Scent Diary: 20.1-26.1.2020

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

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Portia

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Hey there APJ Crew,

This week was a Sample Only Week. Using up a bunch of the samples lying around here unloved. The idea has been to put the whole .7ml (or whatever is left of a decant) on at once and wear it. I drop the lot in my hand, rub it together after shave wise and then pat it on my chest and arms. Effective. These samples have been purchased from First In Fragrance, Surrender To Chance or LuckyScent and a couple were frag friend gifted.

Scent Diary: 20.1-26.1.2020

Monday 20:

Stayed up and did the clothes washing and hanging till about 2am.

Bed

6am Aquarobics

Went back to bed till midday! HEAVEN

Fed & walked the dogs

Cleaned the house. The whole shebang. Watered the plants.

Went to the Post Office. Picked up a parcel from CouriersPlease.

TRIVIA Q&A

Jin came home. we had dinner and watched the last episode of Dracula. Ending is poor but the show was wonderful.

TRIVIA Q&A

Hung out on the blog for a while.

The whole day without fragrance. Feels like I’ve recalibrated a bit.

Tuesday 21:

Jin woke me when he was leaving but I rolled over and went back to sleep.

SOTMorning: Replica – Promenade in the Gardens by Maison Margiela 2013. I was expecting a verdant, breezy, pretty thing but this wears mainly base to me after the first 10 minutes. Amorphous green over a dry grass/patchouli/woods base. Wears like a modern version of a chypre. THUNK!

Did a drive by of the new Parramatta Club. It’s looking spectacular and opening later this week.

Watched some Netflix. Back to the Jurassic Park series! YAY!

SOTAfternoon: Hydrangea by J-Scent. More of a jasmine and fresh green bulb leaves than hydrangea but extremely pretty and a perfect sweaty summer day pick. I could also imagine in wearing perfectly as a reminder of spring in the dead of winter. THUNK

Jin came home with PIZZA! It was freaking delicious.

We watched the last of Sex Education Series two together. WOW! The second season has been even better than the first. Unbelievably good TV. We loved it.

SOTBed: Lost Cherry by Tom Ford. I am seriously in love with the way it smells. Cherry Cheesecake and booze with all those lovely biscuit/almond references. YUMMERS! THUNK

Wednesday 22:

6am Aquarobics. The pool was quite full this morning. This is one of my instructors, Shelly. So lovely.

Did a little grocery shopping on the way home.

SOTMorning: Cuoio dei Dolci by La Via del Profumo. Sensationally animalic tropical floral vanilla fragrance. Feral but sheer, elegant and poised. Excellent stuff. THUNK
Update: It only lasted an hour or so in this muggy heat before it became a sheer, hardly noticeable skin scent.

Had a really productive work morning. Secured an extra 21st Century TRIVIA gig for Thursdays and consolidating my Turbo Trivia Tuesdays at Parramatta. Also, I’ll be the Drag Queen Hostess at the Opening Night VIP Event there tomorrow night. The brand new Parramatta Club opens its doors! YAY!

BATHTIME!

SOTEvening: Truth Beauty Freedom Love by 4160 Tuesdays.

Ainslie walker came over for Trivia. It was heaving tonight. 11 tables, loads of players and we had a hoot. Ainslie’s table came second, they were so excited.

Ainslie and I then had some couch time watching Netflix and a sleepover!

SOTBed: Night Veils – Le Gant by Byredo. So polite? I think the heat stole most of this beauty away from me. Saffron, leather and a hint of mimosa. Maybe Le Gant needs a cooler temp to bloom properly. THUNK
UPDATE: Le Gant took nearly an hour to start smelling amazing. A distinctive floral leather that sings. It lulled me to sleep and still smelled softly wonderful next morning.

Thursday 23:

Woke up to the perfect remnants of Le Gant. WOW!

Made Ainslie and I an omelette breakfast with tea & coffee.

She headed off to work.

I was supposed to go to Aqua but decided to go back to bed instead.

Jin has received word that our North Korea tour will be cancelled because of the new Chinese coronavirus, a cousin of the SARS virus.

SHAVED and neatened my beard.

Walked the dogs in 42.7C heat. O M G! We stayed under the tree cover as much as possible but WOW!

SOTDay: L’Insomnuit by Robert Piguet. Sometimes you need to lean into the heat. This is an iris and tonka fragrance with hints of plum, oud and sandalwood. I remember being in Londion when it was released and falling madly for it. Still gorgeous.

Went and had a walk around the new club. WOW!

Home. Bathed in cool Radox bath..

Make Up! In 42.7C Heat!

Went to the VIP Launch of Club Parramatta with my friend Roberta. We saw, were seen, drank, ate, schmoozed, painted and played the poker machines. EXCELLENT night in an amazing new venue! Woo Hoo!

Home

Jin put his foot down and we now have the AC on. It’s only on Dry Mode but still it drops the room temp by at least 15C as well.

SOTBed: Au Delà Narcisse by Bruno Fazzolari

Slept like a baby in the cooled air of our living room, Jin and I on the different lengths of our L shaped couch. HEAVEN. THUNK

Friday 24:

Last night and today have been quite fraught. Our China and North Korea adventure has been cancelled because of the virus. Poor Jin has been working like a house elf to get everything sorted so we can still go to Thailand for my cousin’s wedding. Fortunately QANTAS, Expedia and our North Korea Tour crew have all issued full refunds with only very reasonable cancellation fees. We weren’t so lucky with our Hilton Beijing booking but in their defence we did get an amazing non refundable price.
Jin has now booked us on a new flight to Koh Samui from Sydney and we get an extra day in Thailand (via 19 hour hotel stopover within Singapore’s Changi Airport! my favourite airport on earth). With all our refunds etc the new bookings are pretty much going to even out, with a little bit of extra spending on the ground. Crisis averted.

SOTMorning: L’Ombre dans L’Eau by Diptyque. I am loving the modern version of this. The blackcurrant is rosier and sweeter, friendlier and much more 21st century. 100% loving it and now I’m thinking FB. THUNK

We went and got some Hawa Chicken and Jin bought a going away cake for one of his colleagues.

LAZY DAY.

Thank goodness it’s not so hot as yesterday. My body had gone into frightened meltdown and just wanted to sleep. It was so hot outside that my nose hairs were singeing and the skin inside my nostrils tingled like it was in a dry sauna.

Jin has gone to work

SOTEvening: Arielle Shoshana Sunday. So much rice steam with a load of excellent bells and whistles. THIS is amazing. Really boundary pushing yet totally wearable. I love it.

Kath and I went down to the Cold Chisel concert at BankWest stadium, a couple of blocks away from our place. I’d been given a couple of tix by Jane. It was freaking AMAZING! Seriously. We were hoping to get backstage and see everyone but it wasn’t meant to be this time. Still we sat with my mate Patrick, Jane, friends new and old. What a night!

Watched TV, fell asleep.

Saturday 25:

Woke up this morning to a FaceTime call from the two Netherlands men we hung out with on the Trans Siberian Railway. Rick and Dirk, the super cute best buddies. They are both so sweet and fun. Hilarious chat, saw around Rick’s beautiful 3 storey abode, met his girlfriend Desiree. Here’s a pic of us on the trip last year, no idea where Jin was at this point.

I was too blurry so Jin walked the dogs this morning.

Jin and I went and got a big container for his bulk rice buying. 25KG! Then I had to clean out the pantry for there to be room. The grey container on the left bottom.

Lunar New Year. Metal Rat 2020

SOTDay: Replica Jazz Club by Maison Margiela. Rum, honeyed tobacco, vanilla and stuff. Very wearable.

Caught up with my girlfriend Kim and we saw The Gentlemen at the cinema! SO GOOD! O M G! I didn’t want it to end. In fact, I want to see it again.

Came home and hung around the house with Jin & the dogs watching some Korean travel TV. No, I still don’t understand a freaking thing. Pictures are nice though.

Came into the office to get started on my week’s TRIVIA Q&A.

SOTNight: Les Exceptions – Fougère Furieuse by Mugler. Metallic geranium, neroli and a fuzzy base of indeterminate oakmossy stuff. It’s a bit like licking an old tin can. Nice-ish but not what I want to smell like. THUNK

For some reason I stayed up till 4.30am watching Sex Education on Netflix. NAUGHTY!

BED!

Sunday 26:

It’s quite hot today. I’ve woken at 11am and pretty sweaty.

SOTMorning: Lostinflowers Strangelove NYC. Lovely rick white floral with the deep yearning breath of jasmine and champaca underplayed by a soft oud-ish-ness.

Kath popped over for a visit.

Jin and I hung out a bit.

BATHTIME!

SOTDay: Angelo Di Fiume by Linari. Caramel, Bourbon vanilla and sandalwood all overlaid with a sweet fruity glaze. Delicious. Like a very heavy duty Guerlain. Fabulous, even in this heat. THUNK

Work was excellent. Virgins United won the $500 CASH JACKPOT! Amazing.

SOTNight: Mon Parfum Pearl by M. Micallef. Last sample of the week. Pretty, soft rose/peony with a lovely undertone of rice and vanilla. Nothing special for me but I can imagine non perfumista people swooning. Perfect office and close quarters scent. THUNK

Here are all the samples I thunked this week. Pretty happy with that.

 

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

40 thoughts on “Scent Diary: 20.1-26.1.2020”

  1. Hooray for lightening the load!! Keep on thunkin’!!!!!
    After some insane days of testing and reeking havoc I chose to stick with Winter Woods the entire week. It requires no thinking because it smells fantastic ( year round scent, don’t let the name fool you) , the hubs loves it on me and I got two compliments at work. I may go for another week with it.
    Yesterday I was a total sloth. Binge watched Justified and then later Lost in the Supermarket. Passed out at 7pm and awoke at 5. These days my self care is getting decent sleep.

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    • Had to get dental work done and the worst part was I chose to listen to NPR on the headphones and ended up hearing the entire Mike Pompeo interview and the summary of the bullying aftermath. The politics here are literally more unpleasant then having a tooth drilled!

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      • Because it smells so good on me and required little thought I just kept reaching for it. And sometimes it’s really nice to spend some time with the same perfume and get to experience all its facets and nuances.

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  2. You did a good thunking job this week, Portia! Sorry about your trip cancellation. It is so stressful what is happening in China now with the coronavirus. Hope you have an amazing time in Thailand though, for your cousin’s wedding.
    Regular working week for me with the usual high stress levels.
    I took my mother to several doctors appointments, my old dog to the vet and survived taking care of my two baby nieces while my sister and her hubby had to go out together for just a couple of hours.
    I also visited the hospice where my dad spent his last days. Beautiful Sunday here with sunny skies and not so cold after a crazy rainy day yesterday. Planning to take a walk in the park later and relax for the rest of the day. Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate! Peace and love to everyone!

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    • Hi there PL67,
      Poor old China. This feels like germ warfare. Even the videos being made to explain it, with the eating of foods most Europeans eschew, feels like a racist taunt rather than news. I’ve watched enough spy/outbreak movies to have a healthy suspicion. Good news is that it seems less easy to catch that SARS.
      Is Mum unwell or is it age? Two baby nieces? How old?
      Did you go to the hospice in memory of Dad or do you like the grounds/staff/something?
      Peace to you too.
      Portia xx

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      • Mom is very ill and also old . My nieces are 15 days old, so not easy to take care of both at the same time. 😀
        I go to the hospice in Dad’s memory a couple of times a year. I will be always grateful with the staff and residents who took very good care of him on his final days. I like to share a couple of hours with them and show my appreciation in some way.

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  3. Good to hear that your travel plans worked out after re-arranging. Scary the coronavirus and wise to take precautions.
    I like the way you apply your samples, all-in and wear the entire vial to experience the full effect. I have started a week of sampling 4160Tuesdays. The names are adventurous and fun, the perfumes not quite my style to wear but I am having great fun reading about the perfumer’s concepts, inspirations, and notes. Of all her perfumes, I really love Eau My Soul best so far.

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    • Hey Kathleen,
      4160Tuesdays do some super fun stuff. Sarah is a really good story teller and I love the motivations for her works too. There are SO MANY though, it’s crazy. You could sample that one house alone for half a year. Eau My Soul is AMAZING! Such a warm and comfortable fragrance.
      Portia xx

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  4. Wore lots of good scents and tried a few samples, unfortunately with my insomnia life is mostly a blur. Took husband for cataract surgery and follow up Thursday and Friday. Still struggling to find a way to limit my Facebook usage without totally missing out on important things in my friends’ lives. My biggest problem is two friends who share about 20 posts a day each and fill up my feed. If I unfollow them I miss everything. Is there a way to see only someone’s personal posts and not their shares? I have so many important things to get done every day and yet I end up wasting hours scrolling through stuff that is unimportant.

    Thanks for the reminder on Insomnuit, need to wear that! It fits me perfectly right now…

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    • Hi TaraC,
      Insomnia! That must be a freaking pain in the ass.
      How did the cataract surgery go? He all OK?
      FaceBook is a time sink. Sometimes I come to the computer with a job, answer a comment on FB and suddenly tewo hours of my life have been stolen. Those super multi posters are so annoying. How friendly are you? If you know them really well you might like to tell them about STORIES. They can put all their unnecessary crap there and keep the feed for family and friends stuff. Tell them you don’t want to unfollow them but it’s getting absurd.
      Hugs,
      Portia xx

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  6. Wow, excellent thunking! I’ve been doing a lot of gardening, as the weather here still allows for planting bulbs and mulching. My amaryllis bulbs in the house are mostly done, though I have one pot about to sprout, which I just took out of its cool, dark storage; and I bought a pot of hyacinth bulbs at the supermarket, which is now scenting our whole family room. I love that smell.

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    • Hi there OH,
      One of the things I miss most about having a house is gardening. When I was a kid it was Mum and my job together. We’d spend whole weekends in and among the trees and bushes, planting, mulching, planning next season and enjoying each others company. It was something Dad liked her to spend money on so the front yard would always look beautiful, even to the point of giving her a twice weekly gardener later on.
      Hyacinths! What a beautiful scent.
      Portia xx

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      • I love that story! My nice husband lets me spend what I want on the garden, but my “gardener” is now my teenaged son! And I do enjoy having him out there with me. I hope he’ll like to look back at that some day. My own parents were great gardeners and so were my grandparents. I really do think it’s a thing families hand down.

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        • Yeah, 100% agree. My Grandma’s second husband Jim was an excellent gardener. He taught me so much about growing vegetables. They basically fed themselves their veg needs.
          Your son will definitely remember. It’s such a happy think to do, enriching the earth, seeds and seedlings to flowers and food.
          Portia xx

          Liked by 1 person

      • I’ll let you loose in my garden. It sure could do with some loving care. My mother was a great gardener but unfortunately, like her baking skills, it totally skipped by me.

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  7. Very happy to see that you are still frequenting that gorgeous facility for your aquarobics. I was wondering if it had fallen by the wayside as I hadn’t heard mention of it for a while. You get a gold star for attendance, Portia 🌟. Congrats on landing the new gig. That should keep you out of trouble for a while! And while I’m handing out awards, I’ll give you Thunker of The Week 🥇Of course, you know damned well Brigitte could wipe the floor with you if she was so inclined. So consider that medal on temporary loan.
    I had a heavy week that felt never ending. Yuck. Glad it’s done. I’ve been rotating through my favorite scents both for simplicity and expediency. Quite frankly, I have no recollection of what I wore, but I know I smelled great. I got a compliment on Le Mat from a client. My eldest daughter thought it was nothing but rose. Odd. I get the patchouli and immortelle the most. Anyhow, I still love it.
    Wearing Carnal Flower right now to put me in the mood for vacation. We’re leaving Wednesday and I’m sorting and packing. It’s so nice to see and handle light, gauzy and colourful garments after 5 months of dark coloured wools, fleeces and heavy coats. Too bad your own travel plans were disrupted, although if you broke even I suppose you came out on the good side on what could have been much worse. On another unrelated topic, was it Australia Day this week? I kept seeing traditional Australian desserts on one of my feeds. Do you and Jin celebrate? Oh! Dumb question. I suppose if you did, you would have mentioned 🙄. Alright then, that’s my signal. My brain is turning to mush. Oh! Btw, how long will that giant tub of rice last? Do you both have it everyday? Is it basmati? Jasmine? Or some special Korean rice? Now that I’m truly rambling on, I’ll say bye and send love to you, Jin and the doggies 🐶🐶

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    • Hey Marcella,
      Yeah, the Aquarobics has been sporadic at best. I actively talk myself out of it most mornings. It’s a problem.
      HA! Thunker Of The Week is an amazingly cool award. I’ll take it for the week that was. Brigitte is our resident Thunkalicious Perfumista, she hardly needs awards anymore.
      V A C A TION! Woo Hoo! I’m so happy that you are getting off to warmer climes. The winter really hits you hard, eh?
      Sadly, the current date for Australia Day is also the date we landed and stole the land from its native custodians. The land was never ceded, the aborigines treated less well than animals (it wasn’t till the 1960s that they were recognised as human) and in the last year they’re lands that had been re-granted have been stolen AGAIN for the Adani mine. We see little to celebrate on this day that has only been a national day of celebration since 1994 and could easily be moved by a week to allow a week of mourning for the lives, lands and culture lost to the rapacious white invaders.
      This is the first time Jin has bought such and outrageous amount of rice. It will probably last six months. He eats rice every day in some form, maybe I’ll eat it four or five times a week. It’s medium grain brown rice and he adds in 1/10 black rice whenever he cooks it so it’s good for my diabetes.
      Good chat. Have a safe and fun adventure on your holidays,
      Portia xx

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    • Loved “I have no recollection of what I wore, but I know I smelled great.” 🙂
      Enjoy your vacation! (I’ve probably missed when you mentioned but may I ask where are you going?)

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  8. I am currently wearing Dear Polly, which I like very much. Smokey tea that fits perfectly for a windy day mostly in doors with horrid lower back pain. The horrid back ache, has, in fact, been a factor for the past two weeks. I was working on a computer in a bad chair, hunched over and not at all ergonomically correct, not getting up for breaks, and low and behold, my back ruined, for a while at least. (Apologies if I have already complained about this.)

    The reason to bring it up–again, if it is again–is that pain effects what perfumes I want to wear. Things make me a little nauseous that normally do not (this morning’s Lumiere Noir pour femme had to be showered off) and other things just are too much. So I have been wearing a lot of things with spice or wood or tea, among them IUNX L’Ether and l’Eau Sento, both new loves, Trimerous, and Migrations des Arbres (the latter both by Euan McCall, my new favorite).

    Otherwise PT and stretching and trying to stay off the computer, although with work that is difficult! Oh, and blogs!

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    • Hey Amy,
      OUCHIE WAA WAA! Sorry to read about your back pain. Have you sorted a better chair?
      Interesting that pain affects your joy in fragrance.
      Looks like you’ve worked your way around it though with a fairly stellar line up. Where is Euan McCall from and what are the frags like?
      Heal quick.
      Portia xx

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  9. Oh I absolutely adored the second season of Sex Education! This series plus On the Block are two my all time favorites on Netflix . The wait inbetween is killer though!

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  11. This is just ridiculous now. Tuesday before I can get a minute to catch up properly. The last week has been crazy busy with travelling that had me almost meeting myself coming back, and work, and the invasion by the Smallies. Though the Smallies are such fun, I am always wrecked when they go. Anyhoo, Portia you are definitely The Thunkmeister General this last week, Lots of new stuff for you. And a big reward for the tidiest pantry ever! So neat, with labels and everything. Haha, I have something to aspire to. Now I like rice, but you guys obviously go for it big time. Good idea if you have the room to store it to bulk buy like that. I have an aunt who used to buy toilet rolls and toothbrushes in bulk. I’m sorry your trip has been derailed, but you’ll still enjoy the parts you’ll get to. There’s always next year, and the years after that. I hope your new gig goes amazingly well for you. Nice to have a new gaff to admire.

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  12. Thanks for the sleep over my lovely friend! We must do it again soon since you’ll be around and not in China/Korea! I’ll come cheer you up. Ps I finished Sex Education! 🥰 xxx

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