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Seville a l’Aube by Bertrand Duchaufour for L Artisan Parfumeur 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hey Fume Freaks,

Today I have finally had a moment to give to a fragrance hugely anticipated. I was worried because the build up has been so extraordinary that I felt dwarfed by the sheer weight of prose already directed at it, about it, a book was written of the creation of it and the moment it was inspired by. What could I add? Then I was lucky enough to win a sample from the author of the book The Perfume Lover and scent muse for this fragrance, Denyse Beaulieu of Grain de Musc. I feel it would be churlish to not at least give my fumbling impressions and add to the well deserved clamour surrounding another L’Artisan Parfumeur and Bertrand Duchaufour masterpiece.

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

Fragrantica gives these notes:
Top: Petit grain, olive blossom
Heart: Lavender, orange blossom, beeswax, tobacco
Base: Benzoin, olibanum (frakincense)

What do I small? The opening is green, but a warm woody green that in a short while sings with orange and beeswax that already resonates with the frankincense and benzoin. The lavenders create an interesting, almost manly, depth and the whole manages to stay fresh and herbaceous throughout. The orange blossom and tobacco, I think, meld at some points to smell like there is another person with you. It’s uncanny, I keep expecting a hug from behind.Having read the novel I can see the progression but I would love this fragrance even had I not. I smell like sexy, holy, oranges!

Photo Stolen BookDepository

The staying power is excellent, I wake up with subtle but recognisable wafts of orange and soft vanilla after wearing for dinner and 8 hours of sleep. The sillage is good but not extreme. I was able to eat dinner without it interfering with my palette but TSO Jin could smell it and liked it.

CandyPerfumeBoy, NowSmellThis, BoisDeJasmin, all do amazing reviews filled with stories and information I can only hint at.
LuckyScent sells 100ml for $165 and ships worldwide
BookDepository sells The Perfume Lover book around $20 including delivery worldwide!

Besides the fact that this is a wonderful fragrance, I love that a blogger’s dream has come true in so many ways. Published book, worked with one of the world’s most respected and loved perfumers, was the muse for a fragrance and is now traveling doing book and fragrance talks and launches. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Please do try it and tell me how you liked Seville a l’Aube by L’Artisan Parfumeurs,

Portia xx

Mitzah by Francois Demachy for DIOR 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Hey Scent Hog Crew,

DIOR is special. I’ve never owned anything from the fashion house except fragrance but when I was studying fashion in the 1980’s and then working in the industry they were already stand out leaders in the field. I did buy my long term partner Varun a Christian Dior suit a few years ago and it was, like him, incredibly gorgeous. Christian Dior the man’s story is a good one too if you like biographies. Whenever I go to try a new to me fragrance from DIOR I have to steel myself because when I am disappointed by their work it makes me sad. Not to worry here though, this one is a hit!

Photo stolen allurabeauty

Mitzah is painted in the Press Releases as an elegant, feminine and mysterious oriental fragrance and I guess that is a pretty fair assessment but it is more than that too. Like the woman the fragrance is named for, Mitzah Bricard, one of Christian Dior’s most important muses throughout his amazing career, Mitzah the fragrance has ZING. It is a spectacular leap into gorgeousness.  It seems to me that Mitzah has in fact taken the very best of all the other great Ambers and collected them into one extraordinary fragrance with great sillage and longevity thrown in for extra good measure. I ask you, “What more could you possibly want?” If your answer is a smaller bottle then I do agree, a 50ml would sell like hot cakes, and I would also like it to be available in more stores.


Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives its notes/accords as:
Coriander, rose, spices, cinnamon, labdanum, vanilla, honey, patchouli and incense.

I love how Mitzah opens all hot smoky spices and incense, I feel that there are unmentioned leather and tobacco notes too but maybe they are some of the rose facets, roses have a million faces so it’s hard for me to pinpoint. A cracker of a perfume, swirling around itself, making me feel all glamorous and giving me the va va voom of a Gabor sister in her prime. This is not an intense journey through the perfume with mountainous peaks and troughs, while there are definite start middle and end notes it’s more of a progression. The kick at the start warms slowly and languidly through mildly sweet towards a honeyed amber dry down. On a good day I get 8+ hours before Mitzah is lost. As the PR says elegant, feminine and mysterious, but I think not so feminine; a man could wear it very comfortably because it is spicy amber.

ISmellThereforeIAm does a super review and with a different viewpoint Olfactoria’s Travels

SurrenderToChance has decants from $3/ml if you’d like to test or don’t want the big bottle, I bought a hugely extravagant 3ml set of the 13 La Collection Couturier Sampler meaning there are more DIOR reviews to come.

I have added a video of the Making of the DIOR Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2012 Set. Suffice to say DIOR does nothing by halves.

Whatever it is you’re doing I hope it brings you joy.
Loads of love, till tomorrow,
Portia xx

Lipstick Rose by Ralf Schwieger for Frederic Malle 2000

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Guest Post by EmmaKate

LIPSTICK ROSE

Hello hello Australian Perfume Junkies!

EmmaKate here again for my monthly guest blog appearance. This month I am going to be talking to you about one of my favourite fragrances, Lipstick Rose from Frederic Malle.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
As you may know I was lucky enough to meet Frederic Malle himself while I was working at Mecca Cosmetica. While he was in Australia I was able to ask him about his fragrances and learn more about the range. I have always had a soft spot for this perfume and I had NO idea why (except for the fact that it was gorgeous)…Until Frederic enlightened me that it is designed to smell like lipsticks and powder compacts from a bygone era. As a beauty junkie I knew that certain brands continued to make their products with that luxury in mind, so this fragrance was two of my favourite things combined, fragrance and makeup.
The story goes: Ralf Schwieger (the nose behind this, Eau des Marveilles for Hermes and 3 scents for ELdO in 2012) created this fragrance based on a memory from his childhood. When he was young his parents would go to society events and his mother would come to kiss him goodbye before she would leave. The scent that he associates with this memory is the scent of his mothers lipstick and a sense of love and safety. He brought these memories to life in Lipstick Rose.
Lipstick Roses Long 75Photo Stolen globalrose
Fragrantica gives these featured notes/accords all in a line:
Rose, violet, musk, vanilla, vetiver, amber and grapefruit
Lipstick Rose opens with an orchestra of rose and violet followed by a softer powdery style vanilla and musk. It is then rounded out with vetiver and dries down to smell like candied roses and lilacs. It is reminiscent or Turkish delight and children’s lolly bracelets but with a sophisticated edge. It is well worth checking out if you like a sweeter scent, and even if you don’t. Let it sit with you, you might be surprised.
When I smell this I have visions of pink and red roses. For me it evokes romance and a sense of beauty, inner and outer. I wear this fragrance when it is cooler as I find it a bit overwhelming during the warmer months, I love to wear it when I am feeling a bit sassy and a lot girly.
Kiss Clipart Image: Lipstick Kiss

Photo Stolen Valentineclipart

SurrenderToChance starts at $5.99/ml
I also have a DIY blog full of fun, simple things to do, please come by and have a look at TheOriginalEmmaKate
Can’t wait to see you next month here on APJ,
EmmaKate XOX

Femme by Edmond Roudnitska for ROCHAS 1943

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Hello Fellow Fumies,

I have always madly loved this bottle. One of my courtesy Aunts always had a bottle of Femme on her dressing table and I thought, and think, that the simple fat swirl of a bottle is gorgeous. That this courtesy Aunt was secretly one of my favourites, and a big hug from her was like being awash in a sea of fragrance, also means that the juice has happy memories for me every time I smell it. Yes, it is thinner than the Edmond Roudnitska masterpiece that I remember it due to a reformulation in 1989 overseen by Olivier Cresp making it a little more gourmand, a little less skank and apparently lemon, but there is still that va va voom so lacking in much of today’s perfumery. A saucy wink of a fragrance that takes real self possession to carry off, and a killer Feck You attitude. I think I’m finally ready for Femme.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these notes/accords:
Top: Bergamot, peach, cinnamon, lemon, Brazilian rosewood, plum, apricot
Heart: Cloves, jasmine, rose, iris, rosemary, ylang ylang, carnation
Base: Benzoin, leather, vanilla, amber, musk, oakmoss, patchouli

Photo my own Charles by Norman Lindsay

What do I get? Well the opening is still a complete backhand bitch slap: sweet, spicy, woody fruit and I think the cloves are already there, right up front, or maybe it’s the bergamot? Femme has me at “Hello”. As this extraordinary opening burns off a little I get a swoosh of breathy jasmine and ylang ylang and there is unmentioned cumin here too, the herbaceous notes play more of a backing role filling the fragrance out and giving it light and shade. It’s so hard to parse a big fragrance like this when I am basically scent illiterate and they are all so harmoniously blended. Although we are well into the heart of Femme I am still getting scrummy super ripe fruits alongside the bouquet, this is over an hour into the life of.

I think I’m getting a tingle of patchouli, amber and the musks, there is still a very healthy human sweat and breath feeling running through that has to be cumin, and the bouquet has not left. I does seem to be getting more intimate, snuggly and warm, the civet could be asserting itself (also not mentioned). Not like but reminiscent of waking in the night with someone nude spooning in your arms who is wearing a killer fragrance on top of really fit skin and a soft whisper of the generally bovine effluvia of sleeping person in love.

The amber and vanilla come quite late to the party on my skin and the jasmine is still pumping through till very late. As it dries down it gets very naughty, I think this is what people mean when they talk about Ho Panties. I smell deliciously fornicatory and floral and amber-ish all at once. There’s a long road to travel before it’s gone. I’m going to bed to sleep on it. Wake up and like a dream Femme has gone.

Photo Stolen parfemi

ConfessionsOfAPerfumeNerd does a super review of the Vintage EdC and NowSmellThis helped flesh out my meager knowledge.

FragranceShop has 100ml for around $33
ThePerfumedCourt has Vintage Femme PdT $12/ml and Vintage Parfum $20/ml
SurrenderToChance has Modern Femme EdT $3/ml

This is a must try on your olfactory journey. If you are only au fait with modern perfumes then this will blow your mind.
Love, Love, Love to you all,
See you tomorrow hopefully,
Portia xx

Blonde by Nathalie Feisthauer for Versace 1995

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Hey Hey All You Lovely Blondes (natural, imaginary or enhanced),
This fragrance was created by Versace to celebrate his sister, now head of the empire, Donatella. That’s her in the ad, which is a fabulous testament to the mid 90’s don’t you think? Funiily, we had a Queen in Sydney from Italy for a while called Donatella Anyone! I know, hilarious.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

This came out the year before Dreamer, who was in charge of fragrance at Versace at the time? They seriously need a medal. Two of my all time favourite spritzes from the same house in 2 years, unheard of. Sadly Blonde was either way ahead of its time or too late, and I am gunning for too late. It is big enough, dense enough, note heavy enough to have been an 80’s blockbuster but by 1995 the people still wearing big fragrance had chosen their faves and stuck like glue. Brand loyalty had not yet lost its flavour.
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Fragrantica gives these notes/accords
Top: Gardenia, pitosporum (jasmine-ish), violet, orange blossom, bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, daffodil, ylang-ylang, carnation, pepper
Base: Benzoin, musk, civet, sandalwood
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Photo Stolen Fragrantica

What do I get from this vixen of a perfume? Sparkling, powdery, effusion of white flowers cascading like a voluptuous traditional bridal bouquet, it’s almost aldehydic in its bombasity. It has power and sillage, oh yes, you will certainly attract attention in Blonde. It’s almost a parody they’ve taken it so far. More than one spritz and you’ll skunk a suburb, let alone a work environment. And it doesn’t let up either, once the initial power conflagration burns off we run head first into another set of big fat screamingly heady florals, buttery, spicy and sweet.

The sandalwood, animalics and benzoin have all been working under the radar to uphold the extravaganza that has been going on for the last 2-3 hours but they really start to shine through soon after. It’s not that the flowers have departed but they have started to give some room to move, it gets pretty sexy around 4-6 hours as we dry down towards my being unable to smell anything not me at around 6-7 hours, depending on the day and activity levels. If I wear Blonde to bed there will still be a waft left after 9 hours but it smells very, very naughty indeed.
WARNING!!! Do not wear this to dinner, a movie or work. People will complain and ruin your buzz.

Photo of January Jones 2010 Versace Blonde stolen istyleyou

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Amazon starts at around $60 for 50ml EdT
FragranceNet has 15ml Parfum under $40
ThePerfumedCourt has EdT $3/ml or Parfum $9/ml
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I just put the January Jones shots in because it’s so fabulously outlandish, like this fragrance. Have you tried it? Is there a Versace frag that you wear? Tell me? I’m agog.
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx

Tous Gold EdP by Olivier Cresp for Tous 2002

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Hi Gang,

As you may remember we had a perfume chain close down around here recently and I managed to procure some ridiculous bargains. One of those spectacular grabs was Tous EdP in the gold package with the TOUS bear on top. Is it just me or does the TOUS bear look like a bear putting its arms behind its enormous BOOBS!!!! It looks very Dolly Parton/Pamela Anderson to me.

Fragrantica gives this blurb (edited):
Tous is a Spanish (Catalan) jewelry house founded in 1920 by Salvador Tous Blavi and his wife Teresa Ponsa Mas. Originally focused on watch repair, their small workshop gradually transitioned to jewelry. Tous remains a family business today and the brand has more than 380 stores in 45 countries across five continents.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

and also gives notes/accords as:
Top: Coriander, cassia, bergamot and violet leaf
Heart: Peony, jasmine, gardenia and rose
Base: Iris, Moroccan cedar and white musk

What do I smell? It starts with a sweet green waft that already has some white flowers. It’s pretty, I know that sounds like I’m damning it, but there’s no other word for Tous Gold. A very pretty perfume and softly fragrant that is kept from being boring or banal by the green and herbal accord that continues past the opening and into the heart. Innocent without being innocuous, would be absolutely lovely on a girl or a woman. In fact, I’ve just sprayed in on TSO Jin and it rocks on him too, almost cologne-ish and lasts forever. I love the fatty, almost milky white flowers in the centre that are very human, motherish, embracing. The cool iris and warm cedar and musks are just playful enough to keep this out of laundry territory but Tous does skirt that genre towards the 4 hours mark of its cycle. It lasts extremely well though, still powering away quietly at the 8 hour mark.

Tous Gold is not a big dramatic number or groundbreaker and I’m not going to tell you I can’t live without it; it’s fresh, light, youthful and lovely. You won’t need to work at liking it, there’s no confrontation, even if you are usually white floral phobic. It would also be a good dinner/movie/work fragrance (it may be a bit big for no perfume works), great for people who want to spray in the morning and not think about fragrance again all day.

FragranceShop has 50ml for under $24
FragranceNet has 90ml for $30

I hope you liked our look at Tous Gold, have you tried any others of their range? I quite liked the look of some of their handbags too.
I am so grateful for all of you who come and look regularly, and leave messages. Every one is appreciated.
Portia xx

Un Jardin En Mediterranee by Jean-Claude Ellena for Hermes 2003

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Heya Stink Monkeys,

I don’t know about you but Hermes has always held a special, uber glamorous place in my head and heart. When I think of Hermes (pronounced Air-Mez) instantly I think of class, quality and longevity. Un Jardin En Mediterranee by Jean-Claude Ellena is my equal favourite fig fragrance with Mandy Aftel’s Fig. They are very different, let me introduce you to the way Hermes treats a fig; the one to really start the ball rolling back in 2003.

Photo Stolen Hermes

Fragrantica gives these notes/accords:
Top: Mandarin orange, bergamot, lemon (unmentioned but something very green here too)
Heart: Orange blossom, white nerium oleander
Base: Red cedar, cypress, juniper, fig leaves, pistachio, musk

From the very first moment I get only an extreme green crack of citrus with green bark and split leaves but then a glorious figgy sweetness intrudes, wafting gently through and they try to hover together side by side, one up then the other. It’s like sitting under a tree in the breezy sunlight, sometimes you feel the warmth moving over your face and at other times you are shaded completely. Soon the sweetness wins out and in come spices and some salt, warming the whole confection up and making it almost like a sweet fruit cheese, you can almost taste it. My mouth has watered! HA HA really watered, ohhh this is so good.

Today has been cleaning day and I’ve washed and scrubbed and sweated over 3 bathrooms, top to bottom, there is still the magnificent sweep of sweet spicy fig floating from my wrists. Nearly 2 hours of cleaning and going strong and it has combined with my sweat to give a really briny fresh sea water smell, gorgeous. Le Jardin En Mediterranee is tenacious, the house is spotless, cleaning, vacuming, dusting, steam mop all done, nearly 5 hours since I spritzed a single spritz and wrist mash and the sweet, salty fig is only just letting in the woods. There are hours before the dry down, I’m going to get some winter sun and enjoy the ride.

Photo Stolen static.lookbooks

There is no heaviness to Un Jardin En Mediterranee, except the clunky title. Personally I would HATE to have to tell someone that I’m wearing it and mangle the French beyond recognition, forever showing my absolute blundering year 9 French roots to the world. I think I will call it Hermes, Mediterranean Garden if asked.

WhatMenShouldSmellLike does a wonderful review, as does Olfactoria’sTravels. Undina searches for the ultimate fig in her Looking Glass too.

FragranceX has 50ml for $65
eGlobalBeauty has 100ml under $100 including world wide postage
MyPerfumeSamples has decants starting at $1.99/ml and $7.99/5ml (The Un Jardin collection will be on sale there this weekend)

I hope you’ve enjoyed a little look at Un Jardin En Mediterranee, thank you for your wonderful support. Please leave a message telling me your favourite Hermes or Fig Fragrances? Go on, send me some lemmings!
Love to you and yours,
See you tomorrow.
Portia xx

Vanille Absolument (was Havana Vanille) by L’Artisan Parfumeur 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Hiya all you lovely Perfumistas,

I ordered my Vanille Absolument from the French sale online recently but it was once known as Havana Vanille too. Different name, same juice apparently. I have a long standing love of vanilla in food and fragrance so add this to rum, leather and musk; it was a no brainer.

Photo Stolen L’Artiisan Parfumeur

Fragrantica gives these notes/accords
Top: Clove, Mexican vanilla pod, leather and crystallized dried fruit
Heart: Narcissus, rum, everlasting flower, tonka bean, tobacco leaves and honey
Base: Balms, vanilla absolute, smoked woods and musks

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

OMG! The opening of slightly bitter vanilla is mesmerising, and to have put the leather in right up top to cut through the sweet, spicy candied fruit and give you a blast of dark cakery is genius. I get a milky/ice-creamy blush through the beginning too. Dark rum and honeyed tonka come in to give the whole a cocktail-ish almost Brandy Alexander feel that is both boozy, alcoholic, spicy and cozy warm. I am trying to parse the narcissus and everlasting daisies but they are completely subjugated by the other notes; but every now and then I almost smell them. Although this is a vanilla fragrance there is so much more to it, twists and turns within turns. The dry down is a warm and sweet vanilla that is held back from being foodie by the musk and woods, though I don’t get smoke in the traditional sense.

This is a classy, elegant fragrance that still remains friendly and approachable with good longevity (at about 5 hours before I lose 3 spritz completely) and the sillage & scent bubble are good too. Where would I wear it? This is so divine that I’m finding it hard to think of somewhere I couldn’t wear Vanille Absolument. It may be a little too much for a workplace where there are anti-perfume rules or very close quarters, otherwise from jeans to Haute Couture, Bar B Q to meet the Queen. Excellent as a date night fragrance because it’s sensual rather than sexual.

NowSmellThis and TheNonBlonde do great reviews with much more knowledge than I posess, go check them out too.

LuckyScent have 100ml for $165
Parfum1 has 100ml for $165 (still as Havana Vanille and I’m wondering if it’s pre-reformulation there?)
ThePoshPeasant has decants starting at only $5

How do you all feel about Vanilla? Does it spark your attention and is there one I should definitely try?

See you all tomorrow, thanks for dropping in.
Portia xx

Louis Vuitton fall/winter 2012/13

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Hello Everyone,

It’s Sunday and I know you’re all dying to see the making of the Louis Vuitton 2012/13 fall/winter ads, which I thought were gorgeous!

The whole train trip as an event you got spruced up for, rather than a necessity is wonderfully evocative to me. Here are the print ads and making of video. I wish Vuitton would bring out a fragrance, even though I understand that they don’t want their stuff in the discounters and they want to maintain absolute control over the image, but wouldn’t it be amazing?

Photos Stolen millionlooks
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Sorry there’s no QUICKSNIFFS today, it’s been CRAZY around here, hopefully they’ll be back next week.
Love to you all, I hope your Sunday is glorious like ours is. Sunny, cool and a little breezy here, the wind-chimes are tinkling and bonging in the background as I type.
See you tomorrow for Madeleine’s post,
Much love and hope for your good health,
Portia xx