Girlfriend by Justin Bieber 2012

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Post by Katrina

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Hi APJ,

I really like this perfume. I wore it a lot last summer when it seemed like the perfect summer fragrance. But now in winter, wearing it for this review I’ve found that I enjoy wearing it all year round.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: mandarin, blackberry, pear and strawberry.
Heart: pink freesia, star jasmine, apricot and orange blossom
Base: vanilla orchid, luminous musk and white amber

Justin Bieber won big this year taking out US Fifi Awards in 2 categories. Justin Bieber’s Girlfriend, the second fragrance from the Biebster, won both ‘Fragrance of the Year – Women’s Popular’ and ‘Consumer Choice – Women’s’ categories.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

The packaging for this perfume is fun and playful. The cross section of the purple bottle is heart shaped and it slots into a colourful canister that reminds me of a slinky. Fun! Taking the bottle out to spray makes me feel just a little happier.

The perfume starts fresh and fruity with citrus and crisp pear. Girlfriend is sweet but not overly. As the perfume evolves the floral notes come out and the fruit changes to what smells like honeydew melon to me, although it should be apricot based on the fragrance notes listed. The base notes of the fragrance are quite soft and the fresh sweetness stays until the end.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

Further reading: EauDeLucy and AccentGirl100
Fragrance Shop has from $26/30ml
My Perfume Samples starts at $2/ml

Which other celebrity perfumes won awards this year? Check out my Celebrity Perfume Website to find out.

Have any of you APJ readers tried Girlfriend? If not I challenge you to give it a try!

Katrina xx

ED: I added the Beaty & The Beat video because I think it’s SUPER FUN!

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

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

Rouge Avignon GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Hey there APJ crew,

We had a great response for Val the Cookie Queen’s Rouge Avignon draw. All the entries have been collated, cut, folded and drawn. I hope you get as much fun out ofd these draws as we do.

Portia xx

Photo Stolen Gautier Poupeau Flickr

WHAT COULD YOU WIN?

There are 3 prizes this week. Each winner will receive:

1 x Rouge Avignon by Phaedon 2013  Sample
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DID 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 needed to do was tell us how you follow and exactly why this juice might float your boat!

CQ’s lovely daughter Hannah picking a winner

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Midnight Sunday 18th August 2013 in Austria.
Winners were chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, I then put all the names into my long dead armadillo and three winners were drawn by Hannah. Alright?

Photo Stolen berryreview

Nadja

Azar

Belle

The winners will have till Wednesday 21st 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.

Bussis from the CQ

xxxxxxxxxx

Hanbury by Maria Candida Gentile 2010

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Post by Michael

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Thanks to the very kind Ms P I’m wrapping my nose around a new to me Maria Candida Gentile. I very much like what I smelled of Exultat, so I’m excited to be testing out another from the line.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lime, bitter orange, orange
Heart: Mimosa, white honey, calycanthus
Base: Musk, benzoin

There are a few nuances but this fragrance can be summed up in two words – bitter orange! Those familiar with Italian bitter orange drinks will have a good idea of what to expect from this little fragrance.

Up top lime and bitter orange jumps off the skin with a seriously tart throw. This is a fragrance you can feel penetrating your sinuses. Once it starts to settle down the benzoin takes control with a little mimosa for balance. I wouldn’t call this a mimosa fragrance by any stretch.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

From here it becomes a little warmer but it’s never cuddly. Miscellaneous white floral notes become more apparent and they’re quite soft. After only an hour or two it fades to a clean citrus musky skin scent.

From the Maria Candida Gentile site: The inspiration comes from the gardens of the Hanbury Villa in Ventimiglia, a city of northern Italy by the mediterranean sea. The essences of this garden have been assembled during a life time by its owner, a very charming and beautiful lady, Dorothy Hanbury. In spring these essences combines all together in the air and are blended by the soft and warm wind from the sea producing an exquisite harmony which has been recreated in the Hanbury fragrance.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

In the end I’m thinking about Hanbury as a citrus EdC – perfect for summer and when applied liberally and often. Maybe even store it in the fridge for an invigorating summer spray. It’s especially nice if you enjoy very naturalistic bitter orange.
Unfortunately for me, I’m left looking for something a little more…..

Further reading: Perfume Shrine and
Maria Candida Gentile has €25/15ml Travel Size or €115/100ml and sends to the world for €30
Parfum1 has $185/100ml
First In Fragrance has €150/100ml

Which of the Maria Candida Gentile line have you smelled? Does Hanbury sound like your cup of tea?
Michael

Gaiac by Jean-Claude Astier for M. Micallef 2005

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Post by Maya

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Hello APJ,
Recently my daughter ordered 6 perfume samples and gave them to me. She said, “These are all different from what you usually like, but they all have at least one note I know you love.” I was skeptical, but they were all nice. One really stood out,

Gaiac by M. Micallef 2005

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot
Heart: Cloves, jasmine
Base: Guaiac wood, vetiver, amber, vanilla

I should note that my love-note in Gaiac is jasmine and it’s all but invisible to me as is the vetiver in it.

I had no idea what gaiac is, but soon discovered that it is a tree, native to the tropical and subtropical Americas. It is a wood so resinous that doesn’t float. It sinks in water. Spanish Conquistadors burned it as incense, something they must have learned from the indigenous peoples, some of whom considered the tree sacred.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

This is a lovely, low silage scent, that whispers it’s presence, but every word is audible and clear. M. Micallef lists it as masculine. I disagree. I think it is as much a feminine scent as a masculine one. When I dabbed it on, it was unexpectedly sharp, though not unpleasantly so. The sharpness faded quickly and I got sweet vanilla, spicy clove, and what had to be gaiac wood. I cannot describe the scent of gaiac wood. It’s unique and a bit exotic. The balance of the sweetness, the spice, and the wood is wonderful. The clove lessens after a few hours but the vanilla and gaiac wood stay as equal partners until the end, which is about 6-8 hours on me, except on humid days, when it fades after about 4 hours. Gaiac by M. Micallef is linear, which is fine. It doesn’t need complexity. It’s an evening around a campfire, burning gaiac wood, watching the flames dance, everyone feeling relaxed and stress free, laughing. And maybe, just maybe, some sensual feelings could awaken!

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Further reading: The Scented Hound and I Smell Therefore I Am
Parfum1 and LuckyScent have $90/30ml and $185/100ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $5/ml

Gaiac wood seems to be an underused note in perfume which is a shame. I will be looking for it in more scents. What about you? Have you tried Gaiac by M. Micallef or other fragrances containing gaiac wood?
Maya

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

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