Iris Prima by Alberto Morillas for Penhaligon`s 2013

Hiya Fellow Fumies,

My mate Nick from Libertine Parfumerie sometimes sends APJ product for giveaways. A package from Nick is ALWAYS a sweet surprise and he is a lovely guy who wants to have a great range of fragrance for Aussies to choose from. Please, even if you don’t enter today’s competition, go and have a look at the amazing fragrant beauties that Libertine Parfumerie has for sale, you will be astounded. Lately Nick’s buying power has become so good that some (not all) of his products are the same numerical value as you would buy them for in the USA, that means with the current Aussie dollar that they are in fact 10-15% cheaper!!! AMAZING!

Iris Prima by Alberto Morillas for Penhaligon`s 2013

Iris Prima Penhaligon`s FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, pink pepper
Heart: Iris, jasmine
Base: Leather, sandalwood, vetiver, amber, vanilla, benzoin

Iris Prima has certainly cut the blogging world in half. There are some who know Penhaligon’s aesthetic quite well and got a lovely fresh and pretty iris-ish fragrance with light sillage and wearing close to the skin unless you spritz yourself wet. Many people because of the name Iris Prima and the story of the ballet had extraordinarily high expectations that Penhaligon’s would completely change its soft focus, easy wear self for something cutting edge and boundary pushing. Naah. This is the softest, least intrusive scent I have smelled from the line. I wonder if it’s aimed at children of wealthy families who want to be ballerinas?

The bergamot and pink pepper are exactly as you would expect them to be and very much how they are in 1.000 other fragrances released over the last 5-10 years, the very first spritz has a whiff of leather but that burns off quickly to reappear later. It’s a fun, fresh, zingy opening that is completely unoffensive and will not scare anyone away. Very general public wearing and nice. The iris is cool and ever so slightly carroty on my skin and I hardly notice the jasmine at all, either my skin eats it, I am anosmic or it plays a far away back up role. After that Iris Prima becomes a very soft wash of fragrance that doesn’t really have notes so much as it is a quiet and reserved, I want to say leather but it’s so muted that I can’t even call it a name warmed by a splash of vanilla.

I get about 3 hours of fragrance until I cannot smell anything at all other than me. I can see Iris Prima being a big hit for non perfumistas who want to smell something as they get ready in the morning but who work in fragrance free or very close working conditions. Iris Prima is soft enough to be a very pretty fabric softener remnant that you are wafting, no one will be skunked by you EVER.

I like my fragrance bigger but many of you might really love Iris Prima.

Funny follow up: I was wearing quite a bit of Iris Prima to write about it today. Tonight THREE separate people complimented me on my fragrance at work, one of them was the barmaid who I never would have thought to be a fragrance noticer. Genuinely and totally entranced by Iris Prima. Interesting that others notice Iris Prima and think it’s drop dead gorgeous.

Portia xx

Further reading: Another Perfume Blog and Olfactoria’s Travels
Libertine Parfumerie has $254/100ml delivered in Australia
First In Fragrance has €170/100ml and €5/4ml samples

Iris Prima GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 Major Winner who will get:
1 x Penhaligon`s Iris Prima 100ml bottle
(minus the Secondary Winners Prizes, the lid is wonky but spritzer perfect.)
P&H Anywhere in the world

3 x Secondary Winners who will each receive:
1 x 10ml decant of Penhaligon`s Iris Prima
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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Go to Libertine Perfumes<<<JUMP and find me one of their BATH PRODUCTS and the COMPANY…………….. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie @PenhaligonsLtd Iris Prima GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2Ck #Perfume #Giveaway @LibertineParfum

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 30th March 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 3rd April 2014 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.

Special THANKS to LibertineParfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are sometimes more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing, and buying the right to import, alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post air system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

 

APJ 300,000 Views First In Fragrance Acqua di Parma!!

WHOOO HOOO APJ!

We have hit 300,000 views. An incredible landmark

THANK YOU to everyone who has been involved in any way in our very special family of fragrance freaks. Readers, Writers, Commenters, Contributors, Frag houses, Perfumers, Curators, Marketing people, Friends, Family: every one of you have made this one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. I am proud to be part of something so fun and global, you who are my friends through Cyber, the ones I’ve been lucky enough to meet, my besties and Jin. THANK YOU.

300000 ArtRockPhoto Stolen ArtRock

 

When Michael & I were meeting the crew at First In Fragrance in Germany. Beate and the crew (Shane, Sabine, Margit, Katharina) were so amazing that they wanted to do something special for the Australian Perfume Junkies blog. I was saying “No No No, You’ve done so much, Been too generous already”  but Beate decided that she was going to gift me with €165 worth of Colonia Intensa Oud by Acqua di Parma to use as a giveaway when we next did something exciting at APJ. It doesn’t get much more exciting than 300,000 views.

Also, did you know that First In Fragrance sample is around 3-4ml and comes in a spray atomiser? They are very reasonable priced and send to the world. Go check their stuff.

www.ausliebezumduft.com
Aus Liebe zum Duft
Wuchsa
Bahnhofstrasse 10
D-76646 Bruchsal

 

300000 dreamhostPhoto Stolen DreamHost

Colonia Intensa Oud by Acqua di Parma GIVEAWAY

 Colonia Intensa Oud Acqua di Parma FragranticaPhoto stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Citruses
Heart: Oud, Russian coriander, amyris wood
Base: Musk, leather

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

WINNERS WILL ONLY BE ANNOUNCED AT Australian Perfume Junkies<<JUMP Facebook Page

This week we will have 1 Major Winner and 4 Mini Winners who will receive:

Major Winner
100ml Bottle of Colonia Intensa Oud by Acqua di Parma (missing the other prizes)
P&H Anywhere in the world

4 x Mini Winners
1 x 10ml decant of Colonia Intensa Oud by Acqua di Parma
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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Go to First In Fragrance <<<JUMP and find me a fragrance and one of its notes. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie OUD by Acqua di Parma GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2wf #Perfume #Giveaway @Acqua_di_Parma

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 23rd March 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced ONLY ON FACEBOOK so go LIKE Australian Perfume Junkies<<JUMP Facebook Page.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 28th March 2014 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.

300000 FanForumPhoto Stolen FanForum

 

 

Oriza L. Legrand GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Oriza L. Legrand GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Oriza L Legrand  Perfumed Candles

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will each receive:

1 set of 7 x 2ml Oriza L Legrand samples
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID 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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Go to Oriza L. Legrand<<<JUMP and find me a fragrance and one of its notes, or another of their products and it’s fragrance name. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Oriza L Legrand Soaps

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 20th March 2014 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

WINNERS markmontanoblogsPhoto Stolen markmontanoblogs

LEANS12 (via Twitter), BEC, CHRISTINE W

CONGRATULATIONS!!
The winners will have till Monday 24th March 2014 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.

Photographs Stolen from Oriza L Legrand site and taken by Roberto Greco©

Jardins d'Armide by Oriza L. Legrand 1909/2013

Hello you Gorgeous Frag Geeks,

During out European Frag Tour 2014 Michael and I made a point of going and seeing the boys of Oriza L Legrand at their 18 Rue Saint-Augustin, Paris store. We organised a date and expecting to be given a mini tour of the range and their history, which I had read a fair bit about and then forgotten, we walked to the store. Michael was excited to discover a new fragrance house and I was very interested to meet two men who were able to bring their dream of owning a fragrance house to life.

Oriza Franck and Hugo

Turns out that Franck & Hugo are the sweetest men in the history of the known universe, they explained the history, the ideas, the fragrances and a whole lot else. Charming, amusing and extremely dedicated to perfumery and their brand I foresee great things for them. If the quality of their product and service remain at these standards then I can see no reason why not. Today I am going to introduce you to the Oriza L. Legrand fragrance that rocked my world more than the rest.

Jardins d'Armide Sarah BernhardtPhoto Stolen Oriza L. Legrand Facebook

 Jardins d’Armide by Oriza L. Legrand 1909/2013

Jardins d'Armide Oriza L. Legrand FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Rose, orris, powdery notes, orange blossom
Heart: Iris, violet, carnation, wisteria
Base: Honey, almond, tonka bean, musk

Interestingly I bought the fragrance that quite a bit of the scentbloggosphere has either not loved or actively disliked. When Michael and I were being taken through the range it was all touche spritzing until we got to Jardins d’Armide and withing 10 minutes of it being spritzed on a card I was asking to see how it lived on my skin. A little over an hour of fragrance, fun, good humoured banter and the super great story of the company’s inception and reincarnation I was asking for some Jardins d’Armide. Hugo thought I wanted a sample and had already done me a 10ml to take with me (SO kind and thoughtful) but it was a bottle and some of their delicious soaps that I was after. The boys were even so sweet that they posted the bottle back home for me at a very small extra cost, and they put some sample packs in for me to do a giveaway on the blog!

Oriza Michael #2

So, what does Jardins d’Armide smell like when it hits my skin, and during its lovely long life? The first thing I get is a funky Musk Stick smell that is both super sugared and soapy, like a sweet rose jam soap. It’s fun and neon bright and it stays for around 5 minutes before receding slightly to let a very breathy, indolic, orange blossom play along and here is where we really get to see the full blown spicy fruit rose bloom. There is an accord that I’ve come across lately and Michael and I decided it was the Hairspray and Nail Polish accord, I FREAKING LOVE IT! Jardins d’Armide has this accord in spades and I think it may have something to do with violet and iris together.

Oriza Portia #1

Well into the second hour I think I’m getting a little saffron but it could easily be the violet & iris and honey all smooshing around together. The almond and honey take over somewhere around the 4-5 hour mark but still there lingers a lovely powdery sweetness. It wafts around for a while then slowly fades to nothing. A beautiful ride and I enjoy it immensely. Maybe it’s my skin but I find Jardins d’Armide to be an extremely wearable fragrance that is noticeable, has good sillage and low to medium projection after the first hour. I definitely made the right choice because even here back in Sydney I am reaching for Jardins d’Armide more than almost everything else in my collection.

Oriza L Legrand  Perfumed CandlesPhoto Stolen Oriza L Legrand

Oriza L Legrand Online Boutique has €120/100ml and send worldwide
Oriza L Legrand Online Boutique also has Sample Sets only €9/7 x 2ml spray samples of their line

Have you tried any of the Oriza L. Legrand fragrances yet? Did you know that their Horizon has been nominated for an Olfactorama Award?
Portia xx

Giveaway myprettypaintsPhoto Stolen myprettypaints

Oriza L. Legrand GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will each receive:

1 set of 7 x 2ml Oriza L Legrand samples
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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Go to Oriza L. Legrand<<<JUMP and find me a fragrance and one of its notes, or another of their products and it’s fragrance name. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie  Oriza L Legrand GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2z9 #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 20th March 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Monday 24th March 2014 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.

Oriza L Legrand SoapsPhoto Stolen Oriza L Legrand

 

Oscar de la Renta GIVEAWAY WINNER

Oscar de la Renta Essential Luxuries Collection GIVEAWAY WINNER

Oriental Lace Oscar de la Renta FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

Today’s give-away is for one, brand new complete sample set (about 1.5 ml each) of Oscar de la Renta’s Essential Luxuries Collection, including the following fragrances: Oriental Lace, Santo Domingo, Sargasso, Granada, Coraline and Mi Corazon, all in a small satin monogrammed pouch

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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Leave a comment about what YOUR workplace or home smells like. (Comments on any of the fragrances in the Essential Luxuries Collection are also welcome.)

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Oscar de la Renta Oriental Lace GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2ym #Perfume #Giveaway @OscarPRGirl

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 13th March 2014 10pm Australian EST

Thank yo so much for your wonderful descriptions of the scents of home and workplace.  Azar B once again pulled the winner’s name from the hat.
winner sistersavealot.comPhoto Stolen sistersavealot.com

Jackie

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
You have till Monday 17th March 2014 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.

Oriental Lace by Calice Becker for Oscar de la Renta 2012

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Post by Azar

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A couple of months ago my daughter sent me a link to the July 3, 2013 Lauren Valenti/Styleite take on Oscar de la Renta’s Oriental Lace. This brief post included a number of comments, one of which likened Oriental Lace to the smell of “a piano teacher’s house”.

The notes listed for Oriental Lace on various websites include honey, bitter almond, cacao, wax plant (Hoya carnosa) and patchouli. I wondered what any of these scents had to do with the headspace of this piano teacher’s house?

The Smell of a Piano Teacher’s House

A lot of smelly things find their way to the first floor of our home where I maintain my music studio. In addition to the library of musty musical scores, anthologies, sheets and shelves of books there are the various musical instruments accumulated over 40 years of studio teaching. Each of these has it’s own peculiar odor. An inventory includes: Three violins and one viola smelling of lacquer and French polish, various bows and cakes of piney rosin, an old dusty harpsichord, two seven foot grand pianos – metallic and woody, a Persian setar (not a sitar), a Vietnamese dan bau, a couple of saxophones that reek of old brass and spit when the cases are opened (obviously I rarely play the saxophone anymore), a flamenco guitar, two ukuleles, a clarinet, various percussion instruments and an old accordion that reminds me of the scent of a long neglected closet in my grandmother’s house. In addition to the signature scents of these “tools of the trade” there are the often ripe odors of the younger students, the distinctly pungent smells of the high school girls and guys who come to their lessons directly from cross country and soccer practice and, of course, the scent of the piano teacher herself, oozing tuberose or some other powerful concoction. Add to this blend the odors from the upper floor – sandalwood incense, cooking odors, the smells of Fender the dog and Gomez the pionus parrot and you have my own L’Eau de Studio, the notes of which go something like this:

Oriental Lace Oscar de la Renta Azar's #2

Turpentine, dust, mildew, paper, rosin, wood, salt, spit, sweat, tuberose, honey (from the pionus parrot), sandalwood, a general animalic, onions and toe jam.

Whoever made the Styleite comment was certainly not a student of mine! This person must have visited a piano teacher who baked buttery, almond cookies for her students (I don’t do that), wore a patchouli-scented shawl (not me), sipped hot chocolate (occasionally) and cared for an old, blooming Hoya carnosa (I’ve not been there).

Oriental Lace by Calice Becker for Oscar de la Renta 2012

Oscar de la Renta Essential Luxuries Collection

Oriental Lace Oscar de la Renta FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Honey, almond, cacao, hoya carnosa, wax plant, patchouli

On my skin Oriental Lace opens with a greasy version of imitation butter. Thankfully that aspect is gone very quickly leaving something like buttered popcorn coated in vanilla-sugar and honey. After about 20 minutes the popcorn morphs into a honey-almond cookie and then to patchouli and what is probably Oscar de la Renta’s version of the scent of a blooming wax plant (the H. carnosa). This hoya-patchouli bouquet lingers for 10 or more hours finishing with a faint whiff of vanilla, cacao and butter. I’ve gone through a couple of samples but am not yet convinced that I need a full bottle of this gourmand, lightweight floral. There are five more Essential Luxuries in the collection, a couple that I like better than Oriental Lace and will probably review sometime soon. But for now, Oriental Lace is not a fragrance that is essential to my luxurious life as a piano teacher, although it is many times more appealing than L’Eau de Studio!

Further reading: Perfume Posse and Now Smell This does a great run down of the line
Oscar de la Renta has $150/100ml
Neiman Marcus has $150/100ml

giveaway manoneileenPhoto Stolen manoneileen

Oscar de la Renta Essential Luxuries Collection GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

Today’s give-away is for one, brand new complete sample set (about 1.5 ml each) of Oscar de la Renta’s Essential Luxuries Collection, including the following fragrances: Oriental Lace, Santo Domingo, Sargasso, Granada, Coraline and Mi Corazon, all in a small satin monogrammed pouch

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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Leave a comment about what YOUR workplace or home smells like. (Comments on any of the fragrances in the Essential Luxuries Collection are also welcome.)

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Oscar de la Renta Oriental Lace GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2ym #Perfume #Giveaway @OscarPRGirl

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 13th March 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Monday 17th March 2014 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.

Azar xx

Anyway GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Anyway GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Anyway Juliette Has A Gun FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 5 winners who will each receive:

1 x 10ml decant of Anyway by Juliette Has A Gun
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 2nd March 2014 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Winners Are shannonmayer

Photo Stolen shannonmayer

Jaybee, Katherine Mittas, Azar,

LeanS12 (via Twitter), Damir Gašljević (via twitter)

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winners will have till Friday 7th March 2014 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.

Special THANKS to LibertineParfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are sometimes more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing, and buying the right to import, alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post air system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

Anyway by Romano Ricci for Juliette Has A Gun 2013

Woo Hoo!

I am back on board and in the swing of things again. Life has been quite hectic playing catch up after nearly 4 weeks away. Today I payed as many bills as I could and am left with a much diminished pile of outstandings and none of them are overdue!! It feels really good, though I won’t be buying any fragrance bottles in the next couple of months

Often I write of my mate Nick from Libertine Parfumerie, he is regularly in touch with new stuff and sometimes sends APJ product for giveaways. He doesn’t have to do it and it always brightens my day to get a package from him. Please, even if you don’t enter today’s competition, go and have a look at the amazing fragrant beauties that Libertine Parfumerie has for sale, you will be astounded. Lately Nick’s buying power has become so good that some of his products are the same numerical value as you would buy them for in the USA, that means with the current Aussie dollar that they are in fact 10-15% cheaper!!! AMAZING!

Anyway by Romano Ricci for Juliette Has A Gun 2013

Anyway Juliette Has A Gun FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, lime
Heart: Jasmine
Base: Musk, hedione, woody notes, ambrox

What was I expecting here? I’m not sure but reading some reviews I was ready to instantly hate Anyway, let’s face it the name is appalling. A throwaway name for what I expected to be a throwaway fragrance. And yes, I get that “Anyway, Juliette Has A Gun” is supposed to be amusing but if less people had guns, and they were harder to get, there would be a far less mass murders done by mad (in both senses of the word) people. I wasn’t even going to try it until Anyway turned up in my postbox and then I thought “What the hell? If I’m going to give some away then I better have a wear of it and see what it’s like.”

Weirdest thing, it starts out SO FREAKING FRUITY. I know I’m supposed to be smelling citrus but I get pineapple, melon, strawberries and it’s jammy too. WOO HOO! It’s like Carmen Miranda’s hat, a Peter Allen showtune and RuPaul all rolled into one. Wildly fruity and feminine. ARARARARrRrRriiiIBAA! Cha cha cha! Normally I hate this kind of thing but for some reason Anyway strikes me as super fun. The opening is almost as outrageous as Bombay Bling on my skin but feels more sticky sweet, less grounded, younger. I like it. It stays around for quite a while in this weird, outrageous, camp, fruity melange. Anyway is completely Drag Queen fragrance and wearing it both last night and tonight at work it garnered some compliments from the crowd, through the whole evening.

Anyway Juliette Has A Gun Alpha FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

As the fruit burns low after about an hour to two hours there is a very interesting woodsy/oudh-ish waft that becomes slowly more apparent, like there are two fragrances on me. A celebuscent and a Middle Eastern rose/oudh oil. I get to smell this for a short while and then it disappears completely from my ability to smell it until I am smelling something else like the hotel’s kitchen, bathroom or even sitting next to someone whose fragrance is quite different, then all of a sudden I notice the whole Anyway fragrance again. Other people can still smell it though because the compliments continue, and it must have an excellent sillage because it’s usually as I’m wandering through the crowd at Trivia that I get three or four people past them and then they’ll compliment. Interesting.

I get occasional wafts of it when I’ve come home after work too, that’s around 6 hours, and beyond but I cannot tell you what it smells like exactly except kind of woodsy? Anyway, you should try it. I like it so much that I’m going to keep the bottle but we do have an amazing giveaway for you all below. Good Luck.

Portia xx

Further reading: The Candy Perfume Boy and Katie Chutzpah
Libertine Parfumerie has $186/100ml (with Australian delivery included)
Surrender To Chance has $23/4 x 2ml JHaG manufacturer carded samples (Anyway, Calamity J, Miss Charming, Romantina)

giveaway kbairdPhoto Stolen kbaird

Anyway GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 5 winners who will each receive:

1 x 10ml decant of Anyway by Juliette Has A Gun
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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Go to Libertine Perfumes<<<JUMP and find me a fragrance and one of its notes. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie @JulietteHasaGun ANYWAY GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2wf #Perfume #Giveaway @LibertineParfum

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 2nd March 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 6th March 2014 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.

Special THANKS to LibertineParfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are sometimes more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing, and buying the right to import, alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post air system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

Sweet Anthem Perfumes – Meredith Smith, perfumer

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Post by Azar

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In the past ten years or so the Pacific Northwest has become a hot spot for niche and indie perfumers. Our unique northwest culture of creativity and innovation, our dreary wet winters (we’ve got to come up with something to do!) and the independent spirit of many of the residents all contribute to an atmosphere that encourages our local “noses” to flourish.  Several PNW (Pacific North West) perfumers have developed international followings and have been written up and blogged about extensively throughout perfume-land. If I name a few of these perfumers I will be missing too many. Today’s post is an introduction to a PNW perfumer who is probably not as well known as some others but whose work is very popular nonetheless.

Sweet Anthem Perfumes – Meredith Smith, perfumer

Meredith Smith initially founded Sweet Anthem as a small press / independent publisher in 2001 while at college in Texas and closed the business when she went to study abroad in Eastern Europe. She began studying perfumery in 2005 while working as a graphic designer and web developer in Seattle’s Capital Hill neighborhood. Like many independent perfumers Meredith found composing a fragrance to be a natural extension of her love for creating music, visual art and poetry. Sweet Anthem evolved into an on-line perfume shop in 2007.  Three years later she left the mass design industry and began working as a full time perfumer. In October 2011 Meredith and her husband Phil purchased a live/work residence where she opened her brick and mortar Sweet Anthem storefront and workshop at street level.

Sweet Anthem #1Photo9 Stolen Sweet Anthem Perfumes

I love visiting Meredith’s tiny shop on California Street in West Seattle. She offers her own perfumes for sale, maintains a small inventory of other niche and indie brands and teaches occasional classes in the basics of perfume composition.  For more information about the Sweet Anthem product line and scent related services check out Meredith’s new website Sweet Anthem Perfumes

Recently Meredith added a sample service to her shop.  I recently received my first of four installments from Sweet Anthem’s “SA List”.  The “Spring Anthology” includes two 2ml samples of soon to be released EDPs – Poppy and Lolita, a 2ml sample of Alice and a perfume solid of an older favorite, Cath.  While I have enjoyed a number of the Sweet Anthem perfumes for several years I found that these latest fragrances have taken a slightly more sophisticated turn.

Sweet Anthen #2Photo Stolen Sweet Anthem Perfumes

Poppy, a sort of gourmand-oriental, unfolds like a flower bud in time-lapse photography.  The pointed clove quickly opens into a dark cocoa tinted with red flowers that I perceive as spicy carnations (Meredith points out that there is a trickle of saffron here as well).  After a couple of hours the gourmand heart develops and finishes as a dry, smoky incense/opium fading to musk.  While the name “Poppy” references the perfume classic Opium, I find this new scent to be kin to fragrances like DSH Café Noir and Olympic Orchids Café V, but lighter and drier. Poppy is a warm and spicy fragrance with good sillage and great longevity, a perfect scent for holing up in a cozy den, anticipating the arrival of spring.

Sweet Anthem #3Photo Stolen Sweet Anthem Perfumes

Lolita, on the other hand, is reminiscent of a warm spring afternoon, but without the muguet – thank you!  (Don’t get me wrong, I love Lily of the Valley, but it seems to have become such a seasonal cliché.)  Lolita opens with just a touch of black current, evolving to a heart of fragile and delicate cherry blossoms. I can barely detect the rosewood mentioned in the fragrance notes. The cherry blossoms linger for several hours eventually combining with and drying down to a salty sort of tonka bean.  Lolita is more intimate than Poppy but seems to last just as long on my skin and, like the movie “Lolita”, the final impression of the salty cherry blossoms evoke a youthfulness far removed from innocence.  Lolita will be mine as soon as she is available.

Giveaway Time sassisamblogPhoto Stolen sassisamblog

Sweet Anthem Perfumes US GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have ONE USA winner:

Who will receive:
A 2-season subscription to the Sweet Anthem “SA List” sampling program for one lucky US resident.  The  winner will receive two different sample sets.  The “Spring Anthology” will be sent right away and the “Summer Anthology” at a later date (see the subscription FAQ on the Sweet Anthem Perfumes website).
P&H to the USA

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone in the USA (or who has a USA friend who’ll post it to them) 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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

AND

You must have a US address

AND

Leave a comment about a Sweet Anthem fragrance that you already know or about one that you would like to try

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Sweet Anthen GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2uA @sweetanthem #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 27th February 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org or some other more fun way at the discretion of Azar, our host for this giveaway
The winners will have till Monday 2nd March 2014 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.

Azar xx

Thai First Class Pyjamas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!

Thai First Class Pyjamas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have TWO winners:

Who will each receive:
ONE of the Thai Airways First Class Pyjamas (S & M)
P&H Anywhere in the world

Thai_Airways Bangkok WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

HOW DID 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 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 me your preferred size (S or M) and the destination which you would most want to be flying to wear your Thai First Class pyjamas

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Thai Airways First Class http://wp.me/p3PURw-2t5 @ThaiAirwaysAust @ThaiAirways #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 20th February 2014 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Winners brooklodgePhoto Stolen brooklodge

Small -UNDINA (from Twitter)

Medium – FIFI

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winners will have till Monday 24th February 2014 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.