Mademoiselle Guerlain by Thierry Wasser for Guerlain 2014

October 25, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Heya Lovers of Fine Fragrance,

Today I want to look at a decant I’ve had lying around here for a while but never seem to get to. Why has it lain forlorn and unloved? Who knows, sometimes it happens around here. What I did do yesterday after my bath though was spritz myself and WOW! So I spritzed again for work and now I am wearing it again. Masterpiece? Naah, but enjoyable? YES

Fragrantica says: Mademoiselle Guerlain is chic, elegant, cheerful Parisian scent. It is launched in 2014 in the exclusive Guerlain collection, but in fact it is the same fragrance as La Petite Robe Noire 2 from 2011 in a new bottle and a new name.

Mademoiselle Guerlain by Thierry Wasser for Guerlain 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Galbanum, bergamot, lemon
Heart: Iris, orange blossom, marshmallow
Base: Vanilla, leather, white musk

There hasn’t been very much written about Mademoiselle Guerlain except to announce its coming and to tell us its history. As you may know I love Guerlain and most of their offerings work for me on some level so I was super dooper excited when told they were going to re-release the LPRN2 that I was 100% sure would be a million times more me than LPRN original, which I like very much most days but sometimes it’s like being suffocated by a macaroon.

Photo Stolen Flickr

I have spent a couple of days wearing Mademoiselle Guerlain now. Its green opening is at once sticky and cool, like the first gulp of a soft drink on a warm day. Refreshing but not thirst quenching. Interesting……. This initial frisson sadly lasts too briefly and the sugar enters like Pez or pastilles wrapped in marshmallow. Reads as if it’s TOTALLY disgusting, right? It’s not, it is sweet and fun and youthful, though not particularly sophisticated. Slowly the orange blossom, vanilla and iris bloom together underneath the sweetness and now you can feel that the whole fragrance has a lovely depth, here is where Mademoiselle Guerlain becomes a Guerlain. Something better than its contemporaries, frankly it is beautiful. Lavish but subtle, you won’t skunk people with Mademoiselle Guerlain unless you are in a fragphobic environment. Fragrant but not imposing or intimidating, Mademoiselle Guerlain will never be mistaken for a 1980s BIG WHITE FLORAL. Pretty and delicate, lovely and wearable through the heart I feel that Mademoiselle Guerlain could have been a best seller if offered in a less expensive flaccon and size.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Dry down is an intimate, musky and fluffy confectionery barely tempered by a hint of leather, after 6 hours I am still softly fragrant and putting my head into my top to smell I can definitely get wafts. Nothing stands out to me at this point but it’s a sweet and attractive wash rather than discernible notes. Nothing earth shattering but very nice, wearable in that modern sweet white musk way. I guarantee that Mademoiselle Guerlain will be a hit if you gift it, even to the least interested in fragrance, as long as they like sweet fragrances. There is nothing new or confrontational in the dry down for them, it could very well be a better quality celebuscent ending.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Further reading: Perfume Shrine
Guerlain Flagship Stores and some large Department Stores have Mademoiselle Guerlain
My Mademoiselle Guerlain came from a split, thanks RuthK
Surrender To Chance have samples starting at $3.30/.5ml

Did you ever try La Petite Robe Noire 2 when it was available? Are you a fan of the original La Petite Robe Noire? What do you think of the Bee Bottle and pink juice?
Portia xx

1270 by Sidonie Lancesseur for Frapin 2010

October 24, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

Hi there Perfume Junkies,

How are you all? Hopefully happy and well. If not happy, remember emotions are like rain, you can’t control them and they will pass, hugging you from here. XXX

We have talked about 1270 on APJ before, have loved its sweet, shimmery, boozy fun. I was going through stuff and found a really big decant that had come from Dalbir at Aussie fragrance Network on FB me ages ago. What better way to celebrate a find than to share it around.

1270 by Sidonie Lancesseur for Frapin 2010

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Dried orange, pineapple, hazelnut, resins, dried plums, cocoa, tonka, coffee
Heart: Lime blossom, linden tree, pepper, spices, dried fruits
Base: Wood, Guaiac wood, white honey, vanilla

Sweet and sugared glace fruits, dipped in booze and pepper, fizzy, fun and fabulous. I am finding myself more and more in love with the fruity sweet frags lately. How did I come so late to this?

A little of the fun of Angel and Liberté but softer and gentler. A small reminder of a Serge Lutens boozy fruit opening too. Yet for all these reminders 1270 manages to be its own animal, something young and lovely that will grab you in its sugared embrace and sweep you off to the ball, there’s even an animalic honey. You want to smell a little like the masses but BETTER? 1270 offers a gold plated version that dries down to a lovely sweet vanilla for me.

Photo Stolen Flickr

If you are a serious perfumista who wants a three ring circus and all the bells and whistles I think this is about as close as a sweet fruity frag will take you, for anyone who merely wants to smell sweet and intoxicatingly alluring then 1270 should be on your list, to be honest you’ll probably want to buy a pallet of it.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Another Perfume Blog
Libertine Parfumerie has $199/100ml (with FREE postage in Australia)
First In Fragrance has €110/100ml and samples
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

I think you should at least give 1270 a whirl, you may just be surprised,

Portia xx

Photo Stolen sassisamblog

1270 Frapin GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 Winners who will each get:
1 x 5ml 1270 by Frapin decant
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 so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Tell us about a sweet or boozy fragrance that makes you smile, either because you wear it or because it has happy associations

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p3PURw-3hb 1270 by Frapin GIVEAWAY #Perfume #Giveaway @LibertineParfum

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 26th October 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 30th October 2014 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.

Absolue Pour Le Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2010

October 23, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Post by Erica Golding

Hi! Today, I would like to share my love for an intensely sexy work of art that has been getting a lot of steady attention.

Absolue Pour Le Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2010

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Maison Francis Kurkdjian lists the following accords on its website:
Benzoin from Siam, Bulgarian and Iranian rose, honey, incense absolute, ylang ylang, cumin, Atlas cedar and sandalwood

The first time I sniffed Absolue Pour Le Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian (affectionately dubbed “MFK APLS” in fragrance circles), I was popping open a sample vial gifted to me from a precious new friend. She had tucked it into a packet labeled “Favorites,” and that was the only sales pitch I needed. However, when I opened the vial and sensed the first waft of fragrance, all I could think was that it was too much for me – too intense, too animalic, too concentrated. A few days later, upon reading glowing praise in a review, I decided to try the Cologne Pour Le Soir sample that she had also included in the same packet. The simpler composition and cologne dilution of this fragrance allowed me to experience the key notes without being overwhelmed, and unlocked my heart. Passionately, I enjoyed the cologne’s thickly rich dark honey, incense with musky resins, and amber’s benzoin woody-vanillic swirl. I thought to myself, if the cologne was so magical on my skin, then I should give the Absolue a chance.

Photo Stolen Flickr

The next night, I graced my skin with one drop from the wand-capped vial of Absolue Pour Le Soir. It blossomed into an incredibly deep, powdery honey, a viscous scent with accents of warm precious woods and spices, and a haze of resinous incense drifting lazily. It’s the honey that made me purr, it’s truly sensual – erotic, honestly. There was a hint of rose in the opening that made me think of rose petals floating in a bathtub, a luxurious excess that yields simple, pure delight.

As I have been getting to know APLS more intimately and being more courageous with the volume I apply, I have fallen completely in love, sailing past infatuation and into blind devotion. It’s not for everyone, proceed with caution – the intensity and unrepentant sexuality of this perfume can be challenging, especially if you aren’t prepared for it or dive in too deep, too fast. However, for those of us who have synchronized our souls to this extraordinary aroma, it can bring us to tears.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

In my opinion, this is primarily an evening fragrance, although I’m sure true lovers rock this at any hour of the day. The fragrance is concentrated, and lasts a long time on the skin with impressive throw. A little goes a long way, no need to slather and Sex Panther everyone in your wake! Wear this when your focus of the night is romance, and wear it with pride and confidence.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Australian Perfume Junkies
LuckyScent has $185/70ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this perfume, as I am aware it can be a love-it-or-hate-it fragrance! Are you brave enough to try a drop on your skin?
Warmly fragrant hugs,
Erica

Jersey by Jacques Polge for CHANEL 2011

October 19, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hey Hey Happy Huffers,

Recently I spent the day with Ainslie Walker, we did a bunch of things. Saw the Eames on Eames films at the Sydney Film Festival where the US furniture makers’ grandson showed us some of the amazing and ground breaking work that the Eames’ did in a totally different media, from toy trains and their workshop to a Washington DC Aquarium they designed that never was built, sadly because it looked totally fabulous. If it comes to a cinema near you don’t miss it.

While we were out we went and sniffed out the Les Exclusifs de Chanel range where I was seriously contemplating a Cuir de Russie Extrait purchase when Ainslie started to wax lyrical about her great love for Jersey, a scent I had previously sniffed and dismissed as meh and yawnsville. I made my position very clear, spritzed with CHANEL No. 22 and we went on to see if they had a few specifics left from the mass sacrifice of the Tom Ford line. It’s a couple of weeks later and I have been thinking that Ainslie wouldn’t own a BOTTLE of something totally inferior, so I grabbed a sample out and spritzed…

Jersey by Jacques Polge for CHANEL 2011

Les Exclusifs de Chanel

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Tonka bean, rose, musk, lavender, jasmine, vanilla, grass, wildflowers

CHANEL Jersey is nothing like I remember it being. Bigger and more voluptuous than my memory, also a surprise was that Jersey skews ever so slightly masculine. KEWL! I like to cross the boundaries.

Lavender opening is fresh and delightful, it has a fresh cut flowers from the garden green-ness and something softly resinous that seems to smooth the whole composition like a piece of worn to a pebble glass found on a beach in the cool of morning and rubbed against your cheek. After a short while Jersey warms a little on my skin and becomes very comfortable and slightly lived in, soft and intimate but still noticeable that I’m fragrant. I think Jersey is one of those fragrances that feel small but are in fact really good projectors and leave a wonderful sillage. After spritzing and going to make a cuppa, when I come back to my office there is a decided vanilla/lavender smell in the room, like I’ve just spritzed a room spray. Very nice, subtle and elegant.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

There is a clean, comfortable and fresh aspect to Jersey that is very much like wearing your favourite T-Shirt, freshly washed and direct from the line. The colour is slightly faded and the fabric floats on your body, there but not there, a whisper of Jersey fabric that is both part of you and not. Jersey fragrance is similar, infinitely more wearable for me than Hermessence Brin de Reglisse, it is a warmer, smoother version of a lavender-centric fragrance. I could imagine Jersey becoming quite addictive.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Through the life of Jersey the lavender makes guest reappearances paired with different notes. at one point creamy vanilla/lavender, then later green/lavender, then lightly spicy rose/lavender. Then combinations of more than two notes, it’s an intricate duck & weave pattern that keeps me on the edge of my nose for hours.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and The Candy Perfume Boy
CHANEL boutiques have Jersey
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Did you try Jersey? Is CHANEL a house you click with or aspire to?
Portia xx

Seville a l'Aube by L`Artisan Parfumeur 2012

October 18, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 31 Comments

Hi there Frag Hags,

Going through my samples in preparation for the big move to our new abode has been super fun. So many things I completely forgot I had. It’s like digging through a fragrant treasure chest. When Seville a l’Aube was first released it was unavailable in Australia and I was so excited that I must have ordered 2 x 10ml decants from different splitters, one I found is almost empty but one is nearly full. Then when I could get a full bottle they both went into the box of lost fragrances….. You know how it goes

Seville a l’Aube by Bertrand Duchaufour for L`Artisan Parfumeur 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pettigrain, olive blossom
Heart: Tobacco, beeswax, orange blossom, lavendar
Base: Olibanum, benzoin

My mate Denyse Beaulieu, from Grain de Musc, is the muse that co-created Seville a l’Aube with perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. It comes from a story of a night in Spain where she met and trysted with a local on one of their high Catholic religious festival nights. Amusingly, and crassly, some bloggers and perfumistas have said that Seville a l’Aube means Fingered Behind the Church in Seville, in fact it means Seville At Dawn.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Orange twigs and leaf, with a dry, feral background that pumps raw sex and ultimate clean simultaneously. Seville a l’Aube makes me smile in delighted appreciation when I spritz. There is a pithiness and the honeyed beeswax id so animalic but not like ass, more like sweet wee, and the resins shine through as wet resin in the beginning rather than dry incense. There is still gum from the trees and bushes. The blossom is sweet and breathy.

You know it all washes over me in terrific clouds of fragrance and though I can smell the parts that make Seville a l’Aube up, what I really enjoy is the whole magic creation. A sweet and dirty, twig and dust, wee and breath bomb that glides around me in rapturous clouds. The first half hour is BIG! I have to be careful if I’m going into the world that I don’t overspritz because this much gorgeousness can be confronting for regular people. I love how the heart gets this great citrus-wood scented wax-candle that is slightly religious but more about cleansing for me, and the lavender keeps it all herbaceously slightly off kilter as if something extraordinary is on its way.

You know the song from West Side Story, Something’s Coming? That is how Seville a l’Aube makes me feel.

Maybe it’s the story in the book or maybe it is Bertrand Duchaufour and Denyse Beaulieu working together on something interesting, fun and magical that transcends the story and just gives the feeling of anticipation all by itself. Seville a l’Aube is thick and hefty, a beautiful, elegant waft of pithy orange, waxes and resins trails out behind you as you walk. If I spritz in a room and then walk out, the room is full of Seville a l’Aube on my return and it stays that way for hours.

Michael Borg, Denyse and I in Jovoy, Paris 2014

I have often talked about The Perfume Lover, and my mate Denyse Beaulieu who wrote it, because it’s a rollicking great read. The story that became this wonderful fragrance and told in such a readable, approachable style that it’s like sitting down with Denyse and listening to her chat. Full of fragrant insider gossip and details of creation that unless you are in the midst of creating fragrance would never be stuff you’d get to know.

Photo Stolen Book Depository

Book Depository has The Perfume Lover from $15 delivered worldwide!

CandyPerfumeBoy, NowSmellThis, BoisDeJasmin, all do amazing reviews filled with stories and information I can only hint at.
LuckyScent sells $165/100ml and ships worldwide
Libertine has $199/100ml FREE delivery in Australia

Have you read the book or tried the fragrance? Did you love it too?
Portia xx

Evocative Perfumes

October 17, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 32 Comments

Hey there APJ Crew,

My mate Mark Evans from Evocative Perfumes has sent me a package. Honestly, he sent it back in June or July and it has been sitting on the To Do Pile but I never seem to have the time to look at a few fragrances at once so it keeps getting shunted. Yes, I feel like a bad friend. Mark is an independent Australian perfumer who is causing quite a stir with his pretty, interesting and evocative perfumes (yes, I know, see what I did there?). He is exactly the sort of micro niche perfumer that we like to showcase on APJ because he is able to create beautiful scents without the IFRA guidelines, meaning we get to wear real amounts of fabulous ingredients. YAY!! Do go have a look at their Evocative Perfumes site, excellent fragrances for a song….

Evocative Perfumes

Olibanum by Evocative Perfumes

From Evocative Perfumes: When frankincense is used in perfumery, it is referred to with its old name Olibanum. The name Olibanum is derived from the Arabic word “al-luban” which means “that which results from milking”. ‘Olibanum’ starts off with green gassy pine which passes through cypress wood and leaf then to the resin itself at the heart of the fragrance. Later, after the incense is spent, there remains a slightly smoky ash note

Soft, sweet funky resins and woods, clean like walking into the house after it’s been totally scrubbed but warm enough to feel like a soft loving hug. The smoke is a bit like the smoke after you’ve blown a candle out, a slightly waxy smoke crossed with the burning incense. Olibanum is a bit soft for me but I can see it becoming a firm favourite for work because it softly smells gorgeous.

Imogen by Evocative Perfumes

From Evocative Perfumes: Outwardly a refined, feminine, powdery, spicy Oriental perfume that leaves a trail of lemon, bergamot, vanilla, jasmine, rose, orris root, patchouli, balsams and sandalwood. But get in closer to the skin and there lies a rich, provocative Russian leather note that gradually becomes more available as the night wears on.

Imogen opens like a sharp citrus rose from the garden, all bright and green. There is iris through it all, Ainslie brought over some orris this week and now I know its smell, here it plays powder and patchouli plays earth. Together I find them wafting through the other notes creating something bigger and better that themselves. The resins burnish the fragrance and give it a warm sheen. Imogen is lovely, I would be very interested to see how it smells in an EdP. I could imagine wearing Imogen regularly in a spritzable form. MMMMM

Nice work Mark, I’m impressed,

Portia xx

Photo Stolen hemodernhome