Samples

Heart of Darkness EdP by Charna Ether for Providence Perfume Co. 2016

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

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Erica Golding

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Hello out there, you beautifully scented people!

I’ve waxed poetic about Providence Perfume Company many times before. Thanks to Charna’s latest creation, my love for PPC is newly aflame as if I had just discovered her collection yesterday! I’ve been on a woodsy kick over the last year or so, falling in love with scents that feature pine, moss, and other botanicals along those lines. When I read the notes for PPC’s new release, I excitedly set aside a few hours to visit my friend in her luxurious store in Providence and was smitten from the first inhale:

Heart of Darkness EdP by Providence Perfume Co. 2016

Heart of Darkness EdP by Charna Ether

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Oak moss, cedar moss, lavender, vetiver, espresso, nutmeg, tonka, cedar wood, rockrose

Heart of Darkness is a modern interpretation of the fougère, a historically masculine genre of fragrance that typically features lavender and oak moss. With Charna’s inspired creativity, this classic aroma is infused with vivid energy. My first impression was simply that I felt suddenly bold and vibrant, confident with an air of intrigue and mystery.

At the opening, I sense shimmering lavender, smoky vetiver, and dominant oak moss. Aromatic cedar wood and crushed pine needles dance from my skin, an enchanted forest. This wilderness is gracefully accented by a kiss of espresso and a slight hint of honeyed tonka bean sweetness. Overall, I feel like I’m surrounded by majestic ancient pine trees, their proud branches reaching into the atmosphere as sunlight filters through their needles. The forest floor is spongy with moss. The air is silent, saturated with tranquil fragrance.

WikiCommons

To me, Heart of Darkness is more than an accessory spritzed on to complete an outfit. It transcends the typical utilitarian purpose of scent, and instead is truly a work of art that instantly transports me to my own inner peace. It’s complex and intense, assertive yet calm. You’ve never smelled anything like this before, you can’t prepare for it by imagining the notes intertwining. It’s not for the faint of heart and it’s definitely not for beginners. It’s for wild souls who run in the woods, who jump in the water with their clothes still on. It’s for wanderers and pioneers who still make time for daydreams.

Providence Perfume Co. has $45/5ml
Providence Perfume Co. also has 8 x 1.5ml sample sets on sale currently

Have you dipped your toes into the wondrous world of natural perfumery? What are your favorite all-natural perfume houses and fragrances?

 

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 2 mL sample of PPC Heart of Darkness EdP
1 x 3 oz. complementary PPC Fern botanical hand cream: “Mossy green notes of tonka, lavender, fir and patchouli.”
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 where you would wear your sample of Heart of Darkness

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 23rd February 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 Monday 27th February 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.

Mystery Nina Ricci Vintage GIVEAWAY WINNER

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hey APJ,

I think the fragrance is Nina. Thanks for all your help.

Portia xx

Mystery Nina Ricci Vintage GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 5 winners who will receive:
1 x Sample mystery Nina Ricci fragrance
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Saturday 18th February 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winner was chosen by getting one of my family to pull a name out of my dead armadillo basket

Neva

The winner will have till Wednesday 22nd February 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.

Mystery Nina Ricci Vintage

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

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Portia

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Hello Vintage Fragrance Freaks,

I have a problem, well one we are going to discuss today anyway, let’s leave the rest. Recently I was trolling eBay, as we all so often do. One of my favourite sellers had a pristine 50ml white Nina Ricci refillable bottle with the gold trim. It looked virtually unused and the juice in lightly amber but clear condition. There’s only one problem, it doesn’t have a label. Yep, is completely unmarked.

Mystery Nina Ricci Vintage

So, my response was to snipe bid $7 above the unbid price and see what happened. That still kept my bid to around US$25 including postage. Well there were zero pre bids, but 4 snipe bids and mine won! Woo Hoo! So it arrived and smells fabulous. All floral powder, oakmoss and lightly soapy.

BUT I can’t work out what it is. There are quite a few Nina Ricci frags around here but I can’t seem to place this one. So I thought I’d share the joy and send some people samples.

 

giveaway hemodernhome

Mystery Nina Ricci Vintage GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 5 winners who will receive:
1 x Sample mystery Nina Ricci fragrance
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 share a vintage fragrance you love, or one you wished you’d tried

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 18th February 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by getting one of my family to pull a name out of my dead armadillo basket
The winner will have till Wednesday 22nd February 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.

Emeraude Agar by Jerome Epinette for Atelier Cologne 2016

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

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Portia

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Hey Hey APJ,

Do you remember Coty’s Emerald? Well I love it, even in its modern form, but in the interests of full disclosure I rarely wear it anymore. As soon as I saw the name of todays fragrance I couldn’t wait to get my sniff on it. Add to that the lovely green (my favourite colour) of the label and it being brand new to the Atelier Cologne Metal Collection and I was practically panting. Not too far from the truth in the very hot summer we are having here in Sydney, Australia.

So I’ve poured the whole sample vial on at once, arms and chest.

Emeraude Agar by Atelier Cologne 2016

Emeraude Agar by Jerome Epinette

 

Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Angelica, Bergamot, Black pepper
Heart: Eucalyptus, Geranium, Turkish rose absolute
Base: Gaiac wood, Malayan oud, Mysore sandalwood

Black pepper with a tinge of green over bro-woods is my initial thought. In the rose/oudh category this little baby is leaning to the masculine but in a 21st century niche woodsiness that speaks to me of gym changing rooms and boozy middle management on Friday night. TBH I was expecting more from the note list. Very little Angelica on me, the Eucalyptus passes me by and the geranium fails to even add its perky kick in any meaningful way.

I just read that back and it reads like a diss. Nah, not a diss. I quite like the way Emerald Agar smells but it’s hardly a boundary pusher or even feeling very niche OR it feels like all the lazy formulaic niche. Maybe I’m just feeling bitchy in the  41C humid heat.

PDI

The sandalwood is a very nice approximation. Creamy, soft, supple sandalwood like running your hand over one of those beautifully carved and polished wood bowls you see in country style stores for extravagant prices. Add that to the plethora of other wood in the base, and the super subtle hint of oudh, it’s my favourite part of the whole experience. Lasting power is good for an Atelier too. I could imagine a one fragrance person going through a bottle of Emerald Agar in the cooler months of the year in record time and even have it work well into the summer. If you told me there was ambergris in the base here I’d believe you, salty driftwood dry down with a creamy smooth overlay, seriously the end is wonderful.

Flickr

LuckyScent has $130/30ml
Surrender To Chance has $4.80/ml

Can you be tempted by name and bottle? Does the colour of the packaging ever help you decide?
Portia xx

Cologne Cashmere by Carla Chabert for La Manufacture 2015

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

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TinaG

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Hey APJ!

I came across La Manufacture through a gifted sample of Cologne Rare, and I was so impressed that I promised myself to purchase a few more of their colognes to try out. A major problem in accessing these was having them shipped to Australia – they don’t send directly. I needed to have them sent to Germany and brought back in personal luggage – not ideal, and difficult to replicate. However, as I have been enjoying these, I thought it was worth sharing my thoughts.

Cologne Cashmere by La Manufacture 2015

Cologne Cashmere by Carla Chabert

Fragrantica

Le Manufacture gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, mandarin, guaiac wood, sandalwood, leather, velvet, amber, vetiver, marron glacé

This fragrance is a fantastic example of why not to underestimate something just because it’s a “cologne”. It changes through dry down with three distinct stages, and sticks to my skin for at least 8 hours in the summer heat – albeit as a skin scent after about 4 hours.

Cologne Cashmere opens with a fabulous juicy mandarin and bergamot. The bergamot borders more on the green side of the citrus rather than the smoky side and I think this is because it’s emphasised by a generous waft of dry woods that sweeps through and then deepens. After 15 minutes a cheeky little suede note slips in to the picture, having a certain peach aspect to it in a similar vein as Daim Blond or Bottega Veneta. There’s a touch of salty plasticine in there too, which I’ve sniffed out during the first hour a few times. Makes the fragrance feel lived-in.

PDI

At 1 hour you get a jumbled mix of woods. Close to the skin there’s a sense of a soft wood hollowed out by fungus and then dried, and a blond grassy note. I got a lovely surprise when I caught a whiff of sandalwood in the silage. It was a perfect representation, and it was a gorgeous match for a hot and humid day.

But wait, there’s more. I was entranced by a sweet note during the dry down which I likened to strawberry jaminitially. Because the first time I noticed it I was in a home environment, I passed it off as being an anomaly. However on closer investigation on the sample’s listed notes, there is something called a marron glacé right at the very end of the spiel – my brain disregarded this the first few times around because I simply didn’t know what it was. However, what I was overlooking was the source of my sweet impressions! Marron glacé is chestnut which has been crystallised and then coated in a glaze – and there it was in my fragrance – a yummy sticky jammy sugary chestnut. Bloody brilliant.

WikiCommons

I’m fascinated by the way Cologne Cashmere changes from being primarily hesperidic, through to dry and woody, and end up with such an unusual gourmand. It’s been very fun to wear and I’m sorry to see my sample running dry.

Le Manufacture has €65/50ml and samples

What is your favourite cologne?

Have a fab start to the week.

xx Tina G

Sylvaine Delacourte Workshop In Sydney

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

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Ainslie Walker

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Hello APJ gang! Happy New Year!! Doesn’t it already feel like 2017 is galloping along at an incredible pace?!

Sylvaine Delacourte Workshop In Sydney

Sylvaine Delacourte ‘Queen Bee’ and Creative Director of Fragrance for Guerlain visited Australia last year, whilst in town she taught perfume creation classes in David Jones’ Grand Hall on level 6!

As I entered the hall from the lift I saw rows of aluminium bottles containing exciting raw materials on a table with pipettes protruding from them! GASP.

Sylvaine, looking glamorous, first led us through the history of Guerlain.

– Modern perfumery began with Jicky which featured 3 synthetics- vanillin, coumarin and linalool.
– Guerlinade, Guerlain’s identity – the heart of all their fragrances, contains bergamot, rose, iris, tonka and vanilla.
– Guerlain still controls their whole ‘A-Z’ of fragrance, only 4 other companies in the world also do this; Chanel, Dior, Hermes. They buy their own raw materials, sourcing everything, having them sent direct to their labs, making a unique difference.
– Guerlain has 1000 natural ingredients, 3000 synthetics and discover more each year.

Creation time! As Sylvaine pointed out ‘today you will be making, not just a perfume but a Guerlain perfume!’ SQUEALS AND SHIVERS!!

A few definitions!

– A note: of patchouli or any singular ingredient
– A facet: an aspect of an ingredient, eg fruit aspect of rose. Perfumers use this to join for example 3 ingredients all with fruit aspects.
– An harmony/accord: no longer the parts that make it up but a new combination, a synergy. E.g Bergamot, violet and hedione is tea note created by JC Ellena, Raspberry and almond become cherry.

Sylvaine explained, many flowers cannot be extracted and have to be reconstituted eg lilac, lily of the valley…..then we all got to make a lily of the valley!!

So here is what I made:
Floral N74 48 drops
Jasmonal H 20 drops
Rose Bulgare 5 drops (this ingredient is one of Thierry Wasser’s favourites and has a lychee and almond facet)
Citronellol 10
PEA 15
Jasmine Grandiflorum 1
Indol 1

We learnt about all the different floral aspects: fresh, powdery, aldehydic, sensual, animalic, rose, oriental, white or as Sylvaine says ‘sunny,’ and fruity flower

Then we chose to make either a white floral or a fresh floral and give it facets of either oriental, chypre or hisperdic. I made a fresh floral with oriental and rose facets and a touch of hisperdic! I had 3 tries and Sylvaine and I agreed my second try was the best.

What an amazing experience to learn from one of the best female perfumers in the industry!!

If you could make a perfume at such a workshop, what would it be??

Until next time, Ainslie XX

 

 

Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade GIVEAWAY WINNER

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

Hey APJ,

Woo Hoo! Let’s see who won,
Portia xx

Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade

GIVEAWAY WINNER

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Labdanum

Surrender To Chance has samples from $5/ml

 

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade Carded Manufacturers Sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Saturday 28th January 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winner was chosen by random.org

Neva

 

The winner will have till Wednesday 1st February 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.

Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade by Quentin Bisch for Etat Libre d`Orange 2016

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 31 Comments

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Portia

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Hi there APJ,

Recently I went and hung out with my mate Bronwyn of Gascoigne & King Candles. I did some Xmas shopping with her and 7 of my buddies got Gascoigne & King candles. PERFECT gift. Anyway she passed me this sample because she is also the distributor of Etat Libre d’Orange here in Australia. Well, I looked at the beautifully packaged sample and thought, “Those freaking bastards at ELdO want me to make a complete tit out of myself when telling people what frag I’m wearing.” Seriously guys, I’m just a unilingual dude that wears dresses from down under. This kind of long French name, any long name really, kills my joy in a scent. So I was already halfway ready to hate it just because of the name.

Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade by Etat Libre d`Orange 2016

Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade by Quentin Bisch

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Labdanum

Smells like labdanum incense. Unbelievably gorgeous. Simple yet complex, wearable, challenging. Glorious.

Then name and the ad are irrelevant (and pretty rubbish) but the fragrance is bloody good.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Colognoisseur
LuckyScent has $95/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $5/ml

Have you tried Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade?
Portia xx

Super Sample Pack GIVEAWAY Jan 2017

giveaway hemodernhome

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade Carded Manufacturers Sample
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 an Etat Libre d`Orange fragrance you like or love….

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 28th January 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 1st February 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.

Favourite Fragrance Note?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 45 Comments

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Portia

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Hi there Fumies,

There are a few notes in fragrance that if I see them in a note list I definitely want to give them a sniff. Not all the fragrances that have these notes in them work for or on me. As a starting point though I am much more willing to try some new thing with these babies in on my skin. I’m WAY more inclined to order a sample or seek it out actively.

Favourite Fragrance Note?

Fragrantica

Amber

OK, probably no surprise to most people who read APJ regularly but Amber is one of the notes that I look for in note lists. Recently Fragrantica changed their note list icons and it took me a while to recalibrate my swift glance. Fortunately Amber wasn’t changed hugely. Now if I see Amber in the name of a fragrance then I’ll spray myself without even looking at the note list, not clever but often fun.

Some ambers I really love are: Ambre Cerulean by Huitieme Art Parfums, L’eau d’Amber by L’Artisan, Ambre Russe by Parfum d`Empire, Olympic Amber by Olympic Orchids, Amber Queen by A Dozen Roses, Ambre Narguile by Hermès, Chergui by Serge Lutens and Ambra del Nepal by I Profumi di Firenze. Obviously not a complete list, this is off the op of my head.

Fragrantica

Incense

Growing up Catholic and attending primary school with Nuns and secondary school with Jesuit Priests my early years were awash with incense. Then as late teens bloomed, in fashion school and my friends began to become more multicultural I got to smell incenses from around the world. Nowadays I have a cupboard full to overflowing of incense gathered from visiting many countries. From the cheapest to the quite expensive and I love them all. Put a hefty dose of incense into a perfume and I will try to get my nose on some ASAP.

Some of my adored incenses: Avignon by Comme des Garcons, Trayee by Neela Vermeire Creations, Oliban by Phaedon, Fille en Aiguilles by Serge Lutens, Encens Flamboyant (Shower Gel) by Annick Goutal, Bois d’Ascese by Naomi Goodish, Interlude Man by Amouage and Vintage Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. Trayee Neela Vermeire Creations

Fragrantica

Oakmoss

I think I am hyper-nosmic to oakmoss and its facsimiles. Even the merest smidgeon and it overtakes most fragrances for me. A good thing in my eyes because I love its soft, furry, green smokiness. In my nose a little bit of oakmoss makes every fragrance more stunning and desirable. If I see the word oakmoss in a note list I can be about 95% sure that it will be a winner only skin and that pretty soon there’ll be a FB and a backup in the cupboard.

Oakmoss-centric frags in my wardrobe: Mitsouko, L’Heure Bleue & Vol de Nuit by Guerlain, Chloe (1975), Antaeus by CHANEL, Niki de Saint Phalle, Magie Noire by Lancome, Bandit by Robert Piguet, Miss Dior by Christian Dior (1947), Farouche by Nina Ricci and Eau de Gucci (1993)

So, over to you. What note or notes ring your bells when looking through note lists?
Portia xx

Seeker by Liz Cook for One Seed

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

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Portia

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Hello Indie Perfumery Lovers,

A while ago Liz sent me this sample to try, which I promptly lost and it has only now resurfaced in my New Year Cleanup. PHEW! So finally I get to tell you about it.

Seeker by Liz Cook for One Seed

One Seed

One Seed gives these featured accords:
Coriander, coconut, vanilla, roasted basmati rice, oakmoss, ambrette seed
Oganic sugar cane ethanol, 100% natural fragrance (natural and organic plant extracts), purified water

Food. My instant correlation in the opening was food. Ice cream in fact. One minute later you can smell the rice and coconut, it’s like a Penang Curry. Deliciously fragrant and my mouth is watering like I’m really going to get my favourite Thai dish. HA! I have a huge happy smile on my face and wonderful memories of going to our fave Thai restaurant in Gordon that looks like nothing, very simple. The food though is abundant, consistently excellent and cheap as chips. The staff are all so friendly and we drive nearly an hour to eat there nowadays. We always get a second order when we are there now to bring home as dinner in two nights time. Yes, we are quite in thrall and have had years of dinners there with so many friends, often just Jin and I will go alone.

Wikipedia

From One Seed: Seeker is a youthful scent created for the young and the young at heart. It is for endless adventures, for seeking truth in all things. Featuring fresh greens and delicate mossy notes entwined with milky coconut, vanilla and the scent of salt on damp skin.

So Seeker is an incredibly happy fragrance for me, the memories flowed for hours. Even as it softened to dry down Seeker still smells like happy memories but they turn more Indian and religious as the fragrance seems to become smokier and darker, more filled with humanity and all the way to the end rice steam. The musk mallow does excellent work as a fleshy backdrop, this frag rocks. You’ll never pick that it’s a natural.

One Seed has $85/30ml EdP
One Seed has a fabulous Sample Set. All 7 fragrances x 2.5ml atomisers

Is there a foody smell you love or wish was part of a fragrance?
Portia xx