Woo Hoo Fashion Fragrance Lovers,
CHANEL seems to be powering ahead still under the guidance of Karl Lagerfeld. Seriously I think he is a machine, able to change tack and style effortlessly and still bring us outrageously extravagant showings season after season. I can’t think of anyone who has been on the fashion scene this long who can match him, can you?
Portia xx
Photo Stolen BelloBlog (any probs using this image please get in touch)
Hey there crew,
We are in South Korea and having a ball. Actually, by now we are flying home
Righto!
So I am running INCREDIBLY late with stuff for this holiday and my mind has turned to mush. Instead of writing a post I thought I could ask you all for your input:
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
What destinations are on your holiday list? Where have you been that you’d like to return to or where would you LOVE to go? What do you prefer, an active, exciting holiday, lazy relaxing holiday? Is it shopping, sniffing, eating, scenery, friends or adventure?
Photo Stolen Flickr
My answer: As you know I love to travel. What seems to happen is I either go to visit friends or go to check a new place and see as much of it as I can. When traveling with Jin that means being up at the crack of dawn and falling into the bed a couple of hours before the next dawn. We see Museums, walk the streets and get lost, find cafes. catch public transport and as Jin so eloquently puts it, “We act so local”.
One of things I like to have is a breakfast buffet, it’s so much better to tromp downstairs and grab food, that’s where I do my Post Card writing and Jin plans the days adventures. I prefer a 4* but will happily sleep No Star if the Breakfast is good.
Where do I like to go? Well, numerically I’ve spent the most visits to India, I think 15 or 16 trips now and every time India makes me want to go back again. When they wrote Incredible India they weren’t joking. Followed closely by the UK, I lived there for a couple of years in thew 1990s and have been back numerous times for all sorts of reasons from work to weddings.
Where have I not been that is on the list, I’ll give you my Top 5 Want To Destinations1. South America: Yes the whole damn continent. Recently Jin and I bought motorbikes to prepare for a trip following The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara.
2. Madagascar: The lovely island off Africa that DreamWorks made into a MUST SEE on my list.
3. Canada: I know, you’d think I would have been there but as yet it hasn’t happened. I had my fingers crossed for this November but the gods saw other things in my lifeline. that’s cool, I’ll get there.
4. Russia: Sadly they are going through some madness there but one day I will get to Russia, with love. Imagine me in full drag tramping through the major cities of Russia. Yes, me too!
5. Israel: The center of so many of the world’s faiths, filled with the icons of my childhood religious upbringing. It would be interesting and informative to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
Tell me about your travels or your “I Wish” list?
Portia xx
Hey All,
I’m traveling through South Korea but back in 2008 a whole group of us went to Vietnam to celebrate my birthday. Friends, Aunties and an Uncle. It was a super terrific few weeks and we saw Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi and it was incredible.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Enjoy Louis Vuitton’s take on a marvelous country that we all hope to revisit someday.
Portia xx
Hey there crew,
We are in South Korea and I reckon having the time of our lives.
Righto!
So I am running INCREDIBLY late with stuff for this holiday and my mind has turned to mush. Instead of writing a post I thought I could ask you all for your input:
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
What Book Recommendations Can You Give Me For Bus, Train, Plane or any Public Transport? Do you choose technical stuff so you can learn on the trip, self help or growth books, a thriller or a novel, maybe an autobiography? Please give me an insight into your travel reading past and future? Is it fragrance, travel, silliness or maybe you like those crossword books?
Photo Stolen Flickr
My answer:
I love to read while I’m traveling. On this trip I have packed 3 books:
BookDepository AUS$17 Delivered Worldwide
The Golem & The Djinni by Helene Wecker: A coming of age story about freedom I think.
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The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey: I like to see where I can improve my output always
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Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett: Crazy DiscWorld nonsense. Freaking love it.
So, what do you read when you travel?
Portia xx
Hey All,
These Louis Vuitton junkets keep me panting for the fragrance. I wonder if and when we’ll see it. I love seeing this video because it reminds me of Jin and my adventures in 2013. Venice will always be special for me because of him.
Photo Stolen DeviantArt
I hope you enjoy,
Portia xx
Hi There APJ,
There has been a lot of talk about NECRO-Celebrity. The use of dead celebs images for advertising for many reasons: nostalgia, budget, no news worthy diatribes, mistakes or faux pas and best of all no 100% gold plated asshole of a celeb to deal with. I understand the lure of the dead, especially in a marketing game where one wrong sentence in an interview, or even said with friends and distributed, can cause millions of dollars in collateral damage and rebuilding.
In stark contrast to all other marketing trends Calvin Klein has gone for a living, mature couple to front a brand new launch and in one of their cases to re-front one of the Calvin Klein stable of fragrances 26 years later. That is longer than most alive frag models have been on this planet, by about 10 years. 45 year old Christy Turlington with her her husband Edward Burns. This needs a serious BRAVO for Calvin Klein’s marketing team. Still as unattainably gorgeous as ever but selling to a market who have been long neglected in the marketing departments of the big fashion houses: 40+. I think it will reap BIG rewards and I’m surprised the ads weren’t released a month ago for Mother’s Day.
Enjoy them, real; beautiful; people.
Portia xxx
I stole this stuff Lock, Stock and Barrel from art8amby
Shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in Turks & Caicos, the campaign is exactly what you would expect from Calvin Klein; passionate, intense but always understated. However admits Turlington, “it’s also funny to be intimate with your life partner and have people around.” (source)
Christy Turlington and Edward Burns are also fronting the latest campaign image of Calvin Klein Eternity perfume. (source)
Righto!
So I am running INCREDIBLY late with stuff for this holiday and my mind has turned to mush. By the time you get to read this we are now in South Korea and having a ball. It’s spring here and the crew is amazed; it is totally beautiful. Instead of writing a post I thought I could ask you all for your input:
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
What Fragrance Do You Wear On Bus, Train, Plane or any Public Transport? Are you careful and try to be considerate or do you like to give them all a lesson in olfactory enormity? Is it Jean Claude Ellena or Thierry Mugler that is most likely to get the spritz?
Photo Stolen Flickr
My answer:
I love to travel and have a stable of frags that I like to enjoy in public transport, some CHANEL No 5 Parfum, L’Occitane Vanille & Narcisse, Ava Luxe Tubereuse Diabolique or Geranium Pour Monsieur by Malle have all been worn with great relish. Last holiday though I had a shower in the lounge at Bangkok and didn’t have my glasses on, not thinking therew could be a scent bomb in my travel frags I spritzed 5 healthy wallops of A*Men Leather. WOW!! I felt like a neon sign but nobody even noticed until the very end of the flight and Michael said he could smell me still as I sat across from him at dinner.
So, what do you wear close up?
Hello APJ,
I have these 2 unrelated posts that need to be given to you as gifts so I’ve put them together. They are totally dissimilar but both should give you food for thought, a smile and lift your day. Normally we go for the gooey mushy feel good stuff here but some days you just want to vent, the first two should give you great venting potential. Number three, the video, will show you part of our world you may never have thought about and remind you of a very simple safety instruction that could save your precious life. Please take heed.
As always, my love and a cyber hug to all our APJ Family and Friends.
Portia xx
Hi there APJ Family & Friends,
I love trolling through the Surrender To Chance site. They have excellent Weekly Chance Specials, Vintage frags, Hard to find stuff and best of all, I can order a 2ml spray and get a true experience of a fragrance for a fraction of the price of a bottle, and it’s way easier to store 100 samples than 100 bottles too. Recently I was looking through and came across this super set that read like EXACTLY the kind of set that I should possess, natch. So I went all out and ordered the 2ml Spray Set. It’s pricey but SOOO worth it.
Animalic – Skank Sample Set
From Surrender To Chance: Perfume should always play with naughty. What is naughty? It’s referred to as “skank.” First coined by March at Perfume Posse in January 2006, she refers to it as “Skank is not gracious, or nice, or even fundamentally pretty. The Skank is about sex, and only sex. It’s a rump-grinding, head-shaking invitation to a booty call, no matter how politely the scent’s been dressed up at the opening.”
This is the sex in perfume, and it’s been there even back in the days when the hems of dresses never got above the eyelet lace-ups of their Victorian boots.
So I have been having a wonderful time trying them all.I think my skin eats, or I have become immune, to the extremes of animalics. I love them and they smell great on my skin but where most people are coughing, tears streaming and running to the shower, I merely smell like a big cuddly teddy bear all warm and squishy. I have written about a few of these already, mostly quite early in the blog’s life, but it has been super fun revisiting and reminding myself how good they are, and to have even a sample size back in the collection. There are a few too that are FB in my collection already: MKK, Femme and Bal a Versailles. I also have a vintage Jicky Parfum so it’s great to meet it’s modern EdP sister.
My girl friend Natalie from Another Perfume Blog took one whiff of Courtesan by Worth and I knew she had to have it. You know the look, eyes glazed over, head thrown slightly back and nostrils flaring? There was that and more: positively fabulous viewing and at an outdoor lunch table in one of Sydney’s ritzier suburbs. I had to laugh, and give her the vial.
Surrender To Chance has the lot starting at $33/.5ml but I went all out and grabbed the $116/2ml spray set
Why did I spend so much? Well, 2ml will last me 4-10 wears depending on longevity and projection strength. That’s months of delicious spritzing and a different one every day for 3 weeks, not that I desperately need more choice to be honest. I also like that they are already in a spritz atomiser so no messing around with decanting into a spray to get the manufacturers intent. I think the extra is worth it for me. You may only want or need the .5ml to taste the frags, excellent. $33 is a wonderful deal for amazing frags that are a must try on your frag journey.
Love & hugs,
Portia xx
Heya APJ!
Here we are. 1000 posts. Every one of you have contributed, be it reading, writing, commenting, liking or spreading the word. Thank you.
THANK YOU ALL.
We are having a party but we all have to have our own party, united but separate. Please grab a beverage and join us in a toast.
Take a minute and type in your favourite fragrance house into the SEARCH function at the side of the page. Hopefully there will be something about your faves that you can read and reminisce about, if not please leave us a comment about what you don’t see. We will try and remedy the lack in the next 1000 posts
Little did I know 1000 posts ago when I bit the bullet and wrote my first piece that it would or could ever become so enormous. We have contributors on four continents, offer a safe and fun place where you can kick back and hang out or jump in get your fix and continue your life. We try to keep it light, informative and fun and all of us at APJ love that you are our cyber fragrance family.
There are majorly exciting giveaways and promotions in our near future, can’t wait to tell you about them as they come to fruition.
So, today in honour of our 1000th post please spritz or swipe something special.
Leave us a comment below to tell us what your special scent is.
I will be wearing Rosa Sur Reuse by SOIVOHLE in Korea
Beyond all of that I seriously love you all. This passion of ours has spawned a community. My gratitude is boundless.
If ever life feels shit please drop in, WE LOVE YOU.
The APJ Crew, especially Portia xxxx
PS. There will be a super 1000 posts GIVEAWAY when I get back from Korea, promise
All photos stolen.
If I’ve used your image and you are unhappy about it
please leave a note and I’ll remove it.
