Galerie de Parfum: Niche Winter Perfume and Cocktail Masterclass: Photo Essay

.

Post by Ainslie Walker

.

Galerie de Parfum in Myer Melbourne held Australia’s first niche Perfume and Cocktail Masterclass in May. The event paired niche winter fragrances with bespoke cocktails designed by passionate mixologist Justin Ryann Forsyth. I travelled to Melbourne especially as it sounded like far too much fun!

Ainslie Booze frags #8

Ainslie Booze frags #14

Ainslie Booze frags #1a

Ainslie Booze frags #10

Guests experienced fragrances whilst tasting the partnering cocktails. Presenters Lucy Borland, Training Director and Ricky Katyal, Business Development Manager for Galerie De Parfum explained the fascinating history of niche, the fragrance wheel and seasonal fragrances in focus.

Ainslie Booze frags #13

Ainslie Booze frags #11

Galerie de Parfum

Niche Winter Perfume and Cocktail Masterclass

Cocktail/Fragrance Menu:

– L’Artisan- Batucada lime, Jamaican rum, fresh muddled barbequed pineapple with roasted coconut rim. The beaches of Brazil inspired the fragrance, like a holiday in a bottle.

Ainslie Booze frags #3

– P. Frapin & Cie -1270 combined intoxicating Drambuie honey scotch, whisky, lillet rouge and orange. Frapin first planted vines for champagne and cognac making in 1270, making them the oldest family run business in the world. The gourmand and woody fragrance proved popular with guests.

Ainslie Booze frags #1

– Keiko Mecheri – Loukhoulm contained chocolate and cherry liqueur, amaretto, almond syrup, Campari and orange. The fragrance itself is inspired by Turkish delight and has notes of almond -a flawless selection for dating.

Ainslie Booze frags #7

– Juliette Has A Gun- Gentlewoman champagne based, with peach liqueur, aperol, lemon and orange blossom to capture the Eau De Cologne style perfume which has a surprise additional note of almond.

Ainslie Booze frags #2

– Penhaligon- Empressa dry brut based with muddled strawberry, lemon and vanilla. Already a seasonal hit, Empressa has recently launched in Australia. Classed as a woody oriental – Chanel Mademoiselle fans will undeniably love.

Ainslie Booze frags #6

Empressa Cocktail:
60ml Belvedere Vodka
30ml Lemon Juice
30ml Vanilla syrup
1/2 muddled strawberry
Place strawberry in bottom of cocktail shaker, add vanilla syrup and lemon juice. Muddle strawberry thoroughly until liquid becomes pink and small bits of strawberry are visible. Add vodka. Fill with ice, and shake hard for several seconds until ice softens. Single strain into crystal champagne flute filled with ice. Pour only half way up, and fill the rest with chilled sparkling wine. garnish with a strawberry slice and a red striped straw.

Alongside the theatrics of cocktail making, fashion blogger and illustrator Alexia Petsinis demonstrated her fascinating artistry skills, illustrating live, the exquisite bottle packaging of niche fragrances – with Loukhoum and Batacuda as her subjects. Absolutely amazing, I promise to write more on her soon!

Ainslie Booze frags #15

Ainslie Booze frags #4

Ainslie Booze frags #5

Ainslie Booze frags #16

Each guest left with a generous niche goody bag and cocktail menu booklets. The majority of guests made purchases from the hand picked niche selection – taking with them a special keepsake of the night.

Ainslie Booze frags #9

As you can see from the pictures, it was well worth the trip! Stay tuned for some fragrant cocktail recipes you can make for yourself over the next few weeks on APJ

Ainslie

All photos Donated by Ainslie Walker

Galerie de Parfum counter launch, Myer, Sydney City

.

Post by TinaG

.

Sydney-siders were treated to a special event on 24 September – a meet up, *and* a launch! An invitation was opened up to ten lucky dedicated scentaholics through the Australian Perfume Junkies website, to attend the launch of the new Galerie de Parfum counter at Myer, Sydney City. With such wonderful hosts as Nick Smart from Agence de Parfum / Libertine Parfumerie and none other than our very own Portia Turbo we were definitely in for a bit of a treat.

Galerie de Parfum counter launch, Myer, Sydney City

On arrival at Myer, I made a beeline for the new Agence de Parfum stand. I found myself dazzled by a wonderful display of familiar but often only internet-accessible fragrances – fantastic! We introduced ourselves to the group – some familiar faces and great to meet a bunch of new people.

Nick and Portia introduced us to Agence de Parfum, and then presented a mini-master-class of their three favourite scents each. We sniffed:

Batucada by L’Artisan Parfumeur

L_Artisan_Batucada_Eau_de_Toilette_100mlPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Black Jade by Lubin

Black Jade Lubin FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Rappelle-Toi by L`Artisan Parfumeur

Rappelle-Toi L`Artisan Parfumeur  FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

21 by Costume National

21 CoSTUME NATIONALPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Petit Fracas by Robert Piguet

Petit Fracas FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

1270 by P Frapin & Co

Frapin1270 Frapin FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Rapelle-Toi was a hit with most people, but I think my favourite of the above was Black Jade, a spicy incense rosy kind of concoction which I need to go back and test again….

Wonderfully lavish goodie bags were available for anyone who purchased 100ml bottle of fragrance on the night, a very generous introductory offer from Galerie de Parfum although I resisted temptation. An extra bonus was the gift of a full bottle of Rappel-Toi from the L’Artisan Parfumeur: Explosions d’Emotions range, which was won by Tim! Congrats!

Galerie de Parfum Launch #1

Galerie de Parfum Launch #2

There were some fragrances there which I’d heard about, however to date never quite been able to get my hands on, such as the Keiko Mercheri range, and Juliette has a Gun. Oliban by Keiko Mecheri was wonderful, such a rich and true frankincense (ie: Olibanum) note. I tried two of Juliette has a Gun on my skin, both totally different kinds of rose fragrances. Mad Madam was an amazing metallic rose which I really enjoyed for the first 2 hours, but I’m glad I gave it a run through as it lost the rose and ended up just being a bitter metallic which I didn’t enjoy so much. The other was Lady Vengance, a really full-bodied luscious rose. Fab. I’d like to go back and try more of that line though, such as Midnight Oud which smelt fantastic on Scott’s skin.

Galerie de Parfum Launch #3

Galerie de Parfum Launch #4

A fun evening! It was absolutely lovely to meet everyone, and thanks again to Nick and Portia for such a great launch.

Tina xx

Spring into MYER, Sydney City – Launch of Gallerie de Parfum

Righto!!

It seems we are loaded with wonderful, fun, exciting and new learning experiences Spring 2014. We have the SOLD OUT 1 Day Masterclass with London’s Karen Gilbert: evaluator from IFF and perfumer for many brands on September 20, Michael Edwards Masterclass last week and Meet-Up and now a new reason to get excited, the launch of a new niche counter in Myer; Gallerie de Parfum.

Spring into MYER, Sydney City – Launch of Gallerie de Parfum

Galerie de Parfum MYER #1

Galerie de Parfum MYER #2

Galerie de Parfum MYER #3

Galerie de Parfum MYER #5

HOSTS: Nick Smart (Agency de Parfum), Portia Turbo (Tranny About Town)

WHERE: Gallerie de Parfum counter. MYER, Sydney city

WHEN: 5.30pm September 24 2014

COST: FREE

How about a sneaky champagne after work? Why not come and play perfume with us?

A mini masterclass from Nick Smart and Portia Turbo on our three favourite scents each in the Gallerie de Parfum. It will be a fun way to get to know some perfumes that you may have missed, meet some other lovers of fine fragrance and most of all it will be an excellent wind down after a stressful day of whatever it is you do. Nick and I will be picking some fragrances that we have in our collections and talking you through them, it’s always nice to share our passion.

We are having 10 people at this event so be very quick.

Sensationally lavish goodie bags valued at over $100 for anyone who buys a 100ml fragrance from the range.

Also, there will be a FULL BOTTLE of L’Artisan Parfumeur: Explosions d’Emotions Range GIVEAWAY for one lucky shopper.

MYER Masterclass

MYER Masterclass 2