Perfume

Incense Rose by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2008

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

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Portia

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Hiya Fragrance Lovers,

Andy Tauer was my first niche perfume buy. He holds a special place in my heart because he was a pioneer. He let us see into his process of creating fragrance via his blog and opened a whole new world of ideas. What he was creating was revolutionary. That was the early days of niche and indie perfumes. We are so spoiled by a unbelievable onslaught of newness that I think it’s important to remind you all of some historically great perfumes that may become swamped and overlooked. Incense rose is one such, I’ve had this bottle ever since Andy first brought out the 3 x 15ml Explorer Set. Not sure why I never reviewed it. Remiss.

Incense Rose by Tauer Perfumes 2008

Incense Rose by Andy Tauer

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Clementine, Cardamom, Wild rose
Heart: Castoreum, Orris root, Frankincense
Base: Myrrh, Patchouli, Vetiver, Texas cedar

Sweet roses and jams, a zingy, bright and slightly green opening. All the citrus cut through pretty quickly by incense and iris but that just serves two highlight the fizzy drink nature of the top notes and ground them. For something that smells so strong initially Incense rose is remarkably diffuse smelling too. It’s huge but not overpowering or ferocious, more like a big friendly but well behaved dog.

06 Incense Rose Tauer Perfumes Incense_coils WikiMediaPDI

 

As the wood slides in under the rosy animalic incense, it seems to dry Incense Rose out. This is my favourite part of the fragrance. Still lightly sweet florals with a hint of urinous but now it’s contained in a box. I get mental images of wooden walled saunas.

Longevity is excellent and for the first hour or so the scent is quite large, then it dips back to a soft focus blur of scent. Still sweet rosy but now much attenuated and it’s incense with the upper hand and grassy woods.

06 Incense Rose Tauer Perfumes Incense_coils WikiMediaWikiMedia

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and I Smell Therefore I Am
Men’s Biz has $209/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $4/0.5ml

What is your Tauer of preference?
Portia xx

SOTD 30 October – 5 November 2017

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Portia

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Hi APJ,

I see these SOTD (Scent Of The Day) threads all the time on Facebook and they are really good conversation generators.

SOTD 30 October – 5 November 2017

The idea is you’ll chime in through the week with whatever scent you are wearing. You don’t need to be super knowledgable, have high faluting tastes or be a published author to comment. Just tell us what fragrance you’re wearing, smelling, buying etc.

You probably won’t have time to write every scent, every spritz but whenever you feel the mood take you share your current spritz and a few things about it. Maybe you love/loathe it, want it, are excited by the notes/bottle/SA who sold it: WHATEVER! As always here at APJ, taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:
Guerlain Mitsouko EdT
Pharrell Williams Girl
The Different Company Oriental Lounge
Vintage Fendi original
Vintage YSL Opium EdT
Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Sunday.

 

Go To It Crew.
Portia xxx

WINNER SOTD 23-29 October 2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

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Portia

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Hey there APJ,

Wonderful SOTDs, what excellent variety we all wear and love.

Thank you all for getting involved and being a part of the APJ Frag Family.

SOTD 23-29 October 2017 WINNER

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:
Bal a Versailles parfum
Eau d’Italie Morn to Dusk
Guerlain L’Heure de Nuit
Neela Vermeire Creations Pichola
Vintage DIOR Miss Dior EdC
Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Sunday.

WINNER: Sue Mills

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please

Saturday Question: Serge Lutens, Guerlain or Amouage?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 101 Comments

.

Portia

.

Hello Fellow Fumies,

Every Saturday we have a Question, an idea purloined from Olfactoria’s Travels. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it is a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a $10 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Over 200 responses I will draw a $20 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Friday.

Last Weeks Winner: Only 74 Responses

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with the eMail you’d like me to send your Gift Card to.

 

Saturday Question: Serge Lutens, Guerlain or Amouage?

Three of the most revered houses in the Mass-tige line up. Most large department stores have a pretty good line up of all of them with a counter to themselves. Most perfumistas have a couple or a few from each of these houses and almost all of us lament the dumbing down of their products. They all have though inspired, frightened, delighted and made us question ourselves at different times in our journey.

This answer is just for today. You can change your mind at many time and no one will think twice about it. We are perfumistas, the most mercurial herd on earth.

Serge Lutens was the defining change for many perfumistas. The perfumes that really took us and shook use by the neck. Fragrances that changed the way the world smells perfume and one of the earliest radical niche brands. This awesome collection creative directed by one of perfumes most mythical creatures, Serge Lutens himself.

Guerlain has the history and though now owned by LVMH have the longest lineage. They also have some of the best stories focused around their products. Marketing jargon that has now become indelibly linked to out psyches and the way we smell the scents. The story of the Guerlain perfumers as interesting as the products.

Amouage also has a stellar history. The King of Oman wanting his country to again be the centre of the world for the best smelling perfumes, known for exquisite ingredients and a Middle Eastern/Asian focus that had only been dabbled in before. Suddenly the East, the real scents of the East, were being made available to the wealthy and perfumistas the world over.

My Answer:

Today I choose Guerlain. It has been with me since my Mum and some of her friends wore Shalimar in my childhood. The first perfume I bought her was Samsara.
My own deep love for Shalimar, Mitsouko, L’Heure Bleu and even many of the newer releases like Paris to Moscow, Mahora, AA Lys Soleia, Champs Elysees, Vega, Terracotta and even the current Mon Guerlain.
If I had to choose only one fragrance house it would probably be Guerlain but PLEASE don’t make me.

My Saturday Question to you is: Serge Lutens, Guerlain or Amouage and Why?

 

 

Sepia by Mandy Aftel for Aftelier Perfumes 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

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Portia

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Hey Hey Indie Lovers,

You probably already know the name Mandy Aftel. She writes books, creates perfumes, teaches natural perfumery, has a museum of perfume and is a general, all round great gal. The thing is, after the initial fanfare of a fragrance launch things go a bit quiet on the blog front for Indie perfumers. They don’t have enormous budgets and marketing teams, mostly they do it themselves with a couple of key helpers. Since I am wearing Sepia today I thought it might be a good time to remind you all about its beauty.

Sepia by Aftelier Perfumes 2012

Sepia by Mandy Aftel

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Blood cedarwood, Yellow mandarin, Pink grapefruit
Heart: Pink lotus, Strawberry, Jasminum grandiflorum, Cocoa, Coffee
Base: Tobacco blossom, Oud, Indole, Ambergris, Cepes (mushroom), Labdanum

Today’s review is from a bottle I paid retail for after falling madly in love with a sample Mandy sent me.

Sepia is a bit of a blockbuster on my skin. It is a warm and dusty, floral and powdery, woody, smoky, dry and sere fragrance. So much light and shade. It smells to me like rural Australia. I can close my eyes and smell the unbroken expanses of sun beaten, dessicated red-earth desert where the properties are 1000’s of square kilometers with sheep, wheat and cattle. Stark sun and shade, the dappling of eucalyptus beside a dam or creek.

Sepia by Aftelier Perfumes outback cattle farm PixabayPDI

Many of the smaller towns have been deserted in the last 50 years and stand silent, crumbling, with only their stone chimneys left like a mouth full of broken teeth. Our croplands have been bought by the big farming companies, overseas investors and the mining groups. Mum and Dad farms are becoming the rarity. Sepia is our Australian outback. A dream of how the perfect Australian outback was.

It is also lovely, wearable and surprisingly strong for a scent sold as a watercolour wash. After 3 hours it starts to smelling like attics and bookstores Sepia then warms and dirties towards dry down and remains as a skin scent remnant for hours.

Sepia by Aftelier Perfumes outback hills PixabayPDI

From Aftelier Perfumes website;
Dry woods: Sepia is a tint, a watercolor wash, an atmosphere, a memory

Further reading PerfumeShrine and TheAlembicatedGenie
Aftelier Perfumes has samples from $7

Are you a Mandy fan like me?
Portia xx

Cotton Musk by Ramon Monegal 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

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Portia

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Hi there Fellow Fumies,

Ramon Monegal has been in his own business in Spain for 10 years, before that he worked for and then was in charge Myurgia and later Puig. He seemed to make a huge splash in the world frag markets in 2012 and for the next couple of years but lately I hear less and less about his house. It’s a shame because I really love his scents, the bottles and his whole aesthetic. Even todays offering of Cotton Musk, while being almost polar opposite to the fragrances I crave most, still wows me with its ethereal beauty.

Cotton Musk by Ramon Monegal 2011

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Ward rose, Gardenia, Frankincense, Vetiver, Madagascan vanilla, White musk

I bought my decant that I’m reviewing from on Surrender To Chance recently and it arrived yesterday. I cap sniffed about five scents and though not my personal style there was something interesting about Cotton Musk so that’s the one I spritzed.

Musk, vetiver and rose open the show, they smell sharp and chemical originally, like when you accidentally get a heavily scented shower gel in your mouth while bathing. It only lasts a few seconds before everything gets fluffy, soft and downy. Suddenly I am floating in a cartoon cloud all warm and cozy. The smell of fresh bedlinen in the morning after your first sleep in the cool of autumn, it still smells freshly washed and your body is warm and you have that safe feeling of home.

Cotton Musk Ramon Monegal jingdianjiaju2 minimalist bedroom-7 FlickrFlickr

Cotton Musk is all this but surprisingly it doesn’t feel friendly. There is a cool austerity that reigns through the heart and I think it’s the vetiver and incense providing a grounding point to stop the whole fragrance floating off into space. Plush but sober, it’s an interesting dichotomy but Ramon Monegal does it with such finesse. Really amazing is such a sheer fragrance.

The bouquet seems fairly space age and even as the vanilla moves through to a more prominent position it doesn’t warm or humanise Cotton Musk. As the fragrance sinks into your skin though it does grow from being a walk into a recently used laundry back to being the morning of an autumn sleep in clean sheets. With different pieces of the puzzle sitting forward it is quite a feat to get me thinking the same cozy thoughts I had in the opening. Bravo Mr Monegal.

Cotton Musk Ramon Monegal Crumpled-Bed-Linen-Sheets-Bedsheets maxPixel
PDI

Further reading: EauMG and Olfactoria’s Travels
LuckyScent has $185/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $5/ml

Do you like white musks in full laundry mode? Could this be your gateway?
Portia xx

 

 

Aria in F# Parfum by Christi Meshell for House of Matriarch 2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

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Erica Golding

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Hello to everyone out there in the world of fragrance!

Recently, I was thrilled to witness the live creation of a 99% natural perfume, note by note, learning excitedly from every detail shared. The experience was about an hour and it just flew by, absolutely enthralling – I was hypnotized and filled with awe! Christi Meshell graced the famous group Facebook Fragrance Friends with the honor of this masterfully blended treasure, with members voting on their favorite materials that were then blended right before our eyes:

Aria in F# Parfum by House of Matriarch 2017

Aria in F# Parfum by Christi Meshell

Fragrantica

My notes below may not be perfectly accurate, but from what I recorded during the live event, Aria in F# is composed of:

Sandalwood Mysore (vintage and modern)
Amber accord
Styrax
Myrrh
Vanilla
Frankincense
Whiskey accord
Beeswax
Patchouli
Benzoin
Rose
Rooibos Tea
Jasmine sambac
Cinnamon (a non-skin-irritating variety)
Vetiver
Oakmoss
Ambergris tincture
Balsam fir
Leather accord
Orange blossom
Petitgrain
Mandarin orange
Ambrette seed
Musk
Gaiac wood
Black currant
Tonka bean
Rosewood
Tuberose absolute
Carnation
Pink pepper
Butter
Cocoa
Mimosa
Ylang ylang

The composition was built on a generous aliquot of vintage Mysore sandalwood as well as an equal volume of modern sandalwood. This genuine aroma is not super recognizable if you haven’t experienced it before. It has a powdery delicacy that sets it apart from the creamy, round sandalwood notes common in modern perfumery. After that, the materials that followed just had my heart leaping and aching with anticipation. The notes that I have listed at the end of this review speak to Christi’s dreamscape of materials and her gift of turning fantasy into reality.

WikiMedia

As for my personal impressions of this parfum, Aria in F# is very complex, but fascinatingly, resonates within a tight wavelength. For me, if Aria in F# was music, it would be a heartachingly harmonious strings orchestra. When my fragrance synesthesia associates a perfume with violins and cellos, it’s always a good omen! At the opening, I sense peaceful precious woods with a flashing, ethereal morning dew of rose, jasmine, and orange blossom. There is only one drop of carnation absolute in this parfum, but other notes lift and enhance and intensify this aroma such that I would go so far as to say that carnation features dominantly in this fragrance. Resins, amber, and incense are important to the blend, but they are uncharacteristically effervescent.

Overall, the parfum is deceivingly subtle on my skin, revealing hidden new facets with every anointment, and it lasts far longer than expected – especially for an almost purely natural work of art. I love this more every time I wear it, it’s fascinatingly passionate and tender.

 

PDI

I love how perfumers have been connecting with their fans to create semi-bespoke scents like this. Have you tried Aria in F#, or perhaps The Longing, or Destrier, or any of the other House of Matriarch fan collaborations? Which perfumer do you wish would create a fantasy perfume just for you?

House of Matriarch samples start at $22

Until next time, stay fragrant!
Love and light,
-Erica

First In Fragrance: Visiting Aus Liebe Zum Duft, Bruchsal, Germany

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

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Val the Cookie Queen

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Hey all you APJ Friends!

As you may or may not have gathered from my last post, I took off to Bruchsal, Germany with my husband (Chris) last week. I have wanted to visit ALZD/First in Fragrance (FiF) for years. So Chris and I made a deal. We would drive up there for three days, delivering my cookies in Salzburg on the way. One day perfume, one day downhill biking and hiking, one day Munich.

First In Fragrance

Visiting Aus Liebe Zum Duft, Bruchsal, Germany

ALZD/FiF was founded by Georg R Wuchsa in the year 2000. Hop over to the website First In Fragrance and you can read the history behind it all. I would be willing to bet that many of us have ordered, and still order fragrance samples from here. There is no better way to be able to try all of the hundreds of perfumes.


Filling Samples – How Does It Work?

There are four lovely ladies filling samples non-stop. All the samples are decanted from the original bottles. The sample is exactly what comes in the bottle. (I dunno if I am the only one to have noticed that sometimes carded samples do not smell the same as the perfume in the bottles.)

Of course many of the perfume houses are so small that they don´t do official samples anyway. There are around 2000, yep, two thousand, bottles to chose from. As the ladies look at the orders, they grab the bottles from the shelves and put them on a tray. Then back to the desk to fill the requested samples.
After completing several orders at once they return the bottles to their places, or at least that is the idea!! The orders are then beautifully packaged along with maybe some sweets, or little toys, perfumed feathers, and other little goodies. Making it a joy for anyone to receive, whether a small order or a big one. The girls fill at least 3000 samples a week.

ALZD/FiF now has a a beautiful range of cosmetics, and the Frederic Malle and Serge Lutens lines have recently been introduced. ALZD is now the online partner of the Austrian company http://www.naegelestrubell.at .

What did I buy? Travel sizes of Malle´s Iris Powder for me (I wish I had bought a big bottle, it´s divine), Dries Van Noten for the Blondeswunder, Monsieur for my personal trainer (He´s moving on from his 6 euro cologne ….!) and a BIG bottle of Portrait of a Lady for me. Finally. Chris came home with a bottle of Nasomatto´s Black Afgano. After getting over the initial disappointment of not being able to smoke it, he was quite happy. He never wears scent, but a few drops of this suits him really well. I have forbidden him to use more than half a spray at any one time. Two beautiful Diptyque candles joined the bag of goodies too.

It was an absolutely fabulous day. They have two canine noses, but only one was in the house. Beate Humbert, Georg´s right hand woman, has been with the company since day one. She took us through everything, from the offices, to the workplace and into the warehouse. Brilliant. Her son works there too, and it was their dog, Gatsby that was there. Chris split with him and took him for a walk, or perhaps the dog took him!

A million thanks to the whole ALZD crew it was such a brilliant day.

Following are pics, in no particular order. Chris took his camera and snapped lots of stuff. Had it been left to me you´d have had nothing. I suck at pics when I have to take them. Ask Portia.

Hallowe’en Bussis
CQ

SOTD 23-29 October 2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 108 Comments

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Portia

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Hi APJ,

I see these SOTD (Scent Of The Day) threads all the time on Facebook and they are really good conversation generators.

SOTD 23-29 October 2017

The idea is you’ll chime in through the week with whatever scent you are wearing. You don’t need to be super knowledgable, have high faluting tastes or be a published author to comment. Just tell us what fragrance you’re wearing, smelling, buying etc.

You probably won’t have time to write every scent, every spritz but whenever you feel the mood take you share your current spritz and a few things about it. Maybe you love/loathe it, want it, are excited by the notes/bottle/SA who sold it: WHATEVER! As always here at APJ, taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:
Bal a Versailles parfum
Eau d’Italie Morn to Dusk
Guerlain L’Heure de Nuit
Neela Vermeire Creations Pichola
Vintage DIOR Miss Dior EdC
Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Sunday.

Last Weeks Winner: FIRST WEEK!

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with the eMail you’d like me to send your Gift Card to.

Go To It Crew.
Portia xxx

WINNER SOTD 16-22 October 2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

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Portia

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Woo Hoo APJ,

This idea has been a winner. So excited to be reading what you guys are wearing all week. It also reminds me to go look out some of my neglected frag babies that you mention. Thank you all for getting involved and being a part of the APJ Frag Family.

SOTD 23-29 October 2017 WINNER

Over 100 responses I will draw a Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)
This week:
Amouage Dia Parfum
DIOR Mitzah
Miller et Barter A Quiet Morning
Neela Vermeire Creations Rahele
Vintage CHANEL No 19 EdC
Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Sunday.

WINNER: MaggieCat

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please