Music

No Radio Silence. And a Little Perfume Homework.

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Val the Cookie Queen.

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Servus APJ

I said I was gonna take a break.  I am so damn busy.  And yet here we are.

“You can’t have silence on the radio; people will turn away from the station.”  Robert Barry.  American artist.  Conceptual art.

I had my first radio show alone last week.  Alone in the studio.  I got there early enough to set it all up without going into panic mode.  I mean there is not a lot to set up to be honest.  I had my suspicions that there might be a hitch when I could not listen to my music on the cue button.  Damn.  I watched the seconds count down until my jingle played, turned on the microphone and — yeah.

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UNSPLASH. 

No Radio Silence.  And a Little Perfume Homework. Continue reading →

“Wild Geese That Fly With the Moon on Their Wings …..” CQ’s Favourite Things 2019.

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Val the Cookie Queen.

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Hi Guys.

Into the last month of 2019.  Time for a round up of my favourite things.  It has been a busy year but when is it not?  Let’s start with books and end with perfumes huh?  Feel free to jump straight to the scents.  Here we go …….

“Wild Geese That Fly With the Moon on Their Wings …..”  CQ’s Favourite Things 2019.

Continue reading →

CQ Snippets From The Week That Was.

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Val the Cookie Queen

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Hi there y’all

Been an active couple of weeks here in the heart of the Austrian Salzkammergut.  We are busy moving apartments.  Amazing how much crap there is to throw away after living in one place for twenty-five years.  Luckily we are only moving about 400 meters away, so we have been steadily taking the stuff that we want to keep and setting the place up.  Once we have moved in we have two months to clear this place out.  We are serial renters.  Having chose to live an – uhm – rather wayward life up until our early thirties, we have never been a position to buy.   We already own the home that my husband grew up in, as his parents put it into our names about fifteen years ago, so renting is just fine.  His parents will continue to live in it until they turn their toes up.  And when it is eventually properly ours we will not have to pay inheritance taxes or whatever.  Planning ahead.

CQ Snippets From The Week That Was.

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Continue reading →

Not the Guerlain Bee. And other current stuff.

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Val the Cookie Queen

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Hey there APJ.

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I was in Prague last week.  My husband (mental age 23, real age just turned 60) and we went away to celebrate his big birthday in peace.  We rode more than 120 km on old bikes through the streets of Prague, discovering the beautiful city, especially fun over the cobblestones. That was all in 2 days.  As we cycled round we came across a Guerlain store, lovely windows, full of bee bottles and the parfum bottles.  I am not a true Guerlain girl and am just not interested in the tons of news stuff, including the Aqua Allegoria series (pastel colours!) nor the bottles that they are in.  If the bottle sucks you can be sure I am not gonna be interested.  I was recently talking to The Candy Perfume Boy about how incredibly important packaging is…..  Talking of CPB, I hope you have all listened to the recent Fume Chat podcast, it is back.   I did get however get excited about seeing Jicky in the window, and decided to return the next day to go in and try all three versions of it.  I had never tried it.   Yeah, yeah ,whatever.  The SA was marvelous and I sprayed hefty doses of the EdT, EdP, and the Parfum, and left.  I rather liked the parfum, but not enough to fork out the dosh.  I could not detect one single tiny hint of lavender in any of them, and would much rather drown myself in Chanel`s Boy, and I have Shalimar which is Jicky enough for me.  And anyway,  I have my own bee.

Not the Guerlain Bee.  And other current stuff.

Continue reading →

 2017. Music, Films, Book and Fleur de Lalita by Dusita

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Val the Cookie Queen

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Happy Feast Of St Stephen APJ

It has been one fabulous year for music, I have a deep rooted love for the older stuff, Velvets, Stooges, MC5, Doors, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, Bowie etc etc. But I love pop music and crank up the commercial music in the car too. Mostly though I listen to my music on headphones in the gym. It motivates and inspires me to get right into both cardio and weights. So what have I been mainlining this year?

Cookie Queen 2017. The Music, The Films, A Book

Plus A Boxing Day Perfume Giveaway

MUSE. Everything.
Imagine Dragons. Going to see them next May,
Placebo. Never get sick of them.
Rag and Bone Man. Human. Love this hip-hop, rap, grime influenced stuff. He has such a wonderful voice.
London Grammar. Although they have been around for a few years, I only came across them in 2017. Check out there amazing cover of Chris Isaac´s “Wicked Game“.
Eminem. Eminem. Eminem. The new album Revival. His recent 5 songs for the BBC with Skylar Grey. I’m dying. It makes every nerve in my body stand on end.
(And Blondeswunder wants to marry him. I want to see him. Would travel.)
The Lumineers. Everything.
Lorde. Everything.
Stormzy. Gang Signs and Prayer. English rapper. First grime album to reach number one. Great for pushing weights.
Foo Fighters. Never tire.

Hell or High Water (2016) IMDbIMDb

Two films stick out. Both of which I went to twice.
“Hell or High Water” A Neo-Western crime thriller. With Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Gil Birmingham. Superb music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
Brilliant cinematography.
“The Party“. A British black comedy. A sharp satire of love and politics. Very very good.

Books.
Just one. Philip Pullman. His dark materials Trilogy. Twenty years later than most, but just in time for his new trilogy, The Book of Dust. Part one, La Belle Sauvage. I read other books, but these were my highlights.

My good friend Kirk, who has featured several times in posts, found himself hanging out in Jovoy this year, and seems to have been buying rather a lot of `fumes. I believe young perfumista status has been reached. I claim all responsibilty. I began to train with a personal trainer five months ago, coincidentally Kirk was with me when I started. He showed an interest in the perfume conversation we were having. As Kirk conveniently purchased a bottle of Malle´s Monsieur the next day, we grabbed him some samples. Now he’s spiralling.

Fleur de Lalita by Dusita 2017

Fleur de Lalita Parfums Dusita FragranticaFragrantica

Which brings me to my Giveaway. I missed the Parfum Dusitas party last year. Getting to try every new thing is just not possible. Pissara Umavijani was kind enough to send me a couple of travel sized samples of her new creation Fleur de Lalita. It will not be launched until next year. A very lovely white floral, including jasmine, with a bitter galbanum threader through them. It slowly dries down to a soft sandalwood and tonic base. It is very elegant, quite feminine and beautifully done. I have a 7.5ml travel atomizer to giveaway.

Happy New Year to the APJ Family.
Bussis
CQ

Fleur de Lalita GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Fleur de Lalita 7.5ml travel atomizer
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO 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

Please tell us in the comments: Music, films, books? What have you been listening to, or reading or watching

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 28th December 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
I´ll chuck all the names into my dead armadillo basket and pick one out.
The winners will have till Sunday 31st December 2017 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

 

 

Sing Us A Song……

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Post by Portia

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Hi APJ,

Life is hectic. Happily hectic. So much going on right now. Filling in for a couple of the girls at Trivia this week, so 5 nights in drag, right now I’m in Tasmania with one of my besties to have a look around for Friday & Saturday. Add that to a whole host of regular life stuff and I am also going back to Tupperware starting next week. I know, but I really do love the extra challenge.

Vintage Diva Ungaro

What did I spritz today? I had a vintage Dive by Ungaro arrive this morning. You can bet your sweet ass that I triple spritzed my chest and WhoEEEEEE, boy did I drift away. Amazing, I could light up a town on my fumes.

Sing Us A Song……

So, long story short I’m putting up a song today. A video. One of the voices I’ve grown up with is Billy Joel. I love his music and sometimes I like to spritz myself heavily with a fragrance and put the music up a little loud, close my eyes and drift away. Piano Man is a perfect song for that. A few minutes to absolutely let all the troubles of the world go and I’m back i the game, refreshed, clear headed and often with an elusive answer.

photosteve101 Music an art for itself Headphones and music FlickrFlickr

Try it, it may work for you too.

 

Here’s today’s choice.

Billy Joel performs “Piano Man” with Kevin Spacey, Boyz II Men, Natalie Maines, Josh Groban, Gavin DeGraw,  Tony Bennett, LeAnn Rimes and Michael Feinstein during the ceremony where he was honoured with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on November 19, 2014 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C..

You may want to watch it the first time and then spritz, close your eyes for the second round.
Portia xx

Billy Joel & Guests – Piano Man

A ‘Mix Tape’ from Luca Turin!

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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Hello Gorgeous APJ-ers!

It’s been an eventful month in my little world and thus I have plenty of potential fragrant stories wafting around inside my head. I’ve begun a few, though I realized they were all paving a path to LUCA TURIN! Scent critic and olfactive/olfactory know-it(-almost)-all! The more I learn of this man and his work the more I am in awe. I mean lets start with his office: I hear next to his desk is a shiny GCMS machine that one could only dream of having!! He often references in his articles, running this and that through to compare and check on chemical compositions, changes between vintages etc. (sigh)

Folio Columns 2003-2014 Kindle Edition by Luca Turin AmazonAmazon

Recently I posted about Luca Turin’s book ‘FOLIO Columns 2003-2014’ The next day I got a thank you message from a “Luca Turin.” Of course immediately I thought it was someone merely posing as him! After a few cryptic messages that he answered correctly I realized it was THE REAL HIM!!

Jeepers. My mind went into overdrive plucking up courage to perhaps ask for a little interview…one with a twist. Something interesting for someone I imagined easily bored by inane questions.

 A ‘Mix Tape’ from Luca Turin!

As our correspondence continued and I trawled slowly through his book I observed his passion for fragrance is parallel to a love of classical music. Being more of an…I guess predominantly… “rock chick’ I have a limited understanding of classical music, save for dusty old Bach numbers in the back of my head from school aged piano and clarinet lessons and Pachelbel’s Canon (which you can’t avoid if you’ve ever worked in the Spa industry). So the idea came to me to ask the great Luca Turin for A MIX TAPE!! My idea was for him to make me a list of his favorite tunes and then match fragrances to them and email them through. Simple!

Luca wrote back with a link to a similar style broadcast he did for Radio BBC 3’s Saturday Classics:

Listen here

As it all goes by very quickly, here is the list of both music and fragrances for you to read along too:

Luca Turin’s Fragrance and Music Matches

• Diorama (Edmond Roudnitska for Dior 1949): Mouret’s Rondeau
• Cristalle (Henri Robert for Chanel 1974): Martinu’s Concerto for flute, violin and chamber orchestra Mvt 1
• Apres L’Ondee (Jacques Guerlain 1906): Debussy’s Images ‘Reflet dans l’eau’ and ‘Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut’
• Emeraude (Francois Coty 1921): Brahms String Sextet no. 1 in B flat major Op.18 Mvt 1
• Habanita (Molinard 1921): Enrique Santos Discépolo Esta Noche Me Emborracho
• Shaïna (Atelier Delteil release date unknown): Howard Skempton’s Lento
• Nombre Noir (Jean-Yves Leroy for Shiseido 1982): Scriabin’s Prelude in B-flat Major
• Chamade (Paul Guerlain 1969): Barber’s Violin Concerto Opus 14
• Vivre (Molyneux 1971): Vishal-Shekhar’s ‘Zehnaseeb’ from the Bollywood musical Hasee Toh Phasee
• New York (Patricia de Nicolai 1989): Ralph Towner’s Blue Sun
• Vetiver (Jean-Paul Guerlain 1961): Shostakovich’s String Quartet no. 10 in A flat major Op.118 – 1st mvt
• Chinatown (Aurelien Guichard for Bond No 9 2005): Egberto Gismonti’s Lôro
• Tanismal (Luca’s own creation – flexitral molecule 2008): Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2 in B flat major Op.83 – 4th mvt

HOW FREAKING FABULOUS IS THAT?!!

Perfumes The A-Z Guide Luca Turin Tania Sanchez Book DepositoryBook Depository

You can check also out Luca Turin’s new blog Perfumes I Love

Let me know your thoughts? Did you enjoy? Agree? Have you any songs and fragrances that seem to be a perfect match?

XX Until next time! Ainslie XX

Alanis Morrisette Top 10 Perfumes

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Post by Portia

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Hey there APJ,

What a great surprise, Alanis Morrisette is a FUMIE! She just uploaded her Top 10 and they are a really cool and diverse mix of the rare, expensive, mass-tige and niche. It’s a clever line up that gives me even more reason to think she would be a fun person to know. Clearly Alanis has been reading frag blogs too because she has a solid frag vocab that makes her pithy mini reviews totally understandable and easy to follow.

Alanis Morrisette Top 10 Perfumes

You can go check Alanis Morisette’s Top 10 Perfumes on Alanis Morrisette Blog

Her collection includes a Serge Lutens (a bell jar bought at the Palais Royale store no less), Byredo and Santa Maria Novella with a slew of others. Beautifully curated collection.

Alanis_Morissette_at_Espacio_Movistar WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

 

Alanis Morissette – Everything (Video)

How about some Alanis Morrisette music to get you in the mood? Here is one of her less popular songs that I love. It makes me want to sing along. Go on, turn it up a bit and let the music wash over you. It’s Friday here in Sydney, let yourself go a bit.

Enjoy,
Portia xxx

Inside the Wardrobe of Lily Allen: Film

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Post by Portia

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Heya APJ,

I love Lily Allen. When I met Jin she was his favourite and he would make me listen to her stuff every car trip we took. So ingrained with the happiness of finding this cool and funny guy is a soundtrack of Lily Allen’s voice overlaying everything. Every adventure we embarked upon in those first months, dates, shopping, meeting friends, everything we did: Lily Allen was with us.

Lily_Allen WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

So when I found this fun video showing Lily Allen’s wardrobe I was super happy because she seems as fun and cool as I imagined her and so much of how she dresses is how I like to live my life. Grab great bits from loads of random places and try everything, keep what you love, curate and create a life of bits & pieces that you like and love.

I hope you like this sneak peek into the wardrobe of someone who seems to have looked at life with wit and intelligence and made it fit her.
Portia xx

Inside the Wardrobe of Lily Allen