Nuit de Tubéreuse by Bertrand Duchaufour for L`Artisan Parfumeur 2010

January 26, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Hello Fans of Floral Extravaganza,

Even some of you who hate the BWF, that is the Big White Floral, may take to todays L’Artisan Parfumeur offering. Who knows? Don’t knock it till you try it at least 20 times say I. One of the prettiest L’Artisan bottles with its additional art nouveau inspired bottle paintings on the iconic heptagon bottle that could easily be your one and only.

Nuit de Tubéreuse by Bertrand Duchaufour for L`Artisan Parfumeur 2010

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Clove, pink pepper, mandarin, black pepper, cardamom, citrus
Heart: green mango, tuberose, orange blossom, ylang-ylang, rose,
Base: Broom, musks, vanilla, sandalwood, palisander, benzoin, styrax, angelica

So fragrantica.com have different pictures to their notes text so as we all think most of the notes lists are bullshit anyway I’ll just tell you what I smell on me, and I have been in the pool today so you might get s slightly skewed reading.

Well, the Nuit de Tubéreuse rush at first is completely pepper/citrus and there is a sweetness that feels fruity and modern, it has a juniper waft and I am reminded slightly of gin. Pretty, potent and fun are the words that jump into my head. To be completely honest the opening could be an expensive and well thought out celebuscent/designer offering. I digress…

Photo Stolen Jason Bache Flickr

The heart of Nuit de Tubéreuse is what makes me love this fragrance so much, the bouquet with a sharp sizzle of unripe fruit and I think this is where we see the herbal cardamom more than the opening and the angelica is a lovely counterpoint through quite a bit of Nuit de Tubéreuse, the whole is so different to anything else I own. The green sappy tuberose and the un-sensual warmth of clean orange blossom and ylang-ylang combine with the rest to create something audacious but wearable. This is not a sexy siren of a scent, there is no come hither and get funky, the flowers are very strictly controlled, cleaned and virginal. A new interpretation of an old theme, which is what L’Artisaan is so loved for, but done in a way that is accessible to everyone. Some perfumistas find Nuit de Tubéreuse tiresome and boring because it doesn’t push the limits of tuberose but I don’t think that is a necessity, there is definitely room for a softer, more languorous tuberose that doesn’t feel like a confrontation or that you need to get it to have your perfumista stripes.

Photo Stolen Carolyn Jewel Flickr

Above all I think Nuit de Tubéreuse feels clean, fresh and pampered. It is hefty for a L’Artisan and gives good projection and sillage but the lasting power is similar, at 3-5 hours depending, to most others they make. A showstopper? Yes. A devil may care naughty wink with attitude? Not so much.

During my clean out I have found more than one bottle of Nuit de Tubéreuse, I am a NAUGHTY frag addict.

Further reading: Kafkaesque and Now Smell This
Libertine Parfumerie have $188/100ml (Australia)
Parfum1 have$120/50ml
Surrender To Chance start at $5/ml

Have you tried this tricky tuberose? Do you want to?
Loads of good wishes till tomorrow, see you then,
Portia xx

Pervious L’Artisan Parfumeur APJ reviews
Amour Nocturne/Deleria/Skin on Skin
Cote d’Amour
L’Eau d’Ambre
L’Eau du Navigateur
Passage d’Enfer
Piment Brulant
Premier Figuier Extreme
Safran Troublant
Seville a l’Aube
Tea for Two
Vanille Absolument
Voleur de Roses

Christmas Trilogy: Tom Ford, Profumi Del Forte, L’Artisan Parfumeur

December 24, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by Gabriella

Hello fragrance friends!

Right now most of you are probably preparing for Christmas festivities. It’s Christmas Eve here in Australia and I’m up visiting my Mum and Dad on New South Wales’ north coast. It’s nice and hot and I’m really looking forward to some quality family time, sunshine and good food and, of course, smelling gorgeous.
So, what perfumes did I bring with me and what am I looking forward to scent-wise in terms of Christmas gifts? I present to you my Trio of Fragrant Christmas Trinkets:

Christmas Trilogy: Tom Ford, Profumi Del Forte, L’Artisan Parfumeur

1. Velvet Gardenia by Tom Ford 2007

The scent that I packed

Photo stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, orange
Heart: Plum, tuberose, beeswax, honey, rose, jasmine, lily of the valley
Base: Frankincense, labdanum

Christmas and summer for me is all about the smell of pool chlorine, Christmas cake and gardenias. I’ve waxed lyrical about my love of the white flower before and the meaning it has for me. Tom Ford’s scent is the most realistic, buttery and intense gardenia I know, so it was a natural addition to my fragrance packing. The only problem it’s been discontinued and I think I’ll feel a bit lost when my bottle finally runs out.

You might be able to find Velvet Gardenia on eBay.
Surrender to Chance starts at $5/0.5ml.

2. Vaiana Dea by Profumi Del Forte 2013

My Christmas present to myself

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, peach, coconut, bergamot, milky notes, violet leaf
Heart: Tuberose, ylang-ylang, orchid, jasmine, lily, white rose, cocoa, honey
Base: Benzoin, white musk, sandalwood, vetiver, vanilla, oakmoss

This is a recent addition to my collection and an absolutely swoon-worthy one at that. Reading the notes list, one might be expecting a true gourmand fragrance with a hint of tuberose, but on my skin, these roles are reversed. It starts off as a bright and fresh tuberose before becoming a bit more lactonic and sweet. The peach, coconut and jasmine blend seamlessly with the cocoa and the tuberose to create a soft, sweet but dazzlingly pretty scent. And who was I to try and resist that gorgeous art deco bottle?

LuckyScent has $195/100ml and samples

3. La Chasse Aux Papillons by Anne Flipo for L’Artisan Parfumeur 1999

What I am expecting Santa to bring

Photo stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Tuberose, orange blossom, jasmine, lime blossom, white flowers

Well, saying I am expecting Santa to bring this is a bit of a lie as I actually supervised Mr M’s purchase of this the other week. I’d forgotten about this beauty until recently but it is such a pretty girly pink scent that I had to have it again. And it brings back some fond memories. I was visiting Paris with my brother and a friend years and years ago. Already been bitten by the scent bug, I wandered into Galeries Lafayette and asked the saleswoman in (my then perfect) French that I was looking for a pretty white floral perfume. This is the bottle she handed to me. The scent inside is as attractive as the name that adores it. A fun, frivolous blend of linden, tuberose and jasmine, it is indeed summer in a bottle.

Libertine Parfumerie has it for $169/100ml
Surrender to Chance start at $4/ml.

Well, what do you think of my trinkets? What are you wearing over the holiday season? What are you giving or receiving scent-wise this Christmas?

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
Madeleine x

Skin on Skin by Bertrand Duchaufour for L’Artisan Parfumeur 2013

December 2, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by Sister Mary Magdalen, Patron Saint of Perfumers

Hello APJ,

Gather round worshipers at the ever growing altar of fragrant wonders. Today something new to put on your skin from one of my favourite and most-patronised perfume houses.

Skin on Skin by Bertrand Duchaufour for L’Artisan Parfumeur 2013

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica Gives these featured accords in one line:
Iris, suede, leather, saffron, whisky, lavender, rose, musks, skin effects

One of three fragrances in the new Explosions d’Emotions collection, Skin on Skin is a lovely scent. I have no explosions to confess, however. This fragrance is intended to capture the contact of one person’s skin with another’s in a tumble of sex and passion, a “wanton embrace” says the ad copy.

Perhaps the first clue that I should not expect anything too raunchy or abandoned is in the image chosen to represent the scent. The naked man and woman are posed in a stagey and disengaged embrace, she gazing into the middle distance, nary a hair out of place, lips pursed and one eyebrow arched. His gaze is on her, but not in a hungry way that suggests he’s reading her moans and palpitations to guide or ride with her to the heights of passion, rather he gazes in a way that indicates his focus on her is as a plinth on which to display his biceps to best advantage… but the fragrance?

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

Let us spray…

My first impression is dry and dark: there’s a slightly bitter saffron and a woody whisky. Also there from first spray is a lovely leather and suede that bring to mind the lived-in, body-warmed, and slightly sweaty saffron and leather of Etat Libre d’Orange Tom of Finland.

As the prominence of all these initially assertive notes settles to form the base of the scent, the heart emerges, more puff than pulse and pump. On me there is a plush and powdery iris and a cloud of the sweet cosmetic violet rose so familiar to me from L’Artisan’s own Drôle de Rose. My skin amplifies this rose, it continues sweet, prominent and persistent, but this was not so for other wearers who strained to detect rose on their skin. A shy line of lavender also weaves through, the deep and sweet purple floral of a Hidcote lavender, nothing camphorous or fresh. As the scent wears, an impression also comes of the rich sweetness of thick cream, a hint of vanilla egg custard and a clean powdered sugar. Perhaps these are the “skin effects” listed amongst the notes.

For me the fragrance evokes feelings of comfort and care. Rather than a “wanton embrace”, Skin on Skin evokes a shorthand contact between long term partners. It distills the adventures and mishaps of their lives together, but is exchanged at leisure in a time of peace, prosperity and safety. More corporate than corporeal, this scent brushes the back of a hand on the beloved’s forearm, making a brief private connection in a public space. Darling… together… we… I adore you.

Photo Stolen mrhayata Flickr

In Skin on Skin, all the elements are there from the beginning. They shift and settle, bloom and fade but it’s all there at first spray. It’s elegant, well composed, attractive. It speaks of affluence. Its personality is not strong enough to exclude it from any situation. It wears close, and although the rose was more radiant on me than others, it is not a diffusive scent. Staying power is good.

This collection of three new fragrances for L’Artisan gleam like jewels in their bigger, squatter bottles, with bigger, scarier price tags. For Skin on Skin it’s a like and admire for me so far, and I am motivated to give it a good few more wearings.

Further reading: Persolaise and Ca Fleure Bon
Libertine Parfumerie has $280/100ml (Australia)
Neroli Budapest has €192/100ml
L’Artisan Parfumeur has $280/100ml (USA)

Go in peace,
Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers.

L’Artisan Explosions d’Emotions GIVEAWAY WINNERS

December 2, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Hello Happy huffers,

Excelllent response this week, and of course it has been because the prizes are EXTRAORDINARY!!! Thanks again go to the incredible guys at Libertine Perfumerie. They are so generous and so want us ALL to smell absolutely incredible.

L’Artisan Explosions d’Emotions GIVEAWAY

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have TWO main winners and each will receive:

1 x 100ml TESTER bottle with lid of a L’Artisan Parfumeur Explosions d’Emotions fragrance (with about 15ml missing) and no you don’t get to choose
P&H Anywhere in the world

There will also be THREE other winners and each will receive:

1 x decanted sample of all three L’Artisan Parfumeur Explosions d’Emotions fragrances
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 Libertine Perfumes<<<JUMP and find me a perfume and its manufacturer. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie @LArtisan ~~Explosions d’Emotions~~ GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2fb #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 1st December 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners were chosen by Random.org (sorry Jin is sound asleep and he was too tired and bleary while awake after 7 days straight at work)

Photo Stolen thegarfieldshow-diary

FULL BOTTLE WINNERS

NEMO, RUTH F

DECANT WINNERS

WILLA, UNDINA (Twitter Entry), MIM

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winners will have till Wednesday 4th December 2013 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 Libertine Perfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are 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.

L’Artisan Explosions d’Emotions 2013: Review

November 29, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 65 Comments

Hello Fume Heads,

I know you are all crazy to try the new L’Artisan Parfumeur set of fragrances. well my mate Nick from Libertine Parfumerie has sent me a set of all three, in tester form. Thanks Libertine Parfumerie, you guys ROCK!!! So what I thought we would do today is look at the 3 fragrances. Then do a VERY special giveaway. Hopefully you will be thrilled. It’s our way of saying Thank You for being the most tremendous community of fragrance and scent lovers in the universe, and thank you for being a part of our dream.

L’Artisan Explosions d’Emotions by Bertrand Duchaufour 2013

Firstly, let’s talk about these bottles. They are fun and hefty, the octagonal mirroring the old bottles but adding a side, or a facet? I love the gold-tone label in the niche on one side, it looks slick and very law firm-ish or as if your designer has picked your fragrance. They will look excellent on your bureau, in your wardrobe or wherever you keep your fragrances. The embossed gold-tone cap reflects the Seville a l’Aube cap and I like it too. My only though is to wonder how people with small hands cope with it, it is cumbersome and heavy. My big hands do fine but I do wonder….

Amour Nocturne L`Artisan Parfumeur

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Cedar, hot milk, caramel, gunpowder, orchid

Well it certainly is an unusual, inventive and funky opening. Sweet, dry and smoky all at once. Amour Nocturne is hardcore elegant, you know those uber stylish people who always radiate self confidence, chic and easy going, sometimes slightly sideways style? They never look like a fashion plate but manage to seem coolly confident in their choices and often one or more pieces are recycled or a gift from Granny that none of us could even DREAM of wearing, yet for them it all looks charming and effortless. This is what those ladies and gentlemen smell like. Homely and sexy at the same time, the gunpowder adds a real zing that takes this nearly gourmand fragrance out of the ordinary and into magic. You really can smell sweet, warm, caramel milk woods and gunpowder, or a metallic dream of gunpowder. The orchid is amped up well beyond the ability of most orchids to smell but in this very noticeable amount it reminds me a little of the early Olympic Orchids offerings like Little Stars, reminds not mimics.

To be honest I thought this was going to be shit. It’s most definitely not, I love it

Deliria L`Artisan Parfumeur

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Metal, rum, toffee, apple, candy floss

Sheer and very much like Aeroplane Jelly when you pour the boiling water onto the crystals. It has a distinctively unusual, super sweet to the point of nausea, hot sugar and food colouring smell. Both disgusting and gorgeous but with wonderful memories of times spent creating jelly masterpieces. One year we did Rainbow Jelly, which is just the 6 jelly colours in the rainbow made solid then add the next layer. Time consuming but Oh So Worth It, 2cm thick slices (with a hot knife) on a white plate with some ice cream is a pretty special looking piece of art. The sheerness fades quite quickly to a sweet haze on my skin, it is still all the opening madness but subtlety has arrived, and a very slight hint of skank. MMMMM, it gets interesting. As Deliria dries down I get a yummy biscuit effect.

This is a fine piece of perfumery but not really my style, though I could grow to like it maybe. I can imagine the younger crowd, sweet scent lovers or new to the wormhole will like this one the best. If you are thinking of gifting and the recipient is currently wearing mainstream stuff then this is a logical progression. 1000 times better than most mainstream and not infinitely more expensive.

Skin on Skin L`Artisan Parfumeur

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Suede, saffron, whisky, lavender, rose, iris, musks, skin effects

Skin on Skin is the one people seem to have noticed and be raving about. It is the most like a L’Artisan of the three, that saffron, suede, iris combination is flawless here. Beautifully blended, soft, pretty and yet still wearable by a guy.The inside of a newish handbag, maybe a brand new pair of sandals after their first wear. There is sweet human hiding beneath the flowers and suede, I am not sure that I get the booze, I need to spend some more time with Skin on Skin on my skin.

This one feels modern in the traditional underplayed L’Artisan way. I know that sentence reads funny but the L’Artisan crew are groundbreakers: first fig frag, Dzing!, Velour de Roses, Tea for two and many others were numero uno of their type. So copied now that the scents seem a trifle generic but if you really spray a lot on and live the ride then you’ll see that in most cases they have been copied but not exceeded. Again they offer a new way to do things but it’s a muted, comfortable new way. I can imagine people wearing Skin on Skin as their go-to daily fragrance and being very happy with it in all seasons.

Photo Stolen kbaird

L’Artisan Explosions d’Emotions GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have TWO main winners and each will receive:

1 x 100ml TESTER bottle with lid of a L’Artisan Parfumeur Explosions d’Emotions fragrance (with about 15ml missing) and no you don’t get to choose
P&H Anywhere in the world

There will also be THREE other winners and each will receive:

1 x decanted sample of all three L’Artisan Parfumeur Explosions d’Emotions fragrances
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ and go to Libertine Perfumes<<<JUMP and find me a perfume and its manufacturer. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie @LArtisan ~~Explosions d’Emotions~~ GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2fb #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 1st December 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin will pick a winner.
The winners will have till Wednesday 4th December 2013 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 LibertinePerfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are 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.

Coeur De Vétiver Sacré by Karine Vinchon Spehner for L’Artisan Parfumeur 2010

November 16, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Haefennasiel

Hello there! I’m Haefennasiel (obviously not my real name – but I love J.R.R. Tolkien, and this is my elven nom de plume), and this will be my first time to officially review a perfume. But before we begin, my apologies – this is a long overdue guest review that should’ve come out months ago if only a hectic work schedule and stress on the homefront hadn’t gotten in the way.

Coeur De Vétiver Sacré by L’Artisan Parfumeur 2010

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica Gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot, orange, black tea, pepper, ginger, coriander, saffron, dates, dried apricot, incense, osmanthus, rose, iris, vanilla, vetiver, tarragon, sandalwood, white cedar, guaiac wood, amber, tonka , labdanum, castoreum, musk

I actually requested for something quite different so I was surprised when I opened the package sent by Australian Perfume Junkies. However, things worked out for the best when I tried out my sample of L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Couer De Vétiver Sacré. My curiosity was piqued because I didn’t know what vetiver was (in the face of amateurish ignorance, research is a very handy ally). After a bit of Wikipedia-ing, I found out vetiver is related to lemongrass (locally known in our neck of the woods as “tanglad”). I became even more curious because we use this as a stuffing ingredient for roast suckling pig! Am I going to reek of pork? However, I was pleasantly and fragrantly surprised …

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

I kept the sample next to my keyboard as I worked, sniffing at it in between my lessons. And I was certainly glad I did because I almost immediately felt more relaxed and calm after every sniff. There was an initial pleasant dried-herb scent that was gentle and grassy. I later detected a black tea note, as well as very faint hints of dried ginger and mint. But despite all these elements, there was nothing food-ish or gourmand (much less, roast suckling pig!) about this perfume, and it’s more like a lovingly handmade potpourri.

Photo Stolen Pavel P. Flickr

The sillage wasn’t very strong (probably because I only dabbed a little bit of it to make the sample last), but it stayed comfortably close to my skin. This scent invokes impressions of being in a quiet, secluded corner of a forest. It’s thickly wooded and a bit dim, but there is nothing evil or sinister here. Shafts of sunlight penetrate through the trees bathing the area in a soft, warm glow. The ground is covered with soft damp moss, making it a perfect place to rest and meditate.

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Olfactoria’s Travels
FragranceNet has $49/50ml before coupon
The Posh Peasant starts at $4/ml

H x

L’Artisan Parfumeur + Robert Piguet

September 13, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 62 Comments

Hello Australian Perfume Junkies,

Recently I was on the phone to my buddy Nick at LibertinePerfumerie and he was in the middle of his sale, apparently it was BEDLAM up there which is great as long as your super prepared. Are any of us ever? So I bought a bunch of gorgeousness and just as a throwaway line he said, “I’ll put some extra stuff in for you to do a giveaway.” So I thought, lovely a few samples are always welcome. In the pack arrived a 50ml Robert Piguet Futur and a 2.5 gram L’Artisan Parfumeur Concrete de Parfum Solid of Premier Figuier!! WOW! Both brand new in their plastic!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, neroli, green accords
Heart: Violets, jasmine, ylang-ylang
Base: Vetiver, patchouli and cedar

Aurelien Guichard was the perfumer and Futur was re-released in 2009, it’s green, green, green. A beautiful fresh and striking fragrance for everyone who likes a little green.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Fig leaf, asafoetida
Heart: Fig, sandalwood, almond milk
Base: Lime, coconut, dried fruits, sandalwood

More green, Olivia Giacobetti creates a green, milky, matte with a touch of sweetness. The fig is unripe and the story more about the tree than the fruit, though there is fruit here and the dry down is really fun and interesting.

Photo Stolen kbaird

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

1 x 50ml Robert Piguet FUTUR
1 x 2.5 gram L’Artisan Parfumeur Concrete de Parfum Solid of Premier Figuier

P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

All I need is a HELLO with how you follow for you to be eligible for the draw.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie @LArtisan @RobertPiguet GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-1Xp #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 15th September 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin will pick a winner.
The winners will have till Wednesday 18th September 2013 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 LibertinePerfumerie for these giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are 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.

Voleur de Roses by Michel Almairac for L`Artisan Parfumeur 1993

August 18, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Hello Happy Huffers,

Just yesterday my mate Michael was at a perfume sale in Sydney and I got the call, “they have some L’Artisan on sale mate. Not a lot left and some is sprayed is there anything you want?” What a question! So there are a couple of L’Artisans that often go in the shopping basket but get ousted for other beauties at checkout time. Does anyone else do that? Fill your basket and then go back through deleting till it’s how much you want to spend? This L’Artisan has been on my want list for a long time, I love how it smells but even the name is lovely and sinuous like a line in a poem,

Voleur de Roses by L`Artisan Parfumeur 1993

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured notes in one line:
Patchouli, rose, plum

Perfume is a funny thing, everyone gets a different piece of the fragrance pie and what can smell naughty and indecent to one can ofdten smell pastel and washed out to another. Recently I put on the Facebook board FFF that I was wearing Voleur de Roses, “Currently wafting the gentle wash of Voleur de Roses by L`Artisan Parfumeur. It’s so tasteful and nice, I feel like a very good boy.” This sums up my experience with the fragrance perfectly. I get the softest, prettiest aqua tint style wash of fragrance. It is a lovely plummy rose as if you were standing inside the house with roses scent being blown in by the breeze, yes that soft. There is so much air between the notes and it sits so close to my body after an hour that it can surprise me when it huffs up my shirt later in the day because I forget I’m wearing it.

When I first spritz Voleur de Roses it smells like it might be going down the SJP Lovely road but it quickly diverts to this soft fruity rose with a super clean patchouli and a very laundry musky cuddliness. I wonder if we use something different in our laundry that other countries don’t because what I’m getting is clean, the idea of clean and airy space. Pretty linear after the initial rush it does stay around for about 4-5 hours but not in a big way.

Photo Stolen Tracie Hall Flickr

Thinking about who or where I could imagine Voleur de Roses being worn? Totally unisex and it smells amazing on my BFF Kath, though both my Aunties turned their noses well up at it on them while liking it very much on me, and soft enough but unusual enough to help you stand out quietly (funny but Now Smell This has the same idea but better expressed) and it could be a terrific date night fragrance, I’ll let you know on that score. Definitely sheer enough to be office friendly, even in the most frag phobic work spaces but it will give the message that you are quietly, and wonderfully, different from the many department store fragrance wearers.

Photo Stolen T.Kiya Flickr

Further reading: Bois de Jasmine and Now Smell This
Parfum1 has $145/100ml
Beauty Encounter has $145/100ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/ml

How does Voleur de Roses smell on you?
See you tomorrow,
Portia x

Les Nombre’s D’Or: Vanille by Mona Di Orio 2011

July 6, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Hey there Niche Nerds,

Les Nombres d`Or: Vanille by Mona di Orio 2011

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Petitgrain, clove, rum, bitter orange
Heart: Vetiver, sandalwood, guaiac wood, ylang-ylang
Base: Amber, tonka bean, vanille, tolu balsam, leather, musk

The box and bottle are the first things you notice about Vanille. They are both so beautiful, sturdy, hefty and both also have a feeling that the creator is fueled by an ascetic of simple, elegant, design and longevity, this lovely glass brick and lid is completed by the useless but interesting, and intrinsic to its look of utter completeness, wire cage and ring pull. I find myself reaching for the joy of the box and bottle as much as I do for the juice inside, which is no less lovely, complete, designed and created.

Photo Stolen Mona di Orio

Before doing this review I had not looked at a note list except in passing in preparation for my purchase after going through a decant at light speed. When I saw a nearly full bottle being sold very reasonably on facebook I jumped on it. Since its arrival it has had the second most skin time of any fragrance in my wardrobe and I reach for it even more often without spritzing, just to enjoy its whole beauty. So it was quite a surprise to come back now and find that loads of people are talking about the amazing top note of bitter orange, which I now completely get. Ha ha ha the joke is on me, I had NO IDEA. My nose gave me only the spicy, fizzy, citrus like clove and some booze on a sweet vanilla and amber. I knew there was much more and the smokiness, earth and woods were more like the dying embers of a BarBQ for me than specifics. I felt the darkness, soared with the sensual ylang and dug down into the grounding vetiver without knowing what or why, Vanille is beyond lovely. It’s interesting, full of twists and turns that unexpectedly jump somewhere new but through it all I find it wearable, unchallenging, accessible and comfortable.

Photo Stolen TheCoastNZ

Surprisingly Vanille is becoming my comfortable jeans and favourite hoody. I have sometimes said a fragrance feels like a hug, this is a bear hug under a blanket with the one you love on a rainy day where you have cancelled all plans and have oodles of yummy leftovers and an endless supply of delicious teas, coffee and hot chocolate, and LOADS of Ferrero Rocher. I can wear it to slum, dine, relax, go out and stay home sniffing the story. I urge you to try Vanille and then come tell me if you enjoyed it. It’s pretty enough to gift a non perfumista and intriguing enough to keep a hard core perfumista entertained for hours.

EXTRA: I did a side by side throw down of Vanille MdO and Vanille Absolument L’Artisan the other day. The MdO is more interesting and has a better journey but the L’Artisan is warm amber, vanilla and booze all the way through, it’s richer, grander and sticks like glue in a very linear progression. Of the two I still find MdO a more relaxed and comfortable fit but L’Artisan has done an excellent job if you are thinking about grabbing it before it disappears forever.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels takes us beautifully through the scent and Scents Of Self talks of Mona di Orio.
Parfum1 has $230/100ml (and I tell you to join their mailing list for the 20% Discount coupons that come every so often)
Surrender To Chance starts at $7/ml

Have you tried the Mona di Orio scents? Which did you like? Do you have a favourite vanilla other than this? I love them and want to know more.

See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Tea for Two by L’artisan: A Beauty Habit Love Story

May 25, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Heya Ladies and Gents,

Long before I tried this little pretty I was reading about it, Tania Sanchez gives it three grudging stars and writes, “Probably a better room fragrance than a personal perfume and, judged as an attempt at modernising the Oriental genre, completely trounced by Fendi’s … Theorema. Still, not bad.” in Perfumes, The Guide: so clearly she missed something that so many others love, and for a while I also missed its beauty. I had a couple of samples that got used but I wasn’t madly crazy for it. Then Undina from Undina’sLookingGlass sent me a generous decant in a spritz bottle and everybody’s love for it suddenly became clear. It is fresh and deep and nuanced, mysterious, glamorous and very beautiful. WOW!! What? DISCONTINUED!!!!

Isn’t it the same dreadful story we read, hear, find out at the counter. Here is my APJ post on Tea for Two written last year. Clearly, in my mind anyway, Tea for Two was either unable to be produced due to new IFRA regs or it was a crap seller, either way I was saddened and have been seriously eeking out my decant ever since. In truth trying not to bemoan its lack, or even think about having a bottle. Some things aren’t meant to be, right?

Tea for Two by Olivia Giacobetti for L’artisan Parfumeur: A Love Story

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives the featured accords as:
Top: Bergamot, star anise, tea
Heart: Cinnamon, ginger, spices, gingerbread
Base: Honey, vanilla, leather, tobacco

Then something extraordinary happened while in LA at Scentsation. It was lunch time at BeautyHabit and most of the crew were off having the fabulous tacos and chips and OMG SO YUMMY!! Then someone mentioned that there was a Tea for Two Tester still in the tester section, off like a brides nighty was I. Spritz, Spritz AAAAAHHHH. This stuff is magic! Smoky, rich, resinous and milky spiced tea wafting gloriously, so I did the unthinkable.

Approaching one of the lovely sisters who run BeautyHabit, “Hi, you know this is discontinued, don’t you?”….. “Even if they bring it back they will definitely have to reformulate it to be industry approved now.”…. “Would you consider SELLING me this tester please?”….. “I understand that you don’t sell testers but this is a special case, discontinued, unrereleasable as is and one of my FAVOURITES!!”….. “No, you’re right. I understand. I know, sure. No worries, if you EVER decide to sell it please keep me in mind. You know I want to buy it, yes?”……. “Ok, thanks” Well, I tried, unsuccessfully but at least I could not worry that I hadn’t tried.

So we shopped, I purchased a Sarah Horowitz Parfum and an i Profumi di Firenze that I will write about later. Everyone had lunch and we got on the bus, laughing and talking about what a super day it was. Everyone received a gift from BeautyHabit and mine was the Pineider (one of my new fave brands) Estratto di Colonia. They even gave away a Serge Lutens BELL JAR!! These were serious prizes for amazed perfumistas! As the bus pulled out there was a bustle, rush and knocking on the door from outside.

The BeautyHabit girls had decided to GIFT me the Tea for Two!!!!!

Though I made light of it at the time I was and am deeply touched by their gift. I have worn Tea for Two quite a lot since acquiring it from BeautyHabit and it has not disappointed. It is the most worn so far since I got it and not just because it is a super killer scent but every time I spritz I think of the amazing time we all had a the Perfume Posse Scentsation.

So please, do me a favour. Next time you are thinking of an online shopping spree for anything fragrance or beauty related, try BeautyHabit(<<<JUMP) because they have an excellent selection, are fun, sexy, generous and ship to the world: and they went out of their way to put a super duper smile on my already smiling face.

See you tomorrow,
Portia xx