Scent Diary

Scent Diary: 5.6 – 11.6.2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

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Portia

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Hi APJ,

WOW! What a week of friends, food and fragrance. I can’t believe how much we all got through.

Scent Diary: 5.6 – 11.6.2017

Monday 5:

Good morning sunshine! It was absolutely glorious for our walk today and when we got home I de-flead the pooches.

Very little on the agenda today but I did book my flights for India in September. Going to hang with my last Partner Varun for about 10 days. The plan is to get up to Assam and Darjeeling for alittle adventure, a couple of days in Delhi and some time with his family in Alwar, Rajasthan. Jam packed but it will be fun. I realised we haven’t seen each other in 3 years! Time to go hang. Here’s a pick of us 15 years ago at one of our birthdays.

I’m totally loving my original Lolita Lempicka EdP again today. LOADS of it. Then this afternoon I decided I wanted to keep the purple theme but a new direction so Hermès Brin de Reglisse got a full workout. I freaking love lavender, so cool and calming.

At night Jin & I went to dinner with our besties Kath & Alice. The Balkan Restaurant on Crown St, I have been eating with this family in three or four different locations since 1988. The menu has barely changed in all that time and I usually get the Fillet Mignon, which in Australia and all civilised countries means perfect steak wrapped in bacon and cooked over an open fire BarBQ. Tonight I was not so hungry so I had a little bit of meat off everyone’s plate and a salad. DELICIOUS!

Tuesday 6:

Scott came to help with Office Work today. There wasn’t much to do except the brain numbing receipt naming, invoicing all venues and queens for Turbo, the mail and a few other incidentals. Jin is working tonight so he got us all lunch, dukka on soft pizza and cheese, YUM!

At the Post Office there was my prize from Pia & Nick at We Love To Smell. SO generous, full of fun things.

Had the most fabulous Annick Goutal Musc Nomade bubble bath, followed by Kiehl’s Musk Body Lotion and topped off with enormous amounts of Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur. I am a little musky! YAY!

Tonight for bed I wanted to continue the musks but add some sweetness so I multispritzed Olympic Orchids White Cattleya. its ultra-sweet citrus is backed by vanilla and musk. Just the right side of freaky, and a perfect narcotic fragrance to lead me to the land of nod. Night Night.

Wednesday 7:

Today is wet. Had to use a big umbrella to walk the dogs. I love how clean the world feels while it’s raining and the breeze is so refreshing. Dogs were fine in their winter coats, they look like a couple of yearling colts trotting along. I wore Elie Saab Le Parfum for our ramble, it was perfect, all musky white flowers.

Had a good meeting about a new venue that would like me to produce some stuff for it. The best bit was that the meeting was expedited by my longest friend who I was in kindergarten with and we have remained buddies ever since. We don’t see each other every week but when we do it’s nice and his Mum & mine were great buddies too. I didn’t take a bloody pic. BUM!

Tonight I was feeling a bit like I needed some super sweet crunchy caramel hugging so instead of turning to Jin who is at work I lavishly spritzed the original Guess woman by Marciano.

Fragrantica

Trivia was fun and dinner delicious. I had the grilled chicken with bacon, avocado and hollandaise with chips & salad. Bloody good food and a lovely night at Greystanes Hotel.

These are two of my fave boys from my Wednesday night gig. Razz & Andrew are contractors that drive from the Gold Coast to work in Sydney every few weeks, their boss sometimes comes and his family has joined us too.

These two dogs are so lovely. We walked in the pouring rain three times today and they loved it. Both got soaking wet heads and legs. Each time I had to dry their coats. Night time wander was in torrential rain, bucketing down, it was Biblical. They loved it so much, couldn’t care less. They’re curled up on their inside beds in the lounge room right now with Korean Air blankets on them. SO CUTE!

I’m done for today. More Guess by Marciano and bed.

Thursday 8:

Jin has crashed on the couch after his nightshift. I found him there this morning when I awoke. His happy snores fill the apartment. Morning couch cuddles made the world look even more lovely as I took the dogs for a damp but crystal clear ramble.

There were still ashy, vanilla remnants of my Guess by Marciano this morning. They were such a perfect fit I decided to stay on the sweet side so it became a Guerlain Samsara vintage EdT & parfum morning.

Jin created a brand new meat marinade today. Shallots, Onions, Garlic, Kiwi Fruit, Soy Sauce, Cooking Wine, little Sugar, Sesame Oil and fresh cracked Black Pepper. Pour it over pork neck cut into thin slices, like the Chinese cut meat for take-away. The meat has gone into the marinade, in Tupperware and into the fridge. The whole house smells amazing.

He cooked some and it tastes even better than it sounds. We have dubbed it Shallot Pesto and I wanted to eat it as is but Jin is making it into a stew! Crazy boy.

It’s still raining in Sydney but I was craving icy cool scent so I thought a few spritzes of Cartier: L’Heure Convoiteé II a good choice. It is indeed. Every time I spritz it reminds me of buying it in Prague’s Cartier store, off the main square. It was an expensive purchase and thrilling to be doing it on my first visit to the city. It was Jin and my first holiday together, very happy times to remember. Even now the heady joy of finding him comes flooding back.

Then for work some vintage Fendi EdT, their original fragrance. BIG perfume.

Friday 9:

It’s Friday and Jin is off work. We walked the dogs together this morning, one of my fave things to do together.

I was supposed to be meeting with the Parramatta Council  because I want to start Drag Queen Story Time at the local library. They are into it but we had to postpone for a couple of weeks. I love the idea of bringing diversity to kids.

So I cleaned the house top to bottom. You could eat your dinner out of my toilet right now, though if you’re that hard up I could probably find you a plate. Everything is glistening and the only thing I haven’t done is oil the table. Tomorrow I’ll do it.

Lunch with the sweetest Korean boy, Jacob, from our local Korean store. He is going back to Korea soon and I wanted to take him out for a farewell. He loved it so much that I spoke a few sentences of Korean and he likes to talk English with me. Sweet. I’ll miss his happy face at the shop.

Tonight we had a perfumista dinner at mine. A few mates and a bunch of frags. Jin was out boozing with a work colleague so I filled the house with friends. Instead of cooking I went and got some Arabian chicken with pickles, garlic mayo & chips. Add a few bread rolls, a garden salad & voila, dinner. Everyone was asked to bring a bottle of bubbles and we went through most of them.

TinaG decided to create a Pavlova for dessert and it was freaking sensational. Here she is looking justifiably proud. We ate it up and then were all on a sugar high for fragrances.

Scott stuck around after everyone had gone and we kept on sniffing well past midnight and on to one.

Saturday 10:

Today dawned cool and wet. The thought of getting out of my comfortable bed, with a super warm Jin beside me was not exactly my dream scenario but the dogs will not feed and walk themselves. They did have to wait an hour after their normal routine though. I am a selfish man.

Went to lunch for my mate Nikki’s birthday. It was excellent fun. We laughed and reminisced. By the end it was three cackling hens. Perfect Saturday afternoon.

Following lunch I felt the need for a little warmth so a Robert Piguet Bandit bubble bath ensued and a liberal spritzing of the original Trussardi Donna, with it’s faux white croc bottle and greyhound insignia in leather. All about the leather chypres this afternoon.

Aunty Tracey arrived this evening and Jin did Korean BarBQ at home. She’s staying with us for the week and hopefully we will go visit the rest of the Aunties while she’s here.

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Sunday 11:

Walking the dogs this morning I was confronted by this tree that seems to have coloured up overnight. Every other deciduous tree on the block is almost bare but this lone liquidambar is only just turning. Beautiful.

Aunty Tracey is rugged up in the beautiful patchwork quilt created for me by Lyndall Woods. She’s feeling the cold further from the equator and the quilt is exactly enough to keep her toasty as she watches Netflix. Her show of choice is 13 Reasons Why.

For work I decided to go Old School so it’s vintage Guerlain Mitsouko EdT & parfum all the way.

 

Now it’s your turn. How was your week? Tell me anything fun or fragrant you did or wore, maybe you have a new purchase or refund an old love. Please tell us your story in the comments, we love to read what’s going on in your world.
Portia xx

Scent Diary: 29.5 – 4.6.2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

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Portia

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Hi APJ,

Food and fragrance are the orders of the week. A few catch ups but mainly quiet as Jin recovers from tonsillitis. Loads of fun frags though.

Scent Diary: 29.5 – 4.6.2017

Monday 29:

Early this morning when I went to bed I lavishly spritzed Cacharel Liberté. I love it zingy sizzling citrus and it wears beautifully in the hot or cold. I’ll never understand why it wasn’t a bigger hit. The bottle is fabulous, it smells amazing and Gisele Bündchen was the spokesmodel? Even the name is good. As you can see I go through quite a lot of it, bottle number 3.

Jin was complaining of getting sick last night and then through the night kept waking up, unable to breathe. This morning he went to the doctor and his tonsils are so swollen they are blocking his airways. Antibiotics for a week. I hope they put him in hospital and rip them out. Poor boy has suffered at least once a year since we got together but never this bad. If not in Australia I’ll fly him home where they are not so stupidly precious about the procedure.

For the dog walk I thought I needed something a bit rosy so the first rose frag that I noticed was Agent Provocateur EdP. I grabbed it and spritzed with abandon. It was a stellar accompaniment to the crisp morning air, sunlit and sparkling.

Sick Jin & I went for sandwiches and hot chips to the local cafe. They girls there are so friendly. It was yum.

This afternoon I suddenly got the urge to douse myself in Bulgari Eau Parfumee au The Noir. It’s tea but with a woody leather and rose tint. I like it a lot, especially in the heat but very nice at 18C too.

Kept spritzing more and more Bulgari tonight while writing Q&A.

Tuesday 30:

Finally, it’s 3.30am and I’m finished the Q&A and sent them all out. All I can think of us how much I want an incense fragrance to ramp up the leavings of the bulgar. So Maria Candida Gentile Exultat was the obvious, and best, choice for my mood. You’ll excuse me while I drift away please?

Saw this yesterday and can’t stop laughing about it. So funny.

Jin is officially off work for a couple of days. Unlike his usual illnesses he is not a whining baby. He must be really sick. Bloody doctors in Australia won’t remove them anymore unless it’s life or death. ASSHOLES!

No scent because it will fight with the lavender & eucalyptus in the burner.

DRAMA! While going in to the bathroom to get ready for work the bath mat slid from under me and I landed on the tile on my knee. It was so fast. Suddenly I’m lying on the ground moaning and in real pain. It was yuck. Anyway, poor old Jin was in a sound drugged sleep and I woke him with my yammering. This wheezy, disembodied voice comes to me from the living room, “You alright?” Even though I was most definitely NOT alright it was amusing enough to get me off the floor to reassure him that I’d live.

Tonight for work I wore Cartier L`Heure Brilliant VI and enjoyed its glittering zing.

I know it will be battling the houses current ambience but I’m going all out with Miss Dior vintage parfum and EdT for bed tonight. I’m worth it.

Wednesday 31:

Last night before bed I ate a couple of donuts. Woke up this morning with a sugar hangover, and a sore knee.

Basically today was a write off. With Jin sick and me having a day off we slowed around the house all day watching TV and relaxing.

Dinner was Chinese Take Away and it was freaking gorgeous.

Thursday 1:

Today was HUGE! Jumped out of bed and doused myself in about 8 spritzes of Oriza L. Legrand Oeillet Louis XV from a sample in the pack you can buy from them and they ship to the world.

Walked the dogs then ran back inside, jumped in the car and fled. Saw this beautiful creamy coloured bottlebrush flowering in our winter.

First stop was Showcase in Sydney’s historic Rocks area. That’s where I buy my Drag make up. It was an expensive but necessary morning shop.

Next up I visited Bronwyn of Gascoine & King candles who is also the importer of Etat Libre d’Orange here in Australia. We went for coffees and some cake at the Bourke St Bakery and talked about our friends, lovers, businesses and new products. It is always fabulous with Bronwyn and we have some super luxe giveaways coming up from her. WOO HOO!

BFF Kath is home sick so I dropped in there  to see her on my way to the next adventure. Short but sweet chats and cuddles with Ruski, her Groodle.

My last partner Varun and I lived with a really amazing girl, Rose. At that time she was a chef at the College St Marriot Hotel where Varun went from restaurant bus boy to night manager in the two years we were together. It was a meteoric rise and we were all proud of him. After the Marriot Rose moved to the Millennium Hotel, then onto a catering company where she got them a shitload of awards and where she really got her name in the minds of movers & shakers. She moved to Singapore and did some stuff there until she was poached by Nobu in Europe where she was overseeing chef for a few years. The Dictator of Azerbaijan stole her to be the top dog in his restaurants, hotels and family kitchen and after 4+ years working for him she decided it wasxc time to come back to Sydney.

Rose is now the top chef in the Lotus group of restaurants here in Sydney and she invited TinaG & I for lunch today so she could gauge the way the restaurant runs with real patrons. We ate SO MUCH! Tried all the delicacies and were given top flight service by our waiter Ben. It was really interesting to hear the stories of the dishes and why this was so good or why that one was sent back and the chef told to take it off the menu for today because the meat wasn’t as good as it should be. These guys take good food really seriously. I only put in pictures of the most spectacular, there was at least 3 x this much food.

Then I went to Libertine Parfumerie for their SALE! I was a glutton but Nick gave me something incredibly special to give away on APJ. VERY excited about that.

At this point I was running HOURS late and got home in time to quickly wash my face, hug Jin and ran out to work as a man. Work was heaving tonight, 50+ patrons at Kings Park tavern and there was loads of bantering and fun. It wa a stellar evening. I wore Exultat by Maria Candida Gentile and it was the perfect woody/incense combo for the evening.

Home, walked the dogs, having a cup of coffee and about to have a very hot bath to soak all todays grime off. I’m bushed.

Friday 2:

A few things arrived in the post today but nothing so exciting as this vintage Rochas Femme parfum. It is a propellant bottle so the first 20 seconds are a mess but then……. bloom. Absolutely gobsmackingly gorgeous.

Jin and I spent the day around the house. We only left it to take him for Vietnamese Pho Soup. I walked the dogs though, he stayed sick on the couch. Can’t wait for him to fully recover

Saturday 3:

Good day today. Jin went back to work and I got to organise the weeks blog posts.

I’m also trying to create some order out of my chaotic office. I’m nearly shoulder deep in fragrance here. CROWDED.

I did take a Gilmore Girls break though because there is so much of the early episodes I missed. Having come in halfway like I did the whole back story is made apparent. My enjoyment levels are going through the roof.

While watching mind numbing TV I also ate Chinese reheats for lunch. BEST thing about getting chinese is having reheat lunch for the next two or three days. I added a can of corn kernels while they were in the frying pan. YUMMY!

This afternoon I wanted a cool amber fragrance. Van Cleef & Arpels Ambre Imperial was the perfect choice. It’s sparse, airy and unlike any other amber in  my collection. It never gets bakery, gluggy or creamy but does warm through slightly as it dries down to resinous woodsiness. It’s the ultimate hot weather amber but is also very nice in the crisp, cool of evening. It was never a hit, I read zero rave reviews and it isn’t amber in the traditional sense but if you see it, put some on your skin.

Then I had a bath. It was deliciously hot and frothy with LUSH Rose Jam bubbles. Nearly finished this years stockpile. The wait for Christmas releases starts soon.

For bedtime I have gone absolutely crazy with vintage Guerlain Shalimar extrait, decanted from my bottle and spritzed. I am leaving a coruscating trail of fragrance every time I move. It’s ENORMOUS!

Sunday 4:

Walking the dogs this morning and I came across this beautiful rose. The light was hitting it in such a way that it had become ultra violet. As it caught my eye it was trying to burn my retinas out. It even had some spice tea and rose scent. There is no filter on the pic, you can kind of see what I mean but it was so much more freaky in life.

It’s cool but sunny today. I’m wearing Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin. It’s perfect. Longevity is appalling so I keep resproitzing every 40 minutes or so. Very satisfying. I love the anise/wet violet combo.

Yet again in LUSH Rose Jam bubble bath. Over the faint remnant I multi spritzed from a split decant of MFK Amyris (pretty sure it’s Femme). Did you know that the Amyris tree is also called Torchwood because it is super inflammable AND the resin it produces is Elemi. HA! I looked it up on Fragrantica. No wonder it smells familiar.

 

Now it’s your turn. How was your week? Do anything fragrant or interesting?
Tell us all about it, we love to read what you’re doing too.
Portia xx

Scent Diary: 22.5 – 28.5.2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

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Portia

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Scent Diary: 22.5 – 28.5.2017

Monday 22:

Hey all. Today was spent at the computer (amazing how much time you can waste doing basically nothing online) and getting my fragrant send outs done. Some of them are a week overdue.

watching some Netflix. Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code (2011) which blew my mind. Scary real idea.

Also watched the animated Sahara (2017) which was sweet and amusing but not nearly as good as Source Code.

Being Monday I have to write Trivia Q&A tonight.

Did not spritz or dab even a drop of fragrance today. For no reason at all my body wanted a complete rest from it. It did make me notice even more the fragile scent of lavender left on my sheets after changing the bed today. I always spritz it with L’Occitane Lavender Eau de Cologne on change day. It’s scent remains all week and is a perfect relaxant for Jin. He works shift work and needs to be able to fall asleep at any time in moments.

Tuesday 23:

BUSY, wearing Madame Rochas EdC and parfum.

This morning I had a few things on the agenda, firstly tyres. My car desperately needed 4 new tyres and I had known it was coming for 12 months. Went to a tyre place I’ve used before expecting around $1000. The guy that served me was super sweet. He told me that they were importing a new brand and because this company is trying to get a toehold in Australia they are still quite cheap. So, four new tyres and a wheel alignment cost a little under $600 and I can’t believe the difference. The car is more responsive, feels like it is cornering better and the steering is lighter than it’s ever been. WIN ALLL ROUND!

It was Mother’s Day recently and I still hadn’t been to visit my Mum. The guilt was lying heavily on me and so straight after tyres I went down and saw her. Burned some Chinese Incense and Hell Bank Dollars for her and when I’m there alone I talk out loud to her as if we are sitting in the kitchen over a coffee. Anyway, I’d been rambling on about all sorts and wandering around the grave picking leaves etc off it when I noticed two groundsmen watching me and smiling. AWKWARD! They just smiled, said hello and wandered on.

Mum Waples is still in the Rehab and I went to visit her too. We had some laughs and Kath showed up to make it really cozy.

Jin has been aching to make us Peking Duck. We went and got all the stuff today, he made the pancakes himself from scratch. A couple of false starts, some not quite rightness and though it was amazing we decided to leave it and chop it all up for Sang Choy Bow tomorrow. Who cares that it wasn’t perfect, I just love the hanging out with him.

Work. Having to go to work tonight it was beard dying, a bubble bath and shave. Then some quiet nap time and ready to face the world. I spritzed Parfum d’Empire Ambre Russe lavishly and went out reeking of it. Interestingly no one commented on it, maybe they’re scared. I kept smelling old pipe tobacco all night, yummiest frag.

Fragrantica

After work Jin and I sat up watching Frankie & Johnny Season 3, first 3 eps. Such good writing and the actors are a unit, a cohesive, perfect unit. We see ourselves and friends in different moments and characters. What a show.

Wednesday 24:

A day blogging so loads of fragrance. I don’t want to ruin all the surprise though so I’ll keep a little hush.

Perfectly wonderful day. Jin and I lazed around the house and I blogged away happily. We had lunch together, a cuddle on the couch, watched some Korean TV with him translating. I grabbed Paris and had a little nap with him in the early evening before work.

Tonight for work I wore Carner Barcelona Rima XI. Sweet amber delight. YUM!

Thursday 25:

Today started cool and crisp, there were little breath clouds as I walk the dogs. By the time we got home though it was starting to warm up nicely. I was too., a half hour wander is beautiful with these pooches for company.

Jin cooked San Choy Bow with the leftover duck today for lunch. The sad failure of our Peking Duck was well overshadowed by the great San Choy Bow triumph of May 2017! He took some artistic license with the basic recipe, adding extraordinary amounts of garlic, some extra vegetables and a nice soft kick of chilli. He should open a restaurant. Seriously. It was so bloody delicious.

We went shopping for food. Tomorrow night we are having a small dinner party. We wanted to have everything ready to go.

Collected the incoming mail. VERY nice haul today. Vintage Madame Rochas EdC and Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois and Ambre Sultan in the Vaporisators with 2 x 30ml. Same price at Mecca as the 50ml export bottle and hella cuter.

Tonight I jumped in a glorious bubble bath of Hermès Eau de Mandarine Ambrée which then led me to night at work in Guerlain Shalimar, vintage parfum and modern EdP. I sent two of the women hurtling down memory lane to their youths. One was so enraptured she said she had fully fallen back in love. I wouldn’t be surprised if she turns up next week in full Shalimar.

My rose that I was given on Mother’s day is still blooming strong and lightly fragrant.

Friday 26:

Suddenly it’s cool enough for a beanie. I particularly love this one I bought from Vanessa Musson from Bonkers About Perfume.

WHAT A DAY! I didn’t think my list was so long but it didn’t go as planned. It was meet Anna-Maria, go to David Jones and sniff, shopping for other people at DIOR, Estee Lauder Staff Store, hang with Bronwyn of Gascoigne & King Candles, Showface Theatre Makeup Store, Home for dinner party with a crew. It didn’t quite go to plan.

Went to town and met Anna-Maria for coffee and cupcakes.

Then we went to check David Jones DIOR to see if they had the 125ml Feve Delicious in case the Flagship store was out.

This fabulous woman at YSL Beauty grabbed Anna-Maria and did her lips. I nearly had to punch her in the face to use a slightly orange red on Anna-Maria but my will prevailed and I think you’ll agree it was the right choice.

Went to visit one of my favourite man SAs at MECCA in Myer where Anna-Maria got the Le Labo Santal 33 oil.

Then we trotted up to DIOR Flagship store and met Jolanta who was devastated to tell us she only had one 125ml DIOR Feve Delicious left. We had a very nice visit though. They are so friendly and helpful.

Latai met us there and we had to go back to David Jones to grab the other Feve and have lunch with Anna-Maria’s son Rocco. Then we realised we were out of time. Rushed home to join where we met up with other friends and all had Japanese/Korean fusion Self Made Nori Rolls. We had so much fun, chatter and laughter that the rest of the night passed in such a blur I completely forgot to take photos, SORRY!

After dinner I brought out a box of random niche bottles and we sniffed them and chatted, leading me to go get other bottles to illustrate, compare, contrast. By 10pm Jin was in bed and I was pooped so everyone herded out and I cleaned up. Bit of blogging and bed.

Saturday 27:

Spent today lazing around the house doing very close to nothing. I did notice that the Zygocactus are flowering though. these are all from my Mum’s windowsill. I’m pretty chuffed that though she died in 2001 her cactus are still prospering beautifully in the baskets and pots I put them in in 2003.

In honour of having the house to myself and wanting to swan around fully fragrant I gave myself 6 huge spritzes of Neela Vermeire Creations Mohur EdP. It’s so easy to get lost in its intricate folds that I lay down and let my mind wander for half an hour. So relaxing.

When Jin got home we had his Katsu Curry: Korean style. Bloody hell. My guy is such a good cook. Delicious. We watched some Gilmore Girls, season one. Jin had been rematching them and I got addicted a couple of seasons in. I’m doing catch up. LOVE this show.

Before bed I spritzed the white floral and green herbs and spices of Antonia by Puredistance. How luxe it smells.

Sunday 28:

Woke up & spritzed Niki de Saint Phalle for this perfect end of autumn sunny day. It was lovely as I wandered the dogs around our suburb.

Went and visited Kath’s Mum who is back at home now. We sat around with Dad & Kath laughing and chattering. It was a casual family morning, exactly what my should needed. Sorry but I forgot to take a snap.

Hung around the house and then got ready for work.

This week has been calm and peaceful. It’s been great to take stock and get some rest.

How about you? What did you do this week?
Did anything fragrant or fun happen?
Let us all know in the comments, hearing about your lives makes me so happy. I feel involved in the world outside my bubble.
Portia xx

 

Scent Diary 15.5 – 21.5.2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 32 Comments

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Portia

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Hey there Fragrant Family,

This week has gone by in a blur. Where did it bloody well go? Wasn’t I just posting the scent Diary last week a minute ago?

Having said that the week has been really good mainly, loads of great fragrances, friends and food. Can’t complain about that.

Scent Diary 15.5 – 21.5.2017

Monday 15:

Lazy morning answering Australian Perfume Junkies comments. We hit the 150 comments mark for the Saturday question this week so one lucky commenter will be getting a $20 Surrender To Chance GIFT CERTIFICATE! I’m really happy about that but my typing finger is a bloodied stump. Yes, I do all this with one finger every week. Pathetic, I know.

We had a few things on the agenda for today but only a few got done. First Jin & I went and had pizza & pasta at Gioia in Leichhardt on our way to the Redfern apartment where my BFF Kath lives to fix the lights under the kitchen cupboards onto the benchtops. I love that kitchen.

While we were there we left her belated happy Mother’s Day present. I think she loved it. Who doesn’t need new flaps?

Had a few deliveries. Of course they all come at once when I ordered them over a month. Decanting supplies from ProudStyle, LuckyScent order, bought a used Frederic Malle Musc Ravager from FaceBook and lastly a nearly full vintage DIOR Diorella EdT that has gone a bit stale from the CFCs/propellant. Still, it’s not ruined but it is not pristine either. It also leaked a bit in transit and its silver at the sprayer is going nasty.

Tuesday 16:

It’s only 1.40am, and I’m finished my Trivia Q&A. Woo Hoo! I did get some prep work done the other day so all my games and jackpot were already written. The daily Q&A was also ready to be done so having done a couple of hours work before i am much more ready.

OK spritzing Carner Barcelona RIMA XI, cleaning my teeth and going to bed. Night.

This morning was sunny and warm so I went for Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur. It arrived in the mail and I REALLY wanted to give it an outing. So warm and cuddly, a real furry fragrance. It was delicious while walking the dogs in the sunlit morning.

Went and saw Kath’s Mum at the rehab centre. we finally got her to sit outside in the warm air today to have lunch. She looks 100% improved.

Tonight I was having a hard time deciding what fragrance to wear for work and the candy stripes of my Cacharel Scarlett travel size caught my eye. It was a perfect choice and got some compliments. Happy frag day.

For SOTBed I wore Serge Lutens Arabie. Sweet spicy chutney and dusty desert in a bottle. Perfect for floating away upon.

Wednesday 17:

Jin cooked Korean pancakes this morning. they are pancake batter filled with nuts and melted brown sugar. You have no idea. Sorry I have no photo but they were delicious.

Jin and I went to our local IDAHoT 2017 event. International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. There were a group of our mates up at Parramatta to support the cause, the Police Band played with a sensational singer, there were speeches and the raising of the Rainbow flag outside our historic Parramatta Town Hall. The sun was shining and it was a fun way to spend lunchtime.

Jin wore Serge Lutens Muscs Kublai Khan and I was wearing Annick Goutal Grand Amour. As you can see my bottle is nearly empty, has changed colour and looks like it’s on its last legs. Nope, smells as good as the day I bought it. MMMMMMM

When I got home we watched the last two episodes of Sense8. Absolutely heart stopping drama, loved every second.

Tonight in honour of Greg Young’s extra special Guest Post I’m spritzing the cool, fresh elegance of CHANEL Pour Monsieur, bought from Robert Herrmann in his sale. MMMMMMMM

Thursday 18:

Wore Guerlain Samsara extrait today. Not sure exactly how old it is but it smells so much like my Mum that I’m feeling disoriented. Total mind fuck for a while.

Jin and I did some garage reorganising. He put a cupboard on the wall that I have wanted up for nearly two years, we moved some furniture from the house down there too. This place needs to be a little more streamlined to be fully zen.

Tonight I went crazy with the Agent Provocateur EdP. I enjoyed every inhale and it has lasted for hours and hours.

Fragrantica

After work my car got a flat tyre. Had to call the Roadside Assist and I was still in full drag. He was so unconcerned and absolutely sweet. He fixed it all, chattered a bit and we went on our merry ways. Thank you NRMA. It was a super nice experience, and he took less than 20 minutes to get to me and get it fixed.

Tonight I’ve spritzed Parfums DelRae Coup de Foudre. It goes beautifully over the Agent Provocateur EdP. Ready for bed. Night.

Friday 19:

WHAT A DAY! Got up and walked the dogs quickly where the Cockatoos are playing headstone angels.

Then caught a bus & train headed into Sydney city to meet with some perfume geeks.

Ingrid, Gino and Tim were my adventure accomplices and we had a wonderful time. Ingrid is down in Sydney from the Gold coast for her birthday so we celebrated in high style. Starting with coffees in the David Jones Food Hall and a quick sniff of the niche fragrances on display in store.

Then we moved on to Harold’s in City Westfield. We met Gino & Tim there and had a wonderful time looking at the high fashion, niche fragrance and accessories. I caved and bought Series 3 Incense: Ouarzazate Comme des Garcons, which I have had small decants of but was out. Roman and Andy were our SAs today but gorgeous Andy got the purchase. Gagging for the fun Balenziaga bags, REALLY want one.

It was definitely time for lunch and a lazy Prosecco at David Jones Food Hall. We ate at the cheese and antipasto desk. It was wonderful fun eating, sniffing and chatting.

Then we hit Mecca in Myer and were served by Ken, the sexy bearded French hottie. Sadly I already owned everything in the store I want. It was super fun chatting fragrance with them though.

Also we got to see my next boyfriend Louis at the Libertine stand in Myer. I bloody wish he had something i wanted to buy. As we were leaving I did tell him I am coming back soon to get his number and go eat. He is sweet and charming.

At Men’s Biz Ingrid bought Tauer Lonestar Memories. A purchase she had long been pondering, great choice for her. The guys there are so friendly and knowledgable. It’s always a pleasure but sadly they don’t stock my shave soap anymore. BUM.

Coming home on the train & bus I was overwhelmed by how much fragrance I had on. Like I was fumigating the bus. Because we’d tried so much on I think I was bathed in 10+ niche fragrances. Poor people on the bus. It was too much even for me.

Saturday 20:

This morning dawned cool and wet. Jin got home from work at 5.30am. Unusually I woke up and was 100% ready for the day when he got into bed so I jumped out of bed and came to my computer to get some blogging done. Fed & walked the dogs through the wonderful Autumn wispy drizzle. It was heavenly, the dogs loved it too. Had a little cuddle with my baby boy Paris and spritzed some M.O.U.S.S.E. by Oliver & Co. from their Discovery Set that’s left me softly sizzling with a bright, metallic clove. Beautiful.

Off to Pedi with my BFF Kath, hopefully we’ll have lunch too.
Yes we did. Popcorn Chicken and Dumplings for lunch. Sorry I didn’t take a pic but we were chattering so much that I completely forgot.

Spent the evening at home with the dogs watching TV and getting stuff organised for next week. Very quiet and peaceful. Perfect.

Sunday 21:

3am. So, I’m in bed. I’ve just got the sheets warmed to perfect with my body heat. It’s comfy and cuddly under the doona.

Then I realise I forgot to spritz for bed.

QUANDRY! Do I stay here and wish I hadn’t or get out, spritz something and lose my heated cocoon?

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL

Bed Green Bird Doona May 2017

My long time buddy, since we were teens is coming for a champagne brunch this morning. Doing a little cleaning and pottering around the house before she comes. I love how the house feels with Jin sound asleep in the bedroom and me just going about the cleaning rituals. I’m burning an Ainslie Walker for MudAustralia Candle to make the house smell like flowers instead of old men and dogs.

I did Bacon, French Toast and Golden Syrup, Percolated coffee and Verve Mimosas. It was wonderful fun chatting and laughing. I’m so lucky to have these two beauties in my life.

On my person I have spritzed Perfumerie Generale 25 Indochine. Beautiful, sweet woods. Balmy, Smooth.

Bathe and off to work. DIOR Mitzah and lashings of it. While driving to work I was absolutely overwhelmed by it. So lavish and glamorous. Here’s a pic at the end of the night with Kim R and Anna-Maria. These girls are the bomb, I love them to infinity.

 

So how about you? How was your week? What frags did you wear?” Did you do or go anywhere interesting?
Share please in the comments.
I love to read about your lives too.
Portia xxx

Scent Diary 8.5 – 14.5.2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 29 Comments

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Portia

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Hello Frag family,

This week has been blissfully uneventful. I love the quiet, fragrant, hum drum of living.

Scent Diary 8.5 – 14.5.2017

Monday 8:

Whirlwind morning. Dogs to vet. Vet looked over them for annual check up. Nails clipped, injections done, teeth checked, heart, condition etc. We took in stool samples to be checked and had to give some Paris wee. Sounds awful but actually having all the checks done is kind of cathartic, relinquishing control to someone who knows.

Update on Finbar the Australian Noisy Minah: We took him to the vet and they said our best course of action was to leave him with them and they’d hand him over to WIRES who would finish his raising and facilitate his release back into the street he was found on. Jin was really upset that I let them take him but the fact is they are trained to do this. We were doing our best but basically flying blind. This was 100% the best possible outcome.

Jin then had to collect his brand new, 8kms on the clock, Harley-Davidson. There was so much rigmarole that I thought was already done and health with. Also, a Harley doesn’t run the same as the Ninja, it’s all automated, keyless, electrically powered. The honour and reverence the man showing Jin how to deal with it all was as impressive as the machine itself. Then I followed jin on his new bike to our lunch date. He was so nervous and excited it was heaven. My boyfriend the middle aged bad ass.

Safely at lunch with one of my besties Phil we laughed and chattered an hour away. Food Court at Rhodes. Everyone got what they wanted and we all came back together to eat. Phil got Japanese soup, Jin got Chinese soup and dumplings and I had a Turkish open kebab. Sorry I didn’t get a pic we were chatting too much.

My choice of fragrance for the day was Michael Bublé By Invitation, I really go crazy with the spritzing for this baby. The zingy fruity opening which is slightly red pepper to me too goes almost directly to the nutty praline base and stays there for hours. It’s probably terrible and full of cheap ingredients but it smells good to me and people around me like it enough to comment favourably. As you can see I’m nearly a third of the way through my bottle.

The new season of Sense8 is on and we have watched the first three episodes. Bloody hell! It is fast moving, faster than the last season. Blink and you miss key plotlines. It is stunningly visual and so intricately thought out. More than oce Jin & I have been sitting watching it, clutching our pillows or blankets and swearing like sailors. It’s so engrossing, we feel like we are part of the action, like we are the ninth joined person.

Tonight I’m wearing the very last of my sample of M Micallef Marine Vanille. At LuckyScent they are having a sale and with the discount I could not put off my purchase a second longer. It is winging its way to me as we speak. YAY!! Apologies, I think I bought the last one because now it’s Sold Out.

Vanille Marine Micallef LuckyScentLuckyScent

So now it’s Q&A for me till some ungodly hour. See you tomorrow.

Tuesday 9:

Again, slept just before the Q&A finish line. Up at 8am to get them finished and out to the crew. Really am going to have to start putting my foot down and spend a couple of hours Monday day setting my weeks Trivia up so all I have to do in the night is write the Q&A. To get me through I have 7 spritzes of Clinique Aromatics Elixir on. I am a fragrant chypre cloud, and loving it.

Scott came over today. We opened ALL the mail, Paid ALL the bills. My desk and Inbox are clear of bills. Having also spent a bit on fragrance this week I will need to work a few weeks to pay my cards back down but it is a nice feeling to have the outstanding all in one place.

We met up with Millenia to give her all the Bingle Balls stuff and we had Sushi Train for lunch. I love catching up with him.

Hit the Post Office, the Stationary Supply place (OfficeWorks) to buy ink and the bank to yell at them AGAIN (it’s habitual, the cringe when I walk in the doors)

Dyed my beard, bathed and fragranced myself with Perfumerie Generale 25 Indochine. Sweet peppery amber that gets woodsier as it dries down. I find the honey clean and sweet with only the softest hint of animals. Pretty and comfortable for our cooling temps. WOW! I had a few compliments on this tonight. One of the club workers kept coming over to smell me and tell me all the things it made her think of, plus a couple of other random compliments. A clear winner.

Wednesday 10:

Woke up early, turned the alarm off and then sleep till 10am. HEAVEN.

The sun was shining so I popped on a singlet and walked thew dogs, catching some much needed Vitamin D so my body can function properly. Somehow it never seems to run as efficiently if I don’t get a jolt of sunshine every week.

Today I’m wearing some vintage Guerlain Samsara extrait. The memories this mad, beautiful, completely over the top fragrance brings me of my Mum are so strong today they’re palpable. I’m not sure if it was 1989 or 1990 that Australia got Samsara but the year it was released I was working as a holiday squirt bitch for one of our local department stores. My counter was Guerlain, Oscar de la Renta, Worth and Nina Ricci. Knowing my Mum loved Shalimar I thought Samsara the obvious next step because it was brand new and outrageous. I bought her the gift set for Christmas and she was thrilled, the house and her car smelled of Samsara for months. Happy, happy memories.

Not very long ago I found this almost full original extrait on eBay. I paid WAY too much for it but it is perfect, absolutely and utterly pristine. What price joy and nostalgic reminiscence?

Not sure if you know this but I LOVE to cook soup. It’s easy, healthy and delicious. Also, when I make a big vat of it there’s enough to share with friends, that also makes sure that some people get extra veg in their lives. This week I cooked Pumpkin, Potato and Capsicum Soup. The only other things in there are Onions, Garlic, Wostershire Sauce, Pepper, Pure Cream and about 300g of Podravka Hot Vegetable Relish for kick. I cook it, blend it and leave it overnight in the fridge then reheat on the stovetop and serve with buttered wholemeal toast. YUMMY!

Pumpkin, Potato & Capsicum Soup May 2017

For work this evening I wanted something really grand and beautiful. What else but Neela Vermeire Mohur EdP? There is a regal elegance to Mohur that always makes me feel like I’m floating far above the rat race. Roses, spice, incense and a soft background hum of oudh. You can see I’m on my last of the original bottles, I reckon there’s already 6 or 7ml gone. Don’t worry, I have a backup bottle in the new design.

Neela Vermeire Mohur EdP May 2017

Tonight for bed I have multi spritzed Le Galion Cologne Nocturne. One of the best lavender based colognes I have ever smelled with longevity like an EdP. Such a great house that rarely gets a mention. I wish everyone would try their beautifully crafted fragrances, not groundbreaking but perfectly produced with quality ingredients. I’m ready to grab some ZZZZZs. Nighty night.

Le Galion Cologne Nocturne May 2017

Thursday 11:

Morning. Weather is unseasonably warm today. Wearing Olympic Orchids A Midsummer Nights Dream today. I think the names has changed but this old 2ml spray still smells unbelievably gorgeous.So much depth with sparkles of light and glimmers of radiance. The darkness warms through in the heart and suddenly it’s a burnished amber.

Visited Mum Waples in rehab today. She seemed really chipper and walked to the dining room by herself without stops for breathers. It’s a small but significant win. They have her doing exercises too which is making her more confident on her feet.

Visiting Mum Waples in Rehab May 2017

LUSH Rose Jam bubble bath today. How can something so cheap be so bloody wonderful? Stepping into the bath makes me smile like a fool and sitting in there surrounded by rose scented bubbles is absolutely the most relaxing and posh experience. Can’t tell you enough how happy it makes me.

LUSH Rose Jam May 2017

Vintage Madame Rochas EdC is my evenings fragrance. An aldehydic floral by Guy Robert that I find a perfect feminine adventure with very modern masculine dry down. It’s quite the contradiction. Lasts forever, like a modern heavy hitting EdP.

NEW Carpet in the Kings Park Tavern tonight. They are making so many positive changes. The food has gone up 10 notches, the rooms upstairs are being renovated, the staff seem happier and more ready to please. I’m hoping for another 15 magical years there. Fingers crossed.

For bedtime tonight I’m wearing Oliver & Co Vaninger. As you can see it’s pretty popular around here. MMMMMMM The zingiest ginger cut through with the depth and sweetness of vanilla. There’s other stuff floating around too. Weird but wearable beauty.

Friday 12:

Jinx (Jin’s dog) has been favouring one of his front feet. Yesterday he wouldn’t even put pressure on it and I was worried. Today he’s at the vet having X-Rays so we can dismiss any concerns. Greyhounds are funny dogs. When they are racing dogs the only affection they get is from the vets, so in later life they always look on a vet visit as a happy occasion. They basically run up the stairs to the surgery and once inside they are so calm and placid.

Afterwards walking home I looked up and saw this unbelievably red Liquidambar. Autumn is here in Parramatta in full throttle. Love how fiery this particular tree looks.

I wanted something warm and pretty to match my Autumn mood so went for Andy Tauer Eau d’Epices. It’s a perfect match. All that spice ready to sizzle in the pan, oranges and amber.

Went and saw Kath’s Mum for lunch. Just as I came in she was leaving a home safely lecture at the Rehab clinic, then they staff pounced on her and did the blood, drugs and heart check. It was over in a minute.

Paris spent the whole day missing his friend Jinx.

Tonight Jin and I had enormous amounts of KFC. It was freaking delicious. Hanging out with him is easy and cool fun, we watched a few episodes of the new season of SENSE8. OMG! Seriously compulsive viewing. On the edge of the couch, grabbing our cushions and screaming at the TV. Super fun really. Wish you all could have been here with us, perfect night.

After all that I rang Arielle Shoshana to enquire about getting one of her bottles of fragrance sent to Australia. I figure if Arielle is doing it then the juice will be freaking amazing. I think we have a plan.

For bedtime I decided I needed some vintage so Miss Dior EdT. MMMMMM Night Night. X

Saturday 13:

This morning dawned cool and slightly foggy. I felt like some watery roses and then added to myself that powdery roses would be just the thing. Perfume DelRae Coup de Foudre hits all three spots and it was eerily quiet on the Parramatta streets at 8am on a frosty Saturday morning. Though I was dog walking I was hardly even present, what took almost my whole attention was the sheer perfection of Coup de Foudre and how magical it made the morning smell and thus feel.

When we got home Jin was stirring a little so, being Saturday and knowing that if he has the dogs with him he’ll get another 2-3 hours of sleep, I allowed them up with him on the bed. Jin’s working a few night shifts now so after today I’m the only one sleeping in the bed before it gets changed tomorrow. One sneaky morning, and look how happy they all are.

Jin got up around 11am and we went out for burgers. I’ve been craving Grill’d Burgers all week, and their chips share plate with Potato, Sweet Potato and Zucchini chips with three yummy sauces, Sweet Chilli Mayo, Herbed Mayo & Chipotle Mayo.

Grill'd Burgers May 2017

Grill'd CHIPS SHARE PLATE May 2017

I hope you’ll excuse me today. I’m going to sloth around the house and get some Trivia Q&A started for the week.

Wearing multiple spritzes of the original Carolina Herrera EdT from the 1980s. Mine is somewhere from there till the box changed in the early 2000s, but it is a beat up old tester with the gold shoulders. She is ferocious! I love it.

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Amber, Apricot, Bergamot, Jasmine, Lily-of-the-valley, Moss, Musk, Orange blossom, Sandalwood, Tuberose, Ylang-ylang, Civet

So I started watching Netflix new Archie comic in life, Riverdale, and it’s so good that I find myself up at 2am watching and have come in here to break the trance so I can clean my teeth and go to bed.

Sunday 14:

Wishing all the Mums out there in APJ land a great big THANK YOU. We do know how much work goes into being a Mum, even though we are usually ungrateful shits who only care about ourselves. Sorry for all the pain and drama, worry and angry we’ve caused you all. Without you we’d be nothing.

This family, this Mum, the mum of my best friend who took me in for all important occasions when my Mum died. Like every family they have ups & downs, sometimes even sideways. Without their steadying influence, love, care and the ultimate gift of their time I would definitely not be here to tell my tales today. The family spoiled her rotten and she deserved it. EVERYONE came, including Jin who had to dash off to sleep before the photo. This photo is what love and gratitude looks and feels like, to me.

I’ll be wearing Guerlain Shalimar, vintage extrait and modern EdP, to remember my Mum today. I miss her every day.

So, tell me about your week. Do anything fun or fragrant? Share it with us below in the comments.
I love to read your stories too.
Portia xxx

Scent Diary 1.5 – 7.5.2017

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

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Portia

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Hi there fellow fumies,

I’ve learned a new put down. Don’t Get Thin Lipped With Me You Scrofulous Harpy. HA HA HA HA! Isn’t it heavenly, so deliciously awful and will have your opponent diving for their dictionary. Just so you know, Scrofulous is in reference to the tuberculosis illness and general degeneration, Harpies were mythical beasts with womens bodies & heads, birds wings & claws. I know, fabulous isn’t it.

Scent Diary 1.5 – 7.5.2017

Monday 1:

Not exactly sure what’s wrong with my baby Paris but he did another wee, this time in the house. Jin is off later in the week and we are going to take both dogs to the vets to get them checked out.

Paris Stretching May 2017

We caught the train to town. Jin wore Neela Vermeire Bombay Bling and I slathered myself in Mona di Orio Eau Absolue. We smelled wickedly good.

Mona di Orio Eau Absolue May 2017

On the train Jin Portia May 2017

Our beautiful girlfriend Alice is going home to the UK for a month.  Jin & I were able to catch up with her in town today for lunch. We went to one of my all time favourite venues the David Jones Food Hall in Sydney city. It’s a really wonderful lunch venue with loads of choice. I grabbed us an antipasto plate for entree and then we all had steak at The Grill. It was a totally fun way to farewell our mate and not very expensive either. The butcher has some of the best meat ever and they will soon be doing home delivery.

Farewell lunch Jin Alice Portia May 2017

After much we went for a bit of a sniff through the city shops. I added Amouage Bracken Woman on my left arm and Estee Lauder Modern Muse on my right. So I was completely fragrant for the ride home too. We felt the need to take a SMELFIE.

SMELFIE Sniffing Diptyque Jin Alice portia May 2017

OK, so I’ve become obsessed with the Gilmore Girls. Can’t seem to prise myself away from them. Tonight I kept watching one more episode until VERY late and then fell asleep without finishing my Trivia Q&A. OMG! So naughty of me. It won’t be long now because I’m already in season 6.

Tuesday 2:

Had to get up and finish the Trivia Q&A which took till noon. I am a wretched boss feeling very guilty.

I gave myself another healthy spritz of Mona di Orio Eau Absolue to write my questions. I have been trying to finish a 15ml decant for ages and now that its gone I am finally using my bottle. I find it balmy and smooth, TBH I thought it had lashings of lavender in it but it seems to have zero.

Tuesday is beard dying day. The white beard looks very lame with drag so I have to keep it dark and lustrous. I do admit though that I also like it dark as a bloke. It’s youthful, though I am not. I did get excited about my bubble bath today though because I used the last of my gorgeous gift from Jocelyn Fullerton of Cult of Scent. Golden Dreams is TO DIE FOR! Sadly it’s not regular range, special for me. You can get her fragrances and candles from the Cult of Scent site though.

Golden Dreams Cult of Scent May 2017

Over my bubble bath scent I spritzed liberally with Guerlain L’Heure Bleue EdP, I think it’s this century. Very nice, perfect for how I’m feeling tonight.

Guerlain L'Heure Bleue EdP May 2017

Home now, walked & fed the dogs and back to the Gilmore Girls. Chat tomorrow.

Wednesday 3:

It’s Wednesday late morning. Dogs are fed & walked. I took them by my favourite local coffee joint and grabbed one to go as we wandered the streets. It’s cool and there are some clouds flitting by. Though the dogs are excited to be out and wandering I find it peaceful to wander aimlessly, chat to locals, see the seasons changing. EVERYONE that loves dogs wants to pat the boys so we get quite a bit of chat time, I like it a lot.

Wearing Sonoma Scent Studio Rose Musc. It’s very pretty, red roses and leaves in a bottle. It was a perfect wandering companion. Later, through it’s life a fabulously animal musk came through, not dirty or loud but a friendly musk that wears subtly underneath red roses that last for hours & hours.

May 2017 Sonoma Scent Studio Rose Musc

Tonight for work I’m wearing 5 big spritzes of modern Guerlain Shalimar EdP and 2 of vintage parfum, this scent is my happy place.

Thursday 4:

Woke up with a jolt, wide awake and jumped out of bed. Fed and walked the dogs on a beautiful autumn morning.

Then I got caught up on a small slice of the Office Work that I’ve neglected. Hopefully Tuesday next week will get it cleared. I love having an empty inbox and all the bills paid and taken care of. There’s some mail still going to the house I sold over 2 years ago. I thought we had redirected EVERYTHING but clearly some stuff slipped between the cracks because the couple that bought it called and left out a BIG bag of it. I just collected it last week and I’m feeling overwhelmed.

BFF Kath’s Mum has been moved to rehab after a nasty tumble, breaking 3 ribs and fracturing her arm. Grabbed Kath and we went up to see her today. Yesterday was her birthday and it was a sad & sorry one for the poor girl. I think we brightened up her day just a smidge.

Mum, Dad & Kath Waples Portia Rehab may 2017

It’s cooler today so I wore a few spritzes of Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles. Sweet, spicy chutney & herbal woods. Excellent choice.

Tonight at Turbo Trivia we had a completely full house. It was an excellent night and so many of my favourite teams were in the house. It was loud and people were having fun.

I wore original Trussardi Donna, every time I wear it I love the light leather of this fragrance.

Spent an hour or so chatting to Neela Vermeire tonight. She is so funny, we laughed and nattered and fixed all the problems of the world.

Friday 5:

Friday dawned bright, crystal clear and sunny, not too warm and definitely hoodie over T-Shirt weather.

I had a fullish morning planned. The door guy had to come back and add a door closer to our screen door but he didn’t give me a time, hoping to be here by 2pm. When he did arrive the job took less that 20 minutes and he is a sweet man so it was nice to have him come back and fix the lack. Now we have a Self Closing Screen Door, which is what we paid for. YIPPEE!

If the door guy had come early I wanted to go see Kath’s Mum with her over lunch but things didn’t work out so when Jin gets home we can go visit.

Around midday I realised I was hungry so I made myself a little late morning tea. MMMMMMM Toast with Peanut Butter and Vegemite and a cuppa. I sat out on the balcony with the dogs and they were very well behaved. After the initial excitement that it might be for them they skedaddled right back to their beds and watched me eat with hungry, loving eyes.

In my free time I’ve been blogging. YAY! Yes, getting stuff done for next week and organising the Perfume Posse pieces for May. It’s a really relaxing when I put my mind to getting something done and then let my creative juices flow. Industrious, cleansing and cathartic all at once. It also has the added benefit of getting stuff done so I’m not worried about it. WINNING! Currently I smell like MFK Baccarat Rouge 540, Rochas Byzance and Aether Citrus Ester. There is a note in the Baccarat Rouge 540 that reminds me of Aether Methaldone.

Jin arrived home, we went and saw Kath’s Mum in hospital. On the way home we grabbed LOADS of Chinese food, watched the 2017 Winter episode of the Gilmore Girls. It was weird seeing them after 10 years but the good news is Logan Huntzburger, played by Matt Czuchry, my favourite character looks better than ever and they even have a storyline between Rory & him that feels super 21st century.

Fed & walked the dogs. Now Jin has gone to bed and I’m tap-tap-tapping away at the computer keys. Bliss.

I wanted to buy some Grand Soir and Baccarat Rouge 540 from MFK tonight but my mind was on other things and I bloody forgot to get the grand Soir. I’m a bloody idiot.

For bed I wanted something vanilla floral sweet but not too heavy so I went with Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia. Perfect.

Saturday 6:

Saturday and Jin went off to work around 4am. Usually I sleep right through but today I woke up. Wide awake. He usually trots the dogs quickly downstairs for a wee when he wakes. He noticed I was awake and brought the dogs in to cuddle with me. It was so lovely. I had to change the bedsheets anyway so no harm and the dogs & I lay around in bed till 9am feeding and walking. CHANEL Boy was my morning accompaniment, lovely soft balmy lavender for an autumnal wander. There’s even more air in the bottle since this show was taken.

When Jin got home this evening it was Chinese reheats (MY FAVOURITE) and the 2017 Gilmore Girls final three episodes. So good. we laughed, we cried. Matt Czuchry is even more enthralling, I melted every moment he was on screen. PLEASE let them do a new series…….

In honour of the Favourite Vintage Scent Question I wore vintage Miss Dior extrait around the house tonight. It was cozy and perfect.

Sunday 7:

While walking the dogs they became very excited and it turned out to be a little Australian Noisy Minah that had wandered from its family, fallen from its nest or something. He would definitely have become cat food during the night so we brought him home and are feeding him a mixture of minced beef, egg, egg shell grounds and lorikeet dry food. He’s so bloody cute we called him Finbar and he’s nearly ready to fly free. We’ll take him to the vet tomorrow and see what they say.

First thing this morning we went to the Sydney Harley-Davidson centre in Strathfield. Jin needed to do some paperwork, buy a new helmet and jacket and show me his Mid-Life Crisis Impulse Buy. While I’m shaking my head at his ridiculousness it’s not so bad. So far he has pierced his nipples and bought a Harley. Any day I’m expecting him to start at the gym and bring home a Toy-Boy. One thing I am proud of him for though is that he is living his life as he chooses, has a solid debt reduction plan to lower the mortgage and pay off the bike and has not overcommitted himself. He even has Life Insurance just in case and is almost the highest level of Health Cover. That’s all pretty good for a man not quite 40 who came to Australia with a suitcase and almost no money in 2006.

I finished off this lovely Angel style bubble bath today. It’s a cheapy from Bath & Body Works that smells great and bubbles like crazy. Mountains of them. YUM! Because my base is so obviously sweet I have overlaid Michael Bublé By Invitation. You have no idea how good I smell. SWEEEEET

So, what’s been going on in your world?
Have you seen, done or smelled anything interesting?
Please share your life in the comments below. I love to read about your weeks too.
Portia xxx

Scent Diary 24.4 – 30.4.17

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

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Portia

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Hey Hey Frag Family,

This week has been a watercolour about getting life back to normal. We are both back working, looking after the dogs, trying to scrape together time and see our friends. There have been a few losing control moments, where everything has seemed to spiral and grow overwhelming, skating the edges of darkness. Jin still seems to be existing in the fog lands of grief but we will come out OK.

Scent Diary 24.4 – 30.4.17

Monday 24:

Jin and I both had the day off today so we decided to go into Parramatta and get my hair cut and his sexual health tests done.

From there we trained into town to organise our trains across Australia trip later in the year. We are hoping to do the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Adelaide, then the Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin. It’s already heavily booked so Jin has to get his motor running to make it happen in 2017.

Todays fragrance was brought to you by IUNX Splash Forte. I’m nearly out.

After that we wandered around Broadway & Chippendale seeing the new areas opened up as public green spaces, foodie areas, shopping and how much the UTS university has spread. It’s the most modern and happening part of Sydney right now and reminded us of Asia with its high rise apartments and shared green (faux grass) living areas. High density living which still manages to feel spacious.

We caught the train in and back and felt pretty good about using that much less petrol and not clogging up the roadways.

I wore Parfum d’Empire Equistrius tonight. LOVE it. One of the best iris + scents I know.

Tuesday 25:

Woke up, walked dogs, cleaned house. THEN I spritzed a bit of Daniel Barros Cuir Mojito. Freakiest damn shit I ever smelled. LOVE IT! Perfectly named, smells like drinking booze in a horsetack shop. Bit rangier than an Hermès event.

Jin and I had our mate TinaG over for lunch, it was a fun catch-up after her USA holiday. I forgot everything closed on ANZAC Day here so I grabbed a loaf of bread from the local Convenience Store and we had ham, cheese, tomato waffle sandwiches and loads of tea. TinaG had bought us some souvenir USA chocolate and we made that our dessert. We were having so much fun I forgot to take photos so I text and asked them for a car shot, this is what they sent……

The only thing new-to-me that TinaG wanted was Ulrich Lang Lightscape so I thought she better have 5ml. VERY happy girl.

For work I heavily spritzed my Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin. I have gone through a couple of decants and saw it for a good price in someones sale list a while ago so I jumped on it. Not really much different from the rest of the range, male and female centric, but I do like the bottle.

Wednesday 26:

Sleep in. I know, gloating is so unattractive. 8.22am my body woke up of my own accord. It was a blissful rising from the depths of slumber. I feel alive, awake, refreshed and ready for the day. A couple of spritzes of Armani Prive: Cuir Amethyst and I’m ready to feed and walk the dogs in the cool autumn sunshine.

Today is about playing catch-up on the blog so I’m kind of desk bound. It seems very naughty and ungrateful to be inside on a day so gorgeous. I’ll have my lunch in the park across the road to make up for it. Almost ZERO catch up done but the sun was lovely.

Boring for you but exciting for us, new screen door! Now we can have full cross ventilation through the apartment. This is a BIG win. We ordered the damn thing in January but then we were overseas and when we came back he was booked out for mornings weeks in advance. So today it finally arrived and I am so happy. Yeah, little things.

Work tonight in the original Agent Provocateur EdP rosiness. This frag is so good and still cheap as chips. I predict it will become a very expensive, highly sought after vintage in 40 years time.

Going to bed before midnight! Unheard of. Keiko Mecheri Un Jour d’Ete and a sleeping tablet. Fingers crossed for 8 hours of blissful sweet nothingness.

Thursday 27:

WOW! Woke up at 7.49am and it was like rising from the dead, surfacing from deep slumber is beautiful when your body does it of its own accord. That’s only my second sleeping tablet this year but sometimes I need to get the ultimate sleep, this was it.

Sun is shining on a newly chill Parramatta, the air is crisp and frosty. I can still smell soft, floral/vanilla hints from last nights Keiko Mecheri Un Jour d’Ete, I’m not wanting to smell exactly like that this morning and am happy to divert slightly so I’m hitting the Tom Ford Vert Boheme.

This evening it’s all the fabulous shit with Thierry Mugler A*Men Kryptomint. PHWOAR! Outrageous.

Friday 28:

It’s Friday morning and Jin has arrived home from work. Apparently I left the door to the apartment open last night and now I have the heebejeebees, as if people were wandering through here last night. To dispel any lasting discomfort I gave myself 5 big spitzes of Ramon Monegal Umbra. It’s a non candy kinda sweet, herbal concoction. Very grounding and beautiful.

For lunch I wanted to add some candy so some Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille was a perfect, sweet, boozy, vanilla custard slice. Already more than halfway through my 10ml decant but I’m pretty sure when it’s done I won’t repurchase. It is fabulous but the wearings are few & far between.

Tonight it was Ainslie Walker’s birthday. We had too much food & fun to take any photos but I wore DIOR Mitzah. Loads of it. I was 100% fragrant. Fuck the world, I smelled so good.

Saturday 29:

DIOR Mitzah. Still smelling it as I wake up and lay peacefully in bed in half slumber.

Today I’m trying to get as much of next weeks blog done as possible. Having no post ready on Friday and then doing a half assed job after arriving home from a beautiful dinner upset me. I’m finding it hard to shift the disquiet so my best plan is to action myself out of the angst hole.

Currently I have a couple of the Miller et Bertaux fragrances on my fingers because there’s going to be a Monday GIVEAWAY. Finishing a sample of a Dawn Spencer Hurwitz on the wrist that has been on the back burner to review for a while now, review next week. There’s also some Maison Francis Kurkdjian from 2016 on my left forearm. I like having a few scents around my person, especially if I know them, it helps compare & contrast and brings out things I’d otherwise miss.

Jin and I were going to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 but decided at the last minute we would rather stay home, get pizza and watch a Gilmore Girls marathon. It was super fun. We just slothed around the couch. I had a very hot bath, we fed and walked the dogs. I can’t think of a nicer way to spend a Saturday night.

There was some very late night drama though. Our BFFs Mum fell over during the evening and broke some ribs and fractured her arm. Bloody hell, getting old is tough. Thankfully fully insured and close to good hospital care but nevertheless……

Sunday 30:

This morning Paris, my perfect, gorgeous, smart and beautiful dog decided to wee in the carpeted stairwell as I was locking our front door. Thank goodness Jin was with me to catch it happening so we could run him outside quickly. So I spent some time while they were walking cleaning that mess up. What a way to wake up on a Sunday.

I’m wearing Maison Francis Kurkdjian Grand Soir. I find it a neutered, prettified version of the Le Soirs and it reminds me of Pierre Guillaume’s work, in a complimentary way. Review to come.

Off to work this evening. I’m thinking it might be a Versace Blonde evening but yet to be fully decided at this point.

Scent Diary 17.4 – 23.4.17

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

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Portia

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Hey there Frag Crew,

This week I was hoping for a quiet, relaxing, get shit done and maybe even get ahead of the game but then …… life. So instead of calm & collected it ended up being crowded and cluttered. HA! Loads of fun though, filled with food, friends, a rally and I got some really yummy scents on my skin too.

Scent Diary 17.4 – 23.4.17

Monday 17:

Easter Monday morning and the weather is beautiful. Sunshine is out and we took the dogs for their morning walk. I thought 1889 Moulin Rouge by Histoires de Parfums would be a good choice. It was very nice wandering the quiet North Parramatta streets at 9am.  That sweet iris/rose lipstick pluminess was most noticeable this morning, really front & centre. On previous wears it has smelled less intense. I quite like the sweet musky dry down too. Pretty. Bought it from Sonya in one of her sales, thanks girl.

Jin’s been on the couch snoozing and watching re-runs of Gilmore Girls and I find myself strangely drawn to it in a way I never was when it was current. Fortunately he went back to work tonight. Structure will help him back on track.

My evening has been spent swathed in the magic that is Atelier des Ors Aube Rubis. OMG! Where has this sensational beauty been my whole life. Freaking gorgeous.

Monday is Trivia Q&A and Blog day/night.

Tuesday 18:

It’s around 1am. I’m halfway through my Trivia Q&A but I’ve been listening to music, hanging on FaceBook and generally dithering. I’m thinking of spritzing fragrance and my mind instantly went to Neela Vermeire Creations Mohur EdP. Fiendishly good, fruity roses, spice, greenery, incense and oud. Now I’m ready for questions. I’m a bit surprised at how much air is already in my latest bottle, I love it so much and usually overspritz like crazy, serves me right.

YAY! It’s 4am and my Trivia Q&A are done, dusted and sent to the crew. PHEW! More Mohur and a late night snack before bed.

This was the perfect autumn morning for walking the dogs. Sunny and warm, hardly anyone around at 9am. The dogs loved it and I found camellias in bloom. I wanted something barely there this morning so went with Parfumerie Generale 4.1 La Musc & La Peau. It’s pretty and fresh, softly soothing and perfect for sunshine.

For work tonight I’m wearing Burberry Brit Woman EdT & Extrait because I feel the need for sweet. I don’t know why I’m putting it back in its box. Seems to be my current craving.

Wednesday 19:

Another glorious Sydney Autumn day.  I’m wearing a couple of dabs of vintage Guerlain Shalimar extrait.

Jin has finally finished his retraining to be an electrician on the NSW Country Trains. It’s a promotion to full team member and a pay rise. He is trying to brush it off as inconsequential but this is a really big deal. It was supposed to take 6 months but due to unforeseen work circumstances the whole crew has been held back. One really good thing is that Jin will be getting the pay rise backdated from the start of the year. That means that quite a bit of the extra money spent to go back to Slovakia and all the things he paid for and facilitated while helping the family deal with our sister in laws suicide will be covered by that lucky windfall. He left the house today in a cloud of vintage CHANEL Antaeus, I think he’s going to be OK.

For work this evening I chose Amouage Opus X. The arctic rose and screechy hairspray fragrance full of woods, ylang and resins. Perfection.

Thursday 20:

Thursday morning and I’m up early in the cool of the half light. I’ve been trolling the net and found some wonderful bargains but held myself firm and only put my name down for a split of Amouage Bracken Woman. I got the dogs inside and they are both curled up on their beds in the living room while I tap away at the keyboard in my office. There’s a coffee in hand and the lingering taste of breakfast cereal in my mouth, wondering if I should also do toast but then think I’ll have that as a morning tea after my 9am dog walk.

The weather is cooling considerably and I’m wearing a decant sent to me by my mate, the gorgeous Robert Herrmann who is a moderator at FaceBook Fragrance Friends and now writes reviews at CFB, when he did a giveaway here on APJ no-one collected the prize so he sent it to me. It’s Tom Ford Vert Boheme, greenest of the green and curiously fitting for an autumn morning. As you can see there is quite a bit of air in the bottle. I like it a lot.

Had a scream tonight as the madcap hostess for a Guerrilla Anti-Fashion Parade as a protest against Levi Strauss using dock workers in Madagascar that are being paid $40/month. Levi’s has 7 factories on Madagascar. The company ICTSI that runs the docks gets $200/container moved, the Dock workers get 2 cents. Their safety gear costs 3 months pay so they never buy it and many of them have to live & sleep under a nearby bridge between shifts.

Levi Strauss is actually a great company with an excellent ecological and workplace agreement history. In 2016 they were ranked #1 in the world for their supply chain code of conduct. Unfortunately the dock workers don’t come under that umbrella and are being treated abominably. The few workers, 43 in all, who have been trying to get better conditions were all fired. It’s a shemozzle and we think that with a multinational like Levi Strauss on board they could help to push ICTSI and governments in the right direction.

Feel free to pop into your local Levis store and tell them how disappointed you are in their ethical double standards in Madagascar.

What fragrance was I swathed in for the evening? Reem Acra EdP. Big, radiant white floral with all the bells and whistles. Done with a very clear nod to vintage but in a super modern way. You can get it for a steal on the discounters now.

Friday 21:

Big day off today. Up, breakfast , fed & walked dogs, got ready, spritzed DIOR Mitzah, out the door by 8.30am to meet my mate Evie for a morning stroll through the Art Gallery of NSW and a guided tour of some of their permanent collection, then to the dentist, had a wander around the department stores (bought the Mon Guerlain Shower Gel and learned how to get my Diptyque Rose de Mai squirter to work, tried 32 Venenum by L`Artisan Perfumer) then hanging with Alice and having Peking Duck!! We are not quite sure what Alice had in mind with the chips but it looks like she is trying to make a chip moustache. We ate the WHOLE DUCK between us.

Amazing day but now I’m pooped. Walked nearly 14,000 steps today. That’s a lot for lazy old me.

Saturday 22:

SATURDAY! I promised myself to Jin this morning. He has been working nights since Monday and it’s his first day off. Today we are going to be able to celebrate his promotion. So I grabbed the makings of French Toast. It’s one of his all time favourite breakfasts and it’s so easy to make. Today I’m adding some off the bone ham, a big dollop of fresh made guacamole and a mushroom, onion, ham stir fry.

I’m just about to take the dogs for a walk. The day is cool and lovely, I’m multiple spritzing Lolita Lempicka EdP down my shirt before I go. On the walk I came across these amazing flowers on a large shrub fully in bloom, heavenly.

Jin’s best friend Matt called and is taking him out to the Rugby League this afternoon so I get to blog and nap. YAY!!! Aren’t they cute in their Parramatta supporters outfits? Such boys.

Then tonight I’m taking him out for Korean BarBQ. A real date night, first one since I went on the cruise in February. Poor Jin was so tired, he fell sound asleep in the car on the way home, snoring and all.

Sunday 23:

WOW! How is it Sunday already? This week has sped by.

This morning we organised to catch up with mates. Sydney really turned on the most spectacular autumn morning for us and I made Jin take a photo out the car window.

I wore my vintage Jean Patou 1000 EdT. Perfect accompaniment to a morning a fun.

We had Pedis & Yum Cha. Kath & I had our feet attended to, then Jin and Phil joined us for lunch in the food court.

Fell asleep and missed my make up cues. Went to work at Austral Bowling Club as a guy wearing Guerlain Moscow. It also has a bit of a Mon Guerlain vibe.

Hung out there with Anna-Maria and her husband Johnny. Anna-Maria was Jin and my 2016 travelling companion through Europe, you might remember that we all met up with Tara of A Bottled Rose?

So how was your week?
Try any new fragrance? Rediscovering old one?
Do something or go anywhere exciting? Watch any good TV or read a book?
Come on, share. I love to know what you all have been up to too.
Portia xxx

 

Scent Diary 10.4 – 16.4.17

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

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Portia

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Hi There APJ,

Scent Diary 10.4 – 16.4.17

Monday 10:

It’s 3am and I just got a call from Jin who has travelled with the family to Vienna to board a flight to South Korea with our sister in law’s ashes. Korean Air was able to find seats for them all on a flight today at extremely short notice. From Incheon Airport they will take two trains to get to Jin’s hometown near Busan in the south. The rest of his family and hers will all meet at the station and tomorrow there will be a service.

Below is a photo of us all together a month ago in Zilina, Slovakia. Our sister in law making the peace sign. How can this smart, funny, beautiful and sweet woman be gone? We are the wreckage left behind. So sad.

So now I’m wide awake and I have a LOT of Lolita Lempicka EdP on. I reek of it because when I got home and got out of drag I resprayed myself heavily. I’m not bored but I think I’d like to add some extra nuance so I’m going with Mon Guerlain. I think it’s basic lavender/toffee/cake batter will play nicely beside the LLs Fizzy Drink. Yeah, I bought it. No, I don’t hate it but I do feel it’s a pretty close fit to Oriental Brulant if you trade out citrus for lavender. The bottle is wonderful though, perfect packaging. I’m expecting Mon Guerlain Noir in a black version next.

Today was a complete write off. Slept. Spoke to Jin and a couple of mates.

Tonight I got up and did some blogging, about to write Trivia Q&A. My mind is mush, doing the best I can. Ate the last of my Curried Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup. Suddenly I am alive.

Tuesday 11:

4.30am and I’ve just finished this weeks Trivia Q&A. I know it sounds late but I particularly like to work at this time in the night. My brain gets this weird late night focus and things that would take forever in the day time take half the time and I do a better job of it too. My Trivia Q&A scent tonight was Amoureuse by Parfums DelRae, freakiest damn lily I ever smelled. So good and beautiful, it’s thick and ropey with this amazingly dense floatiness. This is my second bottle, if anyone has one they’re not loving let me know, I’ll buy it.

Spent today doing office work with Scott before getting ready for work. Wore Palissander d’Or by Aedes de Venustus woodsy deliciousness through the day.

Then for work I wore vintage Nina EdT by Nina Ricci. Smelled unbelievably fabulous through work and kept getting lavish huffs of myself. Weirdly, no one noticed it at all.

Wednesday 12:

Today was the birthday of one of my most loved, enduring friendships. We lived together in the late 80s- early 90s and have remained constant buddies through continental changes, marriages, divorces, kids and all sorts of excitement. I made her wedding dress, TinaG and I are godparents to her beautiful son and fortuitously she happened to be in Sydney for her birthday this year so a small core of her family and close buddies congregated at our place in Parramatta for lunch. Loads of laughs, champagne, food, tea, baklava and the warmth of hanging with wonderful people were the order of the day. TinaG & I went shopping together for the party.

Jin is coming home today from South Korea. Getting on the plane. Will be home by midday tomorrow. I’m so happy that I’m getting a bit emotional.

Thursday 13:

Jin arrived home. He is tired and wretched. He basically lay on the lounge like Camille all day snoozing on & off. He gets a couple of days of this before he goes back to work. He is so worn out that he has refused to meet friends or go anywhere.

Wearing Umbra by Ramon Monegal during the day.

Got ALL the bought and gifted bottles from the Europe 2017 holiday out and took a pic today, did a post about it. Kind of made myself sick at my own gluttony.

For work I wore Burberry Brit Woman EdP & Extrait. I smelled bloody gorgeous. So good I then respritzed before bed.

Friday 14:

Woke up with a stinking sinus headache. OMG! I feel like my heads left hand side is about to explode. So instead of perfume I decided to scent the house with Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Soup. Smells really good. Hope it tastes so yummy when cooked.

OK so my headache persisted till 4pm when I could take it no more and took some pain relief tablets. It’s so rare for me to get such a monumental ouch headache that I usually can ride them out but not today. Blessed relief.

Wearing Etat Libre d’Orange: You Or Someone Like You made with Chandler Burr. Yeah, kooky and fun, very ELdO. Review to come.

Saturday 15:

Bloody Hell! It’s 4.30am, I’m for bed. A quadruple chest spritz of Jacomo Silences PdT and I’m off. NIGHT!

Today we are off to get our dogs back home from the kennels. Jin and I didn’t wan’t to collect them because they really do have a master each and we were worried that Jinx would be upset without Jin home. I’m pretty excited to have them home. I wore my vintage Miss Dior EdT today, perfect warm autumn day fragrance.

Went over to my BFF Kath’s house. She was minding a beautiful ginger cat called Mango for a friend of a friend while he moved to Melbourne from Sydney. Anyway, this asshole gets to Melbourne and tells Kath she should keep him or send him to the pound. So now she is looking for a new home for Mango, sadly she is highly allergic to cats or she’d keep him. What is it with some people, imagine leaving your fur baby like that?

Anyone in Sydney want a gorgeous, people and other pet friendly, house trained, healthy, inside cat. Not to be let outside. He had a car accident a while back so his face is a little lopsided but otherwise heaven. Softest little purr I ever heard.

Perfect Easter Saturday night. Sushi Train dinner with Jin who is still way too tired to be photographed, walked the dogs, hit the blogs and now a sky high bubble bath in the Bath and Body Works Anti-Stress bubbles and a cuppa in my Free Parking mug that I got for Christmas. This is about as comfortably happy as I get, blissful evening.

After the bath and in honour of meeting Mango today I wore my super spectacular pussy cat socks. Fragrance provided by my sample of Rose Omeyyade by Atelier des Ors. A very interesting gourmand, fruity rose backed by a deep and mysterious creamy oriental oud base. Clever and beautiful.

Sunday 16:

Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

Jin & I only slept till about 7.30am. For a treat I went and brought the dogs in and we all slotted around the bed for another hour. Jin manages to snore like a steam train even with the dogs on board. I love the sound, it soothes me and I feel so relaxed with it.

L’Eau d’Ambre by L’Artisan Perfumeur today. Smells great! Mine is the older bottle but the new one smells good too.

Today is also Jin’s first time seeing our mates since his return. We are having Yum-Cha and then seeing BFF Kath’s parents. I’ve made them some of my Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Soup.

Done. Now I’m going to be a lazy sloth.

So what did you all get up to this week? Smell anything new or go back to an old favourite? What about Easter? Do anything for that?
Portia xxx

Scent Diary: 3.4 – 9.4.17

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 37 Comments

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Portia

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YAY! APJ!

Home in Sydney. Back in Jin & my bed after weeks of hotels, having super luxurious baths and getting my head back around the work/life/friends balance.

Scent Diary: 3.4 – 9.4.17

Monday 3:

It’s 6am am I’m wide awake. So I thought I’d come spritz myself with something lovely, grab a chamomile tea and head back to bed for a couple of extra hours shut eye. I’m thinking sweet and engulfing so Guerlain is probably a good house to go with. Now discontinued Guerlain Oriental Brulant is my choice, so sweet and over the top. Perfect.

Had a funny off & on nights sleep and then went to the dentist. Through the last week or so of our holiday I had a tooth really giving me some pain, it was wobbling and coming out proud of its usual position. Hot and cold would hurt like I was being stabbed and eating became torment. I was dosing myself with daily pain killers to mask it all. My gums have been pretty poor since my many years as a drug addict and today I lost my third tooth to gum disease and poor choices. Very sobering and I am sad. Thank everything that my dentist is the most profession, caring, calm and lovely man. We are fighting a rear guard action to save two more but the prognosis is not good.

To lift my spirits I multispritzed vintage Miss Dior parfum. Hard to be sad when you smell this glorious. Here is my hoard.

Trivia Q&A writing all night long. Fuzzy brain from pain killers.

On the Up Side, I got confirmation that I’m a Korean Air Morning Calm Elite Member today! That means I get Double Baggage, Priority Seating and a whole bunch of other great stuff. VERY excited about that. I wish Korean Air were paying me for all the name dropping I do for them.

Tuesday 4:

It’s 3.53am and I’ve finished my Trivia Q&A, sent the packs out, printed my own Q&A and Answer Sheets for the week. It’s raining softly here in Parramatta and I can hear big drips hitting cement from threes around my apartment. Everything else is quiet and still except the tap tapping of my one fingered typing. For bedtime I have triple spritzed vintage CHANEL Antaeus. It’s a perfect fit for the coolish evening here.

Spent the day hanging with my mate who is up from Melbourne, Margeaux. It was super fun to catch up and laugh over coffee and biscuits even though the reason for his Sydney visit is sad.

We had to stay home because I’m waiting for a delivery, it never bloody came. Expecting it early this morning I basically wasted my day waiting GRRR! Only a problem because I need to get to the barber to shave my beard right so I can dye it for work. Can’t be a lovely lady with a salt & pepper beard, it looks wrong. So off to work as a guy tonight.

I had a glorious bubble bath in Fancy Nights by Jessica Simpson bubbles, it always surprises me when an ultra cheap shower gel becomes yummy smelling bubble bath. This one smelt just as luxurious as the expensive stuff. Over that I went crazy with the Jacomo Art Collection #02. It;’s freaky plastic vanilla is a perfect overlay to Fancy Nights base.

Fragrantica

Wednesday 5:

3am and time for bed. Today I need to find a barber to even my beard up and also start a brand new trivia with me as a guy. Very exciting. SOTBed is Neela Vermeire Creations Ashoka. Figs and cream, balmy woods; a perfect way to lullaby land.

FUCK! Today was supposed to be a lazy day before getting an opening night together but drama struck. Jin’s sister in law, who we had been laughing and generally having a wonderful time with three weeks ago, chose to end her life leaving two kids and a grieving, shell shocked husband. PLEASE if you suffer depression, see someone, call a help line or call a friend. PLEASE!

In Australia Call BeyondBlue 1300 22 46 36

The gig at Greystanes Hotel went really well and I think it’s going to be a winner. the staff, patrons and food were all great.

I wore vintage Guerlain Vol de Nuit parfum to work in honour of our lost girl, hoping her spirit will now be free to fly.

Jin was supposed to be home tomorrow morning but now he is flying back to Europe to help. What an amazing man, he was on the train to catch the plane to Sydney when he heard. Thanks go out to Korean Air, who had to deal with his crying melt down and flight changes, all in the middle of Incheon Airport. Now he’s headed back to Slovakia to be with his brother & family. Thanks also to NSW Rail who said when he called to ask for more leave that he should take as much time as he needs to do what he had to and that he would have a job when he returns. Amazing.

SOTBed tonight was Bal a Versailles and it was perfect!

Thursday 6:

Sorry. Not really with it today. I did dye my beard and had a fragrant bubble bath in Annick Goutal Encens Flamboyant.

Dying my beard Bath April 2017

Annick Goutal Encens Flamboyant Gel

Talked to Jin on his sad adventure, got the invoices done for March and sent them off, made Curried Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup (it’s not been blended yet in the pot) and have been wearing New Study (PostCard) by Miller & Bertaux to review.

Tonight at work I wore an old favourite Un Jour d’ere by Keiko Mecheri from 2012. I bought my own bottle way back because I love it’s creamy, white floral, beachy goodness and I love to spritz about 15 times when I wear it. So whenever I see it for sale on the FaceBook frag docs I always buy it because I go through it. YUMMY! On my second bottle currently.

Friday 7:

It’s nearly 4am. I’m not sleeping because I’m worried about Jin who has finally arrived in Slovakia to be with his brother’s family. It was a 30+ hours gruelling set of flights and trains to get there so Jin has basically been awake for two days non stop.

SOTBed is Vanille Marine by M Micallef and I love it’s salty, wet, shimmery, vanilla goodness. Why don’t I have a bottle of this gem? Going Trolling for one now. UM, seems to have been discontinued and disappeared. GRRRR!

Had Anna-Maria, Johnny and Domenica Calarco over for brunch today. They are super special people and we chatted, sniffed fragrance, drank tea and ate the yummy sweets they brought. Time flew by and suddenly it was 2pm. Best fun and perfect light among the shadows this week has cast. Thank you all for being my mates.

Kiki Vero Johnny Portia April 2017 Photo Anna-Maria

 

We opened my Kiki extrait by Vero Profumo. GAWD! It’s even better at home. Also opened my new Guerlain Santal Royal, also very nice. Spent time with Detaille Rose d’Oud, vintage Guerlain Shalimar extrait, Mon Guerlain and a whole host of others.

Portia Perfume Brunch April 2017 Photo Anna-Maria

After the guys left I fell asleep on the couch for 5 hours, now I’m wide awake and still fully fragrant from brunch. The Calarcos brough oodles of food so we didn’t get to eat the soup I made for us. It’s a Curried Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup and tastes delicious with Buttered Toast. YUMMY!!

Curried Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup with Buttered Toast

Tonight decanting the Dityque Rose de Mai for a split I’m hosting. The bloody puffer stopped spraying after 3 x 10ml decants with 6 more to go. I’m furious, had to jimmy the whole apparatus off to continue. The scent is good but the puffer is a load of shit. GRRR!

Saturday 8:

It’s 4am here in Sydney and I’m not sleepy at all. Serves me right for having a 5 hour nap today. I plonked myself in front of the TV and watch pap for a few hours. Now I’m missing Jin so having cleaned my teeth and readied myself for bed I’m going to spritz lavishly with L’Artisan Perfumer L’Eau d’amber. I know it’s simple but I love it.

Well sleep didn’t happen till after 10am. Below is me sending MISSING YOU pics to Jin from our super comfy TV couch. The had the service and cremation yesterday, so sad.

Slept from about 10.30am – 6pm and then had to get up and go to a combined 50th birthday party for two mates Neil & Patrick. My evenings choice of scent was Methaldone by Aether Parfums and it got 3 unsolicited compliments, which rarely happens for me in party situations. One friend coming in for an extra cuddle so they could smell it more. So Methaldone is a WIN!

It was a white party with Justin Scott DJing, fairy lights, bunting, all you could eat & drink, and a host of the world’s coolest kids having a ball. I think only about 30% at the event were Sydneysiders, the rest had flown in especially. There was a cabaret singer flown in from the Solomon Islands and all the waiters were from Butlers In The Buff. Yes, you read right. The air staff were all naked with aprons as modesty shields. It was a freaking hoot.

It’s late, I’m home from the party. I’m going to make some Squishy Sandwiches and a cup of Chamomile Tea. Then I’ll watch a little TV, do my teeth and go to bed.

Sunday 9:

Woke up late. Doing some household chores and soon will get ready for work. Sun is shining, it’s warm and a perfect Sunday.

Tonight for work I went crazy spritzing Lolita Lempicka EdP and every group I stood or sat with commented how great I smelled. It was unreal. I’m wondering if I put too much on? It’s a new bottle and smells quite a bit more chemical than my previous one. Maybe the older one was reformulated or had aged quite a bit? Doesn’t matter, this still smells good.

Fragrantica

So how was your week? Do anything interesting or smell something new? I love to read your stories too so leave me a message in the comments.
Portia xx.