Still Life in Rio by Dora Baghriche for Olfactive Studio 2016

July 11, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by TinaG

Hi there APJ!

Friday 5 August 2016 marks the beginning of the XXXI Olympiad, with the start of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Summer Olympics being held in a city which is renowned for its celebrations and colourful festivals, wide open beaches, and friendly people. We have quite a large Brazilian contingent here in Sydney and whenever our paths cross I feel like I’ve been swept up into one large loud colourful party – It’s not optional! You must relax and have fun! Well, OK then…. 🙂

Still Life in Rio by Olfactive Studio 2016

Still Life in Rio by Dora Baghriche

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Yuzu, ginger, lemon, mint, mandarin orange
Heart: Pepper, black pepper, pink pepper, coconut milk
Base: Rum, copaiba balm, leather

On either side of the party you have the warm relaxed recovery times, lazy days by the beach enjoying the long sunsets, drinks and food. I feel that this is where Still Life in Rio fits in. As a fragrance, it is bright and invigorating. It opens with a burst of lemon pith and juice that is tart at first then warms with ginger and mandarin, with a touch of mint and a general milkiness (is that coconut?) behind it all. It’s a fragrance you want to wear on sun kissed and salty skin, the lemon taking centre stage for the first few hours. The ginger gets stronger by way of a ‘taste’ sensation on the back of my tongue, however I’m not sure that I pick up the peppers which are listed in the notes for this fragrance – the ginger is predominant as a spice.

After about 4 hours I find that I’m really enjoying the mandarin, and realise that the whole effect of the fragrance is like a mandarin caprioska, juicy and refreshing. I don’t find there’s much development in the fragrance after this but it has a good longevity of at least 10 hours, and I’ve noticed the fragrance wafting around me as I’ve been going about my day so it has a decent sillage. A great summer scent, light and easy wearing. You might head toward this if you enjoy the freshness of a cologne but enjoy the sophistication & longevity of a well-crafted perfume.

Olfactive Studio

I remember the Sydney Olympics back in 2000, it was such a fabulous time! A relaxed happy party atmosphere, the trains actually ran to their timetables (!!!), and you could stop and chat to anyone on the street with a smile and a laugh. Really great times. We had a ball. And although the world is a different place now to then I sincerely wish the best of everything that the Olympics holds for Rio.

Further reading: Scented Hound and Colognoisseur
First In Fragrance has €90/50ml + Samples
Libertine Parfumerie will have it in stock soon for the Aussies.

What fragrances do you wear in summer to beat the heat?

Till next time, Tina G. xx

Le Musc Et La Peau GIVEAWAY WINNERS

July 11, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Portia

Heya APJ,

We love getting the very newest out for you all to try. Winners below.
Portia xx

Le Musc Et La Peau GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, ambroxan, musk, aldehydes, rosemary, ylang-ylang, sandalwood, cedar, tonka bean

LuckyScent has $125/50ml + Samples

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x 2ml decant Le Musc Et La Peau (from my Press Sample)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Saturday 16th July 2016 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Angela Pritchard

Azar

The winners will have till Wednesday 20th July 2016 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.

FLANKERS!! Let’s Talk About Flankers

July 10, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Anne-Marie

Howdy folks, it’s Anne-Marie, here to chat about the issues that matter in this crazy perfume-y world. Today, it’s … yay! Flankers!

FLANKERS!! Let’s Talk About Flankers

A flanker, as I’m sure you know, is a perfume which ‘flanks’ a pillar release. It perpetuates the name of the original but otherwise they may have little in common. Often the flanker has much less money spent on it and will be chucked at the market to see if it sticks.
It tends to be a given that flankers are not worthy of the perfume lover’s attention, but here are some which I have enjoyed.

Stylefrizz

Chanel No 5 Eau Premiere (2007, and re-packaged in 2015). The first flanker (as opposed to different form or concentration) to the 1921 classic. It is beautiful variant, less aldehydic than No 5: sunshiny, and with a lovely lemony top note. A perfect all-occasion fragrance. Apparently sales were disappointing, and we have a new flanker to look forward to this year, No 5 L’Eau.

Shalimar: what can you say without making Shalimar lovers’ blood boil? Well, I love Eau de Shalimar (2008/9) and Shalimar Cologne Eau de Toilette (2015). The lime top-note in EdS is admittedly a little weird, but I find the fragrance very relaxing overall. The Cologne? Oh my – gorgeous! Lemon instead of lime, very bright but beautifully blended with vanilla. It’s addictive but not (for me at least) especially foodie. Neither these two flankers, nor any of the Shalimar flankers as far as I know, are as heavy on the smoke and leather as the original.

CHANEL

I bought Chanel No 19 Poudre (2011) when it came out but sold it eventually. The iris is superb, the powder is not stifling, and the fragrance wears like a silk slip. But the white musk in the base seems timid and produces a lack-lustre result overall.

Sometimes a flanker stands confidently next to its pillar. Hermes L’Ambre des Merveilles (2012) trounces the original Eau de Merveilles for me, perhaps because I simply have trouble smelling the Eau. L’Ambre has a miraculous floaty character: sweet but cool, warm but restrained. The only amber I truly love.

Fragrantica

I’ve reviewed Hermes Kelly Caleche (2007) on APJ, so will just note here that it is a cool, elegant leather with little resemblance to the original Caleche, which I never loved. I’ll come right out with it: Caleche smells dated to me, and too short-lived to bother with.

Finally, Lancome Magie Noire (1978). Yes, it’s a flanker to Magie, released in 1950 and re-released briefly in the mid-2000s. Magie was a classic amber: good but not great. Magie Noire is devastating. A witchy mix of chypre and oriental. Dark, sensual and animalic, it’s haunting if worn lightly, but all-consuming if spritzed heavily. You might pay for this one with your soul.

Over to you! There are LOADS of flankers that you have tried and I haven’t. The good, the bad and the forgettable. Do share!
Until next time, happy spritzing!

What Frags Have You Excited 2016?

July 9, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey Hey Perfumeland,

It’s July! We have smelled half a year already. What is new that’s grabbed you by the nostrils and won’t let go? There have been a slew of new releases and frankly I’m a little bit overwhelmed so I would love to hear your enthusiastic two thumbs up frags for 2016 so far? Even a mildly interested one thumb not down will do. What should I definitely try and get my sniff on in the near future?

What Frags Have You Excited 2016?

As is so often the case I have a couple that you might like….

Fragrantica

Ambre Eternal by Thierry Wasser for Guerlain 2016: I can’t believe that Ambre Eternal didn’t come home from Europe with me this year. We tried it in 3 different stores. Loved it every time and now I wish its warm, sweet, woodsy, driftwood, creamy amber floralcy was here in my home to spritz with abandon. GRRRR!

Fragrantica

Equinox Bloom by Olivier Cresp for Penhaligon’s 2016: For lovers of interesting floral scent then here is a floral, green gourmand. I really enjoyed my wearings of Equinox Bloom and was really sad to see my decant empty. I haven’t bought a bottle because I just couldn’t see myself reaching for it over my favourite greens: Niki de Saint Phalle, Futur and CHANEL No 19.

Fragrantica

Indian Wood by Pierre Guillaume for Perfumerie Generale 2016: Bright green opening that leads through a creamy, spicy, milky, herbal heart to a sweet woods dry down. So wearable, yet Indian Wood has not been universally adored by the critics. To be honest I can’t think why. Yes, I have a bottle. YUMMY!

Fragrantica

Opus X by Pierre Negrin and Annick Menardo for Amouage 2016: Metallic rose dripping in blood, Opus X is really unusual. The opening and heart are all about this freaky mechanical rose, it’s beautiful and disturbing. As we make our way through the heart it changes, never losing sight of the rose yet the whole fragrance warms and becomes absolutely glorious. Lasts for days. Amazing. I got my bottle from Libertine Parfumerie

Fragrantica

Promenade des Anglaise by Thierry Wasser for Guerlain 2016: Bought at the brand new Rue de Saint Honore Guerlain Store the week it opened! Starts out sweetly fruity and ends up a fluffy cool powder bomb. Fun, flirty, effervescent and so easy to wear. Totally spritz & go sweetness.

Best way to try most of these is to trot over to Surrender To Chance and grab some samples.

So, what have you been buying in 2016? Or even trying? Where should I put my sniffer next?
Portia xx

Le Musc Et La Peau by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale 2016

July 7, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Lovers of NEW!

Pierre Guillaume is talented, most people who know frags agree. He makes some beautiful, interesting, sometimes challenging but almost always engaging fragrances. When he sends me something new to try I get a physical thrill of excitement. Not so long ago he sent me a sample of his newest release Le Musc Et La Peau, The Milk of Musk.

Don’t you love that gorgeous face? What a handsome man, and so freaking talented!

Le Musc Et La Peau by Parfumerie Generale 2016

Le Musc Et La Peau by Pierre Guillaume

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, ambroxan, musk, aldehydes, rosemary, ylang-ylang, sandalwood, cedar, tonka bean

A rework of PG04 Musc Maori, purely built with aromachemicals, and designed to create a better smelling you without smelling like you’re wearing a perfume. It’s an interesting concept, kind of toyed with already in the Molecule range and by JHaG’s Anyway. Pierre’s idea is to isolate the milky musk skin scent from Musc Maori and bring it to life so you can smell fresh, alive, healthy and delicious at all times. A formidable weapon in the arts of seduction I can imagine, you know that moment when you first rip someone’s clothes off and you drink in their bodies scent? This could be a game changer.

It took 3 wears though for me to able to smell it for more than 15 minutes. It’s like I had to train my nose to smell what’s there and even now I’m unsure if I am getting the whole story.

I bet you want to try it…..

Further reading: BL’eauOG and Ca Fleure Bon
LuckyScent has $125/50ml + Samples

Le Musc Et La Peau GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x 2ml decant Le Musc Et La Peau (from my Press Sample)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. I must be able to check that you follow so if you have an email address on your gravatar that’s different to your follow address then please email me so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Tell us a Pierre Guillaume fragrance that you love or are interested in trying.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 16th July 2016 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 20th July 2016 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.

Blood Orange Chocolat by Danielle Fleming for Note Fragrances 2016

July 4, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 37 Comments

Post by Azar

Hello APJ,

I tend to shy away from perfume brands that incorporate musical notes (or any reference to music) in their logos and advertising. I suppose this aversion has to do with too many years of teaching piano, too many cute “note” themed gifts, numerous tedious encounters with impossibly cumbersome, experimental notations and a general overdose (year after year) of trendy, interdisciplinary synesthetics involving perfume, performance art and music. Enough of that! Suffice it to say that I would never, on my own, have discovered the Note Fragrances brand, had it not been for my subscription to the sampling service Scent Trunk. (Sampling services are grist for yet another mill!)

Skipping the logo, the romance and the back-story, here are my impressions of Note Fragrances’ Blood Orange Chocolat:

Blood Orange Chocolat by Note Fragrances 2016

Blood Orange Chocolat by Danielle Fleming

For me, Blood Orange Chocolat is all about the sandalwood, specifically Australian sandalwood (S. spicatum or a very good likeness thereof – but “no quote me, I might be wrong”*). I do get an initial rush of blood orange, followed by a potent, lingering mélange of chocolate, tonka, hazelnut, honey and a short squeeze of lemon! But it is the edgy, spicy, raw and dusty mineral quality of S. spicatum (I doubt it is the buttery S. album or another sandalwood – once again “no quote me, I might be wrong”) that blasts this otherwise pleasant and unremarkable gourmand into an entirely different dimension and category. To my nose, Blood Orange Chocolat, despite its name, is not a gourmand fragrance at all. Instead it contrasts chocolate, hazelnut, honey and citrus against the fragrance profile of Australian Sandalwood.

There are various sandalwood oils around here and I don’t really need a chocolate-y, vanilla-sugared version of any of them. But I just have to have more Blood Orange Chocolat! Why? There is a distinct similarity between the dusty honeyed accord in this perfume and the scent that Gomez, the Pionus parrot, emits when he is happy or excited. How can I resist?

Wikipedia

I have to tell you, though, that not everyone around here shares my opinion. Daughter Lauren recently made the trek from New Hampshire to the PNW. One evening, with granddaughter Allie, we enjoyed a sniffing marathon. For both Allie, Lauren (and Brad too) Blood Orange Chocolat was nothing more than this: Sweet blood orange and chocolate.

From what I understand, Blood Orange Chocolat will not be released until September but you can contact Note Fragrances for more information.

Scent Trunk has $74/60ml

BTW – Happy 4th!

Are you wondering if this perfume would work for you or which sandalwood was really used to make the fragrance? Today you have a chance to find out!

Azar xx

*Andy Bumatai from the Daily Pidgin Show

Note Fragrances GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x 1.5ml decant of Blood Orange Chocolat by Note Fragrances
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please describe your favorite chocolate-y or gourmand fragrance

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 7th July 2016 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Sunday 10th July 2016 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.

Œillet Sauvage by Anne Flipo for L’Artisan Perfumer 2000

July 3, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Hard To Find Addicts,

There is a special place in many perfume collectors hearts for the very rare, the discontinued and the earlier iterations. Though I do have some rare birds in the collection it’s about trying the scent for me rather than owning a bottle so a couple of ml will usually satisfy my curiosity. Sometimes though the desire will bite hard and I will move heaven and earth to own the bottle, often laughing at myself for my utter lack of self control.

Today we are looking at a case in point. It was rare as hens teeth, often talked about in hushed, reverential tones and the people who loved it went to any extreme to get some. Then they rereleased it and because it had become less interesting than it originally was people stayed away, now it’s been discontinued again. I bought mine from a mate who often splits, RuthK, and she has told me it’s an older bottle from the original lot! WOO HOO! Today is my first wearing. You get to come along on the olfactory journey with me today. YAY!!

Œillet Sauvage by L’Artisan Perfumer 2000

Œillet Sauvage by Anne Flipo

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Pepper, Pink pepper
Heart: Carnation, Rose, White lily, Ylang-ylang, Aegean wallflower
Base: Cedar, Musk

Pepper & peony are how Fillet Sauvage opens for me, but pretty quickly the slang fronts up giving a creamy floral warmth. Then quite clearly through that floats carnation, that cool, fresh, powdery feel of carnations against your cheek and in your nose. It contains the light flowers and the sharp undertone. When I press my nose against the fragrance it’s much more realistic carnations, as I move away it becomes a tropical floral. It smells to me like there is some coconut and banana hidden in the depths, and palm leaves.

PDP

Œillet Sauvage is quite heady through the heart, not loud or bombastic but the scent is warm and spicy. Like a bouquet that has some soft jasmine and tuberose, carnations, yang, some coniferous greenery and palm leaves. Actually, Œillet Sauvage could have been one of the early Annick Goutal scents. It has a very similar proud elegance, sultry and still prim, like there’s a vamp hiding underneath the prettiness. A tigress waiting the perfect time to pounce.

No wonder this was talked of with such reverence. It is absolutely gorgeous. What a shame its gone.

Further reading: One Thousand Scents
eBay sometimes has bottles
Surrender To Chance has modern samples starting at $4.50/ml

What is your discontinued gem? Do you love carnation?
Portia xx

Dior Eau Sauvage: Tribute to a Legend: Video

July 2, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there APJ,

Christian Dior’s Eau Sauvage has been a staple mens fragrance, gracing their bathrooms and bureaus since 1966. It has survived the changes in fashion and fragrance with tweaks and reformulations. Still it contains hints of what it was while also smelling very nice on the people who love to wear it. Even now when I ask someone who smells particularly good what they’re wearing the answer is sometimes Eau Sauvage.

DIOR has done a lovely video below to celebrate its eternal cash cow. Bravo. 50 years is quite an achievement. Here’s to 50 more.

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, basil, bergamot, cumin, lavender, fruit
Heart: Jasmine, rose, carnation, iris root, coriander, patchouli, sandalwood
Base: Oakmoss, vetiver, musk, amber

Dior Eau Sauvage: Tribute to a Legend

Sweet Libertine by Jocelyn Fullerton for Cult Of Scent

July 1, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Independent Perfume Lovers,

As you may know I really love the Independent Perfumers. Though I know they are not the right fit for everybody what really appeals to me about their work is the immediacy, the raw, fun, often outrageous ways they take their fragrances. Many of them use a high percentage of the commonly known as natural ingredients which can mean more distinction on how it will wear for you personally. They are also far less bound by market forces, regulation and fashion. No matter how talented a perfumer for the big boys may be they will almost always be working to a brief, that’s not the way to foster creativity and I imagine that many of their lives are far less fun and glamorous than we dream.

Today I’m wearing a fragrance made by one of my mates, Jocelyn, whose fragrances I find extremely enjoyable to wear. Come for the journey with me.

Sweet Libertine by Cult Of Scent

Sweet Libertine by Jocelyn Fullerton

Cult of Scent

I won’t put the notes up because you’ll need them to enter the GIVEAWAY below.

Sweet Libertine reads like an intensely animal floral on my skin. It’s a warm, lyrical extravaganza that pulses off my skin in warm auburn hues and creates a fiery warmth in my heart. It purrs beautifully, resinous and elegant, for a couple of hours before the woods take over and more resins that linger and fade over another couple of hours.

Wikipedia

There is something very Australian Outback within its sensual coils and it reminds me of the summer mornings spent down in Temora on my Aunty Faye and Uncle Jim’s farm. The house was clean, spotless, and the table waxed. The red earth and eucalyptus were heating up, chickens scratching around the front yard, dogs at the back door and the sheep were baa-ing. Fresh flowers on the breakfast table, sometimes it was jasmine or wisteria, others it was freesias, zinnias, geraniums of everlasting daisies. The men would eat breakfast early and then be off about their days.

Cult of Scent has Sweet Libertine starting at $35/8ml Travel Spray
There is also a Cult of Scent Sampler $35/3ml samples of the Cult of Scent range

Cult Of Scent GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will receive:
1 x 1ml decant Cult Of Scent: Sweet Libertine
1 x 1ml decant Cult Of Scent: Hedonist
1 x 1ml decant Cult Of Scent: Something Beautiful
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please go to Cult of Scent<< JUMP and find me a fragrance and an ingredient it contains. No Double Ups!!

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 3rd July 2016 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Wednesday 6th July 2016 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.

Orange Flower Soliflore by Dame Perfumery 2016

June 30, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Post by Robert Herrmann

Hey there frag friends!

Robert H. here writing from my small island home in the Pacific Northwest. Today I am drenched in, and loving…..

Orange Flower Soliflore by Dame Perfumery 2016

Anytime I get a package from Arizona’s Dame Perfumery with new soliflores is a happy and exciting day indeed!

After Jeffrey Dame’s stunning photorealistic Gardenia soliflore from 2015, I was wondering how the hell he could ever top that, that is until now. You make it better by adding some photorealistic orange flower to the top, et voila!

This gorgeous soliflore opens with an enormous blast of pithy and bitter orange, flesh, peel, stem, leaves, blossoms and all. The scent of an orange being cut open on a warm sunlit terrace, your hands sticky and runny with the juice. Not just any orange however, this is a “Fruit Of The Month” quality citrus, you know….the ones you get at the holidays in the cardboard padded box? Six oranges for $30.00, fresh from the orchard, organic, unblemished, and just perfect. Yeah, THAT orange.

As you sit on your sun-drenched terrace and the smell of this magnificent fruit flows over you, you also notice the smell of the potted jasmine and gardenia starting to mix in, and underneath it all the sweet clean musk scent from the skin of your bronzed companion sitting right beside you. Or maybe the cabana boy? It’s your call!

Now I happen to know that Dame Perfumery knows how to do Musk really well, and if you haven’t tried his New Musk Oil or Cologne, go online RIGHT NOW and order some samples!! (Make sure you get the Gardenia as well). So mixing a touch of musk and gardenia with the glorious citrus is a stroke of genius. The result is a beautiful citrus-centric white floral that will make you roll your eyes back in your head. Sadly, the longevity is not terrific, but that’s actually just fine. The rollerballs are such a great deal that you can re-apply with abandon all day long, with no regrets at all!

Dame Perfumery has $35/10ml rollerball

Have you tried any of the Dame Perfumery range? Any other Orange flower perfumes that you absolutely adore?