Louis Vuitton Mini Movie

Hey Hey Perfume People,

I know that Louis Vuitton and master perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud (Stella McCartney, Dior’s Addict and Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classic) are still preparing LVs first fragrant offering since the 1930s; so to honour their choice to finally cross to the dark side, also to assuage my need for visual stimulation, and to keep me pumped as the time grows nearer, I am gifting you this lovely mini movie. Hopefully it’ll help keep you in a simmering, speculating, craze of what ifs and how wills.

Photo Stolen 1000fragrances

I am hoping for something beyond gorgeous but will be happy with interesting and beautifully crafted. In my minds nose I smell ink, leather, salt and rue. Ink for the money that it will cost, leather for the historical luggage, salt for my tears of longing and bitter rue for my regret and sadness when it is a lazy fruit-chouli. Please Perfume Goddesses, let it be at least GOOD!

Photo Stolen butterflydiary

Don’t forget to go enter yesterdays GIVEAWAY and if you want a full review I am Guest Posting over at PerfumePosse about Sweet Water by Liz Cook for One Seed. Please go over and wish me well there, it is still a huge deal to be asked to Guest Post on one of the world’s biggest and most popular frag blogs.

We wish all the best of everything for you, it is out there, all you have to do is go get it.
See you tomorrow.
Portia xx

LV Paris Perfumeries 2011

The Perfume and Skincare Company PERFUME GIVEAWAY

Hey Hey Perfumistas,

We’ve been looking at The Perfume and Skincare Company from Australia this week; Monday we Interviewed Sheila Masseti and Tuesday we Reviewed PS&Co Fragrances (JUMP back to catch up if you missed them). We at APJ are so happy to have been able to bring you a new fresh Aussie perfume crew. What we thought we’d do for our P&SCo Perfume Giveaway is give you all a chance to win one of three sets of spray decant samples of the 5 Perfume and Skincare Company fragrances that we reviewed on Tuesday.

WOW!!!

Photo Stolen sassisamblog

How do you win? In the comments below you must leave then name of the P&SCo fragrance we reviewed that you think you’ll most love and the city/town in Australia where the P&SCo is located. EASY PEASY! 2 bits of information that could lead to 5 samples to try at home

How does it work? The draw is open to anyone in the world who follows this blog by email, RSS etc till 9pm Saturday 22.9.12 Australian EST that correctly includes the 2 items of information necessary. Yes, you may newly follow the blog to enter, email at the side of the page, RSS at the bottom, wordpress follow at top. All the names will be written on a piece of paper and TSO Jin will pick one three to get the packs. You must get in touch by 9pm Wednesday 26.9.12 Australian EST with your address details or I will give your prize to someone else.


Photo Stolen article.wn

If you Tweet or Facebook you will get and extra chance for each time you do the below
TWEET – @OzPerfumeJunkie https://australianperfumejunkies.com/ are having a GIVEAWAY!!!! Go get you some
FACEBOOK – https://australianperfumejunkies.com/ are having a GIVEAWAY!!!! Go get you some

Don’t forget to pop over and The Perfume And Skincare Company website too

Righto! There it is. Get to it and good luck to you all,
We’ll be looking for you tomorrow so till then, stay safe,
Portia xx

Field Notes From Paris by Ineke Ruhland for INeKE 2009

Hi All You Lovely APJ,

Back in July I remember reading a ScentsMemory post about Field Notes From Paris by a perfumer from his town, San Francisco, and thinking “WOW! That sounds like a killer frag, Must try it soon.” So when INeKE fragrances became part of the September 40% off deal going on at SurrenderToChance I felt it was time to get up close and personal with the brand. I ordered 5ml of Gilded Lily, Chemical Bonding and Field Notes From Paris and have only just opened the little anti break baggie (I always feel like I’m in the middle of a drug deal opening this stuff up, perfume crack indeed!) and it all smells so good.

Photo Stolen INeKE

Fragrantica has this to say and gives these featured accords (added INeKE accords): Field Notes from Paris is inspired by Ineke Ruhland’s halcyon days studying perfumery in Paris and Versailles. It captures the romantic, nostalgic feeling of sitting at a café and writing in a journal while lingering for hours over a cafe crème.
Top: Orange blossom, bergamot, lemon and coriander seed
Heart: Tobacco blossom & leaf, patchouli and cedar
Base: Tonka, benzoin, leather, beeswax and vanilla.

Citrus Coriander Blooms Photo Stolen foodarts

I love the opening with its coriander seed and citrus, almost a dissonance but strangely alluring, I keep getting whiffs of interesting and unusual which is a joy rather than outrageous or confrontational. It’s a warm, lived in smell, inviting and unpretentious.

Then it is a citrus, tobacco and leather scent on my skin, warmed by the vanilla and woods but never dominated by them. I know Field Notes From Paris is about the feeling of Ineke Ruhland sitting drinking a single cafe au lait while spending hours updating a journal in Paris & Versailles during her training as a perfumer but I really would have liked to smell the coffee. The citrus, blossom, fruit and rest of the tree, stays through different intensities almost to the dry down and shows its diverse faces from crisp zest to sensual flower through to powdery pith and bittersweet bark and twig.

Photo Stolen secretcitizens

Having worn it to work I had one person ask what I was wearing, I couldn’t remember the damn name GRRR. Somewhere between 4-5 hours I become completely anosmic to Field Notes From Paris but TSO Jin says he can smell something that’s not me but very soft, skin scent-ish and good. He had to get his nose to my chest to smell it though, so rides very close to the skin at that point.

Will this be my next FB? Not sure. I really love the opening and the journey is a good one with highs, lows and interesting things happening, I want to be madly enraptured because the work is so good and the price is not outrageous either. Field Notes From Paris is the kind of niche offering that we wish the big boys would emulate, and the bottle itself is gorgeous. I have a 5ml decant, let’s see where I am at the end of those 5mls because this is definitely the good stuff but it just hasn’t grabbed me, which I am very sad about.

NowSmellThis and PerfumeShrine also do excellent reviews with so much information made easy.
INeKE sends their 75ml/$95 bottles only to the USA & Canada, but they have an awesome WORLD STOCKISTS page which includes 3 great Australian Stockists in Qld & Vic 75ml/$160 delivered to your door.

As always, I amgrateful that you have chosen to spend some time with us in the APJ Family.
Loads of love and hugs till we see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Perfume and Skincare Co. Australia Reviews

Hey Hey Scent Addicts,

Yesterday we did an APJ Interview with Sheila Masseti if you’d like to meet the perfumer.

What is unusual about these Perfume And Skincare Company fragrances that are made in Australia by Sheila Masseti is that they have between 45-70% fragrant oils per volume. What does that mean to the regular person? It means more depth, character, longer lasting, more nuanced olfactory ride and best of all; you need use less to get an incredible fragrant experience. These amounts are double and above what you would get in a Parfum or Extrait level fragrance from the big players. The prices are beyond reasonable for the quality and you can get a great sample range for $10/5ml which is enough to get a real feel for the fragrance on your skin and won’t break the bank. Imagine having 5 new fragrances in extrait level to try for a week each for only AUD$50. Seriously great value!!

FIG & OLIVE: Fig & Olive is the P&S signature scent. Opening with fresh, green citrus it becomes a fuller, deeper and stronger version of my favourite fig, Un Jardin En Mediterranee by Hermes. There is the familiar broken leaf and branch, slightly salty olive and milky fig, it is an interesting sweet and sour bi-play that offers an absorbing frisson that I can get quite lost in smelling, it has some very definite herbaceous notes through the heart keeping it green and I can’t decide whether I’m getting spice or woods. Interesting and beautiful right through to dry down.

FORBIDDEN FRUIT: This is a huge sweet burst of fruit, I get pineapple, passionfruit and peach though the notes say blackcurrant and lemon, the oudh is extremely clean with the soapy orange flower and sandalwood. Staying power is excellent, I got nearly 7 hours of unrelenting fruit sweetness before I had to shower. Sorry but I can not imagine using this, it is so far from what I’d like to smell like that I can’t express properly how little I like it. If you like the fruity sweet fragrances though this is the one, it has everything you love in the other fragrances like it in bags, plus more interesting journey with real change as it matures on your skin, I wish I could have enjoyed the journey.

GARDENIA: Gardenia is one of the scents I am repeat applying, not only is it a killer soliflor fragrance that people “get” straight off the bat, but it is a huge compliment getter. Every time I wear it at least one person asks what, who, how and how much. One night I had 4 people do this. Now if you wear scent often you will know that 4 people in one night do not ask about fragrance that you are wearing, it was uncanny. If you love white flowers and gardenia especially, then this fragrance will be for you too.

GINGER MILK: Ginger Milk is my favourite of the selection sent. It has everything I want in a fragrance and if I wasn’t such a scent slut I think it would become my signature scent. Every time I put it on I am transported, even making the most embarrassing throaty moans on first application. It is quite linear, there is growth but it’s more circular than a story, going over the same few scents on slow, languid rotation and really does smell like spiced warm milky ginger tea. Almost gourmand, um what am I writing? This is Oriental Gourmand, from the east and delicious. The dogs try to lick it off me when I go out to them, that’s how good it is.

PINK PEONY: Pink Peony opens with a luscious fruit accord, the notes say peach and apricot but I get some citrus too, that is sweet but not like a fizzy fruit tingle or like a sugary sweet but piece of fruit sweet. Then I get a mild anise feeling mixed with a spicy white flower and something that may be peony but I wouldn’t know how a peony smelled if you held me at gunpoint and made me guess, even though I love them as cut flowers I can never recall the scent. Maybe the green-ish scent that comes through after about an hour is peony? Later on you notice the vanilla and sandalwood have been quietly taking over, still giving enough room for the flowers to show but the whole fragrance has warmed considerably. then it dires down to a sooft and mellow, nearly amber-ish vanilla that clings for ever.

Something else I really love about the Perfume And Skincare Company is their simple and elegant packaging and bottles. It all fits together in a really well thought out and stylistically simple extravagance, like it’s so good that it doesn’t need bells and whistles to make it stand out. Which is quite true. Do take some time to sample this wonderful Aussie range at The Skincare And Perfume Company.

Also, come back on Thursday because we have a wonderful GIVEAWAY!

Thanks for dropping by, we wish you the best of everything till we see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

In The Mail: New Arrivals

Hey Gang,

It’s all been mad CER AY ZEE around here lately. I’ve been getting some great new gigs, TSO Jin has been studying for his final electrical exams and our lovely homestay boy has been off working on movie sets as well as attending to his studies. Spring has sprung and as the weather warms and the liquidamber in the front yard puts forth lovely green leaves we should be in the pool in a couple of weeks. YAY!!! We have seen a couple of 28oC/82oF days and life looks good.

One of the amazing things about being in the perfumista world is the swapping that goes on. Say I have a bottle of something and a few samples that I think will suit one of my buddies; decant, wrap & into a post pack and away. It’s so great getting a little fragrant package from someone who knows your scent preferences, wants to help educate you or simply wants to share the love. I’ve had a few of these super packs lately and would like to share a few of my new discoveries. To understand the ratings please jump across to the APJ Ratings System Page.

At The Beach 1966 by CB I Hate Perfume (Thanks Sonya) Has a lovely fresh citrus-like opening that quickly gives a salty blast and something vaguely white floral. I don’t get the Coppertone analogy, or, um, maybe, OK I get it! Ha Ha Ha The whole white sauce sun protection we used to be covered in by our Mum’s, the sand everywhere, seashells, surf, sun, the big fluffy striped towels with fringing. It’s all here. MEMORIES! And after 5 hours wear it smells like the bug spray we wore too. Still pumping soft white flowers and seawater 9 hours later. CB I Hate Perfume 100ml/$80. S=**** L=***** D=****

Interlude Man by Amouage (Thanks Ruth) OH BOY!! The opening of Interlude Man featuring Oudh from the outset melded beautifully with the oregano and spicy pepper. Get your money and buy this fragrance now, man, woman or child. My tummy has got butterflies and I am having a Stendahl Syndrome moment (Thank you Denyse Beaulieu for the SS reference). Full report soon. Amouage 100ml/215 Euro.  S=***** L=**** D=*****

LouLou by Cacharel 1987 (Thanks Amanda) What a fragrance. Pow when it opens with what seems like everything ever put into a perfume, in bags. Such an outrageously OTT spicy floral that is a super statement fragrance. I can’t believe the girls we grew up with used to think this was a soft girly fragrance, it’s a powerhouse based on the tiare flower, though not including it. Still available to buy in the shops but mine is a vintage 90’s bottle. Sweetness lingers for hours and hours. FragranceNet has 50ml/under $50 S=**** L=**** D=****

Jezebel by Bud Parfums (Thanks Howard) I normally shy away from a burst of fruit as an opening gambit by a fragrance but Jezebel opens so lushly that it already feels lascivious, but wait, there is something dirty hiding behind the fruit. A very naughty girl who has sprayed herself with fruit to do THE WALK OF SHAME. When people talked about Ho Panties in fragrance I kind of understood but now I know. It hits you sneakily and remains behind the glow and glamour of nearly spoiled fruit. Everything about Jezebel is a little overblown, pardon the pun. Probably wear this at home or on the prowl ONLY!! After the initial rush and gush I end up with an enjoyable sweet musky dry down that sticks around for a few hours and then disappears. BudParfums 100ml/$100 S=**** L=*** D=****

What has been on your fragrant agenda, anything new? Have you received a scented care package? What was in it? What do you wish had been in it? Leave us a message because the conversation is often more interesting than the post,
Take care till tomorrow,
Portia xx

PS All Photos Stolen Fragrantica

Pear + Olive (Ltd Ed.) by Slumberhouse 2012

Hey Hey Niche Nerds,

Have I got a niche for you!! Recently on FacebookFragranceFriends there was a split for a crew, Slumberhouse, that I have been reading murmurings about for a while and stumbled upon on Parfum1 where you can buy their gear. I like the aesthetic of the bottles, saw they were genuinely trying to buck the modern concept of department store mass marketed dross (much of which I adore), were following their hearts/dreams/desires and experimenting beyond the norm. All this piqued my interest, there had even been a couple of their handy 15ml bottles in my basket a few times when I’ve had to cull so my budget would still stretch to unimportant things like food and telephone etc. So when I noticed a split for their new Limited Edition Pear & Olive, that just by the way comes in the most desirable, OMG LUSTING MADLY, etched bottle, I did not resist.  Thank all that is good in this world because I have found something completely different to anything I’ve yet tried, this is the real deal folks….

Photo Stolen slumberhouse

From The Slumberhouse Site: Slumberhouse is a boutique cologne label in the heart of Portland, OR; created and inspired by urban and street culture, art, film and music – especially the new school of hiphop and graffiti artists. We are a group of young gents who march to our own beat, embracing an absolute disregard for other brands, trends and marketing cliches. Slumberhouse represents an unequivocal love for the art of fragrance making.

Featured Accords: Pear, cognac, chamomile, aglaia (Mahogany), olive, zdravets (Geranium oil from Bulgaria), massoia bark and calamus (Rush or reedlike rhizome)

Pear + Olive starts out with the most outrageously real pear skin accord and it just jumps off your skin it is almost smello realism, and is quickly joined by the smell of the flavour of your first bite of an olive for the day. My mind keeps telling me there is cheese, real full blue cheese that has been allowed to warm on a table, even though I know it’s not there. I feel like I have sat down with friends, a few red wines, cheese platter with pears and olives. It is completely intoxicating and the sweet pear and salty, tangy, vinegar-ish olive scents harmonise and then push against each other, then meld with this milky, blue cheese thing. It then goes all woody through the pears and olives and has that great herb and cream smell that chamomile tastes like in tea. It is so hard to describe this fragrance, I can say that it is entrancing and enticing; people will want to get in and have a really good whiff of you.

Photo Stolen carbdiva

This is the most complimented fragrance I have ever worn, on its first outing tonight I had 5 separate and unrelated compliments and 3 of those compliments included asking the whereabouts of more such delicious juice. Every one of said compliments happening over a 3 hour period.

Sillage is excellent, the scent bubble goes about 2 meters and lasts for hours. I am home from work and have written the blog, hung out with the crew here a bit and it’s nearing 2am. I put my Pear + Olive on at 6pm and there is still a gorgeously fragrant cloud of something totally unprecedented on and around me. I have already gone online and bought a 50ml bottle, Slumberhouse has cheaper International Postage Rates by more than half.

Do yourself a favour and at least get hold of a 1ml/$5 sample from Slumberhouse, or grab one when they get to the sample/decant stores.

Have you tried this line? What were your impressions? Please leave me a message, even if it’s just saying hello, we love to read from everyone who comes by and we reply to all comers.
Have a great day till we see you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Scandal by Roja Dove 2007

Hey Hey High End Perfumistas,

My buddy Sheila Eggenberger from TheAlembicatedGenie sent me an atomiser filled with Scandal by Roja Dove recently. It was not on my radar, though Roja Dove is of course one of my heroes, and Sheila quite rightly thought that it should be.

Photo Stolen SydneyMorningHerald

Fragrantica gives these featured accords/notes:
Top: Orange blossom, lily-of-the-valley and bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, jasmine, freesia, rose and ylang-ylang
Base: Sandalwood, musk, orris root, resins, cedar and benzoin

What happens when I put it on? HELLOOOOO White Flowers! A big fat burst of white floral and citric goodness that has a little of the person about it but not a lot. Scandal doesn’t scream though, that’s not its way. There is a much more glamorous fragrance here. I am perfumed most definitely, it is excellent on the sillage and scent bubble and it gets noticed but it’s not burning out my nostril hairs and I think after the initial rush that you could wear it to dinner without spoiling your food, or the food of your dinner partner.

As this first lovely blast calms down there is room for the rose, a slightly spicy tea rose, to make its way to the front of the rest of the bouquet and already there is some powdery, resinous and woodsy undercurrent that stops Scandal from being too heady and floral though it is both of these things. Though Scandal is a big perfume I don’t feel like I am skunking anyone when I wear it, a graceful offering rather than a Fracas or Madonna’s Truth or Dare extravaganza (both of which I love BTW) which practically beat your surrounding noses to death trying to get their attention. Like Scandal is slightly grown up, a little more sure of the world and a place in it that fits a you sized piece of the puzzle. Though more than a nod to the past I think we have a fragrance of the future, definitely my future. I have been brought undone by this lovely floral and now think I want it often. Sheila is naughty giving a fragrance junkie the good stuff, but clearly has me pegged perfectly which can be nice, and is.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Scandal maintains its sillage and scent bubble indefinitely!! I can’t believe the staying power. I put it on 3 hours ago and we are still pumping the gorgeousness like it’s been on for 15 minutes.

So I double respritzed on my chest at 4.5 hours to go do a gig and my head nearly blew off. OMG!! It CAN be a weapon of mass destruction! On top of an unfinished wear it becomes super scent BOMB for about an hour, thank all that is merciful we are a ways from town or I would have skunked a whole 40th birthday party. HA HA HA! As it was I was most decidedly fragrant when I walked into the gig and still going strong on my farewells. Now nearly 5 hours later I am still powering away as I go off to bed.

Roja Parfums Scandal Pour Femme
Photo Stolen rojadove

TheCandyPerfumeBoy does a ripper review and Abigail @ ISmellThereforeIAm puts Scandal in her forever Top 10!

ThePoshPeasant has samples/decants from $5.50/ml
RojaDove website has 100ml EdP ₤195

As I use up one of my existent big white florals I think Scandal will have a place in my Frag Fridge, I am going to order a replacement decant until because this one is bone dry.

What is your favourite white floral? I like the idea of wearing them in Spring and Autumn, when is your best white floral time?

Loads of love till tomorrow,
Portia xx

Sui Love by Jean-Louis Grauby for Anna Sui 2002

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Guest Post by EmmaKate

SUI LOVE

Sensational day to you perfumistas!

My life is currently going full throttle, no brakes, all change, so for this Guest Post I have chosen to share with you my adoration for Sui Love from Anna Sui from my dresser.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured notes:
Floral-fruity composition is in perfect harmony with warm musky and vanilla base. Sicilian bergamot, Japanese osmanthus, and passion fruit create an aery floral introduction into a gorgeous blooming garden of the middle notes: Italian violet, orange blossom, water lily, Egyptian jasmine, white rose and tuberose, spiced with a touch of pink pepper.

Australian christmas dinner by Daniel Forsell

This fragrance always reminds me of Christmas at my parents place. I LOVE Christmas, family and friends, good food, good wine and everyone in great spirits.There is a real tree, freshly cut gardenias, a fruit salad on the table and it is sunny and warm outside.

Sui Love makes me feel girly and happy. It is a feel good fragrance.

Photo Stolen pharmacymix

The passionfruit gives a fizzy aroma that is juicy and full bodied. The tuberose is grounding and provides the green feel to this particular perfume. There are lots and lots of other white flowers too, which lends what’s usually thought of as femininity to this perfume.

Not overly sophisticated but the perfect girly fragrance with a bit of depth and a little something extra.

FragranceShop has 50ml $30

See you next month,

EmmaKate X

Catch Of The Day – Bargain Betty’s

Hey all you lovely Stinkophiles,

I know I keep harping about it but I love it when the Decant/Sample sites have sales. SurenderToChance are having a 40% off sale of some stuff that is clogging up their offices so the new stuff can come through, it’s on for a while longer so go check, but be quick because they are selling out of some of the good stuff. This is a superb moment to grab yourself a little known magical bargain, something you heard about but didn’t grab, a promise you made yourself and then forgot or maybe just an excuse to get a parcel in the mail. So I gave myself a budget and dived right in. Some of the offerings are from companies I’ve heard of, some from completely new ones that have launched and Titanic-ed and still others companies that I never even registered. If you wonder what the letter and star ratings mean go see our Ratings System Page

Yes, I write for Perfume Posse but I pay full price, or sale price, for all my decants, so this is not an ad.

Here are a couple of my purchases;

Love’s Sorrow Photo Stolen my.opera.com

Chagrin d’Amour EdP by Des Filles a la Vanille (Sorrow of Love) featuring notes of Geranium, Hyacinth and Amber. This smells so youthful and exuberant to me, I don’t understand the sorrow of love name at all. It has that fresh young lady smell of vanilla with soft flowers woven through, not a powerhouse but a lovely warm, intoxicating fragrance that lasts quite well if I respritz after an hour to give it an extra kick of itself. The amber of the dry down is soft and fluffy. S=*** L=*** D=***

Photo Stolen foodnetworkTV

Salina EdC by Tocca Aqua Profumata featuring notes of clove, orange, green leaves, purple freesia, iris, peach, raspberry and musk. I found loads of reviews complaining of the short lived nature of this fragrance but I found it an 8 hour masterpiece, and then to find out it retails online for around $35/100ml made me so damn happy. An excellent refreshing spritz that is everything a good EdC should be, bright, green, refreshing, floral, fruity (the fruit is not current super sweet fashion), interesting, unisex and to have this longevity on my skin, SCORE! S=**** L=***** D=*****

Photo Stolen dreamstime

Miele Rosa EdP by i Profumi di Firenze featuring Damascena rose, milk, incense and wild honey (I swear there is some oudh in here too). OK so Rose and Honey? I’m in! Add to that the dreamy lactonic undertones and incense like fizz of a Damascena rose and I am lost. Miele Rosa feels like an Arabian Swiss oil it’s so fantastically intense, especially when I’m huffing away with my nose almost against my arm. OOOOH HEAVENLY AMBROSIA!! Filled with organic roses and honey this was released as a limited edition in 2006. S=***** L=*** D=****

Photo Stolen taniamarieartist

Le Bateleur EdT by Dolce & Gabbana features aromatic top notes; aquatic heart notes; and a earthy vetiver and cedarwood base. This has been soundly panned as a boring sport/nothing new/why bother fragrance. I like it a lot. The woody salty opening that slightly sweetens on the skin as it warms with your body, the sexiness of the spices and the good rooty humus rich vetiver. I would like to smell this on my partner and am enjoying it very much on me. Perfect work scent, fragrant but not intrusive, reminiscent of some other stuff but feels really expensive on my skin, at SurrenderToChance they have 100ml for $42. S=**** L=*** D=****

I am having a really good time getting my sniff on, instead of buying 100 x 1ml samples I got a hoard of 5ml decants. It means I really get to live the fragrance over a few wears, which is how I like to do it. Have you huffed anything interesting this week? Been to the sales? Bought, done a split on, had arrive something you’d like to share and give us all a lemming, Please do comment, we love to hear your voices.

I just want you all to know how grateful I am that you visit. Thank You.

Portia xxDes Filles a la Vanill

Nuit De Noel by Ernest Daltroff for Caron 1922

Hey Hey Fellow Fumies,

Nuit de Noel or Christmas Night, what we call Christmas Eve today, was created in 1922 by the founder of Caron and self taught perfumer Ernest Daltroff for, it is rumoured, his paramour of many years. There is so much hype about this fragrance that calls to me, Roja Dove and Karl Lagerfeld are said to wear only this fragrance at Christmas time, it was made for the flappers of the era and that the gold band on the original extrait bottle was a nod to their headbands are just 2 of the stories. Below you’ll see the original 30ml extrait with the shagreen case and box.

Rare Vintage 1oz. Caron Nuit De Noel EXTRAIT 30 Sealed Perfume With Original BoxPhoto Stolen eBay US$295 sealed

My bottle is the current reformulation so real sandalwood is rare and oakmoss is IFRA illegal which means the heart of Nuit de Noel is largely gone or replaced with analogous chemistry but still the opening is very special and the dry down lovely.

Photo Stolen PerfumeShrine

Fragrantica gives these featured accords/notes:
Top: Ylang-ylang, tincture of rose, jasmine
Heart: Sandalwood, oak moss
Base: Musk, amber
but fails to mention the De Laire’s “Mousse de Saxe” base <Jump to PerfumeShrine opus on it

As the initial boozy vodka like scream passes in about 10 minutes, the jasmine and ylang ylang play central starring roles with a soft hint of a spicy rose underneath. As I breathe down my top it warms up beautifully with a very human warmth that could be mink-ish (or bedhead-ish) overlaying the flowers, there is still a hint of animalic skank through the flowers and the base.

I started writing this review earlier today and haven’t had a moment to come back and organise my thoughts. It’s 3-4 hours later and there is still some floral action but the amber has arrived, a slightly sweet vanillic amber filled with oriental spices, sweet but not gourmand. After the first rush this is a quiet, fleshy floral that turns very warm and cosy. Its stamina is good too, around 6 hours before I lose track and I think it might be a quiet skin scent for a while longer, some mornings I can still smell something lovely but others nothing.

Photo Stolen howtogeek

As always ThePerfumeShrine does a wonderful review with plenty of history and BoisDeJasmin looks at the way the new EdT is different from the past.
FragranceNet has 50ml around $35

Photo Stolen thepunch

Many of the comments on blogs and walls say that this fragrance has nothing to do with Christmas, well I think it has way more to do with Northern Hemisphere rather than Southern Hemisphere Christmas. Above you can see Santa and some of his helpers relaxing after their biggest night of the year on Bondi Beach in Sydney on Christmas Day, the rest of us Aussie Christians are having a feast of some sort and huddling around A/C or lying in the pool. I’m going to wear it this Christmas anyway, if it’s good enough for Karl Lagerfeld it’s good enough for me.

At AustralianPerfumeJunkies we wish an easy life for all of you, filled with great health, enough wealth and happiness, whether it’s Christmas or not, whether you’re Christian or not, everyone!
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx