Monthly Archives: April 2018

by | April 26, 2018 · 7:00 am

Niral by Neela Vermeire Creations – And A Giveaway!

 

By Sandra from Australian Perfume Junkies

 

Silk Road…

Hey there ABR! How are you all doing?

As many of you know, I am a huge Neela Vermeire fan. She has been working with perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour for all of her creations and the latest perfume has been in the works for over two years.

Neela pours her heart and soul into each of her creations and her vision is clear and determined until she is satisfied with the final outcome.

Niral, an eau de parfum, is her newest release. I stalked the website for days waiting to be able to purchase Niral. I received my brand new bottle last week and have been wearing it every day since.

Niral means calm, serene and unique in Hindi and it suits the perfume beautifully as we will see further on. Niral is an olfactory ballad in honour of Sir Thomas Wardle (1831-1909) who received a knighthood for his work towards the silk business.

Before I continue I have to let you know that the packaging has changed from the box to the bottle. The box is a beautiful purple with silver embossed logo and lettering. The bottle shape remains the same, however Niral is a gorgeous gradient purple flacon. What I love most is that it has a thin silver cord with the name Niral on a small pendant.

 

niral

 

The notes listed on the NVC website are: Angelica, Champagne Accord, Iris, Tea, Rose, Magnolia, Cedar, Sandalwood and Leather.

When I first spray the perfume, I am greeted with a vibrant champagne accord. It has a slight liqueur undertone which quickly fades into the background. There is a lot of iris in the opening as well. It starts out muted and as the perfume warms up it becomes alive. Together with iris is the delicate floral bouquet of a black tea leaning towards Darjeeling.

For a few moments, Niral’s tea note has the muscatel grape note sometimes found in second flush Darjeeling teas. I find the subtle shift from the champagne accord to the iris and tea phase so fitting since Darjeeling is considered by many as the champagne of teas. There are times when I can imagine getting a whiff of magnolia. It is fleeting but I do not detect it every time I am wearing it.

As the perfumes shifts it moves into a more rounded phase where cedar and sandalwood are mixed in and bring the whole composition to the next level. The sandalwood is smooth and the cedar lends it a slightly woodier side. The elegant finale comes when the drydown is a chorus of iris, tea and soft, almost suede-like, leather with a smooth woody finish. It has an almost tactile quality about it bringing a sense of calm into my life.

 

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Niral is a complex perfume with sublime notes. One word describes it – exquisite.

I adore it and hope that you all will as well. I would like to send my sample to one lucky reader. Please leave a comment telling me what your favourite spring time flower is and why. On a side note, I would like to state that Niral truly does need to be sprayed to experience the full beauty with all the nuances.

Entries for the Giveaway close at midnight on Thursday 3rd May and the winner will be announced here on Saturday 5th May. Good luck!

 

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Raw Silk: Neela Vermeire Creations

 

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by | April 23, 2018 · 11:24 am

The Art and Olfaction Awards 2018 – Photo Essay

 

I had been looking forward to last weekend for MONTHS. So many of my friends from other countries, that I rarely get to see, would be converging on my home town for the fifth annual Art and Olfaction Awards on the evening of the 21st April.

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The day before I met up with my mate (from APJ and now a ABR contributor),  Val the Cookie Queen and her fabulous daughter, Blundeswunder, over from Austria. We met at the Frederic Malle store in Burlington Arcade and immediately tried the forthcoming Sale Gosse by Fanny Bal. It has notes of pettigrain, neroli, bergamot, rosemary, Malabar and violet. On me, it’s a very lovely, sweet-but-not-too-sweet violet cologne-style fragrance. I didn’t pick up on the much talked about bubblegum.

 

While Blundeswunder scoured Topshop, Val and I did some sniffing downstaits in the cafe. ABR reader, Crikey, had sent Val some of Dior’s discontinued Mitzah and very generously included some vintage Miss Dior for me – whoop!

 

Later in the day we met up with Antonio Gardoni of Bogue Profumo for drinks. He is always excellent company and was on the judging panel for the Awards. They sent him no fewer than 180 vials of scent to assess.

 

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Antonio and Val the Cookie Queen

 

On the morning of the Awards, eight of us met for brunch at The Diner in Spitalfields. This fragrant group included Vanessa of Bonkers About Perfume, Megan of Megan in Sainte Maxime, Lucy of Indieperfumes, regular commenter Lady Jane Grey and the superstar that is Margo, over from Poland. Just as much chatting and sniffing as eating took place, as you can imagine.

 

Lucy brought us lots of American indie samples to try from brands like Kerosene and For Strange Women. Val brought the new releases from the Hermssence collection.  The three perfumes are Cedar Sambac, Myrrh Eglantine and Agar Abene. The two oils are Musc Pallida and Cardamusc. Musc Pallida was beautiful but far too ethereal for £275. The one I really fell for was Cedar Sambac.

After brunch we made our way west to the niche perfume store Bloom, in Covent Garden. I’m very pleased they now stock Aussie brand Naomi Goodsir. Her niche fragrances are distinctive in a world of blah. The latest addition, the striking Nuit de Bakelite, was a finalist in the year’s Independent Category of the Awards – review to come.

 

 

The Art and Olfaction Awards celebrates independent and artisan perfumery from across the globe.  The city location changes each year (in 2017 it was Berlin) and this year they were held at The Tabernacle, Notting Hill. If you’re interested, you can read the full list of 2018 finalists and judges here. It’s fantastic that the Awards shine a spotlight on the great work indie and artisan perfumers are doing.

The event was very well attended (and rather hot) with musical accompaniment from a samba band.

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I was excited to be reunited with Portia from the back-in-business Australian Perfume Junkies. Happily, I was seated near the dynamic duo that is Nick Gilbert and Thomas Dunckley who recently quite rightly won the Innovation Jasmine Award for their brilliant Fume Chat podcast.

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Portia, Nick and Thomas

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Michael, Portia, Val and Me

A lot of indie perfumers were in attendance including Josh Meyer of Imaginary Authors, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes and Andy Tauer.

Andy Tauer, Denyse Beaulieu and Sarah McCartney all presented awards (pictured below).

 

 

Here are the winners, who each received ‘The Golden Pear’.

 

golden pear

 

ARTISAN CATEGORY WINNERS

Chienoir
by BedeauX
CD/ Perfumer: Amanda Beadle

Club Design
by The Zoo
CD/ Perfumer: Christophe Laudamiel

INDEPENDENT CATEGORY WINNERS

Eau de Virginie
by Au Pays de la Fleur d’Oranger
Perfumer: Jean-Claude Gigodot

Nuit de Bakélite
By Naomi Goodsir
Perfumer: Isabelle Doyen

SADAKICHI AWARD WINNER

(Experimental Work with Scent)

Under the Horizon
by Oswaldo Macia
Perfume: Ricardo Moya (IFF)

AFTEL AWARD FOR HANDMADE PERFUME

Pays Dogon
By Monsillage (Canada)
Perfumer: Isabelle Michaud

CONTRIBUTION TO SCENT CULTURE

Peter de Cupere (Belgium)

 

Naomi Goodsir & perfumer Isabelle Doyen
Christophe Laudamiel

Above: Naomi Goodsir with perfumer Isabelle Doyen and Chrisophe Laudamiel

It was a fun night, not least because it was a great excuse to catch up with friends from near and far.

 

See you in Amsterdam for the 2019 Awards?

 

 

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by | April 17, 2018 · 7:00 am

A Stunning New Word – And Some Ramblings

By Val the Cookie Queen

Hi Guys 
 
Dropping in for my bi-monthly visit here at A Bottled Rose.  About a year ago I heard the most wonderful word used on the radio, sometime around 4.00am.   I sleep with BBC World Service playing softly at the side of the bed. I often hear interesting things but have no recollection when I wake up.  However on this occasion I got up and wrote the word down.  I have been waiting ever since to present it in a post.  
 
ANTICAPPOINTMENT
 
Forgive me those who are familiar with the word,  I was not.   It covers a host of events and situations in life.
I will in this case use it in relation to my feelings regarding the current perfume scene. My anticipation at new releases and the continual disappointment that follows. Anticappointment.
Perfume is subjective, we all know that, I name no names.  Nine out of ten things that I sniff are awful and the one out of ten that isn’t is not what I would buy. Hahahaha – it makes you wonder that I don’t just give up, huh?
To give up an addiction one first has to want to, and I don’t.  
Before anyone jumps out at me, I know there is good new stuff, but let us be honest here, it’s few and far between.  
 
Fear not.  I still have classic signs of addiction.  I recently bought 50mls of Dior”s discontinued Mitzah from a perfumista friend who scored a half gallon in Paris.  
I tried it once years ago and did not like it.  LMAO.  But I have moved on and I reckon I am gonna love it now.  It was shipped to Tara and I will get it next week. 
uk
 
Which brings me nicely to my ramblings.  I’m heading to London tomorrow, along with BlondesWunder, and as you read this we will be in Pack’n’Panic mode.  
I will get two full days with Tara, an evening with Portia, time with Bonkers Vanessa, a meet up with Megan In St Maxime, and most of us are going to The Art and Olfaction Awards. Keep your eyes out on my Instagram …
anima vi
 
I have a date with a favourite blogger, (to be revealed in my next post) and together we will spend some time with Nathalie Vinciguerra, the founder and CEO of Anima Vinci.  These perfumes excite me and come highly recommended.  Stay tuned. 
 
What perfume will I wear to the Art and Olfaction Awards? I hear you ask. Why Vero Profumo of course. Naja Eau de Parfum, including notes of red apple and leather. Launch date to be announced.  
apple
 
Have you ever been anticappointed?
 
Britain Bound Bussis
CQ
 
 Apple image by John Hyde Phillips

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by | April 11, 2018 · 7:00 am

Slowdive by Hiram Green

Notes: Neroli, Orange flower, Tobacco flower, Dried fruit, Beeswax, Tuberose and Resins.

Hiram Green makes high quality, opulent perfumes that sing on the skin. My particular favourite of his collection is the glorious sunlit orange blossom, Dilettante. These beautiful fragrances are handcrafted from natural ingredients at his base in the Netherlands. A bonus is that they are available in 10ml sprays as well as 50ml bottles.

His latest release is the evocatively titled Slowdive. slowdive.png

Slowdive is a languid, floral tobacco-themed fragrance and its name suits it perfectly. After an opening of unctuous honey tinged with Play-doh, you gently drift down into its swirl of petals, tobacco leaves and dried fruit.

It’s a lot brighter in feel than many tobacco fragrances which tend to reside in shuttered gentlemen’s clubs. Slowdive has the warmth of days filled with hazy sunshine, ripe fruit and the low hum of bees flitting from bloom to bloom. The beeswax gives it a sumptuously soft landing with its honeyed waxiness.

It makes me think of an autumn harvest, but if you love honeyed and/or tobacco scents, you’ll enjoy it at any time of year. It has a caressing, lazy mood which I’ve found immensely enjoyable on these gloomy London days. It’s the feeling you get when you kick off your shoes and sink into a big, squashy armchair at the end of a tiring day. It has that sense of letting go and having nothing better to do than watch the sun melt into the horizon, bleeding into colours of amber, gold and ochre.

Slowdive is a fragrance to relax into; a place to rest your aching bones. The sillage is low-key but within its orbit, you can’t mistake its distinctive character.

One thing to make clear regarding the presence of tuberose, is that there’s no need to be put off if you normally hesitate at its mention in notes lists. As I’ve said before, natural tuberose is not the stonker of the synthetic variety, which can trample over everything in sight. Here, the natural absolute adds a flowery creaminess to the composition without overpowering the other accords. It’s probably what makes Slowdive such an uncommon tobacco perfume.

It’s definitely a fragrance anyone could wear comfortably and combining the traditionally masculine tobacco with the uber feminine tuberose, makes for a clever and interesting pairing that works beautifully.

 

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How do you feel about tobacco/honey perfumes?

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by | April 3, 2018 · 9:00 am

PSA: APJ Update

Editor’s note: My dear friends over at Australian Perfume Junkies are going through every blogger’s worst nightnare at the moment,  so the Cookie Queen is here today to let everyone know what’s happening.
‘READ ALL ABOUT IT, SHOCK HORROR, HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS’   –  Shock Horror by Mick Farren & The Deviants  (1977) 
 
“There is some corrupted code that allowed malware to enter the APJ site.  We have worked so hard but its proving resistant to our efforts.  The places that offer a fix are expensive and not even failsafe, so we are seeking other avenues.“ –  Portia Turbo
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Australian Perfume Junkies as we know and love it has gone. Like the proverbial parrot.  As some of you may know, APJ has been having some serious issues over the last months. Portia did think for a moment that they had been resolved, but sadly to no avail.
 

You would think in this digital day and age, where everything is there to find, and it is virtually impossible to remove anything from the Web, that there would have been a way to have at least kept the content of APJ hovering in cyberspace . But no. The only way to even start to fix things is to have the slate wiped.  Where did it go? We have no bloody clue.  I managed to screenshot what I considered my three best posts, so I have something.  

I know how sad Portia is to lose the Scent Diary, her personal journal for over a year.  Not to mention the hard and loving work from all the other contributors.  
 
But yeah, APJ will regroup in one way or another.  In the meantime Tara has offered to let me carry on with my twice monthly posts here on A Bottled Rose. I couldn’t be more honoured.  And excited.  
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“The parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not ‘alf hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein‘ tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.“ –  Monty Python 
 
APJ is merely resting.
 
Bottled Bussis
CQ
 
 

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