Hello Australian Perfume Junkies and friends, Scent Diary is a fantastic memory tool. Looking through some much earlier Scent Diaries over the 2025 Xmas break reminded me how good our life is. It also inspires me to live life as fully as possible so there are things to talk about. This is a win.
Your involvement is key. Hope you enjoy it and will let me know what’s happening in your lives too. What I really loved about original Scent Diary was the interaction with perfumistas around the world, and their interactions with each other. Scent Diary became a friendly conversation hub and it was epic. We can disagree but keep it nice and try not to give or take offense. Right now the world needs a web of friendships and connection more than ever.
Jin and I have made so many friends, near and far, through perfume. So let’s reunite the old and welcome some new friends too.
Hello Australian Perfume Junkies and friends, Scent Diary is a fantastic memory tool. Looking through some much earlier Scent Diaries over the 2025 Xmas break reminded me how good our life is. It also inspires me to live life as fully as possible so there are things to talk about. This is a win.
Your involvement is key. Hope you enjoy it and will let me know what’s happening in your lives too. What I really loved about original Scent Diary was the interaction with perfumistas around the world, and their interactions with each other. Scent Diary became a friendly conversation hub and it was epic. We can disagree but keep it nice and try not to give or take offense. Right now the world needs a web of friendships and connection more than ever.
Jin and I have made so many friends, near and far, through perfume. So let’s reunite the old and welcome some new friends too.
I’d love it if you get involved: agree, respectfully disagree, have any thought-out opinion and want to share, do so in the comments below. The point is starting a conversation.
Anything worthy of comment, either good or bad, that’s passed under my nose through the week will get a short write up. If I think something is terrible, shamefully lazy, greedy or stupid and you should know about it, it will be said. As always YMMV.
Thunk is the sound of an empty hitting the bin but there is some leeway here, selling or gifting away can also count.
We also want to know what you have tried or thunked each week too, please share in the comments below. You don’t need to be a hardcore perfumista to join in, just give your impressions. Others will join in with their impressions too, everyone has a slightly or hugely different experience with scent. That’s part of the fun.
WHAT A ROLLERCOASTER! This week has been a series of highs and lows with no warning of change.
Still, through the peaks and troughs I managed to get some sensational fragrances on, hang with mates and have a lot of fun.
Jin, as always, was one of the highlights and I got some couch cuddle time with the dogs.
Friday 5 August 2016 marks the beginning of the XXXI Olympiad, with the start of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Summer Olympics being held in a city which is renowned for its celebrations and colourful festivals, wide open beaches, and friendly people. We have quite a large Brazilian contingent here in Sydney and whenever our paths cross I feel like I’ve been swept up into one large loud colourful party – It’s not optional! You must relax and have fun! Well, OK then…. 🙂
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Yuzu, ginger, lemon, mint, mandarin orange
Heart: Pepper, black pepper, pink pepper, coconut milk
Base: Rum, copaiba balm, leather
On either side of the party you have the warm relaxed recovery times, lazy days by the beach enjoying the long sunsets, drinks and food. I feel that this is where Still Life in Rio fits in. As a fragrance, it is bright and invigorating. It opens with a burst of lemon pith and juice that is tart at first then warms with ginger and mandarin, with a touch of mint and a general milkiness (is that coconut?) behind it all. It’s a fragrance you want to wear on sun kissed and salty skin, the lemon taking centre stage for the first few hours. The ginger gets stronger by way of a ‘taste’ sensation on the back of my tongue, however I’m not sure that I pick up the peppers which are listed in the notes for this fragrance – the ginger is predominant as a spice.
After about 4 hours I find that I’m really enjoying the mandarin, and realise that the whole effect of the fragrance is like a mandarin caprioska, juicy and refreshing. I don’t find there’s much development in the fragrance after this but it has a good longevity of at least 10 hours, and I’ve noticed the fragrance wafting around me as I’ve been going about my day so it has a decent sillage. A great summer scent, light and easy wearing. You might head toward this if you enjoy the freshness of a cologne but enjoy the sophistication & longevity of a well-crafted perfume.
I remember the Sydney Olympics back in 2000, it was such a fabulous time! A relaxed happy party atmosphere, the trains actually ran to their timetables (!!!), and you could stop and chat to anyone on the street with a smile and a laugh. Really great times. We had a ball. And although the world is a different place now to then I sincerely wish the best of everything that the Olympics holds for Rio.
I first laid eyes on Ombre Indigo in the lead up to Esxence in Milan, March 2014. I’d just written a few articles for APJ on Olfactive Studio scents, so nearly hit the floor when I spotted that they had a new one coming out! And the colour of that juice… oh my goodness… instant, unadulterated, WANT.
So, when I was gifted with a sample I was thrilled. And I couldn’t wait to try it. But when I did, I was hit with confusion. I didn’t love it. It was cloying and heavy and hurt my head. I didn’t really know what to do from there – I was supposed to be enthralled. Look at the colour of it, how could you not be? It is soooo pretty! What I didn’t realise at the time was that I was just at the beginning of one of the worst colds I’ve had in a decade, knocked me flat for about 2 weeks. The nose knows, it seems. I’ve come back to it under more friendly circumstances, and found the love.
Ombre Indigo by Mylène Arlan @ Robertet for Olfactive Studio 2014
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Plum, saffron, pettigrain, tuberose Heart: Vetiver, papyrus, leather, olibanum Base: Benzoin, musk, ambergris
The opening for me is strong incense and dry woods, the papyrus lifting and separating the incense from darker plum underlying it. Occasionally I will burn frankincense or myrrh on charcoal bricks so when I say “incense”, that’s what I’m finding here, a resin smoke. And the plums are heavy, in a sweet decay where they’ve just turned inedible by a matter of days. That smell you get when plums look OK from the top, but when you pick them up their skin is moist and splits as you touch it.
The image I get from this is walking through a neglected and overgrown orchard. The trees that fruited have dropped their baubles in the overgrown grass at their bases. Other trees have died, and their branches bare. Walking through the orchard there is a dappled autumnal light scattering through the trees, and my skin is at once cooled by the shadow and warmed by the sun.
After about 2 hours saffron joins the undertones, and a clean but fleshy tuberose comes into the middle of the notes. The fragrance then settles at around 4 hours into a musky floral, powdery amber combo, which I find quite delicious. Some of the listed notes I’ve not quite found, but my sample has now run dry so I need to decide on next steps…
I’ve read reviews on Ombre Indigo that quite happily assign this to being a summer scent, but here in Australia in the dead of winter (as much as we have one) the incense and wood is comforting. I wore the fragrance on a crisp bright sunshiny-day walk along St Kilda Beach whilst being pummelled by Antarctic winds straight out of Bass Strait. Ombre Indigo had ensconced itself thoroughly in my scarf, which allowed me nuzzle down, breathe deeply and keep a smile on my face against the howling wind.
Perfume holds a vision of truth – a truth which can strike deeply to our core, a trigger which can bring to the surface a crazy mix of visions in a flash of memory, borne only from a single, deep breath. It is such a personal sensation, that rush, corners of the mouth relaxing into a smile and just the enjoyment of being swept away in an all-encompassing pure experience, if only for a few moments.
One of the challenges I find is conveying that feeling, those emotions to other people. How do you capture that? You can’t photograph a smell, but you can convey the sense of a moment through an image. Sometimes we write beautifully crafted landscapes to try and explain what it is that we are experiencing – I think that is often the most successful way, but ultimately one may need to go on that experience themselves to see whether they agree, disagree, or are led down a completely different olfactory path.
Flashback by Olivier Cresp for Olfactive Studio 2013
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Rhubarb, orange, grapefruit Heart: Granny Smith apple, pink pepper Base: Vetiver, cedar, amber, musk
Olfactive Studio’s fragrances have taken a different approach to their scent creations, by starting with photographic art, and creating a fragrance which reflects that moment. Sometimes I get it, like the half-light of a distant hotel room with Chambre Noir, other times I’ve been taken my own journey like the amazingly visual images I got whilst testing Still Life – albeit quite different from the photograph Still Life was created in conjunction with. And I’m OK with that, it is all part of the story.
So here on another Olfactive Studio journey, I give my wrists a light dewy dusting of Flashback, allowing the fragrance plenty of breathing space. The reward is a whoosh of gentle pink pepper and a deep moist green rhubarb. The rhubarb here is freshly picked, the stem snapped in half with juices flowing. This fresh bitterness is countered and lifted by the beautiful understated warmth and sweetness of the pink pepper.
After half an hour it is joined by grapefruit, such as one which has just been cut and squeezed. It is crossing over between smell and taste in a big way as I can feel my tongue tingling from the sharp juiciness. The wallflower orange is shyly floating in the background but never really makes a stand. At two hours cedar comes through along with some pink musk which help soften the citrus, but this seems to fade after an hour and I get the predominant grapefruit back again but this time with a lingering underlying touch of vetiver, and this combination lasts and lasts.
Because of the tanginess of this fragrance I’m considering it for a travel scent, as the rhubarb and citrus would be a refreshing pick-me-up after a long haul flight. So perhaps there may be stories in our future – always happy to make some new & fun memories!
The concept behind Olfactive Studio is the interplay between imagery and perfume – a picture can tell a thousand words, so can a perfume capture the essence of time and place. It is this junction where the two meet that is Olfactive Studio’s creative space. Each of Olfactive Studio’s five fragrances are the result of teamwork between a photographer and a perfumer, working together to capture not only a moment, but the interplay of thought and emotion around that moment.
Chambre Noire is another name for “Camera Obscura”, the first type of box camera using pinhole light exposure so there is a bit of mystery, play of light and dark and what is revealed in shadowy corners. The photograph that this fragrance was designed in conjunction with is a barely lit hotel room, the reflections revealing more about the room itself than the direct view.
On first opening I get a big waft of violet and sandalwood and what I think is amber, although it is not listed in the notes. Within 10 minutes the violet had dropped away, with incense, shinus and a woody scent that I can’t really place. Schinus is the genus of pink peppercorns, and are not related to ‘true’ pepper, in that pink pepper does not contain the fiery piperine of true pepper. Shinus has warm, fragrant, bright and uplifting qualities. I managed to get hold of some the other day, and could quite happily chew a few pink berries without my mouth slowly catching on fire.
After 2 hours the violet & light florals make a return, along with some very gentle leather and the sandalwood humming in the background. A warm sensual mix, in a kick off your high heels & chat over a glass of wine kind of way. The feeling I get from it is more one of companionship rather than a mysterious liaison, like winding down for the day, but with enough of a zing in the air to keep conversation flowing.
The dry down at 4 hours has musk and vanilla joining sandalwood, which gently linger until it fades to a faint memory. I would wear Chambre Noir when going out with a small group of friends on weekends, or give myself a pick-me-up spritz in anticipation of Friday night after-work drinks.
One of the many blessings in my life is having whole new landscapes of experience opened up to me through investigation of fragrance. In a lot of respects I still feel very much like a “newbie” and can’t believe how lucky I am when friends drop the topic of perfume into a conversation, or hand me a sample, or take the long way round to lunch through a few shops to try new things. Portia kindly gifted me with a sample set from Olfactive Studio, who are a niche perfume company run by Founder and Creative Director Céline Verleure, with headquarters in Paris. The sample set included Autoportrait, Still Life, Chambre Noir, and Lumière Blanche.
Still Life by Dora Baghriche-Arnaud for Olfactive Studio 2011
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Yuzu, elémi, pink pepper, black pepper, Sichuan pepper Heart: Star anise, galbanum Base: Dark rum, cedarwood, ambrox
Usually when I am looking into new perfumes, I’ll do a bit of research on ingredients and accords and work out what it is that I “should” be finding. This time I decided to take a different approach, and to test cold, to see what story the fragrance was going to tell me. First perfume out of the box was Still Life.
On first spray I encounter a bright harmony of sharp and sweet citruses and peppery notes, containing something slightly resiny and green. Although the top notes in Still Life are full of pepper – pink, black and Sichuan, they are balanced as a supportive counterpoint rather than a triple-barrelled shotgun. After half an hour some warmer notes come through, and all of a sudden I have an image in my head of the inside of an old school desk draw, cedarwood with the ink and pencils and paper that it holds.
Traditionally in life drawings, “Still Life” subjects are typically fruit or flowers, but the warmth of the drydown as the citrus fades brings a feeling that the fruit bowl has now been overlooked, gently moved to one side for a subject with softer curves and skin. At four hours, I get a sense of focused calmness. There is a lot of wood and furniture, sunlight falling thick with dusty flecks through a closed window, and a female model posing half reclined on a soft sofa. But there is such an intense presence of that moment in time – she being relaxed, daydreaming but enjoying being observed, and the artist who is showing appreciation of her curves with every stroke of the pencil. However, the purpose of the moment is also its totality, and there is no sense of time passing – there is no before or after, no anticipation of “what next”. Just this rich, warm, sensual atmosphere captured in a bubble of time.
So, here I am in the middle of the day, overwhelmed and slightly disorientated by the strength of the image that this fragrance has managed to evoke. But how? How has that kind of beautiful false memory been triggered? One of the basenotes in Still Life, ambrox, I’m not at all familiar with so I do some research. Perfume Shrine describes ambrox: “(ambrox)…oscillates between an impression of ambergris (salty, smooth, skin-like), creamy musky & labdanum-like …something that smells warm, oddly mineral and sweetly inviting… approximating a person’s aura rather than a specific component…” Wow. That quite accurately explains how this story unfolded for me with Still Life. What a wonderful ride.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot and elemi
Heart: Benzoin, incense and musk
Base: Oak moss, cedar and vetiver.
Boys, here is one for the 21st century man, not a flower petal in sight. The brief to the perfumer was a photo – create a fragrance inspired by the picture below. I first encountered this scent in December at World Beauty. When I trial a new scent I make sure not to read reviews or the even the notes on the packaging. February came and Autoportrait was still wafting through the scentmills of my mind. Back to the shop for another spritz. Back to the shop twice in a day. On my fourth visit the SA read out the marketing notes before I could protest. When I heard the words Nathalie Lorson I swooned as the attraction made sudden sense.
The photo that inspired Autoportrait. Photographer: Luc Lapôrte
Natalie created one of my best-loved ‘fumes, the warm masculine vetiver that is Encre Noire from Lalique. Autoportrait is Encre Noire released from the woods and flying above the clouds. The vetiver smells like the roots have been washed by a waterfall leaving a clear hint of something that is usually more vegetal.
Let’s take a quick side trip to the Moonlight Waterfall in Issan. Will you stroll with me? There is a path behind the waterfall. The waterfall will be an olfactory reference.
Sang Chan Waterfall, Issan, Thailand Photos: Jordan River
Back to Autoportrait: A tonal quality like a chime is what wafts from the bottle. Back in the office I sprayed this new delight. My Social Media Manager said “I’ve tasted that scent”. He was saying he had eaten elemi berries from the Phillipines. Resin from the elemi tree make up the top notes along with lemon and orange. We are seeing a lot of berry notes this season; the blackcurrant Co2 extract and absolutes hidden in The Enchanted Forest is another example of this direction.
After 30 minutes the scent becomes nice and dry. This is a skin scent meaning that you have to be reasonably but not intimately close to smell this. Your skin ++. Benzoin resin from Thailand, incense and oak moss or more likely a well composed synthetic substitute with a tiny drop of oak moss, are the other notes which all evaporate on me within 4 hours. No worries there, just top up.
Autoportrait is smooth with a clean feel but not in the laundry musk or American sense. Maybe clear is a better word. It’s not about the notes; this is a harmony of composition. A beautiful blend by a woman I admire.
Perfumer Nathalie Lorson
Love your work Nathalie. But this is not really work is it? This is an artistic expression which moves the vetiver story higher into the fragrant stratosphere. Next I am expecting vetiver in outer space.
Careful if you wear this: someone may want to eat you if they move close enough within the first 30 minutes. I know I like to taste everything.
Center shelf, a welcome addition to the fridge
Autoportrait from Olfactive Studio is an EDP available in 50ml and 100ml.
Founder and Creative Director of Olfactive Studio, Céline Verleure
The photo is included in the box. My solution to flatten the curl of the cheap paper stock is to frame the photo for my office. At this price point ~ $US145, €85 (50ml) a higher gsm would be appreciated to carry this beautiful piece of art.
Further Information
Elemi is a berry tree from the Philippines. You can taste a dried version of the fruit at most Asian food stores. Luc Lapôrte photography Olfactive Studio website Picturing Perfume – The Olfactive Studio story by Denyse Beaulieu
Australian Perfume Junkies 