Scent Diary: 13.8 – 19.8.2018

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

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Portia

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Hey there APJ Crew,

Well I TRIED to have a quiet week but it seems the fates had other things in store for me. Loads of fragrances and friends, in fact it was just as non stop as the wedding week.

Scent Diary: 13.8 – 19.8.2018

Monday 13:

SOTMorning: Jean Patou 1000

Fed and walked the dogs while still asleep.

Scott came for Office Day today instead of Tuesday. Wasn’t much to do so we chatted and organised the beginning of his Halloween Costume!

I applied a hefty amount of Musk Gold by Ermenegildo Zegna from a decant. Powerfully poopy, sweaty musk backed by a symphony of sweetness. Naughty kitty!

Theresa came and washed the dogs.

Watched some Lucifer. Seems I’ve found a new TV Show.

Writing Trivia Q&A

SOTTrivia: Vintage Miss Dior EdT

It’s 11.54pm and I’ve done all the Games and Q&A, only got the JACKPOT Questions to do. Time for a cuppa and a Miss Dior Respritz. Woo Hoo!

Tuesday 14:

Jin did night shift and fell asleep on our couch. I’ve tried to move him but he’s like a limpet. My morning was going to be cleaning but now I’m going to get the blog in order for the next couple of weeks.

The weather is gorgeous today, dog walk was so beautiful. Nature is coming back to life here. Flowers are blooming and people are smiling.

SOTMorning: Elle L’aime by Lolita Lempicka. This seemed to go straight from release to discounter. It’s a very pretty soft white floral and vanilla with coconut. You know that tropical vibe? This has it in abundance

Jin took me to the Barber that did his hair for the wedding. Gorgeous! Juan is his name and he is super cool. Did a nice jo on my beard and hair too.

Walking through the mall we noticed a pic and I did a double take because the model is a girl I’ve known since she was a little girl. Diana Hills is currently the face of Novo (and the current Miss Tourism Australia). It’s a very cool moment when your friends are billboards.

We had Yum Cha!! So delicious. Jin and my first date since we got married. Isn’t he gorgeous?

Wearing Oud Spirit tonight.

We had 70 people for Trivia tonight. It was a super fun night and I think everyone had a good time. Even the manager came up and congratulated me on excellent numbers lately. Very nice.

SOTBed: I’m layering over Oud Spirit remnants and wanted something to give it a different direction so I’m going with Helmut Lang Eau de Cologne.

Wednesday 15:

SOTDay: A hefty few respritzes of Helmut Lang Eau de Cologne

My Tupperware girlfriend Regina dropped in today. She’s giving me some product to add to the Auctions and Raffle. We had tea, wedding cake and chatter.

Spent most of today opening the Wishing Well card from our Wedding. Finally Jin and I had the time to do it. People have been so generous and some of the inscriptions were absolutely beautiful. The cards themselves were also interesting, each person or family choosing designs that signify themselves or us, so special. We read them to each other.

I thought I’d bought enough Thank You cards but I must have lost a bag with a few of the packets in it. So we used some beautiful cards collected from Australia, Czech Republic and various Museums and Galleries from around the world. Our card stock is seriously depleted and it’s time to go get some more!

Tonight was Trivia and some friends came to play but there wasn’t much interest from the people in the venue. I just don’t understand why we aren’t busier. The food and staff are excellent, venue clean, roomy and warm and Trivia is fun. Dunno.

SOTNight: Guerlain Shalimar EdC

Thursday 16:

Seriously beautiful weather here in Sydney. We are in the middle of a country breaking drought but from a purely selfish point of view I love this sunny springlike weather. It’s so warm I’ve taken the dogs coats off during the days.

SOTDay: Methaldone by Aether. The smell of electricity and new sheepskin boots.

Anna Maria & Johnny came over to do some plumbing. Just a couple of tightens and reseals that Johnny had warned me I’d need between 2-3 years after he put our bathrooms and laundry in.

Jin had long promised them he’d take them to Korean BarBQ and today was the day. They LOVED it and Jin loves introducing his culture to new people. We all had some Soju and got a little bit drunk. Loads of laughs and stories.

One thing that Anna Maria had never done before was go to a Sex Shop. No better guides than Jin and Me so we took them in. It was HILARIOUS. Like kids in candy store. I laughed till my stomach hurt. They went away with a couple of things and so did Jin.

After all that laughing and sex shopping Johnny and Anna Maria took us to Messina Ice Cream. It’s famous in Sydney for unusual flavours and excellent quality, so delicious. Today was a great way to spend an afternoon with friends.

After all that we were bushed so I hung out with Jin watching TV and chatting before he went to bed quite early. First day of a 6 day week for him and starting at 5am.

Watched Lucifer

SOTBed: PG 19.1 Neroli ad Astra by Pierre Guillaume for Parfumerie Generale from a decant. Neroli and Agave. Beautiful, VERY Aerin Lauder but much more interesting and complex. Refreshing and pretty.

Friday 17:

SOTDay: Altruist by J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin. VERY niche smelling with citrus and black pepper ruling a dark, plummy rose.

Got going quite early for me, grabbed a train and met my girlfriend Eve at Circular Quay Train Station. Another spectacular winter day. Sunny and warm.

We wandered around the Opera House and the Botanic Gardens to the NSW Art Gallery. Currently home to the best of the Archibald, Suliman and Wynne and Prizes. We had a guided tour of the Archibald section with a very vivacious woman who knew a little bit of quiet interest about all of the 50+ paintings. I only remember a few titbits but the adventure was fulfilling in itself. This years portraits were all worthy contenders though I didn’t like all of them.

We wandered up to the city centre and had a delicious David Jones Food Hall Lunch followed by a very small amount of sniffing.

I tried the Hermès Cedre Sambac and liked it. Then I tried it again and felt infinitely more drawn to it. Then some of my mates reviewed it and I tried it again. HA! So I grabbed a little set of Travels which include Cedre Sambac, Agar Ebene, Myrrhe Eglantine and old favourite Cuir d’Ange. Gene was gorgeous as ever and I love to chat with her.

Jin was finishing up at 5pm so I grabbed a cup of tea in the Westfield Food Hall and read the last of my book Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy. It’s taken me nearly 18 months to finish and boy am I glad it’s over. I liked the man she ends up with, eminently suitable.

As it’s so rare for Jin to be at the wheel I was able to snap this pic as we left the city via the ANZAC Bridge. I never tire of its beauty and the way light and the ever changing skies are seen through it. There is something so perfect about the way it delineates everything.

HOT bath. Oh yeah. Super hot bubble bath in the Lalique mens scent. I finished the bottle and can’t remember the damn name. Fairly recent uber masculine with barbershop tendencies. Smells really good.

SOTBed: Vintage Van Clef & Arpels Pour Homme. Basically oakmoss, smoke and the darkest reaches of your heart.

 

Saturday 18:

Wearing the remnants of last nights Vintage Van Clef & Arpels Pour Homme. It’s smoky, mossiness is subtle now and flanked by bed man smell.

Woke up early to get the dogs fed and walked.

9am Met TinaG at the Auburn Botanic Gardens for the opening of Cherry Blossom Festival.

There was Hello Kitty World (too crowded), Australian animal enclosure, Australian Native Flora area, Scented Garden, Sumo Wrestling Arena, Food Vans galore and the Japanese garden with it’s beautiful Cherry Blossoms. We wandered for an hour or so, then had a picnic in the dappled shade.

As we were leaving our mates Hyun and Steve joined us and we saw the animals and Cherry Blossoms together. Fabulous way to while away 4 hours.

Came home and fell asleep on the couch with Paris (my greyhound) curled up in my arms. When I awake it was dark outside and the evening had become quite cool. Paris was snoring softly into me neck and the Granny Blanket that Kath’s Mum crocheted for me was keeping us warm.

SOTEvening: Fort & Manlé Charlatan. Sweetly good resinous fabulousness. If you haven’t tried it then do yourself a favour.

Jin came home not long after. we did some cupboard clearing in the kitchen. Throwing out of date stuff away. Then he went off to the gym and I have been catching up on the blog. Getting photos from the phone and adding them and extra story to my week.

Finished the second season of Lucifer.

Sunday 19:

Had a lovely sleep in. Woke up in my own time around 8.45 am. It was like surfacing from the depths. I must have been snoring because my mouth and throat were totally dehydrated. Refreshed and renewed.

Gave myself a perfume break this morning.

Made Sausage Rolls for Brunch and gobbled them down.

Lazy Lazy Day.

Bath and wearing Cartier: L’Heure Convoiteé II. Carnations, Iris and Powder. There is something icily arctic about the way it wears that I adore.

 

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

57 thoughts on “Scent Diary: 13.8 – 19.8.2018”

  1. Currently suffering an excess of houseguests, but relief is coming Tuesday. I am so jealous of your Hermes set, plan to get one for myself later this fall. Cèdre Sambac is my favourite! Your cherry blossom festival looks wonderful. I am looking forward to fall, the temps are starting to drop now, can’t wait for the pretty leaves and heading back to the beach in San Diego early October.

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  2. Love all the new Hermès, have travel sizes of all, and a full bottle of Cedre Sambac. I wear the Hermès Musc Pallida under everything iris or leather, and alone. I freaking love the stuff. My week was damn hot, cookies, perfume, swimming at the lake with Judith, and gym. Same as normal. Mwah. ❤️

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  3. What a fun week! You have far too many friends to ever have a super quiet week! I have one more week before my nursery school job starts up again, and I’m realizing that I got very little done of my summer to-do list. Hopefully I can cross a few things off this week. Thunked a few samples and today I will dig through looking for more that are eligible to be used up- particularly the big ones that I can’t wear to work.

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  4. A very quiet week with the exception of today…seven hours total driving to drop off the middle Marzipan who shoo’d me out of her dorm room to unpack herself 😦 . Tomorrow will be a repeat as we take the eldest back to university…same trip, different day.
    Thunked a bit this week with empties…finished up Tendre and my frankincense oil. Not sure what I will be wearing next week.
    And, Portia, aren’t you proud of me for being so succinct ? 😉

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    • OOOO! and I forgot to say Jin is INDEED gorgeous..but that food!!!! that food!!!! I want it all!

      And sadly the new Hermessences I tried at SAKS FIFTH AVENUE and they lasted a nano second on my scent devouring skin…even the oil!!!!

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      • I get about 10 hours from the oil. But you need to have seriously hefty smears. I love the Musc Pallida as much as anything I have ever owned. And it goes miles and miles. Maybe your skin is totally different. Hmmmmmm. xxxxxxx

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        • My skin literally devours everything…but I do have very dry skin. For me normal amount of sprays is 10-20 of anything….even the heavy stuff.

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        • Honestly, Val, I think what did not help was that the SA applied both the oils and the sprays…had he given me free reign I would have doused myself in both…maybe then longevity would not have been such an issue.

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          • Amount makes a huge difference. A homeopathic dose spritz from the SA was gone in moments, hefty dollops of the cedre sambac and it gets big and sticks around. Well, big for hermessences…

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  5. Wow what a week, Portia! So much fun with Tina and Anna Maria.
    Nice to hear the manager acknowledged your high numbers. Don’t know why Wednesdays don’t get the same.
    Good to hear you’ve joined the Cedre Sambac Appreciation Society, haha.

    My week has been property focused. Fallen in love with a n Art Deco development I never knew existed and even viewed a place there yesterday. We’ll see.

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  6. Such a great week, Portia! It seems like quiet is just not your style 🙂

    The highlight of my week was Friday evening when I went to the cinema with a friend of mine to see The Spy Who Dumped Me. We were the only two people in the auditorium, that was so much fun: we were laughing and commenting everything which would be impossible if there would have been someone else with us.
    August is traditionally a black dog time for me: I hate to see the summer go, and there are other reasons to be sad, too.

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      • Thank you, Portia! APJ never fails to make me smile, it’s such a great community.

        The Spy Who Dumped Me seemed entertaining enough to rewatch it again as soon as they release a DVD: I’m sure that a great deal of jokes got lost in translation. It’s not a film I’d watch with kids (there’s a bit of gratuitous nudity and a lot of killing people) but if you liked the Spy or the Heat with Melissa McCarthy, you get the idea of what TSWDM is like. I’m a film buff which means that I like watching different genres, and films like this just lift my spirits a bit. Besides, I love this new trend where women are finally becoming protagonists, it’s long overdue.

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    • I feel your pain. I get so down in the dumps with the onset of Autumn because Winter is hot on its heels. I am a Summer person. I’m just living in the wrong country, I guess.

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      • Yes that is how I feel about autumn too because I absolutely hate winter with the cold and all the snow and shoveling. It really wears me down. I love spring the best because it is rebirth and renewal and warm weather on the horizon. But a good friend reminded me of all that is lovely about autumn (colorful leaves, pumpkins, apple cider, autumn perfumes) so I am going to try very hard this year to be happier in the season of autumn and also to accept winter for what it is….let’s see if I can do this!!!!

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      • I love the idea of chasing the spring around the globe like the potionmaker from Death Becomes Her. We should do that!

        Our lament for the summer sounds very Game of Thrones, don’t you think :)?

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  7. A good week, all in. Work is silly, but there’s not long to go so, whatevs. Mostly I am just tired.

    Fantastic gig on Tuesday night, seeing the Jesus and Mary Chain playing an absolute blinder at a great local venue. First time I’d seen them since, um, 1985.

    Then up early and down south to see my coach. Finally got clearance to start benching once a week. Super light to start but progressing as long as I don’t get broken again. Crazy happy about this. Now I just need to get the extra weight off my arse as quickly as I can add some to the bar so I can qualify for the British in time.

    Coffee with a beloved pal on Thursday, Skype with another today in NZ, and loving to see them both so happy.

    And, bonus…No migraines this week!

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    • Hey Crikey,
      I don’t want to sound like your parent but maybe you can hold off the British till you’re completely healed? I worry that you’ll do more damage and then never be able to do it all again.
      100% YAY for no migraines.
      Portia xx

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      • Oh, sorry if it sounded mysterious–not the intention. I am a competitive powerlifter–bench press only, because of a wonky leg that rules out fun things like squats. I was injured about ten months ago that put me on the side lines. The British is the British Bench Press Championships, which I need to do, and do well at next year to get back to any international competitions. But one step at a time: first, regular training again, then a qualifier, then on… (I only took up lifting in my mid forties, and fell madly in love with it.)

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  8. Blossoming fruit trees are so gorgeous aren’t they? It was warm here this weekend too…did gardening.
    Spring has sprung,,the grass is riz
    The bird is on the wing.
    Upon my word but that’s absurd
    I thought the wing was on the bird.

    To be recited in the ponderous tones of my father whilst wearing Old Spice!

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    • Ienvy you being able to get to perfume shops so easily, Portia. I had an ‘interesting’ week. Only one ‘event’ involved perfume. As we have chosen to ‘pay it forward’, or join the THUNK Club, I decided to pack up a few samples/ decants I no longer wanted and took them to work. I estimated that there was easily $50 worth. {not that I paid for them…most were gifts/prize winners}. HOWEVER, my work colleagues ,except for two, were ungrateful. One person even said. such small amounts why bother…holding a 2ml decant of Rose de Kandahar!!!!! I had esp. decided to give to one male nurse ,the 1ml left of Portia’s generous gift of Songes…. but was rebutted with, ‘no thanks ,the only smelly thing I wear is deodorant’. but said in a very rude manner.
      I was so hurt, that I will never take anything into work again. One lady, Leah took the Songes for her 21 year old son. The rest came back home with me.

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