Mahora by Jean-Paul Guerlain for Guerlain 2000

January 19, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by Tina G

Portia and I had a lovely relaxed New Year’s catch up the other day – lunch and tea and chats and I had a chance to have a sticky beak at the selection of perfumes which she’s chosen to keep at home at the moment. This included a stunning range of Guerlain! Love Love Love!! Along with a few other scents, Portia kindly provided me with a small decant of Mahora to try.

Mahora by Jean-Paul Guerlain for Guerlain 2000

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange blossom, almond blossom, green accords
Heart: Ylang-ylang, neroli, tuberose, jasmine
Base: Sandalwood, vanilla, vetiver

Mahora was released by Guerlain in 2000, and discontinued two years later. I understand that it has been slightly reformulated and released as Mayotte in 2006, but I was curious to know why Mahora was given such a short shelf life.

The opening flashes from a pleasant jasmine and citrus burst to a bitter green quite quickly. A milky/watery almond note then comes through with the tang of a sweet orange in the background. The almond note is quite yummy, actually, like fresh almonds in a bowl waiting to be crunched.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

As this settles in it changes quite rapidly in the first 15 minutes and the almond turns more marzipan. I suspect that my focus on almond during the first 15 minutes is because it is a note I’m sensitive to, so I’m noticing it more. The silage, however, makes me feel that I’m definitely wearing a Guerlain – it has that familiar edge , here mainly citrus and vanilla, with the vanilla becoming stronger during dry down.

The ylang ylang is a surprising punch at the half hour mark, and it’s presence drags the green notes back into the foreground again. The fabulous greenness continues to develop and at about 1 hour there is a specific damp indolic note which shoots up between the rest of the fragrance’s clouds of puffy citrus/vanilla. It is that of decaying tuberose, but nothing overly fetid and rotting, more like flowers which have simply been left too long in a vase and have passed their prime. It is distinctive but I don’t find it unpleasant, particularly because it is still surrounded by and supported in the fragrance overall.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Is this indole the reason for the fragrance’s demise? Perhaps. I haven’t had a chance to try Mayotte so I am not sure whether the note has been continued under a new name. I really that it gives the fragrance an unexpected edge. The indole does fade around the 3 hour mark and the dry down becomes a gorgeous warm skin scent, one that I’m perfectly happy to find on my skin as I snuggle down at the end of the day. So this one may not be so popular, but I’ll put my hand up and say that it’s OK!

Photo Donated Portia

Further reading: Smelly Thoughts and Perfume Posse
Now available in slightly different form at Guerlain called Mayotte in Les Parisiennes
Ebay also has some BARGAINS! but pretty soon they will be gone and Mahora will cost a fortune.
Surrender To Chance has Mayotte starting at $6/ml

Do you have an “unpopular” fragrance which you love? Would you take a stand, and speak up on its behalf in the face of dissidence?
Tina G xx

Fantasia de Fleurs by Henry Creed Third Generation for Creed 1862

January 18, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hiya Fumie friends,

A bottle I have long had in my possession, one of the earliest big ticket purchases I made, Creed’s Fantasia de Fleurs. I think I’ve told you before of my love for many things Austrian? Back in 1994-5 while I was living in London one of my childhood friends was in the Vienna Stat Opera Ballet. I would go to Vienna and visit him. These were in the days of the Ringstraße trams that were free and you just hopped on and off and they would take you around the inner precinct of Vienna. Even though there was not a lot of English in Vienna at the time it was totally easy for me to navigate and I felt incredibly safe at all times day & night.

Fantasia de Fleurs by Henry Creed III for Creed 1862

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Bulgarian rose, Florentine iris
Base: Ambergris infusion

The reason I went on about Austria at the top is because this wonderful fragrance, Fantasia de Fleurs, was created for Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary (or Sisi as she is known there) and I fell madly in love with her story when first in Vienna, seeking out all the places I could find from her biography and trying to piece together in my mind what her history could have been like. My mate was rehearsing and doing classes most days, we would hang in the nights unless he was performing, then I’d go see the show. It was cool.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

SO, when I found out that Sisi had a fragrance made for her I bought it unsniffed when there was an incredible sale on somewhere. BTW I do NOT think blind buying is a good idea.

I was SOOOO lucky that on first sniff I was wrapped in a super sweet, jammy rose that has other stuff buoying it up but really stays pretty gorgeously linear through its life, getting slightly more salty and animalic at the end which is also added to by my sweaty man skin. The opening has this great dryness, like a tea note that cuts through the sweetness, making the whole fragrance easy to wear and quite unisex.I am under no illusion that this is EXACTLY how Fantasia de Fleurs smelled in 1862, I am pretty sure we are smelling an updated version but it still is a big, blowsy, royal fragrance that has a sillage you could do waterski jumps on.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Through most of my time with Fantasia de Fleurs I have complained of its lack of longevity but recently I learned the trick. You need to wear it for a couple of hours and then do a light respritz. It brings fragrance life up to a ridiculous length, after doing this last night after my shower and then giving myself a blast in the morning i was still quite fragrant at 5pm this afternoon! That is awesome longevity for me.

So if you like the sweetest and most jammy roses, want to smell like an Empress and love the Creed bottles for ladies then Fantasia de Fleurs could be one to try. I am surprised at how much of my bottle has gone.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: I Smell Therefore I Am and EauMG
Peony Melbourne has $279/75ml with FREE Australian P&H
First In Fragrance has €155/75ml

Which Creed do you love or which fragrance that is aligned with a celeb or royal did you ever buy because of that affiliation alone?
Portia xx

GUCCI Eau de Parfum by Daniela (Roche) Andrier for GUCCI 2002

January 17, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Hey there Junkies,

You know those serendipitous moments? You’ve been searching for a long discontinued fragrance that someone sent you a sample of. Had you known it was discontinued you may have chosen not to try it and passed it along to a friend. One more freaking impossible lemming may send me to the poor house. Anyway, you’ve basically given up the search and one day you’re in a SALE, you look down and there it is….. All alone, lidless, friendless and looking kinda beat up. A just over half full 50ml TESTER.

I picked it up and walked over to the counter. There I proceeded to tell the story of this fabulous fragrance, how it was now long discontinued, they’d be getting no more stock, it was a sad but hopeless case to find it anywhere. Could I please buy the tester? Half the retail price? Are you mad? Look it’s been used and badly stored in light and the heat of a shop. How about a quarter of the retail? A third? SOLD!

GUCCI Eau de Parfum by Daniela (Roche) Andrier for GUCCI 2002

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange blossom, heliotrope
Heart: Caraway, iris, thyme
Base: Incense, leather, sandalwood, musk, vanilla, cedar essence

I Smell Therefore I Am gives these featured accords:
Top – orris, heliotrope, orange blossom, vanilla absolute
Heart – cistus, cumin, thyme
Base – patchouli, vanilla, deep musk

I put both these note lists here to show how arbitrary they are, yet both have pieces to the puzzle that are completely valid to me.

Daniela (Roche) Andrier is nose from well known fragrances like: Bottega Veneta Pour Homme, Tardes Carner Barcelona, Angélique Noire Guerlain, Marni, Prada Candy and Infusion d’Iris. That’s quite a roll call and only a fraction of her output.

That opening spritz! It reminds me of two of my favourite fragrances that see quite a bit of wear around here Oriza L Legrand Jardins d’Armide and Terry de Gunzberg Ombre Mercure. It’s a fabulously plastic/powdery iris/heliotrope/violet thing that my nose aches for, in a good way. All of them have white flowers as a raft to float the rest of the fragrance on too. Similar but different. Succulent and desirable GUCCI Eau De Parfum is not huge but it is insistent.

Photo Stolen Pixabay (searched for something succulent)

As we move from that fun opening GUCCI Eau de Parfum becomes happily lived in. Human/animal/fleshy but not skank really, more clean healthy flesh in the early afternoon. It doesn’t scream sexual tryst or workout, there’s no rankness. The seeds/herbs/roots are curiously sweet, quite inviting. Not bakery sweet but they have a burnished quality, like you are smelling them through lightly ambered glass. Yes as an analogy that is particularly clunky but that’s how my minds nose is seeing/smelling GUCCI Eau de Parfum.

There is something slightly sweltering about GUCCI Eau De Parfum, a let your hair down, relax and let go-ness about it that is very calming.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

I can absolutely see why Abigail finds patchouli in the base. Now that I’ve read it I can smell it clear as day, a very clean waxy patchouli surrounded by a very soft leather and vanilla with musks that I can smell softly playing back up. All through its life GUCCI Eau de Parfum is a sheer veil but fragrant, not something that will skunk those around you but a designer fragrance from the days when GUCCI knew how to make perfume.

This is how sexy you’ll feel wearing Gucci Eau De Parfum (My mate Brad Mc)

Further reading: I Smell Therefore I Am and Scented Salamander
eBay is selling around $100/30ml
Posh Peasant has samples starting at $4/ml

Did you ever spend time with GUCCI Eau de Parfum? Do you have any other favourites from the house?
Portia xx

Woodcut GIVEAWAY WINNERS

January 17, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 3 Comments

Heya APJ Crew,

Another sensational GIVEAWAY comes to a close. Thanks to Azar and Ellen Covey. Do go and check out the wonderful stuff for sale at Olympic Orchids, you’ll be glad you did.
Portia xx

Woodcut GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Photo Stolen Olympic Orchids

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 Winners who will each get:
1 x 1ml sample of Woodcut by Olympic Orchids
2 x additional decants of “woody” fragrances from Azar’s collection
P&H to the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

Open to everyone in the world 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

Leave a comment about the new Woodcut fragrance or name your favorite tree or wood smell.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Olympic Orchids Perfume GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3vv #Perfume #Giveaway @EllenCovey1

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Thursday 8th January 2015 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by pulling names from a sunhat (maybe)
The old sunhat was getting pretty ratty looking. As sunhats don’t sell well in the winter around here I was able to fund a nice new one for a really cheap price.

The Woodcut winners names were drawn from my spiffy new hat! And the winners are:

Robert Hermann

Jaybee

The winners will have till Sunday 11th January 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.

Azar xx

George by Anais Biguine for Jardins d'Ecrivains 2012

January 14, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by Trésor

There are few aromas which bring me quite the same sense of ease and incredible comfort as that of the orange blossom. The diaphanous white floral glow that radiates from these precious petals seems to convey a dream sequence of softness, delicate femininity and and that inimitable eau de cologne chic. Yet in the throes of all of this beauty I am still left with one desire unsatiated, the desire and carnal yearning for something subversive; something incendiary and of the night. I’d wondered for quite some time if it would be possible to find an orange blossom who’s calyxes oozed forth wicked elixir and one lucky day, entirely by chance, I found exactly what I was looking for. I found George.

George by Anais Biguine for Jardins d’Ecrivains 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Neroli, bergamot, heliotrope, coffee, tobacco, peru balsam, musk, myrrh

George opens on the skin with a hyper-realized vision or orange blossoms, ablaze in hues of searing titian and rust. The petals are bleeding with menthol and wrapped carefully within a swathe of rich leather. As the orange blossom begins to settle into the skin the leather takes a more dominant role and becomes adorned with the powdery inflorescence of heliotrope. This moment in particular is the line where George teeters the line of modesty and filth so beautifully. The balsam of Peru which was but a hologram beneath the surface is now cascading forth in its hue of moonlit umber. The balsam is so extraordinarily rich and dense with enveloping aroma that for a period it is all I can smell. As the weight begins to lift I can smell the luxuriant vapours of spectacular honeyed tobacco. This stage is divinity, absolute and beyond words. The camphorous whisper from the previous synapse remains, adding a faint emerald scintillation to the warm and redolent base. It truly is a most comforting and also rather sexy olfactory sensation. As the final stages of the dry down take their descent you are left with the gossamer aura of a dancing and delicious, resinous myrrh-y skinscent. It softly hovers above the skin until it finally fades into nothing at all.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

I get an incredibly good wear out of George, garnering about 10 hours before it finally disappears entirely. The sillage one my skin is rather strong but I don’t find it overpowering whatsoever. It’s simply dense but not necessarily loud. I think if you’re a fan of either orange blossom, leather inflected or balsamic fragrances I wouldn’t hesitate to give George a go. It truly is a brilliant brew.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Further reading: Now Smell This and The Non Blonde
Beauty Habit has $110/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3.25/ml

I hope that you like it as much as I have!

Trésor xx

Woodcut by Ellen Covey for Olympic Orchids 2014

January 12, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 60 Comments

Post by Azar

Hello APJ,

Happy New Year – and I am ready for it! There have been too many changes in 2014. This time last year I was dealing with emotional trauma associated with the destruction of the small forest behind our home in Issaquah, WA, “Tree City USA”. The smell of sap and tree blood was almost toxic, the whole experience brutal. After the trees were ripped out and hauled away, a monstrosity of a house was erected not far from our lot line. In an effort to mitigate the view of our neighbors’ kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms we installed 150 feet of cedar fencing, several varieties of timber bamboo, 20 cedar saplings, prayer flags and a large polycarb greenhouse. It will be several years before the bamboo and cedars obscure the up-slope action, but eventually we hope that we will no longer be a part of our neighbors’ intimate daily lives. In the meantime we have been enjoying our greenhouse and looking for peaceful retreats away from the fishbowl that is our home.

Photo Donated Azar

On December 29th Ellen Covey, her husband Michael Clune, Brad and I set out over the Puget Sound to visit Troy Meyers Orchid Conservatory near Poulsbo, WA. The conservatory, residence, greenhouse, shops and guesthouse are located on several acres of beautiful cedars, hemlocks and Douglas firs. When we arrived at our destination an all too familiar smell assaulted my nose…sawn wood and tree sap! Initially I was stunned, but when I took a closer look I could see that our host had very carefully and selectively cut a few trees in order to manage the forest, preserve the buildings and allow the solar panels to continue generating electricity. This well considered stewardship of the land was a far cry from what had happened behind our home in late 2013. Visiting Troy Meyers Orchid Conservatory, staying in the lovely guest cottage and seeing how Troy and his wife Phyllis managed their sustainable and self sufficient life style was the perfect and positive ending to a year dominated by the life, death and smell of trees.

Speaking of the smell of trees: 2014 also saw the launch of Ellen Covey’s new fragrance Woodcut.

Woodcut by Ellen Covey for Olympic Orchids 2014

Photo Stolen Olympic Orchids

Woodcut was released late last year and has already made it to the Cafleurebon “Best of 2014” list. The name Woodcut describes the fragrance perfectly.

My first impression of Woodcut was of a bracing, outdoor cedar board scent associated with new fences and carpentry. For me this introduction lasted, at the most, five minutes. There was no gradual transition to the next phase but simply an immediate and sudden shift to a dense and heavy sap, recalling the brooding woodcuts of American artists Leonard Baskin and Edward Gorey. Within 10 minutes or so Woodcut shifted again and a completely different personality appeared. Sugar, caramel, and vanilla surrounded the resinous balsam and created a cozy and comforting perfume that lasted for many hours. Woodcut is perhaps the first fragrance I have experienced that manifests such distinctly different and delineated personalities. The bracing cedar, the dark sap and the caramelized resin do not evolve from one to another but simply change in an instant.

Photo stolen lavanyasrecipes

Woodcut GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 2 Winners who will each get:
1 x 1ml sample of Woodcut by Olympic Orchids
2 x additional decants of “woody” fragrances from Azar’s collection
P&H to the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Leave a comment about the new Woodcut fragrance or name your favorite tree or wood smell.

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Olympic Orchids Perfume GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-3vv #Perfume #Giveaway @EllenCovey1

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 8th January 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by pulling names from a sunhat (maybe)
The winners will have till Sunday 11th January 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.

Azar xx

Amouage Library Collection: Opus IV by Jacques Flori for Amouage 2010

January 11, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Post by Sister Mary Magdalen, Patron Saint of Perfumers

Peace APJ,

Tis the season: for the upward curl of incense, for journeys and visitors from afar, for the exchange of gifts, peak season no vacancies and the occasional unplanned pregnancy. Whatever is going on at your place I hope it’s fragrant. It certainly is here with the sisters. Both a busy and reflective time of year, the cloisters are shrouded from matins to vespers with billowing frankincense. What better to focus my meditations in this holy time than Amouage Library Collection Opus IV.

Amouage Library Collection: Opus IV by Jacques Flori for Amouage 2010

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, grapefruit, amalfi lemon, mandarin orange
Heart: Cardamom, caraway, elemi, rose, rosehip, violet
Base: Incense, French labdanum, musk

This was unknown to me until a generous benefactor aware of my love of resinous fragrances bestowed a small sample upon me.

Immediately I understood I was no longer in the mystical cool veil of an ecclesiastical resin, this fragrance is an immediate jumble of sweetness, citrus oils and spices, as though the scent of someone’s pre-dinner lime cordial has lingered through until the arrival of pudding. And what a pudding! Laden with cinnamon and clove brandied fruits, boozy sweet and rich. The feasting is most certainly wrapped around by the scent of a piney Tannenbaum.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Then, like a miracle, incense rises. It is a smoky, earthy olibanum as though from the burning of darker, lower grade tears that can give almost a urinous aroma. Wonderful stuff, it gathers strength and becomes the soul of the scent.

The other elements remain and mellow joined by rose and labdanum in becoming the harmonious choir to this soloist, a warm and sonorous tenor.

I am a humble woman of modest good works, and I confess I feel somewhat of an imposter wearing this as it smells like the sweat of a hardworking angel on my skin.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Now I read that the aim of the Library Collection is to “defy categorisation, transcend gender, and allow the wearer to create their own unique narrative”. Oh, that’s just what happened, isn’t it?

Opus IV pulsed off my skin for half the day and received several favourable comments, so the sillage is admirable. Some may find it too intimate or distracting for professional settings, but I found it easy and comfortable to wear.

Photo Stolen GTArcade (Problem using image please get in touch)

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and The Non Blonde
LuckyScent has $355/100ml
Surrender To chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml

Pray tell, ye faithful, what books have you taken from the Amouage Library? Is there more I should know?

My fond prayer is that you have all rested well and can greet this new year refreshed and reinspired.

Sister Mary Magdalen, Patron Saint of Perfumers

Cadjmere by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale 2007

January 10, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Hello Frag Family,

It was very early in 2014 and Michael & I were traveling through Europe, first stop Vienna in Austria where we met up with Birgit and Sandra of Olfactoria’s Travels and Val the Cookie Queen who writes both for OT and APJ. Vienna is its most beautiful in winter but sadly 2014 was not so cold as previous years and there was almost no snow, to make up for that loss we did get loads of rain which meant the city was greener than I’d ever seen it while maintaining its bare branches on the trees. Basically, though we were there in winter it felt like we had arrived in spring, a very pleasant way to see Vienna especially for Michael’s first glimpse of Europe.

Of course, what is it that perfumistas do when they are in a new city? We shopped fragrances! I did a fair spend at the CHANEL store there and a couple of vintage finds in the smaller, niche hole in the wall stores that Vienna seems to have an abundance of yet also these places seem to have stock from 60 years ago too.

Cadjmere by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale 2007

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Myrtle, cypress, Brazilian rosewood, blood mandarin, vanilla, sandalwood, coconut milk, amber

Amber, vanilla and something green burst off my skin as soon as I spritz Cadjmere. They turn almost immediately to this weird, funky almost nasty curdled green leafy milk. It’s interesting, intriguing and awkward: LOVING IT! The notes really aren’t correlating to what I am smelling, what I get here in my head is a bakery in a plant nursery and lumberyard that’s in turn right next to a tip. There’s something of that compost sweetness, rotting vegetation and plastic. Ha ha ha ha! I have just read back what I wrote. OMG! I make it sound dreadful but it’s not.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Pierre Guillaume has a way with fragrance and often combines beautiful sweet notes, comfortable and comforting notes with something dark, less desirable. What then happens for me is that I will happily smell the sweetness and every so often I will be surprised by an off kilter piece of the puzzle that will draw me in again, searching for it.

Into the heart of Cadjmere I find most of the sharp edges rounded nicely and we are in sweet woods territory, I don’t know if Pierre Guillaume was using Australian sandalwood or a chemical sandalwood but it has some of the lovely eucalyptus menthol hints that the Australian one displays (or it could be some of the greenery). I don’t know and am often getting stuff wrong note wise, it doesn’t matter.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

What does matter is that Cadjmere is ridiculously gorgeous, a totally beautiful fragrance that will warm the cockles of your heart and give you comfort if you are low. Later on I get a fabulously animal fur and resins mingling with the woods, glorious.

Longevity is above average and for the first couple of hours sillage is moderate, you are fragrant without skunking, after that Cadjmere hums along quietly for hours and hours. If you spray your clothes they will still smell fabulous next day MMMM MMMMMM!

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and The Non Blonde
I was given my sample at Le Parfum in Vienna, Austria
First In Fragrance have €95/50ml
Surrender To Chance have samples starting at $5/ml

Have you tried or bought Cadjmere? Are you a Pierre Guillaume fan? Do you have a favourite?
Portia xx

Versace Blonde by Nathalie Feisthauer for Versace 1995

January 9, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Hi there Sniffa Crew,

Today we are going back to 1995. It was a particularly good year for me, I was finishing up my time in London (which was totally incredible in itself) and coming home to Sydney in time for Christmas with the family. I cannot tell you how excited I was. HOME!

Anyway, we got this fragrance in Australia in time for Christmas but I think we might have had it for Christmas 1996 because I was working as a drag hostess at one of our clubs and we had to give out samples of Versace Dreamer and A’Men by Mugler on the same night. The whole club smelt incredible with everyone dousing themselves in fragrance and the night was a huge success, one of my favourite nights ever. Though it took me years to stop retching whenever someone was wearing A’Men because right at the end of the night someone Guerrilla spritzed me and it went in my mouth, not nice and the scent seemed to stick in my nostrils for about 3 days.

This is a vintage frag but you can still get your hands on a bottle of extrait/parfum for very reasonable prices

Versace Blonde by Nathalie Feisthauer for Versace 1995

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

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

Perfumer Nathalie Feisthauer has worked on a few frags that you’ve definitely heard of: Hermes Eau des Merveilles, VC&A Collection Extraordinaire Gardenia Petale, ELdO Putain des Palaces and Delicious Closet Queen as well as Must de Cartier Pour Homme. This is just a very small portion of her output.

How does Blonde wear on me? Well it opens green and sappy with a photorealistic (but clean) gardenia that’s sweet, green like bulb flower stems, creamy and the whole experience in the first 5-10 minutes is one of enormous presence. It’s not mentioned but I get a mild galbanum feeling through the opening too. HUGE! Outrageously gorgeous white flowers lightly framed by the citrus.

The opening of the extrait is sweeter and fruitier, very canned peachy.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

No need to fear, Blonde doesn’t stay at these nuclear sizes for long. 15 minutes in and though you are still quite fragrant the power has been turned down considerably and my head can think of other things. Here is where Blonde is really beautiful and wearable. The heady mix of white and yellow flowers are kept crisp by the carnation and already some of the resins make their way in to give depth and breadth. Then Blonde stays pretty much the same for a few hours getting more lived in and raunchy, up to 5 on a really good day, and slowly the whole fragrance goes from that very sensual animalic base as it fades leaving a very soft wash of nothing pickable to nothing at all.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies
FragranceNet has $40/15ml extrait (I prefer to decant and spritz)
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml extrait

In 2013 I did a LIVE Video Sniff with Blonde, it kinda captures the feeling of the fragrance better than mere words on screen can. Please be ready to hear the word bombastic about 300 times though.

Thanks for wandering through my thoughts on one of my all time favourite fragrances.
Do you have a discontinued fave that you’ve hoarded a few bottles of?
Portia xx

L’Incendiaire by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2014

January 5, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Post by Tina G

Lying in the palm of my hand; a small vial of dark-golden intriguing mystery. There are few reviews, and fewer notes lists for me to get a pre-conceived impression of what I may experience on opening, so the next step is obvious – there is a little bubble of liquid here that simply needs to be on some skin.

L’Incendiaire by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2014

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

A moderate swipe of L’Incendiaire releases a resinous incense with dry wooden undertones. It is loud, silage has a massive kick initially but there is also something elusive about the scent that soon makes me want a few more swipes, so I do. This brings the woods to the foreground, and the incense/resin/wood combination is not dissimilar to those I’ve come across in other fragrances. This changes in the first half hour though…

Photo Stolen Flickr

From this initial dry opening, things start to get darker. I’ve stepped out of an autumnal field onto a path which heads into the dark forest. There is a damp sweetness. I can smell thick heavy treacle and the over-ripeness of slightly decayed wind-fallen plumbs. The oudh note gives a hint of animals out of sight in the undergrowth. The wood notes are wet, like fallen logs covered in leaves. The fragrance has a physical coolness through a menthol note which gets stronger during the first hour, which becomes a cold sensitive spot on my arm like the heat is being extracted from my skin.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

After the first hour, the mentholated sensation spreads into an overall greenness. There is also a smoky note like clean fresh cigarette ash. Strangely, the damp wood smell feels like it has dried out – the decaying wood from the forest floor has found the sun once more and the rotting has been abated temporarily.

Longevity for this parfum is good, 8+ hours, although it does become stale after that time on my skin. The silage is interesting – I mentioned above that my first swipe was followed up with a few more as I found L’Incendiaire elusive, but it is more than that – it is fragmented. It sits neatly on the skin, but it doesn’t project so much as ‘waft’, dancing around, influenced by movement and breezes. Testing L’Incendiaire I found it consistently has three stages but the amount of application can race them through. Larger applications brings the oudh into play in the first 10 minutes. I quite enjoyed a slower story though, so even if the silage twists and turns in its playfulness, I’d recommend the less is more approach.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Perfume Posse and Colognoisseur
Barney’s New York has $600/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $8/.25ml

Will you be trying L`Incendiaire by Serge Lutens?

Tina G

Australian Perfume Junkies

Olfactory Opinions from Oz

Samples

Mahora by Jean-Paul Guerlain for Guerlain 2000

Mahora by Jean-Paul Guerlain for Guerlain 2000

Fantasia de Fleurs by Henry Creed Third Generation for Creed 1862

Fantasia de Fleurs by Henry Creed III for Creed 1862

GUCCI Eau de Parfum by Daniela (Roche) Andrier for GUCCI 2002

GUCCI Eau de Parfum by Daniela (Roche) Andrier for GUCCI 2002

Woodcut GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Woodcut GIVEAWAY WINNERS

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

HOW DID YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING

Robert Hermann

Jaybee

George by Anais Biguine for Jardins d'Ecrivains 2012

George by Anais Biguine for Jardins d’Ecrivains 2012

Woodcut by Ellen Covey for Olympic Orchids 2014

Woodcut by Ellen Covey for Olympic Orchids 2014

Woodcut GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

HOW DO YOU WIN?

HOUSEKEEPING

Amouage Library Collection: Opus IV by Jacques Flori for Amouage 2010

Amouage Library Collection: Opus IV by Jacques Flori for Amouage 2010

Cadjmere by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale 2007

Cadjmere by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale 2007

Versace Blonde by Nathalie Feisthauer for Versace 1995

Versace Blonde by Nathalie Feisthauer for Versace 1995

L’Incendiaire by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2014

L’Incendiaire by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens 2014