shopping

DIOR: Miss Dior Infintity Mini Movie: Le Parfum

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Hiya Gang,

Here we have another beautiful fragrance ad. DIOR has taken the simplest concept and made it spectacular, of course. Though I’m not a huge fan of Miss Dior it is a worldwide hit and has an enormous following. Here also are Australian Perfume Junkies Mini Review and Natalie Portman Ad and Miss Dior: The Floral Waltz Mini Movie

Miss Dior Infintity Mini Movie: Le Parfum

Miss Dior EdP new FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Italian mandarin
Heart: Egyptian jasmine absolute and rose
Base: patchouli and musk

christian-dior-huntlogoPhoto Stolen huntlogo

Whether or not you love the fragrance the Mini Movies are always worth watching.

Please enjoy Miss Dior Infinity: Le Parfum
Portia xx

Tom Ford: Meet-Up with Matthew Tyler: International Director of Tom Ford Beauty

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Post by Ainslie Walker

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Tom Ford Fragrances with Matthew Tyler – International Director of Tom Ford Beauty

Organized by Catherine Du Peloux Manage of Sydney Perfume Lovers

Hi APJ, Ever wondered what a Meet Up group is like? Me too and I wanted to see how the Sydney Perfume Lovers group worked. Arriving at the ground floor of David Jones, met with Moet and sat at a glamorous oval marble table, by the gorgeous ladies of Tom Ford, is my kind of Thursday evening! And this was just the start…

If anyone has seen Tom Ford, his every movement is considered, every last detail of his attire-perfection, his hair immaculate…poised, elegant, sexy. An ICON. One who has dared to, with confidence, define his own style of fashion, film, cosmetics and of course fragrance.

The apothecary bottles surrounded us, with their 23 carat gold labels gleaming at us, sophisticated and intriguing.

Matthew arrived, and was introduced by Catherine. He looked sharp, manicured, perfectly dressed head to toe in Tom Ford!

Tom Ford Meet Up #1

We were given an insight into Tom Ford – the man. The designer, originally a trained architect, has extreme passion for detail, quality and perfection. (Watch the film he directed, A Single Man). Tom Ford is a leader and master in fashion and even with his perfumes and cosmetics, he makes no mistakes. Matthew pointed out, Tom Ford tried every shade of every lipstick and eye shadow before he approved them for sale!! (Unfortunately no photo’s available…!)

Onto the fragrances, not surprisingly each is a showstopper and even it’s packaging feels exquisite. These fragrances are for the discerning, the stylish and the bold. Somehow Tom Ford is able to bridge a gap back to the strength and glamour of fragrances from a bygone era. He is acclaimed for being the first to bring Oudh to the masses, where it has stayed at the top of his best sellers.

Tom Ford Meet Up #2

The Private Blend range are unique, being constructed as single heart notes, wrapped in secondary notes. The traditional top/heart/base note structure ignored. Only rare and precious ingredients are used.

Out came the Tom Ford ladies with their sparkling white trays, sample cards all lined up and given out.
Neroli Portofino: transporting us to the coast of Italy’s Riviera, including visually, the azure bottle.
Jasmine Roug: so voluptuous and sensuous, made with Jasmine Sambac Absolute and presented in a red glass bottle to signifying confidence and seduction of the potential wearer.
Oudh Wood: Rare, distinctive and exotic…a blast from the Middle East.

Tom Ford Meet Up #5

We learnt part of the private blend range is The Jardin Noir collection, inspired by the dark elicit pleasures experienced in a garden at night. (OH MY!).
Café Rose: the best selling “whore of the range” (Matthew Tyler said “for the lady who is always available for men’s darkest desires”…!)
Ombre de Hyacinth: floral, green, moist and dark, the shadows of a regal garden.

Tom Ford Meet Up #6

The Signature Collection is distinctive yet mainstream.
Black Orchid: containing all things black. Black truffle, fig, plum, blackcurrant and orchid. Its unfolding smell, go on and on, down into a deep black, milky, gourmand accord!
Violet Blonde: exuding old school Hollywood glamour.
Sahara Noir: encapsulates smoldering smoky frankincense, burning on an alter.
Grey Vetiver: traditionally masculine but loved by all the meet up on this evening, with Catherine picking up the nutmeg hidden in the blend.
Noir: which is the most personal to Tom Ford, designed to mirror the duality of his public and private personalities. Its crisp bergamot and verbena citrus top notes, pepper, nutmeg and patchouli middle, eventually giving way to a warm leathery vanilla dry down.

Tom Ford Meet Up #3

Before we disappeared into the night we were given generous goody bags with 5 x 2ml samples.

If you are in Sydney and would like to participate in these wonderful events, no perfume knowledge needed just a love of fragrance in all forms, Meet Up Sydney Perfume Lovers<<< JUMP

Big thanks to Catherine! (Ed: Who also supplied all the photos)

Ainslie Walker xxx

CQ`S Cooking Tips #3: Hommus + Pesto

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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Cookie Queen’s Infrequent Cooking Tips No 3

Hommus + Pesto

Hungry APJs? I greet you.

I am expecting five visitors from England and have been running round like a chipmunk on speed.

Chipmunk Running SeagullStevePhoto Stolen SeagullSteve

Turning my 20 year old bodybuilding, XBox playing son`s bedroom into a room for an 8 year old girl to have for a week. No mean feat I can tell you. Changing my teenage girl´s room into a small haven for the mum and dad I was stunned to find that there was actually a carpet on her floor. I had forgotten she had one. Two young lads coming along too, but I have bunged them in the attic. Washing, cleaning and of course cooking!!
Yay!! I can do that. Fast. Simple and bloody good. If I do say so myself.
It goes without saying that I baked a few cookies in the morning, and no, I will never share the recipes for them.

Since it is still warm here, and our southern hemisphere friends are getting ready for summer, I have made hummus and a batch of pesto, perfect summer food.

HUMMUS (Hommus for Aussies)

Hommus ExclusivelyFoodPhoto Stolen ExclusivelyFood

Soak about half a kilo of chickpeas for a few hours or overnight.
Cook them for about 50 minutes in the pressure cooker. Turn off and leave to cool down.
I then swirl them around in the water, lightly running them through my fingers, to remove the skins.
Pour the skins and water away. Keep doing it until most or all of the skin is gone. It really does make a difference to
the end result.

So now ……..
About 4 cups of cooked chickpeas
1 cup of tahini (sesame paste)
Juice of 2 or 3 lemons
A hefty amount of finely chopped garlic
A decent amount of salt
7 tablespoons of iced water

Put the chickpeas into a food processor. Process until mashed up.
Add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Process some more.
Drizzle in the iced water, and then process/puree for 3 or 4 minutes.

Job done. (You can do the whole lot with a fork if you don´t have a mixer. It will just be coarser.)

Put into a nice serving bowl, drizzle with olive oil and decorate with whatever – chilies, parsley, cracked black pepper.

DO NOT ADD OIL WHEN MAKING THE HUMMUS ………. that is a western practice.

Serve with nice bread, raw vegetables, whatever. This is so good you will never buy it again. You can use canned chickpeas of course,
but cooking your own has the edge.

So that´s supper out the way.

BASIL PESTO

Pesto Ingredients ThePleasuresOfThePalatePhoto Stolen ThePleasuresOfThePalate

Rinse out your food processor and make the pesto now. Please don´t buy pesto from the store. Ugh.

Around 2 cups of chopped basil
Maybe about half a cup of pine nuts
Half a cup of grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Crushed garlic to taste (anything fro 1 – 6 cloves!!)
Salt
Olive oil
Fresh squeezed half a lemon, maybe a little zest if you fancy

lemons-1.jpg
http://bluebutterfliesandme.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/75/

Put everything into the processor except the oil and lemon juice.
Process away, scraping down the sides.
Then drizzle the olive oil in until you have whatever consistency you like – hard to say how much, half a cup, more??
Add the lemon juice right at the end. It literally brightens it, and freshens it up. Beautifully. And fragrantly.

Put it into a jar, sealing it with a layer of olive oil.

Cook up a pot of linguine or spaghetti. Drain. Put a huge dollop of pesto into the bottom of a nice
serving bowl and put the noodles on top. Mix in well. Maybe grate some extra Parmesan on top.
Done. Serve with a large plate of sliced tomatoes and some goat´s cheese. Lunch is served.
There will be pesto leftover. Put it into a jar, and seal it with a layer of olive oil to keep it fresh.
Keeps for a while.

I suggest that when working with this much garlic, that you don´t apply any perfume until you have
finished and showered!! You all know what I think of perfume and garlic.

Let me know how you like it.

Bussis
CQ

Champaca Absolute by Tom Ford 2009

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Post by Gabriella

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Hello fragrant friends!

Well, we’ve been very lucky here in Sydney. It’s supposed to still be winter but we’ve had gloriously warm weather with some days reaching the mid-20 celsius level. As a result, some of my favourite winter perfumes have sadly been neglected and my big white florals that I save for the warmer months have been getting a good workout. Because of this I have been looking for something new for the summer months, something that still falls within the white floral category but has something that is just that little bit different.

Champaca Absolute by Tom Ford 2009

Champaca Absolute Tom Ford FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accordfs:
Top: Cognac, bergamot, dyer’s greenweed
Heart: Champaca, orchid, violet, jasmine
Base: Vanilla, amber, sandalwood, marron glace

My search led me to Tom Ford’s Champaca Absolute. I thought it would be the perfect choice as I already love Tom Ford’s grandiose aesthetic and adore his Black Orchid and Velvet Gardenia. Reading reviews, I was expecting a full-blown diva of a scent akin to the others. Champaca Absolute opens with a big blast of sweet booziness which quickly recedes before the bergamot and champaca come out to play. The citrus tempers the sweetness of the champaca and lends a joyous feel to the composition. One pictures the regal blooms of magnolia petals warmed by spring’s first rays of golden sunshine; their petals creamy but haughty, holding their poise within the liquid warmth and sprays of dust motes in the air.

Champaca Absolute Tom Ford Magnolia Tree Allen McGregor FlickrPhoto Stolen Allen McGregor Flickr

About half an hour in, the jasmine comes to the fore, further sweetening the composition. It is at this point where the perfume becomes lush, heady and vibrant. Despite the sweetness and fullness, Champaca Absolute still remains supremely elegant. It is very much a ladylike perfume and wouldn’t be out of place with a grey cashmere twinset and pearls.

The drydown, on my skin is still champaca, but with just a dab of vanilla. It quietens down quite considerably and I really don’t get the rich gourmand facets that many others speak of.

What I love most about Champaca Absolute is a sense of nostalgia. It takes me back to being eight years old, in my grandmother’s bathroom in England. It was my first trip overseas and it was a big adventure. She has lots of gorgeous bath and body products that I adored to sniff and explore and each morning, after her bath, I’d go in to wash my hands before going out for the day and the humid air would be filled with the most gloriously bright floral scent; a melange of my grandmother’s bath gel and dusting powder. Champaca Absolute is that smell to me.

Champaca Absolute Tom Ford purple bathroom betterhomeandgardenPhoto Stolen betterhomeandgarden

My only disappointment is that it’s not as loud or diva-esque as I’d expected. It wears extremely close to my skin and I want just that little bit more sillage and oomph. Perhaps it will when the mercury gets a bit higher. I expect hot flesh will give me that vava voom I so crave. If that happens, Champaca Absolute will be perfection.

Further reading: Perfume Smellin’ Things and Bois de Jasmin.
Champaca Absolute is available at David Jones in Australia $290/50ml (Most big city department stores with an Estee Lauder counter)
Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml.

Have you tried Champaca Absolute? What are your favourite Tom Ford fragrances?

With much love till next time,
M

Girlfriend by Justin Bieber 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 20 Comments

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Post by Katrina

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Hi APJ,

I really like this perfume. I wore it a lot last summer when it seemed like the perfect summer fragrance. But now in winter, wearing it for this review I’ve found that I enjoy wearing it all year round.

Girlfriend by Justin Bieber 2012

Girlfriend Justin Bieber FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: mandarin, blackberry, pear and strawberry.
Heart: pink freesia, star jasmine, apricot and orange blossom
Base: vanilla orchid, luminous musk and white amber

Justin Bieber won big this year taking out US Fifi Awards in 2 categories. Justin Bieber’s Girlfriend, the second fragrance from the Biebster, won both ‘Fragrance of the Year – Women’s Popular’ and ‘Consumer Choice – Women’s’ categories.

Girlfriend Justin Bieber WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

The packaging for this perfume is fun and playful. The cross section of the purple bottle is heart shaped and it slots into a colourful canister that reminds me of a slinky. Fun! Taking the bottle out to spray makes me feel just a little happier.

The perfume starts fresh and fruity with citrus and crisp pear. Girlfriend is sweet but not overly. As the perfume evolves the floral notes come out and the fruit changes to what smells like honeydew melon to me, although it should be apricot based on the fragrance notes listed. The base notes of the fragrance are quite soft and the fresh sweetness stays until the end.

Girlfriend Justin Bieber milagrosschmidt DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Further reading: EauDeLucy and AccentGirl100
Fragrance Shop has from $26/30ml
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

Which other celebrity perfumes won awards this year? Check out my Celebrity Perfume Website to find out.

Have any of you APJ readers tried Girlfriend? If not I challenge you to give it a try!

Katrina xx

ED: I added the Beaty & The Beat video because I think it’s SUPER FUN!

Womanity by Alexis Dadier and Mane for Thierry Mugler 2010

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Hey Hey APJ Friends and Family,

Are you ever too freaked out by a bottle, fragrance name or even advertising to go near it? For years now I have steered clear of today’s fragrance because the name felt like such an obvious Drag Queen thing. It’s like Thierry and his crew were delving for drag expression, rather than feminine power or woman as equals or even the power of woman. Let’s put some ripe fig that when cut looks like a woman’s vagina “Snicker, snicker”, lets put some fishy caviar in “snicker, snicker” and lets call it the most beyond UBER womanly word we can invent “Snicker, snicker” and the Drag Queens will love it. HA HA HA HA!! Back slapping and belly laughs all round.

That was how I had envisaged the creation of

Womanity by Thierry Mugler 2010

Womanity Thierry Mugler FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Fig fruit, caviar, fig leaf, fig wood

Why then am I writing about Womanity? What changed? Well mainly I changed. I had had a couple of decants and run through them in no time, ashamedly, then it was there in the store day before yesterday as a tester and I spritzed it like crazy. I thought, “In for a penny, in for a pound!” This is day two surrounded by its rich figgy/saline goodness, its rich sweetness cut through with wood and salt that is so beautiful and dramatic because I went back today and bought a bottle. Womanity is an elegant and fun fragrance that is exactly as two faced as we all are, light/dark, strong/weak, sweet/savoury, good/bad. All the parts that go to make us up seem to be reflected in the very short Womanity story that lasts forever. I can’t remember such staying power in a fragrance and so linear that I woke up this morning, after spritzing in the afternoon and having a bath before bed, still smelling of Womanity. Extraordinary!!

Womanity Thierry Mugler PaperBlogPhoto Stolen PaperBlog

How does it make me feel? It feels like a second skin actually. A beautiful, magical, alluring and enchanting second skin. After about 10 hours my own sweaty smell comes through and makes it a thorough skank fest, deliciously and naughtily unkempt. In fact I smell like morning me plus salty fig. Disgusting but oddly compelling, Jin thinks I smell FAN TAS TIC! I smell salty/briny and sweet fig jam with a woodsy whisper and sweaty bloke. I would love to smell how Womanity worked on a male athlete, I would love it even more if it was called something else. Candy Perfume Boy says, “‘Womanity’ is intended to be a portmanteau of the words ‘Woman’ and ‘Community’” which kind of clarifies the thinking and gets me at dead wrong but I still think it’s dumb.

Further reading: The Candy Perfume Boy and Perfume Shrine
FragranceNet starts at around $12/10ml and has $31/50ml before coupon
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

Were you scared off by Womanity or did you love it from day 1?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

 

Sushi Imperiale by Enzo Galardi for Bois 1920 2005

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Hello Niche Nerds

Are you ever captivated by a fragrances name? So much so that you jump online and order a sample or decant without even reading about it? That is what happened with today’s fragrance,

Sushi Imperiale by Bois 1920 2005

Sushi Imperiale FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, mandarin orange and lemon
Heart: Pepper, nutmeg, jasmine, rose, star anise and cinnamon
Base: Sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, tonka bean and Madagascar vanilla.

Now that I have my sample I’ve been doing some reading up as I’m wearing it and Sushi Imperiale is quite a divisive fragrance. There are lovers and haters but there is also a section of the fragrance community that calls it an Opium Pour Homme rehash. I have worn it a couple of times now with great enjoyment but I think I’d like to go and educate myself about how Opium Pour Homme smells before I go any further, I only have a flanker here so I will go to the mall and spritz both frags together.

Sushi Imperial Frenchtoast WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

(I started writing this post months ago but when I put my decant away it got lost and even now I can’t find it so I waited for a split to come up and it just arrived, so resuming transmission)

It must smell like vintage Opium Pour Homme because this is 100% fuller, richer and sweeter than it’s YSL would be doppelgänger. The pepper/anise/nutmeg/cinnamon are all present right from the sizzling citrus intro on my skin and they are fiery sweet like first sizzle of Cajun French toast in the pan, yes there is even a doughy hint (even a little bit of that gorgeous puppy feet accord). I also detect a greenness that may be the patchouli coming through early or some unnamed interloper, maybe a mint: and a boozy note. There is a lot of “this is so boring” reviews but I find Sushi Imperiale to be warm, fun and interesting. Different enough from its contemporaries and cuddly enough to snuggle into and lose yourself, I haven’t tried it on Jin but something tells me he will smell beyond incredible in it.

Imperial Sushi Assortment_of_sushi WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

You’d think there’d be a vinegar/sugar/clean-raw-fish/rice cooking smell here but no, another misnomer victim. I love it when TSO Jin is preparing the rice for sushi or nori rolls because the smell pervades the house from living to sleeping and sometimes even into the garden. It’s a sweet, milky, grainy smell that I have never smelled replicated, even in the fragrances that purport to be like it.

The dry down is such a soft human smell, I think the vanilla, tonka and patchouli are what I’m getting? At about 6 hours the fragrance is really a very dilute wash barely more than making my skin ever so slightly nicer than normal but not really a scent, the thought of a scent, the memory of fragrance.

Sushi Imperial Puppy Paws Bill Selak FlickrPhoto Stolen Bill Selak Flickr

Further reading EauMG and ChickenfreaksObsessions
Parfums Raffy $180/100ml and they send worldwide for $17
SurrenderToChance starts $3/ml

Did you try it? Love it? Hate it? Did you feel it less than its niche flag would suggest?

Till tomorrow lovelies,
Portia xx

Vetiver Tonka by Jean Claude Ellena for Hermès 2004

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Hello Fellow Fumies,

I don’t know what’s going on lately but it looks like vetiver has overtaken my big white flowers as favourite note. This was unintentional, surprising and I hope it doesn’t mean my love for the BWF is dying. Also, I’ve been doing some reading, always a dangerous course for the half educated like myself, and it turns out that vetiver is becoming the plant de jour around the world for a number of things other than perfume. There are 2 types of non invasive, clumping vetiver that are being used world wide for their ability to leech the toxins from soil and water, they are also excellent for stabilising erosion, holding banks/mountains in place and creating sea walls. This is only the tip of the iceberg I feel and will be interested to see it used in the future for self-sufficient-household sanitation and water cleansing.

Hermessence Vetiver Tonka by Hermès 2004

Vetiver Tonka Hermes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vetiver, tonka bean, lily of the valley, tobacco, caramel, praline, sandalwood, hazelnut

The caramel/resinous/LOTV open is joyous all by itself. So full throated and filled with call, like a siren or water bird floating across the brackish water of river and sea land junction. The foody stuff all combines with the tonka to create a wonderful sweet amber or crispy toffee scent that makes me want some salted caramel ice cream and honeycomb. YUMMY stuff indeed.

Vetiver Tonka Hermes Roots vetiver.orgPhoto Stolen vetiver.org

The fragrance then takes a decidedly vetiver turn on my skin, giving me a gorgeous earthy, salty, green smell like sitting on a dock above or the verandah near mudflats at low tide, it must be cooler months because there is a smoky waft carrying across to you from someones fireplace, or maybe it’s a summer Bar B Q and the sweetness still lurking is caramelising onions and sausages.

The feeling I get from Vetiver Tonka is a sense of space and freedom. It’s like a holiday, there is time to smell the unfolding of the story, the sweet warmth and earthy dankness combine to form a welcoming and pretty adventure that is both warm and very, very cool. Though it is not a sillage monster Vetiver Tonka does waft a trail and if you spray a card and leave the room, when you return it has tinted the air with a very slightly foody sweetness underlaid with a wetland breeze.

Heftier than many of the more recent J C E offerings and lasting power is decidedly longer, around 4-5 hours before I lose it, or the ability to notice it. Lately I have been using the Olympic Orchids Patchouli Lovers Soap and it is adding a very green baseline to Vetiver Tonka that darkens it and adds a couple of hours life to the whole also. The tobacco and LOTV seem to completely bypass my skin, with or without the soap, but I probably just miss them in the seamless mix that is a J C Ellena trademark: a scent story that has the most beautifully gradated transitions.

Vetiver Tonka HermesPhoto Stolen Hermès

Further reading: What Men Should Smell Like and Bois de Jasmin
Hermès does a great set of 4 x 15ml Hermessence of your choice $180
Surrender To Chance has Vetiver Tonka on sale for $4/.5ml

Are you a J C Ellena fan? Have you tried Hermessence Vetiver Tonka or are there favourite Vetiver or Tonka frags that you’s like to share with us? We’d love to read your thoughts.

See you tomorrow
Portia xx

Hanbury by Maria Candida Gentile 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

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Post by Michael

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Thanks to the very kind Ms P I’m wrapping my nose around a new to me Maria Candida Gentile. I very much like what I smelled of Exultat, so I’m excited to be testing out another from the line.

Hanbury by Maria Candida Gentile 2010

Hanbury Maria Candida Gentile FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lime, bitter orange, orange
Heart: Mimosa, white honey, calycanthus
Base: Musk, benzoin

There are a few nuances but this fragrance can be summed up in two words – bitter orange! Those familiar with Italian bitter orange drinks will have a good idea of what to expect from this little fragrance.

Up top lime and bitter orange jumps off the skin with a seriously tart throw. This is a fragrance you can feel penetrating your sinuses. Once it starts to settle down the benzoin takes control with a little mimosa for balance. I wouldn’t call this a mimosa fragrance by any stretch.

Hanbury Maria Candida Gentile Bitter Oranges PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

From here it becomes a little warmer but it’s never cuddly. Miscellaneous white floral notes become more apparent and they’re quite soft. After only an hour or two it fades to a clean citrus musky skin scent.

From the Maria Candida Gentile site: The inspiration comes from the gardens of the Hanbury Villa in Ventimiglia, a city of northern Italy by the mediterranean sea. The essences of this garden have been assembled during a life time by its owner, a very charming and beautiful lady, Dorothy Hanbury. In spring these essences combines all together in the air and are blended by the soft and warm wind from the sea producing an exquisite harmony which has been recreated in the Hanbury fragrance.

Hanbury Maria Candida Gentile Hanbury Botanic Gardens WikicommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

In the end I’m thinking about Hanbury as a citrus EdC – perfect for summer and when applied liberally and often. Maybe even store it in the fridge for an invigorating summer spray. It’s especially nice if you enjoy very naturalistic bitter orange.
Unfortunately for me, I’m left looking for something a little more…..

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and
Maria Candida Gentile has €25/15ml Travel Size or €115/100ml and sends to the world for €30
Parfum1 has $185/100ml
First In Fragrance has €150/100ml

Which of the Maria Candida Gentile line have you smelled? Does Hanbury sound like your cup of tea?
Michael

Gaiac by Jean-Claude Astier for M. Micallef 2005

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 37 Comments

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Post by Maya

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Hello APJ,
Recently my daughter ordered 6 perfume samples and gave them to me. She said, “These are all different from what you usually like, but they all have at least one note I know you love.” I was skeptical, but they were all nice. One really stood out,

Gaiac by M. Micallef 2005

Gaiac M. Micallef FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Cloves, jasmine
Base: Guaiac wood, vetiver, amber, vanilla

I should note that my love-note in Gaiac is jasmine and it’s all but invisible to me as is the vetiver in it.

I had no idea what gaiac is, but soon discovered that it is a tree, native to the tropical and subtropical Americas. It is a wood so resinous that doesn’t float. It sinks in water. Spanish Conquistadors burned it as incense, something they must have learned from the indigenous peoples, some of whom considered the tree sacred.

Gaiac M. Micallef Bulnesia sarmientoi WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

This is a lovely, low silage scent, that whispers it’s presence, but every word is audible and clear. M. Micallef lists it as masculine. I disagree. I think it is as much a feminine scent as a masculine one. When I dabbed it on, it was unexpectedly sharp, though not unpleasantly so. The sharpness faded quickly and I got sweet vanilla, spicy clove, and what had to be gaiac wood. I cannot describe the scent of gaiac wood. It’s unique and a bit exotic. The balance of the sweetness, the spice, and the wood is wonderful. The clove lessens after a few hours but the vanilla and gaiac wood stay as equal partners until the end, which is about 6-8 hours on me, except on humid days, when it fades after about 4 hours. Gaiac by M. Micallef is linear, which is fine. It doesn’t need complexity. It’s an evening around a campfire, burning gaiac wood, watching the flames dance, everyone feeling relaxed and stress free, laughing. And maybe, just maybe, some sensual feelings could awaken!

Gaiac M. Micallef Bulnesia sarmientoi WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Further reading: The Scented Hound and I Smell Therefore I Am
Parfum1 and LuckyScent have $90/30ml and $185/100ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $5/ml

Gaiac wood seems to be an underused note in perfume which is a shame. I will be looking for it in more scents. What about you? Have you tried Gaiac by M. Micallef or other fragrances containing gaiac wood?
Maya