Atelier des Ors Sample Set

April 24, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 56 Comments

Portia

Hi there APJ,

On Friday a fortnight ago I wrote about the newest Atelier des Ors, Iris Fauve. The house is wonderful and Megan who is their PR woman gave me a full set of samples for one lucky APJ reader. So here’s a quick run down of each scent in the collection, then move on down to the GIVEAWAY section and have a go.

Good luck,
Portia xxx

Atelier des Ors Collection

Fragrantica

Aube Rubis by Atelier des Ors 2015

Top: Bergamot, Grapefruit, Black currant
Heart: Sage, Violet, Iris
Base: Patchouli, Haitian vetiver, Praliné

Cuir Sacré by Atelier des Ors 2015

Top: Juniper berry, Cardamom, Cypress
Heart: Frankincense, Saffron, Cedar leaf
Base: Vetiver, Cypriol, Leather

Opens with sharp woodsy incense, like a cold incense stick. Interesting hints of an Indian meal too and slightly soapy. Gosh, they never do anything by the book at Atelier des Ors. The range is happily skew wiff, a sideways slant on each major note. Interesting how they do that without making weird stuff, all extremely wearable. When the leather arrives it is softly and bound by a salted vetiver, like a posh handbag in an Indian restaurant at a temple by the sea. Lastly it sits at plush suede.

Larmes du Désert by Atelier des Ors 2015

Top: Elemi resin, Frankincense, Cypress
Heart: Patchouli, Gaiac wood, Cedarwood
Base: Citric notes, Benzoin, Wolfwood

The resins open sweet and churchy. Woods back this up and keep the whole fragrance grounded. I love this and think Tears of the Desert a perfect name, like the resinous sap tears of those dry, twisted shrubs that produce such exquisite fragrance.

Lune Feline by Atelier des Ors 2015

Top: Cinnamon, Cardamom, Pink pepper
Heart: Cypriol, Cedarwood, Styrax, Cachalox, Wolfwood
Base: Tahitian vanilla absolute, Peru balsam, Musk

Cardamom, vanilla and a softly sizzling pink pepper open. It’s a luxurious beauty and smells like it cost money to create. A smooth milky opaqueness with little hints of booze and greenery. A light fizziness gives me memories of ice-cream spiders when I was a kid.

Rose Omeyyade by Atelier des Ors 2015

Top: Pink pepper, Rosebud, Raspberry
Heart: Patchouli, Gaiac wood, Brown sugar
Base: Sandalwood, Oud, Amber

A very interesting gourmand, fruity rose backed by a deep and mysterious oriental oud base. Clever and beautiful. The patchouli is that interesting clean plastic variety and it usually makes me squirm but here it is so perfectly and precariously balanced that I just want to sniff more and more and more. Excellent.

Go see the Atelier des Ors, Iris Fauve post if you want too.

Atelier des Ors Sample Set GIVEAWAY

CLOSED Thursday April 27 8am AEST

32 Venenum by Daphne Bugey for L`Artisan Perfumer 2016

April 21, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Portia

Hey crew,

I was in the city today and stopped by to sniff stuff. I started chatting to a VERY sexy SA in Myer called Louis. Seriously DROP DEAD GORGEOUS! Anyway we chatted about what I should try, I was all blasé, tried everything you have and then he pointed out the L’Artisan prive range. I totally ignored them when they came out but he insisted so…

32 Venenum by L`Artisan Perfumer 2016

32 Venenum by Daphne Bugey

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords;
Bread, Milk, Chai tea, Ceylonese sandalwood, Rice

Yep, smells good.

Chai? Yes. Milk, Yes. Rice? Maybe? Sandalwood, oH YES!

Should have bought it on the spot. Will now have to go back. Hopefully Louis will be there so I can be the creepy old gay. He doesn’t look outraged though, just chuffed.

Three spritzes on my arm and the train ride home was blissful. I’m now at home and still loving its toasty goodness. YUM

Libertine says this: A new world is opened up. Would it be a forest of sandalwood where rice is steamed while drinking spicy chai or a wide golden field of grains? Venenum awakens memories and souvenirs of India without dwelling upon it. It oscillates between the scent of hot freshly made bread, milky clouds, spicy tea and smooth sandalwood. No matter where Daphné Bugey has decided to make us travel, the sensation is as gentle as it is enveloping. This venin is so flirtatious that it teases.

I do have to tell you though that it does remind me of something I can’t place. I think they’ve used an ingredient that’s also in Aether Methaldone and I am reading it loud and clear.

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy
Libertine Parfumerie has $299/75ml with FREE Australian Postage
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3.60/0.5ml

Did you try it yet?
Portia xxx

Brit Woman by Nathalie Gracia-Cetto for Burberry 2003

April 20, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Portia

Hello Designer Frag Fans,

Recently Burberry Brit woman has received a bottle facelift. It spurred me to grab one of the older EdP bottles because I have always thought they looked cool and fun. Directly below is the new bottle and yes, I think it’s WAY more finished, luxe and modern but the old one is something I’ve liked for a long time so I prefer to have it in my collection.

I have no idea whether the new bottle points towards a reformulation or if burberry is just bringing the bottle more in line with current trends, and making it look more desirable. Whatever, I’m writing about the juice in the old bottle that you see below.

Brit Woman by Burberry 2003

Brit Woman by Nathalie Gracia-Cetto

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Iced pear, Italian lime, Green almond
Heart: Sugared almond, White peony
Base: Amber, Mahogany, Vanilla

The pear is just shy of ripe and the lime tar but not mouth puckeringly so. Green almond? Definitely almond but not so green, it’s the smell of cracking an almond shell open to find the delicious, creamy nut beneath. Don’t get me wrong Brit woman is sweet from the outset but it seems like a sweetness contained. Even when the sugared almonds come in it’s not tooth rottingly sweet or a bakery scent. There is a toastedness that keeps Brit interesting, a wetness that gives a fresh edge.

The base is quite pretty, a very comfortable, smooth vanilla. It’s cool, dry, quite austere compared to todays designer offerings and flanked perfectly by almonds and woodsiness. I get soft hints of dried, used coffee grounds too. Maybe it’s my imagination but I get the smell every wear.

Flickr

Who can wear and where would they? Burberry Brit Woman is super comfy. It doesn’t screech, isn’t sickly sweet and has a moderate sillage for the first hour ore so. Once the party is over though the soft warm hum of dry down persists for hours and hours. I see it as a reasonably priced go to for both sexes. Though ostensibly aimed at the women it smells really good on me, and I think Jin could rock it too.

I’ve been wearing it layered with the extrait. I smell really good.

Further reading: Now Smell This
FragranceNet has 50ml/$25
My Perfume Samples has samples starting at $2/ml

Which bottle do you prefer? Have you ever worn Brit?
Portia xx

Blossom Love by Nathalie Lorson + Elise Bénat for Amouage 2017

April 19, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Erica Golding

Hello everyone!

Have you ever been graced with a sample that you may never have had the chance nor motivation to try otherwise? Tonight, I am sampling a gorgeous decant of a brand new release, thanks to a dear friend’s incredible generosity and boundless kindness!!

Blossom Love by Amouage 2017

Blossom Love by Nathalie Lorson + Elise Bénat

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Cherry nectar, Rose liqueur
Heart: Ylang-ylang, Amaretto accord, Vanilla
Base: Tonka bean, Sandalwood, Cashmeran

Amouage Blossom Love definitely goes beyond the boundaries you may expect a pink floral to reside within. I can honestly say that I do sense every note disclosed, and they harmonize as beautifully as you may expect – but don’t be fooled, Blossom Love is not innocent nor simple! There is a twist!

WikiCommons

The opening shimmers with the fresh, sweetly clean cherry blossom, while the luscious juicy-bright glow of the rose liquor hints at depths to come. On my skin, the note that makes this composition truly worthy of the name Amouage is the almond liqueur (amaretto accord). This amaretto features a strange bitterness that collides violently with the tropical ylang ylang, creating a storm front crackling with electric charge. The sonorous distant thunder that follows stays smooth and mellow, as the base notes vibrate a bit higher and feel more like middle notes. Velvety musk and honeyed tonka bean soften the edges, while the vanilla takes time to come forward.

Overall, on me, the amaretto note dominates even the blinding light of the jubilant, vibrant cherry blossoms. The effect is so weird and unexpected and fascinating, I just can’t stop inhaling this incredible creation!

WikiCommons

Further reading: Perfume Posse
Libertine Parfumerie has the Amouage range
Amouage has £260/100ml

What is the latest sample you’ve come across that completely took you off guard and blew your expectations into the water?

Until next time, be well and stay scented!

-Erica

Fat Electrician by Antoine Maisondieu for Etat Libre d’Orange 2009

April 18, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

TinaG

Hi APJ!

Fat Electrician has been such a fun fragrance to try! A friend kindly gave me a sample which was used up oh-too quickly, and to be honest the name of it always reminds me of Portia and Jin – I keep thinking back to Portia’s article a few years ago which made me laugh. Love those guys. So, I’d heard good things about it but hadn’t expected that WOW factor to hit immediately and it was fabulous!

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Myrrh, Chestnut cream, Olive leaf, Opoponax, Vanilla, Vetiver

Fat Electrician opens dry and woody with a blast of sweetness at the same time, just so weird. I really wasn’t expecting a ‘vetiver’ fragrance to have a gourmand aspect to it but a sticky vanilla definitely shines through. It is horizontally layered and airy, the dryness of the vetiver is all in the sillage but close to my skin the vanilla softly oozes.

After a while the vanilla is joined by a creaminess that I guess is the marron or chestnut, which pushes the vetiver out of the way for prominence. A metallic green note starts to sparkle on my skin. It’s oily and slightly mentholated. I really like the way that this fragrance shifts. It manages to be comforting and quirky at the same time – exactly my kind of thing.

And this is only just in the first half hour. Something funny happens then, in that the metallic note went into blood territory like the smell of mince meat. Metallic and meaty but only in undertones with the vetiver going a bit more feral and funky. It might sound off-putting but it joins the scent bubble as an enhancement not an outlier.

PDI

Did you notice that there are some ambers in the notes? Well they come out around the 3 hour mark bringing with them a dry but cool incense. Myrrh is a favourite of mine, no so much opoponax but they are both in trace but distinct amounts. Even after 6 hours, Fat Electrician has slightly split personality spots on my skin. One place smells woody, another sticky & sweet. It is this variation that keeps me interested.

The three main notes in Fat Electrician are: vetiver, vanilla, myrrh. Interesting features, the oily green + bloody metallics, the way the vetiver goes from dry to dirty, and the juxtaposition between the chewy gourmand notes and bone dry ambers. It’s got a great longevity of 8+ hours but most of the interesting stuff happens in the first hour.

PDI

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and EauMG
LuckyScent has $90/50ml and Samples

What a great perfume!

Have you tried Fat Electrician before? What do you think?

Till next time,

Tina G

Bois d’Oud by Detaille 2014 + GIVEAWAY

April 17, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Portia

Hey APJers,

You may remember that I met the owner of Detail and his wife at the Milan hotel we stayed in for Esxence? Louis and his wife Christine. He was so sweet and passionate about their fragrances. Even made one of the newest range especially for Christine, with her involvement. She was wearing it to breakfast so proudly.

As we chattered over breakfast about his company Louis told me that they’d released some new fragrances recently. I tried a couple but the one I liked for me was Bois d’Oud. He gave me a bottle right there on the spot and Jin & I have both enjoyed wearing it since then.

Bois d’Oud by Detaille 2014

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Agarwood (oud), bergamot, labdanum
Heart: Saffron, cedar
Base: Tobacco, agarwood (oud), cedar, patchouli

As I was wearing Bois d’Oud I was telling him what I thought I smelled. Synth oud, loads of pencil shaving cedar, honey & patchouli. Well, I was almost all correct and Louis was thrilled that I had been able to place some notes. Really he was a complete gent.

Bois d’Oud opens with a lightly fecal synth oudh that quickly calms into a animalic, creamy, resinous labdanumwith only hints of the oudishness. Very nice, comfortable, easy. Then the cedar mines in underneath and you can smell it almost rising through thew scent to become front & centre. It’s beautifully played and smells good to me.

As the hours pass the tobacco, which smells delightfully honeyed and browned, and patchouli float through. Patchouli is pretty clean, no headshop shenanigans going on here and all backed by a soft blur of creamy oud. Smooth, the whole fragrance is very smooth.

It’s a nice, wearable, synth oud. Not too skanky, won’t scare the Grandmas or the teens away, and has a very comfortable wear. Bois d’Oud is not a groundbreaking perfume, won’t challenge the wearer and is at the cleaner end of the oud spectrum. It is a very nice version of what it does though.

Detaille has €90/50ml

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 2 winners who will receive:
1 x 10ml decant of Bois d’Oud by Detaille
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

Please tell us your current favourite woods or oud fragrance?

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Wednesday 19th April 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 26th April 2017 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

You Or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr + Etat Libre d’Orange 2017

April 14, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 25 Comments

Portia

Hey Crew,

I got home from my holiday to find a box awaiting pick up. I had no idea who the sender was but guessed it was fragrant in nature. There were also a couple of messages in my email inbox from Chandler Burr. That’s kind of unusual because he has been holding radio silence lately. So when I opened them and saw that he has creative directed a fragrance with the kooky crew from ELdO I was immediately on high alert.

Based on the heroine of his book You Or Someone Like You, a rollicking read that I found provocative, informative and unpretentious. The ad copy is just as provocative but lacks information thus presenting itself as audaciously pretentious. From the Press release: I find that the smells mesmerize. Astringent mint/green of eucalyptus, wild jasmine from vines climbing the stop signs, catalyzed car exhaust, hot California sunlight on ocean water (although “You” contains no jasmine, eucalyptus, car exhaust; if you need to know what it’s made of, “You” is not for you).
When Etat Libre d’Orange approached me about creative directing, my perfumer Caroline Sabas and I created not a “perfume” — people in Los Angeles don’t wear perfume – but a specific scent, the scent someone like Anne would wear, this woman high in the Hollywood hills, imported like the palms into this blue air.

Nevertheless, if head-up-your-ass ad-copy was a problem for me I’d definitely not be loving the perfume industry as much as I do. So I took all of that with a grain of salt and went to the box.

You Or Someone Like You by Etat Libre d’Orange 2017

You Or Someone Like You by Caroline Sabas

So, though the idea is to wear this scent experientially, I know you want to know what it smells like. Sharp herbaceous green opens. Like a tart unripe orange and grapefruit with the green of basil, cardamom and grass. Mint! There is a minty note running through too. There is no note list so I’m guessing here, we’ll all have a good laugh at my guesses when the note list is revealed. There is an awkward creamy note that is disturbing and alluring, like matcha tea.

Not long in and a spiky green that really does seem like eucalyptus comes through and suddenly I’m transported to bush walks through the Australian Mallee Scrub with the Cadets as a boy. Also we had a Wildflower Park and National Park not too far from where we grew up and we would picnic in them as a family.

I like that ELdO have allowed this slightly freaky niche fragrance to be born. The first couple of hours You Or Someone Like You doesn’t sit quietly and comfortably but there is always a lightly curdled feeling running through. Later in the development there feels like definite references to the LA air seen and smelled from the pinnacle of the Hollywood Hills. There is also the warmth and cool of lying in the sun with a foot or hand draped into the pool.

Dry down is a soft focus creamy-mint with a shitload of white musks, nothing particularly distinctive but it smells nice enough and hums away in the background for hours.

Further reading: Colognoisseur and Scents Memory
LuckyScent has it from $52/30ml + Samples

Then there is the final question. “Is it art Chandler?”

Does this read like something you’d try?
Portia xx

New York Intense by Patricia de Nicolai for Nicolai Parfumeur Createur 2014

April 12, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Anne-Marie

Hi all!

Have you ever sold or given away a perfume, only to regret it later? I bet you have!

I once re-homed a 5ml decant of New York by Nicolai Parfumeur Createur. This was the original EDT version, not the Intense (EDP) which came out in 2014. I liked the citrusy and aromatic aspect, but something about the spices bothered me. It felt very dry and scratchy and, well, hot … like a spice market on a hot day. It was like the perfume was burning into my skin.

I had no regrets giving it away until about two years ago when, having smelled a lot of other fragrance in the meantime, I got curious. What did that stuff smell like again? I was a bit too lazy to act on this question, but I brooded on it all the same.

Finally I’ve had the chance to snap up a large decant, this time of the Intense.

New York Intense by Nicolai Parfumeur Createur 2014

New York Intense by Patricia de Nicolai

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, lemon, cloves, thyme, cinnamon, black pepper, pimento, oakmoss, vetiver, amber.

New York Intense arrived today and although I’ve only had it on a few hours, I’m delighted with the re-acquaintance. Citrus and herbaceous notes are as intriguing as ever, but the spices seem a bit less prominent, allowing the smooth ambery base to make itself felt. Maybe because of this, the fragrance seems less solidly masculine than I remember. A lot of Fragranctica readers detect oakmoss. Really? I don’t get any at all. But I’ll see how things go over more wearings. I definitely get a subtle whiff of vanilla, which I like. Also, the longevity is better.

PDI

This is how the Intense strikes me. I can’t do a direct comparison of the two versions but if you have, do comment.

For various reasons, good reasons, we prune our collections to share them, spray forward, or to create space and raise a few dollars for other stuff. Perhaps we keep a sample for reference, although I admit I’ve never been that organised.

I don’t think I’ve ever had any terrible regrets, just a small sense of loss occasionally. After all, there’s a good chance that the lost one will find its way back to you if it is meant to be, as it was in this case for me.

WikiCommons

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies
LuckyScent has $62/30ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $5/ml

So what about you? Have you managed to reclaim some gems you had let go? How did it work out?
Until next time everyone, keep spritzing!
Anne-Marie

Naja by Vero Kern for Vero Profumo 2017

April 11, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Val the Cookie Queen

Salutations APJ

It might be fair to say that Vero Kern considers NAJA to be the jewel in her superb collection of fragrances. A triumph celebrating ten years of the .vero.profumo. perfume house. This is no mean feat in an age of disposable scents and the ‘here today, gone tomorrow, and forgotten’ releases. Behind the facade of promising pictures, engaging copy, and olfactive promises from hell to breakfast, this is one bitch of a business to be involved in.

I have observed the pleasure and the pain in watching Vero bringing NAJA to life. It is the inclusion of a small part of Vero Kern´s soul in each of her perfumes that give them their strength and vitality. How can one create with no heart?

The origin of NAJA is the Sanskrit NĀGA, pronounced with a hard “g”, meaning snake. NAJA is the genus of venomous snakes known as cobras. Vero took the attributes of these serpents as the inspiration for her jubilee creation, with their embodiment of two opposing symbols. Healing and death, order and chaos, life and destruction. Shamanism is a practice that involves the practitioner reaching an altered state of consciousness, a trance, to practice divination and healing. Tobacco is considered to be one of the shamans’ most powerful drugs and is found in many of their rituals.

Naja by Vero Kern for Vero Profumo 2017

Naja: Vero Profumo 10 Year Jubilee Scent: Floral Tobacco

Tobacco absolute. Linden blossom. Osmanthus absolute. Melon. A combination of contradictory elements.

GREEN, FLORAL AND TROPICAL! Let´s think South America, Caribbean, New Orleans. NAJA opens with a remarkable lime green surge, which is made up of Vero´s own citrus accord, including both neroli oil and bergamot. The neroli is sweet, and somewhat metallic with a green and piquant dimension, the bergamot both zesty and floral. Spices in the background, enhancing the lushness. Continuing the idea of contradiction the linden adds a bright floral as well as a honeyed shading, the osmanthus a flowery suede. As a consequence of Vero Kern´s understanding as both an aromatologist and aromatherapist, the tobacco absolute spreads its aromatic, golden and therapeutic warmth, and depth of character throughout NAJA.

“Take me in tender woman
Take me in, for heaven´s sake
Take me in tender woman,” sighed the snake
“I saved you,” cried the woman
“And you´ve bitten me, but why?
You know your bite is poisonous and now I`m going to die”
“Oh shut up, silly woman,” said the reptile with a grin
“You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in …..”
The Snake. Written by Oscar Brown Junior. Sung by Al Wilson.

I am indebted to Vero for having been allowed on the NAJA journey over the last two years, with all of its ups and downs.

Further reading: Bonkers About Perfume and A Bottled Rose
LuckyScent will have Naja when it comes in

have you tried any of the Vero Profumo scents yet? Have a favourite?

Jubilant Bussis
CQ

Methaldone by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Aether 2017

April 10, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Portia

Heya Fumies,

Life is a roller coaster. Jin and I had the most amazing trip around Europe last month. One of the highlights was catching up with Nicolas and Enno. They are the guys behind Le Galion and Aether Parfums. We took them out to Jin’s favourite Korean restaurant in Paris because we love them. Clever, funny, handsome and really passionate men about their fragrance, lives, love; just about everything. Seeing them is always a joy.

Methaldone by Aether 2017

Methaldone by Rodrigo Flores-Roux

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Metallic notes, incense, amber, woody notes, resins, musk

The Aether perfumes line is dedicated to using only captured molecules and they have done a very interesting job with this one. Methaldone is created to the brief of recreating the scent of hot metal.

My nose smells sparklers and cooking popcorn. So that’s my experience and these two leading images last in my head for the first hour or so until the fragrance warms through with resins and sweet amber coming up from underneath and gradually taking over. Personally I am loving the way it smells and the way it lingers so tenaciously, especially on clothes and you’ll need to wash them before the scent goes. My washing basket has never smelt so good.

As you can see in the pic I’ve already used quite a lot of my bottle, it’s YUMMY!

I wore Methaldone last weekend to a party where it got 3 unsolicited compliments, which rarely happens for me in party situations. One friend coming in for an extra cuddle so they could smell it more. So Methaldone is a WIN!

Surprisingly for something that sounds so out there it is remarkably wearable and would be a superb go-to scent for everyday wearings.

Below we have a fab giveaway, thanks to Nicolas & Enno, get to it
Portia xx