Mitsouko by Guerlain vintage parfum C1988

February 18, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Vintage Frag Freaks,

You know I’m a bit of a Guerlainophile? Well, I rather like their work. Recently I picked up a little bottle of the parfum, used but still about 80% full, in the iconic bottle, only 7.5ml. Well I can’t stop dabbing it. It sits here on my desk and calls to me with its luscious sweet fruity dryness and what can I do but indulge?

Mitsouko by Guerlain vintage parfum C1988

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Lemon, Mandarin, Neroli, Jasmine, Rose
Heart: Peach, Rose, Clove, Ylang-Ylang, Lilac, Jasmine
Base: Oakmoss, Labdanum, Patchouli, Benzoin, Vetiver, Cinnamon

Tonight, quite late, I drew the bath and put some Radox Bath Salts in. About half way through the running I decided to add in 15 drops of Jo Malone Red Roses Bath Oil. Suddenly the room smelled unbelievable, deep, blood red roses, dry black tea and the crackle of split branch and wood. We are having an unseasonal summer cold snap so I made the water lovely and hot. An hour later I arose like an extremely obese Birth of Venus both clean and rosy, rosy skin and smell.

Having come back to my desk afterwards I had thought I’d wear Mohur or Ballets Rouges but instead decided to dab myself like crazy with Mitsouko. MMMMMMM I smell freaking amazing and the rosy underlay has definitely amped the rosy nature of Mitsouko and given it a whole new more austere and aloof mien than usual. It’s different but lovely, different enough to be a rose Mitsouko flanker and I for me the Red Roses adds a lightness and freshness that is very modern, is there a bunch of white musk under Red Roses? I’m getting them even if there isn’t.

Wikipedia

Still Mitsouko but slightly changed, some air between the heavily constructed, dense, historic notes. An extra swish and zing from the 21st century yet still laid over the intricate, nuanced and slightly dirty grace of one of the most revered fragrances in the books.

Now I have applied a second layer of extrait over the same spots as before and the Mitsouko is pretty much back to normal now. Maybe because I have rose on my mind there is still a large overblown old fashioned fruity cabbage rose in my olfactory picture but the other notes like clove, peach, ylang and amber are much more prominent and noticeable. HA! Maybe I just needed more Mitsouko juice on my skin?

This morning, I wake up to the softest thrill of something not quite me above my skin. My guess is oakmoss and vanilla from Mitsouko and some white musks from Red Roses, it shimmers above my skin but is not really a fragrance. It’s the ghost of the memory of being fragrant.

Geograph

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Persolaise
Mitsouko can be tried at any department store with a Guerlain counter for FREE. Go spritz lavishly.
Surrender To Chance have vintage parfum samples starting at $10/0.25ml

Please tell us your Mitsouko story? I’d love to read it.
Portia xx

Infini Parfum by Gerard Lefortis for Caron 1970 (reformulation)

November 2, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hello Lovers of Fine Fragrance,

Not so long ago I splashed out on myself. When life goes right it’s important for me to reward myself if I’ve made something happen and yes, you guessed it, I bought myself some fragrance. A 3ml Caron Infini parfum spritzer from Surrender To Chance. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit pricey at $23 for 3ml but OMG was it worth it! And really it cost around the same per ml as if I’d bought a 15ml bottle, so quite good value for what I was getting.

Infini Parfum by Gerard Lefortis for Caron 1970 (reformulation)

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Jasmine, narcissus, lily of the valley, aldehydes
Heart: Rose, tuberose, lilac, iris
Base: Vetiver, musk, sandalwood, tonka bean, amber

When Infini opens it is with a scintillating sparkle, so outrageously lavish and hefty like a warm comforter made in patchwork of some exquisite silk brocades that is at once heavy and enveloping but at the same time the light plays in and over the fabric making it appear diffuse and spacious. This is a lovely aldehydic BWF that was designed as an ode to astronauts and space travel first created by Ernest Daltroff in 1912 but then recreated and reformulated in 1970 by Gerard Lefortis

There is some green and earthy note behind the white flowers that grounds Infini and makes me feel like someone shooting for the stars rather than going out to see them (Yesterday’s Perfume says it’s a Coriander) and I think the vetiver is more present than as a simple base note. My feet firmly planted on the ground looking towards the infinite, like I am on the brink of something enormous. So pretty and perfume-ish, probably a million times too much for most people’s tastes who are not perfumistas or from an older generation when perfume was beautiful and you were proud to be fragrant. There is still a lovely shot of skank running through Infini and I’m wondering if my decant is a little vintage.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Distinctive and glamorous as Infini is I think it would make an excellent choice for wedding fragrance, it has such a beautiful floral wantonness that no husband could resist and your sillage will leave the one’s not lucky enough to grab you wishing that they had, at least once.

Infini parfum lasts for hours, even on my skin, and I have amped up the amber sweetness that I can still smell in the morning with an animal purr behind it that could be me and could be the remnants of Infini.

EdT Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Bois de Jasmin writes: Infini: The original Infini is a velvety aldehydic floral with the rich iris, lilac and tuberose heart wrapped in tonka bean and vetiver. Infini today is similar, but the quality feels poorer, with the synthetic sandalwood overtaking the drydown. Still, it is an interesting floral idea.

Further reading: Yesterday’s Perfume and The Non-Blonde
Beauty Encounter has $120/15ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/ml

Have you done some Caron time lately? Tried Infini Parfum? Tell me, I love to read what you guys are thinking.
Loads of love,

Portia xx

Tuberose Diabolique by Serena Ava Franco for Ava Luxe

October 29, 2012 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Hello Perfume Peeps,

So nice to have you back with us, for first timers, WELCOME to the APJ Family. The name of this fragrance alone was enough to send me to the shopping basket.

Tuberose Diabolique Parfum by Ava Luxe

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Indian tuberose, wild gardenia, Egyptian tuberose, amber, spice, white carnation, bitter orange

This opens so lavish, lush and white floral, it is a tropical miasma so thick and treacle-ish that you feel like you must wade through the scent to get across the room. If Tuberose is your thing OMFG!!! Not as outrageously over the top as Madonna’s ToD, and I don’t get the same sweetness of Fracas. Here I find a greener, less sexual tuberose but beguiling none the less. Maybe that is the crispness of carnation and sharpness of bitter orange keeping that cloying OTT head ache away. I find it very hard to concentrate when I am wearing Tuberose Diabolique when I spritz my brain goes out the window and into la la land.

As the fragrance ages it becomes softer in scent bubble though please don’t take that to mean unnoticeable. Even 12 hours after application it is still more potent than most L’Artisans first spritz. Wearing this at dinner I found it interfered with my food flavours and I would never put a cinema, bus or work environment through it. You will feel fragrant but they will be skunked!! Very linear through its lifespan it does get warmer and woodsier/spicier towards the end at around the 16 hour mark.

Where would Tuberose Diabolique be wearable? Outdoor activities, shopping, cleaning, bed if you’re lucky enough to have one to yourself, washing day, al fresco dinning, the beach, anywhere that you are not enclosed.

Do I like Tuberose Diabolique? OMG YES!!! And, it’s so ridiculously well priced that I went and bought both Parfum and Oil last night in my second day of wearing the Parfum. The Ava Luxe site has 5ml Perfume Oil $25 & 5ml Parfum Extrait $27.

The Ava Luxe website has this to say:
A French legend of tuberose warns young girls not to breathe in its intoxicating fragrance after dark for fear that it would put them in an amorous mood. we, on the other hand, would encourage you to wear this tuberose fragrance after dark (or anytime) with wild abandon.

Photo Stolen AusGardener

I can’t believe no blogger on the first 3 pages of google has written about this. Make Up alley has a fair smattering of love and hate.

Have you ever scored an under the radar hit? What is your story? I love to hear about new and interesting unknowns. Leave us a message in the comments.

Till tomorrow we wish you enough wealth, good health and enough sense to be happy with those 2.
Love,
Portia xx

A beautiful piece of Indian guitar music in honour of the tuberose.

Shalimar Parfum by Jacques Guerlain 1925

August 23, 2012 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Hey Hey All,
I am wearing one of my Shalimar 1970-80s Parfums for the last time. It came in a lovely gold tone basket weave atomiser. The parfum version of the one pictured below. Unfortunately they don’t make the parfum inserts for this case anymore, or at least I can’t find them in Sydney, Australia. So instead of Boo Hoo-ing I’m sending my Shalimar far away to a new home where I know it will be treasured and used to the last dregs.

Shalimar Parfum by Jacques Guerlain 1925

From Fragrantica
Shalimar was created by Jacques Guerlain in 1925, as a tribute to the legendary love story between Emperor SHAHJAHAN and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Before he became emperor his name was Prince Khurram. According to the legend, twenty- year-old Prince Khurram met a young girl, named Arjumand Banu at the bazaar where her family worked. Mesmerized by her beauty, after becoming emperor, he made her his wife as Mumtaz Mahal, meaning the “Jewel of the Palace”. After the wedding ,the prince and Mumtaz were inseparable, in war and in peace. She had given 13 children to Shahjahan and died during the birth of their 14th child at the age of 39. Her death devastated Shah Jahan and had built Taj Mahal in memory of his wife and their undying love. Shalimar is named after ‘The Gardens of Shalimar’. It was Mumtaz’s favorite garden.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

In times of major events, stress, fun, worry, happiness, even going down to the shop or cleaning through the years this case and parfum have been right there with me. There’s not even 2ml left now but the juice is still perfect.

How does it smell? Well the first waft if you spray on your chest is a big fat animalic, citrus and vanilla rush so filled with the animals that unless you are prepared it can knock you a bit silly, and the rush isn’t over in a minute like many modern perfumes, no way! You get a full 40 minutes of this deliciously deranged magic. All warm and cuddly vanilla, spicy citrus and just got home from work, then gym and about to have sex manimal. GRRRR! How was this ever an elegant womens fragrance? Such raw and sexy content. Now that I know the term, “Ho Panies” I can’t get the image out of my nostrils, this is sex bottled.

As we mosey along together the rich powdery iris and vetiver take centre stage, still with all the musk and civet squaring up with the incense, resins and woods. I think I miss the patchouli because it’s so unlike the ones used today and I must be mistaking it for something else. Hours and hours of this section as the beautifully blended magic works through its own accords in Shalimar’s own time, I have never noticed a pepper note but there is definitely one lurking around and through today. In the very mild winter we are having I get nearly a full afternoon from this section before it starts heading towards the sweet vanilla, suede and wood dry down that anyone who loves Shalimar will know so well.

ADVERT Famous FRENCH Perfume SHALIMAR GENIE Art Deco

Photo Stolen eBay

You can read excellent Shalimar reviews with some fun historical data at PerfumeShrine and BoisDeJasmin

Love to you all, thanks for dropping by, see you tomorrow,

Portia xx