Mood Scent 4: Guilty Pleasures

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

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Portia

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Hey APJ,

APJ joins the MOOD SCENT 4 crew. Tara from A Bottled Rose has kindly offered me her seat at the table and I’m super thrilled to be working with the women from I Scent You A Day, L’Esperessence and Megan In Saint Maxime in their joint blogging project. We will be getting together sometimes to bring you an idea across our four blogs, in our own ways and tastes. Do hit their tabs and see their posts about Guilty Pleasures too.

Mood Scent 4: Guilty Pleasures

Guilty Pleasures can mean so many different things. What are my pleasures that I can feel guilty about? Well, having grown up Roman Catholic, taught by Nuns and then Jesuits, I feel as if guilt and I go hand in hand. Food, Fragrances, Fun, Spendthrift Ways and so many other guilty pleasures. I’m going to go a little wide but keep it all scent based, well try to anyway.

Guilty Pleasures: Celebrity Fragrances

When you have some of the worlds most critically acclaimed scents, expensive, beautifully bottled & boxed and all you want to wear is Jessica Simpson Fancy Night, Queen Latifah Queen of Hearts, Madonna Truth or Dare Naked or Paris Hilton Fairy Dust. Sometimes I scoff at my own poor taste, and then triple spritz the cheap shit again. Just for the sheer, gluttonous joy of being a fragrant wall of sound.

Guilty Pleasures: Late Night Online Shopping

OK, it’s 2am. I might have snacked, had a cup of coffee and be wide awake and a little wired. THEN I start reading Fragrantica or BaseNotes, trolling the scentbloggosphere and discount outlets. Suddenly there 5 things in my cart and I’m pushing PayPal buttons. SO MUCH PLEASURE, quite a bit of guilt. I have over a thousand bottles in my perfume room, why do I need more, how will I ever wear them, what have I become? Yes, it’s utterly pathetic but the thrill of shopping is REAL.

Guilty Pleasures: Shower Gel and Soap

Let’s not keep this just to perfume eh? I often have the uncontrollable urge to splurge on bath products. My collection is as vast and ridiculous as my perfume addiction. From Dane Tabu to Amouage Shower Gels, Penhaligon’s Bath Oil to Olympic Orchids Amber & Labdanum Bath Oil and all manner of Soaps and Bath Salts. It’s pleasure but having so much and looking in those drawers dows make me squirm with guilt sometimes. Joyful, transfixed, gloriously happy guilt.

Guilty Pleasures: Unopened Boxes

Nowadays I rarely open the boxes of perfume I buy. Not unless someone wants to smell it and get a decant, or it arrives when I have company, or I just can’t help myself. With so many open perfume bottles I don’t need to open a new one anymore to enjoy it. I get equal, yet guilty, pleasure from having the bottle on site, fully cellophaned and brand new looking. I love to just grab the box out and look. Then I feel so stupid and slightly guilty at my frag gluttony and wastrel ways. It brings me loads of joy though, just to have them.

Guilty Pleasures: The Smell of KFC

You all may know that I am now diabetic. That has taken KFC off the menu unless it’s a VERY special occasion. I have been known to stop the car and walk into a KFC just to smell it again. It’s embarrassing and I feel like a right dolt but there you have it. Possibly my most Guilty Pleasure is the sniffing of KFC, just standing in the shop and breathing deeply.

 

HA! Well, it does feel good to get all that off my chest. Thanks for reading. Do go and check out the womens blogs: I Scent You A Day, L’Esperessence and Megan In Saint Maxime. I know they will have sensation lists of things that make them cringe at themselves too.

What are your Guilty Pleasures?
Portia xx

71 thoughts on “Mood Scent 4: Guilty Pleasures”

  1. I like Fancy Nights. Like the bottle as well.
    I know what you mean about not opening perfume boxes. I do that as well.

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  2. Hi Portia – so great to read your first post in the group! OMG 1000 perfumes …. Unopened boxes. I did have a chuckle reading your post and we have all been there on the online late night shopping. Have you bought the same thing twice by mistake? I do get your love of the smell of KFC as well. That secret recipe! xx Megan

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    • Woo Hoo! Lovely to see you here Megan,
      I have bought the same thing twice. Once because the first was still in the air and I forgot purchasing it. The other because I really thought I didn’t have a bottle and heard that they had DCd it. Of course I bought the 250ml!
      YAY! KFC smells TOO good. Glad someone agrees. I thought that might have been a step too far. He He he
      Portia xx

      Liked by 1 person

      • Ok regarding KFC I have a story. When I was first dating the other half in 2003 and we were flatting together he received a letter from KFC! They said that the local Ponsonby store ( that’s in Auckland, NZ) was renovating but that as he was such a loyal customer they were giving him a voucher to use in another store in the meantime LOL! It was news to me and I still have a giggle at this and your guilty pleasure reminded me of it. ✨

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  3. I know nothing about NOT opening new perfume boxes. I am the crazy little lady in her car in the Mall parking lot tearing off the cellophane of any new bottle. To quote Neva, I am insatiable.
    Now to answer your question, recent guilty pleasures shared by me and the son, Jo Malone soaps. We have already thunked three bars!!!!

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  4. Oh goodness, I’m beginning to feel a bit like there’s a slight twin thing going on here …. I never heard of anyone else not opening new boxes of perfume and I felt sooooo guilty about this habit so it helps a bit to think I’m not the only one! And steroids have pushed me into the pre-diabetic state so I read with great interest about your battle – you’ve done so well and give me hope … but the smell of sinful food is sheer torment.

    One of my other guilty pleasures is scented hair oils and mists, all varieties. I have enough bottles to last twenty Rapunzels their entire lifetimes, but still get tempted to buy when I read yet another has been launched.

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      • Another one here for unopened boxes! And even samples received but unsniffed. I’m thinking that Jilly has the right idea with hair mists … hmmm …
        As an ex-smoker, I will occasionally seek out fresh cigarette smoke and inhale deeply. Food is a whole other thing …

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          • What?????
            This is completely foreign to me. One day a package came in and I was literally wearing 19 scents to try them all immediately. Even my finger knuckles were scented.

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              • and this is one of the many reasons we are such good friends-LOL! We think alike in this regard! Last night I was wearing 12 fragrances all at once.

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                • Wish I could so this, but I can’t. All the smells get muddled and turn into random perfume soup in my brain when I try several at once.

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          • I’m with all of you on unopened boxes: I don’t have that many of those, but there are at least several that I bought months ago but haven’t opened while finishing samples or decants that I had of those perfumes before going for a bottle. In my defense I must say that all those bottles were bought with some type of discount – that’s why I didn’t want to wait until I actually finish what I already had. So, I don’t feel guilty about it 🙂

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  5. Hey Portia,
    Great to see you as part of the MoodScent gang.
    This post reminded me of our visit to the slowest KFC in the world, on the way to Airlie Beach. It must have been a 30-40min wait. Hilarious.
    I did have a guilty pleasure of buying too much super expensive skincare, but I’ve managed to kick that.

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    • O M G! I had forgotten that KFC stop off on our massive drive Tara. We were grumpy, and laughing. What complete idiots they were.
      Kicking a habit is almost as much fun as having it. It still takes up the central part of your brain space but you get to enjoy the financial blowback of not shopping! HEAVEN!
      Portia xx

      Liked by 2 people

  6. Guilty pleasures may be guilty but they are still pleasures…big time! I am a Virgo, we thrive on guilt. Perfume was my first foray but then I found bath stuff and body lotions etc, because well, they are therapeutic aren’t they? Totally justifiable.
    PS my skincare stash is rapidly catching up ahem.

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  7. Hmmmm… I don’t have an unopened boxes, I tear into them the moment they arrive. I do enjoy my cheapies, and have a large backup stash of Yves Rocher shower gels . I also am a bit of a makeup junkie, which is something that didn’t start until recently (midlife crisis at turning 50, I suddenly felt pale and wan all of the time even though I know I don’t really look any different than I did a year ago). I wear glasses and like to do my eyes, so eyeshadow palettes are definitely a guilty pleasure, and like my perfume, will never be used up.

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  8. I’m ‘fessing up to one guilty pleasure on each of your blogs, because I really love the Mood Scent 4 project. Tara is missed but how great to add Portia! So I’ve already admitted to a weakness for discovery sets and coffrets, and the clearance shelves of discount stores. Here, I’ll join Portia in admitting to caving occasionally to late-night onllne shopping for fragrances. As some of you may know from my own blog, my husband travels a lot and I am by nature a night owl, so when he’s out of town, there’s no one to remind me that it really is time to turn out the light and sleep (sometimes a challenge as I also work fulltime). That is when the websites beckon! Luckily, I have mastered the art of (usually) putting things in my cart and then waiting until the cold light of day to decide whether I will really buy any of them.

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    • OMG OH!
      To have such restraint! TBH I have calmed my night shopping by LOADS! Sometimes though it is utterly unavoidable. SHHH!
      So glad you’re loving the series. I am so pleased the crew invited me in. It’s really nice being part of something co-operative.
      Portia xx

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  9. It’s funny, some bottles I can’t wait to get stuck into, others I love to admire them in their fullness and completeness for a while.
    There is something very satisfying and almost therapeutic about it.
    It is one of my guilty pleasures too.

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  10. Spraying expensive perfume on my bed linen.

    Except, I can totally rationalise that: i have more perfume than I’ll wear. It lasts *ages* on the linens. And it smells wonderful and makes me happy. But it feels so ridiculously extravagant it still makes me squirm a little…

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  11. Loved reading your guilty pleasures, Portia. It is really nice being part of something coöperative especially when it is perfume related. I had to laugh a bit as well about the KFC and your love for its food and smell. Once at our Queens Birthday which is a national holiday and big day in Amsterdam (now its the Kings birthday) I got very sick from eating there so no KFC for me. Really nice to admire the beautiful boxes of perfumes and take time to do this. Oh the showergel and soaps, forgot about them, I love buying them too but I have not enough space so I am trying not to buy them anymore. Where do you keep them? Love to see your choices on IG of them. 😘😘 Esperanza

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  12. I loved reading this! 🙂 Sometimes I think I must have such an unsophisticated nose–everyone it seems is posting about the world’s most critically acclaimed, big name, high value stuff and here I am in my little corner, honestly preferring most days to go with L’Occitane or the like. I, too, have a fragranced shampoo and shower gel collection that rivals my perfume shelf. Thanks for the inside scoop, this was a fun read! 🙂

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    • Hi VL, you are not alone. I prefer my designer stuff 95% of the time. I love the artistry of niche, but give me a spray of Tresor, Knowing or Burberry Body any day.

      Shower gel and soap queen too! Trying hard to thunk these.
      K xx

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    • HA! I think we all suffer from the “unsophisticated nose” syndrome at some point Verbenaluvvr. It’s almost as I we rebel against the strictures of the niche perfume world.
      YAY! Another bath product hoarder.
      Portia xx

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  13. I think my number one guilty pleasure would have to be op shopping. I started doing in a big way this in 2011 when I lost a heap of weight. I had to wear suits every day at work, and all my suits were looking like sacks on me. I couldn’t afford a week’s worth of suits (not to mention shirts, pants, etc) so I started hitting up op shops. I soon realised that there is some really nice stuff to be found in op shops and flea markets, and I now hit them up every chance I get. I have an entire room in my house jam-packed with stuff I bought in op shops to sell, and still haven’t got around to listing.

    Perfume-wise, my guilty pleasure would be buying vintage. This is fraught with risk, and I rarely end up buying something that I wear regularly. Either the perfume is for women or I convince myself that it’s too precious to use up, especially if it’s unopened. I have lucked into vintage finds like Chanel Pour Monsieur, Dior Jules and VC&A Pour Homme that I do wear regularly but most of the time they go straight into a cupboard and sit there unused.

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    • Greg!
      I want access to that room.
      We need to chat TIES please. Gucci, Ferragamo and Hermès for preference. You’ve got my email.
      Yeah, thoroughly in awe of your vintage finds. One day you’ll show me that cupboard too.
      Portia xx

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  14. Hmm, guilty pleasure, scent related…??
    I don’t really have any. I used to do the early morning online shopping, but stopped ages ago. I still buy shower gels, but have slowed that down for Operation Thunk, and it is not somthing I feel Opulence Guilt about.

    Wait, yes, I do. I feel guilty pleasure in using testers in shops. Because of that guilt, I might spray once on skin, in the air or on paper. That is it. But there is one store I am terrified to enter because the guilt instilled causes me absolutely NO pleasure, though it is a veritable candy store of hard to get scents.

    At a stretch, overspraying at work is a sneaky pleasure, particularly if I have to sit in a cab to repair something. I get paid to sniff myself! Bahahahaha!

    These collabs are a great idea.

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  15. Apart from the crazed perfume buying I’m partial to the odd red lipstick, or twenty. And foundation. And eyeshadow. And eye pencils. And mascara. The amount that I have shelled out on mascara is ridiculous. Buy, use a couple of times to see what they’re like and if no good I bin them. Matching body lotions and oils for my perfume. Handmade soap with essential oils. Also spray my sheets. And my drive-by wardrobe spraying😉 Have lots of unopened bottles, all backups, so they’re pooched away. Am I guilty about any of this? Am I heck!
    Oh, and I loooove Eternity Moment. So there!

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    • HA!
      You know when I started doing drag I thought I needed ALL THE MAKE UP. Clearly I have an MO. After a while (10-15 years) I discovered I was only using about 20 products regularly. Now I have those 20 products backed up like crazy and about 10 other things that get a use maybe once a year.
      100% with you on the matching lotions and potions.
      Eternity Moment…… do I need to find it?
      Portia xx

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  16. Guilty pleasures mmmm.. trying as much as I can at the David Jones counter as much as I can!
    Just looking at my meagre collection and trying to decide is a pleasure to me also, decisions decisions!
    You crack me up with the KFC sniff, yes fast food is something many secretly crave, I love it after a beach day! Anytime I sample some fragrances at your place is one of my biggest guilty pleasures Portia! So many beautiful scents xxx🆒💯🆒

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    • Anna Maria,
      I think you undersell your collection. It’s full of stuff you LOVE right? You get real pleasure out of wearing it all. You also have a few memory scents, bottles nearly empty but keeping to sniff the nozzle.
      HA! Oh yeah, KFC sniffing is a thing.
      Portia xx

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  17. I can soo relate to the KFC sniffing 🙂 There is a wonderful chicken restaurant in Seattle called Ezell’s. If the wind is right, just driving by the restaurant with my car windows open will leave me immersed in fried chicken scent. Well worth going slightly out of my way for 🙂

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  18. My guilty pleasure is also online shopping for fragrance and bath products, skin care, and makeup. Love it all, and when the packages arrive, it’s like presents! Lately my guilty pleasure is exploring 70s and 80s fragrances. I need no more, but it is so fun to experience all the loveliness I missed out on.

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  20. Hi Portia, so nice to work with you! Your post filled me with smiles. I have a thing about the smell of Starbucks. I’m sort of meh about the actual coffee- can take it or leave it, but the smell is enough to get me in there inhaling that lovely coffee cocoa vanilla cookie smell. As for new bottles of perfumes! Yummy. This may explain my Avon habit. I have a drawer full of cheapies, some of which I have never opened. Also, upthread Fancy Nights was mentioned. This site totally got me into that one, or “new cab smell” as it was called. Also, if you can’t get Prada Amber……not saying it’s the same but….

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    • Hey Sam,
      WOO HOO! Yes, working with you is the bomb. thank you so much for thinking of me.
      ANY coffee shop smells like heaven to me. What a smell! Also anywhere that cooks Raisin Toast. MMMM
      Ha! Fancy Nights is amazing, especially for the price and have you ever used Prada Amber Shower Gel? YUM!
      Portia xx

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