shopping

Maria Candida Gentile: Flight of the Bumblebee Series 2014

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Post by Portia

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Hello Niche Nerds,

One of the names that is revered yet rarely spoken of on blogs or FaceBook is Maria Candida Gentile. Whenever I post her soft focus incense and woods creation Exultat as my SOTD it gets a round of applause and people always note how much they love her work and then it’s back to radio silence. Sideris is the crowd pleaser that is most often referred to and though I’ve had these decants here for a while they had become lost in the crowd. During a week of Shop My Samples recently, where I tried to use up or rediscover unloved samples & decants, they popped into my hand and I card spritzed the three of them. They seem like they need a closer look, you can have a first on skin experience with me today, come on….

Maria Candida Gentile

Flight of the Bumblebee Series 2014

Kitrea Maria Candida Gentile FragranticaFragrantica

Kitrea by Maria Candida Gentile

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Honey, lemon and bergamot
Heart: Fruity notes
Base: Amber, beeswax

Cool citrus, sparkling and bittersweet. Like home made lemonade. Kitrea even has that sticky feeling you get on a hot afternoon when you’ve drunk too much fizzy. Imagine if a Guerlain Aqua Allegoria had a backbone and thorns, that’s how Kitrea wears for me. It smells grapefruit-esque and a tiny little but pissy but with a warm, calming, grounding base of animalic amber. This is by far the most Idie smelling of the three.

Leucò Maria Candida Gentile FragranticaFragrantica

Leccò by Maria Candida Gentile

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Honey, labdanum
Heart: Lily, tuberose
Base: Siam benzoin, pepper, beeswax

Leccò opens a little hair spray and greenery, it’s weird, awkward, like the notes are attacking each other and don’t quite want to be in the same fragrance. I think it’s the lily against the pepper . Interestingly after about 2 minutes it segues into a dreamy, smooth, plush fragrance, quite retro feeling but done with sharp modernity. The feeling is like walking through a large, well manicured garden in the drizzling rain but you are rugged up cozy and warm. Funnily I am reminded of tomato leaves and compost with this creamy underlay. Intriguing but weird.

Syconium Maria Candida Gentile fragranticaFragrantica

Syconium by Maria Candida Gentile

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Honey, milk
Heart: Fig
Base: Sandalwood, beeswax

Honey and milk open as resinous woods, if you told me this was frankincense or labdanum I’d agree. Not the sweet or feral honey that niche often presents Syconium is sweet warm honey milk before bed. Restful, comforting and calming, the fruit comes across as a little sugared porridge. Totally wearable, unchallenging and it smells great.  After a while Syconium becomes a sheer skin scent, like a layer of gossamer glamour over my own scent. Very nice.

From Maria Candida Gentile site: In the music piece “Flight of the bumblebee” by Nikolaj Andreevic Rimskij-Korsakov the main character is magically transformed into an insect in order to reach, unseen, his father the king and declare that the news of his death were not true. It is a flight that expresses the desire to live and opens the door to hope for a brighter future. This collection of three new perfumes takes its name from that flight and shows the bumblebee as a bearer of a message.

Further reading: Colognoisseur
Maria Candida Gentile has €32/15ml or €14/7ml

Do any of these read tempting to you? Do you like any of Maria Candida Gentile’s work?
Portia xx

 

Immortelle de Corse by Claire Chambert for L`Occitane 2011

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Post by Claire Vukcevic

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G’Day lovely-smelling APJ people!

Have you ever nicked a perfume from your parents or siblings? I have. Well, I’m too scared of my father to lift his Terre d’Hermes parfum. But I’ve mentally placed post-its on it just in case, you know… My mother has no interest in perfume, but like any good mum, is given loads of it and stacks it all up at the back of her wardrobe.

Now, I used to joke that the only perfume I’d be likely to inherit from my mum would be a half-used bottle of Eternity. But it turns out that she only likes No. 5, and so I was free to take her vintage No 19 EDT, vintage Je Reviens, and a bottle of Opium that she tried to persuade me not to take “because it must be 40 years old at this point and no good at all.” Ha!

Also among the bottles I re-housed for her was L’Occitane’s Immortelle de Corse. I had never heard of it. A quick search on eBay, however, told me that it’s pretty rare and that people pay up to €200 for it. But I don’t think I’d ever sell it because it’s G…G….G…Gorgeous.

Immortelle de Corse by L`Occitane 2011

Immortelle de Corse by Claire Chambert

immortelle-de-corse-loccitane-en-provence-fragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Corsican immortelle
Heart: Honey, rose, black tea
Base: Corsican immortelle, benzoin, iris, musk

I’m a big immortelle fan, to the extent that I grow it in my garden and own pretty much every perfume iteration of the note. To me, it smells in turn of delicious hay, tea, leather, maple syrup, honey, booze, curry, and sometimes dried grass. It is not a simple, one-dimensional smell, so that’s why I think it’s not redundant to own more than one fragrance that features it.

immortelle-de-corse-loccitane-strawflower-pixabayPDI

 

Initially, Immortelle de Corse smells like whiskey mixed with Acacia honey. The rich booziness that rolls off the topnotes remind me somewhat of the Scottish whiskey note in Like This, which also features immortelle, but with less smoke and gingerbread, and more of a simple, liquid honey.

There is a maple syrup-like chewiness to the honey that’s pitched halfway between amber and burned sugar, but the accord never comes off as heavy or sickly. Immortelle can be slightly cloying, but here the potential clinginess of the maple-honey note has been cut with notes of black tea, which introduce air and smoke.

There is also a dry, powdery iris evident in the drydown, which joins with the delicious smell of sun-baked hay and benzoin to make you think of lazy harvest afternoons, smoking on a shady veranda and looking contentedly at all the haystacks you’ve just built. Basically, it’s a cornucopia of harvest smells – wine must, honey, booze, hay, and tea.

Longevity is great – about 6 hours on me, when it fades into a leafy, curried warmth that is pure immortelle. The kind of person I see enjoying this would be a fan of other autumn harvest fumes such as Botrytis, Volutes, and Frapin 1270.

immortelle-de-corse-loccitane-wheatstacks_end_of_summer-monet-wikipediaWikipedia

Further reading: Now Smell This

What about you guys? Have you ever nicked, er, I mean, “borrowed” perfumes from family members? If so, what were they?

Slán agus Beannacht libh go léir!

Claire

Claire also writes for Take One Thing Off

Angel Muse by Quentin Bisch for Thierry Mugler 2016

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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All Hail APJ Earthlings,

MUSEology

Muse: Drones Tour 2016

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I went to Vienna earlier in the year to see MUSE on their Drones Tour. I knew that it would be good but had no idea that it would blow my mind. It opened with futuristic soldiers complete with glowing blue eyes, patrolling the perimeter of the 360°rotating stage. Drones in their docks suspended from the ceiling ready to fly around the hall. Retractable silk banners hanging, acting as cinema screens.

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The band came on dressed in black, as opposed to their normal prominent and flamboyant outfits. Matt Bellamy, lead singer and guitarist was uncharacteristically chilled, letting the incredible and perfectly synchronized production shine. This was a thrill ride of the most epic proportions and I cannot forget it. Six months later and I am still playing MUSE at top volume. One of my top three gigs and I have been to hundreds.

Angel Muse by Quentin Bisch for Thierry Mugler 2016

angel-muse-thierry-mugler-fragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Grapefruit, pink pepper
Heart: Hazelnut, whipped cream, rose
Base: Vetiver, patchouli

Browsing through the perfumes at the airport last week I picked up Muse, a Mugler production and relative to the iconic Angel. Not wanting to kill my fellow passengers on the blue and yellow Lego flight I was about to take, I spritzed it on paper. A hefty sniff coated the inside of my nose for the next ten hours. (I was inspired by Clare of the Take One Thing Off Blog, and of our own APJ, and the Candy Perfume Boy to do so.)

angel-muse-thierry-mugler-walnut-whip-wikipediaWikiMedia

MUSE is a Walnut Whip of wizardry. A splendid burst of patchouli droplets, each wrapped in effervescent grapefruit and pinkness. Joyous and mouthwatering, heartwarming and sparkling. It glides into a swirling creamy nutty heart, as light as a marshmallow, tinged with a green orange. Divineness. The underlying vetiver stops Muse from becoming too sweet, as it smoothly glides into the base teaming up with vanilla and the ever-hovering patchouli. A kaleidoscope of enjoyment. I have been wearing it non-stop. Madness. 🙂

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MUSE pushed me outside of my comfort zone. Available everywhere, a flanker, mainstream. Who would have thought it? I bought the 30ml Cosmic Pebble bottle, which sounds like something off of a Hawkwind album. We have come full circle. It´s available all over the world. Comparatively cheap and worth a shot. You just never know.

#HateToLove Angel Muse Making of – Mugler

Further reading: Candy Perfume Boy and Now Smell This
David Jones has AUD$99/30ml

Which Muse would you prefer to be around darling hearts, sweeties?

Angelic Bussis
CQ

(Ed: All photos donated by Val unless specified. Thanks lady. XX)

Serge Lutens Wax Samples GIVEAWAY WINNERS

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Post by Portia

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WOO HOO APJ!
This was an excellent giveaway! Thanks so much to Serge Lutens Palais Royale for their generosity.

Let’s see who won,
Portia xx

Serge Lutens Wax Samples GIVEAWAY WINNERSserge-lutens-wax-samples-set-la-perfumerie

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 3 winners who will receive:
1 x complete set of Serge Lutens Wax Samples
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Saturday 8th October 2016 10pm Australian EST
Winners will be chosen by random.org

APJ Winners are

Lissette

Nikki R

Laurels

The winners will have till Wednesday 12th October 2016 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit

The Spirit of the CHANEL Fall-Winter 2016/17 Collection

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Post by Portia

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Hey there Fashion Lovers,

I love to watch the runway shows. This one is especially fun because CHANEL have recreated an Atelier for the parade. At the end Karl Lagerfeld even gathers four of the women that works for CHANEL and they take his walk of honour with him, very nice touch. Bravo KL.

I love the first video because it’s shot in the Palais Royale where Serge Lutens and Parfums de Rosine have their shops. Every time I see it I get a thrill of recognition. The second one shows quite a bit of how a garment is created on the model stand and then how all the work progresses painstakingly by hand. The third is the full runway show and quite a lot of it is hideous this season but the rare jewels are worth waiting for.

All the CHANEL perfume sales go towards keeping these ridiculously extravagant fashion shows alive. No wonder they keep upping the prices.

I hope you enjoy,
Portia xx

The Spirit of the CHANEL Fall-Winter 2016/17 Collection

Making-of the Fall-Winter 2016/17 Haute Couture CHANEL Collection

Fall-Winter 2016/17 Haute Couture CHANEL Show

Moon Shadow by Library of Flowers 2013

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Post by Portia

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Hi there APJ,

You know when you’re rummaging around in your samples and you find THE ONE? Your nose explodes, eyes roll back in your head, you take deep lungfuls of fragrant air and nearly sniff the skin off your hand to get more of this magnetic and all encompassing magic into your sensory stations? You get so excited that you immediately start to look for a bottle of this incredible, fabulous, unbelievably amazing fragrance that has just blown your brains out?

Right, so now you know how I felt smelling todays fragrance. Then I went to the Library of Flowers site to buy a bottle and DISCONTINUED!!!! Aaaaaarrgghhhh. Thank goodness Surrender To Chance has more. I’ve just ordered the lAST 5ml they had and it’s not being restocked. You can find it on Amazon though.

Moon Shadow by Library of Flowers 2013

Moon Shadow: Bottled by Margot Ellena

Moon Shadow Library of Flowers FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Waterlily
Heart: Lotus
Base: Jasmine

Library of Flowers is a house produced by Margot Ellena who you may know from Bloom, Lollia, Tokyo Milk & Love and Toast. I don;’t know how she does it but her fragrances are often really good and at excellent prices. I’m not sure exactly what a Botanical Perfume is but my assumption is that they have a high percentage of “natural” ingredients.

Never before have I smelt such a photo realistic jasmine. So real that I was given a stem of fresh cut vine jasmine the night I was wearing Moon Shadow and they were indistinguishable, melding into each other perfectly. I was not the only one to notice how eerily similar they were. As to the waterlily and lotus notes, sorry but I really don’t get any of them. I get a perfect jasmine.

Jasmine Portia 2016

One problem that often happens with jasmine-centric fragrances is that they open with a huge bang and then fade almost instantly to a quiet, safe, discrete wash that bores the fricken socks off me. Here we have a scent that stays pretty powerful for over two hours before softening in projection but still maintaining a good sillage. I also love that I can still smell it hours later, my nose doesn’t get that tired anosmia that so often happens for me with jasmines. It still smells like sticking your head in a fully flowering jasmine vine all the way to losing the scent all together.

Amazon still has a few bottles at around $37/50ml

What has rung your bell so hard that you had to find more lately?
Portia xx

Estate Rosewood EdP by Angela St. John for Solstice Scents 2016

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Post by Erica Golding

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Fragrant greetings to all of you wonderful scent lovers around the world!

Today, my aura is fully saturated with a generous infusion of my new favorite indie masterpiece. Angela has done it again, and her latest Eau de Parfum composition is a complete addiction for me. I can’t get to sleep without wearing it lately, it’s got me mental!

Estate Rosewood EdP by Solstice Scents 2016

Estate Rosewood EdP by Angela St. John

estate-rosewood-edp-by-solstice-scentsSolstice Scents

Solstice Scents gives these featured accords:
Vanilla, tea rose, oak casks, tobacco, woods, bourbon, rosewood, hinoki wood

When Estate Rosewood was released several weeks ago, I ordered a sample and rocked on my heels next to my mailbox until it arrived. (This took about 30 seconds, haha! Solstice Scents still boasts an exceptionally fast turnaround time despite their well-deserved exploding fan base.)

Naughty confession: I tested it immediately, the little glass sprayer still warm from cooking in a hot summer mailbox. I inhaled and – and, well, it was like only being able to see the tail of a comet from your peripheral vision. It was incomplete, narrow, flat, and left me wanting more. Specifically, it made me crave pure Estate Vanilla. I just wanted to fill the void. I tested the next night and it was the same. The woods were nice but too subtle, the tobacco note was a bit minty and high pitched, the vanilla was confined.
I shrugged, put it aside, and decided it was just not my style.

estate-rosewood-edp-by-solstice-scents-pexelsPDI

A few days later, I was on vacation visiting my dear bestie Sammy, my partner in crime for all things fragrance (and otherwise). She was so deeply in love with her Estate Rosewood. I smelled it on her skin, and suddenly – Glory! A harmonious symphony! Rich, balanced, resonant magic! Experiencing this perfume with her fantastic chemistry was a turning point for me. (You should all be jealous, she amps dark notes like you wouldn’t believe!) Let’s also factor in the mail shock that my sample had been exposed to, it really took over a week to recover. Travel conditions like temperature shifts, pressure changes, varied elevations, and physical agitation impacted this perfume significantly. I hadn’t given it enough time to settle.

I quickly drained my sample once I realized it had recovered from the mail. (Duh. Idiot!) Next I scored a full bottle, and I’ve dented the volume 10% in just a few weeks. Really, it’s that good! The first two batches sold out almost instantly. It’s a must-try if you enjoy feeling like a legend.

estate-rosewood-edp-by-solstice-scents-apothecary11

Solstice Scents has $85/60ml and Samples

Do you have a story about wrongly judging a mail-shocked fragrance too soon? Have you ever had the chance to evaluate the effects of skin chemistry on perfume? Let’s chat about it below!

Love and light and scented hugs,
Erica

Vintage Eau de Rochas by Nicolas Mamounas for Rochas 1970

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Post by Azar

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Hello Perfume Pals,

Stocking up, prepping, hoarding, collecting – whatever you call it, many of us indulge in flagrant fragrance excesses of every kind. Probably the most important thing I’ve learned from my fellow perfume junkies is to dump the guilt, go with the flow and simply stop and enjoy the perfume. Knowing that I have a supportive network of like-minded “hobbyists” has made it possible for me to re-tool the pejorative phrase “anything that is worth doing is worth over-doing” into a mantra that supports my fascination with scent. It is OK to collect mass quantities of perfume – as long as the collection doesn’t break the bank, sink the ship or crowd me out of house and home.

For many years I’ve enjoyed the thrill of finding treasures for the cheapest possible prices. Nowadays I search for the best deals on various household items but I also scour the auction sites and bargain bins for the lowest prices on perfumes. While some folks must have total immersion (the ambience and service offered by fragrance boutiques or perfume shops) I find my ultimate satisfaction in the lowest price per milliliter. Yes! Bigger can be better. So why not buy in bulk!

vintage-eau-de-rochas-by-rochas-1970-hybrid-orchid

Now don’t scoff! I know that at least two of you seriously consider ppml (Price Per ml) before you purchase! Thrifty shoppers look at the unit price of everything, from the cost per square foot for homes to the price per pound of bananas. I am well aware that lumping luxury purchases into the same category as the basic essentials of life (bananas?) might be stretching it a bit – but so what? The bigger and cheaper the bottle the better – and I’m not talking about factice here. The big bottles must be filled with the real thing and – better yet – include the original box.

For some, the Holy Grail of giant perfume bottles is the 1.5 liter (50.721 oz) Shalimar India Nights extrait. These monsters were created as limited editions. The sheer size is breathtaking, but so is the price! A whopping $12,000 US (plus) disqualifies this one from my bargain search. But no worries – there are other big ones out there to satisfy my lust for large.

Vintage Eau de Rochas by Rochas 1970

Vintage Eau de Rochas by Nicolas Mamounas

vintage-eau-de-rochas-by-rochas-1970-3

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Lime, mandarin orange, basil, grapefruit, bergamot, lemon, verbena
Heart: Coriander, carnation, patchouli, jasmine, narcissus, wild rose
Base: Oakmoss, sandalwood, amber, musk, vetiver

Just the other day I purchased a full 14.9 oz (440ml) near pristine vintage Eau de Rochas, including the original box, for $9 US – that’s approximately 2.045 cents per ml! My big bottle was shipped quickly and arrived in perfect condition with no leaks or stains. It smells exactly like it should too – cooling, citrus-y, herbal with a breath of fresh carnation, jasmine and vetiver. The bottle looks like a huge chunk of ice. That alone makes me smile. The jus itself is certainly worth its weight in denatured alcohol!

vintage-eau-de-rochas-by-rochas-1970-2

Is ppml important to you? What is the biggest bottle of fragrance you have ever seen – or purchased?

Azar xx

(Ed: All photos donated by Azar.)

Lovely by Laurent Le Guernec and Clement Gavarry for Sarah Jessica Parker 2005

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Post by Portia

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Hello Fragrance Friends,

Last week in Australia on our AFN FaceBook page we had a Wear Your Celebrity Scents week. We often have special Wear Your weeks because by highlighting a particular section of our collections to wear we remember to bring out things that have sat neglected. It’s been over a year since I last spritzed todays fragrant offering, and it used to be one of my go-to, wear everywhere frags. So it was really nice to spend a full day re-engaging with it. Fully respritzed it for morning, noon and night.

Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker 2005

Lovely by Laurent Le Guernec and Clement Gavarry

Lovely Sarah Jessica Parker FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives the following accords:
Top: Nectarine, bergamot, rosewood, lavender
Heart: Apple martini, white daffodil, orchid
Base: White amber, cedar, woody notes, white musk

The shimmery, hefty/sheer fruity opening of Lovely is skimming the edge of screechy as you apply it. I hold my breath for that first few seconds of zing because it’s completely overwhelming to me. It only lasts a few seconds and then  Lovely becomes well named. My mind has always told me that lovely is a fruity rose and jasmine bouquet fragrance over the most enormous hit of fluffy, powdery, clean woody musks. So there are no roses or jasmine in the notes list but even now that I’ve read the note list my nose is not getting the memo.

What I love about Lovely is how softly insistent it is. While you may not be strong smelling the fragrance does tend to have legs and will fill a room if you spritz in one room, leave for whatever reason and come back 20 minutes later you’ll still smell juicy/musky remnants. So when I wear Lovely I can sit down with someone and it may take 10 minutes for the fragrance to make itself known and then I’ll get a compliment.

Lovely-by-Sarah-Jessica-Parker

Longevity is excellent and because it’s now so cheap I can spritz with abandon. Lovely also leaves excellent sillage, people will look up about 30 seconds after you’ve walked past and will be looking for where that fabulous smell is coming form. Dressed up or lounging around the house Lovely feels like a perfect fit.

Further reading at Bois de Jasmin and Australian Perfume Junkies
FragranceNet has $20/30ml Before Coupon
My Perfume Samples starts from $2/ml to $7/5ml

What has been left loveless around your place that needs to see some spritzing?
Portia xx

Shagya by Sidonie Lancesseur for Parfums de Marly 2013

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Post by Portia

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Hi there Frag Heads,

When the niche bomb exploded one of the houses that became an instant line in loads of high end scent stores was perfumes de Marly. Pegasus in 2011, 5 more in 2012, 7 in 2013, 4 in 2014, 3 in 2015 and 3 more in 2016. That’s 23 fragrances in 5 years, almost Montale-ish. Strangely we haven’t yet written about any of their scents here on APJ, I have had some samples but they got ignored so I moved them on. I have just found the amusingly titled Shagya in a carded manufacturers sample and the green caught my eye. Come and have a first impression ride with me.

Shagya by Parfums de Marly 2013

Shagya by Sidonie Lancesseur

Shagya Parfums de Marly FragranticaFragrantica

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Lime, Pink pepper
Heart: Geranium, Oud, Cedarwood
Base: Gaiac wood, Musk, Papyrus, Vetiver

Lime and pepper fizz merrily on open and I can already smell the woods/oud giving a dry, dusty, summer in a country woodmill feeling. Hot and muddy like after a summer storm. Having a cold lemonade in the sunshine after the storm. A grown up cologne for wealthy business people with just enough gravitas to feel like old farm money comes to town.

This is not a whole new scent, it’s an old trope that seems smooth and debonairly executed up top with a very nice, crisp woodsy dry down. The scent becomes less and less juicy as the heart progresses and finishes as brittle dried grasses and well polished woods.

I bet this is one of Marly’s best sellers. While not rocking my socks off it is different enough to add that extra edge to the business of making people smell good. In the modern tradition of mens fragrance but I think a woman would smell divine in it, that would be so unexpected.

Wikipedia

From Parfums de Marly: The Shagya Arabian horse was developed in Austro Hungaria and is known for its inborn friendliness towards humans. Named after the majestic Arabian breed of horses, Shagya is the most exclusive of the Royal Essence collection. The top notes of the fragrance tingle with the Citric freshness of Limette, Bergamot and Pink Berries and gently give way to a heart of Geranium, Cedar wood and Oud. The fragrance settles with woody scents of Vetyver, wood of Guaiac, Papyrus and musk.

First in Fragrance has €150/125ml (Spend €300 FREE World Shipping!)
(Even FragranceNet is more expensive at €229.60)

Have you tried any of the Parfums de Marly?
Portia xx