Scent

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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

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

 

 

Sand + Sable by Coty
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Sand + Sable by Coty

Hi crew. Sand & Sable is a bargain Coty fragrance you can get at drug stores and online for a song. I can’t remember who first put me on to it but I’d like to thank them. It was a few years back. I was ferociously reading blogs, hitting links, searching for bargains night after night after night. On top of work, domestic duties, friends, travel and blogging daily for APJ (OK I had contributor’s doing a few days a week) and weekly for Perfume Posse. There were also guest spots on Olfactoria’s Travels and others. No, I can’t tell you how I did it all. When did I sleep?

Anyway, I had a bottle for years and a friend loved it so I gave it to them. Really, I never missed it because there’s so much other stuff here. Then it came up somewhere, maybe Perfume Posse? or NST? Suddenly I wanted it B A D! So in my next FragranceNet order I grabbed the small bottle.

Sand & Sable by Coty 1981

Sand + Sable by Coty

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Gardenia, Tuberose, Jasmine, Peach, Green Notes, Rose

Rich buttery white floral goodness. It’s so pretty and a little over the top on application. Sand & Sable is peachy, peachy and luxuriously breathy. An early adopter of the 1980s BWF that can hold it’s own against the heaviest hitters. It isn’t sophisticated but it does smell kind of arch and ageing starlet-ish. It could easily be the fictitious Summer Rain in 1939 film The Women.

Fruity white florals have long been part of the perfume oeuvre. After about an hour Sand & Sable is not terribly far from Madonna Truth or Dare and Piguet Fracas at the same point. It has decent longevity and continues on its buttery, fruity white floral way until it disappears.

Should you have it in your collection? Sure. If you love a white floral, like to have an easy spritz and go, want to smell quite different to the usual niche offering or even if you are on a budget and still want a spritz of joy. Sand & Sable is a pretty good pick me up for next to nothing.

Have you tried it?
Portia xx

Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood
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Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood

Hey crew, Back in 1985/6 I studied Fashion. Not the big, flash Fashion Design course at East Sydney TAFE or an Arts Fashion Degree. Nope. I went to a North Shore TAFE (Technical and Further Education) in Hornsby to do a Fashion Technology\y Certificate. We were taught the production of fashion with a very small design element. So the aim was to create someone with the ability to take a garment from drawing to product. Someone with the knowledge of procedure, pattern making, grading, fabric, fastenings, creation, sewing and the ability to interpret pictures. The fashion designers are notoriously inept at this. They have visions, we make them reality. We were perfectly trained to go into business, become a 2IC, sample machinist, pattern maker/grader, cutter or any number of jobs in the industry “FASHION” or even costume creation in the arts. At the time, with an extra short course a few of our crew went on to become important in the new computer world of laser cutting and design, just becoming reality. I was lucky enough to work as a Costume Designer for Children’s Theatre, Pattern Maker/Grader/Cutter for a menswear company and then a Machinist for a small, high end fashion and bridal store in Sydney’s uber trendy Paddington for a while. It was at this point that I realised I was generally too lazy and imperfect to ever want to make my own fashion house a reality and that working for other people was never going to make me happy or rich. Bye fashion. Hello DRAG! Still never made me as rich as I’d dreamed but the fun it has brought, the chances, friends, opportunities, unbelievable life has more than made up for it. It also presented an opportunity to make fabulous clothes without the need for perfectly straight hemstitching, the hand sewn finest zippers or any restrictions on reality. So that was an incredibly long preamble into Vivienne Westwood and Boudoir.

Yes, Vivienne Westwood died last week, most of you will already know. In the mid 1980s she was any fashion student’s obsession. We were taught that Vivienne Westwood always did it first, but she always did it worst. Her ideas would make big splashy headlines for their brilliant reconstruction of shape, size, fit, pattern and wit. Then that idea would filter to the luxurious fashion houses and be done perfectly. The 1970s Punk, chains, safety pins, hobble skirts, slashed and sloganed T Shirts. 1980s New Romantic, super platform, mini crini, tartan, and who can forget her Buffalo Girls look and McLaren’s song? By the time I got to London in 1994/5 Westwood was old guard fashion and the still functioning World’s End store on Kings Road had basically become a merch store with some fashion.

Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood 1998

Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, Marigold, Hyacinth, Orange Blossom, Bergamot
Heart: Carnation, Rose, Cardamom, Coriander, Narcissus, Orris Root, Jasmine
Base: Vanilla, Tobacco Leaf, Cinnamon, Sandalwood, Patchouli

This then brings us to 1998. The name Vivienne Westwood had been in newspapers and on TV for 28 years. It was part of our psyche and much of the outrageous and rebellious past had been wallpapered over with glamour. The remnants of naughtiness even gave it a cachet for the cashed up rebels without a cause and trustafarians. What better way to celebrate her elevation into mainstream that create a perfume? One that has most of the hallmarks of a modern aldehydic floral and some funk underneath. Boudoir was not outrageous or even over the top, A gentle, sweet, hark back to the perfumery of bygone eras but cleaned up for modern sensibilities and much more importantly; SALEABLE! Boudoir became de rigueur among the fashionista party set for a while. It was so popular that many Mugler Angel aficionados made the change, or added this to their spritz list.

I only have the extrait and it still smells unbelievably good.

Boudoir Vivienne Westwood

My bottle is old. Over time Boudoir has stopped being notes to my nose. It is itself and no other. A sparkling, soapy, white/yellow floral with some sweaty greenery underpinned by a warm, rich breathy base, lightly spiced all the way through. Just a swipe with the glass stopper and the room fills with Boudoir in seconds. Happy memories. Longevity is right up there with Vivienne Westwood herself. Unless I swim or bathe this single swipe will continue through till tomorrow morning.

Vivienne Westwood

“The only way to halt Climate Change is to work with governments but that is impossible because governments are the problem” Vivienne Westwood

In honour of someone who has been instrumental in my life through music, design, fashion, and myriad other ways. Goodbye Vivienne Westwood and thank you.

Do any of you have a Westwood story you’d like to share?
Portia xx

Limbo Week
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Limbo Week

Hey all, I’m kind of burnt out. The Christmas celebration was 4 days and nights of stuff. It was fun but it was also a lot. We did it putposefully chill but still, so much in such a short time. It’s about 36C/97F and quite humid. Beautiful weather for short walks in the daytime and longer ones after dark with Paris.

Jin is, as always, the highlight of all adventures. I can’t even tell you how freaking adorable he is. So good with people, funny, charming and only very rarely a brat. We spent quite a bit of couch time watching The Hunger Games and other assorted movies. After he went to bed I watched the three seasons of Jack Ryan, excellent fun. Also, his Roast Pork Belly and Crackling this year were so freaking good.

Limbo Week

Now we are in that super weird Limbo Week between Xmas and NYE. Today we basically did nothing. Ate, watched TV, I have been catching up on some blogging that needs completing (like this).

My most worn fragrance over the Christmas period was Rahele by Neela Vermeire Creations. It is so beautiful. Osmanthus and leather with some bells and whistles. Bloody good shit. If you liked it, loved it but didn’t purchase, or if you have only a few ml in your current bottle I have it on very good authority that it’s on the chopping block. Yes, I bought backups.

Rahele Neela Vermeire Creations

So that’s it. Got nothing else. Enjoy the last few days of 2022. I hope your 2023 is full of the good stufff and very little of the other.

Tell me your plans, resolutions, hopes and dreams.
I love to chat with you all so much. It’s you lot that keep me blogging far past my use by date.

Hugs,
Portia xx

Christmas 2022: It’s Not All Cake and Eggnog
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Christmas 2022: It’s Not All Cake and Eggnog

Hi All, firstly, I know Christmas is full of grief and woe for many people. (Here’s a page with many worldwide HELPLINES. Please call them, they’re waiting for you.) Also, I know that many of our readers have another religion or zero religious affiliation. If you find the Christian religions to be hypocritical multinational business empire behemoths, intent only on raping the world and its people then you’re not alone. My beautiful Jin is an evangelical atheist. He sneezes, I say “God Bless You” he says, “There is no god”!

Christmas 2022 It's Not All Cake and Eggnog 1

Where I’m At

I was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith. Church as an infant/toddler, Nuns in Junior School, Jesuits in Senior School. The Jesus story has been inculcated into my bones and though I know it was written long after his death, changed on multiple occasions by a committee (often of unscrupulous, evil tyrants) and used as a herding tool rather than a teaching one for the greater good, it is so deep in my marrow. Jesus himself sounds like a pretty good guy, except he forgot to address some key issues in the Old Testament, slavery, sexual equality, homosexuality and a few others I can’t think of right now. Thing is, I love the idea of there being a God. That if I’m a good person then I can have eternal salvation. Just the idea mind you, in reality I think living one life and death being a full stop is good. Then there are the questions. Why would an ever loving God give children cancer, create pedophiles, rapists and murderers (many within the canon of his churches), let global atrocities continue (starting with the Crusades and working forwards) and let us so recklessly ruin the beautiful world we have been given.
I’m not looking for answers or even help here. Just trying to explain my dilemma in the face of mounting lack of evidence. Sorry to lay this on anyone who feels attacked or undermined by my thought processes. I’m just laying bare my struggle. Hopefully some of you will find resonance.

Anyway, I still love Christmas. That we come together and mourn death, then celebrate the renewal of life. We do it by gathering people we love, family, friends, even some people we dislike. Sometimes people we hardly know in an Orphans Christmas situation. We come together and replenish our bonds and links of humanity through shared food, stories, memories and proximity. Even the drama creates new stories to be told throughout the next year and beyond. Before it was Christmas it had already been ritual for millennia, we just added glitter, reindeer and song.

If You’re Struggling

For those who feel completely alone, cut off and adrift from the rest of humanity. I’m hugging you right now. Please take time now to organise SOMETHING for this holiday. It’s relentless and can push us over the edge.
Have something nice or special to eat, doesn’t need to be expensive, something you like.
Maybe, if you have the funds or want to be involved, go have a meal out. Yes, you’ll be solo but you’ll be enveloped.

If solitude is your favourite thing then maybe a ramble around your neighbourhood? I find walking a really good way to beat off the blues, doesn’t have to be far to change my perspective and mood. The weather, the nature, the blood pounding and rhythm of my steps all combine to elevate my mood. Nearby we have a few parks, there’s nearly always some kind of life going on. People watching is nice too if you’re comfortable and sip a cuppa.

Have a plan. The best way to cope with anything is to have a plan. Make sure there are a couple of plans in case one gets derailed. Best to keep plans small and achievable, seriously, have a few.

The crushing overload of forced intimacy and aspirational Christmas spirit is a lot to handle, even for the strongest of us.

Also, say NO. If seeing your family, friends, anything is not what you want to do. Say NO. You don’t need to explain, just say no. Write an email if they are bullying you. “I will not be coming for Christmas. Hope it’s everything you want it to be. See you in the new year.”

Again: Here’s a page with many worldwide HELPLINES. Please call them, they’re waiting for you.

Christmas 2022 It's Not All Cake and Eggnog 1

Our Christmas 2022

This year is the most low key we’ve done Christmas for years.

On Christmas Eve we are having a small group for dinner. There will be Jin’s Roast Pork & Crackling, roast veggies, cold chicken, salads and some breads. I’ve bought a supermarket Christmas Pudding and some Custard for dessert but I think Kath will do a Pavlova too. A few drinks, some cognac and teas to finish. Hopefully done by 10pm, clean up and off to bed.

Christmas Day just Kath and us. Leftovers, chill, TV.
Last year on Christmas night we put up on faceBook that we were heading to Club Parramatta for dinner. We ended up with a table of about 20 friends and acquaintances. It was lovely. There was no cooking or cleaning, a few bevies and we all just hung out together chatting and laughing.

Boxing Day is traditionally held at my BFF Kath’s family home. We eat cold cuts, make some fresh salads and put it all on buns. We swim the afternoon away and then we all go home and crash.

Christmas Perfumes

Even though Christmas in Sydney is hot I’m hoping to get a few spritzes of firm favourites Caron Nuit de Noel, Liquides Imaginaires Sancti, Maria Candida Gentile Exultat, CdG Avignon andL’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme Intense. Mostly these will be cool of evening wears. I’m thinking to wear some Annick Goutals like Songes, Eau de Sud, Mandragore and Nuit Etoilee. That Lolita Lempicka Eau L’Aime, maybe L’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse and Neela Vermeire Creations Rahele and Pichola. 

Christmas 2022 It's Not All Cake and Eggnog 11

These are the dream wears anyway. Honestly, I’ll probably get super busy doing stuff and wear easy reaches like Shalimar and Eau des Merveilles Bleue. Let’s see how it all comes out in the wash.

 

For those that celebrate. Merry Christmas.
Portia x

 

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