This week there will be one winner who will receive:
1 Press Copy of PERFUME: The Art & Craft of Fragrance by Karen Gilbert. It was sent to me by Karen and I am paying her kindness forward.
P&H Anywhere in the world
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.
To be eligible for the draw just mention how you follow APJ and tell me in a sentence how you will spend the silly season.
Entries Close Sunday 15th December 2013 10pm Australian EDST
Winner was chosen by random.org
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ShyLotus
WOO HOO! Congratulations!! The winner will have till Thursday 19th December 2013 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.
If you are reading anywhere in the world other than Australia there is a special L’Occitane World Sites Page so you can see what Special Deals there are in your area.
2013 has been a terrific year for L’Occitane and APJ. Over the back end of the year we have been lucky enough to be sent a load of their wonderful product to try and for giveaways. For a special Christmas Thank You from L’Occitane for all your support and comments they have given me 2 fabulous Pre-Christmas giveaway packs and one for the New Year. WOW!! Do go and have a look at their L’Occitane Australia online store and they have free shipping within Australia on orders over $100, that’s already a $10-$30 saving as well as the amazing Special Deals for Online Customers ONLY!
Now the thing that L’Occitane loves from the APJ readers is to hear what you love and don’t love about their products so that they can continue to provide you, their lovely customer, with the best quality and a great price point and stuff that you’ll love and use. All feedback is good feedback (mean, nasty, badly thought out and unconstructive trolling aside) and L’Occitane loves to get it from you.
Here’s what you get in the Best Of L’Occitane Pack with a Retail Value $115: in the pack only $90, and it comes beautifully Gift Boxed for easy wrapping!
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.
To be eligible for the draw just mention how you follow the APJs and tell us any L’Occitane product that you’ve used or like the sound of and why.
Also if you’ve had a problem with a particular L’Occitane product their L’Occitane Australia Marketing Team would love to read your honest and constructive criticisms.
Entries Close Wednesday 18th December 2013 10pm Australian EDST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Saturday 21st December 2013 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.
Last weekend Jin and I were out doing some fixing for the kids at the apartment, afterwards as a Thank You for helping I took Jin to Sydney’s Chinatown because they are open late and the food is yummy. As we were walking towards the restaurant I spotted a shop that I have never noticed on my previous Chinatown forays. Bright pink facade and looking full to the brim of frou frou I couldn’t resist a peek inside and was astounded to see walls lined with fragrance both personal and ambient! It is like an Ali Baba cave.
SWS Spring: Chinatown Sydney
Our hosts were two charming and handsome gentlemen. Moody K is the proprietor and his partner (whose name has slipped my mind and I lost the card, maybe Tam?) both showed us around their lovely store. Here is Jin with them both, isn’t he a damn cutey!
I got a pic with the boys too and you can see in the pics how crowded with goodies the store is. Every time you turn your head there is another fabulous thing or brand that you were not expecting. Business was brisk even at 9pm on a Friday and we had about 8 other people shopping while we were.
Sorry about this shot, I was so freaking excited to see a table and stand filled with Penhaligon’s, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Rance and other companies that have left my memory. Quite a detailed inventory from all these houses and some great Christmas ideas.
This side is more about ambient scenting and there were loads of candle, diffuser and oil choices. If you look in the left hand corner you can almost see a few frag bottles hiding away there and some Penhaligon’s above them.
A L’Occitane wall, yes a whole wall. I got to try some of the fragrances that I was unfamiliar with and it’s nice to see that they had a good stock of the Christmas L’Occitane boxes (We’ll be giving away three of those next week here on APJ). Here we are in front of the L’Occitane, Jin looking handsome and suave, me looking like myself happy and a bit vacant.
What did we leave with? 3 x Voluspa candles, some Tokyo Milk Shea Butter lotions and a Tokyo Milk fragrance. Only the fragrance is for us the rest are Christmas presents.
If you are anythin g like me then Guerlain is one ofd the great mother ships of fragrance and one of the ultimate symbols of Guerlain is its Bee Bottle. Made for 160 years this year. The crew at Guerlain have released this video to celebrate.
Hotly contested last Azar giveaway of the year. I love how much amazing stuff we giveaway on this blog. it’s extraordinary and I am happy there is such a cross section of offerings.
If you are in the Northern Hemisphere you may very well be freezing today! My daughter Lauren in New Hampshire commented that she could “use a hot fierce wind about now”. I hope the two winners enjoy the warmth of their 2ml of Sirocco (and an extra little surprise) no matter where they live. Happy holidays!
This week there will be two winners, who will receive
1 x 2ml decant of vintage Sirocco by Jean Carles for Lucien Lelong 1934
P&H Anywhere in the world
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.
To be eligible leave a comment on Jean Carles or a vintage perfume/fashion creation that you love and also mention how you follow the APJs (by e-mail, WordPress, whatever).
Entries Closed Thursday 12th Decemberber 2013 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org
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Carolyn, Jackie Rosen
The winners will have till Sunday 15th Deceber 2013 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
In our house there are a few favourite actors and actresses, mostly they coincide like the lovely, versatile and elegant Scarlett Johansson who is Jin’s absolute favourite actress and who I really like too. Then we have the don’t agrees, top of that list is Matthew McConaughey, frankly I will walk over glass to see him but Jin would rather roll in glass than have to see him, in anything. Here is a very interesting pairing of the two and I like the story, the detail, the mood and NYC. Also the fact that Scarlett’s character is coming to Sydney, always a thrill to hear the home town used.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Mandarin, bergamot, litchi, peach Heart: Jasmine, lily of the valley, white lily, plum Base: Vetiver root, amber, musk, vanilla
Christmas is round the corner and if there is anyone interested in fragrance in your life that likes to read then I’ve found the perfect book. Karen Gilbert was in Australia recently and a couple of us down Under Perfumistas had the pleasure of lunching with her and her extremely handsome partner. Not only were they excellent company but they were incredibly knowledgeable about a wide range of subjects and had us enthralled and laughing, enjoying a wonderful afternoon. When it was time to go we were all sad but felt like we had made a couple of new friends for life.
Here are Karen and I having a look through a pres copy of the book pre-release. As you can see Karen is gorgeous, filled with good humour and knows so much about fragrance. She has worked for amazing groups including IFF, Neal’s Yard and a couple of others I can’t remember, now runs Olfactory Workshops and Classes, creates fragrance lines fort companies and travels the world. Not a bad life.
Perfume takes us on a journey through Karen’s fragrant life, teaches us some perfume basics (that are only basic when you know them), her take on how we smell and its effects, buying, blending and ultimately some recipes for home dabblers in scent. It is beautifully presented and has some sumptuous photos. Readable for anyone from about age 10 upwards and at every level of perfumista knowledge, there is something here for everyone.
Extremely readable, Karen’s personality shines above all throughout the book and I can hear her Pommy accent and inflections as I read.
There is also her first book, still available, called Natural Beauty. Check that out too.
This week there will be one winner who will receive:
1 Press Copy of PERFUME: The Art & Craft of Fragrance by Karen Gilbert. It was sent to me by Karen and I am paying her kindness forward.
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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.
To be eligible for the draw just mention how you follow APJ and tell me in a sentence how you will spend the silly season.
Entries Close Sunday 15th December 2013 10pm Australian EDST and winners will be announced in a separate post
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 19th December 2013 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.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords: Top: Raspberry, pomegranate, plum, rhubarb, watermelon Heart: Lily-of-the-valley, jasmine, rose, pink pepper, clove, olibanum, opoponax, guaiac wood Base: Virginia cedar, patchouli, musk, amber
Pomegranate Noir is the only Jo Malone fragrance I own and I really do love it. It always makes me feel warm and cozy and somewhat happy but I never realized why until I wore it to work one day. Someone came by my desk and said it smelled like Christmas in the office that day. They were right. It did smell like Christmas and I was the source of the aroma.
When I was younger I loved Christmas. I had many happy memories of it usually involving my favorite aunt. Aunt Wanda loved Christmas. She started shopping for Christmas on December 26th and had a collection of Santa Claus figurines that she displayed year round in her home. She put extra thought into finding everyone the perfect gifts as well. She never used pre-made bows; she bought ribbon and made her own. She was a large joyful woman and some would say she looked like what Mrs. Claus should look like. Sadly, she’s been gone for many years and Christmas just isn’t the same without her.
Pom Noir does smell like Aunt Wanda’s house during the holidays which is why it makes me smile. The fruity opening calls to mind the fact that she did a lot of canning and I get the smell of jams and spicy compotes that always lingered in the air in her house. Pomegranates were a favorite of hers as well. She’d also make those clove studded orange pomanders. A real Christmas tree was a must for her so the scent of evergreen was in the air and the wood burning stove added that warm cozy aroma that only wood can do. Her house really had that New England holiday feel to it. All of this is in Pom Noir. The florals never dominate and I barely notice they are there. It’s all spicy berries, evergreen, and warm wood. This is a comfort scent to me and it smells like my memories of Christmas.
It’s definitely unisex and has pretty good lasting power on my scent eating skin. It lasts longer if sprayed on clothing. I don’t think it’s very sweet since the fruits are offset by the spices and woody notes.
Before we start please hop over to my piece on Olfactoria´s Travels for an introduction to Richard Lüscher Britos (RLB) and their fabulous natural perfumes.
RLB´s Terroir 44°N 03°W is drop dead gorgeous. Forget everything you ever knew about naturals. What is it with Swiss chemists? I know of two.
Albert Hoffman and Andy Tauer. They both created potions that last a very long time, whether used internally or applied externally. The average trip, olfactory or otherwise,
being between eight and twelve hours. Terroir 44°N 03°W lasts about ten hours. I was stunned. I thought naturals had a short life span. But this is a Tauer.
Andy says 44°N 03°W is free of any isolate and consists exclusively of essential oils, resins and absolutes. It includes wild mountain lavender harvested in the
The Cévennes, a mountain range in south-central France,hence the coordinates), black pine resin, the green fragrance of juniper, and of course, a hint of rose oil!
Thie lavender smells nothing like any lavender I have ever smelt. It´s fruity and herby and soft. Creamy, vanilla-y and lemony. I don´t start to even recognize lavender until a few hours into
the trip. (Check out Andy Tauer´s blog for an in-depth write up on his Cevennian lavender picking adventure.)
French mountain air. In a bottle. Stunning. Astonishingly divine. And no, it´s nothing like any Tauer I have ever tried.
I had the honour of being invited to the launch for RLB by Andy Tauer and Vero Kern, followed up the next day by tea at Tauerville. Spoilt, I know. Here´s a few piccies.
May you have a peaceful holiday season, wherever you are.
Well, I had a totally different post planned for today but something happened fragrance-wise over the weekend that I felt compelled to share with you.
I became reacquainted with one of my old favourites. The sexy, sultry tuberose had been sitting in one of my drawers for ages, silver cap taken off as the bottle had leaked from time to time, looking forlorn and neglected. I spritzed some on Saturday morning and haven’t looked back since.
Michael by Laurent Le Guernec for Michael Kors 2000
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Freesia, incense, Chinese osmanthus, tamarind
Heart: Tuberose, iris, peony, orris root, arum lily
Base: Musk, cashmere wood, vetiver
Michael has been in my collection ever since I first tried it back in 2001. I was living in London with my brother and a friend. Most Saturdays we’d wander down to the local shopping centre at Brent Cross and we’d part ways for about half an hour or so before going grocery shopping at Tesco. They would look at useful stuff such as clothes and household goods and I’d go sniffing at Sephora and a department store, Fenwick’s. Once they’d come back, I’d annoy them for ages, wrists held aloft with the command: “Sniff!” It was on these sojourns that I first became acquainted with Creeds, Diors, Fracas and finally, Michael. I’d gladly take one of the textured camel spray blotters from the SA each visit and tuck in in my handbag. I sniffed and sniffed for months before I begged my brother to but me a bottle for my birthday.
The scent is powerful throughout its development and a complete sillage monster, which is exactly how I like it. It starts off with a big blast of tuberose, tempered with the bright sweetness of osmanthus and freesia. The lily appears and then the woody spices unfold, providing some depth to the heady tuberose core. It stays pretty much this way throughout its development.
I did say in a recent review that I thought Nasomatto’s Narcotic Venus is a poorer, albeit much higher priced, relation of Michael. I still stand by this claim. The main difference between them is that the spices are rounder here, whereas in Narcotic Venus, they feel more angular and almost metallic. If you have Michael, Narcotic Venus does seem like a bit of a extravagant frippery.
Needless to say, I love that I rediscovered this and that it remains part of my collection. There are naysayers though: Luca Turin and Tanya Sanchez gave a scathing review in Perfumes the Guide, and I concede that overspraying it could lean towards suffocation territory. But I think it is a lovely tuberose for the price point and it’s always been a compliment getter for me.
However, the thing I like about it most is that it was part of that old bastion of department store scents that took a chance and developed something with attitude and personality and very un-focus group like before Aquolina Pink Sugar and the sweet fruity patchouli things became the new normal.
Photo Stolen The Book Depository Perfume AUD$17 including worldwide postage
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