Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances 2015 Perfume Reviews

March 29, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 34 Comments

Hello Gorgeous APJ Family,

It’s Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances time again, my favourite seasons are Autumn and Spring, the mid seasons. I love that in both these seasons the weather can be remarkably similar, sunny and warm on one day, freezing or blustery on another, nights are cool to cold and so the overall wearings are quite similar. These fragrances are on my desk and within easy spritz reach and they only stay on the desk while they are getting regular spritz time, if they’ve been sitting there for more than a few days without attention they go back in the cupboard.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances 2015 Perfume Reviews

Futur* – Robert Piguet: The ungreenest green ever. Sappy, sweet, green and extremely wearable all year round. Futur has been out of the cupboard and on my skin quite a bit lately and it fits any occasion.

Liberte* – Cacharel: A screaming, sizzling, BarBQ’d orange that is so sugary and ends up in a vanilla/patchouli/orange finale. I’ve loved it for years and now that it seems to be discontinued I’ve had to grab a couple of back up bottles.

Shalimar EdP* + Parfum – Guerlain: My old faithful. Shalimar fits every season, every mood and every event. From it’s citrus gelato opening to the resinous, vanilla and leather dry down I love Shalimar through and through. If I had to pick a fragrance to be my one and only Shalimar would be it.

CHANEL No 22: Yes, it’s the modern EdT. I bought it in NYC on our trip and that aldehydic zwoosh is too fabulous for words. Lasts all day, smells incredible and I feel like a million dollars from spritz to shower.

Mitzah – DIOR Prive: For those cooler nights Mitzah. Sweet, spicy, animal roses that feel like they have a whisper of oud in with the patchouli. Warm and sensual but cool enough to wear all year.

Neroli & Orchidee – L’Occitane: Another great L’Occitane cheap and cheerful fragrance! Spring has definitely sprung. I have been loving it sick but the final stamp of approval was given by Willa Zheng on Friday, she totally agrees and I trust her nose completely.

Niki de Saint Phalle: I can’t stop spritzing this glamorous green. Bright, fun and energetic. Niki de Saint Phalle is take charge with a twinkle in your eye. I think it’s the mint in the opening contrasting with the fruit and galbanum, gets me every time.

Nirvana Black by Elizabeth & James: Warm sandalwoodsy vanilla. Great price, excellent packaging. Wear this shit everywhere.

Pichola – Neela Vermeire Creations: The softest, most complex and wonderful tuberose. Surrounded by other notes and accords but it is the tuberose, sheer and clean, shorn of all its intimate, breathy and shitty bits we are left with the clearest, green herbs and spice overlaid tuberose. Beautiful, wearable and a complete divergence for the line while maintaining so many of the things I love.

Un Jardin Apres la Mousson by Hermes: That thick oily, wet, sweet, herbaceous freak of a fragrance. I find it addictive and love to lose myself in its heavy sheer wafts.

There are my current mid-season Top 10. They will probably be changed by next week but right now these ten fragrances are getting good skin time and working extremely well in the changeable conditions that the mid-seasons hand us.

What are you wearing right now? Give me a Top 3 if you’ve got one…..

Loads of love to you all, wherever and in what ever weather,
Portia x

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

* Second year in the Top 10

Gardenia by Aurelien Guichard for Robert Piguet 2014

February 12, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 13 Comments

Post by Poodle

The word gardenia strikes terror in the heart of many. For a flower that has no perfume essence of its own and must be replicated by using other flower essences it has many variations and strengths. Most of these are dependent on the perfumers interpretation of what gardenia is. For some it always a bit too much and they shy away from anything called gardenia. Other times, when people smell a gardenia perfume the first comment made is “that’s not gardenia”. In that respect Gardenia will be no different.

Gardenia by Aurelien Guichard for Robert Piguet 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, lily, ylang ylang
Heart: Madagascar vanilla
Base: Black leather, cashmeran, spice, woods

Gardenia opens with lilies and ylang-ylang. There a certain freshness to the top notes, a watery green-ness that stops it from veering into the big white floral territory of Fracas. It makes me think of a bouquet of flowers cut in the early morning after a spring rain. My nose detects a hint of gardenia every now and then but it’s not the headlining act here. After the top notes settle Gardenia is not as bold as you might think. I wouldn’t call it a big white floral either.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

The freshness gives way to warmth. Cashmeran and leather start to appear. They are soft and seem almost powdery combined with the vanilla. The lily notes linger throughout the development and now have a little spice to them. It’s not a huge hit of spice but just that tiny bit that you sometimes smell in real lilies. Gardenia reminds me most of gardenias early on and later in the dry down. When I was extremely young I’d take the spent blossoms from my grandmothers gardenia and smoosh the petals into my arm hoping to transfer the scent. Even at the age of 4 I had the makings or a perfume nerd. Anyway, that’s what I’m reminded of in the dry down. Salty sweet skin with the barest hint of a fleshy floral petals.

Picture Stolen Pixabay

I wish they had named this something different because I fear the name will deter people from sniffing. Anyone who is gardenia shy will just pass it by. Those who are looking for a true to life gardenia will sniff but perhaps it won’t be enough gardenia for them. I think men who tend to like florals would like this as well because I don’t think it smells too girly. It’s a lovely scent though so please do sniff if you see it.

Further reading: Ca Fleure Bon and Australian Perfume Junkies
Libertine Parfumerie has $239/100ml (with FREE Australian shipping)
Harrods has £150/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/ml

What is your favourite gardenia scent?

Hugs,
Poodle

Sniffapalooza 2014: Breakfast

November 13, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Post by Poodle

On a dreary day in October I boarded a train bound for NYC to attend my second Sniffapalooza. I wasn’t nearly as nervous this year. The city is far less intimidating when you have a native New Yorker to lead you around.

The official start of Sniffa was Saturday morning but I was barely off the train on Friday evening and Daisy had me on the subway heading for some sniffing and shopping. Needless to say, I wasn’t in town two hours and my purse was already lighter. But that’s another post for another day.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I mean, Bergdorf’s

Sniffa began on Saturday with breakfast at Bergdorf Goodman which is less about food and more about the newest perfumes along with some old favorites. There were about 20 perfumes presented in the two hour breakfast. They don’t call it Sniffapalooza for nothing. There is a lot to sniff. More than your thinking. I had planned on doing a photo essay but my camera had other plans and decided to stop working so I’ll recap some of the scents for you. From my notes here are some fragrant highs and lows.

The new Shalimar Souffle was disappointing.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Annick Goutal has released a perfume celebrating NYC called Vent de Folie. It’s supposed to be inspired by Central Park. The scent is very green, fruity and fresh. I can’t say it smells like New York to me but it is a perfume I could see selling well. I did get a compliment on it just the other day at the football game so even if it doesn’t smell like New York it does smell good.

I loved the new Diana Vreeland perfume bottles but haven’t tested the scents enough to form an opinion.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Kilian Hennessy of By Kilian was there in person and he introduced the scented jewelry collection along with the three perfumes in the new Addictive State of Mind collection. The jewelry is lovely as are the perfumes. I think I may have found a By Kilian to love with Intoxicated. It’s all coffee and booze with some smokiness. I came thisclose to buying a bottle. I had fears over the lasting power so I decided to wait and sample it some more when I was thinking more rationally. It’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy that is Sniffa. Light My Fire didn’t light mine although it did have some fans at our table. Smoke for the Soul was one of the stranger scents of the day.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Another scent worth sniffing is Gardenia by Robert Piguet. It’s not a screaming, in your face white floral and it’s far more interesting than the name implies. It has much more going on than just gardenia. There are notes of ylang-ylang, leather, and vanilla. I could see myself wanting more of this one. It’s not too feminine and has a great warmth to it.

There were more perfumes as well but it would be too much to list them all here. It’s amazing how much you can sniff in the course of two hours. Breakfast definitely whets the appetite for shopping right after on the fragrance floor. The rest of the day was filled with lunch, more presentations, sniffing, and shopping. The day was fabulous and I came home with lots of samples, a few bottles, and a few new friends. I’m looking forward to next year.

Hugs
Poodle

Piguet Fracas vs Versace Blonde: Perfume Smackdown

October 26, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by Willa Zheng

Hello APJers,

This series is as much as for myself, to navigate, curate and ultimately cull my collection to a more sane level. Let’s begin.

Fracas vs Blonde: Battle of the Tuberoses – Perfume Smackdown

Fracas 3.0 and Donatella’s MK II

Few fragrances inspire the near obsessive devotion as the fans for Robert Piguet’s Fracas. Maybe that’s because it’s so different to other offerings on the market or because of the type of women who wear it (Madonna, Courtney Love, Isabella Blow, Marlene Dietrich). Ever since Fracas went downhill in the late 70s (and later discontinued), several such women took it upon themselves to recreate this iconic take-no-prisoner carnal fragrance.

The legend on the internet goes that Fracas was one of Donatella’s favourite fragrances. When Versace wanted to launch a fragrance in 1995 in honour of Donatella, they knew that they needed to create something just like Fracas, which was at the time traded by Adrien Arpel and smelt unlike Germaine Cellier’s creation. The perks of being a Versace!

But then the Robert Piguet brand got sold to Joe Garces of Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, who hired Pierre Negrin to resurrect Fracas faithfully in an IFAS-compliant form in 1999. With Fracas back on the counters, Donatella retired her Fracas Mk II.

Portia has reviewed the Blonde EDT here in the past. I own the Parfum and will be battling this against my Fracas EDP bottle, circa 2012.

Fracas vs Blonde Opening experience

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Mandarin, Hyacinth, Green notes
Heart: Tuberose, Jasmine, Orange Flower, Lily of the valley, White iris, Violet, Jonquil, Carnation, Coriander, Peach, Osmanthus, Pink geranium
Base: Musk, Cedar, Moss, Sandalwood, Orris, Vetiver, Tolu balsam

The opening of Fracas is like being smacked in the face with a pot of makeup. It’s a swirling jumble of carnation, jasmine, geranium and lilac, tied altogether by mandarin. It’s loud, brash, and jaggedy.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, Pitosporum, violet, orange blossom, bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, daffodil, ylang-ylang, carnation, pepper
Base: Benzoin, sensual musk, civet, sandalwood

Versace Blonde opens as a cashmere-soft (violet) buttery gardenia-orange blossom with ripples of a sheer green hyacinth juice running through its vein. Blonde is noticeably greener than Fracas. It’s very harmonious, sensual and confident. The Versace Blonde woman (or man) is sexy, she knows it and she doesn’t feel the need to flash that fact in your face.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Fracas vs Blonde: The main event

Fracas becomes less muddled after 30minutes. There’s creamy orange blossom and dewy honeysuckle weaving through a jasmine and iris-violet cosmetic powder base. It sinks, attempts to get up and then falls into a creamy orange blossomy puddle again. That watery thin creaminess, mixed with cosmetic powder scent, reminds me of another classic white floral, White Shoulders.

Blonde, by contrast, becomes more radiant, a wedding bouquet of every white floral you can imagine – a la Giorgio Beverly Hills. It’s heavy on the jasmine, made dry and green by the addition of lily of the valley, hyacinth and daffodils. There is also tuberose and ylang ylang. However, it is all very smooth and even, like a creamy white bar of triple milled Jasmine-Lily pebble soap.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Fracas vs Blonde: Drydown

The biggest difference between Fracas and Blonde exists towards the end. Fracas develops a distinctive dry soothing sandalwood with a little bit of oakmoss and vetiver. It’s rubbery, woody and my mind is tripping. Without a doubt, FM’s Carnal Flower was based on the drydown of Fracas. Very carnal indeed.

Versace Blonde parfum by this stage is very faint, and smells like you’ve had a shower with the aforementioned soap. It’s linear, clean and frankly unremarkable.

Surrender To Chance has samples of both for your own Smack Down

Have you tried them? What is your verdict?
Willa X

Gardenia GIVEAWAY WINNER

September 29, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hey there crew,

I hope this finds you all happy & well. Sorry this is a bit late but Jin & I were on a Motorbike Course today and both of us are now solid gold certified P PLATE Riders. Woo Hoo.

Portia xx

Gardenia GIVEAWAY WINNER

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, lily, ylang ylang
Heart: Madagascar vanilla
Base: Black leather, cashmeran, spice, woods

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 Winner who will get:
1 x 2ml Gardenia by Robert Piguet decant (nearly full remnants from my sample)
P&H to the USA

HOW DID 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 comment on Gardenia: it’s is a hard one to replicate, what are your favourite gardenia fragranes and why?

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Gardenia by Robert Piguet GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3dG #Perfume #Giveaway @LibertineParfum

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sundayday 28th September 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner was chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen EverythingHealth

LYUBOV

The winners will have till Thursday 2nd October 2014 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Gardenia by Aurelien Guichard for Robert Piguet 2014

September 26, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 27 Comments

Hi there APJ Family,

One of my fragrant highlights has been to meet and speak with Joe Garces, ex top man at Robert Piguet. Basically, he’s the guy that resurrected the Robert Piguet line and added a slew of fabulous new fragrances. Many of them instant modern classics like his riff on Fracas, Petit Fracas: where he oversaw the adding of an enormous juicy fruit note at the top and sliding in a dry cacao not into the base creating a super floral gourmand, Bois Noir: the Piguet answer to the deep, dark, woods experience and Alameda: their stunning lily, rose and animal extravaganza only available in very limited outlets worldwide.

Today we have the last of Joe Garces overseen fragrance releases. I wonder if Piguet will now sink back into the shadows or if it can continue creating masterpieces?

Gardenia by Aurelien Guichard for Robert Piguet 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, lily, ylang ylang
Heart: Madagascar vanilla
Base: Black leather, cashmeran, spice, woods

I was lucky enough to sample Gardenia at Libertine Parfumerie pre release, Nick was so freaking excited and it was infectious. The sample he gave me leaked in my bag so I still have gorgeous remnants of it still wafting around in there but I never got it on my skin. Shame because I love Gardenia scents and I have a definite favourite, the Gardenia by Skincare & Perfume Co here in Australia.

So, how does Piguet’s Gardenia measure up? My first impressions are creamy, vanilla and ylang. Warm, sensual and inviting. TOTALLY tropical and I’m surprised that there is no coconut note listed. A warm tropical night on some remote island, I love this kind of fragrance, heavy and hefty but filled with the memory of sunshine and maintaining a lovely, vibrant, comfortable heat. What is maintained throughout is a delicate, soft and alluring vanilla that is like fresh skin, or the dreamiest fresh, healthy skin you could ever imagine.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

The woods arrive and basically I get very pretty and completely wearable vanilla woods with the softest and cleanest hint of gardenia till the fragrance fades from my ability to smell anything other than a warm wash at around the 4-5 hour mark.

Lovely. Gardenia is enchanting and lovely. Not really a gardenia on my skin so if the idea of the note scares you then this could be a perfect gateway for you. A lovely sketch of a gardenia perhaps? Also if applied sparingly I think it could be a sensational work scent.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

(Funny but disgusting aside: I went to the toilet while wearing this and suddenly I had the most perfect and beautiful gardenia scent, it was a profoundly extraordinary olfactory moment)

Further reading: Ca Fleure Bon and Fragrantica
Libertine Parfumerie has $239/100ml
Harrods has £150/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/ml

This would make a perfect gift buy. The fragrance is lovely but not challenging, bottle is excellent and that black glass will keep the juice fresh for years longer than clear glass.

Portia xx

Photo Stolen manoneileen

Gardenia GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 Winner who will get:
1 x 2ml Gardenia by Robert Piguet decant (nearly full remnants from my sample)
P&H to the USA

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please comment on Gardenia: it’s is a hard one to replicate, what are your favourite gardenia fragranes and why?

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Gardenia by Robert Piguet GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3dG #Perfume #Giveaway @LibertineParfum

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sundayday 28th September 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org or a fun other way
The winners will have till Thursday 2nd October 2014 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Alameda by Aurélien Guichard for Robert Piguet 2013

July 26, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Hi Hi APJ Crew,

There is no reason why but today’s fragrance slipped through the cracks and I never smelled it before. Luckily I was in David Jones (Australia’s loveliest Department Store chain) and my mate Gary at the Libertine counter was wondering what I hadn’t smelled from the Robert Piguet range. Normally I grab and sniff them immediately since Joe Garces, the Piguet CEO (I think he’s still there), came down to Australia and talked us through the range. He was so intensely in love with his product and fiercely proud of it that it made me really appreciate Robert Piguet in a new light. Now I try to give every one of their frags at least a sniff.

Alameda by Aurélien Guichard for Robert Piguet 2013

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Lily, rose, orris
Base: Patchouli, amber, castoreum

WHOOSH! So Alameda opens with a bright, fizzy, sugared orange. It reminds me a bit of the Liberte by Cacharel opening but a little less in your face. There is a warmth to Alameda that is quite vanilla/animal and it’s there right after the burn off of the fireworks. I love this fragrance. My nose gets a lovely refined orris and the whole scent becomes creamy and earthy for a while. Imagine if the softest, finest cashmere scarf feeling was a fragrance: This smell is what I imagine it would be. Both ultra luxe and elegant, warm, inviting yet not bold, not a statement fragrance. Alameda is the smell of coming home to love, now a honeyed sweetness that is mildly naughty, lived in, and perhaps some breathy lily has joined the fun.

From here we get a very clean patchouli and the base notes swirl around together for a while. Alameda stays like this for a while, it’s sexy and wearable. I could imagine it being worn by guys and girls and being a hit for both sexes. There’s a beadhead-ish-ness about Alameda that I find particularly inviting, a whisper of sweat and sleep in the little curls of hair at the back of a head in the morning.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

No mention of musks in the notes but I think there are. My nose may be playing tricks but there is a very nice clean musk vibe that sits well beside what I imagine is the castoreum. The amber is absolutely non confrontational, smooth, warm and creamy. To be perfectly honest I think the short note list has a load of glaring omissions but as you know my nose tends to get a bit wonky. My head is telling me that some of this creaminess could be coming from a sandalwood and something else a little lactonic, also a lovely almond meal smell. Then all that’s left is a beautiful amber that fades to skin.

So here’s a weird moment. Alameda is not on the Robert Piguet site. I have also trawled the web looking in most of the usual places, retail and discounters, and could only come up with two points of sale. OK I have information from Nick at Libertine. “I think Alamedia is exclusive to the UK but after smelling it I begged for our market to have it. I love it. It’s been such a big seller so far.”

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Parfumistan and Katie Chutzpah
Libertine Parfumerie has $239/100ml including Australian P&H
Selfridges & Co has £135/100ml

I used the last of my generous sample tonight to write this piece. I can definitely see a bottle of Alameda in my very near future. Thanks to Gary at the Libertine counter in David Jones Market St Sydney for my sample.

Have you tried Alameda? If so what did you think? If not, which of the Robert Piguet line do you like?

Portia xx

Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances 2014 Perfume Reviews

March 23, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 33 Comments

Hello Gorgeous APJ Family,

It’s Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances time again, my favourite seasons are Autumn and Spring, the mid seasons. I love that in both these seasons the weather can be remarkably similar, sunny and warm on one day, freezing or blustery on another, nights are cool to cold and so the overall wearings are quite similar. Yes, we can grab a white floral to really ring in Spring or remember Spring in Autumn but then it’s also nice to spritz a heavy amber on those super cold nights and a sweet fizzy citrus will work almost anytime. These fragrances are on my desk and within easy spritz reach and they only stay on the desk while they are getting regular spritz time, if they’ve been sitting there for more than a fortnight without attention they go back in the cupboard.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Top 10 Spring/Autumn Fragrances 2014 Perfume Reviews

24 Faubourg EdT – Hermès: White flowers and fruit that melt into ambery goodness. How can you resist this lovely gem from Hermès. Every time I spritz it I wonder why I don’t do it every day. I love the bottle, that it’s Hermès and that I smell fantastic for 4-6 hours.

Anyway – Juliette Has A Gun: ADDICTIVE!! Beware Anyway. Nothing like I’d ever thought I wanted to smell. A citrus and, though it doesn’t say it anywhere, pineapple concoction that heads into woods and oudh territory throughout its life. the ultimate drag queen fragrance, so feminine and butch at the same time.

Futur – Robert Piguet: The ungreenest green ever. Sappy, sweet, green and extremely wearable all year round. Futur has been out of the cupboard and on my skin quite a bit lately and it fits any occasion.

Liberte – Cacharel: A screaming, sizzling, BarBQ’d orange that is so sugary and ends up in a vanilla/patchouli/orange finale. I’ve loved it for years and now that it seems to be discontinued I’ve had to grab a couple of back up bottles.

Mohur – Neela Vermeire Creations: The headiest, most complex and wonderful rose there is. Surrounded by interesting other notes and accords but it is the rose that shines through for the whole of Mohur’s life. I am crazy for this fragrance and can’t wait to have a Mohur Extrait bottle.

Shalimar EdP – Guerlain: My old faithful. Shalimar fits every season, every mood and every event. From it’s citrus gelato opening to the resinous, vanilla and leather dry down I love Shalimar through and through. If I had to pick a fragrance to be my one and only Shalimar would be it.

Sharp – Andrea Maack: A new entry into my life in FB. I am enjoying Sharp a lot. Weird, synthetic orange blossom packed tight with musks and an ambery vanilla, all washed over by an unearthly metal/marine accord that is both enticing and repellent. Sharp is both the freshness of Spring and the coming darkness of Autumn.

Skin on Skin – L`Artisan Parfumeur: Skin on Skin is an interesting fragrance, poo poo’d by many of the fragrance intelligentsia because of it’s similarity to Traversee du Bosphore. I have now spent time wearing both, though not simultaneously, but I like the plastic saffron edge and the cool suede. There are more similarities between Bottega Veneta and Skin on Skin to my nose and Iris Prima has some too. I spritz Skin on Skin a LOT.

Vanille & Narcisse – L’Occitane: So you want something cheap and cheerful? Something that has the narcissus of spring and the vanilla of autumn? Look no further. Vanille & Narcisse is wearable, pretty, inexpensive and a great wear. This is one I would recommend as a gift for any non perfumistas and many who are. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Wild Ginger Chai – SOIVOHLE: The sweet, spicy, ginger and milk opening. The dry, black tea smell and the memories of India. I love Liz Zorn’s work, she captures my imagination every time and her prices are so freaking reasonable for fragrances that are world class. Yum.

So there they are. My current mid-season Top 10. They will probably be changed by next week but right now these ten fragrances are getting good skin time and working extremely well in the changeable conditions that the mid-seasons hand us.

Loads of love to you all, wherever and in what ever weather,
Portia x

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

L’Artisan Parfumeur + Robert Piguet

September 13, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 62 Comments

Hello Australian Perfume Junkies,

Recently I was on the phone to my buddy Nick at LibertinePerfumerie and he was in the middle of his sale, apparently it was BEDLAM up there which is great as long as your super prepared. Are any of us ever? So I bought a bunch of gorgeousness and just as a throwaway line he said, “I’ll put some extra stuff in for you to do a giveaway.” So I thought, lovely a few samples are always welcome. In the pack arrived a 50ml Robert Piguet Futur and a 2.5 gram L’Artisan Parfumeur Concrete de Parfum Solid of Premier Figuier!! WOW! Both brand new in their plastic!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, neroli, green accords
Heart: Violets, jasmine, ylang-ylang
Base: Vetiver, patchouli and cedar

Aurelien Guichard was the perfumer and Futur was re-released in 2009, it’s green, green, green. A beautiful fresh and striking fragrance for everyone who likes a little green.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Fig leaf, asafoetida
Heart: Fig, sandalwood, almond milk
Base: Lime, coconut, dried fruits, sandalwood

More green, Olivia Giacobetti creates a green, milky, matte with a touch of sweetness. The fig is unripe and the story more about the tree than the fruit, though there is fruit here and the dry down is really fun and interesting.

Photo Stolen kbaird

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

1 x 50ml Robert Piguet FUTUR
1 x 2.5 gram L’Artisan Parfumeur Concrete de Parfum Solid of Premier Figuier

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.

All I need is a HELLO with how you follow for you to be eligible for the draw.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie @LArtisan @RobertPiguet GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-1Xp #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 15th September 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 18th September 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 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.

APJ Day Out #1: Hermes, Robert Piguet, Tom Ford, DIOR: Photo Essay

July 3, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 52 Comments

Hey there APJ!

Last Wednesday we had our first APJ Day Out. There were 13 of us, normally an unlucky number, but it turned out to be super lucky. We were treated extremely well by all the stores we went to, were given two amazing Masterclasses and loads of samples. It was great to meet some of you for the first time and an excellent opportunity for those of us who are already buddies to catch up, talk fragrance, shop, laugh and generally enjoy each others company. FABULOUS!

As we arrived a little early for our masterclass with Joe Garces, the CEO of Robert Piguet, I thought it would be a great time to pop across to Hermes, where the wonderful Jean was our hostess. She happily took us through some of my favourite scents in the Jean Claude Ellena Hermessence range and also some more of the Hermes fragrance catalogue including the Jardin range and then introduced me to one of their scents that I had never spent any time with, Rouge. WOW!! I can definitely see a full bottle in my very near future. Thank you Jean. XXX

Off to Libertine Parfumerie stand in David Jones Sydney City Store basement to meet Nick, the sexy proprietor, Gary and Dan, the regular SAs and a new boy whose name escapes me, sorry. There too was Joe Garces, and Joe took us through quite a lot of the range. It wasn’t much about notes etc, we were taken through the creation stories of each fragrance, the troubles, the inspiration and the triumphs. It was an illuminating class and I came away better informed about the way perfumes are created in a mass market niche company. Joe has effectively turned a dying dinosaur of a business back into a going concern with his and his teams plans. He is justifiably proud of the company’s achievements and really loves the perfumes he produces and sells, enthusiasm shining from and infectious. I tried a slew of the range that I had thought definitely NOT my style and walked away with a couple of new loves, a bottle of Bois Noir and a special gift roll on of VISA. YAY!! Review coming soon. Everyone was allowed to choose a Piguet fragrance to sample and were given very generous spray samples.

Then I took the crew up to the Tom Ford section at DJs. The SA there was so pretty, knowledgeable and helpful showing us some of the range and introducing many of us to Sahara Noir. I had tried it before in LA but it was a completely different experience in the cool of Sydney, I LOVED it here. At the end she finished by offering everyone a sample of their choice!

It was time for a sit and a cuppa, I had a sneaky Banana Bread too. During our time at the cafe Ainslie, who is a perfumer, brought out some of her current mods for us to share, smell, critique and enjoy. It was wonderful talking to someone on the cusp of a business and finding out how her perfumes are created. Fascinating. Soon I will have a story on Ainslie because she is thinking of setting up a trial where you can buy a small set of her mods to try and critique for yourself, providing useful perfumista feedback and giving us a chance to try new stuff very reasonably. HEAVEN.

Then it was onwards and upwards to DIOR’s outrageously gorgeousbnew flagship store in Sydney, the first in Australia. We were greeted warmly by the staff and Clayton the Oceania head of PR was there to whisk us upstairs to the shoe parlour where we were treated to a stroll through the 10 available Couturier/Privee fragrances exclesively available in Australia through that store. There was also a beautiful DIOR lady there whose name has slipped from my mind, she was helpful and informative and I apologise for my bad brain. It was a delightful ending to an amazing day. I was happy to add bottles of Oud Ispahan and Oud Leather to my perfume library. At the end we were all given DIOR swag bags with a couple of the fabulous 7.5ml FB replicas each and some beautifully presented literature. Just walking down the street with a DIOR bag is thrilling enough but when you’ve been feted by some of the best luxe companies in the world we were all walking on air. Thank you Clayton and DIOR.

As you can see we had lost some of our people along the way, the last photo are the DIOR Late Stayers. Thanks to everyone who came and who helped us have such an amazingly wonderful and special day.

I am currently thinking of other great APJ Day Out ideas. There will definitely be another day soon,

Portia xx