Vintage Opium GIVEAWAY WINNER

January 20, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Portia

Hey crew,

This has been a super fun one for me, let’s see who our winners are.
Portia xx

Vintage Opium GIVEAWAY WINNER

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, plum, citruses, mandarin orange, pepper, jasmine, cloves, West Indian bay, bergamot
Heart: Carnation, sandalwood, patchouli, cinnamon, orris root, peach, lily-of-the-valley, rose
Base: Labdanum, tolu balsam, sandalwood, opoponax, musk, coconut, vanilla, benzoin, vetiver, incense, cedar, myrrh, castoreum, amber

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 2 winners who will receive:
1 x Vintage Opium by YSL Sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 19th January 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winners were chosen by random.org

Gina Tabasso

Jc Loh

The winners will have till Sunday 22nd January 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.

Niki de Saint Phalle

January 19, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there vintage fumie friends,

Travelling around winter South Korea recently I was astonished at how perfectly Niki de Saint Phalle’s eponymous fragrance worked in almost every situation. I took a 30ml spray bottle and went through more than half of it on a ten day journey. There is a soft furriness to its green chypre that makes it more cosy than CHANEL No 19 and less fancy lady than Robert Piguet’s Futur, in the cold weather. You may notice on APJ I often write about fragrances being wearable and unchallenging, on many blogs that would be a derisive pointer to bland uninteresting fragrance but from my point of view a fragrance must be wearable in my life. Sure I have a few that I spritz at home for my own freak flag enjoyment but when I venture forth I want to wear my scents as a comfortable cloak not ammunition.

Niki de Saint Phalle

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Artemisia, mint, green notes, peach, bergamot
Middle: Carnation, patchouli, orris root, jasmine, ylang-ylang, cedar, rose
Base: Leather, sandalwood, amber, musk, oakmoss

Sadly I am finding it harder and harder to track down any of the spritz bottles of Niki de Saint Phalle and am kicking myself for not buying a dozen of them when I noticed they were getting harder to find. GRRRRR. It will be decanting into atomisers for the rest of my life. Oh well, not really a hardship.

So Niki de Saint Phalle is a chypre. Full of softly furry green-ness. To be honest I can’t pick most of the notes. Artemisia, galbanum, carnation, leather and oakmoss are the things I notice but everything else seems to sit in a background chorus. Once upon a time though the note list used to include tagetes (marigolds) now THEM I can smell and a light salt coating. Dry and austere it’s amazing how many moments it’s perfect for. Currently I’m sitting in my office and it’s a 41C day, Niki de saint Phalle cuts through the humidity and takes me to a cool dry thicket near a stream. Cool and fecund, I can smell the earth, greenery, woodland creatures or birds must have a nest nearby because the soft furry, powdery musk of creature babies is here and the smell of tree made shade.

WikiCommons

For real luxury grab the Shower Gel too, it makes the most unbelievably gorgeous bubble baths. Then when you spritz there’s already a soft layer of Niki de saint Phalle to layer over.

Further reading: Non Blonde and Yesterday’s Perfume
FragranceNet has AUD$31/30ml before coupon
The Perfumed Court has samples starting at $3/ml

Five years ago I wrote about Niki de Saint Phalle here at APJ, and have written of it elsewhere. It’s a staple around here.

Do you have a go-to, fits anywhere scent? Maybe one that’s getting harder to find?
Portia xxx

Vintage Opium by YSL

January 16, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

Portia

Hi Crew,

My BFFs Mum only wears vintage Opium. It’s her fragrance and when they totally changed the juice she was devastated. So for the last few years my job has been to seek out vintage Opium and give her a bottle at any gift giving event that she has used up her previous bottle. She’s spritzing her way through about 150ml per annum currently. Obviously it’s no hardship for me to trawl the internet and various FaceBook page Sale Docs in search of her precious, actually it gives me focus some nights when I’m up late but too zonked out to do anything productive.

Yes, I have had a couple of fakes come through and one that had obviously been stored poorly because most of that fabulous top had been scorched away leaving only the base minus. I thought it was a fake but rarely do fakes have bases so fabulously perfect and long lasting.

Not long ago one of the Aussies on Aussie Fragrance Network and I did a frag swap. Can’t remember what I sent but in return I got the most pristine vintage Opium and I’m chuffed.

Vintage Opium by YSL 1977

There is quite a bit written about Opium and how freaking lavish it is. What it smells like to me now is Kath’s Mum. Here we are at Christmas after lunch. She is a rare and wonderful woman who took in a 30+ year old orphan and gave me a place and a family to call home on big events. When Jin came along she didn’t even bat a eyelid but welcomed him wholeheartedly too. Since then she has grown less able to provide the kind of enormous family event she is used to producing and we (Jin & I) have taken the Christmas reins and now they all come to us. Birthdays etc are now done at one of the local clubs or restaurants because it’s WAY easier.

So this is what Opium smells like to me. It smells like welcome and unconditional love.

Further reading: Yesterday’s Perfume and Kafkaesque
eBay sometimes has bargains, FB Sale docs are best

Vintage Opium GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 2 winners who will receive:
1 x Vintage Opium by YSL 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

Tell us a vintage perfume on your sample wish list

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 19th 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 Sunday 22nd January 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.

Super Sample Pack GIVEAWAY WINNER

January 15, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

Portia

Woo Hoo APJ!

I love decluttering and YOU GUYS are the winners.
Let’s see who gets the pack.
Portia xx

Super Sample Pack GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

The winner will receive one each of these samples:

Iranzol oil by Bruno Acampora
Mr Hulot’s Holiday by CB I Hate Perfume
La Colonia by Oliver & Co carded sample
M.O.U.S.S.E. by Oliver & Co carded sample
Vaninger by Oliver & Co carded sample
2010 Harvest Amarige by Givenchy
2010 Harvest Organza by Givenchy
2010 Harvest Very Irresistible by Givenchy
Live by Jennifer Lopez
Aegyptus Tesori d`Oriente
Profumata Amalfi by Tocca
XS by Paco Rabanne
Charmes Secrets: Passion Absolue by Laurence Dumont
Pure Gold by Montale
Tobacco Rose by Papillon
Pure Mariposa by Ramon Monegal carded sample

P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Saturday 14th January 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winner was chosen by random.org

Latai

The winner will have till Wednesday 18th January 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.

Super Sample Pack GIVEAWAY Jan 2017

January 12, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 44 Comments

Portia

Hey Hey All,

Cleaning up around here in a frenzy of New Year activity.

There are a bunch of samples that I have tried. Some are prizes never claimed. A couple of them are only half full but others are only 2 spritzes used or brand new, some I have bottles or doubles of. So what better way to share the love than a Super Sample Pack GIVEAWAY!

Super Sample Pack GIVEAWAY Jan 2017

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

The winner will receive one each of these samples:

P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Tell us a perfume on your sample wish list

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Saturday 14th 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 18th January 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 Fragrance GIVEAWAY WINNER

January 12, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Portia

Heya APJ,

Bloody Hell. I keep forgetting to do stuff.

Let’s see who won.
Portia xx

Mystery Fragrance GIVEAWAY WINNER

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Mystery Fragrance from Robert’s collection
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 5th January 2017 10pm Australian EdsT
Winners will be chosen by random.org

Gina

The winner will have till Sunday 15th January 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

1001 Ouds by Camille Goutal + Isabelle Doyen for Annick Goutal Les Absolus 2015

January 5, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Portia

Hey there APJ Crew,

So many oudhs on sale. I love Annick Goutal and wanted to see how the house would treat oudh. Luckily Surrender To Chance has samples because we can’t get these to look at in Australia. Here’s my experience.

1001 Ouds by Annick Goutal Les Absolus 2015

1001 Ouds by Camille Goutal + Isabelle Doyen

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Agarwood (oud), papyrus
Heart: Agarwood (oud), rose, pimento
Base: Agarwood (oud), birch, guaiac wood, myrhh

Ouds? Well kind of. It’s clearly a synthetic rendering of the oudh experience. There is plenty of the band aid, rubber tyres and eucalyptus hiding inside but not so much of the barnyard. If you are an oudh aficionado then you may think 1001 Ouds is a poor cashgrab by Annick Goutal to add the middle Eastern market and jump on the oud bandwagon. Maybe that’s true BUT if you don’t really like oudh in its heavier incarnations this could very easily be a good gateway oudh. While showing some of the less confronting facets of the accord it is far less challenging. Here we have a warm, comforting fragrance that nods to the Middle East from a very comfy recliner with a large drink.

PDI

The opening does have a sweet dry grass accord nestling softly into the oudh and I like that the opening lasts long minutes before we see any sign of the rose making it’s appearance. When it does come rose is not treated in the modern Montale rose/oudh style. Here it is completely backup, a pretty filigree to add luster and I find it very difficult to even notice the pimento, which is a shame because I was interested.

The birch is clean in the beginning and doesn’t feel like it’s painting tar onto the back of your throat and sinuses until well into dry-down. It is happily offset by the myrrh but also smells to me like there might be some vanilla holding the bottom half of the fragrance together.

I think 1001 Ouds is definitely an oudh for people who don’t like oudh. Wearable even to work if you are lucky enough to be able to go fragranced. I think it’s also a very nice date frag and will try it out at the movies tonight with Jin…….

PDI

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and ScentBound
FragranceNet have a few Testers left at AUD$120/75 after Coupon
Surrender To Chance has samples from $4.50/.05ml

Did you try this when it was released?
Portia xx

Mystery Fragrance NYE 2016/7

January 3, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 91 Comments

Robert Herrmann

Hello. my name is Robert and I’m a fragaholic……

I started writing this in response to something that happened to me on New Year’s Eve day. I suspect it’s happened to all of us. I was working in my office (a.k.a. The perfumed desk from hell) and decided to finish off a sample vial that was sitting next to my right arm. I applied the perfume, and threw the vial in the trash can and BOOM! Suddenly I was facing seeing the old year out wearing something truly spectacular! But I had NO idea what the hell it was 😡 !!

Mystery Fragrance NYE 2016/7

Because as soon as I applied the remainder of the perfume I was Immediately surrounded by the most GORGEOUS scent, floral, animalic, deep, intense. Just stunning. My first thought was “Wait…. Do I have a bottle of this marvel? And if not, how fast can I order one???”

So I went searching through the trash (of course it was at the very bottom), found the vial only to realize to my horror that the vial was unmarked. U.N.M.A.R.K.E.D. !!!! wtf?? I LERRRRVE this perfume, I MUST own it, it might be my “precioussssss….”

I scoured my desk for a clue.
I searched UNDER the desk for a missing tag.
I sneezed my way through monumental dust bunnies.
I TORE THE FREAKING HOUSE APART…. but no such luck.

I then started noticing the god-awful pile up of perfume on my desk. And on the table next to my easy chair. And the TWO full boxes of samples awaiting sniffing since 2014!!! Suddenly I realized that my rabbit hole was a “perfumeaggedon” waiting to happen. It was clearly out of control.

Now I know for a fact that Ikea and Target have a multitude of storage options available to me if I could just figure out which was best. More shelves? Possibly. A wine cooler for perfume bottles? Sounds a bit too intense. Chic and cunning little boxes to HIDE the mess? Oh, you mean like I already have? Le sigh….. Only time will tell, hopefully the next few weeks…. now if I could just start making that damned perfume spreadsheet I’ve been thinking of for the last few years….

My name is Robert and I am a fragoholic.

Are your samples like this?? Here’s where I take a stand. Let’s do a draw for yet ANOTHER mystery sample…….

Mystery Fragrance GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x Mystery Fragrance from Robert’s collection
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us some effective perfume and sample storage ideas, or a sample you tried recently that you swooned for

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 5th 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 11th January 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

Amora EdP GIVEAWAY WINNER

January 2, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment

SHIT!! Totally forgot this APJ,

Let’s see who won,
Portia xxx

Amora EdP GIVEAWAY WINNER

Fragrantica

Hensley Perfumes gives these featured accords:
Stone fruit, mixed berries, rose absolute, blonde tobacco, sweet resins, musk complex, ambergris

Hendley Perfumes has $18/9ml + Samples

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 1 winner who will receive:
1 x 9ml Amora EdP Travel Spray
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 29th December 2016 10pm Australian EdsT
Winners was chosen by random.org

BBMc

The winners will have till Wednesday 4th January 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

Apollo Hyacinth by Alberto Morillas for Eric Buterbaugh Florals 2015

January 1, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Portia

Hey fumes,

I wrote about Apollo Hyacinth back in 2015. It has remained in my head and on my To Buy List since, so recently I bought another 3ml decant to see if I’ll go through it. My major concern, and why I haven’t gone FB on this green beauty is the bottle. I really love how it looks and think it’s perfectly gorgeous but if I had to decant it out to wear I think it would just not ever get used. Yes, I know how petty that sounds but let’s be honest here. If I have 17 green fragrances to choose from and 3 of them need to be decanted out to be worn then you can be bloody certain that those three will end up being totally ignored while I spritz some CHANEL No 19, Giverny In Bloom, Silences or Niki de Saint Phalle.

Apollo Hyacinth by Eric Buterbaugh Florals 2015

Apollo Hyacinth by Alberto Morillas

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, pear, galbanum
Heart: Hyacinth, lily of the valley, angelica
Base: Haitian vetiver, oakmoss, cedar

Candied pear, or pear with sugar on top, galbanum and greenery. Imagine a stinking hot day and you’re walking through the shaded bushland eating a pear and drinking pear fizzy soda. That’s how Apollo Hyacinth opens for me. Elegant, spacious and yet friendly. This is no austere No 19 or arctic Giverny in Bloom, no, this is welcoming green. Even the angelica has a sweetness to it and I’m not sure how it has happened but it’s so different that I am surprised every wear. About an hour or so in I smell the soft, drippy, green stalk of cutting flowers from bulbs as plain as day. Also the LotV makes an appearance around this time but not as a lead player.

Because I’m wearing Apollo Hyacinth today in 35C heat my own sweat has added an extraordinary saltiness that I have never noticed before that skews the whole fragrance a little towards the salty white floral. Very interesting.

Lasting power is excellent, though after 4 hours you have to be very close to notice.

I’m thinking I will buy the Discovery Kit at $315 with 8 x 10ml of the whole range except the new one. They are all spritzers and come with a Travel Case.

Further reading: Perfume Posse and Australian Perfume Junkies
Eric Buterbaugh Florals has EdP $295/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $5/.5ml

Would you be bothered decanting?
Portia xx