Australian Private Reserve - Autumn 2017 Fragrances - Aftershaves & Soaps Released!

todras said:
Hi Adam, thanks for your interest in APR :)

With my workload I had to discontinue offering samples, I work full-time in a fairly pressured vocation and my time is quite limited in that I typically work 50-60 hrs a week. For this reason I have no plans now, or in the future to reintroduce samples of APR for sale, making them up was incredibly time consuming as was the labelling and ordering supplies of the 5ml glass dripper bottles.

If you want to shoot me a PM in the next day or so I will make an exception (given your interest in my fragrances) and will send you a 4 sample set of the Autumn 2017 aftershaves free of charge. The only catch is you will have to pay $7.60 postage for them which is more than fair in my book.
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Amazing offer thank you, but I'm not going to do that to you!
Monster has sold me on it so I'll put a order in shortly. Based on the scent profiles I thibk SAA would be the one for me!
Thanks again.
 
Just come to the next meet-up @Adam - you can sniff, touch and feel everything there...
 
alfredus said:
Just come to the next meet-up @Adam - you can sniff, touch and feel everything there...
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That's a great idea, nothing beats sampling APR fragrances at their highest potency. The SA meet-ups are worth attending for the quality of conversation and wisdom of @bald as alone, and if that wasn't enough there is the threat of
@nsavage and his bloody Japanese ninja, sports bikes with their 0-100 in 5.4 seconds PWR that should be bloody illegal. And not forgetting @alfredus and his European, uber, 'A' list shaving kit ala 3am, 20 released, hand forged, etc.

Fingers crossed he likes the scents though....



Brief APR Update

Before I forget (as its getting very late and I want to get this off my chest as it were), the ever curatorial and discerning @shavetheman will be stocking the APR range as of next week.

I thought I would mention it here specifically as as APR is and will always continue to be synergistic with P&C for reasons best discussed in person, briefly - The Monsta, That DIY thread, the community...

In short, it was something that was inevitable and necessary. There simply is no more innovative, selective and no better advocate of wet-shaving in Australia than Con and the Stray Whisker. I've been a customer of his for a long time now as most people know, and my recognition of his impeccable ethics, innovation and open admiration of his ability to communicate and further the wet-shaving message really is no big secret to those that know me. I like and respect him a great deal, always have - we met for the first time in Sydney after telephone conversations over the last few years and it just reaffirmed in my mind that he represents everything that APR strives for, no big deal really but worth saying for the 'record'.

I will be moving away from retail entirely (via the website) and will be directing all Australian orders to The Stray Whisker, things as regards the P&C community and sales will remain unchanged and will be seasonal going forward as I have previously mentioned. The reason for the fixed prices should now be apparent also - parity with TSW retail prices of APR!

I was struggling with the orders to be frank - I wake up at 5.45 am Mon to Fri and work from 7.45am to around 7pm, I deeply enjoy my profession and the APR orders from the website recently were becoming a strain (P&C on the other hand is a pleasure). It's not a burnout, a meltdown or anything such like but it's a proactive step to relieve pressure on my personal life (and that of my wife) and to evolve the brand. The time I save not packing website orders is time I can spend with my wife and time I can spend doing what I am the most passionate about - developing fragrances.

So there we are, cat's out of the bag :)
 
alfredus said:
Just come to the next meet-up @Adam - you can sniff, touch and feel everything there...
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Everything?
Wow, very liberal approach to meet up's!

todras said:
Brief APR Update

Before I forget (as its getting very late and I want to get this off my chest as it were), the ever curatorial and discerning @shavetheman will be stocking the APR range as of next week.
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That indeed is great news, for the both of you :)
You're both two members of this community that are respected and admired for your approach and deservedly so.
You two make a great business match.
 
Monsta_AU said:
Adam, you can rest assured that SAA is fantastic, I have not heard anyone say they don't like it. I think it is the pick of the bunch. The General is also very good but drier, and to me the Choix Alfredus and Mycroft are more polarising.
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There's that bloody SAA again, oh man... :D

In terms of popularity based on sales, the fragrances rank as below... I don't see them as a pissing competition (hopefully no one else will either) rather from my perspective as the designer of the fragrances, the numbers are reassuring as they tell me that people do want complexity and they want difference, and most of all that my hours and hours and dozens of failed iterations of a formula (30-60 on average) taken to to get it right does pay off. End of the day it's about personal choice and like, the way it should be.

Personal preference with fragrances is very important to me, peer group likes and consensus often shape preferences and the like/dislike binary - not such a desirable, but very human thing. My personal view on fragrances that I make and buy is that I like a challenge. I almost demand a complex and novel fragrance when I encounter something - sometimes I find it, and when this happens the deep character and essence of a fragrance is revealed to me, other times it is not.

Anyhow, here is the ranking based on units. The way Mycroft has been received I suspect it will hit number one very soon.

1. Alfredus Choice - This is without a doubt the most popular APR fragrance, it is also the most intricate in regards to design. It's definitely seasonal, it's woody and bold, but with citrus and technically there is a lot of layers and nuance. It's what you get when you ask a Chemist to tell you what he likes in a fragrance I suppose...

2. General Ledger - A very close second, this is my personal favourite as I love the Fern family and a deep, green dry-down. I have a particular fondness for it because I took Rose Maroc (Very expensive stuff, precious) and heaped the miasma of moist compost, hay and lichen moss ala Fougère onto it, it came out a little dirty and very earthy as intended, but what immediately struck me was that the pure nature and beauty of the Rose Maroc Absolute was untouched. There is a fractional amount of the Absolute in GL, but the chemistry of the oil is indescribably potent and 'perfect'.

3. Mycroft - Although this is new, people really dig the re-design and re-imagining of Baker St and where I took it. I suspect it will be in top spot in a week or so the way it has been received. A hell of a lot of work this one, worth it I think.

4. Suitably Attired Australian - This is a mixed bag for me and at one point it was not a fragrance I was going to continue due to the frag oils in it - I don't like fragrance oils, in soaps or in Aftershaves, I know they are very popular and people like them, I myself do not. So as SAA was obviously born out of Creeds GIT and subsequently it's ridiculously expensive for me to make due to my insistence on not using combinations of fragrance oils. SAA was a lot of work to 'fix' in the first instance (to take it beyond Stirling, Mystic etc) so when I made the decision to drops the frag oil combos it meant replicating the 'creed accord'. Long story short, it has quantities of Ambergris and Violet absolute, along with 6 or 7 other oils in the wanton quantities needed to (attempt to) create the famous 'Creed accord'. You reap what you sow I guess, SAA will always stay as it is now - people like it and that's that.
 
todras said:
There's that bloody SAA again, oh man... :D

In terms of popularity based on sales, the fragrances rank as below... I don't see them as a pissing competition (hopefully no one else will either) rather from my perspective as the designer of the fragrances, the numbers are reassuring as they tell me that people do want complexity and they want difference, and most of all that my hours and hours and dozens of failed iterations of a formula (30-60 on average) taken to to get it right does pay off. End of the day it's about personal choice and like, the way it should be.

Personal preference with fragrances is very important to me, peer group likes and consensus often shape preferences and the like/dislike binary - not such a desirable, but very human thing. My personal view on fragrances that I make and buy is that I like a challenge. I almost demand a complex and novel fragrance when I encounter something - sometimes I find it, and when this happens the deep character and essence of a fragrance is revealed to me, other times it is not.

Anyhow, here is the ranking based on units. The way Mycroft has been received I suspect it will hit number one very soon.

1. Alfredus Choice - This is without a doubt the most popular APR fragrance, it is also the most intricate in regards to design. It's definitely seasonal, it's woody and bold, but with citrus and technically there is a lot of layers and nuance. It's what you get when you ask a Chemist to tell you what he likes in a fragrance I suppose...

2. General Ledger - A very close second, this is my personal favourite as I love the Fern family and a deep, green dry-down. I have a particular fondness for it because I took Rose Maroc (Very expensive stuff, precious) and heaped the miasma of moist compost, hay and lichen moss ala Fougère onto it, it came out a little dirty and very earthy as intended, but what immediately struck me was that the pure nature and beauty of the Rose Maroc Absolute was untouched. There is a fractional amount of the Absolute in GL, but the chemistry of the oil is indescribably potent and 'perfect'.

3. Mycroft - Although this is new, people really dig the re-design and re-imagining of Baker St and where I took it. I suspect it will be in top spot in a week or so the way it has been received. A hell of a lot of work this one, worth it I think.

4. Suitably Attired Australian - This is a mixed bag for me and at one point it was not a fragrance I was going to continue due to the frag oils in it - I don't like fragrance oils, in soaps or in Aftershaves, I know they are very popular and people like them, I myself do not. So as SAA was obviously born out of Creeds GIT and subsequently it's ridiculously expensive for me to make due to my insistence on not using combinations of fragrance oils. SAA was a lot of work to 'fix' in the first instance (to take it beyond Stirling, Mystic etc) so when I made the decision to drops the frag oil combos it meant replicating the 'creed accord'. Long story short, it has quantities of Ambergris and Violet absolute, along with 6 or 7 other oils in the wanton quantities needed to (attempt to) create the famous 'Creed accord'. You reap what you sow I guess, SAA will always stay as it is now - people like it and that's that.
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A fascinating summary of the APR fragrances - cheers @todras. I like them all - my two favs are General Ledger and Mycroft.
 
For anyone still after any of the soaps or the splashes, I have restocked all of them. Additionally Con at The Stray Whisker is now be stocking Australian Private Reserve.
 
todras said:
For anyone still after any of the soaps or the splashes, I have restocked all of them. Additionally Con at The Stray Whisker is now be stocking Australian Private Reserve.
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Congratulations @todras - your "little APR baby" seems all grown up now!! Stocked in a real shop and everything!! Thanks for letting us all be like "proud uncles" and watch as APR becomes a commercial success! Well done mate!
 
Snooze said:
Congratulations @todras - your "little APR baby" seems all grown up now!! Stocked in a real shop and everything!! Thanks for letting us all be like "proud uncles" and watch as APR becomes a commercial success! Well done mate!
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Let that be a lesson to you all, getting bored and wanting to learn about organic chemistry and dabbling in DIY on the weekends can lead to this. I read a lot for enjoyment and that's part of my getting into this to begin with!

The most rewarding thing though (next to the fragrnces) is that I'm actually finding that I am doing even more reading on the history of chemistry and of perfumes, their composition, structure and how the science has developed over the past 400 years or so and I am only really touching the fringes of the history - my wife is a museum curator with a Masters in History incidentally and finds my marvel during the discovery process (reading history) quite amusing, I have the enthusiasm of a 1st year apparently ;)
 
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todras said:
Let that be a lesson to you all, getting bored and wanting to learn about organic chemistry and dabbling in DIY on the weekends can lead to this. I read a lot for enjoyment and that's part of my getting into this to begin with!

The most rewarding thing though (next to the fragrnces) is that I'm actually finding that I am doing even more reading on the history of chemistry and of perfumes, their composition, structure and how the science has developed over the past 400 years or so and I am only really touching the fringes of the history - my wife is a museum curator with a Masters in History incidentally and finds my marvel during the discovery process (reading history) quite amusing, I have the enthusiasm of a 1st year apparently ;)
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Nah, first years are happy with a pass. You are that slightly OCD mature age student looking to get all HDs and top every subject ... ;)
 
Normie said:
Hmmmm talking from experience here? :p:D
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:whistle: who me ????

[Sad but true story - my daughter is now enrolled in her first you of a combined Bachelor of International Relations & Politics / Bachelor of Laws and had to do a court visit last week. She went to watch a High Court hearing and said it was 'boring' - I've since read the transcript, watched the video, read the submissions and lower court judgement, researched the appellant all out of curiosity. She is uninterested in any of that at this point ...]
 
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