Royal First Class Cabin Set GIVEAWAY WINNERS

June 30, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hi there APJ,

THANK YOU to our lovely 6 entrants. Well, this was clearly not a winner of a giveaway. It was very poorly subscribed to but I am glad that there are a few of you who thought it would be fun and lavish to have such a thing. OK, so who won?

Royal First Class Cabin Set GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will each get:
1 x Thai Royal First Class Cabin Set
P&H Anywhere in AUSTRALIA

HOW DID YOU WIN?

Open to everyone in AUSTRALIA who follows Australian Perfume Junkies 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 me your favourite holiday destination. It could be one you have been to or one you dream of. There are no time or financial constraints, just a dream, where would you go, for how long and who with?

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Thai Royal First Class Cabin Set GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2Vg #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 29th June 2014 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen thegarfieldshow-diary

Willa

Camilla Sheridan

Mark Evans

The winners will have till Thursday 3rd July 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.

Laine de Verre by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2014

June 29, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 20 Comments

Woo Hoo!

Always a little frisson zings through me when I read of a new Serge Lutens. Living on the other side of the world from most of the fragrant action I usually get my sniff on through samples or splits and so I have in my hot little hands a decant from Surrender To Chance, have you seen their New Perfume Releases page? Broken down into the last couple of months of release, it means you can tell as soon as something new hits the store, excellent if you are living in a fragrant backwater.

Laine de Verre by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Citruses, aldehydes, musk, woody cashmeran molecule

So loads of people not loving this one. Usually I don’t read reviews before I sniff but a way back in November 2013 I was introduced to Laine de Verre by Denyse at Grain de Musc and then caught Victoria’s post on Bois de Jasmin both of whom were interesting for the differences in their wear story. Because they had such different experiences, these two women I revere, it caught my attention though I did not feel that this would be a fragrance that I could like, or love. So my sample is here, it’s a beautiful sunny 20C in Sydney and I have been out sunbaking. Time to try Laine de Verre or Glass Wool.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Whoa! Cold, sharp, sparkling. The moment I spritz I think “This is what the palace in Disney’s Frozen would smell like.” CLEAN! Stainless steel spoon on tongue. Brand newly finished cycle on the dishwasher after all the heat has gone. It doesn’t stay this shiny for long, maybe 20-30 minutes, then something a bit feral crawls out. All clean, angular, reflective lines and an antiseptic clean hiding filth, well not filth but something jarringly unclean.

I’ll give you an analogy, sometimes after a huge day out on holidays you run back to your hotel lobby and have to use the toilet immediately because you’ve been out all day. So you walk into this frigid, antiseptic and cover fragranced toilet, everything is immaculate. As you sit down to use the toilet up huffs a whiff of your humanity, you aren’t dirty or anything more than a bit sunburned and slightly sweaty but in this arctic smelling environment you are a surprise. All the while though you can still smell the UBER clean bathroom smells. Does that register?

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

So I originally spritzed Laine de Verre at around 5pm tonight, it’s now midnight and there is a lingering metallic musk with a dash of rubber that is both interesting and slightly freaky. It’s very close to the skin but I smell completely other and quite inhuman, I imagine this to be the smell of a humanoid robot trying to pass for life. Though I can’t imagine spritzing this regularly I will keep the sample and see if the mood does take me. Do I like it? Only on an intellectual basis, it doesn’t move me towards it. Actually it might be a good scent for giving the stay away vibe…

Photo Stolen Pixabay

LuckyScent has $110/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/ml

Did you try Laine de Verre? Lover or hater? Is Serge Lutens a house you feel fits you?
Do something nice for yourself today, something simple like walk for 10 minutes in the day to enjoy the weather if it’s good, or under an umbrella if it’s rubbish. Maybe spend 10 minutes pulling weeds in your yard or cleaning out your fridge. I always feel good after doing any of these.
Portia xx

Black Cashmere by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Donna Karan 2002

June 26, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Post by FeralJasmine

Here in the southwestern USA it’s hot as hell and my winter scents are taking a break at the back of the cabinet, but it’s the perfect season to inflict my highly personal opinions about cool-weather scents upon the unsuspecting Aussies. So here is my first opinion: mass-market fragrances used to be a lot better than they are now. Part of it is that this is a tough decade for someone who despises most fruit notes, but also it used to be that, when companies went to the trouble and expense of launching a new perfume, they actually wanted you to be able to tell it from other perfumes. Now, I would swear that they’re all jostling for the rail in the Just-Like-Everybody-Else Sweepstakes. The wise and lovely Portia once reminded me in a comment that it’s all cyclical, and that in a few decades today’s mass-market consumers will be 2044’s aging perfumistas, grumpily complaining that you just can’t find good fruity florals anymore. Probably true. But Black Cashmere, with its hefty dose of wenge, has always smelled unlike anything else on the market.

Black Cashmere by Rodrigo Flores-Roux for Donna Karan 2002

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Saffron, nutmeg
Heart: Red pepper, white pepper, carnation, rose
Base: Woody notes, patchouli, African woods, vanilla, amber

Here’s my second strongly help opinion: reformulation is not a bad thing if it keeps a distinctive perfume on the post-IFRA market in a recognizable form. Case in point: my winter favorite, Donna Karan Black Cashmere. The first really distinctive perfume that I fell for, the one that tripped me so badly that I fell right down the rabbit hole, was the original DK Black Cashmere. I bought a dab sample and was lost in the wonder of something unlike anything else that I had ever smelled. Rich, plush, highly distinctive, and beautiful. What an evening that was.

Then I went on EBay to look for a vintage bottle, and it occurred to me that I had acquired a very expensive obsession indeed. Finally I did find a bottle of the vintage that I could afford, more or less, but I also swallowed hard and bought a decant of the reissue.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Was it a shocking disappointment? Not really. Certainly the vintage has more depth and more oomph. But unlike the current Opium, which is a sick travesty, the current Black Cashmere makes a real effort to transmit the scent and spirit of the original. It’s a little lighter and extends itself a little further into warm weather. Overall, I dare you to find something more distinctive at that price point, which is a little over a dollar a milliliter if bought off the DK website. I have since bought a full bottle of the reissue, and often I wear the current one on one arm and the vintage on the other, to make my precious vintage last.

So why don’t more firms make an actual effort with their reissues? Beats me. But I also have both vintage and reissued Chaos from DK, and the reissue is a bit lacking compared to the vintage but is a genuine attempt to reproduce the very distinctive vintage recognizably in an IFRA-friendly form. DK Inc. seems to make real efforts to meet their fans halfway.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This
Donna Karan has $120/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

I hate to rub salt into my readers’ wounds, but what’s your most distressing reissue story?
FeralJasmine xx

Anais Anais L’Original by Cacharel 2014

June 25, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Post by Gabriella

Anais Anais was my foundation perfume. As I have explained previously, it was my very first signature scent and thus accompanied me on many rites of passage throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It was the scent of my high school travails, my first love, my 21st birthday and countless Christmases. I was lucky in that it was not ubiquitous amongst my coterie of friends and so it was truly my scent, inextricably linked with my character and the foundation for my subsequent perfume journey.

The perfume has not been left unscathed by the passing of time. Over the years, the lovely soap, body lotion and deodorant slowly disappeared from shelves. The EDP also went, only to be relaunched in a new guise some years ago with new Kate Moss ads and then became difficult to find. The current EDT, while still lovely, is but a whisper of its former glory: subtle refomulations have rendered it sunbleached and ghostlike as if someone has taken the pastel-hued maidens of the ad campaigns and watered them down: they have become fuzzy and indistinct.

Anais Anais L’Original by Cacharel 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Hyacinth, galbanum, orange blossom
Heart: Jasmine, rose, lily
Base: Sandalwood, cedar, incense, amber

So when I heard that Cacharel was relaunching the 1978 classic under the name Anais Anais L’Original, I was excited but also somewhat worried and perplexed. Here was the chance to go back to a great love. But what if it didn’t match my olfactory memories? Furthermore, if Cacharel had this formulation at hand, then why had it persisted in keeping the current EDT on shelves?

All my worries vanished upon first sniff. Memories flooded back and I felt like I had come home. Here it was again, my scent, my bastion of a perfume.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

The only difference I could detect between what I was smelling and my olfactory memory is that L’Original appears a to have a stronger hyacinth top note, rendering the composition brighter and rounder. Comparing it to the current EDT, I was struck by the difference between the two: the Anais Anais EDT is harsher upon first spray, the hyacinth is more astringent and the whole composition a little bit more powdery and dry. The sillage and longevity is also markedly different: L’Original sings on my skin as it did all those years ago and lasts and lasts whereas the current EDT is but a mere shadow after a couple of hours.

Photo Stolen Flickr

I’m very thankful to have an old love back. And I’m comforted by the fact that in these days of IFRA restrictions and reformulations that an old classic has been given a new lease of life.

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

Do you like Anais Anais? Have you tried L’Original? What was your foundation perfume?
With much love till next time!
M x

Roja Dove: Amber Oud 2012 + Lily Extrait 2014

June 24, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 46 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Roja Dove

THE EMPEROR´S NEW PERFUME OR IS MY NOSE KNACKERED?

Roja Dove Amber Oud 2012 and Lily Extrait 2014

The nose behind these two fragrances is Roja Dove “Master Perfumer”. Fragrances rumoured to be made by Roberetet, a company that works with an international team of 32 perfumers. The whole line of Roja Dove´s work interests me not. On saying that I have had a secret desire to try at least a couple of them to see what, if anything might actually warrant the price.

Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor´s New Clothes was published in 1837 in Denmark. The phrase “The Emperor´s New Clothes” has become a standard metaphor for just about anything that smacks of showy pretentiousness, social hypocrisy, hollow ostentatiousness, pomposity and so on. The more something is praised the more it can become a thing of great, but perhaps imagined, beauty ……….

Photo Stolen BookDepository ($6.75 including postage)

I swapped cookies for generous samples of Amber Oud and Lily Extrait.

Roja Dove: Amber Oud 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, lemon, lime
Heart: Jasmine, rose, yang-ylang, fig
Base: Agarwood, birch, cinnamon, oakmoss, patchouli, saffron, sandalwood, ambergris, civet, musk, orris root

Amber Oud falls into the oriental spicy fragrance group for men and women. It costs around 655 Euros for 100 mls.

Wow.

Sound fabulous? It is nice, harmonious and safe. Read – boring. For a perfume that uses Oud in it´s name, I would expect to see a more dominant use of it. There is nothing unique about this.. Call me snotty if you will but I would desire something that cries out “fabulousness and originality” if I was paying that price for it. It is quite smooth, but is smooth enough? I read that it´s a beast, luxurious, undeniably exquisite, opulent. Hmmmmm. Emperor´s New Perfume? Or is my nose is knackered?

Roja Dove: Lily Extrait 2014

Photo Stolen First In Fragrance

First In Fragrance gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, lemon
Heart: Jasmine, lily, rose, tiare blossom, lily of the valley, carnation, ylang-ylang
Base: Clove, woods, vanilla, musk.

About 365 Euros for 50 mls. “I have always loved the exotic, enveloping, carnal, sensual warmth of this majestic flower.” Roja Dove. Oh.

It starts off a lot like Serge Luten´s Un Lys, which I love. It grooves along with the similarity for about an hour or so. Then the Lily Extrait takes a sharp turn into sweetness, where the Un Lys
gets musky and dirty. Lily Extrait stays sweet and pretty and linear. It does remind me of an übersweet bubble gum that I used to chew as a kid and I cannot get that out of my mind. The longevity of it is epic. I got at least 14 hours out of it. I could still smell it in the morning. I am singing the great Lonnie Donegan´s hit “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight?” as I write this.

First In Fragrance has both to sample

So for a good 1000 Euros, that is about $1350 I could have both of these, including the nice bottles? Astonishing.

Meanwhile, back to the football.

Bussis
CQ

Noble Leather by Julie Massé of Mane for Yves Saint Laurent 2013

June 22, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hey hey APJ,

Loving the house; YSL has been a fave of mine since before fashion school and during became a hero for both his fashion and foresight but also because he lived this incredibly flamboyant life in a time when the world seemed to be quite conservative. He showed me, through his own actions that you could be whoever you choose to be if you have a talent, a little luck, work really hard and choose your friends wisely. That the people in charge of Yves Saint Laurent have taken the name Yves from his fashion house is a complete travesty and I hope never to own anything from the house without all three names on them, so anything pre 2013 and I can still grab YSL fragrances and makeup. I have received this decant in an order from Surrender To Chance, they have a special area where you can find the brand newest things from a year or a month, as you can see I have a backlog….

Noble Leather by Julie Massé of Mane for Yves Saint Laurent 2013

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Leather, amber, wood, vanilla, patchouli, saffron, dried fruit

The first time I wore Noble Leather it was late and I was trying to think of what I should write, take some notes etc but my mind was completely blank. Not processing anything. So I decided to do some reading about it on the blogs. There isn’t much around and most of it hates Noble Leather. It was no help because I don’t hate it. In my mind the best leather of them all is the Pineider: Cuoio Nobile, followed closely by Bottega Veneta. Noble Leather is more like Cuoio Nobile with a hefty dash of Lonestar Memories thrown in. Dark, erotic leather, like a whisper of the feeling of the scent of the inside leg of a party monster’s chaps or the saddle that’s been ridden in all day and is still warm.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Vanilla leather, amber leather, saffron leather an amalgam to begin with, dark, sweet and waxy. It smells birch-ish once the fireworks die down, darker and more tannins, with avery interesting super sweet overlay that must be the dried fruits but is really just an amorphous sweetness to my nose, not the same as the vanilla sweetness though which also play around the edges. There are momentary Cuir Ottoman memories but nowhere near as challenging or evocative. What whistles through my mind are images of cowboys and their saddles, drovers and their sheep, the labdanum having some similarities to the Lanolin we get from wool. I think it’s very aromachemical based because the scent goes in and out of my ability to smell if I am paying it close attention for more than a couple of minutes, when on a hand and it comes and goes from my olfactory vision then it comes back again whenever I put my hand to my chin or face area.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

There are some spices that tickle my nose and the patchouli makes a lovely dusty cameo for a while, so reminiscent of working the Australian outback, but this is a leather/amber/vanilla for most of its journey and in dry down Noble Leather maintains much the same story to fade.

Further reading: Katie Puckrik and Kafkaesque
House of Fraser has £195/80ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/.5ml

Sillage is excellent and longevity quite good, I think I might like it much more if it wasn’t priced so outrageously. £195 that’s 3 – 4 Serge Lutens (Tubereuse Criminelle, Bas de Soie, Muscs Koublai Khan, Un Bois Vanille or Noble Leather’s sweeter and lovelier brother Chergui) or 2 Neela Vermeire Creations Discovery Packs. Sorry I don’t see the value YSL and I think you, as a consumer, can spend your dollars better elsewhere.

Did you get your sniff on the Oriental Collection from YSL yet? Thoughts?
Portia xx

Rose Kashmirie by Marie-Helene Rogeon + Francois Robert for Les Parfums de Rosine 2007

June 21, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Hello Lovely Fumie Friends,

While in Paris in February Michael and I stumbled across the Les Parfums de Rosine store in the Palais Royal shopping strips after doing a shop in Serge Lutens while upstairs they were having a launch party. I was very sad that we weren’t invited up to have a drink and a sniff.

Don’t forget our AMBER GIVEAWAY<< JUMP

Rose Kashmirie by Les Parfums de Rosine 2007

Marie-Helene Rogeon + Francois Robert

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Saffron, coriander, bergamot, rose
Heart: Myrhh, rose, peony
Base: Vetiver, sandalwood, amber, benzoin, vanille, grass, cypriol oil (nagarmotha)

So I first dabbed my sample of Rose Kashmirie and what I got was a lovely sparkling, very slightly spicy, fresh rose scent. One of those roses that you buy in a bunch that has the merest whiff of fragrance so fragile and tenuous but amped up 1000 times. Very pretty but nothing groundbreaking or really interesting at all, there are at least 100 rose frags doing the same thing for 1/4 the price, meh.

Then, searching through my samples I came across the 2ml vial and decided to decant it into a spritz atomiser. WOW! The difference is beyond compare, they are two entirely different entities in the open. Now that luscious green herbal coriander and slightly plastic saffron add depth and breadth to the rose. Now I’m smelling a garden rose that has bloomed to a plate size, full of the wonderful sweet, spicy, boozy, green magic that is a rose. A riot of rose, loads of the roses with a lovely citrus twang that sets my heart aflutter and my eyes wanting to roll back in my head.

Photo Stolen Flickr

There is a watery, cool breath through the rose that rises through a wind of cool incense born from some temple, this is Srinagar on a houseboat in the cool of morning. I think it’s lovely peony come to waft through the rose, a dewy cool peony plucked fresh in the morning dark. Still Rose Kashmirie is all cool and no warmth well into its heart. At this point the rose becomes slightly generic (that’s the wrong word but I can’t find a better fit), still beautiful but now like a bath product rather than fine fragrance, maybe a lavish body wash or a soap. Yes, we are definitely traveling soapy territory, but it is lovely, exquisite soap. The finest.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Later Rose Kashmirie warms through as the rose becomes more vanilla/amber hued and the incense becomes a lovely smoky crackle. The dried grasses add a tobacco-ish feel and my nose picks out some lovely honey tones too. Is my nose playing tricks or is there an animal lurking beneath all the prettiness? A big hairy animal on heat. WOW! Breathing right down my rose scented neck. Though all of these extras add on still the shining star is rose, rose in its many facets and phases, bud, bloom, petals and leaves. Here they are in one of the worlds loveliest places, war torn, strife filled Kasmir. This is the Kashmirie Rose.

Next morning there is a nearly scent left that hints of roses, powder and healthy compost. Soft but very, very pretty.

Further reading: Chickenfreak’s Obsessions and Scent for Thought
First In Fragrance has €88/50ml and samples
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Interestingly, the other reviews I read either dismissed or didn’t find Rose Kashmirie worked for them.
Damn it, I like it and am seriously thinking FBW. Have you tried it? What did you think?
Portia x

Amber by Alec Lawless for Essentially Me 2010

June 20, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

Hello Uber Niche Nerds,

Not so long ago I got a request from a reader to try some stuff from the Essentially Me range. Instantly I went on point and found myself a sample set from this natural perfume crew crafted by Alec Lawless. Sadly Alec Lawless was killed in an on board boat electrocution in the shower, what a tragic and dramatic way to go. Now his website is no longer functional so you can’t go and buy any of the fabulous creations there either. Why am I writing? Well when I ordered from Essentially Me they were still functioning and I have had this fabulous fragrance sitting here awaiting moderation but something always got in the way of my wearing it, new samples, holiday, deadlines etc etc. Last week I finally bit the bullet……

Amber by Alec Lawless for Essentially Me 2010

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Spice, mint, caraway, thyme
Heart: Jasmine, lavender, rose, clary sage
Base: Labdanum, frankincense, sandalwood, myrrh, vanilla, patchouli

One of things that hits me straight off the bat is how little like an all naturals perfume Amber smells like. The opening could be any mainstream niche opening, big, sharp, spicy, herbal and slightly fetid. EXACTLY how I want my fragrance to open. I think mint is a note that I am drawn to, though here in a minor role it freshens up the green opening and makes it sparkle. It’s a fun and mildly feral extravaganza that every now and then gives me a hint of pizza fresh from the oven, hot, foody and a slight charring of the base, MMMMMM.

The heart maintains Amber’s green tinged opening and for once I can smell clary sage clearly, all wrapped up in its lovely bouquet that still maintains its soft echo of the herbal fresh open for quite a while. So this jasmine is quite breathy sometimes, today particularly so, and the indole is very reminiscent of fragrances of a bygone era. There remains something delightfully fizzy about Amber as it progresses, so unusual, and especially in a natural fragrance.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

The base incense and resins have come in under everything and made themselves noticed, they have been there all along in the background but as all the other pieces of the puzzle burn off they are left centre stage with an earthy patchouli and sweet, creamy vanilla. I wonder if the sandalwood is adding that creamy, lactonic touch? Is amber king? No, Amber has too much other lovely stuff going on to let the Labdanum/Vanilla become the ultimate thing in dry down but I enjoy the ride more because it’s still so unexpected, every time.

About 3-5 hours depending, no idea why sometimes it just lasts longer. Good projection for the first hour and then a soft halo around you that gives quite a good sillage till well into the second hour on as normal wear.

I think even if you are not an amber fan that this could be your gateway.

Portia xx

Photo Stolen manoneileen

Amber by Essentially Me GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will each get:
1 x 5ml decant of Amber by Essentially Me
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 me your favourite Amber fragrance, or why you would like to try this one.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Amber by Essentially Me GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2Jr #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 22nd June 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 26th June 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.

Essence Aromatique by Michel Almairac for Bottega Veneta 2014

June 18, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by ElizaD

Hi APJ,

On a beautiful spring morning, I sit on a park bench, sipping my coffee and watching people as they stroll by. Suddenly I am drawn to one couple, both of them sharply dressed, tall and lithe, arms touching as they walk. Her fragrance intrigues me. It is a bit of Chanel, a bit of Bulgari, some tea, citrus, flowers and patchouli, soft and powdery. I rise to follow them, determined to find out what it is. I have never been so bold, but I have to know.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

I approach them. “You smell so lovely” I say to the woman, “what is that fragrance you are wearing?” She responds “I am not wearing fragrance today.”

Now I am confused. Clearly this wonderful soft aroma emanates from this couple. “But my husband is,” she finishes, “it is called Essence Aromatique.” I walk away delighted.

Essence Aromatique by Michel Almairac for Bottega Veneta 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot and coriander
Heart: White rose, tonka and vanilla
Base: Patchouli and sandalwood

Essence Aromatique eau de cologne is advertised on the Bottega Veneta website as a women’s fragrance, along with their other three feminine perfumes: Bottega Veneta, their signature scent; Bottega Veneta Eau Legere; and Bottega Veneta in Murano Glass Parfum. But Fragrantica readers consider it to be unisex. The leather notes, which lurk at the bottom, offer a balance to the floral heart notes, while the bergamot adds that splash of aftershave freshness. The coriander, tonka bean and vanilla become the suggestion of warm skin. In the right place–probably not Eugene, Oregon, where I live–I can envision my well-dressed and self-assured gentleman wearing this. His fragrance need not make any more of a statement than his other carefully selected accessories.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

I was not disappointed by the fragrance of Essence Aromatique. On me, it’s perfect: a light woody floral that is professional and age-appropriate but not dowdy. I feel grown up in this perfume. And Essence Aromatique could have become a new addition to my collection, save for one drawback. Sillage is nonexistent. An hour after first applying this, I was wishing I had brought my tiny sample with me to the office so I could respritz. It’s an eau de cologne with an eau de parfum pricetag.

Further reading: Colognoisseur and Now Smell This
StrawberryNET has $86/50ml and body products
My Perfume Samples starts at $3/ml

Ah well, perhaps I will try the shower gel, or wait until it hits the discounters. Too bad.

How do you feel about unisex fragrances…where do you draw the line?

ElizaD

“14°S 48°E” EdP Natural Terroir Perfume GIVEAWAY WINNERS

June 17, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

WOW APJ!!

Two giveaways in one week! This place is JUMPIN’ Thanks again for being part of our crew, our family of frag nuts. Glad to have you along in a place where your Fragrant Freak Flag is always welcome.
Portia xx

“14°S 48°E” EdP Natural Terroir Perfume GIVEAWAY WINNERS

ValCQ Vero Tree

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will each get:
1 x “14°S 48°E” EdP sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DIDD YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please leave a comment with a reason as to why the Terroir interests you.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 15th June 2014 10pm Australian EST
Val cracked out her dead armadillo, which did not come from Madagascar, popped the names into it, and got one of the kids to pick one.

Photo Stolen dryicons

Connie

Einsof

The winners will have till Thursday 19th June 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.