Clay Masks for Your Face and Body

July 8, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Suzanne R Banks

Hi Perfume Junkies,

Clay masks can really help improve the look and function of your skin and can even help you feel fresher and more energised like you’ve had a holiday.

Clay is marvellous! It’s nature is to absorb impurities, and I remember once a therapist telling me that clay works better and is more active when it’s wet. This means that if you’re giving yourself a clay face mask, when it starts to dry, moisten it with a mist of water or hydrosol, or simply place a wet facecloth over it and press into your face. I’m not sure if she is right and I haven’t found any information that supports or negates this claim, so why not experiment yourself? I do know that when you leave a clay mask to dry, it definitely feels like it is tightening your skin and giving you a bit of a lift.

Clay Masks for Your Face and Body

Photo Stolen Pixabay

“In general, topical application of clay on the skin will be rejuvenating, clarifying, cooling, help cell renewal, lessen the appearance of spider veins and varicose veins and make you feel like you’ve had a mini holiday.” Suzanne R Banks

Clay is used to:

* reduce the appearance of small veins

* cool your skin

* absorb impurities from the outer layers of your skin

* cool and extract bacteria from acne

* tighten pores

* treat injuries when used as a poltice

As it comes from the earth it is a great way to help someone who is having a hard time emotionally. It will help ground them and connect their energy to mother earth. You could put some clay in a bath, or do a mask on the hands or face, even the feet. Or a foot bath with clay and essential oils – perfect for an elderly or incapacitated person.

White Clay

* gentle face masks and gentle body masks

* in baths

* in body scrubs

* as an absorptive soft powder on a cut or graze

* for eczema and psoriasis – especially for kids

* for rashes or skin disorders on dogs I either just sprinkle it on dry or mix into a smooth paste

Photo Stolen Flickr

Pink Clay

* this is my favourite face clay – face mask when the skin is red or for sufferers of rosacea

* face masks for eczema or psoriasis on the face

* anytime you need a good facial cleanse, and to reduce puffiness

Green Clay

* acne on the face or body either with a mask or just a little dotted on a spot

* face or body mask for oily skin

* body mask when you are doing a detox to help with the processing of toxins out of your system

* cellulite (it does help but I haven’t found anything yet to get rid of it completely – ugh!)

Yellow Clay

* face and body masks and to add to body scrubs particularly when the skin is dull and needs energy – it really brightens the skin

Red Clay

* this one is great for spider veins, red skin, broken capillaries

Photo Stolen Flickr

Full clay body masks will give you an all-over spa treatment feeling, but beware you must wrap yourself in towels and/or blankets as your body temperature can drop very quickly. You are emersing yourself in extracts from the earth so be careful. Shower off or soak in a bath for a complete rejuvenation.

Poultices and spot mask treatments can work well on the body for healing too, for example, a monthly cellulite mask on your thighs can help move lymph and help add to drainage. Wrap your legs in plastic wrap to keep in the heat, then relax for 15 minutes either showering off or soaking in a bath.

For bruises or sprains a clay mask may help by soothing the site and acting as an anti-infammatory agent.

Choose your essential oils wisely and don’t use too much!

In 2 teaspoons of clay for a face mask only add 1 or 2 drops of essential oil.

For 3/4 cup of clay for a leg mask only add about 8 drops of essential oil.

You’ll need about 4 cups of clay for your body – add 15 drops of essential oil

Photo Stolen Pixabay

There is so much more to write about with clay as most comes from France and is called “Argile”. Just dive in and have a go making a mask for yourself and see how it turns out.

Remember to treat yourself first, then everyone will benefit.

Suzanne R Banks x

Check out my YouTube Channel too, thanks.

Suzanne R Banks Blog
Suzanne R Banks Aromatherapy
Suzanne R Banks FaceBook

Please check out my new book REVELATION! – Reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils

Amazon USA Amazon AU Amazon UK

Fragrances for what ails you: The Hangover Part 2

July 7, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

Fragrances for what ails you: The Hangover Part 2

Today’s focus is HANGOVERS Part 2.

*Please note: we at APJ do not recommend drinking irresponsibly.

Continuing our journey through the hung-over eye, this week we observe cases and their miraculous fragrant cures!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

“Take me away from this nasty place” hangover. You cannot fathom sorting “life” out today. “Adulting” is near impossible. You look at your partner/ children without recognition. Irritation, loss of patience and violent visions are rife. You must escape!! Ormonde Woman by Ormonde Jayne is the answer. Creamy, comforting and magical, you can easily fly far far away on your broomstick with it’s delicious high-dose of hallucinogenic black hemlock. You will cackle with delight as your zoom away from your self-created disaster zone.

“I don’t feel pretty” hangover. You look in the mirror; your skin is pale and has broken out. You feel ugly. You’ve been drinking too frequently. You’ve lost your pretty. We could fake pretty with numerous light floral options, however I’ve found a way to coheres the real pretty back from the darkest depths. Le Labo’s Sandal 33 resets my system like a breath of fresh cool country air. Moist woods evolve into a gorgeous, sexy mess. The dense woods are interspersed with pretty violet notes, peaking out shyly from the forest floor….”here pretty, pretty” you call.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Hangover of doom: you wake up mentally feeling like a lead balloon. Your head is stuck in an unrelenting dark cloud. The only remedy is “happy.” For me this is usually orange blossom, but I can also opt for Penhaligon’s Vaara, as long as I am not feeling too woozy. It is robust happiness in a bottle. Juicy and uplifting, rose, quince, orange, freesia and magnolia work magic on dehydration. Coriander and saffron create the warmth and depth of a satisfying hug. Cedar and sandalwood earths you so as not to become too giddy.

Hangover on an important day You got carried away just one night too early. You have to face a job interview/family reunion/child’s christening/long drive. You are not a bad person; you were just a very fun person last night. A simple, yet head turning work of magic is Eccentric Molecule Molecule 01 smelling like the inside of a cedar wood chest you long to hide in if you were still small enough. To others you smell amazing, attractive and unique all of a sudden. You ooze cool to the point they ask, “you smell great, what is that?” No one will suspect a thing, the ultimate cover-up for your irresponsible sins.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

The Hangover you have no time for: You wake up and need to be out of the house in 30 minutes “what happened last night? My head hurts” “why do I do this to myself?” It’s time to dart around, get ready and take a teaspoon-of-cement. Suck it up buttercup! – YOU did this and now you’ll be paying for it. Coffee and carb-laden food is a must along with a squirt of 4160 Tuesdays Sunshine and Pancakes. Comfortingly zesty it instantly uplifts. Creamy buttered sandalwood goodness melts in to play becoming a breakfast on the run. Rosewood helps with acceptance and makes for a beautiful, balanced start to the day!

How do you cope with a hangover?
Ainslie Walker xx

Thaleia by IME Natural Perfume

July 6, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by Willa Zheng

Thesis writing is really boring, tedious work. To get myself in the right frame of mind to sit down and slog it out, I have to play really depressing melancholic music [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KylMqxLzNGo] – and calm my monkey brain from turning to the internet for blissful distractions at the first mental roadbump. Back in the days when I was a law student, I’d read unhappy 19th century novels to prep my mind for the cerebral aerobics ahead.

As most of my personal frag collection distract and uplift me with their beauty, I typically stay away from fragrances during exam or assignment writing crunch times.

For a long time, my study slog of choice had been Roger & Gallet Eau de Gingembre. But as it’s winter and there’s a certain chilly bite in the air, I find it’s not cutting the mustard any more. I need something more robust, to grab me by the back of my neck and force me to type type type the words I need onto the page. I am looking for something gloomy but not insipid.

Thaleia by IME Natural Perfume

IME gives these featured accords in one line:
Lime, Litsea Cubeba, Citronella, Pine, Geranium, Patchouli

My work scent at the moment is Ime natural perfume’s Thaleia []. Natural perfume? I can see you rolling your eyes. But hear me out, fellow fragrance connoisseur. All of Ime’s natural fragrances are actually worked on by a professional and skilled local perfumer with over 40 years of experience in the industry. The founder and creative director, Tonia Walker, uses her natural therapy background to create a range of perfumes that have notes that affect and alter our moods. In essence, Ime is an aromatherapy-fine fragrance hybrid. Emotion changing scents that don’t collapse or become undetectable half an hour later. They also comply with IFRA – which is no small feat since IFRA has restricted the use of so many natural materials.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Thaleia is fresh, lime-like, but has a herbal naturopathic undertone (Patchouli, Geranium, Pine) that really grounds me mentally. The top notes are reminiscent of Jurlique’s now discontinued Lemon-Lime Hydrating Essence. It’s like holding a fresh lime in your hand, peeling back the green skin, getting squirts of the green zest, then bitter white pith, to reveal the centre of the fruit as damp dirt-like patchouli. The overall texture is oily and powdery, so the Proustian effect is like walking into a dark, candle-lit 90s-era Perfect Potion store with citrusy essentials oils burning in oil burners on the counter. It has quite a New Age feeling – which is fitting for the Greek goddess theme that Ime tailors each fragrance around.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Very linear, with moderate sillage. Even its the drydown, Thaleia is a green, citronol, patchouli scent. A two squirt blast on my neck region can keep me working for 10hrs +. Not bad for a natural, heh?

IME Natural Perfumes have $59.95/30ml and a great sample deal

Now tell me, fellow APJ-er, do you have a ‘deep thinking’ scent?
Willa Zheng xx

Les Exceptions Mugler: The Film

July 5, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Heya Crew,

I was lucky enough to smell a couple of these lovelies in Chicago with Musette from Perfume Posse last year and I fell madly in love with Oriental Express and quite liked Supra Floral too.

Photo Stolen YouTube

Chyprissime, Fougere Furieuse, Oriental Express, Over The Musk, Supra Floral are the five Les Exceptions and I think they are definitely worth a sniff.

Enjoy the film,
Portia xx

Les Exceptions Mugler: The Film

PG17 Tubereuse Couture by Parfumerie Generale

July 4, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Hey all you lovely Perfumistas,

Recently my mate Sandra in Vienna was having a clear out and she sent me the list. There were some frags not currently available in Oz and a couple that were on my list to own or back up. Over the next little while I’ll be bringing out some to show you, today’s offering is the first. I don’t know if you ever troll the For Sale Docs on the Facebook frag pages but here are a couple that you might like to try: Facebook Fragrance Friends and PLP Splits & Sales.

PG17 Tubereuse Couture by Parfumerie Generale

PG17 Tubereuse Couture by Pierre Guillaume

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured notes in one line:
Orange, green notes, jasmine, ylang-ylang, sugar cane, indian tuberose, benzoin, papyrus

This week seems to be all about the languid, tropical scents that are both alive with the sensual promise of white flowers and sweetened in some way to almost make them edible delights. Today we look at the unhumble tuberose in its sweet and green facets. Loud, pushy, thick, glutinous and a hugely theatrical showstopper Tubereuse Couture is like a neon light burning through the evenings cool. Vivid and stark we are not with the bubblegum sweeties here, this is tuberose for grown ups. A mildly petroleum aurora that is both beautiful and toxic. The green notes resinous, dry, sharp and unsettling. How can something be so desirable, alluring and creamy while maintaining such an unhealthy, fetid glow? Caught on the very fine line between gorgeous and repugnant I think Tubereuse Couture is my new favourite tuberose.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

The first hour is HUGE! Well, maybe not that big but you are heavily fragrant and it is incredible. After that opening hour Tubereuse Couture calms to a lovely sweet white flower bouquet and still maintains excellent sillage and projection for about another hour before going to a softer, wear anywhere, warm yet slightly green amber. Still interesting but not the wild creature it was at all, now Tubereuse Couture is a cuddly, smoochy kitten. I find something delightfully old fashioned about Tubereuse Couture, though it is all of the above there is also something languid and in repose about it that seems poised on the edge of action. It’s like wearing a drowsing tiger or greyhound, the power is there at bay awaiting at a moments notice to spring into swiftly killing action. Tubereuse Couture is thrilling.

Tubereuse Couture is a real heart starter. If you are tuberose or green averse then you’ll probably want to test this on paper or a friend before you put it on your own skin. Having said that I just spritzed it on my BFF Kath and she smells creamy, smooth and deliciously sweet in the next room. A very different ride, or maybe it smells different from afar. Anyway, your mileagae will probably vary from my experience so give Tubereuse Couture a go.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Non Blonde
First In Fragrance has €95/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/ml

How do you like your tuberose?
Portia xx

Carticasi by Xavier Torre for Testa Maura 2008 + GIVEAWAY

July 3, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Hey there APJ Fragrant Family,

I have been going through a few of my older LuckyScent Sample Packs. What usually happens for me is that I try them all on my fingers, just near my nails, when they arrive and the ones that stand out to me in the initial testing get worn till they’re empty and the others languish. It’s fun to go back and have a re-sniff and it’s been nice to find that a couple I like very much and want to share with you. One of them is…

Carticasi by Xavier Torre for Testa Maura 2008

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

LuckyScent gives these featured accords in one line:
Mastic Resin, Galbanum, Rose, Ylang-Ylang, Cedarwood

My first thought on applying is “oh, this is a natural fragrance”. No fragrance I know with synthetics has this green, dark, ferocious depth. If green is your friend then this is a lightless cave by a riverbank, the moss, lichen, grass, and tree resin all combines here in a fragrance that should be the colour of a crows wing, iridescent, oil slick black. This is the scent of the young fairy Maleficent and her kingdom before it was turned into a place of unhappiness, and then again at the end of the tale.

The rose is gorgeous. Right now I have a deep red rose that someone gave me from their garden, the scent is so strong and dark but with glimmers of light and it is this intoxicating fragrance that has been used by Xavier Torre for Carticasi. The opening 20 minutes are incredibly dense and I could imagine it turning people off if they had never spent time with a natural fragrance. For me though it is totally fabulous, the uber green.

Carticasi lasts a couple of hours and 2/3 of that time it keeps extremely close to the skin. After two hours there is a very faint haze of scent but it has pretty much gone. Perfect work wear so you can enjoy your fragrance on the way to work, respritz and enjoy it for lunch and not worry about skunking your colleagues.

Further reading: Scent For Thought and IrideScents
LuckyScent has $140/50ml

Photo Stolen YouTube

Testa Maura GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
2 x Testa Maura samples Capo di Feno & Aleria. (Both from LuckyScent and have been dabbed twice)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. I must be able to check that you follow so if you have an email address on your gravatar that’s different to your follow address then please email me (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us what fragrances tickle your fancy to sample from LuckyScent<JUMP?

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Testa Maura GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-43m #Perfume #Giveaway @luckyscent

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 5th July 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 9th July 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.

Emporio Armani Diamonds Violet ft Ella Eyre – The Film

July 3, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hi there Crew,

I am LOVING this bottle. So freaking beautiful. The notes sound like they might overload my sweet spot but I am going to force myself down to the shops to try it anyway. That bottle makes it all seem worthwhile.

The ad is straight out of the 1980s, enjoy,
Portia xx

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Raspberry, lychee, passion fruit
Heart: Bulgarian rose, violet, lily of the valley
Base: Praline, vanilla, patchouli

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Emporio Armani Diamonds Violet ft Ella Eyre – The Film

Fraîche Passiflore by Jean Laporte for Maître Parfumeur et Gantier 1988

July 2, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hi there APJ,

I quite like this brand, Maître Parfumeur et Gantier is one of the original niche houses, but I rarely buy the bottles because I find it impossible to say the houses name without mangling it beyond recognition. It’s a shame because they do some really great scents and have been doing stuff that still feels revolutionary since day one. It’s surprising how many of the line still feel bang up to date. Last time I was in Scent Bar in LA they gave me three samples of the Maître Parfumeur et Gantier range on a card to try, I have rediscovered the card in my cleanup this week and found a surprise delight.

Fraîche Passiflore by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier 1988

Fraîche Passiflore by Jean Laporte

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Raspberry, Peach, Tagetes
Heart: Jasmine, Passion flower, Pimento
Base: Musk, Mysore sandalwood

Fraiche Passiflora opens with the funnest fruit punch ever.It’s like a crisp cut fruit salad sprinkled lightly with sugar and a little rose water.Without being super sweet, overbearing or outrageous Fraiche Passiflora manages to be radiantly delicious and makes me smile. Oh, and it smells great. I can’t believe that this beauty came out in 1988, it’s like a fun and flirty precursor to Angel and the gourmand craze that followed in its wake. Passionfruit, not flower, seems to be the central theme here, and everything else dances attendance on it well through the heart. It’s so yummy that I can almost feel the pips as I chew with cool refreshing gelato. This is a perfectly gorgeous summer, or memory of summer, scent that will have you smiling along at how freaking fab you smell and wafting delicious sillage behind you that will definitely be turning heads.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

The heart has a real feeling of soft sugared jubes, like Jelly Tots but bigger. The ones that you put three in your mouth and as you chew they all stick in and around your teeth and then you spend the next hour or so getting lovely sweet reminders of them as they slowly melt. Mum used to always have a small bag of them in her purse because giving us a mouthful of these when our attention or energy was flagging would give us an instant pick up.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

If you have someone in your life that likes a joyful fruity fragrance, even if it’s you, then I think Fraiche Passiflora would be an excellent next step into a real quality version of the genre.

LuckyScent has $130/100ml and samples

What is your fruity favourite? Do you have any of the Maître Parfumeur et Gantier range?
Portia xx

Bronze Goddess by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Estée Lauder

July 1, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Hi there Crew!

The beach scent! One of my all time favourite groupings and I’ve noticed that my collection overfloweth with them. An excellent summer spritz but also perfect in the depths of winter to remind you that the sun will come again. I love the Bronze Goddess line and that each year they get a new perfumer in to do their own take on the idea. I have two bottles 2008s Bronze Goddess Eau Fraîche Skinscent and …..

Bronze Goddess 2011 by Estée Lauder

Bronze Goddess by Rodrigo Flores-Roux

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, bergamot
Heart: Magnolia, orange blossom, tiare flower, jasmine, myrrh
Base: Coconut, caramel, sandalwood, amber, vetiver

No matter when I use Bronze Goddess it fits like a glove. One little spray and my world is filled with the heart and memory of summer, if I close my eyes I am completely transported to my dream day at the beach. 28C with a very light breeze from the water and a few clouds dappling the world, the beach must have a tide pool and some excellent eateries nearby and I prefer to hang with a smell crew, around 5 or 6 maximum. Give me a book to read and I am in HEAVEN! I particularly like beaches with a grassy area behind the sand where I can comfortably lay my towel and gear and only get all the sand in my feet on the way to the water.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

2011s Bronze Goddess is all about tiare/jasmine, coconut, caramel and amber on me. While every other note is presented in a wash of smooth and beautifully blended tropical holiday it’s these accords that stand out distinctly through my wear and I particularly love the warmth of the dry down, it still feels beachy and fun but it’s the kind of scent you imagine being present while you walk along the waterfront past moored boats, eateries, palm trees and watching the sun going down with a crew of people you love or someone special. Bronze Goddess is a summer holiday fantasy in a bottle.

Though Bronze Goddess is a very fragrant perfume with good projection and longevity its very nature makes it seem light as air and much like wearing a tropical moisturiser. Though it is a tropical beachy scent I find there is a lovely fresh cleanliness (not in the obvious laundry way, though I think there is also a place for that in perfumery) that continues all day. Sensual and alluring I often wear Bronze Goddess for date night and also for times when I can feel myself falling into a funk. Bronze Goddess is the perfect foil, it’s hard to feel gloomy or blue when you smell this lovely.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Into The Gloss and Now Smell This
FragranceNet has a couple of choices from $61/100ml before Coupon
Surrender To Chance has a few different samples from $3/ml

Do you have a favourite Beach Scent? What is it and why?
Portia xx

Elle L'aime by Lolita Lempicka 2013

June 30, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Woo Hoo! Heya Fragrant Family,

You know that frag you buy a decant of? You know you’ll never need a full bottle but you might like to gran and spritz every so often? Well, I wrote about today’s offering in 2014 because I’d run across it in the mall and loved the bottle, which is why I’d bought my first decant. Having run through two 5ml My Perfume Samples decants and well into my third I thought perhaps it was time to bite the bullet and go FB.

Elle L’aime by Lolita Lempicka 2013

Elle L’aime by Christine Nagel + Serge Majoullier

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, neroli, lime
Heart: Coconut, jasmine, ylang-ylang
Base: Sandalwood, vanilla, myrrh

So it arrived a couple of days ago while Scott was over and we sniffed it on him. We both went CRAZY because it’s super yummy and was really masculine on him. Quite a different scent life compared to the ride that I get.

I know, there are probably a bunch of you that are rolling their eyes or have even not clicked on the post because Lolita Lempicka is a bit too mainstream and uncool but I’d like you to remember how groundbreaking her licorice & violet Lolita Lempicka was in the Disney-ised poison apple, how outrageous to do a hyper gourmand mens like Au Masculin and how much fun and whimsy her whole range contains.

Photo Stolen Flickr

What do I smell? It’s the perfect summer scent, a cool tropical creamsicle over a lovely warm base that will have you smiling along and enjoying the ride. Even here in the depths of our Sydney winter I am instantly transported to glorious tropical evenings and those crazy drinks by the pool. Elle L’aime is sunshine in a glass and I bet you’ll find it hard to scowl while bathing in its enveloping radiance.

Sadly Elle L’aime seems to have been a flop, I can’t see it in the department stores any more. The upside is that you can currently get it for nearly FREE at the discounters! As it was released and dumped so quickly I don’t imagine it will last there for very long though. If Bronze Goddess or Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia are fragrances you like then I reckon Elle L’aime will ring the same bells.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Now Smell This and Australian Perfume Junkies
FragranceShop has $26/40ml
My Perfume Samples has $2/ml

Last time I wrote, I think Elle L’aime will be a perfect first grown up fragrance or a lovely addition to your easy wear, spritz and forget wardrobe. In fact, though they don’t smell much the same I am reminded of Annich Goutal’s Songes, a sugared version made in the 21st century perhaps. I think it still captures the sense and feeling of Elle L’aime perfectly.

What is your mainstream spritz & go?
Portia xx