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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
Where did this week go? Suddenly it’s Sunday again and I feel like I got nothing accomplished. Still managed to get some spectacular fragrances on my skin and into my nose, saw some mates, hung with Jin, went exercising and got all my work done. Chill but fun week.
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
A bit livelier this week. Though there was ample down time it felt like I was back in the groove and ready for action. Saw some mates, did some shopping and dining, wore ALL the perfumes and had a wonderful week.
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Portia
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Hi there Fragrant Friends,
Considering how much ground I’ve covered this week and how much has been accomplished it’s all felt quite peaceful. Hectic but measured. There has been time in each day for a little nap, food and friends have been abundant and work life has sandwiched in nicely between everything else.
Don’t worry, I know how blessed my life is. I’m so grateful.
Monday Morning. Weather is overcast but quite warm for midwinter and I am feeling super lazy. Sadly there’s a shitload of things on the list that need doing and I am going to do my best to get as many done as possible by 3pm so I can have a nap. Now that is real motivation.
Spritzed myself in Queen by Queen Latifah. I am a patchouli/citrus goddess right now. It was wafting around me like crazy on our dog walk.
Ordered Bingo Books and Dabbers for our newest night starring our newest regular hostess Maxi Shield. How fabulous is the poster?
Did my invoicing for the month. Really, owning businesses is NOT for lazy people like me. HA! I had a really happy moment today thinking about how wonderful the Drag Queens we have working at Turbo are. Every week they entertain the crowds and it’s extremely rare that I get a complaint about any of our regular queens. They work hard and are grateful to be employed. In a Drag job-market shrinking daily in Sydney due to club closures and venue direction changes Turbo keeps 8 Drag Queens in weekly work. I’m really proud of that and hope we can give many more regular gigs.
Talked to my Aunty Tracey on the phone and nattered away 20 minutes happily.
The second house in Tasmania has been untenanted for two weeks but today I got a call from the Real Estate to say they have a wonderful new tenant collecting the keys on Thursday. WOO HOO! I was secretly worrying about having a house untenanted during winter, the worst time for rentals. PHEW!
Got Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday into the blog.
Got my Trivia Jackpot and Games questions written.
3.12pm NAP TIME
Jin called and asked if I wanted to go to Korean BarBQ because we missed out on Friday night. HELL YES! So I went and met him and we talked and laughed and ate SO MUCH FOOD! My tummy hurts. It was wonderful. Here is Jin, he’s wearing a top I bought him for his birthday a couple of months ago. I can tell when I’m in the good books with Jin because he wears my gifts.
Laydee also rang with a new Trivia gig today. It’s been Go-Go-Go.
Now I’m about to finish writing the weeks Trivia Q&A.
It’s nearly midnight and I can still smell my morning spritzes of Queen. AMAZING!
It’s 1.35am and I’m Q&A finished and sent. Had hoped to do one more APJ post but my hearts not in it so I’m going to make a cuppa, go read a bit and then sleep.
Today is busy. Scott is coming to do office work and the general running around that entails. I will need to do beard dying and get ready to become a glamorous Drag Queen for work tonight. Then after al the fun and madness of my day pack a small bag because I’m flying down to Melbourne tomorrow to see Margeaux’s new home that he’s just bought and spend the day hanging with him.
I’m wearing Carner Barcelona Rima XI because it smells warm and fuzzy and doesn’t distract me too much from the job at hand.
Instead of giving you a blow by blow account of my day here’s a music clip of two of Australia’s greatest rock musicians Jimmy Barnes and Marcia Hines. They’re singing one of my favourite songs since childhood. These guys are mates of mine and to hear them singing together on this track brings chills, goosebumps and tears. So many memories of people, places, times. Music is a lot like fragrance, our memories are buried deep until released by scent or sound. Happy tears and sad.
I hope it brings you as much peace as it does me. If you can, turn the volume right up.
Scott and I got so much done today. Paid bills, Post Office (letters, parcels, collecting and sending,, bills and redirections), organised Receipts for the bookkeeper and a few other bibs and bobs. I also gave him the last piece of his birthday present to arrive. Russian Carnation EdC, as Scott as I can find. he was stoked.
My bathing routine included B&BW Warm Vanilla Sugar bubble bath, Kiehl’s Original Musk lotion and Kenzo Amour
Something else I wanted to talk to you about. My mate Jye Bryant creates musicals. He has recently had one return from a hit season in New York City and it will be playing at the New Theatre in Newtown September 15-18 as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival. You can book at the New Theatre Site. Full $30 or Concession $25
BY JYE BRYANT
Steven has a secret that might tear his family apart. Meanwhile, his wife, mother, father and lover are fighting for his attention and coming to terms with their hidden feelings of betrayal, anguish, frustration and fear.
Laugh, squirm, and cry as this new Australian musical takes you on a rollercoaster ride with a modern dysfunctional family.
Got up at sparrows fart and drove into town, parked at Kath’s apartment and cabbed it to the airport. Jumped a plane and flew down to Melbourne to see my mate Margeaux (who used to write for APJ) ‘s new apartment. His first real estate buy and it is gorgeous. 15-20 minutes on a tram from Federation Square and also quite near a train station in Prahran.
I took him one of Jocelyn Fullerton’s Cult of Scent candles as a housewarming present. The apartment is all in charcoal and white so the very lavish pop of red makes an excellent point of reference. YAY! So we had a burger lunch and then Margeaux had to go back to work.
I trotted off the the National Gallery of Victoria and spent two perfect hours wandering the art with myself, the art and my thoughts for company. It was incredibly refreshing and energising. I also love how fastidiously clean the bathrooms were.
Such a diverse array. An excellent Asian collection but sadly no Korean for Jin.
Currently they are showing historical garment illustrations and magazines, very interesting.
Jin has decided his favourite impressionist is Camille Pissarro and they had a few of his works so I snapped and sent them to him.
Russian Tzar lamp, one of a pair I think by Baccarat.
Degas sculpture of dancer checking her feet.
The Alice chair, some kind of resin shaped.
Black heart, I have made it my own by adding myself to the shot.
Poor old Jesus, eternally hanging around churches, galleries and museums.
Then I trotted quickly up to Masons, the new menswear store on Flinders Lane, just up the hill and tried Philippe Starck Peau d`Ailleurs which is supposed to be earth, woods and musk but I found it quite green and wet. It had extraordinary lasting power and I could easily smell it on my hand next day. There is not much love among perfumistas for the range but I found it interesting and though subtle quite entrancing. I REALLY want to ry it again now. It’s the middle one.
Then, as I was about to grab the train to get back to the airport one of my fave handsome young gentleman frag addicts called and said he was available for catch ups! YAY! We weren’t sure he’d make it. So, over a 15 minute wine for him and coffee for me Liam Sardea and I caught up, grabbed a big hug and off I went into the sunset.
Once home I grabbed ALL the leftover Chinese, one of Jin’s pre-made rice packs, some frozen peas, a can of creamed corn and stir fried the whole lot to boiling hot. Then I sat in front of the TV and watched rubbish while I ate the yummiest reheats ever. HAPPY DAY!
Tina is home from hospital and has been staying at her parents, I went out and collected her to come back to Sydney. We had a very fun cuppa and catch up with her parents, who I bloody adore. They are so lovely.
For the day I decided on vintage Patou 1000 EdT. Excellent accompaniment to the cool sunshine of Sydney winter.
Roger & Gallet Cedrat bubble bath, Kiehl’s Original Musk lotion and Neela Vermeire Creations Nichola. You can read my review of the wear if you like.
Imagine the laziest day ever. Perfume it with DIOR Privé Sakura and you’ll understand how laid back it was.
Jin and I had lunch in the food court, then came home and hung out around the house.
For dinner we met Alice and had Peking Duck! A whole duck between three of us and San Choy Bow, then Beef & Black Bean with Cashews and Egg Fried Rice. It was heavenly! I could eat Chinese every second meal and still be excited.
Woke up and walked the dogs in frosty sunshine, my breath was making clouds.
Jin and I met Alice & Sam at DFO (a discount mall) where we bought new Uggs, some Ralph Lauren polos and a jumper, a new pillow for me because mine has been embarrassing for years and it was time and a few other bits & pieces. It was fun and silly, trying on clothes and laughing.
Jin was completely gorgeous smelling in Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan, seriously drop dead gorgeous and I wafted Pozzo di Borgo: 23 Janvier 1984, which is a lovely figgy scent.
We came home and had delicious Jin made Korean Chicken Curry with Naan bread and watched The Princess Diaries with Anne Hathaway. How had I never seen it before? Loved it.
Tonight Margaritas and Tacos with Kath, Alice and Jin. We sat outside around a pub turned Taco den, at a park table and bench seats in one on the pavement. There were 5 or 6 such tables around the venue and every seat was jam packed with young mixed urban crews from all colours and wage ranges. The chill night air was comfortable and we chattered, laughed and ate a few very happy hours away. The Margaritas were quite good, we had two each, and everyone was softly merry by the end.
Just quietly, I love my life and my friends. Yes I know how lucky I am, we are.
I woke up at 1am and went to my perfume room, sat down and had the urge to read perfume blogs. This rarely happens lately as life gets busier. I got to the latest What Men Should Smell Like about Guerlain Sous le Vent and immediately dived for my bottle to live the magic. Ahhhhh, what a fragrance…… Going back to bed now to savour it. Guerlain Sous le Vent is wonderful.
Breakfasted on the verandah with these two sexy boys.
Peanut Butter Toast and a Coffee. One of lifes easiest joyful moments. YUM!
Jin was getting a bit Jealous Julie because he’s not in the Scent Diary enough. So here he is doing his very best blog smile for you all. isn’t he a fricken cutie? Love him to infinity but today he was scratching my very last nerve. We had a late evening fight to clear the air that ended in happy kisses and fervent Fuck You’s from both of us.
Today’s bathe was lovely bubbles from L`Artisan Parfumeur La Chasse aux Papillons in the pump pack which was a gift from my mate Tim, followed by a light Madonna Truth or Dare Naked lotion and I forgot to put fragrance on. I did remain softly fragrant throughout the night though and can even still smell soft vanilla sweetness at 10pm.
Now it’s your turn. Please share something fun, fragrant, friendly or foolish that you got up to this week?
We love to read your stories.
Portia xx
Hi All,
You may remember the very lovely Emma Kate who wrote for APJ for a while and did a bunch of LIVE Video Sniffs with me. She moved to another Australian city for work recently and gave me a bunch of her unloved frags. This happened to be in the bunch and I had totally ignored it till the other day. The heat was making me scratchy and the bottle looks a little like a melting ice cube. PERFECT!!
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, green lilac, wild mint, bois de roseau
Heart: Jasmine, amaryllis, lotus, Guinea pepper, white peach
Base: Vanilla, musk, Virginia blue cedar
This is a fresh, fruity, cool scent that is both sweet and tart. Nothing extraordinary but extremely cologne-ish with a sweet twist. I smell nothing natural and it is probably quite cheap to produce. The minty mandarine water opening, the peachy amorphous white flower bouquet has a hint of stem and bell pepper and it ends on a woodsy note that doesn’t really smell like anything particular, but is synthetically non intrusive. What I feel when I wear L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild is clean. Imagine it’s summer, you are hot and sweaty, L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild is like shaving/waxing your legs, having a beautiful soak in the pool afterwards and then slipping into fresh cool 100% Egyptian cotton sheets with the overhead fan on low. MMMMM Perfect.
Photo Stolen julien haler Flickr
I tried to find somewhere for you to buy L’Eau Par Kenzo Wild but though I could find the Homme version everywhere the Femme is SOLD OUT! I tried oodles of online sites and nothing. You may be lucky enough to find it on Ebay. Don’t worry if you can’t though, there are a million others quite similar. If you don’t have it you’re missing nothing. Having said that, it’s not going out in my cull.
Further reading: Pink Sith
Sorry for introducing you to a winner that I can’t even find online.
Portia xx
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Post by Chairman Meow
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Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, Cardamom, Cumin, Clove
Middle: Ylang-Ylang, Licorice, Mango, Heliotrope
Base: Patchouli, Vanilla, Amber, Cashmeran
You’ll notice that plum is not listed as a note, which is intriguing, because to me it is the overarching theme in this scent. And what a shape shifter of a plum it is, taking on various guises, some more pleasant than others.
Pernicious Plum
L’Elephant opens off as a melange of dried fruit peel and spices, of which clove is quite prominent. I often have difficulty with this little nail of a flower bud, and its fondness of hijacking whatever perfume it takes a ride in, though thankfully here it is more dulcet compared with the rugged variety you might encounter in, say, Noir Epices. I can detect cinnamon, the everyman, the spice equivalent of Bruce Willis, who offends no one. It took some convincing that I could smell any cardamom, so for sport’s sake I spent some time snuffling away on some bashed up cardamom seeds that I balanced on the scented part of my arm. It’s there! It works! A random but recommended activity. Sitting in the background of the peel and the spices, like some shady trench-coated nogoodnik, is a sinister almond-y waft redolent of cyanide from the pit of the plum, which I’m taking to be the heliotrope.
Photo Stolen MorgueFile
A recurring theme that you’ll encounter in reading reviews about L’Elephant is that it is a “strong” perfume, ambiguous word such as it is. People could be referring to the sillage, which is certainly impressive for the first hour or so before settling to a much more sociable pitch. They may be speaking of the longevity, for indeed it does have the endurance of several oxen. Alternatively, they may be talking about the paint blistering gust of nail varnish remover that sears the nostrils on first spray. I call it The Curse of Sally Hansen, and it persists for quite some time. Sally does eventually pack up her nail file and shuffle off, albeit reluctantly and with furtive backwards glances, and that’s when L’Elephant is at its most enjoyable. Yum Plum
The sinophiles (lovers of Chinese culture) amongst us may be familiar with the salty-sweet dried plums that go by variety of different names. I know them by their Cantonese name of Wah Mui. Imagine something that Shrek might excavate from his nose and you get a pretty good idea of what they look like.
Picture Stolen WantChinaTimes
Wah Mui are coated with a liquorice infused powdered sugar which, as a 7 year old, I found to be the best bit, actually the only edible bit, which would be licked off before abandoning the actual plum. I am transported to this memory in the late dry down of L’Elephant, hours after application, when you can finally approach the thing without a hazmat suit, and can detect the soft purr of the vanilla and amber. Later still, as L’Elephant is in its death throes, I think I can smell something indefinably wood-like, and then it expires.
Photo Stolen MorgueFile
Further reading: Another Perfume Blog and Bois de Jasmin
Beauty Encounter have $45/50ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $3/ml
I haven’t found L’Elephant an easy love, but it does have legions of admirers. I suspect that had it been produced by a niche house, was double the price, had a slick ad copy and had listed as one of its notes an “accord of oriental desiccated plum snack”, it would have had the cogniscenti misty- eyed and lisping “JEEY-nius!”, and been awarded a swathe of Fifi’s.
See you next month,
Chairman Meow xxx
Hello Lovely APJ Family,
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mandarin, hawthorn, Bugarian rose, blackcurrant
Heart: Parma violet, rose, opoponax, jasmine
Base: Vanilla, white musk, incense and woody notes
I was given an ENORMOUS bottle of this by my girlfriend Annie, every time I spritz, or smell someone in the street wearing, Flower I think of her and the great big hugs she gives, her warmth, fun and joyfulness. Because Flower is so sheer and spare it’s hard to believe there are so many ingredients that make it come together. Also there have been so many imitations of its style that I am at a loss to remember how ground breaking it was when it was first released. That hefty airiness that doesn’t skunk but has impressive sillage, so that as you waft fragrantly past someone they are entranced by your scent, a la Perfume by Patrick Suskind, or a room slowly fills with your fragrance and you can smell it softly on return to the room, but not in a pushy intrusive way, just a haunting memory.
It opens green and fresh on me with a sharp sweetness, then the warm resinous bouquet slowly takes over until a clean, warm musky vanilla finishes the story in around 4-6 hours depending on the day and whether I’m moisturised.
Photo Stolen GirlServesWorld
Interestingly Tania Sanchez in Perfumes: The A-Z Guide says that, “Albert Morillas almost certainly knew Caron’s Royal Bain de Champagne (now Royal Bain de Caron) by heart when he replicated it and added a splash of hedione to make Flower, but it seems no one else knew….” but I have only a modern incarnation of Royal Bain de Caron for comparison and they seem only distantly related.
I love the 2013 ad campaign, the lightness and airiness of the poppies flying through the air isa a perfect symbolism for this still lovely fragrance.
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx
The campaign girl is Chinese/Taiwanese actress, Shu Qi.
Image via TFS.
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Guest Post by EmmaKate
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This fragrance marks the beginning of my love affair with all things fragrance.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green lilac, mint, reed, mandarin orange, red pepper
Heart: Water lily, amaryllis, white peach, rose, pepper, violet
Base: White musk, cedar, vanilla
I was sitting in the perfume connection, in a group interview for Christmas casual positions and they were testing our noses. They sprayed about 12 fragrances and I can tell you nothing about them, except for l’eau par Kenzo. This fragrance struck me from the very first moment I smelt it. It is light and fresh, with a slightly spicy edge. It opens with a cucumber/watermelonesque fresh aquatic feel, dries down with a subtle peppery warm feel.
When I wear L’Eau Par Kenzo I feel clean, fresh and summery. I have this sense of calm joy, like walking through the shallow waters of a tropical beach.
Photo Stolen ClearViewTravel
It is my quintessential fragrance, so much so that when a friend has worn this out she has been told she smelt like me. I have even been snorted by a good friend in David Jones (Ed: one of our prestige department stores in Australia) whilst wearing it. 😉
It is a very easy fragrance to wear that makes you feel great!
L’Eau Par Kenzo is becoming harder and harder to find. If you see it buy it!
FragranceNet has 50ml around $35
See you next month,
EmmaKate
Here is the ad
Hey Hey Scent Hogs,
These are quick looks at a few of the fragrances I wore this week for my own fragrance pleasure. The Sunday QuickSniff Review page is opened on Monday morning and every time I spritz and am near the computer I’ll give a 3 sentence review with a rating out of 5 each for, well, see the key after the reviews. Often these are samples I’ve bought or had sent to me by friends, or a FB that I may fully review later, or have done before and want to remind you of its existence.
BELOVED by AMOUAGE 2012. This opens sensationally on me. A big fat old fashioned sparkling spicy floral with depth and character, you can smell the deep drumming of the animalic, vanilla and amberish undercurrents. It’s so sexy as it starts pounding out its syncopated ululation, flowers, animals, herbs, wood, flowers, balsam, spices, cat. Unfortunately after less than an hour it becomes the merest whisper of a skin scent on me (this is my 4th spritz in a day) but everyone else that I’ve read reviews from gets hours and hours, GRRRRR. S=***** L=** D=****
KENZO FLOWER EdT by KENZO 2000. I received this bottle from Annie, THANKS!! Usually fresh, aqueous fragrances aren’t my thing, but maybe my nose is evolving because this is dynamite!! On my skin the hawthorn is cool GREEN and the resin, vanilla and musk ironically completely overtake any flowers that might have been there making me think of torn leaves and broken branches. A thoroughly delicious, light, bright, sparkling fragrance that has deceptive sillage and longevity too. FragranceShop has 50ml Tester for $38 S=**** L=**** D=****
BADGLEY MISCHKA Parfum 2006. OMFG!! On my skin this opens so SWEET, AARRGH. The peach and red berries are gut wrenchingly, tooth achingly, pant for oxygen sweet and almost had me running to the shower but I pushed through and WOW am I glad I did. This is a serenade, a love song and a poem; it calms down after 5 minutes into an amazing warm and delicious, slightly foody floral chypre that dies down to hours and hours of almost masculine, sexy woods, resins and musky caramel YUM. FragranceNet has 15ml for under $20 S=**** L=***** D=****
SUNFLOWERS by ELIZABETH ARDEN 1993. Years ago I used to wear this all the time, I was going through a phase where I decided one perfume in my cupboard was enough. I loved it so much and thought I smelled delicious until someone had a word, I was devastated and stopped wearing it, throwing the bottle in the bin. Tonight I was working with a girlfriend and the most glorious fruit juicy white floral and warm spicy perfume was wafting around, it was so divine I thought it must be an expensive niche tuberose but it was Sunflowers and she smelled awesome. FragranceX has 100ml under $20 S=***** L=**** D=*****
Photo Stolen from shirtsays
Scent, Obviously the number 1 priority here is how does it smell. My reviews are completely subjective and will differ widely from your own experience with the scent but it’s a good starting point. As yet I am not a trained perfumer so any and all descriptions are merely that, descriptions. There are plenty of blogs that offer technical details and chemistry, in 3 sentences I’ll pass.
Longevity, This is a biggie for me because like enfleurage where flower petals are left in fats to steal the scent, my fatty body works the same and eats it up, yum. So for a scent to last well on me, it will probably last a whole day on you and need a radioactive decontamination shower to defuse it from your skin.
Desirabilty, Wrapped up in this is scent, price, house, history, longevity, packaging, availability and a billion other things.
Photo Stolen from bittbox
* in any of these being the, “You couldn’t pay enough to spray this God awful stink on me again, it smells like public toilets in India, long time fridge malfunction while on Summer holiday and the vile stench of poverty all rolled into one.” You are putting innocent people in danger if you wear this.
** means it’s a nothing, wearable, boring, maybe the price is prohibitive for what you get or it’s ubiquitous. You should definitely get a sample of this to stop a buying boo boo.
*** is a perfectly good product that smells good and lasts a while at a decent price. You should definitely think about trying a sample or squirt but should you miss out your life will continue. Sample size worthy.
**** is the one you try, want a lot but can wait for a birthday/Christmas. It’s better than most of the stuff you’ve sniffed and may fill a void in your library. This is also an excellent decant product 5ml will get you through the season and maybe buy it next year.
***** meaning, stop reading this, grab your cash, credit card (or partners), roll the elderly or rob a petrol station and purchase this product. NOW! If you don’t have this fragrance you could die.
Hopefully this has given you a little inside track on fragrances to might buy, want, avoid, sample. What delicious bits and pieces did you try this week?
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 