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Debaser by David Moltz for D.S. & Durga 2015

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey Hey APJ,

I regularly look through the Recent Releases at Surrender To Chance because Australia doesn’t get most of it. Already we have had quite a few releases this year. Recently I grabbed a few so I want to take a look at a couple of them this week. Let’s start with a company that I am often interested in but rarely try and also rarely read about on the blogs I frequent.

Debaser by David Moltz for D.S. & Durga 2015

Debaser D.S. & Durga FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Fig, iris, coconut milk, tonka bean, white woods

Surrender To Chance & D.S. & Durga give these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, green leaf, pear stem
Heart: Fig, coconut milk, iris
Base: Blond woods, tonka bean, moss

It was the STC note list that spurred me towards Debaser. Pear stem? Fig, coconut, iris & moss? Though I’ve no idea how the stem of a pear smells I love the other four notes mentioned and even the surrounding stuff reads really good. Then, as I started reading further about the fragrance I learned that “The wild shrill of Black Francis coming through the radio in the August heat” was an inspiration. So Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV who performs as Black Francis is frontman for influential alt rock band The Pixies, and the have a song called The Debaser. The idea for this song came from a short silent surrealist film, Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog), which was a collaboration between Spanish director Luis Buñuel and artist Salvador Dalí in 1929.

Debaser D.S. & Durga Un Chien Andalou WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

A woody fig scent, or the idea of fig in a perfumers dream, dry and juicy at the same time, sweet and savoury too. The idea is interesting and appealing with the yummy image in my mouth of sweet soft cheese and fig. The dryness seems to win as we move into the fragrance and there is a hint of walking past a newly painted room while eating fig. I wore this to the movies last night and all through the film I caught whiffs of fig jam and suntan lotion. The coconut becomes more apparent through the heart and I get a fun beachy feel that softens out to clean, very lightly sweet, woods.

Having now read a bunch of other reviews I find that everyone is having completely different experiences and memory triggers from Debaser, truly surreal.

Debaser D.S. & Durga Illumined_Pleasure Salvador_Dali WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Debaser is a wonderfully thick fragrance for the first hour and then it slides slowly into a background hum that lasts and lasts, next morning I can still smell a soft woodsiness with a whisper of sweet figgy jam overtones. After the first hour I think Debaser would even be wearable as an office scent, not that its terribly quiet but there is something quite engaging about it, I can think of no better word than amiable.

Further reading: Colognoisseur and Scented Hound
LuckyScent has $145/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4.50/.5ml

I think you need to try Debaser for yourself. Hopefully you will have a different experience that you can share with us.
Have you tried any of the DS & Durga frags?
Portia xx

7 Lies You've Been Told About Gay Men: Video

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Hey All,

I know that most of you don’t need to see this, or when you see it you will be thinking, “OK I know this stuff”

DW2_0053Photo Stolen DaveyWaveyFitness

Having said that I did like the way they deal with some of the issies and Davey Wavey always gives me a smile.

Be careful at work, there is adult content.

Underneath that is the most hilarious parody, watch it. Ha Ha Ha ha

Enjoy,
Portia xx

7 Lies You’ve Been Told About Gay Men

Bromance Parody

L'Heure Convoiteé II by Mathilde Laurent for Cartier 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hi there Fragrance Fiends,

Every time I wear this beauty I am transported to Prague in winter where I bought it with Jin. You would think it a summer only fragrance but it was wonderful in the super cold too. For some reason I never got to Prague when I lived in London in the 1990s, even though my mates would go there often, it was always on the bucket list and going there with Jin made it extra special. Even if L’Heure Convoiteé II smelled like shit, which it most definitely does not, I would still love it for the memories it conjures.

L’Heure Convoiteé II by Mathilde Laurent for Cartier 2011

Les Heures de Cartier

L'Heure Convoiteé II Cartier FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Carnation, iris, powdery notes

Cool, stark, crystaline and beautiful. The opening of L’Heure Convoiteé II would be the perfect fragrance for the cold girl from Frozen, ever since I saw the film every time I spritz the song Let It Go runs through my head. People compare it to Bellodgia by Caron and while they are cousins L’Heure Convoiteé II is cooler, less spicy and hot. They are carnations done in opposite directions for me, Bellodgia is thick, rich and nuanced with warmth and spice burning fiercely inside but L’Heure Convoiteé II is stark, linear, sharp and poised, a crystal Queen on the outside that becomes less intimidating as she makes her way through the story.

L'Heure Convoiteé II Cartier Prague_charles_bridge WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Clove holds the heart of L’Heure Convoiteé II, clove and iris sharp and earthy, an interesting dichotomy and though it’s not mentioned I think the musk is a lot of what feels fluffy but not human, clean and clear like an washing machine with a brand new rug thrown in for its welcome wash before you add detergents. L’Heure Convoiteé II is the clean lines of modern buildings like Howard Roark’s designs in the Fountainhead or the Brutalist beauty of the Seidler House in Sydney.

L'Heure Convoiteé II Cartier Seidler House Killara ModernHeritagePhoto Stolen ModernHeritage (Problem using this image, please get in touch)

The clove becomes woodsy towards the end of the L’Heure Convoiteé II ride and the rest of the notes give me a lovely spicy rose weaving through. Still cool and very classy but more welcoming, is there some very dry pepper hiding here? Oooh I like it, I think I’ll respritz and live it all again.

Further reading: Grain de Musc and Olfactoria’s Travels
Cartier stores and some large Department Stores have Les Heures de Cartier
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/.5ml

Do you like the Cartier Hours Collection? Have you tried any? What about other Cartier frags?
Portia xx

 

Sublime by Jean Kerleo for Jean Patou 1992

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

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Post by FeralJasmine

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Sublime Spring

There is no part of the transition from winter to spring that fails to interest and even enthrall me. Gardeners are generally beguiled by this season, and I am no exception. The birds are singing, the earth is awakening, Persephone is rising, and life stirs all around us.

In earliest spring I enjoy delicate, effervescent florals, but then the days get warmer and the daffodils bloom, and I develop a taste for divas who stand at center stage and defy winter to show its haggard face again. Sublime by Jean Patou is just such a scent. I will be writing only about the original release in the lobed bottle with a cap shaped rather like a tulip. I’ve never smelled the reformulation.

Sublime by Jean Kerleo for Jean Patou 1992

Sublime Jean Patou fragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, tangerine, coriander, green accords
Heart: Rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, neroli oil
Base: Vanilla, sandalwood, cedar, civet

Jean Patou gives these featured accords:
Envolée: Bergamote, Mandarine, Orange, Ylang Ylang
Plénitude: Rose, Jasmin, Muguet, Fleur d’Oranger
Sillage: Vanille de Madagascar, Ambre, Santal

So what flowers lurk in this bold concoction? Jasmine, rose, ylang, and neroli are the official heart notes, but I smell narcissus in there too, and I’m not alone. A commenter on Fragrantica mentions the narcissus note, although other commenters don’t. My overall impressions of this scent are warm, sweet, and yellow. Imagine a double daffodil opening in the morning sun, and you have some idea of the quality of this perfume. And like so many flowers in the Narcissus family, it can be a bit much at close range. Even on my perfume consuming skin, this one has to be sprayed with some caution, at least 30 minutes before I leave the house. However, the warnings that I see on fragrance boards here and there that this scent is “rank” and “civet-y” are, to my mind, not worth paying attention to. There is a touch of civet but it is subtle. Refined, even. The drydown is long, sweet, warm, and powdery.

Sublime Jean Patou-jean-patou-1944-rene-gruau-fashion-illustration-hprints-comPhoto Stolen HPrints (Problem using image, get in touch please)

It was released in 1992, and in some ways partakes of the qualities of the 1980s bombs, toned down just a bit for the next decade’s sensibilities. But it remains lavish, and there is definitely a time and place for lavish.

Further reading: Non Blonde and I Smell Therefore I Am
FragranceNet has $66/50ml (old packaging)
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/ml

I’d love to hear about your experiences with the house of Patou, or tell me your favorite floral bomb.
FeralJasmine XXX

Armani: The courage to say Sì by Giorgio Armani: Video

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Yoo Hoo Crew!

I love this ad. Beautifully shot, the music is perfect both thrilling and calm, the girls are a multicultural mix and all doing stuff that takes courage. I like very much the blend of drama and beauty, so good.

Si by Christine Nagel for Giorgio Armani 2013

Si Giorgio Armani FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cassis
Heart: Freesia, ,may rose
Base: Vanilla, patchouli, ambroxan, woody notes

Sadly the fragrance is a washout on me but I hope it’s better for you.

Enjoy the advertisement.
Portia xx

The courage to say Sì by Giorgio Armani

Un Matin d'Orage by Isabelle Doyen for Annick Goutal 2009

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Hi there lovely fragrant APJers,

I have a nearly empty 50ml of this beauty bought early on and recently my mate Michael who writes for Olfactoria’s Travels was having a Sell-Out so I grabbed a 100ml from him. It’s in the old packaging but much newer and I was a little worried there might have been a few cuts and pastes as the company changed hands over the years. I’m sure there have been but Un Matin d’Orage is remarkably intact. Happy day…..

Un Matin d’Orage by Isabelle Doyen for Annick Goutal 2009

Un Matin d’Orage (Morning Storm)

Un Matin d`Orage Annick Goutal FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Sicilian lemon, ginger, green notes
Heart: Gardenia, shiso leaves, magnolia, champaca flowers, Indonesian jasmine
Base: Sandalwood

Imagine happy moderately wealthy women heading for lunch. Their morning has been full, woke up, breakfast, husband to work and kids to school (unless she has decided to live her life her way), gym, work or housework, ready for lunch, spritz. In my imagination Un Matin d’Orage is exactly what she wafts. Stylish, distinctive, sensual and elegant is how she lives, and how she smells.

shutterstock_55275496.tifPhoto Stolen WomensLifeStyle (Problem using image? Get in touch please)

When I wrote about Un Matin d’Orage before this is what I said: “OH MY GOD! I LOVE THIS!” is what I say in my head every time I spritz myself with Un Matin d’Orage. Does it smell like a stormy morning to me? No. Maybe the sunshine an hour after a stormy morning, when all the flowers are getting their scent on as if to make up for lost time……. This smells like money to me, loads of it.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

My first whiff of Un Matin d’Orage is always with surprise that there is no ylang mentioned in the notes. My nose gets the lovely fatty, warm, buttery sensuality of it. Backed up by light sheen of lemon and ginger that sparkles dewily across the top, and yes I get the idea of being out after a storm. A very clean gardenia is there, maybe the indole has washed away in the storm, and it’s not a flower in your hand but a bush a couple of doors down wafting up to you in the early morning as the scent awakes. Champacca is an extremely fragrant magnolia that has a flower remarkably reminiscent in its look of ylang, though I’ve not smelled it alone I think it’s the progenitor of the ylang-ish headiness, the sandalwood is helping too.

While Un Matin d’Orage is a white floral extravaganza something I really enjoy about its unfurling is the hint of green that is present through its whole life, a slightly wet/dry green like palm leaves in a greenhouse and some resinous green too (galbanum?) that steadies the whole fragrance and keeps it wearable and give subtle shade to the glow from the white flowers.

Un Matin d`Orage Annick Goutal Edgar_Degas Ballet WikiCommonsPhoto stolen WikiCommons

Like many Annick Goutal fragrances only the first hour is very fragrant but Un Matin d’Orage hums along quietly after its initial huge opening as a lovely airy, softly woody white flower that huffs up from my shirt occasionally and surprises me. Too big for confined spaces initially but given some burn off time perfect for any occasion. Smells KILLER on a guy too.

Further reading: Smelly Thoughts and Grain de Musc
FragranceNet has old packaging $79/50ml before coupon
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Have you worn this remarkable beauty? Is there another Annick Goutal you love?
Portia x

Dior A/W 15/16 Show – Raf Simons Interview

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Hi there Crew,

I am less taken with this show, Raf Simons does some great and exciting stuff with surreal animal print, fabric uses are interesting and some of the colours are killer. I love the side ponytails and the long plastic boots (which seem to be a favourite of his) but the collection has only rare highlights for me. There is quite a bit of repetition through the DIOR couture and pret a porter ranges and over seasons. It has me wondering if Raf is creating a signature for himself at DIOR or if he is doing a timeline of incremental change?

The reason that he created this show as he did it is much more interesting so I’ve given you the interview today instead of the show. you’ll see enough of the frocks to make your own decisions.

DIOR AW 15:16 ready-to-wear-show DIORPhoto Stolen DIOR.com

I’d love to read what you think about it in the comments,
Portia xx

 Dior A/W 15/16 Show – Raf Simons Interview

Nirvana Black by Pierre Negrin for Elizabeth and James 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Hi there APJ,

I know many of you have already tried and RAVED about this little designer/celebuscent. The Olsen twins launched the fashion label named after their siblings and the fragrances are meant to fit this aesthetic, they do.I also want to say how impressed I am by these two girls who got a lucky break as babies but somehow have managed to transcend their past and create this incredible empire. They are really cool girls and I have really enjoyed following their story which could so easily have ended in train wrecks.

Nirvana Black Elizabeth and James SephoraPhoto Stolen Sephora

Let’s talk about the bottle, it’s got to be the coolest, Glomesh styled, retro glam offering I’ve seen in EVER. Feels good and heavy in your hand, excellent grip because the bottle portion is rounded dots and the lid is pointy dots for ease of opening, snazzy gold tone side stripes and join band. I freaking love it. The bottle also survived Ainslie Walker dropping it from shoulder height to the tiles in Sydney’s new Sephora, noisy but unbroken. I bought my bottle in America in November and only now am I getting around to writing about it for you…

Nirvana Black by Elizabeth and James 2013

Nirvana Black by Pierre Negrin

Nirvana Black Elizabeth and James FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Violet, sandalwood, vanilla

I have to tell you that the hype had me really worried, you know what it’s like when everyone has been raving about something to the point of nausea? So I kept my expectations as low as I could. Yes, I was pretending. This was one very excited perfumista.

Nirvana Black opens with a full on camphorous blast of what smells like the eucalyptal* top of Australian sandalwood, sharp and biting over the top of this lovely creamy vanilla. It’s an excellent, eye popping dichotomy that makes me smile from the get go. My skin gives me little violet, only the merest hint of it because Nirvana Black is ALL about a creamy, sweet, sensual & boozy vanilla/sandalwood/amber with the merest hint of spice and herb to keep it interesting.

o.22734Photo Stolen Fragrantica

It stays pretty linear to for the 5+ hours I can smell it but by morning there is not even a hint that I’d been wearing fragrance. Nirvana Black is quite fragrant, densely packed and gives good sillage for the first three hours, that’s really good for my skin. After that it softens out and boy is it a smooth musky vanilla, like rubbing the most exquisite chocolate velvet across your cheek.

I like too that the Olsen girls have kept Nirvana Black’s price reasonable. It’s affordable to most, smells great and looks like it cost a LOT more. Now I’m sure most of the die hard perfumistas will poo poo but even though Nirvana Black is simple and wearable it is not boring. This is fun and yummy.

Nirvana Black Elizabeth and James Chocolate Velvet DIOR PinterestPhoto Stolen Pinterest

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
Sephora has US$55/30ml
Surrender To Chance has the manufacturers roll on mini $19/7ml

What are your thoughts on Nirvana Black, or indeed the Olsen twins?
Portia x

eucalyptal: I made it up but you know what I mean

Please Be Gentle

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Hi APJ,

Sometimes i read some of those dumb memes and they strike me so powerfully that I have to catch my breath. In 2 simple sentences my day is turned around for the better, I can breathe and everything is in a more realistic perspective.

Please Be Gentle

I hope it helps you too.

Portia xx

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Youth-Dew by Josephine Catapano for Estée Lauder 1955

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

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Post by Trésor

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I usually like to begin my reviews with an abstract impression of the fragrance I going to be speaking of, but for a couple of weeks now I have sat in front of my computer and found myself completely unable to articulate my feelings for this fragrance in any way that made a lick of sense. So now, as I sit here at the eleventh hour, I am going to give this another go and see if I can somehow put into words the inimitable mesmerism contained within the omnipotent fumes captured in this murky amber fluid. Youth Dew, the fragrance I consider to be the matriarch of American perfume royalty, here you are again leaving me breathless and without the words to express how I feel about you once more.

Youth-Dew by Josephine Catapano for Estée Lauder 1955

Youth-Dew Estée Lauder FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, orange, spices, peach, bergamot, narcissus, lavender
Heart: Cinnamon, cassia, orchid, jasmine, cloves, ylang-ylang, rose, lily-of-the-valley, spicy notes
Base: Tolu balsam, peru balsam, amber, patchouli, musk, vanilla, oakmoss, vetiver, incense

The way Youth Dew opens detonates on the skin is simply extraordinary, I can guarantee it is one of the most forcefully dense clouds of fragrance you may ever encounter in your perfume-smelling career. Once the utter onslaught (and I truly mean this in the most complimentary way) of aroma begins to disperse you are greeted with a visceral symphony of resins which seem to swallow the light like some phantasmic quasar. The resins have this incredible sequence of olfactory motion that to my nose resembles the collapse of a star in a continuous loop, imploding and exploding in brilliant succession. As the composition progresses rich and sensuous spices begin to unfold like a blanket of scintillating stars splashed across a mahogany sky, meteor showers of cinnamon and clove raining down from above and setting the atmosphere alight with their luminous eruptions. Though not listed in notes I detect the obvious presence of leather, perhaps it’s just my imagination running wild but I swear I can smell it. The fragrance lives in this state for quite some time until it begins to morph once more into a luxuriant accord of liquid amber infused with vanilla that’s been drizzled atop the smouldering remains of the resins which preceded. It is in this stage where Youth Dew finally begins its lengthy (and I so mean lengthy) decent into a redolent hum of amorphous warmth hovering just above the skin.

YouthDewInstaPhoto Donated Trésor

Now, onto longevity and sillage. Oh, boy. The sillage on Youth Dew is….enormous, incredibly so. You will be noticed and people will be able to smell you a continent over if you are the slightest bit overzealous with application. A wonderful tip for calming the monster that is Youth Dew’s gargantuan aura is to take a tiny bit, mix it with a fragrance free oil (I find a bit of fractionated coconut does the trick nicely) and apply as you would any other body oil.

Youth-Dew Ad Estée Lauder FragranticaPhoto stolen Fragrantica

As for longevity, I am almost certain that this fragrance just fuses with your DNA and will never truly disappear. In my attempts to review I have worn Youth Dew a number of times over the past couple of weeks and it’s lasted upwards of 18 hours on my skin and strangely enough even though a shower when I chose to be a bit heavy handed. If you are a density junkie like me or simply want to experience what I consider to be one of the very best compositions in American perfumery I urge you to give Youth Dew a try. Even if you don’t like it you will up your fumehead street cred just by having tried it.

Further reading: The Non Blonde and Yesterday’s Perfume
Youth Dew is available in department stores and vintage on Ebay
My Perfume Samples start at $2/ml

What do you feel when you wear Youth Dew? Do you have memories of it on others?
Trésor xxox