Joy vintage parfum by Jean Patou 1929

November 13, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Post by Portia

Recently I found on the eBay a Joy parfum black snuff bottle, still sealed with string and baudruche (animal intestine seal then, onion skin now) intact and was lucky enough that no one else saw it, well there were two other bids and they were small. I got my perfect vintage sealed beauty for about the cost for 2 people to eat a mid sized meal at McDonalds, including shipping. Oh happy day.

Joy vintage parfum by Jean Patou 1929

Joy vintage parfum by Henri Alméras

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tuberose, rose, ylang-ylang, aldehydes, peach, green notes
Heart: Jasmine, iris root, Bulgarian rose, lily of the valley, orchid
Base: Musk, sandalwood, civet

Thick, heavy, oily and sparkly fruity floral with a susurrus of freshly cut greenery. A minute in and suddenly there is air, the fragrance breathes and as it does fresh sliced over ripe peach stands above the white flowers before being engulfed by them. The rose is ever present and waltzes through bolstering and linking the fragrance, giving it a richness, working with peach and greenery to create an almost photo realistic rose and then it’s all gone into the heady melange that makes Joy so fabulous, and joyous.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

Once I’m past this point Joy becomes itself only, parsing it and cutting it into pieces feels like a very undignified way to treat such a fragrance. What I do now and for the rest of the ride is float on it, drift with one of perfumeries most enduring and seamless creations. The heart of Joy is a mesmerising dream of sumptuous rooms, rich parties, long pearl necklaces, hand finished tailored suits, granite entryways and stainless steel. If ever a fragrance felt like something a protagonist in a novel would wear Joy feels like a perfect fit for Ayn Rand’s lead character in Atlas Shrugged, Dagny Taggart.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: Now Smell This and Non Blonde
Fragrance Shop has EdT $35/25ml
Surrender To Chance has samples of the parfum starting at $7/.25ml

Want to try it? See below.
Portia xx

Photo Stolen AllSteele

Joy vintage parfum GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Joy vintage parfum sample
a couple of extras
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged. 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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us your Joy story or why you’d like to try the parfum

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 15th November 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 19th November 2015 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.

L’Occitane en Provence: Holiday 2015 Film

November 13, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Post by Portia

Hi there Fragrant Fumies,

One of the things I love about the end of year holiday season is the beautiful films many of the multinational beauty companies create and present. This is the first I’ve seen from L’Occitane and I think you will love it.

Portia xx

Photo Stolen YouTube

L’Occitane en Provence: Holiday 2015 Film

A Dazzling Provençal Journey

Need some last minute, well priced Xmas ideas? L’Occitane Au can help. No, I’m not affiliated or paid by the company, LOVE the L’Occitane products though. XX

ARAMIS Calligraphy GIVEAWAY WINNER

November 13, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

Post by Portia

Totally exciting giveaway, thanks Azar for being so generous. You are a star.

Portia xxx

ARAMIS Calligraphy GIVEAWAY WINNER

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 2ml decant of the 3 Aramis Calligraphy Series fragrances
Calligraphy
Calligraphy Rose
Calligraphy Saffron
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 12th November 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner was chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen HighestSelf

Jessi

The winner will have till Sunday 15th November 2015 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.

White Musks: Friend or Foe?

November 11, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Trésor

I like white musk, I cannot lie and I like it a lot. Many of you will be familiar with my profound affection for accords steeped in subversion, depravity and potions rife with filthy delight but when it’s just me, myself and I there is only one solution: a proper cumulonimbus of glimmering white musk. Instead of just one review this week I’ve opted instead for three, a collection of my most cherished and well loved fragrances graced with this accord of pellucid splendour.

White Musks: Friend or Foe?

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Pure eVe by Céline Ellena for The Different Company 2011

First up on the docket is Pure eVe (formerly known as Pure Virgin) from French niche house The Different Company. Pure eVe opens in an exquisite breath of sheer vanilla, flirting with the idea of confection but never quite registering as a treat that’s entirely edible. Soon vanilla gracefully fades into cascades of creamy almond and transparent caramel, each tendril encapsulated within zephyrs of gentle powder. The base is comprised of a glorious and breathtakingly kaleidoscopic blend of white musks, each one scintillating and setting another aglow until they are all but one orb of fluid light.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Royal Muska by Jean-Claude Astier for M. Micallef 2008

I happened upon Jean-Claude Astier’s Royal Muska for M. Micallef entirely by accident. I’d been snooping through a friend’s perfume shelf as one does and the most gloriously glittering bottle caught my eye. There was no question, I had to spray myself and the from the moment I did I could tell that it was going to be love. From first sniff there is a familiarity, I can catch whiffs of delicate summertime beauty. Ephemeral flourishes silky cream and raspberry permeate the background, cheekily peeking through a veil of aroma that’s reminiscent of fine French soap. At the heart is a translucent interpretation of ripe and velvety peach that carries through until the composition has become glowing billows of plush white musk.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Lovely by Laurent Le Gurnec + Clement Gavarry for Sarah Jessica Parker 2005

Out of my entire collection there are but a small a handful of fragrances which I use on a regular basis and even fewer which I use entirely and repurchase time and time again. Alongside my greatest love, Aromatics Elixir from Clinique there is only one other where I have repurchased bottles more times than I can count: Lovely from Sarah Jessica Parker. The opening of lovely, to my humble nose, is sheer perfection. Silken plumes of luxurious white musk are scintillating with fractals of golden light radiating threads of glowing bergamot and transparent grains of sea salt, their form cut as precious stone. At the heart of Lovely dwells the velvet petals of a white rose, her petals bathed in the roseate hue of celestial evening sunlight. The warmth of the rich rosewood that comprises the base is utterly magnetic and the soft shades of amber on which it rests are equally as exquisite. If I were to choose only one white musk for the rest of my life, there is no question of which it would be. Lovely.

You might find this interesting: Surrender To Chance Musks Sampler

What are your favourite fragrances focused around an accord of white musk?

Until next time, kittens.

Trésor, xo.

Mito Extrait by Vero Kern for Vero Profumo 2013

November 10, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Hi APJ,

From LuckyScent: Mito is Vero’s long-awaited fourth composition, inspired by the magical gardens of the 16th century Villa d’Este on Lake Como in Italy. The myths the name conjures might be the gods and nymphs whose statues people the garden. But we’re rather inclined to think of the myths of perfumery. Mito, a glorious green floral chypre built around the Villa d’Este magnolias and jasmine, isn’t so much a descendent of the great Chanels and Guerlains as a wayward sister to Cristalle or Chamade who made her way to Northern Italy and thrived.

Mito Extrait by Vero Profumo 2013

Mito Extrait by Vero Kern

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Citruses, magnolia, champaca, jasmine, galbanum, hyacinth, cypress, moss

Mito Extrait is beautiful. A word sporadically used in the fragrant world today. A perfume that gives pleasure and exalts the intellect. The combination and quality of materials give fulfillment to both the mind and the senses. Outstanding perfumery is not dead, but you need to search for it.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

A few drops of the Mito melt into the skin, moving with your body. It invokes swirls of pinks and greens, juicy, luscious, sophisticated. Deep within the citrus, magnolia, white flowers and moss, is an exquisite succulent tuberose, completely hidden at first glance. In the same way that Kool-Aid makes your mouth water, the tartness of the tuberose stimulates your olfactory perception. And yet it conforms to the artistic model of the old classics. and you feel that this is not the first time you have smelled such beauty. It belongs to a bygone era, to an established and accepted tradition of perfumery. The addition of civet the acme of excellence.

Magic Fairy Princess (Spirit 1975)

You´re the one, you´re the girl in a million my friend
It is you fairy princess I will love to the end
You´re the magic fairy princess to me
I thought my life was over, but now I see

So alone, I was alone for such a very long time
Then I came and understood and our love began to shine
You´re the magic fairy princess to me

Lying here all alone and I´m thinking of you
I would climb the highest mountain
Slay a dragon for you
Because you´re the magic fairy princess.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Perfume Posse and Australian Perfume Junkies
LuckyScent has $180/7.5ml
Surrender To Chance have EdP samples from $6/.5ml

Who does not need beauty in their lives?

Retro Electric Bussis
CQ

(Ed: Unmarked photos donated by Val & Vero. Thanks Girls.)

Aramis Calligraphy Series

November 9, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 61 Comments

Post by Azar

Hello APJ,

The art of calligraphy is the stylized rendition of a word or text. Just so, the Aramis Calligraphy fragrances are stylized versions of classic middle-eastern perfumes.

About two months ago the three beautiful EdPs in the Aramis Calligraphy Series landed in the discount bins of several on-line retailers. As far as I can tell these brand new, in the box bargains are authentic. Has the line been discontinued? Did the initial targeting of the middle-eastern market prove to be a mistake? Whatever the case may be, it is now possible to purchase 100 ml for less than a third to slightly over half of the original prices.

Let me tell you a little about the series. To start, the bottles are adorned with the stunning calligraphy of Lebanese graphic artist Tarek Atrissi. His artwork represents the name of the jus in each bottle – “Calligraphy”, “Rose” and “Saffron”.

Aramis Calligraphy Series

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Aramis Calligraphy by Trudi Loren – 2012
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cardamom, lemon, cinnamon
Heart: Myrrh, saffron, rose
Base: Patchouli, amber, musk, agarwood

This first fragrance impresses me with a spare, astringent opening that quickly morphs to a woody, rosy lemon scent. As Calligraphy dries I cannot detect any of the rich, dense barnyard or medicinal aspects that characterize many oud oils. I don’t get a lot of amber either. The base notes are quite woody but extremely light, just a breath, really. From beginning to end (no more than 8 hours) this is an understated and shy scent, perfect for the man (or woman) who doesn’t want to come on too strong but who would like to be remembered as aloof, elegant and refined.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Aramis Calligraphy Rose by Trudi Loren – 2013
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Oregano, saffron, honeysuckle
Heart: Turkish rose, myrrh, styrax, lavender
Base: Labdanum, musk, ambergris, olibanum.

Calligraphy Rose opens with a fresh, green, resinous rose that quickly warms to caramel, perhaps the result of the combination of styrax and the other resinoids with the ambergris and saffron. Eventually a powdery, masculine herbal effect makes it clear that this fragrance, despite being suffused with rosy incense from top to bottom, was designed to be unisex. Calligraphy Rose lasts forever on clothing and about 12 hours on my skin. It is much bolder than the first Calligraphy but manages to maintain the elegant and refined vibe of the original.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Aramis Calligraphy Saffron by Clement Gavarry – 2014
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, marigold
Heart: Saffron, Turkish rose absolute, lavender
Base: Tonka absolute, styrax, vetiver

About a year ago Portia referred to this fragrance as “an extremely sensual glamour puss”! Calligraphy Saffron is SO glamorous that it won the Fragrance Foundation’s Perfume Extraordinaire Award for 2015. Saffron opens with bright marigold and saffron. A little sharp, a little earthy perhaps, but not for long. In no time this beauty starts pumping out more saffron, styrax, rose and tonka , becoming richer and warmer as the hours go by – eight to twelve on my skin and much longer on clothing. Like the other two fragrances in the series the sillage is relatively discrete – for a “glamour puss”!

Today’s Giveaway: One winner will receive a set of three 2ml decants representing the Aramis Calligraphy Series. To be eligible for the draw, please tell us how you follow APJ and let us know why you think fragrances similar to the Calligraphy scents end up in the discount bins.

Azar xx

Photo Stolen AllSteele

Aramis Calligraphy Series GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 2ml decant of the 3 Aramis Calligraphy Series fragrances
Calligraphy
Calligraphy Rose
Calligraphy Saffron
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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) 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 how you think fragrances like the Calligraphy scents end up in the discount bins

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Aramis Calligraphy Series #GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-4rx @EsteeLauder #Perfume @Giveaway

Entries Close Thursday 12th November 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Sunday 15th November 2015 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.

L’Occitane Iris Bleu & Iris Blanc GIVEAWAY WINNERS

November 9, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Post by Portia

Thanks to Lesley and L’Occitane Australia. They have some excellent Christmas Gift packs currently if you’re looking for something fragrant and reasonably priced for gifts, or even a self-splurge.

Let’s see who our lucky winners are!
Portia xx

Iris Bleu & Iris Blanc GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Citruses, black currant
Heart: Iris pallida, Florentine iris, ylang-ylang, peach, fig
Base: White musk, cedar

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will receive:
1 x 10ml decant Iris Bleu & Iris Blanc in the funky new atomisers
a couple of extras
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 8th November 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winner were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen thegarfieldshow-diary

Jackie b

Odbayar

DESPINA VNT (via Twitter)

The winner will have till Thursday 12th November 2015 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.

Facial Wipes: Travel, Gym + Extreme Laziness!

November 8, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by AF Beauty

When I am in the mood, there is nothing better than spending time at the sink applying lotions and potions, cleaning and smoothing my skin and coming away feeling refreshed and clean. It can be both soothing or invigorating and it does the best job of preparing skin for whatever’s next, be that your favourite serum or night cream or your daily make up.

Facial Wipes: Travel, Gym + Extreme Laziness!

All that said, there are days where I am feeling lazy and just want to crawl into bed or I’ve stepped off a plane and feel like 250 people have breathed on me! Here is where a decent facial wipe can help. For me, the key to the facial wipe is that it leaves your face feeling clean. There are A LOT of wipes out there that feel like you’ve just swapped your dirty face for a slightly less dirty face but with a filmy layer of whatever was on that facial wipe. For me: No.

I have been lucky just recently to find a couple of facial wipes, just by luck, that work really well. The first I was drawn to because it contained the micellar water which I have used before and quite like – but I’m also a bit drained by anything that requires cotton wool to apply – I am nothing if not low maintenance! This was the Simple Kind to Skin Micellar Cleansing Wipes. Simple is a great brand if you have sensitive skin – free from colours, fragrances and stuff they say can irritate skin. The wipe itself is standard size, about 7ins x 8ins – very slightly textured with bobbles, the same texture on both sides. As you’d expect, it smells of nothing. It is pleasant to apply and leaves the skin feeling clean without a filmy feeling and doesn’t leave the skin tight. You will need to follow the wipe with any other skincare you’re planning – probably a moisturiser and then whatever else according to where and when you are using it.

The second set of wipes I found was just a random buy in the supermarket. I was lurking in there and spotted these Nivea Refreshing Facial Cleansing Wipes. I was looking for something I could use at work and have in my gym back – there were probably two choices (tiny supermarket) I hadn’t really expected they would be as good as they turned out. The wipe itself is identical to the Simple one – I even went and checked their brand owners to see if they were actually made by the same people – apparently not. This wipe feels like it has more liquid soaked into it, so it feels slightly smoother as you apply. I like the Nivea scent and the overall feeling while using the wipe is pleasant. This also leaves the skin feeling clean but not tight and you’d still need to follow with moisturiser and whatever your next steps will be.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by these two wipes – I’m not giving up “proper” cleansing just yet, but it’s great to have some choices for busy lives and lazy days.

Have you found any great products for lazy days?

Weekend in Normandy by Patricia di Nicolai for Nicolai Parfumeur Createur 2009

November 8, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Anne-Marie

A word about name changes and formula tweaks: according to Fragrantica, Nicolai released a fragrance called ‘Weekend in Deauville’ in 2009 as a limited release, but re-released it in 2011, apparently just named ‘Weekend’, with some additional fruity notes (apple?). Now it’s ‘Weekend in Normandy’.

Weekend in Normandy by Nicolai Parfumeur Createur 2009

Weekend in Normandy by Patricia di Nicolai

This was going to be a very brief review. ‘I went to Paris. I bought Nicolai’s Weekend in Normandy. I loved it in the shop. At home, I hated it. How could that have happened? Gloom. The end.’ What’s in this stuff?

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tarragon, mint, basil
Heart: Jasmine, ylang-ylang, galbanum, cardamom, lily-of-the-valley, apple, calone
Base: Musk, cedar, leather

Standing in the Nicolai boutique on the Rue des Archives, I clearly smelled the herbs in the top. I really did, all three of them. It was like being back home in my own garden in summer. Tarragon, mint and basil are my favourite herbs of all. Back home though, all I could smell was calone. Now I’m a calone-hater from way back when it first started stink out fragrance floors in the 1990s. I can smell it in teeny amounts, such as Nicolai’s Fig-Tea, which I reviewed in these pages a short while ago. I know it can work, especially in fruity fragrances such as Badgley Mischka, where it balances out the syrupy-sweet notes very nicely. In Fig-Tea I occasionally get a whiff of salt, which is an aspect of calone I do appreciate and which cuts through the denser, fruity accord in Fig-Tea. If anyone can use calone to its best advantage, surely Patricial di Nicolai can

Photo Stolen Flickr

But the calone is too much for me in Weekend in Normandy, matched as it is with so many other fresh, green notes. (If there’s any ylang-ylang in there – then my ol’ man’s a dustman.) So the question is– why was I not repulsed at first sniff? I don’t know, I just don’t know. Was I over excited to be there (it was fulfillment of a dream), over-eager to find a fragrance to love and treasure as a souvenir? Maybe. The only thing that gives hope is that when I reluctantly brought out my bottle tonight to take a dutiful spritz for this review, I again got those herbal notes – quite lovely.

It did not take long for the Calone Monster to come stomping in to trample all through the herb garden. But I’ve also noticed this time that worn at some distance from my nose – at the back of my neck for instance – the fragrance loses some of its aggressiveness, and becomes almost pleasant. It’s faint praise I know. Almost like saying ‘If someone at the end of my street wears it, I’m quite fine!’

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Perfume Posse
Parfum1 has $45/30ml
Surrender To Chance have samples starting at $4/ml

Has anyone else had weird about-turn experiences like this with a fragrance? Please share.

And now I can’t stand it any longer. Bye for now, I’m off to the shower.

Trésor Midnight Rose by Anne Flipo for Lancôme 2011

November 7, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Fumies,

I have long been an unashamed adorer of Trésor, the original. It’s a scent I love to smell as it wafts by in the street or a mall. It smells only like itself and is a wonderful signature fragrance. So when they started bringing out modern flankers I was really sneery and snide without testing the product. Then a girlfriend smelled really fabulous one day and I asked her what that bewitching magic was? Wouldn’t you know it…..

Trésor Midnight Rose by Lancôme 2011

Trésor Midnight Rose by Anne Flipo

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Raspberry, rose absolute
Heart: Jasmine, peony, currant buds, pink pepper
Base: Virginian cedar, musk, vanilla

So up close Trésor Midnight Rose opens screechy, high octane oversweet fruity nightmare. Sorry folks, the opening needs to be endured rather than enjoyed. The raspberry and rose get right up into that urinous blackcurrant zing that can send me for headache tablets. The trick here is to spritz arms and tummy, ignore the first 20 seconds and suddenly that vile and obnoxious tirade becomes succulent fizzy fruits in a warm vanilla tinged bouquet that could (if you squint hard and screw up your nose) be based on a rose.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Don’t get me wrong, there is NOTHING natural feeling about Trésor Midnight Rose, it is as unreal and space age a crystalline rose fragrance as ever you could imagine. As a bystander though it is beautiful. Sweet and ripe, exotic and splendid with a touch of vanilla over laundry style musks and I also get an unmentioned fizz of pineapple as it’s about to go over the edge into too ripe. I was completely gobsmacked when my girlfriend told me what she was wearing and since then I have gone through 2 x 5ml decants and am running through my third. My mind is starting to wonder if I need a bottle?

Who can wear this? Obviously aimed at the younger market it also smells fabulous on a thirty something and I could easily imagine it being a super gift for grandma too. It might give her a youthful spring in her step. I can vouch for it’s invigorating and fun enhancing properties and towards the end if you told me the original plan was to smell exactly like a sour cherry mousse I would 100% believe you. Longevity excellent, projection average to high. There is something really lovely about wearing Trésor Midnight Rose.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: Now Smell This
Beauty Encounter has $49/50ml
My Perfume Samples has $3/ml – $9/5ml

What did you Poo Poo till a friend or passing stranger made you do a 180 degree turn?
Portia xx