes, and imperceptible accords – the Fougere has been tarnished.

Jean-Paul Guerlain made a statement that I am inclined to adhere to. He believed that apart from Guerlain’s two Fougere scents – Jicky and Mouchoir de Monsieur, any other Fougere is for truck drivers. Given my current and (of course) personal perspective of the market, I am inclined to say the same.

However! The Fougere begins to shine a pulsating, welcoming, and soft glow when we begin to look at a few more ‘uppermarket’ scents. Here are my favourite Fougeres for a contemporary market.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Sartorial by Penhaligon’s

A superstar in the fragrance community (and when you have the confidence, fragcom is the appropriate blend word to use), I personally really admire Sartorial for its classicism.

I get what I want from Sartorial: a lavender, amber, and sandalwood structure that alloys down a citrus impression at the opening. But Duchaufour takes it a step further. He places the scent in context. In a Saville Row tailor’s workroom. Beeswax, metallic notes, steam-iron notes, and a linen fabric accord intermingle with the classic structure giving depth, definition, and clarity. A wonderful scent.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Masculin Pluriel by Maison Francis Kurkdjian

This is the antidote to my woes. I am saddened by a lack of clarity in Fougere scents – with these instead presenting a musty static that I cannot bare. Much like Sartorial, the name suggests a throwback to what makes a masculine fragrance – a Fougere! Lavender is a must, along with red cedar, leather, and patchouli. A fragrance representing a quest for the ‘eternal masculine’, a ‘timeless scent’, this comes pretty close. It it predicable and forward, like a good gentleman.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Geranium Pour Monsieur – Frederic Malle

A minty wildcard, I am currently really liking this one. It is tenacious. It opens with a smooth abrasiveness from Chinese geranium – giving a floral potency lifted with nose tingling mint, anise, and ouzo notes. Combined with the spice of clove, cinnamon and then swept with crystalline musk – Geranium Pour Monsieur omits the toothpaste impression but retains its menthol-like freshness. It is precise; a well-tuned creation that plays on cool and hot. Creating a sophisticated, refreshing and tonic-like fragrance, Geranium Pour Monsieur is probably the best mint-driven scent on the market, and a superb quasi-fougere.

Be kind, and rethink your labelling of the (otherwise almighty) Fougere.
What’s a modern Fougere to you?

-Liam

P.S I’m away for a while, Yr12 exams! See you soon!

Miu Miu – AT LAST!!

September 22, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

The unveiling of Miu Miu’s debut fragrance transpired this week in Australia. Very few notes are mentioned and immediately descriptions read as brazen: promising a bold marriage between retro-flower lily of the valley and modern aroma-chemical akigalawood. Perfumer Daniela (Roche) Andrier created the lily of the valley accord with rose absolute, synthetic green notes and real jasmine then fused it with akigalawood, which is extracted from patchouli oil. Apparently the fragrance was accepted only after 1200 attempts!!

Miu Miu by Daniela (Roche) Andrier for Miu Miu 2015

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lily of the valley
Heart: Jasmine, rose, green notes
Base: Akigalawood

I first smelt lily of the valley at Petersham Nursery in London a few years ago. End of the season, the plant was looking forlorn, droopy and weathered. Exuding from it was the most exquisite and captivating scent. Green, cool, fresh, earthy, dewy, lightly floral, citrus-rose top notes with jasmine nuances (omitting headiness). Cheerfully understated. It’s little wonder Miu Miu chose to revive this beautiful retro flower and give it a modern shakeup.

My next “run in” with Lily of the Valley was whilst watching TV series Breaking Bad. Walter White pondered exterminating drug-lord Gustavo Fring whilst peering at a potted plant beside his backyard pool. “THAT’S LILY OF THE VALLEY!!” I squealed, jumping out of my chair, recognizing the little white bells. Soon after in the show, Jesse’s girlfriend’s son falls suspiciously ill of Lily of the Valley poisoning and Walter White is to blame! I took to Google and sure enough the reality is lily of the valley is a toxic, exquisitely delicate, scented beast. A Snow White apple, of sorts!!

The Miu Miu brand has always explored juxtapositions and contradictions. They twist rules within their designs encapsulating the demure and the outrageous, the delicate and the bold, seriousness and lightheartedness and of course: retro versus modern. So, why wouldn’t they release a first fragrance based around a flower with bite?!

Adverts show beautiful actress Stacey Martin, stunning bottle and cute kitten. I get it: I felt like a kitten from the moment I saw and touched my bottle of Miu Miu. Seriously! I spent the whole day playing with it, cooing and purring all the while. Distinctive, combining a modern pop feel with a classy retro edge. Coordinating gold, cream, pillowed eggshell blue glass and contrasting them with a large spot of translucent red perspex. Indeed the bottle design is a piece of art.

On first sniff it was clean and pretty. A sheer green floral. I was lost for words and burst into nervous laughter. The anticipation was too much. Wearing it I experience an elegant sweet rosy heart, dewy green apple – yet slightly creamy and a touch of tart rosehip fruit. Utterly surrounded by joyful white floral, lily of the valley. Remaining somewhat linear, with intriguing depth after time. Cool, dark, green-peppered wood – the akigalawood…a new experience for me. The lily of the valley borderlines’ on shrill, before it becomes soapy and rounded, surviving right until the end.

If Miu Miu’s aim was to capture the spirit of the brand they have, ageless and contemporary. Alluring and possibly polarising it’s no fruity floral crowd pleaser and yet hovers close to “safe.” A fresh, youthful, sophisticated and slightly peculiar floral with fun peppery wood effervescent undertones.

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Now Smell This
Miu Miu is available places, um, no idea…..

What do you think?
Ainslie Walker XXX

Good Girl Gone Bad GIVEAWAY WINNERS

September 21, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Portia

Thanks again to my mate Nick from Libertine Parfumerie who has managed to import the by Kilian range to Australia and now it is exclusive to In Store Shoppers at Harrold’s Sydney & Melbourne. Amazing GIVEAWAY buddy, THANK YOU!
Australian’s do go have a look at the Libertine Parfumerie site, it’s amazing.

Let’s see who won,
Portia xx

Good Girl Gone Bad GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Jasmine, osmanthus, may rose
Heart: Indian tuberose, narcissus
Base: Amber, cedar

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will receive:
1 x 10ml Good Girl Gone Bad by Kilian
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 20th September 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen thegarfieldshow-diary

sun (via TWITTER)

Greg

Ellen

The winners will have till Thursday 24th September 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.

NEW STORE: Arielle Shoshana

September 20, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey Crew,

Especially those in the USA, there is a brand new perfumery in town. My mate, blogger from Scents Of Self, glam girl and general fragrant fiend Arielle (Ari) is opening her first store in Washington DC. The Grand Opening Party is on October 3rd 2015! If you’re in the area you MUST drop in and hug her from the APJ crew.

NEW STORE: Arielle Shoshana

I was her very first customer and for a one time only special event she let me buy, and sent all the way to Australia, Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Absolue Pour le Soir. I am totally thrilled by the speed she delivered in, loads of cute stickers on my package, a bunch of interesting samples as well as my beautiful bottle of skankalicious sexy good times horny juice.

Some of the range includes:
Neela Vermeire Creations
Atelier Cologne
Etat Libre d’Orange
Maison Francis Kurkdjian

and many more…….

Mosaic District

2920 District Avenue

Suite 145

Fairfax, VA 22031

Please go have a look at Arielle Shoshana Scented Luxuries site, prices are competitive and Ari is such a sweetie. Let’s help a fellow frag maniac begin something new, create a place for perfumistas to shop by a serious perfumista. Ari, I’m so proud of you and proud to call you my friend.

GOOD LUCK PRINCESS!
Portia xx

Cuir Amethyste by Michel Almairac for Armani Privé 2005

September 19, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Post by Portia

Heya Fragrant Fumies,

I came late to the Armani Privé line, it wasn’t until 2011 that I first got my sniff on them. Jin and I had been doing some shopping and one of the nearby malls had the first Armani Privé line in it’s own area that I’d seen. To be honest, I had worn Armani Pour Homme and Emporio Armani Lui in the 1980s & 90s but nothing from the line had spoken to me for years and I figured that the quality of the fragrances had nose dived considerably like so many other brands. It was the bottles that caught our attention with the lovely simple black squares, the smooth cool rocks on top and gold plaques very much like the front door of an expensive restaurant or doctors/lawyers/dentists. We spent a lazy half hour sniffing them all and I had two favourites, Cuir Amethyste and Bois Encens.

By the time I realised that Cuir Amethyste was my favourite Michel Almairac had reworked the idea in a sweeter, suppler version for Bottega Veneta and I was so lost in its spell, especially when it became Jin’s signature, that Cuir Amethyst was forgotten. Step in Aelfrik, I bought a decant from him recently and my love is rekindled sevenfold……

Cuir Amethyste by Armani Privé 2005

Cuir Amethyste by Michel Almairac

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, coriander, rose
Heart: Birch, patchouli, violet
Base: Benzoin, incense, Bourbon vanilla

How could I forget this glorious and majestic beauty, it’s so damn good I just want to lick myself all over and then cuddle up in a ball and suck in the divine scent of myself until I am breathed away on a whisper of wind. I SMELL SO GOOD!

My nose gets sweet citrus, leather and patchouli straight away, the mix is a little bit oud-y and Cuir Amethyste shows me little of anything else up front. Slowly I get a cool, bitter hint of burnt incense and then after about 5-15 minutes depending on the day I get a friendly little violet tap on the shoulder and suddenly Cuir Amethyste is an old, much loved leather bag with some powder and lipstick traces. Cool and friendly, like when we were sent looking in Mum’s bag for coins to buy ice-cream as kids, it’s a real memory scent for me. Maybe that’s why I love it so much.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Later, much later the vanilla/amber combines with the leather to create the perfect skin scent, the scent you wish your skin had. A fleshy, endearing, healthy breath that warms and sweetens my own body fragrance to something compelling and luscious.In the morning there is still a whisper of leather handbag and makeup, I love Cuir Amethyste so much.

When I finish this 10ml there is a bottle in my future.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Cuir Amethyste
Cuir Amethyste by Armani Privé is available in large department stores

Did you fall for any of the Armani Privé line? Which and why?
Portia x