Portia

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Hello Australian Perfume Junkies and friends, week 2 of the modern Scent Diary.

Hoping you enjoy it and will let me know what’s happening in your lives too. What I really loved about Scent Diary was the interaction with perfumistas around the world, and their interactions with each other. Scent Diary became a conversation hub and it was epic.

Jin and I have made so many friends, near and far, through perfume. So let’s reunite the old and welcome some new friends too.

Scent Diary: 9.2-15.2.2026

Monday

Morning: Guerlain Nerolia Vetiver. This is so bloody gorgeous. Juicy, crisp and green. I also love that longevity sucks. Perfect morning starter and will be gone by finish of lunch.

Afternoon: SJP Lovely Noir. This thing is thick, rich and gooey. Disgusting really. I am addicted and wearing it in 35°C humid rainy weather. Crazy but I’m loving it.

After swim: Aether Nevermore. Inky sharp darkness followed by a petroleum rich, rubbery grass. Strange and fabulous.

Bed: Starck Peau d’Ailleurs. A green, woody, faux fur scent. Gentle but effortlessly strange. Like the smell of looking through pale green pebble glass.

Good morning. Monday is cleaning, laundry and Trivia Q&A day. This week, it’s Jin’s only day off after working six days. Anything he wants to do is instantly on the agenda.

I’m a bit late starting. Got up at 7.30am to wee and went back to bed, thinking I’d just have a few minutes semi aware floating. Woke up at 10.15am. OOOPSIE! Feel really good for it though.

Jin is happily ensconced on the couch with the dogs watching the Winter Olympics. He is sport mad and can watch any of it happily.

Here are Jin, Momo and Paris hogging the couch. Look at the happy smiles on those dogs.

Momo, our aged greyhound bitch, is back to fighting fit. Paris, our aged greyhound dog, had a vomit sesh and it made us realize the Sacred Bamboo berries are toxic. REALLY toxic. So the berries are all cut and binned, will have to remove the flower heads after they die from now on. DRAMA!

I’m at my desk, answering last weeks comments and writing to you before getting down to the Trivia Q&A.

We went out for Yum Yum Cha Cha Cha at our current favourite Crystal Seafood in Strathfield. The food was fab and we gorged accordingly. Jin got a work call early on so I basically ate alone for 20 minutes while he fixed a problem. It’s his day off but ALWAYS on call. I didn’t mind, it was a nice people watch and really the food is fabulous. I was the only white guy and the rest were elderly Chinese people.

We hit the Asian grocery. Jin’s not so secret happy place.

Walked the dogs. This is our street after rain.

Laundry. Trivia Q&A

We hit our Aquarobics class. Well, I did Aqua, Jin did sauna and spa relaxation.

Laundry.

We had a leftovers dinner, watched some Winter Olympics together.

Jin went to bed

Trivia Q&A. Done, dusted and sent to the Queens working this week. Mine are printed and ready to be put into the Trivia Bag.

Big spritzes of Peau d’Ailleurs. Perfect for sleep in this crazy humid weather right now.

Tuesday

Morning: Neela Vermeire Creations Pichola 2022. The perfect blend of white flowers, citrus and greenery backed by a honeyed something something something.

Work: Estée Lauder Spellbound. These modern Lauder bottles are cheap AF. Nasty, nasty, cost saving, el cheapo multinational Trumper conglomerate shitheads.

Bed: I double troubled tonight. Left arm: Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur. Right arm: Britney Spears Curious. These two make a very interesting contrast.

Woke. Put out some more washing (tea towels and cleaning rags)

Roof guy came to look and see if we can do Solar in our apartment block. He was dead set gorgeous. Caught me looking him over, just smiled.

Went and did some errands. I know we are boycotting Lauder but they had Cinnabar for AU$49. That’s less than US$35. I caved. Now I have buyers remorse BUT am very happy with a basically free perfume.

Did our Pod Cast for the week. ALS: To the Moon and Back. One of my dear friends Lisa has been stuck down with ALS. We talk about her trials and tribulations, the world, shared history and so much more. It’s a rambling, fun, tepid mess but you might like it. We do.

Bath time.

Had a sleep. Woke up and freaked out. Nearly time to go to work.

Went to work, it was busy!

Annoyingly my sty is coming up again. GAH!

Watched some The Recruit on Netflix.

Went to bed, still reading Persuasion by Jane Austin.

Wednesday

Morning: DKNY Stories. Shampoo and bubble gum with a side order of vanilla cream. Weird, more-ish and utterly unlike NYC. The bottle is fabulous though, hefty, feels good in my hand and spritzes so well.

Work: Milla Milla September

Bed: Raymond Monegal Impossible Iris. Dry, yet sugar coated, doughy woods style iris.

Woke slowly like coming up from the depths of the ocean.

Made an instant coffee and headed to the perfume room/office to get the next Sale Doc done. It’s out to the select first responders today. Tonight, after work, I hope to get some photos done.

LUNCH, watched My Oxford Year with the unbearably engaging Corey Mylchreest. Be still my thunderously beating heart.

Getting Trivia Q&A done in advance because we are off own the 19th for an adventure.

Had a bath.

30 minute nana nap.

Work. We were busy at Greystanes Inn. Loads of my faves but a few crews off galavanting elsewhere.

Jin was still up. Last night the dishwasher was making funny noises and not completing the cycle. I left a note for Jin and by the time I got home tonight he had it working perfectly. He was doing a cycle to make sure it ran properly, it did. CHEERING! He’s a gem.

Had some dinner.

Did some Trivia Q&A.

Watched some The Recruit.

Read some Persuasion

Sleep.

Thursday

Morning: Maria Candida Gentile Exultat. Incense woods done right. THIS is how I love to smell.

Evening: Bits and pieces, deciding what to keep and cull. A little bit of Je Riviens by Worth extrait, Hyde by Hiram Green (Jin started screaming he was being attacked by a cat poo/goat cross), Le Cri de la Lumiere by Parfum d’Empire. I smell like a perfume store. Over it all, but on another piece of skin, to leave the house I added Ombre Noire by Lalique (does anyone else love the FragranceNet 8ml decants?)

Bed: Neela Vermeire Creations Eshal. Cool white flowers and a zillion bells and whistles. HEAVEN

Woke, cuppa, into the office Trivia Q&A. Got so much done this morning. Very chuffed.

LUNCH! Watched Bridgerton E2:S4

Jin came home and is very excited about finding a foot crew in South Korea who can do his insoles for plantar fasciitis. At about 1/5 the cost of Australia. Then he fall asleep on the couch with the dogs.

Started doing some Perfume Cull work but it’s too draining.

Back to Trivia Q&A

We caught a bus and then a train to town. Met Hyun, Jin Tattoo, and Michael. We hit the Kimpton Margot for drinks. Then wandered down in the ever so lightly spritzing cool summer night to our fave noodle and dumpling bar. Yes, Hyun is THAT GORGEOUS in real life, flawless.

Back on the train and a light rail home.

Jin came home and after cleaning his teeth hit the hay.

I walked the dogs, did some blogging, gave myself a hefty spritz, had a couple of cuppas and will be pushing Zs in minutes myself. G’night

Friday

Morning: Amouage Fate Woman.

Day: Nina Ricci Nina EdT

Dinner: Mona di Orio Musc

Bed: CHANEL Coco extrait

Jumped out of bed. Have a long list of cleaning that needs doing before my mate Clare comes over to shop the cull. Had to turn this apartment from a bomb site into merely untidy. Sweated like a farm hand.

I had to go some grocery shopping, just a little. While there I dropped into the Post Office and collected a parcel. Yes, I know I’m culling but this was on such deep discount and I grabbed one for Scotty too.

Clare came. She is such good company. I made us scones and stove top coffee. We chatted for a couple of very happy hours. Life, Perfume, Love, Adventures. So good. She bought a few perfumes, we tried a whole lot more. It was fun.

Jin came home not long after with a McDonald’s Filet of Fish. He’d treated himself and thought I should have some food joy too. DELICIOUS!

My friend Lisa, who I am doing the podcast with (ALS: To the Moon and Back) lives a couple of hours south on a 25 acre hillside with her lovely husband Mark. They grow a lot of their own food, have a menagerie and a really gorgeous home. Our friends Hunter and Faycal (with their daughter Mila) are in Australia at the moment and we organized a dinner catch up. It was heaven. Mark cooked, we ate with gusto. MMMMM. Loads of love, laughs and stories.

Got home about midnight. Had a super hot bubble bath with lavender seeds. MMMMMM

Read some Persuasion

Bed

Saturday

Morning: Hermès Rouge

Day: Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely Noir

Wandering the golf course with Jin: Elizabeth Taylor Diamonds and Emeralds. So satisfying. You can see how empty this bottles is. I love it.

Bed:

Rolled over and went back to sleep till 9am. Woke so gently.

Fed and walked the dogs in a cool, post rain morning. Everything so clean and fresh.

Did some home chores. Very little, this place is practically spotless from yesterdays clean.

Our upstairs neighbour and daughter dropped in a piece of Banana Bread each for Jin and me. Obviously I’d eaten more than half before remembering to photograph it for you all.

I also did Jin’s Valentine’s Day card and left it on his pillows to find tonight. We don’t celebrate but I have collected so many cards that the drawer is groaning. Using one to write a little love note was fun, easy and helped alleviate some of my hoarders guilt.

Trivia Q&A writing to get ahead for our holiday. I have four weeks to write of two complete games per week. About 100 Q&A per week including extra games and jackpots. Better get to it.

I’m going to be honest here. This morning was a bit of a work bust. I spoke to many friends, did some blogging and commenting/responding, a few emails and very little Trivia Q&A

At lunchtime I watched Ep3:S4 of Bridgerton. O M G! How much do I love Benedict Bridgerton? It’s unhealthy.

Back to Trivia Q&A.

Jin got home from work and we headed off to the Oatlands Golf Club. He had his brand new motorized, remote control golf buggy arrive so we had to get there, hook it all up and get onto the course. We grabbed a coffee each at the clubhouse and he played 13-18 holes. It was cool and treated rain the whole way but that made it just delightful to wander with him. He did a Par 3 on his first hole and then it all turned to shit, BUT a par is pretty amazing and he was thrilled. I forgot to photograph the buggy but here is Jin looking chuffed AF.

It was Valentine’s Day and though we don’t celebrate as such Jin asked me what I wanted for Valentine’s Day dinner. So we dropped home, grabbed a very nice, easy drinking bottle of Wirra Wirra Church Block Shiraz. Off to our favourite Korean BarBQ and we ate till so outrageously full.

We watched a little Winter Olympics. Jin went to bed. He found the card, loved it and then mocked me mercilessly for bowing to the power of the Hallmark holiday. I don’t care, he was really happy.

Back to Trivia Q&A but I was so not into it. Went to bed.

So buggered I couldn’t even finish a page of Persuasion.

Sunday

Morning: Estée Lauder Spellbound

Day: Aether Methaldone

Dinner with mates: Clinique Aromatics Elixir body cream. I wanted to smell really good but low key. Perfect. It was a gift from Anna Maria so it feels extra special. I forgot to tell her.

Bed: Le Galion Iris.

Jumped out of bed at 7.30am and finished off a Trivia Q&A set. Gave myself a sneaky spritz of Spellbound.

Went and had 30 minutes more sleep.

Up again and did a three way podcast session with Lisa Wright at the helm and special guest Katrina Small whose disease is different to ALS but the roadblocks, gatekeeping and compartmentalization of the medical profession made her seek help in unusual and less “modern traditional” areas. So insightful, well thought out and she speaks beautifully. Coming up soon on ALS: To the Moon and Back.

Back to the Trivia Q&A.

O M G! Methaldone is so bloody amazing. There is nothing like it that I ever smelled. I wish I’d bought a couple of backups because it’s now discontinued and I love it.

LUNCH

Faffed around with stuff, walked dogs, hung with Jin, had a nap. Had a luxurious, super hot bath. MMMM

Went for dinner with the Austral crew at Lockie’s Hotel tonight. we are hoping to relocate Trivia to Sundays there. Fingers crossed. So many people I adore in one room. It was excellent. Pics are crap, soz.

Please, tell us about your week, what perfume you wore and who you got to spend your time with. Can’t wait to read your stories.

Hug
Portia xx