.
Portia
.
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.
.
Portia
.
Hey there APJ Crew,
We FINALLY have rain. It’s good in Parramatta and has helped cool the bushfires elsewhere. Sadly it’s not enough. Also the ash being washed into the rivers has polluted them to the point of unlivability for the fish and other water creatures. The stories of dead, dying and injured wildlives are horrifying. BILLIONS of our native and feral creatures have died with many localised subspecies completely wiped out. A lot of it is due to poor governance and lack of resources for proper management.
Meanwhile, as the populace has been choking under a literal smokescreen the government rushes to put in new laws enacting religious rights to discriminate and giving the Adani mine unlimited water usage for the foreseeable future.
.
Portia
.
Hey there APJ Crew,
YAY! We had rain in Sydney. LOVE it when it rains. Perfect for getting those last winter fragrance wearings in before SPRING next week. Saw a bunch of mates, spent some much needed QT with Jin and watched a lot of Netflix.
.
Portia
.
Hey there APJ Crew,
The weather in Sydney this winter is absolutely glorious. Not so good for our drought but wonderful for living, travelling and hanging out with mates. Good news is that my sniffer is getting back into working order, PHEW! Loads of fun fragrances to celebrate.
Hey Y’All,
As you may know Jin is changing jobs so to celebrate this sudden rise in fortunes we are bringing our 2015 holiday forward from November to now, we leave on Wednesday. OH YES WE DO!
Photo Stolen TripAdvisor
First stop is one of my long time buddies places in Singapore, hey Julie! I have never done a holiday in Singapore before; though my last partner Varun & I spent 36 hours in the airport because he didn’t have a visa while we were on our way to India. You would think we had a bad time, we did not. It was crazy fun, that Changi Airport is enormous.
Photo Stolen TripAdvisor
Then we go on to South Korea to visit Jin’s family. Cherry blossom time will just be finishing but I think they will still be slightly in flower. It’s Jin’s Dad’s birthday so we are taking them for their first holiday in years, two days on the west coast of South Korea. They think this is a ridiculous extravagance but Jin is hiring a car and we’ll drive 3 hours each way, fully across South Korea, and spend one night at a pension (not even a hotel because that would be too much). They are adamant that this kind of frivolity should be avoided and that we should be putting our money to better use. Fingers crossed they have a good time, Jin has really been working hard on TripAdvisor to get it just right for them.
So spring will be WARM in Singapore and mild in South Korea. I need a small range of fragrances to get me by till I can hit the stores and buy Misia by CHANEL. It’s the only fragrance on my To Buy List right now and I know they’ll have it in both Singapore and Seoul. So I’m thinking 5 frags, 2 bottles and three decants. It’s only 12 days.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
L’Heure Convoiteé II Cartier: This arctic, powdery, furball of a carnation/iris is so fabulously elegant and lasts all day. I can spritz and go and know I’ll smell freaking killer until I shower. I also love that it has it’s own sturdy leather pouch which means I don’t have to worry about it in my checked luggage.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
La Chasse aux Papillons L`Artisan Parfumeur: 7.5ml Rollerball (not pictured). Nick from Libertine Parfumerie gave me this one to test because they are brand new in 2015 and I thought what better place to try it than on holiday. Space will be tight, I need something small and easily accessible and the bottle feels surprisingly hefty. I also find that rolling La Chasse aux Papillons makes it last longer on my skin.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Misia CHANEL: Yes, my decant is almost drained already. Makeup and leather together so beautifully, a delightfully powdery and lightly soapy wash of pure elegance. I can’t tell you what a zing this gives me whenever I spritz, it’s not just its own scent but the memories of all the other scents that it reminds me of through its life and you know what? I love it so much that I’m going to wear it on the plane.
Photo Stolen BaseNotes
Manto di Rugiada i Profumi di Firenze: I keep forgetting to wear this lovely green, resinous amber. It’s light enough for spring and will smell gorgeous on the cooler evenings. Softly nuanced and beautifully blended I always enjoy my ride. There’s a couple of ml left in my decant, I might as well use them up.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
07 Vetiver Dance Tauer Perfumes: One of my mates Natalie from Another Perfume Blog (now defunct sadly) gave me a manufacturers sample of this one. I like vetiver very much and Vetiver dance has been sitting in my Must Try box for ages. I’m taking it with me so I can spend some time with one of the few Andy Tauer fragrances that I’ve not smelled.
What do you think of my choices? What would you pick if you had to take 5? It’s not forever, only a fortnight, so it’s not a really big decision. it is fun planning and choosing though.
Portia xx
Hey HeyGorgeous APJ!
Back in 2013 when I went on the Perfume Posse ScentSation Bus tour of Los Angeles we were introduced to the American importer of i Profumi di Firenze. She was extremely knowledgeable and I really loved her passion for the products. I really wanted to buy two fragrances on the spot but they were out of Ambra del Nepal at the time (they were also out of it in Barney’s Chicago and NYC in 2014) so I grabbed their Dolce Patchouly, a very refined fragrance that I adore. So I always get excited when I grab a new decant or sample from the line and this one I got in the 5ml Fridays at Surrender To Chance..
Photo Stolen BaseNotes
BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Verbena, Basil, Bergamot
Heart: Amber, Sandalwood
Base: Opoponax, Musk
From Beauty Habit: An i Profumi di Firenze bestseller in Italy, now available stateside, this delicately sensual fragrance quietly mesmerizes with its duality of lightness and ambery depth. Top notes of verbena, basil and bergamot flow effortlessly onto a base of sandalwood, amber, opoponax and musk. Opoponax (“sweet myrrh”) is renowned for its protective qualities by increasing awareness and intuition, hence the poetic name, Cloak of Dewy Mist.
Photo Stolen Flickr
Opening with a fabulously fun hairspray sizzle that quickly calms to a herbaceous sweet creamy green, a bit like Matcha Tea Powder. It’s not long before lovely soft balmy resins, beautiful resins, sweet and cuddly and some floral action but it’s all so beautifully blended I am finding it hard to parse stuff out. I can see why Manto di Rugiada is cloakish but I get very little of the dew or any coolness at all. Maybe the cloak is warmth against dewy mist? I see it as a warm red cloak with soft velour inside. MMMMM. Doesn’t matter.
As the heart warms up the word amber perfectly equates, like light shining through a beautiful clear piece of amber and as balmy and smooth as the feel of vintage body warmed opaque amber beads. Really, though the notes are there all I want to do with Manto di Rugiada is lie back and float away on the lovely fragrance, the combination that works so beautifully together. Interestingly, the green comes back through the heart, it’s a dry raspy green, quite nice as a layer through the soft cuddly balms.
Photo Stolen WikiCommons
Manto di Rugiada will be my bedtime scent tonight. I can imagine myself floating away on it to the isle of nod.
This is not a BIG fragrance, I think it would be wearable even in an office. Very pretty, good longevity but not overpowering in any way.
Further reading: Now Smell This
Beauty Habit have $110/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml
Have you spent any time with the i Profumi di Firenze brand? Do you have a favourite?
Portia xx
Hey all you lovely Stinkophiles,
I know I keep harping about it but I love it when the Decant/Sample sites have sales. SurenderToChance are having a 40% off sale of some stuff that is clogging up their offices so the new stuff can come through, it’s on for a while longer so go check, but be quick because they are selling out of some of the good stuff. This is a superb moment to grab yourself a little known magical bargain, something you heard about but didn’t grab, a promise you made yourself and then forgot or maybe just an excuse to get a parcel in the mail. So I gave myself a budget and dived right in. Some of the offerings are from companies I’ve heard of, some from completely new ones that have launched and Titanic-ed and still others companies that I never even registered. If you wonder what the letter and star ratings mean go see our Ratings System Page
Yes, I write for Perfume Posse but I pay full price, or sale price, for all my decants, so this is not an ad.
Here are a couple of my purchases;
Love’s Sorrow Photo Stolen my.opera.com
Chagrin d’Amour EdP by Des Filles a la Vanille (Sorrow of Love) featuring notes of Geranium, Hyacinth and Amber. This smells so youthful and exuberant to me, I don’t understand the sorrow of love name at all. It has that fresh young lady smell of vanilla with soft flowers woven through, not a powerhouse but a lovely warm, intoxicating fragrance that lasts quite well if I respritz after an hour to give it an extra kick of itself. The amber of the dry down is soft and fluffy. S=*** L=*** D=***
Photo Stolen foodnetworkTV
Salina EdC by Tocca Aqua Profumata featuring notes of clove, orange, green leaves, purple freesia, iris, peach, raspberry and musk. I found loads of reviews complaining of the short lived nature of this fragrance but I found it an 8 hour masterpiece, and then to find out it retails online for around $35/100ml made me so damn happy. An excellent refreshing spritz that is everything a good EdC should be, bright, green, refreshing, floral, fruity (the fruit is not current super sweet fashion), interesting, unisex and to have this longevity on my skin, SCORE! S=**** L=***** D=*****
Photo Stolen dreamstime
Miele Rosa EdP by i Profumi di Firenze featuring Damascena rose, milk, incense and wild honey (I swear there is some oudh in here too). OK so Rose and Honey? I’m in! Add to that the dreamy lactonic undertones and incense like fizz of a Damascena rose and I am lost. Miele Rosa feels like an Arabian Swiss oil it’s so fantastically intense, especially when I’m huffing away with my nose almost against my arm. OOOOH HEAVENLY AMBROSIA!! Filled with organic roses and honey this was released as a limited edition in 2006. S=***** L=*** D=****
Photo Stolen taniamarieartist
Le Bateleur EdT by Dolce & Gabbana features aromatic top notes; aquatic heart notes; and a earthy vetiver and cedarwood base. This has been soundly panned as a boring sport/nothing new/why bother fragrance. I like it a lot. The woody salty opening that slightly sweetens on the skin as it warms with your body, the sexiness of the spices and the good rooty humus rich vetiver. I would like to smell this on my partner and am enjoying it very much on me. Perfect work scent, fragrant but not intrusive, reminiscent of some other stuff but feels really expensive on my skin, at SurrenderToChance they have 100ml for $42. S=**** L=*** D=****
I am having a really good time getting my sniff on, instead of buying 100 x 1ml samples I got a hoard of 5ml decants. It means I really get to live the fragrance over a few wears, which is how I like to do it. Have you huffed anything interesting this week? Been to the sales? Bought, done a split on, had arrive something you’d like to share and give us all a lemming, Please do comment, we love to hear your voices.
I just want you all to know how grateful I am that you visit. Thank You.
Portia xxDes Filles a la Vanill
Australian Perfume Junkies 