Noir Epices by Michel Roudnitska for Frederic Malle 2000

December 19, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Post by Claire Vukcevic

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Hi APJ folk!

We’ve been enjoying an amazing autumn here in Ireland. Lucky enough to live in the most sheltered spot on this rain-sodden island, we spent most of October and November trawling the long, golden beaches and kicking over the leaves in castle parks. The sun never stopped shining, temperatures barely dipped below 15 degrees, and we were all in such a damn good mood. Then one day, driving back from a jaunt to Kilkenny, I made the fatal mistake of saying, “And imagine – the kids haven’t been sick even once!”

Jesus.

Naturally, there hasn’t been a dry tissue in the house since. There’s been the flu, chest infections, and a torn cornea that necessitated an emergency hospital visit and a hefty bill (no health insurance). More familiar with hospital waiting rooms than I’d care to be, I have developed a perfume strategy that helps a bit. I wear powerfully radiant, antiseptic fumes that march ahead of me, wiping whole rooms down with Dettol before I enter, and whisper “Do not fuck with me” to receptionists.

Noir Epices by Frederic Malle 2000

Noir Epices by Michel Roudnitska

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange, rose, geranium
Heart: Nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, cloves
Base: Sandalwood, patchouli, cedar, vanilla

Yeah, so, I’m wearing a lot of Noir Epices. It is a difficult, somewhat prickly perfume – a sort of stripped-down, Vorsprung Durch Technik version of Coco. Re-engineered to remove all the sweetness and ballasting amber; it’s the perfume equivalent of whittling a comfy sofa into a Philippe Starck chair.

WikiCommons

In the opening notes, a hot pink rose stumbles onto the scene, flushed and boozy, washed down with the metallic sheen of geranium leaf. It is intensely beautiful to me at first because I get the impression of fullness – the bitter greenness of the geranium balanced by the rose, and the dry, peppery spices are backed up by rich woods. Singed orange peel and clove burn through spices, florals, and woods, purifying the unclean air around me and excoriating the flesh around open wounds. Noir Epices is the answer to the plague.

I feel fierce when I wear this, but eventually the very things that make me feel protected wear me down. Wearing Noir Epices is like putting a pure vitamin C serum on your face – the burning feels good because you know that it is active, but at the same time, the discomfort is real. Noir Epices has all the trappings of a rich spice oriental – the acidity of spilled orange juice, dry pomander woods, black pepper, an excitable rose – but completely lacks the underpinnings. There is no amber, vanilla, or creamy, hefty woods to round this out in the base, and while I understand that its appeal comes from this woody weightlessness, I would wish for a kinder, more forgiving ending. Noir Epices is a stern judge of character.

Wikipedia

Longevity and sillage are outstanding, 7 hours at the least. I recommend Noir Epices to anyone in need of a magic potion to ward off illnesses, and to fans of spicy, dry orange-rose pomander fragrances such as Coco and Maharanih.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Non Blonde
Mecca has $217/50ml with FREE Australian Shipping
Surrender To Chance have samples starting at $8.69/ml

What do you guys use to banish the sickies?

Slán,
Claire

Bois de Paradise by Michel Roudnitska for Parfums DelRae 2002

October 2, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Claire Vukcevic

Hi there APJ folk!

Have you ever built a fragrance up in your head for ages before even smelling it? I do that a lot. The town where I live sells nothing fancier that Beyonce Heat, so I am completely dependent on the Internet. So, I read. 95% of the pleasure I get from perfume is reading other people writing about it. Words set off a moving train of vivid images in my head, and if a person is a talented writer, they can bring a perfume to life for me in a way that just smelling the damn thing simply will not do.

These images and dreams of a perfume can slosh around my head for years until I actually smell it. Can you imagine the utter joy when the images I’ve filed away in my mental library actually lines up with how the perfume smells? Unfortunately, Parfums DelRae Bois de Paradis doesn’t quite live up to the movie reel in my head.

Bois de Paradise by Parfums DelRae 2002

Bois de Paradise by Michel Roudnitska

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Citruses
Heart: French rose, blackberry, spices, fig
Base: Amber, woodsy notes, resins, incense

There is just something a little too insistent, too overwrought about Bois de Paradis. It bowls me over….then sticks in my craw. Each time I put it on, I think of the immortal lines of Hotel California – this could be heaven, or this could be hell.

The problem: In the middle of a pool of rich, luscious florals, fruits, and woods, a strident tone eventually juts out and catches my skin on its jagged edges. It’s like running your hand down a gleaming wooden banister and finding one tiny splinter. It gets in the way of what I signed up for.

Wikipedia

What I signed up for: A luscious rose-berry syrup, heavily spiced but suspended in a golden elixir, so delicious I want to drink it. Fresh blackberries and dried currants swimming in some kind of quaint alcohol, like mead or mulled wine and draped in the same golden, autumnal haze that I associate with other rich, honeyed harvest scents such as Botrytis and 1270 by Frapin. This, right here, is my bailiwick. Mah wheelhouse.

The splinter: The syrup boils over and becomes pure resin. The woods funnel into pine sap, with a helping of mint, blackcurrant leaf, and camphor, introducing an “aftershave”-like aftertaste. These notes interfere with a creamy-dry, rosy sandalwood in the base. I want to shove aside the throat-catching resin, pine needles, and mint, and enjoy my sandalwood unfettered. It won’t allow me. (If I wanted pine needles and mint, I would wear Nuit Etoilee).

Despite the odds stacked in its favor at the start, it is not a buy for me. But I am grateful to have been given the chance to try it. DelRae stuff is almost impossible to find in Europe.

Flickr

Further reading: Non Blonde and EauMG
LuckyScent has $150/50ml
Surrender to Chance has samples from $4/0.5ml

What about you guys? Have you ever built a fragrance up in your mind while reading reviews, only to have your hopes (and expectations) dashed to the ground when you actually get your nose on it?

Slán from sunny but cold Ireland,
Claire

Claire also writes for Take One Thing Off

Madagascan Jasmine by Michel Roudnitska for Grandiflora 2015

September 9, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Portia

Hello Fabulous Fumies,

Can you believe I live in the same city as Grandiflora yet I’ve never set foot in the place? Well, sadly it’s true. Not because I’ve purposely stayed away but I just never seem to be in that part of town without a time budget, or I’m there after hours for work. It is on my bucket list to get there though so hopefully sometime soon I’ll be able to show you some pics of a visit. Till then I’ve finally been to Surrender To Chance and grabbed myself a decant.

Madagascan Jasmine by Grandiflora 2015

Madagascan Jasmine by Michel Roudnitska

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Jasmine, Green notes, Musk

The first person I knew that had Madagascan Jasmine was Ainslie Walker and I tried it at her place but was woefully under impressed. I’m not sure what my problem was but even then I felt maybe I was missing the point. I was.

Madagascan Jasmine opens green, yes, I know that that term covers a lot of ground. It’s the green of tearing soft, fleshy, succulent leaves. The green of hedging camellias, rubbing your nail down the long thin, dark green leaves of clivia, the metallic green of clean kitchen basins and the extreme yellow green of narcissus. It’s also white, the white of the jasmine growing over the side fence, the white of expensive little bathroom soaps, Lily of the Valley white and the soft plush white of clean flannelette sheets. Laundry musks but done as a binding note rather than a solo performer. Though they are huge and in your face they seem to buoy the rest and keep it floating and radiant.

WikiMedia

Imagine being sandblasted by scent, it’s so full on that it rips away your skin and bones leaving you a sheer, bodiless, cloud of scent. If you close your eyes while wearing Madagascan Jasmine I think it could take you anywhere. The most gorgeously engulfing jasmine and it lasts well too. Almost as adamant as Tawaf by La Via Del Profumi.

Beyond beautiful.

PDI

Further reading: What Men Should Smell Like and Persolaise
Peony Melbourne has Au$185/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5.50/ml

What is your Jasmine?
Portia xx

Shiloh by Michel Roudnitska for Hors La Monde 2007

October 28, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by Trésor

My maternal grandmother lived in a quaint home, nestled in between two incredibly large hills with a small brook running down one side. Every so often we would gather iridescent stones that found their way to the tiny banks and pretend they were the scales of mermaid’s tails that had made their journey all the way from the Caspian sea to our little brook. We would take these stones into the house, clean them and place them inside the upstairs cabinet where she kept all of her finest china. She said they would stay there for safe keeping should the mermaids ever come looking in search for their missing glistening scales. These moments were some of the happiest of my entire childhood so you can just imagine my delight when I happened upon a fragrance by the name of Shiloh, authored by Michel Roudnitska for the French house of Hors La Monde that so flawlessly captured all of those exquisite iridescent colours I remember from those stones. All in one breathtaking journey though this perfume’s life on my skin.

Shiloh by Hors La Monde 2007

Shiloh by Michel Roudnitska

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot oil, Damask rose petals, Virginian cedar, patchouli, lemon, sandalwood, incense, green grass, oakmoss, vanilla, musk, wood notes

Shiloh opens upon my skin in the shape of an effulgent sensory orb, pulsating in hues of vibrant cinnabar, rust and gleaming tangerine that illuminate from within like holograms of fragrant fireflies, whizzing about as if captured inside a mason jar by a joyful child on a late summer’s eve. The aroma of a ripe and glowing citrus fruit, that which smells to my nose of lemon, graciously wafts her golden fragrance in excess as gossamer plumes of diaphanous incense smoke envelop the citric rays of aureate light and with them begin to paint the composition a shade deeper, a spirit guide into the embrace of red rose petals existing as soft sculpture in translucent velveteen. Her petals begin to gracefully bleed a mellifluous zephyr of black pepper and aldehydes which have taken form as the kaleidoscopically lambent shards of a nearby star. With each precious drop that leaves her petals the rose darkens into crimson and soon finds herself enraptured within an abating aura of patchouli who’s fragrant leaves are as smooth as silk and permeating the airspace with their exquisite balsamic aroma of rainsoaked flora and the earth from which they came.

Photo Stolen Flickr

As the composition dries down the roses and patchouli are laid to rest upon a bed of redolent Virginia cedar, creamy sandalwood and sensuous skin musks which dance upon the skin like phantasms of Bolshoi ballerinas illuminated in hues of auroral copper and gold. It is within this final act of spectral pirouettes that Shiloh finally becomes one with the skin.

Shiloh is a fragrance which wears closely to the skin, existing nearly as a skin scent the entire duration of its life. It is by no stretch of the imagination a weak fragrance but one that is meant for those you wish to draw close. Each time I wear Shiloh I tend to get about 6 hours wear before it trails into dancing wisps of ethereal musk, though I will admit that on warmer days I’ve gotten upwards of 9 hours before it was completely gone from my skin.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Now Smell This and Non Blonde
LuckyScent has $125/50ml

Have you tried Shiloh?

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.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

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.

Photo Stoilen Fragrantica

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.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

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.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

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

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

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

Photo Stoilen Fragrantica

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

Amoureuse by Michel Roudniska for Parfums Delrae 2002

July 21, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Hey Hey Crew,

Recently we had a fragrant get together at my house and the lovely Madeleine brought some frags that were not getting any skin time for various reasons, growing taste, changing chemistry, poor choice whatever. It was fun to go through her box of rejects and in it I found a few things I really love or needed a back up bottle of, and Madeleine’s “mark it up and move it on” box is full of the stuff that perfumistas dreams are made of. Here is the second of my purchases.

Amoureuse by Parfums Delrae 2002

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tangerine, cardamom
Heart: Tuberose, jasmine, lily
Base: Oakmoss, honey, sandalwood

First I need to tell you that the bottle looks way more desirable in real life, the photo does not do it justice in any way. Also, the juice in my Amoureuse is peachy, not green, like a tea made out of a tea bag used twice already or a scotch and water, and I think that also adds to the aged, luxe vibe of the fragrance itself.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Tangerine and cardamom say the notes and I get a lovely sweetness that could be tangerine but it seems a little amorphous, not specific enough to be so named. There is the sweetly herbal swish of cardamom but there’s a dirty, sweaty, animal underneath that feels very cumin-esque. Amoureuse walks a very fine line between gorgeous and disgusting in its first 30 minutes, not falling to either side definitively until the white flowers have almost taken over and then it becomes this fabulous and slightly raunchy attention grabber to people around. Between 45 minutes and two hours people really take notice of Amoureuse and compliments run thick & fast, well maybe that’s an exaggeration but there are spontaneous, heartfelt compliments.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

The white flowers are deep, narcotic and sensual. They are green, lactic, breathy, ripe, sappy, languorous, fecal and sweet, sometimes a combination of these together. The ride is great fun, and lovely. Still in the background there is a dark hint of animal that becomes less and less obvious as the honey and sandalwood working together (beautifully with no urinous facets from the honey) sweeten and soften the fragrance. Maybe I am immune to the oakmoss used here because it doesn’t register at all.

In Amoureuse Michel Roudniska, son of legendary Edmond, has made a wonderful fragrance. I was looking at his father’s works and there are some definite nods to Vintage Femme by Rochas here in Amoureuse, maybe I’m just being fanciful but it did slip through my mind a couple of times through the fragrant journey.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Katie Puckrik Smells
Beauty Habit has $135/50ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $3/.5ml

Have you spent any time with Parfums Delrae? Do you think you could wear this naughty vixen?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx