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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
This week was kind of chill. Loads of fragrance and some good food.
We have had the most gorgeous amounts of real, driving rain. I don’t remember it being so plentiful in the five years we’ve lived in Parramatta. It’s dog walking with a golf umbrella and wellies kind of rain.
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
This week was a Sample Only Week. Using up a bunch of the samples lying around here unloved. The idea has been to put the whole .7ml (or whatever is left of a decant) on at once and wear it. I drop the lot in my hand, rub it together after shave wise and then pat it on my chest and arms. Effective. These samples have been purchased from First In Fragrance, Surrender To Chance or LuckyScent and a couple were frag friend gifted.
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
I really dreamed that this week would be a slow one. BLOODY HELL! Quite the opposite. What a week. Even got a three night holiday to Tasmania in with Jin, Kath and Alice.
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
GAK! This week has been a bit of a write off. Sick and bad tooth.
Did see some mates, wear a bunch of fabulous perfume and do some stuff but it mostly went by in a blur of drugs and wishing to be in my Couch Cocoon. Jin got better and then worse, poor bugger.
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Portia
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Hey Hey Perfume Junkies,
OK I’m adding a THUNKED section here too. It’s becoming an APJ obsession and I love the idea of us using our fragrances and hoiking the vial, decant or bottle. Thunk is the sound of an empty hitting the bin so you must empty it for the thunk to count.
Anything worthy of comment, either good or bad, that’s passed under my nose through the week will get a short write up. If I think something is terrible, shamefully lazy, greedy or stupid and you should know about it, it will be said. As always YMMV.
I’d love it if you get involved: agree, respectfully disagree, have any thought-out opinion and want to share, do so in the comments below. The point is starting a conversation.
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Portia
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Hey Hey Perfume Junkies,
OK I’m adding a THUNKED section here too. It’s becoming an APJ obsession and I love the idea of us using our fragrances and hoiking the vial, decant or bottle. Thunk is the sound of an empty hitting the bin so you must empty it for the thunk to count.
Anything worthy of comment, either good or bad, that’s passed under my nose through the week will get a short write up. If I think something is terrible, shamefully lazy, greedy or stupid and you should know about it, it will be said. As always YMMV.
I’d love it if you get involved: agree, respectfully disagree, have any thought-out opinion and want to share, do so in the comments below. The point is starting a conversation.
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Portia
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Hello Fellow Fumies,
Every Saturday we have a Question, an idea purloined from Olfactoria’s Travels. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it is a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.
The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.
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Portia
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Hello Australian Perfume Junkies,
CHRISTMAS! Fragrance, friends, chosen family. There were adventures and excitement enough for a month.
Jin came home from work at 5.30am and we had our Christmas moment then.It was lovely. He got some cool Aussie Bum undies, Petrol Cards to fill up his real present which was a car earlier in the year and a couple of T-Towels from his Parramatta Ells football team. I scored 9 pairs of my favourite glasses from Italian brand Campo Marzio in myriad colours, Jin imported them from the South Korean shop in Seoul. VERY freaking cool present buying.
I wanted to smell yummy for the mini Christmas so Rouge Hermès. It was a good choice, soft white floral with a few bells & whistles. Not to mention how Christmassy the bottle looks.
Dogs got a new chew toy each, fed and walked.
While Jin slept I went to Kath’s Mum & Dads to meet Kath and have a quiet christmas morning hang out. We did presents there too and Dad was Jin’s Secret Santa so he got 2 bottles of Spanish Rosé, Lindt chocolate balls and a Bunnings Gift Card.
Lunch with the rest of Kath’s family. It was nice to wander in, eat, do presents and leave. SO EASY!
Home and Jin was awake so we hung out and watched some shit movies together. Dinner was leftovers. HAPPY afternoon and night.
Serge Lutens Clair de Musc from a decant. Yes, I do have a bottle but found this old 5ml decant that needed finishing. Going clean and fluffy for Boxing Day.
Off to Kath’s Mum & Dad’s place for early Boxing Day shenanigans. We stayed to have lunch with everyone and then split. From there I went and collected Wendy and Jin, she and I all hung out into the early evening. We ate a scruffily delicious cheese, ham & fruit platter while watching How To Train A Dragon and drinking lashings of tea.
10 hours later I can still smell soft musk wafts from Serge Lutens Clair de Musc but I’m wanting something else. Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely has won the day and I’m basking in its comfortable glow.
We were woken by the apartment block across from us at 6.40am, they were having a right old barney. Screaming and fighting. It was pretty crazy but not up to their usual standards where I call the police. It raged on for 30 minutes.
Being wide awake I went and got the dogs and they came and snoozed with us on the bed. I’m changing the sheets today so no worries.
Feeling so lazy. It’s hot and humid. How about some James Heeley Esprit du Tigre?
This afternoon I added vintage Miss Dior EdT to go see Jumanji with Eve, Lola and Jin. I admit to being fairly unexcited to see it.
O M G! Jumanji was freaking EXCELLENT!! Cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it. The Rock and Jack Black totally steal this fun romp of a film. I was on the edge of my seat through quite a lot of it and laughed heartily.
We came home and had some lunch with a delicious McLaren Vale Spanish inspired red wine and then watched most of Happy Feet till Lola started falling asleep. To be honest, I don’t drink very often so the heavy red wine sent me off to bed to sleep it off too.
Jin woke me at around 8.30pm when he came to bed and so now I’m up and awake. About to walk the dogs on this cooler summer evening. I thought a triple spritz of Peau d’Allures by Starck a perfect choice, green, boozy, swampy with a lovely ruinous undertow. This bottle was a gift from my friend Tim and I adore it.
Fort & Manlé Charlatan this morning. Maybe because I showered yesterday it smelled a bit funkier, a little pissy and hairy mannish. It was a good ride.
Yum Cha with Kath, Alice, TinaG and Tim. It was nice, chatty and fun.
You’ll note Alice was wearing the birthday earrings Jin picked out for here. SO CUTE!!
Came home and crashed on the couch. Ate Christmas Cake with cream and custard and watched Daniel Radcliffe in 2013 film Horns. It was OK, one thing I did notice was that after a minute he became this new character and had successfully sloughed off Harry Potter for me.
Jin came home and we had pizza for dinner while watching The Danish Girl (2015) with Eddie Redmayne. IMDb gives this blurb: “A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili’s groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.” Heavy and deep, we were moved by their plight and Gerda’s unstinting love.
For bed I gave myself a solid dousing in Niki de Saint Phalle. It’s parched greenery helps to dry this muggy night.
It was already warm this morning when I walked the dogs. They were puffing so much that I brought them home after only walking around the block. They gratefully came inside afterwards and sat on their beds in the cool.
Thinking tropical I went for Guerlain Lys Soleia. It was a good fit.
Hung out with Jin, Kath and Mum and had a swim with Kath in this outrageously muggy heat. It’s drier than the last couple of days but trying to get stuff done means I’m sweating much more.
Jin and I had KFC for lunch that we grabbed on the way home. It was freaking delicious.
After that I basically fell into a food coma and didn’t snap out of it till 9pm. While food coma-ing I started watching Luther on Netflix.
BTW, did you notice Netflix has been removing content? A few times this fortnight I’ve gone to rematch stuff and it’s disappeared. BUMMER!
Tonight I wear Sarah McCartney 4160 Tuesdays Up The Apples and Pears. Fun and freaky. LOVE it.
Stayed up VERY late watching Luther on Netflix. Idris Elba is my new celeb crush. Let’s get him to make a fragrance. I’ve put on some Gres Cabochard parfum in his honour.
So I fell asleep watching Luther and woke up with a mouth that tasted like the bottom of a cat litter box. GAH! Awful, ran straight for the bathroom to clean my teeth.
Feeling a little more human after feeding and walking the dogs. L’Artisan Batucada got some skin time today. I don’t understand why this is not lauded as a freaking genius perfume. It smells like a Pine Lime Splice, an Australian ice block with pine lime icy coat and creamy vanilla ice cream inside, with a hint of coconut. Batucada is YUM!
Went and had a coffee and baklava with my mate Nikki but TOTALLY forgot to take a photo. We chattered away a very happy hour.
Back home and doing some blogging for next week. Wearing a melange of scents.
Cool bath. No bubbles, just Radox Bath Salts.
Alice sent me this genius Scarf Knot map.
2am and I’m for bed. Tonight I’m wearing Estee Lauder Beyond Paradise Blue to bed, from the teardrop bottle that I love so much. That cold gasoline opening that melts into a white floral waterfall with lightly creamy and lavender touches.
It’s New Years Eve. I have a bunch of running around and organising to do but before I get started on all that I’m meeting Kath at her Mum & Dads for a SWIM!
Today I’m rocking Tom Ford Jasmine Rouge. It requires respritzes every two hours but that’s part of the fun!
Tonight I’ll be at Parramatta RSL ringing in the New Year with my besties Kath and Phil. Can’t think of a better way to do it. Can’t decide on my fragrance for tonight yet but I’m thinking Madonna Truth or Dare or Mugler Taste of Alien.
I would like to thank everyone involved in Australian Perfume Junkies. If you write, read, comment or are in any way involved THANK YOU for making 2017 a really wonderful year. Got to meet a few more of you too this year which is always special.
Wishing you and your crew a fun and fragrant 2018 chock full of all the good stuff and hardly any of the other.
It’s YOUR turn. What’s happening in your world?
Did you do anything Fun or Fragrant, with Friends and Family or maybe even had some less than Fabulous news you want to share? How is or was your New Year?
Now’s the time, in the comments below.
We love to read what’s happening to YOU.
Portia xx
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Portia
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Hey there APJ,
Sarah McCartney has been trying to get samples to me FOREVER! It has been a complete labour of love and finally it has happened thanks to a perfume mule who brought the set all the way from the UK and then sent it to me here. I won’t name you but a million thanks indeed.
The box arrived and I couldn’t stop myself from jumping in and finding something to spritz. One of the names that has often stood out, among a series of names that could positively beguile you, as fun and fabulous. From cockney rhyming slang Up The Apples and Pears means up the stairs to bed.
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Hops, apple, pear, gin
Heart: Whiskey, woody notes
Base: Bread
From 4160 Tuesdays: Up the Apples & Pears – an unusual fragrance that evokes the scent of a London pub in 1933; apple pie, pear syllabub, gin, beer, roll-ups, wooden floor and bread rolls.
Now I can’t say the note list looks particularly promising. Terrifying in fact, and the blurb from the website is equally freaky. An old drinking pub from 1933? Sounds ghastly, right? Well, I’m going to give it a go anyways….
Sweet fruits and tart gin, like apple lollies done sour. It’s an attention grabbing opening, fun and reckless. Can’t help but smile at the utter whimsy Up The Apples and Pears begins with. It’s lovely.
This fun opening takes a few minutes to segue into the whiskey section and its booziness rem,ends me faintly of Jessica Simpson’s Fancy Nights but the treacle thick patchouli is missing, or greatly diminished.
Now HERE is where I get the idea of a pub. Having lived and worked in the UK in 1994-5 I was lucky enough to work in some of the smaller country gay bars. We’d catch the train out, work, stay the night and come back to London next morning. These smaller pubs would have a lived in a loved smell about them that was partly old beer and carpets, but also had fruity cleaning products and a woodsy smell. Though not captured exactly and definitely glamorised into a fragrance form Sarah has definitely hit the memory mark.
Without the story and knowledge of the meaning I think anyone could wear Up The Apples and Pears and smell good doing so. It is a lovely smelling fragrance.
One thing I really love here is the fearlessness, the bold adventure undertaken and the immediate, raw and fun look at how perfume can be created from a story. That is the grand prize that small batch independent perfumery can bring to the table. Clearly not created to sell billions of bottles and make Sarah McCartney the next by Kilian or Annick Goutal in department stores the world over. This is for lovers of the fun and whimsy of perfumistahood.
Further reading: I Scent You A Day
4160 Tuesdays has £120/100ml and Samples
ParfuMaria has a great selection of 4160 Tuesdays and ships worldwide
This is so exciting for me, which 4160 Tuesdays should I try next?
Portia xx
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Post by Ainslie Walker
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I’m in Bondi. The sun is shining and I am toying with several green scents intending to put the spring back in my step after some heavy times. It generally always feels like spring/summer in Sydney and right now is my favorite time – not too hot! Warm, sunny, not humid and thankfully no tropical downpours. That’s why when Sydney was hosting the Olympics “they” chose September…Sydney at its best.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Clementine, cassis, apple blossom, sweet pea, lily-of-the-valley, lily, amaryllis, bellflower, narcissus, jasmine
Lulu Guinness: Lulu Guinness had five fragrances in her collection, however she is best known for her better-than-fabulous handbag/purse designs. I have two: One, a giant circular flamingo basket and the other a sequined lobster clutch. I feel like I am in the freaking B52’s when I strut along with them. Nose, Rodrigo Flores-Roux created Lulu Guinness in 2003, the initial fragrance launch for the brand. Talented and gifted I love many of his works:
The bottle is super kitsch, ceramic-look printed glass. The 50 ml is handbag friendly and feels nice in the hand. The scent is strong, distinctive, fresh, green and floral. Lily of the Valley I rarely wear due to the plethora of toilet sprays and cheap talc’s from childhood that have ruined it for me. In this blend however I like it. Not everyday, mind you, but the days I do, it hits the spot. Its bold like the brand rather than shy like the flower. Fresh and just-walked-into-a-florist-like. All cut flowers and screaming greens with no obvious crowd-pleasing attention given. The opening hour is uncompromisingly fresh and green and if you get past its polarising narcissus punch you are in for a treat. An all-floral flush of slightly powdered lily, apple blossom and sweet pea as it dries down. Blackcurrant (cassis), jasmine and clementine contribute to a hyper-surreal evolution towards natural nuances. If you don’t like this one instantly, I do suggest to try again.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Grass, rose, thyme
Heart: Geranium, lavender, violet
Base: Patchouli, oakmoss
Ealing Green by 4160 Tuesdays: In England “greens” are beautiful natural spaces designed to provide relief and a breath of fresh air from the hustle and bustle of city life. A place for reflection, picnics and to host happy little fairs and markets. Ealing Green is in West London and the inspiration for perfumer Sarah McCartney’s green floral delight – one of my favourite perfumes from her 4160 Tuesdays collection.
I love the green grass and rosy geranium balance. I often find geranium masculinised and more than anything think it a little unfair. In Ealing Green the floral aspects take the spotlight. Shiny, bright and rosy. In addition violet and patchouli laydown a cool, sweet and soapy depth to the mix and continue throughout. A fresh-out-of-the-shower-herbal and clean feeling emanates from a sparky combination of thyme and lavender and works well. Dry down is soft salty oakmoss and powdered rose absolute like a dusting of makeup. Softer and prettier than expected. I had my Marilyn Monroe moment with it, waking still engulfed. I look forward to wearing more throughout summer. Now available to buy shipped to Australia at eScentuals! Bliss.
What is your green?
Ainslie Walker xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 