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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
It has been GO GO GO GO GO this week, even though Jin and I have STILL been under the weather.
Scent Diary: 22.7 – 28.7.2019
Monday 22:
Up, walked dogs, made poor sick Jin a cup of ginger, garlic, lemon and tea.
SOTMorning: Savanna’s Heart by Olibere Paris
Got the dogs and jumped in the car to take them for their bath. BUMMER, we were two days early! HA!! What a dick I am.
Home and Jin and I shared the last of his delicious Chicken & Veg Soup with Toast. So freaking yummy. I forgot to take a photo till I was half finished.
Poor old Jin is feeling a bit better today but still not 100%. Here he is in the Couch Cocoon, one patchwork quilt, one crocheted rug, two doonas and two pillows. You’ll also notice there’s a sheet on the base of the other side of the couch, in case he needs the dogs up there to make him feel loved and comfy. He is set up with loads of snacks, lemonades, an esky full of tasty treats, tissues, drugs and his beloved TV remote. No man was ever more pampered in his illness. If you look really close you’ll see two purple blobs below the TV, they’re the dogs in their Korean Air blankets. SHHH!
TRIVIA Q&A!
It’s 7.30pm and Savanna’s Heart is still huffing away beautifully. It’s got that creamy sandalwood and burning sand vibe. I’m going to add something extravagant over the top.
SOTEvening: Vintage Bal a Versailles by Jean Deprez
We had Bulgogi and Rice for dinner. I was trying to cook it but needed a lesson so Jin got off his death bed to teach me. It was yum.
Fed and walked the dogs in the very crisp winter air.
TRIVIA Q&A.
SOTBed: La Fille de Berlin by Serge Lutens. Val the Cookie Queen inspired me. Perfect choice.
Got caught up watching TV with Jin. Suddenly it’s freaking MIDNIGHT!
TRIVIA Q&A
It was about 4am by the time I finished. I just couldn’t concentrate tonight. Sometimes it all flows beautifully and others is like walking through treacle. That’s life I suppose.
Tuesday 23:
Got up to the sound of the Delivery Man. Took the dogs out for a wee. Went back to bed till 11am. Heaven.
Had a BUNCH of perfumes arrive today from FragranceNet (Modern version of Songs d’un Bois d’Ete and Mon Guerlain Florale by Guerlain) and a couple of buys of Ash’s Sale Doc (Jardin d’Amide by Oriza and Ambre Sauvage by Annick Goutal) thus my SOTM.
SOTMorning: Ambre Sauvage by Annick Goutal
Finished my Laduree candle in the bathroom on Saturday night at the dinner party. I loved it so much, smoky tea and dark woods with a floral hint. Perfect poopy cover up. Opened a new candle today. Gascoigne & King is the brand and Heart of Glass is the candle. A 400ml freesia, lily of the valley and woods scented, handmade soy wax candle in glass and only AUD$55, International Shipping only AUD$20. So to buy 6 candles it’s less than 200 pounds, US$245, 220 Euro, to your doorstep!! That’s freaking amazing for such fabulous candles. Bronwyn is my mate so I like to give her a plug.
Got out in the sun after brunch. The middle of winter 23C and sunny. Popped a singlet on and walked the dogs in the glorious sunshine. Got my Vitamin D for the day, YAY!
Cooked up a bunch of Bulgogi with onions and broccoli. Went to the local Chinese and grabbed a Special Fried Rice. Went with it all to Scott’s work and we had an excellent lunch time natter today. I forgot to take a photo.
Home and into the bath. I’ve shaved but my nose is running again. Not sure if I’ll woman up tonight.
SOTEvening: Mon Guerlain Florale by Guerlain. I love Mon Guerlain original but sometimes it’s too cloying, too sweet, too much altogether. This floral version takes a lot of the insistence out and softens everything to a very wearable, pretty, comfortable level. Time will tell if it gets the same wear or more.
Tonight we had 81 players at Trivia. It was an excellent night, so fun, even though my nose is leaking like a tap and I’m feeling less than lovely. No sweat.
Jin left the house with me tonight to walk the dogs. First time out of the house since we went to the doctors Sunday morning. He’s like a feeble old man. We only got two blocks before he’d had enough and we went home. Dogs didn’t care. Here is a photo of our walk, the evenings are beautiful at this time of year.
We watched some Korean TV together and now I’m at the computer checking everything.
Wednesday 24:
WTF! Woke up bleary and unwell. Fingers crossed I just slept wrong.
SOTMorning: Daim Blond by Serge Lutens
Took the dogs to get washed. They are so much nicer when they’re clean. YAY!
Sleep. Sick again. So boring.
At 3.30pm took the dogs out for a walk in the sunshine. It gave me a real boost and cleared my head a lot. I’m feeling much better. Not well but better.
Had the hottest bubble bath, made me dizzy but cleared me up a bit. Took a couple of Codral Cold & Flu tablets, feeling a bit more human.
SOTEvening: Caravelle Epices by Frapin. May not feel the best but I smell 100% on point.
Tonight was fun. We had a bunch of tables and an excellent fun feeling in the room.
Before I trotted off to bed my face needed some love so I grabbed Aftelier Rose Face Elixir. It smells so glamorous and feels wonderful. My skin drinks it up in seconds and feels soft and dewy. YUMMY!
Can’t just have rose face, need rose frag.
SOTBed: Mohur by Neela Vermeire Creations. Queen of roses. Perfect match.
Thursday 25:
The problem with taking Codral Cold & Flu is that it leaves me buzzing. I slept from 11pm-3.30am and then wide awake. I got up, did some blogging, watched some ARROW. Jin went back to work this morning so he was up at 5am and out the door. I gave the dogs a wee walk in the darkness and now I’m ready to go back to bed for a couple of hours.
SOTMorning: Ambre Céruléen by Huitiem Art. All the caramelised crunchy amber you could ever wish for, curiously dry.
Our First In Fragrance order arrived this morning so I spent a few hours packing and sending all that. Dropped Scotts shopping in to him at work.
A few things arrived for me today, some brand new, some off Sale Docs. Pour un Homme de Caron Milliseme, Hiram Green Slowdive, PG10 Aomassai, Ramon Monegal Umbra and Lalique Elegance Animale. I’m going to have fun wearing all these.
Now I have the afternoon at leisure. Nice.
Friday 26:
OK, I was going to spend the morning sniffing these new lovelies that arrived with the First In Fragrance order.
Sadly it was not meant to be. I’m back in the sick mode again. Can’t smell a damn thing.
Bloody bollocks. Had to cancel lunch with one of the great loves of my life. The one that got away! Going back to bed, I need to be at least social ready for the big wedding tomorrow.
Hung around the apartment sleeping and watching TV. ARROW for me and Korean for Jin.
Jin made soup and it was horrible, maybe my taste buds have gone with my sense of smell?
Learned a new word today from Neela Vermeire.
Kakistocracy: A Kakistocracy is a system of government that is run by the worst, least qualified, and/or most unscrupulous citizens. The word was coined as early as the seventeenth century.
Hot bath. Sleeping tablet. Bed.
Saturday 27:
SOTDay: Mitzah by DIOR
Today was 100% about Rocco and Vera’s Wedding. Jin and I took the most enormous amount of Codral tablets, some Aspirin and Coffee. Basically we buzzed through the whole day. Here are my favourite photos from it.
Sunday 28:
Jin was up and gone at 5am. Never even heard him move.
OK, I’m paying for yesterdays Codral binge. Woke up feeling extra plain. HA! It was worth it to have such an amazing day celebrating Rocco & Vera’s Wedding.
Walked the dogs and tried to pull myself together.
BFF Kath’s Dad’s Birthday Party today. We had a quietly fun time around at his house. Kath and I are such idiots we found these candles and put them on his cake. We were giggling like children. It was a good day.
Even though I can’t really smell fragrance I’m wearing La Colle Noire by DIOR today.
I’m still blowing my nose a lot so went to work as a dude. It was a fun night with loads of wedding stories and laughs. Seriously, I love the people that my work has brought me into contact with.
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
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Yikes!!! I hope you feel better soon, P!!!!
The usual week of work, yard work, housework, food shopping and testing new frags. Spent the week in roses and have now segued into Guerlain for the next two weeks. I also did non rose testing in the evening and Flux de Fleur is not only gorgeous but lasted FOREVER even on my scent devouring skin!!! Vintage Shalimar EDC circa 1960s yesterday made me swoon. Today Mon Guerlain…sweet lavender and I love it.
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OOOH! Guerlain week will always be a glorious week. I could probably do Guerlain month and still not rewear anything in my collection. Maybe one month I’ll do that challenge.
Enjoy your usual week Brigitte, drama free weeks are a dream.
Portia xx
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I’m laughing at your crazy buying binge. What spectacular hauls of stuff. You’re truly bonkers😂 My tiny little binge is puny in comparison. I’m sorry that you and Jin are such a pair of sickos, but I must say, that Codral stuff sounds great. Luckily they don’t sell it here, otherwise I’d be awake for a couple of days when I’m feeling fluey. Hopefully you’ll both kick it out finally. And you’ve had a drama-free week, with a wedding thrown in for good measure. Yayyy.
My week was 85% work, with the remaining time spent catching up with friends and having a good time in general. During the week my daughter sent me a link to a radio show about what perfumes evoke memories of a time, place or person. She had a few of her own perfumes that evoked her memories of her friends and what they were doing at any given time. She had Anais Anais and Noa which reminded her of my mum, and also an Irish made perfume called Frond, which is a beautiful rose fragrance that reminded her of my mum’s garden, she had beautiful roses. I had totally forgotten that my mum even wore Noa because I remember the Anais Anais so well. And for some unknown reason she couldn’t associate one single scent with me😂 We had a good laugh about that. Wonder why that would be?
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I’m laughing at your crazy buying binge. What spectacular hauls of stuff. You’re truly bonkers😂 My tiny little binge is puny in comparison. I’m sorry that you and Jin are such a pair of sickos, but I must say, that Codral stuff sounds great. Luckily they don’t sell it here, otherwise I’d be awake for a couple of days when I’m feeling fluey. Hopefully you’ll both kick it out finally. And you’ve had a drama-free week, with a wedding thrown in for good measure. Yayyy.
My week was 85% work, with the remaining time spent catching up with friends and having a good time in general. During the week my daughter sent me a link to a radio show about what perfumes evoke memories of a time, place or person. She had a few of her own perfumes that evoked her memories of her friends and what they were doing at any given time. She had Anais Anais and Noa which reminded her of my mum, and also an Irish made perfume called Frond, which is a beautiful rose fragrance that reminded her of my mum’s garden, she had beautiful roses. I had totally forgotten that my mum even wore Noa because I remember the Anais Anais so well. And for some unknown reason she couldn’t associate one single scent with me😂 We had a good laugh about that. Wonder why that would be?
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I’m laughing at your crazy buying binge. What spectacular hauls of stuff. You’re truly bonkers😂 My tiny little binge is puny in comparison. I’m sorry that you and Jin are such a pair of sickos, but I must say, that Codral stuff sounds great. Luckily they don’t sell it here, otherwise I’d be awake for a couple of days when I’m feeling fluey. Hopefully you’ll both kick it out finally. And you’ve had a drama-free week, with a wedding thrown in for good measure. Yay. And you wore your lovely shirt.
My week was 85% work, with the remaining time spent catching up with friends and having a good time in general. During the week my daughter sent me a link to a radio show about what perfumes evoke memories of a time, place or person. She had a few of her own perfumes that evoked her memories of her friends and what they were doing at any given time. She had Anais Anais and Noa which reminded her of my mum, and also an Irish made perfume called Frond, which is a beautiful rose fragrance that reminded her of my mum’s garden, she had beautiful roses. I had totally forgotten that my mum even wore Noa because I remember the Anais Anais so well. And for some unknown reason she couldn’t associate one single scent with me😂 We had a good laugh about that. Wonder why that would be?
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Hey Cassieflower.
Yes, my gluttony continues unabated.It’s embarrassing but I do love shiny new things.
Yes, brought the shirts out of mothballs for the wedding. It was a tremendously fun day, so many stories, reconnections, conversations and amazing happenings over the wedding weekend for the two families. If it was a novel you’d be questioning the sanity off the author. Just too much packed into three days.
85/15 doesn’t look like a very healthy work/life balance, you OK?
Glad to read you and your daughter were talking frags, I might have an idea why she doesn’t associate one particular scent with you. He He He He.
Portia xx
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So many lovely new goodies to enjoy! Sorry you’ve been feeling poorly, hopefully it passes quickly so you can enjoy them all soon.
It’s been a quiet and routine week for me. Watched the Tour de France, did some baking, walked the dog and went to yoga. My husband’s son is visiting us for 10 days so it’s nice to have company. We will take him to visit Quebec City Thursday, and tomorrow evening my chocolate club is meeting up, should be a good week. 🙂
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Eat some chocolate for me 🍫🍫🍫🍫
I am living vicariously through you 😸
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Chocolate club? What’s all this, eh? I need to know😛
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It’s really fun, we get together every 6-8 weeks to taste new chocolate bars from other countries, mostly single-origin bean-to-bar makers.
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Well now, whoever thought up that big idea was a bit of a genius😄
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Oh, chocolate club! I adore trying different dark chocolates. It is amazing how different the cacao beans can be from one country to another.
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Hey TaraC,
Thanks.
Quiet weeks sound pretty good where you are.
A CHOCOLATE CLUB!! Is it like a book club? Is it just a group of your buddies or is it more formal than that? Do you pay each week? How many of you are there? I love this idea.
Portia xx
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We each chip in $7 and use that to buy the chocolate bars. I guess it’s like a book club, there’s about 20 of us, we pick a different country or theme for each meetup, every month or two. It’s fun. 🙂
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I totally LOVE this idea. $7 sounds so freaking reasonable too. Where do you all meet?
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Either at a local cafe or member’s house.
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La Fille Berlin is awesome. I think it is one of the best rose perfumes. How is Elegance Animale. I have not tried it had Fleur Universelle and sold it. My feeling is that Lalique’s mainstream perfumes are better than their niche line. I hope you got a great deal on Elegance Animale and you do like it. Lalique does have a better bottle of its niche line than many other brands. The bottle really looks like it is an expensive perfume.
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Hey Fazal,
Yeah, La Fille de Berlin is special.
My nose isn’t firing 100% but the Lalique is a fruity floral with a base that I can’t quite smell yet. I think it’s supposed to be quite animalic. Yes, I got a good deal. Yes, I was most interested in the bottle. They, and the presentation, are gorgeous. I don’t think they are aiming this range at perfumistas. Not sure who exactly they are aiming it at but I expect the lot to be in the discounters fairly soon.
Portia xx
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I expected it to be quite animalic from the reviews so I am quite surprised you are finding it fruity floral. I agree with your implication Lalique should have invested more time in constructing its niche line. it does seem a rush job, just for the sake of creating a niche line. They did an amazing job on bottle and packaging but then Lalique has always had great bottles. Despite its simplicity, I think Lalique Encre Noire Men bottle is one of the most beautiful bottle designs I have ever encountered. It’s the kind of bottle design you wish you had thought of if you had your perfume brand.
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Get better soon Portia, you have some wonderful new fragrances to wear!
It’s the middle of summer here and hot, so early morning walks on my non-work days. High anxiety with frequent snake sightings on my walks! I’ve done some lovely fragrance sampling this week, and my new purchases were from Dame Perfumery, Vanille Farfelue and Mexican Vanilla. Both well-done and a pleasure to wear. Brigitte introduced me to the wonderful fragrances from the US perfumer Jeffrey Dame.
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OOO! Just realized that I get an enabler pin 🙂 🙂 So glad that you are loving the Dames.
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Hey Kathleen,
Jeffery dame is nice, the little I know him. He really loves fragrance and I know how much he loves the idea of creating extra special product at good price points. Did you know his father does all the brands artwork?
Portia xx
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Yes, I’ve noticed the art work and read about his father. You interviewed Jeffrey Dame for your US perfumers series, right?
I’m quite impressed with his perfumes.
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I love Black Flower Mexican Vanilla; and my newest JD perfume, Duality. Vanille Farfelue sounds wonderful, from what I’ve read!
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I love the Mexican Vanilla and Farfelue. Great quality and especially for the price point. I’ve sampled Duality and it’s next on my wish list.
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Had a quiet start to the week, just me and my elderly father at the cabin/ summer house. Have been enjoying the last part of the strawberry season, having strawberries three times this week.
Having to use time during the summer holiday to write a formal complaint about a day-based rehabilitation programme the Work Centre demands I attend from August was not much fun. It’s a type of group programme which would not really help me at this point. Worst case scenario is losing sickness benefits if they still find I should try it.
On a happier note, I have managed to get back to exercising on my own now. Twisting my foot while packing for the vacation meant it’s been some lazy weeks in July. Also enjoyed coming home to my perfume collection and some new decanting supplies and a sample of Mont de Narcisse. To my nose Mont de Narcisse was very subtle, a hint of green notes/flower stems and a very soft birch (birch tar, not sap). Not a real suede fragrance, nor an interesting green one. Still, I’m curious about the perfume in the same series which is supposed to be about Camargue!
Plus, enjoying the fact that there’s now new episodes in the Fume Chat podcast. Worth listening to! New read is a book by Elena Ferrante, the sequel to “My brilliant friend”. Trying e-book for the first time, I think the experience would have been better with a Kindle?
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How lovely for you Ingeborg,
Strawberries at a summer cabin sounds heavenly.
Good luck with the complaint. I hope they are reasonable.
Good luck also with the foot.
Mont de Narcisse sounds like it didn’t really live up to expectations. What a great name though.
I’ve never tried an e-reader other than Kindle. Jin bought us each the Paperwhite a couple of years ago and it has changed the way I read completely. No nightlights, can slip it into a bag so easily, holds enough reading matter for the longest holiday and the books are usually half price or less than a paper option.
Portia xx
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My week has been rather special; I’ve been in Tuscany! First in Radda in Chianti, then Florence. Leaving today for Venice. I’ve never been in this part of Italy before and I am in love! Yes, there have been perfumery visits and purchases. And on the work side, the job candidate I wanted to hire and had interviewed before I left accepted the offer! I’m so thankful, I’ve been working short-staffed for months. So when I return from holiday, I will have help shortly thereafter. Yay! I hope you and Jin have this illness finally beat.
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Woo Hoo! OH you are in a heavenly part of the world! How fabulous.
Enjoy every moment and I can;’t wait to hear about all your frag finding.
I have very few regrets in life but one of them is: I had a courtesy Uncle, the Uncle of dear friends who asked me to call him Uncle too. He was a movie big wig in the UK. Every year there would be a secret Christmas week or ten days in a huge old castle in Tuscany for the showbiz crew. He asked me a couple of times to come and I was always to busy earning the daily bread (Holiday Season is a bonanza for drag) and always thought that I’d go when I was a bit better settled. He died before I ever could.
Portia xx
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A lesson to us all. Carpet diem ET panem.
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I hope you have time to see the Basilica dei Frari and Il Redentore church while in Venice. I was there for a week ca. 1979 with my family and a week also in the 90s. Getting out to the area where they have the art biennale was also nice as far as I remember. Day trippers seemed to flock to the Rialto bridge and the Dodge palace.
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Thanks for the tips! We did the Rialto and the palace today, and we were happy to retreat to our digs near the Basilica dei Frari, where it was much quieter. We will be going to the less crowded spots next.
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