Niche Perfume

Gentry Jockey Club Oriza L. Legrand
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Gentry Jockey Club Oriza L. Legrand

Heya Crew. Since their resurrection I’ve loved and followed the continuing brilliance of the Oriza L. Legrand house. It’s a house that has its fair share of devotees but if the style doesn’t work for you then maybe only three or four of their oeuvre will smell good to and on you. Luckily I love powdery, billowing, over the top glamstrosities that wear divinely on men and women alike. Actually wearing a big fluffy powder bomb feels unbelievably subversive as I wander the shops and mall here in Parramatta, or even in Sydney CBD. I feel like we perfumed gents are living in a golden age where not only the gays but the whole bro-niverse is smelling fine. So my wafts are not out of place, just regular Joe. Gentry Jockey Club is one fragrance that might fit for you if the Oriza main body of work isn’t your style.

Gentry Jockey Club by Oriza L. Legrand 2017

Gentry Jockey Club Oriza L. Legrand

Oriza L Legrand gives these featured accords:
Top: Ylang, Saffron
Heart: Iris Pallida, Leathery notes, Birch essence
Base: Sandalwood, Tonka Bean, Vetiver.

That beautiful, creamy ylang, sandalwood and dry cardboard/lipstick iris are totally contrasted by the scratchy saffron and birch. While Gentry Jockey Club is a leather fragrance it is also so much more. PLUS there’s nary a hint of powder anywhere near this perfume.

Things I’m surprised are not in the note list, plum, raspberry or some dark sweet fruit and resins like myrrh, labdanum or even elemi. The notes do not seem to cover the wealth of breadth Gentry Jockey Club displays. It’s in the same wheelhouse as Daim Blond or Bottega Veneta EdP but does it so differently. Dryer, less fashion and more… it’s not like working leather, or even boots. I’m really finding it difficult to pigeon hole. Yes leather, yes some fruit, some smoky resin, plush and creamy ylang and sandalwood but with zero Samsara feel. Through the heart and into the base I get a drying hay waft and some engine oil.

Gentry Jockey Club by Oriza L. Legrand

If Bandit was created in the 21st century then I think this is how it would smell. Two enthusiastic thumbs up. Unisex leaning towards traditional masculine with moderate projection and awesome longevity. If you want to smell good all day without the need for touch ups. Different from the crowd but well under the weird factor. If your job is based on solid structure but you need to be (or smell like) an effective think outside the box-er but not a maverick then I’m thinking Gentry Jockey Club might be perfect fit. It’s also bloody sexy on Jin.

Sadly I have no memory of where this decant came from. There’s maybe 4 of 10ml left and I’m enjoying it immensely.

Are you a leather or Oriza Legrand fan? Favourites?
Portia xx

Ambre Mythique by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier
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Ambre Mythique by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier

Hi there Looking Glassers, While you’re still stuck in cool weather but heading into warmer I thought we could look at one more gorgeous amber. Just for the love of it. Most of you would have heard of Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier ‘… founded in 1988 by the renowned perfumer Jean-François Laporte. Rooted in the tradition of 17th-century French perfumery, the brand draws its inspiration from travel, the world of opera, and baroque aesthetics.’ You’ll know Jean Laport from creating l’Artisan Parfumeur in 1976. He is quite the innovator and even when he is working within a trope he does it so flawlessly it’s like the idea has been perfected. Sadly the house has been lost in all the noise of new.

Ambre Mythique by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier 2016

Ambre Mythique by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier

Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Geranium, Coriander, Incense
Heart: Myrrh, Lavender, Ciste labdanum
Base: Patchouli, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Tonka Beans

For many of the readers here a new amber perfume is the last thing on their list of needs. Yes, I’m much the same. Amber is one of my great perfume loves and the wardrobe is bristling with them. Last winter less than half of them even got worn. Yet, had I been in a shop with funds for spending I’d own the 120ml bottle already.

Opening with a deep patchouli/labdanum/incense smokiness, Ambre Mythique is furry and goat-ish but also has a whisper of crisp rose and greenery. A seriously warming fragrance that is leaning heavily into the heat here in the dying gasps of Sydney summer. Fire, smoke, woods and that beautiful animalic resinous sweetness of amber. So rich and burnished.

Very diffusive but not a screaming beast, longevity is off the charts. Spritz at 6am and you’ll still smell the rich remnants at midnight. GAH! I really want a full bottle of Ambre Mythique right now.

Ambre Mythique by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier

You can see I just shook the decant in the photo before spritzing because some of the ingredients had sedimented over time. There’s only about 2ml left and it is a glorious amber colour.

LuckyScent still has bottles and samples

Are you a too many ambers person or is there room for one more?
Portia xx

Bois Sikar by Atelier des Ors
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Bois Sikar by Atelier des Ors

Heya Crew! Do you have brands that you sincerely love yet you have never bought a full bottle? This is my story with Atelier des Ors. Way back when I went to Esxence Megan even offered me a bottle of their newest release but I knew my bag was right at the limit so asked for a couple of sets of samples, one for me and one for a giveaway. Kicking myself ever since. Their bottles are so beautiful, I love the gold flakes and the fragrances are all so thoughtfully produced. Dozens of times I’ve had them in my basket but they just never seem to make it all the way through checkout. So I’m currently retrying a few to decide which one I’ll buy to congratulate myself on finishing my Celebrant Course (when I finally do!).

Bois Sikar by Atelier des Ors 2018

Bois Sikar by Atelier des Ors

Atelier des Ors gives these featured accords:
Top: Nutmeg, Precious Wood, Guaiac Wood
Heart: Vetiver, Styrax, Cedar Leef
Base: Tobacco Absolute, Cyrpiol, Incense

It’s easy to know why Bois Sikar is near the top of my to try list. Tobacco/wood/incense are all in my wheelhouse, add some spices and resins and I’m right there, front and center. of course, Atelier des Ors does it in their own way so let’s chat about it.

Dark, charred, smoky woods open Bois Sikar. There is also the smell of greenery torn and trodden. Like the cold dawn on a campsite with only coals left in the fire pit and the smell of dew drying on the trees. Add the scent of kicked up leaf mulch and someone not very far away cooking super crispy bacon.

As we head towards the heart resinous tobacco becomes noticeable and Bois Sikar becomes a warm fragrance. Lightly spiced and cozy with the smoke of burning incense wafting through. Some of you may remember the spicy woods of the 1980s mens fragrances? Imagine that genre but elevated by interesting, modern style. It’s almost oudh-y and has a deep whiff of band aid and barnyard.

Bois Sikar by Atelier des Ors decant

The base is very traditionally masculine woods, dark and mysterious. It stays interesting and a little raunchy right to fade. Having said traditionally masculine, I know you are mostly for sex free scenting, me too, but giving you the traditional names means you have a place to start in your head while reading. So, obviously, if you like the sound of Bois Sikar then it doesn’t matter where you lie on the scale, try it. You never know.

Were/are you a Bois Sikar devotee?
Portia xx

I bought my decant from Surrender To Chance.

Secret Joly Oriza L. Legrand
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Secret Joly Oriza L. Legrand

Howdy ULGers! I was trawling around in my cupboards this week and wasn’t quite sure what was going to get the spritz. I had plenty of time and a hankering for a forgotten beauty. Something I love but that has sat unremembered for a long while. The box with my Oriza also has Robert Piguet, Andrea Maack and Miller et Bertaux. To be honest, I thought it was going to be a Piguet kinda day. Maybe Bois Bleu or Alameda. When I looked in the box Secret Joly, a fragrance I’ve not worn in ages, called my name. OK. So I spritzed, and remembered why I bought it in the first place. I’ve pulled it out of the cupboard and it’s now own my desk. So wearing it for the third time in less than a fortnight I realized it needed a post.

Secret Joly by Oriza L. Legrand 2020

Oriza Legrand gives these featured accords:
Top: Hyacinth, Ylang-Ylang
Heart: Gardenia, Tuberose, Jasmine Sambac
Base: Civet, Tonkin Musk, Peruvian Balsam

Floral creaminess, a rich and hefty tropical miasma that is utterly entrancing. Secret Joly smells like nothing else but also has hints of a sneaky side eye reference to the BWF stunners of the 1980s. I think it’s the animalic undertow. Already the chosen flowers are pretty meaty but add some civet and musk style depths and GROWL.

If you’re expecting some gardenia blue cheese you will be disappointed. Well, it doesn’t show up on my wearings.

Normally I save Secret Joly for cool weather wearings. It is so ripe and warm and feels really cozy. Today is 36C and super humid here in Sydney and THIS PERFUME HAS BLOOMED!  I just took the dogs for a walk and the combination with the days heat and my bodies extra walking warmth and a bit of sweaty man. WHOA NELLY! I smell amazing. Eye rolling, mind blowing, heart racing amazing.

The last few wears since rediscovering Secret Joly have been fairly sedentary. Yesterday, by the time I went to aquarobics most of Secret Joly must have burned off beforehand because I just got some pretty reawakening and then the last vestiges washed off.

Definitely aimed at the girls but only a minor stretch to the guys and it smells F I N E!

Did you ever get your sniff on Secret Joly?
Portia xx

 

P.S. I also really loved Oriza Scotch Lavender and wish I’d bought a bottle.

Ombre Nomad by Louis Vuitton
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Ombre Nomad by Louis Vuitton

OK Looking Glass peeps, A mate of mine decanted this from his bottle for me. Bought it, not a gift. I remember trying Ombre Nomade in store when it was released and thinking it was very nice but wasn’t ready to lay down that kind of money to have a bottle. So I have had this 10ml a few years and every now and then I get the urge. HA! Trying to find it today was a bit of a thing. In my memory it was a gold bottle with white sticker so I overlooked this decant at least 10 times before the light dawned. Time just evaporates sometimes. My seriously scheduled day derailed. Oh Well, going with the flow.

Ombre Nomad by Louis Vuitton 2018

Ombre Nomade Louis Vuitton

 

Louis Vuitton gives these featured accords:
Oud Wood, Frankincense, Raspberry, Benzoin Tears

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about that smoky woods amber oud style base that is so prevalent in modern niche perfumery. It’s in so much and I can understand why people are bored of it or it may bring on migraines because some people just don’t have a stop spritzing button. I feel like every era of perfume has a few bases it works with. We look back at the 1970s floral chypres with such reverence but they do all smell within a certain wheelhouse. Then we had an era of spicy, amber rich florals which segued into the Big White Floral and then moved on to aquatics. See, eras of perfume are defined by certain styles. In 20 years time the kids now will be begging for confectionary gourmands, middle eastern style rose oudhs and heavily smoked woody ambers.

So here we have a smoky woods amber oud with raspberry as the defining difference. It’s fairly bombastic and smells pretty good. Actually, there are some marked similarities to Creed Carmina. While not the same they do have some crossover but Ombre Nomade is far less screechy and desperate for attention.

Ombre Nomade Louis Vuitton

I really like the way Ombre Nomade opens with darkness, a slightly medicinal woody oudh. Then it lets the raspberry sinuously slide in, snakelike and beautifully alluring. This is where the fragrance hits Carmina buttons and skews a little cough syrup, but luxuriously here and low key. Then a smoky amber woods comes through and pumps out long after I’ve lost the ability to smell it. The most common remark is that it smells like a smoky leather.

Masculine leaning unisex, extraordinary longevity and quite diffusive even when I can’t smell it anymore.

Did you ever?
Portia xx

 

Portia 56
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Portia 56

Hey there ULG crew. Yes, it’s birthday time. This year I’m leaning into the celebration.

Sunday night trivia at Austral Bowling Club they had a cake for me. Here is my super butch reaction to snuffing the candle with wet fingers.

Just had my Birthday phone call from Varun in India (my last long term partner) can’t believe he left Australia 22 years ago. Still miss his stupid face.

My Birthday day (Wednesday 25th) is all about study because I’ve been too busy to get anything done in the last week and I have stuff due. Actually due weeks ago. It’s causing me stomach curdling anxiety. Thing is, weddings, extra gigs and funerals aren’t something that can be put off.

The evening will be Trivia with my Greystanes Inn crew. Jin, BFF Kath and her Dad are coming for that. I’m pretty happy with this small scale on the day event.

Thursday night Jin is taking us to the Darling Harbour Sofitel for the night with dinner at a restaurant I like and hotel breakfast. Just us. Super chill.

Saturday we are having a bit of a party at the local Chinese restaurant. It serves Authentic 1970s Australian Chinese Food. Believe me, it’s a thing. We have this extraordinary history of Aussie Chinese. It’s getting hard to find nowadays because everyone is going much more Traditional Chinese FROM China. Anyway, it’s cheap as chips and the food is So Good!

It has been a toss up whether to buy a big ticket perfume that’s been on the To Buy List or art. I haven’t been able to decide, and we already have a surfeit of both. So I’m hoarding my money for our November family trip to Taiwan.

Rahele by Neela Vermeire Creations is my birthday perfume. It’s the scent of events ever since our wedding in 2018. It has been the perfect fragrance for important moments because it’s beautiful enough to be intoxicating but not so overwhelming it takes precedence. Osmanthus, violet and mossy leather with a whole bouquet to back it up. Perfection.

Notes of green mandarin, cardamom, cinnamon, violet leaf, osmanthus, rose, magnolia, jasmine, iris, violet, cedar, sandalwood, oakmoss, patchouli and leather.

Well, I’m off to get things done,
Portia xx

Assam of India by Parfums Berdoues
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Assam of India by Parfums Berdoues

Hey Hey ULGers! Lovely to have you in the blog-house. Over the years Robin and the NST crew have talked lovingly of Assam of India. I tried it early on and loved it but then completely forgot it even existed till a couple of years ago when it came up again on a few Friday Community Projects over there. Having spent every cent on travel last year and other expenses this year it’s been a financially enforced low buy 18 months. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel meant I gave myself permission to grab a couple of things. Jin’s signature perfume Bottega Veneta EdP has been DCd, so I grabbed him a backup or two from FragranceNet (not affiliated). While there I noticed Assam of India Testers were cheap, so it went in the cart. YAY! Now it has arrived and I’m thinking you all up in the warming Northern Hemisphere will go ape shit for its super summer wearability.

Assam of India by Parfums Berdoues 2015

Assam of India by Parfums Berdoues

Parfums Berdous give these featured accords:
Menton lemon, Indian tea, Mysore sandalwood

Do you ever wish for a crisp, beautiful, no nonsense but lovely to smell tea forward fragrance that will suit any mood in the warmer months and many in the cooler? Does the bottle make a difference? Is super cuteness without being childish a win? Then we might just have the perfect scent for you here today.

Immediately a sweet citrus, much sweeter and softer than lemon to my nose. Veery pomelo. Soon after there is a hint of those little square travel mints and then, interestingly it turns less sweet and gets the tart edge I expect from lemon.

You’d expect the tea to be very Earl Grey with such a burst of citrus. It’s not. While I do get the dry back of throat feeling that tea in perfume often gives me it’s not black tea. More of a green tea herbal concoction and I get very specific chamomile and dandelion references. Also lovely hints of basil and later a bitter green angelica. The sandalwood never really makes much of an appearance and Assam of India stays fairly green tea and herbs.

Yes, I’m sure you all get entirely different rides but these are consistent olfactory markers for me through a few wears. Funny how it happens.

Assam of India by Parfums Berdoues short shot

Utterly unisex. Lasts surprisingly well before becoming a wash of green nothings. Not a huge perfume but definitely changes the air around you. Like a bit of a creeper that someone will notice after minutes sitting right next to you, then they’ll say something. I do get why it’s so popular and think it would make a terrific gift to non perfumistas who are after something more interesting than most department store fare.

Are any of you fans of Assam of India?
Portia xx

 

Rake n Ruin by BeauFort London
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Rake n Ruin by BeauFort London

Hi there ULGers, Rake & Ruin by BeauFort London has been a First in Fragrance decant lying around this apartment for ages, years. It gets picked up and then put back, over and over again. So while I’m doing this New Idea 2023 thunking challenge I finally bit the bullet and sprayed the half that was left all over myself. WOWZERS! It’s so riotously over the top! You must try this fabulous freak.

Rake & Ruin by BeauFort London 2018

Rake & Ruin BeauFort London

Featured accords:
Top: Smoke, Angelica, Gin, Juniper, Sichuan Pepper, Pink Pepper, Licorice, Coriander, Orange, Lemon
Heart: Smoke, Cypress, Pine needles, Castoreum, Cade oil, Labdanum, Costus, Orris, Violet
Base: Smoke, Woody Notes, Ambrarome, Sandalwood

Smoky woods with a side order of peppery blue cheese. So outrageous and good in the Sydney heat.

The heart calms down a little and yes smoke but now it’s BarBQ smoke with some delightfully charring meat and twiggy greenery.

Dry down is BarBQ Shapes. It’s a spicy biscuit in Australia, don’t know if you have them in the world. Drizzled over charred wood, smoke and maybe a little burning tyre.

Rake & Ruin BeauFort London

Sounds ghastly? It’s not.

This is so fabulous. A true freak of fragrance.

Do I want it? Yes

Would I ever wear it? Probably not

HANG ON…. Maybe I would wear it. Do this crew do 10 or 15ml travels?

Rake & Ruin is something you at least need to try. Just for the fun of wearing something so wholly OTT.

Have you? Would you?
Portia xx

Fig Extasy by Mancera 2021
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Fig Extasy by Mancera 2021

Hi Crew, Not sure if you know but over on Perfume posse I’m doing this challenge called New Idea 2023. It’s a challenge to use up some of the squllion perfume samples and decants lying in waste around this apartment. I’m finding things in boxes and bags that were bought, given as Press Samples, given as GWP or even given from other perfumistas. I thought there was a lot BEFORE I started opening up everything. Now it’s just stupid and overwhelming. I can feel the weight of these unloved and unused beauties bearing down upon me like….. well I have no analogy but it’s hefty. I’m also really sad at how many of them are now a smudge of oil in the bottom of a vial. So wasteful. Today I’m using up a carded sample of Fig Extasy by Mancera. I know why this remains unused, because their spelling of EXTASY is so annoying to me. Well, I know it sounds stupid but when you are looking at 20 samples then anything to help you decide what to put on your skin real estate is helpful. Yeah I know. Problems of someone with WAY TOO MUCH.

This carded manufacturers sample came from a Libertine purchase GWP bag.

Fig Extasy by Mancera 2021

Fig Extasy by Mancera

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Fig Nectar, Incense, Ginger, Black Pepper
Heart: Fig Leaf, Leather, Sandalwood, Cedar, Thyme, Lavender
Base: Siam Benzoin, Vanilla Pod, Styrax, Tonka Bean

Yes, I know loads of you Poo Poo Mancera. That’s fine but after you take away all the nearly exactly the same oudhs there are still some other gems to be found amongst the line. BTW I do love some of those oudhs too and their The Aoud is one of my favourites of the genre.

Anyway, how does Fig Extasy smell? Delightfully figgy. HA! Well it does but it also has some excellent bells and whistles. That opening raspy black pepper and fizzy ginger are a lovely counterpoint. The heart is more about amber/woods with sweet and green fig-ness. Jin, whose nose is so much more acute than mine yelled CRAYONS!! I don’t personally get that but it’s his take. Most of the mentioned notes don’t make themselves clear to me. From the notes I expected the dry down to be much more amber/vanilla and sweet but it remains unsweet and becomes quite dry. Even the fig that continues into dry down is desiccated  but still maintains interest over the top of this resinous woodiness.

Fig Extasy by Mancera

The vial lasted two really full wears. I’m madly in love with this perfumes progression and story. Though it’s not a brand new idea it works for me in ways that make it very different from my other big fig loves Neela Vermeire Creations Ashoka and L’Artisan Premier Figuier. 

Unisex, longevity is excellent , projection moderate after the initial fireworks. This has gone onto the list of wants, jumped in quite close to the top. SO GOOD!

Would you Fig Extacy? Even with the spelling?
Portia xx

 

 

Flesh by Pekji 2021
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Flesh by Pekji 2021

Hi Looking Glassers, Flesh by Pekji is newly arrived at Chez Portia. My buddy Scotty bought the set as soon as they came out and brought them over for sniffing. It’s taken me a while but now I too have a set of the 2021 releases. They came all the way from Fragrances and Art because Australia has no stockist of these tempestuous beauties anymore (yes, I paid retail, they’re worth it). Omer is such a perfumista himself, and so stringently interrogative of fragrances in general, that the weird, wonderful, confronting messes he makes are also a story running along the knife edge of gorgeous and disgusting. I don’t know how he manages to do this with every single release and still make wearable perfumes that smell excellent. It’s a gift that few share. Yeah, I’m a fan, also he’s a buddy of mine.

Flesh by Pekji 2021

Flesh by Pekji 2021

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Apricot, Spray paint, Vanilla, Iris, Ambrette (Musk Mallow), Musk, Civet, Osmanthus

Before we start on the scent I’d like to take a moment to talk about the packaging. Sensible, very heavy card, lovely print on sleeve and the holographic paper behind the perfume bottle is so beautiful on opening. Like looking at a mermaid. It’s sturdy but not an enormous wank of a box. The bottle is a simple heavy rectangle and the sprayer nozzle is so thoughtfully white against the black of the rest. Making it very easy for super blind me to see where I am spritzing. Bravo!

Flesh by Pekji 2021

How does Flesh smell? Iris, but not cardboard or dough or carrot. I probably wouldn’t have smelt the spray paint but now I know it’s in the notes I keep laughing about it. It’s there alright but I probably would have called it a hair lacquer note. Powder, make up, humanity. Like a drag queen dressing room, NO like the women at the end of Death Becomes Her. THIS is what the over made up, powdered, glued together, spray painted, broken pieces of undead would smell like.

Sounds terrible? Nope, gorgeous. Fluffy and feral, but low key. Iris, leather, osmanthus and tonnes of well powdered but slightly sweaty human.

Have you tried any of the Peckji oeuvre? Favourite?
Portia x