Reviews

Bulgari Black by Annick Menardo 1998

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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There’s nothing like the smell of Petrol. Grease. Rubber. Tyres. Oil. Smoke. Welding. They are smells that smell naughty yet nice. Bad, but so very good.

Bulgari Black by Annick Menardo 1998

Black Bvlgari FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lapsang souchon, bergamot, rose, green tea
Heart: Jasmine, cedar, sandalwood
Base: Leather, musk, vanilla, oakmoss, amber

Bulgari Black is almost all those things. If it had a soundtrack it would be from the movie grease or cry baby . You have all the grease, leather and slick of a hot mechanic working on a vintage car in the 50’s combined with the pretty and innocent puff of floral rose-pink powder coming from a cardigan and pigtail wearing prom queen, perched picnicking on some grassy knoll drinking tea from a thermos. (yes there is a touch of green and also some tea in the midst of this fragrance)

Black Bvlgari Drag_racing WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

This scent is like drag racing on a track of bitumen wearing a leather jacket. We have smoke, leather, burning rubber, black rubber, woods, tyres…a little bit of animal…pheromones?? Bold and verging on overpowering for the first 20 minutes or so when suddenly the sweet vanillas of hers seep through…vanilla-rose riding through with a cloud of smoke following…giving the sweetness a slight candied and almost amber touch. Top notes hint at bergamot, rounded and citrus. It’s a busy highway in a city next to a park.

There is another familiar smell…it’s hard to describe but it reminds me of the smell of inside my pencil case at school…pencils? wood shavings? Perhaps this is the ingredient that makes this scent matte to me…a suede leather, if you will. Even as an adult the interiors of my handbags smell a little of this in time…paper/pencils/pens/leather/fabric/the hint of some old perfume samples. One cannot overlook the packaging of this one either. It is a gorgeous bottle, no lid, encased in black rubber. Sexy.

Black Bvlgari Handbag danielle_blue FlickrPhoto Stolen danielle_blue  Flickr

I like this tough, soft, modern yet retro frag. It’s kind of mainstream with a big beautiful twist…it’s the sort of thing we would of expected from Lady Gaga’s frag/hype/marketing, but didn’t receive. It also comes at a great price.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Muse In Wooden Shoes
FragranceShop has $28/75ml before coupon
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

Put it on your Christmas list, girls and boys as I am positive this can be worn by both men and women!!

I cannot wait to hear how it wears on you!

Perfume and Tea Pairings from Brie

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Post by Brie

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Perfume and Tea Pairings

The world of perfume blogging is relatively new to me. I have only been participating for the past years. Initially I was apprehensive about leave comments or even signing up to follow blogs. However, once I embraced this world of perfume blogging there was no turning back. I have developed many fragrant friendships with both bloggers and commenters. And what never ceases to amaze me is that we “perfumaniacs” are a generous and sharing group of individuals.

So please join me for my tea and perfume pairings with lovely gifts sent to me by two of my favorite fragrant friends.

Perfume_BottlesWikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

UME by L’Oeil du Vert

The beautiful Undina (www.undina.com), knowing of my love for natural perfumes, graciously sent me a large decant of the discontinued UME. Not aware that it was in perfume oil format I initially sprayed lavishly on my wrist and neck. It was an oily herbal mess. Ever curious, I went her blog to research this natural perfume. Understanding its consistency made me unscrew the decant sprayer and apply the oil by fingertip to my wrists. Much better……now THIS is a gorgeous jasmine-green tea fragrance redolent of thyme and herbs. Usually my “perfume adverse” hubby scoffs at the wearing of perfume to bed at night. However, there are only two fragrances that are not “verboten” and UME is one of them. Amazingly Undina knew EXACTLY what I needed for sweet, scented slumber.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Pleasant Moment Tea by Mikuniya Zengoro

My handsomely perfumed “brother” in Japan (www.theblacknarcissus.com) mailed me an unbelievable package of vintage fragrant goodies. Yet, knowing of my obsession with tea, he also included three Japanese teas as well. I have no idea if this is even the name of the tea but it was the only English writing on the canister so I am calling it as such. Pleasant Moment is unlike any tea I have ever experienced…even wafting it straight out of the canister puts me in a frenzied state with its lush greenery. A green tea nuanced with almond and jasmine notes that pairs exquisitely with the UME.

There are always “scentsational” surprises in store for us, thanks to our generous fragrant friends!

Brie XX

ED: Brie wrote this post ahead of time and will not be responding to comments. Portia will pick up the slack though so please leave a message in the comments if you’d like to continue the conversation. Brie, if you are reading, we miss you and hope you are happy and well. Drop in if you are around, we’d love to chat. XXX

Skin on Skin by Bertrand Duchaufour for L’Artisan Parfumeur 2013

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Post by Sister Mary Magdalen, Patron Saint of Perfumers

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Hello APJ,

Gather round worshipers at the ever growing altar of fragrant wonders. Today something new to put on your skin from one of my favourite and most-patronised perfume houses.

Skin on Skin by Bertrand Duchaufour for L’Artisan Parfumeur 2013

Skin on Skin L`Artisan Parfumeur FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica Gives these featured accords in one line:
Iris, suede, leather, saffron, whisky, lavender, rose, musks, skin effects

One of three fragrances in the new Explosions d’Emotions collection, Skin on Skin is a lovely scent. I have no explosions to confess, however. This fragrance is intended to capture the contact of one person’s skin with another’s in a tumble of sex and passion, a “wanton embrace” says the ad copy.

Perhaps the first clue that I should not expect anything too raunchy or abandoned is in the image chosen to represent the scent. The naked man and woman are posed in a stagey and disengaged embrace, she gazing into the middle distance, nary a hair out of place, lips pursed and one eyebrow arched. His gaze is on her, but not in a hungry way that suggests he’s reading her moans and palpitations to guide or ride with her to the heights of passion, rather he gazes in a way that indicates his focus on her is as a plinth on which to display his biceps to best advantage… but the fragrance?

skin on skinPhoto Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

Let us spray…

My first impression is dry and dark: there’s a slightly bitter saffron and a woody whisky. Also there from first spray is a lovely leather and suede that bring to mind the lived-in, body-warmed, and slightly sweaty saffron and leather of Etat Libre d’Orange Tom of Finland.

As the prominence of all these initially assertive notes settles to form the base of the scent, the heart emerges, more puff than pulse and pump. On me there is a plush and powdery iris and a cloud of the sweet cosmetic violet rose so familiar to me from L’Artisan’s own Drôle de Rose. My skin amplifies this rose, it continues sweet, prominent and persistent, but this was not so for other wearers who strained to detect rose on their skin. A shy line of lavender also weaves through, the deep and sweet purple floral of a Hidcote lavender, nothing camphorous or fresh. As the scent wears, an impression also comes of the rich sweetness of thick cream, a hint of vanilla egg custard and a clean powdered sugar. Perhaps these are the “skin effects” listed amongst the notes.

For me the fragrance evokes feelings of comfort and care. Rather than a “wanton embrace”, Skin on Skin evokes a shorthand contact between long term partners. It distills the adventures and mishaps of their lives together, but is exchanged at leisure in a time of peace, prosperity and safety. More corporate than corporeal, this scent brushes the back of a hand on the beloved’s forearm, making a brief private connection in a public space. Darling… together… we… I adore you.

Skin on Skin L`Artisan Parfumeur mrhayata FlickrPhoto Stolen mrhayata Flickr

In Skin on Skin, all the elements are there from the beginning. They shift and settle, bloom and fade but it’s all there at first spray. It’s elegant, well composed, attractive. It speaks of affluence. Its personality is not strong enough to exclude it from any situation. It wears close, and although the rose was more radiant on me than others, it is not a diffusive scent. Staying power is good.

This collection of three new fragrances for L’Artisan gleam like jewels in their bigger, squatter bottles, with bigger, scarier price tags. For Skin on Skin it’s a like and admire for me so far, and I am motivated to give it a good few more wearings.

Further reading: Persolaise and Ca Fleure Bon
Libertine Parfumerie has $280/100ml (Australia)
Neroli Budapest has €192/100ml
L’Artisan Parfumeur has $280/100ml (USA)

Go in peace,
Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers.

Armani Privé Ambre Orient: LIVE Video Sniff

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Hey All,

Margeaux and I are in the studio again and the usual silliness ensues. It’s great to have him give his views and as always we really enjoy ourselves.

I hope you enjoy it too,

Portia xx

Armani Privé Ambre Orient by Fabrice Pellegrin [Firmenich] for Giorgio Armani 2010

LIVE Video Sniff

Armani Privé Ambre Orient Giorgio Armani FragrantcaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Smoke, vanilla, dark wood, sandalwood, patchouli, thyme, labdanum, amber, cinnamon, pink pepper

L’Artisan Explosions d’Emotions 2013: Review

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Hello Fume Heads,

I know you are all crazy to try the new L’Artisan Parfumeur set of fragrances. well my mate Nick from Libertine Parfumerie has sent me a set of all three, in tester form. Thanks Libertine Parfumerie, you guys ROCK!!!  So what I thought we would do today is look at the 3 fragrances. Then do a VERY special giveaway. Hopefully you will be thrilled. It’s our way of saying Thank You for being the most tremendous community of fragrance and scent lovers in the universe, and thank you for being a part of our dream.

L’Artisan Explosions d’Emotions by Bertrand Duchaufour 2013

Firstly, let’s talk about these bottles. They are fun and hefty, the octagonal mirroring the old bottles but adding a side, or a facet? I love the gold-tone label in the niche on one side, it looks slick and very law firm-ish or as if your designer has picked your fragrance. They will look excellent on your bureau, in your wardrobe or wherever you keep your fragrances. The embossed gold-tone cap reflects the Seville a l’Aube cap and I like it too. My only though is to wonder how people with small hands cope with it, it is cumbersome and heavy. My big hands do fine but I do wonder….

Amour Nocturne L`Artisan Parfumeur

Amour Nocturne L`Artisan Parfumeur FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Cedar, hot milk, caramel, gunpowder, orchid

Well it certainly is an unusual, inventive and funky opening. Sweet, dry and smoky all at once. Amour Nocturne is hardcore elegant, you know those uber stylish people who always radiate self confidence, chic and easy going, sometimes slightly sideways style? They never look like a fashion plate but manage to seem coolly confident in their choices and often one or more pieces are recycled or a gift from Granny that none of us could even DREAM of wearing, yet for them it all looks charming and effortless. This is what those ladies and gentlemen smell like. Homely and sexy at the same time, the gunpowder adds a real zing that takes this nearly gourmand fragrance out of the ordinary and into magic. You really can smell sweet, warm, caramel milk woods and gunpowder, or a metallic dream of gunpowder. The orchid is amped up well beyond the ability of most orchids to smell but in this very noticeable amount it reminds me a little of the early Olympic Orchids offerings like Little Stars, reminds not mimics.

To be honest I thought this was going to be shit. It’s most definitely not, I love it

Deliria L`Artisan Parfumeur

Deliria L`Artisan Parfumeur FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Metal, rum, toffee, apple, candy floss

Sheer and very much like Aeroplane Jelly when you pour the boiling water onto the crystals. It has a distinctively unusual, super sweet to the point of nausea, hot sugar and food colouring smell. Both disgusting and gorgeous but with wonderful memories of times spent creating jelly masterpieces. One year we did Rainbow Jelly, which is just the 6 jelly colours in the rainbow made solid then add the next layer. Time consuming but Oh So Worth It, 2cm thick slices (with a hot knife) on a white plate with some ice cream is a pretty special looking piece of art. The sheerness fades quite quickly to a sweet haze on my skin, it is still all the opening madness but subtlety has arrived, and a very slight hint of skank. MMMMM, it gets interesting. As Deliria dries down I get a yummy biscuit effect.

This is a fine piece of perfumery but not really my style, though I could grow to like it maybe. I can imagine the younger crowd, sweet scent lovers or new to the wormhole will like this one the best. If you are thinking of gifting and the recipient is currently wearing mainstream stuff then this is a logical progression. 1000 times better than most mainstream and not infinitely more expensive.

Skin on Skin L`Artisan Parfumeur

Skin on Skin L`Artisan Parfumeur FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Suede, saffron, whisky, lavender, rose, iris, musks, skin effects

Skin on Skin is the one people seem to have noticed and be raving about. It is the most like a L’Artisan of the three, that saffron, suede, iris combination is flawless here. Beautifully blended, soft, pretty and yet still wearable by a guy.The inside of a newish handbag, maybe a brand new pair of sandals after their first wear. There is sweet human hiding beneath the flowers and suede, I am not sure that I get the booze, I need to spend some more time with Skin on Skin on my skin.

This one feels modern in the traditional underplayed L’Artisan way. I know that sentence reads funny but the L’Artisan crew are groundbreakers: first fig frag, Dzing!, Velour de Roses, Tea for two and many others were numero uno of their type. So copied now that the scents seem a trifle generic but if you really spray a lot on and live the ride then you’ll see that in most cases they have been copied but not exceeded. Again they offer a new way to do things but it’s a muted, comfortable new way. I can imagine people wearing Skin on Skin as their go-to daily fragrance and being very happy with it in all seasons.

 giveaway kbaird
Photo Stolen kbaird

L’Artisan Explosions d’Emotions GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have TWO main winners and each will receive:

1 x 100ml TESTER bottle with lid of a L’Artisan Parfumeur Explosions d’Emotions fragrance (with about 15ml missing) and no you don’t get to choose
P&H Anywhere in the world

There will also be THREE other winners and each will receive:

1 x decanted sample of all three L’Artisan Parfumeur Explosions d’Emotions fragrances
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 Libertine Perfumes<<<JUMP and find me a perfume and its manufacturer. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie @LArtisan Explosions d’Emotions GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2fb #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 1st December 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin will pick a winner.
The winners will have till Wednesday 4th December 2013 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.

Special THANKS to LibertinePerfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing, and buying the right to import, alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post air system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

Fleur Blanche Ajne

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Post by FeralJasmine

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In my last column I talked about my current obsession with realistic gardenia scents and my search for a new one now that (I can’t resist throwing this in again) the corporate jackals at Tom Ford have discontinued Velvet Gardenia, the best photorealistic gardenia fragrance ever bottled. There, now that the bashing is out of my system I can proceed more constructively.

Fleur Blanche Ajne DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

While I have always loved gardenias, my obsession stems from the day after my father’s death in hospice care, when I was packing to go home and on some impulse I can’t explain broke a lot of gardenia flowers off my mother’s bush and put them in the top of my suitcase. Back home, the rush of pure scent when I opened my suitcase is something I will never forget. I think of it every time I think about gardenias, or grief, or joy. I have spent a small fortune on samples to try to duplicate that experience, and have learned a lot about how gardenia scents are put together in the process.

Fleur Blanche Ajne

My Gardenia Fetish, Part 2

Fleur Blanche - White Flower Ajne FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Gardenia, white flowers, woody notes, fruity notes

Today’s find is Fleur Blanche, by Ajne perfumers in Carmel, California. It’s available as an oil or an extrait. I have only sampled the extrait. This is described by the maker as a pure gardenia scent, but to my nose it’s a complex walk through a garden of white flowers. The open is pure lovely jasmine. Clouds of jasmine, indolic enough to make this a complete sensual experience. You pause under the jasmine arbor, intoxicated, your skin quivering. Slowly you drift on past tuberoses, maybe a little white rose, an orange tree blossoming in the background. And then, gradually, you realize that gardenia has emerged and taken over. Not a fleshly gardenia with its faintly fungal undertone of the earth from which it sprung, but a dream-gardenia, floating above its origin. The very earthly beginning comes to an angelic conclusion.
The garden of white flowers is the primal garden, the origin and center, the place where Goddess meets God or two gods or two goddesses merge and everything else ceases to matter and love begins anew. We may never completely enter it, mundane concerns may seem to shut us out of it, but stand at the threshold and sniff and, if you don’t exactly enter that shimmering world, surely you will be lifted out of your own for a while.

Fleur Blanche Ajne Gardenia juantiagues FlickrPhoto Stolen juantiagues  Flickr

As with any other blissfully sensual experience, choose your occasion. These scents are not for the office, unless your office is a lot more liberal than mine.

Further reading: ScentHive and That Smell
Ajne has Fleur Blanc from $40/15ml Roll On Oil to $195/30ml Parfum Spray

Ajne makes a lot of other interesting 100% natural and organic oils that I’m happily testing my way through. The oils can be shipped anywhere. They do have a special permit to ship the extraits overseas, but it’s expensive. It might be more practical if a group of friends ordered together.

FeralJasmine

Voiles d’Extraits by Vero Kern 2013

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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Hey APJ

1973. The teacher asked us to research a famous person and present a project in class. I chose Andy Warhol. My mother bought me a book to assist me with the work. It was minus about 30 pages. She had removed them, finding them way to controversial for me. That encouraged me to dig deeper. Edie, Nico, The Factory, Interview, The Velvet Underground.

On October 27th 2013 Lou Reed died. I spent the following days pondering how much his music, both with The Velvets and solo, had helped to shape a part of who I am. Not only with music and fashion and art, but with perfume too. My journey started with patchouli and Tabu. (I skipped Charlie – haha!)

Voiles d'Extrait Vero Kern Herb Ritts#2 Voile d’Extrait Photo by Herb Ritts given to APJ by Vero Kern

Voiles d’Extraits by Vero Kern 2013

Vero, Voiles and The Velvets.

Vero Kern´s perfumes do to me what the Velvets did and still do. They pierce my very soul. The Silver Fox said, when writing about .vero.profumo. “Once worn they own and haunt.” I can´t keep away. I wear other perfumes, I am a perfume junkie, but I come back to Vero´s creations every time.

Stylish, dark, hip, borderline scents. I never have been mainstream.

Voiles d'Extrait Vero Kern Herb Ritts#3Voile d’Extrait Photo by Herb Ritts given to APJ by Vero Kern

The VOILES are a variation on a theme but still the Kiki, Onda, Rubj and Mito that we know. These perfumes are created in a different concentration to the pure extraits, but are just as deep and rich. They satisfy the need to spray, whereas the extraits are to be dabbed.

RUBJ Voile Featuring orange blossom, Egyptian jasmine, musk. Heavenly.
KIKI Voile Including lavender, caramel, musk. A have to try for those who dislike lavender. It is velvety and addictive.
MITO Voile Magnolia, cypress, and a stunning tuberose (which does not feature in the EdP), lemony, bitter, it is perfection.
ONDA Voile Dark. Intimate. Honey, vetiver, nutmeg, pepper, ginger. Venus in Furs.

Voiles d'Extrait Vero Kern Herb Ritts#1Voile d’Extrait Photo by Herb Ritts given to APJ by Vero Kern

Try them if you get the chance. Take a walk on the wild side.

CQ xxx

The Voiles are available at Jovoy Paris, Marie Antoinette Paris, Bloom London and Campomarzio70 Rome. Which does´t help toomuch outside of Europe but where there´s a will there´s a way!! Lisa from Campomarzio70, .vero.profumo´s distributor told me that they will soon be in other exclusive shops. I will keep you posted.

Vero Kern sent me samples of the four Voiles. Vielen Dank.

November Sample Challenge Part 2

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Post by Gabriella

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Hello fumie friends!

Well, I am continuing the sample challenge set up by a friend on the Aussie Fragrance Network group on Facebook with some unexpected results. Read on to find out what happened.

November Sample Challenge Part 2

Wooden Fishing Tackle Box bdoutdoorsPhoto Stolen BDOutdoors

Sunday, November 10: One terrific by-product of the challenge is that it has made me organize my very disorganized sample lot. Well, the challenge and the fact that Mr M has very kindly bought me a fishing tackle box for said purpose. I categorized things alphabetically and am finding things that I had completely forgotten about. Feel very excited about continuing now and celebrate with a dab of Serge Lutens Bois de Violette. It’s beautiful, but there is just something in the Serge Bois series that just doesn’t agree with my skin chemistry.

In the evening, I fall in love with Amouage Interlude Woman. How on earth did I ignore this for so long? I adore the coffee, kiwi fruit and green goodness that seems to sparkle on my skin. I must get some more of this, so head off and order a decant of this, Amouage Fate Woman, Serge Lutens Santal de Mysore (another big bottle want) and thrown in some Castlebajac for good measure after trawling the site for a while. I’m excited about Castlebajac. It’s a clean almondy scent that I wore years and years ago in London and the thought of it reminds me of a great work Christmas party.

Monday, November 11: I cheat. I wear Lys Mediterranee. Not a sample. Difficult day at work and I needed something I knew and loved to comfort me.

Wednesday, November 13: Chanel Beige. Wearing this today and the sample of 31 Rue Cambon the other week has taught me something: I love Chanel top notes but not the dry down. Chanel Beige starts so luscious with frangipani and the sunshiny-ness of hawthorn, it’s gorgeous. But I want it to stay this way, and of course, last a little longer like all the Exclusifs, sans Coromandel.

La Collection Couturier Parfumeur New Look 1947 FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Friday, November 15: Oh hello lovely! I’ve had a sample of Dior New Look 1947 for ages and thankfully rediscovered it, due to new not-rummaging-around-in-drawers-for-half-an-hour-superorganized sample storage. This just FEELS like ME and I can’t get enough. It makes me pleased cos I’ve been quite cross at the House of Dior for mucking round with my beloved Diorissimo and Diorella. This just might make up for it.

Monday November 18: Bad, bad M. Have fallen totally off the wagon over the past few days due to sampling ennui. Maybe, just maybe, it is because I have been so busy and stressed at work that I haven’t had the headspace to enjoy my samples. I always need to be calm, relaxed and not half asleep or in need of valium and vodka to sample properly. In fact, I have been thinking that, when it comes to perfume, I need much less, not more. Decide to sell some more partial bottles.

 Isles Lointaines Keiko Mecheri FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Wednesday, November 20: Ok, so somebody must have hacked into my computer Monday or I was possessed by my alter ego as that stuff was just craaazy talk. But today, I had another issue: wanting, pining after a sample THAT I DID NOT HAVE. ARGH!!!! The-sample-that-I-must-have-right-now is Keiko Mecheri’s Isles Lointaines. I blame the boss’ PA. She asked for help with planning destinations for her honeymoon and asked if I’d been to the Amalfi coast and Positano in particular. Mr M and I went on one of our first romantic trips to Paris and Positano and Isles Lointaines was one of the samples I wore. I need to revisit those memories. NOW.

Pulp FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Saturday, November 23: Byredo Pulp. This is another one that’s just been sitting right there for ages, completely ignored, but yet, so readily available. I thought Dionne’s APJ review was terrific, but never got round to smelling this. It’s a luscious, full bodied citrus that just can’t help but make you smile. And even though it’s pouring with rain and has been wet for eons, I’m happy and warm with this on.

Samples are available from:
Surrender To Chance
Posh Peasant

So, how did you think I went with the second leg APJ peeps? Have I mentioned any favourites?

Love,
M

Nuit Etoilée by Isabelle Doyen for Annick Goutal 2012

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Hello Frag Hags,

Great to see you all. I thought that you could probably all do with something cool and calm after your big Friday & Saturday nights out, so today I thought a fragrance called Starry Night or Nuit Etoilée would be a perfect balm.

Nuit Etoilée by Isabelle Doyen for Annick Goutal 2012

Nuit Etoilee Annick Goutal FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured acords:
Top: Citron, sweet orange, peppermint
Heart: Siberian pine, fir resin
Base: Angelica seed, tonka, immortal

The picture above is for the old bottle, the new clear bottle is below. What a shame Pacific Amore has decided to change the very beautiful blue. The minute I heard I ran out and bought a square mens bottles from one of the Facebook groups because I love them so much, it’s about 99% full and I got a very good deal. YAY!! Happy days.

That sweet minty citrus burst at the open is like drinking champagne punch with little green chewy bits of mint chopped and floating through it. It was my Mum’s favourite family party drink and she would make a large glass punch bowl up as everyone started arriving, we kids were given a beaker when we were small just to have a taste so that we felt part of it all. As we got older we were given glasses and when I finally realised that I was a big kid was when I was handed one of the glass punch cups with grapes and fruit embossed around the outside, there seemed to be HUNDREDS of these glasses when we were young but when Mum died and we had to clean out the stuff she’d amassed there were only 24 and the whole set was packed away perfectly awaiting the next party. Memories!! Joyous, fun, sun filled memories.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Yes, Nuit Etoilee warms up after the open but the lovely minty, citric fizz doesn’t leave for quite a while. Underneath it though comes a warm resinous woodsy melange that flirts underneath for ages before it decides it is time to take over. Like getting out of a cool pool and lying in the sun to dry, warm/cold then warmer and then dry. The immortelle, resins and tonka are sweet and dry. Nuit Etoilee really does dry down, the whole fragrance changes to earthy, dry flowers that have a slight vanilla/amber sweetness that has nothing to do with food.

Nuit Etoilee is not a super long lasting fragrance, I’m lucky to get four hours before I lose all traces of it. Soft enough for most workplaces, great for the calm and cool stuff. In fact, I could see Nuit Etoilee very easily becoming a go to signature scent. I has the lovely fresh opening that becomes a warm bear hug of a fragrance, it could work all year for you.

Nuit Etoilee Annick Goutal EdP NEWPhoto Stolen Annick Goutal

Further reading: Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin
Fragrance Shop have the blue bottle EdT under $70/100ml before coupon
Surrender To Chance start at $3/ml

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday,
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

 

 

Scents Of My Mother: Sydney Perfume Lovers Scent Salon

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

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Post by Catherine du Peloux Menage

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APJ and the Sydney Perfume Lovers have teamed up to run monthly Sunday Scent Salons. Perfume evokes memories and few memories are deeper than those associated with a mother, which is how thirteen men and women, some of them complete strangers met to talk about Scents Of My Mother, bearing photographs, perfumes and recollections. It was a moving, warm and sometimes funny event.

Scents Of My Mother

Sydney Perfume Lovers Scent Salon

Complex is the best word to describe the relationships we brought to the table.
We met many mothers. The one who smoked a joint with her son on his 18th birthday, the one who said ‘disgusting’ about a daughter’s folds of flesh, the one who criticised her naturally slender daughter for deliberately being too thin, the one who still tidies up when entering her daughter’s home, the insightful one who told her son that she thought he probably wouldn’t marry a girl…

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There was a gentle woman whose softness didn’t prepare her daughter for the tough world which awaited, the timid one who couldn’t give her daughter the strong role model she craved, the one who came out as a lesbian and couldn’t forgive her daughter for leading a different life. The one who had a child at 15 and brought him up with her own mother.

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Many were artists or studied art. Few fulfilled themselves in the workplace. Many were clean and tidy freaks who always look good. (No prizes for making a connection between the last two sentences.) Many were critical, many were loving and most were both at the same time. Many of us around the table described our feelings of love or pain or both for Glenda, Jane, Lauraine, Cheryl, Marie, Rosemary, Waina, Joan, Francoise, Teresa.

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What were our scent memories? One of us recollected trying to please her mother by making perfume for her by soaking flowers in water. Another brought biscuits from her mother’s handwritten recipe book to evoke the smell of baking. There were memories of babysitters arriving and mothers leaving in clouds of Chanel N’5, Chant d’Aromes and L’Air du Temps. I would love to have met the mother who wore Shalimar parfum during the day. Her child was fated not to be timid!

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Fresh green beans evoked one mother who survived breast cancer. Another always had acrid smelling salts in the bathroom cupboard in case they were needed and wore Arpege – a startling juxtaposition. Rive Gauche featured twice. It is still worn today by one daughter to differentiate herself as the opposite to her mother who like more run of the mill Avon fragrances, and was worn by another mother when it came out to stamp herself as modern. She also wore Tabu and Oleg Cassini. We encountered one generous perfume collector mother with over 300 bottles who loves giving her daughter bottles of Serge Lutens as well as one who never wears scent but does have scented handcream which smells like Fragonard’s Billet Doux. Cie Perfume (with Candace Bergen as its face) was an early favourite of a mother who also wore Tresor but now is faithful to Champs Elysees. La Cabrasella, a bergamot citrus scent from Calabria has always sat on the dressing table of one Italian mother.

We could have talked for many more hours and left feeling happy to have shared these perfumes and memories. I’m sure another Scent Salon will revisit this topic one day for another group.

CdPM xx