Alpha Musc by Liz Zorn for SOIVOHLE

January 2, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Heya Perfume Junkies,

It’s no secret that I love the SOIVOHLE (pronounced See-Voh) range. It is an acronym Sending Out Inspired Vibrations Of Healthy Loving Energy and I think Liz Zorn a dashing artist genius. We have chatted about her and SOIVOHLE quite a bit on APJ. Right now Liz is selling off the Mixed Media section of the fraghrance business and is going to concentrate on the naturals. It’s a sad day here for me and I have bought back up bottles of two of my favourite SOIVOHLE fragrances, Rosa sur Reuse and Jasmine Summer. Really I do not want to live without them. Tonight we are going to look at another fragrtance I love from the range that is currently at CLEARANCE prices.

Alpha Musc by Liz Zorn for SOIVOHLE

Photo Stolen SOIVOHLE

SOIVOHLE gives these featured accords in one line:
Patchouli, Moss, Vanilla, Pepper, Champaca Leaf, Animalic Musks
MUSC-CHYPRE-ANIMALIC

I get a chocolate vanilla with fabulously freaky green tinge on opening with Alpha Musc, a burning, searing scent that skirts the edges of overkill, never quite reaching the too much level but dangerously close. It has a resinous, thick, treacle-ish quality that feels like the air has become too thick to breathe into my nose and lungs, a sensation only Alpha Musc has ever given me. It’s sweet and sweaty, dry, dusty and dank and though it’s a very full fragrance that demands attention still it is quite sheer, sheer AND dense.

Photo Stolen Flickr

As the initial fireworks subside the whole fragrance dries out and the pepper, cracked and ground, gives the choc/vanilla a savoury edge that makes it zing beautifully. A toasted tobacco note, sweetly honeyed but dry and dessicated rolls in and alongside the pepper is so unusual that it really makes my nose stand to attention to see what’s going to happen next. You know the smell of your dogs paws, that yeasty/urinous/furry scent that is like almost nothing else on earth? Alpha Musc smells nothing like it but there is something that feels as if that scent is being referenced obliquely. As if the idea of dogs feet has been put there, an echo, a nod, a whisper of what the real thing smells like. It may even smell a little like a Musk Deer, but I’ll never know. I have smelled some 60+ year old musk tincture of Jean Kerleo’s that he used while at Patou, there are very faint echoes of it here.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

I have a motor bike and I leave my helmet in a plastic airtight box on the back. Sometimes if I have been riding a lot and the weather is warm I get a real animal musk scent from it when I first get it from the box. It’s a bed head and healthy sweaty man combination, sweet and very slightly sour, and the musks and vanilla in Alpha Musc remind me very much of this funky scent but ever so soft on deep dry down after I awake next morning. It is tantalisingly human and quite sexy but very, very muted.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Where would I wear Alpha Musc? It is a wear anywhere, smell good, slightly feral comfort scent. Only in the first hour need you worry about skunking the severely anti fragrance types but everyone else will bask in your beautiful soft, naked, healthy skin sillage. About 3 hours mildly fragrant before heading towards close skin scent.

SOIVOHLE is clearing out Alpha Musc: Sample $2/ 11ml $25/ 50ml $50
You have to get it before it’s gone.
Which of the SOIVOHLEs do you know?
Portia xx

Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau GIVEAWAY WINNERS

January 1, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Hey Hey APJ,

Here we are already: 2015. Fingers crossed we all have a fun, fragrant, fabulous year full of friends and prosperity. A year to remember for all the good stuff that happened.

Feels good already.

Portia xx

Photo Stolen TechBeasts

Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau GIVEAWAY WINNERS

L`Occitane en Provence

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, black currant, water melon
Heart: Cherry blossom, rose, orchid, white flowers
Base: Woodsy notes, musk

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 Winners:
AUSSIE WINNER: 50ml Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau EdT (Sprayed for Testing)+ 250ml Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau Shower Milk
INTERNATIONAL WINNER: 30ml Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau Hand Cream
P&H

HOW DID 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 whether you are AUSSIE or INTERNATIONAL

and

Tell us about a cherry or blackcurrant fragrance you love, or a L’Occitane product that you love.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p3PURw-3uV L`Occitane Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau GIVEAWAY #Perfume #Giveaway @LOCCITANE_au

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 1st January 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen prospectsplus

Australian: Christine

International: Sherry

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winners will have till Sunday 4th January 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.

Poivre Piquant by Bertrand Duchaufour for L`Artisan Parfumeur 2002

December 30, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Heya Frag Fiends,

I have a little love affair going with one of my bottles bought very early on in my admitted and embraced perfumistahood. It’s a gourmand, which I take to mean it’s foody, not your average bakery scent though, not all sugary vanilla sweetness. Today’s fragrance is the most sophisticated and grown up of the gourmands that I know. Interesting, delicious and surprising while being totally wearable. A rare combination of freaky, cool and easy.

Poivre Piquant by L`Artisan Parfumeur 2002

By Bertrand Duchaufour

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Honey, white pepper, milk, licorice, sugar, woody notes

UK L’Artisan site says: Poivre Piquant is inspired by a wedding story in the Kama Sutra. Sugar and pepper were sprinkled on the bride’s wedding veil. Sugar for the sweetness of life, pepper for the sparkling joy (and sensuality!) to come. This blend of white hot pepper tempered with milky woody notes is sharp, soft and burning all at once. A hint of liquorice and honey round off this elegant essay in aphrodisiac desire.

Photo Stolen Scents Of Self

Wet pepper, bell pepper freshly cut, zingy, fresh and ready to eat in a delicious and healthy salad. In a few minutes though a very asian stir fried honey dish bursts through, sweet and sticky and spicy. The pepper has become dry cracked pepper and fizzy fun pink pepper with a milkiness that could come from adding a small lick of coconut milk to what may easily be the dish of the day. Though I am exaggerating the meal-ish aspects of Poivre Piquant, that is what comes to my mind on wearing. Suddenly I’m in a fabulous Australian/Asian fusion restaurant, it’s hip and clean, filled with laughter, chatter and the subtle sounds of wooden chopsticks hitting porcelain. Mouth watering dishes sizzle and steam as they are brought to hungry diners. You can even smell the hot fires burning in the background.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Poivre Piquant lasts around 3-4 hours but only the first hour do I have any major sillage and it is an extremely selfish wear because projection needs about 7 spritzes for anyone to even notice it. On the other hand, I get fabulous huffs coming up my shirt for 3 of those four hours, sometimes wet, sometimes spicy and sometimes sweet and hot. It’s like a circular fragrance where we get a spiral of fragrance that keeps letting different notes and combinations jump out at you through the whole life rather than a regular note pyramid. It’s cool, classy and fun. Excellent cool weather wear and a totally different ride in the heat, more refreshing than warming.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Scents of Self and Bois de Jasmin
Libertine Parfumerie have $186/100ml with FREE Australian Delivery
L’Artisan France has €100/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Have you spent any time with this L’Artisan lovely?
Portia xx

Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau by L`Occitane en Provence 2015

December 29, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

Hiya APJ crew,

We are coming to the end of 2014 and my friend Lesley at L’Occitane Australia has sent me a pack of their newest 2015 Limited Edition fragrance. Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau basically translates as Cherry Blossom Water. I love that we are able to bring you the pre release of this

Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau by L`Occitane en Provence 2015

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, black currant, water melon
Heart: Cherry blossom, rose, orchid, white flowers
Base: Woodsy notes, musk

Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau’s opening is sweet and tart, the lemon and black current combo is a very sassy, lip puckering, fruity, fizzzy fun experience, like a Sour Gum and all wrapped up in quite easily definable watermelon. I like it a lot. If the opening of Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince was a little too screechy and urinous for you (I did not have this problem but there was plenty of cyber-chatter about it) then this could be your antidote, in Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau the blackcurrant is tamed by its surrounds into a less ferocious beast, yet still it has some claws.

Photo Stolen TokyoTimes

The flowers in the heart are really a beautifully blended bouquet for me, they are pretty and fresh but no match for the fruits that linger well into the dry down, there is a very nice time in the heart of the fragrance when I am seriously reminded of eating cherries with my Mum when she would bring home a box from the market in January. We’d all sit in the kitchen and gorge ourselves on them. That bitter sweet bite through the skin into the soft magenta purple flesh that was so incredibly delicious and we’d keep eating till the box was empty, I don’t even remember if we saved some for Dad. About 3 hours later we’d all be hit with tummy cramps and the worst bout of diarrhoea but it was worth it. Ha Ha Ha! I’m laughing at the memory, the same thing would happen with plums in March and apricots in November. A general clean out.

Photo stolen GeographUK

Anyway, the blackcurrant lasts all the way to dry down when the softly pretty wash of almost fragrance underneath it warms it slightly. I have to give L’Occitane points right now, they have made a super fresh, wearable blackcurrant scent without adding in the currently ubiquitous bakery notes, no vanilla, almond or pastry to be sniffed at all, COOLIO. Great longevity for something marketed as a L’Eau at between 4-5 hours, though only the first 3 hours are very fragrant, then the still fresh and slightly tart base hums along fading, fading…….

Photo Stolen kbaird

Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ and whether you are AUSSIE or INTERNATIONAL

and

Tell us about a cherry or blackcurrant fragrance you love, or a L’Occitane product that you love.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p3PURw-3uV L`Occitane Fleurs de Cerisier L`Eau GIVEAWAY #Perfume #Giveaway @LOCCITANE_au

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 1st January 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Sunday 4th January 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.

Nuxe Prodigieux Le Parfum vs Le Labo Lys 41 – Battle of the summer beach florals

December 28, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Willa Zheng

Dear fumenerds,
It’s summertime here in the Southern hemisphere, and the living is easy. School is out and we wile away endless sunny days by the water. Our skins glisten with sunscreen, various body oils, sweat, and the salty sea water. There’s an almost permanent lingering fragrance of jasmine, gardenia and frangipani in the air.

Nuxe Prodigieux Le Parfum vs Le Labo Lys 41

Battle of the summer beach florals

It was no wonder then, when I first tried on Nuxe’s famous huile predigieux, it had me at first whiff. But it was a body oil, and body oil fragrances generally don’t last. (Although Roger & Gallet have come up with some exceptional fragranced body oils of late…) Then, I was introduced to Le Labo’s Lys 41 (2013) earlier this year. I thought I was whiffing Nuxe, albeit in the guise of an expensive French perfume. Henceforth, I am dedicating this month’s smackdown to my two favourite scents of the summer.

Lys 41 by Daphne Bugey for Le Labo 2013

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Jasmine, tuberose, lily, woody notes, vanilla, musk

Lily fragrances come in two guises: either a spicy clove like Anais Anais, or a salty fleshy white floral. Lys 41 is definitely an interpretation in the latter category.
Created by Daphné Bugey from Firmenich, it is a salty lily dropped into a gardenia-jasmine-tuberose white floral combo. The combination of salt and luscious white florals reminds the wearer of sand, naked flesh and coconut oil. It has an incredible Proustian effect and without the saltiness, I think this would have been another generic white floral, albeit made with very high quality ingredients and skillfully constructed.

Happily, Lys41 is relatively linear and full bodied. Gardenia is more noticeable in the initial first half hour, then jasmine comes to the forefront. Four hours in, in a creamy vanillary bed, the jasmine softens and you can detect faint mentholated tuberose. The drydown is vanilla and woods. I found the silage to be moderate and the fragrance carried itself right until bedtime. Excellent longevity.

Prodigieux Le Parfum by Serge Majoullier for Nuxe 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange blossom, bergamot, mandarin orange, orange
Heart: Rose, magnolia, gardenia
Base: Vanilla, coconut milk, pebbles

Start with monoi coconut oil, mix in some generic unscented suncreen to tone down and thin out the floral notes a level, squirt some orange peel oil, go for a dip in a salt water chlorinated pool, and you’ve pretty much recreated your own Nuxe Prodigieux experience.

The citrus lends a sour quality to this fragrance, like a synthetic ripe-banana. It clashes with the other synthetic notes and can cause some people to complain that this smells rancid and cheap. But it’s also the smell of spf, mixed with whatever coconut scented oils you’ve added on top. My mind instantly wanders to languid summer days spent by the beach, catching salty sea breezes. So do give Prodigieux a chance. On me longevity is 6hrs+ but it gets thin after 1hr. Silage is moderate.

Verdict:

Lys41 is a white floral perfume, a very well made and concentrated fine fragrance. Nuxe Prodigieux may as well have been labelled a ‘monoi tanning oil scent’ body spray. But the notes in both are so evocative that you only need an occasional whiff of it before you start to salivate, your mind begins to wander and you long for endless summer days.
For the price, I will keep dousing myself in Nuxe.

What is your favourite scent of summer vacations?
Willa Zheng

Hermès Cuir d’Ange by Jean-Claude Ellena for Hermès 2014

December 27, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 27 Comments

Hello my lovelies,

The other day I was in town to get shouted at by my accountant. Luckily for both of us he didn’t shout but he did get quite sober a couple of times and gave me dry looks of disbelief and incomprehension. He is generally quite genial and full of bonhomie and we did have a few laughs but still I felt like a very naughty boy. Aside from that I was lucky enough to get a motor bike parking space right in the center of Sydney’s CBD (Central Business District) and trotted into Hermès to see my favourite SA there Jean. Jean of the sexiest voice known to woman, the friendliest smile and the most elegant figure. I was on a mission, having tried (and adored) Cuir d’Ange at the Hermès store in the Bellagio, Las Vegas because my mate and co-contributor here Val the Cookie Queen had raved, it was time to get myself a sample and really come to terms with it.

Hermès Cuir d’Ange by Jean-Claude Ellena for Hermès 2014

Hermessence No 12

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica give these featured accords in one line:
Heliotrope, hawthorn, violet, narcissus, musk and leather

Now, Cuir d’Ange is so Jean Claude Ellena, from the opening fireworks and can can girls squealing their lungs out in brand new chorus heels, slightly sweaty and a trifle tannery, their corsets silk all musty and a little dank from years of wear and poor ventilation in the store room, ripe with their yearnings and disappointments. Really, this is exactly what I smell in Cuir d’Ange’s first 15 minutes, the story unfolds and I even get whiffs of the resins they use to give their chorus shoes grip and slide. There is also something of feet in Cuir d’Ange, a worn shoe, a well loved leather jacket or a vintage leather and fur purse.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Having spent some time with CB I Hate Perfumes Narcissus I really can smell its disgustingly gorgeous ripeness, over ripe ness that has me both retching and reaching for more. It really brings that shoe/bag worn and loved feel and I am enjoying it immensely. It could even be the scent of a ballet shoe after a show, maybe the next day. Though now Cuir d’Ange has softened considerable and I think it would be only slightly noticeable sillage if I walked past you in the office, certainly hardly noticeable at all in a bar until you got very close to me. We are at about the one hour mark and I really love how this extremely soft, highly nuanced concoction keeps surprising me.

Photo Stolen MinasCeativeExpression

It’s a very circular fragrance, the notes seem to return at odd intervals, darting out and back to keep your nose on its toes. A lovely ride. You could easily wear Cuir d’Ange in a work situation and it will be killer for date night, a real stealth bomber through the movie and not overpowering for dinner. I can feel a 15ml bottle coming on, at least. I might even wear the rest of my sample on New Years Eve.

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies, Bois de Jasmin and Grain de Musc
If your city doesn’t have a Hermès store you should probably move
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Do you like the Hermèssence range? Is Jean Claude Ellena to your liking or are you meh?
Portia xx

Perfume Power Suit GIVEAWAY WINNERS

December 27, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Heya Sniff Buddies,

What an amazing giveaway Azar has put together for you all. Can’t wait to see who won this lovely treasure trove.

Portia xx

Perfume Power Suit GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 Winners who will each get a sample each of these 6 fragrances:
Rosarium Blends Dom
Vintage Karl Lagerfeld’s KL (carded)
Vintage Lucien Lelong Sirocco
Olympic Orchids Olympic Amber
Annick Goutal Grand Amour (carded)
Rasasi Amber Ood CPO
P&H to the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

Open to everyone in the world 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

Leave a comment about YOUR power perfumes, which scents do you wear to boost your confidence or are there perfumes that make you feel invincible?

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p3PURw-3tF #Perfume #Giveaway @AnnickGoutal_FR @EllenCovey1 @KarlLagerfeld @RosariumBlends

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 25th December 2014 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by pulling names fby B-Azar from an old Santa Hat

Photo stolen LifestyleSolutions

AllGirlMafia

Rene Groyer (via Twitter)

Congratulations! The winners will have till Sunday 28th December 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

CHANEL No.5 parfum by Ernest Beaux for CHANEL 1921

December 26, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Hiya APJ Crew,

I hope your Christmas/ Holiday Season has been fun. Our Christmas Day was very relaxed. We vowed to not leave the house and had our mate Matt (Jin’s BFF) over for lunch and presents.

Today was Boxing Day and I started out the day in recent but not current Shalimar EdP. It was a perfect accompaniment to the organising potato salad, drive, present opening and lunch at Kath’s family home with parents and nieces. We had a wonderful time with Jin manning the BarBQ and doing a delicious sliced & marinaded steak, bacon rashers, onion and breakfast sausages. We had yummy sesame seed knot rolls, garden salad and potato salad, served with lashings of left over ham off the bone. Lunch was really fun and it’s always excellent to catch up with Kath’s family who have adopted me since my parents died and my sister stopped communication. I love them because they are good people who time seems to fly when I spend it with them. I love them because when we’re together I am home.

Then we went for a SWIM!! Sadly I forgot to take pics today, sorry. Here is one that Kath took

I had grabbed a vintage 7.5ml bakelite purse spritz of CHANEL No. 5 parfum as I ran out the door, knowing we’d be swimming. It was the perfect after swim spritz.

CHANEL No.5 parfum by Ernest Beaux for CHANEL 1921

Photo Stolen CHANEL

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, bergamot, lemon, neroli, ylang-ylang
Heart: Jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, iris
Base: Vetiver, sandalwood, vanilla, amber, patchouli

I enjoyed it so much that tonight I spritzed again and I wanted to share my joy in wearing this maybe 1970s or 80s parfum. It gushes out of the gate with a dark fizzy aldehydic rush that is more animalic and growlier than the current parfum, but maybe my parfum is a little old because the opening is slightly muddled compared to the clear bell of fruity fizz that my modern one exhibits. Sexier and more luxurious than the current version (which I also love BTW) there is something cozier and more feral about the vintage.

Today added to the salt, sun and chlorine, mixed with the joyful summer holiday air of a Sydney Boxing Day (the day following Christmas Day when once servants and tradespeople would receive gifts, known as a “Christmas box”, from their bosses or employers) it was the perfect blend of sophistication and joyous animal delight.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

You know I can smell very little of the singular notes in CHANEL No. 5 parfum, for me it is a gorgeous and complete smell where the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. Not only the smell, which was one of my Mum’s scents, but also the fabulous history and all the women who have been given, who have bought, who have lived a little part of the No 5 fable. It feels like you are part of a crew that can be smelled as they waft by in almost every country in the world. From that brilliant genius and dastardly racist Gabriel Coco Chanel, through many of the world’s most beautiful and talented women in advertising, the G.I.s that bought it for their girls from 31 Rue Cambon through the tawdry days when it became a drug store perfume and now back out the other side where CHANEL is again one of the eminent fashion houses and CHANEL No. 5 is an affordable buy into that magical dream.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Bois de Jasmin
Essential Mall Australia has $148/7.5ml modern parfum refill
Surrender To Chance has vintage CHANEL No. 5 samples starting at $10/.25ml

What do you feel when you wear CHANEL No. 5? Which fragrance leads you into a fairytale?
Portia xx

DSH Perfumes: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

December 25, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by FeralJasmine

Quick mentions: new favorites from DSH

Sorry Junkies, I got a very late start on this post and have to make it brief, but I wanted to mention a few things that I’m enjoying during this lovely holiday season. It’s no secret that I admire Dawn Spencer Hurwitz and, although I’ve only sampled a small part of her compendious and addictive line, I have some loves there. So here are a few that seem especially suited to the holidays:

DSH Perfumes: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

DSH Perfumes: Cimabue

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, nutmeg, cardamom, bergamot, amalfi lemon, bitter orange, clementine
Heart: Carnation, jasmine, geranium, tuberose, beeswax, saffron, clove, cinnamon, rose
Base: French labdanum, sandalwood, opoponax, benzoin and vanilla

I seem to recall hearing somewhere that Cimabue smells like Safran Troublant to some people. I’m not one of them. Certainly the rose and saffron are there, but the cardamom is pronounced in Cimabue, while its lovely companion notes prevent it from going dusty, as cardamom is prone to do. Spicy and sweet, it’s a delicious holiday treat. The sillage is particularly delicious, and I only wish that it were a bit stronger. Many of the DSH perfumes hug their wearer closely, and I could stand a bit more potency myself.

DSH Perfumes: Mahjoun

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bitter almond, cardamom, cherry blossom, lavender, lemon, orange
Heart: Bulgarian rose, fig, hazelnut, honey, nutmeg, orange blossom, sugar date
Base: Amber, cedar, cinnamon, clove, olibanum, sandalwood, Arabian myrrh

This one is pure rich luscious honey. To my surprise it doesn’t have much beeswax or hive scent, which I think of as the natural adjuncts to honey. Just all honey all the time. Listed notes include citrus, cedar, and Amber, but mostly I just smell honey. I like it by itself, and I also like to spray it over more austere ambers to give them a touch of holiday sweetness and joy. If I’m in the mood for a real hive scent, I may dab on a trace of beeswax absolute and overspray with Mahjoun.

Photo Stolen DSH Perfumes

DSH Perfumes: Vanilla Cinnamon

DSH Perfumes gives these featured accords in one line:
Cassia, Cinnamon Bark, Cinnamon Leaf, Clove Leaf, French Vanilla, Spice, Sweet, Sweet Cream, Vanilla, Vanilla Absolute, Vanillin

DSH has just started offering room scents, and this is the only one that I’ve tried so far. It’s offered in a regular or small travel-sized reed diffuser. The notes are summed up in the name, but it is somehow much lovelier than I expected. It’s also rather light and subtle, a far cry from the “cinnamon bun” scents that make the air at the mall so gooey. I love it on the coffee table, and I’ve been known to use one of the reeds to dab a bit on my wrist before drinking my morning coffee. Yum. You need to try this one if you have any taste for vanilla scents.

DSH Perfumes site has a wonderful selection of fragrances and an excellent Sample System starting at as low as $4

A joyous winter solstice to all of you, enjoy the long dark fragrant nights, and make sure to find a little of the quiet repose that winter seems made for.
Have you tried any of the DSH Perfumes?
FeralJasmine x

Eau de Gingembre Salade Dressing by Annice Gourmand

December 23, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Seasons Greetings APJs and friends!

I do like to cook and contrary to popular belief can do more than make cookies. We have access to so many ready made things,
that it is surprising that anyone cooks from scratch at all, certainly in our overfed western world. One thing that I never buy
is ready made salad dressing. Most of the time I chuck on oil, vinegar and a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil. High days and holidays
I take an extra five minutes and mix up something little tastier.

Eau de Gingembre Salade Dressing by Annice Gourmand

Presented by Cookie Queen for APJ Christmas 2014

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Notes listed in one line: ginger, garlic, onion, carrot, sesame

The following is a rough guide. Make it like this, and then you can change it to suit yourself. If you randomly throw in 3 carrots, and
only a little oil you will get a pudding you know? Always get to know a recipe first, then tweak it!!

PREPARE:

1 clove of garlic, chopped ( no need to use 10)
1/4 of an average sized onion, chopped
1 grated carrot, average size – don´t ask me to define average, just not a radio-active 1 kilo carrot
1 heaped tablespoon of grated FRESH ginger, a little more if you love ginger

Whisk the above ingredients in a food processor. I use the stainless steel blades in my small processor. You could use a hand held blender of course.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

THEN ADD:

1/2 teaspoon of mustard
teaspoon or two of tamari/soya sauce
teaspoon or two of apple juice
a few drops of roasted sesame oil – go easy on it otherwise it is too strong OR a tablespoon of white tahini –
1/2 cup of oil – I use peanut oil because it is flavorless
1/2 cup rice vinegar

AND PURÉE THE WHOLE LOT UNTIL BLENDED.

Taste it and add salt to taste. I am a salt junkie so I don´t want to say how much to put in! If it is too thick add little water, or apple juice, squeeze of lime juice 🙂
You can keep it in the fridge in jar with a lid for, hmmm, dunno, a couple of days? Never had it around long enough to find out.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Best on a crunchy mixed salad of rucola, green leaves, radicchio, chicory, fennel, alfalfa sprouts ……..

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought,
“doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas … perhaps …
means a little bit more!”
And what happened then …?
Well … in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch’s small heart
Grew three sizes that day! (How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss)

I wish you all “Ein Guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr!”
(A good slide into the new year)

Bussis
CQ