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Annick Goutal Reviews #II

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

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

GIVEAWAY HERE

L’Eau d’Hadrien

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

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

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

The Annick Goutal site says

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

Ce Soir Ou Jamais (Tonight or Never)

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

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

The Annick Goutal site says

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

Eau de Camille

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

SweetDiva has this to say and Fragrantica

The Annick Goutal site says

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

Ambre Fetiche

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

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

Bought a 100ml of it the following day.

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

The Annick Goutal site says

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

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

Portia xx

The Fragrance of Francis Kurkdjian

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey gang,

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

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

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

Enjoy,

Portia xx

Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes; Little Stars: GIVEAWAY

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes have this to say about Little Stars

Imagine a hot, steamy night in the jungle. Insects chirping, unseen creatures moving in the leaves and branches, and the heavenly scent of a flower that must be the orchid queen of the night. A rich blend of citrus, neroli, ylang-ylang, clove bud and jasmine on a base of exotic woods, oud, black agar and atlas cedarwood. An unmistakable spicy floral scent that epitomizes white, night-fragrant orchids and the woody branches that they grow on.

Fragrantica goes on to say

The nose behind the fragrance is Ellen Covey. Little Stars is available as a parfum extrait or EdP, and is a rich blend of citrus, orange blossom, ylang-ylang, clove bud and jasmine on a base of exotic woods, balsams, oud, spikenard, black agar and atlas cedarwood. A spicy, woody floral scent reminiscent of white, night-fragrant orchids and the woody branches that they grow on.

OK. Having set the scene, I read about Ellen Covey and her Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes on and around the scentbloggosphere and was intrigued by her story of scientist, orchid grower, life liver and finally perfumer, while still encompassing all previous facets of her life. I love a multi-tasker and am especially impressed when they are able to reach high levels of competence and recognition in more than one field. Inspiring stuff.

If I’m reading correctly, and that is not always a given, Little Stars was the first offering from this perfume house, based on one of Doc Elly’s own night flowering orchids, and it was only through the twisting, turning, persistence and learning curving that it ever came to light for all of us to wonder at.

If you leave me a message in the comments section, one random lucky commenter will win a sample of Little Stars and Osafume (see below), I will draw the winner Sunday March 25 around Midnight Sydney, Australia time. Winner announced in Sunday nights blog, winner will need to get in touch with postal details by Wednesday March 28 or I’ll use the samples myself.

Photo stolen from Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes site

A squeaky opening high and tense opens for about 3 minutes, then a sparkling, glorious, miasma of delicious spicy floral notes all the way to its balmy, balsamic dry down, I don’t get the “hot steamy night in the jungle” at all. This to me reads like the heady getting ready for a party, the arriving, drinking, dancing, a blowsy young romance on a garden seat or in parkland. There is a sexy, animal note beneath the glory of the flowers, spring or autumn, not summer. Actually, thinking about it, as Little Stars warms up it smells like the fragrances of 2 people involved in a tryst melding as they do, along with some of the lighter and pre erotic smells that we give off before the big finish and final act of coupling in the grass. Yes, mind firmly in the gutter with this one, which is funny because it is a beautiful and pretty scent too. Now it’s like the first sniff and bite of a Granny Smith apple, the tangy, tart super-sweetness that makes you pause before chomping away to the core. Over the last 2 hours or so I’ve had it change colours on me a dozen times and I keep coming back to update.

This is for everyone. Men and women can wear this with gay abandon. I think there is something for everyone here. If you’ve not yet met Ellen Covey’s fragrances, please hit one of the links and at least troll through the offerings to acquaint yourself with something new and delicious.

Little Stars Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes for womenPhoto stolen from Fragrantica

Finding myself at the Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes site for the first time I was so overwhelmed by the breadth of choice that I bought the Standard Sample Pack so I could try everything, I know, absolute fragrance whore here. When they arrived but before I’d got to the perfumes I’d ordered there were 2 extras in the pack, Salamanca and Bay Rum. Well, the Bay Rum is the most ENORMOUS fragrance and I was instantly enamoured. The Significant Other (TSO) Jin could follow my vapour trails around the house to find me, even down to the yard. It’s the ultimate BAM BAM BAM fragrance and I loved it so much it was the first Full Bottle I ordered from the collection (even though technically it was not yet part of the collection; though I see it is now. YAY!!), sometimes I’ll put it on and go and have my afternoon nap bathed in it radiance, delicious.

Beauty on the Outside covered Little Stars in Jan 2011 (read the comments after too, they are just as interesting) Hortus Conclusus August 2010 , an undated Indieperfumes offering gives different insights, Doc Elly (Ellen Covey) the perfumes creator talks about Little Stars July 2010 at her blog The Perfume Project

I gave a sample of another Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfume, Osafume, to my next door neighbour to test with her girlfriends over dinner and they each had to give a different word for it. I thought it would be a fun way to give a short sharp description, so…….

the girls said; Candied, luscious, sweetened, bouquet, fragrance, trail, essence, dainty

Here is what the blurb on the Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes site says.

Photo stolen from Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes site

Osafume

A delicate, summery scent inspired by a dainty miniature Japanese orchid, Dendrobium moniliforme. Anise and magnolia combine with heliotrope, vanilla, and white musk to make this light, airy fragrance.

I am in no way affiliated with Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes, Although one day I’d LOVE to meet Ellen Covey and pick her brain.
Thanks for sharing my fragrant thoughts.
Portia xx

Auburn & Andy Tauer’s Dark Passage? Really?

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Good Day to you,

This morning I woke to send TSO on his way with a hearty yoghurt, chopped banana, cereal and full cream milk day starter with side order of strong coffee and then flopped back into bed. Ah… luxury of luxuries a sleep in.  Raining outside, I could hear it on the tin out the back, snug in bed. Heaven! My mate Phil rang and we chatted for a while about the blog, him, work, back operations etc and at the wonderful hour of 11am I was finally ready to leave the cocoon and fly.

How to start such a day? Well, for me there was no other choice but Andy Tauer’s Auburn, which I received as a sample with my first Tauer order (see below) and then was so mesmerised by its amazing smell, sillage (distance the fragrance travels from your body, scent circumference said like say arjze) and longevity that I bought FB. It’s amazing how long this gorgeous scent lasts, between 7-8 hours on my scent hungry skin without any re-spritz. AWESOME!

The  Tauer website says

Auburn is the melody of warm cinnamon in accord with a citrus tree in rich bloom.
The softest sandalwood melts into dry amber and subtly adds depth to the perfume.
A warm spicy tobacco closes the oriental round dance and starts it again.

You can read The Perfume Shrine Now Smell This and Tara has done a guest spot on Olfactorias Travels. These will tell you the whole story of the creation of the 3 Pentachord fragrances and help you pick one for yourself.

My personal Andy Tauer story doesn’t start till around September last year when the Pentachords were all anyone on the scentbloggosphere were writing about. I was looking for interesting niche perfume brands to give as Christmas gifts for super discerning family. It had to be good quality, small run, critically acclaimed and slightly off the beaten track, In my reading I had found a review of “L’Air du desert marocain” in “Perfume: The Guide” by Tania Sanchez and it looked perfect. I was hoping to impress.

Off I went to the Tauer (this will link you direct to the Tauer Samples page because the 5 piece sample set is a wonderful way to test the waters) site and picked “L’Air du desert marocain” and also “L’eau d’épices”.  The site said around a 10 working day send time to Australia from Switzerland where Andy is based; (of course if you read his blog you’ll see he is rarely there) so I continued my hunt, pretty sure that these would be my purchases. It got to late November, a decent window, and I decided to order them but, Murphy’s Law, somewhere in the mail system or customs they became bogged. Oy Vey! So on nearly Christmas Eve I could only vent my frustration in one place, I wrote To Mr Tauer. It wasn’t a screaming email but I was distressed at having no gifts.

Well, blow me down but Andy Tauer himself replied overnight with a heartfelt and genuine apology filled with regret. It was quite a reminder that there are people who care deeply about what they do and understand customer service, and people; so I printed off his apologies and put them in the Christmas Cards of the unfortunately presentless. They were awed that I’d gone to the trouble to track such goodies down and that they were now in possession of a missive from a perfumer. Andy Tauer is constantly talked about as perfumes nicest guy on blogs everywhere BTW. In the end they arrived and are loved.

Andy Tauer is also involved with the…………… actually, I’ll let him tell you. This was lifted wholesale from Andy Tauer’s blog. I am a backer of this film, not because I’m a good person, because I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to get some Dark Passage, the fragrance made ONLY for backers of this film. I will have it, and if you don’t become a backer, YOU WON’T!

Check the bloggosphere, it is awhirl with critiques, reviews, comments and chatter, mostly about Andy Tauer’s Dark Passage. Which frankly makes me dirty bitch snigger up my sleeve. Andy Tauer’s Dark Passage. NAUGHTY!! Did he think of that? I hope so because I love it.

There are only 7 days to get this offer and then GONE FOREVER!!

your support makes the difference…

March 13th, 2012

Today, I am asking you for your contribution to help us finance the production of Brian Peras’s film project ONLY CHILD, featuring Grace Zabrinski, through the kickstarter campaign. But I do not ask you to just give money. No, I came up with a lot of specials and fragrant goods for you, to reward you for your support, some of them ONE TIME specials, available only now until end March. I make fragrant soaps, 30 days LIMITED perfume DARK PASSAGE, sneak previews of LORETTA and even my products available. All this without one cent profit from all these offerings.
This is among other things how I support Brian Pera’s Kickstarter campaign, and I invite you to support it, too. And not to miss the unique opportunities offered.

Actually, it is only by our perfume loving fans that we will manage to get this movie produced. Thus, your support matters.

It is very easy: Visit the kickstarter page, select your combination of fragrant or other goods, and then follow the process that will bring you in the end to Amazon. Only if the funding goals are reached, only then, you will be charged by amazon and get your promised goodies later. If we fail, nobody gets anything. Thus: Spread the message, please.

You can get the  fragrance DARK PASSAGE, edp, 7 ml, in a  nice purse spray, offered only now until the end of March (29th) and then it is gone. You can combine it with a 7 ml purse spray of LORETTA, the fragrance. This is a sneak preview of the fragrance that will launch end autumn 2012. You can be the first to sniff my first fragrance where tuberose plays a major role! And you may even combine all this and more and get a fragrance from my entire line, at a discount that rocks: For a pledge of 300$ you can get 7ml purse sprays of LORETTA, DARK PASSAGE, MIRIAM, all three soaps (rose, mandarines ambrée, tuberose scented Loretta soap) and one fragrance, full bottle,  from my line, your choice. You can’t beat that.

Thus, yes. We need your contribution. And for this I made a tuberose scented soap that is just wonderful. As is the tuberose rich fragrance, Loretta, a slightly fragrance, rich, sensual. I use a lot of the “real stuff” in there: Tuberose absolute. A honey like, dark orange absolute that is unbelievable rich and voluminous. Together with rose oil, rose absolute, orange blossom absolute and many other naturals, it blends into a perfume that is one of the richest I have ever done.

Today’s picture shows you such a natural tuberose. I took the pictures in 2005 and fell in love with its natural fragrance that is overwhelming. It took me a while… but when I saw Loretta, the film, I knew that tuberose is her flower. So to say.

You can experience why before all others. Thank you for your support.

Bold and Pictures STOLEN FROM ANDY TAUER’S BLOG

Auburn a picture of my own.

Versace; Dreamer + Profumo; Oud Caravan No. 3

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Hey gang!

I am so excited that over 150 people have clocked in to have a look over the weekend till now. Awesome. I hope you all felt suitably welcome. You are.

Today my fellow Bloggette Evie and I went to the Picasso exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales with Kath (my bestie and sister by non legal but just as binding familial adoption) & Will (Eve’s handsome, dashing husband and friend). It was great, of course Picasso was a genius and changed the way we look at art, very long though, my brain had gone into meltdown so the last 2 rooms are a blur. I wish they had cut the exhibition in half and I could have paid twice to see early and late work, which would have been good because in the end he was homage-ing and deriving from himself anyway.

I was recently reminded of an old favourite perfume of mine by…

Chandler Burr | Five Favorite Scents | August 2004

The Dreamer | Versace

After all those goddamn, tired out, hairy chested, cliché macho, standardized masculine fragrances you find out there, you have to wonder: Who the hell at Versace was the genius who came up with The Dreamer? First, this is so utterly not your father’s aftershave that it smells like it fell to earth from the strange, powdery stellar globulous pictured on its box. Like Angel, The Dreamer startles you. Smell Eau Sauvage, and you think, “Oh, men’s cologne.” (Ho hum.) You smell this thing, and not only do you not think men’s cologne (because you can’t possibly), you think “My God!…” and then “What the hell is it?!” “It” is, first, absolutely mouthwatering. It is walking through a French pastry shop next to a spice market in southern Thailand. Then there’s ice cream, gun powder, fruit candy, hot cocoa, marshmallows, blood orange peel, and probably some DDT. It is the most mesmeric fragrance I know.

I think it’s interesting that Chandler (one of my heroes) Burr was so delighted with something I love, but also that he mentions Angel next to it. When I first met Dreamer and Angel’s brother A*Men, we were hostessing a party at one of Sydney’s still extant hot spots, Home Nightclub (one of Stephen Craddock’s extravaganzas like Home-sexual or Hey Homo). and two fragrances were being released on the same night. Armed with about 1000 5ml give-aways and testers, dressed up to the elevens we mindlessly sashayed through the heaving crowds, doling out freebees. Well A*Men got caught in my nostrils and throat and stayed lodged there for weeks. Even the merest whiff of A*Men would send me flying in the other direction at high speed. So I bacame part of the Versace Dreamer camp and many of our friends and cronies took sides one way or the other, not viciously but definitely. So back then I had a bottle and drained it, not understanding the finer nuances but loving its scent none the less.

The reason I write of this is because I wore it today to see Picasso and hang with my buddies. It was there, but not invasive, all day till I took my bath at 3.30pm to get ready for work. I am so glad that I have a bottle of Versace Dreamer in my Fragrance wardrobe, for its good memories and associations as well as its awesome and delicious smell.

When I got back home today there were 4 parcels at my door awaiting inspection. They were all very, VERY interesting. One box held a rebuy of one of my favourites; Trouble by Boucheron. Next came a small pack of LUSH fragrances (sample pack and 2 stick frags-we’ll talk about them soon). A vintage bottle of JOY by Patou with a smidge left in the bottle via ebay (yes, I have a whole page to write you about it, don’t worry).

Lastly was an exquisitely packed coffret from Dominique Dubrana of La Via del Profumo who does an amazing array of natural, aromatherapy, order your own and even vegan fragrances. Hit the link and have a look, I think the 6 pack coffret is a super good testing deal and looks right out of a Middle Eastern movie done in Hollywood. Just so you know I will be trialing Hindu Kush, Tartar Leather, Sharif, Tabac, Mecca Balsam (just sniffing at bottles this seems to be most me) and African Night.

What came with them though is so astounding to my senses. Oud Caravan No.3. a VEGAN fragrance.

Here is what Dominique Dubrana of La Via del Profumo has to say on the site

It is an authentic Oud, wild and full fledged, hose animalic notes have been at last tamed. Real Oud is not a perfume for all. It is not an easy scent to wear, you must have a lion’s heart. He is somehow like the mythical Dragon, if your inner force is too weak you will not bear it.
In the Oud Caravan N°3 the Dragon has been briddled and saddled, made ready for you to ride him. Oud is the perfume of the Bedouin princes of the desert. I have tempered with exotic fruitty notes the aspect of excessive power that caracterize the head notes of a good Oud.

My aim was to smooth and temper the initial notes and to control their energy in order to make the scent real Oud accessible to a greater number.

I have not been a dedicated perfumista long enough, nor have I read enough to be able to give you the notes and chemical balances. What I can give you is my smell experience

Oud Caravan No. 3 starts on my skin smelling like the tack room of an extremely well kept, run, maintained and busy horse stud. There is animal, hay, leather and leather polish, horse and horse apples (shit, but that special grassy, herbivore, almost cow pat shit), smoke and maybe just outside the door a small garden of fragrant plants that waft in with the breeze, did I say honey? If Andy Tauer’s Lonestar Memories smells like a saddle that a cowboy has just left after a long summer day riding, this is the tack room of an estate after muster, in the afternoon as the heat starts to fade and everybody is ready for a strong cup of tea before dressing for dinner.

The initial rush fades after about half an hour and I am here with a scent that smells like healthy man working in the sun as a gardener or labourer. Sexy, masculine and ready for action. Even on me, the girliest chubby dress up kink ever! And I’d like to welcome the flowers too now please, I am enjoying this immensely and think you should definitely try Oud caravan No. 3.

So a COMPETITION to win this magical triumvirate.

A 1/4ml sample of La Via del Profumo “Oud Caravan No. 3”

A 1.5ml sample of Tommi Sooni “Tarantella”

A 1.5ml sample of Boucheron “Trouble edt” (now sadly discontinued, panned and greatly reviled. I LOVE IT!)

Please leave a note underneath in 55 words or less telling us your first pricey fragrance splurge. I will leave the competition open till March 30th 2012 and will put everyone’s name in a hat and draw randomly. Judges pick is final. I’ll announce winner 31st March 2012  and the winner will need to get in touch with address details so I can send your lovely prize,

Thanks for reading my fragrant thoughts.

Portia xx

 

Versace “Dreamer” photo stolen from Fragrantica click link to see the notes and some history and reviews

My photo of the La Via del Profumo coffret

La Via del Profumo “Oud Caravan No. 3” photo stolen from La Via del Profumo