Vetiver Tonka by Jean Claude Ellena for Hermès 2004

Hello Fellow Fumies,

I don’t know what’s going on lately but it looks like vetiver has overtaken my big white flowers as favourite note. This was unintentional, surprising and I hope it doesn’t mean my love for the BWF is dying. Also, I’ve been doing some reading, always a dangerous course for the half educated like myself, and it turns out that vetiver is becoming the plant de jour around the world for a number of things other than perfume. There are 2 types of non invasive, clumping vetiver that are being used world wide for their ability to leech the toxins from soil and water, they are also excellent for stabilising erosion, holding banks/mountains in place and creating sea walls. This is only the tip of the iceberg I feel and will be interested to see it used in the future for self-sufficient-household sanitation and water cleansing.

Hermessence Vetiver Tonka by Hermès 2004

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vetiver, tonka bean, lily of the valley, tobacco, caramel, praline, sandalwood, hazelnut

The caramel/resinous/LOTV open is joyous all by itself. So full throated and filled with call, like a siren or water bird floating across the brackish water of river and sea land junction. The foody stuff all combines with the tonka to create a wonderful sweet amber or crispy toffee scent that makes me want some salted caramel ice cream and honeycomb. YUMMY stuff indeed.

Photo Stolen vetiver.org

The fragrance then takes a decidedly vetiver turn on my skin, giving me a gorgeous earthy, salty, green smell like sitting on a dock above or the verandah near mudflats at low tide, it must be cooler months because there is a smoky waft carrying across to you from someones fireplace, or maybe it’s a summer Bar B Q and the sweetness still lurking is caramelising onions and sausages.

The feeling I get from Vetiver Tonka is a sense of space and freedom. It’s like a holiday, there is time to smell the unfolding of the story, the sweet warmth and earthy dankness combine to form a welcoming and pretty adventure that is both warm and very, very cool. Though it is not a sillage monster Vetiver Tonka does waft a trail and if you spray a card and leave the room, when you return it has tinted the air with a very slightly foody sweetness underlaid with a wetland breeze.

Heftier than many of the more recent J C E offerings and lasting power is decidedly longer, around 4-5 hours before I lose it, or the ability to notice it. Lately I have been using the Olympic Orchids Patchouli Lovers Soap and it is adding a very green baseline to Vetiver Tonka that darkens it and adds a couple of hours life to the whole also. The tobacco and LOTV seem to completely bypass my skin, with or without the soap, but I probably just miss them in the seamless mix that is a J C Ellena trademark: a scent story that has the most beautifully gradated transitions.

Photo Stolen Hermès

Further reading: What Men Should Smell Like and Bois de Jasmin
Hermès does a great set of 4 x 15ml Hermessence of your choice $180
Surrender To Chance has Vetiver Tonka on sale for $4/.5ml

Are you a J C Ellena fan? Have you tried Hermessence Vetiver Tonka or are there favourite Vetiver or Tonka frags that you’s like to share with us? We’d love to read your thoughts.

See you tomorrow
Portia xx

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The Hypnotist (A Tale)

The Hypnotist

It was entertainment night at the senior citizens’ centre.
After the community sing song led by Alice at the piano it was time for the Star of the Show-
Claude the Hypnotist!

Photo Stolen Romer Jed Medina Flickr

Claude explained that he was going to put the whole audience into a trance.
“Yes, each and every one of you and all at the same time.” said Claude.
The excited chatter dropped to silence as Claude carefully withdrew from his waistcoat pocket A beautiful antique gold pocket watch and chain.
“I want you to keep your eyes on this watch” said Claude, holding the watch high for all to see. “It is a very special and valuable watch that has been in my family for six generations”

Photo Stolen Kayla Kandzorra Flickr

He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting
“Watch the Watch — Deeper and Deeper — Watch the Watch —- Deeper and Deeper — Watch the Watch”

The audience became mesmerised as the watch swayed back and forth.
The lights twinkling as they were reflected from it’s gleaming surfaces and the oldies glasses back at it.
A hundred and fifty pairs of eyes followed the movements of the gently swaying watch.

And then, suddenly, the chain broke!!!
The beautiful watch fell to the stage and burst apart on impact. “SHIT” said Claude.

A hundred and fifty senior citizens obeyed

3 Positive Reminders For A Better Day

Hello Australian Perfume Junkies,

Not every day is great. Sometimes we struggle with depression, pain, trouble and lack. I belong to a Facebook Group that is about changing the way you react to external and internal everything. From the nastiness we offer ourselves when we look in the mirror, the way we interpret others behaviors and how we feel the world sees us to taking time, expressing gratitude and understanding how magic and beautiful we all are. And how GOOD LUCKY!

Photo Stolen The Mindset Maven

I know I am lucky, blessed and beautiful (though not conventionally so, my beauty is the extraordinary kind).

Thank you all for being a part of the APJ family. Every view, comment and friend I’ve made from this blog is another amazing thing to be happy about. You lot are a force for joy in my life. THANK YOU!

So please enjoy my 3 Positive Reminders For A Better Day

Someone right here loves you, and you are worthy of it.
Portia xxxox

200,000 VIEWS: So Nude EdP by Costume National: 2 x 50ml GIVEAWAY

Hello Fabulous Fragrance Fiends,

With special thanks to the crew at Libertine Parfumerie who have generously supplied these So Nude bottles for APJ to give away. Thank you Libertine Parfumerie for being on board for this super special milestone. Thank you to all the readers, commenters, contributors, bloggers, perfumers, houses and fragrance shops that have been involved over the last 17 months. It has been a magic fun ride so far, I am so grateful that you’ve all come and hung out with us and it’s hard to believe we’ve been going so long, I’m hoping for more, more, more. Australian Perfume Junkies has hit

So Nude EdP by Costume National: 2 x 50ml GIVEAWAY

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cumin, cardamom, neroli
Heart: Damascus rose, tuberose, ylang-ylang
Base: Indonesian patchouli, Virginian cedar

Further reading Bois De Jasmin
Libertine Parfumerie has $135/50ml and other sizes with FREE Australian shipping and you get 3 samples of your choice with your order
Neroli Budapest has 88€/50ml

Photo Stolen TheTruthAboutMummy

SO NUDE GIVEAWAY!

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

There are 2 prizes this week in our So Nude by Costume National GIVEAWAY. Each winner will receive:

1 x 50ml NIP So Nude EdP by Costume National
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

Go to Libertine Perfumes and find me a perfume and its manufacturer. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie So Nude GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1TS #Giveaway @LibertineParfum @CoSTUMENATIONAL

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 24th August 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post Monday 25th.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin will pick a winner.
The winners will have till Wednesday 28th August 2013 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 LibertinePerfumerie for the So Nude Bottles. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are 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.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE,

Portia xx

Voleur de Roses by Michel Almairac for L`Artisan Parfumeur 1993

Hello Happy Huffers,

Just yesterday my mate Michael was at a perfume sale in Sydney and I got the call, “they have some L’Artisan on sale mate. Not a lot left and some is sprayed is there anything you want?” What a question! So there are a couple of L’Artisans that often go in the shopping basket but get ousted for other beauties at checkout time. Does anyone else do that? Fill your basket and then go back through deleting till it’s how much you want to spend? This L’Artisan has been on my want list for a long time, I love how it smells but even the name is lovely and sinuous like a line in a poem,

Voleur de Roses by L`Artisan Parfumeur 1993

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured notes in one line:
Patchouli, rose, plum

Perfume is a funny thing, everyone gets a different piece of the fragrance pie and what can smell naughty and indecent to one can ofdten smell pastel and washed out to another. Recently I put on the Facebook board FFF that I was wearing Voleur de Roses, “Currently wafting the gentle wash of Voleur de Roses by L`Artisan Parfumeur. It’s so tasteful and nice, I feel like a very good boy.” This sums up my experience with the fragrance perfectly. I get the softest, prettiest aqua tint style wash of fragrance. It is a lovely plummy rose as if you were standing inside the house with roses scent being blown in by the breeze, yes that soft. There is so much air between the notes and it sits so close to my body after an hour that it can surprise me when it huffs up my shirt later in the day because I forget I’m wearing it.

When I first spritz Voleur de Roses it smells like it might be going down the SJP Lovely road but it quickly diverts to this soft fruity rose with a super clean patchouli and a very laundry musky cuddliness. I wonder if we use something different in our laundry that other countries don’t because what I’m getting is clean, the idea of clean and airy space. Pretty linear after the initial rush it does stay around for about 4-5 hours but not in a big way.

Photo Stolen Tracie Hall Flickr

Thinking about who or where I could imagine Voleur de Roses being worn? Totally unisex and it smells amazing on my BFF Kath, though both my Aunties turned their noses well up at it on them while liking it very much on me, and soft enough but unusual enough to help you stand out quietly (funny but Now Smell This has the same idea but better expressed) and it could be a terrific date night fragrance, I’ll let you know on that score. Definitely sheer enough to be office friendly, even in the most frag phobic work spaces but it will give the message that you are quietly, and wonderfully, different from the many department store fragrance wearers.

Photo Stolen T.Kiya Flickr

Further reading: Bois de Jasmine and Now Smell This
Parfum1 has $145/100ml
Beauty Encounter has $145/100ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/ml

How does Voleur de Roses smell on you?
See you tomorrow,
Portia x

Manifesto by YSL Mini Movie

Heya Perfumistas,
Do you remember having a Kaleidoscope? My Mum knew that no matter how naughty or outrageous I was being that the Kaleidoscope would shut me up. Bored? Kaleidoscope. Cranky? Kaleidoscope. Couldn’t sleep? Kaleidoscope. It was the universal cure all for a while at Chez Turbo. Sadly it didn’t last but sometimes I wish I had one, just to remember the magic.

Manifesto by YSL Mini Movie

Jessica Chastain YSL Manifesto Ad.

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green wave, bergamot, black currant
Heart: White flowers, Sambac jasmine, lily of the valley
Base: Cedar, sandalwood, vanilla, tonka bean

Please enjoy the new Manifesto Mini Movie.
Portia xx

Racine by Jean Laporte for Maître Parfumeur et Gantier 1988

Heya APJ Crew,

Ever get so swept away by a review that you go hunting for the fragrance immediately? I too am no slouch in the lemming stakes. Here is a happy ending story…

Racine by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier 1988

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vetiver, oak moss, while musk, citruses

To give you the complete truth I have been dying to own one of these bottles but the ones I tried were too close to things already in my collection. It’s hard to believe that this fun crew, Maître Parfumeur et Gantier, have been around since the 1980s that is a 4 decade run in a business notorious for its patrons fickleness. Quite an achievement.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

The opening on my skin is a zesty burst or citrussy goodness slightly warmed by what I think must be the musk/vetiver but it reads to my nose like almond. If you are yawning and switching off at the ubiquitous citrus opening you would be missing out on something fun and a little daring, the citrus is mildly effervescent, dry and bitter without any of the household cleaner aspect, whatever they have put with it keeps it playing nice. The citrus stays! Even through the soft, earthy greenness of the vetiver. For a change I get no salt shimmer from this vetiver at all.

Beyond 2 hours Racine goes quiet on me, it hasn’t gone and continues to pump a low level hum through the day with bursts of waft. On Wednesday I wore Racine for cleaning the house. Always a 3-4 hour marathon that stretches to 5 because when I finish each chore I gift myself 10 minutes on the computer with a drink, coffee or tea. Even as I was doing my last chore of the day, steam mopping the tiles, I was getting radiant whiffs of very soft Racine. Do I like it? I LOVE IT!!

Photo Vetiver used in Aqua Culture in Brazil Stolen vetiver.org

From The Black Narcissus: Usually in perfumes of this type, the lemon or bergamot in the opening will disappear fairly quickly and be taken over by the usual contemporary architecture of cashmere woods and the like, and this is where Racine is different: rather than the constrained urbanity of Tom Ford Grey Vetiver or Lalique’s Encre Noire and their debonair, besuited attractiveness, Racine, from the Les Caprices du Dandy collection, entwines a predominant, fresh-as-a-vine, sinuous vetiver from the Réunion Isles with a sucked-on-a-lemon, imperious citrus note, combined beautifully with a mauve-hued, satin plum cushion of prune, oakmoss, geranium, and, gently intertwined, a touch of equally dry, deep-octaved patchouli.

Photo Stolen thebeeskneez DeviantArt

Further reading: The review that had me swooning enough to go get Racine was The Black Narcissus and looking at old & new variants The Non Blonde
FragranceNet has Racine for $99 but with the Coupon DCRT3 it comes down to around $78
The Perfumed Court starts at $3/ml

Do you have any of the Maître Parfumeur et Gantier range? Maybe you’ve spent some Racine time? Don’t you love the bottles?
Till tomorrow,
Portia xxx

Floral No 11 by Jean-Claude Astier for M. Micallef 2009

Heya Bargain Hunters,

Do you ever spend an evening trolling the fragrance discounters? Sometimes, after a windfall or I’ve paid all my bills, I set myself a budget and go hunting. A few weeks ago I did just that. there were a couple of things on my list to definitely find a good priced version of but there was about $70 spare by my reckoning to take a chance with.

Floral No 11 by M. Micallef 2009

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, galbanum
Heart: Rose, jasmine, geranium
Base: White musk, woody notes

M.Micallef’s Floral No 11 is the most ridiculously bargain priced scent for a real hark back to perfumes of days gone by. When I first sprayed Floral No 11, from the very first spritz, I felt like I was visiting an old friend. The galbanum/bergamot opening sequence like a chilled out version of CHANEL No 19, imagine #19 the morning after a really fun party, she’s washed and dressed with her usual attention to detail but her hair is a loose ponytail instead of a French twist, to her sharp chocolate/grey suit and ice blue shirt she has added a fabulous over the top Pucci scarf and an inch of heel. She is still impeccable but free-er, warmer and more human.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

Then, instead of heading for the cool aloofness of iris and narcissus our girl has taken a right hand turn into geranium territory, a spicy, flirty and welcoming combo with jasmine and rose. Jasmine plays peek-a-boo through the heart, you smell it and adore its slightly indolic magic and then it’s gone, you forget it and some time later get a waft of its breathiness again. There seems to be a honeyed/animalic note almost from the beginning waft, could it be the way galbanum, jasmine and musk are playing or is there a groaning whisper of honey? Around the hour mark we are in hefty vintage-fragrance sensual mode, I’m probably way wrong but there seems to be some notes missing in the list and if you told me this naughty little baby was from 1960 I would believe you. I don’t understand why this is not talked about. How is it not thought of as a modern perfumista masterpiece?

After around 4-5 hours I am left with a pretty wash of flowers, musk and woods. Nothing groundbreaking or earth shattering but a good, solid, wearable close that makes up for its lack of outrageous by being comfortable and very easy. That sounds like a slur but it’s not, the fireworks have happened earlier, now we can all relax and hang out. Imagine being so comfortable in couture that you could have a ball, rather than being constrained by going to a ball. That’s how I think Floral No 11 feels.

Photo Stolen Luxussilk

FragranceNet has 100ml refills around $20 before discount coupons! (I paid just over $15 with the DCRT3 21% off coupon)

I hope you enjoyed my finding you a secret budget fragrant champion. Sometimes we are incredibly lucky.
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Oudh with Roja Dove: Mini Movie

Heya Oudh Heads,

Don’t forget to enter our GIVEAWAY for Rouge Avignon by Phaedon<<<JUMP

Here is a five minute journey into the history and uses of Oudh, Roja Dove takes us on an olfactory visit to the Middle east.

Photo Stolen agarwoodoudh

Enjoy!!
Portia xx

Songe D’Un Bois D’Ete by Thierry Wasser for Guerlain 2012

Hey there Crew,

Sometimes when I am in touch with Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels she might mention a bottle or two that I love and she is ready to let loose, just such a one as this. I can tell she loved it for a while because there is a fair amount missing, sometimes tastes change or something along a similar vein eclipses your current bottle, a million reasons. Maybe you need to sell off a few to buy a newby, always an excellent way of keeping stuff loved and in rotation.

Songe D’Un Bois D’Ete by Guerlain 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Cedar, jasmine, saffron, cardamom, laurel, oud, myrrh, patchouli, leather

BaseNotes gives theese featured accords:
Top: Laurel, Neroli
Heart: Jasmine, Patchouli, Saffron, Cedar
Base: Leather, Myrrh

Perfume Shrine tells me that Songe D’Un Bois D’Ete means Dreaming of a Summery Wood, cool summer evening maybe? Summer doesn’t really fit for me to be honest perhaps Autumn? Maybe that’s the dreaming bit? Dreaming in Autumn and Winter of the memories of a Summer wood but surrounded by the scents of winter. OK I’m on board with that. I love the beaded curtain on the bottle with tiny little Guerlain logos and bees, also the Arabic/French writing and the squarish, spare design that you can fit loads of on a shelf. Did I mention the box this comes in? It’s so ridiculously luxe all by itself.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Opening up I get honeyed sweets, like baklava or sugary real Turkish Delight (some days it’s more a candied citrus) with woods and fairly early on I also get a patchouli/oudh vibe that runs baseline. Songe D’Un Bois D’Ete is woodsy and sensual, spicy, and a little waxy. It washes over me in warm, elegant waves like toffee, making everything seem fluid and the air thick. Imagine looking into a brightly lit room through 1970s amber glass, a teinte, a glow, a wash of luminous whiskey coloured grandeur. Thierry Wasser has made something regal that throws such a luscious nod to the middle east but is ensconced firmly in the heart of Paris, the oudh/patchouli clean and dinner suited. How has he made these notes into a gourmand, I seriously want to eat myself up. There are some hints of smoke and the sweaty green of cardamom/cumin adding depth and variation through Songe D’Un Bois D’Ete life.

 Photo Stolen LASZLO ILYES Flickr

Through my wear I am most conscious of how amazingly international I smell. It’s as if all the sweet, delicious and pretty pieces of the middle east have been distilled into a fragrance. No dust or desert, not super sweet rose or oily, cloying, heavy and dark fragrance, no camels, tents, sand or oasis. Songe D’Un Bois D’Ete is sheer but still super fragrant, it’s like Mr Wasser has added air and space to the denseness of what we expect from the middle east. So wearable and still unusual. Guerlain from top to bottom: but 21st century Guerlain.

The deep dry down is clean sweaty skin, softest, most loved, old suede and resinous myrrh but that is far, far, far into the future. Next morning there are still viable traces of Songe D’Un Bois D’Ete. What a fragrance. Wear it everywhere if you dare.

Photo Stolen BBC.UK

Further reading: The Non Blonde and Olfactoria’s Travels looks at the three Les Déserts d’Orient collection
PlaceVendome in Belguim has €190/75ml and also sends to the world (Birgit bought my bottle there)
Universal Perfumes has Les Déserts d’Orient collection $276/75ml and send to the world
Surrender To Chance has Songe D’Un Bois D’Ete from $4.60/.5ml or has Les Déserts d’Orient 3 x .5ml from $13

Have you tried any of the three Les Déserts d’Orient? What was your favourite? Would you like to?
Till tomorrow we at APJ wish you health, wealth and happiness, and the ability to see them all when they come.
Portia xx