Portia

.

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.

Scent Diary: 25.5-31.5.2026

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

Oriza L Legrand Secret Joly. Reminders of spring.

It’s a grey rainy old day in Parramatta today. The dogs didn’t care on their walk.

Laundry.

Trivia Q&A

Started watching Downton Abbey. I’ve not watched it before. Very bloody satisfying TV.

Jin came home late today. We had some Korean fried pork belly and salads. Sorry, no pics. Just the two of us hanging and chatting.

Jin to bed.

Portia to Coles our supermarket. Did a full shop. Got all the fixings of Pumpkin Soup. Will make it tomorrow.

Fed and walked dogs.

DIOR Balade Sauvage from Surrender To Chance decant.

Some computer stuff, blogged the day

TV

Bed, Read, Zzzzs

Tuesday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. Raining today. Not a big storm but heavy drizzle.

Oliver & Co Ambergreen. Truth in labelling.

Brunch with my Celebrant buddy Penny. She helped me get through the course. We have been buddies for decades and she stopped in at Parramatta on her way to the airport. She now lives in Noosa, so we really need to make sure we get to seee each other when she’s in Sydney.

Home. Fed and walked the dogs in spitting rain.

Watched some Downton Abbey.

While doing that I took the pumpkin that Lisa and Mark gave me, from their garden, and a bunch of other veg and made a hearty soup. Left it to cool while I went to work. Will blend it down tomorrow.

Got the Trivia stuff organised.

BUBBLE BATH in a new (to me) shower gel.  Do you ever trawl FragranceNet and buy the super cheap shower gels? This was almost free. Made wonderful bubbles and smelled pretty good too.

by Kilian Sweet Redemption.

Wearing the Camilla caftan wonderful Penny gave ma as a congratulations for finally becoming a registered celebrant. It is freaking Ah May Zing.

Home. Tired. Really, dead tired. No reason.

A litle TV.

CHANEL Jersey

Bed, Read. ZZZS

Wednesday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. It’s grey but warm today.

Olfactive Studio Flash Back in New York. Do you ever put on a fragrance and think, “I wish I was wafting around an art gallery right now.”? This morning, after spritzing, that was my first thought.

Computer quite a bit of the day.

Did the vacuuming and cleaned up the kitchen.

No trivia tonight.

Jin and I went to the local Chinese Restaurant and he ordered two new dishes that were not a success. The rest was a selection of old favourites and DELICIOUS. We had leftovers for us and some for the dogs.

State of Origin NRL football game. Our NSW team played the first half so woefully that Jin went to bed. I stayed and watched them rise up and win in the last few minutes. Such edge of the seat football.

Watched Downton Abbey, all night. Jin got up at 4am and I was glued to the TV.

Dries Van Noten Rock the Myrrh from a Surrender To Chance decant.

Bed. ZZZZZZZZ

Thursday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

No fragrance. Going testing.

Lazy morning. Dog walking in soft rain.

Met Tim, one of my special perfume buddies. We had planned to go to the COSMAX outlet store. They are one of the major distributors of designer fragrances in Australia. There are always really good bargains to be had. Just recently they had Hermès shower gel pumps for AU$25. I wanted to go back and buy 10 more for gifts. It was closed. they are moving. GRRRR!

Instead we decided to go for lunch in a nearby multi food warehouse, done up quite nicely with a broad range. Happily, we bumped into one of the queens I’d worked with for at least 10 years: Farren Heit. We had burgers. YUM!

Home.

Guerlain Epice Volees. Such an easy wear

Jin had booked us seats to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The night was called Orchestra Favourites and it did not disappoint. There was even a new Australian piece called HiVis that had Jin and I in raptures. It was the first time I ever heard Ravel Bolero live AND they finished off with an encore of William Tell Overture.  It was a fun, light, entertaining evening and we walked out well satisfied.

As you can see, Jin had a couple of wines, By the end he might have been a little squiffy.

Home.

CHANEL Coco

Bed, read. Zzzzs

Friday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Fed & walked the dogs.

Boucheron Jaipur

HUGE bowl of Pumpkin Soup and protein plus bagel. I had to make sure it was healthy and hearty because it was the only food till dinner.

Wandered up to the Light rail and then caught a train to the city.

Off to get my tooth extracted. Painless, simple and easy thanks to the worlds best dentist, Ryan.

Jin was waiting in the car down outside the dentists to drive me home. Phew. I’m pretty  weird, only a local anesthetic but it’s given me a whirl. It would have been a little dicey to get myself home.

On the way home we hit the Post Office and received a Postcard from our mate Martin from his Borneo adventure!

Home. Very cool, milky coffee and tepid water.

SLEEP

Woke. Watched a bit of Project Hail Mary, Jin had been watching it while I slept. Don’t know exactly why but Ryan Gosling doesn’t work for me. It’s a shame because he’s in loads of good stuff.

Hit the bathtub. So gorgeous. Bubbles, chatting with friends, playing games on the phone.  Ended up being in there over an hour. DIVINE.

Footy on the TV with Jin.

More Pumpkin Soup. Not hot, let cool to almost room temp.

Montale Jasmin Full. How I yearn for a bottle. Not this month. Thunked my decant! One down, thousands left.

 

Saturday

Up. Dogs fed and walked. Me cleaned and dressed. Organized my bag for the day. Hand washed my water bottles.

Abdes Salaam Attars Mecca Balsam

Did not do my Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. Completely forgot. Remembered as I was walking for the bus.

Bus and train to town. Wandered across to the Art Gallery of NSW for our last lecture in the Art for Beginners series. It was on sculpture today and we were walked through the various mediums sculptors use from antiquity to today, with some very interesting pictures.

Eve, Jenny and I had lunch beforehand, in the Members Lounge. How do we always have things to discuss and reflect on? It never seems like there’s been a moment between, even if it’s been months.

After the lecture we wandered back to the CBD. My mate Nick was concierge-ing at Hermès Sydney stand alone. We popped in so the girls could smell Paddock and the newest jardin offering, Un Jardin Sous la Mer. A Garden Under the Sea. While I swooned over Paddock, they were far more moved by Un Jardin Sous la Mer.

We went for a drink and hot French Fries at the Kimpton Margot. I’m very excited because they have Kahlua back in and I can have my not quite a White Russian again. YUM!

We were done and dusted by 4.40pm and when we walked outside it was nearly dark.

Train home. Jin collected me at the station. What an utterly delightful thing, to be met at the station. It vibes so completely with my watching of Downton Abbey.

We watched some of the football but Jin has worked 12 days in a row. He kept falling asleep, so he headed for bed. Fortunately he now has two full days off.

I watched some more TV. Fed and walked the dogs under the Micro Blue Moon.

L’Artisan Tea for Two. Inspired by TinaG, who wore it yesterday.

Bed, read, ZZZZS

Sunday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. Paris had pissed on the balcony so my first job of the day was as clean up crew. He’s so old now, he can’t help it.

Wearing, and loving, Hermès Un Jardin Sous la Mer from the sample . You may know I love a salty aquatic. Satisfying.

Jin needed to go do some grocery shopping so we headed out early. It was quiet on a Sunday morning.

Home. Did some cleaning up and folding of laundry so we’d have a table top eat lunch at.

Jin went back to bed for a 30 minute snooze. He really is busted.

Kath came over at midday. We had Pumpkin Soup and she provided some Sesame Seed Bread Rolls. So bloody good. Kath took this pic.

Jin came back out after being asleep for 90 minutes. Looking much refreshed and jolly.

Fed and walked the dogs after Kath left.

Did some computer updating, just blog and email stuff.

Here are my Top 5 Autumn worn fragrances for 2026. Each had six or more wears over the three months. There were also a few at 5 wears that didn’t make the cut. Jaipur, Coco, Shalimar Madagascar, Epices Volees, Cabochard, Interesting that they’re all designer.

Faffed around.

Got ready for work.

DIOR Santal Noir. Fit the night perfectly, cool and calm but warming me right through.

Tonight Gisella, Jin and his bestie Matt are coming too. Excellent. we had a rocking good house.

Home.

Jin abed.

Fed and walked the dogs under the Micro Blue Moon.

DIOR Bois d’Argent Esprit de Parfum from a Surrender To Chance decant.

Bed, read. Sleep.

 

What a fun week. A roller coaster. Loved every minute, even the tooth extraction.

 

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