Hey gang,
What can I say but Paris is FREAKING AH MAY ZING! A perfumistas dream.

The amazing Denyse Beaulieu, author of The Perfume Lover, Bertrand Duchaufour’s scent muse for L’Artisan’s Seville au l’Aube, Grain de Musc blog hostess, English -French translator and glam girl around town and I had an appointment to interview her and it was great fun. Look out for those interviews here, Perfume Posse and Express Magazine NZ.

Neela Vermeire and her gorgeous husband Tony were excellent hosts. We were lucky enough to spend a couple of great nights with them. Don’t forget to follow Neela Vermeire Creations on FB and Twitter because there will be some incredible news soon. I can’t tell you anything yet because I can’t remember but as soon as Neela reminds me I will give you an exposé and an interview. Neela, Jin and I all went to the auctions and grabbed some bargains including CHANEL handbag and 2 vintage Hermes scarves for songs.

Aaron, a mate of mine from Sydney, was our tour guide. He has made an excellent match with a Paris local and now lives there in bliss. He was our tour guide, friend, eating companion and shopping expedition master. Aaron introduced us to the auction house. We wer also feted at his home on our last night and ate snails, my first time. Thanks to the crew that night, Gerard and the wonderful ladies.

We did Versailles, the Louvre, the Orangerie, many churches and cathedrals including Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower at night and much more in the way of culture. Walked along the very full a fast flowing Seine, had hot waffles, croissants, onion soup, and many other French delights.

What shopping did I do? I bought two Serge Lutens bell jars for friends, Shalimar and Vol de Nuit Parfums from Guerlain, 200ml of discontinued next month Mitzah from DIOR (they have no 125ml left) and would have bought Jin Cartier VI but one of the Cartier ladies was a liar and a bitch in Galleries Lafayette and I called her HIDEOUS instead, which was perfectly truthful though not perhaps nice. Jin was determined to buy me the Bottega Veneta Parfum in the Morano glass bottle but I persuaded him not to because we have the EdP and till he is a big property developer that stuff can wait.

Since then we’ve been in Korea doing the big meet the parents thing. Korea is beautiful, we have travelled it from top to bottom by train, bullet train 2.5 hours, and it’s so pretty. Jin’s family is warm and wonderful and they welcomed me with open arms. The food was a challenge but I survived and tasted a bunch of new things. We all had a laugh and Mum and Dad even had very heartfelt (translated by Jin) conversations about integrity, trust and love. They’ve been together for nearly 40 years so they’re advice is solid.

Anyway, the holiday is over on Tuesday and we’ll be back to normal.
Loads of love,
Portia xx

Hi Crew,
It has been a busy week, three countries and fragrance shopping in all of them.

We did our final Budapest purchasing last Sunday starting at the unfortunately closed Madison, then we trotted down very scared to Neroli because we were worried they too would be shut. Thank goodness the gorgeous Ursula, that thin and sparkling SA who seems to know everything about the products in her care, was at the shop and ready for action. I had decided to buy Naomi Goodsir’s Cuir Velours because they were out of stock of Sandflowers by Montale. What a super surprise that Ursula ha found somewhere a bottle of said Sandflowers, so I bought both damn it all. Super excellent purchases BTW. Urslula was also lavish with the free bees after we sealed the deal including fragrance samples and a couple of lovely extras that have already come in useful, I recommend a visit. Next it was to Le Parfums Croisette and the lovely and enterprising Zsolt Zolyomi who owns and runs it, he is also a perfumer and will create a bespoke fragrance for you if you have the time for such lavish extravagance. Here we picked up a great favourite of mine that I have emptied a good decant of and was missing L’Artisan Parfumeur Premier Figuier Extreme, that lovely milky fig that lasts and lasts on my skin and two of The Different Company 10ml travel refills Sel de Vetiver and Oriental Lounge, excellent size and the fabulous aluminium casing is such a fun thing too.

Then we rocked on over to Venice in a dual sleeper that was small but efficient. Next time we will book the Deluxe room, it and we are worth it. PS train travel is awesome for short or middle distance, no waiting at the airport or worries. We wandered Venice like mad things, day and night. We were luck enough to stumble on a couple of perfumeries that stocked niche products. The first was run by two sisters Perfumeria Muschieri at Frezzeria San Marco 1178 which was stocked with an astounding array of fabulous and obscure niche products. Some of their lines are so small that they are held in under ten doors, amazing. And the ladies are so knowledgeable I let myself be guided by their good taste and am extremely glad that they steered me towards Sigilli’s PYRGOS and Maria Candida Gentile’s Exultat. Then on to the Pont de Rialto where we came across another fragrance shop that had a niche and designer range of perfumes, most of which I’d seen already in our travels. They did have their own fragrance range though curated by the very urbane gentleman who owns the store, his name eludes me, but we were given an extremely warm welcome and he and his assistants were ready to help and knew a lot about their products including the history. They also have their own Pont de Rialto range of fragrances of which I bought L’Eau, their unisex fragrance. I also discovered and grabbed one of the Pineider fragrances, Cuoio Nobile, which has the best packaging I’ve seen on a fragrance in a long while. Also while trolling a mall in Venice we found a frag fakes stand and I bought a “Like CHANEL No 5” that wears well for an hour before it veers from its namesake, still wearable and nice but not No 5 . What did I expect for 6 euro?

Now we are in Paris and we’ve wandered through Galleries Lafayette, finding the best Guerlain SA ever Cyril. He’s a hoot, go see him when you are in Paris. Cyril showed us the L’Heure Blue 100-years anniversary case, WOW! Have had an excellent dinner with the amazing Neela Vermeire and her husband Tony, I can’t tell you anything but make sure you like her FaceBook page for NEWS. The handsome man with Jin and I is a great mate Aaran who hails from Sydney but has landed happily in gay Paree. Also was lucky enough to catch Denyse Beauleiu for a coffee, interview and troll through Jovoy. Though she is most unwell, there she was looking a billion dollars and so welcoming and ready to share herself, her knowledge and her story. What a champ, I am a little crushy. Denyse also wandered me into a shop randomly and said, they have the Knize Ten here. SCORE! Grabbed the Limited Edition they were out of in Vienna. Woo Hoo.

I know, I have rambled too long but yesterday was a write off so today you get story and shots.
Love you all,
Portia xxx