Hiya all you lovers of fine indie artisan fragrance, We chat about Olympic Orchids a lot on AustralianPerfumeJunkies, I do especially, because there is always something wonderful and unusual to write about, also I love the aesthetic of the company: its founder and creative genius Ellen Covey is sweet and a powerhouse of so much in her life with so many facets that I find respect-able. Know what I mean? The Olympic Orchids product is also reasonable priced and they ship to the world.

Olympic Orchids Patchouli Lovers 100% Natural Soap

Photo Supplied Ellen Covey at Olympic Orchids

I grabbed the 2012 Christmas Box from Olympic Orchids last year, one for me and one for a friend. It had sat looked at but unloved since Christmas and I remembered that it had a Bath Oil in it. Being a Bath Oil lover (currently making my way through a Vintage 500ml Blenheim Bouquet by Penhaligon’s) and having a bath daily I like to try different stuff so grabbed the Amber Labdanum Bath Oil, which is gorgeous BTW, but what I needed at the time seriously was to replace the nasty sliver of soap in my tray.

The Patchouli Lovers 100% Natural Bath Soap is a big clear square bar. It fits well in my hand, lathers beautifully and the smell is heaven! Patchouli, Patchouli, Patchouli like the one you get in Essential Oils: dry, raspy, green, earthy, bitter, smooth and sweet all at once. It also creates a soft afterglow of patchouli that is a wonderful base for more patchouli or, as I did today, a nice added luster to L’Huere Bleue by Guerlain. With the soap adding a Patchouli hint to the whole L’Heure Bleue powdery magic it was a modern and elegant duet and they played off one another beautifully.

Ellen doesn’t say on the site what her soaps are made of but Patchouli Lovers has left my skin feeling soft and comfortable, I used it on my face too with no tightness afterwards, just clean and shiny new.

Olympic Orchids Site has bars $7.50

Olympic Orchids Sonnet XVII

Photo Stolen OlympicOrchids

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Citron, cubeb (pepper), white champa flower, mastic (resin)
Heart: Chilean mountain orchid, osmanthis
Base: Spikenard (Nard), oakmoss, Haitian vetiver, Bourbon vanilla, woods, musks, natural ambergris

You must wait till Olympic Orchids Sonnet XVII dries on your skin before you wave it in front of your nose, it will burn you out quickly otherwise. The first minutes smell almost exactly like the stables I used to muck out on the weekends and the paddocks we used to clear of horse apples. It is fecal and urinous, outrageous in its intensity and I feel ever so naughty even wearing it. He He He.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Deep, dark and damp freshly turned compost, healthy earth and pine needles. Sonnet XVII is awkward, vibrant, gorgeous and disgusting. I am drawn to it and love it yet in the opening am also overwhelmed. You know how you see those double images? Young girl/Crone? Flashing in and out till finally you pick and image, or it picks you, and then it takes heaps of concentration to see the other? Like that and ending on glorious. For the heavily fragrant body of Sonnet XVII I have difficulty taking my mind out of the stable. It’s like Ellen and Michelyn decided to create oudh without using the highly prized and currently ubiquitous scent. All the medicinal, fecal, barnyard properties are here in abundance. Through it’s whole scent life it is interesting, challenging and over the top. Sonnet XVII is one of the reasons we need Indie Perfumers.

After about 5 hours and the fragrance has dried right down Sonnet XVII becomes a very soft woodsy/earthy/vanillic wash. Pretty but still interesting and unusual.

Photo Stolen Flickr

From Olympic Orchids: Sonnet XVII is a collaborative effort between perfumer Ellen Covey and Michelyn Camen, Editor-in Chief of CaFleureBon, as described here. It is a fragrant tribute to the love poems of the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-1973).

A few lines of Sonnet XVII express the feeling that this perfume creates:
“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms, but carries
In itself the light of hidden flowers.”

Olympic Orchids Site has $18/5ml Parfum and $65/30ml EdP

Photo Stolen myprettypaints

Olympic Orchids GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

5ml Sonnet XVII
5ml California Chocolate (the newest Olympic Orchid release)
(I have sprayed these for purposes of review)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

EASY!!! Leave a “Hello” in the comments

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday August 11 2013 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post Monday 12th.
Winners will be chosen by putting names on same sized papers, folded similarly, put on a tray and Jin will pick a winner.
The winners will have till Thursday 15th August 2013 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

If you liked this then you’ll love AustralianPerfumeJunkies, drop in anytime: we’ll be talking perfume, fragrance and life.

Till next time seek some lovely light,
Portia xx