Vetiverus by Oliver Valverde for Oliver + Co. 2012

December 31, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Portia

My mate Scott was over the other day and we were going through some new samples, bottles and decants that had arrived in the week since I’d seen him. Basically I grabbed a piece of paper and pen, some touches and we even used some of our precious skin so we could smell how differently they lived on each of us. It was fun and interesting, when you sniff with someone and they find a new love it’s amazing how that then reactivates my focus and energises the whole process of parsing. This is the winner of our sniffathon and it came in a free sample set because I’d bought their Gincense, which we’ll talk about later.

Vetiverus by Oliver & Co. 2012

Vetiverus by Oliver Valverde

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Oliver & Co. give these featured accords in one line:
Labdanum from Spain, styrax, Haitian vetiver, ambergris, coriander from Russia, osmanthus absolute, orange peel, white musks, Madagascar clove

OK so the opening is a totally enjoyable smoky, greasy, green, oily, metallic, salty, grassy BOOM! A vetiver fantasy that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and gives you a gentle shake, till your teeth rattle. Astounding, fun, green cordial, raspy and smooth are all words we used to describe the opening with is vetiver squared.

Photo Stolen Flickr

As we hit the heart Vetiverus opens up into a milky fig heart with a tickle of salt tweaking the sweet greenness. There are very faint reminders of vintage Emeraude‘s opening through the heart too and a metallic vibe that serves to oppose and highlight the creamy green fruit. Once these heart notes recede the smoke comes back and it’s a dry grassy, smoky vetiver and leather(?) drizzled over musks that fades over hours and hours to gone.

From LuckyScent: If you love the pure, smoky sexiness of vetiver the way we do, it can be frustrating to try fragrances that hide it behind other powerful ingredients in the name of “balance.” …In keeping with this philosophy, Vetiverus opens dramatically with an exquisitely deep and mysterious vetiver, at once smoky and velvety rich… Plenty of great fragrances feature vetiver. But for the true vetiver enthusiast searching for an unapologetic, uncompromising showcase of the sublimely smoky, there is perhaps no substitute for Vetiverus.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Perfumistanns and +Q Perfume
Oliver & Co. has €110/50ml
LuckyScent has $145/50ml + samples

What is your vetiver fragrance? Have you tried the Oliver & Co Vetiverus?
Portia xx

Coco vintage parfum by CHANEL: Live Video Sniff

December 30, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there Frag Heads,

Yes, Scott and I at it again. We did a bunch of these over a few weeks. Really there’s not much content but the excitement of documenting our opening ceremonies and the sillines we go on with makes me smile while watching them back. We are idiots but having a good time.

Please enjoy,
Portia xxx

Coco by CHANEL 1984

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, pomegranate blossom, mandarin orange, peach, jasmine and Bulgarian rose
Heart: Mimose, cloves, orange blossom, clover and rose
Base: Labdanum, amber, sandalwood, tonka bean, opoponax, civet and vanilla

SurrenderToChance has EdT samples starting at $3/ml

Vanilla Smoke by Aftelier Parfums: Live Video Sniff

December 29, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Happy Huffers,

Vanilla Smoke arrived a couple of weeks ago and we decided to do an opening ceremony with film. Scott is way more on the ball that I am with it and we are both frag fools, as always. Congratulations Mandy Aftel on another fabulous fragrance. We can smell that this is going to be a big hit.

Enjoy the video,
Portia xxx

Vanilla Smoke by Aftelier Perfumes 2015

Vanilla Smoke by Mandy Aftel

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Yellow mandarin, Siam wood, saffron absolute, vanilla absolute, lapsang souchong tea essence (tea leaves smoked over pinewood), coumarin, ambergris

Aftelier has $180/30ml EdP
Aftelier has $180/7.5ml Parfum

Heatwave Fragrances for Summer 2015

December 28, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by Greg Young

Hey APJ,

South-east Australia has been sweltering in a heat wave for days on end. Going outside has been like walking into a brickmaker’s kiln, and staying inside hasn’t been much fun either. Conservative businessmen such as myself are dispensing with their ties and looking fondly at the pub over the road from work, dreaming of a cold craft beer.

Choosing the right fragrance for temperatures like this can be tough. I feel the need for something that picks me up in the morning and sends me out feeling at least a little bit chipper. For me, that usually means something with a citrus hit. It also needs to defy the evaporative force of baking Melbourne heat, so classic EdCs are off the list. Here is how I dealt with the heat this week.

Heatwave Fragrances for Summer 2015

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Thursday: the wave begins
The CBD baked in 36 degree heat. Tauer’s Orange Star has a sharp citrus juice opening that is very refreshing on a hot morning. It’s not really my idea of a summer fragrance; the vanilla and tonka bean give it a sweetness that I think is more appropriate for cooler days. The fact that Orange Star lasted the distance in this heat is impressive; I could still smell its amber drydown 12 hours later at home, in the cooling blast of A/C.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Friday: the swelling wave
When the thermometer climbs to 39 and it’s accompanied by a northerly wind Melbourne becomes positively beastly. I chose Penhaligon’s Blenheim Bouquet for my Friday fragrance. This very traditional fragrance was designed for Winston Churchill’s father – Blenheim Palace is the Churchill family seat. It’s lemon and lime scent was just what I needed, bolstered by a refreshing pine. This was a perfect pick. While not exactly fighting on the beaches, it never surrendered.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Saturday: the wave crests – and a special occasion.
It was 41C (106F) on Saturday. We planned to travel for a weekend away to celebrate our wedding anniversary. This meant we had to go out in blinding heat, sit in a car where the seats set fire to you when you climbed in, and moan to one another about how hot it was.

We went to dinner at a rural Italian restaurant of considerable note and I chose D.S. & Durga’s Italian Citrus, with its powerful, complex, almost bitter citrus note that really stays with you. It developed a sweeter musk as the night wore on, but the citrus remained until the end rather than giving way to the base notes. It lasted a good four hours.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Sunday: the wave breaks
Only by comparison to the furnace of Saturday could the 39 degrees we reached on Sunday be considered cooler. We were in the car again travelling home. At the outset we could feel every one of those 39 degrees, cutting short our trip to get into the car and just leave.

I wore Masque Terralba. There is a cedary opening to this, but it’s cut by a little bit of lemon. It has an oceanic note that I can’t quite place, which reduces the woodsiness. Some herbal green notes emerge later as well.

Shortly after arriving home, the heat wave broke. Intermittent showers of rain brought relief from the fearsome dry, and the temperature tumbled ten degrees in just a few hours. The heat wave was over – until the next one.

Surrender To Chance is a great place to sample most of these.

How do you cope with heat?
Greg Young

Amarige by Dominique Ropion for Givenchy 1991

December 27, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Anne-Marie

A little while ago I did a round-up of print and online reviews of one of the most reviled perfumes on the counter: Givenchy’s Amarige. Now I’d like to share my own views. An astute reader will probably have decided that I would not be going to this much trouble if I hated Amarige, and you are right. I do love it. So THERE!

Amarige by Givenchy 1991

Amarige by Dominique Ropion

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, Neroli, Peach, Plum, Rosewood, Violet Heart
Heart: Gardenia, Carnation, Jasmine, Cassia, Mimosa, Orchid, Black locust, Rose, Red berries, Black currant, Tuberose, Ylang-ylang
Base: Amber, Woody notes, Musk, Sandalwood, Tonka bean, Vanilla, Cedar

Firstly, the notes (deep breath):
Top: orange blossom, plum, mandarin, violet, peach, neroli, Brazilian rosewood.
Heart: red berries, mimosa, carnation, black locust, tuberose, blackcurrant, gardenia, casie, orchids, jasmine, ylang ylang, rose.
Base: sandalwood, tonka, amber, musk, vanilla, woody notes, cedar

How does it smell to me? I don’t much bother trying to separate the notes. To me Amarige smells of peaches, white flowers, and sunshine. Yellow is a dominant colour in the marketing and while I don’t dress in yellow, I get my ‘yellow’ from Amarige. It’s a colour – and a scent – of confidence, happiness and optimism.

Amarige’s bottle was designed by Pierre Dinand and inspired by a blouse Hubert de Givenchy had designed in 1952 for his model, muse and some time press agent, Bettina Graziani. High-collared and narrow at the waist, the sleeves of the ‘Bettina blouse’ were deeply ruffled with broderie anglaise, and those ruffles are referenced in the cap on the bottle.

Photo Stolen Pinterest

Tuberose? I compared Amarige with other ‘scoundrels’ (Luca Turin’s word) of the era: Giorgio of Beverly Hills and Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door. The tuberose in those is indeed very and harsh and synthetic, to my nose, whereas in Amarige the tuberose is balanced and blended with other notes, especially that joyful peach.

Too strong? Oh for goodness sake! Just wear less. Nobody is forcing you to spritz Amarige 16 times, are they? What? Your Auntie Sharon did actually spritz it 16 times, back in the 90s? Well good on her. She smelled better than if she had been wearing any amount of Issey Miyake. Yes she did.

Speaking of Issey Miyake, some perfume critics write of the 90s as a time of freshness and restraint in perfume. In the 80s, perfumes were too strong and we all wore too much. In the 90s we detoxed, apparently, on fragrances like Calvin Klein’s CK One and Clinique’s Happy. But no, that’s not quite true. The divas kept coming. Not just Amarige, but Lancome’s Trésor and Poème, Liz Taylor’s White Diamonds, Gucci’s L’Arte di Gucci and Rush, Thierry Mugler’s Angel, YSL’s Yvresse, Hermès’ 24 Faubourg, Dior’s Docle Vita and J’Adore, and Chanel’s Allure.

And yet the clean watery fragrances did sell like crazy, so perhaps the only explanation is that they were bought by people who would otherwise not wear fragrance at all – memories of Auntie Sharon – meaning that the fragrance market overall must have expanded in the 1990s.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

FragranceNet has $28/30ml
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

I started out with Amarige and have ended up with 90s fruity florals in general.
What do you think? A good era for perfume, the 90s? Or … not?

Val CQ’s Christmas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

December 25, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by Portia

Thanks Val for a superv fun and fabulous giveaway. You are so generous.

Merry christmas all,
Portia xx

Val CQ’s Christmas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Photo Donated Val

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have one winner who will receive:
1 each decants Mito and Cuir d’Ange (from Val’s bottles)
P&H Worldwide

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 24th December 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosenfrom the armadillo

Photo Stolen markmontanoblogs

Mito

GARA

Ingeborg

Cuir d’Ange

BB Mc

The winner will have till Monday 28th December 2015 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.

Poison by Edouard Flechier for Christian Dior 1985

December 23, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by Joseph Sagona

Hi APJ,

Review #300

I have a history with Poison, it’s one of my Mothers all time favorite perfumes, she still wears it to this day, every time I wear it, it reminds me of her. I can remember being nine years old and going into my Mother’s bed room and on top of her dresser would be that beautiful purple bottle of Poison, I would steal a few sprays here and there, I loved the smell so much, it was so sweet and fruity.

My Mother has no idea that I do fragrance reviews, she would probably wonder why I do them, so I never told her, but she does know I love fragrance. This review I will show her, I want her to know how much I love her and what she means to me, and for her to know that Poison is the fragrance that started me on my love, passion and amazing journey of fragrances today.

Poison by Christian Dior 1985

Poison by Edouard Flechier

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Brazillian rosewood, plum, wild berries, anise, coriander
Heart: Carnation, jasmine, opoponax, African orange flower, tuberose, white honey, rose, incense, cinnamon
Base: Virginian cedar, heliotrope, amber, vanilla, vetiver, sandalwood, musk

Dior’s Poison is the type of fragrance that you have to have attitude and confidence to wear, it is strong, classy, elegant, charming, sophisticated and bitchy.

I get the Plum, White Honey, Incense, Wild Berries, Tuberose and Cinnamon it opens up with a lush, dark plum and a tart, sweet wild berries, the dark plum and wild berries are strong. Then after thirty minutes the plum dissipates, the wild berries soften, in comes a dry, aromatic cinnamon and a whispering, creamy tuberose, the cinnamon is soft, the tuberose is mild.

After three hours the cinnamon dissipate and the tuberose softens. In comes a golden, silky white honey and a warm incense with a touch of sweetness, the honey and incense are mild.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Poison reminds me of Jeanne Arthes Cobra, and Christian Dior’s Poison Extrait, Cobra is spicier, citric and stronger woods, Poison Extrait has stronger florals, softer spices and comes off soapy.

Poison is very fruity, sweet, dark, floral, syrupy and unisex. It leans more towards the feminine side, with soft woody and spicy undertones: a floral fragrance. This can be worn all year ’round, it would be better suited for the Fall and Winter, I get good projection and good longevity, a Christian Dior masterpiece.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Further reading: Yesterday’s Perfume and Black Narcissus
FragranceNet has $73/50ml before Coupon
My Perfume Samples starts at $2.50/ml

What is your Poison? Have you ever worn it?
Joseph Sagona

Beauty Is About Serenity: Part 1

December 20, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by AF Beauty

As we head towards the festive season, or if you’re in the northern hemisphere, you’re probably over the festive period already – it’s easy to get caught up in the stresses and pressures of the season. There are expectations, promises, family and friends, presents and no presents (!) and inevitably, something’s been forgotten.

For these days, rather than frown and develop those fine lines, you need serenity! And I’m here to suggest that glorious smells are a good way to start you down this road. I have been testing a number of candles – less so in smell – because, as you sophisticated perfumistas will surely know – smell is so very much a personal thing, I’ve been considering the rest of the package, including, unsurprisingly, the packaging, the burn, the wick and the smokiness.

Beauty Is About Serenity: Part 1

Candles

The first candle I’ve used this season is from the Ecoya range. This is an Australian brand of soy wax candles – I’ve tried the jar in fragrance, Wild Frangipani. Typically, since I’ve tried this fragrance, they’ve discontinued it! But the range is wide as you can see at the Ecoya Website. The packaging on this candle is great, a very solid glass jar, comparable to this alternative fragrance, comforting in it’s heaviness. The candle burns well, evenly so you’re not left with half the candle up the sides and smokiness is minimal. The wick is reliable and strong and doesn’t burn off so you’re left with a stub, that’s just irritating. I regularly rebuy this range as it’s so reliable.

The second candle I’ve tried is from the MOR Voluspa range. This is a range developed in California and, if you ask me, slightly oversells their product range by talking up the range being used by the Hollywood elite. To quote Shanian Twain, that don’t impress me much! However the candle isn’t bad. I have been testing fragrance Crane Flower in a large base candle with three wicks. This is an interesting smell in my opinion, but the thing I like most is that the candle burns incredibly evenly with no smokiness at all, which I really like. The container is beautiful, but metallic and I am worried about it causing a burn on the bookcase as it starts to reduce. Best of all it’s only $20 online at Voluspa.

Lastly I’ve tried the Woodwick candle range by Virginia Candles, another US brand. The selling point of this candle is that the wick burns and crackles like a fire. This is particularly tempting during winter where the sounds of a wood fire would be endearing. But this candle is very disappointing. I was so keen that this would be lovely, that I’ve tried two different versions. Both let me down. The crackle *is* pleasant, but let’s face it, unless you’re sitting in absolute silence, it’s almost impossible to hear. Add to this, the wick itself sometimes burns too low and then is difficult to relight. But the worst thing about this candle is the smokiness, it’s far too much in my opinion. So much so that I had to burn this candle on the balcony as I was so worried about smoke damage to my walls! Currently on sale at Woolworths

Do you have a particular favourite candle range? Do you favour particular smells, or do you look for the way it burns? Or are you obsessed with smokiness, like me?!
AF Beauty

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2015

December 19, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Independent Niche Nerds,

Andy Tauer became known on the frag scene through blogging about his fragrance creation adventures. He was the first perfumer to engage the world in such a way and he and his style of perfumery are loved even though his scents can be polarising. Many people have problems with his Tauer-ade: a sweet citrus/honey/amber baseline to my nose that can last days on skin and indefinitely in fabrics. Personally I really like his style and I purchased a decant of his newest offering from Surrender To Chance which has just arrived. Scott was over and we decided to trial it first on paper and then on skin. It’s even more fun testing fragrances with a mate because different people pick up different nuance.

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Tauer Perfumes 2015

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Andy Tauer

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cinnamon, cloves, geranium, galbanum
Heart: Tuberose, ylang-ylang, jasmine
Base: Tuberose, patchouli, amber

I can’t tell you what I was expecting from Sotto La Luna Tuberose but I was surprised by what I got. The green and oily, petrochemical reminiscent opening still manages to be smooth and is offset by sweet bubblegum. It’s an engaging dichotomy that keeps my nose glued to my wrist. Tuberose, imagine a bunch of tuberose on a table in an air conditioned office, Sotto La Luna Tuberose. Tuberose with that unreal, artificial coolness. We get a lovely sappiness of whitest green, like cutting hydrangeas and their sap.

There are also herbal, tropical, balmy and resinous notes flowing through and both Scott and I were convinced (without looking at notes) that there is a honey that is cleaned of most of its animalics but leaving a thick, glutinous sweetness that has nothing to do with the 21st century craze for confectionery. Maybe this is Andy’s amber.

Photo Stolen Flickr

After about 30-40 minutes we couldn’t decide how to describe the smell and came up with three similar but all just wide of the mark: smoky caramel, lightly burnt vanilla or sun pinked skin after a day at the beach. It’s an undercurrent running beneath the tuberose which stays right to the end of the fragrance. For anyone who has ever been upset by the longevity of the tuberose ferociousness in Versace Blonde, SL Tubereuse Criminale, L’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse, Piguet Fracas or Ava Luxe Tubereuse Diabolique then here is a tuberose for you. Ferocious at the start and maintaining a fun level of outrageous throughout its lengthy lifespan. NSFW people unless you are in a very cool workplace where they like people to be fully fragrant.

How is Sotto La Luna Tuberose different? Longevity, tuberose staying power, opening oily green and bubblegum together and the patchouli/amber is different, unpickable for us as exactly a thing to reference we spent ages trying to find good and easily understandable correlations. Scott said he will now buy a decant to see if he loves it as much as he thinks, being a bit of a BWF hater. Different enough? Definitely.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
IndieScents has $145/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $3.45/.5ml

What is your Tauer favourite?
Portia xxx

Lann-Aël by Amélie Bourgeois for Lostmarc’h 2007

December 17, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by Portia

The Lostmarc’h thing passed me by. I remember there being a flurry of excitement at release but since then I haven’t really noticed much buzz. Someone sent me a handwritten sample of todays fragrance and I had to go do some digging once I sprayed. Having been released in 2007 and still around in the current niche market speaks volumes, also its price is unbelievably reasonable for niche. It was nearly impossible to get into the decant, which is why it’s taken so long to get to it but curiosity can overcome all barriers. I think I may be hooked….

Lann-Aël by Lostmarc’h 2007

Lann-Aël by Amélie Bourgeois

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vanilla, hay, apple, wheat, milk

The Lann-Aël opening is slightly dry and a hint of apple but no big whack of it. Quite rightly, general consensus on the blogs is sweet breakfast cereal, think Fruit Loops or Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, sugary, a little nutty and with milk splashed over all liberally. It’s not the smell in the bowl though, no way, it’s the smell in your mouth as you start to chomp it all together.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

There’s something a little rice-ish about Lann-Aël, Jin’s rice has a very particular smell when he reheats it in the microwave and I am getting scent memory flashes. No wonder this is a hit. It’s summer here in Sydney, temperature is around 35C (95F) at 10am and the sweet warmth of Lann-Aël and its yummy vanilla dry down is working a treat. Not cloying or sickly but balmy and rich feeling.

The opening is the big ticket item in Lann-Aël, after that it smooths to a comfortable vanilla plus some light spices and resins, a sweet amber. It’s not bad or generic but it isn’t ground breaking either. I smell good for hours, 5-6 even in this heat.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

From LuckyScent: Breakfast in fairyland: lighter-than-air buckwheat cakes; bowls of warm, pudding like cereal topped with cream ladled from the top of the milking bucket; sweet apples “borrowed” by the pixies from a nearby orchard. A delectable honeyed fruit opening eases into a soft and mellow vanilla-tinged milkiness that is as comforting as a mother’s embrace.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Perfume Posse
LuckyScent has $85/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

Do you ever feel the need to wear something fun, frivolous and foody? This could be it for you
Portia xx

Australian Perfume Junkies

Olfactory Opinions from Oz

Reviews

Vetiverus by Oliver Valverde for Oliver + Co. 2012

Vetiverus by Oliver & Co. 2012

Vetiverus by Oliver Valverde

Coco vintage parfum by CHANEL: Live Video Sniff

Coco by CHANEL 1984

Vanilla Smoke by Aftelier Parfums: Live Video Sniff

Vanilla Smoke by Aftelier Perfumes 2015

Vanilla Smoke by Mandy Aftel

Heatwave Fragrances for Summer 2015

Heatwave Fragrances for Summer 2015

Amarige by Dominique Ropion for Givenchy 1991

Amarige by Givenchy 1991

Amarige by Dominique Ropion

Val CQ’s Christmas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Val CQ’s Christmas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING

Mito

GARA

Ingeborg

Cuir d’Ange

BB Mc

Poison by Edouard Flechier for Christian Dior 1985

Poison by Christian Dior 1985

Poison by Edouard Flechier

Beauty Is About Serenity: Part 1

Beauty Is About Serenity: Part 1

Candles

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2015

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Tauer Perfumes 2015

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Andy Tauer

Lann-Aël by Amélie Bourgeois for Lostmarc’h 2007

Lann-Aël by Lostmarc’h 2007

Lann-Aël by Amélie Bourgeois