perfume shopping

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South Korea March 2023

Hey there ULGers, It’s a little CRAZY around here at the moment. I’m writing from last week because currently Jin, a couple of our girlfriends and I are in South Korea for a short but sweet tour. Temperatures are expected to range from -1 to 20C (30-68f). When are you all going to catch up with modern systems so we can all have the same? It will be a very nice change from Sydney’s current 40C (104f) with a shit tonne of humidity. It’s nicer outside than in the apartment though. Jin has the AC on and my body doesn’t really like it.

This will definitely NOT be a perfume shopping trip. We have other adventures planned this year that could become very fragrant. More on those later.

South Korea March 2023

So, I’m furiously trying to work out what to take with me perfume wise. I’m in the middle of the New Idea 2023 and will need to take some samples and decants to use up. Also, I like to have a few old faves for stability in the whirlwind rush of holiday adventures.

So here are my ideas.

Cacharel Amor Amor: A fun fizzy fruit scent that makes me smile in remembrance of Anna Maria who gave me my first 30ml.
Guerlain Terracotta le parfum: Need a white floral with tropical accents to add a little zip.
Hermès Cuir d’Ange: I’m halfway through my 15ml travel of this softly leather beauty.
Miller Harris La Fumee Ottoman: Newish 8ml travel from FragranceNet. Something smoky and dark will be nice for the cold.
Niki de Saint Phalle: The 12ml travel size are perfect in the wetpack. A chypre will always centre me.

On top of that I’m going to grab a random selection of samples/decants to help with New Idea 2023.

Does this feel like a sensible perfume selection?
What 5 would you take?
Portia xx

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Green Tea Mimosa by Elizabeth Arden

Hi Crew. Today I’m reminding you that spring will be with you soon. One of the loveliest harbingers of spring in Australia is its wattle. Yeah, that’s what we call our versions of mimosa. Late winter it blooms here and that bright yellow through to lime green puff ball extravaganza always brings a smile to my winter face. Sadly it plays merry hell with Jin’s hay fever and he suffers dreadfully with it. Fortunately it’s the pollen not the perfume so I’m free to wear mimosa perfumes whenever I want. This summer I finally caved and bought a bottle of Green Tea Mimosa.

Green Tea Mimosa by Elizabeth Arden 2016

Green Tea Mimosa by Elizabeth Arden

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green Tea, Citruses
Heart: Mimosa
Base: Heliotrope, Ambrette (Musk Mallow)

I know, yet again I’m very late to the party. Thing is the Elizabeth Arden counters in the mall are never at the front. That means I’ve usually found something else to sniff and spritz by the time I get there. Also, there’s rarely a specific Elizabeth Arden SA anymore. Perfume sniffing is about engagement, right? Sure it’s fun to go and sniff the aisles solo but having a representative I can make a human connection with will get my wallet out of my pocket so much faster. Sorry, end rant.

Green Tea Mimosa is a perfect spring and summer spritz, yes. I’m wearing it a LOT in our very muggy summer here right now to give me a moments respite. I tried it in the fridge but that is just TOO COOL! HA! It did strike me though today that it could very well be a winter blues buster. I know many of you are suffering the lack of sunlight and warmth. For next to nothing a few spritzes of Green Tea Mimosa could very well give you a much needed lift.

How does it smell? That opening waft is a lovely citrus/mimosa combo with that back of throat ache that comes with perfumery tea. Don’t expect it to be a replacement for Amouage Love Mimosa, or any of the big speedy niche mimosas. It’s a lovely fresh budget spritz that smells a LOT better than you’d expect at the price.

This is a fresh, powdery mimosa with none of the honeyed animals backbeat, though the vegetal musk is very nice. I think there might even be a little lily of the valley accord and some narcissus within the mix. Maybe even some jasmine. The heart and dry down are a little soapy.

Longevity is better than expected for something so ethereal. I’m fragrant but there seems to be a lot of space between the notes. After the first 10-20 minutes it’s a lightweight and gauzy beauty, not under the radar but low key. Totally unisex.

Do you ever use scent to pull you out of the winter blues?
Portia xx

Par 4 by Detaille
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Par 4 by Detaille

Hi there Looking Glassers, Back in 2017 Jin and I were lucky enough to get to Excense in Milan. It was my first, and only, perfume showcase. I hadn’t realised exactly how much time I would need and we also wanted to do the sightseeing and shopping. One day I’ll go back, solo, and really spend time seeing, sniffing, engaging and learning. On this adventure we basically went and saw all our mates. That was really nice too. It was the last time I got to hang with Vero, the first time I met Pia and Margo and a slew of other perfume peeps. Made a dick of myself fangirling Katie Pucrick. We stayed in a lovely little hotel just around the corner from the event and unsurprisingly there were industry insiders there. One such was the owner of Detaille and his wife. We got to chatting one morning over breakfast and he gave me a tester bottle of his new at the time Bois d’Oud (which is nearly finished now). It’s a fine, simple, scratchy woods, oudh and saffron. There are a lot more expensive renderings that are worse.

Along with that he gave me a few samples of their other work. Because I’ve been going through the perfume room and getting all the lost samples Par 4 jumped out at me and I thought we could spend a moment discovering it together.

Par 4 by Detaille

 

Par 4 by Detaille

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Bergamot, Woodsy Notes, French labdanum, Galbanum, Thyme, Fir, Clary Sage, Saffron, Vetiver, Basil

Though I haven’t seen it in real life the bottle looks so beautiful. I love the look of it, modern riff on deco. The fluted lid reminds me of early L’Artisan and Parfum d’Empire, before they went basic.

How does it smell? Opening is very cologne-ish. Crisp, bright, green and citrus. It does become more herbal after the initial fireworks die off. Lovely, surprisingly tapestried and I like the slight resinous sweetness through the herbaceousness. Not mentioned but I smell tomato leaf or a reminder of it. My closest real life analogy as the heart blooms is pesto. Not exactly Pesto but that immediate freshness and healthy goodness you smell as it’s being made.

The woods make themselves known through the heart. It’s not immediately apparent. A subtle rising until suddenly they are prominent and you realise they’ve been hiding under and between the other notes. The resins keep everything to a storyline, if that makes sense. After about an hour, or so, the greenery has become a soft drying grass with the resinous woods. Once this point is met the fragrance meanders comfortably, low key, traditional masculine fading to dry down. Groundbreaking? No. Wearable? Yes. A very nice woodsy aromatic that could easily be a signature scent. Someone who knows smelling good is important and doesn’t want to break the bank. Probably not sophisticated enough for the hard core perfumista but most of us need some easy reach go tos right?

Though I say traditionally masculine Par 4 can easily be worn by anyone who likes the idea of smelling like a day in the great outdoors that ends in the warmth of the 19th hole.

Another good thing: Detaille has the most affordable sample sets. 19 euros will get you all 19 samples, then add postage. What a bargain.

Do you or do you think someone close to you would like to wear Par 4?
Portia xx

Yuzu Solinotes
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Yuzu Solinotes

Hi there crew. You may know that Undina has been searching for the ultimate Yuzu. In a recent order from Surrender To Chance I happened upon one I’d not seen before. Yuzu by Solinotes. Now that I look it up I have seen this brand in the drug stores. Very inexpensive. Honestly, I passed them by thinking they’d be dross.

Yuzu by Solinotes

Yuzu Solinotes

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, Bergamot
Heart: Yuzu, Tangerine, White Flowers
Base: Oakmoss, Patchouli

Full disclosure, I can’t remember ever having Yuzu. Wikipedia tells me it’s “A naturally occurring hybrid between an Ichang papeda (hardiest citrus, bitter juice) and a Mandarin orange.”

Citrus! Yes, of course citrus but the opening burst is juicy and tart. It has just the right amount of pith to make it seem like you’ve cut open a fresh something off the tree. It’s a soft focus, bittersweet amalgam of the citrus I know. Just shy of ripeness. The opening lasts unusually long and citrus still remains the main player through the heart. That musky pith comes up to meet it as the fragrance softens in strength.

Yuzu Solinotes

About 20 minutes in all fireworks are over and a smooth, quite clean feeling, faint wash of fragrance remains. A little citrus, pith and better-than-me skin scent remain. It quietly pumps for a while and I’m not sure if the fragrance disappears or I become blind to it.

Super easy wear scent for both sexes. Perfect for anyone who loves perfume but works where it is eschewed. By the time you arrive it will be so soft it could be your face or body lotion.

I’m pretty sure you don’t need this in your Yuzu army Undina but it is nice enough and definitely punching above its price range.

We are heading into summer here in Oz. I’m going to pop this decant into the fridge and spritz with abandon a couple of times to use it up.

Do you like a cheapie? Is Yuzu a thing for you?
Portia xx

Je Veux Mon Livre by The Strange South
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Je Veux Mon Livre by The Strange South

Hi Crew, Je Veux Mon Livre by The Strange South is a fragrance from 2017. Here we have yet another perfume house I’d never heard of but bought a decant blind from Surrender To Chance because the notes sounded good and the names were very alluring. I think it might have come up as a suggestion and I jumped on it.

Both the following copy and picture are from their site:

Je Veux Mon Livre by The Strange South

The Strange South Je Veux Mon Livre features notes of tea leaves, sage pressed between the ancient pages of a leather-bound grimoire. It is an eau de parfum, edp.
The Strange South’s perfumes are blended by hand and bottled in small batches. They are alcohol, paraben, phthalate, and cruelty-free; the only testing being on willing human subjects.

Je Veux Mon Livre by The Strange South 2017

Parfumo gives threse featured accords:
Tea, Sage, Leather, Aged paper

Sometimes the world works serendipitously. I’ve read a couple of threads lately about the smell of old bookstores. That combination of disintegrating paper and leather, dust, sometimes hints of mould, very old floorboards and shelves. Often accompanied by the scent of the flatulent, not quite clean owners and if you’re incredibly lucky their cat. I love the smell of old bookstores. Each different but all following a common theme. We also have a couple of very ra sha sha bookstores in Sydney that do interesting first editions, have a cafe and are not of the oeuvre. They smell like MONEY. We aren’t talking about them here. Well, I’m not. I like the ones with piles of books, some order but also bedlam. The ones you can scurry around in for half a day. HEAVEN! Haven’t done it for years.

Sorry, Back to perfume.

How does Je Veux Mon Livre smell? The opening is greener and fresher than expected. I think we might be in one of this quite expensive first edition type bookstores. Maybe the greenness is trying to capture the slightly mouldy bread smell but it’s too sunny and springlike to do that properly. More hotel lobby than grimoire. Very pretty though, just my expectations being trampled underfoot.

As we enter the heart it’s tea and sage in the forefront. Green tea and chamomile seem to be the major protagonists. Yet again. A lovely fresh, bright scent that in no way reflects my dreams of old bookstore or even a grimoire.

I am surprised that something so very perfumes is alcohol, paraben, phthalate, and cruelty-free. My mind keeps saying this would be so beautiful in a very upmarket hotel lobby. It would be refreshing and surprising.

Maybe I’m not getting what the perfumer intended on my skin or with my nose. Still, very nice, low projection and longevity but much better than expected. Unisex. I think I’d be more inclined to glowing revue if it was called Garden Tea.

Dry down becomes the softest waft of scent. It’s still green but the leather and slight vanilla of disintegration books is there at last. Sadly, by the time it gets to this point I can hardly smell it. BUMMER!

Did you love the smell of books and old bookstores?
Portia xx

Y by Yves Saint Laurent 1964
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Y by Yves Saint Laurent 1964

Hi there Crew, Yves Saint Laurent is one of the big names in fashion that I’ve followed since childhood. When they took his first name from the brand it changed the way the houses name felt in my mouth. Suddenly one of the most forward, modern, beautiful fashion houses of the world sounded like a budget brand trying to be sophisticated. Saint Laurent sounds cheap and desperate to me, Yves Saint Laurent sounds like a couture house. Yes, you can disagree, we will still be friends. No, I will never buy anything with the label Saint Laurent.

Fortunately the beauty side of the business remains YSL and, of course, so do its vintage perfumes. Y has long been a favourite and a few years ago I stockpiled quite a bit of it. More than enough for two lifetimes even if it was the only perfume I wore. Since then I have sold or given as gifts over a litre of the EdT and still have enough to wear without being parsimonious; basically forever.

Y by Yves Saint Laurent 1964

Y by Yves Saint Laurent 1964

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes Green Notes Galbanum Honeysuckle Gardenia Peach Mirabelle Plum Heart: Hiacynth Orris Root Ylang-Ylang Jasmine Tuberose Bulgarian Rose
Base: Oakmoss Civet Vetiver Patchouli Sandalwood Benzoin Styrax

The reason I’m writing about Y? Well, on Saturday night I hosted a Studio 54 Hen’s Party. What else do you wear to a Studio 54 party than an aldehydic galbanum bomb floral chypre? So Y got the wear.

It was perfect. It helped me maintain my composure in the face of 50 screaming hens with no microphone. You have NO IDEA how much noise they made, it was bedlam. We all had a ball and my voice next morning was a croak.

Do you remember Y? Maybe you wear or wore it, or someone you know?
Let me know in the comments. I love to read your thoughts.
Portia xx

Miller et Bertaux. Do You?
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Miller et Bertaux. Do You?

Hey ULG Crew, Miller et Bertaux are a couple of art dudes who ventured into fragrance 2006 with a strange set of three scents. #1 (For You) Parfum Trouvé, #2 Spiritus / Land and #3 Green, Green, Green and… Green. Originally intended as a mix and match trio, same base with different top & heart to be worn separately or together. I’m not sure how prevalent layering was at the time because up to that point all my information about perfume was coming from magazines and SAs. The scentbloggosphere and the online life of perfumistas didn’t come till a couple of years after here.

Anyway, at some point I came across the brand and was instantly smitten. My first purchase was around 2012 A Quiet Morning (2008) and it still makes my heart beat faster. Now I think there are 10 or more of their fragrances in my collection but three get more wear than any others. They stay out on my wardrobe perfume grab tray perennially and often get the spritz. Having worn two of them this week I thought maybe we could chat about them.

Hopefully some of you know the brand and can tell me your faves, likes, hates in the comments. Chatting with you all makes me happy.

Miller et Bertaux. Do You?

Miller et Bertaux. Do You?

A Quiet Morning (2008)

Dry and scratchy spiced saffron and woods. It’s supposed to have rice in it too but I can’t smell it at all. This is about as zen as a fragrance can get while still being a rocking great beauty.

Indian Study/ Santal +++ (2017)

A dry sandalwood, bone dry. Yet it still manages to feel creamy. Yeah, I don’t know how they do it either. It also has some of the harshness on open that I attribute to the Australian Sandalwood.

Pimiento +++ (2020)

You’re dreaming. In that dream you are cutting chillies and bell peppers. The juice is all over your fingers. When you lift your hand to your face in your dream, this is the fantasy your mind smells.

 

So, do you have any, or have you smelled some, of the Miller et Bertaux line?

Portia xx

CHANEL Les Eaux De Chanel
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CHANEL Les Eaux De Chanel

Hiya ULG crew, Time got away from me this week. I had even gone and purchased the newest Eaux, Paris – Paris, so we could chat about it. Yesterday got hijacked by Jin though and a whole bunch of stuff didn’t get done. This is not a complaint. Jin did overnight overtime both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. That’s two EXTRA 12 hour shifts for the week. Basically he worked 7 days straight. He got an ADO on Monday, yesterday. So though we had seen glimpses of each other over the weekend it wasn’t real time. Given yesterday we took it and did stuff together. We went to the Dr, had some bloodwork done, checked a problem and fixed it temporarily at the new investment apartment, did some shopping, cut up a slew of veggies and cooked pork and then sat companionably together producing and eating Vietnamese Rolls while watching TV. Then when he hit the hay I wrote my TRIVIA Q&A for the week and after finishing was completely bushed.

Though all this happened yesterday. It meant today I had to do the apartment cleaning and other stuff usually done on a Monday. Fortunately it’s raining so hard laundry is out of the question. Hopefully there will be some sunshine later in the week for that.

Here we are. I’m not going to lie. There’s a window of about 20 minutes before i have to start putting my make up on for work tonight. Instead of writing about Paris – Paris today I offer you this picture.

Are you wearing Les Eaux De Chanel if you are in the Northern Hemisphere? Did you even try them?

My take is that the bottles are gorgeous, the fragrances beautiful (if fleeting) and the whole concept is kept extremely affordable for a luxury/aspirational brand. It’s still not cheap but coming from CHANEL I was pleasantly surprised at the price point.

Have Les Eaux De Chanel made their way into your heart or collection?
Portia xx

Bouquet de Hongrie BDK Parfums
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Bouquet de Hongrie BDK Parfums

Hey ULGers, BDK Parfums are a brand I look out for. They have quite a few lovely perfumes. They’re mostly safe, elegant remixes of things you’ve smelt before but with a little twist. Perfect if you like to be scented but for it to be something quiet and restrained. Their Creme de Cuir is one of my favourite under the radar leathers, there is something totally luxurious about wearing a fragrance that is just for you, and those you allow very close.

Bouquet de Hongrie by BDK Parfums

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Yop: Pear, Strawberry, Cassis
Heart: Turkish Rose, Jasmine Sambac, Lorenox
Base: Musk, Amber, Cedar

From the note list I had expectations. Which you’d think after smelling perfume for decades I’d have grown out of. In my head it was going to smell quite like a sister to SJP Stash Unspoken or Burberry Britt for her. It doesn’t.

What it does smell like to me is peony petals and cherry blossom. Real peony and the perfumers shorthand for cherry blossom. It’s ridiculously pretty and delightful. Imagine one of the L’Occitane shower gels done with refined ingredients and you’re pretty much there. Actually, having worn Bouquet de Hongrie for a week in Bali, and read your comments on Sakura two weeks ago, I now know exactly what it smells like. It smells like a posh version of those Victoria’s Secret body mists you can buy for a couple of $$.

Bouquet de Hongrie BDK Parfums

If you’re after something sophisticated then you’ll be bitterly disappointed.

Thing is, I like it. It’s so femme leaning and feels like I should be wearing a short, ruffled, lacy frock in a strong pastel colour somewhere between peach and strawberry. The incongruity of me, a 53 year old hefty chunk of silver daddy, wearing it makes me smile like I’m being deliberately subversive. Musette wrote a short while ago about this very thing on Perfume Posse and I’ve been embracing it. Sorry I can’t find the piece because her musings ramble about, throwing up oodles of bits and pieces.

Projection and longevity are moderate to low, it softens considerably after about 30 minutes to a quiet jammy peony/cherry wash. It could be your fabric softener if you spent some big $$$$ on it.

What I REALLY like is that BDK makes these strong, beautiful 10ml Travel Sprays. There are 2 three packs and some singles available here in OZ but I bet there’s oodles more choice elsewhere. You can see my Bouquet de Hongrie is already over 2/3 spritzed.

Does Bouquet de Hongrie sound like a scent you’d wear?
Portia xx

Sakura by DIOR
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Sakura by DIOR

Hi there crew. we are having a moment of remarkably spring-like weather. When I say remarkable I mean EVERYONE is saying it feels like spring. In almost every conversation. As banal and boring as that sounds, it does. We have had such a weird, wet, cool summer that finding ourselves in autumn and having these glorious sunshiny days, not too hot, is blissful.

On top of that my courtesy aunt, Aunty Tracey, is in town for a week and we are out day & night on adventures. We’ve been shopping, visiting, visiting the graves of our dead, lunching and generally hanging out in the daytimes. Every trivia she has come and Jin has accompanied. It’s been wonderful. Writing this on Thursday and I’m BUSHED! We only have a few more days but both Jin & I are definitely going to need a rest.

Sakura by DIOR

Sakura by DIOR

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green Notes
Heart: Japanese Cherry Blossom, Rose, Jasmine, Hedione
Base: Mimosa, Violet, White Musk

Sakura is astringently sweet and green on open, like cherry, alcohol, and citrus pith. Soon it gets a soft fluffy feeling like to cool, softness of rubbing cherry blossom petals against your cheek. It smells like that feeling. As if it was in the cool late winter morning sunshine.

The heart is mimosa, cherry(isa) and something I can not put a name to. Like what I think the fur of a bee might smell like. Animal, honey, floral and something else.

As we head to dry down clean musks lead the charge to fade.

Sakura is lovely and I really like to wear it. It doesn’t smell like an expensive perfume though. It smells like a cheapy. Maybe I’m missing something here. If you’re a big fan could you explain please?

Low key, pretty, smells nice, lasts OK. Perfect for the young, people who want a fragrance but need it to be under the radar. Also good for those that like functional fragrance but don’t like perfume perfume. A perfectly poised sweet nothing that whispers spring.

Are you doing soft fruity florals like Sakura this Spring?
Porttia xx