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.

Scent Diary: 25.5-31.5.2026

Monday

Welcome to Winter! Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit! SPARROW FART wake up! Missed doing my Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. Had a super early bubble bath and shave.

Olfactive Studio Ombre Indigo

Went back to bed.

Still way too early to put my face on. Doing a gig for a crew of fabulous humans BUT it starts at 10am and I live an hour away in peak hour traffic.

Gig was really fun and we had big laughs.

Jin needed to go see the dentist because he chipped a tooth. We caught the bus and train to the city. Two upper back teeth repaired and old silver amalgam removed. All white up top now.

After the dentist we went to Jin ‘s favourite T-Shirt shop through Sydney city. He found an interesting T-Shirt in a steel teal colour I never see him wear and a fabulous pair of pants that will be very nice winter wear on the golf course.

Then we wandered down to Darling Harbour. There’s an old civic building that was turned into a ra-sha-sha pub back in the 1980s. It was a big suit hang and we used to go there as underage drinkers. Anyway, it’s been taken over by Accor. Jin is a big shot, high flying member of their group and gets discounts for dining. He took me for a very late lunch. It was well above the average pub fare and with the discount of 30% across the board it cost only slightly more than eating at McDonalds. So nice just to hang and wander together. Annoyingly, I was sure that I’d taken pics because the place was cool and the food looked so impressive. Seems like I only took this horrible shot of Jin. Sorry

Train and light rail back home. We bumped into our friend Karim on the light rail, so that was a very chatty interlude.

When we got home I was so tired that I went and slept for 90 minutes, till 10pm. Then up and at ’em to write my weeks Trivia Q&A.

Robert Piguet V-Intense

Nearly 2am and I’m done with Trivia Q&A, sent off to the Queens and printed my own for the week. Feeling like today was a good one and I’m satisfied with how much I/we fit in.

MORE Piguet V Intense

Bed, read, Sleep

Tuesday

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

BDK Parfums Paris Vanille Caviar from Surrender To Chance decant

Sue had me over for morning tea. So much chatting and catching up. She is one of my faves and we rarely get to see each other. Happy interlude.

 

Came home. Bubble Bath and got ready for work.

DIOR Gris Dior. LASHINGS of it.

Took some pics with the crew. Last shot is my neighbour’s family celebrating a birthday.

Home. Faffed.

Van Cleef & Arpels First extrait.

Wednesday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

As I fed and walked the dogs, noticed how divine this zygocactus is. Thought I’d share.’

Berdoues Massai Mara

Miranda came and we did admin all day. It seems to go SO SLOWLY!

Got refreshed and ready for work.

Dali Sunrise in Cadaques

It’s Matt’s birthday this week so we celebrated with the crew. Matt, Jin, Valda, Kath’s Dad and Aunty Ann. These are some of my most important people.

Home. Downton Abbey. Faffed.

Maria Candida Gentile Exultat

Thursday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

DIOR Gris Dior

How glorious is this day. Taken from the Light Rail stop at the top of our street.

Lunch with Sam and Craig at our local el cheapo Thai. They serve food just as delicious as the more expensive one nearby. A fun hour catching up with two very disparate buddies who’d never met before.

Who Is Elijah Desert Nights

Then Jin and I wandered 9 holes of golf in the brisk, breezy sunshine.

Bathed.

DIOR Dior Dior

Tonight we headed out for a big celebration dinner with Kath and TinaG. In the last fortnight Jin finished his Project Management Cert4, Kath has finished up at her old job and taken a large step up into a new role at a new University, TinaG has become debt free for the first time since leaving school and I am now an official Civil Celebrant. Jin wanted to mark the occasion and took all four of us to dinner at Atelier by Sofitel in Darling Harbour. It was an extravaganza of immense proportions. Three courses, wine and other beverages in the most beautiful gilded cage banquet style booth. A beautiful way to celebrate our achievements.

Atelier Vivid 2026 Dessert. We shared it.

Afterwards we went and saw some of the Vivid 2026 offerings. It’s an amazing time to visit Sydney, they really go all out with their installations. Some are magnificent and some are shit but no one can complain about lack of scope and enthusiasm.

Home.

Fed and walked the dogs.

Downton Abbey. Bed.

Elizabeth Taylor Diamonds and Emeralds

Friday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

CB I Hate Perfume Fire From Heaven

Wrote my speech for Lisa’s 60th tomorrow.

Jin drove me to the station.

Train to city to have my new clip in tooth fitted. PERFECT!

Afterwards, on the way to meet Jin I popped into DIOR and grabbed the new 20ml Hypnotic Poison rollerball that is being raved about as smelling like a return to the OG formula. Excited to smell it.

Honestly, there is SO MUCH perfume choice at David Jones Elizabeth Street Store that I find myself completely overwhelmed. Here I am dazed and ready to bolt.

Jin came to town and we tried a new restaurant. Harajuku Gyoza. They do gyoza, obviously, but they also do a line of hot sandwiches that are getting a lot of attention. While I was wrestling with my new tooth, and it did lessen my fun and adventurous spirit, the food was pretty delicious. They do loads of very cool Japanese beers too. Jin had three large glasses.

I had to drive home.

Did a little blogging, finalized Lisa’s Speech. Watched some football with Jin.

Maria Candida Gentile Exultat.

Bed, read, sleep.

Saturday

Missed most of my Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Up at pre-dawn. Bubble Bath.

Back to bed for an hour.

Up again. Dogs fed and walked in the dewy morning.

Parfums Berdoues Maasai Mara

Put my face on. Organized everything. Jumped in the car and drove 2+ hours to Lisa’s 60th birthday extravaganza. The MC is me and I’m helping it all to flow. Loads of her friends are also friends or acquaintances of mine and I’m excited to see everyone. Lisa is the person I do the podcast ALS: To the Moon and Back.

Sorry, I took zero photos and haven’t got any from the crew yet.

Visa de Robert Piguet, a couple of swipes for the ride home.

Jin was really sleepy, so was I.

Downton Abbey.

Bed

Sunday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Berdoues Maasai Mara

Jin and I had the laziest day ever. Just hung out, ate, watched TV and some football. Can’t remember a day spent so lazily.

Did dust the apartment and get the bed linen washed and dried. I bought Jin a new set because his was 12+ years old and he tore a pillow case open in his sleep. Time to go. It’s 100% Cotton Sateen and had a quick wash, dried in the dryer too help soften it up.

Boiling bubble bath. So satisfying.

More Berdoues Maasai Mara. It’s bloody good in this chilly weather.

Tonight had first meeting with a Wedding Couple! There was quite a flurry as I got paperwork together and checked with my mate Penny that I had shit in order. Too involved to take pics, damnit.

Lockie’s Trivia was fun. A lovely crew, we had some laughs. No shots of that either.

Home. Jin went to bed. I finished up this weeks stuff for here.

Dogs fed and walked.

Extra Berdoues Maasai Mara. I’ll sleep well tonight.

 

 

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