Rose Pivée by L`Artisan Parfumeur 2015

May 9, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hey there Fragrance Fiends,

Embarrassing story. I was given a 15ml pre release sample of this by Nick from Libertine Parfumerie to review if I liked it. The bottle is simple and nondescript and the writing in gold so since there was so much bigger and boxed stuff in my swag that day I have completely overlooked this one. What a dumbass.

Rose Pivée by L`Artisan Parfumeur 2015

Rose Pivée by Bertrand Duchaufour and Stephanie Bakouche

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Basil, lilac, carnation, hay, magnolia, may rose, patchouli, violet leaf, amber

Green and sparkling herbal opening that feels a little citric and aldehydic, spicy carnation reacts beautifully with the herbs feeling like the new days dawn and yes, there is a lovely fruity rose creeping in that smells like it’s warming in the morning sun. A crystalised rose, completely unsweetened, cool and sophisticated and I get a flawless lemon blossom that floats through the heart absolutely effortlessly. A creamy lemon silk chiffon scarf drifting through the rosiness and a little hint of breathy indole too.

Photo Stolen Geograph

Weird, after about 4 hours all I smell is a fluffy white musk that feels clean and fresh like laundry just out of the dryer.

Having read a bunch of reviews now it’s interesting that so many people call Rose Privée a chypre. I get none of the earthy, bitter or mossy dry down you’d expect from a chypre here at all. Clearly my skin or nose is not giving or getting some notes that are completely obvious to noses that I trust much better than mine. All I get is a soft and fluffy musk, clean and neat. BUM!

It’s a shame because the first hour or so is absolutely lovely and as I have my Aunty Tracey here with me too we are both adoring the opening and keep resptitzing so the opening hour can be relived over and again. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon/evening really especially when you add to it a very healthy serve of Take Away Chinese with Jin & Kath in the middle.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Do I love Rose Privée? No, but I do like it very much. Will I be buying a bottle? I think Rose Privée a little soft and innocent for my tastes though I think it a perfect gifting fragrance or office scent, the quality is lovely and the soft whisper of spring it conjures smells really beautiful on my Aunty. If you like to be subtly scented then Rose Privée may be a perfect choice for you.

Further reading: Megan In St Maxime and Bois de Jasmin
Libertine Parfumerie has Rose Privée
Parfum1 has $120/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5.40/ml

Roses, roses, roses! What are your favourites?
Portia xx

La Chasse aux Papillons by Anne Flipo for L`Artisan Parfumeur 1999

May 3, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hi there Spring Lovers,

For all my love of L’Artisan and my high regard for their pioneering and delicate beauty for some reason I never bothered much with today’s offering. It was too ephemeral, not high octane enough and in compariso to my big time white florals it was a pip squeak. The other week though Nick from Libertine Parfumerie gave me a RollerBall and asked me to give it a whirl and so it was with trepidation that I thanked him and took possession of this lovely slim yet hefty glass bottle, sized so perfectly for handbags and even top drawers of desks, a perfect emergency back up.

La Chasse aux Papillons by L`Artisan Parfumeur 1999

La Chasse aux Papillons by Anne Flipo

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

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

Expecting to be annoyed by the fleetingness of La Chasse aux Papillons as I have been in the spritz version it came as a big surprise that the roller application does not burn off so quickly. I think it allows you to get more juice on your body and the lack of frisson and aeration could mean that it lifts more slowly. Whatever the reason I am getting around 4 hours of noticeable white flower with projection, not enormous after the second hour but I remain softly fragrant.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

How does La Chasse aux Papillons smell? Well, imagine a room full of white flowers. You have tuberose, orange blossom, jasmine all together in a massed display. It’s a warm spring afternoon so you’ve opened the living room doors and outside the grass is rippling in a soft breeze and you are happy. Maybe you’ve stolen a slice of orange off the table but all the meat has been eaten and you are left with the white pith and rind and as you stand in the doorway there are waves of white flowers that float out from the house and then when the wind changes what you get is fresh air, grass and citrus floating back around you yet still there is the all pervading gothic smell of the death of white flowers. It’s both light as air and heavy as the crisp red cotton damask table cloth, tranquil and languid. You feel both energised and enervated, it’s like the heavy charged air before a storm and similar in texture to that shimmery green that often happens after one.

Photo Stolen Libertine

There is a breathy, indolic quality to La Chasse aux Papillons, but the breath and flesh of a healthy young person. L’Artisan has tried to capture in a bottle the fun of a summer day with kids chasing butterflies and laughing. I find La Chasse aux Papillons too crisp and refreshing for summer, in my mind we are definitely in spring and the world is bursting with growth and promise. Am I crazy? Nobody mentions that there is a lovely wallop of musks in the dry down, am I smelling it wrong? Considering La Chasse aux Papillons was created in 1999 it is surprisingly modern and hasn’t dated at all.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

I wore about five of my 7.5ml over Jin and my Singapore & South Korea 2015 trip. It was perfect for planes, shopping, eating and sight seeing. I would get soft wafts from my neck and arms that made me smile and melt inside a little every time. Never overpowering and excellent to counteract the ghastly stench of a longish plane ride, a little dab on my hand and the world smells beautiful again.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and EauMG
Libertine has $54/7.5ml
L’Artisan UK has £15/7.5ml
L’Artisan USA has $25/7.5ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Have you spent time with La Chasse aux Papillons? Are its softly muted white flowers your style?
Portia xx

Travel Scent Choices: Singapore + South Korea Spring 2015

April 13, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Hey Y’All,

As you may know Jin is changing jobs so to celebrate this sudden rise in fortunes we are bringing our 2015 holiday forward from November to now, we leave on Wednesday. OH YES WE DO!

Photo Stolen TripAdvisor

First stop is one of my long time buddies places in Singapore, hey Julie! I have never done a holiday in Singapore before; though my last partner Varun & I spent 36 hours in the airport because he didn’t have a visa while we were on our way to India. You would think we had a bad time, we did not. It was crazy fun, that Changi Airport is enormous.

Photo Stolen TripAdvisor

Then we go on to South Korea to visit Jin’s family. Cherry blossom time will just be finishing but I think they will still be slightly in flower. It’s Jin’s Dad’s birthday so we are taking them for their first holiday in years, two days on the west coast of South Korea. They think this is a ridiculous extravagance but Jin is hiring a car and we’ll drive 3 hours each way, fully across South Korea, and spend one night at a pension (not even a hotel because that would be too much). They are adamant that this kind of frivolity should be avoided and that we should be putting our money to better use. Fingers crossed they have a good time, Jin has really been working hard on TripAdvisor to get it just right for them.

Travel Scent Choices: Singapore + South Korea Spring 2015

So spring will be WARM in Singapore and mild in South Korea. I need a small range of fragrances to get me by till I can hit the stores and buy Misia by CHANEL. It’s the only fragrance on my To Buy List right now and I know they’ll have it in both Singapore and Seoul. So I’m thinking 5 frags, 2 bottles and three decants. It’s only 12 days.

Travel Scent Choices: Bottles

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

L’Heure Convoiteé II Cartier: This arctic, powdery, furball of a carnation/iris is so fabulously elegant and lasts all day. I can spritz and go and know I’ll smell freaking killer until I shower. I also love that it has it’s own sturdy leather pouch which means I don’t have to worry about it in my checked luggage.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

La Chasse aux Papillons L`Artisan Parfumeur: 7.5ml Rollerball (not pictured). Nick from Libertine Parfumerie gave me this one to test because they are brand new in 2015 and I thought what better place to try it than on holiday. Space will be tight, I need something small and easily accessible and the bottle feels surprisingly hefty. I also find that rolling La Chasse aux Papillons makes it last longer on my skin.

Travel Scent Choices: Decants

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Misia CHANEL: Yes, my decant is almost drained already. Makeup and leather together so beautifully, a delightfully powdery and lightly soapy wash of pure elegance. I can’t tell you what a zing this gives me whenever I spritz, it’s not just its own scent but the memories of all the other scents that it reminds me of through its life and you know what? I love it so much that I’m going to wear it on the plane.

Photo Stolen BaseNotes

Manto di Rugiada i Profumi di Firenze: I keep forgetting to wear this lovely green, resinous amber. It’s light enough for spring and will smell gorgeous on the cooler evenings. Softly nuanced and beautifully blended I always enjoy my ride. There’s a couple of ml left in my decant, I might as well use them up.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

07 Vetiver Dance Tauer Perfumes: One of my mates Natalie from Another Perfume Blog (now defunct sadly) gave me a manufacturers sample of this one. I like vetiver very much and Vetiver dance has been sitting in my Must Try box for ages. I’m taking it with me so I can spend some time with one of the few Andy Tauer fragrances that I’ve not smelled.

What do you think of my choices? What would you pick if you had to take 5? It’s not forever, only a fortnight, so it’s not a really big decision. it is fun planning and choosing though.

Portia xx

Poivre Piquant by Bertrand Duchaufour for L`Artisan Parfumeur 2002

December 30, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Heya Frag Fiends,

I have a little love affair going with one of my bottles bought very early on in my admitted and embraced perfumistahood. It’s a gourmand, which I take to mean it’s foody, not your average bakery scent though, not all sugary vanilla sweetness. Today’s fragrance is the most sophisticated and grown up of the gourmands that I know. Interesting, delicious and surprising while being totally wearable. A rare combination of freaky, cool and easy.

Poivre Piquant by L`Artisan Parfumeur 2002

By Bertrand Duchaufour

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Honey, white pepper, milk, licorice, sugar, woody notes

UK L’Artisan site says: Poivre Piquant is inspired by a wedding story in the Kama Sutra. Sugar and pepper were sprinkled on the bride’s wedding veil. Sugar for the sweetness of life, pepper for the sparkling joy (and sensuality!) to come. This blend of white hot pepper tempered with milky woody notes is sharp, soft and burning all at once. A hint of liquorice and honey round off this elegant essay in aphrodisiac desire.

Photo Stolen Scents Of Self

Wet pepper, bell pepper freshly cut, zingy, fresh and ready to eat in a delicious and healthy salad. In a few minutes though a very asian stir fried honey dish bursts through, sweet and sticky and spicy. The pepper has become dry cracked pepper and fizzy fun pink pepper with a milkiness that could come from adding a small lick of coconut milk to what may easily be the dish of the day. Though I am exaggerating the meal-ish aspects of Poivre Piquant, that is what comes to my mind on wearing. Suddenly I’m in a fabulous Australian/Asian fusion restaurant, it’s hip and clean, filled with laughter, chatter and the subtle sounds of wooden chopsticks hitting porcelain. Mouth watering dishes sizzle and steam as they are brought to hungry diners. You can even smell the hot fires burning in the background.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Poivre Piquant lasts around 3-4 hours but only the first hour do I have any major sillage and it is an extremely selfish wear because projection needs about 7 spritzes for anyone to even notice it. On the other hand, I get fabulous huffs coming up my shirt for 3 of those four hours, sometimes wet, sometimes spicy and sometimes sweet and hot. It’s like a circular fragrance where we get a spiral of fragrance that keeps letting different notes and combinations jump out at you through the whole life rather than a regular note pyramid. It’s cool, classy and fun. Excellent cool weather wear and a totally different ride in the heat, more refreshing than warming.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Scents of Self and Bois de Jasmin
Libertine Parfumerie have $186/100ml with FREE Australian Delivery
L’Artisan France has €100/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Have you spent any time with this L’Artisan lovely?
Portia xx

La Haie Fleurie du Hameau by L`Artisan Parfumeur 1982

September 7, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Hey All you Fragrance Lovers,

GOSH! 1982, this frag came out while I was still in school. 1982 was the last year I was in the Top 10 of my year and just before I went seriously “Off The Rails” as they called it back then. I think by then my Mum had bought me an Aramis and a mini of VC&A Pour Homme, maybe by then I had even had Polo. That doesn’t count wearing all my Mum & sister’s fragrances though.

La Haie Fleurie du Hameau by L`Artisan Parfumeur 1982

La Haie Fleurie du Hameau by Jean Claude Ellena

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Jasmine, orange blossom, narcissus, ylang-ylang, honeysuckle, vanilla, oakmoss

It’s been super busy around here lately. The house has a For Sale sign out the front and we have been working like House Elves to have it super schmick for the auction. I feel as though I’ve neglected you all a little this weekend, sorry, my head is full to overflowing with stuff and I can’t find a damn thing in the house because so much is packed away in storage. So while I am wearing as much fragrance as ever I am wearing it to forget thought, as a mini mental holiday rather than to run through notes and journey while wearing it. There has been a LOT of gardening going on and every time I work in the front I am completely engulfed in the glorious scents of Erlicher jonquils and King Alfred daffodils.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia Photo Stolen AusGardener

Here is another of my lucky gifts from Michael Edwards, and when I spritzed it tonight it was exactly that gorgeous heady, narcotic and indolic magic that I smell while working in the garden. Mesmerisingly beautiful, as I was driving to work and the few first minutes before I was swept up in Trivia I was absolutely gobsmacked by how lovely. An older bottle with the round cap I think the flowers are totally gorgeous and opulent.

What an excellent rendition of narcissus, I can easily smell how this young man could have fallen so deeply in love with his own beautiful perfection and wanted to smell only that until he wasted away, engulfed or perhaps became merely a breath of indolic air.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

While it is not terrible long lasting, at about 2 hours fragrant and maybe another 2 of very quiet floral vanilla wisps, I found it a wonderful fragrant ride. Extremely pretty and I felt lovely, sometimes a fragrance can make me think I am quite gorgeous. Transportive. Suddenly I am a girlish waif, happy and carefree on a sunlit hill covered in daffodils. It’s like the scene in Death Becomes Her when Meryl Streep takes the potion, except I spritz it.

Further reading: Perfume Smellin’ Things and Perfume Shrine
Surrender To Chance has samples that start at $4/ml

Did you ever get to smell this lovely white and yellow floral?
Portia xx

Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances 2014 Perfume Reviews

March 23, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 33 Comments

Hello Gorgeous APJ Family,

It’s Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances time again, my favourite seasons are Autumn and Spring, the mid seasons. I love that in both these seasons the weather can be remarkably similar, sunny and warm on one day, freezing or blustery on another, nights are cool to cold and so the overall wearings are quite similar. Yes, we can grab a white floral to really ring in Spring or remember Spring in Autumn but then it’s also nice to spritz a heavy amber on those super cold nights and a sweet fizzy citrus will work almost anytime. These fragrances are on my desk and within easy spritz reach and they only stay on the desk while they are getting regular spritz time, if they’ve been sitting there for more than a fortnight without attention they go back in the cupboard.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances 2014 Perfume Reviews

24 Faubourg EdT – Hermès: White flowers and fruit that melt into ambery goodness. How can you resist this lovely gem from Hermès. Every time I spritz it I wonder why I don’t do it every day. I love the bottle, that it’s Hermès and that I smell fantastic for 4-6 hours.

Anyway – Juliette Has A Gun: ADDICTIVE!! Beware Anyway. Nothing like I’d ever thought I wanted to smell. A citrus and, though it doesn’t say it anywhere, pineapple concoction that heads into woods and oudh territory throughout its life. the ultimate drag queen fragrance, so feminine and butch at the same time.

Futur – Robert Piguet: The ungreenest green ever. Sappy, sweet, green and extremely wearable all year round. Futur has been out of the cupboard and on my skin quite a bit lately and it fits any occasion.

Liberte – Cacharel: A screaming, sizzling, BarBQ’d orange that is so sugary and ends up in a vanilla/patchouli/orange finale. I’ve loved it for years and now that it seems to be discontinued I’ve had to grab a couple of back up bottles.

Mohur – Neela Vermeire Creations: The headiest, most complex and wonderful rose there is. Surrounded by interesting other notes and accords but it is the rose that shines through for the whole of Mohur’s life. I am crazy for this fragrance and can’t wait to have a Mohur Extrait bottle.

Shalimar EdP – Guerlain: My old faithful. Shalimar fits every season, every mood and every event. From it’s citrus gelato opening to the resinous, vanilla and leather dry down I love Shalimar through and through. If I had to pick a fragrance to be my one and only Shalimar would be it.

Sharp – Andrea Maack: A new entry into my life in FB. I am enjoying Sharp a lot. Weird, synthetic orange blossom packed tight with musks and an ambery vanilla, all washed over by an unearthly metal/marine accord that is both enticing and repellent. Sharp is both the freshness of Spring and the coming darkness of Autumn.

Skin on Skin – L`Artisan Parfumeur: Skin on Skin is an interesting fragrance, poo poo’d by many of the fragrance intelligentsia because of it’s similarity to Traversee du Bosphore. I have now spent time wearing both, though not simultaneously, but I like the plastic saffron edge and the cool suede. There are more similarities between Bottega Veneta and Skin on Skin to my nose and Iris Prima has some too. I spritz Skin on Skin a LOT.

Vanille & Narcisse – L’Occitane: So you want something cheap and cheerful? Something that has the narcissus of spring and the vanilla of autumn? Look no further. Vanille & Narcisse is wearable, pretty, inexpensive and a great wear. This is one I would recommend as a gift for any non perfumistas and many who are. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Wild Ginger Chai – SOIVOHLE: The sweet, spicy, ginger and milk opening. The dry, black tea smell and the memories of India. I love Liz Zorn’s work, she captures my imagination every time and her prices are so freaking reasonable for fragrances that are world class. Yum.

So there they are. My current mid-season Top 10. They will probably be changed by next week but right now these ten fragrances are getting good skin time and working extremely well in the changeable conditions that the mid-seasons hand us.

Loads of love to you all, wherever and in what ever weather,
Portia x

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Fou d’Absinthe by Olivia Giacobetti for L’Artisan Parfumeur 2006

February 1, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hello Fellow Fumies,

Recently there was a sale here in Sydney on the L’Artisan range, I grabbed a few for a great price. Fou d’Absinthe was a one spritz buy for me, the green on the box had already sealed its coming home to live status and I love the L’Artisan aesthetic, ease of wearability and quite like the short lifespan of most of their fragrances because it means I can wear more then one fragrance in a day and top up if my choice is to continue with the L’Artisan.

Fou d’Absinthe by L’Artisan Parfumeur 2006

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Black currant, angelica, wormwood
Heart: Ginger, patchouli, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, cloves
Base: Balsam fir, incense, pine tree needles

Can I be perfectly honest, I’ve never tasted or smelled Absinthe. Never followed the green fairy and never wanted to.

On my skin the sweet green woodsy, non urinous opening is so enjoyable. By the name I was expecting a searing alcoholic rush to open like Penhaligon’s Juniper Sling or Lubin’s Gin Fizz, Olivia Giacobetti has created Fou d’Absinthe in a much more stately vein, a calmer, cooler and more elegant ride. Though you can tell the herbs and spices are there it’s all about the opening woods, black current is backing player for me but it rounds out the initial rush by sweetening but not in a modern department store sweet way but a subtle crisp sparkle over the top.

When the herbs and spices take center stage they are never free of woody undertones and I read them as a Bouquet Garni rather than their individual players. Some times I think, oh there’s pepper or that feels anise-ish but really the feeling is a blending, a composition of these accords to create a seamless whole.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Later the composition skews pine/patchouli and this is my favourite part of the ride, it’s green and crackly, slightly earthy but also dusty and here is where I get a little of the booze I expected in the opening. Not in your face but a subtle growl of alcohol like you’ve just had a shot of something and that grrrrrr you make in the back of your throat at the dry, sharp whoosh that remains.

One of the things I like about Fou d’Absinthe is my own ability to dream that I am a part of the Moulin Rouge crew in Paris at a time when magic was happening. Fou d’Absinthe takes me into the brilliant lives of the Parisian underworld towards the end of the 1800s which Baz Luhrmann so fabulously captured on film.

Photo Stolen Playingwithbrushes’ Flickr

My personal life expectancy for Fou d’Absinthe is around 4 hours when the soft woodsy incense trails off into nothing. An absolutely unisex offering perfect for most occasions, sillage is soft and projection slow but insistent. Sit down for about a minute with your friends and they will start to notice how lovely you smell. Fou d’Absinthe is not a huge compliment getter but every now and then someone will say you smell good when you give them a hello peck or hug.

Further reading: Perfume Smellin’ Things and The Non-Blonde
Neroli Budapest has €96/50ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/ml

Have you tried Fou d’Absinthe? What were your thoughts?
We hope you have a great 24 hours till we see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

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.

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