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Autoportrait by Nathalie Lorson for Olfactive Studio 2011

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

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Post by Jordan River

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Autoportrait by Olfactive Studio 2011

Autoportrait by Nathan BranchPhoto Taken by Nathan Branch

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot and elemi
Heart: Benzoin, incense and musk
Base: Oak moss, cedar and vetiver.

Boys, here is one for the 21st century man, not a flower petal in sight. The brief to the perfumer was a photo – create a fragrance inspired by the picture below. I first encountered this scent in December at World Beauty. When I trial a new scent I make sure not to read reviews or the even the notes on the packaging. February came and Autoportrait was still wafting through the scentmills of my mind. Back to the shop for another spritz. Back to the shop twice in a day. On my fourth visit the SA read out the marketing notes before I could protest. When I heard the words Nathalie Lorson I swooned as the attraction made sudden sense.

Autoportrait LUC LAPÔTRE olfactive studio

The photo that inspired Autoportrait. Photographer: Luc Lapôrte

Natalie created one of my best-loved ‘fumes, the warm masculine vetiver that is Encre Noire from Lalique. Autoportrait is Encre Noire released from the woods and flying above the clouds. The vetiver smells like the roots have been washed by a waterfall leaving a clear hint of something that is usually more vegetal.

Let’s take a quick side trip to the Moonlight Waterfall in Issan. Will you stroll with me? There is a path behind the waterfall. The waterfall will be an olfactory reference.

Sang Chan Waterfall Issan

Sang Chan Waterfall

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Sang Chan waterfall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tzJx25falk

Sang Chan Waterfall

Sang Chan Waterfall, Issan, Thailand Photos: Jordan River

Back to Autoportrait: A tonal quality like a chime is what wafts from the bottle. Back in the office I sprayed this new delight. My Social Media Manager said “I’ve tasted that scent”. He was saying he had eaten elemi berries from the Phillipines. Resin from the elemi tree make up the top notes along with lemon and orange. We are seeing a lot of berry notes this season; the blackcurrant Co2 extract and absolutes hidden in The Enchanted Forest is another example of this direction.

After 30 minutes the scent becomes nice and dry. This is a skin scent meaning that you have to be reasonably but not intimately close to smell this. Your skin ++. Benzoin resin from Thailand, incense and oak moss or more likely a well composed synthetic substitute with a tiny drop of oak moss, are the other notes which all evaporate on me within 4 hours. No worries there, just top up.

image

Autoportrait is smooth with a clean feel but not in the laundry musk or American sense. Maybe clear is a better word. It’s not about the notes; this is a harmony of composition. A beautiful blend by a woman I admire.

Nathalie Lorson

Perfumer Nathalie Lorson

Love your work Nathalie. But this is not really work is it? This is an artistic expression which moves the vetiver story higher into the fragrant stratosphere. Next I am expecting vetiver in outer space.

Careful if you wear this: someone may want to eat you if they move close enough within the first 30 minutes. I know I like to taste everything.

Perfume Fridge

Center shelf, a welcome addition to the fridge

Autoportrait from Olfactive Studio is an EDP available in 50ml and 100ml.

Céline Verleure

Founder and Creative Director of Olfactive Studio, Céline Verleure

The photo is included in the box. My solution to flatten the curl of the cheap paper stock is to frame the photo for my office. At this price point ~ $US145, €85 (50ml) a higher gsm would be appreciated to carry this beautiful piece of art.

Further Information
Elemi is a berry tree from the Philippines. You can taste a dried version of the fruit at most Asian food stores.
Luc Lapôrte photography
Olfactive Studio website
Picturing Perfume – The Olfactive Studio story by Denyse Beaulieu

Reviews
What Men Should Smell Like – Clayton Ilolahia

Olfactoria’s Travels – Olfactoria

The Non-Blonde – Gaia Fishler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tzJx25falk

Clove Absolute by Washington Tremlett 2009

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Hey Hey Niche Nerds!!

My mate Michael who writes for APJ is often turning up with unexpected gifts of fragrant decants. A lovely and generous soul I am lucky to have such a buddy in the same city. Today’s perfume was a very large decant gift the other night and I have been spritzing with abandon. Thanks Michael!!

Clove Absolute by Washington Tremlett 2009

Clove Absolute FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Amalfi lemon, lime
Heart: Clove, heliotrope, rose
Base: Incense, vanilla, French labdanum, patchouli, musk

From Wikipedia: Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, Syzygium aromaticum. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world.

Funny story! Well funny for me. I get a soy sauce smell in the first opening waft from Clove Absolute, it’s salty, tangy and a little bit burnt. Every time I spritz it the opening jumps up and takes me by surprise for about 5 minutes, it’s excellent. The cloves, lime and lemon then take over and already the vanilla pods are bursting through behind them. Though this is not the sweet biscuit and bakery scent that most gourmands are it certainly is foody. Is it possible to be foody and sensual concurrently?

My nose reads only the food elements at front and centre, everything else plays support and extra work. Clove Absolute has a definite Eastern-ness about it that is not perfume related but life smells related. There is also an oiliness, a sheen to it, a glistening, scintillating magic. I love to wear Clove absolute and have found myself reaching for it a few times since I was gifted a very generous 5ml, quite a bit of air in the atomiser now and I think it will be well and truly emptied through the Australian winter.

Dry down is sweet and warm, the patchouli/vanilla/amber/musk all mushed in together making a beautiful soft skin scent that lasts more than 12 hours completely smellable. I want to smell this on Jin but am too selfish to even give him one spritz of something I enjoy so much.

AWESOME!! You should try it.

Clove PlusEssentialPhoto Stolen PlusEssential

Further reading PerfumeSmellinThings and PerfumePosse
FirstInFragrance have Clove Absolute €140/100ml or €4 sample

Do you have fragrant fairies that gift you interesting new scents? I have a couple and they are often spot on with my taste but always opening my nose to new olfactory vistas.
See you tomorrow,

Portia xx

L`Humaniste by Sidonie Lanasseur for Frapin 2009

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Hey Hey APJ Family,

We have recently been cataloguing my samples, a long and tedious job that took nearly 6 days and still we had not got them all on the spreadsheet. You will be disgusted to know there are over 600 samples and decants in this house! I am beyond disgusted at my outrageous frag gluttony. The fact that they are not all opened or sprayed yet is what worries me most, I have these rare and often precious works of art and science just laying around unsmelt. TRAGIC!!

L`Humaniste by Frapin 2009

L`Humaniste Frapin FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, bergamot, cardamom, pink pepper and black pepper
Heart: Juniper berries, nutmeg, thyme and peony
Base: Gin, oak moss and tonka

From Frapin site: It is to François Rabelais, the most illustrious member of the dynasty, that the house of Frapin has dedicated L’Humaniste. A shot of gin laced with citrus, spices and herbs anchored by soft tonka bean makes it as bracing and limpid as the curious, open minds of Renaissance men.

Fresh and sweet opening, it’s like the new millenium opening for fragrance: citrus and pepper with a green hint. Very pleasant and bright but hardly groundbreaking. That’s OK, it doesn’t need to be NEW and L’Humaniste is very nicely blended, the cardamom giving a very nice nod to Indian curry, in fact it reminds me a little of the sweet curry that my Mum would make for us, not the same but a lovely reminder.

L'Humanist Spicy Citrus MJsKitchenPhoto stolen MJsKitchen

As the fragrance progresses it has a lovely light depth, remaining quite crisp but with lovely shadowy undertones. I know I’m not going crazy for L’Humaniste and it reads like I’m a bit Ho-Hum but that would be a very wrong impression. This is a very solid, beautiful and interesting fragrance in the grand tradition of men’s aromatics but where I think L’Humaniste would truly shine is on a woman. I have sprayed my BFF with it and she commented that she would LOVE to wear this, it reminds her of Bigarade Concentree by Frederic Malle but less in your face, more wearable, softer. I agree, L’Humaniste is a very wearable unisex fragrance that could easily take you from brunch, to the gym, to the boardroom or to romantic dates and conquests.

Frapin VIPXO WeinQuellePhoto Stolen WeinQuelle

From Wikipedia: Frapin is a Cognac producer establishing their headquarters in the Fontpinot Castle at Segonzac, in the heart of the Grande Champagne region of France. The Frapin family has been established in the South West of France since 1270, initially as a family of wine-growers who became distillers and have continued in this tradition for 20 generations.

Further reading PerfumeSmellinThings and TheScentualist
LuckyScent has $145/100ml
SurrenderToChance starts at $3/ml

I love that the Frapin company has moved into fragrance and done such an excellent job of it, this is extremely well priced niche fragrance at its best. Which of the line have you tried?
Portia xx

En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti for Frederic Malle 2000

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Hello my lovelies,

While in Vienna recently Birgit and Sandra from Olfactoria’sTravels took me to the only known place on earth where they let you mix & match your Frederic Malle 3 x 10ml set when you grab it!! I think it was called Day Spa? Anyway, tell Birgit you are coming to Vienna and she will give you the address. Here is one of my lovely scores:

En Passant by Frederic Malle 2000

En Passant FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Lilac, surrounded by watery and green notes, cucumber and wheat

This morning in Sydney the weather is beautiful. Crisp, sunny, warm: it feels more like spring than Autumn 10am and 21 degrees celcius. I am writing a week ahead of today and Kath and I are doing the office work, well Kath is doing the office work and I am writing to you. As I went to spritz myself this morning I also gave Kath a healthy squirt too.

I love the pretty green sappy swoosh directly after the spritz, the cucumber and watery greens, it’s fresh, wet and slightly plastic. I find flowers often give me a plastic vibe, not a wet Tupperware stink but a slightly unreal-ness, lilac has it in spades. I could walk out the back door into a spring garden in my mind. This is crisp and elegant but in a less formal tone, less knowing than Chanel 19. A younger, free-er, lighter and happier version of one of my favourites, without being like it at all.

En Passant Fairy Lillucyka DeviantArtPhoto Stolen DeviantArt

It’s hard to get my head around how beautiful and delicate En Passant is, usually not my style at all but there is something alluring and beguiling about this little Frederic Malle stunner that keeps me coming back to my wrists again and again.. En Passant is seriously selfish, introverted fragrance. You won’t skunk anyone at the office or anywhere, you will give an aura of fresh vitality and exuberance.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Further reading ISmellThereforeIAm and PerfumePosse
MeccaCosmetica in Australia has $194/50ml (Free shipping within Australia)
BarneysNewYork has $155/50ml
SurrenderToChance starts at $6/ml

There is something magical and whimsical for me even in the name Frederic Malle. His scent curation adds a patina of glory to everything with his name on it. I wonder if I would find En Passant as alluring and interesting if it was by Woolworths Home Brand? Would I sneer at its trite simplicity? What do you think?
Portia xx

ZARA SPORT 421

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Post by Val the Cookie Queen

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Good day all of you APJs!

ZARA – A Spanish success story. A clothing and accessories store. Louis Vuitton fashion director Daniel Piette described Zara as “Possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world.” Possibly. Although I have my doubts.

ZARA SPORT 421 by – who knows?

(So far out of my comfort zone I need oxygen ……. )

ZARA SPORT 421 FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica call it an aromatic spicy fragrance for men. Featuring musk, mandarin orange, thyme and pepper.

A story in three parts.

PART 1

My son invited me to go shopping with him, about a month ago. Never one to turn down a date with him, off I went. All I had to do was buy him lunch. (A Chanel bag would have been cheaper!) Just before heading home he asked me to nip into Zara and grab him a bottle of Zara Sport 421. “You want me to do whaaaat??? Over my dead and mangled body!! I will not. If you want it you will have to get it yourself.” So he did. With much muttering as to what a snob I was ……

PART 2 (next day)

“Mmmmmm, that smells nice son.” Mucho laughter from him. “It´s Zara, Mum.”
“Aaaaaargh!!” I cried in agony. “Maybe you would like to write about it!” he chuckled.

Sweet smelling son.

PART 3 (A few weeks and several random compliments later)

Here I sit. Zara 421 is really quite nice Nice is not a word I like to use, but it is perfect for Zara 421. Soft, musky, slightly orangey and spicy. Warm. I cannot pretend to pick any notes out, because I can´t. Maybe there aren´t any that are readily identifiable. But I like it. It´s staying power is about three hours. Would I recommend it? Well, if it was a choice of Axe, Lynx or Zara? Then yes, definitely the Zara 421. There are three in the Sport Range. Zara Sport 421, Zara Sport 675, and Zara Sport 615. Am I going to try the other two? Am I hell. My son says the 421 is the only good one. That is enough for me.

ZARA SPORT 421 dorechina2009Photo Stolen dorechina2009

It is only available in certain Zara stores, and it is NOT available online. I guess that makes it pretty exclusive huh? ;))) The fragrances run at about 12 to 20 Euros. Totally affordable.

See James? You owe me lunch.
Bussis until the next time.
CQ

Aurore Nomade by Bertrand Duchaufour for The Different Company 2012

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

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Gabriella

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Hello fragrance friends. I hope you are all well and enjoy today’s post.

I’d like to think that it wasn’t just by chance that my sample of today’s fragrance happened to arrive the day after daylight savings ended here in Sydney. After a mercifully brief period of hot weather during our so-called summer, suddenly not only was it dark very early in the evening but cold temperatures had already decided to set in. I was miserable and I felt cheated. I wanted the precious little heat and light that we’d had thus far back again. I wanted to be sweating in a t-shirt, not staving off chills with a cashmere cardigan. I wanted to crawl into a time travel machine and go back to just some days before when the air had still been balmy at 6pm and the sky still blue.

Aurore Nomade by The Different Company 2012

Aurore Nomade was just the olfactory tonic to do it. And it did so with a bang.

Aurore Nomade FragranticaPhoto stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Banana, carambola (star fruit), cinnamon, sea notes, nutmeg, rum and artemisia
Heart: Ylang-ylang, geranium, cloves, frangipani
Base: Immortelle, sandalwood, amber, vanilla and musk.

Reading that list, it would be all too easy to dismiss Aurore Nomade as a hot mess but it’s a multi-faceted perfume where a seeming cacophony of notes weaves a complex but cohesive pattern that takes you on a strange and delightful journey.

The perfume’s central note is starfruit and it’s the main reason that it inspired my much needed ‘summer-esque’ excitement. The fruit’s tart, pulpy tang speaks of exotic locales and brought back memories of childhood trips to Asia. I’m once again wandering around hidden markets in Thailand; I’m back in the dazzle and hum of a Hong Kong Street at night; again gazing at the thatched roof of a resort in Malaysia where the ceiling fans gently cool the air with their sonorous thrum.

Aurore Nomade is all salty-sweet with a definite palatable quality as if one’s margarita has been made with lemons and passionfruit instead of lime. There’s that wonderful sensation of licking the salt rim after you’ve gulped the syrupy liquor.

Margaritas DudeFoodNYCPhoto Stolen DudeFoodNYC

Underlying this contrasting vibe is also a verdant quality. In this phase, Aurora Nomade feels like a brighter, more delicate version of the now sadly discontinued L’Artisan Fleur de Liane. There’s the same impression of dense green vines and stems tangling around trees in a rainforest all thick with humid heat. Ozonic notes join the fray, amplifying the sense of high temperature and giving it a metallic zing. It’s the crackle of lightning foreboding the onset of a summer storm; the salty smell of water on asphalt after the storm has passed.

The base is all about soft spices creating a comfort skin scent. The cinnamon, sandalwood and vanilla are gentle and cozy on the skin. It’s a rather quiet denouement after all Aurore’s drama, but satisfyingly so.

SONY DSCPhoto stolen FaeriesFinest

Further reading Grain de Musc and Fragrantica

Available online at Luckyscent, $210/50ml

Have you tried Aurore Nomade? What’s your favourite “snap me out of the doldrums” scent?

With much love until next time!
M x

Bang! by Ann Gottleib for Marc Jacobs 2010

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

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Post by EmmaKate
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Bang! by Marc Jacobs 2010

Bang Marc Jacobs FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Black, white and pink pepper
Heart: Woody notes
Base: Elemi resin, aromatic benzoin, vetiver, white moss and patchouli

I am a massive fan of wearing men’s cologne, this is a different smell than I would normally wear but I really enjoyed wearing this.

It opens with an almost sparkling green note which is the vetiver already going strong. There is this warming sensation where the black, white and pink pepper comes through, the spice from the pepper combined with benzoin and vetiver makes this fragrance effervescent yet warm.

Bang marc jacobs Perez hiltonPhoto stolen PerezHilton

I am a very visual person and when I smell this I see a young well dressed guy. He has a good job, very caring and sweet, pretending to be a player. This is a sexy though somewhat comforting fragrance. Very easy to wear, über masculine to boot. Bang guys are date-able, maybe even marriage material.

Further reading NowSmellThis
FragranceNet has $37/50ml before discount
MyPerfumeSamples starts at $2/ml

See you next month
EK xx

Marc Jacobs Bang! Interview

Bang! Ad.

Fleur De Rocaille by for Caron 1993

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Hello GORGEOUS!!

I have quite a lot of the Caron fragrances. I like the way they smell, that they seem to be joined, the bottles and the packaging. There is something glamorous about the whole Caron thing that lures me in. I think it is a neglected icon that needs a Tom Ford to sweep in and resurrect their staus.

Fleur De Rocaille by for Caron 1993

FleurDeRocaille FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, gardenia, violet
Heart: Carnation, iris, rose, ylang ylang, lilac, jasmine, lily of the valley, mimosa
Base: Oakmoss, musk, cedar, amber, sandalwood

Fleur De Rocaille means flowering rock garden or flower of rubble. So, of course, I expected to be floated away on a hefty sparkling floral with stark and challenging depths that floated high and above a labdanum (rock rose) base. I expected goat, grass, greenery and twisted & tortured woods.

What did I get, the air at high altitude, it opens fizzy like a life saver mint which fits with how I expect the air to smell in a rock garden and then becomes the softest, sweetest and most fleeting fragrance I have in my memory. The note list reads like a 1980’s blockbuster and I am sadly deflated. Having said that there is a lovely section from about 30mins to 1.5 hours that to me is a soft lily, not the very fragrant ones, and some mimosa, after that I get sugar, something quietly green and amber but so sparse as to almost not be there. I wonder if this was made with the Chinese and Japanese markets in mind?

If you hate perfume but feel the need to have something on your dresser and that you must spritz before you leave the house then this is for you. You will not be overwhelmed, nobody will complain of you skunking even an elevator after a double quadruple spritz. I use the last 3 ml of my 5ml decant today in one wearing and only noticed that I was wearing fragrance intermittently, and no one else commented at all.

RockGardenDesigns amazing-home-designPhoto Stolen AmazingHomeDesign

Further reading UnseenCenser
FragranceNet has 100ml around $45
MyPerfumeSamples has $2/ml or $7/5ml which is what I bought

I love the Caron vibe but feel it’s fading, with the new regulations I wonder how these houses will survive. What do you think? Will we miss the old ways in 20 years or will the people then be immune to it?
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx