Paradise Lost by Yann Vasnier for Keiko Mecheri 2011

September 26, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there APJ Frag Family,

I found this random sample in my clear up around here. I have no idea where it came from, or whom, and certainly can’t remember ever ordering it. I even went and checked my order histories, no luck. So I think the universe is telling me to put some on and wear it. Let’s see how this baby purrs……

“Then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess
A Paradise within thee, happier far.”
― John Milton, Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost by Keiko Mecheri 2011

Paradise Lost by Yann Vasnier

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gices these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, lime
Heart: Jasmine, tuberose
Base: Sandalwood, musk, Bourbon vanilla

Softest wash, barely there, citrus open with white flowers and vanilla already noticeable. A young, extremely sheer, elegant, out of focus white floral that smells like the fruits are way more tropical, maybe it’s the banana facets of the tuberose and there feels like a coconut kick. All drenched with clean musks and Paradise Lost makes me think it was made for people who love the smell of clean clothes and hair rather than perfume, it’s not a laundry scent but it makes me think virile.

There is a fleshy component but imagining it’s a guy he’s fresh from the shower, dry and cooling on the bed. You are still sleep rumpled but the sheets have been slept in only once and you can smell his clean skin as he wraps you in his still warm embrace. Paradise Lost is a modern fragrance that I could easily imagine myself exhaling for, though it’s not groundbreaking or even very different to a lot of other stuff on the market. What I smell is a beautifully blended version of them, an excellent, better remake done for people who want to smell quietly and subtly luxe.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Paradise Lost could very easily be dismissed as boring, and I almost did, but as you wear it a few times it becomes a second skin. Even well into the heart there is a shimmer of fruit through the flowers and vanilla. After a couple of hours I become almost anosmic to it but I have had someone say how nice I smell nearly 5 hours after application. That’s pretty good for something so amorphous.

Work, date, opera, dinner or casual Saturday with the crew, Paradise Lost will fit them all. I think it especially good though for Booty Calls, this is exactly how I would want someone to show up smelling.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Libertine Parfumerie has $229/75ml with FREE Australian Postage
First In Fragrance has €145/75ml

What do you like your lovers to arrive smelling like? Past or present favourites?
Portia xxx

Dark Horse by Dame Perfumery Scottsdale 2015

September 24, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Erica Golding

Scented greetings to my kindred spirits!

Today I am sparkling in a haze of friendly, approachable confidence. I feel bright and serene, energetic and focused. This is because today I chose to spritz my sample of:

Dark Horse by Dame Perfumery Scottsdale 2015

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, lemon, cinnamon
Heart: Jasmine, carnation, rose, cloves
Base: Guaiac wood, vetiver, vanilla and musk

This fragrance is loosely marketed with an air of masculinity, but as with all of Jeffrey’s Artist Collection offerings, Dark Horse can be effortlessly worn by all genders.

I am enamored with this surprising juxtaposition of two scents I normally enjoy only as accents: citrus and spice. They are both finely tuned and harmonized with careful attention. The solar tone features fine shimmering bergamot, sun-ripened lemon, and warm vetiver. The spice is composed of cinnamon and clove (and I suspect nutmeg too), but they are not loud, sharp, or overpowering as they often are in perfumery. The spices are soft and subtle, caressing your skin and your spirit.

Photo Stolen Dame Perfumery Scottsdale

The modern elegance and attractiveness of Dark Horse is centered within its personality. This EdP is easygoing and laid back, but cleanly put together. Brilliant, cheerful, and living in the moment – this is the Dark Horse wearer.

Dame Perfumery Scottsdale says: A scent full of raw charisma; quite unpredictable and completely charming. Animal magnetism at its best. Smooth, balanced and …

Further reading: Looking Feeling Smelling Great
Dame Perfumery Scottsdale has samples $10/7ml, bottles $65/50ml

Have you tried Dark Horse? How about New Musk Man/New Musk Oil (next on my list of must-try)? I’d love to hear your experiences with Dame Perfumery fragrance!

Love and light,
Erica

Miu Miu – AT LAST!!

September 22, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

The unveiling of Miu Miu’s debut fragrance transpired this week in Australia. Very few notes are mentioned and immediately descriptions read as brazen: promising a bold marriage between retro-flower lily of the valley and modern aroma-chemical akigalawood. Perfumer Daniela (Roche) Andrier created the lily of the valley accord with rose absolute, synthetic green notes and real jasmine then fused it with akigalawood, which is extracted from patchouli oil. Apparently the fragrance was accepted only after 1200 attempts!!

Miu Miu by Daniela (Roche) Andrier for Miu Miu 2015

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lily of the valley
Heart: Jasmine, rose, green notes
Base: Akigalawood

I first smelt lily of the valley at Petersham Nursery in London a few years ago. End of the season, the plant was looking forlorn, droopy and weathered. Exuding from it was the most exquisite and captivating scent. Green, cool, fresh, earthy, dewy, lightly floral, citrus-rose top notes with jasmine nuances (omitting headiness). Cheerfully understated. It’s little wonder Miu Miu chose to revive this beautiful retro flower and give it a modern shakeup.

My next “run in” with Lily of the Valley was whilst watching TV series Breaking Bad. Walter White pondered exterminating drug-lord Gustavo Fring whilst peering at a potted plant beside his backyard pool. “THAT’S LILY OF THE VALLEY!!” I squealed, jumping out of my chair, recognizing the little white bells. Soon after in the show, Jesse’s girlfriend’s son falls suspiciously ill of Lily of the Valley poisoning and Walter White is to blame! I took to Google and sure enough the reality is lily of the valley is a toxic, exquisitely delicate, scented beast. A Snow White apple, of sorts!!

The Miu Miu brand has always explored juxtapositions and contradictions. They twist rules within their designs encapsulating the demure and the outrageous, the delicate and the bold, seriousness and lightheartedness and of course: retro versus modern. So, why wouldn’t they release a first fragrance based around a flower with bite?!

Adverts show beautiful actress Stacey Martin, stunning bottle and cute kitten. I get it: I felt like a kitten from the moment I saw and touched my bottle of Miu Miu. Seriously! I spent the whole day playing with it, cooing and purring all the while. Distinctive, combining a modern pop feel with a classy retro edge. Coordinating gold, cream, pillowed eggshell blue glass and contrasting them with a large spot of translucent red perspex. Indeed the bottle design is a piece of art.

On first sniff it was clean and pretty. A sheer green floral. I was lost for words and burst into nervous laughter. The anticipation was too much. Wearing it I experience an elegant sweet rosy heart, dewy green apple – yet slightly creamy and a touch of tart rosehip fruit. Utterly surrounded by joyful white floral, lily of the valley. Remaining somewhat linear, with intriguing depth after time. Cool, dark, green-peppered wood – the akigalawood…a new experience for me. The lily of the valley borderlines’ on shrill, before it becomes soapy and rounded, surviving right until the end.

If Miu Miu’s aim was to capture the spirit of the brand they have, ageless and contemporary. Alluring and possibly polarising it’s no fruity floral crowd pleaser and yet hovers close to “safe.” A fresh, youthful, sophisticated and slightly peculiar floral with fun peppery wood effervescent undertones.

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Now Smell This
Miu Miu is available places, um, no idea…..

What do you think?
Ainslie Walker XXX

Cuir Amethyste by Michel Almairac for Armani Privé 2005

September 19, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Post by Portia

Heya Fragrant Fumies,

I came late to the Armani Privé line, it wasn’t until 2011 that I first got my sniff on them. Jin and I had been doing some shopping and one of the nearby malls had the first Armani Privé line in it’s own area that I’d seen. To be honest, I had worn Armani Pour Homme and Emporio Armani Lui in the 1980s & 90s but nothing from the line had spoken to me for years and I figured that the quality of the fragrances had nose dived considerably like so many other brands. It was the bottles that caught our attention with the lovely simple black squares, the smooth cool rocks on top and gold plaques very much like the front door of an expensive restaurant or doctors/lawyers/dentists. We spent a lazy half hour sniffing them all and I had two favourites, Cuir Amethyste and Bois Encens.

By the time I realised that Cuir Amethyste was my favourite Michel Almairac had reworked the idea in a sweeter, suppler version for Bottega Veneta and I was so lost in its spell, especially when it became Jin’s signature, that Cuir Amethyst was forgotten. Step in Aelfrik, I bought a decant from him recently and my love is rekindled sevenfold……

Cuir Amethyste by Armani Privé 2005

Cuir Amethyste by Michel Almairac

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, coriander, rose
Heart: Birch, patchouli, violet
Base: Benzoin, incense, Bourbon vanilla

How could I forget this glorious and majestic beauty, it’s so damn good I just want to lick myself all over and then cuddle up in a ball and suck in the divine scent of myself until I am breathed away on a whisper of wind. I SMELL SO GOOD!

My nose gets sweet citrus, leather and patchouli straight away, the mix is a little bit oud-y and Cuir Amethyste shows me little of anything else up front. Slowly I get a cool, bitter hint of burnt incense and then after about 5-15 minutes depending on the day I get a friendly little violet tap on the shoulder and suddenly Cuir Amethyste is an old, much loved leather bag with some powder and lipstick traces. Cool and friendly, like when we were sent looking in Mum’s bag for coins to buy ice-cream as kids, it’s a real memory scent for me. Maybe that’s why I love it so much.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Later, much later the vanilla/amber combines with the leather to create the perfect skin scent, the scent you wish your skin had. A fleshy, endearing, healthy breath that warms and sweetens my own body fragrance to something compelling and luscious.In the morning there is still a whisper of leather handbag and makeup, I love Cuir Amethyste so much.

When I finish this 10ml there is a bottle in my future.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Cuir Amethyste
Cuir Amethyste by Armani Privé is available in large department stores

Did you fall for any of the Armani Privé line? Which and why?
Portia x

Good Girl Gone Bad by Kilian 2012

September 18, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

Post by Portia

WOO HOO! Another pack arrived from my mate Nick from Libertine Parfumerie. A package from Nick is ALWAYS a sweet surprise and he is a lovely guy who wants to have the best range of niche fragrances for Aussies to choose from. Today we are celebrating that Nick has managed to import the by Kilian range to Australia and now it is exclusive to In Store Shoppers at Harrold’s Sydney & Melbourne. Near pissed myself with excitement when I heard and had to keep it under my hat for a while. Now you know….

Good Girl Gone Bad by Kilian 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Jasmine, osmanthus, may rose
Heart: Indian tuberose, narcissus
Base: Amber, cedar

So I have an apology to make to by Kilian. I completely dismissed this fragrance when it came out. My reasoning was sound: a soft focus tuberose that opens lightly green and finishes sweet vanilla white flower was hardly groundbreaking, nor was it even slightly outrageous, it wasn’t even a little confronting. Now all of that is true, I do have high expectations of Kilian Hennessey’s brand because quite a lot of it is absolutely glorious, back arching, eye rolling, throat achingly beautiful and when his company makes something so safe and delicate I need to readjust my perceptions and levels.

Fracas Light would smell something like Good Girl Gone Bad. The heart is a very similar bubble gum tuberose only slightly greened through yet her we find no indole but an almost ylang-ish banana butter, a creamy and fatty smooth textured tuberose that is clean. Interestingly it’s not the sheer, radiant white flower that is so popular but a heavy, thick fragrance made spare, given some space between the notes as if you are smelling it from a couple of steps away. Good Girl Gone Bad is not the glutinous mass of Truth or Dare either (that I love) but a warm, illuminated, golden white floral that floats softly and insistently around me in a languid, pale, golden feeling aura. Not synæsthesia but a feeling, like warm sunshine that unfrosts you as you stand with your back to it, it feels golden though in fact it’s colourless.

Kilian, Tom, Portia, Christina, Barbara, Andrew @ LuckyScent 2014

So then, here’s the question I often ask myself, would I cough up for a bottle? The answer is twofold. Yes, if I didn’t already have so much tuberose in my collection, much of which wears bigger and more outrageous (one of the reasons I love it so much) but some like Nuit de Tubereuse and La Chasse aux Papillons that wear silkily sensual like this, though they are quite different. I would definitely buy this as a gift though for friends who like white flowers but cannot wear the big guns, it would also make a magical bridal scent, even the bottle is perfect for that special day.

The more I wear Good Girl Gone Bad the more of a hold it’s getting on me……. Maybe I would wear a bottle worth…….

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and EauMG
Available in Australia exclusively in store at Harrold’s Sydney & Melbourne
LuckyScent has $160/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

Photo Stolen TheTruthAboutMummy

Good Girl Gone Bad GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will receive:
1 x 10ml Good Girl Gone Bad by Kilian
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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us a by Kilian fragrance you love and why

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Good Girl Gone Bad by Kilian GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-4gZ #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 20th September 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 24th September 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.

Fundamental by Ermano Picco + Cristiano Canali for Rubini 2015

September 17, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by Poodle

Fundamental is a new release by the Italian perfume house Rubini. I’d happily sniff the hubby if he was wearing this and it would be a great autumn scent for me too, snuggling with a drink by the fire.

Fundamental by Rubini 2015

Fundamental by Ermano Picco and Cristiano Canali

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Calabrian bergamot, tangerine, flowers
Heart: Grapes, iris, beeswax
Base: Cedar, sandalwood, Java vetiver oil, leather

Fundamental reminds me of a classic men’s fragrance although any woman who likes perfumes that aren’t all flowers, fruit, and sugar could wear this. This is a classy fragrance that makes me think of a business man in a fine suit or expensive jeans and a crisp white shirt. I also tend to think “old money” when I smell it. This isn’t the scent of the man working for the vineyard it’s the scent of the man who owns it, or perhaps his family does.

I imagine driving past the vineyards on a cool autumn day with an extremely handsome man in a fine Italian car with leather and wood accents. The sun is low in the sky and the leaves are bathed in a golden glow. We’re heading up to his estate just over there on the hillside, to sip some wine and watch the sun set over the vineyard.

Photo Stolen Flickr

My initial impression after spraying was that this was going to be a citrus heavy scent. I found it to be sharp at first and perhaps it was my fault for just sticking my nose right in. Some scents need a little room to move at first. Happily the sharp citrus note didn’t last but a minute or two and soon it was morphing into a lovely wood and fruit blend. Even though it starts off bold I found it settled down to a respectable sillage rather quickly. The grape note is there but it’s not that artificial grape of candy nor is it quite the alcoholic note of wine. It reminds me of grapes warmed by the sun that have been on the vine a bit too long.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

There’s a honeyed sweetness which simmers just below the surface but I have a hard time calling this a sweet scent. It’s always tempered by the woods. Vetiver and leather are noticeable and the leather is smooth and well worn. As I wear it I find the scent changes from its soft fruity side to its more serious woody side throughout the duration. I get a retro feel from it most likely from the powdery iris note and the leather but maybe it’s the velvet accord? In the end I’m left with mostly woody notes. Overall I find it to be well done and wearable.

Longevity is good on me which means it’s probably long lasting on the rest of the world. You may want to test before buying since I think Fundamental will wear differently on everyone.

Further reading: Colognoisseur and Persefume
First In Fragrance has €135/50ml
Surrender To Chance has $4.40/.5ml

What scents do you think of as classic men’s fragrances and why?

Hugs
Poodle

Bel Respiro by Jacques Polge for CHANEL 2007

September 16, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 20 Comments

Post by Trésor

Sometimes there is a fragrance that one is taken with, right from the get-go. It’s a bit like finding the perfect pair of black leather pumps or a flawless white shirt, a seemingly simple task but one that in reality it’s never quite so easy. They have to click, tick each box and do so with a comfortable, effortless sensibility befitting their impeccable nature. A sublime marriage of fit, form and fabric that so fluently weaves its way into your life and exhibits as not only an immediate appreciation of fine craftsmanship but as the beginning of a lifelong affection. For me, this is how it began with Jacques Polge’s Bel Respiro for Chanel, a pure manifestation of not only incredible fondness but what it means to be consummately and so unapologetically chic.

Bel Respiro by CHANEL 2007

Bel Respiro by Jacques Polge

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Green notes, flowers, leather, grass

The opening of Bel Respiro is, in my opinion, SO bloody Chanel. If you just so happen to be as irrationally obsessed with fragrance as I am (and I sincerely suspect you are) then you know just what I mean. It’s so good, in fact, that it may very well reside within the selection of some of the most beautiful top notes I’ve ever smelled in a fragrance. Upon the first push of the atomizer one is met with a diaphanous aura of desaturated emerald, exquisite in its verdancy but whisked away into a realm of subtlety and utter grace. There is a sunlit radiance emanating from the surface, not particularly warm but a palpable sensation of luminosity and effervescence.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

The elegant austerity of silken iris soon follows, infusing the composition with an air that feels again so deeply “Chanel”, beauty of the highest order but beauty that has not made an effort to appear as such; it simply is. Pastel hued petals of lilac and rose redolent of a delicate herbal astringency follow suit and create what smells to me of a subdued kaleidoscope of ephemeral floralcy. A flourish of suede reveals itself beneath glorious fractals of efflorescent aroma, but only as an accent much like the the double-C on the button of a vintage tweed jacket. The dry down smells of transparent resins alongside a slightly amplified trace of the aforementioned suede and the scintillant glow of soft white musk.

Photo Stolen Flickr

The longevity and sillage, for me, are largely dependent on how much one applies. A spray or two yields a relatively evanescent outcome, close to skin and lasting just a couple of hours but with a proper dousing in the stuff as I much prefer (quelle surprise!) I can get about 5 hours and a nominally more potent sillage. Bel Respiro is certainly not, as the boys like to say, “beast-mode” but that is where its beauty lays, in gossamer undulations of fragility and grace.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Smelly Vagabond
Bel Respiro can be found at most large department stores and stand alone CHANEL boutiques
CHANEL Online has $160/75ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Have you fallen for any fragrances right from the beginning? What was it about them that beguiled you?

Until next time, my darlings.
Trésor xx

Diorissimo EdC Vintage by Edmond Roudnitska for DIOR 1956

September 14, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 34 Comments

Post by Portia

So I’ve learned something about vintage fragrances recently. They are quite different to the original intention. Please don’t shut me down. I’m not saying they are bad, wrong, inferior or unworthy of your attention: they are super worthy. Even the most badly decomposing vintage fragrance can still give you a hint of the majesty once curled within. So the top notes are wonky, who cares? Those base notes made of real animals (and no I don’t condone the killing of animals for our vanity. I do think though that if those creatures are being murdered anyway that we should use every single bit of them, even the fragrant parts for our scents) last forever and ten minutes into the ride you are coasting on a wave of deep furry burnished beauty unattainable today.

Diorissimo EdC Vintage by DIOR 1956

Diorissimo EdC Vintage by Edmond Roudnitska

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Green leaves
Heart: Amaryllis, Boronia, Lilac, Jasmine, Lily, Lily-of-the-valley, Rosemary, Ylang-ylang
Base: Sandalwood, Civet

Recently I grabbed a bottle of vintage Diorissimo EdC. It came fully and perfectly preserved in its original cellophane wrapping, flawless. When I opened it, a 26ml splash, the juice was crystal clear and only slightly coloured, even less than the colour of Milly-la-Foret. I think the lid on a splash lets zero air in, unlike a spritz, because this is the most perfectly preserved version of Diorissimo of any age that I’ve smelled. Ainslie Walker and I were trying it yesterday because she is writing the Miu-Miu fragrance currently and she wanted to be able to compare the treatments of lily of the valley. We were both seriously enraptured by this perfectly demure dirty slut scent. Unbelieveable that it was the fragrance of young wealthy girls everywhere.

Lily of the valley and civet, frankly I’m a little surprised not to see ambergris in the accord list. The rest of the flowers are a beautiful bouquet with some fresh greenery that has still the soft green sappy scent of torn leaves.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Perfumed Dandy
eBay and ETSY have the vintage, department stores the current versions
Surrender To Chance has vintage samples starting from $6/ml

So today we have a very special giveaway which includes samples of Diorissimo EdC, Dioressence EdT and Miss Dior EdT from my own bottles, all VERY vintage.

Portia xxx

Photo Stolen kbaird

Diorissimo EdC GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Diorissimo EdC vintage sample from my bottle
1 x Miss Dior EdT vintage sample from my bottle
1 x Dioressence EdT vintage sample from my bottle
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell me your favourite DIOR, old or new, and why

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 17th Septembert 2015 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 20th September 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.

L’Occitane Immortelle: 28 Day Divine Renewal Skin Program

September 13, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by AF Beauty

L’Occitane Immortelle

28 Day Divine Renewal Skin Program

Opening the product was VERY EXCITING. I had no idea what was in the box, it being given to me by the lovely Portia to review. I cracked the cellophane and opened the box and saw the four panels of oil before me. Quite possibly the most extravagant packing I’ve ever seen for what amounts to 28ml of oil!

L’Occitane Immortelle First week: Gentle Exfoliation

My first point of note was the instruction booklet which detailed very specific instructions on how to apply the oil, down to a pre-application inhalation of the oil aromas. The first oil smells very green and plant-like, not unpleasant. The second, and most surprising revelation was that 1ml of oil is a HUGE amount. I did as instructed, dropped the oil into my hands, rubbed, inhaled and applied – and lo, I was an oil slick! The oil felt a little grainy and took a while to settle in. Having applied at night, it did sink in overnight, but I was still a bit oily in the morning. At this point I wasn’t using any other moisturiser on top of the oil. Towards the end of the week I realised I was starting to get tiny spots on my cheeks and forehead.

L’Occitane Immortelle Week Two: Hydration and Nutrition

Immediately on this week I noticed the aroma was a lot sweeter than the previous week, much less plant-like and more flower. I really liked this week’s oil although, given the choice, I would probably only choose to apply half the amount. Because the pods are “single serve” there is no choice but to apply once open.

L’Occitane Immortelle Week Three: Balance

At the start of this week, I’ve not noticed a huge difference in the oil from week two. The aroma is comparable, still sweet and light. The texture is slightly less fine than week two, but this is almost imperceptible. Nightly, I am still an oil slick but the spots have ceased.

L’Occitane Immortelle Week Four: Renewal

By week four I had started to apply a tiny amount of moisturiser on top of the oil in an attempt to encourage more absorption and to prevent the oily residue on the skin. At week four, I can’t tell the difference between the previous three weeks in both texture and aroma.
But with all this, how was my skin? That’s really the question! Well…. overall, not great. Towards week four I had started to dwindle in my commitment to the product. My skin texture had lost some smoothness and I was really missing my usual routine. I didn’t perceive the benefits each week proposed to offer. But in defence of this product, I used it in almost isolation, just after cleansing my face each night, unlike almost any other product in my arsenal. And in fairness, the reviews of the product on the L’Occitane website shows that people truly love it – I am completely open to accepting that not every product works in the same way for everyone.

I would love to see the best oil in this collection sold in a bottle by itself with a dropper and to be able to use that oil in amongst other products. (And now I check, I see they now do this at L’Occitane)

Will you try this set? Do you use other facial oils? Which ones and how do they suit you?
AF Beauty xx

Le Jardin de Monsieur Li by Jean-Claude Ellena for Hermès 2015

September 12, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Post by Portia

It’s time to bid farewell to Jean-Claude Ellena at Hermès. I’m sad because he really came to embody so much of what I think Hermès is famous for: the interesting, not fashion, best of, made to last, made to use, made to love and for people who can still feel love. JCE being the nose at Hermès felt like their visions were aligned, sheer beauty could sum up Hermès or Jean Claude Ellena’s fragrances for Hermès. Here is Le Jardin de Monsieur Li: his last opus for the company, his last fantastical garden……

Le Jardin de Monsieur Li by Hermès 2015

Le Jardin de Monsieur Li by Jean-Claude Ellena

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Kumquat, jasmine, mint

The garden series are polarising, as much of Ellena’s work is. One of the interesting things about them is that we have been able to see into this particular artists creative journey with some of these scents through his own, and others, written words. Though we know little it’s more than we know of other perfumers and that for me makes JCE a bit of a mate, a friend or acquaintance that has let me a little behind their eyes into the workings of their brain. WE have been there when the unripe mango triggered a fragrance, through some of the depressing routes that led to failure and we also know something of his love of fragrance, his bringing home freaky scents the kids asked for, the love for his wife and his engaging personality that has made him a fragrance lovers household name.

So, how does Le Jardin de Monsieur Li smell? Bittersweet, ethereal, sweet and cool, sparkling yet curiously oily too. Le Jardin de Monsieur Li is about drinks in the shady garden in the afternoon as the sting of the days heat abruptly cuts off, the gardeners are watering or maybe there’s just been an afternoon storm so the air is clearer, less dusty and the fragrance has changed from dust to fecund wet earth and grass and you have a champagne fruit punch that is so delicious and the first one hardly even touches the sides of your thirst. Refreshing, lifting, light and elegant, Le Jardin de Monsieur Li is a fond and fervent farewell.

Photo Stolen Hermès

The Le Jardin de Monsieur Li artwork looks like they have a new artist too. The modern/retro feel of the watercolour is so much more computer-generated looking than previous pictures and while I think it lovely there is a feeling that the Hermès crew is already moving on from the JCE years. Moving away from the lovely home made feel of the naughties and into a more hipster/art-without-creativity/big-business-boring feel for the future. It’s a shame if it’s true, one of the things I love about Hermès is their quaint and homey version of world domination. The free spirit has been caged and trained.

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Perfume Shrine
Hermes stores and some larger department stores carry the Jardin range
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

What is your favourite Jean Claude Ellena fragrance for Hermès?
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