Review

Mohur by Bertrand Duchaufour for Neela Vermeire Creations 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Welcome back Perfumistas,

Yesterday we had an interview with the amazing Neela Vermeire of Neela Vermeire Creations. today we are going to look at one of her fragrances, Mohur, composed with Bertrand Duchaufour.

Photo Stolen guerlain.pl

From LuckyScent:
The name refers to the most valuable gold coin in India’s history, the last of which was minted in 1918. A way, perhaps, of underlining the value given to perfumery during the Mogul era, an art so highly considered that the most powerful empress of the Mughal dynasty, Noor Jahan, devoted herself to perfecting it.
.

Photo Stolen worldofcoins.eu

Fragrantica LuckyScent and Neela Vermeire Creations give these notes and accords, each site is slightly different so I have melded them all:
Top: Cardamom, coriander, ambrette (musk mallow), carrot seeds, black pepper, elemi oil
Heart: Turkish rose oil, Moroccan Rose Absolute (rose accords around 11%),  jasmine, iris/orris, aubepin (midland hawthorn), almond milk accord, leather, violet
Base: Sandalwood, amber, patchouli, oudh Palao from Laos, benzoin, vanilla, tonka bean

Photo Stolen Neela Vermeire Creations

What do I smell when I wear Mohur? The very first whiff is pepper and spices jumping off my skin but it doesn’t take long for the ambrette and elemi to add their musky/woody tones though there is still a strong spicy/herbal wash over all. This is no big blockbuster of a fragrance, it’s more refined than that; it does give great scent and more than moderate sillage but not in an overwhelming way so I think very wearable for dinner, cocktails or dates, but maybe a little too much for close quarters working
The green hawthorn is the next player to make itself known heralding the rise of the flowers, and boy are they something! Like the lithe and lovely Indian women in their bright colours walking to get water each morning and evening they sway into the picture and ROSES, roses, ROSES backed up by a bouquet that is way beyond my meager abilities to parse. This is exactly the scent I would love to wear to dinner at the Lake Palace in Udaipur (where you can watch the chefs make reincarnations of the feasts of Mughal and Raj days), or the Wildflower Hall in Shimla (where I was lucky enough to spend my birthday in 2010) or the Neemrana Palace outside Delhi (where we spent our 8th Anniversary) or even the hall of the Dalai Lama in McLeod Gang (though McLeod Gang is now so much a tourist Mecca that I hardly recognised it from 2000-2010). I feel like I am in the lap of India’s most jaw droppingly awesome and outrageous luxury, even almost smelling the dust that has to be hand collected in wet rags three times a day by the servants, and still the snap and sizzle of lunch frying, that was present in the opening, persists alongside the roses. What an adventure!

At around the 2-3 hour mark I still have a green pepper fragrance behind a slight sweetening of the bouquet of roses and other flowers, like an amber/vanilla mist that is laid over the top. Mohur smells really expensive on the body, lavish, opulent and glamorous are words that instantly jump to my mind. The whole fragrance is much softer now; the sillage is maintained at slightly lower levels.

By nearly 5 hours I have a sweet vanillic, milky, woody and ever so slightly soapy dry down that continues for somewhere over an hour when I lose all sense of wearing fragrance. WOW!! Every time I wear Mohur it’s a slightly different ride but it was really fun today to document my wearing of it for you.

Photo Stolen Neela Vermeire Creations

Looking for other reviews? NowSmellThis looks specifically at Mohur and CandyPerfumeBoy does all three NVC in the line.
NeelaVermeireCreations was where I bought my 10ml x 3 frags discovery set for only 90 euro delivered anywhere in the world
LuckyScent has 55ml bottles $250

These are a must try fragrance line because there is real love poured into their creation, they use the best ingredients available, smell incredible and God Damn It, you deserve the best. Come see us Thursday for a very special Neela Vermeire give away!

Have you tried this line? Do you have a favourite? Why?
As always love to you and yours,

Portia xx

PS: The opening photo stolen openlib

Piment Brulant By Bertrand Duchaufour for L’Artisan Parfumeur 2002

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Hey Perfume Junkies,

It feels like it’s not a week without a L’Artisan Parfumeur review. Today we are looking at an extremely discreet fragrance from their range, it starts out super fireworks but very quickly becomes an alluring skin scent, just enough to make you smell better than ever but not enough to pick unless you are very, very close. It’s like a reward for getting that close.

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

The L’Artisan Parfumeur site says:
Piment Brûlant was inspired by the Aztec drink of xocotatl, the bitter cocoa and chili drink beloved of the warrior king Montezuma. He was reputed to drink fifty cups a day. This is an aphrodisiac blend of cocoa, vanilla, clove and poppy all tempered with the fire and bite of chili. Surprisingly green and fresh on the skin, this wonderful study in contrasts brings the skin alive.

Photo Stolen flavors.me/marchudgins

Fragrantica gives these featured notes/accords all in a line:
Amber, cinnamon, musk, poppy, vanilla, dark chocolate, cacao, clove and chili pepper

What do I smell? I love the opening of Piment Brulant, it’s like that first cut into a Bell Pepper, we call it Capsicum in Australia, a fresh green, wet and herbaceous smell. This lasts about 10-20 minutes depending on the day but is gradually joined by spicy chocolate, not a sweet chocolate, nor an edible one yet, but an unrefined cocoa-ish will be chocolate. It’s almost like the fragrance is fighting itself with a very treble capsicum and this dark undertone. As the fragrance lives on my skin the two separate shades move together as the amber & vanilla weave their way through to the top of the pile making it all smell extremely good but not bakery style, did I mention that up super close you get the cinnamon but less so from far away.

Now at about the 1 hour point the whole fragrance kind of eats itself and becomes so close to the skin that it’s almost undetectable unless you are close or you stick your head in your top and breathe deep. This stage lasts indefinitely, I can never tell when it has truly gone but TSO Jin has still been able to smell traces the morning after if I wear 5 spritzes.

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

I love the freshness, the sprightly, springy, gorgeousness of Piment Brulant that is absolutely guaranteed to lift my mood. It fits well with warm weather but will also sit pretty on you in cool. Not too strong for work as long as there is no ANTI PERFUME LEAGUE there and I love to wear it for dinner and date night.

If you’re looking for other reviews NowSmellThis and EauMG
eGlobalBeauty has 50ml/$93 or 100ml/$131 including worldwide delivery!
SurrenderToChance has decants from $4/ml

What do you love in the world of spicy green fragrances? Does chocolate do it for you? Could you see yourself in this dizzying mixture? Where would you wear it?
I want to take a moment to thank you for your continued support, it means a lot to all of us at APJ that you have chosen to become part of our fragrance family, see you tomorrow,

Portia xx

Patchouli Imperial by Francois Demachy for DIOR 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Well Hello There Fumies,

Today we are going to delve again into that magnificent La Collection Couturier Parfumeur by Francois Demachy for DIOR. Having ordered a decant set recently we will be looking at the collection over the next few weeks.

La Collection Couturier Parfumeur Patchouli Imperial Dior for menPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Olfactoria’s Travels gives these featured notes/accords:
Sicilian mandarin, Calabrian bergamot, Russian coriander, Indonesian patchouli, cedarwood and sandalwood essence

My skin gives me the quickest burst of citrus and corriander before a dirty patchouli waltzes through, lasting about an hour and then my skin eats the whole damn thing and I’m left scentless. So ANNOYING! I felt as if I was going for an incredible ride and to have it so truncated was very disappointing, to say the very least.

DIOR Gown Photo Stolen pilarrossiblog

This is still an interesting fragrance because when I couldn’t get a handle on it for myself I decided to spray TSO Jin with it last night and the first thing he said was Old Spice!! I laughed in his face and asked him to be serious but he made me go and get the Old Spice and put it on him. I’ll be damned but it’s a darker, less sweet version of Old Spice on him. HA HA HA HA HA!! This morning there was a lovely warm, woody, suede-like extra zing to his personal body scent that I found very sexy, skin scent but SOOO good. I think I will give my decant to him, as a present to me.

BoisDeJasmin and Perfume Shrine do almost black and white reviews they’re so opposite.

SurrenderToChance does decants starting at $3/ml

Sorry I couldn’t be more help in your search for the one today but there are plenty of loving reviews for Patchouli Imperial, I just can’t be among them.

See you tomorrow,

Portia xx

Champaca by Linda Pilkington for Ormonde Jayne 2002

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Hey ho Perfume Junkies,

I have a super friend called Undina from Undina’s Looking Glass, (called Undinaba because she is Bloody Amazing) which is one of the frag blogs that I read EVERY installment of. We have sent each other a couple of fragrance care packages and my most recent one arrived just this week, a veritable scent filled goldmine of things long read & heard about, pored over and pondered upon while making hasty “Can I justify/afford this?” calculations in my head.  Ormonde Jayne’s Champaca is just such a one. Even the frickin box looks too posh for me. This stuff is SERIOUSLY GORGEOUS!!

I must now say that having done some looking I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the affordability of the range, well within reasonable splurge range even on a way less than CEO style financial package.

Photo Stolen fragrantica

The internet tells me that the Michelia champaca is closely related to the fragrant magnolia but the flowers are yellow and smaller but their scent stronger. It is native to South and South East Asia and some of China, and has been used for millenia in fragrance.

Fragrantica gives these main accords:
Top: Neroli, pink pepper, bamboo
Heart: Basmati rice, champaca, freesia
Base: Myrrh, musk, green tea

Photo Stolen fragrantica

That fizzy pink pepper and orange blossom opening that is so 21st century is only slightly softened by the dry light bamboo, had we not had a stand of bamboo in the back yard that we played in and around as children I would probably never have noticed its inclusion.

Basmati rice really does come through the champaca and freesia, like it’s buoying them up and they float beautifully above it. There is still a definite orange blossom through the very heart of the fragrance and still there 5 hours into my wear. I was expecting Champaca to become a skin scent much sooner than this, though the musk is making itself known. I think staying close to me rather than skin scent, Champaca doesn’t seem to need to announce itself to the room though for the first couple of hours on returning to a room I could smell I’d been there. My skin gives me no tea, everyone else raves about the green tea, I went and made myself a cup to check but to no avail, my skin drank the tea.

It’s now 8+ hours, we’ve been for dinner, watched a movie at home on TV and I’m finishing up my post, there is now a slightly musky smell but it’s a sweet sweat, the myrrh and still, amazingly, a little of that sexy neroli; but you have to be close enough to….

Photo Stolen OrmondeJayne

Above you can see pictured the ORMONDE JAYNE DISCOVERY SET 12 x 2ml for only 48 pound including postage worldwide!
If you’d rather spring for a bottle prices start at 64 pound for 4 x 10ml Travel Purse Sprays or 80 pound for 50ml EdP at the OrmondeJayne site which is a pretty good deal for such outstanding niche fragrance presented so beautifully.

I love the Olfactoria’sTravels review and BoisDeJasmin always knows the good stuff

Thank you for coming and wandering through my fragrant thoughts, I hope you have enjoyed yourself as much as I did to bring them to you.
Wishing each of you only the good stuff you wish for yourselves,
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx

This is Linda Pilkington chatting about Champaca from her Ormonde Jayne website.

LuckyScent Summer Samples: SUNDAY QUICKSNIFF REVIEWS #15

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Hi Fumie Friends,
Click here for more graphics and gifs!

Last week the LuckyScent Summer Sample Collection arrived so I thought I would trot out 4 of the 10 new scents involved and give you the usual 3 sentences and a star rating. I figured you all liked this so much last week that we’d look at another 4 this week, cool? Follow the jump to find our Rating System Page (<<jump).

If you’d like to be a part of the LuckyScent Sample Program just join their eMail Newsletter Signup and every so often they will offer you a bunch of great new stuff to try, no pushy sales or minimum amount to buy, it’s either yes please or ignore. They are very reasonably priced; the 10 piece Summer Sample Collection was only $30 + P&H. There is a downside though, they are only .7ml vials so if you want to spritz you’ll have to self decant. I would pay double happily for a 1.5ml spray set, I have asked for it but you all need to too.

Summer Sample Pack by Luckyscent Sample PacksPhoto Stolen LuckyScent

In the bag:
• The Different Company – After Midnight , Limon de Cordoza, Tokyo Bloom, Sienne d’Orange
• Keiko Mecheri – Un Jour d’Ete
• Mona di Orio – Rose Etoile de Hollande
• Parfums MDCI – Un Coeur en Mai, newly reformulated
• Penhaligon’s – Peoneve
• L’Artisan Parfumeur –Seville a l’Aube
• Ramon Monegal – Lovely Day

AFTER MIDNIGHT by THE DIFFERENT COMPANY 2012: If you dab this you could be excused asking “why bother?” because this needs to be spritzed for me to even smell it. Once you do spritz though its a fun winter version of EdC with a warmer more vanilla and musk tone but with the light frothy approach so desirable in cologne. It is interesting and I think you could get away with it in  a work environment without feeling like you’d given up fragrance. It gets sexier the longer you have it on and respritzing after 4 hours will give you an even better, deeper, longer lasting version with itself as a base. $120/90ml S=**** L=** D=***

TOKYO BLOOM by THE DIFFERENT COMPANY 2012: 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, innovative fragrance. $120/90ml S=***** L=*** D=****

UN COEUR EN MAI EdP by PARFUMS MDCI 2012. A very lively green, peppery and citrus opening quickly leads to a spicy floral romp through a spring garden, white flowers, lily, rose, geranium all combine with some sweet (but not THAT sweet) fruity accords as if you’ve arrived at the garden lunch table for fresh fruit salad. I get a very slight cashmeran woods beneath the whole and towards the end but miss the musk unless it’s sprayed, I enjoyed this perfume immensely though it’s priced well out of my interest range. $250/60ml S=**** L=*** D=****

PEONEVE by PENHALIGON’S 2012. The violet leaf is a fresh, pretty, unpredictable, expensive feeling opening, such a change from pink pepper, bergamot or aldehydic blasts. I become almost complete anosmic to it for about 20 mins, just an extremely whispery floral tinkle in the air around me and then a beautiful light floral symphony surrounds me, reminiscent of a way less intense Gucci Guilty. Peoneve has an almost fruity, peppery rose and dry down is a little green, earth and musky at skin scent level then 4-5 hours gone. $120/50ml S=**** L=** D=***

These samples were from LuckyScent where you can buy full bottles of these fabulous perfumes and samples

Have you tried anything this week that you’d like to share with us? We’d love to read it so leave a message, you’ll get a response.
Thank you for dropping by and being part of our APJ family,
Portia xx

Borneo 1834 by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2005

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 32 Comments

Heya Perfumistas,

I have had a decant of Borneo 1834 for some time. I would look at it and pass it over for something else. I don’t know why, clearly its pedigree is good and people rave about it but it just never got picked. An interesting name, Borneo is divided by 3 countries Indonesia, Malaysia and the Sultanate of Brunei and I think they plucked 1834 out of their arses because I can’t find anything interesting to do with that time and Borneo on the net. (edit: It was the year patchouli first arrived in Paris, and thus perfume, from Borneo)

Photo Stolen Borneo.com

So today I bit the bullet.

Fragrantica gives the featured accords: Patchouli, white flowers, cardamom, galbanum, french labdanum, cacao

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Someone somewhere wrote that this is like chocolate covered raisins and I can’t get the scent image from my head. It’s uncanny! I love the uber bitter chocolate here with forestry patchouli, this is not sweet at all to begin with. The cardamom and crackly green galbanum work double time under the radar to keep the whole dusty, smoky, murky; like being in a cold furnace with only the memory of woods or being in an underground cellar. I completely miss all traces of white flower on my skin until about an hour into the fragrance life and then just almost wafts, like they are outside a window. The labdanum is slightly vanilla but still not sweet until about 3 hours in when it gets an extremely low hum of a bakery feel to it but very quietly, just huffs every now and then, like those chocolate sea shells that are vanilla chocolate. Borneo 1834 is gloriously bitter sweet and has a dark resinous quality that is maintained through the 7+ hours I get of real and fully apparent lifespan, I feel like I’ve made a new friend. Sometimes you just have to wait for the right time to test something.

So now it’s 16 hours after I triple spritzed, I’ve worked, slept, woken, done my emailing and breakfasted and there is still a fabulous soft spicy vanilla presence on my skin, astounding.

Will this be a full bottle in my collection? I have a feeling it will be very soon gracing the fragrance fridge here in Sydney.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

TheNonBlonde does as great review as does AnotherPerfumeBlog
FragranceNet has 50ml for $112 after discount
SurrenderToChance does decants starting at $3.99/.5ml but for only $12.99 you can have a 2ml spray.
Thank you for dropping by. I’m not sure if you know how happy it makes me that you do? Very Fecking Happy!
Don’t forget to come check out my Guest Post on ThePerfumePosse it’s one of the biggest frag blogs on earth and I am so proud and honoured to be a regular contributor.

Till tomorrow, loads of love,

Portia xx

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

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hey Fume Freaks,

Today I have finally had a moment to give to a fragrance hugely anticipated. I was worried because the build up has been so extraordinary that I felt dwarfed by the sheer weight of prose already directed at it, about it, a book was written of the creation of it and the moment it was inspired by. What could I add? Then I was lucky enough to win a sample from the author of the book The Perfume Lover and scent muse for this fragrance, Denyse Beaulieu of Grain de Musc. I feel it would be churlish to not at least give my fumbling impressions and add to the well deserved clamour surrounding another L’Artisan Parfumeur and Bertrand Duchaufour masterpiece.

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

Fragrantica gives these notes:
Top: Petit grain, olive blossom
Heart: Lavender, orange blossom, beeswax, tobacco
Base: Benzoin, olibanum (frakincense)

What do I small? The opening is green, but a warm woody green that in a short while sings with orange and beeswax that already resonates with the frankincense and benzoin. The lavenders create an interesting, almost manly, depth and the whole manages to stay fresh and herbaceous throughout. The orange blossom and tobacco, I think, meld at some points to smell like there is another person with you. It’s uncanny, I keep expecting a hug from behind.Having read the novel I can see the progression but I would love this fragrance even had I not. I smell like sexy, holy, oranges!

Photo Stolen BookDepository

The staying power is excellent, I wake up with subtle but recognisable wafts of orange and soft vanilla after wearing for dinner and 8 hours of sleep. The sillage is good but not extreme. I was able to eat dinner without it interfering with my palette but TSO Jin could smell it and liked it.

CandyPerfumeBoy, NowSmellThis, BoisDeJasmin, all do amazing reviews filled with stories and information I can only hint at.
LuckyScent sells 100ml for $165 and ships worldwide
BookDepository sells The Perfume Lover book around $20 including delivery worldwide!

Besides the fact that this is a wonderful fragrance, I love that a blogger’s dream has come true in so many ways. Published book, worked with one of the world’s most respected and loved perfumers, was the muse for a fragrance and is now traveling doing book and fragrance talks and launches. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Please do try it and tell me how you liked Seville a l’Aube by L’Artisan Parfumeurs,

Portia xx

Mitzah by Francois Demachy for DIOR 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Hey Scent Hog Crew,

DIOR is special. I’ve never owned anything from the fashion house except fragrance but when I was studying fashion in the 1980’s and then working in the industry they were already stand out leaders in the field. I did buy my long term partner Varun a Christian Dior suit a few years ago and it was, like him, incredibly gorgeous. Christian Dior the man’s story is a good one too if you like biographies. Whenever I go to try a new to me fragrance from DIOR I have to steel myself because when I am disappointed by their work it makes me sad. Not to worry here though, this one is a hit!

Photo stolen allurabeauty

Mitzah is painted in the Press Releases as an elegant, feminine and mysterious oriental fragrance and I guess that is a pretty fair assessment but it is more than that too. Like the woman the fragrance is named for, Mitzah Bricard, one of Christian Dior’s most important muses throughout his amazing career, Mitzah the fragrance has ZING. It is a spectacular leap into gorgeousness.  It seems to me that Mitzah has in fact taken the very best of all the other great Ambers and collected them into one extraordinary fragrance with great sillage and longevity thrown in for extra good measure. I ask you, “What more could you possibly want?” If your answer is a smaller bottle then I do agree, a 50ml would sell like hot cakes, and I would also like it to be available in more stores.


Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives its notes/accords as:
Coriander, rose, spices, cinnamon, labdanum, vanilla, honey, patchouli and incense.

I love how Mitzah opens all hot smoky spices and incense, I feel that there are unmentioned leather and tobacco notes too but maybe they are some of the rose facets, roses have a million faces so it’s hard for me to pinpoint. A cracker of a perfume, swirling around itself, making me feel all glamorous and giving me the va va voom of a Gabor sister in her prime. This is not an intense journey through the perfume with mountainous peaks and troughs, while there are definite start middle and end notes it’s more of a progression. The kick at the start warms slowly and languidly through mildly sweet towards a honeyed amber dry down. On a good day I get 8+ hours before Mitzah is lost. As the PR says elegant, feminine and mysterious, but I think not so feminine; a man could wear it very comfortably because it is spicy amber.

ISmellThereforeIAm does a super review and with a different viewpoint Olfactoria’s Travels

SurrenderToChance has decants from $3/ml if you’d like to test or don’t want the big bottle, I bought a hugely extravagant 3ml set of the 13 La Collection Couturier Sampler meaning there are more DIOR reviews to come.

I have added a video of the Making of the DIOR Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2012 Set. Suffice to say DIOR does nothing by halves.

Whatever it is you’re doing I hope it brings you joy.
Loads of love, till tomorrow,
Portia xx

Lipstick Rose by Ralf Schwieger for Frederic Malle 2000

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Guest Post by EmmaKate

LIPSTICK ROSE

Hello hello Australian Perfume Junkies!

EmmaKate here again for my monthly guest blog appearance. This month I am going to be talking to you about one of my favourite fragrances, Lipstick Rose from Frederic Malle.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
As you may know I was lucky enough to meet Frederic Malle himself while I was working at Mecca Cosmetica. While he was in Australia I was able to ask him about his fragrances and learn more about the range. I have always had a soft spot for this perfume and I had NO idea why (except for the fact that it was gorgeous)…Until Frederic enlightened me that it is designed to smell like lipsticks and powder compacts from a bygone era. As a beauty junkie I knew that certain brands continued to make their products with that luxury in mind, so this fragrance was two of my favourite things combined, fragrance and makeup.
The story goes: Ralf Schwieger (the nose behind this, Eau des Marveilles for Hermes and 3 scents for ELdO in 2012) created this fragrance based on a memory from his childhood. When he was young his parents would go to society events and his mother would come to kiss him goodbye before she would leave. The scent that he associates with this memory is the scent of his mothers lipstick and a sense of love and safety. He brought these memories to life in Lipstick Rose.
Lipstick Roses Long 75Photo Stolen globalrose
Fragrantica gives these featured notes/accords all in a line:
Rose, violet, musk, vanilla, vetiver, amber and grapefruit
Lipstick Rose opens with an orchestra of rose and violet followed by a softer powdery style vanilla and musk. It is then rounded out with vetiver and dries down to smell like candied roses and lilacs. It is reminiscent or Turkish delight and children’s lolly bracelets but with a sophisticated edge. It is well worth checking out if you like a sweeter scent, and even if you don’t. Let it sit with you, you might be surprised.
When I smell this I have visions of pink and red roses. For me it evokes romance and a sense of beauty, inner and outer. I wear this fragrance when it is cooler as I find it a bit overwhelming during the warmer months, I love to wear it when I am feeling a bit sassy and a lot girly.
Kiss Clipart Image: Lipstick Kiss

Photo Stolen Valentineclipart

SurrenderToChance starts at $5.99/ml
I also have a DIY blog full of fun, simple things to do, please come by and have a look at TheOriginalEmmaKate
Can’t wait to see you next month here on APJ,
EmmaKate XOX

LuckyScent Summer Samples: SUNDAY QUICKSNIFF REVIEWS #14

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Heya Scent-ualists,
Click here for more graphics and gifs!

We missed last week because the universe rejected Quicksniffs. What am I gunna do when the universe says NO? Acquiesce. This week arrived the LuckyScent Summer Sample Collection so I thought I would trot out 4 of the 10 new scents involved and give you the usual 3 sentences and a star rating. Follow the jump to find our Rating System Page (<<jump).

If you’d like to be a part of the LuckyScent Sample Program just join their eMail Newsletter Signup and every so often they will offer you a bunch of great new stuff to try, no pushy sales or minimum amount to buy, it’s either yes please or ignore. They are very reasonably priced; the 10 piece Summer Sample Collection was only $30 + P&H. There is a downside though, they are only .7ml vials so if you want to spritz you’ll have to self decant. I would pay double happily for a 1.5ml spray set, I have asked for it but you all need to too.

Summer Sample Pack by Luckyscent Sample PacksPhoto Stolen LuckyScent

In the bag:
• The Different Company – After Midnight , Limon de Cordoza, Tokyo Bloom, Sienne d’Orange
• Keiko Mecheri – Un Jour d’Ete
• Mona di Orio – Rose Etoile de Hollande
• Parfums MDCI – Un Coeur en Mai, newly reformulated
• Penhaligon’s – Peoneve
• L’Artisan Parfumeur -Seville a l’Aube
• Ramon Monegal – Lovely Day

SIENNE d’ORANGE by THE DIFFERENT COMPANY 2012: Described as a neo cologne in which carrot (LOVE!) and orange come out to play in a bright, fresh, vivacious fragrance that cardamom, leather and woods make interesting enough to try again. I’m figuring the product is made from the best of the best ingredients because of this companies genesis (Jean-Claude & Celine Ellena) though it’s very reasonable for niche at $120/90ml and created by Emilie (Bevierre) Coppermannn. My skin unfortunately devours it in under 3 hours but it is a cologne so respritz and start again. S=**** L=** D=***

Un Jour d’Ete  Eau de Parfum by Keiko MecheriPhoto Stolen LuckyScent

UN JOUR d’ETE by KEIKO MECHERI 2012: WOW!! This is deliciously warm and cool simultaneously with bergamot, coconut, jasmine, ambergris and woods combining uniquely. Sometimes even the first whiff of a fragrance announces its difference, this is a beguiling blend where only wearing on your skin could make you understand how much more fabulous than I can ever write for you. Sweet, spicy, interesting, sensual, heartbreakingly beautiful and only $115/75ml at LuckyScent. Still could smell a faint whiff 11 hours later next morning. S=***** L=***** D=*****

ROSE ETOILE DE HOLLAND by MONA DI ORIO 2012. Mona di Orio was taken from us too soon but her business partner will make sure she and her work remain unforgotten. From Rose Etoile de Holland’s sparkling top through its spicy rose heart to the soft, not quite sweet oriental dry down the journey is wonderful. Don’t be afraid to give yourself an extra spritz because it lives longer and louder if you do. $210/100ml S=**** L=*** D=****

LOVELY DAY by RAMON MENEGAL 2012. I was recently asking about Spanish perfumers and BINGO here one is: The opening is fresh but though I’m supposed to smell jasmine, rose and blackcurrent I just can’t for the life of me smell that, there smells to me like there’s some unmentioned herb or seed that overlays all. Olfactoria’s Travels does a great job describing this fragrance (almost ELdO SM-ish). After about 20 minutes the jasmine struts in and the rest of the fragrance is as lovely as you would expect something called Lovely Day to be to its lovely soft sweet woody end. $185/50ml  S=*** L=*** D=***

These samples were from LuckyScent where you can buy full bottles of these fabulous perfumes and samples

Have you tried anything this week that you’d like to share with us? We’d love to read it so leave a message, you’ll get a response.
Thank you for dropping by and being part of our APJ family,
Portia xx