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Post by Portia
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I came across this little tit-bit when I was looking for Trivia Q&A. Meryl and Nicole are funny and candid. It’s not often you see them being so engaging. Interesting how Aussie Nicole sounds.
I hope this gives you at least a smile.
Portia xxx
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Post by Portia
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Naomi Goodsir is back with a new fragrance, four in the same number of years. I wish more lines would follow her lead and bring out their selections with more space between them. It could make the fragrance world a less dross riddled arena. My mate Jill from Peony Melbourne was recently at Pitti in Florence and she brought me back a sample of this baby which is available from this week on the website. EXCITING NEWS!
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Floral notes, bergamot, tangerine, spices
Heart: Incense, violet, purple iris
Base: Cistus ladanifer (labdanum), tobacco, amber
Iris Cendre opens fully iris on my skin with a lovely bouquet of citrus sparkling in cool winter sunlight. Someone else mentioned aloe and I have to agree, it smells a bit like opening the pot of aloe vera and the cool refreshing and calming feeling of slathering it over a sunburn. All that is background hum though to the iris, orris & violet which are showing their powdery, earthy and leathery aspects. The heart starts out wet and cool but within the hour Iris Cendre has warmed through considerably and the iris becomes intertwined with the warmer and sweeter base notes and dry smoky hints. Once the spectacle of opening and heart die down Iris Cendre leaves a sheer trail of balmy leather and soft, simple, sweet amber that fades and musks down to close.
Photo Stolen Naomi Goodsir
Iris Cendre is freaking beautiful, especially for the first hour or two. I can imagine perfumistas spritzing in the morning and really enjoying getting to work by which time the fireworks are over and everything is lush and sotto enough to be office appropriate. Iris Cendre is also tenacious, I am left with a lovely wash of clean musks and a hint of resinous goodness over my just-woke-up skin scent.
Here’s the thing. I keep saying I have too much perfume and it’s true, you’d be appalled. Iris Cendre has made me reach for my Credit Card to pay full price. That’s got to tell you how good it is….. actually it’s even better than that. Iris Cendre could be the perfect iris.
Photo Stolen Naomi Goodsir
Further reading: Now Smell This and Colognoisseur
Peony Melbourne has $239/50ml
Surrender To Chance has $6/.5ml
Have you tried any of the Naomi Goodsir range? Are you excited about this one?
Now we just have to keep waiting for the next installment Nuit de Bakelite, a creation with Isabelle Doyen of the Annick Goutal range. MMMMM
Portia xx
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Post by Portia
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Heya Crew,
I grew up dancing and it gives me a thrill still to watch it done well. Though I think they should have included America from West Side Story, as close to perfection as anything I’ve ever seen. It’s under the Top 10. Even now it makes my heart so full I get choked up.
Please enjoy.
Portia xx
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Post by Gabriella
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Hello perfumed peeps!
Living in Melbourne at this time of year, I cannot help but be reminded of the advent of summer in London. There, as soon as the grey dark skies of winter dissipate and the sun’s rays make a welcome return, the whole mood of the city lifts and people scramble to sunbake in parks at lunchtime.
Much like London, we’ve endured a hard cold winter here and spring has given us precious, joyous glimpses of the warmth that is to come. The whole psyche of the city and inhabitants changes at these times – one cannot help but feel elated to shed a winter coat and have a stroll after work amid a gentle warm breeze under a sky the colour of ice cream as the sun sets. There is a perfume that perfectly encapsulates these moments for me and that is ……
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Ylang-ylang, magnolia, neroli, jasmine sambac, ambergris, sandalwood, labdanum, civet.
Message in a Bottle opens up with a dazzling burst of neroli, awakening one from winter’s hibernation with its efferversence and joyousness. The effect to me here is exactly like the hot towels you get on a long haul aeroplane flight. Waking groggy from a restless sleep, one cannot help but feel refreshed as the warmth and glowing citrus of the hot cotton on your face envelops your senses.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
It’s about 10 minutes in when it would be permissible to dismiss Message in a Bottle as another neroli-based cologne. While the lightness of the composition certainly does feel cologne like in structure, the depth of the jasmine and the ylang ylang anchors and deepens the neroli, taking the composition humid white floral territory with an almost tropical feel. As the scent fades away, the ambergris comes to the fore with its salty woodedness, giving a nice segue from steamy floral into skin scent.
Message in a Bottle is a bit of a changeling. Much like Melbourne’s weather that can veer from tropical to freezing in an instant, the perfume itself metamorphoses depending on the weather conditions. In cooler weather, it is very much a selfish scent – your little private view of summer when it is still time to wrap a cardigan round your shoulders. When the temperatures are high, Message in a Bottle truly sings – warm humid skin is what really sets this perfume alight, bringing the tropical effect of the neroil, jasmine ylang ylang to the fore. I like wearing it both ways – for my secret snatch of summer promise as well as a full-on holiday scent when the mercury is climbing.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Further reading: Ainslie’s review here on APJ and Colognoisseur
Libertine Parfumerie has $199/100ml
M xxxx
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Post by Suzanne R Banks
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Hi APJ,
This is a story of scent, romance, sharing, hope, trust, self empowerment and support, featuring Julie Nelson, an Australian Aromatherapist. This is a story of dreams, stunning visuals, essential oil perfume recipes and scented style. Think water coloured, botanical bliss.
I first met Julie about 15 years ago at one of the colleges she was lecturing at in Sydney. I was in awe of her, as I’d dreamed of being able to teach aromatherapy on a professional level. Fast forward to 2014 and we were reconnected through social media and my friend Portia Turbo of Australian Perfume Junkies.
Julie’s exquisite perfumes are not only a delight to encounter, her romantic style and high fashion styling have been a joint production with her photographer daughter. This is such a beautiful story when you read where Julie’s love of essential oils and Aromatherapy started:
“Having my beautiful daughter was an amazing and life changing gift. She was born with a life threatening illness and at 6 months young was diagnosed with a 2nd life threatening condition. Her precious life and challenges were the driving force behind me discovering the healing power of aromatherapy and beautifully perfumed essential oils. They have played an enormous role in supporting us emotionally, psychologically and physically.” Julie Nelson
Julie’s daughter is the photographer, with her childhood friend as the make-up artist and stylist on all the photo shoots for Julie’s e-zines, images for her website and social media sites, and the upcoming “My Aromatic Journal”.
Julie’s successful company Aromatique, has been established for many years offering amazing natural, botanical perfumes and skincare. She is now on a new venture to crowd fund her “My Aromatic Journal” with Kickstart.
Julie’s “My Aromatic Journal” will help you:
• Discover why you should use the power of scent in your daily life
• Use the beautiful perfume recipes shared in this journal to enhance your emotions and feelings in a helpful and positive way
• Write down your emotions, thoughts, feelings and physical responses to any particular scent to draw on for future use
• Connect with the essence of your being through the power of divine scents. This beautiful journal has been created with my highest of intentions, infused with passion and love to support and help you to discover the power of scent and connect and ground with your true self.
Can you help Julie spread the word of the power of essential oils? Please click “My Aromatic Journal” to give as little as $2 or as much as you like. There are great gifts for each level of donation, and the buzz you’ll get from helping someone reach their goal is free.
Good luck Julie!
Follow Julie: Facebook Instagram Twitter
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Like our Facebook page to stay tuned for more info on the inaugural
Australasian Artisan Botanical Perfume Expo in Sydney, 24th April 2016
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Check out my YouTube Channel too, thanks.
Suzanne R Banks xx
Suzanne R Banks Blog
Suzanne R Banks Aromatherapy
Suzanne R Banks FaceBook
Please check out my new book REVELATION! – Reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils
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Post by Portia
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Hey there APJ,
What a great surprise, Alanis Morrisette is a FUMIE! She just uploaded her Top 10 and they are a really cool and diverse mix of the rare, expensive, mass-tige and niche. It’s a clever line up that gives me even more reason to think she would be a fun person to know. Clearly Alanis has been reading frag blogs too because she has a solid frag vocab that makes her pithy mini reviews totally understandable and easy to follow.
You can go check Alanis Morisette’s Top 10 Perfumes on Alanis Morrisette Blog
Her collection includes a Serge Lutens (a bell jar bought at the Palais Royale store no less), Byredo and Santa Maria Novella with a slew of others. Beautifully curated collection.
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
How about some Alanis Morrisette music to get you in the mood? Here is one of her less popular songs that I love. It makes me want to sing along. Go on, turn it up a bit and let the music wash over you. It’s Friday here in Sydney, let yourself go a bit.
Enjoy,
Portia xxx
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Post by Val the Cookie Queen
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After posting a picture of my banana bread on FB and being swamped with requests (three) to share the recipe I thought I would. This is the recipe I use when customers order banana bread, so why not? I live in a country where banana bread is not part of their baked goods culture, so I do not have a lot of competition. Nevertheless this is a great recipe. I have tweaked it over the years and cannot remember where I got the original recipe.
It is moist and fragrant and delicious on its own. It toasts up a treat and is great with butter and lime marmalade. My therapist and partner-in-crime likes it with orange cream-cheese frosting. If you can get hold it guava jelly that would work too.
No great secrets, it is easy to make. Use the best ingredients you can. Baking does not magically turn crap into gourmet. Unless you are Rumpelstiltskin.
1 cup of unsalted and softened butter (225g)
1 cup of light brown sugar (180g)
6 large eggs (Yep – 6, that is not a mistake and best a room temperature)
2 cups of plain flour ( about 340g) (US call it all purpose flour)
2 tsps of baking powder (leveled off of course)
Good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (about 1/4 tsp, you can use powdered nutmeg but I wouldn’t!)
Pinch of salt
3 ripe bananas. Lightly mashed. ( I have used all sizes to be honest, but tend towards larger ones. The recipe is quite forgiving though.)
2 tsps of vanilla extract (real please)
Please note, unlike many banana breads, there is no cinnamon or nuts. You can chuck in half a tsp of cinnamon if you want, but cinnamon in baked goods makes them all taste so similar. The minute amount of nutmeg gives it just a lift, and compliments the bananas beautifully. I do love nuts, but not in this. Only as decoration.
Before starting always prepare the pan. A 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Butter and flour it. If the pan is rusted and a hundred years old because you never use it, then lightly butter the pan and line it with baking paper first. Mash the bananas and have them ready, I add the vanilla to the mashed bananas. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg in a bowl.
Preheat the oven to 180°c or 350°f. If you use a fan oven then drop it a few degrees, but you will know that yourselves.
1. Cream the butter and the sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating really well after each addition. (They may look like they curdle a little as you get towards the fourth or fifth egg, but it does not matter. Keep beating!)
3. Add your dry ingredients a little at a time, and beat well after each addition. (I do it in 4 goes)
4. Add the bananas and vanilla and then just mix to combine. Don´t beat the living daylights out of it, a few lumps of banana is good.
5. Pour your prepared batter into the pan. You can decorate it with nuts if you wish to.
6. Bung it in the preheated oven.
7. Bake it until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. (This is not brownies, we do not want batter dripping off of or clinging onto the skewer, toothpick or whatever.) Baking time seems to differ, anything from 60 to 80 minutes. You will have to see yourself.
8. Cool the loaf for about 15 minutes in the pan then turn it out onto a rack an let it cool.
If you get a perfect banana bread, message me. I need an assistant.
Sorry that there is only picture of the finished banana bread, I didn’t know I was gonna post this!!
Banana Bussis
CQ
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Post by Lavanya & Portia
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Hey there APJ,
Lavanya is a fellow perfume nut, blogger, APJ reader and commenter. So when Val the Cookie Queen told me about her new venture, Boxwalla, I really wanted to find out what goes into a Boxwalla box and how it was different to the others. What better way than an interview with the creator to give us an insight into the Boxwalla idea which launched this week. See, we are all over the new stuff here at APJ.
APJ: Hey Lavanya, since this is a place for perfume junkies I thought we’d start with your first scent memory.
Lavanya: Ah- the first scent that pops into my head when somebody speaks of scent memories is the smell of tuberoses wafting in the living rooms of my childhood. I grew up in India and we moved from place to place, living all over the country but my first memory of smelling tuberoses is in Delhi. A friend of my father’s when invited for dinner would bring my mother a bunch of tuberoses, as a thank you (It is her favorite flower). And then for the next few days this cold, elusive scent would float through our living room, wafting in the night breeze. It has been my favorite flower too, ever since.
APJ: OMG! One day we need to sit down and chat about India. So tell me what made you start Boxwalla?
Lavanya: The long version of what led to us creating Boxwalla can be read here. ‘The shorter version is that we wanted to create an online platform that would allow us to showcase artists, artisans and all the beautiful things we love in a way that allowed people to also experience those things easily. Things that are not as well known, as they ought to be: be they film or books or a perfect dab of scented lotion that melts into your skin.
APJ: OK so how does it work?
Lavanya: We have four categories of boxes that one can subscribe to: Beauty, Books, Film and Food. You can subscribe to any of the categories. And you can switch between them. Every two months you will receive a box, in the category of your choice, filled with things curated around a theme. To make it just a little bit more fun the contents of the box will be a surprise. We try to make sure that the total retail value of the box exceeds the cost of the subscription so that people will be encouraged to take a chance on us and experience the work of these wonderful artists and artisans. We also have a cut off date before which one needs to subscribe to receive a particular box. The cut off date for the December boxes (which will ship in the beginning of December) is November 10th.
APJ: How is Boxwalla different from other subscription boxes?
Lavanya: In a few ways, actually. One, we want to encourage a deeper connection with things that people buy, use and experience. Which is why, for example, most of the products included in our beauty box are full sized (or travel sized) so subscribers can use the product extensively before deciding whether it belongs in their life.
Next, we understand that people are multifaceted with multiple interests and we wanted to provide an easy way for people to explore different interests within one subscription. If you think you have had enough of one category and want to know more about another, you can switch!
Third and most importantly, our focus is on the artists and artisans that we feature in our boxes. We want to showcase them and their work. We have a dedicated page for each of them. We also don’t stock inventory of individual products but encourage people to directly buy from them to maximize their returns.
APJ: Thanks Lavanya!
Lavanya: Thank YOU Portia, for letting me talk about Boxwalla in this wonderful space you have created.
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Post by Portia
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DIOR. One of the great western fashion houses that even the name gives me a thrill of lux. Its history, even its modern change from Galliano to Simmons. I love the current way the house is moving, though now that the Exclusives line is available in department stores it doesn’t feel so exclusive. The crew down at our Sydney DIOR standalone store are wonderful, always ask for Jolanta when you’re there (she doesn’t work Mondays) because she will take extra special care if you tell her Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies sent you.
Anyway, I love the DIOR ads and this one is no exception,
I hope you enjoy it,
Portia xx
No, not affiliated, just love their stuff.
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Post by AF Beauty
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I kinda wish the focus on eyebrows had been as strong back when I were a teenager and in my early 20’s as it is now. I spent my 20’s plucking my brows inefficiently and without much consideration of what I was doing. Fast forward a decade and my sparse eyebrows caused my new beautician to almost cry in anguish at the state of them.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
I’ve learned a few lessons since then and have a few tricks up my sleeve, but truth be told – I am still looking for reliability in my brows and am considering temporary tattooing – have any of you tried it? It seems incredibly pricy and if I’m honest I’m scared, but the results do look tempting.
In the meantime, I have a couple of great products and I practice some techniques I’ve found – I’ll share them with you.
In my previous post about budget beauty I mentioned the Brow Lash compact – still my morning go-to brow definer.
But I’ve also found these two brow pencils, easier for travel or taking to the gym.
The first I found on in an Asian beauty store – Brow Lash Ex. This is a handy tool that turned out better than I initially expected – a double ended tool with a pencil on one end and a powder on the other. The powder applicator is contained in a spring loaded attachment which avoids that issue of too much or too little powder. The texture is good and the colour suitable for light to mid brunettes, perhaps also blondes with darker brows. Good for less dramatic effect.
The second pencil is from Napoleon Perdis, just a regular pencil, retractable, but incredibly reliable. The pencil is thin to avoid overly dark application but strong enough not to break too easily or smudge too much. This is one of the easiest I’ve found that I can use with some of the techniques I’ve found online to improve eyebrow shape.
My eyebrows are still a bit patchy, despite the past 10 years of much more considerate eyebrow management – hence my need for the pencils and powders I’ve mentioned, but these are no good without techniques. Pinterest, if you’ve not used it before is a great source of random info and brows are a popular pin.
Here are a couple of pins that I think are easiest to translate from internet to self:
– the idea on this one is to create the overall shape of the brow and then fill in – easy!
– this one contains info on plucking and keeping shape – although you do need a decent enough brow to start with for this one.
– this one recommends eyebrow shape for different face shapes. Although I’d not be overly led by this sort of recommendation, it’s worth considering your face shape now and in future if you decide to take more permanent action on your brows – basically consider whether you want a permanent raised brow look or if you lost or gained weight how your brows might change.
What are your eyebrow secrets?
AF Beauty x
Australian Perfume Junkies 