Scent Diary: 5.3 – 11.3.2018

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

.

Portia

.

Hey there APJ Crew,

Had a load of fun frags on my body this week. Purposely trying to wear a few things that get little skin time. Also a bunch of favourites.

The calm after the Mardi Gras storm. I do like it when the world gets quiet. It means I have more time to be a lazy slob. Got that job done excellently.

 

Scent Diary: 5.3 – 11.3.2018

Monday 5:

It’s nearly 3am and my head is still spinning from my amazing weekend. To calm the storm I want something bright and fresh. Keiko Mecheri Un Jour d’Ete is a perfect choice. Citrus and coconut with what smells like creamy ylang, very tropical nights.

Woke up to a cool, steely grey day with the promise of rain. This is my favourite weather of all. The dogs love this weather too because we can wander longer without them getting pooped and they’re infinitely friskier.

I’ve given myself a good few spritzes of Diptyque Eau Duelle. After the initial zingy citrus and juniper blast it settles into a resinous vanilla, dry and only lightly sweet with a black tea leaves underlay. Diptyque is so underrated, maybe because their clever and smooth blending hides the genius of their juxtapositions of notes.

We’ve had guests so with washing of extra towels and duvet covers it looks like a five load day. I love the times while the wash is happening. I get 30 minute action stations to get jobs done. The house has been vacuumed and dusted. Dishwasher packed. Some small blog stuff organised and edited in plus the answering of as many comments as I can. Got a start on writing tonights Trivia Q&A. All of this and only 3pm! YAY! Now I’m going to eat the last of the cold pizza leftovers and watch some TV.

Jin got home late tonight. He’d had a late work day and then dinner out. We walked the dogs and he went off to bed. He’ll be up again at 4.45am.

TRIVIA Q&A.

I’ve triple spritzed with Vintage CHANEL No 22 EdT. The opening moments are a bit OTT but about 5 minutes in, HEAVENLY! I think I need to spritz out some more juice to get to the good stuff. I do love the old bakelite container though, so cool in white.

Tuesday 6:

3am and Trivia is done and dusted for another week. I love the quiet hours at the computer organising it but am always glad to be finished.

SOTBed: DSH Perfumes Giverny In Bloom. Ice cold green, almost a caricature it’s so intense. Like putting your head in a florists fridge. So beautiful. I love it. Just opened a brand new bottle too.

L’Artisan Parfumeur Mimosa Pour Moi. It smells like an A/C room with some dewy wattle in a stainless steel vase. Very pretty but not really me. I’m moving this one on.

Today is Office Day but Scott’s not here and I’m feeling very freaking lazy. Just doing the bare minimum that can’t wait till next week. Quick Post Office drop, little Grocery Shopping, finalised all my Trivia Printing and Collating. Done in under two hours.

Had a lovely hot bubble bath in B&BW Rainkissed Leaves, nearly finished the bottle. LOVE it when I’m coming to the end of one bottle so I can open a new one. Keeping in the metallic/aquatic kinda vibe Vintage Paco Rabanne Calandre EdT.  It’s an ozonic rose chypre, if there ever was such a thing with a wet metal underlay. You have to wear the old stuff to really appreciate how amazing this was in 1969. Masterpiece.

Here is a shot of one of the tables from Trivia tonight. Perry and Wayne on the left are part of the bike crew that I rode with at the Mardi Gras Parade.

We had 78 players and the jackpot went off to team Sarge, $400!

I enjoyed Calandre so much I respritzed it when I got home. MMMMMMM

Wednesday 7:

Jin left for work at 4.15am today and woke me up. I’d fallen asleep on the couch because after work and some wind down TV watching I didn’t want to wake him getting to bed. Now I’m kind of awake so I cleaned my teeth, drank some water, came to the computer and answered comments for a while. Now I’m spritzing some Niki de Saint Phalle EdT before going back for some more ZZZZZs.

Couldn’t sleep so I rang Neela in Paris and www chattered for an hour and a half. She’s so excited about the release of her new fragrance Niral and the beautiful purple to clear ombre bottle. We also started making plans for Paris in April. Woo Hoo!

I didn’t wake till 10am. The day is already warm and I didn’t take the dogs for a very long walk. We walked around the block, they did their business, we came home and they acted like they’d been running for 5km. HA! So sweet but actors the two of them.

Wearing Daniel Barros Jasmine Colada. It is outrageous. Syrupy, extreme jasmine in molasses with layers of floral lactones, sugar and creamy banana. Pushing gourmand to the limit of my ability to cope. Can not imagine who would able to wear this on a regular basis. Fun though.

For afternoon wear I decided on Profumum Roma Rosae Mundi. Violet rose petals dipped in sugar and rolled in patchouli. As heavenly a rose as you’re ever likely to meet. Usually when I feel like opulent rose I go for Mohur so this baby rarely gets a spritz.

Blogging this afternoon. Trying to get some of next week organised.

Cooked dinner. We usually eat a lot of Asian inspired recipes around here but tonight I wanted something generations of Aussies have had on the table for dinner. Only a few modifications for pop. Thin butcher sausages, smashed baby potatoes with sour cream & cracked pepper, buttered corn on the cob, onion gravy with snow peas. No filter or trickery, this is how it looked and it tasted great. Cost for two people around $11.

SOTBed: Neela Vermeire Creations Mohur EdP. I loved Rosae Mundi but it left me craving the magnificence of Mohur. You can rest assured my scent cloud is about 3 meters right now.

Thursday 8:

Jumped out of bed and spritzed some Calvin Klein CK One Shock for her. Marshmallow sweet fluffy opening with blackcurrant zinging underneath. Loaded heavily with musks and vanilla/amber in dry down. It’s fun and a bit silly but when it gets skin time I dig it.

Went and run around with Jin doing the Banks. Forgot the time and got a bloody Parking Ticket! $110 for overstaying my ticket by 15 minutes. GRRRRR! So annoyed at myself.

We had a lazy lunch at home. Ham Salad Sandwiches and glasses of fresh milk. Really yummy.

International Woman Day 2018. I saw some other people grab perfumes made by or with women and I liked the idea. These are just a small selection of them from my collection. Women make great perfumes. Can I also say we have 80% women contributors here at APJ. Obviously gender parity would be better but here is one little corner of the universe where women are the majority.

We lay around the couch and watched Huntsman: Winters War on Netflix. Seriously lazy day.

This afternoon Caron Accord 119. Francesca was talking about it on the SOTD thread and she inspired me to open my bottle and spritz! Sweet floral with dusty fur coat and sleepy back of head undertones.

It’s late now. Jin has gone to bed. Lancome Tresor Midnight Rose by Anne Flipo. Wearing another fragrance created by a woman.

Friday 9:

Woke up a little fuzzy this morning. Wearing Teo Cabanel Alahine to greet the day. Smells smooth and good. This sucker should get mire skin time. Very hard to photograph a mirrored bottle.

Grabbed my mate Wendy, had some coffees and did some shopping.

We met up with Thierry from City Perfume for lunch. He has given APJ some exciting new perfumes to try and giveaway in the next couple of weeks from the Shakespeare range. It was a really good day out.

Below are the new Prada range. They discontinued a bunch of poor performers and brought out this very nice, safe, wearable price range. I liked both the L’Eau iterations best.

New Mugler. We got minty milkshake, cool, fresh and wet. It’s not bad but not the usual amazing groundbreaker we’ve come to expect. I love the bottle though and bet it sells like hot cakes. I spritzed 5 huge blasts down my chest and it wasn’t overwhelming, perfect amount.

This is Thierry, the owner of City Perfume. If you go to the button on the right hand column you’ll see that we get a 10% Discount with the Code. APJ doesn’t get any kickbacks from you shopping there, we gave you guys the 10% discount instead.

Lazed around the house and did some desultory computer stuff. Very chill evening.

SOTBed: Strange Invisible Perfumes Epic Gardenia. This is a freaking powerhouse. It seems to have grown more animalic over time and breathy. Unbelievably gorgeous but a bit much for daily wear.

Saturday 10:

Didn’t put fragrance on till 1.30pm today. Parfumerie Generale 5.1 Suede Osmanthe. Why isn’t the scentbloggosphere going batshit crazy for the unusual fruity floral leather. It’s freaking spectacular. Still finishing my Press Sample but will be buying a bottle in Paris DEFINITELY!

At 2pm our girlfriend Hyun came over. We ate a huge cheese platter and Guylian chocolate desserts while drinking red wine and watching the 5-9th episodes of the first season of Sense8. So good, second time around everything has more meaning and layers. Forgot to take a photo, sorry.

Dinner with Jin, Kath and Alice at our place tonight. We had Jin’s famous Roast Pork and Crackling. Kath brought Balkan Potato Salad and Coleslaw. We chattered and laughed away a few hours. You know sitting at our table and hanging with these two amazing, strong, funny, loveable women makes me feel so lucky. Kath in the hat, Alice being a tit.

Alice brought us a Morse Code Tea-Towel back from New Zealand! Super freaking cool.

Jessica Jones Season Two. Can’t Stop Watching. Beautiful Aussie born Eka Danville steals the show.

Annick Goutal Nuit Etoilée. Can we talk about freaking fabulous please. Nuit Etoilée opens like mint jelly and then settles into a soft focus minty juice refreshing summer go-to. I love it so much.

Sunday 11:

Continue watching Jessica Jones Season Two. It gets lost in some historical, morning quagmire for a couple of episodes but the good ones are still really good.

Guerlain Shalimar EdP. Smells so good just lying on the couch and watching TV.

Had a shower today, completely forgot to dye my beard so now I’m this weird two tone bearded dude. My brain doesn’t seem to be processing properly. No reason, just a mixed up day.

Wearing some really old Cacharel LouLou and loving it.

Home from work and over the top of my LouLou remnants I’ve gone crazy with Neela Vermeire Creations Pichola. Excellent final choice for the week.

 

It’s YOUR turn. What’s happening in your world?

Did you do anything Fragrant, Fun, Friends, Family or even had some less than Fabulous news you want to share? Now’s the time, in the comments below.
We love to read what’s happening to YOU.
Portia xx

46 thoughts on “Scent Diary: 5.3 – 11.3.2018”

  1. Wow, P! You wore some gorgeous ‘fumes this week…so many of them I love!!!!

    I tried watching Sense8 but just could not get into it as for some reason was having a hard time following it…maybe I will retry again….the middle Marzipan reminded me that season 2 of Jessica Jones is up and running on Netflix so I started that last night. Also, finished the Doctor Blake Mysteries ….and the hubs and I are watching the Frankenstein Chronicles together….always hard to find a show we both like….

    Wacky week for me with two blizzards back to back and a State of Emergency in various counties in my state…lots of folks did not have power for over a week and the building I work in was shut down for six days because of it…had no work but that means I won’t be able to take off for the Easter week as I had planned.

    Perfume wise……I can’t stop gushing about St. Clair Scents…won’t say any more than that cause I know y’all are sick of hearing it-LOL! I also sampled quite a few of my gifted from my best friend 1ml vials…not having TV for numerous days left me with idle hands so I think I must have sampled maybe 20 or so and also knit two hats and two scarves.

    Finally, best news…got my decant of Floris 1976…Portia, I cannot thank you enough for your generous spirit and the lovely draws you do on APJ….this one is gorgeous and wears like a warm weather scent on my skin…I may wear it the whole week but save a tiny bit for summer.

    Like

    • Heya CM,
      Please go back and try Sense8 again. We bandy the word masterpiece around a lot but having watched it a couple of times the nuance, layers, sci-fi are astounding. Beautifully shot and thought out.

      Bummer about Easter. Stay safe in your crazy weather.

      Welcome. It’s very nice that Floris. Jin has commandeered the rest of the bottle and it smells excellent on him. Lost in his wardrobe, never to return to my perfume room.
      Portia xx

      Like

  2. I remember Calandre from back in the day. Ummmm. Wearing some vintage Chanel 22 cologne, a little wonky on top but dries down to sublime. Other than fragrance I had a great week due to lots of socializing. With winter getting his ass kicked out I feel like doing more. And the more you do the better you feel.

    Like

    • Heya KateSpritz,
      Yeah getting moving can really help blow the blues away.
      CHANEL No 22 Cologne is freaking YUMMY!
      Portia xx

      Like

  3. Hello APJ’s this week I really enjoyed wearing La Panthere by Cartier, and Mon Parfum by Paloma Picasso. Here we are in those transition days between winter and spring where the light is bright, the Crocus and Hyacinth have appeared, the birds are singing their little hearts out and you might still need to brush snow off the car in the morning. I take a walk at lunch each day and several times I felt like I was in a Jack London story fighting the elements. I was so eager for spring I left my coat at home stubbornly much to my chagrin. My hoodie doesn’t really cut it😂 This weekend I decided to put off my plans for a new spring handbag and sprang for a 4ml bottle of Nombre Noir instead. I had no idea I would ever find one that I could afford. I’m “new car excited.” I bought one that still has the box so I’m hopeful that I can really experience something from it. I also did a completely crazy thing and bought a 3/4 full 32 ounce jug of Amazone by Hermes. Blind. I have never smelled it. I figured I could give some as gifts and maybe sell some. I had no will power to resist such a crazy thing. I have never seen a bottle of any scent that size. And usually the very large bottles are Edc not Edt. Adventure! This morning I’m wearing Fleurs de Rocaille Edc and a tiny dab of parfum from my bottle that I left in the living room and one of my pets or children knocked it over and it soaked into the rug. So many lessons learned that day!
    Here’s to spring! And I am assuming fall where many of you are. May this time of transition bring you all blessings and good fortune 💓
    Alanna

    Like

  4. Well, it was my birthday week so I did mostly what I like to do: watched films & series, talked to my friends and dyed my hair Marilyn blonde again 🙂 Also, drank champagne, lots of it.

    And it’s getting warm! Persephone is coming back from Hades, and I can’t stress enough how good it makes me feel 🙂
    Hope we all have beautiful times before us!

    Like

  5. You live in a wonderful fragranced world Portia! I love reading your choices for the week.
    I adore Chanel bakelite containers, both the white and the black. I’ve never sniffed vintage No 22, my bottle is from the early 2000s, when I wore it A LOT! I used to wear it with the lotion and spritzed heavily; I’m sure it was over the top to others, but heaven for me. Yesterday I wore a sample of Tom Ford Noir Pour Femme and loved it, FB in my future! I’m also still working through my samples of Serge Lutens, I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to finally sample his fragrances. I need to explore Teo Cabanel, I’m not acquainted with the house and Alahine sounds like a fragrance I would enjoy.

    Like

    • YAY! Serge Lutens is a super fun house to go through. The weird and wonderful side by side with some of the prettiest and most cozy.
      Teo Cabanel makes easy wear, comfy frags that are super simple to spritz & go. Alanine and the new-ish one starting with B are excellent.
      Portia xx

      Like

  6. It’s been a hugely eventful week–not just with long trips south to see my strength coach and my PhD supervisors for two nerve-wrackingly difficult but actually positive meetings, but with the most remarkable surprise.

    I was contacted by someone who, 20 years ago, found a box full of my great uncle’s diaries. Fifty years of diaries, from his 1920s schooldays to the late 1970s, via world travel in the 30s, very complicated marriages, struggling to make a living with literary magazines and journalism, a stint in military intelligence, and all.

    I don’t have a large family, and most of them are gone. Out of the blue, I am getting one of the very best of them back, with more than half his life through his own words. An amazing, funny, artistic man. Because, by chance, that lost box was found by an artist and film maker who was entranced by them, by him, and who now wants to tell his story. I am stunned, overwhelmed, overjoyed. I can’t *wait* to read them.

    Like

    • Crikey, that is such a incredible gift from the past. When the film about your great uncle gets made, do let us know.

      Like

    • Oh that’s just bloody amazing! How lucky for you, and your family. Keep us abreast of any developments. He sounds like a very interesting man. I wish more of our ancestors kept diaries.

      Like

    • WOW! What a fabulous and generous gift. Can’t wait to see the movie. Who will you have playing you?
      Portia xx

      Like

    • If it all goes ahead–and that depends on permission being given after the script, etc–it will be a series of documentary/art short films rather than a movie-film.

      (comments out of thread below about why so damn long to get them back… but she’s making up for it now. Just also got send some photographs I’ve never seen before, and they are just making me smile my head off)

      Like

  7. Had weird issues all week trying to get this site up on my iPad, it kept bringing me to some Japanese commercial website. Finally loaded a software update that seems to have fixed the problem. Very bizarre.

    It was a wet and windy week, I wore Mancera Coco Vanille, SL Santal Majuscule, Maison Trudon Revolution, Indult Mankara and Profumum Roma Tagete. Today I’m in Child, but sending the bottle to a new home tomorrow as my husband doesn’t like it. It does have a bit of a bugspray note.

    Like

    • Heh, some of the employees reported that clicking on a link in our timekeeping system brings up the Disney website.

      Like

    • Glad to have you back among us TaraC,
      Splendid frag week for you. Some very glam frag babies spritzed.
      Portia x

      Like

  8. Mmm, No. 22 – I could bathe in this stuff, even love the initial aldehyle blast. Paris in April, how wonderful! I haven’t been there in 16 years and wonder how much it has changed.

    Like

    • Hey Ingrid,
      I used to work every now & then in Paris back in 1994/5 and it still seems the same fabulous city that I remember from then.
      HA! Lately I’ve been having some aldehyde troubles with No 22 but this old EdT is not too bad.
      Portia x

      Like

  9. My week was spent at Westmead Hospital with lots of family and my brother Frank! Lots of memories with cousins friends family and plenty of emotional goodbyes! He is still with us! I am stunned.
    Everyday I wore something special Shalimar, Terryfic Oud, Allure, as this is a very special week, everyday is special.

    Like

      • The beginning was a little challenging as is the case with old aldehyde-heavy perfumes but the drydown was great. Kinda reminded me of calendre’s rose-powdery drydown, too.

        Like

  11. Thanks Portia for sharing. You squeeze a lot in your week! Love writing down some of the interesting perfumes you wear that I don’t know and think I might like to try for google reasearch
    Bit of a ho hum week for me (with the exception of my big Montale wearing day!)
    Family guff, some work tension, some aches & pains, and someone has been asked to speak at a funeral tomorrow and he is super nervous (and sad) Some days it’s hard to find the balance.
    Windows and doors all open right now to let in the sunshine and cool breeze. Wearing Frapin 1697 while I tidy up the spare room mess.

    Like

    • You’re welcome Melanie,
      Family and funerals. Good luck.
      Frappe 1697, do a couple of extra spritzes and the world will fall away.
      Portia xx

      Like

  13. Oh I hear you, and it’s a bit maddening. But it sounds like a combination of bad luck, muddle, lousy searching skills, and some practical obstacles (at attempt to contact my father seems to have got lost in the tangles of his onset of Alzheimer’s; searching for me under my given first name finds a thousand people who are not me, etc.)

    Like

  14. No big news on the perfume front this week. Just a tiny little snippet😉 I brought in a few dresses for my boss to try on as she had a wedding to go to, but hadn’t gone shopping for anything. I have recently done what I call a
    drive-by wardrobe spraying with Magie Noire (the current crap, Lancôme should be scarlet) and obviously some landed on the dresses as I had pulled them out to the front. So, she was trying them on at work and she was bowled over by the way they smelled. Guess who will be getting a large decant of MN?

    Like

Comments are closed.