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: 17.8-23.8.2026

Monday

Momo was so ready to go to the toilet this morning. Super quick.

L’Artisan Parfumeur Vanille Absolument. When I crave this it’s so bloody good. That weird, plastic version of vanilla is happily weird. Sometimes it drives me a bit bonkers though. Joyfully today was a perfect fit.

Instead of my usual Morning Routine, Jin and I headed off to the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre. Jin swam and steamed. I did two Aquarobics classes. So much fun.
Old photo. It was heaving today. So many exercisers.

We went to Jin’s favourite Pork Soup shop where he tried to peer pressure me into DAY DRINKING!! Ha! I had one shot of Soju, Jin finished the bottle. He had soup, I had schnitzel. YUM

A little shopping, groceries, and a visit to the Post Office.

Home to start my Trivia Q&A at 1pm.

Decided to have an hour sleep, then start.

Oh Dear! I slept till 3.30pm. It was beautiful. Unfortunately I woke with a throbbing headache. Two Panadol and a cuppa and I was firing on all cylinders again.

Trivia Q&A finished in record time. Done, dusted, sent and printed by 7pm. Woo Hoo!

Bulgari Eau Parfumee au The Noir

Jin wanted to take me to a newish restaurant that he and his BFF Matt went to opening week. Okami Japanese in nearby Silverwater. On a Monday night it’s very quiet, only about 15 or so other guests. Service and food were wonderful. It’s All You Can Eat in 90 minutes a la carte for a very reasonable AU$43/person. Tapas size servings of a vast array of Japanese food. We ate till stuffed.

Home. Jin went to bed almost immediately.

I blogged. Watched some TV with Momo.

Fed and walked Momo in the very chilly, spitting with rain evening.

Home.

Who Is Elijah Desert Nights

Bed. 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.

Donna Karan Chaos. The 2008 rerelease

Cleaning the house

Fed and walked Momo. Very grey today, rained heavily overnight. Fresh and brisk for our walk.

Vacuuming and laundry.

Lunchtime. Left over Farfalle Bolognaise and salad with toasted Lithuanian bread. YUMMY!

BUBBLE BATH time.

Going scent free till work.

Nap time.

Calypso St. Barth Lea. Haven’t worn it in years. VERY satisfying vanilla.

Work was fabulous. 92 players and most of my favourites were there.

Home.

TV, ate, Fed and walked Momo.

Fell asleep while reading on the couch. Woke at 3am with a furry mouth and ran to the bathroom to clean them thoroughly.

Bed

Wednesday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Beautiful morning. Fed, and walked Momo in the sunshine.

Madonna Truth or Dare Naked

Organised the house for Miranda to come do the admin day she missed last week. Clearing the dining room table and getting my computer out are a bit of a pain but there is ZERO room in the perfume room/office. Needs must..

WHOA! We got so much done. Now the 2025/6 stuff looks a lot more organised. Fixed the paying problems with a venue that now owes me over $5,000 (not really their fault, just their terrible system that’s impossible to navigate). Plus we had some good laughs. Heaven.

After Miranda left I Arte the last of my bolognaise sauce. Bloody delicious.

Jin came home while I was eating and is off to swimming. I could have gone but too lazy.

L’Artisan Mandarine. Fleeting but gorgeous.

Watched some TV with Momo.

Went to work. BUSY! and fun.

Home.

Fed and walked Momo.

Le Galion Sovereign

Thursday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Sarah Jessica Parker Stash Unspoken

Fed and walked Momo.

Blogging

Penny is in town. I met her at Parramatta station, we had brunch at one of my fave local cafes L’il Miss Collins.

Then we did some Celebrant work. What a fantastic day.

Yes, I’m fully aware the dining table looks like it’s been bombed. This is pretty much its default state. It gets big tidies when we have dinner or events.

Because Penny arrived in Sydney without fragrance and loves sweet things I gave her my 30ml of SJP’s Lovely noir. Smelled so good on

Jin, Kath and I hit our favourite Korean BarBQ tonight. Jin and I were going, Kath was on her way to see Dad in hospital (still having tests done). We thought it would be good to get her fed, have a few laughs and then send her onwards. It was really chill, lovely and relaxing. PLUS we ate our bodyweights. SO FULL. You can tell how early we arrived, nearly the first through the doors.

Saw this today. While the heading doesn’t really work for me, I do think these are good ideas.

Home. Jin hit the sack straight away. He was falling asleep on the couch.

Faffing around the computer.

Had a cuddle with Momo. Gosh, she’s starting to fall apart physically. Maybe because Paris was so obviously deteriorating, we missed Momo’s decline. She’s having real trouble getting out to go for walks. It’s a slow, creaky old trip down the eight stairs. She’s 12 years old. That’s pretty good for a greyhound. She’ll let us know when it’s time.

Bubble Bath. How I adore them. Sizzling hot water. Bathroom heater on. Just lay back, play with my phone or read, or just close my eyes and drift. A few times I’ve fallen dead asleep and woken in very chill water with enormous raisins for hands. HA!

Serge Lutens Five O’Clock Gingembre

Friday

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes. I know this is such a little win but I’m now doing 60 jumping jacks in my three minute movement, without reaching for oxygen.

What a fabulously glorious morning. Taking Momo for a wee it was so springlike and sunshiny. A boost for my already calm and happy soul.

Here’s the sunshiny view from our balcony.

Paris Hilton Siren. Waxy, dewy white flowers with a fruity top and warm amber undertow. New bottle for 2026.

My BFF Phil got in touch. He’s struggling and we chatted for about half an hour.

Had some advance blog work to write. Started on my September Trivia runs and jackpot questions. Not as much as I’d have liked because I faffed around on social media and lost about 90 minutes! GAH!

Jin came home.

Bulgari Goldea

We did a short round of golf. Found a Rainbow Lorikeet chick wandering around the course. Too young to fly and looking very peaky. We gave it some water. Jin took it to the vet where one of the Sydney Wildlife Rescues will collect and care for it.

Jin is wearing the new Rodd & Gunn Polo I bought him for our wedding anniversary (that both of us forgot). He looks snazzy!

Took Momo straight out for a walk after we got home. This shot. So peaceful. My camera does not even do it all justice but you get a bit of the idea.

Home. It’s cooled quite a bit and I’m feeling the need for a warming fragrance.

Berdoues Maasai Mara

Jin and I headed out for Vietnamese tonight. Originally we had plans with friends to go elsewhere but that fell apart. As always, the food at our local Tam Tam was excellent. Staff were friendly and food came quickly.

I caught up with Scent Diary. There were a bunch of blurbs without photos. All organised now. PHEW!

Feeding and walking Momo.

CHANEL Coco vintage extrait

Bed

Saturday

Had a real, heavy, delightful roll over and go back to sleep-in. Woke up so refreshed.

Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

HOW is it Saturday already?!?

Cartier Luxuriance. A fresh citrus and greenery cologne style beauty.

Fed and walked Momo

Had leftover Vietnamese Beef Egg Noodle Soup reheats for breakfast. SO GOOD!

Did I tell you I’m watching Ted Lasso AGAIN from the start? What a show. I’m still loving every moment, this is watch #3 all the way through. I want it fresh in my mind for the newest season.

Made three salads to take to Anna Maria’s place tonight. Johnny is doing a bonfire and we are very excited.

What a fun evening. Dinner with the Calarco’s also Johnny’s sibling Forge and wife Gina. SO MUCH food. Pumpkin Soup, Minestrone Soup, then full Roast Pork dinner. Amazing.

Home. Bushed.

Fed and walked Momo.

Viktorya Minya Hedonist

Bed,

Sunday

ZERO Morning Routine: 10 Minutes.

Up at sparrows fart to get Momo fed and walked.

DIOR Sakura

Had a very low key breakfast of zaatar bread, salty sour yoghurt drink and coffee with Jin.

Met Miranda and TinaG at the Auburn Botanic Gardens for a morning wandering the Cherry Blossom Festival. Sadly, they are all a bit late this year and we only saw a few blossoms. Tina and I found the ONE pair of plants giving good flower.

The next three are interesting. Jin made Miranda look about 15 years younger in the first with some smoothing filter. I don’t know how he just touched Miranda up but I was very definite about zero touch ups for me (and he complied)

Here is a photo I took. This whole avenue was still without blossom. In the next pic, Jin fully AI-d in a beautiful inflorescence. How outrageous is that? Looks like a postcard.

This is my fave pic from the morning. Jin snapped it and I think it looks like a record cover of an aging, once famous rock band that’s doing their “covers and showtunes” revival record. With an accompanying notional tour in much smaller venues. Probably big arena famous in the 80-90s.

We were meant to meet BFF Kath for lunch but she was sitting with Dad in hospital and awaiting him waking up.

Home. NAP TIME!

Bubble Bath.

Clinique Aromatics Elixir

Off to Lockie’s Hotel for Trivia tonight. Immortally Addicted were there,. and a bunch of other teams. Super fun night, till I made a kid cry. GAH! I’m a horrible human. Everyone survived.

Did some grocery shopping on the way home.

Chilled. Blogged.

Fed Momo and walked her.

TV

Robert Piguet Visa

 

 

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