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: 6.7-12.7.2026

Monday

Instead of my Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. Jin and I went off to the Ruth Everus Aquatic Centre. I did the Aquarobics, Jin did laps.

We went for brunch at his fave Korean Pork Soup joint. It’s becoming a Monday habit. I had the Pork Schnitzel. The plate in the middle is my original plate but they put the sauce on my schnitzel, instead of on the side so I scraped it all off and put the bits I should eat on another plate.

Came home and we both napped.

Woo Hoo! Did the Trivia Q&A. Finished, sent and printed.

Dogs fed and walked.

I went to see our chiropractor Mark, and his lovely wife Emma. A niggling lower back right hand side squeak was clicked and massaged away. YAY!

We headed off for the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre. I did an AquaZumba class and Jin hit the gym. Here are some of the girls, including Elizabeth our instructor.

Did my sugars and they’re still high. Very bloody annoying. I’m doing my best. The doctor did say it might take a couple of weeks to settle but damnit!

Came home. Watched some TV.

Just realized I’ve not worn fragrance all day. Remedied with a couple of spritzes of Calvin Klein Contradiction Woman.

GAH! Then I pressed PUBLISH on this blog post so you all got a crappo one in the emails. SORRY!

Went to bed and read.

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
• One thing I’m grateful for.

Up on time. Dogs fed and walked in the crystal clear, coo but sunshiny day.

Gallivant Berlin

Straight on to the vacuum cleaner. This apartment looked a bit like a war zone. Did my incense ritual to cleanse the bad juju.

Post cleaning cuppa.

Errands.

Lunchtime. Well, brunch time really. I’m trying very hard to work within the dietician parameters. This was particularly delicious.

Bubble Bath time. O M G! It was transformative. I’m now cleaned, shaven and feeling fine.

Serge Lutens Chergui A perfect choice for something warming and beautiful.  Also, I think this Colour Bleed filter reflects how spectacular Chergui is. Released in 2001 and still rocking.

Organised tonight’s outfit. Put all my papers away in the Trivia bag for the week.

Break Time. I’m having a Cardamom Tea cuppa and watching more Shadow and Bone.

Time to put on. my face and get ready for work.

BUSY night 122 players.

Afterwards I took this pic. Boy George but biker! HA

Face off.

Tom Ford Oud Minerale from my nearly empty FragranceNet 8ml decant.

Bed, Read. ZZZZS

Wednesday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Juliette Has A Gun Gentlewoman

 

Super lazy morning. Started watching the modern Hawaii 50. It’s fun.

My lovely next door neighbour Ash and I went out for KFC lunch today. She bought me nuggets! I took some fresh capsicum with me to eat with my nuggets, to slow the sugar spike. I can’t even imagine being 19 years old in 2026. We are lucky to have someone so nice coming up. It was a quietly fun lunch.

Afterwards we went and smelled the CHANEL regular range. Ash has never had a perfume, so I thought it would be a good launch pad. Her favourite was CHANEL Chance Eau Tendre. It smelled excellent on her too. Second fave was No 19! I was so impressed.

Dogs fed and walked.

Made up a new batch of soup. Base is pumpkin but also has every other vegetable I could get my hands on. This pic taken before it got ground up into the soup.

Hit the couch with the dogs and watched more TV.

Jin went to lunch after work with his ex Paul. Afterwards they came home and we chattered for a couple of hours. They had a lovely Sparkling Red Wine that Jin had bought on our recent trip and cheeses.

Suddenly it’s 6pm.

Tauer Pentachord Auburn. Long discontinued wonder of a fragrance.

Jin took control of the couch and Momo happily cuddled in with him. They are watching Pleasantville. I never saw it before. So many faces that have become staples in the industry.

We watched to footy and I had my soup for dinner. Really good. PLUS our team won spectacularly.

Jin went to bed.

Dogs fed and walked in the spitting drizzle. So lovely to walk through.

I had a midnight BUBBLE BATH

Miller et Beaux A Quiet Morning

Bed.

Thursday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Up early, for me.

Dogs fed and walked.

Quick ablutions, breakfast.

Cacharel Amor Amor

Off to the dentist via bus and train. Here’s the view from the surgery through the rain today. That’s Sydney Harbour and the Botanic Gardens in the foreground.

Bad news on the teeth front. One of my implants is badly infected and there’s a lot of bone loss. It may have to go.

Passing a historic church I went in to gather my thoughts and calm my sadness about the tooth. It’s easy to be peaceful in the stillness. There was a prayer group quietly doing their thing in an adjacent space and their murmurings were also a lovely susurrus underneath my churning, then quietly accepting thoughts. As Ryan my dentist said, “The teeth are gold standard but the gums and underneath are a shit show.” So I’m doing ALL the right things but the gums are in such bad shape from my years of drug addiction and depression that this is the outcome.

Then I went to another place of worship. The beauty level of David Jones City Store. Got my sniff on the Jo Malone Vegetable Series. The carrot flower is very interesting but sadly lasted under an hour on me. Beetroot starts out awful, like a super cheap drug store confectionary but burns off to something softly wearable. Pumpkin did not even make it onto my skin.

I also gave myself a spritz of Guerlain L’Heure Dorée. Yes, it’s a rose/oud/sandalwood BUT it’s utterly entrancing and has a heavenly salted popcorn undercurrent that makes me smile. YEARNING for it hard. Spritzed once nearly six hours ago and pumping away beautifully still.

Off to lunch with Eve, Jin, Lola and Phil. Drinks first at a Chinatown pub and then off to a secret food court on the top level of a Dixon St mall. Totally unexpected how good the food was and we spent a lovely time eating and chatting.

We headed off to Jin’s favourite T Shirt shop and he bought Lola a Gift Card so she can come back in her own time and pick some cool stuff.

After everyone went on their merry way we wandered to Jin’s car and came home.

I forgot to tell you all. After Alityke talked of her bargain bubble bath find of Jil Sander Sun Shower Gel for a steal I went and grabbed myself FIVE bottles and a few other things to make it all worth the quite reasonable postage.

Jin went to bed. I continued watching Shadow and Bone. Came did today’s blogging.

Berdoues Maasai Mara

Fed and walked the dogs in. the very chilly evening.

Bed, read. ZZZzzzzzzzs

Friday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. Crap version today.

Boucheron Jaipur Homme

Had a 10am call with my mate Peter. It was business, and freaking EXCITING! Updates to follow as we progress.

FINALLY got around to chopping up the teabags and adding their contents to potting mix, vermiculite and some slow release fertilizer to glow up the pot plants. I even took a pic for y’all. This is about a fortnight worth of baggies, all dried out and ready.

Cleaning the apartment. Very low key. Dinner guests tonight.

Neela Vermeire Creations Mohur extrait.

Dropped into the Post Office and grabbed a couple of parcels. One was Penhaligon’s Solaris. Bought a tester off a FB Sale Doc. VERY HAPPY! I’ll give it a wear tomorrow but the nozzle smells just right.

Tonight was a night dedicated to trying a new butchers sausages. We picked three types and built the meal around them. Fresh Korean sides like kimchi, pickles and cabbage salad. Very western stuff like roast pumpkin and potatoes. We also celebrated my Aunty Anne’s (platinum hair) something-th birthday. Jin went and bought the most lavish chocolate sponge with all the trimmings. He also gave her some Dark Chocolate Scorched Almonds from Haig’s, what we think is Australia’s best chocolatier. In the photos, guests were Gisella, Matt, Aunty Anne, Valda, Jin and me.

After the house was put back to rights and the dishwasher done a couple of times I fed and walked the dogs.

BUBBLE BATH time. I soaked for well over an hour. Feeling SO CLEAN and ready for bed.

Sold a bottle of original Rochas Byzance EdT to my girlfriend Ersilia and will be bringing it to her on Wednesday. Thought I’d have one last sentimental spritz.

Bed, read, ZZZs

Saturday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Penhaligon’s Solaris. On our last holiday, in Singapore, I smelled this in a mall and my head exploded with love. Last week I saw a tester for a very reasonable price on a FaceBook Sale Doc. Grabbed it. There will be a review post somewhere in the near future.

Today has been put aside to get some more of my perfume room cleaned and organised. It’s a freaking mess. While I only made some inroads, it is satisfying to have done something to alleviate the squalor.

Jin arrived home and I thought we were going to the golf course but we did not. He had a lovely nap on the couch with the dogs.

I did some computer stuff, read and had a very short nap with Paris.

We wanted to go to dinner at our favourite Korean BarBQ but when we drove past there were at least 25 people waiting out front in a few groups and the cashier area was full. Instead we headed off to Eastwood and wandered the streets checking all the restaurants out. They also had a market with fabulous food stalls and other stalls. It was buzzing. This photo as we were leaving.

We walked for about an hour around the area and settled on a very cool Hong Kong Chinese restaurant. Food was awesome. We ordered three dishes and ate till we were groaning. So good.

Home by 9.30pm.

Hung out doing next to nothing. Jin playing computer games, me blogging, reading.

Michael Kors pour femme Absolu

Dogs fed and walked.

Bed, read.

Sunday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Obvious Un Musc

Jin has taken the couch for his day off. He’s watching Korean YouTube Travel Diaries. Considering as a country they really only started to get the travel bug with the 1988 Olympics, it’s like they are all making up for lost time. It’s becoming the national pastime. Especially for the increasingly large section of aged. The main two things that Jin loves to watch are food and travel. He can spend half a day glued to series on those two subjects. Perfect winter pursuit, cuddled up on the couch with a duvet, a cuppa and the dogs.

Lisa Wright and I are doing a podcast. Her health has not been so good and we missed last week. You can listen to the first 20 episodes here: ALS: To the Moon and Back.

Had an hour of nothing much, FaceBook, Insta, blogging.

Dogs fed and walked. Should have taken a pic of this beautiful sunshiny day. Glorious.

Kath came over for our regular Sunday lunch. We ate my Pumpkin and Fridge Forage Soup with some wholemeal toast. I’m so glad it’s July so the Xmas napkins can get used for Christmas in July (our winter time). So every get together this month will have that theme till the napkins run out.

The reason Kath comes over most Sundays is that she goes to her Dad’s place every weekend and does chores around the garden and house that have become too onerous for dad. It’s a labour of love and without her help life would be a lot less easy for him. She is the only one of us that does it weekly and without being asked. She is one of my heroes, as well as being my BFF.

Penhaligon’s Solaris. WHOA! It’s so excellent. Really beautiful but low key. Post coming somewhere.

Off to work. Tonight Jin, Gisella and Matt came from home so it was extra special. Deb and Tracey were in the house and me secret boyfriend. SHHH! Not really, just jokes.

Home. Dogs fed and walked. Did some loads of laundry and hung them.

Had a 10.30pm feast while watching Mr Perfect with Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick. Such a fun movie. That is a creamy olive tepanade, carrot, cheddar, nasty pear and fresh snow peas. Satisfying.

Had a midnight BUBBLE BATH. Did all my WhatsApp messaging while splashing about in there for nearly two hours. Had to get out because it was getting arctic.

Le Galion Bourrasque.

 

 

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