shopping

Japanese Rose by Korres

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hi There Crew,

A couple of years ago now one of my besties bought me a Korres set with Body Milk and Shower Gel. It was completely serendipitous because I had run low on my shower gel at the time and didn’t have a lick of moisturiser in the house anywhere. What did I do? I used it, used it all up in record time and have always got extra on hand in case, I have also gifted this duo to a bunch of my mates, yes it’s that good….

Japanese Rose by Korres

Korres Japanese Rose Body Milk Bath & Unwind

Absolutely expecting it to be a LUSH style scent, bold, big, in your face and take no prisoners I was pleasantly surprised by the quiet grandeur yet tenacious staying power of the fragrance. Roses, roses and more roses, though I don’t get the Japanese connection. Are their Japanese roses known especially for being a spicy, boozy, citrus smelling variety? Apparently they grow in sand dunes near the seaside and have very interesting bark effects so the plant is beautiful when leafed and bare. It’s fun and refreshing in the shower and the lotion makes a fabulous base for any rose fragrance and I also use it for my ambers, it adds a glow that emphasises rose notes but also creates lovely new variants on perfumes without rose. I also find it an extra good fragrance life extender.

Loads of people work in fragrance free environments, Japanese Rose is good because it leaves you softly and subtly fragrant all by itself. After work you can add a spritz of your favourite frag and it will smell gorgeous over the top. Win Win! Today I’m wearing Guerlain’s Shalimar over the top and it gives a whole new rosy sheen to my favourite grand dame of a perfume.

Korres Japanese Rose Showergel Bath & UnwindPhotos Stolen Bath & Unwind

Nowadays I grab mine from Bath & Unwind where you can get both Shower Gel and Body Milk for under $40 delivered anywhere in the world. So not only lovely and lavish but a cheap thrill too.
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx

CHANEL: Coco Mademoiselle: Mini Movie + Making of

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Heya.

We are cleaning the Perfume Room and giving it a new paint job. Also I am culling my collection, it’s so freaking painful I can’t write, sorry. It’s quite a BIG DEAL so over the next couple of days I am dropping in some Video stuff that I’ve found interesting, educational or took me outside my box. Some of it is ONE TOPIC but some will also be TOTALLY OFF TOPIC!

CHANEL: Coco Mademoiselle: Mini Movie + Making of

CocoMademoisell FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Kiera Knightly, CHANEL, beige catsuit, motorbike and a super dooper budget shot in what looks to me like Paris. YES PLEASE!!

Enjoy!
Portia xx

Coco Mademoiselle: Behind The Scenes – CHANEL

Coco Mademoiselle: The Film – CHANEL

Eau Parfumée Au Thé Rouge by Olivier Polge for Bvlgari 2006

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

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Post by TinaG

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Hi APJ,

So many people have been making the effort to travel during this holiday period. For those of us in Australia with overseas relatives and friends, it can mean extended flight and transit times. In what is essentially an enclosed public space (ie: open to anyone with a valid passport and money) consideration of others, whilst trying to make yourself comfortable enough to endure what can be a challenging trip, is an interesting balance. For those of us who have a regular wrist-to-nose sniffing habit, should we really be going fragrance free? What, if any, fragrances could actually be suitable for these close-quarter random encounters?

I had this question partially answered by one of my brothers, as he was was upgraded to Emirates Business Class on his return trip to Australia in December.

Eau Parfumée Au Thé Rouge by Olivier Polge for Bvlgari 2006

Eau Parfumee au The Rouge Bvlgari FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange, pink pepper, bergamot
Heart: Tea, fig
Base: Musk, walnut, resin

Emirates have chosen Eau Parfumée Au Thé Rouge by Bvlgari for their Business Class amenities pack. A 5ml eau de cologne, 40ml body lotion and 40ml after shave emulsion are beautifully presented in a pretty little red branded box. The “Au Thé” series from Bvlgari have been formulated to incorporate notes of various tea varieties, specifically green, white and red tea. Au Thé Vert was launched in 1992, Au Thé Blanc followed in 2003 with Au Thé Rouge released in 2006.

Eau Parfumee au The Rouge Bulgari Tina

Fragrantica advises that Au Thé Rouge is created using two red tea extracts, a Roiboos from South Africa, and a Yunnan which is of Chinese origin. The first splash of the cologne brought on a whoosh of fresh alcohol which disappeared after 20 seconds. I could imagine how invigorating that would be in a stale aircraft cabin, it certainly worked wonders on a steamy summer afternoon. This was followed by what I interpreted as tea – I’m afraid my nose is just not that sensitive to be able to distinguish subtleties of tea types in fragrance, but practice makes perfect. I wafted my wrist under my brother’s nose and he immediately likened the scent to Thé Blanc (White Tea) by L’Occitane. 20minutes later, pepper elbows its way in to the fray along with orange and bergamot that creates a warm, uplifting vibe. Tea, pepper and citrus are an invigorating combination which I really enjoy. After two hours there are wood and resin notes which bring a comforting sophistication to the blend. I can’t seem to find the walnut or musk in the drydown but that is probably just me.

Eau Parfumee au The Rouge Bvlgari Sydney Evening AdventureJay2Photo Stolen AdventureJay

The silage of Au Thé Rouge is very much on an up close and personal basis. I’ve worn this scent now in multiple social situations and not had one person comment on it, even after extremely generous re-applications. Longevity is good albeit subtle. It would be an appropriate choice for travel or the office, but it has also been a lovely experience to wear in an evening winding down as the day cools and settles into dusk.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin
Fragrance Shop has $27/50ml before coupon
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

I’m interested to hear of any other scent-related travel experiences, good or bad! What has been your travel scent of choice?

xx Tina

Smell Bent Holiday Limited Editions 2013/4

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey Niche Nerds and Indie Lovers,

Every year Brent Leonesio from Smell Bent and his crew create a madcap/wonderful range of seasonal scent specialties, this year has been no different and I ordered myself a set of the 4ml EdTs this year to see what the buzz would be about. I have reviewed my favourite 3 from the 5 piece set today, they are the most Pop-Out-And-Surprise for me. They are available for purchase till February 2014 but don’t wait, they are awesome…

Smell Bent Holiday Limited Editions 2013/4

Gimme A Break Smell Bent

Gimme A Break

Smell Bent gives these featured accords:
Silky patchouli, smokey wood, sheer jasmine and sultry musk drenched in sticky honeycomb

My skin amps the musks in Gimme A Break and it smells like a hookers Christmas panties, tenacity is extreme. I spritzed it last night at around 10pm and have had 2 swims since then yet still I can smell dirty patchouli, jasmine and musks. I think it doesn’t smell as intended on me, but maybe it does. Naughty!! It is excellent under other fragrances too to reinvigorate a thinner reformulation, my Mitsouko modern smells positively vintage with it.

pere noel coward Smell Bent

Pere Noël Coward

Smell Bent gives these featured accords:
Sweet immortelle, atlas cedar, jasmine, fir balsam and pinon sap

Dry, dusty, woodpile with the teeniest hint of syrup and a nod to the sauna. Pere Noël Coward is intensely woody and I feel like a lumberjack when I wear it. Oddly disconcerting but fun, wearing this is like playing dress ups. Brent has a way of making the most deliciously nuanced and interesting fragrant rides. I am not a person for whom the season normally matters for frag wearing but I am going to save my Pere Noël Coward for Europe in Jan/Feb where I think it will be perfection, right now it’s opening is almost a caricature. I get around the 5-7 hour mark in summer here.

snow birds 3 flakes Smell Bent

Snobirds

Smell Bent gives these featured accords:
Orange flower, aged amber, candied resins and dark patchouli spiced with cardamom and golden ginger

Snobirds is my favourite of the 2013/4 Holiday set. Gourmand, spicy, amber with cake-ish depths and glace fruit heights. You want to smell delicious, edible and sexy? This is your friend. Bakery with a sensual backbeat, I received my set about 3 weeks ago and Snobirds has seen more wear than the others put together. YUMMY McYUMMY!

Smell Bent has the 5 in a 4ml each Travel Set for only $28,
add their current Frankinsmellie as an extra and it only comes to $33 (that is what I grabbed)

Wishing you a wonderful, joyful, peaceful and profitable 2014, filled with good health, great friends and some of whatever it is that you like.
Portia xx

Holiday Wishes 2013/4: DIOR, CHANEL mini movies

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hiya Holiday Campers,

We are cleaning the Perfume Room and giving it a new paint job. It’s quite a BIG DEAL so over the next couple of days I am dropping in some Video stuff that I’ve found interesting, educational or took me outside my box. Some of it is ONE TOPIC but some will alsao be TOTALLY OFF TOPIC!

Here are a couple of the beautiful Holiday Wish series the big guns are putting out this year. They are getting less outrageously gorgeous each year and a bit generic, these are two of the better offerings.

Holiday Wishes: DIOR, CHANEL

Dior Holidays wishes 2013/4

Coco CHANEL Jerine Lay FlickrPhoto Stolen  Jerine Lay  Flickr

CHANEL Holiday Wishes 2013/4

Fragrance Bros: Daver’s Bookshelf: Essence & Alchemy by Mandy Aftel

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hiya Fumie Friends,

We are cleaning the Perfume Room and giving it a new paint job. It’s quite a BIG DEAL so over the next couple of days I am dropping in some Video stuff that I’ve found interesting, educational or took me outside my box. Some of it is ONE TOPIC but some will alsao be TOTALLY OFF TOPIC!

Essence&Alchemy BookDepositoryPhoto Stolen Book Depository $18 with World Wide Delivery

Today we are meeting Davers from the Fragrance Bros who will be talking Essence and Alchemy by Mandy Aftel. I hope you enjoy meeting him and seeing his take on a book that was so interesting , sometimes way over my head and full of re readable bits that I needed to digest and then come back to.

Hope you are loving your holidays.

Portia x

Oud Luban by Mandy Aftel for Aftelier 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Hey Gang,

Mandy Aftel, of Aftelier Perfumes, is one of our favourite Independent perfumers here at APJ. She is American small batch perfumery at its finest. Not only is she a great perfumer but also writes books about fragrance creation, notes and their many sources, chemistry, uses and functions (Essence and Alchemy) and another on its way soon. There is also a book on living your life well (The Story Of Your Life). On top of all this through my interactions and the general interactions of everyone I’ve spoken to Mandy Aftel is a great girl, filled with the joy of life.

Oud Luban by Mandy Aftel for Aftelier 2012

Oud Luban Extrait Aftelier FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Elemi resin, orange, blood orange, olibanum
Base: Agarwood (oud), opoponax, benzoin, patchouli, resins

The opening of resinous citrus is intense and vegetal, the sweetest oudh I’ve yet smelled and very much like putting your nose into citrus pith after eating the meat near a freshly turned, healthy compost heat and a waxy flavourless lip balm feeling of both softness and being caged. I also get a grated carrot, fresh, vegetable but sweet scent that is always unexpected but inviting.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/theklan/10655976393/player/a32bb85234

I am spared  almost any barnyard, poo or band aid, but now I’ve thought band aid I do get a little of it. It’s a hint and may be because I thought it as it’s never featured in previous wearings. Oud Luban is like an Oudh Lite. It’s pretty, wearable and sensual. I am reminded of the smell of Art Galleries, airy, light, dusty and waxed. The resins offer a sweetness that is also earthy but earthy is a bad analogy, Sky/Earth, tree-ish. But a tree still alive and growing. Oud Luban is the scent of the freedom of climbing trees, and scrub and bushland. Humanity there is too as Oud Lubin becomes softer, warmer, I am a spicy skinned sensual adventurer. Towards dry down my skin smells a bit boat-ish, that salty sweet smell of woods/resins/leather/saltwater but the one constant through the whole crazy ride of Oud Luban Extrait is how sexy it lets me feel. The end is not certain as Oud Luban sinks gently into my skin and I am sure it’s not all gone after 5 hours and a swim, but maybe I do smell this good.

Oud Luban Extrait Aftelier iyoed DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

Further reading: SmellyThoughts and The Alembicated Genie
Aftelier Perfumes has 3 extrait sizes $6/.25ml sample, $55/2ml mini, $195/7.5ml

What are your favourite Independent fragrances? Do you wear any of Mandy Aftel’s creations? Are there some I should seek out?
See you tomorrow,

Portia x

L’Instant de Guerlain EdP by Maurice Roucel for Guerlain 2003

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Hello Frag Nerds,

Sometimes while swanning around the department store I go check out the frag counters even though we don’t get all the good stuff that the world gets. Sometimes I get a lovely surprise when we have the goods and I spritz away. Never have I ever even thought about spritzing todays fragrance, I don’t know why but it always gets overlooked. well, my buddy Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels recently sent me a care package and inside was a 5ml boxed manufacturers sample of…

L’Instant de Guerlain by Maurice Roucel for Guerlain 2003

L'Instant de Guerlain Guerlain FragragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, mandarin, red apple
Heart: Iris, magnolia, ylang ylang, jasmine
Base: Musk, honey, vanilla, benzoin, amber

So right out of the gate I get a sweet, resinous toffee that is sticky and sweet, all warm sugary deliciousness. Citrus and most of the flowers are bypassed in favour of a very edible candy/confectionary scent that is reminiscent of a thing we have in Australia called a Musk Stick. They have been one of my favourite lollies since childhood but Jin wont eat them because he thinks it’s like eating soap. There is definite soapy reference in L’Instant and it has a clean feel without all the usual connotations of blandness and the current overuse of laundry stylings in fragrance. Though they are not the same I am reminded of JPG Le Male a bit, L’Instant has that same hefty, dense, sweetness that is both insistent and moreish. A hint of baklava even, mmmmmmmm

L'Instant de Guerlain Baklawa WikimediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Guerlain is so good at this stuff. Clearly the success of L’Instant became a beacon to celebuscenters everywhere. The style and warm vivacity that is so deliciously enjoyable here is reflected in many of the celeb offerings of the last 10 years. Guerlain does it better, of course. I’m surprised there is no almond note because I can smell some yummy toasted almonds too.

L’Instant is pretty, sweet and very easy wearing. The bottle is beautiful and I can understand why it’s a big hit for Guerlain. You could give this to someone 16 or 86 and they would both smell beautiful wearing it. Longevity on my skin is under 4 hours of fragrant and then another couple of hours of very soft base notes that really do give me a vanilla, amber, almond blur. Lovely.

L'Instant de Guerlain Women Generations WikiPediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Further reading: I Scent You A Day
Beauty Encounter has $52/50ml
My Perfume Samples has EdP starting from $3/ml to $9/5ml

Do you ever get a pleasant surprise from something you’ve bypassed for years? Tell me, I love to read your stories too.
Portia xx

 

 

CHANEL: L’esprit De La Haute Joaillerie Movie

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

G’Day all from the land of Oz,

Sometimes it’s wonderful to dream. I will probably never own a hand crafted or bespoke piece of CHANEL jewellery and I can live with that. Something that does excite me though is watching somebody put so much attention, love and pure magic into what they do. Doesn’t mater what it is, it’s always good to watch masters at their task. There is a certain ease and relaxedness about them, it inspires me every time.

Free VERY Expensive CHANEL

I hope you enjoy the creation of a spectacular piece of CHANEL jewellery.
Portia xx

CHANEL: L’esprit De La Haute Joaillerie (The spirit of hand crafted jewellery)

CHANEL SeedOfHappinessPhoto Stolen SeedOfHappiness

Curious by Claude Dir for Britney Spears 2004

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

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Post by Katrina

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Today I am reviewing my perfume of choice for exercising. I have so many cheap and cheerful celebrity scents that are perfect to use as a body spray. Do you wear perfume when you exercise and if so what is your choice? This year I have started doing hot yoga classes. It can get really smelly in there so I started wearing Britney Spears Curious to class to hide the bad smells. Curious is refreshing and uplifting which is what I need when I feel exhausted from the heat and exercise.

Curious by Claude Dir for Britney Spears 2004

Curious Britney Spears FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: fresh lotus, mouthwatering pear and magnolia.
Heart: tuberose, jasmine and pink cyclamen.
Base: musk, vanilla and precious woods

Curious is the first perfume from Britney Spears and Britney Spears perfumes are generally very good, Curious is no exception. The packaging of Curious looks great as well, with its blue glass bottle and dangly pink charm. You can get larger bottles of Curious with an atomizer that makes it so pretty and girly and would make a lovely gift. I think this would be very special to a teen girl and the perfume is perfectly suitable to that age group.

Curious Britney Spears WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Curious opens with the distinct smell of fresh crisp pear. It is as cool and refreshing as the sparkling pear cider I crave after hot yoga. It feels light and breezy making it perfect for summer. There is also an aquatic element to Curious matching the gorgeous blue glass of the Curious bottle. Slowly the white florals emerge from the fragrance and they smell beautiful but not very strong. This is a good introduction to white florals for anyone new to perfume.

The strength and longevity of Curious is reasonably good until we get to the base notes. The soft sweet vanilla and musk smells lovely but fades away too quickly. Luckily by then I am home and showered after my hot yoga!

Curious Britney Spears Sam Lavy FlickrPhoto Stolen Sam Lavy  Flickr

Further reading: Now Smell This
FragranceShop has $14/30ml with Coupon
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

If you are interested in more Celebrity Perfumes, check out my website at Celebrity Perfume Store

Happy holidays everyone!

Katrina xx

Here is the ad.