First In Fragrance + Bruchsal, Germany Photo Essay

March 21, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Hello Lovely APJers,

During Michael & my recent travels we made a special detour to go meet the crew at First In Fragrance in Germany. Beate and the crew (Shane, Sabine, Margit, Katharina) were so friendly and helpful. Wec learned so much about fragrances, the broad ranges that are now available and I personally got to make up some samples to be sent out to the world with orders! It was totally fun.

First In Fragrance

Also, did you know that a First In Fragrance sample is around 3-4ml and comes in a spray atomiser? They are very reasonable priced and send to the world.

www.ausliebezumduft.com
Aus Liebe zum Duft
Wuchsa
Bahnhofstrasse 10
D-76646 Bruchsal

Later today you can come back and join in our spectacular GIVEAWAY! First In Fragrance has given APJ a bottle of Acqua de Parma Oud for a very special giveaway. See you later.

Bruchsal, Germany Photo Essay

Here is a small selection of photos of our time in Bruchsal with the First In Fragrance crew and some of it’s highlights and heritage.

Arriving in Bruchsal by train

Meeting one of my Childhood friends Stefanie for dinner
ONE of First In Fragrance’s sample walls

Portia annoying the girls with questions

Michael overwhelmed by choice

Evening falls and Michael still sniffing

The girls put me to work, I filled about 9 orders

Day 2 and our lovely hostess Lisa

Beate, what a lovely lady. Took such time for us. SO knowledgeable.

Bruchsal Palace (Schloss Bruchsal)

Bruchsal Palace (Schloss Bruchsal) is the only Prince-Bishop’s residence on the Upper Rhine. It is famous for its opulent staircase constructed by Balthasar Neumann – known as the “crown jewel of all Baroque staircases”. It was constructed in 1720 as a residence for the Prince-Bishops of Speyer. The then Prince-Bishop, Damian Hugo von Schönborn, an avid art collector, played an important role in planning the complex. The three-wing palace is built of sandstone. The collection of exquisitely matched buildings, along with the carefully laid out garden, make up an extraordinarily beautiful ensemble. DON’T arrive till 10am because the gorgon won’t let you in, even if it’s 9.45 and you can’t stay. GRRRRR Bruchsal Palace Online

The Church of St. Peter is especially important to the people of Bruchsal. Not only is it the work of the famous Baroque architect, Balthasar Neumann, but it was also the only church in Bruchsal to survive the Allied bombing of the town in March 1945 unscathed. The Church of St. Peter online

59 Things To Do In Bruchsal site

We had an incredible two day stopover in Bruchsal. I wish we’d had another two so we could really get to see the city. Bruchsal, you are on my list for next time.

Loads of love to you all and special thanks to www.ausliebezumduft.com (First In Fragrance).

Portia xx

Sydney Australia to Vienna Austria 2014 Photo Essay

January 29, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 34 Comments

Hello lovely APJ Peeps,

Currently I am sitting in the Hotel Royal off Stephanplatz (The Plaza of the St. Stephen’s Cathedral) in the heart of shopping town Vienna, Austria. My traveling buddy and APJ contributor, Michael, is on his first ever trip to Europe and we are both super excited, he to see and me to re-see and bump into a bunch of frag buddies. The journey here has been so amazingly extraordinary I thought I’d share a photo essay of it.

Due to a mate of ours being able to procure us the most ridiculously cheap airfares ever we traveled most of the way to Vienna in First Class. Until now I never dreamed such a thing could happen. I am usually an economy passenger except for a time when a partner of mine worked for British Airways and I was sometimes upgraded to business because they’d oversold the plane. I though THAT was luxurious……

Here are a few pics of the journey so far. We have had a great day with Birgit & Sandra from Olfactoria’s Travels but were so busy enjoying their company that there are no photos. There will be photos of some of the other stuff soon. Sadly I left my phone on a train, all will be fine though and life will be cool.
Portia xx

La Myrrhe by Chrisopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 1995

December 25, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 39 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

“Myrrhe is mine it´s bitter perfume, breathes a life of gathering gloom …….” The Quest of the Magi by John Henry Hopkins Jnr.

Merry Christmas APJ friends, if you could just tear yourself away from your festivities for a moment …..

La Myrrhe by Chrisopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 1995

This wonderful deep, rich, golden, comforting, soft, chilly, yet warm, aniseedy, bright, beautiful and thought provoking perfume, La Myrrhe, comes in for a lot of flack. Those who love Serge for his reliable potions, and you all know what they are, will probably not care for this. It forces you to look outside of the box, which may be uncomfortable for some. If you´re thinking, awesome, I hope it smells like Chergui, forget it.

However , if it is one you have wanted to try, but not had the chance because it can be difficult to get hold of, I would love to share some of mine. Please leave a comment telling me WHY you would like to try La Myhrre. You have till 10pm December 29th 2014 Australian EDST.

I will get my daughter Hannah to pick the name out of the dead armadillo as always because it is fun!!
There again I might pick the winner myself if someone leaves a good and original reason for wanting to try the stuff. Who knows??

Enjoy the pictures that a good friend and photographer, Dayle Ann Clavin, took of my bottle.

OK. You can get back to your turkey, unpacking of presents or whatever. Our perfume love and hobby is very decadent. Spare
a thought for these who are not so fortunate. Let´s contribute to making our immediate environment a better place to live in.

Peace on earth, good will to all men.

With love
CQ

http://www.dayleannclavin.com
Look at her pictures yourself if you have time at Dayle Ann Clavin.

Waterton Lakes National Park: Perfume: Photo Essay

September 4, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Dionne

My Favorite Place on Earth:

Waterton Lakes National Park and How It Relates to Perfume

Greetings, my fellow niche nerds!

This is a post of a different sort than my usual review; call it my “What I Did for Summer Holidays” assignment. Portia has mentioned to me that visiting Banff National Park is on her bucket list (just like seeing Australia is on mine), so I thought I’d let her and you in on one of Alberta’s best-kept secrets and a place very dear to my heart, Waterton Lakes National Park.

First of all, here are some maps to get you oriented:

Photo Stolen Waterton Park

Just to give you an idea of scale, Alberta’s about 1,125 km (760 miles) from top to bottom, bigger than California, smaller than Texas, and almost three times the size of the UK.

Photo Stolen pc.gc.ca

You see that liiiitle green blob in the southwest corner of the map? That’s Waterton. It’s a lot smaller in size than Banff or Jasper, the two much larger green areas on the west edge of the map.

Photo Stolen pc.gc.ca

So here we are in the southwest corner of the province, about a 3 hour drive from Calgary. Waterton shares its southern border with Glacier National Park in the United States, and the two combined are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/354

So with the technical stuff out of the way, it’s time to gush. As much as I love Jasper and Banff, Waterton is a truly special and unique place. As you’ll see from the pictures, the prairies come right to the feet of the mountains, so there is a sense of airiness and grandeur here I’ve never experienced anywhere else. Waterton has been called the “Anti-Banff” because it’s quaint and quiet, with very little development.

Both The Engineer and I had spent time here as kids, and I remember distinctly our first visit back as a young married couple. I said to him, “I feel like a dried-up sponge that’s been thrown back into water. There’s just something about this place.”

Since then, we’ve come back every year. One of the things that struck me on that first visit as an adult was how strong of a scent memory Waterton held. It’s mountain air and water and the prairies all mixed together. Portia asked me what perfumes I wore when we were camping there this year, and I told her I hadn’t worn any. I brought a passel of decants, and I typically enjoy working my way through a bunch of samples whenever I camp but….. I just couldn’t do it. Stepping out of our trailer that first morning and breathing in, I wanted nothing to get in the way of that smell. I thought to myself, “What is that? Is that sage? I wonder if there’s anything that smells like this in perfume form.” So that’s become one of my latest quests, finding a perfume that smells like sage and mountain air, something that reminds me of Waterton. Will I find it? Not sure, but it’s going to be fun trying.

So before I show you some of our family photos, here are a couple of questions for you: 1) Have you ever been somewhere so special you chose not to wear perfume? 2) Sage and mountain air, people. Any recommendations for my sampling quest?

Here’s hoping you all have places that touch your spirit and soothe your soul. Mwah!

Dionne

The Engineer and Dragongirl hiked to the top of Bear’s Hump, a short but steep trail on the edge of the townsite that gives an amazing panoramic view of the area. This is facing south, and it also shows one of the reasons why the town has stayed small. Basically, there’s no room to get bigger.

The same spot facing north. Waterton’s combination of prairie and mountain makes for an extremely diverse and unique biosphere.

Mainstreet. Most of these stores haven’t changed since I was a kid.

The Playground in town.

A plaque at the playground

Our site at Crandell, facing west.

Same spot facing north.

This fellow was in a neighbor’s site. There are deer EVERYWHERE here.

It’s typically for bears to be around the Crandell campground as it’s away from the town, and we usually see one or two every year we come. For some reason, possibly the abundance of berries, we saw three or four *every single day* this year. It got to the point where I just left the camera with the zoom lens on my lap everywhere we drove.

Because of the bears, we saw this sight all the time too, typically referred to as “Bear Jam.” This is on Red Rock Parkway on the way to our campground, there are mountains to the left and the right of this photo.

3 Positive Reminders For A Better Day

August 22, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Hello Australian Perfume Junkies,

Not every day is great. Sometimes we struggle with depression, pain, trouble and lack. I belong to a Facebook Group that is about changing the way you react to external and internal everything. From the nastiness we offer ourselves when we look in the mirror, the way we interpret others behaviors and how we feel the world sees us to taking time, expressing gratitude and understanding how magic and beautiful we all are. And how GOOD LUCKY!

Photo Stolen The Mindset Maven

I know I am lucky, blessed and beautiful (though not conventionally so, my beauty is the extraordinary kind).

Thank you all for being a part of the APJ family. Every view, comment and friend I’ve made from this blog is another amazing thing to be happy about. You lot are a force for joy in my life. THANK YOU!

So please enjoy my 3 Positive Reminders For A Better Day

Someone right here loves you, and you are worthy of it.
Portia xxxox

Relent by ETRO + Venice Photo Essay

July 11, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 34 Comments

Hey there happy huffers,

While Jin and I were in Venice in January/February he had found us a wonderful hotel. My only rules for him to do bookings were 4 star, less than 300 metres from the railway station and that they include breakfast. In Venice he excelled himself. The hotel was very close to the station and near a bunch of major bridges, attractions, ferries and food. The room was bright, clean, spacious, quiet and sunny with a view of the rooftops of Venice and the Grand Canal and the hotel had wifi in the lobby 24 hours, with a bar that was quite comfortable. One of our favourite things about the hotel was the large, super-clean bathroom filled with ETRO Relent bath products: hair & body wash and lotion! We left the hotel every day smelling beautiful from our bath products and kept arm skin clear for frag testing. We also left the hotel CRAMMED with breakfast each day, HEAVEN!! Needless to say we asked for, and received, a handful of the mini shower gels which are big enough to last 10 days of showering. SCORE! The hotel? The Boscolo Bellini, Lista di Spagna 116/A | Cannareggio quarter, 30121 Venice, Italy

Photos Stolen Expedia

Relent by ETRO

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, orange, lime, eucalyptus
Heart: Orange blossom, rose, iris
Base: Amber, vanilla, musk (ETRO adds citron in the base)

From the ETRO site: The true Eden is never a precise location; we need to learn to create it inside ourselves, to carry with us some of the serenity that can be evoked by aromas that brighten the heart. Sparkling citrus fruits and the sweetest flowers, a hint of the sensuality of amber and the languor of rose, a drop of solemn musk.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

Since Venice, every shop that has ETRO gets a visit from me but nobody seems to carry Relent anymore, only the newer ones in the lineup. So I went to the internet and recently I found a Relent 150ml Eau Parfumee at Beauty Encounter for only $70 and the 200ml Shower Gel for only $39!! I am extremely happy about it and bought fragrance and a couple of shower gels. It is such a vivid memory for both Jin and I, a happy, wonderful memory that we cherish, so easy to bring back just by fragrance. Fragrantica gives 2010 as this fragrances release but MUA has reviews from 2003.

How does it smell? The opening citrus and eucalyptus combination is fizzzy, dry and interesting, the citrus fizzes like a soda pop drink fresh from the bottle but the eucalyptus holds the sweetness in check giving a very herbal, green dryness. If you told me there was some cumin with coriander/lavender/basil here I would totally believe you because it’s such a vegetative yet sweaty green opening. I also smell some wood notes that are unmentioned. It takes a while for the opening scene to develop properly and it stays for a while before the orange blossom makes her appearance, not as an entrance but she comes in though the side door unannounced, no fanfare but there she is whispering something naughty in your ear and rose is giggling wickedly beside her. Then, as the star of the show is about to be announced, like a wedding everyone quietens down and there is a fragrant hush, a lull, a pause before IRIS stands tall at the top of the stairs in full spotlight. A woody, powder puff of an iris, gentle and soft and cuddly and furry with musks comes down the stairs to be the star of the night. Everyone gets to dance with her, maybe the best analogy would be a round dance where everyone is involved but only a few are near iris for the rest of the evening before the last slow dance and then gone.

Portia’s first Venetian Bridge

Jin loving Carnivale

The Last Gondola Builders

The Grand Canal

From our restaurant

Peggy Guggenheim Modern Art Museum, so fabulous

Cafe Ceiling

Jin loved this bridge

Main Square at night after the Carnivale crowds are gone

Venice sunset

I think Relent could be worn anywhere, including frag phobic works, it is soft and pretty enough to be passed of as body lotion but interesting enough to wear. Light, cuddly and to Jin and I joyful. Maybe you will think so too.

My scent hungry skin gets about 3-4 hours before there is only a sweet amber musk that smells like me. Jin says the scent continues but I have lost the ability to smell it.

Nobody else on the first 4 pages of Google has reviewed Relent
Beauty Encounter has the best prices I could find and none of the sample shops carry Relent, though some have other ETRO frags.

I hope you enjoyed our ETRO Relent and Venice Photo Essay. All unattributed photos taken by Jin or myself.
See you tomorrow for more fun and madness,
Portia xx

Kampot Pepper from Cambodia Photo Essay

April 16, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 56 Comments

Kampot Pepper from Cambodia Photo Essay + GIVEAWAY!

In the 1920’s every French (restaurant) kitchen worth it’s salt and pepper used Kampot pepper from Cambodia, a former French colony. When Pol Pot became dictator of Kampuchea he declared Grow Rice, Not Spice, a rhyming but odd domestic policy as Cambodia suddenly had no exports. It used to export this to Europe by the tonne.

Like Champagne, this pepper has geographical appellation status because of it’s unique taste… and scent.

Black Kampot Peppercorns

Smell
The Top notes have hints of mint and eucalyptus followed by a floral heart and a base note that can only be described as pepper ++. The smell is enchanting, it is appetite enchanting, this Bordeaux of peppercorns is absolutely aromatic and a taste sensation.

Red Kampot Peppercorns

Taste
Add to strawberries macerated in balsamic vinegar to wow your next dinner guests. Rough pound with pestle for savory dishes or freshly grind to sprinkle just prior to serving. Oh, and throw away the MSG that you have hiding back left of your pantry.

Kampot Pepper is the first Cambodian product to benefit from the status of Protected Geographical Indication. The taste and smell is linked to the terroir, rainfall, the local water and traditional Khmer farming techniques.

It’s got a floral dimension that’s really something special.
Anthony Bourdain
Food and Travel Show Host

A certain sweetness to it rather than straightforward heat.
Michael Laiskonis
Le Bernardin
New York City

Perfect with Kep crab

It just so happens that I was in Kampot recently, eating crab cooked on the beach in nearby Krep, and pepper shopping.

We have 8 Kampot peppercorns to give away!

Let’s make that 8 bags of peppercorns to give away on Australian Perfume Junkies.

For you?

I use 2 parts red to 1 part black and words fail when trying to describe the X factor of the red peppercorns. There are also green and white Kampot peppercorns but these were not harvested when I motorcycled into town.

Gifts – one bag of black and one bag of red Kampot peppercorns from Cambodia

HOW DO YOU WIN

Leave a comment below telling us your favourite use of pepper in food, fashion or fragrance or Like The Fragrant Man on Facebook to be in the random draw.

WHAT YOU CAN WIN

Lets make that 8 gifts consisting of one bag of red peppercorns and one bag of black peppercorns so that you can taste the difference.

Included is P&P to anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Friday April 19th 2013 10pm AEDST and winners will be announced in a separate post then.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and TSO Jin will pick them. He doesn’t even stop watching TV to do it usually.
The winners will have till Wednesaday 24th April 2013 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or Portia will give the prize to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Will you buy banana? Looking after in-law’s banana stall while they negotiated local prices for the pepper. Kampot Market, Cambodia.
Photo: Houv Tang