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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
Silly Season is upon us. Running hither and thither trying to see the people we love. What a happy kerfuffle.
If you, or those around you are suffering during this time of enforced merriment here is a link to the Australian Helplines, covering most bases 24/7. Crisis Help Australia
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Portia
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Heya APJ,
This time of the year is a nightmare if you want to buy something lovely for friends. First and foremost being that our friends mostly already have everything they need. So for us to get them something special and important means either we have to spend a LOT of money, or we need to be a little savvy. As most of my closest don’t really understand my perfume mania it would be churlish of me to buy them something in that mode unless I’ve really thought it out. Here are some perfume and fragrant adjacent gifts that should get their eyes popping and not break the bank for you.
This is a list of things I’ll be gifting this year. Most of them are bought already, just awaiting packaging.
While being fragrant, candles occupy the happy middle ground where they are decorative, functional and useable. You don’t need to store them because they sit out and get their burn on a couple of times a week to help freshen the air in our homes.
VERY spendy but really good if you need to impress or the person you’re buying for is impress oriented. I love their packaging and the fragrances always smell uber luxe. This year my choice of their Christmas scents is Hupo. Ambergris, Incense and creamy woods combine majestically. Libertine has these with FREE Australian Postage.
The newest fragrance from Gascoigne & King is unbelievably beautiful. Mainly jasmine, and vanilla with the warm, feral addition of honey. G&K are a Sydney brand, created with love by hand in the home of my girlfriend Bronwyn Gascoigne. I buy a cartload of these every year because everyone who gets one comments how lavishly glamorous they make the house smell. Very reasonably priced and Gascoigne & King send to the world with a AUD$20 Flat Shipping Rate.
They also do the To Die For Rose Gold Candle Care Wicker and Snuffer, in case your friends already have candles galore. ^^
Confession time. I bought the new Glasshouse Carousel for MYSELF! Yes, I paid full retail and it is freaking gorgeous. When it’s lit in the dark of the evening the light creates fabulous patterns on the walls. It’s like a fairyland. I will run myself a midnight bubble bath, light the candle and turn the lights out. INSTANT fantasy land. Amusingly, when I told Ainslie Walker that I’d bought it she squealed, it is one of her releases for the brand! Double win.
That leads us beautifully to my favourite, Bubble Baths. Most of my mates aren’t deep into perfumes but all of them have to bathe. A simple, useful and well priced gift is always a shower gel. Excellent if you know their preference in perfumes because you can buy their attendant products but also cool if you don’t, open their minds to something new and wonderful.
Lyric Man has been Amouage’s best selling mens fragrance for years. It’s cool, masculine rose is beautiful and flies under the radar enough that it can be the perfect choice for the wealthy working man (or the one with a partner/friend/family with really good taste). The packaging alone makes this a gift of distinction with the added benefit of a 300ml pump pack. Guaranteed to last months, even with daily use.
Mon Guerlain, the hit from Guerlain that has spawned a thousand flankers in its few short years. I like the simplicity of this packaging. Right now there are also wonderful Gift Packs that come with a shower gel and fragrance. I really like the less flamboyant scent they’ve used in this and it will work beautifully across the range, so no matter which Mon Guerlain is your intendeds fave this will be a perfect bath starter.
I was gifted this bottle for my birthday by some girlfriends. The bottle alone is a winner with its cherry blossom branch relief. The pretty cherry/cherry blossom fragrance is so much better than it needed to be. I’m surprised each time I use it how good the fragrance is. Also, though it looks pricey, it is really good value.
Want to kick start your day with a zingy refreshing fragrance, or are thinking of wearing some cologne or citrus scents for your day? This is a really good value choice and the big bottles always look impressive. 400ml will probably last till the next time you have to buy a gift for them. I like the no nonsense packaging too, perfect for the boys but not so butch that the girls will feel awkward.
Special Christmas time release and my favourite shower gel by LUSH, by far. Rose Jam is a scent I want to always have around. It is the perfect base coat to any rose-centric fragrance but isn’t so strong that it really interferes with anything you choose to wear fragrance wise over its remnants. Super good value and comes from 100m up to the huge 500ml. This is a great love of mine. Excellent gifting response too.
Jin bought me one of these last year. It has been my most coveted coffee mug ever since. It’s perfect in every way. The feel, the colours, the size and the handle. PERFECT! So perfect in fact that I have bought it this year for others, so they can enjoy the luxuriousness of a Tiffany & Co cuppa.
I know, right! So many of my friends really do have EVERYTHING! It’s impossible to get them anything they really want, let alone need. So wherever I go, be it Art Gallery, Holiday Destination, Event or Place of Note I grab a couple of Tea Towels. We all use them, most people have a couple of skanky old rags or even a set bought a few years ago at the local supermarket but rarely does anyone think much about them. So getting a pretty, interesting or luxurious one is nice. They are also good to use as safety wrapping inside put together gift boxes.
OK, so there are some thoughts. You’ve got nearly three weeks of shopping left for Christmas or whatever your ritual is at this time of year.
No matter what you do or don’t buy, who or what you do or don’t have, I wish you a safe season. Hoping it’s free of drama, pain and depression for you, and if any of those hits I hope your coping mechanisms get you through. Plan ahead, make sure you are not putting yourself or others in danger. Hugs from me, and the APJ crew.
Portia xxx
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
This week my girlfriend Miharu has been in town from Japan. We used to be buddies back in my showgirl days and it’s been nice to see her again. Loads of fun perfume choices and hanging out with Jin. Work was BUSY too.
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
So many perfumes I’ve not worn in ages. This warm weather has brought them all out to play. Saw some buddies, worked a bit, hung around with Jin. Lovely week Chez Portia .
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
Gave the perfume room a clean up this week. Created some space and reorganised the two major trays of current favourites. So while I still wore some old favourites you will se a bunch of new and different stuff. Got to hang with a bunch of our mates and had some serious Netflix time. What a lovely week.
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Gabriella
(ED: Welcome back our lovely Madeleine who has returned)
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Hello Fragrant Friends,
It’s great to be back reviewing here on APJ after such a long time.
Have you ever found that being away from your usual routine makes you reconsider your fragrance tastes? A perfume that you may have loathed becomes a new love or a style of perfume that you’d always considered not for you now captures your heart? This is what happened to me recently on the last night of a five-week European trip with my husband.
We were in Oia, a small town in Santorini, hoping to catch a glimpse of the gorgeous and much-photographed sunsets there. Sadly, it was too cloudy that evening and so we wandered around the little alleyways for a little bit before stopping for dinner. While wandering, we came upon a small apothecary full of Korres and other fragranced goodies, and of course, I went in to have a little spritz or two. Surprisingly, it was a gourmand, a genre I usually hate, that had me at first sniff…
Fragratntica gives these featured accords:
Brown sugar, Asian lily, violet, vanilla, caramel
Black Sugar Oriental Lily Violet starts out all sugary violet but it’s more parma violet or violet candy floss, very airy and light, rather than all syrupy and cloying. It feels gentle and soothing on the skin and shines softly. A burnt quality to the sugar note also prevents it from veering too much into toothache territory while a soft, salty and slightly milky lily note lends the composition a cuddly lactonic vibe. There’s caramel and vanilla here too, but again, an incense-like element to these notes cuts the sweetness and adds some depth to the overall vibe.
It’s this smokiness and incense, the salty-milky quality of the lily and the burnt aspect of the sugar that make the scent quite intriguing compared to your usual gourmand. It has an almost ethereal and other-worldly quality, which makes it both soothing and relaxing. Overall, it’s also a fairly linear scent that stays close to the skin, but different notes seem to peek out more each time I put my nose to wrist. Longevity is around 3-4 hours.
Due to its snuggly aspect, Black Sugar Oriental Lily Violet is definitely a comfort scent and one to wear after a hard day’s work or to soothe frazzled nerves. I’d love to have this in bath gel form, so I could sink into lovely violet milky bubbles and forget the world around me. Despite being more on the snuggly side, the airiness of the scent means it can be worn all year round and not just consigned to the colder months.
Korres has 50ml/€39
Sephora has 50ml/$US44.50
What’s a perfume or scent style that you used to hate and have now come to love? Has a trip or a holiday ever taken you out of your scented comfort zone?
With much love until next time!
M x
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Portia
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Hey Crew,
I’m home. Best place on earth.
What a holiday, heaps more India to share. More friends, fun, food and especially fragrance.
OK, it’s Monday morning and I’m in Alwar, Rajasthan, India. Can’t sleep because Australia is having a non-binding postal vote about Equality, Marriage Equality to be specific. The hate, lies and vitriol spewed by the NO camp has me nearly hyperventilating with rage and a resurgence of the sinking feeling that comes from external bullying (the internal can be pretty bad too) that I know so well from a basically sunlit youth full of sly, snide, confrontational, half-heard, whispered, shouted, aggressive, implied and ultimately violent homophobia.
If you are Australian and have not yet voted, PLEASE VOTE YES.
FAST DAY!! I know, bet you never thought you’d read me saying that? Well, Varun fasts twice a week, he’s allowed juice and fruit till sunset. We added masala chai to the list and some peanuts for me at around 6pm because I was about to eat the furniture.
Varun and I did some more shopping today. Some final gifts. We sat in the shade drinking soda and watched the world go by for a happy 20 minutes.
Wearing Oliver & Co Vaninger today. It’s a freaky, weird ginger masala chai scent and smells SO GOOD in the Indian heat.
Dinner was with Varun, Mummy and Pappa and Achal (their older son). The food was wonderful. They are a pretty quiet family when they’re together so conversation was happily sporadic.
Afterwards I was ambushed with an after dinner party. The LAST thing on my list of things to do. There’s a particular person at these events who tries to negatively engage people, you know opens with a derogatory comment. This years opening gambit was “Hello, you got so bald.” I shook his hand, thanked him, turned on my heel and walked out of the party. Varun didn’t even have to be asked, he just handed me the car keys and off I went. The bully came after me saying, “Aussies aren’t such wimps” and equally endearing things. Finally he came up behind me, grabbed my shoulders and said in my ear, “Surely I haven’t offended you.” My reply was to shrug him off, say, “Yes….. Don’t touch me” and get in the car, locking the door. The usual going and froing of host and bully entreating me to stay. Nope. I wasn’t angry, passionate or riled, “I am nearly 50 years old. I don’t need to be around and deal with assholes. Thank you for the invitation and hospitality but I’m not interested in joining you. Please take this time to teach your friend some manners. Thank you, goodbye.” Varun got in the car and we drove away.
I didn’t stand up to a bully but I did call his bad behaviour and refuse to engage without raising my voice or even blood pressure. It felt, and feels still, powerful in resistance. Right now I’m proud of how it went.
Now, I’m going to read for a bit and then hit the hay.
It’s my last full day in India. Varun and I had breakfast together, he came to my room and we drank lashings of masala chai with jam toast and fruit. He has some catch up work to do so I’m taking my Kindle and going down to the garden to read in the sun.
When I got back to my room I really wanted some fragrance so chose Neela Vermeire Creations Mohur. The most precious beauty of her collection for me. A perfect fit coming in hot and sweaty, it gave the fragrance a whole new lived in feel.
Painted some signs for the hotel, there were about 7 in all but these two are the ones I really loved.
Varun and I went to a nearby hotel, one of the Neemrana group, for lunch. It was a buffet and the selection, quality, taste and presentation were super fabulous. There were enough waitstaff for one per person because the restaurant was pretty quiet. Can’t compliment the experience enough. Dessert was this incredible dish, like deep fried cookie dough, that you have with ice cream. Words fail me…..
At night we hung out at Varun’s hotel. Very chill last night. We ate, chattered and finished off the signs. The night was tinged with the sadness of me leaving tomorrow but still fun. We are so comfortable with each other nowadays that some thinking time between sentences is expected.
Woke up, showered and drenched myself in vintage Miss Dior parfum.
Varun took me for my farewell and Birthday lunch. He’s so funny. PIZZA HUT! My first fast food since arriving in India. It was bloody delicious and he was so chuffed with himself for thinking of it. How could anyone fail to love someone so wonderful?
Then he took me shopping for my Birthday Present. I protested but to no avail. He was determined, and that happens so rarely that I let him have his moment. It was sweet and lovely. I will wear my gift and think of him every time.
On the road, four hours from Alwar to Delhi Airport. Varun and I said our goodbyes at the hotel and now I have a driver who will drop me. As the miles fly by I’m reflecting on what a perfect two weeks we have had. So lucky to have this guy still in my life after 17 years as a lover and BFF.
Woo Hoo! Even though I’m flying China Southern Economy because they are star Alliance and I am Morning Calm with Korean Air I get preferential treatment! That means Priority Boarding and access to the Delhi Airport Business Lounge. Meaning I get free food and drink, have a comfortable seat and super clean toilets while I wait.
I might have done some Duty Free Shopping. I clearly have a problem but I WANTED THEM ALL!!!
CHANEL Antaeus Deodorant Stick, CHANEL Coco Shower Gel & Soap, Gucci Absolue, Narciso Rodriguez EdT and the NEW Guerlain Les Absolus d’Orient 15ml Travel Set
The girl at the Check In desk could not have been sweeter or more helpful. She even gave me a window seat with extra leg room!!
Arriving in China next morning there was a girl waiting at the gate with my name on a board. You have to HURRY only 12 minutes till your plane goes. SHIT!!!! She grabbed me and ran, like a marathon running ex-paramilitary sergeant, to the Transfer Gate. Here she ran me past the lines to the Special Needs line, pushed past a group of wheelchairs, and got me to the front where they stamped my passport. Then she RAN me through security, screaming at everyone along the way, and along to our gate another 500m away. I was puffing and blowing like a steam train by now. We get to the gate and I’m like, “Do I have to run down the gangway?” She looks at me and says, “I’m so sorry. Wrong information. One hour twelve minutes. So sorry.” We look at each other and basically collapse laughing, I can’t even breathe at this point. Hilarious. So I take a seat and get my breath back before boarding at a much more dignified pace.
China Southern came through again with an exit row.
We get into Sydney about 30 minutes late at 8pm. Jin is already waiting at the exit gate for me. I get quickly through the electronic passport control and am only the second from our flight at the Baggage Carousel. So I wait, and wait, and wait. There are three bags left on the carousel, none mine. I go to the Baggage Desk and ask. “Oh yes, your luggage did not get on the plane. It will be coming tomorrow.” OK, no biggie. Poor Jin has been waiting at the gate for nearly two hours though so he is less than impressed.
That first hug, when you get to bury your face in their neck and smell home. NOTHING on earth is so good. It’s only been two weeks but I clearly missed this wonderful man.
Doing stuff around the house till nearly midnight and decided the thing I wanted most in the world was a Bubble Bath. Lalique Homage Shower Gel became my bubbling juice. It’s a wonderful masculine scent and it was the perfect balm to 24 hours of travel.
YAY! I’m home. Jin has a couple of days off and we can hang out together. Slept in till 10am and woke up to a perfect spring sunshiny day. The smell of him cooking mo-mos was all it took to rouse me from my slumber. No one on earth makes them better. A quick swipe in soy sauce and I’m in heaven. Perfect welcome home meal.
I have caught a bit of a throat infection somewhere along the way and am coughing up some spectacular globs of green and yellow.
ALSO, I spend nearly 3 weeks in India eating street, home and restaurant food. My body loves it and is doing perfect poo. Come home for 24 hours and I’m shitting soup. What is wrong with me?
There was quite a bit of perfumed box mail on the table for me when I arrived home. Here’s a pic of the haul while I was gone. Guerlain Mitsouko EdT, Korres Japanese Rose Shower Gel x 2, Bal A Versailles parfums 30ml & 7ml, Tabac Original Shave Soap refill
Today has been a lazy day hanging around the house with Jin, catching up here on the blog and drinking litres of tea with honey & lemon, hoping to break this cough up.
Wearing the furry, sweet, skanky goodness of Bal a Versailles EdT & parfum. I smell so freaking gorgeous.
We went to Outback Steakhouse tonight for Blooming Onions and STEAK! It was bloody delicious. I’m so full that my tummy physically hurts. OwOwOOOOWWWWWWW but happy.
Tonight at 8.45pm the luggage arrives from the airport. Couriered to my home. Thank you China Southern Airways and Sydney Airport Baggage Department.
Good morning Saturday. I’m so excited. The dogs are coming home today! YAY! I love having Paris around to cuddle and walk. The house feels a little empty without them both.
The Pharrell Williams Girl bottle jumped out at me today screaming WEAR ME! I did. Longevity is only very short but it’s fun to respritz. Amusingly Jin asked me if I was wearing Joop!
YAY! They are back and cuddles were in order.
It’s 35C today! WOW! Bloody hot out there.
This afternoon Kath & I went for our first swim of the season. It was pretty cold but after a few seconds my body attuned and I was in for a short while, did a couple of laps and got out. As I was drying myself off we realised that my Tigers Eye bracelet had broken so in I went again and hunted beads, very hard when you’re as blind as I am.
Home to change and thought I’ll just lie down for a minute with Paris. OOOPSIE! Woke up hours later. Missed out on seeing Phil and it was already time for dinner. Jin and I had Chinese at a BarBQ place he’s wanted to eat at for ages. The place smells dirty and the food is presented in varying shades of brown, no colour or excitement. I will say that it tasted delicious, seriously great. He will have to go there alone next time or do take away.
I’ve got this weird phlegmy cough. Jin has made a Tupperware container of his fave Korean remedy. Sliced Lemon, Lime, Dates and Ginger. Steep in water with or without tea, add honey to taste.
Before bed I drank two jugs of the remedy, a bunch of water and spritzed Neela Vermeire Creations Rahele. Who doesn’t feel better when smelling of fruity osmanthus leather? Goodnight all.
GAWD! I’m so sick. Nose running uncontrollably. Coughing like a 70 year old chain smoker. Sweating.
BLEAUGH!!!
Tried to get a fill in for work tonight. The girls are busy. Going in feeling like shit.
Had a super hot bubble bath in LUSH Rose Jam, used Amouage Dia lotion and Parfum.
OK, enough about me. How was your week? Anything fun, fragrant, food or friend related happen?
Share, we love it.
Portia xx
Hi There Crew,
A couple of years ago now one of my besties bought me a Korres set with Body Milk and Shower Gel. It was completely serendipitous because I had run low on my shower gel at the time and didn’t have a lick of moisturiser in the house anywhere. What did I do? I used it, used it all up in record time and have always got extra on hand in case, I have also gifted this duo to a bunch of my mates, yes it’s that good….
Absolutely expecting it to be a LUSH style scent, bold, big, in your face and take no prisoners I was pleasantly surprised by the quiet grandeur yet tenacious staying power of the fragrance. Roses, roses and more roses, though I don’t get the Japanese connection. Are their Japanese roses known especially for being a spicy, boozy, citrus smelling variety? Apparently they grow in sand dunes near the seaside and have very interesting bark effects so the plant is beautiful when leafed and bare. It’s fun and refreshing in the shower and the lotion makes a fabulous base for any rose fragrance and I also use it for my ambers, it adds a glow that emphasises rose notes but also creates lovely new variants on perfumes without rose. I also find it an extra good fragrance life extender.
Loads of people work in fragrance free environments, Japanese Rose is good because it leaves you softly and subtly fragrant all by itself. After work you can add a spritz of your favourite frag and it will smell gorgeous over the top. Win Win! Today I’m wearing Guerlain’s Shalimar over the top and it gives a whole new rosy sheen to my favourite grand dame of a perfume.
Photos Stolen Bath & Unwind
Nowadays I grab mine from Bath & Unwind where you can get both Shower Gel and Body Milk for under $40 delivered anywhere in the world. So not only lovely and lavish but a cheap thrill too.
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx
Hey All,
Today on the PerfumePosse I look at a bunch of Fragrant Gift Certificates. Excellent Christmas option.
We are all going a little Christmas Cuckoo here at APJ. I thought I would swing in with some lovely and affordable fragrant gifts. Many of us have had to tighten our belts over the last 12 months and it’s getting harder to find something that gives the feeling of luxury in these straightened circumstances, so here are a few of my favourite cheapies that may help you to fill stockings for less.
Photo stolen Bath&Unwind
Korres: Japanese Rose: I use the shower gel and body butter to layer under rose scents like Rosa Sur Reuse by SOIVOHLE and Midnight Oud by Juliette Has A Gun. They came together as a pack 2 Christmas ago and I have constantly kept a stock ever since, now onto my 4th set I think. You can still get the set from Bath & Unwind for around $30
One Seed natural perfume sample set: This is a great way to get to know one of Australia’s budding niche perfume houses. You will receive 8 x 1ml samples and including International Postage for only $30 at the One seed ETSY Store
Photo Stolen Kiehl’s
Kiehl’s Original Musk: I have the fragrance and body lotion and often use the body lotion to plump up the funk on modern formulations of old favourite fragrances like Rochas Femme, YSL Rive Gauche and CHANEL No 5. Currently 200ml body lotion is around $35 online at Kiehl’s
Photo Stolen LUSH
LUSH You’ve Been Mangoed Bath Melt: This comes in a 30gram tablet that I cut into 4 and use separately so each one lasts for four baths. Here in Australia they retail for only $8.50 which works out to $2.12 per bath. BARGAIN. And it’s a great base for some delicious mango dripping fragrances like NVC Bombay Bling or Hermes Un Jardin Sur Le Nil. Available from LUSHCosmetics
Photo Stolen BookDepository
Coming To My Senses by Alyssa Harad: Whether you are buying for a perfumista or not this is a great tale that keeps you turning pages and wishing for a sequel at the end. The story of a woman’s fragrant searching for where she belongs. BookDepository has the hardback for around $20 delivered worldwide!!
Smell Bent, Sunset People Sample Pack: If you’ve spent any time at all on AustralianPerfumeJunkies then you’ll know what fans we are of the Smell Bent ranges by that uber hottie Brent Leonesio. Sunset People Sample Pack features 5 x 4ml EdT Travel Sprays of their latest juices for only $28 with such excellent names as Disco Nap and Walk of Shame! Wonderful stocking filler from SmellBent.
Photo stolen carapharmacy
Halle by Halle Berry: I use the body lotion and the fragrance. This is a fabulously wearable woody floral fragrance which has a slightly bitter chocolate feeling about it while still being sweetly amber. The body lotion adds depth and hours of extra wear life. At CheapSmells you can get the 50ml EdP and 200ml Lotion separately but they add up to under $30.
Photo Stolen BookDepository
Jean-Claude Ellena, The Diary Of A Nose: I found this an interesting look at a year in the life of a perfumer. Not trying to be a sensational story but a look at how much travel, meetings and associated stuff come with being a perfume creator. At times during it I felt that it must be very frustrating sometimes when you want to create but the world impinges. He also gives some fascinating self observances and all done in great good humour. I already liked him before I read this but felt like I knew something of him after. BookDepository has the hardback for around $22 delivered worldwide.
Photo Stolen Olympic Orchids
Olympic Orchids Deluxe Sample Set: 16 x 2ml samples of the Olympic Orchids range for only $40 including International Shipping! This is the ultimate affordable gift for any aspiring perfumista or already deep in the wormhole devotee. Go have a look at Olympic Orchids Samples
Worth, Je Riviens body lotion: I know, I know! The fragrance has been cheapened and thinned beyond a whisper of its former self. The lotion is still lovely though and at around $7 for 200ml you can’t go wrong for keeping those wintery ambers in place all day long like L’Artisan’s L’Eau d’Ambre and Ambre Narguile by Hermes. I buy it from CheapSmells
Gift Certificates: Many of my favourite online stores do Gift Certificates too. Part of the joy of my fragrance addiction is the seeking and finding what I want for myself so here are a few links to sites that offer them, from as little as $1. Jin often gets me a $50 Posh Peasant Voucher that gets mailed to me and I love them. That can be as many as 20 samples and postage, depending. See what I mean, cool and classy gift for a perfumista to receive.
PoshPeasant from $25
ThePerfumedCourt from $10
SurrenderToChance from $1 – $100
MyPerfumeSamples from $15
AftelierPerfumes from $20
FragranceNet from $20
FragranceX from $5 – $500
I hope this has helped you all shop smarter.
With huge wafts of fragrant love,
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 