Scent Diary: 27.8 – 2.9.2018

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

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Portia

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Hey there APJ Crew,

Food, friends, fragrance and fun? Yeah, not so much. OK, this week qualifies as a quiet one. The spotlight is definitely on fragrance.

Scent Diary: 27.8 – 2.9.2018

Monday 27:

Cool and a bit wet today. Perfect weather for me.

This morning I knew I was meeting friends and wanted to smell unusual but luxe so I went for Eau Duelle by Diptyque. Its shimmering resinousness was absolutely perfect.

Grabbed my mate David who is currently butlering in Dubai. He’s out for a fortnight and today was his only spare day. I was thrilled he had some time this visit and Jin was bummed he was working. He is staying with another old friend of mine Nick so we got him to come along too. The three of us lunched at the Gunners Barracks in the blustery afternoon. Loads of catching up and chattering, some laughs and delicious food. I even went so fast as to have a sparkling Australian wine. POSH!

Home. Cooked Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner and Jin made his famous Garlic Bread. We had a lovely hefty red wine with it. While eating we watched 2018 film Extinction. Sensational. A few bits let it down but the story and its twists are pretty darn good, we were on the edge of our seats at times.

Wrote TRIVIA Q&A.

LATE! I finished TRIVIA Q&A. My head is now complete mush. BED!

Tuesday 28:

Jin made Scott, and I ham and cheese toasted croissants for breakfast. Can’t think of a better start to the day.

Scott and I did Office Day, but it was really chatter and sniff and shop day. He He he. We also catalogued into Morrigan’s Frag list the newest arrivals since the wedding. Yes, I’m a greedy bitch.

Trying my newest decant from Surrender To Chance, Tauer’s Hyacinth and the Mechanic. SO good. All the fresh cut flowers and all the oily sweat stained overalls. It’s amazing that this even works, but it does.

Bath and then tonight I felt sort of woodsy. I have a very simple synthetic woodsy oud called Bois d’Oud by Detaille. It’s from 2014 and already feels a little dated but I really like it. It is what it says and stays nicely through the evening. As you can see my bottle is nearly empty.

We had 65 players tonight at Parramatta RSL. It was really fun and I wish I took a photo because my look was pretty good. BUM.

Wednesday 29:

Jin came home 7.20am from work. I jumped up and took the car to the mechanics and walked home in the cool morning sunlight. Realised I’m SICK! Running nose, phlegm, bit uncoordinated.

Going to see if I can clean my way through the illness. Bathroom already done, now off to do carpets and kitchen.

SOTCleaning: Equipage Geranium by Hermès.

My mate Regina dropped in with my TUPPERWARE order. We had coffee and raisin toast with a side order of laughs. Excellent catch up.

I’m so tired and this damn cold is taking hold. Going to bed.

SOTNap: Vintage Shalimar parfum just wiped across my wrists. Everything feels slightly better.

Jumped up. Got ready for work. We started with 6 teams tonight. That’s quite good for our Greystanes Inn. Fingers crossed as the weather warms we start getting a better response.

SOTWork: Equistrius by Parfum d’Empire

Home now, walked the dogs, watched some GRIMM and been on the net for a while. Bedtime.

SOTBed: APSU by Ulrich Lang from a decant. All the greens…

Thursday 30:

Woke up feeling dreadful. Colourful phlegm and pretty dreary body. Jin got home at 7am and I didn’t hear him arrive.

Thank goodness I had to get up to feed and walk the dogs. It’s amazing what a little bit of movement and sunshine will do. It’s about 1200 steps around the cemetery/park block across the road. It’s exactly enough for the dogs in the morning and they come home and sleep till lunchtime (mine, they don’t get lunch).

Breakfast this morning was Spaghetti Bolognese reheats on toast.  My Mum always cut up the spaghetti and mixed it through the leftover sauce. A tradition I’ve continued. It is 100% easier to get it onto hot buttered toast and then into your mouth that way.

Jin is crashed on the couch snoring like a steam train. It’s a very peaceful and rhythmic snore,  When I hear it at night it lulls me to sleep.

SOTDay: Amouage Gold Man. The middle eastern version of No 5. Weirdly it isn’t as outrageous in the cool weather, very tame.

Later, due to Amouage Golds poor showing I added Boucheron EdP on top and FINALLY successful OTT whammy of fragrance.

We decided to go and get some lunch with our mate Matt and do an IKEA run to replace a light we thought had died. They’ve changed everything in the nearly 4 years since we renovated this place and we were frustrated. Then popped into Bunnings and grabbed a suitable but entirely different product to replace it.
We get home and putt the microwave out to do the fixing and the bloody switch was turned off!!! Idiots! We had a good laugh and now we have a backup.

Jin has resumed his couch crash and snore routine. Life is good.

Got bathed and dressed. Jin and I are going for dinner at the Italian joint we were married in.

Wearing Elie Saab L’Eau Couture. This newby to my collection is a poorly thought out money grab of a perfume. Badly balanced and like eating soap and gardenias. It’s a cheap assed gloopy disaster. I think I love it…. nope, it’s disgusting.

Watched some GRIMM after Jin went to bed. Starting on my new book The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do now.

SOTBed: Un Jour d’Ete by Keiko Mecheri. Successfully produces what Elie Saab Eau Couture was trying to achieve, without the sickening backdraft.

Friday 31:

So I got out of bed and did …….. almost nothing. Fed & walked the dogs. Sat down at the computer and wasted 3 hours of my life. It was wonderful.

SOTDay: Niki de Saint Phalle

Lunch today with BFF Kath. YAY! I might have bought a Melbourne Cup fascinator…… and maybe I wore it at lunch.

Kath bought Jin a pair of Bali Pants while she was holidaying last week. He won’t take them off and has designated them his new house pants.

SOTEvening: MORE Niki de Saint Phalle.

Jin and I met up with Alice, TinaG and Michael for Korean BarBQ. Loads of chatter, food and laughs. All of us ate way too much and it was a groaning quintet that left to go home. Hilarious.

SOTBed: Guerlain Mahora. Someone posted it as their SOTD yesterday on one of the boards and I got excited. SO BLOODY GOOD!

Saturday 1:

I spent the morning trying loads of things that had landed here this year but I’ve been too caught up to get thoughts into the blog. So much arrives and even two weeks without going through them can cause a backlog. It was fun. Some new stuff and old (but new to me). Through this backlog I’ve come up with a new weekly event we’ll be trialling here on Thursdays this month. Fingers crossed.

SOTDay: Aromatics Elixir by Clinique Bath Oil and Fragrance.

This evening Alice, Kath, Scott and I went and saw the outrageously hilarious Pam Ann. We laughed till we cried. SO funny. Naughty though, there were some really offensive jokes thrown in with all the good. It’s even worse when you know it’s offensive but are laughing so hard from the joke before you can’t stop. All up we had an absolute hoot!

After Kath, Scott and I went for Chinese at Golden Century. We had a very late dinner. Peking Duck to open was my absolute favourite and some other stuff. We were so full when we left. FABULOUS!

Home and about to watch a couple of GRIMM episodes before sleep.

SOTBed: Shalimar EdP

Sunday 2:

O M G! I am SICK!

Wearing a new thing that came in the mail this week. Lotree from the Loant Collection. It’s very nice. Wearable. I can imagine the guys going crazy for it, and some girls. It’s a few fragrant zingers over a very common niche base. Lazy but good. Smells better than fine. Almost every niche house has something similar. Woodsy and a hint of citrus.

Father’s Day lunch with Kath’s family. We had a food reenactment of the wedding because Mum couldn’t be there. The whole family was there except Jin who was working. It was an excellent afternoon. Short though for me because I didn’t want everyone infected with my lurgy.
So sick I forgot to take a photo.

Came home. Had a nap.

Went to work at Turbo Trivia as a man. Can’t wear a drag face if you have to blow your nose!

Jin and I watched some TV and I’m going to bed. NIGHT!

SOTBed: UÈRMÌ – UR±SILK 19

 

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

58 thoughts on “Scent Diary: 27.8 – 2.9.2018”

  1. An extraordinarily quiet week for me now that the two eldest are gone. Mostly cleaning and yard work. Gearing up psychologically for my return to work on Tuesday after a long vacation. Received my bottle of Gap Heaven so now I can once again spray with reckless abandonment. And thunked a few samples, decants and full bottles this week either on my skin or through making samples and decants for friends and family. Now I am curious about the new Thursday thing on APJ!!!!

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  2. Get better soon, I am so impressed that you can keep going even feeling so vile!
    Had to laugh at myself this week, I finally have a lady coming in once a fortnight to clean and I keep wondering if I should put away the whole bookcase of perfume bottles, in case she’s judgey and all!

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  4. Not really surprised that you’ve caught a lurgy. You’ve been going full belt for weeks and that leaves you open to catching bugs as you’re run down, even if you don’t feel it. Hopefully it will bugger off quickly. But have to say that it doesn’t appear to have held you back much😉
    My week was pretty low key, had the Smallies here so it was all child centred. (It kept me from getting into mischief.) It was fun with my little perfume apprentice though, spraying and sniffing and getting her feedback. Made some decants for her but she went off home without them. I’m always a bit exhausted when they go, And then the house cleanup! Phewww. I was a tiny bit bold on eBay, but I couldn’t not buy it (Island) as I got it for a song in comparison to the prices being asked from other sellers. Bought some Agent Provocateur body products too. Missed out on an older version of Yvresse but not heartbroken as I have quite enough with my Champagne stash. And of course I got a fab gift from Crikey so I’m a happy bunny.

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  5. Hope you feel better soon, and this lurgy doesn’t linger.

    My last week at work was pretty busy, as I was trying to get as much done and dusted as possible before leaving. I really like the team I have worked with for this past six years, and I wanted to tidy up some loose ends to make things a bit easier for them.

    A little nervous, but I’m so happy to be spending the next few months focused on my studies. And making sure I work on the healthy body part of the equation too, rather than just turning into a desk-lump at home rather than a desk-lump at work.

    Lovely outing today–there’s a huge new graffiti wall over by the Leith docks. Previously bleak as hell wasteland, it’s now alive with some of the most amazing new work from about seventy different artists. Got to wander about there with snarl, chat to some of the local and international crews, and enjoy how every single person who walked past this vibrant new landmark started smiling. (Then out for coffee, and a wee potter about a couple of studios in the neighbourhood, and back to plan out my writing and research work for the next few weeks, and do some batch cooking.)

    oh. Perfume. Hmm… Every now and then i search ebay for things I hanker after but can’t get in the UK, and come up with blank result after blank result. BUT: now I have most-of-a bottle of Slumberhouse Kiste in the post to me. Oh my! (I LOVED the sample I wore so much, from the first sniff.) That makes a nice bye-bye-old job gift to myself.

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  7. Being sick is a total bummer, hope you’ll get well really soon!

    My cats are feeling better which is a joy for me. Receiving the generous perfume gifts from a new Instagram acquaintance is another great thing that happened this week, so many new discoveries. Even if a frag doesn’t suit me well, I’m glad to know it: knowing what I don’t like is as helpful as what I do like.

    I’ve watched three and a half seasons of Parks & Recreation, – loved it! I’ve managed to see 13 episodes of Outlander but have finally stopped: despite the handsome Sam Heughan and magnificent views of Scotland this couldn’t go on any longer! I hope I don’t offend anyone here when I say that this is horrible writing and bad television. Yuck.

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        • Is Parks and Recreation on Netflix? I’ve been living under a rock, because I’ve never heard of it. I’d like to watch something funny I’d like to add a great British series named Outnumbered…..hilarious family ,where the kids exasperate their parents. And if in the mood for something ‘dark and disturbing…..Thirteen…also a British series.

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          • Saffy, P & R should be on Netflix, I’m not sure, though, because they don’t offer the same stuff for Russians and folk from other countries. I haven’t heard of Outnumbered or Thirteen, will check them out (when? I’ve tons of unwatched series and films). I used to watch a lot of British TV series but somehow it’s the American ones that I’ve come to love most in the past few years. You might have seen it but in case you haven’t, the first season of American Crime Story about O.J. Simpson is one of the best pieces of television ever made. Brilliant work, truly heartbreaking.

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    • Thanks Diana!
      Pets are the best cure for everything. I’ve been spending some time each day curled up on the couch with Paris. We are a perfect fit.
      Scott is as happy to find something he doesn’t like as something he adores. It means he can cross buying it off the list. HA!
      Parks & Recreation! I only watched a few eps but it was hilarious. Thanks for the reminder.
      Haven’t seen Outlander but thanks for the tip.
      Portia xx

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      • Send my love to Scott, he seems like a man after my own heart 🙂

        As for the Outlander, I still feel like a character from a Friends episode where she says referring to Dead Poets’ Society: Now, that’s two hours of my life that I’m never getting back. This series is immensely poplular but it’s definitely not for me.

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  8. Cookies. Training. CQ Confessions on A Bottled Rose. Lots of good chats with my friends in Scotland and England. A Hermès week. Put eye drops in the cat’s eye without losing my own in the process. I’m sorry you’re sick Honey. You tried the ibuprofen with Red Bull cure? Or maybe a little mushroom tequila? Love you. Xxxx

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  9. Love the pic of Jin in his new pants and your fascinator! Hope you are well soon.

    Not much news perfume-wise, smelled the Jo Malone Rose & White Musk (which has an aggressive synthetic oud note and is heinously overpriced) and Honeysuckle & Davana (which doesn’t smell like honeysuckle, but is a slightly chyprey floral, pleasant but not for me).

    The house is a complete tip due to a repainting project, clutter piled everywhere. But we shall overcome.

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          • Just a standard bedroom, but it is three different colours (white ceiling, 2 yellow walls and 2 green ones) so it’s a real pain having to tape everything off, plus the trim and baseboards are detailed and fiddly, the fabric window shades and all fixtures had to be removed, etc.) The apartment has all different coloured walls (painted by the previous owner). I like it but if I were doing it, I would only do a single colour or all white, too much trouble & expense. The previous owner paid someone else to do it, we did this job ourselves (had to repair and repaint walls after taking down a loft platform installed in the room).

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    • I think I’ve only smelt one or two Jo Malone fragrances. And omg ,to me they were like ‘lolly water’ on my skin…I had a 3 ml spray sample of each….one was named Taif, and I have no memory of the other name. I had to spray constantly and the entire 3mls was gone in a day. She seems to have a cult following with Pommy celebrities who have more money than taste.

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  10. sorry about that Elie Saab monster, though your description made me laugh. sometimes something is so awful you want to love it. bet it will sell well even so, that bottle looks beautiful. thank you for sharing your life with us Portia, you are one in a million and make the perfume world a better place every day!

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    • Hey Tiffanie,
      Elie Saab usually makes such impeccable perfumes. I bought this one off a friend for peanuts so I think I will move it on to goodwill.
      Ahhhh, see that’s where you’ve got it the wrong way round. I just shout out to the world, it’s you guys who share so much in the comments. You buoy each other up, give advice, share and care and engage. It’s a constant source of wonder and pride how well this APJ community interacts. It’s like a bunch of friends around our table having a sniff session after dinner. Thank you for the kind words but it is all of you that make APJ so special.
      Portia xx

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  11. Hey all, perfume -wise was a bit ho-hum…except on Thursday and Saturday. On Thursday I attended a perfume masterclass at my local perfumery. Kate ,the owner sets up the shop beautifully, with a big table in the middle for us guests to sit around. On arrival a glass of bubbles is given to us ,and there are a couple of cheese boards. Lucy ,the perfume expert takes us through the Michael Edwards ‘perfume wheel’ and an example of each category is sprayed on a card and handed around. So by end of the night, we each have a little stash of cards. The object ,of course is to sell sell sell,so a great emphasis is made of the latest bottles to hit the shelves. Most guests will purchase a bottle I declined this time ,because …well.. I needed a new TV. On Saturday, I wore Le Chasse Aux Papillions to work and I got a couple of compliments
    On Sunday , I had DRAMA….I woke up and I couldn’t see out of my left eye, it was inflamed and swollen…AND oh my Lordy…..the pain was hideous. So off to the doctor to be told it is ‘just an infection’. Anyway… as I write this, I can now see, and I’m feeling much better.

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    • Gosh, I hope you’ll be feeling alright in no time!

      The masterclass sounds interesting, do you only try the modern fragrances or there are vintage formulations, as well? Which one would you buy this time , or which ones have you already bought?

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      • Sweet Fern is a shop where only modern scents are sold. It is a tightly curated range, consisting of only ‘higher end’ brands. They sell Frapin, Floris, Grandiflora, Cire Trudon {candles only}, the newest range of L”Artisan , Lalique, Penhaligon’s {not the Exclusive range} and a few Fragonard The shop has been open only 3 years and I have attended at least 3 masterclasses per year, as well as their Christmas events
        From this shop I’ve brought quite a few bottles.

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