Enchanted Forest GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Thank you all so much for entering. It was lovely to have you all join in and i hope you all enjoyed the thrill of anticipation.

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

There are 2 prizes this week. Each winner will receive:

1.5ml Enchanted Forest Manufacturers Carded Sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID YOU WIN?

All you needed to do is be a follower, tell us how you follow and leave a hello in the comments! EASY PEASY!!

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 28th July 2013 11pm Australian EST.
Winners chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin picked a winner.

MaggieCat, DGambas

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

The winners will have till Wednesday 31st July 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.

Thanks again team
Portia xx

Photos Stolen TheTruthAboutMummy and berryreview

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Enchanted Forest by Bertrand Duchafour for The Vagabond Prince 2012 + GIVEAWAY

Hey Niche Nerds,

I know, I know. It’s taken me ages to write this review. There was so much chatter about it when it first came out that I wanted to let the dust settle. I was also deeply ambivalent about the fragrance and still am but having spent some time with it now, and having two people’s opinions that I respect highly with me as I’ve smelt it was interesting too, so welcome to

Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pink pepper, aldehydes, sweet orange, blackcurrant (flower, fruit & leaf), hawthorn, rum, wine, rosemary, davana
Heart: Blackcurrant buds absolute, CO2 blackcurrant, Russian coriander seed, honeysuckle, rose, carnation, vetiver
Base: Opoponax resinoid, Siam benzoin, amber, oakmoss, fir balsam absolute, Patchouli, castoreum absolute, cedar, vanilla, musk

The first time I smelled Enchanted Forest was with Denyse of Grain De Musc and The Perfume Lover (available softback soon) at Jovoy in Paris early in 2013 and I found it interesting and a nit naughty, with a slight kitty litter accent that made me smile. Of everything we smelled that glorious sunny winter day it was Enchanted Forest that I kept the strip of and went back to over the next couple of weeks till it lost all memory of itself.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

Months went by, as quickly as they do, and other fragrant launches and tests mounted and I forgot about Enchanted Forest until we started doing a Sample Round Robin here in Australia, along came a generous sample of Enchanted Forest that I swapped out for 3 or 4 things that I had here in the swap box. I put Enchanted Forest in the MUST TRY AGAIN pile and forgot completely because I went to Scentsation in LA and then India (bragging is a disgusting habit and I am fully ashamed). So yesterday I was having lunch with Catherine du Peloux Menagé, the producer of Sydney Perfume Lovers (a meet-up group), who is an avid fragrance lover and has started a business helping people choose a scent through education and interest rather than showing them gleaming ad copy bullshit: she is clever, fun and lovely and I wanted to take some fragrances for us to try over lunch, as we do. I pulled out the Enchanted Forest to get Catherine’s take on it.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

So what did I smell? Sweet fruity opening that reminds me of very ripe melon or guava, it’s bright, fizzy and in your face taking the modern fruity fragrance by the neck and giving it a shake till its teeth rattle. All the green herbaceous notes slotted in here stop Enchanted Forest from being a so so SO sweet train wreck. Though  it opens both sweeter and neon brighter than I would choose, once the initial screaming opening sequence calms it is surprisingly wearable. I get no real cat but can understand the sweetness could be a public urinal far enough away that you can smell only the sweet but not the disgusting, make sense?

Honeysuckle often skews nasty on me but here it plays along well with the others, I get a little Ribena syrup through the middle section, a sweet blackcurrant children’s cordial that was responsible in Australia for more dental bills than all the other sweet stuff put together. I don’t get coriander, rose, carnation or vetiver, I do get booze through the middle and down into the base and the vanilla comes in giving a pudding vibe. Resins come through but I miss so many of the things that they write as notes: woods? No not really. Patchouli? I don’t know. I think my nose is too poorly tuned to catch a lot of what’s happening.

Enchanted Forest is intriguing and I have been wanting to spend some alone time with it. This is a statement fragrance, fun and ebullient. It is a modern fruit take on Giorgio Beverly Hills (though only by comparison, not scent) and I can imagine it on big haired, shoulder padded women with high heels, nipped in waists and peplums (anyone been looking at fashion lately?). They are ready to make an entrance and unafraid of fragphobes and the boorish who feel that less is more. It’s exciting, naughty and possibly the next step in frag evolution if we could just get it on the kids who’ve been wearing celeb fruitchouli (as they get bored) then it may be the perfect gateway scent.

Further reading: Kafkaesque, The Fragrant Man and The Muse In Wooden Shoes
LuckyScent has $180/100ml and samples

What did you think? Have you tried it? Would you like to? well, here’s your chance….

Photo Stolen kbaird

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

There are 2 prizes this week. Each winner will receive:

1.5ml Enchanted Forest Manufacturers Carded Sample
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. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

All you need to do is be a follower, tell us how you follow and leave a hello in the comments! EASY PEASY!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Enchanted Forest PERFUME SAMPLES GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p2fQBU-1Ld #Perfume #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 28th July 2013 11pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
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 31st July 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.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE,

Portia xx

Aurore Nomade by Bertrand Duchaufour for The Different Company 2012

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Post by Madeleine

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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.

Photo 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.

Photo 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.

Photo 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

Safran Troublant by L’Artisan Parfumeur 2002

Hello Fellow Fume Heads,

Sometimes I read other people’s reviews and I am swept away by their incredible love, moment, articulateness or sheer joy at a perfume. It’s like the love is transferred by osmosis through their excitement. Safran Troublant is a case in point, I read a terrific post and could almost smell the fragrance while reading, at that same time I was ordering some splits from my favourite split enabler, Ruth K on FFF, and wondered if she had a bottle lying around that she would like to share 5ml of. Oh yes she did, in its old packaging and everything. YIPPEE!

Fragrantica has Bertrand Duchaufour and BaseNotes has Olivia Giacobetti responsible for creating Safran Troublant. Mystery!!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Passion flower, sandalwood, red rose, vanilla, saffron, sugar and ginger.

What a terrific scent. It is so calm, collected and unpushy. When I wear Safran Troublant it encases me is a glorious and interesting magic that is sweet and delicious without being particularly edible, though foody it is. Does that make sense? The spicy rose, ginger and vanilla are what I smell most through the whole life of the fragrance but I think the saffron is just not a note I’m familiar enough with to really understand how it fits here. Sometimes people mention that there is a clean plastic-ish smell to it, well I often find that in roses too, are they the same? Is it a particular molecule that gives me this reaction? Dunno gang but I love it.

Photo Stolen EdibleCrafts

Some of the bloggers have called this a comfort scent, a warm blanket to wrap yourself in on a cool day but I find it much more aloof than that. It’s a cool Autumn day filled with rain here in Sydney and I am not feeling the warm wrap effect at all. Sweet, yes, warm, no. Rather a cool sweetness, a green sweetness, Safran Troublant feels like an expensive sweetness that relies on sophistication and prior knowledge to enjoy it fully. Like Bach, so pretty and intricate to listen to but when you start to study him it becomes a math equation, a geometric vision in sound. L’Artisan is often like that for me. Very pretty and wearable by almost everyone till you start to try and dissect what it is you love and it is so far out of my knowledge realms that all I can do is go back to, “I really enjoy how I feel when I wear it.” Curiously, I smell it for hours and hours but the people around me say it’s too faint to discern, interesting huh?

Photo Stolen LayoutSparks

You will not skunk your colleagues or dinner guests even if you, like me, spritz with abandon. Safran Troublant is an introverted perfumistas scent, not that you are unsmellable but it flies under the radar.

Further reading GrainDeMusc and the reason I got my hands on some Safran Troublant was the recent post at Kafkaesque
L’Artisan Parfumeur has 100ml/$145
Libertine Perfumes in Australia has 100ml/$169 including postage in Australia. Good deal!
SurrenderToChance starts at $4/ml

Has it ever happened for you? Read a review and can’t help but buy the fragrance? Which fragrances have you done it for and are you happy with your purchase?
Till tomorrow we wish you only good,
Portia xx

The Enchanted Forest by Bertrand Duchaufour for The Vagabond Prince 2013

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Guest Post by Jordan River

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The Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince 2013

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Pink pepper, aldehydes, sweet orange (traces), flower cassis, blackcurrant leaf, hawthorn, effects of rum and wine, rosemary, davana.
Heart: Blackcurrant buds absolute (by LMR from Grasse), CO2 blackcurrant (by Floral Concept from Grasse), Russian coriander seed, honeysuckle, rose, carnation, vetiver
Base: Opoponax resinoid, Siam benzoin, amber, oakmoss, fir balsam absolute, Patchouli Purecoeur®, castoreum absolute, cedar notes, vanilla, musk

Arvo 1.30pm I’m beaming as I stroll this enchanted forest. Straight off I hear John Muir say; “The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.” Will you stroll with me? These trees are giant blackcurrent bushes with super fragrant leaves and juicy juicy buds. The light rain is made of pink peppercorns sparking with aldehydes and sweet orange. Once this settles on your skin you feel energized and cleansed. Across the valley is an alembic aroma of wine or perhaps something stronger. Deeper into the heart of this forest you are walking on rose petals, past wild carnations and banks of vetiver until you come to The Balsam Fir Tree and a carpet of pine needles. This spot is where I paused and lay down for a fragrant rest after removing a log from my eye. Which you may need to do too, to appreciate this scent. A dream fragment of been snared by a dictator is chased away by a forest floor of myrrh resinoid, Siam benzoin, amber, oakmoss, castoreum absolute, cedar notes, vanilla, musk and a pure hearted patchouli. The dry down is blended to perfection so I can’t differentiate these base notes; I just inhale. This forest dances in green dappled light – there are no scary places here.

An absolute of blackcurrent buds strengthened with a CO2 extract of blackcurrent as well as two blackcurrent bases give this eau de parfum it’s solifruit character. No it doesn’t smell like Ribena though this may be your only real life blackcurrent reference. Nor is it sweet. A man or a woman could wear this anywhere knowing that they are wafting a unique fragrance that is right here and right now.

Evening 5.30pm Susurrating nicely as a skin scent.

Those great lovers of perfume, the founders of fragrantica.com (2007), Elena Knezhevich and Zoran Knezevic commissioned this scent from Bertrand Duchaufour for the launch of their own perfume house called The Vagabond Prince. Perfumistas, this is an entire new Kingdom to explore. Flankers would be welcome so we can discover more in this Enchanted Forest. An Enchanted Vetiver would be nice. So would 50ml. The Vagabond Prince has promised us an encyclopedia of scent. Well, I’d go anywhere with a vagabond Prince, wouldn’t you? Predicting Awards, Accolades, and Acclamations for this original 2013 release. A great start to The Perfume Year.

For a more prismatic stroll you can walk this very same route with Kafkaesque or you could meander alongside Lanier.

Jovoy Paris has 100ml EdP for 140 Euros
Lucky Scent has $5 Samples

Enchanted Forest, Enchanté.
Jordan River

All product photos from The Vagabond Prince other photos authors own

Perle de Mousse by Bertrand Duchafour for Ann Gerard 2012

Guest Post by Madeleine

Ann Gerard

Perle de Mousse

Hello APJ friends! Hoping you’ve all had a wonderfully fragrant time over the past month and that you enjoy today’s post.

It’s a very warm spring day. Sitting under an expanse of huge oak trees you feel the gentlest caress of a breeze. The air is rich with the smell of greenery: the lush grass, the ivy curling its way around the tree trunks, the fresh stemminess of white flowers. You feel the warmth of the dappled sunlight on your face, relish in the way it washes over you with its honeyed rays.Your significant other has surprised you with an impromptu picnic: it’s a treat following your decision to take a half day from work. It seems like you’ve spent years chained to your desk staring at a computer screen. You’re loving your newfound languidness. Sipping your champagne, you delight as its fizziness tickles your nose, quenches your throat. You take a deep breathful of mossy greenness.

Photo Stolen cntraveller.

Gently, you arch your back, loosen your hair from its tight chignon, smooth your crisp white shirt and remove your heels, delighting in the sensation of tingly grass blades on your soles. You lie back on the soft cotton rug, reach over to lay your head on your man’s shoulder. His shirt gently caresses your face, you smell the gentlest whiff of his citrus cologne. Your eyes close and you drift towards sleep in the soft yellow light.

Very few perfumes conjure up a complete story in my mind on first sniff, but Perle de Mousse is one of them.

Ann Gerard Photo Stolen elsa-vanier

The fragrance is a green chypre, composed by Bertrand Duchafour for Parisian jeweller, Ann Gerard. It is part of a trio of scents, the others being Ciel d’Opale, a linden-based fragrance and Cuir de Nacre, a leather perfume originally sold in a limited edition under the name Pleine Lune.

Perle de Mousse features notes of: aldehydes, pink pepper, bergamot, green mandarin, galbanum resin, ivy, lily of the valley, hawthorn, Bulgarian rose, clove, jasmine, gardenia, lentiscus absolute, ambergris, musk and a hint of vanilla.

Photo stolen from http://www.anngerard.com/

The perfume opens with a sharp burst of aldehydes and a sumptuous accord of galbanum and ivy: rich, verdant and dense. After this initial green spark, the composition quietens down quite rapidly and becomes linear in feel. The mandarin note is interspersed with lily of the valley and the other white florals, with no one note standing out.

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Perle de Mousse is an extremely soft and delicate chypre that gives a cursory nod to the Dior greats by Edmond Roudnitska: Diorella, Eau Sauvage and Diorissimo whilst still being completely its own scent. Anyone looking for a powerful tenacious green chypre or a typical Duchafour composition won’t find it here. Perle de Mousse is extremely gentle, with average sillage and longevity. Despite its ethereality, it is still a stunningly beautiful fragrance and a must try for any green or chypre fans.

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SurrenderToChance has the range starting at $4/ml

LuckyScent has a Discovery Collection 3 x 9ml in a coffret $65 or 60ml/$165

With much love till next time,
M x

Neela Vermeire Creations GIVEAWAY!!!

Hi Gang,

We are having a Neela Vermeire Creations week here at APJ. Monday we interviewed Neela Vermeire, Tuesday we reviewed Mohur, one of the 3 Bertrand Duchaufour fragrances currently in the line and today we have a really special GIVEAWAY!! You guys are SO lucky!! Please go and follow @neelavermeire on twitter and Neela Vermeire Creations, Parfums Paris FaceBook page. She is so friendly and I can promise you exciting updates in the near future. SHHHHHH

What is in this amazing NEELA VERMEIRE CREATIONS GIVEAWAY? You ask..

4 x 2ml Try Your India sets including 2ml of all 3 Fragrances in the line and shipping
Value = 22 euro each!!!
We have 2 sets for the world and 2 sets for Australia to give away, courtesy of the AH MAY ZING Neela Vermeire.

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Firstly, you must be a follower of AustralianPerfumeJunkies and YES you can become a follower to enter. Then you must leave in the comments below the names of the 3 Neela Vermeire Creations fragrances. How easy is that? EASY PEASY!!

Photo Stolen indiantvtoday

You don’t want to wait till Saturday to see if you’ve won?
NeelaVermeireCreations was where I bought my 10ml x 3 frags Discovery Set for only 90 euro delivered anywhere in the world or you can get 2ml x 3 frags Try My India Set only 22 euro delivered!
LuckyScent has 55ml bottles $250

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!

Loads of love,
Portia xx

Mohur by Bertrand Duchaufour for Neela Vermeire Creations 2011

Welcome back Perfumistas,

Yesterday we had an interview with the amazing Neela Vermeire of Neela Vermeire Creations. today we are going to look at one of her fragrances, Mohur, composed with Bertrand Duchaufour.

Photo Stolen guerlain.pl

From LuckyScent:
The name refers to the most valuable gold coin in India’s history, the last of which was minted in 1918. A way, perhaps, of underlining the value given to perfumery during the Mogul era, an art so highly considered that the most powerful empress of the Mughal dynasty, Noor Jahan, devoted herself to perfecting it.
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Photo Stolen worldofcoins.eu

Fragrantica LuckyScent and Neela Vermeire Creations give these notes and accords, each site is slightly different so I have melded them all:
Top: Cardamom, coriander, ambrette (musk mallow), carrot seeds, black pepper, elemi oil
Heart: Turkish rose oil, Moroccan Rose Absolute (rose accords around 11%),  jasmine, iris/orris, aubepin (midland hawthorn), almond milk accord, leather, violet
Base: Sandalwood, amber, patchouli, oudh Palao from Laos, benzoin, vanilla, tonka bean

Photo Stolen Neela Vermeire Creations

What do I smell when I wear Mohur? The very first whiff is pepper and spices jumping off my skin but it doesn’t take long for the ambrette and elemi to add their musky/woody tones though there is still a strong spicy/herbal wash over all. This is no big blockbuster of a fragrance, it’s more refined than that; it does give great scent and more than moderate sillage but not in an overwhelming way so I think very wearable for dinner, cocktails or dates, but maybe a little too much for close quarters working
The green hawthorn is the next player to make itself known heralding the rise of the flowers, and boy are they something! Like the lithe and lovely Indian women in their bright colours walking to get water each morning and evening they sway into the picture and ROSES, roses, ROSES backed up by a bouquet that is way beyond my meager abilities to parse. This is exactly the scent I would love to wear to dinner at the Lake Palace in Udaipur (where you can watch the chefs make reincarnations of the feasts of Mughal and Raj days), or the Wildflower Hall in Shimla (where I was lucky enough to spend my birthday in 2010) or the Neemrana Palace outside Delhi (where we spent our 8th Anniversary) or even the hall of the Dalai Lama in McLeod Gang (though McLeod Gang is now so much a tourist Mecca that I hardly recognised it from 2000-2010). I feel like I am in the lap of India’s most jaw droppingly awesome and outrageous luxury, even almost smelling the dust that has to be hand collected in wet rags three times a day by the servants, and still the snap and sizzle of lunch frying, that was present in the opening, persists alongside the roses. What an adventure!

At around the 2-3 hour mark I still have a green pepper fragrance behind a slight sweetening of the bouquet of roses and other flowers, like an amber/vanilla mist that is laid over the top. Mohur smells really expensive on the body, lavish, opulent and glamorous are words that instantly jump to my mind. The whole fragrance is much softer now; the sillage is maintained at slightly lower levels.

By nearly 5 hours I have a sweet vanillic, milky, woody and ever so slightly soapy dry down that continues for somewhere over an hour when I lose all sense of wearing fragrance. WOW!! Every time I wear Mohur it’s a slightly different ride but it was really fun today to document my wearing of it for you.

Photo Stolen Neela Vermeire Creations

Looking for other reviews? NowSmellThis looks specifically at Mohur and CandyPerfumeBoy does all three NVC in the line.
NeelaVermeireCreations was where I bought my 10ml x 3 frags discovery set for only 90 euro delivered anywhere in the world
LuckyScent has 55ml bottles $250

These are a must try fragrance line because there is real love poured into their creation, they use the best ingredients available, smell incredible and God Damn It, you deserve the best. Come see us Thursday for a very special Neela Vermeire give away!

Have you tried this line? Do you have a favourite? Why?
As always love to you and yours,

Portia xx

PS: The opening photo stolen openlib

Neela Vermeire Talks To APJ

Hi Perfume Family,

You may have heard about Neela Vermeire Creations, if you have been anywhere on the scentbloggosphere then you’ve probably read about their line of fragrances too. If you are a perfumista then chances are you have smelled at least one of the magical fragrances, and maybe own a bottle, decant or sample set. I was lucky enough to win a sample set in a blog competition and have fallen deeply under the spell of these beautiful reminders of my times through India since 2000 with my last long term partner who is part of a hotel family over there. Loving the fragrances so much I wanted to understand the woman who has been the catalyst for their creation, the friendly, driven, intriguing and very pretty Neela Vermeire. Today she talks with us and I am thrilled that she has.

Photo Stolen guerlain.pl

Tell us about young Neela please, where you came from, family, siblings, poignant or helped create who you are moments?
Who am I? I guess I am a result of my life and travels. I am a global villager – restless, hopefully a mindful soul.
I was born in India and most of my family still live in India. I was educated in the eastern part of India in a city called Calcutta. I went to the US for my graduate studies. After completing my masters degree I moved to London, Aberdeen, Paris, London, Paris.
My earliest memories of perfumes were from the various ceremonies that took place in temples, my family who wore some form of perfumes – immediate and extended.  India is in general a phenomenal assault to ones senses – good and bad and ugly.
Family and school trips to various parts of India made me appreciate the vastness and variety of India and Indian culture. The smell of Indian flowers in markets, roadside food stalls – smell of Indian snacks like chaat, puris, parathas, wood stoves, roasted peanuts, tea stalls, fruit stalls – smell of mango ripe and unripe, guava, lychee, jack fruit (very strong smell), musty book stores, wet earth after monsoon, dry earth under the scorching sun, smell of freshly brewed Darjeeling tea, spices etc.

India (like most warm countries) can provide the most amazing natural smells and the most awful smells.

What were you doing before you became a perfumer?
I am a qualified solicitor in the UK, I started working on consulting projects, exhibiting emerging artists and creators in Paris and also doing Perfume Path Tours.

How did you become interested in fragrance?
Since my childhood days in India. Also each move to different countries made me deeply aware of cultural differences and preferences.

What qualifications do you have as a perfumer?
None because I am a creative director or a creator but not a “nose” or technical perfumer.A nose/perfumer must be a qualified and trained person. I worked with Bertrand Duchaufour who is a well known nose for the first India trio.

Photo Stolen theperfumemagazine.com

Who were and are your mentors and inspirations?
Too many to mention. Some other niche perfume creators were and are my mentors.
My inspirations are my life and travels.
Friends and loved ones who enabled me to express with the help of Bertrand the perfumes as a tribute to India.

Who is your favourite perfumer, other than yourself, and why?
As I mentioned before I am a “creator” and not a “nose” or technical perfumer. Many people call themselves “perfumers” when they have “noses” working for them.
Do you mean creators?
Frederic Malle (Creator)
Serge Lutens (Creator)
Guerlain (Perfumer and creator)
Annick Goutal (Perfumer and creator)
Patricia di Nicolai (Perfumer and creator)
IUNX by Olivia Giacobetti (Perfumer and creator)

You know many others who are true creators and not trained perfumers..etc….
There are many other independent niche perfumers .

Synthetic, natural or mixture, why?
“Mixology”
Mixing is good. Mixture is great – one is able to create exceptional creations with mixology.
Naturals can be heavy and aroma chemicals add the playfulness.

What do you have in development that you’d like to share with perfumistas everywhere?
A couple of fragrances – work in progress.

Photo Stolen lfort

Isn’t it nice to get a little insight into the lovely Neela, I hope you have enjoyed it. Please come back tomorrow, we will be looking at one of the Neela Vermeire Creations fragrances in depth,

NeelaVermeireCreations was where I bought my 10ml x 3 frags Discovery Set for only 90 euro delivered anywhere in the world or you can get 2ml x 3 frags Try My India Set only 22 euro delivered!
LuckyScent has 55ml bottles $250

Love to you all and hope for your good health, wealth and happiness,

Portia xx

Piment Brulant By Bertrand Duchaufour for L’Artisan Parfumeur 2002

Hey Perfume Junkies,

It feels like it’s not a week without a L’Artisan Parfumeur review. Today we are looking at an extremely discreet fragrance from their range, it starts out super fireworks but very quickly becomes an alluring skin scent, just enough to make you smell better than ever but not enough to pick unless you are very, very close. It’s like a reward for getting that close.

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

The L’Artisan Parfumeur site says:
Piment Brûlant was inspired by the Aztec drink of xocotatl, the bitter cocoa and chili drink beloved of the warrior king Montezuma. He was reputed to drink fifty cups a day. This is an aphrodisiac blend of cocoa, vanilla, clove and poppy all tempered with the fire and bite of chili. Surprisingly green and fresh on the skin, this wonderful study in contrasts brings the skin alive.

Photo Stolen flavors.me/marchudgins

Fragrantica gives these featured notes/accords all in a line:
Amber, cinnamon, musk, poppy, vanilla, dark chocolate, cacao, clove and chili pepper

What do I smell? I love the opening of Piment Brulant, it’s like that first cut into a Bell Pepper, we call it Capsicum in Australia, a fresh green, wet and herbaceous smell. This lasts about 10-20 minutes depending on the day but is gradually joined by spicy chocolate, not a sweet chocolate, nor an edible one yet, but an unrefined cocoa-ish will be chocolate. It’s almost like the fragrance is fighting itself with a very treble capsicum and this dark undertone. As the fragrance lives on my skin the two separate shades move together as the amber & vanilla weave their way through to the top of the pile making it all smell extremely good but not bakery style, did I mention that up super close you get the cinnamon but less so from far away.

Now at about the 1 hour point the whole fragrance kind of eats itself and becomes so close to the skin that it’s almost undetectable unless you are close or you stick your head in your top and breathe deep. This stage lasts indefinitely, I can never tell when it has truly gone but TSO Jin has still been able to smell traces the morning after if I wear 5 spritzes.

Photo Stolen L’Artisan Parfumeur

I love the freshness, the sprightly, springy, gorgeousness of Piment Brulant that is absolutely guaranteed to lift my mood. It fits well with warm weather but will also sit pretty on you in cool. Not too strong for work as long as there is no ANTI PERFUME LEAGUE there and I love to wear it for dinner and date night.

If you’re looking for other reviews NowSmellThis and EauMG
eGlobalBeauty has 50ml/$93 or 100ml/$131 including worldwide delivery!
SurrenderToChance has decants from $4/ml

What do you love in the world of spicy green fragrances? Does chocolate do it for you? Could you see yourself in this dizzying mixture? Where would you wear it?
I want to take a moment to thank you for your continued support, it means a lot to all of us at APJ that you have chosen to become part of our fragrance family, see you tomorrow,

Portia xx