Une Fleur de Cassie by Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2000

November 5, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers

Again we gather in awe and reverence to give thanks for our inspiration – perfume. Today I am wondering am I more than usually sensitive to being moved in my soul by artistic creation? Because scents preserve us, I have had quite a response to this divine composition. Although in faith, given the path I have trod in life, there is no doubt my spirit is unusually sensitive…

Une Fleur de Cassie by Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2000

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one linew:
Mimosa, jasmine, black locust, rose, carnation, sandalwood, vanilla, cassis

Let us spray!

Like the flight of an albatross, this one. Such heavy molecules to become airborne – and it’s an effort – but after some lumbering along the ground and some ungainly flapping it finds my thermals and flies!

And there it is, aloft. Gliding for what seems an unreasonable time, this beauty is such a resolved whole it seems that evolutionary forces are responsible in bringing about an entity so fit for its purpose.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Its purpose? To soar. That it brings me pleasure through its being seems an irrelevant aside to its joyous existence. Certainly not all its aspects are uncomplicated or simply pleasing, but there is much simple pleasure herein. It rises far above mere prettiness; I would certainly not call it accessible.

That I am by turns and simultaneously aware of the details and the whole is a brilliant work of balance. I am aware of an effortless grace, of a creaminess, of a softness, of an intimate warm animal smell, of a distant elegance. From some angles I see that extraordinary wingspan, if I turn my head I catch the beaked profile or the curve of primary feathers, the tucked webbed feet that indicate this bird can (but doesn’t often) come to ground or water.

Always it appears a live, breathing thing. It distills the abject magnificence of embodiment, seems connected to earth and heavens but independent of both.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Une Fleur de Cassie is a creation that brings me to tears with its sheer magnificence. Not brought quite undone like weeping Margery Kempe, mystic of the Middle Ages, yet I am moved by such visions and associations. Obviously *I* must take care where I wear this one as I am rendered (spiritually) raw skinned, but practically speaking this is a great one for hot weather, perhaps a little intimate for some of your workplaces, but a lovely combination of gentle, radiant and long-lasting.

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Smelly Thoughts
MECCA Australia has $209/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/ml

Am I alone, or are there any perfumes that transport you?

In raptures,

Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers.

En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti for Frederic Malle 2000

September 24, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Post by Gabriella

Hello fragrance friends,

Do you ever get cravings for perfumes that you don’t have in your collection? This very thing happened to my last week. It’s actually very surprising as the scent in question was one of the very first perfumes to blow me away when I first started exploring niche scents and yet, after all these years, I still don’t have a bottle. Today, I’m talking to you about an oldie but a goodie – the fragrance I am going to discuss is the sublime En Passant.

En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti for Frederic Malle 2000

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Lilac, surrounded by watery and green notes, cucumber and wheat

My reaction to the initial spritz of En Passant is one of feeling overwhelmed, but in a beautiful way. I’m enveloped in the distinctive yet delicate scent of masses of white lilacs. It is morning and their tiny petals are covered in tiny droplets of rain from an overnight shower. The rain has freshened the blooms, providing an ethereal aqueous quality. I don’t get the cucumber note that has bothered quite a few people with this scent. It’s just pure fresh and fresh lilac and quite linear, yet when the sun starts to peek over the blooms in the yard, you can just begin to smell the warmth of baking bread from a nearby kitchen window. Yet the yeasty aspect doesn’t overwhelm, it just provides a welcome temperateness to the green, watery quality of the lilac.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Even as I write, I’m conscious that my words don’t capture the loveliness of this scent. The perfume is an essence of time and place the story it tells is a very distinctive and emotional one. The best I can do is a series of adjectives: it’s diaphanous, it’s ephemeral, and it’s impressionistic and just plain beautiful. It is a story of lilacs, bread and spring What Giacobetti has done with these elements in perfume is akin to what Monet or Pissaro did with light and texture in painting.

En Passant is not powerful, its beauty is sotto voce and it’s a terribly personal scent as Portia has mentioned in her review. Despite its quietness, I still get a good 4 to 6 hours of wear; over this time, it just seems to waft gently from the skin like a breeze.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

Because of its discreetness, En Passant is something you could wear almost anywhere. But I find it’s best when I’m craving beauty and solitude. Oh, and the promise of spring that sadly, just quite hasn’t made it to Melbourne yet. Better satisfy those cravings and just get a bottle of this beauty.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Perfume Posse

Mecca Cosmetica has 3x10ml/$124 in Australia
Frederic Malle has €110/50ml

Surrender to Chance starts at $6/ml

Have you tried En Passant? What perfumes have left you speechless?

Until next time,
M x

Jaunty Capers, Cemeteries and The Rose That Got Away: London July 2014

August 3, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Hi APJ,

I couldn´t have been more excited as I got up on Wednesday. Finally the dreamed of, talked about, preplanned days were here.

Unlike Vanessa from the fabulous Bonkers About Perfume, I have no clothing crises. For I have none. Not to speak of anyway. Long jeans in winter. Cut-off jeans in summer. I prefer to spend my money on red lipstick, and the odd bag of groceries for the family. When my shoes hurt I go barefoot.

Jaunty Capers, Cemeteries and The Rose That Got Away

Random ramblings from a week in London

I left for Les Senteurs from Muswell Hill, the infamous address, early enough to not be late for my date with the gorgeous Tara from Olfactoria`s Travels. We both arrived early and waited for Callum the Dashing to arrive and let us in. Perfumistas waiting on the doorstep.

We hit the sofa talking. After a while Flamingo Nick, Penhaligon´s Fragrant Ambassador arrived, bringing a burst of sunshine into the room with him.I already knew I was going to buy Malle`s Eau de Magnolia and asked Callum to put a large bottle on the side. The small ones were sold out and there was no tester to triple reconfirm that I wanted it. I would pick it up the next day when Vanessa was with us too. So onto the much praised Papillons. I was so excited to try these and planned to purchase one. I sprayed with gay abandon and waited …….

Nick, Tara and I headed to the Gorilla Perfume Gallery for the presentation of the new 12 fragrances. Entitled: Death, Decay and Renewal. A pop-up in the basement of Phonica Records on Poland Street. (See Nick Gilbert<< JuMP) This was quite the display. Mushrooms, sandalwood smuggling, stroboscopic dream machines designed by William Burroughs ……… Clearly NOT Guerlain.

Starting to fall in love with Papillon’s Tobacco Rose, we headed on for tea and sandwiches and a quick Liberty´s heist. Nick scored himself a bottle of Superoud from Comme de Garçons and headed off into the sunset. Fear not, we would meet again.

Selfridge´s and iced matcha, including a wicked brain freeze, saw Tara and I heading home.

That evening after spraying again I decided I would buy the Tobacco Rose. Because it is beguiling.

Tara and Vanessa pretty much covered this second day of fragrant flitterings. (Bonkers About Perfume and Olfactoria´s Travels) What can I add? The Guerlain Royal Extract at 280 quid for 125 mls – 900 bottles limited edition, exclusive to Harrod`s? A pretty pale, kind of watered down Fairy Liquid colour? I think not. Based on the exquisite Attrape Coeur, but missed the mark. (All opinions totally my own!)

Now I was not exactly kicking and screaming when I went up to Roja Dove´s Barbie Palace, but it was close. Bright and shiny and no room to swing a cat. The visit was saved by Benjamin, the on hand sales assistant. He was so nice, totally knowledgable, and actually seemed to think he could turn around my preconceived ideas of RD and the other fragrances for the “Bros”. He could not. It would be remiss of me not to say that I did allow him to give me a pretty decent spray of the “semi-bespoke” (can you hear me laughing????) RD Private Collection No 9. Limited to 50 bottles. It was actually pretty nice for the first 20 minutes. Unlike Benjamin who was nice for the whole time.

Tara and I went to the Amouage stand alone store, hoping to try the Amouage Attars. Sadly because of people buying them, diluting them with alcohol and then selling them on EBay by the millilitre they have been removed. How annoying is that? Very.

“I`d ski naked down Mount Everest” to meet Vanessa, but luckily we only had to go to Covent Garden Tube station. Long lunch, including a number of jaunty capers, and a good chinwag and off to Penhaligon´s to meet up, once again with our very favourite Fragrant Ambassador. I was wonderfully surprised by the sensual beauty of Tralala and can see myself having a bottle one day. The Chucky Child´s Play bottle decoration was a little haunting, but I think I could get over it. Nick sent me off with a good stash of Penhaligon´s samples and I look forward to getting to know them.

Off we went to Les Senteurs. My heart beating a little faster as I prepared to make my purchases. We flopped once again on the sofa, kicked off shoes, fixed blisters and I bought Eau de Magnolia. Straight out of the fridge. I then asked for my Tobacco Rose. SOLD OUT.

WHAT??? You have got to be bloody kidding me Callum. But it´s intoxicating, boozy, and kind of jammy. There are two different roses, Bulgarian and Rose Centifolia. Oakmoss lurks, a great favourite of mine. It is smoky and beeswaxy. Thick without being sweet. It lasts for hours and never stays the same. I don´t have a rose. And I want this. For the moment though it´s the rose that got away. I should have ordered it the day before but I was trying to be sensible. Sigh. I compensate by spraying a ton of Magnolia and pass out with the beauty. I´ll live.

We spent the next three hours, or was it more, having tea and eating Indian food. Talking and sharing more about ourselves. Building friendships.

And so it ended. All leaving from the same station, Tara to the left and Vanessa and me to the right. The trains came in so fast we had no time to say goodbye. But it´s only Adieu.

The following day I went to Highgate Cemetery. This trip was on my Bucket List. The place absolutely blew my mind. The guide was straight out of an Agatha Christie and the lady that was constantly by me in the group was wearing Mitsouko. It was an extremely heavy and lovely version, so I am guessing it might have been an earlier incarnation, because it sure doesn´t smell like that now. What a perfect ending to my aromatic and perfumed adventures.

But it wasn´t quite the end was it? Antonio Gardoni from Bogue Perfumes met up and shared a coconut water with me, including copious sprays of MAAI. Comrades! – MAAI is not for the faint-hearted. More later ……..

I am now back to making cookie dough.

Bussis

CQ xxx

All photos donated by Val the Cookie Queen

Eau de Magnolia by Carlos Benaim for Frederic Malle 2014

July 21, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by TinaG

It is magnolia season here in Sydney, the wonderful lush simple blooms are opening up all over town and I’ve been pressing my nose to as many as possible trying to build up a scent memory of this gorgeous flower.

Eau de Magnolia by Carlos Benaïm for Frédéric Malle 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Magnolia, vetiver, patchouli
Base: Cedar, moss, amber

Eau de Magnolia is seducingly ethereal. It lives and breathes in the wisps of its silage, turning and teasing, flashing hints of scent which last as long as a breath.

I can understand people dismissing this fragrance quickly because of the familiarity of the top notes and the cologne nature. I nearly made that mistake too. But it is much more subtle and complex than that. It needs to be on skin, paper would do it no good at all. It also needs to be given a lot of air, sprayed at a distance, and needs a few wearings. The continuity of the fragrance is in the cool lemon, the warm magnolia, and a general ‘greeness”. It also has an aquatic aspect, but not marine, just open and clear. But the magic of this fragrance is in the way it changes.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Over the top of the green/lemon strand, I get whiffs of different things – pepper, bergamot, lemon, moss, vetiver…. The image I get in my head is like playing with a heavy silk sheet, there is a linearity to it (the lemon/green base ) but when it moves, it has a mind of its own and it slides like a liquid. And like silk, different parts may catch the light and shimmer at different times. But it also can’t be forced, I gave myself a headache sniffing my wrist, but sniffing 20cm away worked wonders.

I also can’t exactly say how it opens – my first wearing it was all fresh lemon, the second, bergamot and today it’s all about grapefruit. I strongly suspect that it would blossom more in summer too, not really a winter scent. I find myself standing at the window, looking at the crisp blue winter sky and longing for the warmer summer months.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

I became enamoured with the magnolia fragrance last summer, having been introduced to Magnolia Grandiflora – Sandrine, and Michel, so much so that I purchased a full bottle of Sandrine. By way of comparison to Eau de Magnolia, Michel is the closer match with its waxy warmth, whilst Sandrine is crisp and dewy, said to mirror a magnolia bud waiting to burst open. Because of the depth of sillage of Eau de Magnolia, I can’t wear them side by side, it’s too confusing and I’m not sure what smells I’m getting from where. And to be honest, sometimes you don’t want to pick apart a fragrance too much, I just want to wear them and enjoy the added beauty and dimension they bring to my day.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Another mistake I nearly made with Eau de Magnolia is that I originally thought that it lasted two hours on my skin. Not the case. I wore it to work, kept smelling lovely florals that were slowly turning woodsy, and after a gruelling 10 hour day I noticed wisps of fragrance still emanating from my chest. It was very comforting. Such a versatile and beautiful scent – I’m a fan.

Frederic Malle Europe has 3 x 10ml/€85 (Perfect for splitting)
Frederic Malle USA has 3 x 10ml/$125
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/ml

Who of you readers has tried Eau de Magnolia? Impressions?

Tina xx

Vetiver Extraordinaire by Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2002

July 1, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hi there Frag Family,

Do you ever read blog posts and think about the sly sexism of fragrance? We are taught through advertising images, sales people and our general community to think of certain things as Masculine or Feminine. I know this discussion goes on quite a bit but today’s fragrance is one that is sold towards the masculine side of the tracks and for many people that is right and proper. To me though it’s another way that we are manipulated to conform, which is not something I’m completely down with so I am asking all you lovely ladies to take a moment next time you are at the counter or sample site to have a go at this fragrance. With an open mind and a keen nose so you too can enjoy a fragrance that I think is worthy of your attention.

Vetiver Extraordinaire by Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2002

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, bitter orange
Heart: Pink pepper, cloves, vetiver
Base: Sandalwood, cedar, oakmoss, myrhh, musk

Well, straight off the spritz the fun, wet, citrus is so intense that I feel almost as if I have spritzed a cologne, that instant burst of feel good refreshment that orange is known throughout the aromatherapy world grabs me a whisks me to my happy place. I think the pink pepper and clove come in pretty quickly to add a zingy spicy whirl and the whole experience is very foody, but not in a bakery way. There are all foods that we eat and it comes through here for the initial 5 minute rush of fireworks before the composition is grounded by the slightly salty, grassy, wet earthy addition of vetiver. Though this aspect arrives it is never dank or dark, there is a light breeziness to Vetiver Extraordinaire, a more interesting and nuanced take than Guerlain’s Vetiver with a much longer lifespan and speaking of lifespan L’Artisan’s Coeur de Vetiver Sacre, while having a sensational story also isn’t much of a longevity monster either.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Vetiver Extraordinaire grabs what I feel is the essence of vetiver, an amazing plant originally from India but now grown and used all over the world for such important stuff as fighting soil erosion, cleaning polluted water of deadly metals and detergents and stabilising hills as well as as a crop. Few people talk about the saltiness of vetiver, I wonder if I am the only person who gets that particular correlation? I find something very clean seaside air in Vetiver Extraordinaire that wants to wrap me up and fly me away.

In dry down I find Vetiver Extraordinaire a very clean wood, slightly herbal. I can’t put my fingers on exactly what happens here but it remains fresh, without the many poor connotations that that has come to include in modern fragrance writing. Clean in a very nice human way, no I’m not making sense and can’t explain it any better, sorry.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

Vetiver Extraordinaire is both interesting and long lasting. I get more than 5 hours fragrant to my nose, longer in cool weather or the evening and a second spritz an hour or so later will add hours to that. Projection is very good for the first 30 minutes and then it comes close, by the end it is a mere whisper of fresh skin overlaying your personal fragrance. Ladies should take this fragrance and wear the freaking hell out of it, wonderful for everyone.

Further reading: What Men Should Smell Like and Perfume Shrine
Aedes de Venustas had $280/100ml
Surrender To Chance have samples starting at $7/ml

What gender boundaries do you cross already? Do you like to mix it up and play with scent image? Did you try Vetiver Extraordinaire by Frederic Malle or any other vetivers that caught your fancy?
Do leave a comment, we love to read your thoughts too,
Portia xx

New perfumes for a new life

May 28, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by Gabriella

Hello fragrance friends! For those of you that read my last post, you’ll know I’ve been busy with my relocation to Melbourne.
The good news is that we’re here now and besides being really cold and missing my fragrance collection that’s still in transit, there are plenty of things to look forward to. One of these is that perfume shopping is way better in Melbourne than Sydney (I’ll be sure to post some of my shopping adventures soon!). The second is that I’m really excited about introducing some new perfumes into my life.

I find that relocating gives a new outlook: not only do you feel different, but it is often a great time to try new things, like a different fashion style, a new lipstick and of course, new or different perfumes. When I moved to London, my tastes in perfume changed quite a bit and gems like Chanel No 19 EDP, Lipstick Rose, Musc Ravageur and Habanita became new loves. So, what beauties will Melbourne bring perfume-wise? Here’s five scents that I’m looking forward to adding to my permanent rotation:

New perfumes for a new life

Dans Tes Bras by Maurice Roucel for Frederic Malle 2008

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Heliotrope, jasmine, woodsy notes, patchouli, pine tree, cashmeran, sandalwood, musk, incense, violet

This beautiful but quirky violet scent has always intrigued me, but I have never really found the perfect time or place to wear it. It’s woody sombreness never quite fit with Sydney’s warmer clime, but it strikes me as the perfect accompaniment to Melbourne’s chill. A good choice for the weekends when I’m swathed in a big black jumper, jeans and boots and mulling over life, sipping an espresso.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and The Non Blonde
Mecca Cosmetica starts at $142/30ml
Surrender to Chance has $7/.5ml

Louanges Profanes by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale 2008

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Lily, benzoin, hawthorn, incense, neroli, woody notes

I’m including this one because I’m dying to wear it after experiencing a massive olfactory memory the other week. While packing boxes, I smelt it there and then, even though I last time I sniffed it was more than three years ago and only from a small sample vial. Does anyone else ever experience this? I’m thinking this opulent oriental with its smoky lily accord and smattering of hawthorn will be lovely in the cold weather when I want to feel glam: it’s all plush red velvet, cashmere and patent heels.

Love by Calice Becker for By Kilian 2007

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, bergamot, pink pepper, coriander
Heart: Iris, jasmine, rose, honeysuckle, orange blossom
Base: Musk, vanilla, civet, caramel, sugar, labdanum

I’m by no means a gourmand lover but I’m finding that the cold, dry air has me hankering after something sweet. Love is a good fit for me, given the neroli and jasmine give me the much-needed white floral hit within the sweetness of caramelised sugar and vanilla. This is cotton candy and marshmallows, pink and pretty. A somewhat frivolous and light-hearted scent when the grey skies will make me want to take my girly-ness to the max.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Smellythoughts

Luckyscent has $145/4 x .25oz
Surrender to Chance has $4/.5ml

Moor Street Gardenia Eau De Parfum by Klein’s Perfumery 2014

Photo Stolen Klein’s Perfumery

Anyone who’s read my posts will know of my love of gardenia. Like many, I’d given up on finding a really good one given Tom Ford’s Velvet Gardenia is discontinued. Klein’s Perfumery Moor Street Gardenia is part of the boutique’s new line up that I discovered on a hasty reconnaissance visit here a few weeks ago. It’s as perfect a gardenia as I’ve ever encountered. A heady, slightly green composition that evokes the creamy petals in full bloom. A good choice for when I’m longing for the Sydney mugginess and just that little bit homesick.

Klein’s Perfumery has $110/50ml

Ta’if by Geza Schoen and Linda Pilkington for Ormonde Jayne 2004

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these notes:
Top: Saffron, date, pink pepper
Heart: Orange blossom, white peach, rose, freesia, lily of the valley, jasmine
Base: Amber, tonka, musk, vanilla absolute

It’s now clear to me that I’m craving orange blossom, since Ta’if is the third scent that I’ve mentioned, along with Love and Louanges Profanes that includes a hefty dose of the note. However, Ta’if is first and foremost an opulent rose scent. I’m pretty picky with roses, preferring them dark, and Ta’if satisfies this want with a spicy opening of saffron and pink pepper. The rose is full and lush, tempered by a breath of jasmine, lily of the valley and freesia before the voluptuous orange blossom comes to life in the dry down. This is the scent to wear when I want to feel powerful and confident whilst job and flat hunting: regal, rich and very sophisticated.

Further reading: Now Smell This and EauMG

Peony Melbourne has $195/50ml
Surrender to Chance has $4/.5ml

So, do you like any of my picks?
What new perfumes have you discovered when moving to a new place or traveling?

With much love till new time!
M x

Bigarade Concentree by Jean-Claude Ellena for Frederic Malle 2002

April 11, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 20 Comments

Hey Hey APJ,

Yes, I know I’ve said it before but I love the crossover months, where it is cool and crisp morning and evening but warms through the day. I love the mid seasons, warm enough for a t-shirt but cool enough that you need a jumper tied around your waist in case. These are the seasons in Australia when we usually get the most rain too. There are metal rooves both front and back of my house and I love to hear rain drumming on them, right outside my office I hear it on the back verandah roof and splashing in the pool. HEAVEN!

Bigarade Concentree by Jean-Claude Ellena for Frederic Malle 2002

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bitter orange
Heart: Rose
Base: Cedar, grass, hay

Bigarade Concentree was one of the first of the Frederic Malle line that I studied in any depth because my BFF Kath has a bottle. we went together with EmmaKate who used to manage a niche & fine fragrance store in Sydney and she spent an hour taking us through the range, we had every scent on a card and all of the cards locked in greaseproof paper and cellophane. We were allowed pick three samples each to take away but Kath had decided there and then that she wanted Bigarade Concentree in her life for good. I have been lucky enough to smell it on her for a few years now and it is irrevocably entwined with her for me. I will try to be objective.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

I tell you what, when I spray Bigarade Concentree on myself I am transported to my childhood. We always had an orange and a lemon tree, I think Mum had planted them when they finished building the house. My two main memories of the orange tree are Mum grousing over the trouble it was and the orange juice we used to drink made of the oranges from the tree. At the start of the season the orange juice would taste like the bitter orange smell of the opening of Bigarade Concentree and Mum would add sugar to sweeten it enough for us to drink. JCE has captured my memory and bottled it, there is even the smell of the taste of the pith from eating the orange quarters down into the white.

Once the main orange note has calmed, though it never leaves completely, something rose-ish moves across my nostril-vision but it’s a hint towards rose note like a rose I’ve ever smelled, maybe a rose in an orange grove? The orange still walks all over the rose. Pounds the life out of it leaving me with a grassy? Still kinda grassy/pithy/animal/zesty citrus, the citrus still front and center, HOW have they done this. Incredible use of a note that usually is gone in two minutes. 5+ hours of citric goodness and still more almost fragrance before it leaves me completely, my ability to smell it anyway.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Scent For Thought and Scentrist
Frederic Malle has €75/3 x 10ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/ml

Have you tried Bigarade Concentree? How was your experience? What did you think of it and why?

Thanks for taking a moment to wander through my fragrant thoughts,
Portia xx

Carnal Flower By Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2005

March 29, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Hello Fellow Fumies,

The story goes that this fragrance was created around the idea of Frederic Malle’s aunt, Candice Bergen, star of the movie Carnal Knowledge with Jack Nicholson, Ann Margaret and Art Garfunkel. I’ve not seen the movie but I love this little tit bit of information garnered from Fragrantica. It makes my enjoyment even sweeter as Candice was one of my great TV glamour girl loves from Murphy Brown and who could ever forget her in her 2000 star turn as Kathy Morningside in Miss Congeniality, awesome. Many of you will have loved her too as Shirley Schmidt in Boston Legal but i digress.

Don’t forget to enter our Libertine Parfumerie and Penhaligon’s Iris Prima GIVEAWAY

Carnal Flower By Dominique Ropion for Frederic Malle 2005

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line (but writes them tiered):
Top: Bergamot, melon, eucalyptus
Heart: Ylang-ylang, jasmine, tuberose, Salicylates (natural, toxic product of herbal origin, a sort of a herbal pheromone which is used by plants as a warning)
Base: Tuberose absolute, orange blossom absolute, coconut, musk

I love how Carnal Flower opens with a huge plastic white flower surrounded by sharp citrus and greenery. I know the notes say melon and eucalyptus but I don’t get them definitively in the open. I get a sweet and sappy greenness like when you cut hydrangeas and lovely white flowers that move to fatty pretty quickly, they are potent and exciting but not as outrageous as the hype leads you to believe and they become quite dry through their life. Not dried or dessicated but the oily wetness, the sappy green loses its potency and becomes a high white floral with a green tiara on sending out occasional flashes and sparkles.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Just so you have placement, I am writing this on Wednesday which is my cleaning day. I do the house from top to bottom once a week. It’s a big job that can take 5 hours but usually I get it done in 3-4 hours. Today I decided to see how Carnal Flower copes in warm weather while active. At midday it’s 26 degees Celcius and I started cleaning at 9.30am. At just over halfway point so I’m taking a sneaky break to write to you.

Well I’ve dusted, vacuumed and cleaned the bathrooms. All that’s left to do is empty the kitchen benches and give them their full scrub. Still there are delightful wafts of coconut-y white flower and now I smell like summer. My sweat and Carnal Flower have come together to create something that smells like a beautiful deadly night flower that calls insects and small animals to their graves, it may even work on the men. I find sneaky reminders at this point of one of my favourite summer scents Bronze Goddess, though they have different stories at the Carnal Flower 3 hour mark they have a crossover.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

At the 5 hour mark I have lost all but the merest traces of something musky floral but to all intents and purposes gone. I have to be honest here and tell you I think Carnal Flower not at all carnal and really it is a very pretty white floral with other stuff but not fearsome or challenging at all. Bigger than most modern perfumery but not outrageous, give the opening a moment to calm down and I find it extremely wearable. Maybe not a confined spaces or work fragrance but definitely doable for dinner.

Further reading:
Mecca Cosmetica in Australia have AUD$259/50mlFrederic Malle has €160/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $9/ml

Carnal Flower. Have you braved the name? Did you feel it was worthy of such a fearsome title?

Till tomorrow, treat yourself with respect, you deserve it and try to forgive yourself your minor flaws.
Portia xx

L’Eau d’Hiver by Jean Claude Ellena for Frederic Malle 2003

January 28, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by Gabriella

Hello perfumed Peeps!

I’ve loved the Frederic Malle range ever since it launched here in Sydney years ago but Jean Claude Ellena’s pared down aesthetic has never really been my cup of tea. It therefore took me some time to first appreciate and then fall in love with his masterpiece for the Malle line. And it’s been well worth the wait.

L’Eau d’Hiver by Jean Claude Ellena for Frederic Malle 2003

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot, heliotrope, jasmine, iris, honey, angelica, white musk.

The real beauty of this scent is its enigmatic quality. It manages to feel both cool and warm at the same time and the gentle unfolding of these polar opposites is what makes L’Eau d’Hiver so magical. There’s the slight cool tang of the bergamot in the opening underscored with the piquant pepperiness of angelica.

The addition of iris exacerbates the detached coolness and earthiness before the soft powderiness of heliotrope is joined by sweetness of honey. Even as the scent warms up, the angelica and iris continue to peek through the layers like soft droplets of snow or sparkling white ice.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

L’Eau d’Hiver is somewhat of a mesmerising drug of a fragrance. Under its spell, I manage to detach from my normal frazzled self and become a calm, serene, contemplative being. It also makes me feel completely elegant. It is the olfactory equivalent of a white silk blouse, fluid and graceful and something that just makes you feel “put together”.

And as Dionne noted in her much more comprehensive APJ L’Eau d’Hiver review, despite its name, L’Eau d’Hiver works in all sorts of temperatures and seasons. I’ve been enjoying wearing it recently on temperate summer’s days.

L'Eau d'Hiver Frederic Malle Harkness_Tower WikiMedia

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Chemist in the Bottle and Olfactoria’s Travels
Mecca Cosmetica starts at $124/3 x 10ml
Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $6/ml

Have you tried L’Eau D’Hiver? What are your I-just-feel-complete fragrances?

With much love till next time!

M x

Val’s Travel Fragrances: Vero Profumo, Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle, Amouage

October 16, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

You Need a Scents of Humour to be a Perfume Junkie
(or Are We All A Few Decants Short Of A Full Bottle?)

Grüss Gott Fellow Junkies!!

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

I am heading of to Greece in about 5 hours. Yes, I have procrastinated writing this for days. Days of trying to decide which perfumes to take with me. I mean, come on!! Now, I am guessing at this but I reckon most folk think about their wardrobe, swim wear, evening wear, how many pairs of shoes to take ….. Not giving themselves brain meltdown over fragrance. Please correct me if I am wrong. I wake up in the night in the throws of postmenopausal dreaming, and lie awake going through my scent wardrobe in my head. Now, I would have though that was really quite sad BUT since Portia introduced me to several fragrant groups, I can see that I am not alone. (How many times a day do YOU think of perfume, huh?????)

Val’s Travel Fragrances

Vero Profumo, Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle, Amouage

What I have found most intriguing is people´s SOTD ………. I read through them all in absolute fascination. At first I thought, “Holy Cow!”, people have nothing better to do than post what perfume they are wearing?? So many perfume I have never heard of, perfume fodder to keep me Googling my heart out.

So on the assumption, and the law of fragrant averages, that someone might be interested in what I am taking on vacation, here we go.

After much deliberation, including contemplating taking nothing at all (so as to give my nose a break – yeah right, hahaha!) this is my final decision.

RUBJ – by Vero Kern

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Taking a full bottle of this. Just in case there is an air strike, or world crisis of some sort. This is the one perfume I would not want to be without. Ever.

MUSC KOUBLAÏ KÄHN – by Serge Lutens

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

This is sweet, sexy and animalic. The perfect in-the-sun scent. I will dab this because I don´t want to upset the other guests. The ones with 8 different bikinis and matching sarongs.

LE PARFUM DE THÉRÈSE – by Frederic Malle

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Elegant. Sophisticated. Statement making without fumigating the place. Makes me feel ladylike. A rarity.
(Thanks Ms O!!)

So off to the airport, leaving a stylish trail of Vero Kerne´s Mito behind me.

Photo Stolen wallpapers

In the words of one of the few famous Austrians, “I´ll be bäck.”

Soon to be on the beach BUSSIS!!

CQ xxxxxxxxxx

PS A couple of mls of UBAR – one never knows ……… 🙂