Scent Diary: 14.10 – 20.10.2019

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

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Portia

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Hey there APJ Crew,

This week has been interesting. Pretty chill apart from one major meltdown and the horror/shame/self loathing that came after. Loads of perfume, some outings with friends, art, food and shopping PLUS the Australian launch of Hermetica perfumes. Anna Maria and I spent a day wandering Sydney’s perfume and art, that was cool.
Not a huge week but a fun one.

Scent Diary: 14.10 – 20.10.2019

Monday 14:

Aquarobics

SOTDay: L’Eau Bleue d’Issey Pour Homme

Issey Miyake L'Eau Bleue d'Issey Pour Homme

Kath’s dishwasher needed to be replaced. It has been limping along for over a year. Finally we bit the bullet. Wen’t to Seconds World and got one with a tiny ding.  Instead of just under $900 for the dishwasher alone we got it, delivery, installation and take away the old one for under $600! Still an unexpected expense but we were chuffed with our shopping.

This is my smile through the pain of purchase price.

Lunch at Oporto with Jin

TRIVIA Q&A

Nap

Cleaning house, washing clothes and linen

SOTEvening: Caron Pour un Homme

Didn’t finish TRIVIA Q&A till 3.05am. I’m seriously bushed.

SOTBed: Fancy Nights by Jessica Simpson. The patchouli/vanilla goes sensationally over the top of the remnants of Caron Pour un GIMME!

Tuesday 15:

Slept till 9am.

34 EdP by Diptyque. So smooth and elegant. MMMMM. Just found it in a sample box, it will be getting some wear this spring.

Bath.

Le Bain JOOP! Not so long ago there was a big rave review of this in Fragrantica. It was so cheap, I blind bought a gift set. It’s a smooth resinous masculine, smells fantastic. I just went back and had a look but it’s a bit more expensive now. Still, a worthy contender for affordable fragrance.

Train

Hermetica Launch Becker Minty.

Home

Nap

SOTEvening: Mohur EdP by Neela Vermeire Creations

Work was great but I was a cruel mean bitch to someone I had high hopes of being friends with. Sadly, that will probably now be nixed. I couldn’t find the words I needed to express myself and instead let fly with a flurry of vicious. I couldn’t stop myself, it just kept coming. GAK!

Wednesday 16:

Was going to Aquarobics this morning but couldn’t make myself get out of bed.

FINALLY dragged myself out at about 10am.

SOTMorning: Black Rosette by Strange Invisible Perfumes

Paid a shitload of bills. Went to the Post Office and Supermarket.

Got some computer stuff done.

Watched Korean TV with Jin. Nope, I still don’t understand a word of it.

BATHTIME!

SOTEvening: Vintage Joy EdP + extrait by Jean Patou

Got myself gorgeous.

Hosting the Sydney Opera House Staff Trivia Night 2019
Theme was SPACE!

BLOODY HELL! My feet hurt tonight. AAARGH!

Home now. Dogs fed & walked.

SOTBed: CHANEL No 18 EdT

Thursday 17:

Jin woke me this morning as he came home from work and took the dogs out for a wee. I had slept deeply and woke refreshed.

SOTMorning: NO±Suede UèrMì. I really like the lightweight, creamy yet dark treatment of leather. Simplistically it smells like leather, sandalwood and birch. All pitched perfectly. A very wearable, luxe scent.

Bus and train to meet Anna Maria at Kings Cross Station. In a heretofore unheard of event, she was 30 minutes early and I was nearly 20 minutes late. We had a coffee.

Wandered around to Becker Minty because I wanted to show her the store and try the Hermetica range of fragrance. It was an excellent wander through the store. We might have bought a pair of glasses each.

We then walked down to Oxford St and the Libertine crew. They were in hectic mode so I quickly made some purchases. Yes, I can’t help myself. Sancti by Liquides Imaginaires, Love Mimosa by Amouage ands Vaninight by Hermetica.

David Jones, Westfield and Myer fragrance halls. We had a beautiful SA in David Jones, Jacob, who was incredibly helpful.. He was really knowledgeable and interested in the products. We spent so long with him that we missed our first tour at the gallery. On our way out we noticed that our mate Ainslie Walker’s work for Glasshouse Christmas 2019 is in the stores! She is so freaking amazing! Could not be prouder of our girl.

We had to skeddaddle quickly down to the MCA Museum Of Contemporary Art where we were given a short introduction to one of Australia’s emerging artists. Coen Wood, born in Sydney  1988, he does these large, diffusive and reflective works that distort and declutter the world to throw back nearly grisaille images. Interesting and fascinating to watch the changes as different art lovers wander through. When I first looked at them I thought they were wanky modern art pap . Once we were given an insight into the works, told of how he paints on the photographic chemicals and how they always react differently, the images he produces are themselves changed by each different area they are placed in and near and every person that is reflected in them my mind changed to quiet awe. We sat and watched the passing panoply for a short while and it was really good.

Anna Maria took this shot of me mesmerised.

We also had a moment to see the current Guan Wei room.

While having a drink in the cafe we noticed that Anna Maria’s bag EXACTLY matched the carpet. Now THAT is art.

Inspired by the reflective nature of Coen Wood’s works we were then excited to find ourselves in an infinity mirror elevator.

We jumped on a train. Anna Maria went home. This is us, DEAD, after walking all over Sydney.

I got off and met Kath. We walked from her work to her home. The weather was perfect for it and we had so much catching up to do. Ridiculous seeing that we’d been together just a few days ago and chattered on the phone since. Still, there was not a moment unfilled with news, gossip, laughter and interest,

Jin collected me from Kath’s and we grabbed Phil and headed out for a Balkan restaurant. Jin got roaring drunk and the three of us had a great time. I’m still smiling from ear to ear as I write this. These two guys are so great and I’m lucky to have them in my life. SERIOUSLY, all four of my mates that I saw today are so special to me. I am a lucky man.

Home. I got to drive Jin’s car because he was happily smashed.

Dogs fed & walked.

SOTBed: CHANEL No 5 vintage extrait. Having got the bottle out to wear in loving memory of Robert Herrmann last week I was reminded how much I love it.

Friday 18:

Up to a glorious, sunny, not too hot day. Walking the dogs was really nice.

SOTMorning: Sancti by Les Liquides Imaginaires. LOVELY incense bomb.

Jin has the day off. We did some grocery shopping and other bibs and bobs.

Home with Jin on the couch and me at the computer.

SOTEvening: So Nude by Costume National

Jin cooked dinner tonight.

We watched some of Big Bang theory series 11.

It was the loveliest lazy day together. 24 hours, just us.

We cleaned up the kitchen together and Jin hit the hay. I went and we chatted for a while till he was ready to drift off.

I watched some rubbish TV.

SOTTVWatching: Seville a l’Aube by L’Artisan. The news today that they are DCing this orange blossom/incense beauty has me very glum. Fortunately I have a large bottle.

MORE rubbish TV. Too embarrassed even to write it down.

SOTBed: Exultat by Maria Candida Gentile. I was wanting even MORE incense in my orange blossoms so thought why not? Couldn’t think of a good reason so BIG SPRITZES!! I smell amazing.

Saturday 19:

Where did today go?

SOTMorning: Gentleman’s Jockey Club by Oriza L Legrand

Dogs

Off to my mate Lakshmi’s place. He’s emptying his fragrance cupboard before moving to Japan. OMG! Unbelievable. Meet his 6 month old baby YounMi.

Home

BATHTIME!

SOTAfternoon:  4711 Remix Cologne. Mandarin and stuff. So good for spring.

TV watching. Here is Jin curled up in the couch. This is where you’ll find him whenever possible.

SOTEvening: Gucci Bloom Acqua di Fiori

Work was so much fun tonight. Dance school fundraiser. They were a hoot. This is my new friend Kylie. OMG! We laughed the whole night away.

SOTBed: Rose Oud by Yves Rocher

Sunday 20:

Up and at the computer quite early to get the comments done for the blog. We aren’t getting so much traction on our Saturday Question this month. I’m thinking you all might be bored with it.

SOTMorning: Premier Figuier Extreme by L’Artisan. The creamy, sweet, fruitiness is so beautiful.

Brunch in Newtown at Flour dun with Phil, Phillip and Graham. SO MUCH to chat about and catch up on. It was too dark inside to get a decent photo and I forgot in the sunshine, sorry. It was bloody delicious and fun.

TV

Lazed on the couch till time to leave for work.

SOTAfternoon: Samsara by Guerlain EdT and vintage extrait. Continuing the lactones but this time with fun on power orchestra of fabulous added. Sweet, creamy, sandalwood done on a mega scale. MMMMMM

 

 

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

61 thoughts on “Scent Diary: 14.10 – 20.10.2019”

  1. Your scent diary is my favourite Sunday read. Every time you mention Fancy Nights I remember to try to find mine. No success yet. Must keep lokking because I really like it. XX

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  2. Portia you have had a wonderful week.

    Please don’t take away the Saturday question! I for one love it. I think the comments and commenters ebb and flow depending upon life circumstances. I do need to take a social media break from time to time when my life gets too crazy. I am guessing this may be the case for others as well. I very much appreciate that I have a “home” to come back to at APJ with all my wonderful friends here for me.

    I have had a very busy work week and also went to work yesterday for some computer training. I am trying to be at peace with all the shite that is going on at work and the very very low morale. I don’t want to be wishing my life away looking towards the future and retirement. I need to be present and enjoy and create meaning to the here and now, both the good and the bad. And focus on all the blessings in my life that I have to be grateful for.

    OK enough with the philosophy…..perfume wise I went on a binge after the week of no perfume wearing thanks to Kathleen who sent me another care package. Plus I met up with a dear friend last Sunday and we went beserko in Saks Fifth Avenue beauty floor in Manhattan. I wish I had taken a picture of the HUGE Guerlain bottles that were laying on their sides looking like wine in wine racks. It was unbelievable.
    Tested many many fragrances including Imaginary Authors, Rogue Perfumery, various LInterdits and plenty of other stuff. I think for this upcoming week I may take a break from testing and go with something tried and true like Reglisse Noire.

    I hope everyone else had a wonderful week.

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    • Do they sell Rogue Perfumery at Saks? I read a review of a few of those perfumes over on the blog The Muse in Wooden Shoes and they sound interesting. What’s your impression, which ones did you try?

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      • I tried the entire collection via the sampler pack. If you love vintage you would probably love them. I have also been reading up on the line on fragrantica. Some lean more masculine than others. I really like the two tuberose forward ones. They are very potent and also very reasonably priced for indie/niche. To the best of my knowledge they are only sold through his etsy store but I could be wrong.

        Hoping Kathleen will chime in as she is also very familiar with the brand.

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    • Hey Brigitte,
      Thanks for the Saturday Question perspective.

      I’m so sorry your work life is less than pleasant. This seems to be a common thread in my conversations lately. So many people work in toxic environments that could be 100% better managed and directed. It’s becoming epidemic. Who’s have thought it would be so bad in 2019.

      YAY for perfume binges.One day we will do the NYC perfume stores together. You might want to start training now.

      Enjoy Reglisse Noire, perfect choice.
      Portia xx

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  3. My Fragrancenet order arrived this week, after a pretty well-behaved few months on my part. Tried out their new decant offerings and now have Lancome L’Autre Oud and Kenzo Jungle L’Elephant. Their twist-up decant bottle are pretty darned nice, and a good value overall, especially since I sure don’t need a full bottle of everything these days.

    That said, I did get full bottles of VCA Orchidee Vanille and L’AP Bois Farine. The former will work as a discreet, classy office scent, and the latter I will figure out at home. BTW, does anybody know where there is official news about exactly which L’Artisan Parfumeur perfumes are being cut? They’re coyly not saying anything on their site. Fair warnings please – I am still a mite cranky over the sudden disappearance of No. 19 soap…

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    • Hey AnnieA,
      Woo Hoo! Love getting boxes in the mail. How do you tell the 20ml decants apart, do they have stickers? Jungle elephant is SO GOOD!

      I have had no intel on the DCs at L’Artisan. The best insider knowledge about those guys usually comes from Candy Perfume Boy and Nick Gilbert. They’ve been fairly close ton thew source over the years.

      Yes, I bought the last of CHANEL No 19 Shower Gels in Sydney when the DC notice came through. Now I’m too scared to use it.

      Portia xx

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  4. What a great time you always have. I’d love to have lots of galleries to wander around. Though, having said that, I’d want to own a lot of the works. I recently have been eyeing up a fabulous sculpture piece and I’d love to have it. In my head I already have a place picked out where I’d put it. I just can’t afford it at the moment. Had some unexpected bills recently that has put a stop to my spendthrift ways. Work is in a very busy phase for a few weeks. I’ll be a bedraggled mess by mid November. Yesterday my daughter and I spent the day in a beautiful spa. We were totally blissed out. And got pleasantly tiddly on Champagne. It was her birthday treat, she deserves it. She works very hard and is going through some personal issues so this was a tonic for her. We both slept like babies last night. Unusual for us both. Smallies are here as well and earlier, after her bath she had the biggest laugh when I showed her the bottle of Poopoo Pidoo. And it smells amazing on her. We had early dinner and all relaxing now. They go home soon. But they’re coming back on Friday evening as there’s a kids arts festival all week here and some good things for them to see. Glad our commenters are getting through the shite😉 We’re still missing a few of the gang. Hope they are doing ok. Have a good week everybody.

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    • Hey Cassieflower,
      I love the galleries because they have the kinds of art that I could never in my wildest dreams afford and also stuff I’d never want to own but love to look at. I get the chance to learn about and see the reasons it has arrived at this point and the references to the past that make it important. Also, every spare inch of our walls is art covered already, we need to buy a couple more houses to display the whole lot. None of it important or ground breaking, just stuff my parents, and now I, have collected.
      OOOOH! The sculpture! What’s it like?
      Spa Day. I was given one for my birthday that needs to be used. Thanks for the reminder.
      Yeah, it seems we have had a tough September and October among the APJ family.
      Always nice to see you.
      Portia xx

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      • Use up that spa day voucher!! I got one a few years ago and put it in a safe place. So safe that I couldn’t find it afterwards. It had gone out of date a year by the time it surfaced. I am an avid art buyer, but like you have run out of wall space. I have several pieces stacked behind my couch in the sitting room😱 Tell ya what, I’ll email you a pic of my lovely girl that I’m admiring. Hubby came to see her as well. He said he’d buy it for me for my next few Christmas and birthday presents. But I know in my heart we can’t spring for it at the moment.

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  7. Portia, your week was amazing!
    I hope you do not stop the Saturday question. That and your Scent Diary are my favorite readings on this blog.
    I have been away from commenting because right now I am facing a very difficult moment in my life and I am completely disconnected, even from my emails, which I am not even checking. I stopped by now to check APJ, because it always keeps my mind away, for a couple of minutes, from stress and makes me feel in some way relaxed. I will be away for a while until everything gets better, hopefully soon, but I just wanted to say that I love this blog, your posts and I consider myself part of this wonderful APJ family. Sending hugs to everyone!

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  8. Please don’t stop posting your Saturday question Portia! I look forward to reading it, and what will then be the resultant discussion of the week. Your questions are thought provoking and I love reading all comments. I also enjoy your weekly post, reading about what you’ve done and worn perfume wise, as well as others’ posts. I’ve had a distracting weekend, but typically read with my coffee in the early mornings.
    We lost a four-legged fur-baby family member today, but I was blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with my nephew’s 16 year old! dog all weekend before his passing, providing comfort. I’ve gravitated to Jeffrey Dame’s Duality for the past few days, as well as Brigitte’s Jergens perfume blend. They both have felt very comfortable to wear during time of stress.

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  9. Sending big hugs to Brigitte and Perfumelover67 who I know are having a rough time at work, and anyone else who is suffering from stress. APJ is a friendly place of refuge. It was a hectic week here with the move from Montréal but we are slowly getting settled in. Very happy to be reunited with my SD shoe and perfume collections. 🙂 Had some good sniffage this morning at Nordstroms, got to try the new Maison Lancome releases and the new Jo Malone LE Rose & Magnolia. I really liked the new Lancome Santal Kardamom but need to test it against Radio Bombay.

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  10. Samsara is awesome. Your mention of Seville a l’Aube by L’Artisan is timely as I was reading about it last week or so, since it was inspired by a novel by Denyse Beauliu, particularly her extra-marital affair 🙂 I went over the reviews to determine whether I should blind-buy it but ultimately decided against it because I feel it may not appeal to me. If anyone loves it, right now is the best time to stock it.

    Also given the news of Caron, I can almost see every caron jumping in price over the coming decades, the kind of prices we have to pay for vintage versions of Tabac Blonde and Nuit de Noel etc. now. There are two Carons I particularly want to get now and then more or less my Caron collection will be complete; Poivre and Narcisse Noir in vintage or semi-vintage extrait versions. I won’t mind Parfum Sacre in extrait version as well but I think original edp version is pretty good so I can do without its extrait version somehow.

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    • Hey Fazal,
      Did you read Denyse Beaulieu’s The Perfume Lover? It’s a fantastic read. You get to go with her on the perfume creative journey as well as her real life experience the fragrance is based on. It’s a wild ride. Yeah, I heard they were DCing a few L’Artisans.
      Has Caron died then? What a shame.
      Portia x

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          • It’s a bit funny how they were violating IFRA and no one knew it. Given anti-IFRA sentiments among some perfumistas, can you imagine how much Caron’s business would have blossomed if people knew Caron is still in the pre-IFRA era 😀 It’s a shame, Caron gave a middle-finger to IFRA for so long but didn’t exploit the commercial potential of such a gesture 😉

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            • Agreed Fazal, I enjoy Caron perfumes very much and don’t mind if they didn’t follow regulations. My Caron’s are pre-2010 though.
              I wonder what will happen now going forward for Caron?

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              • Caron has new owners so it does not make sense for them to shut it down now. Many classics will be discontinued, some classics will be reformulated (some beyond recognition) and Caron will become purely a commercial enterprise, just like Guerlain and every other classical brand, which means lot of new releases and mostly very mainstream and un-Caron releases.

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                • I can imagine Caron’s future exactly how you describe Fazal. I think that means that all who love Caron perfumes should purchase now while available in the formulation loved. I will do my research and thank you for brining this to my attention.

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                  • You are most welcome. This is pretty much my attitude towards most classic brands now including Caron, Guerlain, Chanel etc including their exclusive lines. If you have noticed a pattern in my purchases, they tend to be vintage perfumes. I mean just look at Chanel and Dior’s exclusive lines. All the best Chanels such as Sycomore, Coromandal, Bois de Iles, Cuir de Russie are early releases which the line was started (granted some were older but moved to exclusive line such as N22, Bois de Iles, and Cuir de Russie). Similarly, Dior has completely revamped its exclusive line and almost every new addition is a safe fragrance Dior would have released as a mainstream fragrance not long ago. The original line had daring ones such as Eau Noire and Oud Ispahan or at least novel compositions like Ambre Nuit.

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  11. Thank you for writing openly (but succinctly!) about the major meltdown-horror afterwards, I am sure almost everyone can relate in one way or another, and just reading it I think and hope helps (to remember) not to make it a big deal, it happens, we move on. If I am in whatever drama (pain, ill, stress, worry) just realising I am not unique in my suffering (and ofcourse sometimes I forget) takes the (unnecessary) edge of.
    I had the flue, then migraine, so no perfume. We watched el Camino, we both found it a bit of a let down. Then I watched a film (Wad by Ruben Smit) about the Wadden Sea, a Unesco biospere wetlands (largest in the world apparently) in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It is a unique part of the planet and stunningly beautiful.

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    • Hey Hamamelis,
      Sometimes we just melt down, yeah. It’s the ghastly self recrimination afterwards that is the real killer. It’s so thoughtful that you have reminded me we all do it. Actually, it helps a lot. thank you.
      GET WELL SOON.
      Wadden Sea sounds fabulous. Is it on at the cinema or can I access it through Netflix or Stan?
      portia x

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      • I don’t think Wad is on either of them yet. Here is the trailer for a bit of feel good anyway: https://wadfilm.nl/clips/

        What is on Netflix is the Gamechangers, highly recommended if you ever considered eating less meat, or if you like bad ass vegans 😉 but be warned, I recommended a friend to watch it (he said I will never ever stop eating meat) and at the end of the film he said, that’s it. I have no choice but to eat vegan from now on. There is none of the slaughterhouse cruelty, it is just showing big bad ass vegan guys and topathletes, and at the very end, showing the (real) costs of eating meat. Not pretty.

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  12. Yay for rubbish TV! I’m currently watching season 2 of Insatiable (on Netflix) and I think maybe you would love it? It’s silly and ridiculous and then BAM it hits you in the feels.

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  13. Commenting late because we are in the middle of a social crisis here in Chile since Friday including military in the streets and since nightly curfews. Didnt have the headspace before. Just wanted to say the Saturday question and especially the Sunday column are favorite reads, and a spot of normalcy for me today. Id miss them hugely!

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