Perfume

Concrete by Comme des Garcons 2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

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TinaG

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Hi APJ,

Any new Comme des Garcons fragrance is bound to cause a stir in the fragrance community, and Concrete is no exception. I was intrigued, as I enjoy industrial notes in fragrances and was excited to see what this may entail. Then I started hearing rumours that the fragrance was actually a sweet woody floral. Huh? How does that work? After reading some of the press releases, it is exactly how it was supposed to be.

Fragrantica

Candy Perfume Boy gives these featured accords:
Sandalwood, Rose Oxide & CDG Spice Signature

So, my preconceived ideas were quickly demolished when I sprayed Concrete on skin. First impressions were of a sweetness, a pink floral with green undertones. There’s a pepperiness to the sillage and I realise the green note is cardamom, one of my favourite aromatic spices. The pink floral has an initial wateriness to it and it reminds me of cactus flower. There is a distinct CdG signature hovering in the background of a quirky synthetic, which my mind associated with a pink dishwashing liquid. After about 10 minutes I get a plastic rose note, and pink lolly musk.

As an aside – you know you are Australian when you can easily differentiate between variations of pink musk. It is a common ingredient in many sweets – musk sticks, musk lifesavers, and Fruit Tingles which have slightly different citrus flavours and the prized “multi-coloured” tingle. So when I’m talking in this case about pink lolly musk, I’m referring to musk sticks. I’m sure these are available in other countries but they don’t seem to be globally ubiquitous.
https://pixabay.com/en/sugar-sticks-candy-sweet-tasty-2099736/PDI

The fragrance settles and loses the cardamom, to feature plastic rose and the musk. Then I lose the plastic over 2 hours for a residual musk-rose which stays for the remainder of the dry down. There is supposed to be sandalwood in here but I can’t find it, and I thought that the sillage was quite low until I met up with a friend for coffee. She immediately identified that I was wearing a CdG, and she could smell the sandalwood. I think that I just don’t have enough experience with sandalwood notes when they have been disintegrated from each other, whereas my friend has much more perfume-creating experience than I, and clicked on to the smell immediately.

The main selling point of this fragrance is the aesthetics of the packaging – the funky bottle made out of concrete is a winner, and the familiar shape will slot neatly into any CdG collection. I’d recommend leaving expectations behind when testing the fragrance – as, really, you should with any CdG. I’d also be curious when this becomes more widely available to see what people think of the paired-back sandalwood note. Currently (August) Concrete is available at Selfridges in London, and Dover Street Market in New York City and London, but I understand it will be distributed more broadly during September 2017.

PDI

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Persolaise

Do you have a favourite CdG scent?

Till next time,
Tina G

Airport Perfume Story

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

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AF Beauty

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Hello peeps!
If you’re like me, you regard packing as a dark art, regardless of all preparation and planning, SOMETHING will be forgotten at home – for me the thing I forget most frequently is perfume. 😦

However, luckily, for the people who live in Sydney – or near another well stocked airport, you can find a range of exciting smellies to enjoy from their sample ranges and be on your way – often smelling a little different because you’re not sampling your favourites, so you can add the excitement of new smells to your journey, yay!

I recently returned from a trip to the Gold Coast, so I was lucky to have a large and quiet store almost to myself at Sydney where I tried a few perfumes…

Airport Perfume Story

The first, a brand I’ve not heard of before, Shay & Blue. A British brand, packing not dissimilar to Pecksniff; I started with a perfume called Shay & Blue Blacks Club Leather, which I DID NOT LIKE at all. It is not my thing, but I can imagine it is popular with the right crowd. I moved to another in the same brand called Shay & Blue Blood Oranges, which was orangey and citrusy, very nice.

I then moved onto a Michael Kors perfume, Michael Kors Sexy Ruby, really I was only attracted to the bottle, it was a lovely shape and colour, like a ruby – makes sense. I didn’t spray any of this on myself because I had a sniff of the bottle and wasn’t impressed. I now can’t remember why, but I tend to have immediate reactions to smells, so I just go with it!

Perusing the Amouage range – I sniffed a number of them, most of which I didn’t enjoy – I am fussy, can you tell? But I did notice the ones I preferred were also the most expensive – most of them costing more than double the price of my flight (!!) – so, I moved on from those to Tom Ford which is pricey, but a bargain in comparison!

Tommy Ford <3… always draws me in because of the turquoise bottles, my favourite colour, I feel like the inside of the bottle MUST be as gorgeous on the inside as the out. I started at first with my usual favourite Tom Ford Neroli Portofino, but I was distracted by another I’d not noticed before, Tom Ford Fleur De Portofino. This is relatively new, to me at least, I hadn’t spotted it on previous visits. I had a good spray of that, probably at least $10 worth up and down my arms, it was so light and citrusy, I was properly sniffing my own arms for hours afterwards like a weirdo.

I think I will start saving my pocket money for this one, I am often caught in the trap of buying something good and well-priced rather than amazing and a bit more expensive, but I think in terms of the joy it would bring me each day, the Tom Ford would be well worth it.

So tell me, what fragrances do you search out at the airport? Found any unusual favourites? Or do you use the airport as a good way to test new fragrances for yourself? What’s your MO?!
AF Beauty xox

(Ed: All photos supplied & taken by AF Beauty.)

Saturday Question: Dressed Up Perfume

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 38 Comments

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Portia

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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.

I’m currently away on holidays in India and will have limited internet but be assured that I’ll read every comment and answer when I can.

Saturday Question: Dressed Up Perfume

You’ve been invited to a Gala Fundraiser. It’s not exactly the Met Ball but you’ll be required to wear a dress or suit. Not necessarily a gown or dinner suit but if you have such refinements then by all means go all the way. The question today is about Dressed Up Perfume. What do you wear when you have to look and smell a million dollars? Do you go soft and refined? Is it a wall of scent situation? Do you want to fly your freak flag? Maybe you want to keep your scent deliberately low key?

Unlike most of our APJ readers my job is dressing up and wearing gowns, looking well over the top and shimmering. So my chances to wear Dressed Up Perfume are far more numerous than most. At least four times a week I’m glammed up to go host rooms. I have a range of scents depending on mood and weather but the ones I reach for most when going for Dressed Up Perfume are these.

What Are My Dressed Up Perfumes?

Mitzah Christian Dior FragranticaFragrantica

DIOR Mitzah

The original Mitzah herself was famous as Christian Dior’s fashion muse. I can’t think of a more dressed up place in the world you could find. She was not a typical beauty either but a fun and frivolous gal pal who was often seen decked out in outlandish leopard print everything. She could command a room with her style and Mitzah the fragrance reflects that chutzpah. Honeyed and spiced rose over a lightly feral labdanum and patchouli with a whisper of burning incense. VERY dressed up.

The Taste of Fragrance Alien Mugler FragranticaFragrantica

Mugler Alien The Taste of Fragrance

Original Alien done with a salted caramel twist. There is something commanding and elegant hiding under the sweetness. I feel like the world is mine when I wear this beautiful fragrance. Sometimes when I really want to stand fragrantly head & shoulders above the crowd I layer Alien The Taste of Fragrance over Amouage Dia Woman lotion. Seriously, you have no idea how magical a concoction it is.

Divine EdP Divine FragranticaFragrantica

Divine EdP

There is something restrained and effortless about the slightly OTT aldehydic white floral glamour that is Divine EdP. It’s like CHANEL No 5s uber wealthy, less abrasive sister.Presence without pretence, Divine EdP manages to feel society luscious. A grande dame of a scent that sparkles and shimmers exactly like the most fabulous gowns.

My Saturday Question to you is:

Who would be your three Dressed Up Perfumes, where would you where them and why?

Trouble by Jacques Cavalier for Boucheron 2004

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

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Portia

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Hiya Frag Heads,

From the man who brought us Kingdom, L’eau d’Issey, JPG Classique, Stella, Zanzibar and M7. The man who is now the head perfumer at Louis Vuitton. A fragrance that was panned by the critics, Luca Turin famously wrote it was a one star dismal oriental, a murky broth the colour of mud in which float shreds of past fragrances. Ouch! Harsh indeed. It may be all of that and a mess but I love it. Impossible to find nowadays I have stockpiled enough for this lifetime and the next.

Trouble by Boucheron 2004

Trouble by Jacques Cavalier

Trouble Boucheron FragranticaFragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top:  Dyer’s-broom, Lemon
Heart: Jasmine
Base: Musk, Sandalwood

Trouble has been sitting unloved lately. I wore it a lot for years and then it got put in a box and ignored. Searching for something else I rediscovered my Trouble cache and now have worn it for at least part of three days running. The notes seem so straight forward, I’m pretty sure they’ve left out dozens of ingredients, but they are also irrelevant. I don’t smell the parts but the whole scent. Trouble smells like itself only to me and interestingly the fragrances that it’s most often compared to (Allure, Cinema, Addict) are not perfumes that I like for myself at all.

Trouble Boucheron Henri_Rousseau_-_Eve_in_the_Garden_of_Eden WikiMediaWikiMedia

An oriental fragrance with loads of amber and vanilla all the way through, a crunchy biscuit base accord, creamy white flowers and some soft focus woods are how my nose smells Trouble. Let’s be honest here it’s about as much trouble as a cuddle from a loving mother.

Longevity is excellent and though pretty linear it does head even more amber/woodsy in the base. Probably too thick and bombastic for modern workplaces and definitely interferes with your palate at dinner but for smelling fabulous while doing the vacuuming and housework I can think of no better glam scent to life you far above the hum of domestic boredom.

Trouble Boucheron Thomas_Cole_The_Garden_of_Eden_detail_Amon_Carter_Museum WikiCommonsWikiMedia

Further reading: I Scent You A Day
eBay sometimes has bottles pop up

Do you have an ignored or soundly trashed fragrance in your favourites list?
Portia xx

Clair de Musc by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2003

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

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Portia

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Heya Fumies,

So recently there have been wild rumours going around about the Serge Lutens brand. Bottle changes, discontinuations, export going to bell and vice versa. It has freaked me out so I finally bit the bullet and bought a few I’ve been humming and having over. Grabbed some of them on the discount sites and others I paid retail. Got a couple of the DCd vaporisator bottles and a brand new 100ml of La Fille de Berlin. Expensive couple of months but I am glad.

Clair de Musc by Serge Lutens 2003

Clair de Musc by Christopher Sheldrake

Clair de Musc Serge Lutens fragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Iris, musk, neroli, bergamot

My noses telling me fruity musks but it doesn’t smell like citrus. Actually it has a kind of metallic smell like icy gutters. Sheer and weightless yet surprisingly full of scent. An interesting oxymoron.

In Clair de Musc the iris is earthy and only slightly cardboard, a very cool, aloof, spacious iris that whispers elegant restraint.

I have some problems smelling some musks but these are fragrant to me. Both clean and animal come through, there’s a very soft funkiness but the focus is laundry clean.

Clair de Musc by Serge Lutens -John_Downman_-_The_Ghost_of_Clytemnestra_Awakening_the_Furies WikiMediaWikiMedia

My mind keeps wandering to who this scent could be created for. It seems to sit at a weird crossroads between animal and mechanical. As if a robot or computer are trying to generate human smells to cloak their inhumanity. It seems they can only work within the confines of their AI scented vocabulary though. Though Clair de Musc gets furry, it’s not a puppy or even a piglet but the scratchy glass fibres of roof insulation or the petrochemical created fake fur in flour colours. Everything seems just a bit off true. It makes the journey really interesting.

So I’m thinking it would be an excellent scent for work, to project the scent of absolute industrial strength dedication and a computers focus. Brilliant job interview scent, especially for someone in IT, engineering or construction.

Will I wear mine? I’m not sure that it will reached for often but the times that I want to smell just like this it will definitely get a triple spritz.

Clair de Musc by Serge Lutens chipmunk lilac & green field jil111 pixabayPDI

Further reading: I Scent You A Day and Non-Blonde
FragranceNet has around $100/50ml before Coupon
Surrender To Chance has samples from $6/ml

Also, having read a few reviews of Clair de Musc it seems everyone gets entirely different experiences from it. So even if my review has you gasping to grab a bottle do test first.

Have a lovely day.
Do you like musks?
Portia xx

Individualistic Perfume Behaviour and Biking for a Burger

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

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Val the Cookie Queen

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Hello you gorgeous fragrant peepsie poohs,

Individualistic Perfume Behaviour

As I headed off to the hairdresser the other day, not a rare thing as I go every fourteen days, I grabbed a spritz for my wrists and jumped into the car. I never spray my neck as I don´t want the stylist to have to breathe in what they might not like. And to be honest a good haircut is a notch above my perfume habit. Years of perfecting my OCD I´ll be damned if I am just gonna let it go. Actually I take care a lot not to get up anyone´s nose. Dentists, meetings, doctors, stuff like that. I find myself thinking ahead before applying perfume to make sure the people in my day can handle it, or not. Probably another reason I love pure perfume and the sublime art of The Dab. Perhaps I should change my attitude and just Spray for England, whaddayareckon?

Biking for a Burger

There is this great place for burgers, unique Austrian burgers, about a 35km bike ride from here. Well, it would be a 35 km car ride too, but I don´t allow myself a burger unless I have ridden my bike to get. (70km round trip 🙂 ) Talking of OCDs ……… So we took off yesterday on the bikes for a late lunch.

When I was a ten year old I had mega bike crash, one that puts all my husband´s downhilling buddies to shame. I fell off as I was steaming down a hill, and actually have no idea to this day why exactly happened. I was found lying in the street with a couple of teeth next to me, with their roots attached. I had a fractured jaw, and a massive hole in my lip. One could say fairly traumatic. I didn´t look in a mirror for about nine months and spent the next eight years having work done on my teeth, some really weird shit I can tell you!! I didn´t step on a bike again until I was 26 years old, when my now husband
made me get on a bike when we lived in Amsterdam. I was terrified. But yeah, I got used to it and started to love it and even spent a year riding around the city at top speed on an old piece without brakes. Just using my feet. Ha! Can hardly imagine that now. Some sucker stole that bike outside of The Melkweg.
I hope they fell off.

Yesterday I fell off again. Forty seven years after my first fall. Hard to believe it took so long. Luckily Chris was there to take a pic for a later Instagram post before picking my bike up. I was riding so slowly it didn’t matter, although I got seriously nettled. Was glad I had a helmet on as I did knock my head. Teeth stayed in place.

Here’s a few pics.

The stone lion is a statue along the lake, in Traunkirchen. A local artist was commissioned by the Emperor Franz Josef. He cast several bronzes. When the Kaiser inspected it, he saw it had no tongue. He mentioned it to the artist who was so upset he later chucked himself into the lake and died. The Emperor felt so bad he vowed never to criticise someone who had done something for him again. The locals celebrate this event each year.

The coffee is a double espresso Affogato in our favourite place in Bad Ischl We have that after our burger. The mirror in the loo is in the same place. How totally cool is that, that you can fix your makeup whist on the bog? Talk about mirrors in the bathroom ….. lalalala.

 

Ride on.
Bussis.
CQ

Summertime Favourites and Sharing a Dream

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

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BlondesWunder

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How you all doing APJ?

I guess I am in a very lucky position still being able to chose what I want to do with my life. I pretty much have no boundaries (except money, haha), and a world welcoming me with open arms. That makes it freaking difficult to make a choice. It is hard enough selecting a perfume each day, how the hell am I supposed to choose between studying, au-pairing, work and whatever else? (I think I am gonna study and do freelance makeup, but watch this space)

Summertime Favourites and Sharing a Dream

Being honest with you, I do have a dream; one that I have pushed aside for a few years, always finding an excuse not to quite start it. It is scary and even a bit embarrassing. Now that I am going to tell you I will have to go through with it! Maybe some of you will follow along. My big dream is to make YouTube videos, and lots of social media. There, I said it.

Flickr

I know how much work it will be, well actually I probably don´t, and I will need to learn everything, especially editing. I am sure I will get the hang of it.

When I tell people this is what I want to do the first thing they say is “don´t you think there are enough people doing it?” My passion is still makeup. However, as a makeup artist I think there are too many extreme makeup tutorials out there. Working for MAC has really made me see that the majority of people don´t want to wear neon eyeshadows or green, blue and black lipstick. At least not every day! Here is where I hopefully step in and show you how the right concealer and a touch of mascara not only makes you look fresher, it also changes your mood. I want to do vlogs and short #scentoftheday clips too. I will be myself and see where it leads me. I am going to start working in some videos. If you have any advice for me ….. Join me on my crazy journey if you have time.

Perfume!

This has been my first summer that I have worn perfume. I never liked perfume in the heat, but my nose seems to have changed drastically over the last year and I have been enjoying it a lot. I have been lavishly wearing:

Fragrantica

Guerlain Terracotta
Malle´s Dries van Noten and Malle´s Carnal Flower (The Carnal Flower hair mist is on my shopping list, it is divine.)
Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle (I have nearly emptied my Mum´s old bell jar)

Fragrantica

What have your summer staples been?

If you wear perfume, wear a lot of it! I want people to faint next to me on the train because I smell so fab.

Love and peace, follow your dreams,

xxx Blondewunder
@b.londedswunder

Saturday Question: Favourite Leather Scents

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

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Portia

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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.

I’m currently away on holidays in India and will have limited internet but be assured that I’ll read every comment and answer when I can.

Saturday Question: Favourite Leather Scents

Leather is one of my most loved notes. It has so many variations from the stench of tanneries to the finished high gloss shoe or worn and loved glove. It can have the scent ofd its owner as in a leather jacket or sweat from sport and weightlifting. It can be suede, patent, cow, sheep, goat or pony and all of them are peculiar to themselves. Then there are the additives like fruit, incense, oudh, woods, flowers, sweets, vanilla, patchouli and the cavalcade of accords available have all had a go with leather.

What are my Favourite Leather Scents?

Bottega Veneta FragranticaFragrantica

Bottega Veneta EdP

Between Daim Blond, Cuir Amethyst and this is only a question of levels and personal taste. Bottega Veneta is the best lasting of the three on me and Jin has claimed it as his signature scent. Whenever I smell it there are so many happy memories piled on top of the actual smell, which I adore. Fruity leather, soft & supple and so incredibly wearable.

Knize Ten FragranticaFragrantica

Knize Ten

people call this a floral leather and though it may be to them on me it’s all about favourite leather jacket. It’s a fantasy scent of a mans jacket after years of wear and it has taken on some of his sweat and cologne. I bought my Golden Edition bottle in Vienna at the original Knize store and my original shopping with Denyse Beaulieu in Paris at a chemist right near Jovoy. Happy memories all.

Trussardi Donna

Long before I was a perfumista I had a bottle of Trussardi Donna. To be honest I didn’t even know then that it was aimed at women. It was a fabulously real leather chypre (Though chypre was not in my vocal either) and I loved to smell  of it. Still do.

I find it interesting that my three go-to leathers are all from designer houses. Interesting.

My Saturday Question to you is:

What are your favourite leather scents? Do you have special leather moods? When do you wear them?

Perfume I Still Love

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 37 Comments

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Portia

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Hi APJ,

It’s weird. Many fragrances I write about, fall in love with and buy a large decant or bottle. Sometimes it feels like I’m keeping the perfume world solvent, HA! Then you all never hear about that perfume again  unless it’s in my Sunday Scent Diary, and then just a tiny entry or picture. So today I thought we’d gran out some things that have been written about before and still see regular skin time.

Perfume I Still Love

Afternoon Of A Faun by Etat Libre d’Orange:

There is something deeply satisfying when I spritz Afternoon Of A Faun. It’s a honeyed immortelle, leather, iris and peppery spices smell like nothing else in my collection. One of the last really fabulous, love to wear even though it’s a bit freaky, releases from the ELdO house. It’s like they have taken the late 20th century mens fragrance and twisted just enough to make it interesting again.

Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia by Guerlain:

Wearing this beauty today inspired the post. I read the fragrance quite differently to the notes presented. My skin throws lily and creamy coconut mixed with the ylang. A tropical scent using all the old tropes but injects an airy freshness and a jaunty lilt. Well into my second bottle and a back up bought just in case. On cool but sunny days like today, boiling summer heatwaves and even the dead cold of european winter Lys Soleia works.

Antaeus by CHANEL:

Antaeus is often a sneaky spritz for me as I go walking the dogs or shopping for groceries. I think I’ve told you all before that my first long term partner and I wore Antaeus in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There is something so classic and finished about it, from picking up the black, super smooth reflective bottle to the earthy leather dry down. The whole experience feels special.

 

Madame Rochas by Rochas:

Rochas answer to CHANEL No 5 is a clever play on the aldehydic floral. A thicker, more treacle feeling opening. Yellow flowers feel like the centre of attention and the iris, amber and oakmoss create an earthier, less outer space type fragrance. Madame Rochas manages a similar sparkling glamour as No 5 but does it in a more perfumey way. It manages to cut the aloofness and feel like a Christmas hug from a favourite aunt.

Morn to Dusk by Eau D`Italie:

Yes, it lasts all day. The jolt of citrus over vanilla starts this beauty out with a zing but it’s the vanilla heart that goes on all day long. A crunchy, caramelised vanilla that changes with your mood and the weather. Some days it’s more sheer and weightless and others Morn To Dusk can be sweet, thick and heavy. It seems to feel my mood and offer its own magical accompaniment. Simplicity with levels.

Most of these are available as samples & decants from Surrender To Chance.

What are your not so new Perfumes You Love?
Portia xx

Oyedo by Diptyque 2000

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

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Portia

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Hey Hey Frag Family,

Today we are looking at a scent that Kate Apted sent me in a fragrant care package. One of the wonderful things about this addiction hobby is the joy of sharing and Kate was extremely generous. THANKS!! So I have a few new to me things that I’m snuffling happily.

Oyedo by Diptyque 2000

Oyedo Diptyque FragranticaFragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Lime, Mandarin, Orange, Lemon
Heart: Caraway, Thyme
Base: Woody notes

You feeling down? A bit blue/ Dog tired/ Maybe you are just exhausted from running the rat race. Oyedo seems to be the perfect foil. Even though I’m at that 3/4 way through the year slump lately, plus being super busy, and turning my ankle somehow Oyedo makes me want to jump back into the fray.

Citrus backed by herbs that seem smooth as resins. A citrus with poopy, sweaty background.A citrus as vibrant and fresh as the farmers fruit markets on an early Saturday morning. Cool and alive and zinging. A jolt of lively scent that makes my eyes pop open and my body lighten its load.

Oyedo Diptyque farmers Fruit_market WikiMediaWikiMedia

The citrus stays right through the heart, still zingy like a mixture of their zests. The herbs really smell to me like they have labdanum or elemi helping them to stabilise and give a lovely smooth growl purring underneath the rest.

I can so imagine Oyedo being someones go-to spring or autumn scent and them using it to get everyone around them on board with fun and ideas. Longevity is pretty good and you stay quite fragrant for over two hours before the perfume softens off considerable. Basically the woody base is hardly relevant because the citrus/herbs/resins stay around getting softer and a bit dryer.

Oyedo Diptyque oranges flowers field pixabayPDI

Further reading: Scentualist and Now Smell This
Mecca has $108/50ml FREE Australian Shipping
My Perfume Samples has $2.50/ml

Citrus. Are you a fan? When do you wear it?
Portia xx