Francis Kurkdjian

Absolue Pour Le Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 48 Comments

.

Post by Chairman Meaow

.

What do I know about Francis Kurkdjian and his work? Very little. I know that he’s a wiz with orange flower. That he is large on talent, not so much, perhaps, on affability towards perfumistas. I had ordered a set of samples from his house some time back, given each a cursory sniff, and decided that he was the creator of pretty and well constructed, if not entirely memorable perfumes. And with that, Francis Kurkdjian was relegated to the recycling heap of my olfactory landscape.

Absolue Pour Le Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2010

Absolue Pour le Soir Maison Francis Kurkdjian FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Maison Francis Kurkdjian lists the following accords on its website:
Benzoin from Siam, Bulgarian and Iranian rose, honey, incense absolute, ylang ylang, cumin, Atlas cedar and sandalwood

With the first huff, it was as if I had sat under the bodhi tree and received my perfumed awakening. All the references to rutting animals, bodily secretions, hind quarters and nether regions, things that I had read about but had yet not experienced to any meaningful degree, things that sounded repugnant and intriguing in equal measures, were all there, fleshed out in Absolue Pour Le Soir.

It started out innocently enough – some liquored rose, sandalwood, and soft, sweet honey. But wait, reader. It’s like that scene from that old comedy The Jerk where Steve Martin takes a long, slow swipe of Bernadette Peters’ cheek with his tongue. You just know that in a few moments, when the spittle starts to dry, things are going to start to get a bit smelly.

Absolue Pour le Soir Maison Francis Kurkdjian Bus Shelter WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Sure enough, the honey soon ripened, and started to acquire the tang of a pee-stained bus shelter. Absolue Pour Le Soir then took a turn for the bestial, and I had flashbacks of my dear departed cat, back arched and derriere quivering, fanning the scent of her backside as she lovingly slapped my face about with her tail. I smelled camels, whose scent had always struck me as being a little earthy, a little salty, and a little chocolaty. And underpinning all of this was an erotically charged, sweaty-musky whiff. A little later came the quite smoulder of incense, dampening the growl a touch.

Gott-im-Himmel. It was stunning.
I turned to the hovering sales assistant.
“This one doesn’t sell very well, does it?”
“No. It’s not very nice.”

Absolue Pour le Soir Maison Francis Kurkdjian Homeless_man WikipediaePhoto Stolen Wikipedia

I meandered into another shop and found that I had to severely limit my arm movements, lest my fellow shoppers catch wind of the scent and gain the impression that I had been caressing the butt crack of my local friendly hobo. And I realised with a pang that I wouldn’t have the confidence to wear this beauty out and about, this anathema to the masses, with their penchant for sterile odours.
Perhaps I’ll just content myself with dabbing discreetly. It can be my dirty little secret.

Did you? Have you? Would you? I mean, really………..

Tihota by Francis Kurkdijan for Indult 2006

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

.

Post by Chairman Meow

.

Hey APJ,

By the time I tripped over my signature bottle of Narciso Rodriguez and plummeted headlong down the proverbial rabbit hole, Indult was already an extinct house, and Tihota had already joined the ranks of Bigfoot and Chupacabra in acquiring mythical status. It was blogged about in hushed, reverent tones, but blogged about infrequently (presumably because of said status) and I knew very little about it, aside from it being a Gold Standard Vanilla [Perfume Posse Best of Vanilla List].

Indult Tihota by Francis Kurkdijan 2006

Tihota Indult FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives the following accords in one line:
Vanilla, musks

Indult themselves are no more helpful, their website providing us with the following enigma in Engrish that even Hello Kitty would be huppy with:
“When the skin is « sugar » under the Polynesian sun: it’s an exotic marriage of muscs in fusion and infusion with the sensual vanilla pods”

So when news came of Indult’s resurrection, what choice did I have other than to do the perfumista’s equivalent of pitching a tent and queuing all night for Bieber tickets? I signed up for a split of the first available bottle of Tihota. But before I tell you what Tihota is all about, please indulge me whilst I tell you what it is not:

It is not the sozzled, macerated fruit compote of Guerlain’s Spiritueuse Double Vanille.
It is not the incense smoked, clove studded orange pomander of Mona di Orio’s Vanille.
It is not the Cuban cigar laced with the fresh urine of herbivores, that is Tom Ford’s Tobacco Vanille.
It is not even the “straight up” vanilla touted by many.

Tihota Indult Vanilla Flower WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Tihota is probably better described as a glamour shot of a vanilla, spray tanned in caramelised sugar and poised in front of a creme anglaise schmeared lens. From here, I wish I could offer you an intimate dissection of its various nuances, to describe, in licentious detail, the story of its top notes unfurling into a heart unfolding into a base, imploding into a crunchy tortilla shell, but it’s a pretty straightforward fragrance. The opening is the crack of the amber carapace of a creme brulee, with the first few seconds dominated a lightly burnt sugar, soon joined by a scrummy, velvety vanilla-flecked custard. And thus it remains, as immutable as an everlasting gobstopper, for hours.

Tihota Indult -Coral- FlickrPhoto Stolen -Coral- Flickr

I will be the first to admit that I had been expecting a scent that was less literal an interpretation of a desert trolley and something more, shall we say, highbrow. But then I found myself wanting to gnaw at my hand in a slightly troubling, auto-cannibalistic fashion. I noticed that strangers, lips curled asunder, would sniff lustfully in my direction at the shops.

And I noticed that my decant was very quickly running out, and that I was day dreaming of a full bottle.

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and Ca Fleure Bon
LuckyScent has $200/50ml
Surender To Chance starts at $6/.5ml

Have you tried Indult? Old or new? Are you interested?
Chairman Meow

Le Parfum EdP by Francis Kurkdjian for Elie Saab 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Hey Hey Lovely Fragrant Friends,

I have taken a while longer than the rest of you to get to Elie Saab. Some of my beautiful trivia ladies were extolling its virtues when it first came out and I loved it on them. It seemed that mainstream had hit a terrific winner and I was glad for the regular fragrance shoppers of the world that they were being offered something lovely, wearable and interesting compared to a lot of the other stuff we are all offered daily. I never seemed to get it on my skin though, so here goes.

Le Parfum EdP by Elie Saab 2011

ElieSaabEdT FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin blossom
Heart: Orange blossom, gardenia
Base: Vetiver, rose, honey

I can totally see why everyone went crazy for Elie Saab. It’s sweet, pretty, translucent and hefty. It is white blossom tamed and prettified, a sexless rendering which makes it seem both sophisticated and youthful. Fresh and dewy while feeling so perfectly put together and seamless that it should cost far more than it does. It has a story, is entrancing and lasts for ages.  Blossom, white blossom, lovely and pure white blossom with only the slightest trace of something herbaceous to keep it grounded.

Wearable anytime and for any occasion. I love Elie Saab.

FrancisKurkdjian ForbesPhoto Stolen Forbes

Further reading PerfumeShrine and Olfactoria’sTravels
FragranceNet has 50ml EdP around $80 before discount
MyPerfumeSamples has EdP starting $2/ml but I bought $7/5ml

ES EDT 400X265.inddPhoto Stolen hauteliving

Were you an Elie Saab convert?
Here is a sneaky look at the Elie Saab S/S 13 Show. YUMMY!
Take care till tomorrow,
Portia xx

Elie Saab | Spring Summer 2013 Full Fashion Show

Fleur Du Male by Francis Kurkdjian for Jean Paul Gaultier 2008 + JPG S/S2013 Ad

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Hey Fume Friends,

While I’m writing this today I am also rocking JPG Fleur de Male, and I smell GORGEOUS!! Such a lovely scent I wuill never understand why it wasn’t an instant and enormous success? Do you have a favourite that never made it to the top of the charts? Chat about it down in the comments section, I love reading about it and others can chime in too.

Fleur Du Male by Jean Paul Gaultier 2008

FleurDuMale FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
African orange flower, bergamot, basil and caraway

If you are a fan of Le Male but find it too overwhelming then Fleur Du Male could be the answer. Still a statement fragrance but the people across the restaurant won’t be asking who is wearing Fleur Le Male, as often happens with its prequel. Fleur Du Male is an altogether different kettle of fish. Easier on wearer and surrounding crowd. A fresh, fun and fanciful men’s fragrance that I think suffered in the West from its floral association, way ahead of its time.

Bright and effervescent opening with orange blossom and bergamot that settles around you like a cashmere throw, light enough to not notice it hefty enough to keep you warm. Surprisingly this opening lasts well into the heart of the fragrance giving continued radiance as the herby/spicy heart takes over. Fleur Du Male makes me smile, happily, and lifts my mood even if I’m already feeling tip top. Completely unisex, wearable and lovely it still is interesting enough for the perfumista in me to enjoy the ride. I have gone through a couple of decants of Fleur Du Male and recently purchased the big bottle, the current decant is going quickly and I can see the bottle going likewise. So easy and joyful, who wouldn’t spritz with abandon? The dry down is a continued warming a spicing but it stays pretty linear fading to nothing at around 5-6 hours.

FleurDuMale collections.delcampe.comPhoto Stolen collections.delcampe.com

Fleur Du Male is a party fragrance, even when I’m home doing chores it puts me into the fun zone. Sometimes I even put some music on too and sing, scent and scrub together. Probably a little too full on for office work but I can’t see it being a problem anywhere else, men and women start your Fleur Du Male!

Further reading NowSmellThis and BoisDeJasmin
FragranceNet has 75ml/$41
MyPerfumeSamples from $2/ml – $7/5ml
.

Jean Paul Gaultier Spring Summer 2013 Ad Campaign

I just stole this from one of my Must Read Blogs art8amby

Sebastian Kim photographed models as pop icons for the Spring Summer 2013 campaign of Jean Paul Gaultier. The images featuring Ginta Lapina as Madonna, Jeneil Williams as Grace Jones, Maria Krashleva as Boy George, and Hannelore Knuts as David Bowie was art directed by Babeth Djian with the make up by Llyod Simmonds and hair by Diego Da Silva.

How fabulous is that? I am gagging for it. Totally fun.

Till tomorrow,
Love, Love, Love from,
Portia xx

Image via TFS.

Narciso Rodriguez For Her EdT by Christine Nagel and Francis Kurkdjian 2004

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hey Happy Huffers,

This is one of my favourite go to scents. It seems to be a good fit for almost anything. Dressy, casual, close or far. It never interferes with what I’m doing or those around me yet it also manages to garner compliments often when it gets some public skin time. And while that happens a bit, with no other fragrance is it so regular. I have also got other people in my orbit hooked on its luscious softness.

Narciso Rodriguez For Her EdT 2004

NarcisoRodriguez FragranticaPhoto stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: African orange flower, osmanthus
Heart: Amber., musk
Base: Vanilla, amber, vetiver

Whenever I get the first waft of Narciso Rodriguez for Her I immediately feel light, lovely, happy and thankful that I am a perfumista and that Narciso Rodriguez for Her came into my life. It’s a little like the feeling as you take off in an airplane to go somewhere lavish and interesting. SWOOSH up my nose flows a translucent shimmer of what I always thought was a sweet rose but it turns out to be African orange flower and osmanthus! Oh well, I’ve been wrong before. The musk is already there, soapy and sugary like musk sticks that we ate as children. I still eat them sometimes! Jin can’t eat them because to him they are exactly like eating cheap Korean soap from his youth.

The amber I get on my skin is sweet and dry, no bitterness just a creamy vanillic amber that presents as smooth and cool as the big fat opaque pale eggs of low grade amber that I find so distinctive and beautiful in jewellery. Together the whole blends during the heart to give the impression of beautiful skin fresh from the pool, just dried so still damp but slightly salty and the blood is pumping so the flesh is warming quickly. I find the heart of Narciso Rodriguez for Her to be nearly narcotic in its peaceful pleasureability. I swoon with a Stendhal syndrome effect because it’s so damn lovely. When I wear Narciso Rodriguez for Her I sometimes wish I could be a one frag person, don’t worry it doesn’t last.

How did they get it so sheer and so hefty? Sillage is fabulous and the scent bubble is too yet it’s never overwhelming and I think it a perfect working scent, as well as the sexy come hither scent, and one you can pick the kids up from school in. It seems there is nowhere that would be inappropriate. No wonder this has been such a popular, game changing scent.

imagesPhoto Stolen sevanya

Further reading PerfumeShrine takes you through all the variations available and BoisDeJasmine contrasts it with sister scent SJP Lovely
FragranceShop has 50ml/$48.50 after discount
MyPerfumeSamples starts at $2.50/ml up to $7.50/5ml

Have you spent some time with Narciso Rodriguez fragrances? Do you have a favourite iteration?

Thanks for wandering through my fragrant musings,
Love to you and yours,
Portia xx

Narciso Rodriguez Spring/Summer 2013

Iris Nobile EdP by Francoise Caron and Francis Kurkdjian for Acqua de Parma 2006

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Hello Lovely Fragranciers,

Recently my mate Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels was clearing out her frag cupboard of FB bought with best intentions and sitting unloved and unworn on her shelves. I jumped on that list like a spider on a fly and while I wanted to buy almost everything on it I exercised a very little used restraint muscle buying only three bottles. Believe me, that was AGONY! So much amazing stuff on the list. The first lovely bottle I purchased is

Iris Nobile by Acqua de Parma 2006

Iris Nobile by Acqua de Parma Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange, mandarin, bergamot, anise, iris
Heart: Iris, orange blossom, ylang-ylang, tuberose, mimosa, cedar
Base: Amber, Vanilla

My nose os not fully back so I am working off memory as well as my current wearing. The opening is not a room shaking statement maker in Iris Nobile but a restrained, crisp, sweet fragrance like a good New Zealand Sem Sav Blanc. Refreshing and elegant to begin and warming as the bouquet waltzes through but the warmth is a defrosting more than anything; Iris Nobile becomes more welcoming and engaging in the heart, where I am taken in and enjoy the richness but I lose any trace of fragrance at about 3 hours on my skin and never get much vanilla and amber, just a soft hint as it disappears. Maybe it is skin-ish but i can’t smell anything.

Soft, elegant and restrained are not normally words that I like to bandy about when talking about the perfumes I prefer but here we have all of that and it is beautiful. Wearable in any situation, even close workspaces as long as no one is fragrance phobic. Iris Nobile by Acqua de Parma sets a new bar for my Iris love.

 Iris Nobile by Acqua de Parma Photo Stolen DJFever

Further reading at BoisDeJasmin and ISmellThereforeIAm

TradeServices has 100ml EdP $127
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml

Is there something quiet that you have in your scent wardrobe, a classy cool customer that whispers? Have you tried Iris Nobile by Acqua de Parma? What did you think?

Have I thanked you lately for reading? THANK YOU!! It is beyond thanks how grateful I feel towards all you readers and commenters, it feels like my online family and makes me smile. We work really hard to bring you an entertaining look at fragrance and other things, enjoy.

Portia xx

Till we see you tomorrow be good to yourselves and those in your orbit,
Portia xx

What do GRUMPY people smell like?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Hey all,

So ever had a day that from the moment you were awakened it all seemed like shit on toast? Not even!! No one took the time to do toast, it was shit sandwich.

Well, I am being over dramatic, of course, but I did have a major case of the grumps yesterday which meant people who are my nearest and dearest were finding other rooms (read suburbs) to be in. I kept having to say to TSO Jin, “I’m not really angry about this. Please excuse me,” after flying off the handle at tiny little things that irk me usually but today generated seismic tremors. I felt like Ouisa Boudreaux (Shirley MacLean) from Steel Magnolias, and usually I’m Claree Belcher (Olympia Dukakis).

What do grumpy people wear?

L’Eau D’Ambre
In the morning L’Artisam Parfumeur’s 1978 release L’Eau D’Ambre got a run. I’ve talked about this scent recently so won’t bore you all but L’Eau D’Ambre is a pants fragrance that stiffens by back and fills up my cajones when I have to get business accomplished.

Photo Stolen from L’Artisan Parfumeur

Green Tea
Home in the afternoon and wanting something fresh and lively to lift my spirits and give a breath of fresh air I chose Elizabeth Arden’s 1999 offering, Green Tea. How do they get all those delicious notes in this perfume to smell exactly like a fresh cuppa? It’s a budget scent but Francis Kurkdjian, Green Tea’s nose, has done extraordinary work on some of your favourites: JPGaultier Le Male; Ellie Saab Le Parfum, Narciso Rodriguez For Her, and his own Maison Francis Kurkdjian line. This is quality breeding folks. It is a short, sharp shot of lovely and lively that helps me to center. PS Yesterday we featured a  Francis Kurkdjian interview.

Photo Stolen from Fragrantica

No 5
Late afternoon and still grumpy so I thought the splendid and extravagant thrill of Chanel’s 1921 visionary/copycat (depending on who you believe) No 5 might lift and separate the gloom. That effervescent flash of citrus & aldehydes, followed by ylang-ylang,  jasmine, rose, iris & more, warmed by vanilla, musk, woods and patchouli. So; sharp, bouquet, deep clay earth is how it runs in my mind as the notes (that I mostly can’t follow definitively anyway) float over and around me. It is sexy, stately and gorgeous, and for a while, so am I. Lost in the absolute bliss, and Mum memories, of a masterpiece.

Photo Stolen from oo.com.au

Evening saw me restless and wanting more glamour; so off for a HOT Radox bath with some lightly scented body wash for bubbles and moisturising non-soap. MMMMM My most delicious and sensual waste of time, usually with a book. (Currently The Widow Clicqout by Tilar J. Mazzeo, the Chanel No 5 biographer. Good stuff.)

Parfum de Maroc
Warm, clean and fresh it was time for something more niche and exclusive. A sample of Parfum de Maroc by Aftelier Perfumes that swept me away when I first tried it was put aside when i fell heavily for Crepes & Tuberose and invested in a bottle. I forgot what a delicious journey Parfum de Maroc (perfume of Morocco) takes you on. Harvested directly from Aftelier Perfumes website; they say…

Photo Stolen from Aftelier

Scent Family: Spicy Floral
Inspired by an ancient Moroccan spice recipe Ras el Hanout or “top of the shop” – a mixture of the best spices a seller has to offer….
..Notes
Top: saffron, galangal.
Heart: Turkish rose, nutmeg.
Base: cardamom, myrrh.

Thanks for reading. What do you wear when GRUMPY?

Portia xx

The Fragrance of Francis Kurkdjian

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey gang,

This is how Francis Kurkdjian views his eponymous fragrance range. The video is an interesting watch, made by LibertyStoreTV, and has odd cutaways to his lunchy jeans, which is awkward, no… it is AWKWARD! It has a 2010 date on it.

Francis Kurkdjian is charming and engaging. The video feels to me as if I am interviewing him. Some of the questions that I’d ask are answered here.

Evie has had some hold ups with interviews and will have her next update on Monday. Sorry for the delay tonight.

Enjoy,

Portia xx