Fragrant Things That Arrived This Week

July 30, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Hey there Fragrance Lovers,

Is there anything as day-to-day exciting as getting a parcel in the mail? I have to go down to the Post Office to get mine because now that I live in an apartment I find it much safer to have everything redirected to a Post Office Box. So the whole thing is a weekly adventure and I’m never quite sure if there will be only letters or some packages. Let’s face it, anything not a bill is a cause for celebration.

Fragrant Things That Arrived This Week

So I did get a box this week and it was chock full of exciting fragrance. I had asked Franco at Lucky Scent to find me a bottle of my long-coveted and recently discontinued in any online store I could think of bottle of 24.9.11 by Hilde Soliani. He’s such a sweetie that he tracked it down for me so what else could I do but order a couple of extras as a special Thank You, and also to make the shipping seem less incredible.

24-09-11 by Hilde Soliani 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Calamus (milky, green, cinnamon like grass root), amber, frankincense, myrrh

24-09-11 is part of the Hilde Soliani The Invisibles range, meant to compliment your own fragrance and enhance your confirm your presence. What a stunning way to think of perfume. In reality though 24-09-11 is way too fragrant to be melded with your skin and enhance it, you will be decidedly and lavishly fragrant when wearing this. the opening is sweet and spicy, a non edible radiant caramel incense. Warm and lush and ever so slightly discordant, as if it’s about to topple over into disgusting over sweetened caramel slice at any moment but the green calamus and the incense win out and keep it delightful, wearable and distinguished.

Eau Absolue by Mona de Orio 2013

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica Gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, clementine, petitgrain
Heart: Geranium, java vetiver oil, bay leaf, pink pepper
Base: Cedar, musk, labdanum

BZZZZZZZ! The citrus opening is loads of fun but kept from being a zingy space cadet by whispers of the resins to come even in the first minute. While I sit here in a balmy Sydney summer evening I am enjoying the very unexpected opening. I have read a few reviews before writing tonight, which is not something I usually do, so my expectations were for something quite different, something more mainstream and fizzy. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is, as I should always expect with a Mona di Orio fragrance, something quite densely layered with everything in the notes list all at once and what will happen is certain accords will get precedence on occasion.

Tokyo Bloom by The Different Company 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Dandelion, galbanum, basil, blackberry (cassis)
Heart: Cyclamen, star jasmine
Base: Guaiac wood, musks, amber

This is interesting, it opens as sharply as hairspray and is a wonderful awkward blend of green, milky, musky, spicy and fizzy tones that I’ve never met together before yet still manages to smell GREAT! I was expecting an aqueous nothing and am beyond pleasantly surprised. You must at least take some time to try this marvelous, well priced, fragrance. A lovely modern interpretation of the Eau de Cologne style.

As you can see these beauties have been on the list for a while. Boy is it nice to have them in the stable now. Today I wafted Eau Absolue and really loved it. Like a scented princess.

What has arrived for you lately?
Portia xx

Sex Panther Cologne by Romane 2008

July 27, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Post by Azar

Warning! This is NOT a review.

Hello APJers,

I just have to say it: There are way too many perfumes out there! The old ones never die and news ones seem to be born every six hours or so. The world is overpopulated with fragrance creations and, like the human population, the creation of perfumes seems to be out of control and perhaps even threatening the world as we know it. (Only part of my tongue is in my cheek.)

Can we be too productive? Yes I think we can and we are, in the real world and in perfume land. Many of us, myself included, in an effort to keep up with current trends, have amassed hundreds (if not thousands) of samples and huge collections of perfume. The passion for perfume is a most interesting habit in that the perfumista not only collects a thing but collects an experience as well. While collecting is fun and not inherently bad there is a tipping point where people begin to lose interest. To prevent market saturation perhaps IFRA should intervene and limit every perfumer or company to the production of one new fragrance – and one new ad campaign – per year? The resulting unused creative energy might be redirected toward solving the planet’s truly serious problems.

I, for one, have become so jaded and overloaded that it takes something very different to sell me a fragrance. Exclusivity does not have the appeal of, well, a rat’s ass and I have come to be inured to the images of gorgeous lithe bodies, the suggestions of power, fields of flowers, bouquets of roses, images of the sea that populate today’s video and prints ads. However…a couple of weeks ago, while working on my last post, I came across something that so piqued my interest that I almost fell victim to a new kind of clever advertising. I discovered the world of officially licensed movie and TV fragrances, in particular Sex Panther by Romane.

Sex Panther Cologne by Romane 2008

Sex Panther Cologne: The Un-Review

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Juniper
Middle: Lavender, musk
Base, Cedar, sandalwood

Sex Panther is a scent created as a pendant to a scene in the 2004 comedy Anchorman. The scene in the movie does a fabulous job of mocking the advertising and pretense associated with fragrance.

The video ads for the perfume take up where the movie left off and use comedy and novelty to sell what seems to be a rather ordinary fresh, woodsy fragrance.

After enjoying the Sex Panther fun I found that the television series Star Trek had also officially licensed several fragrances, namely Tiberius, Red Shirt, Sulu and Pon Farr. This was a whole new smelly universe that I had never imagined existed, but despite the promise of Pon Farr, I decided not to boldly go there and, in the future, try to avoid splitting infinitives whenever possible.

Now dear APJ pals, here are a few things that this inquiring mind would like to know: Do you think there are too many perfumes out there? Is there such a thing as the danger of over production? Have you experienced Sex Panther or any officially licensed fragrance related to a movie or TV series?

“Live long and prosper.” and remember that “60 % of the time it works every time!”

Azar xx

You’re welcome. Portia XXX

Stealing Your (BOY) Friends Beauty Products

July 26, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by AF Beauty

These past couple of weeks I have had a couple of sleepovers at a friend’s house. I had packed a bunch of stuff I thought I’d need, make up bag, sample sizes of facewash and moisturiser but when I had to have a shower I was empty handed and had to take pot luck with whatever was in his shower. Luckily, my friend is a bit fanatic about his appearance, so I didn’t think I would be washing with Fairy liquid or Morning Fresh! But still, it was like being thrust into the unknown, so I thought it would make an interesting post!

Stealing Your (BOY) Friends Beauty Products

First of all I needed shampoo. I found Aveda’s Clove Shampoo. I like the fresh smell of this shampoo so I placed a blob in my hand and applied. It lathered well but I felt when it rinsed away my hair wasn’t smooth. Honestly, I never know whether I should have smooth hair after shampooing or only after conditioner. I just know I’m not keen on that rough feeling some shampoos leave. And this was one of them.

So with my hair feeling a bit booffee I reached for conditioner and had a brief moment of panic that as a man with short hair he wouldn’t have conditioner. But I found QV Hair Conditioner. It comes in a giant pack, I squeezed some out, the texture was very much like moisturser, odd! I applied across my hair and left it in for a few minutes. Overall, it rinsed off well and my hair felt much smoother and I had a giant relief that I wasn’t going to have haystack hair the next day!

While the conditioner was left in, I then went looking for shower gel. I found on the floor a large container of QV Body Wash. I squeezed a couple of pumps from the pot and washed – I was actually very impressed by this. I usually go for things that smell nice when choosing shower wash so I wouldn’t have picked this myself. It lathered well and just a couple of pumps from the container was enough to wash me. Afterward my skin felt nice and clean and soft. I am actually going to buy my own one of these today!

Lastly, I was in the shower straight after work, so I was in a day’s worth of make-up and in searching for all the other products I found QV Face Exfoliating Polish – so I squeezed a bit of that and washed away. I loved the texture of this, creamy but exfoliating, when I finally washed away my skin felt lovely and clean and soft. But in the back of my mind, I was having doubts about the exfoliating ingredients. I double checked today and found it contains plastic microbeads. I like the texture of the beads, but I can’t live with myself knowing that washing my face is damaging the environment, so as much as I liked it, I wouldn’t knowingly buy this. Sad.

Do you ever have to make use of someone else’s beauty product choices? Ever found exciting gems?!
AF Beauty xx

If you want to know more about plastic microbeads, campaigns to remove and details of products without plastics, this site has some good stuff.

Hiris by Olivia Giacobetti for Hermès 1999

July 26, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Anne-Marie

Often on a Sunday afternoon after a busy weekend I wind down with a bath and a book. The fragrance for afterwards has to be gentle and subtle to keep me content for the evening, before a new week cranks up again. At the moment, Hermès Hiris is the perfect accompaniment to this ritual.

Hiris by Olivia Giacobetti for Hermès 1999

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, amber, iris, carnation
Heart: Iris, neroli, rose
Base: Honey, vanilla, cedar, almond tree

What works for me in Hiris is the contrast of cool and warm notes. Cool iris is dominant all the way through but is warmed and made easeful by spices (I love the coriander in the opening moments), and the subtlest touch of vanilla later on. (If there is honey in there I don’t perceive it unless it’s that touch of skin-alike sweetness in the base.) I don’t get the ‘carroty’ note in Hiris that other people notice. Earth certainly, but I smell no carrots. Hiris is dreamy and remote, but it likes you. Hiris wants to settle on your skin and stay there.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Other iris fragrances vying for our attention on the department store shelves, such as Prada’s Infusion d’Iris and Chanel’s No 19 Poudré, combine iris with gigantic quantities of pillowy white musk, but Hiris retains a dewy clarity that has nothing to do with musk. Neither the Prada or the Chanel appeal to me. Initially I loved No 19 Poudré but the musk was just too … well … dull. And I have trouble smelling Infusion d’Iris.
What bothers me sometimes in Hiris is a kind of musty soapiness. ‘Clothes washed in unscented fabric softener’ is how Luca Turin describes it, and while I would not go that far, I do see what he means, unfortunately.

Photo Stolen Hermès

I’m fine with Hiris not being a statement fragrance. To my mind Hiris is Hermès’ contribution to the 90s style of uncomplicated fragrances that seek only to make us feel clean and smell good. Thankfully it’s not as dated as many others in this genre. If the sillage is only moderate, Hiris veils beautifully. People will sense rather than really know that there is a lovely fragrance nearby.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Although the soapiness prevents me from loving Hiris, I persevere. I wear it out, wear it at home, wear it to bed. Where I live it’s winter, so who knows? Maybe Hiris will work better in warmer weather. I spray generously. It’s the best way to get to know a fragrance. Luckily I picked up my bottle at very little cost via local online classifieds, and it’s got about 60mls left, so I don’t have to be frugal. Mine’s the deep blue bottle. I’ve not seen the new one; do comment if you have compared them.

Further reading: Non Blonde and Olfactoria’s Travels
Hiris can be found at Hermès online and all Hermès stores
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

Do you have a favourite quiet fragrance for those in-between times, when you just want to smell good to yourself?
‘Til next time, keep spritzing!
Anne-Marie xx

Le Male by Francis Kurkdjian for Jean Paul Gaultier 1995

July 25, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Fumies.

I have been wearing this gem since it was launched. At the time I was living in England and a couple of my mates were models for JPG at the time. They were pierced and tattooed like crazy with shaven heads and killer bodies. It was this use of street kids in his parades that added an extra dimension of reality to everything he created. I was mainly an owner of his Gaultier Junior stuff, basically the diffusion line but I was ever so proud to be a billboard for this crazy designer that seemed to have grabbed the zeitgeist. I had some lovely navy blue leggings with a fabulous sewn patch and a maroon and white crop top. Of his pret-a-porter line I had only a cow print skivvy made of the softest and warmest mohair, I loved it so much and wore it till a couple of years ago I passed it onto a girlfriend who wears it infinitely more fabulously than I do.

Le Male by Jean Paul Gaultier 1995

Le Male by Francis Kurkdjian

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mint, lavender, cardamom, artemesia, bergamot
Heart: Cinnamon, cumin/caraway (depending where you read), orange blossom
Base: Vanilla, tonka bean, sandalwood, amber, cedarwood

My experience of Le Male is not like any other fragrance in my cupboards. I refuse to parse the notes and enjoy the experience from beginning to end. The bright, sparkling opening through the sweet heart and the warm resinous dry down. It is a scent of its own and nothing on earth comes close. Francis Kurkdjian’s first blockbuster and he continues to make flanker after flanker, still I am drawn to the original.

Photo Stolen Flickr

These are scents that tell the story of my life. There were years where I would follow handsome men around clubs smelling their hefty Le Male sillage. One of these men even became my partner for a year or so and every time he spritzed I would be madly, truly and deeply in love with his aroma. It was the wildest sex of my life too, completely and utterly uninhibited. This is the scent I would wear for drag work on and off for years and always felt it was an interesting dichotomy how beautifully the scent fits being in drag and its name.

Nowadays Le Male gets less wear than it did. My scent wardrobe is so full of choice yet I do come back maybe ten times a year and wear it for two days straight. I am at the end of this current two days and Le Male will now go back into the cupboard till next time.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: Now Smell This and EauMG
Parfum1 has $48/75ml
My Perfume Samples has $2/ml to $7/5ml

What is your Le Male story?
Portia xx

Emeraude EdC: Vintage by Francois Coty for Coty 1921

July 24, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey Hey APJ,

My mate Natalie from the sadly defunct site Another Perfume Blog was cleaning out her unwanted samples and decants and gave me an enormous bag of things that she thought I may be interested in trying. The bag is so huge that I find it completely overwhelming and rarely open it. I do look at it often with love for Natalie and thanks that she thought me worthy of such an amazing gift. I’m not sure why but today I was inspired to go rummaging through and found something I’ve been keen to try.

Emeraude EdC: Vintage by Francois Coty for Coty 1921

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange, bergamot, lemon
Heart: Jasmine, ylang-ylang, rose, Brazilian rosewood
Base: Amber, sandalwood, patchouli, opoponax, benzoin, vanilla

I’m not sure what the vintage is of the decant that was in the bag but it is a lovely chartreuse colour, pale yellow green, it looks like dangerous poison. Nothing like the modern day-glo green fragrance in the picture above which I have tried in the plastic crowned bottle and quite liked.

Citrus and what smells like galbanum to me are already warmed through by the creamy ylang, resins and woods. This older version is softer and less strident than my previous tries of the modern Emeraude. A furrier, fuzzier green that is so much more than a green. This is a really complex warm green that both cuddles and cools. I could see this being sold as a high end niche in the 21st century, there’s something decidedly balmy about the whole scent. As if it’s not a perfume but a pomade, a thick lotion in a pot or a solid.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Calming and beautiful this Emeraude wears close but still has the power to change the air around you and make the world seem a little more technicolour, slightly more splendid and imperial. Emeraude vintage is like a glamour cast before your nose that makes the world seem lovelier by far to the rest of your senses. The dry down becomes resinous and the vanilla/amber wafts discretely for a couple of hours after the fireworks have burned off.

Further reading: Muse In Wooden Shoes and Yesterday’s Perfume
FragranceNet have $6/12ml before Coupon

Photo Stolen YouTube

Emeraude EdC GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Emeraude EdC vintage decant (about 2ml)
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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us what you love about Coty or any vintage fragrance

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Vintage Emeraude EdC: Coty GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-46C #Perfume #Giveaway @COTYUKPR

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 26th July 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 30th July 2015 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.

Sarrasins by Christopher Sheldrake + Serge Lutens 2007

July 22, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Post by Liam

Sarrasins: A severe perfume.

There are a lot of noir scents on the market. Or better put, there are a lot of noir flankers on the market. Tom Ford’s Noir, Chanel’s Coco Noir, and Van Cleef and Arpels’ Cologne Noire to name a few fumes.

The word noir, whether it’s used to mod a title or used as a title on its own really fascinates me.

On one hand, noir and nuit go hand-in-hand and evoke feelings of a cool and steely midnight in winter. On another, noir seems to be a term impetuously placed on labels as it suggests a darkened fragrance that is largely more severe.

Unfortunately, this is not the usual case. Coco Noir is described as a ‘nocturnal baroque scent’ … with grapefruit?! No no no. That’s not noir. That’s a flirtatious teen girl late at night.

Sarrasins by Serge Lutens 2007

Sarrasins by Christopher Sheldrake + Serge Lutens

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Blossoms
Heart: Carnation, jasmine
Base: Musk

Sarrasins is noir. True noir. Sarrasins wraps me in its beauty and then strangles me gently. A metallic note opens floating ephemerally at the top of the overdosing of rich moreish jasmine. I suspect a drop of aldehydes lifts the fragrance and adds some initial space in the beginning, as the narcotic flower begins to bloom on the skin. This effect, a floral dipped in a touch of something artificial, reminds me of Serge Luten’s masterful Tuberuse Criminelle where a scene plays out on the skin as a murder occurs in a room full of tuberose flowers. This almost bloody accord is further tweaked with something undeniably clean – a Luten’s style musk note; camphoraceous and cool.

From here, the jasmine reveals itself emerging like a spike from the skin. It poses danger but never cuts as it is placated with its innate white floral creaminess. Thus its sweet and indolic moments are to be expected and these are spiced with a carnation note that recalls many early vintage scents I have smelled before. Despite the linear nature of the scent, the jasmine note pulls itself down into darker regions. It sways between dead and alive like flowers limply wilting and wrinkling like old leather.

‘Warm’ is best used to describe this stage, underscored with a majestic leatheriness and animalics as the jasmine showcases its green facet – here we find resolution between two clashes that learn to exist together in harmony. The sweetness now comes off as fruity and herbal, yet it appears to forever colour itself nostalgically purple and melancholically grey with its impossibly dusty undertones.

So, a noir scent like Sarrasins recalls something tender, tragic and emotionally palpable. Longing but not obtainable. It’s everything you expect from the Serge Lutens’ aesthetic and the noir labelling, a style of fragrance possessed only by truly the most exhaled scents. Anyway, evil is not a bad descriptor at all…

Photo Stolen Pixabay

In terms of longevity and sillage, Sarrasins trails me like a spectre. Close, intimate, and radiating energy and a cold stately mood. Moderate.

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and Smelly Thoughts
Serge Lutens can be purchased at Serge Lutens online or in most larger department stores
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

So! What do you think a true noir perfume is?

-Liam (turning 18 soon – how should I spoil myself?)

Borsch, Vodka and Tears: Melbourne

July 21, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

I had an extraordinary unplanned evening on Chapel Street, Melbourne. My favorite kind of experience, where I get to learn something fascinating, enjoy a new experience and have all my senses dazzled. I was drawn in to a doorway marked by an intriguing logo painted on a shop window: “Borsch, Vodka and Tears” a few steps and I was suddenly out of the cold and in cozy Eastern Europe!

Borsch, Vodka and Tears: Melbourne

A romantic bohemian style bar and restaurant, inspired by the cellar bars of Krakow. It represents a bygone world, specialising in Polish vodka, absinthe, Eastern European beers and Polish meals. It is a perfect place for a date.

I arrived late and eyed off the wall of vodkas on display. The owners have spent years sourcing the most unusual, historic and rare bottles exclusively importing from Poland. My interest was spiked on realizing the bottles were hand made and painted in Poland too -gorgeously bespoke…very much the same way our favourite niche fragrances reside. One bottle even had a bubble inside with a rose inside! Even the historical stories of the brands reminded me of some of the older niche fragrances houses. I had found a magical sparkling vodka apothecary!

I decided on a vodka tasting session. I was asked about my favorite drinks, smells and flavours and I handed myself over for 3 of the barman’s recommendations -very much like perfume shopping. At this point he put down on the bar, three of the cutest tiny hand cut crystal shot glasses. I will admit I wanted to steal them – of course I didn’t though!!

He then filled them with different coloured liquids – vodka! They could have been made from anything! From potato or grain, tinctures or infusions of fruit, herbs or spices and aged in woods like oak. The idea he had was to test me, as by now he knew I had an interest in guessing notes.

Here are the highlights:

1. Piasecki Miodówka Leśna – Forest like and herbal, juniper and pine needle notes. A touch of something a little more resinous and balsamic, maybe honey. If it were perfume think Dior La Collection Couturier Parfumeur – Granville with its pine, citrus, pepper and herbal gorse notes rounded by sandalwoods and even some elements of Gucci by Gucci Sport – cypress, juniper and a touch of musky ambrette seed

2. Ja-GoPrzepalanka – All natural organic artisanal vodka featuring burnt sweet caramel notes, like the top of a crème brulee but with the alcohol strength being enough to really warm the throat. Smooth and deliciously addictive!

3. Miodula Prezydencka Lezakowana was the highlight for me I tasted smoked beeswax predominantly, along with the taste of wild honey, smoked pine needles and oak wood. Only 4000 bottles are made a year, all filled by hand, with 500 reserved as diplomatic gifts for Poland’s president. Bottles are all hand numbered with batch information also handwritten. The recipe is from 1772. I need a full bottle of this exclusive juice!!!!

Next visit I want to try Soplica Staropolska the menu says: Honey, Walnut, Clove With Jasmine And Lilac Notes. Aged In Oak Then Bottled In Hand Painted Decanters.
How does that not sound like a must try perfume to you? How do you like your vodka?

Ainslie Walker x

Move On Monday Club

July 20, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 39 Comments

Post by Holly

Hiya APJ gang!

I have formed a club, and I’m recruiting members! There are no requirements, no dues to be paid, no meetings and your participation is gonna be mostly in your own head! That’s where most things start anyway, right? You don’t even have to declare your membership. In fact, I will now assume that you are all members of The Move On Monday Club. Welcome!

Move On Monday Club

No doubt you’re wondering “what the hell does this have to do with perfume?” Good question! You see, over the last year I got myself into a pickle with my um, sincerely enthusiastic purchasing of perfume samples. I had my reasons, but now it’s time to move on. No whining, cringing, hand-wringing, sobbing, reviews of my PayPal account, denial or regret. So I’m hoping you’ll help me out. My Move on Mondays are my way of dealing with thoughts, feelings and things that have been lurking in the depths and need to be addressed. I like the alliteration, and the mindset helps set the tone for the week for me.

I have more than 300 samples. All from the last eighteen months. Yep, I went apeshit crazy! Then suddenly, about six months ago, I became overwhelmed. I stopped opening the Olfactif boxes and envelopes from decanters and so on and so forth. I kept ordering. I’d get to it. Then, I put the boxes in a huge box, and envelopes in giant trash bags, and tossed them into closets. Nut job! Move on.

Now I know that there are many people who have tons of samples and are comfortable with that. I personally am not. For a while, I created an image of The Sample Sea, where my samples are gently drifting in and out, and I thought that eventually I’d surf the sea and accept whatever drifts along my way. That has been a comforting image for a while, but now the sirens are singing and the samples are hissing and spitting and demanding attention. The Sample Sea is a gyre, replete with plastic bags, paper envelopes, cardboard boxes and detritus.

So what I’d like to know is what is your perfume sampling journey like these days?
Do you have a clear sense of your style and prefer to stick with it? Has it been consistent?
Do you like to experiment and will try almost anything?
Do you consider what you have to be a collection, or kinda willy-nilly?
Do you plan your purchases?
Do you organize your samples?
How do you sample? Do you pick one at a time, or five or ten?
Do you have a yes, a no, and a maybe pile?

How do you decide what is full-bottle worthy? Do you have particular requirements such as price, sillage, longevity, consistency from the top notes through the dry down?

Some popular Sample Sites include: Surrender To Chance, Posh Peasant, My Perfume Samples

Them there’s a lotta questions! Whew! I hope this doesn’t look like homework, and that you’ll enjoy sharing some of your insights. Thank you in advance.
Love and hugs to all,
Holly xo

10 Things That Are So Sydney It Almost Hurts: Turbo Trivia hits the TOP 10

July 19, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Hey there APJ,

This week we had something super extraordinary happen. You may know that I run other businesses beside Australian Perfume Junkies (though APJ remains largely a labour of love it is a business) and one of those businesses is an event company called Turbo Trivia. In Australia the game Trivial Pursuit was a very popular board game and from that pubs & clubs started hosting versions of the game in-house as a great way to get families and groups of friends into their venue for 3 hours. They eat & drink and spend some quality time that by-passes all the angst of family because everyone is focused on a game and eating. It’s amazingly popular here and at least every second hotel has a trivia night.

Back in the first couple of years of this century my life as a showgirl seemed to be slowing down and while looking for a sideways step to keep me employed I had the idea to bring the trivia format to a gay crowd. It all seemed like a simple and fun idea that, if successful, could keep me working in my chosen career (DRAG) until I died. Well, it has been very successful, interestingly the concept works for all groups gay, straight & inbetweenies, and now I have 3 girls working regularly as well as myself. It’s a great way for newer girls to learn microphone skills and how to manage a room and we are also constantly in demand at Fundraising Events and Work Functions. The dream is to have 20 Turbo Trivia nights running weekly in Sydney and we are half way there.

If you’re reading this and you’d like Turbo Trivia in your venue or for your function get in touch. We also sell weekly Q&A if you’d like to host your own event. portia (underscore) turbo (at) yahoo (dot) com (dot) au

Please click on the link below to read our most fabulous write up ever. To say I was blown away is the understatement of the year. It was a surprise and a complete delight to be featured in this article alongside so many Sydney Icons that I personally love.

10 Things That Are So Sydney It Almost Hurts