Voile d'Ambre by Olivier Pescheux for Yves Rocher 2005

Hey there frag crew,

A couple of years ago Jin and I traveled to Europe together, we had never traveled together before, not even for a weekend, yet we decided to put together a wonderful 6 week extravaganza of a holiday. We saw about 10 countries, saw family, met new and old friends, saw sights, laughed, ate, shopped, discovered and generally had the most wonderful time. There were only a couple of minor melt downs on the whole trip and those due to exhaustion rather than lack of common interest. Anyway, the first fragrance I bought while in Europe on that wonderful holiday in a little Yves Rocher shop in Prague was Voile d’Ambre….

Jin Portia Arc de Triomphe Paris Europe 2013

Voile d’Ambre by Olivier Pescheux for Yves Rocher 2005

Voile d'Ambre Yves Rocher FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin leaf, cardamom, mandarin orange, myrtle
Heart: Opoponax, incense, myrrh
Base: Patchouli, Australian sandalwood, Madagascar vanilla

Memories!!! Every time I spritz Voile d’Ambre I get a warm hot rush of happiness that is less to do with the sweet herbal amber that jumps off my skin than it does the wonderful memories of our first trip together. I can see us rugged up in our winter woolies in cities filled with mainly the residents because who is silly enough to travel midwinter through the heart of Europe? We got to see everything we wanted with zero wait time and the staff of everywhere were happy to see some foreigners and have a chat. I have done Europe in all the seasons now and I’ll always try to go in winter, it’s 100% more fun.

Voile d'Ambre Yves Rocher Prague WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Voile d’Ambre gives me a boozy, incense laden amber that is smooth and clean, a warm amber that is in no way challenging. This is comfort fragrance, warming, easy and cuddly. Though I wore it all through that winter in Europe I can also easily apply it in 30C Sydney heat and be comfortable, Voile d’Ambre is spare enough and has enough air through it that I’m not overwhelmed or constricted. I think it may be to do with the Australian sandalwood, which I find a little more astringent and green than the others, slightly eucalyptus feeling and that added to a clean but earthy patchouli rounds the whole fragrance out.

I make it read like the notes are discernible, they are not unless I have a notes list ion front of me, what I smell is a beautiful amber that changes slightly from greener in the beginning to non foody vanilla at dry down. It’s not a big and varied story but a soft and floaty ride through comfort to comfort, and filled with joyful memories. I am smiling right now as I write to you all.

If you’ll excuse me I think I need to give Jin and big hug. While I’m gone, what is your favourite amber fragrance, as a main note or a side one?
Portia xx

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Kalemat by Arabian Oud

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Post by FeralJasmine

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Some time ago, my friend Kafkaesque did a review of a then-unknown perfume called Kalemat, from Arabian Oud. It was $60 for a big bottle, and such is the seductive power of Kafkaesque’s prose that large numbers of us blind-bought it.

Kalemat by Arabian Oud

Kalemat Arabian Oud FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Blueberry, anise
Heart: Rosemary, cashmere wood, floral notes
Base: Musk, amber, honey

To see exactly what seduced us, there is no alternative to reading the original post, because nobody can write like Kafkaesque. You will also note that, like a comet, the post developed a very long tail as we all reported back with our experiences. My own response was a tiny bit disappointed at the time, and that’s where matters stayed until a few months later, when I noticed that the level in my bottle had decreased visibly and bought a back-up bottle. In cool weather, I reach for it at least three times a week, and often wear it as a comfort scent in the evening and on weekends.

Kalemat Arabian Oud Women's_Day_in_Egypt WikiMedia)Photo Stolen WikiMedia

So why did it take me weeks to fall in love? Chasing a youthful dream, I’m afraid. To this day, my dream amber is one that I smelled on a woman in Egypt over 20 years ago as she passed me in the street, and I am still seeking that honeyed amber spice-bomb and haven’t found it. When I read about Kalemat, I was sure I had found it, and felt irrationally disappointed when Kalemat was its duplicate but, on my dry perfume-eating skin, was a soft memory rather than the concentrated bombshell original. All the notes are there, but the volume is turned down.

Kalemat Arabian Oud Amber Ann Porteus FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Is that a bad thing? Not at all. If I found my dream amber, Kalemat Cubed, it would probably clear elevators. Kalemat has a beautiful sunset-honeyed cloud of an opening that has excellent projection and killer sillage, and for the first 20 minutes projection is several inches off my skin. I spray before going to work, and enjoy this part along the commute. By the time I arrive, the sillage is soft and polite and it never raises an eyebrow among my colleagues. I don’t get the rivers of amber that Kafkaesque got, but I do get trickles of honeyed spiced amber that delight me every time I can sniff my wrist surreptitiously, and waft to me with every movement of my hands. A few other notes, like the blueberry-spice note, drift by and turn my thoughts firmly to pleasant things when they reach my nose. Sprayed more heavily in the evening, it reminds me that life is so lovely and generous that those of us who can’t afford the Roja Doves can still smell wonderful. It is killer on a scarf in the winter, warming you subtly. The packaging is also lovely, with a heavy, substantial 100ml glass bottle that arrives in a lovely Arabic-lettered book box.

Kalemat Arabian Oud mosque CarlMaxwellLewin PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

The parent company, Arabian Oud, moved off Amazon but Kalemat can still be found on EBay for very reasonable prices. Someday I still hope to find my dream amber for special occasions, Kalemat Cubed, but this one will hold me just fine until then.

FeralJasmine X

Cuir de Lancôme by Calice Becker and Pauline Zanoni for Lancôme 2007

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Post by Trésor

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As I am writing this the very first snow of the season is beginning to fall and winter’s crystalline breath is rushing through the labyrinth of tree branches outside my window, sounding with an orchestral percussion as if greeting the frigid embrace and welcoming it with open arms. My world is now captured within a veil of glimmering virginal white and my heart longs for a warmth that’s slipped away as sand through an hourglass.

Cuir de Lancome  Grandma Katina Rogers FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Not the physical warmth of being cocooned within a favourite blanket but an intangible emotional warmth that only blooms with the reminiscence of being held in the arms of one who’s love has served as both shelter and unfailing nourishment. Someone who’s love remains only as radiant aura held within a sacred chamber deep within your heart. Few fragrances are able to manifest such cherished memories for me, to transcend space and time and revive as this fragrance does. Today I review Cuir de Lancôme, a magical potion and olfactory time machine who’s precious vapors transport me and pay tribute to my beloved grandmother. A pulchritudinous woman, a force of nature who’s luminous soul taught me of absolute joy and unconditional compassion.

Cuir de Lancôme by Calice Becker and Pauline Zanoni for Lancôme 2007

Cuir de Lancome Lancome FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin orange, saffron, bergamot
Heart: Patchouli, hawthorn, jasmine, ylang-ylang
Base: Orris root, birch, styrax

The opening of Cuir de Lancôme is a spectacular symphony of brilliant, spherical mandarin and delicately bitter bergamot. The effect is so incredibly familiar, not dissimilar to the aroma of an exquisite artisinal soap procured on a journey through the south of France. This is a most beauteous prelude to what I can only describe as one of the softest, most creamy and positively unctuous leather notes I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

Cuir de Lancome leather_jacket WikipediaPhoto stolen Wikipedia

Cuir de Lancôme is not akin to the subversive, BDSM black of Etat Libre d’Orange’s Rien but a master class in restrained elegance. Utterly smooth with textural symmetry to that of whipped butter and kissed with delicate swirls of saffron and I’m certain other spices which are so meticulously blended that they simply register as a gossamer veil of whispering heat. Beneath this leather smolders a rich, deep and dry patchouli interlaced with the balsamic splendor of a languid styrax and an exceptionally photorealistic note of birch.

What’s so terribly beautiful about this act of the fragrance is how it pulsates from the skin in a soft and gloriously diffuse halo, maintaining a poised restraint while beckoning you closer as if to draw you into a tender hearted embrace. It is this precise moment where Cuir de Lancôme is most fragile but as with all creatures of beauty it is in this fragility where it exhibits it’s most extraordinary power, an immaculate vulnerability. An achingly divine swan’s song leading the fragrance into conclusion, just traces of powdery warmth dancing upon the skin.

Cuir de Lancome Swarovski_swan elektriksheep DeviantARTPhoto Stolen DeviantART

I usually get a good 8 hours wear out of this deeply beautiful elixir with a moderate sillage that’s surprisingly enveloping despite it’s modest nature. Though I prefer it as the temperatures descend I think one could wear it any time they pleased, it’s really quite versatile in that way.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Olfactoria’s Travels
Galaxy Perfume has $79/50ml
FragranceX has $102/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/ml

I’d love to know which fragrances bring to life memories of an incredible happiness as this does for me. Sending each of you all of my love.

Trésor xx

Onda Extrait by Vero Kern for Vero Profumo 2007

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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Hi APJ

1. “There was nothing Lucy liked so much as the smell and feel of fur. She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them, leaving the door open, of course, because she knew that it is very foolish to shut oneself into any wardrobe.” C.S Lewis. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Onda Keep CalmPhoto Donated Val CQ

2. “I think I’m on another world with you
I’m on another planet with you
You always get under my skin
I don´t find it irritating
You always play to win ……” “Another Girl, Another Planet” The Only Ones 1978

3. “When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees.” Joseph Joubert 1754 – 1824

Onda Extrait by Vero Kern for Vero Profumo 2007

Onda, Stilletos and One Year On.

onda Vero Profumo FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vetiver, ginger, mace, coriander

From Vero Profumo site:
“Ambrosial whisperings, sweet nothings, tender and potent – and deeply moving.”

Onda StilettosPhoto Donated Val CQ

It is just about a year to the day that I received my bottle of Onda Extrait.

There has been much written about Vero Kern’s Onda masterpiece. Like it or hate it, it will leave you reeling. And it delights me. It took time to understand it, it wasn´t love at first try, Slowly it wrapped its coils around me. Now I long for it.

onda Vero Profumo Foggy Hill GeographPhoto Stolen Geograph

Onda permeates my thoughts. I listen to music and feel Onda. I read and feel Onda. When I met Vero Kern she was wearing Onda. If I had not know that it, I would have wondered if she was wearing anything at all. It was a part of her. Vero Kern says “I´m not interested in “clean” scents. I need characterful scents both in my creations but also as a wearer. Besides this, I love everything that reminds of the smell of skin.” Onda Extrait in that case is a breathtaking success.

Onda is very erotic, very sensual, but furthermore it is calming.

onda Vero Profumo Black Stilettos Dubois PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

Like wearing black patent stilettos, Onda is for when the time it right. It might not be often but it is critical to own both.

Onda is much more than a perfume, indeed it is art. It is a part of the current exhibition “Nirvana, Strange Forms of Pleasure” at the MUDAC (musée de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains) in Lausanne, Switzerland, which runs from the end of October 2014 until the end of April 2015.

onda Vero Profumo Fleshy Scent JLightning FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Now Smell This and Olfactoria’s Travels
First In Fragrance has €160/7.5ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $10/.25ml

A year on I say thank you to Vero Kern. Her creations complete me.

What about you? Do you love Vero’s work? Have you tried them? If so, what was your favourite?

Bussis
CQ

Honey & Almond by Wavertree & London

Hi there APJ Crew,

I have found myself a brand new Australian company doing gorgeously packaged and outrageously fabulous smelling soaps. Who doesn’t love a scented soap as a pick me up at bath time? Maybe, like me, you have cakes of soap in your drawers so that when you open them they are softly scented, your clothes too have a lovely soft teint of fragrance that is not as strong as fabric softener (which I don’t use but have a 1 part disinfectant and 3 parts white vinegar mixture that softens scentlessly) and really just adds the tiniest bit of character.

Honey & Almond by Wavertree & London

honey-almond-soap Wavertree & London australiansoapPhoto Stolen AustralianSoap

  • Size: 7oz, wrapped with embossed paper
  • French-milled (triple-milled) bar that is long lasting, non-drying and has a creamy lather
  • 100% plant oils – sustainable palm oil, palm kernel oil, organic shea butter and vegetable glycerin. PH Balanced
  • Made in Australia
  • Bar is mild and PH balanced which is ideal for sensitive skin and those with skin conditions

Where did we grab ours? In Sydney’s Chinatown at SWS Spring. If you are in the area it is definitely worth a look. It’s one of the best stocked stores of niche personal and ambient fragrances. Also a great selection of make up and accessories too. Two floors of scented wandering frag-gasm. The two guys who own the shop are beautiful too, I just love them to bits. If you buy 3 things they give you a 20% discount at the moment too. WOW!

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SWS Spring Site<<<JUMP

Address:
SWS SPRING
48 Dixon St,
Haymarket Chinatown
Sydney NSW 2000

Telephone:
+61 2 9212 7356

Amazon has $6.95/7oz
Australian Soap has $6.95/7o

The soap is worth a try.

Portia xx

Kelly Calèche by Jean-Claude Ellena for Hermès 2007

Hey Perfume Junkies,

Do you remember when Kelly Calèche was released in 2007? It was a huge kerfuffle, and it seems both a million years ago and yesterday. There was a while that it was the fragrance de jour in the clubs and I think about one in five young women of a certain cadre were sporting it day and night and smelling so young, hip and fresh, even (dare I say it?) GROOVY! I think that many Sydney girls will have fond memories of fun times in Kelly Calèche,

Kelly Caleche Hermes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Grapefruit, narcissus, lily of the valley
Heart: Mimosa, rose, tuberose
Base: Leather, iris

The opening of Kelly Calèche is a dry, green, astringent burst that shocks you awake and into the here and now. This fun high octane fizz only lasts a few moments but it is an excellent mind refresher. Then the whole fragrance changes into a surprising leather that smells on my skin like the leather, glue, colours and stitchery inside the back of brand new high heels, never worn, straight from box and tissue paper. The flowers and fruits big moment are all over for me so quickly, around 15 minutes, and then play a light backing track to this almost patent leather smell. (From Hermès, Hermès, Hermès in 2012)

Kelly Caleche Hermes pink leather norulesstock DeviantARTPhoto Stolen DeviantART

So fun, light and yet very present, that oh so soft suede-ish iris dry down is my favourite part, though other reviewers find it not so good. A whisper of fragrance that huffs out at you every so often to remind you that you’re fragrant. It’s just for you and your nearest and dearest friends. It’s no wonder that Kelly Calèche was such a hit at the time, I wonder if those pretty young things still wander round in a soft fog of sweet iris leather or if they’ve moved on?

I grabbed my 15ml mini bottle from Birgit of Olfactoria’s Travels wardrobe clean-out back in 2012. To be honest it doesn’t see a LOT of wear but I have made decent inroads into it, there is some good air in the bottle. I like to wear it when I need a pick me up, have to be somewhere that a loud or hefty frag would be inappropriate or to remember the lovely girls who wore Kelly Calèche when it was released.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This
Beauty Encounter has $52/50ml EdT
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

Are you a fan? Has Kelly Calèche ever been your go to or does its quiet, refined leather waft leave you bored and stone cold?
Portia xx

Tubéreuse by Mona di Orio 2011

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Post by TinaG

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Whilst first wearing Mona di Orio’s Tubéreuse I must admit I was confused. It really wasn’t the “tuberose” fragrance that I had expected to find….

Tubéreuse by Mona di Orio 2011

Tubereuse Mona di Orio FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pink pepper, green notes, bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, benzoin, heliotrope
Base: Musk, amber, coconut, milk, cashmeran

Tubéreuse opens with a flash of floral milkiness. This quickly changes to an enticing sweet pink pepper with a shadowy smoky bergamot lifting and supporting it. The scent shifts and changes rapidly in the first 10 minutes, slowly settling into a light fresh green accord. I can smell a warm and slightly waxy scent, like coconut water, translucent and milky. The greenness draws a linear thread through the life of the scent as a supporting anchor point. There is a gentle powder which joins the flow at about 1 hour and it stays this way during the dry down. So fresh, peppery, floral, clean, milky, waxy – I realised this fragrance is a study of the tuberose flower itself.

Tubereuse MdO TinaG2Photo Donated TinaG

I found my thoughts being drawn back to evenings where I’ve had bunches of tuberose in the house. Tuberose is “night-blooming”, in that the bloom’s fragrance intensifies during the early evening to night. The time of transition to twilight is a treasure. If I can resist switching a light on, instead maybe lighting a candle, with some quiet background tunes, and may or may not have a glass of chilled white wine – it’s lovely to sit for a while letting my thoughts ramble in whatever direction they take me.

Tubereuse MdO sydney PattyJansen PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

The scent of real tuberose at this time of day is quite simply stunning. Its fragrance edges into the consciousness, bringing thoughts back to the present and reminding that it is this moment, this time, which is precious. It reminds me of the novel “Island” by Aldous Huxley – in a fictitious country where the inhabitants recognise the importance of the ‘conscious self’, taking a step back from your thoughts to be able to see more clearly. The islanders had trained mynah birds to call out “Attention”, and “Here and Now” at random intervals as a reminder to bring one’s self back to the moment. The growing intensity of tuberose scent at twilight has this same effect – the headiness is all encompassing and so beautiful, why wouldn’t you just want to breathe deeply, silently watching as the day fades to calmness, and colours start to drain away into grey-blues and blacks.

Tubereuse MdO TinaGPhoto Donated TinaG

It was at this point whilst wearing Tubéreuse that I realised I was experiencing the work of a master artist. Mona di Orio has captured the impression of night-blooming tuberose with a deeply profound and exquisite skill. There is an expression, that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Trying to dissect and analyse Tubéreuse you could definitely identify the parts, but that’s not the story, not the whole picture, and certainly not the limit of its boundaries. The fragrance has a three-tiered connection with me now – the practical identification of notes, a reminiscence of the quiet times, and the deeper meditative space that the ‘present’ can provide. I’m grateful for that journey.

Further reading: What Men Should Smell Like and Perfume Posse
Peony Melbourne has $230/100ml with FREE shipping in Australia
Parfum1 has $230/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $7/ml

How many of you have tried the MdO Tubéreuse? Or any of her scents? Did you love them or not?

Tina G

‘Golden Shock’ Christmas Makeup Collection 2014 – Application Secrets

Hi there Fashion Face Crew,

I don’t know if you’ve ever worn high fashion make up? I have rarely in my life used them because for stage we need something a little more heavy duty, the man to woman trick is hard on make up and we are at heart (working Drag Queens anyway) blokes.

Recently I bought TinaG some DIOR cosmetics for her birthday. The thrill of shopping for these incredible products in their out of this world packaging was exquisite. I kept texting her saying how excited I was buying her presents and how lucky she would feel when she used the purchases. It was a total home run of a present, Tina’s eyes lit up and  I knew her thrill was equal or greater than mine. Good feeling, great gift.

‘Golden Shock’  DIORPhoto Stolen DIOR

Here is a step by step How To for the hottest Xmas 2014 make up look from DIOR. Definitely you will be party ready in this gorgeous, shimmering face.
Portia xx

‘Golden Shock’ Christmas Makeup Collection 2014 – Application Secrets

Gardenia Flower by Sheila Massetti for Perfume & Skincare Company

Hi APJ,

Sometimes when I’m in the bath or shower I have to make a difficult choice, “Do I use this product and cut out a swathe of fragrances that will not be happy marriages, do I use this product and bugger the consequences or will I use something else” (yes, I know that my life is incredibly low stress and that I have my priorities skew whiff). This is a serious conundrum. I recently put a bar of the Perfume & Skincare Company Gardenia Flower Pure Vegetable Glycerine Soap in the bathroom and the next day Jin (who rarely mentions my bathroom choices for us) said it was his favourite so far. It’s soft and silky, quick foaming and leaven my skin feeling fresh but not tight, we use it on our faces and bodies. For only $8 it’s a complete bargain too.

It does mean though that I can not test fragrances after using it because I have a distinct smell of gardenia up to 3 hours after my bath. So I have been wearing a few white flower scents, especially the soaps companion…

Gardenia Flower Extrait by Sheila Massetti for Perfume & Skincare Company

I know I’ve written about this fragrance before but sometimes you all need to be reminded of things. Here is what I wrote in the previous post about the Perfume & Skincare Co range:
GARDENIA: Gardenia is one of the scents I am repeat applying, not only is it a killer soliflor fragrance that people “get” straight off the bat, but it is a huge compliment getter. Every time I wear it at least one person asks what, who, how and how much. One night I had 4 people do this. Now if you wear scent often you will know that 4 people in one night do not ask about fragrance that you are wearing, it was uncanny. If you love white flowers and gardenia especially, then this fragrance will be for you too.

Gardenia Flower Extrait Perfume & Skincare Company GreyerBaby PixabayPhoto Stolen Pixabay

What I know now that I did not know back then is that you cannot steal the fragrance from a gardenia, it needs to be recreated in the laboratory. Also, that many people try to do a gardenia but most of them simply do not understand how a real life gardenia smells. Sheila Massetti gets it. There’s the creamy, fatty facet: the petrol facet: the breath and shit facet, the bleu cheese facet, the sensual erogenous facet and a hundred other pieces to the puzzle. Gardenia Flower captures all of these and gives the closest photo realistic rendering of a gardenia I have yet found. Simultaneously clean and feral, divine and damned, Sheila Massetti has created the gardenia fragrance at the pinnacle of the heap.

Gardenia Flower Extrait Perfume & Skincare Company  Nadir D'Onofrio FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Perfume & Skincare Company has $10/5ml Sample Atomisers, $8/Pure Vegetable Glycerine Soap – 160g and a range of other great products.

Did I mention they are an Aussie company from New South Wales hinterland?

Portia xx

Sniffapalooza 2014: Breakfast

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Post by Poodle

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On a dreary day in October I boarded a train bound for NYC to attend my second Sniffapalooza. I wasn’t nearly as nervous this year. The city is far less intimidating when you have a native New Yorker to lead you around.

The official start of Sniffa was Saturday morning but I was barely off the train on Friday evening and Daisy had me on the subway heading for some sniffing and shopping. Needless to say, I wasn’t in town two hours and my purse was already lighter. But that’s another post for another day.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I mean, Bergdorf’s

Sniffa began on Saturday with breakfast at Bergdorf Goodman which is less about food and more about the newest perfumes along with some old favorites. There were about 20 perfumes presented in the two hour breakfast. They don’t call it Sniffapalooza for nothing. There is a lot to sniff. More than your thinking. I had planned on doing a photo essay but my camera had other plans and decided to stop working so I’ll recap some of the scents for you. From my notes here are some fragrant highs and lows.

The new Shalimar Souffle was disappointing.

Vent de Folie Annick Goutal FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Annick Goutal has released a perfume celebrating NYC called Vent de Folie. It’s supposed to be inspired by Central Park. The scent is very green, fruity and fresh. I can’t say it smells like New York to me but it is a perfume I could see selling well. I did get a compliment on it just the other day at the football game so even if it doesn’t smell like New York it does smell good.

I loved the new Diana Vreeland perfume bottles but haven’t tested the scents enough to form an opinion.

Intoxicated By Kilian FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Kilian Hennessy of By Kilian was there in person and he introduced the scented jewelry collection along with the three perfumes in the new Addictive State of Mind collection. The jewelry is lovely as are the perfumes. I think I may have found a By Kilian to love with Intoxicated. It’s all coffee and booze with some smokiness. I came thisclose to buying a bottle. I had fears over the lasting power so I decided to wait and sample it some more when I was thinking more rationally. It’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy that is Sniffa. Light My Fire didn’t light mine although it did have some fans at our table. Smoke for the Soul was one of the stranger scents of the day.

Gardenia Robert Piguet FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Another scent worth sniffing is Gardenia by Robert Piguet. It’s not a screaming, in your face white floral and it’s far more interesting than the name implies. It has much more going on than just gardenia. There are notes of ylang-ylang, leather, and vanilla. I could see myself wanting more of this one. It’s not too feminine and has a great warmth to it.

There were more perfumes as well but it would be too much to list them all here. It’s amazing how much you can sniff in the course of two hours. Breakfast definitely whets the appetite for shopping right after on the fragrance floor. The rest of the day was filled with lunch, more presentations, sniffing, and shopping. The day was fabulous and I came home with lots of samples, a few bottles, and a few new friends. I’m looking forward to next year.

Hugs
Poodle