Top 10 Christmas Shopping List 2015

October 31, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi Lovelies,

We are HURTLING towards Christmas with speeds previously unknown to mankind. How did this year disappear so fast? It seems like only yesterday I was having Christmas at home with Mathew, Jin & Kath, opening up my presents, eating, laughing and having a stunningly relaxing day. Jin, Kath & I were all living in an apartment in Redfern (on the edge of the Sydney CBD) and it was great. You know, I can’t believe I’ve been sporting the BEARD for a year!

Many of you are not Christian, have horrible Christmas memories or are very lonely at Christmas. Depression is made even harder when the world expects you to be joyful and smiling. I too have spent Christmas with the black dog. One of the things that helps me through is organisation, make a plan for the day and stick to it. Leaving the house can seem like an insurmountable mountain, especially in the dead of winter, but if it’s safe to do so then getting bathed, dressed and outside for a short while can really help. Even if it’s just to a porch or balcony. Inside, spend an hour tidying up your kitchen and table and making it a really nice place to have a meal, polish the damn thing if you have to and if you have a placemat put it down, set up your cutlery and condiments. Even if all you have for lunch is a Cup-A-Soup please make it a SPECIAL Cup-A-Soup moment. Do you know someone else who is lonely or in need? Nothing puts the Christmas blues behind as much as helping someone else. Just do it for yourself, helping them will help you through, selfishness harnessed for the greater good is still wonderful.

Anyway, here are my Top 10 Christmas Gifts 2015, I know you have some great ideas to help people with their gift giving, please leave your comments below. Also good ideas for beating the Christmas Blues would be great too.

Top 10 Christmas Shopping List 2015

L’Occitane Shea Fabulous Oil: Seriously, L’Occitane Shea Fabulous Oil is FAN fricken TASTIC! It smells so beautiful, sinks into your skin in moments, leaves your skin feeling soft, supple and with a light sheen. I can’t imagine anyone male or female who would not be thrilled receiving a bottle of this beautiful baby at Christmas (or any other time). Whoever you give this to will be seriously impressed with your good taste and sense. Retailing AUD$45/100ml at L’Occitane Australia

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Miller et Bertaux – A Quiet Morning: On our first trip to Europe together while shopping with Birgit and Sandra Jin spritzed some Miller et Bertaux – A Quiet Morning. It was instant love. We were busy buying other things at the time but later in the evening I got a whiff of him and it still smelled killer. The top notes and heart are put together in such a way that they smell like nothing in my scent memory and are based around Saffron, Rice & Neroli but the deep Woody dry down is where it really shines. First In Fragrance has €98/100ml

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Surrender To Chance Gift Certificate: Don’t know what to get someone? Know they like fragrance and don’t want to double up or worse give them a scent nemesis note? Surrender To Chance Gift Certificate‘s are a great idea. Your friend will have the joy of receiving your card explaining their gift, you can send them a Gift Voucher via eMail, they will have enormous fun picking their order and once it arrives the fun of wearing a bunch of brand new fragrances. Excellent gift from $1 to $200. I usually give $25 or $50, depending on my financial status and our friendship.

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Penhaligon’s Blenheim Bouquet Bath Oil: I love baths, and here is a fabulous way to soften and lightly scent your skin while enjoying that most relaxing and mentally detoxifying pursuit. The Blenheim Bouquet range from Penhaligon’s is chock full of fabulous stuff, from Shaving Soaps and Shower Gels to EdT and Body Lotion and it all comes beautifully packaged. Aimed at the men but blissfully unisex. Parfum1 has $85/200ml Bath Oil.

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Lolita Lempicka EdP: The original Lolita Lempicka fragrance. One of the loveliest, and much more wearable, Angel spin offs. Licorice, Sugar & Violets all drizzled with Vanilla Praline and smoothed over with Musks. I often gift this one. It suits all ages and everyone loves the fun bottle, even the men. It’s sweet but won’t rot your teeth, light enough to wear to most events but fragrant enough to be interesting. Perfumery Australia has AUD$40/50ml

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo: If any book could change your life then this is the one. Imagine being surrounded by ONLY the things that bring you joy. Perfect if you or someone you know needs to de-clutter. Marie Kondo is clever and a bit whacko but her book really does give an excellent guide to making your life cleaner, sparer and more able to let in the joy. I’ve not done the full clean but it will happen when I’m ready. Book Depository has the hardback for AUD$19.20 delivered.

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Amouage Body Lotion: You want to make someone feel like they are incredible beautiful and important to you? Want them to think lovely thoughts of you every time they get out of the shower and are moisturising themselves? Top quality and smells amazing, my favourite of the Amouage Body Lotions is DIA filled with glycerine, shea butter, aloe vera, almond oil and silicone. A softly fresh bouquet on a base of powdery woods, vanilla & incense. Sensual and elegant. Libertine has $119/300ml with FREE Australian Shipping

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Magnolia Grandiflora – Michel: You are looking for something different, beautiful, easy to wear and vibrant to gift your partner. You are expecting to pay a bit of money but cant go too far over the top. Magnolia Grandiflora – Michel is an excellent choice. Citrus and fresh green up top through a softly white floral bouquet and into a dry patchouli and vetiver skin scent to finish. Unisex, magical and Australian. Peony Melbourne has AUD$185/100ml

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Rancé 6 x 104 ml Iris Royal Soap Box: Rancé has been producing excellent soaps in Italy since 1795 and their production methods remains basically unchanged from their founding. That’s quite an amazing thing. The soaps are presented beautifully, six in a box and they smell incredible. The soap leaves your skin clean, moist and lightly fragrant. This is the good stuff. FragranceX has AUD$73.50

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CHANEL Misia: You want their friends to be as impressed as they are. Grab the 2015 release from CHANEL, Misia. It shows you are cool, clever and bang up to date. There’s nothing like the thrill of finding something by CHANEL under your tree or given any way a gift can be given. Make sure the sales person wraps the box and ties with CHANEL ribbon, roll it in the CHANEL bag and only then can you put your own Christmas paper on it. Give them the whole thrilling experience. It will be worth it. CHANEL Boutiques and large department stores have 75ml or 200ml bottles.

Did any of these tickle your fancy? What would you like to give or be given?
Portia xxx

Patrick & Wayne: Magnolia Grandiflora

April 10, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hi there APJ,

I don’t have a perfume post for you tonight. Life has been very hectic around here and somehow there is no post for now. OOOOPS! Jin & I have been out to dinner with a couple of totally top blokes that I have been friends with for 20 years and some other long standing friends. Though Jin & I have been together for 3 years still they’d not met him. So to make it happen they organised a dinner party. Roast goats chees stuffed figs wrapped in prosciutto and drizzled with honey & balsamic vinegar. Slow cooked curried chicken breasts with cous cous and sugar snap peas with a spicy jus. Chocolate souffle with raspberries and clotted cream. Fabulous drinks served to suit each course and basically a heaven night out.

Patrick & Wayne: Magnolia Grandiflora

Through the whole dinner though I was mesmerised by the perfection and beauty of the centerpiece, a couple of dinner plate sized magnolias from the front garden. Their ginger, lemongrass, citrus, vanilla and sweat scent wafting over towards me and completelyt breaking my train of thought again and again throughout the evening.

I stole one and brought it home. Here it is in the kitchen.

Perfection.
Portia xx

Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine and Magnolia Grandiflora Michel 2013

March 17, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by SarahK

Hi APJ,

These are the first fragrances released by Grandiflora, a Sydney-based florist. Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine was the final fragrance developed by Sandrine Videault before her untimely death last year. Originally scheduled for release in August 2013, its launch was delayed following Sandrine’s sad passing. Instead, it was released in early 2014 together with Magnolia Grandiflora Michel, which was developed by Michel Roudnitska, son of Sandrine Videault’s mentor at the start of her career. Ainslie Walker also reviewed these two fragrances here at APJ, Jordan River did a wonderful lead up on APJ too, but as these two scents were only recently released, and there aren’t many reviews of them yet, I wanted to offer my take too!

Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine and Magnolia Grandiflora Michel 2013

Magnolia seems to be a popular note in perfumery currently, but these two scents are no bandwagon-jumpers. Do not try them expecting heady floral notes like those found in En Voyage’s homage to the magnolia, Zelda, or Guerlain’s powdery L’Instant. You won’t find anything like that here.

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Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Lemon, grapefruit, white pepper, green notes, woody notes, watery notes and musk

Sandrine: This, to me, is a grapefruit fragrance backed by fresh (not marine) watery notes and some clean musk. Imagine you’re breakfasting on grapefruit and a glass of spring water. You’re sitting at a table covered by a starched white tablecloth on the airy, sunny terrace of a posh hotel somewhere Mediterranean. The grapefruit note feels natural, though the underlying musk has a touch of the functional, starchy ‘laundry musk’ about it. For me, that doesn’t detract from the scent – rather, it adds to the feeling of airy breezes and stiff white linen. That being said, there is definitely an aromachemical in here that gives me a feeling of being smacked across the bridge of the nose, and I wouldn’t be surprised if others found it headache-inducing. The fragrance is not complex, and is pretty linear, but it’s nicely done, aromachemical reactions aside. I am not a fan of 90s-era ‘ocean fresh’ calone/citrus scents, but I would find this very likeable if not for the nose-smacking.

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Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Grapefruit, lemon, bergamot, jasmine, ylang-ylang, rose, magnolia, vetiver, patchouli and musk

Michel: This opens as an aquatic floral and stays that way for a couple of hours. It’s a realistic waxy, green, watery – even slightly milky – magnolia and, like the real thing, smells better from a distance than up close. When I sniff my wrist, I have to confess that, owing to the lactonic note, I don’t love it at this stage, though the sillage is nice. It’s very different to Sandrine’s interpretation of magnolia. Where Sandrine is the evocation of a breezy, sunny and warm day, Michel is a magnolia tree after a cool rain shower. Over time, the milky aspect fades and by hour three I am left with a fresh green floral that I like much more. By hour four we’ve reached the base, where there is an easy-wearing echo of the grapefruit and woods (though none of the starchy aromachemical) found in Sandrine.

Both fragrances are unisex and have moderate-soft sillage, though they last a good 8 hours on my skin (but I have to say most fragrances do).

LuckyScent has both US$185/100ml
Peony Melbourne has both AUD$185/100ml

Have you tried either of the Grandiflora scents? Were they what you expected?

SarahK X

Magnolia: The Note + The Fragrances

March 4, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

There’s hype about Magnolia. For us Australians it’s led by the release of Grandiflora’s two Magnolia Grandiflora inspired perfumes, Sandrine and Michel. At Sydney Perfume Lover’s Meet Up this week we met Saskia Havekes in her flower workshop. She talked us through the emotional and fairytale-like journey she has undertaken, getting these two fragrances to market – a 4 year process, plus more than 25 years hard slog as a floral designer!

For those of you in Europe, if you are lucky enough to be seeing the big waxy blooms of a magnolia tree waving at you from above: HOORAY!! Spring is finally on it’s way, breaking through the dreary, dragging grey of winter and bringing a sparkle of hope for longer, brighter days.

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Magnolias are considered one of the most ancient flowering plants, even preceding bees. It was bugs that helped these big blooms to fertilize. If you don’t know what they look like pop to the nearest park or botanic gardens containing one– they truly are something old-worldly and special. Stand near one, shut your eyes and listen. Often you will hear petals crashing through leaves to the ground. Petals are big, thick and kind of tough for a flower. Breathe deep. The blooms smell different when first opened to when closed, by day and by night, in summer and in spring. The big white waxy flower petals weigh heavy and remind me of floppy bunny ears. When I think Magnolia I think about movement and change. Strength and beauty. Spend some time getting to know Magnolia trees and their huge blooms.

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Magnolia as a perfume note is considered creamy, sweet and lightly citrus. Perfumers play with the citrus, green, aquatic and or spice notes to individualize, add dimension and express their interpretations, eg representing the whole tree / the flower/ the surroundings. Many say the Magnolia note is a bit of a “non-event”…perhaps that’s the reason for the artistic license of the perfumer – trying to represent such a magnificent flower, with only so few clues?

Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine

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Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Lemon, grapefruit, white pepper, green notes, woody notes, watery notes and musk

Michel and Sandrine interpret magnolia quite differently:

With Sandrine I observed notes of citrus, grapefruit and lots of pepper on first whiff, followed by fresh astringent green and dry wood accords, blurring with gentle-ish marine (I’m not an “aquatic” fan…but this passes) and musk undertones. It is the whole tree, growing in Sydney Harbour. It is unusually beautiful and breezy. The journey dances you through the branches of the magnolia tree, passing all its components of leaves, woods, and blooms, in the sea breeze. It was the final fragrance made by Sandrine Videault before she sadly passed away, last year, so there is a very emotional air in the perfume world about this one too. It seems to contain not only the spirit of Magnolia but encapsulates an essence of its creator also.

Magnolia Grandiflora Michel

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Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Grapefruit, lemon, bergamot, jasmine, ylang-ylang, rose, magnolia, vetiver, patchouli and musk

Michel immediately hits as a white floral, with rounded citrus top notes, lemon, and bergamot, not as sharp or dry as Sandrine. Patchouli and vetivert, add depth. Hints of green – a nod to the tree. Magnolia, Jasmine, Rose and ylang make it more palatable for the masses. It’s like your face is pressed inside one of the big flowers – but, Michel adds a touch more than nature provided the poor Magnolia flower – amping it up somewhat.

Further reading: Grain de Musc and Jordan River on Australian Perfume Junkies
LuckyScent has both US$185/100ml
Peony Melbourne has both AUD$185/100ml

Ainslie Walker x

There are loads of fragrances that list Magnolia as an ingredient here are a few below for you to go sniff ;

Acqua Di Parma – Magnolia Nobile
J’Adore – Dior
Tokyo milk – Paridiso
Chloe – Eu De Parfum
Allure – Chanel
Gucci Flora – Gucci Glamorous,
Kenzo – Eu De Fleur De Magnolia,
Santa Maria Novella – Magnolia,
Yves Rocher – Magnolia

Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine by Sandrine Videault for Grandiflora 2013

January 21, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Guest Post by Jordan River

The fragrance world lost a cherished luminary in 2013. Perfumer and fragrance visionary Sandrine Videault passed away on July 3rd last year. Today we remember not only her amazing fragrances, but her touching, inspiring words.

Magnolia Grandiflora Sandrine by Sandrine Videault for Grandiflora 2013

Sandrine studied perfumery under Edmond Roudnitska. Her final perfume is Magnolia Grandiflora, which she worked on with floral artisan Saskia Havekes. This extraordinary fragrance has been highly anticipated by the fragrance community and was launched this month on Lucky Scent.

Magnolia Grandiflora
Perfumer: Sandrine Videault
Release Date: August 2013
Classification: Soliflore
EDP 100ml
Recommended Retail Price: $185 AUD / $168 EUR
Pre-orders: fragrance@grandiflora.net

Notes
Top citrus, grapefruit, pepper
Heart dry woods, fresh garden accord,
Drydown marine, musk

Many flowers today are bred to be beautiful but not necessarily fragrant. Saskia has sources for particularly fragrant flowers which she artfully combines with beautifully bred ones for a scented atmosphere with visual delights. Photographing nature is also a passion. Grandiflora is the name of Saskia’s atelier in Potts Point.

The story of this fragrance begins millions of years ago, before humans or many other creatures we know today existed. The ancient genus Magnolia appeared before bees did, and pollination occurred thanks to the help of beetles. The tree adapted to the strength of its hardworking pollinators, resulting in the longevity of this beautiful, fragrant tree.

The magnolia is a true sight to behold – tall trees mantled with startling blossoms come to life in the springtime, shrouding surrounding areas in a fragrance known to this earth for more than 20 million years. The magnolia’s timber is heavy and robust, and the flower has continued to bloom and burst with lush fragrance across the ages, yet the flowers fade so fast. To hold magnolia’s fragrance is a kind of magical blessing.

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Many of us will remember Sandrine through the tropical intensity of Manoumalia. In the Pacific tourists are often charmed by the scent of the local manoi oils which are used for tanning, moisturising skin and hair as well as for bath and massage oil. Manoi oil is coconut oil usually blended with the Tahitian gardenia known as Tiare but also with frangipani, ylang ylang and vanilla, in an enfleurage type process. Coconut oil is the carrier fat for the scent. Unfortunately when these oils leave the tropics the scent changes to ‘off’ or more precisely, indolic at the unpleasant end of the spectrum. The amazingness of Manoumalia is how Sandrine captured the heady lush scent of The Perfume Tree (Fragrea), Tiare, Ylang Ylang, Amber, Vetiver and Sandalwood within a perfume that could then be enjoyed anywhere in the world like an instant tropical holiday. Truly an expression of the art of perfumery.

Her other notable works – Ambre Indien by Esteban, Violeta by Les Néréides, and the recreation of the ancient Egyptian Kyphi live on in the hearts and minds of those of us grieving her passing.

Sandrine lived in New Caledonia and loved working in her creative laboratory in Noumea. In an interview with Perfumes, Trends and Inspirations, she said:

“Avoir son lieu de création près de Dame Nature est un cadeau”
(“Having a place of creation near Mother Nature is a gift”)

In an interview with Perfume Shrine, she said living in New Caledonia connected her with her roots.

“I feel more beaming or blooming and I am more serene. If something is wrong inside of you then you won’t create with harmony. You can not cheat with perfume authoring. States of mind come to light in perfume authoring. Bad moods are forbidden. Moreover, New Caledonia with its nature and ethnic groups is a mine of inspiration for me.”

Sandrine was both a perfume visionary and a woman wise beyond her years. She will be remembered for the scents she created and the words she left behind. May we now cherish the gifts she has left behind, and learn from the lessons she sought to teach.

“The most important lesson…..that we know nothing! So many things left to learn, to discover, to live.”

Farewell Sandrine, you will be missed.

Further Reading
Grain de Musc – Manoumalia
Perfume Shrine – Manoumalia
Perfume Shrine – Interview with Sandrine
The Fragrant Man – Magnolia Grandiflora

In Memory of Sandrine Videault
Grain de Musc
Olfactoria’s Travels
Perfume Shrine – poetry
The Scented Salamander

Update
Grain de Musc – Two Magnolias will blossom in January 2014 at Grandiflora