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L`Heure Mysterieuse XII by Mathilde Laurent for Cartier 2009

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Hello my lovelies,

You may remember that last year in Prague I bought L’Heure Convoiteé II and at the time Jin quite liked L`Heure Brilliant VI and so I have been trying to get him a sample of it from a Cartier store for over a year now. Yes, I know I can buy a sample at Surrender To Chance but I really wanted him to have the full Cartier sample experience. In the hopes of finding a sample at the source Neela Vermeire took me to 13 Rue de la Paix, Paris on my recent visit. Sadly there were none but the gentleman who manages the store was extremely affable and gave me a couple of other samples, there was also the most gorgeous security guard I’ve ever seen, quite a movie star.

L`Heure Mysterieuse XII by Mathilde Laurent for Cartier 2009

Les Heures de Cartier

L`Heure Mysterieuse XII Cartier FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Jasmine, patchouli, coriander, elemi, incense, nutmeg

A patchouli bomb where the patchouli and nutmeg get together with everything else and make me smell bitter chocolate at the open, then the elemi and coriander take over giving me bitter, sour, green that is both intriguing and slightly disgusting, not like Secretions Magnifique but there is something mildly revolting that I can’t stop sniffing. You know when a fit and healthy person sweats at the gym? Though you know it’s sweat so kind of yucky, yet still to cuddle up with them if they’ve arrived home unshowered can be very darn sexy and it doesn’t matter if you muss them up because they are heading for the shower anyway. L`Heure Mysterieuse XII is that kind of scent, a nod to the sweetest of scents, healthy sweat. Before, during and after.

“An invitation into secrets, the scent of a whisper, heady and lascivious.” Mathilde Laurent, Cartier perfumer.

Yes, that’s what I’m getting, a breathy invitation to entanglement over coffee. This is a sexy scent that sometimes during its story can smell a bit ripe, over ripe even, humanity about to go nasty. Then not too far into the heart it changes completely, still humans in the picture but now the smell of a wood fire, the warmth and woods, smoke and cooking, the herbs & spices are playing lovely counterpoint and still this lovely sweatiness floating in and around. Do any of you get this clean skank? I would never have believed that L`Heure Mysterieuse XII was a Cartier if I didn’t get it straight from the shop in Paris. Amazing, fun and NAUGHTY! I have worn this now 3 times and every time I am astounded at the implied raunch.

L`Heure Mysterieuse XII stays pretty linear and does more of a fade than a change after it hits the smoky woods with spicy, sweaty humanity breath overtones except to add more patchouli and a hint of leather onto the pile. Lasting power is good at 9+ hours of fragrant, sillage soft and scent projection quite close but very discernible and towards the end it’s only the softest and most subtle suede, gorgeous. I think I now need to make Jin wear it to see if it has the same feral overtones on another body  that I’m not sniffing up so close to.

L`Heure Mysterieuse XII Cartier Cabin_fireplace WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Pink Manhattan and Bois de Jasmin
Cartier stand alone stores and some Cartier counters in department stores carry the range
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/.5ml

I have enjoyed my L`Heure Mysterieuse XII wearings immensely and if it wasn’t so damn expensive in Australia at AUD $405 I would have rushed down to Cartier and grabbed one already, maybe next holiday.

Have you yet tried any of Les Heures de Cartier? Did you have a favourite? What about the elegant aesthetic? Would you love a bottle?
Portia xx

CostCo Story.

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Heya APJers,

I thought I’d give you a story about multinational conglomerate CostCo. Thanks to my mate Wendy whose story this is

Portia xx

One day, in line at the company cafeteria, Joe says to Mike behind him, “My elbow hurts like hell. I guess I’d better see a doctor.”
“Listen, you don’t have to spend that kind of money,” Mike replies. “There’s a diagnostic computer down at Costco. Just give it a urine sample and the computer will tell you what’s wrong and what to do about it. It takes ten seconds and costs ten dollars – A lot cheaper than a doctor.”

So, Joe deposits a urine sample in a small jar and takes it to Costco. He deposits ten dollars and the computer lights up and asks for the urine sample…. He pours the sample into the slot and waits…

Ten seconds later, the computer ejects a printout: “You have tennis elbow. Soak your arm in warm water and avoid heavy activity…. It will improve in two weeks. Thank you for shopping @ Costco!”

That evening, while thinking how amazing this new technology was, Joe began wondering if the computer could be fooled.

He mixed some tap water, a stool sample from his dog, urine samples from his wife and daughter, and a sperm sample from himself for good measure.

Joe hurries back to Costco, eager to check the results. He deposits ten dollars, pours in his concoction, and awaits the results.

The computer prints the following:
1. Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener. (Aisle 9)
2. Your dog has ringworm. Bathe him with anti-fungal shampoo. (Aisle 7)
3. Your daughter has a cocaine habit. Get her into rehab.
4. Your wife is pregnant. Twins. They aren’t yours. Get a lawyer.
5. If you don’t stop playing with yourself, your elbow will never get better!

Thank you for shopping @ Costco!

Zelda by Shelley Waddington for EnVoyage Perfumes 2013

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Post by Jordan River

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Her name was Zelda,

She was a showgirl,
But that was 60 years ago when she used to have show…

Well now she has a perfume!

It’s a neo-oriental (what?) for woman (what?) featuring a chorus line of notes who have learnt their choreography to Broadway standards.

Zelda by Shelley Waddington for EnVoyage Perfumes 2013

Zelda

Notes
Top: Iranian Galbanum, Spiced Italian Bergamot, Spices
Heart: Creamy Magnolia Blossom, Garden Florals
Drydown: Cedarwood, Balsams, Mousse de Chêne, Sandalwood, Smoky Amber, Vanilla, Vintage Musks, Vetiver

I opened the bottle at the same time as I sipped on a cup of tea. My senses went awhirling and I thought I had discovered an exotic tea. I was awondering just how those leaves had found their way into the teapot. Not that Zelda smells like a tea note; that was just a trick of my taste and smell sensors. A dab and a spritz and my tea returned to English Breakfast while I was enveloped in warmth from this beautiful beautiful perfume.

The addition of spice to bergamot for the opening gave Zelda the warmth I was feeling. Persian Galbanum adds the green of spring at this stage. Let’s call that youth.

image

The show stopper is magnolia which breaks through a powdery cloud (the cloud is like very very expensive talc), taking the stage with big effects and affectations for about 3 hours with The Big Magnolia Show. Really it swirls around magnificently then retreats to the wings and retires while the smoke machine puffs amber, vanilla, balsams and Mousse de Chêne across the audience. The stage backdrop of trees is very choreographed; slow dancing real sandalwood trees surrounding a towering cedar with a stage floor of jazz-tapping vetiver grass.

I kept waiting for the magnolia to return but even a standing ovation (applause, applause applause, she lived for the applause) did not bring a bow. Zelda left the world’s stage at 48 years young. Let’s call that gone. Reapplication is the answer here if you want to smell the Magnolia Diva herself after 3 hours. The drydown will keep you entertained though to the 5 hour mark. A long enough show and like all good shows left me wanting more.

Now; for women? Nonsense. I am so rocking this floral. Neo-Oriental; yes it is an Oriental and yes it has just been released but it smells like vintage to me.

If this Art Deco perfume bottle could speak you would hear Zelda’s voice saying:

I give a damned good show.
– Zelda Fitzgerald

Zelda Fitzgerald

Zelda Fitzgerald. Photo Enchantment: Tarleisio

This 2013 ‘show’ has won an award: The 2013 Top Artisan Fragrance Salon Award; Silver in The Most Seductive Scent category.

Showgirl History
Before the days of Portia Turbo there was Zelda Fitzgerald, the first American flapper who pounded the boards in the 1920’s. As The Alembicated Genie tells it, Zelda was a woman…

too passionate not to burn so bright, too talented to ever go unnoticed, a free spirit too uninhibited not to thumb her nose at convention, only to be done in by the very conformity her fiery heart raged against.
– Tarleisio
– The Alembicated Genie

Shelley was inspired and elated; voilà Zelda!

 

EnVoyage has $US75/17ml in an Art Deco bottle

Further Reading
Scents of Self – Arielle’s experience
The Alembicated Genie – Liquid Filigree
Another Perfume Blog – sunny and dusky

The book mentions “white flowers perfuming midnight”, “sweet-smelling blossoms…and night-blooming vines

Zelda’s book mentions “white flowers perfuming midnight”, “sweet-smelling blossoms…and night-blooming vines”

There is a brightness and bloom over things; she inspects life proudly, as if she walked in a garden forced by herself to grow in the least hospitable of soils. She is already contemptuous of ordered planting, believing in the possibility of a wizard cultivator to bring forth sweet-smelling blossoms from the hardest of rocks, and night-blooming vines from barren wastes, to plant the breath of twilight and to shop with marigolds.
– Save Me the Waltz
– Zelda Fitzgerald

Jordan River XX

 

CHANEL No 18 by Jacques Polge for CHANEL 1997

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Hello Happy Huffers,

While in Vienna we dropped into the Douglas store near the Steffenplatz where the have a CHANEL room. I was quite naughty and grabbed a bottle each of Bois des Iles and Coromandel EdTs, only the small bottles and neither is opened yet. With my purchases though the girl who served us gave a wonderful bunch of samples. this then is one of those samples…

CHANEL No 18 by Jacques Polge for CHANEL 1997

Les Exclusifs de Chanel No 18 Chanel

Chanel No 18 FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Ambrette (musk mallow), fruity notes, iris, woody notes, flowers

That musk mallow and iris opening is so soft and warm and plush, dry, slightly herbal and wearable. There seems to be loose tea leaves, or a nod to them. CHANEL No 18 reminds me of the scent as you walk into a very plush furniture showroom during the week. Part wood, part leather, air conditioning and the idea of those expensive cleaning agents that mask bad odour and have a very low refreshing murmur of their own try so hard to be, yes, that’s it. CHANEL No 18 smells clean, expensive and luxe. As you wear No 18 it becomes more comfortable, as if your own scent has a wash over it. My skin does not give me hardly any fruit or flowers in the usual sense of the words as I expect them, they are hints, supporting and filling and smoothing the composition. Maybe rose? Maybe carnation?

 Chanel No 18 An-Elegant-Beauty WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

CHANEL No 18 is every inch an elegant beauty, not overpowering, fresh, modern, interesting and I can imagine it being a go-to scent for someone perfectly poised, or looking to smell that way, with a hidden warmth. The iris is cool and slightly carrot-ish, woods are an aromachemical(?) I wonder because when I smell them for a while they disappear to return as I bring my hand back within sniffing distance, and the musk mallow stays around playing fluffy, powder and hair at different times, though it’s not noted I think there are more musks too, clean white musks that continue pumping long after my skin has eaten the fragrance, maybe 2 hours fragrant and double that to nothing.

Chanel No 18 Herve Leger Christopher Macsurak FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and Perfume Posse
CHANEL No 18 is available at all CHANEL boutiques, especially the make-up ones and in Europe from some Douglas stores
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/m

Les exclusives are so easy to wear, perfectly blended, don’t last forever. These can all be exactly what I’m looking for in a fragrance, sometimes, no I take that back, often. It makes it very easy to understand why they are so successful, everyone knows CHANEL can be trusted to have them smelling good.

Which is your favourite CHANEL Les Exclusive?

Portia xx

Lanvin: Fall/Winter 2014/2015 Full Fashion Show

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Hello Fashion Hounds,

I have spent part of the evening watching this season’s Paris Fashion Week. There are only a very few things that I found to be watchable at all this season and here I am giving you my favourite of them. It is the Lanvin show, all 11 minutes of it. There are some extremely interesting looks, some giving a nod to historical costume, some unashamedly modern. Absolutely NOTHING I could wear as an emsemble but certainly details I would be interested in thieving, the opening black marching band hats, the very Givenchy black singlet gown/pinafore with the broad brimmed hat, a sleeve, hem, cuff or some fur.

DSCF0405Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Please enjoy.

Portia xx

Lanvin: Fall Winter 2014/2015 Full Fashion Show

Dolce, The Perfume by Dolce&Gabbana 2014 – A Giuseppe Tornatore film

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Hey everyone!

Here is a film made about a fragrance that could, but probably won’t, be a fabulous, daring and beautiful creation. I love the film’s story and how perfect the whole scenario is, even though it’s old and trite there is a small shiver of magic through it.

Dolce, The Perfume by Dolce&Gabbana 2014

Dolce Dolce&Gabbana FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli leaf, papaya flower
Heart: White amaryllis, narcissus, white water lily
Base: Cashmere woods, musk

I do hope the fragrance is even nearly worthy of the film,

Enjoy.

Portia xx

Anyway GIVEAWAY WINNERS

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Anyway GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Anyway Juliette Has A Gun FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 5 winners who will each receive:

1 x 10ml decant of Anyway by Juliette Has A Gun
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 2nd March 2014 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Winners Are shannonmayer

Photo Stolen shannonmayer

Jaybee, Katherine Mittas, Azar,

LeanS12 (via Twitter), Damir Gašljević (via twitter)

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winners will have till Friday 7th March 2014 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Special THANKS to LibertineParfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are sometimes more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing, and buying the right to import, alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post air system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

Pentachords White by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2011

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Post by Sister Mary Magdalen, Patron Saint of Perfumers

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Fragrance lovers, today I pray your indulgence as I sing a hymn to my favourite note in perfumery: Violet.

So unfashionable, I know. She has not the vampish allure of look-at-me Tuberose. She lacks the ballsy ubiquitous oomph of oudh. No, gentle reader, I languish in the limpid embrace of a shy flower. Her beguiling gaze from a by-gone time first lured this poor soul into the bottomless, limitless, wallet-emptying world of fragrance obsession.

My adoration for her is such, that I am not content merely to spray and smell, I must also consume violet creme chocolates, candies, liqueurs… anything really. Recently, after much searching, I procured a bottle of violet flavouring. Power up! Now I can have violet cereal. Violet anything!

Hence last week saw me whipping up a batch of vanilla butter cupcakes. They were in the oven and I was taste-testing the intensity of the violet white chocolate ganache that would soon adorn them, when I heard the all-too-familiar knock of my parcel postman at my front door. “My Tauer Explorer Sets!” I realised but even more delight was in store for that Swiss devil had included samples, one of which I had been fantasising about since first I read the list of notes:

Pentachords White by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2011

Pentachords White Tauer Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vanilla, violet, amber, iris, Brazillian rosewood, orris.

Of course I sprayed away without delay and was immediately delighted by a clear violet and vanilla that stunned me with pleasure. Perhaps this explains my weakness: violet is key to a bliss lock in my brain. Andy Tauer shares his process via a generous and genial blog, so I know that he has used the particularly narcotic violet aromachemical – alpha ironine – in Pentachords White. Despite these gourmand sounding notes and a subsequent dusting of icing sugar that seems to fall on the starring pair of violet and vanilla, the overall fragrant impression is very dry. The blog tells me this is because the composition rests on Ambroxan. The salty, buzzy rasp of it is evident, but to my nose, exquisitely balanced. It radiates and gives structure, but does not dominate.

Pentachords White Tauer Perfumes Violets U.S. Fish and Wildlife... FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The longevity of Pentachords White is impressive, and the fragrance holds together. No element outlasts the others. To my nose, this is an all-night heavenly disco where Violet and Vanilla dance on a warm wooden floor whilst the Iris smoke machine and Ambroxan mirrorball add haze and scatter.

I’m fascinated by the idea of these Pentachords. I have now tried them all, and Pentachords White is truly the standout for me. This is not just due to my love of the violet, but also to my perception that this one much more than Auburn and Verdant successfully translates the 5 note concept. White truly is an unresolved tension between 5 points in space. It shimmers.

Pentachords White Tauer Perfumes Shimmer danielle defrancesco FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The play of oppositions in this scent is enthralling. Somehow Pentachords White manages to be sheer and abstract, yet alive on my skin. It oscillates between warmth and coolness. One moment a toothsome hologram of a violet ganache vanilla butter cupcake will loom in view (such synchronicity with my baking!), then a buzzing menace reminds that this sweet little treat just might bite back.

Further Reading: Smelly Thoughts and Now Smell This
LuckyScent has $150/50ml
Tauer Perfumes has $34.70/5 x 1.5ml Discovery set

Which of the Andy Tauer fragrances have you tried or did you like?

Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers.

To Russia With Love: Courtney Act: 2014

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Heya All,

This is one of my mates, Courtney. She is currently starring on RuPaul’s Drag Race and here is her latest single’s video clip. The song is her best so far and I have had it on repeat since returning back from overseas. It’s also a big fat finger to Russia’s Vladamir Putin who seems to think it’s one rule for him and another for his people.

Today is Mardi Gras in Sydney, our biggest celebration of the year. Though we are not equal in the eyes of the law we hope it may come soon.

You can follow Courtney Act on FaceBook to see some of her crazy adventures.

To russia With Love Courtney Act

I hope you enjoy To Russia With Love, it’s available on iTunes.
Portia xxx

Wonder Woman

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Dear APJ,

Sometimes something found on facebook resonates so completely and utterly that I feel I have to share. This made me snort my coffee because it felt like it was speaking to me so loudly. Please take this gem out in the world with you today with my love.

Portia xx

Wonder Woman