Terpsichore by ime Natural Perfumes Australia

January 2, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey lovers of Natural Fragrance,

ime Natural Perfume are run by a girlfriend of mine here in Australia, Tonya Walker is her name. Tonya wanted to offer a set of naturals that were usable alone or in conjunction with the rest of the line, a bit like the Jo Malone idea. The difference here being that Tonya wanted to capture the healing benefits of the ingredients and use these fragrances as mood enhancers or diverters. I have long used fragrance to circumvent downward emotional spirals and Tonya has created the whole ime Natural Perfume series to help you do just that.

Terpsichore by ime Natural Perfumes

Terpsichore (Expressive)

Photo Stolen ime Natural Perfumes

ime Natural Perfumes gives these featured accords:
Orange, Lime, Chamomile, Lavender, Ylang Ylang

Terpsichore is the muse of dance and I think she was the one that Olivia Newton John played in the 1980 film Xanadu. Still one of my favourite shit movies of all time and I still find myself singing the songs while cleaning or sewing 35 years later.

Problem with image? Please tell us

Lime & lavender open in a sharp, effervescent, ultra high pitched zing on my skin. An awkward pairing that seems to vibrate. It is like plunging into a cool pool on a boiling hot day. Initially your body can’t believe it but withing a minute you’re absolutely comfortable. While Terpsichore remains effervescent through its whole life the pitch softens and becomes far less outrageous. Refreshing? Yes, every time I spritz I find it a perfect work and focus scent as well as giving my energy levels a boost. Like a metaphorical and fragrant cup of coffee.

Basically the two lead notes stay the focus for the whole ride and everything else bolsters their supremacy. Quite linear and fresh all the way through. Even after sleeping there is a whisper of citrus overlaying my bodies scent, that is so unusual for a natural fragrance and a citrus. I have to get my nose right onto my skin to smell it but it’s there faintly.

From ime Natural Perfumes: Free, Spirited, Expressive: The muse of Dance is a free spirit. She will inspire you to find delight in dancing to your own rhythmic beat, lost in the moment. Be a Natural and express yourself.

Photo Stolen Flickr

ime Natural Perfumes has $60/30ml and Samples

There are eight more ime Natural Perfumes that you can try too, and they have a sensational sample pack so you can try them all.

Do you ever wear natural fragrances?
Portia xx

Whips & Roses by John Pegg for Kerosene 2012

January 1, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Post by Portia

OK Crew,

Whips and Roses has been discontinued and is SOLD OUT everywhere so while rummaging through my drawers when I found a few ml in a decant I thought it would be nice to share the love.

Whips & Roses by Kerosene 2012

Whips & Roses by John Pegg

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, Blood orange, Bulgarian rose, Iris, Jasmine, Leather, Musk, Rose stems, Sandalwood

Citrus, rose and a dirty, sweaty, amorphous leather open up Whips and Roses. It’s a freaky first few moments that seem a little directionless but wait, one minute in and suddenly cohesion. A fruity and fresh rose, just plucked from the bush, some cool watery facets like filling the vase and an arresting sweetness like the very sugary tip of a watermelon taken from the fridge in the height of summer and that very first bite. A candied, fruity rose that takes a step back about half an hour in to let the other flowers give some of their fragrance.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Whips & Roses gets a lovely slug of jasmine and sandalwood at this point, so pretty, and I wonder if the incongruity of the name which is kinda tough and the sheer unbridled prettiness of the fragrance has something to do with its discontinuation. I was expecting it to be the dark heart of rose and the bitter dank of leather, a goth fragrance that speaks of the labyrinths and catacombs, the vampires and werewolves. Whips and Roses is way more Disney’s Sleeping Beauty than Interview With A Vampire or Maleficent.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Then we are back to rose, petal, branch and root. Beautiful.

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Memory of Scent
The Perfumed Court has samples starting at $4/ml

Good luck in the giveaway
Portia xx

Photo Stolen AllSteele

Whips and Roses GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x Sample Whips and Roses
some extras
P&H Worldwide

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell us how you follow APJ?

and

Please tell us any story of discontinued gems, independent loves, Whips or Roses…..

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 3rd January 2016 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Thursday 7th January 2016 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.

Vetiverus by Oliver Valverde for Oliver + Co. 2012

December 31, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Portia

My mate Scott was over the other day and we were going through some new samples, bottles and decants that had arrived in the week since I’d seen him. Basically I grabbed a piece of paper and pen, some touches and we even used some of our precious skin so we could smell how differently they lived on each of us. It was fun and interesting, when you sniff with someone and they find a new love it’s amazing how that then reactivates my focus and energises the whole process of parsing. This is the winner of our sniffathon and it came in a free sample set because I’d bought their Gincense, which we’ll talk about later.

Vetiverus by Oliver & Co. 2012

Vetiverus by Oliver Valverde

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Oliver & Co. give these featured accords in one line:
Labdanum from Spain, styrax, Haitian vetiver, ambergris, coriander from Russia, osmanthus absolute, orange peel, white musks, Madagascar clove

OK so the opening is a totally enjoyable smoky, greasy, green, oily, metallic, salty, grassy BOOM! A vetiver fantasy that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and gives you a gentle shake, till your teeth rattle. Astounding, fun, green cordial, raspy and smooth are all words we used to describe the opening with is vetiver squared.

Photo Stolen Flickr

As we hit the heart Vetiverus opens up into a milky fig heart with a tickle of salt tweaking the sweet greenness. There are very faint reminders of vintage Emeraude‘s opening through the heart too and a metallic vibe that serves to oppose and highlight the creamy green fruit. Once these heart notes recede the smoke comes back and it’s a dry grassy, smoky vetiver and leather(?) drizzled over musks that fades over hours and hours to gone.

From LuckyScent: If you love the pure, smoky sexiness of vetiver the way we do, it can be frustrating to try fragrances that hide it behind other powerful ingredients in the name of “balance.” …In keeping with this philosophy, Vetiverus opens dramatically with an exquisitely deep and mysterious vetiver, at once smoky and velvety rich… Plenty of great fragrances feature vetiver. But for the true vetiver enthusiast searching for an unapologetic, uncompromising showcase of the sublimely smoky, there is perhaps no substitute for Vetiverus.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Perfumistanns and +Q Perfume
Oliver & Co. has €110/50ml
LuckyScent has $145/50ml + samples

What is your vetiver fragrance? Have you tried the Oliver & Co Vetiverus?
Portia xx

Coco vintage parfum by CHANEL: Live Video Sniff

December 30, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there Frag Heads,

Yes, Scott and I at it again. We did a bunch of these over a few weeks. Really there’s not much content but the excitement of documenting our opening ceremonies and the sillines we go on with makes me smile while watching them back. We are idiots but having a good time.

Please enjoy,
Portia xxx

Coco by CHANEL 1984

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, pomegranate blossom, mandarin orange, peach, jasmine and Bulgarian rose
Heart: Mimose, cloves, orange blossom, clover and rose
Base: Labdanum, amber, sandalwood, tonka bean, opoponax, civet and vanilla

SurrenderToChance has EdT samples starting at $3/ml

Miss Dior vintage EdC GIVEAWAY WINNERS

December 28, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom

Post by Portia

Thanks for getting involved gang, let’s see who won.

Portia xxx

Miss Dior vintage EdC GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Galbanum, Bergamot
Heart: Jasmine, Rose, Gardenia
Base: Oakmoss, Ambergris, Sandalwood, Patchouli

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 winners who will receive:
1 x Miss Dior vintage EdC decant
some extras
P&H Worldwide

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 27th December 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Photo Stolen brooklodge

Hazel

Lindaloo

CONGRATULATIONS! The winners will have till Thursday 31st December 2015 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.

Amarige by Dominique Ropion for Givenchy 1991

December 27, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Post by Anne-Marie

A little while ago I did a round-up of print and online reviews of one of the most reviled perfumes on the counter: Givenchy’s Amarige. Now I’d like to share my own views. An astute reader will probably have decided that I would not be going to this much trouble if I hated Amarige, and you are right. I do love it. So THERE!

Amarige by Givenchy 1991

Amarige by Dominique Ropion

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, Neroli, Peach, Plum, Rosewood, Violet Heart
Heart: Gardenia, Carnation, Jasmine, Cassia, Mimosa, Orchid, Black locust, Rose, Red berries, Black currant, Tuberose, Ylang-ylang
Base: Amber, Woody notes, Musk, Sandalwood, Tonka bean, Vanilla, Cedar

Firstly, the notes (deep breath):
Top: orange blossom, plum, mandarin, violet, peach, neroli, Brazilian rosewood.
Heart: red berries, mimosa, carnation, black locust, tuberose, blackcurrant, gardenia, casie, orchids, jasmine, ylang ylang, rose.
Base: sandalwood, tonka, amber, musk, vanilla, woody notes, cedar

How does it smell to me? I don’t much bother trying to separate the notes. To me Amarige smells of peaches, white flowers, and sunshine. Yellow is a dominant colour in the marketing and while I don’t dress in yellow, I get my ‘yellow’ from Amarige. It’s a colour – and a scent – of confidence, happiness and optimism.

Amarige’s bottle was designed by Pierre Dinand and inspired by a blouse Hubert de Givenchy had designed in 1952 for his model, muse and some time press agent, Bettina Graziani. High-collared and narrow at the waist, the sleeves of the ‘Bettina blouse’ were deeply ruffled with broderie anglaise, and those ruffles are referenced in the cap on the bottle.

Photo Stolen Pinterest

Tuberose? I compared Amarige with other ‘scoundrels’ (Luca Turin’s word) of the era: Giorgio of Beverly Hills and Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door. The tuberose in those is indeed very and harsh and synthetic, to my nose, whereas in Amarige the tuberose is balanced and blended with other notes, especially that joyful peach.

Too strong? Oh for goodness sake! Just wear less. Nobody is forcing you to spritz Amarige 16 times, are they? What? Your Auntie Sharon did actually spritz it 16 times, back in the 90s? Well good on her. She smelled better than if she had been wearing any amount of Issey Miyake. Yes she did.

Speaking of Issey Miyake, some perfume critics write of the 90s as a time of freshness and restraint in perfume. In the 80s, perfumes were too strong and we all wore too much. In the 90s we detoxed, apparently, on fragrances like Calvin Klein’s CK One and Clinique’s Happy. But no, that’s not quite true. The divas kept coming. Not just Amarige, but Lancome’s Trésor and Poème, Liz Taylor’s White Diamonds, Gucci’s L’Arte di Gucci and Rush, Thierry Mugler’s Angel, YSL’s Yvresse, Hermès’ 24 Faubourg, Dior’s Docle Vita and J’Adore, and Chanel’s Allure.

And yet the clean watery fragrances did sell like crazy, so perhaps the only explanation is that they were bought by people who would otherwise not wear fragrance at all – memories of Auntie Sharon – meaning that the fragrance market overall must have expanded in the 1990s.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

FragranceNet has $28/30ml
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

I started out with Amarige and have ended up with 90s fruity florals in general.
What do you think? A good era for perfume, the 90s? Or … not?

Val CQ’s Christmas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

December 25, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by Portia

Thanks Val for a superv fun and fabulous giveaway. You are so generous.

Merry christmas all,
Portia xx

Val CQ’s Christmas GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Photo Donated Val

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have one winner who will receive:
1 each decants Mito and Cuir d’Ange (from Val’s bottles)
P&H Worldwide

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 24th December 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosenfrom the armadillo

Photo Stolen markmontanoblogs

Mito

GARA

Ingeborg

Cuir d’Ange

BB Mc

The winner will have till Monday 28th December 2015 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.

Val CQ’s Christmas Giveaway 2015: Hermès + Vero Profumo

December 22, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 59 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Hi APJ

All in all 2015 has been quite a perfumed year. I went to the Esxence in Milan and had a seriously fun perfume extravaganza trip through the USA. I have deepened my friendship with several perfumista bloggers (you know exactly who you are) and am incredibly thankful for that. It has enriched my my life.
I have tried quite a number of new perfumes although nowhere near the amount that proper perfumistas do! I am as fussy as ever. I fell in love with Geisha Noire from aroma M and have recently discovered that Neela Vermeire´s Pichola is fabulous in the cold weather.

All my favorite blogs have wonderful lists of what to buy for Christmas, the top ten favourites of the year, not to mention gift buying guides. I can only refer you to them, as I am not capable of coming up with anything that detailed!

As is well known, I mostly wear Vero Profumo and 2015 saw no change in that. I am über-excited at the upcoming launch of the new VP fragrance, have been lucky enough to try it and can only say if you love leather, tobacco and a dash of red apple you are in for a serious treat. And that is just the EdP.

Val CQ’s Christmas GIVEAWAY 2015

Hermès + Vero Profumo

Photo Donated Val

I want to share what I love this year. Proper decants out of my own bottles. I have chosen Mito EdP from Vero Profumo and Cuir d’Ange from Hermés. (I used up three travel sizes of it before I got a full bottle from my husband for my birthday.) It is such a soft and intimate leather.

January is going to be fabulous this year. Portia and I and our various friends and many others will be meeting up for the
Perfume Lovers London event at the end of the month. I will also be visiting with my own family, aunt and uncle, cousins and my brother. It will be a chance to meet perfume people that I have online friendships with too. And yes of course I know what perfume I am gonna be wearing.

Photo Stolen Flickr

“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

So let us don our gay apparel.

Bussis and strength for 2016.
CQ

Photo Stolen manoneileen

CQ Xmas GIVEAWAY!

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have one winner who will receive:
1 each decants Mito and Cuir d’Ange (from Val’s bottles)
P&H Worldwide

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged. 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 (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Tell us any favorite quotes or Christmas carols? Mito or Cuir d’Ange?

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 24th December 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Monday 28th December 2015 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.

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2015

December 19, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Independent Niche Nerds,

Andy Tauer became known on the frag scene through blogging about his fragrance creation adventures. He was the first perfumer to engage the world in such a way and he and his style of perfumery are loved even though his scents can be polarising. Many people have problems with his Tauer-ade: a sweet citrus/honey/amber baseline to my nose that can last days on skin and indefinitely in fabrics. Personally I really like his style and I purchased a decant of his newest offering from Surrender To Chance which has just arrived. Scott was over and we decided to trial it first on paper and then on skin. It’s even more fun testing fragrances with a mate because different people pick up different nuance.

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Tauer Perfumes 2015

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Andy Tauer

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cinnamon, cloves, geranium, galbanum
Heart: Tuberose, ylang-ylang, jasmine
Base: Tuberose, patchouli, amber

I can’t tell you what I was expecting from Sotto La Luna Tuberose but I was surprised by what I got. The green and oily, petrochemical reminiscent opening still manages to be smooth and is offset by sweet bubblegum. It’s an engaging dichotomy that keeps my nose glued to my wrist. Tuberose, imagine a bunch of tuberose on a table in an air conditioned office, Sotto La Luna Tuberose. Tuberose with that unreal, artificial coolness. We get a lovely sappiness of whitest green, like cutting hydrangeas and their sap.

There are also herbal, tropical, balmy and resinous notes flowing through and both Scott and I were convinced (without looking at notes) that there is a honey that is cleaned of most of its animalics but leaving a thick, glutinous sweetness that has nothing to do with the 21st century craze for confectionery. Maybe this is Andy’s amber.

Photo Stolen Flickr

After about 30-40 minutes we couldn’t decide how to describe the smell and came up with three similar but all just wide of the mark: smoky caramel, lightly burnt vanilla or sun pinked skin after a day at the beach. It’s an undercurrent running beneath the tuberose which stays right to the end of the fragrance. For anyone who has ever been upset by the longevity of the tuberose ferociousness in Versace Blonde, SL Tubereuse Criminale, L’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse, Piguet Fracas or Ava Luxe Tubereuse Diabolique then here is a tuberose for you. Ferocious at the start and maintaining a fun level of outrageous throughout its lengthy lifespan. NSFW people unless you are in a very cool workplace where they like people to be fully fragrant.

How is Sotto La Luna Tuberose different? Longevity, tuberose staying power, opening oily green and bubblegum together and the patchouli/amber is different, unpickable for us as exactly a thing to reference we spent ages trying to find good and easily understandable correlations. Scott said he will now buy a decant to see if he loves it as much as he thinks, being a bit of a BWF hater. Different enough? Definitely.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
IndieScents has $145/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $3.45/.5ml

What is your Tauer favourite?
Portia xxx

Lann-Aël by Amélie Bourgeois for Lostmarc’h 2007

December 17, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by Portia

The Lostmarc’h thing passed me by. I remember there being a flurry of excitement at release but since then I haven’t really noticed much buzz. Someone sent me a handwritten sample of todays fragrance and I had to go do some digging once I sprayed. Having been released in 2007 and still around in the current niche market speaks volumes, also its price is unbelievably reasonable for niche. It was nearly impossible to get into the decant, which is why it’s taken so long to get to it but curiosity can overcome all barriers. I think I may be hooked….

Lann-Aël by Lostmarc’h 2007

Lann-Aël by Amélie Bourgeois

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vanilla, hay, apple, wheat, milk

The Lann-Aël opening is slightly dry and a hint of apple but no big whack of it. Quite rightly, general consensus on the blogs is sweet breakfast cereal, think Fruit Loops or Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, sugary, a little nutty and with milk splashed over all liberally. It’s not the smell in the bowl though, no way, it’s the smell in your mouth as you start to chomp it all together.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

There’s something a little rice-ish about Lann-Aël, Jin’s rice has a very particular smell when he reheats it in the microwave and I am getting scent memory flashes. No wonder this is a hit. It’s summer here in Sydney, temperature is around 35C (95F) at 10am and the sweet warmth of Lann-Aël and its yummy vanilla dry down is working a treat. Not cloying or sickly but balmy and rich feeling.

The opening is the big ticket item in Lann-Aël, after that it smooths to a comfortable vanilla plus some light spices and resins, a sweet amber. It’s not bad or generic but it isn’t ground breaking either. I smell good for hours, 5-6 even in this heat.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

From LuckyScent: Breakfast in fairyland: lighter-than-air buckwheat cakes; bowls of warm, pudding like cereal topped with cream ladled from the top of the milking bucket; sweet apples “borrowed” by the pixies from a nearby orchard. A delectable honeyed fruit opening eases into a soft and mellow vanilla-tinged milkiness that is as comforting as a mother’s embrace.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Perfume Posse
LuckyScent has $85/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

Do you ever feel the need to wear something fun, frivolous and foody? This could be it for you
Portia xx