Pierre Guillaume

New perfumes for a new life

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

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Post by Gabriella

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Hello fragrance friends! For those of you that read my last post, you’ll know I’ve been busy with my relocation to Melbourne.
The good news is that we’re here now and besides being really cold and missing my fragrance collection that’s still in transit, there are plenty of things to look forward to. One of these is that perfume shopping is way better in Melbourne than Sydney (I’ll be sure to post some of my shopping adventures soon!). The second is that I’m really excited about introducing some new perfumes into my life.

I find that relocating gives a new outlook: not only do you feel different, but it is often a great time to try new things, like a different fashion style, a new lipstick and of course, new or different perfumes. When I moved to London, my tastes in perfume changed quite a bit and gems like Chanel No 19 EDP, Lipstick Rose, Musc Ravageur and Habanita became new loves. So, what beauties will Melbourne bring perfume-wise? Here’s five scents that I’m looking forward to adding to my permanent rotation:

New perfumes for a new life

Dans Tes Bras by Maurice Roucel for Frederic Malle 2008

Dans Tes Bras Frederic Malle FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Heliotrope, jasmine, woodsy notes, patchouli, pine tree, cashmeran, sandalwood, musk, incense, violet

This beautiful but quirky violet scent has always intrigued me, but I have never really found the perfect time or place to wear it. It’s woody sombreness never quite fit with Sydney’s warmer clime, but it strikes me as the perfect accompaniment to Melbourne’s chill. A good choice for the weekends when I’m swathed in a big black jumper, jeans and boots and mulling over life, sipping an espresso.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and The Non Blonde
Mecca Cosmetica starts at $142/30ml
Surrender to Chance has $7/.5ml

Louanges Profanes by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale 2008

PG19 Louanges Profanes Parfumerie Generale FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Lily, benzoin, hawthorn, incense, neroli, woody notes

I’m including this one because I’m dying to wear it after experiencing a massive olfactory memory the other week. While packing boxes, I smelt it there and then, even though I last time I sniffed it was more than three years ago and only from a small sample vial. Does anyone else ever experience this? I’m thinking this opulent oriental with its smoky lily accord and smattering of hawthorn will be lovely in the cold weather when I want to feel glam: it’s all plush red velvet, cashmere and patent heels.

Further reading: The Olfactorialist
Luckyscent has $125/50ml
Surrender to Chance has $5/ml

Love by Calice Becker for By Kilian 2007

Love by Kilian By Kilian FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, bergamot, pink pepper, coriander
Heart: Iris, jasmine, rose, honeysuckle, orange blossom
Base: Musk, vanilla, civet, caramel, sugar, labdanum

I’m by no means a gourmand lover but I’m finding that the cold, dry air has me hankering after something sweet. Love is a good fit for me, given the neroli and jasmine give me the much-needed white floral hit within the sweetness of caramelised sugar and vanilla. This is cotton candy and marshmallows, pink and pretty. A somewhat frivolous and light-hearted scent when the grey skies will make me want to take my girly-ness to the max.

Luckyscent has $145/4 x .25oz
Surrender to Chance has $4/.5ml

Moor Street Gardenia Eau De Parfum by Klein’s Perfumery 2014

Moor Street Gardenia Eau De Parfum
Photo Stolen Klein’s Perfumery

Anyone who’s read my posts will know of my love of gardenia. Like many, I’d given up on finding a really good one given Tom Ford’s Velvet Gardenia is discontinued. Klein’s Perfumery Moor Street Gardenia is part of the boutique’s new line up that I discovered on a hasty reconnaissance visit here a few weeks ago. It’s as perfect a gardenia as I’ve ever encountered. A heady, slightly green composition that evokes the creamy petals in full bloom. A good choice for when I’m longing for the Sydney mugginess and just that little bit homesick.

Klein’s Perfumery has $110/50ml

Ta’if by Geza Schoen and Linda Pilkington for Ormonde Jayne 2004

Ta'if Ormonde Jayne FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these notes:
Top: Saffron, date, pink pepper
Heart: Orange blossom, white peach, rose, freesia, lily of the valley, jasmine
Base: Amber, tonka, musk, vanilla absolute

It’s now clear to me that I’m craving orange blossom, since Ta’if is the third scent that I’ve mentioned, along with Love and Louanges Profanes that includes a hefty dose of the note. However, Ta’if is first and foremost an opulent rose scent. I’m pretty picky with roses, preferring them dark, and Ta’if satisfies this want with a spicy opening of saffron and pink pepper. The rose is full and lush, tempered by a breath of jasmine, lily of the valley and freesia before the voluptuous orange blossom comes to life in the dry down. This is the scent to wear when I want to feel powerful and confident whilst job and flat hunting: regal, rich and very sophisticated.

Further reading:  Now Smell This and EauMG
Peony Melbourne has $195/50ml
Surrender to Chance has $4/.5ml

So, do you like any of my picks?
What new perfumes have you discovered when moving to a new place or traveling?

With much love till new time!
M x

Grisens/Oliban by Pierre Guillaume for Phaedon 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Hi there Scented Fragrance Friends,

So a bit of a mystery, I was given a manufacturers carded sample while in Bloom London and it says very clearly Grisens, but looking on the internet it is called Oliban. Does anyone know the whys and wherefores of this discrepancy? Maybe in my searching today I will find an answer.

Grisens/Oliban by Pierre Guillaume for Phaedon 2011

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Incense, woody notes, sandalwood

So short a note list and SO MUCH going on. The first spritz is a warm, burning incense that quickly morphs to a mentholated, juniper type wood, a bit like the eucalyptus style opening of the Australian Mysore sandalwood and then I get all pine/resinous sauna and lip liner pencil shavings, with the waxy/iris/rose lipstick smell too. All this in the first five minutes and slightly different amounts of each in successive wears, I think Grisens/Oliban may be heat and body chemistry tempered.

Grisens Oliban Phaedon Wesley Eller FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Incense and a slight orange flavour as we move into the heart, loads of every expensive, elegant incense that is not churchy but clean and woodsy. I would love to burn this in my home, I think it would create a beautiful feeling of tranquility and peace. It would definitely take the demons and bad energy with it. The image of a beautifully dressed man with a great smile keeps popping into my head, I think the fragrance is either trying to tell me it would be great on suit men or it would be a wonderful way to lure one to my bedchamber, or anywhere nearby and available. After half an hour projection drops decidedly but still you are quietly fragrant, it is closer though. After some time the incense burns away nearly completely leaving me smelling like a new furniture store in a very ritzy part of town, the hand made high end stuff. Lovely, warm, woodsy and smooth Grisens/Oliban wears like a second, scented, wooden skin till dry down at about 5 hours in around 20C temps, a bit less in heat. The final breath I can smell is cool and fresh woodsy/incense again: like watching a spring sunset from a forested glen near a fresh water lake. Heavenly……

Grisens Oliban Phaedon MAMJODH FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Where would I wear Grisens/Oliban? I think it would be a super scent that is not too big or intrusive for anything, including close office work. You won’t skunk your colleagues, date, friends but you also aren’t making an enormous statement. Very nice to be collected and hugged by a Mum or Dad smelling like this and I think it would make a very interesting gift for someone becoming interested in fragrance, or falling down the rabbit hole as they say. Good scent for events I imagine. It would be an excellent play off against a formal gown, or a party/disco frock.

Further reading: Ca Fleur Bon and Eyeliner On A Cat
Phaedon Paris has €85/100ml and send to the world

Have you tried any of the Phaedon’s? Is Pierre G one of your faves or is there sop much product that you are overwhelmed?
Portia x

Rouge Avignon by Pierre Guillaume for Phaedon 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 78 Comments

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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Hi APJ,

I received a text from my daughter last week: “Stole two spritzes of your new perfume. I feel like I could conquer the world and just hop on a plane and go anywhere I want.” No fear of her turning into a perfumista then!

Rouge Avignon by Phaedon 2013

Rouge Avignon Phaedon FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Raspberry, ylang-ylang
Heart: Rose, cacao pod, hinoki wood, tuber
Base: Vetiver, sandalwood, musk, amber

Oxana at Bloom Perfumery, London tucked a big sample of this into my bag as I left her shop. I had never heard of Phaedon, although I know Pierre Guillaume of course.

From Phaedon: A Gothic composition, as opulent and dark as the shadow of the Papal Palace looming over nations and centuries… The carmine red of the papal stole is conjured with a fleshy, spicy rose facetted by ylang-ylang and raspberry. In the heart notes, waxed woods, cocoa bean, black truffle and earthy smoky vetiver lure us into the private apartments of the Supreme Pontiff. Gilt moldings and religious ornaments glint in the firelight while gray tendrils of smoke rise from a censer burning sandalwood chips mixed with musk and amber.

Rouge Avignon Phaedon Jacopo_Pesaro_presented_St._Peter_Pope_Alexander_VI_-_Tizian WikiMediaJPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

So you know what – it´s pushing 40°c here in Austria so let´s skip the usual banter.

Rouge Avignon shocked me with it´s splendour. It´s unusual and beautiful enough that someone may well ask what you are wearing, but you don´t need an instruction manual to understand it. It’s a gliding, seamless scent and it will be a stunning fall to winter fragrance, but it is beyond fine now too. I feel an addiction coming on.

Rouge Avignon Phaedon Roses Dayle Ann ClavinPhoto used with permission: Dayle Ann Clavin Photography

Rose. Red. Opulent. Velvety. Ylang ylang. Spicy rose. Earthy rose. Gorgeous, succulent, but never gourmand raspberry. It is so vibrant and cerise and strangely pretty. But don´t be fooled, it mingles with amber and vetiver and sandalwood and musk. To all that you may indeed add a little smokiness. Dark and sparkly. The fruity note is always there though, hiding in the shadows. I could see Ann Boleyn wearing this. Quite medieval.

Rouge Avignon Phaedon Anneboleyn WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

So you wanna try it? Thanks once again to Oxana at Bloom perfumery in London Town, I can give away three samples of it. But hey – no – not for nothing.

Rouge Avignon GIVEAWAY

Giveaway myprettypaintsPhoto Stolen myprettypaints

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

There are 3 prizes this week. Each winner will receive:

1 x Rouge Avignon by Phaedon 2013  Sample
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. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

All you need to do is tell us how you follow and exactly why this juice might float your boat!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Rouge Avignon by Phaedon GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1QS #Perfume #Review #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Midnight Sunday 18th August 2013 in Austria and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, I will then put all the names into my long dead armadillo and three winners will be drawn. Alright?.
The winners will have till Wednesday 21st August 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.

Bussis from a melting CQ

xxxxxxxxxx

Ambre Ceruleen by Pierre Guillaume for Huitieme Art Parfums 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hiya Everyone,

I am a bit of a sucker for a yummy amber but I though I’d reached my limit of FB in the amber range. Since the Huitieme Art Parfums were released in 2010 I had thought the bottles drool worthy, they look like modern art sculpture in the photos and so while visiting LA for the Scentsation Bus Tour my new buddy Tom from the Perfume Posse and Perfume Smellin’ Things and I snuck back into Scent Bar, the physical store for the Lucky Scent Crew. I tried a few of the set and the one that was most interesting on the day, on my skin, in the first 30 minutes was…

Ambre Ceruleen by Huitieme Art Parfums 2010

FG Ambre Ceruleen FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Sandalwood, opoponax, tonka bean, lemon verbena, powder

Straight up the bottle is hefty and the matte finish feels like carved soap stone, porcelain or clay and is cool to the touch, already the experience feels luxurious and interesting. I also like that no light can enter to get to the juice meaning I don’t have to worry about leaving the bottle on my desk which doesn’t get loads of light and is cool. I have found myself reaching for Ambre Ceruleen quite a bit since my return from LA and have worn it almost exclusively since my return from India, I want to feel the bottle and smell the opening rush again and again.

How does it smell on my skin? I absolutely adore the resinous, sweet, crunchy opening that is tempered by the lemon, and made unusual by it. It’s not a lemon cake but there is certainly a nod to that genre and if you love gourmand but are looking for something a little more grown up and sophisticated then this could be the one. It feels like being wrapped up in love and hugged till you can’t breathe with joy. An elegant, inviting and, to me, interesting amber that throws a golden patina over everything. There is a story here but it’s not a huge one, some of the lemon burns off after about an hour and Ambre Ceruleen becomes slightly more woodsy and as it fades the powder becomes more intense. There is still the amber all the way through and it gets a little deeper, a little sweeter, a little deeper again through the long fragrance life which is another great thing.

Ambre Ceruleen Fairy Fedio.netPhoto Stolen Feedio.net

I am getting around 7 hours of fragrance life and when I wear Ambre Ceruleen outside the house it gets noticed, people that don’t normally comment on my fragrance ask questions about it.

This could be the perfect gateway amber for anyone toying with trying the style, beautiful, wearable, practical fragrance that smells excellent. It was lovely in the heat of late LA spring and is gorgeous in the soft winter cool of Sydney, I’m wearing it again today and tonight.

Ambre Ceruleen beads ForeverAmberPhoto Stolen ForeverAmber

Further reading: EauMG really didn’t like it and CandyPerfumeBoy did
LuckyScent has $125/50ml or samples available
SurrenderToChance starts at $6/ml

Till tomorrow, waft fragrantly and fearlessly,
Portia xxx

PG04 Musc Maori by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale 2005

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

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Gabriella

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Hello APJ friends! I do hope you’re all having a great festive season and for those that celebrate Christmas, I hope Santa brought many scented goodies your way.
I respect the Parfumerie Generale line enormously. I might not own many full bottles of Pierre Guillame’s concoctions but I love how he makes the conventional extraordinary and makes the unconventional tremendously beautiful.
Take his version of tuberose, the sumptuous Tubéreuse Couture, where the ‘conventional’ tuberose is taken to new heights by the addition of sugar cane and papyrus. Or Bois Naufragé where the inspiration was a photo of a nude on driftwood. The unconventional idea of skin and washed up flotsam and jetsam is transformed into a transparent milky fig and woody scent that is much more than a day at the beach.

PG04 Musc Maori by Parfumerie Generale 2005

Musc Maori is his take on the conventional note of chocolate. Now, I am not sure about you, but I am not really a fan of gourmand scents. I’m also one of those weird women that missed out of the chocolate-loving gene when I was born. The taste of chocolate, let alone the thought of a perfume centred around it, doesn’t exactly set my world on fire.
Musc Maori, however, is much more than just a chocolate perfume. It is an exploration of all chocolate’s elements: its taste, its smell, how it makes you feel and the memories it brings.

PG04 Musc Maori FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these notes:

Cacao pod, tonka bean, amber, vanilla, white musk, woody notes, coffee, floral notes and green notes.

Musc Maori’s opening is much more intriguing and complex than the whiff of a freshly opened chocolate bar.
Languid floral notes (which I suspect here is orange blossom and a little jasmine) combine with the cacao and tonka bean to create a vivid impression of entering a really good chocolate shop. The refrigerated air is perfumed with the sweetness of rows upon rows of prettily decorated and delicately flavoured chocolate nubs. It is at once rich, yet transparent, like an aerated veil of all varieties of the sweet: from plain dark to milky white; from raspberry fondant to orange crème.

The woody notes then underscore the floral sweetness but lend a tart, slightly astringent vibe that is almost crunchy in nature. It reminds me of my younger years when I did in fact enjoy the occasional tube of Smarties or two: biting into the brittle candied shell to devour the silky milk chocolate inside. It also evokes a flood of memories of birthday parties. There’s the sweet, powdery acidic smell of packets of balloons. There’s the scented melange of jelly sweets, chocolates and plastic trinkets in the take-home lolly bags mixed with the remnants of the perfume the mother wore when she carefully packed them the night before.

maoricarving 3news.co.nzPhoto Stolen 3news

Musc Maori then develops a strong lactonic character, but it’s not hot milk or even hot chocolate I smell. The milk note here is tepid with the gentle aroma of white flowers. Masses of jasmine and gardenia blooms steeped in white liquid. The drydown is the soft chocolate mixed with gentle musk and woody notes: the scent of a young child’s skin after a Friday night chocolate treat and a bath: warm, tender and sweet.

I find Musc Maori to be a compelling perfume to smell and experience. It’s one that really surprised me because it is just that much different from anything else I have tried. But while it has taken me on a lovely olfactory journey and evoked strong memories, it’s still not something I would actually want to smell like. I’ll keep a vial handy for the memories, but full bottles are for true chocolate connoisseurs only.

cacao healthpostPhoto Stolen HealthPost

Further reading TheCandyPerfumeBoy and Olfactoria’sTravels
Perfumerie Generale’s site starts at 30ml/€59
SurrenderToChance starts at 1ml/$5
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Have you tried Musc Maori? What are your favourite gourmand scents or ones with chocolate notes? Have you tried any perfumes recently that have inspired strong memories of childhood?
With much love till next time,
M x