Guerlain

Chamade by Jean-Paul Guerlain 1969

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Gabriella

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Hello fragrance friends. Hope you are well and enjoy today’s post.

Well, like any other perfume obsessive, I’m pretty unfaithful when it comes to scents. Sometimes I’ll wear several a day, let alone dozens in a week. So it’s surprised me that I have been pretty much faithful to one scent for several weeks now:

Chamade by Guerlain 1969

Chamade was created by Jean-Paul Guerlain in 1969, and it was inspired by the Francoise Sagan’s novel “La Chamade” which was later adapted into a movie starring Catherine Deneuve. The word, from French means a drumbeat signifying a retreat from war.

Chamade Guerlain FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords (Ed: different in the blurb and pictures, I’ve melded):
Top: Hyacinth, Turkish rose,  jasmine, bergamot, aldehydes
Heart: Lilac, cloves, jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, iris, galbanum, ylang-ylang, blackcurrant buds,
Base: Sandalwood, vetiver, musk, benzoin, amber, tonka bean, Tolu balsam, Peru balsam

Many others have written of the fragrance so beautifully, that I can’t really add much more to what’s been said already. However, the perfume, as many have noted, feels like a perfume in three separate acts. The first is the bright green, spring-like opening of galbanum and hyacinth at first fresh and then powdery; the second act is all about dewy rose and lilac, underpinned by juicy blackcurrant; the final act is another beast entirely, where the green rosiness segues into smooth and sweet vanilla and amber.

Chamade Guerlain TemptaliaPhoto Stolen Temptalia

I acquired my bottle of Chamade a few months ago, knowing it was hard to find here in Australia and a classic. I initially regretted my purchase and wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about it. Fast forward some time and Chamade is now so perfect to me, I’m actually wondering how I lasted without it as long as I did. The perfume is everything I’d like to think I am and everything I want in the idealized version of myself: sophisticated, elegant, intelligent, beautiful and warm. It is at once a perfect adornment whilst at the same time being innately part of me. For note, I have the EDP version.

Chamade Gown TrendsEvePhoto Stolen TrendsEve

Further reading:Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This

SurrendertoChance has samples starting at $3/ml

Have you tried Chamade? Have you been more faithful to one fragrance lately? What perfumes are currently in rotation for you?

With much love until next time!
M x

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! Statistics and First Post Reprise!!

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ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!

Tomorrow, the 18th March marks 365 days of continuous posts on AustralianPerfumeJunkies. What started out as two besties having a bash has turned into quite a going concern and I cannot believe I have stuck to it with such tenacity. Many of you have been with us from the earliest posts and I thank you for your support and sometimes forebearance. Also welcome to our newest followers, I hope you enjoy being a part of our APJ family. Your readership and comments keep us coming back to the computer every day, week and month.

A big THANK YOU goes out to all our Guest Post providers. Without you all and your amazing contributions I worry that APJ would be nothing. All of you, past and present, are amazing and I am inspired by you all every week. EvieC, Madeleine, EmmaKate, Katrina, Dionne, Suzanne R Banks, Val the Cookie Queen, Robert “Radium” Maxwell, Tim, Margeaux, Jordan River, Michael: Each of you has brought something new and amazing to APJ and I am proud and honoured that you give up precious spare time to write, sniff and sniff some more. Many of you we have welcomed into our home for wonderful meals and fragrant conversations. YOU ARE AMAZING!!

Another THANK YOU to my bestie and partner Kath and Jin, how blessed am I? Life just got a whole lot rosier now that we are all on site. Nothing I could ever write here would come close to how much I love, revere, adore you both and am grateful for your continued inclusion in my life. You are my family.

OneYear southernshopaholicPhoto Stolen SouthernShopaholic

Some stats

379 Posts
5,594 Comments
129,870 Visitors
Best Month was November 2012 – 22,525
Best Day was November 13 2012 – 1,165
Most Click Throughs from Perfume Posse, Olfactoria’s Travels, Google
Most Click Throughs to Perfume Posse, Posh Peasant, Surrender To Chance

Now I am looking forward to the next 12 months. We have some wonderful things in the pipeline and are prepped and ready to go for some others. Looking into the future is hard because it’s looking so BRIGHT!!

I wish you all Health, Wealth and Happiness on our journey together for the next twelve months.
LOVE LOVE LOVE
Portia xxxx

As a reminiscence, here is our first post on fragrance

Tabac Original by Maurer & Wirtz

Cheapy McCheap! and Cheerful.

So yesterday morning we awoke very late, it was almost time to rush out the door for pedicures and then Yum Cha (or YUMMY CHA CHA CHA!). No time to decide on anything really. Raining outside, meeting besties (big HELLO to Kath & Alice & Jin), no pressure. On went super comfy new sloppy joe, jeans, thongs. Perfume, fragrance, something?? Can’t think. Can’t think. Can’t think. Reaching…….

Maurer & Wirtz Tabac Original EDT spray, modern incarnation, comes back towards me in my hand. Really brain? Really hand? Clearly my mind and body have understood what my inner self would never have said. Spray on my thorax twice, one wrist, one elbow, mash. Wait and waft…………..

An Aromatic Fougere (pronounced Foo zair but the z is almost a j like the Chinese say Beijing) and if you want the notes then Fragrantica is your spot. Woody, herbal, floral, tobacco and aldehydic are the given accords there and on my skin I get a rush of citrus and herbs at the opening, it squeals a bit, then as my skin warms the fragrance (and it does, I can feel a warm reaction, a bit like Vicks Vaporub) then the powdery iris and lavender saunter in MMMMM. By the time I am at our destination Tabac is humming along nicely with the flora, woods and herbs all whiffling up my sloppy joe each time I move. This is a perfect warm but rainy day fragrance for the casual event. At lunch I am complimented by a discerning girlfriend who is gobsmacked that something so inexpensive can be this lovely. I concur. Hours later, snuggling with my partner I can still smell a tiny and very sexy hint of musk and vanilla. So good I’ve come in to reapply and go through the story again. Now, going back to see if it works, it would on me.

PS. Worked a treat!Photo Stolen from Fragrantica

Thanks for reading,
Portia xx

Don’t Forget to enter our 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY!!(<<JUMP)

12 MONTH ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY!!

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one-year thehealthyapronPhoto Stolen thehealthyapron

12 MONTH ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY!!

Every Birthday deserves presents so we have an extraordinary prize today.

When I was in Paris in February, shopping at Guerlain on the first floor of the Galleries Lafayette, I was given a special gift with purchase that is so precious to me that it would NEVER get opened. It is a four pack of beautifully boxed Eau Imperial 40g soaps in a very desirable presentation case. This GWP was not even in the regular gift line but an exclusive gift for the people invited to Guerlain’s Christmas Party in 2012 and the last of its kind that the girl had to give away. THIS IS SPECIAL!!!

If we make 100 individuals commenting I will add in one Kerosen X Pegasus Perfumed Soap made especially for RELIEF Fundraiser made of Coconut, Palm and Castor oils from sexy John at Kerosene Fragrances as a second giveaway!!

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Leave a comment below wishing us congratulations. That’s IT!

Extra Chance? Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie 12 MONTH ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY!! http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1pL @Guerlain

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Tuesday March 19th 2013 10pm AEDST and winners will be announced in a separate post on Thursday 21st March.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and TSO Jin will pick them. He doesn’t even stop watching TV to do it usually.
The winners will have till Sunday 23rd March 2013 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or I will give the prize to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

NEW La Petite Robe Noir “Party In Paris” Movie

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Heya,

I LOVE the new La Petite Robe Noire movie. In honour of my being in David Jones Guerlain yesterday and how helpful the SA Penny was. She knew her stuff and was so helpful and friendlly, even inviting us to come back and chat whenever we were in town. Jin spritzed Habit Rouge which sang beautiful powdery spice on his skin for hours and I went all out for L’Heure Blue parfum. OMG! I am in love.

Please do enjoy the movie,
See you tomorrow,

Portia x

LaPetiteRobeNoir kingdomofstylePhoto Stolen kingdomofstyle

Vetiver by Jean-Paul Guerlain for Guerlain 1961/2000

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Hey All,

This is one of the crazy bargains I found while on our tour of Europe. The bottle below is the one and it was hidden away in a tiny little Budapest corner parfumerie for a song. It was my first European purchase of fragrance with Dune Esprit de Parfum, which I will introduce you to soon.

Vetiver by Guerlain 1961/2000 (dates vary)

VetiverGuerlain FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, coriander, lemon, mandarin, and neroli
Heart: Vetiver and cedar wood
Base: Tobacco, walnuts, pepper, and Tonka bean

I love the citrus opening with the coriander giving a soft herbaceousness that stops Vetiver being a citrus parody. This burst of freshness is so compelling and lasts well into the heart of the fragrance playing a sheer overlay as the earthy, grassy, wood-ish heart filters through. I had no rural connection with Vetiver until I read the Guerlain spiel below. Till then I had always associated the freshness with the sea and could detect a slightly salty twang throughout. It’s funny how suggestion works because now I smell wet grasses and earth. Morning, Vetiver by Guerlain smells like morning. A crisp sunny morning that offers some great incentive to get out from under the covers.

Not particularly long lived, I get 4 hours of being able to smell it but Jin says there is a remnant for much longer. I think a perfectly unisex fragrance that bridges the earthy, fresh and clean divide without being that modern ubiquitous sport fresh or laundry fresh. You will smell distinctively alive.

4a39e04f1ea9b,Green-FieldsPhoto Stolen SpiceWallpaper

Here is the Guerlain copy (which I think is a little overblown):

Under the veranda, he looks at a sky daubed with clouds.  The storm breaks. From the earth emanate contradictory scents. The smell of wood, intensified by summer’s humid warmth is shot through with sparkling, heady notes. He loves the feel of cool linen on his skin. He loves to be here.  He loves VETIVER and he knows why: For the authentic strength of vetiver, which reveals the soul in a single breath.

Further reading WhatMenShouldSmellLike and NowSmellThis

FragranceNet starts at 50ml/$34 before any discounts
MyPerfumeSamples has 1ml/$2 to 5ml/$7

GreenFieldsBYPharaun333 SpiceWallpaperPhoto Stolen SpiceWallpaper

Do you have a favourite Vetiver fragrance? Have you tried Guerlain’s version?

Till tomorrow,
Don’t forget to take a moment to do something you really love.
Portia xx

Cuir Beluga by Olivier Polge for Guerlain 2005

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Hello Gorgeouises,

This is a fragrance I stayed away from for a long time because of its name. I thought Cuir Beluga was representing a leather and fish roe fragrance, which while interesting was not something I wanted to smell like. In my head it smelled like under the boardwalk.

Cuir Beluga by Guerlain 2005

CuirBeluga FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Mandarin, immortelle flower, leather, amber, heliotrope and vanilla.

I read on PerfumeShrine that Cuir Beluga means Whale Leather in Russian, but no whales have been hurt in the production of this modern Guerlain. Cuir Beluga is extremely pretty and not overpowering, though the first half hour you are definitely fragrant in clouds of sweet citric vanilla and a lovely soft leather. After that first rush though Cuir Beluga settles into a slow and stately fragrance that never pushes the boundaries or becomes too gourmand. A cool vanilla, a supple much loved leather and a hint of the herbaceous that is going to fade through the dry down almost the same as it is a the one hour point.

I have no comparison to Whale Leather but I can’t imagine it smells like Cuir Beluga at all.

Cuir Beluga is so wearable and pretty that you can spritz and forget it, smelling divine for about 5 – 6 hours. A perfect choice for non perfumistas who want to smell good without smelling clever. Does that make sense? All done in the lavish and luxe Guerlain way.

Further reading Olfactoria’sTravels & PerfumeShrine.
Cuir Beluga is available through Guerlain stores and at some department store Guerlain counters
ThePoshPeasant starts at $7/ml

Have you tried Cuir Beluga? Were you surprised by its soft and fluffy scent?
Till tomorrow wishing you only good
Portia xx

Shalimar Parfum Initial by Thierry Wasser for Guerlain 2011

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Hello there APJ Family,

In 2011 there was an enormous flurry of excitement, Guerlain and relatively new comer to the reins of their fragrance division Theirry Wasser, decided to reinvent with a sideways flanker the most famous of the houses fragrances; Shalimar. Flankers are a tricky problem for frag houses, too close and why bother, too far and WTF has this got to do with the original. I understand that it is better to have a pre-existing fan base, brand recognition, history and visual cue to spur your product forwards into the stratosphere of over 1300 new releases from brands big enough to have registered their launches on BaseNotes in 2012. Still it’s a tricky concept.

Shalimar Parfum Initial by Guerlain 2011

ShalimarParfumInitial FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, orange, green notes
Heart: Rose, jasmine, iris, vetiver, patchouli
Base: Vanilla, white musk, tonka bean, caramel

One of the Fragrantica commenters 100mlEDT says: Entirely representing the outer trappings of the original and giving it rose coloured glasses. I thought this a masterly summation and am quite jealous that I didn’t think of it myself. A softer, younger, lighter and ultimately more wearable version, in today’s fragrant world, than its older, more full-on sister. I would also recommend Shalimar Parfum Initial by Guerlain for those who like the idea of being a Shalimar woman, with all the history and structure that is implied, but who really don’t like the fragrance.

After the first hour I think you could even wear Shalimar Parfum Initial in close work proximity, it is not a sillage or scent bubble monster and wears very close on my skin, just the occasional waft as I move or if I stick my head down my top. It stays at this almost fragrant stage though for hours and I loose all traces of it somewhere 5-7 hours, depending on the day. If I wear Shalimar Parfum Initial by Guerlain at night I can sometimes still get a faint whiff next morning.

ShalimarParfumInitial art8ambyPhoto Stolen art8amby

Further reading BoisDeJasmin and 1000Fragrances
CheapSmells has a 60ml Gift Set with lotion and bag around $80
SurrenderToChance starts at $4/ml

How do you think this flanker rated? Did you read the further readings? Who do you agree with more, BoisDeJasmin or 1000Fragrances? I loved both the arguments and they have left me thinking hard about expectations and the global fragrance market. You?

Whichever way you swing I hope you do it in the company of people you love, or at least fragrances you love,
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx

Holiday Photo Essay Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary

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Hey Hey APJ Family and Friends,

As you saw from our shopping lists we have hit the frag shops hard this week with Birgit and Sandra in Vienna but we didn’t get many good shots from the day, sorry. I did pop into the Knize flagship store in Vienna to grab a bottle of the limited edition Knize Ten Gold. They were sold out so I had to content myself with a deodorant stick till I get to Paris. Annoying because I didn’t get it in Prague when I saw it hoping to buy at the original home, GRRR!
I’m not sure if I bragged about this but Neela Vermeire and her gorgeous husband Tony happened to be in Vienna and we all went for a super great dinner filled with loads of laughs and great food. They are such good people and Neela’s beauty is especially apparent in her fragrances. From the little I’ve seen she is as filled with magic as her frags. Great night!!

Budapest is awash with fabulous niche perfumeries. A city that fills during working hours to four million people has two incredible niche frag shops, Neroli and Parfums Croissette, that we’ve been to and Madisson that we hope to see tomorrow. I’ve also added some great shots that we’ve taken that are not frag related. All taken in lovely Budapest. The dinner shot is our new buddy Ibrahim who helped us at the post office and then became our leader and guide on our last night here. I’ve just taken the one of us in bed because we are off to sleepy byes, goodnight from us.

Off to Venice tomorrow afternoon.
Love and kisses,
Jin and Portia xx

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Shopping in Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary

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Hey from HOLIDAYS!
We are making our crazy way across the continent of Europe. It’s two glorious weeks in and we’ve seen five countries so far!! WOW!

VIENNA

Early last week Jin and I were lucky enough to be invited on a breakfast and perfume shopping spree with the gorgeous Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels and her friend and fellow perfumista Sandra who has traveled the world and landed in Vienna. The girls are both gorgeous, friendly, fun and totally up to date in perfume. It was like hanging out with a couple of encyclopedias, and they have sniffed EVERYTHING!! Seriously.

We started at the Central Cafe in Vienna which is as beautiful as a cathedral and the food was SCRUMMY, that means good. The girls has tea, we had bacon and eggs. Yummy.

Then to Le Dix-Neuf, Vienna’s newest niche store, where I tried quite a few new frags from a host of lines currently near impossible to get in Sydney. It was bliss, the SA was really knowledgeable and helpful but it was Birgit who led my nose to NUDA, the recently discontinued jasmine bomb from Nosamatto and VolkaMaria by WeinerBlut (Blood of Vienna) that I can’t wait to wear at home, just to tell people the name.

We went to loads of other places, Le Parfum, Pure Day Spa where I bought the Frederic Malle mini trio of Carnal Flower, En Passant and Lys Mediterranee.
We were absolutely captivated by Duft & Kultur where they had an enormous Niche selection including A Quiet Morning by Miller & Bartaux, Jin adored it and I can see him getting a bottle soon.

There was more, including Hermes, Robert Horn’s Ledermanufaktur and others but no buys just looking. Birgit and Sandra had busy days ahead so the peeled off and we went home EXHAUSTED, even though it was barely lunchtime. Thank you Vienna, thank you ladies.

BUDAPEST

Only a three hour train trip and we are in the heart of Budapest!
There are two famous niche perfumeries here.

The first, Neroli, is next street along from the Mecure Hotel and the lovely Ursula is helpful and fabulously knowledgable. I was lucky enought to bump into the owner, Aron, while there too and have a quick chat. He is sexy and cool, left a life of journalism to run a niche perfume shop seven years ago and has a fabulous selection including the Naomi Goodsirs. Ursula gave me some wonderful Montale samples and they ship to the world for only 10 euro!!

Croisette is the second, owned by Zsolt like the G in George-olt. Zsolt is a perfumer and was so bright and bubbly Jin and I both fell in love. He is all about creating gorgeous and interesting scents but bespoke. They also have a wonderfully curated range.

I haven’t made my niche purchases with them yet but there is an incredible sell out store just opened in the Shopping Passage and we scored some INCREDIBLE bargains including L’Instant, Samsara and Homme body washes by Guerlain, a Lolita Lempicke Au Masculine after shave balm and am Aromatics Elixer for about 5 Australian Dollars each! Quite a fabulous score and I do love a posh body wash.

We are doing the laundry today and finalizing Niche Purchases so there will be more to photograph next Saturday. We are loving Budapest, it is an architecture lovers dream, the people are friendly, it is inexpensive to eat even in the best restaurants two courses and drinks is coming to less than 100 Aussie dollars. We are doing loads of sightseeing and walking.

This post was much better in the first two drafts that the iPad deleted because I forgot to save after every paragraph. Thanks for putting up with my long post if you’ve made it thus far.

Loads of love Portia xxx