shopping

OPUS OILS JITTERBUG PERFUME PARLOUR: The Divine Collection Review

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hey, Hey Gang,

When work is done and all in our house are asleep, a cup of sweet, milky instant coffee by my side, I love to troll the web at night. I will catch up on the many blogs that I read, follow links like a lemming, discover new fragrance, friends, trends and a world of stuff that would have been totally beyond my reach without the internet. Don’t get me wrong, I love to troll the net during the day too but at night it seems more personal and without the worlds distractions I feel that I can learn stuff.

Recently while trolling I was introduced to a niche perfume crew called Opus Oils Jitterbug Perfume Parlour. They look fun and sassy in their online store and fact sheets; like the coolest kids that you always wanted to be buddies with. There is a sense of loads of fun and in-joking, hours spent laughing while trying new experiments, names, fragrances. They have a great sample program so I decided to buy and try the Divine Collection samples. Their cross links with mysticism and historical spiritualism caught my eye, along with their 100% natural approach.

Picture Grizzli “Gods” Stolen from Wikimedia

What I found with these all natural oils was that they were much more sophisticated than I expected. More nuanced and not huge explosions of fragrance but a delicious waft here and there melting into my skin over hours, becoming a lovelier smelling me, but still discernible as other. These are intimate fragrances that could be worn for everything from meditation to work (unless they are absolutely fragrance phobic), but they also would be excellent dinner, theatre, booty call or Bar B Q scents. Not overwhelming, I don’t think people will find them offensively expansive. Also, being oils they will last ages because a little goes a long way.

Opus Oils Jitterbug Perfume Parlour opened August 2008 in Hollywood, CA, USA after Kendra Hart being a successful underground and above ground perfumer. Here’s a little (edited version) of what the site says:

Kedra Hart was one of the developers of The Apothecary at Barneys New York in Beverly Hils and founder of the natural perfume and aromatherapy line Precious Petals. She designs custom scents, teaches perfumery in LA and Paris and is blender and co-founder with Joshua Hart of Opus Oils Jitterbug Perfume Parlour.

“It’s hard to describe our Jitterbug Perfume Parlour when people ask,” says Joshua Hart, “I usually say it’s a cross between the movie “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” and the book “Jitterbug Perfume”. Mix that with the TV show “Hart to Hart”, sprinkle it with “Moulin Rouge” and then add a dash of Flapper Speakeasy Culture. Yeah, I think that about says it all.”

The Divine Collection (100% all natural perfume)

These oil blends are made with essential oils and rare perfume oils from around the world. Specially formulated to assist you in making contact the God or Goddess energy that lies within you. Absolutely no synthetics are used in these Natural Perfume blends. Consisting of four aromatic treasures, all formulated with exotic and rare botanical essences, that can be worn alone or in layered combination. Nourishing to the spirit, they offer a positive, uplifting and natural alternative to the majority of mainstream perfumes on the market. 

I tried to capture my first impressions with single words and then give you an unfolding story.

ISIS: Hot, Steamy, Dark citrus, Dusky, Luscious. This was the first of the line I tried. The balmy citric myrrh is the initial scent I get but after about 15 minutes this delicious jasmine comes in and wends its way through. It took me by surprise when I got my first whiff while my mind was on the laundry, I thought someone was behind me wearing it. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Fragrantica gives featured notes as jasmine, myrhh, olibanum and coconut.

PAN: Clean, Sharp,Dank, Enticing earth, Funereal. Wow! This is the edge of the jungle, earth, deep and dark. Evening jungle in the cool season. I smell moss, clay, humus, animal. Aptly named, this is the scent I can imagine all smelling in E. M. Forster’s a Story of a Panic, first released in 1911, when Eustace becomes overwhelmed and shocked from his torpor. It is a sexy and inviting green. Fragrantica says I am smelling patchouli, vetiver, oakmoss, fir and violet leaf.

EROS: Vegetal, Herbs, Grass, Spice, Chilli. This smells to me like a spicy chicken salad with oregano, parsley, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. It’s a warm and cool fragrance, interesting and thoughtful.  Fragrantica gives me amber, mandarin orange and vetiver as the notes here but it feels much more alive and sparkling than that.

VENUS: Sweet, Balmy, Sexy, Salt, Medicinal. I know. Clearly my nose was elsewhere because the notes in Fragrantica say features rose, lotus, ylang-ylang, neroli, sea water and dark chocolate. I miss the flowers and chocolate completely. Maybe they’ll come along soon but after half an hour I am getting an awesome scent, just not floral or chocolate. This is the one I think is FBW out of the group. On my skin an interesting sweet and salty mixture. Very calm and sensual. This fragrance feels like the siren calling, like Venus herself from the sea to all the mariners. I would follow instinctively.

Thank you all so much for coming and having a squiz.

Do you have a natural perfumer that you love? Tell us about them in the comments. Anything and anyone new we can lock onto is interesting for us,

Portia xx

Annick Goutal Reviews #II

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Following on from our mini life story and history of Annick Goutal on Wednesday, and our reviews yesterday, we have 3 more reviews and an extract from a fellow perfumista’s comments.

GIVEAWAY HERE

L’Eau d’Hadrien

This is citrus, but not the modern candied and tortured variety. Fresh, vibrant and alive citrus plucked directly from the tree, leaves too. Like a basket of citrus, all sorts, but warmed by the ylang ylang and sharpened by the cypress. It was the first fragrance made for the line back in 1981, apparently also an homage to Marguerite Yourcenar’s novel “Memoirs of Hadrien”, which I’ve not read, or heard of, but just ordered it from BookDepository for AUS$13 incl delivery to my door! Unfortunately, L’Eau d’Hadrien leaves me cold. Too nice, too colognesque, too nothing, yes it’s fresh and a little zesty but I want more. Sorry Annick Goutal, I know it’s your best seller and quite pretty but not for me.

UPDATE: Today while at group pedicure and lunch I gave my sample of L’Eau d’Hadrien to a girlfriend. We all tried it on, including me, and though it lasted less than an hour on us there was a delicious fresh dry down that I had missed before on just me. It was a soft and delicious skin scent. Sorry L’Eau d’Hadrien, you are better than I thought. Of course my friend was THRILLED!

Check out A Smelly Blog the comments are good too, Fragrantica here

The Annick Goutal site says

A symphony of glistening, refreshing citrus notes, orchestrated through the Sicilian lemon.
Creation date : 1981
Olfactory family : Citrus (Sicilian lemon, citron, grapefruit, green mandarine, cypress, aldehyde notes, ylang-ylang)

Ce Soir Ou Jamais (Tonight or Never)

This opens like the most delicious old fashioned rose, truly bittersweet, almost honeyed in its sweet intensity but packing a bark and leaf grain tartness. My BFF Kath’s father has roses that smell like this; sweet, dark and bitter all at once. I am not a soliflorous (I know, not a word) person. Give me a bouquet and then twist it a bit and then TURN THE SMELL UP! Make it enormous please. Which is why I am astounded at my love for this enchanting and bewitching rose soliflor. It is calm yet mysterious and lasts for ages on my skin, I can still smell delicious traces of it lingering next morning. It is polarising though. Last night while hosting Turbo Trivia I wore Ce Soir Ou Jamais and had 2 lovely unsolicited compliments and one, “OMG! What is that you have on? Yuck!.” Win some, lose some. I did have to remind the rude one that, in fact, I was wearing it for my own enjoyment and she could continue to wear her Avon (which I admit smelled really, REALLY good on her. It was yummy) for ever.

Perfume Smellin Things really understands the rose world and does a super review, Fragrantica is here.

The Annick Goutal site says

The scent of pure rose, breathtaking and elegant in its femininity
Creation date : 1999
Olfactory family : Floral (Turkish rose, ambrette seed, and a blend of essences kept secret…)

Eau de Camille

I love Eau de Camille too. I had a girlfriend during our teenage years and this scent reminds me of her every time I wear it. It begins sparse and almost spiky like cutting the ivy back every year at autumn and sweetens mildly as you get to know it and it warms on your skin, then gone. Not much longevity but pretty, vivacious and sparkly while it lasts nonetheless. Just like youth. Eau de Camille was the first fragrance that Annick Goutal created especially for her daughter Camille when she was 8 years old.

SweetDiva has this to say and Fragrantica

The Annick Goutal site says

Green, like an ivy garden, as fresh as a dewy morning
Creation date : 1983
Olfactory family : Floral, green (Ivy, privet tree, honeysuckle, seringa, cut grass)

Ambre Fetiche

I have never smelled Ambre Fetiche but I have a rave review from my comments strings. The lovely Dionne from BeautyOnTheOutside (BOTO) had this to say about it, I am now looking (lemming like) for a decent priced bottle but it looks discontinued around here.

A recent discovery for me was how much Annick Goutal’s Ambre Fétiche calms me down. I got a generous sample about a month ago from Dee, and put it on on a Monday morning when I was soooo sick of the gloom and overcast and snow (meanwhile a whole bunch of blogs were all “Let’s talk about perfume for spring while we skip through the daisies…” which didn’t help), and was majorly grumpy. Something about that amber/incense combo just made me slow down and find peace. The other part of the story is that I reapplied it Monday night to show The Engineer, he took one sniff and said, “I want you to buy that.” In my two years of being a perfumista, he’s never had that reaction before.

Bought a 100ml of it the following day.

If you need any more reason than that to go shopping Fragrantica has the details

The Annick Goutal site says

Classic and modern at the same time, a very textured and sensual interpretation of the amber.
Creation date : 2007
Olfactory family : Amber, Vanilla, Leather (Frankincense, labdanum, styrax – Benzoin, absolute of iris – Vanilla, geranium, patchouli, Russian leather)

I hope you’ve enjoyed our 3 days of Annick Goutal. it has been our pleasure to bring it to you.

Portia xx

The Fragrance of Francis Kurkdjian

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey gang,

This is how Francis Kurkdjian views his eponymous fragrance range. The video is an interesting watch, made by LibertyStoreTV, and has odd cutaways to his lunchy jeans, which is awkward, no… it is AWKWARD! It has a 2010 date on it.

Francis Kurkdjian is charming and engaging. The video feels to me as if I am interviewing him. Some of the questions that I’d ask are answered here.

Evie has had some hold ups with interviews and will have her next update on Monday. Sorry for the delay tonight.

Enjoy,

Portia xx

After Dinner Sniff

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Hey Hey,

How are you all? All good here. Really, deliciously good and well and happy. I hope you are too, if not, it gets better.

A few mates were around for dinner the other night and I thought we’d try something fun and different. Usually it’s word games but TSO (the significant other) is ESL (English second language) so not really fun or fair for him. This night it was decided that I’d bring five very different fragrances out and we’d all get to chose four each, because that’s all our wrists and elbows covered, yeah? A special thanks to Alice, Jin and Sam for their help. Mwaaa

I have a confession to make, I was boozy. Not drunk but certainly unable to drive, speaking was OK thinking was fuzzy.

Photo stolen from Omag

Trying to be ever so scientific, and making a complete balls of it, I wrote our initials under the 5 scents and was to put the body placement after the initials, so each of us could put three words with each of our choices. To that point we were good. we all sprayed with gay abandon and gave our arms a minute to settle, then I realised I’d put Alice in my spaces and had to rework the whole thing. By the time we’d sorted me out the fragrances had shed their top notes and begun to live. We are none of us trained in perfume nor are we sophisticated when it comes to perfumes yet but this was a lot of fun and we all had a red hot go, and a laugh.

The perfumes

JINX EDP by Tommi Sooni (a pretty new Australian outfit that looks set for the big time)

Photo Stolen from Tommi Sooni

The group was most impressed with this one. It is the most perfumey to my mind. A lovely big floral opening with the aldehydes singing beautifully. All perfumes that open with aldehydes give me a Chanel No. 5 rush at the beginning that I LOVE. Like being strapped into a ride at a fun park, all the expectation of fun and fear but ready for anything. Jinx has a fig standing right in the middle of its high notes too and is a little more spicy in my nose than No 5, maybe its the ginger? This is an extremely wearable fragrance and pretty. After an hour on my hungry skin it is very close to the body, quiet enough that you could wear it to work even in a cramped office, but without being a clean or laundry scent. It has a vintage and rich feel with modern spice. For someone who wants to smell deliciously and nonchalantly gorgeous.

Some of our words were; Floral, Secretive, Lotion, Serenade, Cleaner, Soap, Fleeting, Soft, Moonlight

Photo Stolen from Tommi Sooni

Fragrantica has notes and no one on the first 3 pages of Google have reviewed other than to repeat manufacturers press releases.

FIG EDP by Aftelier Perfumes (Mandy Aftel is a perfumer and perfumery teacher)

Photo Stolen from Aftelier Perfumes

This is a big fat spicy fig with pastry and some booze. Oh my! This is sexy and powerful. The group though was polarised. It was a definate love/hate scent with one person having to wash it off. Honesty compels me to admit to this being my favourite sample of the night. I could not, and can not, get enough of it. Putting it back on to review now I am absolutely and utterly transported. Oh dear, FBW! A little update, after 6 hours I still have Aftelia Fig powering away, very linear, almost the same as when I spritzed but quieter. MMMMM

The group came up with these; (Dry) Sauna, Spicy, Warm, Dirty, 70’s, Heat

Photo Stolen from Aftelier Perfumes

Fragrantica can give you notes and history Olfactory Obsessed Purple Paper Planes both give almost the same polarised views that we had here after dinner, I love that.

MURE & MUSC EXTREME by L’Artisan Parfumeur

Photo Stolen from L’Artisan Perfumeur

This was really popular at our dinner table. I hadn’t tried it till now because it was the fragrance that everyone else wanted to try.To me it smells like expensive room freshener. Sorry. My skin and nose clearly reacts differently to my friends who raved about Mure & Musc Extreme. Interesting that two people at the table wrote vanilla and lemon but there’s no note of either, just Blackcurrant, Blueberry and Musk.

The table wrote: Young, Vanilla, Light, Beautiful, Lemony, Moody, Challenging

Photo Stolen from http://www.achat-grenoble.com

Fragrantica for the background Now Smell This tells about the whole Mure & Musc series, interesting reading.

UNE ROSE by Frederic Malle

Photo Stolen from Mecca Cosmetics

This is a famous, go to Rose scent. Talk about it includes the incorporation of the whole rose, petal, leaf, stem and root. It is deliciously dark to me and packs an enormous punch, I am LOVING how loud this fragrance is today. I remember the other night that this lasted well on my skin and though it changed over time, maintained its uneasy dark/light ambivalence. This is something you should try for your own pure enjoyment. I’m not sure I would purchase a bottle of Une Rose but I think a 5-10ml decant would get used in 12 months.

Some of the tables words: Strong, Bitter, Dark, Rose, Old, Amazing

Photo Stolen from Frederic Malle

Fragrantica for the details and Perfume Smelling Things does an awesome review including interesting perfumer notes

01 LE MAROC POUR ELLE by Tauer Perfumes (Niche perfumeries nice guy, sidelining in genius)

Photo Stolen from NosyGirl

This was Andy Tauer’s first fragrance and it is amazing that he could make this incredible scent. Le Maroc Pour Elle (Morocco for Girls) is a warm, woody and spicy floral, lasts forever on my skin and wanders through its life quite linearly till eventually I get to the base which is deep, dark and sweet. This fragrance is not for the faint-hearted, it is bold.

A very interesting blend from the table: Intriguing, Leather, Pooh, Calming, Wood, Spicy, Incense,  Rubbish, Fetid, Punchy

Photo Stolen from Tauer Perfumes

Fragrantica has this to say and Legerdenez wrote way back in 2006.

Here is a present for reading this far. I love this commercial. J’Adore DIOR

SEX, FRAGRANCE and quick stuff I smelled this week!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Sex and fragrance. There is a lot written about whether a scent is made with a man or woman in mind, whether it will work on either or both of the sexes. This note for her, this note for him, this combination for them. More and more I’m finding that scents are universal and I’m pretty sure the fragrance doesn’t care who is wearing it.

Photo stolen from canihelpyousir.com

It’s quite deliciously confronting when a woman wears a traditionally masculine fragrance and the boys make you take a second sniff, and look, if they have crossed over into girl germs territory. I like the dichotomy, especially something uber the-other-sex on a great, fun, clever and healthy specimen of personhood. It can give them an edge.

Photo stolen from allwomenstalk.com

Recently at one of my Turbo Trivia gigs I was gifted a cheapy mans fragrance that was sweet, floral and ambery. Way too cloying for my taste but I went to one of the butcher specimens of twenty something tradie manhood in the room and asked him if he would guinea pig it for me. Shock, Horror! He loved it! So much so that he asked if I decided on calm reflection that it wasn’t for me, could he have it. His girlfriend would LOVE him wearing it. It’s nice when people surprise you. And on him it WAS delicious. Everything that on me was shrill, headache inducing, tooth rottingly sweet and budget; on him, smelt like a deliciously gourmand million dollars, thank you very much. If you’re reading Chris, it’s yours buddy.

Photo stolen from

Photo stolen from Hethu’s Techno Babble

Also, making my partner in crime Evie C wear mens fragrances that I like on me, I adore them on her. They are WAY chic-er and it gives these tired and sometimes boring masculine fragrances new nuances and makes them bright and sparkly again to my nose. Which, as we’ve established, is functioning but not nose worthy.

Photo stolen from The Punch

THINGS I SMELLED THIS WEEK, QUICKIES!!

L’Eau d’Ambre by L Artisan Parfumeur; OMG! Launched all the way back in 1978 this is still the most gloriously deep and sweet amber with dark hints of posh nasty. Autumn is here and L’Eau D’Ambre is the perfect companion for it. Dead sexy.  Fragrantica, OlfactoriasTravels both have this to say, check them out too. This was one of my Smell Good, Do Good super cheap, no postage costs, amazingly awesome value, pick ups. I am SO happy with my purchase.

L’Aimant EDT by Coty; I already have the cologne in this and wanted to see if the EDT was different. Both of them are excellently like the Chanel No 5 but a little dirtier, they have impressive sillage and the L’Aimant EDT lasts for a lot longer than the current No 5 EDP that I have but equally to a vintage No 5 EDT. They are RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP!!! This is an awesome switcheroo. Created in 1927 and still good. Fragrantica, muse in wooden shoes both have their say. I’ve not smelled the vintage stuff so have no comparison point but I think these 2 versions of L’Aimant are yummy. And they’re so cheap that if you hate them on you they will always work as room freshener.

Tresor by Lancome; Hello big fat floriental!! This perfume was released in 1990 and you can feel the 1980’s breathing down its neck. That glorious spicy, sizzling, peachy floral extravaganza that is still a favourite at department store Lancome counters everywhere. It’s so wearable, juicy and gorgeous. This is perfume for the masses because, quite simply, it smells good. Here is Fragrantica, and Now Smell This does a wonderful fragrance review with knowledge far exceeding mine. Please check them out.

Hindu Kush by La Via Del Profumo; This is a power pack of memories. For years I had a partner who had moved back to India to run the family business. So for 10 years I was in and out of India quite a lot, and was fortunate enough to travel from Kerala to Kashmir, Macleod Gang to Chennai and much in between. This fragrance is a flood of memories for me, it was quite a shock to wear it and feel things long buried.

As AbdesSalaam Attar, owner of the compagny “La Via del Profumo” says on his website

Close your eyes and breathe in, Hindu Kush is like taking a walk in an Indian market, where clouds of incense smoke escape through the open doors of temples to be mixed with the perfumes of the east, ginger, cumin, nutmeg and pepper. Take a step inside and all is peace, silence and meditation, take a step outside and you find the crowd rushing here and there, noises and confusion.

This perfume is the real deal, a must try on any olfactory journey. Sanchez and Turin give it only four stars in their guide but I give it a 5 star rating. Awesome, majestic, dusty, dry, spicy and sweaty. It’s like gazing at the Taj Mahal or praying with the Dalai Lama or taking tea in the gardens of Deeg Palace or riding in a river boat drinking Kingfisher beer. All of these things and more are contained so let your mind wander as it will.

Thanks for sharing my fragrant thoughts,

I am so happy you dropped by, please leave me a message.

Portia xx

L’Eau D’Ambre, Tresor and L’aimant photos stolen from Fragrantica

Hindu Kush photo stolen from La Via Del Profumo

Samples and Decants, Who, How, Where, Why!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hi All,

Lovely crisp day here in Sydney, Australia. Autumn is closing in upon us and while not believing scents should follow the seasons, today I thought to start with something warming and deep. As a perfumista in waiting, I am still trying to get my nose around many scents and fragrances, still don’t quite understand how each note should be working or permeating a fragrance. Then, on top of that, because so much of fragrance is in fact science, as opposed to nature, the same way to reach a natural scent can be taken by millions of different routes, and is. Meaning that though the notes of a fragrance may say patchouli, it is often the idea of patchouli in its many incarnations rather than patchouli per se (Latin meaning; Of, in or by itself) that you are smelling.

Obviously the kind of knowledge that a blogger like 1000 Fragrances (sadly this blog is now closed) has is gained through a lifetime of study and experience. I am clearly not that person but I would like to have my nose across as many fragrances as possible so that my personal value judgment can have more gravitas. Evie C and I have been talking of doing a course in the near future also (more on that down the track) but until that time I want to smell as many scents as possible.

To do that, we perfumistas and perfumistas in waiting, or junkies, fumeheads, fragrance whores, etc etc often buy, instead of spending all our hard earned cash on a full bottle of everything we like, a smaller sample size (1-5ml), or decant (5-30ml), to test the water and see if we love it. Conversely, we may have sampled something and LOVED it, yet there would not be the chance to wear it more that once or twice a year so could not see the need for buying a full bottle (FB). Or maybe the scent is a reference scent, giving you the best (by popular opinion or your own) of a certain style of fragrance, or a note that you are interested in, by which to judge all others. Maybe you DESPERATELY want this fragrance but are just too poor to own it, there are fragrances out there going for thousands of dollars. I KNOW!! RIGHT!

Sometimes a fragrance IS great, you love it and want it but there are more pressing things on your must have list, maybe the bottle is ugly, dumb, grotesque, could be you like getting things in the mail from all over the world, or perhaps you are just plain old addicted. There is also the problem of discontinued or reformulated scents, you can get some of the most important ones if you go to decant sites but would never get the opportunity otherwise. Maybe you just live too far from New York or Paris and want to smell what others are currently talking about on the scentbloggosphere.

That’s just a few of the reasons. Anyway, my first introduction to the art of buying samples and decants was through The Posh Peasant, Abigail who runs it is friendly and helpful. Even if you can’t find what you’re looking for on her site, ASK HER, she has almost everything and will purchase for you if you promise to do a decent ($40-50) shop of her stuff when she gets it in for you. Fair enough! A new set arrived yesterday!! See below.

There are others that I use too now SurrenderToChance,  Lucky Scent, My Perfume Samples and The Perfume Niche and there are more but these are the guys I use regularly. You can even buy pre organised sets, which is awesome because they’ve done all the sniff work for you. Maybe you’d like to understand the way violets or heliotrope meander through a fragrance, on most of these sites you will find a set of perfume samples that are the best or unusual in their category. Simple? Yes. Do me, and you, a favour though. Don’t order a new set until your original set has arrived and you have smelt every one. Otherwise you’ll end up with HUNDREDS!!! Most of them unsmelt. Money is too hard to make for you to be so profligate. This is one place you should be careful, give yourself a perfume budget, then do your UTMOST to stick to it. The perfume wormhole is an addictive and expensive place to get lost. Fragrance is not like houses, there is no resale value.

Most of the smaller or niche Fragrance Houses now do a Sample Set, Sample Program or some such. I love my sample sets (mostly purchased) from Olfactive Studio, Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes, Aftelier Perfumes, SMELLbent, Parfum d’Empire, La Via Del Profumo, LUSH Gorilla Perfumes, Tauer and these are just the ones off the top of my desk currently.

One thing I do find is that perfume does not smell the same dabbed as spritzed. Many times I’ve been totally let down by a fragrance in dab form to be then astounded and dazzled by it when spritzed. I have found a super cheap bottle, plastic bag and mini funnel online store that lets you buy in smaller quantities that 10,000, from about 10 upwards. They do wholesale and retail and accept paypal! AWESOME!! Better still they send to Australia! which so many refuse to do, at very reasonable rates. Proud Style is the crew you’re after. They seem genuinely happy to have my business, a plus. I also use My Perfume Samples because they have a great small order selection of a few sizes for great prices and cheap postage.

Currently I am slowly working my way through the Perfume Posse “Perfume 101” list. It’s a great beginners who’s who of the perfume style, note and some super gorgeous must sniffs.

So here’s what arrived from the Posh Peasant yesterday!

5ml Hermes; Hermessence Ambre Narguille

2.5ml Estee Lauder; Youth Dew Amber Nude , Serge Lutens; Muscs Kublai Khan

1.5ml Serge Lutens; Clair de Musc, Bvlgari; Au The Vert Extreme

Also, 2 x 1ml gift with purchase CB I Hate Perfumes; Russian Caravan Tea, Serge Lutens; Daim Blond

This is a week of mornings for testing. YAY!!!

Today; Hermes; Hermessence Ambre Narguille. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow

Thanks for dropping by and sharing my (OMFG lengthy) fragrant thoughts.

Have a great day,

Portia xx

Shopping Experience, The SA Counts (Dune by DIOR, Cuir Amethyst by Armani)

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Hey gang,

It’s been a lazy day here in dappled sunny Sydney, Australia. I had a super smart blog friend around to help me do some stuff and to teach me some basics that I am as yet uninstructed in. We got some done but before Julie, and her partner David, came over for our Sunday Bar B Q I had washed the keyboard, um, BROKEN!!! You spray the cloth not the keyboard. I have a new keyboard now.

Photo stolen from ECorner Secure Ebusiness Solutions

As we had to go out to get a new keyboard TSO Jin and I decided to troll the fragrance counter at our local suburban shopping center while out.

This can be a harrowing experience. Often the 16 year old sales person (absolutely gender non specific) will sneer down their prolapsed rhinoplasty at you and mumble a curt something unintelligible about your desired perfume try, as if you’re ruining their day by being interested in the product. Other times they are so desperate for the sale that you think they might get a bit stabby if you turn them down or dare walk to another counter. Even worse are the ambush marketers who come round behind you and spray you liberally and without warning, often with scents that burn holes in your clothes and singe your skin, if walking too near a cigarette smoking person you are liable to need an extinguisher. And just because you work at a cosmetics counter doesn’t mean you need to wear everything in the line, AT ONCE. What was the Golden Girls line? “Just because you put your make up on with a butter knife, doesn’t make you Tammy Faye Baker.” I wish I was a stronger person so I could cut all three of these people types where they stand with a withering two sentence cut, but no, every time they get me and I obsess about what I would, could or should have said. Sad, I know. First world problems? Definitely! Honestly, I don’t even have a hearty “Fuck you” in me sometimes.

Having said all this then it’s lovely to find an SA that is charming, interested and involved in their job. one that knows about personal space and limits, and boundaries. One who has obviously done most of their homework and can help you understand what you are smelling on the card and your skin, why the price point is where it is and maybe some extra items to help keep the scent on you. I will try just about anything the SA says to keep scent on my HUNGRY skin, I swear it eats everything. Like host, like skin, I suppose.

Today was such a day. We were dressed like Sunday arvo (Australian for afternoon) homeless looking for a berth, unshowered, unshaven and under dressed for a jaunt through the hallowed halls of perfumery. Yet, by happy coincidence, we were welcomed into the Armani counter at David Jones, Chatswood, (where I wanted to sample the Cuir Amethyst from the Prive series. Spectacular BTW I liked the card so much that I let her spritz me. On my skin, to DIE for, the leather has stayed front and center for about 2 hours and the amber and vanilla are singing along in the middle to background) as if we’d just jumped out of a helicopter with Tom Cruise at the helm. But as we made our way around found that she was not in fact the Armani girl particularly but a general dogs body and she was all over the place, helping, hinting, smiling, generally making the few customers in the area feel welcome and giving as much information as she had, even going as far as looking up the book for a new release. I was not shopping, but I will go back and order something from her because she earned it. Not this month though. Fragrantica has this to say about notes and accords, BoisDeJasmin has a far less than loving review, and is pretty indicative of the other reviews I read. I am still enjoying the fragrance though. Maybe my untutored nose is a blessing.

Photo stolen from Fragrantica

Moving on to the DIOR counter, as Jin was being served sample sizes at CHANEL, there was another lady, also smiling and wanting to help: rather than intimidate or push. Had I tried the new DIOR Homme Sport? So fresh, so manly? No, sorry, not interested today but can I please have a spritz of Dune on a card? Certainly but it’s women’s. Yes, I understood but do you think the perfume minds who wears it? Without even blinking she said, “All perfumes are unisex and it’s only tradition that has taught us otherwise.” She had clearly thought about it too, come to a fair conclusion and was happy to be able to set it out for me. I was so happy that I let her spritz me with a double whammy on my other arm.WhooooooEEEEEEYYY! Nearly blew my damn head off. WOW! What a perfume, what a punch. Fragrantica has it all here, the PerfumePosse has an excellent Dune review, I wish I was so eloquent. This is definitely FBW (full bottle worthy) a good 6 hours later and I can still smell gentle wafty reminders that I’m perfumed on that arm.

Photo stolen from Fragrantica

Oh my, these two perfumes are AWESOME alone but together they are EPIC!! Maybe you all know a fragrance that is a mash of these two that I am ignorant of? Leave me a message if you do.

Thanks for sharing what’s in my fragrant mind today. Hopefully see you tomorrow too,

Portia xx

I am not in any way affiliated with any of the businesses within this article.