Pink Gardenia by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes review

August 28, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by FeralJasmine

Some of my earliest memories of growing up in Louisiana involve gardenias. My mother had a big bush in the front yard, and I can recall at about age 4 moving nearer to an open flower, then away, then closer again, testing the scent at different distances. Sheer bliss. True gardenia scents are still my favorite, and I want them realistic. Accordingly, I am a sucker for any gardenia scent that comes along. At least, for sampling. I have finally learned that over 90% of them are major disappointments, and I no longer EVER blind-buy bottles of new gardenia perfumes. I think I have gotten most of my gardenia errors to new homes, but there may still be a few in the back of the closet, silently mocking my gullibility.

Pink Gardenia by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes

My Gardenia Fetish part III: DSH Pink Gardenia

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Gardenia, tuberose
Base: Ambergris and musk

No doubt I will continue to sample new gardenia scents as they emerge, but there are a few favorites that I regularly wear and count on to scratch my gardenia itch. The tragically discontinued Tom Ford Velvet Gardenia is my favorite nighttime scent, and in the daytime I love to float around in Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s Pink Gardenia. She has a few gardenias, but the Pink is the closest to the real thing. The eau de parfum is a lovely soft sweet gardenia that soon settles down fairly close to the skin. Real gardenias in their homeland have a definite fungal undertone that smells a bit like moist Southern loam. When a gardenia scent seems “not real,” often it’s because the scent is too clean. Pink Gardenia has a bit of the fungal note, but it’s faint. This one will evoke the flower but won’t cause your coworkers to wrinkle their noses.

Photo Stolen Flickr

The Pink Gardenia parfum is rich, intense, and comes across as slightly less clean. It is a fully opened flower, lovingly placed on your skin by your lover’s hand. It wears close and soft and dries down to a glorious skin scent. I want this one badly, but what I want to do with it is put it all over myself, and at over $100 for 5ml I can’t afford that. Unless I were to use the whole bottle in one gorgeous binge, and oh, how I enjoy fantasizing about that. But it is lovely and hypnotic and covetable, and you can bet that it’s on my “to buy” list.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Further reading: Now Smell This and
DSH Perfumes starts at a $5 sample vial, for $80/30ml EdP

I have already written to Ms. Hurwitz expressing my hope that she will never discontinue this scent. The EdP is my own bottle (likely the first of many) and a small sample of the parfum was kindly provided by the perfumer. My opinions remain firmly my own, especially when it comes to gardenias.

FeralJasmine xx

Top 5 Department Store Scents: Gabriella

August 27, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Post by Gabriella

Hello perfumed peeps! I must admit that I have felt a bit out of the perfume scene of late. Being out of work until just last week and watching my pennies has meant that I’ve tried to resist the temptation of buying new samples or reading online forums or a blog post that may have me craving a new scent.

However, it’s also taught me that enjoying perfume doesn’t have to be an expensive exercise. I’ve been quite happy just going into stores and spritzing to my heart’s content – no credit card necessary. It also got me thinking that I’m lucky that I have access to and can afford niche scents. But what if this wasn’t the case? If I could only have department store fragrances, what would be my picks?
So here, I present to you my…..

Top 5 Department Store Scents

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

1. Anais Anais L’Original by Cacharel 2014

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Hyacinth, galbanum, orange blossom
Heart: Jasmine, rose, lily
Base: Sandalwood, cedar, incense, amber
I’ve mentioned my love for this previously and have been wearing it happily ever since that post. Anais Anais to my mind remains one of the best designer scents on the market. Soft, feminine and graceful hyacinth and lily. It always brings a smile to my face.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and The Non Blonde
Anais Anais L’Original (available in both EDP and EDT) and Anais Anais EDT are widely available at department stores and online sellers.
FragranceNet has the current EDT starting at $31.19/30ml before discount
Surrender To Chance starts at $3/ml

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

2. Karl Lagerfeld for Her by Karl Lagerfeld 2014

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: lemon and peach
Heart: magnolia, rose and frangipani
Base: amber wood and musk

My lovely Mum picked this up for me on a recent holiday overseas. She handed it to me saying: “Well I know you’re a perfume snob, but I kept smelling it and thought it was beautiful. But if it’s not good enough and you don’t want it, I’ll have it.” Hehehe! I ended up keeping the bottle because, as Mums often are, she was right. This makes a nice departure from the swathes of fruitchoulis out there. It’s a pretty, demure and elegant mix of lemon, rose and white flowers.

Further reading: Now Smell This
David Jones has $75/45ml

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

3. Marc Jacobs for Women by Steve Demercado and Loc Dong for Marc Jacobs 2001

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: gardenia and bergamot
Heart: tuberose, jasmine, white pepper and honeysuckle
Base: ginger, cedar and musk

This was launched eons before the niche revival of gardenia scents and still remains one of the best in my view. It’s a watery take on the voluptuous white flower but without the dreaded aquatic/calone vibe, just an amazingly pretty “wet” gardenia. I just wish it was slightly more readily available as it’s a damn sight better than some of the recent releases by the house.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

4. Michael by Laurent Le Guernec for Michael Kors 2000

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Freesia, incense, Chinese osmanthus, tamarind
Heart: Tuberose, iris, peony, orris root, arum lily
Base: Musk, cashmere wood, vetiver

I’ve mentioned this one before too. Whilst it might be shriek tuberose for some, this always feels like a second skin some 14 years after first trying it. It’s a strong tuberose, tempered by freesia and lily before the spices take over and make this all spicy white floral goodness.

Further reading: The Scents of Self
Michael is available in most department stores and online discounters.
FragranceNet has it starting at $41.19/50ml (before coupon)
My Perfume Samples starts at $2.49/ml

5. No 19 EDP by Henri Robert for Chanel 1970

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:

Top: green notes and bergamot
Heart: rose and iris
Base: vetiver, oakmoss and leather
I came late to the Chanel 19 party, but what a party it is! An aloof green icicle of perfumed beauty that just oozes confidence and chic. I prefer the EDP of this one for its much rosier depth and fullness.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Muse in Wooden Shoes

Chanel No 19 is available in most department stores

Surrender to Chance starts at $3.49/ml

So, there’s my take. What would your top 5 be?

With much love till next time!

M xx

Kashan Rose by Emilie Coppermann for The Different Company 2013

August 23, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Hi there Frag Fiends,

One of the companies in the fragrance world that I really love is The Different Company. I bought some of their 10ml travelers from Zsolt at Le Parfum in Budapest in 2013, and then dropped my Oriental Lounge in the Thai First Class Lounge Shower Room in Bangkok early 2014 (I know, what an asshole I am) but the lounge never smelled better. I still wear Sel & Vetiver regularly and will one day own a FB of Tokyo Bloom. There never seems to be a lot of reviews for The Different Company, they fall through the cracks. Well, I just grabbed Kashan Rose from Surrender To Chance and I think you should know about it, a very reasonable price for 100ml of top quality niche fragrance.

Kashan Rose by The Different Company 2013

Kâshân Rose by Emilie (Bevierre) Coppermann

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Sage, litchi, pink pepper, cardamom
Hearet: Persian rose, hawthorn, peony
Base: Ambrette, sandalwood, musk

Pink pepper done beautifully. A sweet, wet fruity opening that is made interesting and unusual with what I think is a nod to sage & cardamom but really just reads as a herbaceous green-ness to me. It offsets a very realistic fresh litchi, just peeled from its cocoon. Transparent fragrance, like a shimmering fine silk sari, wraps me delicately but I am still obviously fragrant.

Photo Stolen IranReview

Luminous, that is the word that comes to my mind while wearing Kashan Rose. The colour of the juice is almost exactly the colour you would expect it to be. A fresh pink, light, bright, bubbly and effervescent. The rose when it arrives is a soft garden rose, light and cool and softly green like a fresh cut, not too fragrant garden rose. Very pretty, though a bit sheer for my taste. I can imagine Kashan Rose becoming a favourite work scent, or a first scent for a young woman. The mother of two next door would swoon for Kashan Rose, I will give her my decant and she will drain it in a week. Like the picture above, the rose petals are floating on air. A whispered swish of fragrance that is subtle but noticeable, especially up close.

Tonight I wore Kashan Rose to work and though no one commented I did get soft wafts through the night and now that I’m home I can still smell what I think must be hawthorn and some lovely musks, there may be sandalwood but I don’t get it prominently. Yes, even at the 6 hour mark there is still some fresh rose.

The nitty gritty, will I buy a bottle? Though I really like Kashan Rose very much the answer is “probably” not for me. Why? Well, I have a LOT of rose fragrances from Red Roses to Mohur, Diabolo Rose to Sa Majeste la Rose and on to Midnight Oud. That’s just off the top of my head. This sheer, transparent rose seems too prim for my flamboyant tastes. I will be buying Kashan Rose for friends though. It’s a great price, wonderful scent and the packaging is super luxe. They will be thrilled to have something so unavailable here in Oz.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

First In Fragrance has €90/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

I am leaving you with a 35 second video of the Kashan Rose & Rosewater Festival 15-31 May each year. This is something I would DEARLY love to do.
Portia xx

Rose & Rosewater Festival, Kashan

AROMANTIK: Australian Natural Perfume reviews

August 22, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 46 Comments

Hi there APJ,

Recently we talked on APJ about a sampler from an Australian Natural Perfumery: AROMANTIK. So I am still loving AROMANTIK oils. They are earthy, deep, interesting and beautiful and I am incredibly impressed wit their smooth rounded fullness. After 5 minutes on your skin they could be from the very best niche house, here is an Australian small batch independent perfumer to be proud of.

AROMANTIK: Australian Natural Perfume

The site doesn’t have a lot of EdP choice as Sally seems to prefer to work in oils. I am trying today two of the EdP versions. From the AROMANTIK site: Natural eau de parfum in a base of water, alcohol & glycerine. A gentler alternative to a straight alcohol base.

Photo Stolen Flickr

AROMANTIK: Dark Side Of The Spoon EdP

Key notes:
Vanilla bean, roasted coffee beans, maple syrup, caramelised butter, immortelle absolute, spice.

On my skin maple syrup is the opening, hot butter and spices. Imagine that you’ve put maple syrup on raisin toast and you are drinking a mocha. The taste in your mouth as they combine would most closely resemble what I get from Dark Side Of The Spoon. As this lovely open subsides I get toffee, caramels and sweets. A gourmand that is still dry enough to be wearable as a fragrance, not a joke. Later the resins really smooth the whole fragrance out and Dark Side Of The Spoon has excellent staying power.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

AROMANTIK: Strangers In Blood EdP

Key Notes:
Italian blood orange, coriander seed, Madagascan vanilla orchid, roasted brazilian coffee beans, certified organic Haitian vetiver, campfire smoke

BarBQ orange, Jaffa cake, dry and sweet, dark and light. Strangers In Blood is a story of contrasts, a very natural smelling story that is the least like a store bought fragrance that I have smelled from the AROMANTIK range. Obviously a natural product that is so dark and nuanced and feral while still managing to remain light as a feather. Interestingly it takes nearly 20 minutes for the orange to really shine through the rest, once it does you will fall madly in love with this dark gem. Then the earthy, woodsy vetiver takes blood orange for a waltz. (Whoever wins this I have used about 2ml from the bottle, LOVE IT)

From the AROMANTIK site: AROMANTIK is a natural perfume studio started in 2010 by independent natural perfumer & designer Sally Woodward-Hawes. All of our products are hand-blended in small batches using only the finest natural essential oils, resins & absolutes sourced from all over the world. Sally is a professional perfumer with the Natural Perfumers Guild – the world’s largest trade association dedicated to natural fragrance.

AROMANTIK has natural perfume oils $50/5ml roller ball
AROMANTIK also has a Sample Pack $49/7 x 1ml samples
There are 7 fragrances in the sampler and previously I wrote about The Blossom Thief and Love & Strife on APJ.

Please go and have a look at the AROMANTIK site, they are a very small business trying to make it in a tough world and would certainly appreciate your business.
Portia xx

Photo Stolen TheTruthAboutMummy

AROMANTIK GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 Winners who will get:

1 x 15ml(?) spray sample bottle of AROMANTIK Strangers In Blood EdP (-2ml I have used)

1 x 15ml(?) spray sample bottle of AROMANTIK Dark Side Of The Spoon EdP

AROMANTIK Natural Perfume Oil Sampler with 7 x 1ml samples

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

Go to AROMANTIK Site<<JUMP and tell me a Fragrance and one of its notes…….. NO DOUBLE UPS

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie APJ AROMANTIK Natural Perfume GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-369 #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 24th August 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 28th August 2014 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.

Get To Know Your Collection! Scent Task #1

August 15, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 85 Comments

Hi there Freaky Frag Collectors,

Here is the problem. I spend a LOT of time testing new fragrances, buy a 3-5ml decant, empty it, fall in love, buy the fragrance and have it sit there, a lot of the time still in its cellophane. This problem is compounded by the fact that when I am wearing fragrance for sheer pleasure I often grab the same tried and true spritz-and-forget fragrances that I know I love.

Melita, the head of a Facebook Frag Group called For Love Not Money: Fragrance Appreciation Group<<JUMP (that has a rule about NEVER mentioning prices, sales, bargains or other super lemming inducing propaganda that could make you spend), had a brilliant idea…….

Get To Know Your Collection! Scent Task #1

Here is what Melita’s FaceBook challenge asked:

~~~GROUP TASK: Get to know your collection!~~~

It occurs to me every now and then that I favour certain perfumes and put them on rather too easily, while ignoring others in my collection and not really getting to know them. Next week, starting Monday the 11th August, I want to rectify that and learn more about the perfumes I already have. You are encouraged to join me in the following task:

1. Choose 5 fragrances from your collection (bottles, samples) that you don’t wear much or that you don’t really know well.
2. From Monday to Friday next week, choose one fragrance to wear each day and write a short review/comment/summary of the fragrance and share it on the group timeline. This can take any form that you like: a love letter, a poem, a brief review, a list of notes, a keyword summary, a pictographic essay. Be creative!
3. Keep things brief – limit your comments to 150 words if you can!

So I chose to use bottles that I had bought, there are quite a few that don’t get worn much. Personally, I chose to do my wearing in the morning while around the house so I could really take notice and enjoy my fragrance, sometimes enjoying it so much I chose to wear the same scent for work that night.

Here is my week in fragrance.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Scent Task #1 Monday: Fire from Heaven by C B I Hate Perfume.
Sweet resinous woods with a faint acrid after burn incense char smell. I don’t know why I rarely wear this lovely, maybe it opens too cool for winter and doesn’t cross my mind at other times. Great story and an enjoyable ride

Photo Stolen Evocative Perfumes

Scent Task #1 Tuesday: Vanille Tonique by Evocative Perfumes
I grabbed out my bottle of Evocative Perfumes Vanille Tonique: It is a beautiful marriage between Vanille Absolument by L’Artisan and one of the Guerlains. Dryer and more ambery than the L’Artisan and more retro breathy than the current crop of Guerlain. Mark Evans (the perfumer) this is REALLY good stuff.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Scent Task #1 Wednesday: 28 Excess by Tokyo Milk
Chocolate Orange Cake dried out by Woods. A sweet but not sticky fragrance. Though I am fully fragrant after about 15 minutes Excess sinks into and melds with my skin changing to a patchouli bomb with sparkles of the other notes. The whole dries down to a sweet amber/patchouli cloud.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Scent Task #1 Thursday: Amouage Gold Extrait de Parfum
Sadly my Gold gets neglected for my Dia Extrait. This is only the second time I have used the Gold. WHOA!! One little spritz is BIG! Initial rush is awesome. I can see why the Dia gets more skin time, Gold is a powerful girl. I get cool incense, resins and cat right off early, so lovely, totally retro. The flowers are creating soft counterpoint harmonies to flesh out the rest. Very nice. Gold softens down considerably in the first hour and becomes a resinous, woodsy fragrance backed by cat. Noticeable but comfortable.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Scent Task #1 Friday: Vintage Caleche by Hermes
This is one of the bottles that I was given by Michael Edwards. I keep looking at it but haven’t given it a wear yet. Oh Em Gee! This has been kept perfectly and the fizzy citrus and white flower open is devastatingly beautiful. Sheerer and a touch more green than I remember but so fragrant and rich. This is opulence, the feeling of running your hand over very expensive leather and silk brocades. When the flowers fully arrive they are a bouquet, it takes a much better nose than mine to pick them and I think the oakmoss lays a smoothing veil over all. Later, the shiny patina of the resins and smooth undercurrent of woods comes in but they are soft and furry to fade.

Photo Stolen AllSteele