Portia

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Hello Australian Perfume Junkies and friends, So glad to have you drop by Scent Diary. Grab a cuppa or beverage of choice, sit back and check what has happened, been eaten, spritzed and seen in our lives in Sydney, Australia.

At then end please leave us some comments. What or who did you see, do, eat with. Did you spritz, purchase, have arrivals or finish a sample? What’s happening in your world? If you’re writing or reading opinions, we can disagree but keep it nice and try not to give or take offense. Right now the world needs a web of friendships and connection more than ever. We all have perfume and each other in common. That’s a whole lot.

You can also follow along on APJ Instagram if you’d like:

Scent Diary: 18.5-24.5.2026

Monday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

• Don’t Touch the Phone
• Avoid Negative Input (TV, Socials, Arguments)
• Drink Water
• Get Sunlight in My Eyes
• Move Body 3 Minutes
• Set One Intention
• One Small Win

Another cool, grey morning. Love the sound of tires driving over wet road, it’s like the waves at a beach.

Frederic Malle Eau de Magnolia. Wanted something light and pretty.

First thing Lisa Wright and I did our podcast ALS: To the Moon and Back.

Trivia Q&A

Jin and I were set to go wander the golf course but it rained.

We did go over and fix a couple of things at Kath’s dad’s place. Then hit the Post Office, where I collected some soaps bought on sale.

We hit the Chemist warehouse for Jin’s scripts and I tried two perfumes on skin.

Calvin Klein Beauty. Very slightly elevated OG Juicy Couture or Paris Hilton Siren. Honestly, I like the Paris Hilton better but this is nice.

Saffron & Vanilla, there being no company named should have serves as a warning. Chokingly sweet, smells like hospital grade fragrance. Ew.

Fed and walked the dogs late today in the spitting drizzle. Almost not rain at all.

Lazy afternoon. We watched 2018 film Swimming with Men with one of my all time fave actors Rupert Graves. It is a really moving film about aging men, friends, moving outside comfort zones, mental health and so much more. Stupid and beautiful, apparent;y based on a true story. LOVED IT. You will know at least half the cast from other Brit entertainment.

Had Jin’s magnificent Chicken Congi for dinner. YUM.

Jin went to bed.

I watched more of Person of Interest. Last season.

Raining so the dogs only got a wee and some treats.

Checked my emails and I’ve FINALLY been accepted as a Registered Australian Marriage Celebrant. Two and a half years it took. It was a hard slog and there was a while community helping me get there. Jin, Penny, Celia, Kath and the staff at the course. All the well wishers every week who would dutifully enquire and get a litany of news, complaints, conundrums and a miscellany of word splatter. It took everyone. I’d never have finished alone.

Here I am hosting our mates Paul and Michael’s wedding (I did the main body and a friend did the legals)

Elizabeth Taylor Diamonds and Emeralds. Needed something celebratory and a bit showbiz.

Bed

Tuesday

Woke about 10 minutes before the alarm. Lovely.

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Morning dog feed and walk. Wanted to do it early so I could get the cleaning done that didn’t really happen yesterday. Apartment dusted, settling now for the vacuum later. Also needed to get the computer back to the office to get printing all the Trivia stuff.

Had a lovely brunch of ham/cheese/sour cream bagels. YUM! Yeah, I ate them and THEN remembered I need to take pics. SORRY!

Got trivia up to date and ready for tonight.

Vacuumed the apartment.

BATHTIME

Jin came home.

On the main balcony the zygocactus are giving a lovely showing.

Tonight for work I’m wearing an oil we picked up in Singapore. JR Fragrtance Singapore Oud Ashiq. Very Middle Eastern

Club Parramatta Trivia 120 players!

Home

Fell asleep on the couch with the dogs.

Wednesday

Was in such a hurry the Morning Routine: 10 Minutes got missed. Jin has an RDO. We are jam packed busy. YAY!

Guerlain Epices Volees. This is such a lovely, easy spritz. It seems to have taken the place of CHANEL Boy in my easy breezy wear spot. It’s a solid scent that feels light but discernible for hours.

Straight out to Tina’s place where Jin replaced some downlights.

While they were doing that I found this on a feed.

We headed to Strathfield and had coffees in the warm sunshine and cool breeze.

Lunch with Jane, Jin and Martin for his birthday. Saluti by Novella. The staff and food were really good. It was a low key, fun afternoon.

Dropped into Bunnings to grab some Rat catchers for Kath’s dad. Ran out of time to get them to him.

Home quickly. Fed and walked dogs.

Jin and I wandered the golf course. As he finished the 18th hole it became the loveliest twilight with a sliver moon. Cool but lovely walk, we saw Kookaburras, ducks with their nearly grown ducklings and a plethora of other Aussie fauna. Nice to hang out together. Jin did the most amazing chip from about 60 meters that sailed onto the green and into the hole. It was the bloody best thing I’ve ever seen a golfer do, in life or TV. Ah May Zing.

Home. Abluted. Dressed and went to work. Had a fantastic crew tonight. Loads of laughs and fun. Wednesday nights are really special at Greystanes Inn.

Boucheron Jaipur Homme. Much more present, put together and a little flamboyant. Always plays nice.

Jin already in bed. Some TV while eating the last of Jin’s Chicken Congi. Seriously, does it get any better than this?

Bed, Read, Zzzs Zzzs

CHANEL Coco vintage extrait. This bottle is on my desk. A perfect swipe when I want the whole glamour shebang. A satisfying wear.

Thursday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. Up and at ’em early today. Cool and gorgeous, the dogs loved their wander through the cemetery. They got the full circuit because they’d have to wait till Jin got home for another wee.

Olfactive Studio Ombre Indigo. I wanted something wearable but not intrusive because I’m going on a VETIVER hunt today.

Bus and train to town. Look at that Autumn sky.

This came up on one of my feeds.

Walked up from Town hall to the Art Gallery of NSW. Sunshine out and coolly glorious day. I was about 15 minutes early so I soaked up some rays.

One of my dear girlfriends that we hardly ever see is Julie. She lived overseas for ages and we stayed with her in Singapore for a week a few years ago. We had some lunch in the Members Lounge. So much to catch up on. Then we wandered the gallery. Though Julie has come through some tough times in the last few years she is still smiling and so bloody gorgeous.

We jumped the bus back to town. Then I remembered that the bus we were on went out to the Balmain peninsula, where my mate Jenny lives. She said she’d meet me at a Pub we like. YAY! So I stayed on the bus.

Jenny was hungry so we had Crepes! One of the things I love most about Paris is Gauche, our crepe guy. He’s the loveliest and every time we are in Paris we see him. So having crepes with brown sugar and lemon juice is like being there with him. I know, sentimental fool. It brings me so much joy though.

Back to town with just over an hour to kill I hit David Jones Elizabeth St Store and went Vetiver hunting. This was spurred on by the recent release of Creed Wild Vetiver. I wanted to see what else was on offer right now that I’d not smelled before. It’s a favourite note and I already have enough but…

Creed Wild Vetiver. Slightly radiant, I get loads of unnamed white flowers. Smells like, but not exactly, Calvin Klein Eternity Aromatic Essence Woman to me.

For Him Vetiver Musc Narciso Rodriguez. Starts out a lot like a L’Eau d’Issey but has a more interesting scent story. I liked it.

Ex Nihilo Green Viper was the stand out winner of the day. Beautiful, interesting take on vetiver. Clever and smells delightfully niche to me.

Miller Harris Vetiver Insolent. This is also really good. If I didn’t already have enough vetivers I probably would have bought this on the spot.

Terre d’Hermes Eau Intense Vetiver. I can see this being a perfect go-to for a suit. Just interesting enough to stand out but well within the boundaries of office appropriate.

After my big sniff met with Patrick, Wayne and Tim at my favourite Kimpton Margot lobby bar.

Afterwards Tim and I went for Chinese but I forgot to take pictures. SORRY!

Train and Light Rail home.

Jin already in bed asleep.

TV

Guerlain Shalimar vintage extrait.

Bed, read. Zzzzs

Friday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Le Galion Bourrasque

Did a quick clean up of the bathroom and dining table. Got a bunch of computer work done. Very happy.

Lunch! The last of Jin’s CHICKEN CONGI!

Miranda came over and we did ADMIN! Well, she did admin and I faffed.

Le Galion Eau Folle. A Le Galion kinda day.

Met the crew for GBG Korean BarBQ. It was a lovely chatty evening with friends and food. I really think that it’s our friends that make life so special. We have an excellent crew.

Home. Jin to bed.

TV

Estée Lauder Youth Dew

Bed, read, Sleep.Bed:

Saturday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. Cool, grey morning with snippets of sunshine.

Quick shower.

Today I had an opening ceremony for a fragrance that’s been in my collection unopened for a few years. I’ll tell you a secret, bought solely on the name and packaging. It’s a fruit laden, spicy amber/patch. Had I known how good it was going to be I’d have been on my second bottle. WOW!

Parfums Berdoues Maasaï Mara

The dogs loved walking in the cemetery spritzing rain. I think this is their happy temperature.

Off to town I snapped a pic at the bus stop so you can see it’s cloudy but the sun is trying to break through.

Waiting in the AGNSW Members Lounge for the women to arrive.

Landscape Lecture. Eve, Jenny and me.

Jin collected me at the station and we went for Sushi Train. He looks like he’s lost the will to live but I think he’s choosing his next plate. He was pretty chatty and happy otherwise.

Well, THIS brought him alive. Our fave, Lola, returned from the USA Wirth Jolly Ranchers for Jin. I got them into his hands tonight and sit was smiles all round.

Watched the NRL Footy together. I blogged a bit while we did.

I’m totally stuffed.

Van Cleef & Arpels First vintage extrait. PHWOAR!

Bed, Read ZzzZzzZzzzzs

Sunday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Oliver + Co Resina. inspired by Insta’s eaux_de_peau

Still grey and drizzly but with lovely sunshine bursting through. Dogs loving it.

Lazy Day. Got Trivia Q&A started.

Went out to Jin’s bedroom balcony to give the plants water and found it absolutely blooming. These photos are EXACTLY as the camera took them.

Yes, that is the colour of the rose. It’s eye burningly bright in this weather. The stem is so long it’s well over my 5’10” head.

Found this. Excellent advice.

HUGE bubble bath.

Neela Vermeire Creations Mohur

Off to work.

Fabulous night at Lockie’s, even for a rainy night.

Home. TV.

Dogs Fed and walked in the rain.

More Berdoues Maasi Mara

Bed. Read. ZZZZZZ

 

Now it’s your turn. Please tell us something you did, spritzed, ate, wore, bought or finished. Maybe you saw a friend, a show, an exhibition. Maybe you got through the week without having to bury a body. Whatever, please share something with us.

I read and respond to every comment. C’mon, let’s chat.
Portia xx