14 Noontide Petals by Tauer 2013 + GIVEAWAY!

Guest post by Val the Cookie Queen

14 Noontide Petals by Tauer 2013

Top: Bergamot, aldehydes, Bourbon geranium
Heart: Rose, ylang ylang, tuberose, jasmine
Base: Patchouli, frankincense, vanilla, sandalwood, iris, styrax and vetiver

We are stuck in Narnia here in Europe. April and so damn cold. I would have preferred to have tried Noontide Petals on a gorgeous Spring day. Not a hint of Spring in sight.

About 18 months ago I ordered a Sample Set from Tauer Perfume. Five fragrances of my choice.

Photo Stolen TauerPerfumes

After 10 days I still had no samples. I emailed Tauer Perfume, and within minutes I had an email back from Andy himself. He apologised profusely that the precious package had gone missing. He sent a replacement package himself, and registered it, and I had it 48 hours later. How nice is THAT??

Two weeks ago I mailed Andy again, on the off chance that he would send me samples of Noontide Petals. Three days later there were samples on my doorstep with a handwritten note from Andy. What a privilege. I had never tried a brand new fragrance with the intent of writing about it.

I test perfumes on Monday when I am alone in the shop preparing cookie dough. I sprayed it on with great excitement. Very sparingly because I know that Tauer´s are very intense. Shock Horror. I did not like it. Perfume Junkies, I was so upset, and angry. Yes angry. Can you imagine that? I was in a freaking bad mood the whole day. I wanted to like it so badly. I did indeed get a little bergamot. But it was short lived and left a weak soapy smell behind.

The second testing of Moontide Petals. Ah ha. I used more. Better. A burst of very bright bergamot. I could almost see the sun! It did have a swirling feel about it, kind of up and down. Bubbling aldehydes. I could understand them a bit now. (I watched a 30 minute lecture on aldehydes before trying this scent!! Never too late to learn.) Nearly glittering! OK. NOW I know, this is eau de toilette! Duh.

Photo Stolen CavalierSwim

Third time. A man-sized spray!! Hurray! I like it. What a contrast to the first tentative mini scaredy cat spray!! This time it was so bright and light and lovely, it was another experience. After about 40 minutes, I noticed jasmine, vanilla and frankincense popping their heads up. Especially the vanilla. Suddenly there is rose. It comes and goes. I know there are other notes in there too, but I am not experienced enough (yet) to pick them out. And truthfully I don´t know if I even want to. This fragrance lasts such a long time and is so soft, and beautiful.. Yep, beautiful. Definitely not so full on as some of the earlier Tauer scents, with the well known Tauerade base. This is elegant and understated. But certainly no weakling. What I love about Tauer is their tenacity. That is why I love them in the summer. The perfect swimming scent. Because it is still there after lots of dips in the lake. Noontide Petals will be my swim scent of 2013. It is light in a bottle.

Andy Tauer is an artist, and it takes time to understand what it´s all about. Moral of the story? Don´t under spray an artist`s work, otherwise you miss half the colours!

Now, if only the White Witch of Narnia would use this, I believe it would melt the winter away. It is an alluring, appealing and an original scent for the Spring.

Further reading ISmellThereforeIAm and PerfumeShrine
TauerFragrances has 1.5ml manufacturers samples US$5.30

GIVEAWAY COMPETITION!!

THE PRIZE

Want to try Noontide Petals for yourself? I have a sample to give away. And if you don´t live in a place where the pony express takes a month to get to, I might well put a cookie in too.

HOW DO YOU WIN?

You have to leave a comment telling us your favourite cookie or cookie ingredient. That’s IT!

For an Extra Chance you can Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1tn Noontide Petals new Tauer perfume GIVEAWAY

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday April 14th 2013 10pm AusEDST and will be announced in a special post that day.
Val the Cookie Queen and her crew will do the draw honours. The names will be placed on the same sized papers, folded similarly, placed in a bowl and a winner picked.

The winners will have till Thursday 18th April 2013 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or I will give the prize to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Bussis
CQ xxx

Patchouli Noir Osmo by Sylvana Casoli for Il Profumo 2006

Mar27

Guest Post by Val The Cookie Queen

PATCHOULI NOIR OSMO BY IL PROFUMO 2006

Hi to all you new APJ friends.

It was 1973 when I got my first full bottle of perfume. Miss Dior. Little knowing at the time of it´s ultra cool status. Mum was a Guerlain/Chanel lady. She taught me that it didn’t matter what I wore, as long as I smelled good and expensive! I also learned from her that as I got older, I would be able to wear more grown up perfumes. Which was, of course the reason, that she would not let me spray my thirteen year old neck with copious amounts of Mitsouko.

Photo Stolen KalleoSoaps

This would explain why she was not a happy camper when I changed, to straight up patchouli oil in about 1976. Scored from my local headshop, it was thick enough to need a paintbrush to apply it, and stained my neck a dark yellow. She informed me that I smelled as if I had just stepped out of the local whorehouse. (I wonder to this day on what that was based.) It was around the same time, as I walked through the streets of Bristol, with my boyfriend, (he too drenched in the stuff) that two bobbies on the beat stopped us. They seemed to take great delight in informing us that people who didn’t take baths, and those who smoked wacky backy, were partial to patchouli oil. Wow! Brilliant that a scent could cause such a strong reaction.

So began a lifelong love of patchouli. And the cops were right. I became a perfume junkie.

I don´t buy my oil from headshops any more. There is just the one oil that I use.

Picture stolen from Lucky Scent

LuckyScent lists just five notes in a line:
Mint, cedarwood, patchouli, poppy, vanilla

With my eyes closed, I inhale deeply. I am transported back to another time. It calms me, relaxes me, and gives me a feeling of well being. And it´s legal. (Despite wearing, owning, and loving many other fragrances, it is always the heavy patchouli smells that get me the compliments) This stuff is soooo smooth an soft and gorgeous. It is perfect to layer with other fragrances as it is a fixative. Patchouli belongs to the mint family, and the short lived hit of mint in this patchouli is fabulous. The vanilla delectable. The hint of cedarwood sublime. A little goes a long way. I have had my bottle for more than 5 years. It only gets better. It ages like a fine wine.

LuckyScent has 100ml/$165

Straight up patchouli. You either love it or hate it. As my girlfriend says, “Whatever blows your skirt!“ And Patchouli Noir blows mine sky high.

I had a splendid time with Portia and Jin in Vienna in January. We went together to the Chanel Les Exclusifs counter, where I bought a bottle of Coromandel. Finally. I wanted to write about it, Portia beat me to it. But as my daughter said to me ,what more can you say than: “It´s freaking awesome!“? Patchouli and Miss P??? Was I not warned it would get me into trouble?

Bussis

Cookie Queen

BOMBAY BLING! By Bertrand Duchafour for Neela Vermeire Creations 2011

Mar13

Guest Post by Val The Cookie Queen

BOMBAY BLING! By Neela Vermeire Creations 2011

Healing Greetings to all you APJs

BOMBABY BLING!
www.neelavermeire.com
More than just a perfume.
I have panic attacks. They used to be bad. Really bad. I have learned, over the many years, what they are, how they happen, different methods of easing them, and most importantly that I am not actually going to drop dead on the spot! Fab. Except that once in a while, they sidle up behind me, and BAM, whack me over the head. Such was early last Saturday morning. Gand Mal Seizure!! Breathe, ignore it ……..

Photo Stolen PorchiasWish

After dressing I found myself desperately reaching for Bombay Bling! ) I don´t usually want any scent after an attack.
I sprayed it on, and OMG, perfume-peeps, I kid you not. Forsooth. It was sumptuous. Gorgeous. An explosion of colour. Vibrant. Healing. Soothing. The sour greenness of the mango immediately calmed my soul! Absolutely bloody gorgeous. Exxxxxxpensive. Mmmmmmm.

Photo Stolen WallChain

It enveloped me in it´s caress all day. I was wrapped in a silk sari. Safe. The mellowness of the tobacco, sandalwood and vanilla comforted me for hours. (You need to check out Neela´s site.)

Stolen from Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives the featured accords:
Top: French labdanum, caraway, mango, litchi, blackcurrant, cardamom
Heart: Jasmine, rose, tuberose, yang-ylang, gardenia, frangipani
Base: Virginia cedar, sandalwood, leather, patchouli, woodsy notes, vanilla

Guys and Gals! Olfactoria describes it as “Happiness in a Bottle.”
It is sooo much more than that.
Bombay Bling! should be available on prescription.

See you soon,

Val the Cookie Queen

Want some Bombay Bling samples or a bottle? Order from the e-boutique in www.neelavermeire.com