Review

Nostalgie by Laurie Erickson for Sonoma Scent Studio

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

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Post by SarahK

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Hello AJP family.

Sonoma Scent Studio is a line created by indie perfumer Laurie Erickson. They aren’t that easy to get hold of if you’re outside the United States as the company won’t ship internationally but if you can find them, it is a line well worth exploring.
(Ed: IndieScents has a great SSS range and send to the world)
Some really don’t suit me, but others are just glorious. It’s not a natural perfume line (though some of the scents are made with all-natural ingredients) but, of the six scents I’ve tried to date, even the ones that use synthetics have a ‘natural’ feel to them. That doesn’t mean they aren’t long-lasting though – as a whole, this line has some of the best longevity that I’ve come across, and a little goes a long way.

Nostalgie by Laurie Erickson for Sonoma Scent Studio

Nostalgie sonoma-scent IndieScents.345.400Photo Stolen IndieScents

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Aldehydes, Indian jasmine sambac absolute, Bulgarian rose absolute, mimosa absolute, peach, violet flower, violet leaf absolute, tonka, French beeswax absolute, natural oakmoss absolute, aged Indian patchouli, East Indian Mysore sandalwood, leather, vanilla, orris, myrrh, vetiver, and musk

Today I’m going to talk about one of SSS’s rose-violet scents. Nostalgie opens on the skin as a gentle, woody-floral, aldehydic scent – something traditionally ‘perfumey’, but softly so. Half an hour into its development it is a powdery rose, with a hint of violet, a beautiful cosmetics smell, but less sweet, more natural, and altogether less in-your-face than, say, Frederic Malle’s Lipstick Rose. While the violet-rose combination in Lipstick Rose is backed by a sweet, slightly plasticky almond, in Nostalgie, it’s backed by a mossy beeswax spiked with a little vetiver.

Nostalgie Sonoma Scent Studio Eugène_Boudin WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Nostalgie is a very appropriate name for this romantic fragrance, which conjures soft-focus images of an Edwardian beauty. She’s dressed in white and sitting in a sunny garden amid blooming flowers, bees and butterflies. This, to me, is the scent of Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View. Someone on Fragrantica likened it to Chanel’s No. 22, and I can see why – they share a sweet, floral, beeswaxy feel. But, while Nostalgie has aldehydes, they are little fluffy kitten aldehydes. Nostalgie has none of No. 22’s fizzy champagne rush attacking the nose. It’s all soft, powdery florals. As the scent wears on, the sweet violet shows more of its face. Sweet, but not at all cloyingly so, it is a bit like Palma Violet candy, though the fragrance is as much about rose as violet. The base is gentle sandalwood, with a touch of moss, patchouli and vetiver, which combine with the beeswax to give the scent a gentle old-school furniture polish vibe. I love it.

Nostalgie Sonoma Scent Studio PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Very much a classic floral, and traditionally feminine, but (to my mind, at least) there is no reason that a man who likes powdery, floral fragrances couldn’t wear Nostalgie. It doesn’t have huge projection, but is still detectable on my skin an impressive 14-16 hours after application.

SSS has another couple of rose-violet-aldehyde scents that I have tried. To Dream has more of the woody and incense notes that the house is famous for, while Lieu de Reves has notes up front (perhaps the combination of cedar and vetiver) that remind me of cola – in a good way. They both strike me as less rosy, and less floral altogether, though Lieu de Reves still has plenty of powdery violet in its heart.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels, Now Smell This and Muse In Wooden Shoes
IndieScents has $105/34ml Extrait de Parfum
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/ml

See you soon,
SarahK x

Grisens/Oliban by Pierre Guillaume for Phaedon 2011

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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

Bigarade Concentree by Jean-Claude Ellena for Frederic Malle 2002

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Hey Hey APJ,

Yes, I know I’ve said it before but I love the crossover months, where it is cool and crisp morning and evening but warms through the day. I love the mid seasons, warm enough for a t-shirt but cool enough that you need a jumper tied around your waist in case. These are the seasons in Australia when we usually get the most rain too. There are metal rooves both front and back of my house and I love to hear rain drumming on them, right outside my office I hear it on the back verandah roof and splashing in the pool. HEAVEN!

Bigarade Concentree by Jean-Claude Ellena for Frederic Malle 2002

Bigarade concentree Frederic Malle FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bitter orange
Heart: Rose
Base: Cedar, grass, hay

Bigarade Concentree was one of the first of the Frederic Malle line that I studied in any depth because my BFF Kath has a bottle. we went together with EmmaKate who used to manage a niche & fine fragrance store in Sydney and she spent an hour taking us through the range, we had every scent on a card and all of the cards locked in greaseproof paper and cellophane. We were allowed pick three samples each to take away but Kath had decided there and then that she wanted Bigarade Concentree in her life for good. I have been lucky enough to smell it on her for a few years now and it is irrevocably entwined with her for me. I will try to be objective.

Bigarade concentree Frederic Malle orange tree PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

I tell you what, when I spray Bigarade Concentree on myself I am transported to my childhood. We always had an orange and a lemon tree, I think Mum had planted them when they finished building the house. My two main memories of the orange tree are Mum grousing over the trouble it was and the orange juice we used to drink made of the oranges from the tree. At the start of the season the orange juice would taste like the bitter orange smell of the opening of Bigarade Concentree and Mum would add sugar to sweeten it enough for us to drink. JCE has captured my memory and bottled it, there is even the smell of the taste of the pith from eating the orange quarters down into the white.

Once the main orange note has calmed, though it never leaves completely, something rose-ish moves across my nostril-vision but it’s a hint towards rose note like a rose I’ve ever smelled, maybe a rose in an orange grove? The orange still walks all over the rose. Pounds the life out of it leaving me with a grassy? Still kinda grassy/pithy/animal/zesty citrus, the citrus still front and center, HOW have they done this. Incredible use of a note that usually is gone in two minutes. 5+ hours of citric goodness and still more almost fragrance before it leaves me completely, my ability to smell it anyway.

Bigarade Concentree Frederic Malle Oranges Gunther Hagleitner FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Scent For Thought and Scentrist
Frederic Malle has €75/3 x 10ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/ml

Have you tried Bigarade Concentree? How was your experience? What did you think of it and why?

Thanks for taking a moment to wander through my fragrant thoughts,
Portia xx

 

FR! 01/04 Magnol'art 3 by Amélie Bourgeois for Fragrance Republic 2014

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Post by Poodle

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Let the Music Play…

That’s the name of a song by an artist named Shannon that was released in 1984. It’s the song that came on the radio as I was writing this and since it’s about a dance, it seemed fitting.  Fragrance Republic FR! 01/04 is supposed to call to mind a dance, the tango specifically, and a weekend getaway.

FR! 01/04 Magnol’art 3 by Amélie Bourgeois for Fragrance Republic 2014

01 04 Magnol'art 3 Fragrance Republic FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords: (slightly different in words & pictures)
Top: Yellow Italian Mandarin, Sweet Orange
Heart: Jasmine, Fleur de Cassie, Mimosa Maroc, Black Locust, Magnolia
Base: Sesame, Tonka Bean, White Musks

FR! 01/04 was not what I expected from reading the note list.  I was expecting a citrusy, tropical thing that I would quickly dismiss.  Instead I got something completely different that’s grown on me a lot.

It opens on my skin with a huge bouquet of flowers.  The florals here are big and bold.  There’s a creaminess to the magnolia that evokes the idea of big, fleshy petals.  The sesame is also noticeable from the start to the finish.  That and the Tonka bean give the scent an edible note that hums just below the surface.  It’s not woody but rather nutty.  I imagine a Latin dancer with flowers in her hair.  It’s a hot summer night.  She’s dancing with a handsome man to the pulsating beat of the tango.  The song ends and they step away to share a sip of a tropical drink with orange slices garnishing the glass.  All these aromas mingle with the musky sweetness of their skin covered in just a shimmer of sweat.

01 04 Magnol'art 3 Fragrance Republic tango pixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

The idea behind the perfume is Argentina and the sensuality of two bodies dancing the tango.  At the start it’s musky, nutty floral.  The citrus notes are nowhere to be found for me.  It isn’t until later in the development they make a little flirting appearance.  The perfume has an earthy quality to it but it never smells dirty to me.  There’s a sensual facet from the big flowers but even the musks in this are clean and not animalic.  While I was able to piece together the imagery it wasn’t the down and dirty fragrance I thought it would be.  These two dancing bodies are keeping all their contact on the dance floor.

And she sang;

“I thought it was clear,
the plan was we would share
this feeling just between ourselves,
But when the music changed
the plan was rearranged,
he went to dance with someone else.”

There’s no roll in the sheets to end the evening for them.  It’s all about the dance.  In the end the perfume is all about the clean musks with that touch of sesame.  That being said, it’s got just enough going on to keep it from smelling too clean and the sesame gives it a unique quality that I really like.

Further reading: Ca Fleur Bon
Fragrance Republic has $45/15ml

Poodle x

Frapin 1270 by Sidonie Lancesseur for Frapin 2010

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Hi There Crew,

I have only spent real time with one Frapin fragrance before and that was L’Humaniste which I liked very much, interestingly today’s fragrance was also re-created by the same perfumer. The original 1270 was created by Beatrice Cointreau. I don’t know why they had it reformulated, anyone?

Frapin 1270 by Sidonie Lancesseur for Frapin 2010

1270 Frapin FragranticaPhoto 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

I have spritzed 1270 Frapin a few times before. I don’t know why but it has not struck me before as very likeable. I think my tastes may be expanding to include much more fun and frivolous fragrances because while trying to use up my unloved decant I have fallen madly in love.

1270 Frapin pineapple Kyle McDonald FlickrPINEAPPLE, like smoking a pineapple flavoured hookah while eating fairy floss. 1270 is weird and fun and a little bit crazy. I get sugar and pineapple, some other amorphous fruit and some smoky, warm resins. At no point do I get any chocolate, damnit. But still I just LOVE it. So fun. There is a fizziness that doesn’t seem at all aldehydic but like pineapple flavoured Fanta, bubbling around in your mouth with that delicious, sugar filled, fizzy rush that you get on your first swallow from the can. MMMMMMM. Boozy? Kind of. You know those sweet drinks that you can’t taste the alcohol in? The ones that often go down quickly and you drink them like soda pop because all that sugar makes you incredibly thirsty? Then BAM you are drunk. That’s the kind of booze here in 1270.

Lime blossom passes me by but the pepper, spices and dried fruits give a wonderful night in a Delhi bar in a bazaar vibe during the heart while still pumping out the fizzy pineapple right through the heart of 1270. Gradually the whole fragrance warms through as the honey, killing off the pineapple completely, takes centre stage standing right out front of the woods and vanilla but you can tell they are just waiting their turn to complete the story as we head to dry down. Warm soapy vanilla and woods, like VERY expensive mini bath soaps from the 1980s, are a beautiful end to a ride that has been so diverse, interesting, fun, frivolous at times and in the end a big gentle hug. How did I miss all this before?

1270 Frapin Sunset_Yekaterinburg WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Interestingly 1270 is not on the Frapin parfums site any more. Are they discontinuing it? Does anyone know? All the online stores have it…..

Wearing? Almost everywhere. After the first 30 minutes you won’t be skunking anyone unless you are an outrageous oversprayer. In frag phobic workplaces it may be a bit much but otherwise I see 1270 as an excellent and fun choice. It is pricey but now that I get it I feel that I might even contemplate a purchase, let’s see if I finish my 5ml decant first, only 1ml of it has gone yet.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Another Perfume Blog
Libertine Parfumerie has $199/100ml (with FREE postage in Australia)
First In Fragrance has €105/100ml and samples
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Have you spent any time with 1270? Any of the Frapin frags? Have you ever had one of their cognacs?
Portia xx

Pineapple Photo Stolen Flickr

Supreme Bouquet by Yves Saint Laurent 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hey there Fellow Fumie Family.

Today we are chatting about one of Yves Saint Laurent’s newest lineup, the Oriental Collection. These are a new last year, extremely spendy, designer try at regaining some of their lost consumer ground through their own, and enforced, ruthless reformulations and cheapening of many of their products. Here is the big ticket item to lure us back. There are now four in the Oriental Collection with the addition of Splendid Wood this year.

Supreme Bouquet by Yves Saint Laurent 2013

Supreme Bouquet Yves Saint Laurent FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Fruity notes
Heart: Ylang ylang, tuberose, jasmine
Base: Patchouli, amber, musk

Supreme Bouquet, seems like they have made the bar pretty high, Supreme? Really Supreme? I was already pre disposed to not like it just from the name, which seems both overblown and lame. Who is in charge of this stuff at YSL Fragrance, it just makes me squirm with embarrassment that out of the WHOLE English language (and the thousands of others available) that Supreme Bouquet is the BEST name they could come up with. Let’s wear it and see if it lives down to it’s moniker.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Peaches from a can, mango and pineapple? Like a fruit cocktail with added sugar syrup, actually, like the syrup that canned fruit comes in. YUMMY! I am taken directly back to my childhood in the first spritz, sadly this crazy fun, 100% unnatural scent only blasts for about 3-5 minutes before it is lost in a very honey-like sweetness that still manages to be dry, as the white flowers come strolling in with a sinuous, sensuous, insouciant abandon and wrap their lovely coils around the fruit till all you can smell are sweet, buttery, green, fatty white flowers. So beautiful there is almost a fairytale quality, Supreme Bouquet is ethereal but solid and wafting gently around me like a nimbus. It is like you have sat yourself in an arbour of exotic dream flowers that bear only a passing resemblance to anything of this world, more like the flowers I would expect Queen Amidala to cultivate. Sometimes I worry that I have TERRIBLE taste in fragrance, I think these are nearly completely aroma chemicals but still they smell fabulous to me. I love it.

Trichome, Arabidopsis leaf hairPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

The amber highlights and warms the flowers as they start to fade, they don’t really leave but they do become less assertive, relax their hold and give some space to everything else, sadly the uber clean patchouli and musks smell a trifle generic and that lets the whole composition down a bit, after the fireworks of the opening and heart it would have been nice if the patchouli had given us a raspy, earthy depth. It doesn’t.

Supreme Bouquet Yves Saint Laurent Fairy Queen maf04 FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Katie Puckrik Smells and Kafkaesque
Available in department stores (not in Australia yet) UK YSL site £195
I bought my sample from Surrender To Chance from $5/.5ml

OK, so is this the SUPREME Bouquet? Naah, but it is lovely, wearable and sexy, super perfume-y and a look back at fragrances of the past till its slightly boring, but very nice, dry down. Would I pay £195 for a bottle? Probably not. On 50% discount? I’d be definitely thinking about it. Actually, for US$100 I would have been online and purchased a bottle already. It is very nice, great gift for someone but extremely overpriced to me.

Have you tried any from the new Oriental line at Yves Saint Laurent yet?
Portia x

Narcissus: CB I Hate Perfumes Rare Flowers Series

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 54 Comments

Hi there FUMIES!

I have been lucky enough to try this amazing, no amazing is too banal & used a word for the experience, sadly my vocabulary doesn’t stretch to how joyful and wonderful my experience has been trying today’s fragrance. I feel like one of the luckiest people just to have spent time with this magnificent creation that has bloomed so spectacularly on my skin in ways completely unexpected. I am moved.

Narcissus: CB I Hate Perfumes Rare Flowers Series 2013

Narcissus CB I Hate Perfume FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

OK the note here is Narcissus, pure and practically unadulterated. Here are the words I wrote on my first wearing to refer back to while writing this review: Bitter, dark, tobacco-esque, green, earthy, herbal, poisonous, hay, urine, wind, fresh, sunshine, picnic, happiness, love. This is NOTHING like I expected. Narcissus is a complete revelation and not all of it lovely. I find myself twisting and turning with the notes as if caught in a flurry during a storm, or buffeted by the sea when you misjudge a wave. Narcissus smells like a concentration on the leaves and stem of the plant, not the flower, or at least very little of the flower.

Narcissus CB I Hate Perfume Field GeographUKPhoto Stolen GeographUK

From CB I Hate Perfume: Narcissus Absolute is one of the rarest and most fabulously expensive floral absolutes still available in the world today. It is also to my mind one of the most stunningly beautiful and therefore very much a personal favorite. Although obtained from the flower of a quite common plant, the scent of Narcissus absolute smells not in the least like a pot of paperwhites. To me, the scent of the actual blooming flower is overpowering, piercing and usually quite nauseating. I really can’t stay long in a room where paperwhites are blooming. The perfume of Narcissus absolute on the other hand is magical. Have you ever walked though a field in spring when thousands of narcissus were blooming? It’s like that – a delicate spicy breath of spring.
Please note that the water perfume is translucent, and may have some sedimentation. If this happens gentle rock the bottle back and forth to reincorporate. This will not detract from the fragrance in any way.

Further reading:  and Perfume Posse
CB I Hate Perfume has $500/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/.5ml

Narcissus: CB I Hate Perfumes GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will get:
1 x .5ml sample Narcissus Water Perfume by CB I Hate Perfumes
1 x .5ml sample Tuberose Water Perfume by CB I Hate Perfumes
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 me any memory of daffodils or narcissus, their smell, how they look, a fragrance you love with them. Maybe you grew them, grow them or love them as a cut flower, anything narcissus related will get you in.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie CB I Hate Perfume Narcissus GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2Eq #Perfume #Giveaway @CBrosius712

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 6th April 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 10th April 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.

Lithium [3Li] by Nicolas Bonneville for nu_be 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

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Post by Tina G

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“The perfume becomes, even if only for a few instants, the object of an exclusive and absolute desire.” – nu_be

The concept behind nu_be is an olfactory mapping of the fusions which create matter – the primal sparks of chaos that slowly settle into order and being. nu_be harks to the fundamental building blocks of the universe by creating ‘elemental’ fragrances – hydrogen, helium, lithium, carbon, oxygen, sulphur and mercury.

Lithium [3Li] by Nicolas Bonneville for nu_be 2012

Lithium [3Li] Nu Be FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Cedar, patchouli, musk, saffron, iris, woods, spices, rose

I’m intrigued to smell black rubber when Lithium [3Li] opens. Specifically, inner tube rubber as from a bicycle tyre, being slightly powdery. It is not listed in the notes anywhere but I find it consistently on first spritz. Dancing high over the top is a sharp metallic tang like the smoke and sparks you get when hitting granite with a metal hammer. It is a very light, airy metal, unlike the wet blood-metal in Le Cherche Midi ‘28’ or the metallic-fruitiness in Blood Concept ‘O’.

Deep in the heart of Lithium [3Li] the brown leather is heavy and thick like leather of a welder’s apron – made roughly tactile from the scratches and wearing of its use. After only a short time the rubber has gone but the metal and leather stay on, rounded out by earthy, powdery floral notes of iris and saffron. There is a hint of woods and musk in the background, which become more prominent in the dry down.

Lithium [3Li] Nu Be Blacksmith Alan Ellis FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The combination makes me think of an old fashioned blacksmith’s workshop. Springtime. In the corner of a green field, surrounded by wildflowers, is a rustic wooden workshop. As you walk in, the fresh scents of the flowers merge with the damp earth floor, wooden beams, and metal tools hanging up around the walls. In the centre of the room is a fire and anvil, and the smithy himself, clean musky sweat of his work shining on his arms, mingling with the heavy leather apron of his trade. As he drops each blow of the hammer, showers of sparks fly randomly in split-seconds of brightness, filling the air with a flinty smoke.

Lithium [3Li] Nu Be Salt Flats FotopediaPhoto Stolen Fotopedia

At 5 hours Lithium [3Li] is still lively, having warmed up to a comforting woody/spicy rose, with silage strong enough that I wasn’t needing to hunt for the scent on my skin to appreciate it. At this stage it reminded me of another favourite spicy rose fragrance, Pink Quartz by Olivier Durbano. Lithium [3Li] is totally wearable, even for all its interesting industrial opening overtones. I spritzed this 10 minutes before going into a work meeting, and it totally derailed the conversation. Eyes widened, people looked around and asked what the great smell was. One co-worker then spoke about her close encounter with a workman on a train, freshly clocked off, dirty with a clean sweat smell and how desperately sexy it was. I’d said nothing about my thoughts on the fragrance; it was her own random memory trigger from the muskiness of the scent. Unexpected, but interesting…..

Further reading: Now Smell This introduces the line
IndieScents has $160/100ml and samples

xx Tina G

The Afternoon of a Faun by Ralf Schwieger for Etat Libre d`Orange 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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Named after a Russian Ballet, this fragrance certainly is a dance, and tells a story. But not a pretty one. Nor a sexy one either. According to Wikipedia, a faun is a rustic forest god or goddess of Roman mythology often associated with enchanted woods and the Greek god Pan and his satyrs. Half man, half goat. I’m thinking big sexy leather and man smells, but I’m getting A LOT more goat. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE goats…but I think this this one’s going feral.

Nymphs and SatyrPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

CS Lewis describes Mr. Tumnus, the Faun in his Narnia series as having reddish skin, curly hair, brown eyes, a short pointed beard, horns on his forehead, cloven hooves, goat legs with glossy black hair, a “strange but pleasant little face,” and a long tail.

The Afternoon of a Faun by Ralf Schwieger for Etat Libre d`Orange 2012

The Afternoon of a Faun Etat Libre d`Orange FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot, pepper, cinnamon, incense, immortelle, orrisroot, myrrh, leather, benzoin, rose, jasmine, oak moss

I’m first hit with a big 80’s oak moss projection…My Dad wore grey flannel in the 80’s and it’s as if he has blasted past on his way out to work, doused. Saving the day, an aerated twist of iris and green dry foliage notes break in and take over. I feel its well structured, and giving me all the right imagery, but I’m not sure I like it. There’s something pungent. Daisies? Pee? Maybe it’s the immortelle?

WHERE’S THE PRETTY?

Not a pretty mix….more like some herbal witches brew. I WISH I could smell the jasmine or rose, but nope. I’d like to smell some hints of violets and more orris, for an enchanted forest, but no. Suddenly I am reminded of the smell of autumn leaves, as if I am kicking my way through them, or rakeing them up, dry, crispy leaves, crackling, underneath earthy moist mossy smells are also being exposed. I THINK I like it a little more. In fact this is my favorite moment in my Afternoon with a Faun.

The Afternoon of a Faun Etat Libre d`Orange glade PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Spicy, sparkly and fresh it continues. Playful and tart. Despite all the spice I’m not reminded of any foods so to speak. There’s no gourmand. I don’t like it much on my skin, and I cannot imagine nuzzling up to someone with it on either. It’s old fashioned, almost old mannish…slightly dated, and synthetic. I’m struggling, but slightly enchanted to make it through to the end.

I have a headache. I can smell it all day on the other side of the room. I am sensitive to one of its ingredients, but which one??

There’s something sweet, maybe fruity I’m thinking berries and brambles, but again none in particular. Maybe some frankincense, but not the smoking variety, and some cinnamon-sweetness. I think the Faun must be trotting about on a warm sunny autumn day. Kicking up earth, herbal roots, moss, moss and more moss…berries…herbal…and peeing in delight. Something does sparkle..maybe more of a sprinkle? Perhaps the ballerina has an old injury and is wearing a STRONG herbal liniment…a Thai healing balm smell. Could be cinnamon, possibly medicinal Myrrh. Immortelle is also commonly found in liniments, so maybe why I make this connection.

The Afternoon of a Faun Etat Libre d`Orange Linament Francis Storr FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Chemist In A Bottle
LuckyScent has $149/100ml
Etat Libre d’Orange has €110/100ml (Delivers to the world)
Surrender To Chance starts at $4.50/ml

Dry. Green. Twisted green. I like the green. I’ve read one reviewer who thinks the green smells of celery. I know what they mean, and yet I don’t agree. Instead, I am picturing the dark green suede platform clogs my kindergarten teacher used to wear. Weird, but interesting. The drydown is gentler, leathery suede.

Despite busting to wash it off, and pack my decant away in a tightly sealed zip lock bag, far far away, I enjoyed trying Afternoon with a Faun. It’s EXACTLY what it says on the bottle!!

Ainslie Walker

Nectar of Love EdP by Tanja Bochnig for April Aromatics 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

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Post by SarahK

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Hello all! Valentine’s Day may have been and gone this year, but love is, I hope, never far away, so today I want to share with you my experience of April Aromatics fragreances. April Aromatics is a line of natural, organic perfumes and cosmetics created by Tanja Bochnig and based in Germany and this is one of my favourite fragrances from the range. It is available both as an EDP and perfume oil: this review is for the eau de parfum only, as I haven’t tried the perfume oil.

Nectar of Love EdP by Tanja Bochnig for April Aromatics 2012

Nectar of Love April Aromatics fragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Tuberose, Indian jasmine, Bulgarian rose, sandalwood, fruit notes, amber

Nectar is definitely the right name for this scent. The notes Tanja gives for the fragrance include tuberose, neroli, rose and jasmine but, besides the neroli, none of these flowers jump out at me in their usual guises. Rather than a traditional ‘floral’ perfume, I experience Nectar of Love as a sweet plant perfume, in the way in which Clarins’ Eau Dynamisante is a plant perfume. When sniffing it I get crushed fleshy petals, pollen and nectar, mixed with some sweet benzoin resin reminiscent of the sweet balsams in by Kilian’s Sweet Redemption.

Nectar of Love April Aromatics Marina del Castell FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The fragrance starts as an aromatic mix with green overtones and a bit of ripe apple. As the top notes develop, the pollen drifts up, along with the scent of a sugary, yet slightly bitter, green sap. All the floral notes combine into a concentrated version of the honeyed scent of purple buddleia. It’s as if you are a bee in a summer field, flitting drunkenly from flower to flower, poking your nose right into the hearts of the blooms and inhaling deeply. The fruit in the top notes slowly dries, and a couple of hours after application the fragrance is a narcotic mix of caramelized apples and prunes and a little bitter clove spice. It’s darkly sweet, but not overly so. Instead, the heart of the fragrance feels like drinking a cup of smooth, slightly citrussy chai. As it dries down, woody elements come out to play and there’s a touch of smoke and black coffee. The whole experience is rich and dense, but never overwhelming, and the presence of an aromatic element (mostly reading to me as cloves over neroli) keeps this within unisex territory, especially in the dry down. I’d love to smell this on a man.

Nectar of Love April Aromatics bee PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

For the first hour Nectar of Love creates a noticeable scent cloud around me, but sillage drops noticeably in the second hour, and by the end of hour three the scent is hovering softly above my skin. It remains noticeable for 8 hours or so, ending in a caramel coffee whisper. The more I wear it, the more I love it.

Further reading: Smelly Thoughts and Bonkers About Perfume
April Aromatics has €189/30ml and Samples from €13.99/2.5ml

Have you tried any of the April Aromatics line?
SarahK xx