Review

Back To Black: Aphrodisiac by Calice Becker for by Kilian 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Hello All,
Here I am surrounded by the magical mystery of Back To Black, a Calice Becker produced powerhouse for by Kilian, Kilian Hennessy’s glamour fragrance company, from the discreet and wallflowerish-ly named L`Oiuvre Noire (Black Masterpieces). I have read so much about Back To Black that I feel like I’m living other peoples fragrant lives but I really want to write about this interesting fragrance today. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Aphrodisiac Box Photo Stolen cupslj

Back To Black was allegedly made in tune with the Amy Winehouse song in mind. I was introduced to that album, rather than just Rehab, in India by my then partner and played Back To Black incessantly thinking it would be a super great number to do. It is still the #1 most played song on my iTunes and that’s big numbers. In fact it was playing in the car tonight on my way home from a gig and that was when I decided that it was time to confront my self created demons (aren’t they all?). The video is at the bottom, I think it sums up the sweet darkness that is Back To Black by Kilian.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these official featured accords:
Bergamot, saffron, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, raspberry, chamomile, olibanum, honey, cedar, oak, tobacco, patchouli, almond, vanilla, labdanum

Back To Black opens like a lolly shop on my skin all sugary sweet fruits, dusty shelves and old people, then goes completely boozy like Grappa, the spices and honey come waltzing in through the booze, and we have a really lovely gourmand, the tobacco is sweet on my body early, not smoky until hours into the fragrance life where it turns pipe-crud-ish, and the woods clean and beeswax polished and the sweet amber-ish base notes are there too. It’s all here on my skin and I just have to look for a note and there it is. They are masterfully blended though so even when one is showing itself in new and beautiful array the others are still wafting around waiting for your attention. This is how I would like to smell, rich, multi-layered, deep, warm and dark. This is how mystery smells, enticing, beguiling, in my mind Rita Hayworth as Gilda singing Put The Blame On Mame smelled like this and so did Paul Newman in everything and nothing.

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to finally write about this magnificent fragrance. Yes, it is expensive but I think after I save up for Sweet Redemption that I might just do the same for a bottle of this afterwards; it’s wearable most seasons, interesting, luxurious, long lasting and ultimately suits my chemistry.

Photo Stolen wellbeing

TheNonBlonde, CandyPerfumeBoy and NowSmellThis for further reading.
I bought my Back To Black sample from SurrenderToChance from $7/ml

Here’s a present. Paul Newman. Hubba Hubba!

Paul Newman Photo Stolen Tumbler@2 years ago with 103 notes

What did you splurge on lately, or what’s on the list, that may take a while to recover from? Do any of the by Kilian line call your name? Please leave us a message below, they will all be answered and we LOVE visitors, and let’s face it: Your input is usually way more interesting than mine anyway.

Till we see you tomorrow we at APJ wish all of you only the good stuff you wish for yourselves.
Love, Love, Love,
Portia xx

Here is the wonderful Amy Winehouse. RIP Princess.

Bois D’Argent EdC by Annick Menardo for DIOR 2004

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Hey Hey Perfumista Buddies,
I hope today has been awesome for you all! Of course, if it’s been shite then things will no doubt get better sometime in the near future. Peaks and troughs, or as I say PIGS and TROUGHS. It will get better, the sun will shine again. Promise. Whenever I feel the black dog at my back I try a new fragrance sample and really move into the fragrance and do my best to understand the story and twists & turns of its life cycle. though not currently in a bad patch it’s good to remember them when life is going well and prepare, as much as anyone can, for the next time. So there are a GAZILLION untried samples in this house. When I found these 2 lovely mini movies from DIOR I wanted a fragrance from the house as an excuse to give you these as a present. I have the complete La Collection Privee from SurrenderToChance a while back and today Bois Argent EdC by Annick Menardo took my fancy.

Bois D’Argent EdC by Annick Menardo for DIOR 2004


Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Juniper berries, cypress, iris
Heart: Incense, Somalia myrrh, patchouli, wine, woods
Base: Vanilla, musk, amber, woody notes, honey and leather

I love the fresh, juniper and cypress opening on my skin, it is a very citrus blast that is quickly cooled by the iris and the cypress soon gets quite woody. A surprising reminder of the fragrant Hindu rites in Varanasi as the patchouli and incense/myrrh take their allotted places there is already a quiet waft of vanilla and a honeyed sweetening coming up behind and sitting just under the full radar but hinting at great things to come. It doesn’t say it in the notes but there seems to be a whisper of oudh here also: earth, livestock and dander. I don’t get wine at all, and the musk is well hidden, both must be bit players used to fill the fragrance out or maybe my skin/nose overlooks them. I love that the powdery goodness stays quite a way into the fragrance life and that the leather isn’t even noticeable until a couple of hours in, and then it’s like a change in the wind and back to sweet honeyed amber and then it pops its lovely soft leather head out again to remind you to notice it for a while and then flits away. Though not a big sillage fragrance it is tenacious, pumping out its lovely story for hours and hours, ever more quietly till it is a whisper more than you. I like that this EdC lasts so well and tells a beautiful story while it lives. Wearable even in the most zero fragrance tolerant workplaces, you could get away with saying Bois D’Argent is a scented body lotion because it is quietly gorgeous and rich. A completely selfish guilty pleasure. 12 hours later I am still skin scented and TSO Jin can definitely still smell a difference.

Dashaswamedh Ghat, Varanasi Photo Stolen en.wikipedia

I wish this was easy to get hold of here in Australia but it is not stocked. I will continue with samples till I see a split on one of the Facebook pages, or till I get to the Northern Hemisphere.

Olfactoria’sTravels does a wonderful review and so does TheNonBlonde
SurrenderToChance sells Bois D’Argent EdC from 1ml/$3 or you can buy from VERY select retailers and DIOR shops

Which of this range has taken your fancy? I’ve reviewed a few now and have yet to dislike one though they aren’t all skin compatible for me.

Below are a couple of lovely newish DIOR videos, please take a moment from your life to enjoy them.
Until we see you tomorrow, be well.
Portia xx

Lady Dior Teaser

Lady Dior Web-Umentary

The Aoud by Pierre Mancera for Mancera 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Hiya All,

I have the best friends in the world. we had a BarBQ get together yesterday with a few of them and I was given a bottle of The Aoud by my mate Alice who has just returned from the UK recently. She was down shopping in Selfridges fragrance floor and the Mancera SA was so good at her job, and Alice so overwhelmed by the incredible amount of choice, that in next to no time Alice was buying herself and me a bottle each of different frags in the line. I’m not sure what Alice got for herself but The Aoud by Mancera is a winner. Don’t go to the Mancera website, it has no information, is totally annoying to navigate and doesn’t even tell you about their fragrances other than 3 of them. GRRRR! So bloody unhelpful and this lack of information only hinders us blogging perfume enthusiasts that like to go see what is what. Even more terrible for shoppers I think.

Fragrantica has this to say:
Perfumer Pierre Mancera opened his first Mancera luxurious perfume boutique at Place Vendo in Paris. Mancera perfumes are made from precious and luxurious ingredients, rare and refined materials, inspired by Art Deco design.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

The fragrance features accords of: Geranium, sandalwood, saffron, incense, rose, agarwood (oud), leather and ambergris.

On opening the beautifully presented package with its shiny gold, very Arabian feeling, embossed cardboard box there is a gold drawstring pouch with the Mancera M in black repeated. It is a luxurious first glimpse and I like the feeling. The 60ml bottle is hefty and simple. Fits beautifully in my hand and the screw cap is a nice touch meaning the bottle is hand or gym bag ready without the worry of cap loss and self spraying of atomiser. V Important.

Photo Stolen lindsaybrothers

I love the opening medicinal notes, they are refined and luxurious. The oudh is noticeable right at the start as a warm, earthy, horse apple, green and grassy waft that lasts through the fragrance but it’s not toxic or heavy like many of the Arabian style of oudh. It is airy and fresh. The geranium adding a bright counterpoint and the sandalwood giving its buttery smoothness almost immediately. Oudh, geranium and sandalwood are triumphant kings through the story of this fragrance for me, their characters working in tandem and against each other to keep The Aoud interesting and unusual. Though rose is a featured note it doesn’t play heavily here, more a light accompaniment with the leather, saffron and incense. At about the 1.5-2 hour mark I start getting a lovely salty beach/sea water smell that I think may be The Aoud by Mancera’s ambergris. A fragrance of many colours, light and shade, an adventure in a bottle, subtle, alluring; I am running out of cliches to describe something far from cliched; even with the completely overwhelming amount of oudh on the market this is different and extremely wearable. No problem wearing anywhere except a strict no fragrance policy or close quarters work environment. The Aoud has good sillage but is not a skunker unless you are extremely lavish with your application, scent bubble around one meter maximum after the first hour.

Photo Stolen ferrebeekeeper

See how bright and new, sleek and lovely this trireme looks, The Aoud by Mancera has a kind of freshness about it that makes me think sea journey in a newly hewn ship with livestock in the hold for food and riding, naked, muscular slaves and the ever present smell of salt water on the cool breeze, but on the deck it would be warm and fragrant, and we of course would be in charge.

UniversalPerfumes&Cosmetics has 120ml/$130
Selfridges in the UK also has a selection in 60 & 120ml

Thanks for coming and spending a moment at APJ, see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Louis Vuitton Mini Movie

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hey Hey Perfume People,

I know that Louis Vuitton and master perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud (Stella McCartney, Dior’s Addict and Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classic) are still preparing LVs first fragrant offering since the 1930s; so to honour their choice to finally cross to the dark side, also to assuage my need for visual stimulation, and to keep me pumped as the time grows nearer, I am gifting you this lovely mini movie. Hopefully it’ll help keep you in a simmering, speculating, craze of what ifs and how wills.

Photo Stolen 1000fragrances

I am hoping for something beyond gorgeous but will be happy with interesting and beautifully crafted. In my minds nose I smell ink, leather, salt and rue. Ink for the money that it will cost, leather for the historical luggage, salt for my tears of longing and bitter rue for my regret and sadness when it is a lazy fruit-chouli. Please Perfume Goddesses, let it be at least GOOD!

Photo Stolen butterflydiary

Don’t forget to go enter yesterdays GIVEAWAY and if you want a full review I am Guest Posting over at PerfumePosse about Sweet Water by Liz Cook for One Seed. Please go over and wish me well there, it is still a huge deal to be asked to Guest Post on one of the world’s biggest and most popular frag blogs.

We wish all the best of everything for you, it is out there, all you have to do is go get it.
See you tomorrow.
Portia xx

LV Paris Perfumeries 2011

Field Notes From Paris by Ineke Ruhland for INeKE 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hi All You Lovely APJ,

Back in July I remember reading a ScentsMemory post about Field Notes From Paris by a perfumer from his town, San Francisco, and thinking “WOW! That sounds like a killer frag, Must try it soon.” So when INeKE fragrances became part of the September 40% off deal going on at SurrenderToChance I felt it was time to get up close and personal with the brand. I ordered 5ml of Gilded Lily, Chemical Bonding and Field Notes From Paris and have only just opened the little anti break baggie (I always feel like I’m in the middle of a drug deal opening this stuff up, perfume crack indeed!) and it all smells so good.

Photo Stolen INeKE

Fragrantica has this to say and gives these featured accords (added INeKE accords): Field Notes from Paris is inspired by Ineke Ruhland’s halcyon days studying perfumery in Paris and Versailles. It captures the romantic, nostalgic feeling of sitting at a café and writing in a journal while lingering for hours over a cafe crème.
Top: Orange blossom, bergamot, lemon and coriander seed
Heart: Tobacco blossom & leaf, patchouli and cedar
Base: Tonka, benzoin, leather, beeswax and vanilla.

Citrus Coriander Blooms Photo Stolen foodarts

I love the opening with its coriander seed and citrus, almost a dissonance but strangely alluring, I keep getting whiffs of interesting and unusual which is a joy rather than outrageous or confrontational. It’s a warm, lived in smell, inviting and unpretentious.

Then it is a citrus, tobacco and leather scent on my skin, warmed by the vanilla and woods but never dominated by them. I know Field Notes From Paris is about the feeling of Ineke Ruhland sitting drinking a single cafe au lait while spending hours updating a journal in Paris & Versailles during her training as a perfumer but I really would have liked to smell the coffee. The citrus, blossom, fruit and rest of the tree, stays through different intensities almost to the dry down and shows its diverse faces from crisp zest to sensual flower through to powdery pith and bittersweet bark and twig.

Photo Stolen secretcitizens

Having worn it to work I had one person ask what I was wearing, I couldn’t remember the damn name GRRR. Somewhere between 4-5 hours I become completely anosmic to Field Notes From Paris but TSO Jin says he can smell something that’s not me but very soft, skin scent-ish and good. He had to get his nose to my chest to smell it though, so rides very close to the skin at that point.

Will this be my next FB? Not sure. I really love the opening and the journey is a good one with highs, lows and interesting things happening, I want to be madly enraptured because the work is so good and the price is not outrageous either. Field Notes From Paris is the kind of niche offering that we wish the big boys would emulate, and the bottle itself is gorgeous. I have a 5ml decant, let’s see where I am at the end of those 5mls because this is definitely the good stuff but it just hasn’t grabbed me, which I am very sad about.

NowSmellThis and PerfumeShrine also do excellent reviews with so much information made easy.
INeKE sends their 75ml/$95 bottles only to the USA & Canada, but they have an awesome WORLD STOCKISTS page which includes 3 great Australian Stockists in Qld & Vic 75ml/$160 delivered to your door.

As always, I amgrateful that you have chosen to spend some time with us in the APJ Family.
Loads of love and hugs till we see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Perfume and Skincare Co. Australia Reviews

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Hey Hey Scent Addicts,

Yesterday we did an APJ Interview with Sheila Masseti if you’d like to meet the perfumer.

What is unusual about these Perfume And Skincare Company fragrances that are made in Australia by Sheila Masseti is that they have between 45-70% fragrant oils per volume. What does that mean to the regular person? It means more depth, character, longer lasting, more nuanced olfactory ride and best of all; you need use less to get an incredible fragrant experience. These amounts are double and above what you would get in a Parfum or Extrait level fragrance from the big players. The prices are beyond reasonable for the quality and you can get a great sample range for $10/5ml which is enough to get a real feel for the fragrance on your skin and won’t break the bank. Imagine having 5 new fragrances in extrait level to try for a week each for only AUD$50. Seriously great value!!

FIG & OLIVE: Fig & Olive is the P&S signature scent. Opening with fresh, green citrus it becomes a fuller, deeper and stronger version of my favourite fig, Un Jardin En Mediterranee by Hermes. There is the familiar broken leaf and branch, slightly salty olive and milky fig, it is an interesting sweet and sour bi-play that offers an absorbing frisson that I can get quite lost in smelling, it has some very definite herbaceous notes through the heart keeping it green and I can’t decide whether I’m getting spice or woods. Interesting and beautiful right through to dry down.

FORBIDDEN FRUIT: This is a huge sweet burst of fruit, I get pineapple, passionfruit and peach though the notes say blackcurrant and lemon, the oudh is extremely clean with the soapy orange flower and sandalwood. Staying power is excellent, I got nearly 7 hours of unrelenting fruit sweetness before I had to shower. Sorry but I can not imagine using this, it is so far from what I’d like to smell like that I can’t express properly how little I like it. If you like the fruity sweet fragrances though this is the one, it has everything you love in the other fragrances like it in bags, plus more interesting journey with real change as it matures on your skin, I wish I could have enjoyed the journey.

GARDENIA: Gardenia is one of the scents I am repeat applying, not only is it a killer soliflor fragrance that people “get” straight off the bat, but it is a huge compliment getter. Every time I wear it at least one person asks what, who, how and how much. One night I had 4 people do this. Now if you wear scent often you will know that 4 people in one night do not ask about fragrance that you are wearing, it was uncanny. If you love white flowers and gardenia especially, then this fragrance will be for you too.

GINGER MILK: Ginger Milk is my favourite of the selection sent. It has everything I want in a fragrance and if I wasn’t such a scent slut I think it would become my signature scent. Every time I put it on I am transported, even making the most embarrassing throaty moans on first application. It is quite linear, there is growth but it’s more circular than a story, going over the same few scents on slow, languid rotation and really does smell like spiced warm milky ginger tea. Almost gourmand, um what am I writing? This is Oriental Gourmand, from the east and delicious. The dogs try to lick it off me when I go out to them, that’s how good it is.

PINK PEONY: Pink Peony opens with a luscious fruit accord, the notes say peach and apricot but I get some citrus too, that is sweet but not like a fizzy fruit tingle or like a sugary sweet but piece of fruit sweet. Then I get a mild anise feeling mixed with a spicy white flower and something that may be peony but I wouldn’t know how a peony smelled if you held me at gunpoint and made me guess, even though I love them as cut flowers I can never recall the scent. Maybe the green-ish scent that comes through after about an hour is peony? Later on you notice the vanilla and sandalwood have been quietly taking over, still giving enough room for the flowers to show but the whole fragrance has warmed considerably. then it dires down to a sooft and mellow, nearly amber-ish vanilla that clings for ever.

Something else I really love about the Perfume And Skincare Company is their simple and elegant packaging and bottles. It all fits together in a really well thought out and stylistically simple extravagance, like it’s so good that it doesn’t need bells and whistles to make it stand out. Which is quite true. Do take some time to sample this wonderful Aussie range at The Skincare And Perfume Company.

Also, come back on Thursday because we have a wonderful GIVEAWAY!

Thanks for dropping by, we wish you the best of everything till we see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

In The Mail: New Arrivals

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Hey Gang,

It’s all been mad CER AY ZEE around here lately. I’ve been getting some great new gigs, TSO Jin has been studying for his final electrical exams and our lovely homestay boy has been off working on movie sets as well as attending to his studies. Spring has sprung and as the weather warms and the liquidamber in the front yard puts forth lovely green leaves we should be in the pool in a couple of weeks. YAY!!! We have seen a couple of 28oC/82oF days and life looks good.

One of the amazing things about being in the perfumista world is the swapping that goes on. Say I have a bottle of something and a few samples that I think will suit one of my buddies; decant, wrap & into a post pack and away. It’s so great getting a little fragrant package from someone who knows your scent preferences, wants to help educate you or simply wants to share the love. I’ve had a few of these super packs lately and would like to share a few of my new discoveries. To understand the ratings please jump across to the APJ Ratings System Page.

At The Beach 1966 by CB I Hate Perfume (Thanks Sonya) Has a lovely fresh citrus-like opening that quickly gives a salty blast and something vaguely white floral. I don’t get the Coppertone analogy, or, um, maybe, OK I get it! Ha Ha Ha The whole white sauce sun protection we used to be covered in by our Mum’s, the sand everywhere, seashells, surf, sun, the big fluffy striped towels with fringing. It’s all here. MEMORIES! And after 5 hours wear it smells like the bug spray we wore too. Still pumping soft white flowers and seawater 9 hours later. CB I Hate Perfume 100ml/$80. S=**** L=***** D=****

Interlude Man by Amouage (Thanks Ruth) OH BOY!! The opening of Interlude Man featuring Oudh from the outset melded beautifully with the oregano and spicy pepper. Get your money and buy this fragrance now, man, woman or child. My tummy has got butterflies and I am having a Stendahl Syndrome moment (Thank you Denyse Beaulieu for the SS reference). Full report soon. Amouage 100ml/215 Euro.  S=***** L=**** D=*****

LouLou by Cacharel 1987 (Thanks Amanda) What a fragrance. Pow when it opens with what seems like everything ever put into a perfume, in bags. Such an outrageously OTT spicy floral that is a super statement fragrance. I can’t believe the girls we grew up with used to think this was a soft girly fragrance, it’s a powerhouse based on the tiare flower, though not including it. Still available to buy in the shops but mine is a vintage 90’s bottle. Sweetness lingers for hours and hours. FragranceNet has 50ml/under $50 S=**** L=**** D=****

Jezebel by Bud Parfums (Thanks Howard) I normally shy away from a burst of fruit as an opening gambit by a fragrance but Jezebel opens so lushly that it already feels lascivious, but wait, there is something dirty hiding behind the fruit. A very naughty girl who has sprayed herself with fruit to do THE WALK OF SHAME. When people talked about Ho Panties in fragrance I kind of understood but now I know. It hits you sneakily and remains behind the glow and glamour of nearly spoiled fruit. Everything about Jezebel is a little overblown, pardon the pun. Probably wear this at home or on the prowl ONLY!! After the initial rush and gush I end up with an enjoyable sweet musky dry down that sticks around for a few hours and then disappears. BudParfums 100ml/$100 S=**** L=*** D=****

What has been on your fragrant agenda, anything new? Have you received a scented care package? What was in it? What do you wish had been in it? Leave us a message because the conversation is often more interesting than the post,
Take care till tomorrow,
Portia xx

PS All Photos Stolen Fragrantica

Pear + Olive (Ltd Ed.) by Slumberhouse 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 41 Comments

Hey Hey Niche Nerds,

Have I got a niche for you!! Recently on FacebookFragranceFriends there was a split for a crew, Slumberhouse, that I have been reading murmurings about for a while and stumbled upon on Parfum1 where you can buy their gear. I like the aesthetic of the bottles, saw they were genuinely trying to buck the modern concept of department store mass marketed dross (much of which I adore), were following their hearts/dreams/desires and experimenting beyond the norm. All this piqued my interest, there had even been a couple of their handy 15ml bottles in my basket a few times when I’ve had to cull so my budget would still stretch to unimportant things like food and telephone etc. So when I noticed a split for their new Limited Edition Pear & Olive, that just by the way comes in the most desirable, OMG LUSTING MADLY, etched bottle, I did not resist.  Thank all that is good in this world because I have found something completely different to anything I’ve yet tried, this is the real deal folks….

Photo Stolen slumberhouse

From The Slumberhouse Site: Slumberhouse is a boutique cologne label in the heart of Portland, OR; created and inspired by urban and street culture, art, film and music – especially the new school of hiphop and graffiti artists. We are a group of young gents who march to our own beat, embracing an absolute disregard for other brands, trends and marketing cliches. Slumberhouse represents an unequivocal love for the art of fragrance making.

Featured Accords: Pear, cognac, chamomile, aglaia (Mahogany), olive, zdravets (Geranium oil from Bulgaria), massoia bark and calamus (Rush or reedlike rhizome)

Pear + Olive starts out with the most outrageously real pear skin accord and it just jumps off your skin it is almost smello realism, and is quickly joined by the smell of the flavour of your first bite of an olive for the day. My mind keeps telling me there is cheese, real full blue cheese that has been allowed to warm on a table, even though I know it’s not there. I feel like I have sat down with friends, a few red wines, cheese platter with pears and olives. It is completely intoxicating and the sweet pear and salty, tangy, vinegar-ish olive scents harmonise and then push against each other, then meld with this milky, blue cheese thing. It then goes all woody through the pears and olives and has that great herb and cream smell that chamomile tastes like in tea. It is so hard to describe this fragrance, I can say that it is entrancing and enticing; people will want to get in and have a really good whiff of you.

Photo Stolen carbdiva

This is the most complimented fragrance I have ever worn, on its first outing tonight I had 5 separate and unrelated compliments and 3 of those compliments included asking the whereabouts of more such delicious juice. Every one of said compliments happening over a 3 hour period.

Sillage is excellent, the scent bubble goes about 2 meters and lasts for hours. I am home from work and have written the blog, hung out with the crew here a bit and it’s nearing 2am. I put my Pear + Olive on at 6pm and there is still a gorgeously fragrant cloud of something totally unprecedented on and around me. I have already gone online and bought a 50ml bottle, Slumberhouse has cheaper International Postage Rates by more than half.

Do yourself a favour and at least get hold of a 1ml/$5 sample from Slumberhouse, or grab one when they get to the sample/decant stores.

Have you tried this line? What were your impressions? Please leave me a message, even if it’s just saying hello, we love to read from everyone who comes by and we reply to all comers.
Have a great day till we see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Neroli Portofino by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Tom Ford 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Hi APJ Family,

Well I do love to eat and today I get to eat my words. I was on a blogging black ban of the Tom Ford fragrances because they cost more than my house and at David Jones, Sydney City they wouldn’t make or give me samples to test. I was like, “You want us to pay $600 for a bottle of your juice and I can’t even get a sample to try at my leisure? Are you FECKING BARKING MAD?” I was in there today though and policy has changed and they make you samples to take away and try, it’s very personal and Joel the SA at Tom Ford could not be lovelier or more helpful. I know he, and the juice, will charm me into penury, beautifully fragrant penury but penury nonetheless. The stench of poverty this season by Tom Ford.

I was out with my girlfriend Alice (Hi Girl!) and we were having a sample and spritz-fest and I told her about the last time I was at the Tom Ford counter and the ensuing debacle and she was all, “Let’s go see then, I’ll sort them out.” Well we get there, problem solve and Alice looks at the aqua bottle for Neroli Portofino and asks if she can have the bottle without the juice. Joel & I look at her as if she’s just laughed at an autistic child and then stolen her doll. “OOoh,” she says, “I love the aqua bottle but the juice just doesn’t do it for me.” Joel kindly made me a review set of the 6 fragrances available for sample at the time. I then used the pipette from Neroli Portofino to swipe my buddy Alice, 10 seconds later there was a soft MOAN from behind us and we turned to see RAPTURE…

ALL Photos Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords/notes:
Top: Bergamot and mandarin orange
Heart: African orange flower
Base: Amber.
MyPerfumeDiaries gives
Notes: bergamot, lemon, mandarin, lavender, myrtle, rosemary, orange bitter, Egyptian jasmine, neroli, orange blossom water, pittosporum, woody amber accord, ambrette seeds, angelica root.

The bottle is gorgeous, it’s true but the juice is even better. Tom Ford has not pushed any fragrant boundaries here. Neroli Portofino is a fine, fresh, spicy cologne style scent. All citrus and herbs mashed up into a very, VERY expensive smelling and quite fragrant whole. It is a really delicious sparkling version of an old favourite that I would happily part with my hard earned cash for because it lasts for AGES!! Finally a cologne-esque spicy, almost masculine white floral that I can wear and forget because I know that 6-8 hours later I will still smell glorious. What’s not to like here? And Tom Ford does an excellent skincare, bath and body set in the same fragrance meaning you can layer for even longer lasting, deeper and richer results.

I am now putting all sample/decant/online shopping on hold till I have the cash to get this wonderful fragrance. It’s an investment but I want Neroli Portofino to be my shared memory scent of Aussie Spring/Summer 2012 with Guerlain Lys Soleia. One salty, suntan, coconut-ish white flowers, the other green, herbal, amber white flowers. I feel an awesome summer ahead down here.

EayMG does a great review of the 2007 release of Neroli Portofino and MyPerfumeDiaries (which is Aussie BTW) has the new one.
Tom Ford counters everywhere have samples
SurrenderToChance does decants $6/ml

Isn’t it nice when the world changes to the way you want it? Has that happened for you in any way lately? Do tell, I love happy stories, I don’t think there are enough of them shared so here’s your chance in the comments below.

Thanks for dropping in,

Portia xx

PS My mate David C begged me to do some Tom Ford because he is LGBTI family and now I have, and will do so more because I am now able to sample the range.

Scandal by Roja Dove 2007

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Hey Hey High End Perfumistas,

My buddy Sheila Eggenberger from TheAlembicatedGenie sent me an atomiser filled with Scandal by Roja Dove recently. It was not on my radar, though Roja Dove is of course one of my heroes, and Sheila quite rightly thought that it should be.

Photo Stolen SydneyMorningHerald

Fragrantica gives these featured accords/notes:
Top: Orange blossom, lily-of-the-valley and bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, jasmine, freesia, rose and ylang-ylang
Base: Sandalwood, musk, orris root, resins, cedar and benzoin

What happens when I put it on? HELLOOOOO White Flowers! A big fat burst of white floral and citric goodness that has a little of the person about it but not a lot. Scandal doesn’t scream though, that’s not its way. There is a much more glamorous fragrance here. I am perfumed most definitely, it is excellent on the sillage and scent bubble and it gets noticed but it’s not burning out my nostril hairs and I think after the initial rush that you could wear it to dinner without spoiling your food, or the food of your dinner partner.

As this first lovely blast calms down there is room for the rose, a slightly spicy tea rose, to make its way to the front of the rest of the bouquet and already there is some powdery, resinous and woodsy undercurrent that stops Scandal from being too heady and floral though it is both of these things. Though Scandal is a big perfume I don’t feel like I am skunking anyone when I wear it, a graceful offering rather than a Fracas or Madonna’s Truth or Dare extravaganza (both of which I love BTW) which practically beat your surrounding noses to death trying to get their attention. Like Scandal is slightly grown up, a little more sure of the world and a place in it that fits a you sized piece of the puzzle. Though more than a nod to the past I think we have a fragrance of the future, definitely my future. I have been brought undone by this lovely floral and now think I want it often. Sheila is naughty giving a fragrance junkie the good stuff, but clearly has me pegged perfectly which can be nice, and is.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Scandal maintains its sillage and scent bubble indefinitely!! I can’t believe the staying power. I put it on 3 hours ago and we are still pumping the gorgeousness like it’s been on for 15 minutes.

So I double respritzed on my chest at 4.5 hours to go do a gig and my head nearly blew off. OMG!! It CAN be a weapon of mass destruction! On top of an unfinished wear it becomes super scent BOMB for about an hour, thank all that is merciful we are a ways from town or I would have skunked a whole 40th birthday party. HA HA HA! As it was I was most decidedly fragrant when I walked into the gig and still going strong on my farewells. Now nearly 5 hours later I am still powering away as I go off to bed.

Roja Parfums Scandal Pour Femme
Photo Stolen rojadove

TheCandyPerfumeBoy does a ripper review and Abigail @ ISmellThereforeIAm puts Scandal in her forever Top 10!

ThePoshPeasant has samples/decants from $5.50/ml
RojaDove website has 100ml EdP ₤195

As I use up one of my existent big white florals I think Scandal will have a place in my Frag Fridge, I am going to order a replacement decant until because this one is bone dry.

What is your favourite white floral? I like the idea of wearing them in Spring and Autumn, when is your best white floral time?

Loads of love till tomorrow,
Portia xx