Ode by Guerlain 1955

February 1, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 14 Comments

Greg Young

Bienvenue treasure-seekers.

Over summer I was in Canberra and visited the Treasures of Versailles exhibition. There were a few nice things in the exhibition, but nothing I could afford.

I was inspired to go hunt for a few treasures of my own. The suburb of Fyshwick has a cluster of antiques warehouses and markets that are always good for a trawl. In the stinking heat of New Year’s Eve, we headed up there and had a look around. I got lucky at the second market that we visited. My eye was drawn to a cabinet with a few little bottles in it. I particularly noticed a little bottle of Joy, but I thought the price was risible. Lurking behind it was this unopened gem, still in its original box.

(It wasn’t until later – too late to take a photo of it – that I got the musical pun, and am still wondering if it was intentional).

Ode by Guerlain 1955

Treasures from Australia’s Capital City

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Aldehydes, jasmine, rose, iris, sandalwood and musk

Ode was launched by Guerlain in 1955. The pun was intentional for Guerlain; Ode was a response to Patou’s Joy, a floral aldehyde built on jasmine and rose.

Ode was quite a stepping stone in Guerlain’s history, for a few reasons. It marked the changing of the guard, being the last fragrance of Jacques Guerlain’s career and the first by the then 18 years old Jean-Paul Guerlain. Monsieur Guerlain notes that it was also the first ever Guerlain fragrance to have a one syllable name (the house has strongly preferred three syllable names such as Shalimar, Vol de Nuit, Nahema, etc.) and was also the first to have a bottle designed specifically for that fragrance.

And what a bottle that was; a Baccarat design showing a single rosebud in a sculptured vase. Sadly, my find was not that bottle, being the EDC and not the extract.

Even the Ode EDC was a ground-breaker, introducing the “travel bottle”, a solid rectangular design also used for Habit Rouge and Vetiver. Sadly, I didn’t get lucky with that historic find either.

Greg. XXOXOO

(Ed: All photos supplied by Greg un less specified. Thanks buddy)

Sylvaine Delacourte Workshop In Sydney

January 31, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Ainslie Walker

Hello APJ gang! Happy New Year!! Doesn’t it already feel like 2017 is galloping along at an incredible pace?!

Sylvaine Delacourte Workshop In Sydney

Sylvaine Delacourte ‘Queen Bee’ and Creative Director of Fragrance for Guerlain visited Australia last year, whilst in town she taught perfume creation classes in David Jones’ Grand Hall on level 6!

As I entered the hall from the lift I saw rows of aluminium bottles containing exciting raw materials on a table with pipettes protruding from them! GASP.

Sylvaine, looking glamorous, first led us through the history of Guerlain.

– Modern perfumery began with Jicky which featured 3 synthetics- vanillin, coumarin and linalool.
– Guerlinade, Guerlain’s identity – the heart of all their fragrances, contains bergamot, rose, iris, tonka and vanilla.
– Guerlain still controls their whole ‘A-Z’ of fragrance, only 4 other companies in the world also do this; Chanel, Dior, Hermes. They buy their own raw materials, sourcing everything, having them sent direct to their labs, making a unique difference.
– Guerlain has 1000 natural ingredients, 3000 synthetics and discover more each year.

Creation time! As Sylvaine pointed out ‘today you will be making, not just a perfume but a Guerlain perfume!’ SQUEALS AND SHIVERS!!

A few definitions!

– A note: of patchouli or any singular ingredient
– A facet: an aspect of an ingredient, eg fruit aspect of rose. Perfumers use this to join for example 3 ingredients all with fruit aspects.
– An harmony/accord: no longer the parts that make it up but a new combination, a synergy. E.g Bergamot, violet and hedione is tea note created by JC Ellena, Raspberry and almond become cherry.

Sylvaine explained, many flowers cannot be extracted and have to be reconstituted eg lilac, lily of the valley…..then we all got to make a lily of the valley!!

So here is what I made:
Floral N74 48 drops
Jasmonal H 20 drops
Rose Bulgare 5 drops (this ingredient is one of Thierry Wasser’s favourites and has a lychee and almond facet)
Citronellol 10
PEA 15
Jasmine Grandiflorum 1
Indol 1

We learnt about all the different floral aspects: fresh, powdery, aldehydic, sensual, animalic, rose, oriental, white or as Sylvaine says ‘sunny,’ and fruity flower

Then we chose to make either a white floral or a fresh floral and give it facets of either oriental, chypre or hisperdic. I made a fresh floral with oriental and rose facets and a touch of hisperdic! I had 3 tries and Sylvaine and I agreed my second try was the best.

What an amazing experience to learn from one of the best female perfumers in the industry!!

If you could make a perfume at such a workshop, what would it be??

Until next time, Ainslie XX

Habit Rouge Dress Code by Thierry Wasser for Guerlain 2015

January 17, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 9 Comments

Robert Herrmann

Wait.

You HAVEN’T tried Dress Code yet???!!! Go order a sample/decant/bottle RIGHT NOW!!
You’re welcome.

I had been waiting for this since first hearing about the pre-release in the summer of ’15. It was at that time strictly a limited edition, and would only be available at 2 select retailers in the USA and at the Guerlain flagship store in Paris. So faster than you can say “Thierry Wasser” three times, I popped online and found ONE bottle available at Bergdorf’s in NYC. Three minutes later that bottle was on it’s way to my house…..

Now fragheads who know me, know that I am absolutely a Guerlain Ho’ of the ‘nth degree, hell I have one whole shelf in my Perfume cabinet stuffed full, and dedicated exclusively to Guerlain. New Guerlain offering? Come to Papa! Every. Single. Time.

Habit Rouge Dress Code by Guerlain 2015

Habit Rouge Dress Code by Thierry Wasser

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, neroli, rose
Heart: Spices
Base: Woodsy notes, leather, tonka bean, praline, vanilla

Aaaahhh Dress Code. Guerlain certainly hit it out of the ballpark with this wonderful flanker!

The regular HR has long been in my top 5, and a few years back I was lucky enough to purchase a vintage mid-90’s new-in-mint-condition bottle thanks to the largess of a Facebook fragrance friend. (Looking at YOU, Jake!❤❤❤)

But about Dress Code…..

Let’s just say that Mr. Sulu would give Dress Code his “oh myyyyyyyy” stamp of approval.

Do you love a fabulous Gourmand? HRDC opens with a huge blast of caramel/chocolate/vanilla which within minutes adds a wispy back note of orange blossom.

Right away however the spices and rose peek through, followed by a resin/leather and woody vibe.

All perfectly blended and seamlessly drifting in and out with no single note taking up the spotlight. Just a gorgeous amalgam which like the energizer bunny, just keeps going and going and going….there’s a smoky aspect as well, as if the spices have been roasting over an open fire with some tonka thrown in for good measure.

WikiCommons

By this time HRDC is firmly established in the drydown phase and swear-to-god if asked for a comparison, I would say that to me it’s solidly rooted in Shalimar territory. But purposely skewed masculine, although I suspect a woman would feel TOTALLY comfortable wearing this, especially to buttress up a “take-no-prisoners” attitude.

And HRDC has attitude.
In spades.
That first edition sold out in a heartbeat, but have no fear because Guerlain re-released it last year with their updated bottle. EXACTLY same perfume, just different packaging despite what you may read online. It’s the same, trust me.

And so for creating HRDC, and then bringing it back….Thank you Guerlain. Love it..

Flickr

Further reading: Scent Gent and Persolaise
Sadly Australia isn’t getting Dress Code but it’s available in Guerlain in major department stores of Europe & USA

Have you tried Dress Code yet? What other Guerlain’s do you adore? (I know right? There are so many!)
My Name Is Robert Herrmann (but I forget sometimes)

CQ Christmas/New Year Run Down with Vero + Guerlain

January 10, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Val the Cookie Queen

Happy New Year APJ Readers. Glad you made it.

Following a brilliant Christmas week with friends and family I got a fever. After eighteen years of running my business, and more than five years of The Cookie Run I called in sick and gave myself a week off. I was so excited to have a nine days on the sofa with telly and books you can´t imagine. Of course I have been unwell before but I self medicate with Advil and various forms of caffeine, hot or cold, and carry on. BUT a fever is a different kettle-of-fish and I took that seriously.

Book Depository

CQ Christmas/New Year Run Down with Vero + Guerlain

GARRULOUS JABBERING: A FEVERED WEEK

Christmas Week and Post Sickness Scents, including a Nasal Mystery.

In the days leading up to Christmas, and immediately afterwards I wore Vero Profumo´s Mito Extrait, a lot of the limited edition Chanel N°5 body oil
(absolutely to die for, stronger than an EdP), a decent amount of N°5 Parfum,and couple of good hits of Lutens La Myrrhe. Christmas Day I over-sprayed
Guerlain´s Vega, and wished I had a bottle of the stuff.

And then I had five proper sick days and couldn´t smell or taste a bloody thing. Not even the Italian menthol and licorice cure everything including leprosy throat lozenges. Nada. But lurking on a shelf in BlondesWunder`s bedroom was a box with a LUSH Tubereuse Kryptonite bath bomb in it. I could smell that
I promise you. So weird. It smelled the same pre, during and post sickness. Very mysterious don´t cha think?

Perfumistas’ evil eyes will no doubt notice the exquisite enameled blue and white spray in my photo. As I was getting better it turned up in the post,
a total surprise from a dear friend. It´s Mitsouko Parfum. I am perhaps the last person to find out how drop-dead gorgeous it is, but better late than never.
I may just have joined the snotty ranks of the “Oh no I couldn`t possibly, I only wear vintage Guerlain you know!” brigade.

I received samples of the Dusita perfume line in the post and I am curious to try them as and when I muster up the courage.

Official Naja pic.

2017 PLANNED KICKS

After a host of technical challenges, and it has been quite a ride, Vero Profumo´s NAJA will be launched. No precise date yet.
I will be meeting up with Portia and we are gonna go Italian together. Watch this space.
It is gonna be the year that I try attars. A whole new ball game for me.
And I am getting two more stores to supply with cookies. February and September.

2017. We´ll enjoy the ride together. What are you looking forward to?

Bath Bomb Bussis
CQ xxx

Official Naja pic. Done by: Kasia Jackowska @tierlirevolution Snake ring by Ania Anka Krystyniak.
All other photos donated and taken by Val the Cookie Quieen. Thanks love XXX

Moving: Vienna To Rotterdam 2016

January 4, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Sandra

Happy New Year APJ! May 2017 bring peace, love and joy to our lives.

Let me just come right out and say it. Moving is terrible. Leaving the comfort of my flat and all the luxuries of the known has been the most challenging aspect. Please do not take this post as a complaint, rather as a funny side to the moving experience.

Moving: Vienna To Rotterdam 2016

The bandaid has been ripped off and we landed safely in Rotterdam. The movers got us into the house and then promptly abandoned us at 2 pm stating that they did not want to unpack all the boxes because there was not enough flat surface to place the items on! WTF?! Seriously – we have four floors!!! Too emotionally spent to argue with them, we let them go home. Now, imagine us climbing, sometimes on all fours, the three crazy steep stairs with boxes – no stairmaster is needed. We have it in the house and no health club membership will be necessary.

One major challenge with which we are faced is figuring out what foods are safe for my allergic son. To give you an example – the first night in Rotterdam we mistakenly thought that a sushi restaurant would be safe. The waitress tried telling us to leave because she could not handle my request. All I wanted to know is why there was egg in an avocado maki! The manager came and told me it was because all the sushi has mayonnaise. Really?! I kindly requested that he makes the maki without the mayo and voila we have safe food! So, it will take us several weeks to get our bearings and figure out which grocery stores have the right foods for us and which restaurants we can visit.

On another note, I know that I am short – but I feel positively elflike here. Both men and women tower over me! We needed to buy a step stool to actually climb into the bath tub – my legs are just not that long. My husband placed one step stool on every floor as there are even light switches I cannot reach on tippytoe. Don’t even get me started on the cupboard space in the kitchen – I don’t remember what I placed up top and cannot even see all the way up there from the ground.

With all the stress and now culture shock setting in, I have two favourite perfumes giving me the much needed comfort and hugs.

Knowing how stressful this would be, I decided several weeks before the move that for the five or six days that it would take to pack, move, stay in a hotel and then move into the house I would be fragrance free.

Guerlain

Once unpacked, I spritzed Shalimar EdP lavishly and was in scented heaven. It has grounded me when I found myself wanting to whimper in a corner.

Guerlain

At night I require an extra dose of sugar and reach for Spiriteuse Double Vanille which sends me off to dreamland with its wonderful boozy vanilla cloud.

All in all, I am excited about the adventure and am looking forward to discovering new places and meeting new people. The Dutch are some of the friendliest people I have ever met. People smile and are willing to help us and most go out of their way when we explain that we are newly implanted foreigners in their country.

Here are a few pictures of the last night in Vienna and then my first impressions living in this vibrant city. If you are interested, you can follow my Instagram (vienna_living) to catch a glimpse of my latest discoveries.

Three Kings and Christmas Season Fragrances

December 13, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by TinaG

Hi APJ!

Christmas is a week and a bit away yet, but somehow feels like it’s tomorrow. To help us get into the holiday season I thought I’d take a look at some traditional Christmassy scents. Hard to choose just one sometimes! But let’s take a look.

Three Kings Fragrances

Let’s take a look at what fragrances the three kings may have worn to match their scents.

Fragrantica

Gold: Larmes Du Désert – Atelier des Ors
The beautiful sun-rayed bottles with flakes of real gold make wonderful perfumed snow-globes. Pick it up & give it a shake, preferably while standing in sunlight. What do they smell like? I can’t remember, I was too mesmerised by the sparkles.

Fragrantica

Frankincense: Oliban – Keiko Mecheri
Frankincense is sometimes referred to as olibanum/oliban , and the perfume of that name by Keiko Mecheri has a fabulous, photo-realistic frankincense note which smelt like it had been grabbed straight from the burning censer. I’m gonna be bold and put it out there as a must-sniff for this incense note. Portia has done a lovely Oliban review

Fragrantica

Myrrh: Parfum d’Empire – Wazamba
Wazamba opens resinous and sticky, almost a honeyed amber with an interesting apple note. This settles to a straight-up dry myrrh throughout the dry down. Myrrh is an interesting resin to burn, it has a cool greyness about it. Wazamba manages to capture this incense wonderfully.

Christmas Season Fragrances

Christmas in the southern hemisphere is VERY different to that up north so some thought needs to go into what to wear on the big day.

Fragrantica

Winter: Guerlain – Aqua Allegoria, Winter Delice
Winter Delice is a walk through a European mountain forest, fir and pine. It it well balanced and eminently wearable. It is unfortunately discontinued but bottles do pop up from time to time.

Fragrantica

Summer: CB I Hate Perfume – At The Beach 1966
This is a day at the beach, suntan lotion, salt spray and warmth. I’ve only sniffed this from a friend’s sample but it left such a strong impression of summer’s past – a great frag to try for a flashback.

What fragrances are you grabbing as we head directly into the holiday season?

Till next time!
Tina G xx

Guerlain with Tea & Scones

December 9, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 23 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey Crew,

Do you ever get together with frag buddies? I have met so many wonderful & varied people in the fragrant world, a few of them turning into lasting and close friends. I’ve also had some of my long term besties come out as frag nerds too. So irregularly there are get togethers with one or more buddies. Yesterday was special because someone I’d only ever interacted with online is in Sydney and she had bought a bottle of perfume from me. What else could I do but ask her around for Morning Tea and a sniff? So Latai came and we had a lovely time, well I had a lovely time and I think she did too.

Guerlain with Tea & Scones

We decided early on that as Latai had not spent much time in the Guerlain fragrance vault that we should focus our noses there for the day. So I thought it might be interesting to take her on a Semi Ages of Guerlain tour.

We started with a few of the most well known vintage extraits, Vold de Nuit, Mitsouko & Shalimar. With this set I also got Latai to smell modern Samsara extrait that Jin & I bought recently in Japan.

From there I jumped to a couple of my most loved masculine Guerlains: Vetiver and Cologne du 68. Interestingly Vetiver turned out to be one of Latai’s favourites of the day and we really enjoyed its light oily grassy scent.

We also tried Vega but it was absolutely not to her taste and she scrubbed it off.

Then the last two from the Guerlain range we smelled were vintage Chamade extrait and for something totally up to date Promenade des Anglaise, which turned out to be her absolute favourite of the day.

Halfway through I made some scones that we ate with fresh whipped cream, home made apple and raspberry jam (thanks to my mate Linda, YUMMY) and lemon curd. This washed down with some very lovely tea that Latai brought to share.

It was a really nice, zero fuss, fun day: full of silliness, laughter and fragrance.
What brand would you choose to sniff for a day with perfumistas?
Portia xx

Guerlain: Sylvaine Delacourte in Sydney: Photo Essay

December 3, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 11 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

Hello lovely Perfume Junkies!

How are you all coping in the slippery slope into the festive season? Have you sent your fragrant orders to Santa? Have you been naughty or nice?

I have a confession: I couldn’t wait! I just bought a bottle (with a free additional bottle) of Sylvaine Delacourte’s new Florentina from her new La Collection Muscs. (An independent side project, i.e. not Guerlain)If you’ve not tried them, go on her website and pay a tiny 4 euros and order the sampler – then it’s a one off buy one get one offer on a full bottle – irresistible!

Sylvaine Delacourte Adventures Down under!

We had the pleasure of greeting Sylvaine Delacourte in Sydney in November – THE QUEEN BEE OF GUERLAIN. She really is personable, fun spirited and of course extremely talented and knowledgeable in person. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to read my interview with her for APJ while I was in Paris in October, which fills you in on all things Sylvaine Delacourte.

Guerlain: Sylvaine Delacourte in Sydney

Photo Essay

Cosmax, the distributers for Guerlain in Australia hosted a lovely lunch in Paddington at the Four in Hand Hotel for press and important people like Michael Edwards from Fragrances of the World. Here we ate and drank amongst beautifully set tables full of flowers and bee bottle factice. Sylvaine talked about her more than 20-year history with Guerlain and she held the group captivated. It was also at this lunch the newest Guerlain Exclusif was launched, Neroli Outrenoir.

Table setting at the Neroli Outrenoir launch in Paddington

Michael Edwards and Sylvaine Delacourte

Guerlain Bottle Porn

Now available instore – David Jones – the exclusives collection is to die for and worth popping on your list to Santa. I bought myself Angelique Noire (the greenest one) when I was in Paris, however I have popped pretty much the rest of the collection onto my wish list. DEELICIOUS! The core theme is Sylvaine’s desire to showcase raw materials in unexpected spotlights so the gardenia is presented in a lacey way. In Cuir Beluga we have leather, however it is more of a light soft caress of suede rather than something tart from a tannery. Neroli Outre Noir’s magic lies in the top notes seeming to remain throughout nearly the whole dry down. Any perfumer will tell you this can almost only happen by pure MAGIC. Notes of combined citrus, orange blossom, smoky, earthy tea for me also makes it a win.

Angelique Noire I bought in Paris in Septermber!

Bee bottle Factice from table setting to swoon at

Lily of the Valley that was on my table setting at home in my Mud vase!

Sylvaine then spent a few days upstairs at David Jones level 7 where she did a question and answer style talk for VIP’s and the Sydney Perfume Lovers Meetup Group. In addition and a highlight for me were two workshops where participants created their own Guerlain-esque floral fragrance. After learingin all about the raw materials from Sylvaine herself! I spent the entire time with jaw on the floor, inspired and absorbing everything. How lucky we were to have her visit and share this wonderful insider knowledge and experience!

Have you experienced the Exclusifs range? What are your thoughts and favorites?

Xx until next time! XX Ainslie XX

Cookie Queen: Perfumes I Have Worn In 2016

November 8, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 30 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Good Day APJ.

What is a REAL blogger anyway?

Over the years I have thoroughly enjoyed bloggers’ roundups of best perfumes including what have they have been wearing. Not considering myself a proper blogger it did not occur me that I could do my own list. However, it will be four years with APJ for me next year so bloody hell, I will award myself the status of “blogger”

Cookie Queen: Perfumes I Have Worn In 2016

I do not wear samples. I try samples out on my left wrist, and if I get over excited perhaps on both wrists. I only wear perfumes that I have full bottles of. (All perfumistas have idiosyncratic behaviours – don´t you?)

Fragrantica

VERO PROFUMO. All of them of course! Most worn this year would be the Kikis, I nearly finished a bottle of the juicy, delicious, erotic, sadly under-rated Kiki EdP. The Kiki Extrait is laced with ambergris and is so divine I worked my way through at least 15 mls of it. The Kiki Voile a Prozac of a perfume. 🙂

HERMÈS. I received a bottle of Hermès Doblis as a gift at the beginning of the year, a belated birthday present. Probably the most exquisite perfume I have ever been given. Also in heavy rotation was the Muguet Porcelaine. This stunning lily-of-the-valley is wonderful in cool weather. Cuir d’Ange, a favourite for the last couple of years, was worn as much ever. And more recently Osmanthe Yunnan also fab in cold weather, although if you believe all you read you would be forgiven for assuming it is a summer scent.

Fragrantica

CHANEL. Bois des Iles Parfum and EdT. Cuir de Russie Parfum and EdT. Misia EdT. Coromandel EdT. And the heliotrope heavy Boy EdP.

GUERLAIN. Shalimar Extrait Vintage, Shalimar Extrait current. Shalimar Eau de Cologne.

Fragrantica

AROMA M. Geisha Noire EdP and Oil. Vanilla Hinoki EdP and Oil.

LANCÔME. Cuir de Lancôme.

BEST PERFUME AWARD 2017

Hermès Galop d’Hermès Parfum

I don´t want to get carried away with my newfound status as a real blogger so I will only select one. Without a second thought it goes to Hermès Galop d’Hermès Parfum. A poised and elegant perfume. The rose, the quince, the saffron and leather. It´s a work of art.

There are a number of new fragrances that I did try and enjoy, but they did not make the full bottle grade. I love the scene, the people, the perfume shows, and the vibe of the fragrant world. But the many hundred of new launches have me running for cover. I do own other perfumes, including a number of Lutens but this was not their year.

What perfumes do you REALLY wear huh? I am über-interested.

Real Blogger Bussis
CQ

HOLIDAYS!! Japan 2016: Photo Essay

November 5, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey Hey APJ,

Jin and I are in transit from Japan to South Korea. I was hoping to have the post written and organised long before this but, bloody hell, it has been non stop. We are having a ball and wish you all were here with us. 3 nights and 2 full days was a great taster for Jin and a lovely reminiscence for me. Sadly we didn’t get to see everyone on the list but next time we are going to make it a fortnight and travel around a bit.

HOLIDAYS!! Japan 2016: Photo Essay

Korean Air = Roomy & cheap. Staff are amazing and food yummy. NOW I want them to sponsor my ass.

Our first full day in Japan is a public holiday so we get to share the perfect autumn weather with millions of families. Tokyo remains surprisingly roomy. We love the day in temples, parks and galleries.

We particularly loved seeing a few Korean National Treasures stolen during Japanese occupation of Korea. Jin couldn’t help but be excited when one of the most famous historic buddhas was on display.

That night we were taken to Torikizoku, a famously modern young Japanese hang where booze and snacks are the order of the night. Loved it. Thanks Luke. We worked out that we’ve been friends around 27 years. Amazing.

Jin is basically on a gastro-tour. EVERYTHING from street food to hand created sushi, fast food and VERY slow food was on the menu. I think he tried about 20 new dishes, or ate authentic Japanese versions of old favourites. watching him discover new delights was like living with a perfect sunrise.

Of course we had to do the obligatory fragrance shopping. Isetan in Shinjuku is a fabulous department store with the most unbelievable Food Hall in the basement. We spent a small fortune buying Japanese delicacies for Jin’s family in South Korea.

Because we spent so much time & money down there I wasadamant that we check the fragrance section. It was well stocked with a large range of masstige and designer fragrances. From CREED and Le Labo to Annick Goutal and MFK we were thrilled at the choice. I ended up buying the Hermès Jardin of Monsieur Li gift set and extra body wash and a 30ml Samsara parfum which I have put off buying until now they have DCd the fabulous bottle. Having bought the EdT for my Mum many years ago it’s the Parfum I have long coveted and my little vintage 2ml is just a gasp away from empty.

From back in the mid 1990s a lovely girlfriend that used to come watch the shows and hang out in the clubs with us, Miharu, came into Shinjuku for dinner. It was a magical catch up and Jin was on his absolute most hilarious behaviour. We spent the night laughing, eating, wandering and catching up. So many wonderful memories and now a new set of Japan 2016 with Miharu.

OK, so we are now on the plane for South Korea to see Jin’s family. Loaded down with booze, sweets, money and love to pass on to his parents. This is the first time I get to meet his Grandma too. She was a very clever young woman and studied in Japan in her youth. Now she is suffering Alzheimers and Dementia we are hoping the Japanese sweets and savouries will give her a jolt into the past and present.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this very thin slice of Japan.
Where are you going for holidays next? Where would you go if money was no object?
Portia xx

Australian Perfume Junkies

Olfactory Opinions from Oz

Guerlain

Ode by Guerlain 1955

Ode by Guerlain 1955

Treasures from Australia’s Capital City

Sylvaine Delacourte Workshop In Sydney

Sylvaine Delacourte Workshop In Sydney

Habit Rouge Dress Code by Thierry Wasser for Guerlain 2015

Habit Rouge Dress Code by Guerlain 2015

Habit Rouge Dress Code by Thierry Wasser

Moving: Vienna To Rotterdam 2016

Moving: Vienna To Rotterdam 2016

Three Kings and Christmas Season Fragrances

Three Kings Fragrances

Christmas Season Fragrances

Guerlain with Tea & Scones

Guerlain with Tea & Scones

Guerlain: Sylvaine Delacourte in Sydney: Photo Essay

Guerlain: Sylvaine Delacourte in Sydney

Photo Essay

HOLIDAYS!! Japan 2016: Photo Essay

HOLIDAYS!! Japan 2016: Photo Essay