Palimpsest by Mandy Aftel for Aftelier Perfumes 2014

September 27, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 25 Comments

Hiya Niche Nerds,

The other day I went and had lunch at the Sydney Opera House with a cool frag crew: Karen Gilbert (evaluator, perfumer, author, teacher, business coach), Ainslie walker (perfumer, candle creator, Jasmine Award winning writer, project manager, business woman) and Clayton Ilolahia (What Men Should Smell Like blogger, Director of Mens Fragrances for The Perfume Magazine, ex-Louis Vuitton Australiasia trainer and current Sydney Opera House trainer). Yes, these people are really inspirational, knowledgeable, interesting and fun. It was a fun lunch and I loved seeing these go-getters bouncing off each others energy. You know what they say, If you’re the smartest person in the room then you’re in the wrong room. I was in the RIGHT room, just sitting with them I learned so much, and their noses are spot on.

So, Mandy Aftel had sent me a spritz of her newest fragrance and I wanted to see how the super-clevers would like it. The deal was we would all get a spritzed touche, biro and writing paper and I would spritz my hand back. Then over the next 5 minutes we would record our first impressions as 10 words. That was the plan anyway….

Palimpsest by Mandy Aftel for Aftelier Perfumes 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica Gives these featured accords in a circuitous line:
Grapefruity Yuzu essential oil, Gamma dodecalactone (a natural isolate exctracted from apricots) brings a soft, milky peach/apricot, vanilla absolute, banana facets of ylang-ylang, jasmine, suede, rose, tobacco, honeysuckle, chocolate, firetree, ambergris, phenylacetic acid (an organic compound with a dirty honey aroma and animalic tones)

Aftelier Perfumes gives these featured accords:
Top: Gamma dodecalactone, phenyl acetic acid, yuzu
Heart: Jasmine grandiflorum, peach, ylang ylang
Base: Firetree, vanilla, ambergris

Gamma dodecalactone: Waxy, fatty, sweet aroma with green-rind undertones
Natural Occurences: Found in apricot, bilberry, guava, papaya, pineapply, blackberry, strawberry, celery, cheese, butter, milk, meats, rum, beer

Phenylacetic acid is used in some perfumes, possessing a honey-like odor in low concentrations, and is also used in penicillin G production.

SPRITZ!

THE WORLD EXPLODED!

Seriously, we are sitting in the Green Room of the Sydney Opera House, there are maybe 50-70 people around eating their lunch from all parts of the theatre and our table goes freaking ballistic. We are all speaking at once, sniffing chatting, getting louder so we can get our points across and gesticulating, talking, laughing. This was a totally fun experiment and using such a polarising fragrance made it even more fun.

#1: Jasmine, honey, honeysuckle, sweet sherbet, effervessence, civet, narcissus, ambergris, much

#2: Honey, heady, animalic, spicy, Absolue Pour Le Soir, hippy shop, patchouli, incense, karma

#3: Auto rickshaw ride through Mumbai, outdoor toilet, spicy, bubblegum, fun

#4: Heavy, sweet urine, floral, gods, hair/fur, back of neck, musk, amber, sensual

As the fireworks became less intense a friend of mine walked past and I jumped up to hug her, the first thing out of her mouthy after “Hi Portia!” was “Wow! What is that perfume? Is that you? You smell amazing!” and then she leant over my Palimpsest by Mandy Aftel and swooned. What better expression of love can a fragrance get. That is one spritz on the back of my hand.

Here are some pics of us MADsters

Palimpsest: noun

1. a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.

Sweet, feral, delicious and naughty Palimpsest is not for the faint hearted, is full of the joy of natural perfumery while smelling as finished, buoyant and aerated as the best niche offerings. Mandy Aftel seems to have captured the idea of rewriting fragrant history and planting her own delightfully wicked animal version on top of everything else we have. I was going to do a giveaway of the remaining juice but I have used it up. Sorry everyone. This is a fragrance all dedicated perfumistas are going to need to try….

Aftelier Perfumes has samples from $6

Portia xx

Perfumes That Never Offend My Coworkers

September 25, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Post by FeralJasmine

I work with a fantastic bunch of ladies. We have all been together for several years now, and couldn’t be happier with the arrangement. We know each other’s thought patterns, can predict each other pretty well, and have no serious trouble making decisions by concensus.

So when does the serpent enter paradise? Usually it has to do with perfume. My good colleagues are (thank The Lord and/or Lady) very outspoken and not given to passive aggression, which means that when I wear a scent that one of them doesn’t like, I am going to hear about it. Sometimes this is pretty damn funny: one of them calls anything that she dislikes “patchouli,” which leads to hilarious remarks like “I don’t like that patchouli perfume you’re wearing today” when I’m drifting around in Chanel #5. Aldehydes are a total no-go. Gagging pantomimes greet anything too sweet.

Perfumes That Never Offend My Coworkers

So what does work? I have a stable of stuff that draws purely positive comment. To my surprise, two of them are patchouli scents (but don’t tell my colleague!) Vanillas are happily tolerated if they aren’t too sweet, confirming my suspicion that for many of us, vanilla is THE primal comfort scent. The players are:

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Kate Walsh Boyfriend: this lovely warm patchouli-plum-tobacco scent is miles above the usual celebrity perfume and therefore is discontinued, but is still readily available on eBay. I have stocked up and will not be bidding against you.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Kerosene Unknown Pleasures: Earl Grey tea followed by a soft slightly sweet bakery vanilla. What’s not to like? This one is a great value, and I have obtained a backup bottle.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Xerjoff Lira: An exquisite soft vanilla that wafts in the most delicate and appealing way. Unfortunately, it is also $285 a bottle, which works out to quite a bit per waft. Still, I wear it sometimes because there is nothing quite like it. But Unknown Pleasures, after the somewhat brash lemony opening, ends up in much the same place for less than half the price, so no back-up bottles of Lira for me.

Photo Stolen DSH Perfumes

DSH Pink Gardenia: my one objection to Ms. Hurwitz’s vanillic gardenia is that it is too civilized and private. Which is why I can wear it to work to universal approval. Nobody is aware of it unless they happen to get very close, and then they like it. Now, if only she made a louder version to put on when I get home…

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

PG Coze: I can’t get my mind around wearing this one to work. But I did once, by mistake, and people loved it. Even the Patchouli-Slaying Queen commented on the lovely spicy resins. So I wear it once in a while at work, and a lot on weekends.

Here are a couple of sample sites that you can go see to try these.
Surrender To Chance
Posh Peasant
My Perfume Samples

I should add that I have dry perfume-euthanizing skin and these might not be subtle enough on everyone. But unless your workplace forbids perfume, there is something that you can get away with. Solicit honest feedback from a few work-buddies, and pay careful attention to what they say. After all, it’s their airspace too!

FeralJasmine X

En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti for Frederic Malle 2000

September 24, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Post by Gabriella

Hello fragrance friends,

Do you ever get cravings for perfumes that you don’t have in your collection? This very thing happened to my last week. It’s actually very surprising as the scent in question was one of the very first perfumes to blow me away when I first started exploring niche scents and yet, after all these years, I still don’t have a bottle. Today, I’m talking to you about an oldie but a goodie – the fragrance I am going to discuss is the sublime En Passant.

En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti for Frederic Malle 2000

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Lilac, surrounded by watery and green notes, cucumber and wheat

My reaction to the initial spritz of En Passant is one of feeling overwhelmed, but in a beautiful way. I’m enveloped in the distinctive yet delicate scent of masses of white lilacs. It is morning and their tiny petals are covered in tiny droplets of rain from an overnight shower. The rain has freshened the blooms, providing an ethereal aqueous quality. I don’t get the cucumber note that has bothered quite a few people with this scent. It’s just pure fresh and fresh lilac and quite linear, yet when the sun starts to peek over the blooms in the yard, you can just begin to smell the warmth of baking bread from a nearby kitchen window. Yet the yeasty aspect doesn’t overwhelm, it just provides a welcome temperateness to the green, watery quality of the lilac.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Even as I write, I’m conscious that my words don’t capture the loveliness of this scent. The perfume is an essence of time and place the story it tells is a very distinctive and emotional one. The best I can do is a series of adjectives: it’s diaphanous, it’s ephemeral, and it’s impressionistic and just plain beautiful. It is a story of lilacs, bread and spring What Giacobetti has done with these elements in perfume is akin to what Monet or Pissaro did with light and texture in painting.

En Passant is not powerful, its beauty is sotto voce and it’s a terribly personal scent as Portia has mentioned in her review. Despite its quietness, I still get a good 4 to 6 hours of wear; over this time, it just seems to waft gently from the skin like a breeze.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

Because of its discreetness, En Passant is something you could wear almost anywhere. But I find it’s best when I’m craving beauty and solitude. Oh, and the promise of spring that sadly, just quite hasn’t made it to Melbourne yet. Better satisfy those cravings and just get a bottle of this beauty.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Perfume Posse

Mecca Cosmetica has 3x10ml/$124 in Australia
Frederic Malle has €110/50ml

Surrender to Chance starts at $6/ml

Have you tried En Passant? What perfumes have left you speechless?

Until next time,
M x

Equistrius by Marc Antoine Corticchiato for Parfum d`Empire 2007

September 21, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hello Fellow Fumies,

One of the sad things that happens in the perfumista world is that we often have only time to try the new and many of the veteran niche fragrances get left behind in the rush to smell the MILLIONS of latest and greatest. So I thought that I would dedicate as many Saturdays as possible to reviewing fragrances that are older than this current decade. Today we look at….

Equistrius by Parfum d`Empire 2007

Equistrius by Marc Antoine Corticchiato

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Iris, violet, green notes
Heart: Iris, chocolate, woody notes, powder, rice
Base: Amber, sandalwood, vetiver, suede, ambrette (musk mallow)

I thought I’d start with a fragrance that I tried once a while ago and always had on the retry list but it got pushed to the back of the cupboard. Last night for some reason I grabbed Equistrius and spritzed before I went to work. WOW! What most attracted me in the opening is a lovely smokiness, weird because its not talked about and then I wonder if my nose is playing silly buggers but I have just drained my sample for my third wearing and it is most decidedly smoky behind the earthy green opening.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Then the scent kind of blurs and becomes a soft focus fragrance that never really settles on a note but waltzes through the heart as a sweet bouquet, this is quite long lasting and smells great but no notes jump out and accost me. Sadly the rice note doesn’t appear on my skin or to my nose. One of the yummiest and freakiest smells in our house is the rice cooking in the pressure cooker. It always smells so enticing and I wish someone would capture that exact scent and bottle it.

Dry down is soft and very close, a mere breath of fragrance shimmering softly above my skin. A sweet vegetal nothing that you have to be very close to notice, pretty and a lovely surprise for someone undressing you……..

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

How do I feel about Equistrius? While I enjoy it very much and love the ride I am not fully taken by Equistrius. Something in it doesn’t sing on my skin and after reading some other pieces on it I think the fault is me, not the frag. There are pieces missing from the puzzle and I wonder if its a sign that Equistrius and I are not buddies. There are so many others in the line that I adore so I can’t really complain. It’s a shame because the notes list and others reviews make me want to smell what they all smell, I think it would smell killer on the right person.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and BOTO
Libertine has $150/50ml with FREE Australian P&H
LuckyScent has $145/100ml in the new bottles
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3.50/ml

Did you ever try this line? What about Equistrius? Did it ever spend skin time with you? What did you think?
Portia xx

Juste un Reve EDT by Parfume de Nicolai 1996

September 16, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

Here is a little fact for you before we start smelling – Parfums de Nicolai has a link back to Guerlain!! Patricia de Nicolai, the founder is actually a descendant of Pierre Guerlain, the brother of Jaques Guerlain. The brand started in 1989. I found a store in Potts Point in Sydney who sell their candles, not fragrances – Its called Macleay on Manning – check them out when you see them – I would say they are smallish and of the higher end price, bur fragrances are to die for, and at a great strength.

Ok so back to the job at hand:

Juste un rêve by Parfums de Nicolaï 1996

Juste un rêve by Patricia de Nicolaï

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coconut, apricot
Heart: Jasmine absolute, tuberose absolute
Base: Sandalwood, vanilla

Well I get tuberose, more tuberose, maybe some other flowers and some vanilla marshmallow powder on initial whiff. Something reminds me of Cacherel’s Eden, I have no idea why. Powder? A dryness? Also something fruity, possibly apricot, dried perhaps, or just the skin of the fruit. Sweet. Jasmine too. Underneath some sandalwood. Vanilla starts to pump in strong powder wafts, as the tuberose takes a step backwards.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

I imagine a little bunch of ballerinas in fluffy tutus jumping about, taking it in turns to puff their fluffy, flirty notes towards me. Tuberose: Double Puff! Vanilla: Puff Puff!! Etc. Suddenly 30 mins on and it’s creamier with sandalwood. Tuberose/jasmine/vanilla notes are now in unison, less powdery, more leveled with creamed sandalwood and some hints at apricot fruit skin. SO much tropical floral, but surrounded by a dry hot breeze. I can smell an almost fatty sweet polynesian manoi-type smell. (not sure if you’ve tried the elemis manoi and frangipani body oil in your travels? Its quite yummy) Things have got quite tropical at this stage. Getting warmer! I wish to try it in the hottest summer months, as it reminds me of that feeling of lying in the sun, on holidays deeply comatosed by the suns rays, melting, unable to read or move at all.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

It remains clean and yet somehow edgy for the whole of the day, and all the way into the evening. Is it that Tuberose note? Kind of sharp within a haze. Maybe like someone is trying to wake us from our tropical slumber, or the cold icy pool/tide starting to nip at our toes. A cube of ice popped into our bikini bottoms by some “hilarious” friend?

In the morning some vanilla and of course tropical floral reminants. It’s pretty enough that I could wear it, I do find it very strong and lasting power of all day and night, really. I read about the coconut notes, but must say I never did get them – to me it’s more manoi. I’m sure lovers of Mahora and it’s tropical floral overdose would love this one. It is “just a dream” a heady heated, tropical, holiday of a dream.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin
Parfum1 has $130/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

Ainslie Walker x

Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice by Guerlain 2001

September 15, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Tina G

Winter Delice is the secret door at the back of the cupboard from the The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. A few squirts and I’ve been instantly transported into a frosty European December day, walking through a high mountain forest with a crystal blue sky above and dry crisp snow crunching under my boots.

Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice by Guerlain

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Fir
Heart: Pine, resin
Base: Opoponax, vanille, sugar

The whole opening of Winter Delice is as I’ve just brushed up against a forest pine tree, cupped a bunch of needles to my nose for a sniff, and got a bit of sticky sap on my fingers from my efforts. The pine and fir notes are fresh, bright, and uplifting. The presence of a touch of lemon may or may not be an aspect of the pine. A clear rich resin comes through after about 15 minutes when the fragrance has warmed on my skin. I’m enjoying it sooooo much I find myself respritzing during the first hour to reinvigorate & revive the experience.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Given a bit more time, the sticky piney-ness settles into an aura of dry amber and resin. There is a hint of an odd metallic note which I quite like, but quickly passes. The amber/resin combination lasts for about 2 hours, at which time I give a small disappointed sigh, as I think that’s the end of it. Just a standard amber dry down – what a shame when I was enjoying it so much.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

But wait! A little later I’m curled up doing some reading, and there is a wonderful aroma of sweet sugared almonds with a hint of vanilla, waiting shyly and oh-so-patiently to be noticed. You cheeky little fragrance! Withholding this intoxicatingly comforting skin scent for a last surprise. I’m so glad I didn’t write it off at the amber stage and miss this altogether. The vanilla sweetness is very yummy and cuddly and I find myself now snuggled down again, smiling while reading with my nose pressed firmly against my wrist.

So for the first time in a while, I’ve worn a fragrance three days in a row. Winter Delice is wonderful, but I feel like I’m running out of time to wear it as the days become progressively warmer coming into spring, perfect for Northern Hemisphere wear right now though. I do think it is a cool weather experience, but I’ll give it a run in summer to see how it fares – the pine may just be refreshing instead of cloying, who knows.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Further reading: The Non Blonde and Olfactory Obsessed
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/ml

I will be trying out more of the Aqua Allegoria series, but I’d be interested in some honest opinions – have you tried any of this range? What did you like? What didn’t work for you?

Tina G

Sample Selection GIVEAWAY WINNER

September 12, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hey hey APJ,

Today we have such a generous draw from Azar who has cleaned out her doubles in the sample closet. Whoever gets the prize today will have weeks of new scents to try. WOO HOO!
Portia xx

Sample Selection GIVEAWAY WINNER

Gomez Photo Donated Azar

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 Winner who will get:

The draw includes a VM Hedonist sample, an Elektra sample, at least one Amouge carded sample and more good stuff. I’m not trying to unload things I don’t like, not used or rejected samples but new packaged and carded samples and a few fresh decants, I just want to give away duplicates!
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

Open to US RESIDENTS ONLY 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

Reveal, if possible, approximately how many samples you have laying around your house, place of business, in your car, purse wherever. Have you developed a workable plan to store your samples? Let us hear about it!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie APJ Sample Selection GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-38D #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 11th September 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners were chosen by Gomez the parrot

Photo Stolen amberinblunderland

TRACY

The winners will have till Sunday 14th September 2014 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.

Coven by Andrea Maack 2013

September 10, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers

Bright blessings of another scented day fellow fragrance worshippers. I wonder if I will surprise you with the focus of my adoration today. It is a truly ecumenical day when a nun sings praises to a witch’s brew!

Of course nothing wicked this way comes. This is a perfume, a consumer product like any other niche-ish fragrance release, with the toil and trouble being that of Icelandic visual artist Andrea Maack and an uncredited perfumer. Ineffable is fine by me, I’m a woman used to mystery. But how does it smell?

Let us spray!

Coven by Andrea Maack 2013

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Woody notes, green grass, soil tincture, oakmoss, whiskey, spicy notes

I’m happy to report that the delicate instrument the good Lord placed in the centre of my face registers no essence of newt or tincture of bat, however this fragrance could well be the smell of their habitat. Such an onrush of sappy and bitter green. There is grassiness and a light but distinct touch of galbunum, but the strongest and most lasting impression is of dank earth notes to rival Demeter Zombie. Yet where Zombie achieves a suitably claustrophobic and menacing accord, all the green in Coven conjures a convincing outdoorsy and airy loaminess of an evergreen forest with oakmoss growing thickly. Is that a waft of brimstone through the trees? Or just the sulphurous breath of Maack’s volcanic homeland?

Photo Stolen Flickr

Now there be spirits! Notably whisky, which in keeping with the scent story is peaty like my favoured Islay single malts. This boozy heart warms the composition and beats strongly for hours along with a vanillic Peru balsam and the tickle of cassia and a peppery capsicum. The initial green and earthy character recedes only slightly, the duet of fecund earth and peaty aqua vitae has a balanced progression. Over the hours what at first seems to be a trick of my nose gathers strength and becomes an undeniable sweet and floral tone. It is a lovely and unusual drydown.

The longevity of Coven is exceptional, lasting on skin overnight and on clothing for days. Whereas this tenacity could be unwanted in many perfumes, I was happy still to carry the scent of this enchanted forest clearing.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Unless excessively applied, I can’t think Coven would be out of place in any situation. It’s possible many people will not recognise this as personal fragrance, perhaps mistaking it for lingering air from outdoors. But if he does ask, don’t tell the Bishop its name. Men of his ilk can sometimes not see the forest for the trees.

Naturally I am heartily in favour of a scent that is unique, dark, earthy and green. I pray that Coven shows respect in its name to communities of women engaged in ritual and devotion, leading healing and caring lives connected to the rhythms of days, seasons and natural cycles. There is much to admire in that.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

The equinoxes approach us (vernal in the Southern, autumnal in the Northern hemisphere), what an ideal time to try such a fragrance as we celebrate the warming fertile earth or give thanks for its fruits as it cools.

Further reading: Persolaise and Colognoisseur
Libertine Parfumerie has $185/50ml including FREE delivery in Australia
LuckyScent has $135/50ml + samples

Do you have a scent for rituals?

Bless, and blessed be!
Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers.

Spring into MYER, Sydney City – Launch of Gallerie de Parfum

September 10, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Righto!!

It seems we are loaded with wonderful, fun, exciting and new learning experiences Spring 2014. We have the SOLD OUT 1 Day Masterclass with London’s Karen Gilbert: evaluator from IFF and perfumer for many brands on September 20, Michael Edwards Masterclass last week and Meet-Up and now a new reason to get excited, the launch of a new niche counter in Myer; Gallerie de Parfum.

Spring into MYER, Sydney City – Launch of Gallerie de Parfum

HOSTS: Nick Smart (Agency de Parfum), Portia Turbo (Tranny About Town)

WHERE: Gallerie de Parfum counter. MYER, Sydney city

WHEN: 5.30pm September 24 2014

COST: FREE

How about a sneaky champagne after work? Why not come and play perfume with us?

A mini masterclass from Nick Smart and Portia Turbo on our three favourite scents each in the Gallerie de Parfum. It will be a fun way to get to know some perfumes that you may have missed, meet some other lovers of fine fragrance and most of all it will be an excellent wind down after a stressful day of whatever it is you do. Nick and I will be picking some fragrances that we have in our collections and talking you through them, it’s always nice to share our passion.

We are having 10 people at this event so be very quick.

Sensationally lavish goodie bags valued at over $100 for anyone who buys a 100ml fragrance from the range.

Also, there will be a FULL BOTTLE of L’Artisan Parfumeur: Explosions d’Emotions Range GIVEAWAY for one lucky shopper.

Olympic Orchids by Ellen Covey – Assisting the Sorceress

September 8, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 38 Comments

Post by Azar

Olympic Orchids by Ellen Covey

Labor Day Reflections – Assisting the Sorceress

I have no doubt that Olympic Orchids Perfumes are magical. Ellen Covey’s success as an indie perfumer is grounded in her creative spirit and reinforced by her extensive knowledge of fragrance materials, countless hours at the perfume organ, carefully considered artistic marketing and her commitment to the time consuming and repetitive tasks associated with any successful enterprise. While I have no illusions about my ability to create a fragrance, I do know that I can handle the time consuming and repetitive. In my experience even the most glamorous jobs can dull with repetition. I have also learned that it takes a relatively high level of discipline to successfully perform the same small motor task over and over again without losing focus or precision (both lessons learned from 60 years at the piano). I am certain that my talent for the tedious could be put to good use on a fragrance sample assembly line.

Unfortunately, many of today’s independent perfumers and niche fragrance houses cannot be bothered to offer samples. The labor and expense involved in filling, labeling, packaging and posting the samples is not seen as cost effective. These guys rely on their websites, social media and the blogging community to sell their perfumes. Why go to all the trouble of offering samples when new customers can be so easily manipulated into blind, full bottle buys. I have succumbed to this strategy more often than I care to admit. As a result I have come to appreciate and support the perfumers who offer their customers a sniff.

Photo Donated Ellen Covey

About a month ago I visited my friend Ellen with the express purpose of putting together samples. Before we began she took me on a tour of her bamboo grove, orchard and gardens. She opened and shared some newly arrived absolutes and then we headed upstairs to the atelier where we tested (and Ellen tweeked) several soon to be released fragrances. After all the fun we finally set to work putting together samples of California Chocolate.

I am no stranger to decanting and labeling but have had no previous experience with the solo assembly line. Ellen gave me the simple tasks of labeling tiny plastic bags, labeling and filling vials and packaging the samples in the bags. She monitored my progress and gave me helpful suggestions along the way. A pipette gun with disposable tips and a rack for vials made working the line a lot easier. My first adventure in serious sample production was rather slow and clumsy but I know, that with practice, my speed and precision will improve. As a reward for the work both Brad and I were treated to a fabulous salmon dinner prepared by Ellen and Michael followed by an amazing dessert of ice cream, guava sauce, whipped cream and figs freshly picked from Ellen’s garden. “Nice work if you can get it…Emoji”.

Azar xx

Photo Stolen myprettypaints

Sample Selection GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 Winner who will get:

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie APJ Sample Selection GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-38D #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 11th September 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will probably be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Sunday 14th September 2014 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.

Australian Perfume Junkies

Olfactory Opinions from Oz

Niche

Palimpsest by Mandy Aftel for Aftelier Perfumes 2014

Palimpsest by Mandy Aftel for Aftelier Perfumes 2014

Perfumes That Never Offend My Coworkers

Perfumes That Never Offend My Coworkers

En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti for Frederic Malle 2000

En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti for Frederic Malle 2000

Equistrius by Marc Antoine Corticchiato for Parfum d`Empire 2007

Equistrius by Parfum d`Empire 2007

Equistrius by Marc Antoine Corticchiato

Juste un Reve EDT by Parfume de Nicolai 1996

Juste un rêve by Parfums de Nicolaï 1996

Juste un rêve by Patricia de Nicolaï

Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice by Guerlain 2001

Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice by Guerlain

Sample Selection GIVEAWAY WINNER

Sample Selection GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

HOW DID YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING

TRACY

Coven by Andrea Maack 2013

Coven by Andrea Maack 2013

Spring into MYER, Sydney City – Launch of Gallerie de Parfum

Spring into MYER, Sydney City – Launch of Gallerie de Parfum

Olympic Orchids by Ellen Covey – Assisting the Sorceress

Olympic Orchids by Ellen Covey

Labor Day Reflections – Assisting the Sorceress

Sample Selection GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

HOW DO YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING