Saturday Question: My Three Next Full Bottle Purchases Will Be?

December 9, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 94 Comments

Portia

Hello Fellow Fumies,

Every Saturday we have a Question, an idea purloined from Olfactoria’s Travels. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it is a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Over 100 responses I will draw a $10 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Over 200 responses I will draw a $20 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Friday.

Last Weeks Winner: Erica

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with the eMail you’d like me to send your Gift Card to.

Saturday Question: My Three Next Full Bottle Purchases Will Be?

Do you have a wishlist? What’s at the top currently? Are you saving for some special things or are they going to be an impulse buy at the mall, or trolling the discounters late at night? Do you have separate wishlists for different things? Vintage, expensive, bargain, discontinued?

My Answer:

Still trying to work this list down to zero but instead of concentrating on fulfilling my list I tend to get distracted by new and shiny things. Especially if there is a sale or someone is selling a half bottle on the Facebook pages.

So here are my current Top 3 most wanted in bold. I can’t believe that Grandiflora Michel still isn’t in my collection, it’s a freaking masterpiece. SO, by New Year 2018 I’m going to try and own these 3 fabulous fragrances. Wish me luck.

Portia’s TO-BUY List Nov 2017

Grandiflora Michel by Magnolia Grandiflora
Oriental Mint by Phaedon Paris
Sables by Annick Goutal
Aedes de Venustas – Original
Ambra di Luna by Ramon Monegal
Ambra Mediterranea by Profumi del Forte
Barkhane by Teo Cabanel
Cuir Cuba Intense by Parfums De Nicolai
Hedonist by Viktoria Minya
Moon Bloom by Hiram Green
Jasmin et Cigarette by Etat Libre d’Orange
Lea by Calypso St. Barth
Rozy Eau de Parfum by Vero Profumo
Tobacco Rose by Papillon Perfumery
Wit by Parfums DelRae
No 18 EdP by CHANEL
Bois des Iles EdP by CHANEL
Dõjima by Mona di Orio
Suède de Suède by Mona di Orio
Tadzio by Homoelegans

My Saturday Question to you is:

My Three Next Full Bottle Purchases Will Be?

Saturday Question: What Would You Ask For If You Knew The Answer Was YES?

November 25, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 45 Comments

Portia

Hello Fellow Fumies,

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.

Last Weeks Winner: Didn’t make 100 comments.

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with the eMail you’d like me to send your Gift Card to.

Saturday Question:

What Would You Ask For If You Knew The Answer Was YES?

Saw this one a while ago on a Facebook page and it tickled my fancy. This week we don’t have to keep it fragrance related but I would ask that we keep Medical or Relationship Saves, World Peace and Money out of the equation. Let’s make this fun, interesting and personal. Maybe something you’ve wanted but only as an “if I win the lottery” kinda thing. You might have a secret dream that you could make reality. Could there be a different work direction you could have taken that seems far more appealing now? A trip, extra child, bathroom renovation, perfume cupboard, backyard studio or granny flat, live in the country/city, study law or have your favourite chef in to cook for you every Sunday. Seriously, anything

My Answer:

I would ask Jin if we could move to a small town and have a garden. In the garden there would be enough room for an entertaining verandah, pool, vegetable patch, chicken coop, Hills Hoist clothes line and dog run.

Why a small town? Well, I’m not talking outback Australia with under 1000 people. Maybe I mean a larger town. It has to have the amenities: Supermarket, Hospital, Main Street, nearby Airport and all Utilities. Part of me likes the idea of having so much less invested in our bricks & mortar, the extra space and a vegetable patch to dig in. Doesn’t need to be a very big patch either. Room for a couple of fruit trees, some spinach, potatoes, peas/beans and herbs. Chooks have been on my wish list since childhood and I love the idea of the dogs having an easy care run.

Flickr

My Saturday Question to you is:

What Would You Ask For If You Knew The Answer Was YES?

Scent Diary: 27.2 – 5.3.17

March 5, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Portia

Hiya Scenters,

This week on Aussie Fragrance Network we are having a Use Your Samples & Decants week so hopefully I’ll be spritzing a bunch of them empty. It has become quite ridiculous around here.

Scent Diary: 27.2 – 5.3.17

Monday 27:

Jin’s buddy Yu Gil arrived from South Korea at sparrows fart this morning. We collected him from the airport and took him across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Parramatta Lake Cafe for breakfast. I needed something to give me attitude and focus my brain so Rose Anonym by Atelier Cologne. It’s bold, brassy rose seems drizzled in oudh and honey. Great for a cool Sydney summer morning.

While the boys have gone out to see Parramatta I’m home writing blog articles. I love this house when it’s just me & the dogs hanging out. Currently in a cloud of vintage 1000 EdT by Jean Patou. THIS is the good stuff.

We had a streak at the pub and now I’m home to write trivia Q&A. My 10ml IUNX Eau Argentina will be my Q&A frag. Cool, smoky incense & stuff. After dinner I did some Q&A writing but my head wasn’t in it so I thought I’d lie down for half an hour then get up and finish.

Tuesday 28:

Well, that didn’t work out. Woke up this morning at 7am. AAAARRGGHH! Wrote the rest of this weeks trivia and some of next. It is coming together but slower this time. Dunno why.

Jin and Yu Gil ran around Sydney in the grey drizzle and had a ball.

After the bath today I was looking through my boxes of stuff and found about 4ml of a 10ml decant of Mona di Orio Oud, now known as Oud Osmanthus. This is one of Jin’s bottles and he wears it beautifully but before it was his I used about 6ml of the decant and freaking loved it. It wears creamier and prettier on my skin, much more barnyard and medicinal on him. So good I wore it to work too.

SOTB was vintage Miss Dior EdT & parfum. It raining in Parramatta, alternating drizzle and drenching, and still a little bit warm. I really like this weather. It’s fun being caught outside with the dogs when it decides to really let loose, we run home together with me laughing and them excited to run.

Wednesday 1:

Today was set aside for the three of us, Yu Gil, Jin & I, to go on a bus tour to Port Stephens. I woke up this morning and was like, nope. Poor Jin, he was most upset. So they went on the tour and I went back to bed. Feeling guilty but rested.

Post man came this morning. Suddenly I feel that I need all the Opus series, couldn’t I have fallen in love with them as they were released? Don’t know why it’s taken me so long. So Amouage Opus I is now in my collection, joining III, VIII, IX & X. After wearing my Burberry Brit woman parfum recently and noticing that they have changed the bottle for the EdT & EdP I panicked and grabbed a Burberry Brit woman EdP. Serge Lutens Bas de Soie has been on my list for a while and I suddenly felt the need to own a bottle, gone through almost my whole 5ml decant. It has been a slow but stately fall in love with Bas de Soie, or Silk stockings in English.

While writing Trivia Q&A I wore Mademoiselle Guerlain. It’s a pretty confection of a thing, no eye rolling fabulousness but very nice. All sugared marshmallow and sparkly citrus but underneath I swear there is a fishy vibe. Seriously, I would have bet money on ambergris. Not in the notes though.

Bloody hell. I’m going for a bath. Trivia Q&A has me cross eyed.

Today we celebrate 5 years of APJ. That’s a lot of blogging 2,498 posts. Thanks for being part of the magic.

Thursday 2:

TRIVIA It’s driving me bat shit crazy. Nearly there.

Still haven’t started putting APJ posts together. Leave Tuesday. FREAKING OUT! But not really. just feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Fragrantica

Wearing Tabac Rouge by Phaedon from a 10ml decant I bought when it came out. Why is there so much left? It’s bloody good, so sweet and honeyed, syrupy, berry juicy and animalic. TBH it could very easily sit in the Serge Lutens phalanx of frags. What a lovely fragrance, Pierre Guillaume is an excellent perfumer.

We are eating the fridge down because of the holiday so I had a childhood favourite meal. Vita Weets with butter, cheese slices and Vegemite. Bloody yummy! Ate it while thinking about my beautiful Mum, she was a good one.

Tonight for work I grabbed a big decant of Fig by Marc Jacobs. I think it’s an EdC so I spritzed about 20 times and it smelled fabulous for about 2 hours, then I lost it. TBH I think it softened off to a soft skin scent that is still smellable to others but not me. Very nice, pulp & milky fig.

The bloody microphone didn’t work tonight so I had to yell over 60+ people. My voice is now ratshit and I’m grumpy.

SOTBed: Mon Precioux Nectar Parfum by Guerlain. I have a 10ml sample of the parfum but my bottle’s EdP

Friday 3:

OK so today was all about getting stuff organised. There are only 80 more Q&A to write and only 5 more APJ posts to organise of my own plus a couple for others.

Jin & I took a moment from our day to go get our hair cuts and visit my BFFs Mum who was rushed to hospital yesterday with blood clots in her legs. She is up in a hospital that I spent some time in as a kid for all the ridiculous scrapes we used to get into. It was nice to walk around it as an adult and see that though it’s grown the old sandstone structures are still there.

Jin also surprised me with a new pair of pixelated glasses. So silly but totally fabulous.

Writing posts so drenched in a bunch of things Ultramarine Blue by DSH Perfumes, Halfati by Penhaligon’s and a sample grabbed from the box and didn’t read the label, threw it back in and now its LOST. GRRR! It’s fricken gorgeous.

Saturday 4:

Jin took his mate to Sydney City. There they went to St Mary’s cathedral, lit some candles and prayed for the continued improved health of BFFs Mum Marie. He’s a good egg.

Spent the day writing and editing APJ blog posts. Starting to really freak out because it’s Saturday now, Sydney LGBTQI Mardi Gras tonight, working tomorrow, cleaning, packing and farewell dinner on Monday. SHIT! Still a few Q&A left to do for Trivia too. It will happen, I’m good in a sink or swim situation. Coming to tell you about it has cleared my head. Ready for action. By the time I’m done 208 Q&A and 24 games.

In the bath today I used Olympic Orchids Amber Labdanum Bath Oil, my skin feels soft and has a lovely scent. Thinking Fancy nights by Jessica simpson for tonight but also wondering if L’Occitane Fabulous Shea Oil in the most outrageous BWF would be more appropriate? So excited! MARDI GRAS tonight. This is an old pic and the level has dropped in the bottle considerable since then.

Wore the L’Occitane Fabulous Shea Oil and vintage Miss Dior EdT spritzed liberally over all. It was so beautiful.

Sunday 5:

My head is still spinning. Writing APJ blog posts. FINALLY got all the Trivia Q&A sent out.

Fragile EdT by Jean Paul Gaultier when I woke up, because that’s exactly how I felt. How did I ever become such a lightweight party person? Metal by Paco Rabanne through lunch and for work Un Jour d’Ete by Keiko Mecheri, which I bloody love.

How about your week? Anything interesting or fragrant happen?
Portia xx

Scent Diary 16 – 22.1.17

January 22, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 21 Comments

Portia

Hi Hi Fragrant Fumies,

I thought it might be fun to add a scent diary. Over at Muse In Wooden Shoes Mals86 has been doing one for years and I always love reading her updates and SOTDs. Now I’m not promising to write every single fragrant thing I wore because most weeks it’s testing 20 and wearing 10 for pleasure, so you’ll get a snapshot. This is a trial though so maybe it will continue or maybe it will bore me to shit.

Scent Diary 16 – 22.1.17

Monday 16:

Morning Jin & I went and fixed some lights at the Redfern flat that Kath lives in, 37C at 10.30am SHEESH. I wore Eau Parfumee au The Noir by Bulgari, a cool leather/tobacco/tea and has a deliciously dark quality.
All afternoon, and at Indian for dinner in Harris Park with one of Jin’s ex flames Paul, I wore Kai EdP. A surprisingly good choice even though I got a massive headache halfway through dinner. In the evening writing Trivia Q&A I still had Kai remnants so I drowned that in Atelier Cologne Tobacco Nuit which opened very nicely but I totally ignored it in my Trivia immersion.
Finished writing Q&A about 3am and gave myself a lavish triple spritz of Armani Privé Cuir Amethyst, which resulted in blissful, languid sleep.

Tuesday 17:

So today is 41C (106F) and humid. Not my ideal weather but luckily Jin discovered that our A/C has a dry mode. It uses about 1/3 the energy of regular cooling A/C and makes the room feel 15 degrees cooler. A mate gave me 10ml of original Sables by Annick Goutal. Immortelle, pepper and tea? As I was wearing it I thought it must be tobacco and honey with some vetiver, goes to show how much I know.
In the early afternoon I spritzed a little Niki de Saint Phalle on my hand and enjoyed it beauty while having a cup of tea and writing blog posts, including one on the ease of its very own loveliness.
For work I chose the lavish, radiant white floral of Reem Acra. It’s easy to wear in the heat, smells fab. It smelled so good I wore it to bed too.

Wednesday 18:

We got to 42C (108F) today and it says humidity is under 30% but it feels way higher so I continued the Reem Acra. My Fundraising gig cancelled this morning. They told everyone else except me. Thank everything I eMailed to check details last night. So I’m spending the day blogging and doing the clothes washing. You can imagine the scene: I’m sitting at the desk in boxers spritzing and sniffing, breaking off regularly to go grab clean clothes to hang and fill the next cycle. TBH it’s very relaxing except for the sweat running down me in rivulets. Above is a pic of the fabulous laundry that Jin built in our apartment, small but really well planned and easy to use. The baskets are Top for whites, Middle for yellow, orange, red, purple, brown, Bottom for green, blue, grey, black. Reds are currently washing and about to hit the lines on the balcony.

Once Jin got home we took the dogs to my BFFs Mum & Dad’s house around the corner for a cooling swim, blessed relief. OMG! In this photo I look like Demis Roussos. After the swim I spritzed some Niki de Saint Phalle and Jin cooked dinner.
Before bed I lavishly applied Bombay Bling by Neela Vermeire Creations. So much fruity fun on open. I was asleep before the heart set in…..

Thursday 19:

Quiet day at home. For Christmas BFF Kath had Vegemite named for us. There are 4 large jars Jin, Seo, Portia & Turbo. This week I opened the first of the set TURBO! We have a sourdough loaf that I’ve been toasting for my Vegemite in the mornings. When people say it’s the little things, sometimes they’re right.
Morning I lavishly spritzed Monsieur Li by Hermès. Floating on a cloud of citrus and greenery. Perfect for our cooler weather today.
We had a drama today, Jin’s dog Jinx ate a poo bag full of poo. BLOODY HELL! Freaking out? You bloody bet I was/am.
My bath time bubbles were provided by Robert Piguet’s Bandit Shower Gel and followed by Bandit fragrance for work. We had a full house, excellent night

Friday 20:

Walked the dogs in the AM and it is hot and sticky here already.
Going to lunch with Natalie from the now defunct AnotherPerfumeBlog so to brave the heat I’m wearing Geranium Pour Monsieur by Malle. It’s cool minty greenness will hopefully help me remain fresh in this fiery furnace. Sadly lunch got the can because Sydney decided to rain so I did some stuff around the house, paid bills, post office run, groceries etc

Jin came home and we had KFC in the lounge watching TV. I had a Korres Guava bubble bath and tonight I’m wearing Mandragore Pourpe by Annick Goutal. Its sweet minty fresh opening is deliciously green, spicy and tingly pepper/geranium heart and ambers warm base.

Saturday 21:

I was watching a British program on Netflix last night and into this morning. Lovesick. Compulsive viewing, I feel like they’re my mates and I’m watching them go through life & love drama. Anyway, 3.30am I go clean my teeth and can smell no fragrance upon my person so I grabbed Coup de Foudre by Parfums DelRae and spritzed like crazy. Fizzy roses and a greeny/yellow that I thought was narcissus but who knows…

Pedicure by myself today and I really enjoyed the tranquility. I think it’s only the second time in nearly a decade. I wore Eau Parfumée au Thé Noir by Bulgari, its smoky tea and woods were a perfect fit for the acrid bustle of the nail joint. Don’t you love my hairy Hobbit feet?
Update on Jinx the dog. Passed the poo bag in his poo today. Was NOT allowed a second go at it. ARGHHH.

For the afternoon I have had a boxed sample of Celestial Rose by Ramon Bejar on my desk for ages, since December 2014 when I was in NYC and Josie at OSSWALD gave it to me as a GWP. I finally tried it today and it’s a torn green branch and rose. A little bit Tea Rose by Perfumers Workshop.
For bed I spritzed vintage Madame Rochas EdC. A perfectly fresh yet cosy floral aldehyde bomb that was zinging along happily till I started the ZZZZZZZs

Sunday 22:

Original Agent Provocateur in the morning. Yep, I was a rose BOMB! with herbal sidelines. I would have SWORN that this had patchouli in it but nope.
Jin came home and slept through the day so I occupied myself with watching The Crown on Netflix. I know you’ve all seen it and that you’ve all told me but OMG what a fabulous series, I’m completely and utterly enthralled and madly in love with every character. HEAVEN!

Fragrantica

Work tonight and I wore Madonna Truth or Dare. White flower extravaganza.

What a week, how was yours?
Portia xx

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017

December 31, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

Portia

Hey All,

Thank You for another year of amazing fragrance chatter and beyond. Last year I wrote that the world was in trouble. SHIT! Seems the world took that as a challenge. Brexit, Putin, Trump, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, almost everywhere there is backlash against saving our planet, it’s flora and fauna and people. Big business has us all hoodwinked and most governments are in the pockets of Pharmaceuticals (drugs), War (guns) and Oil. The big picture is bleak.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017

Around me though I see regular bright sparks of creative giving and helping that gives me hope for the small picture. Jin cut his beautiful hair for leukaemia fundraising this year and raised thousands. He did it on my Mum’s The gang at Hair by Phd Parramatta Store cut it for free so we could send it off to become a wig for children with leukaemia. Jin is a dead set hero in my eyes.

My friends Rita and Cathy (and a GF of theirs whose name I can’t bloody remember) are fundraising and cooking with the One Meal crew here in Sydney to provide one decent meal a week to families who are right on the edge of the poverty line and street people. We did a Turbo Trivia Fundraiser for them and raised nearly $22,000. In a year filled with fundraising this was a major highlight.

Another mate Matt Moore and his buddies Matt White and Ben Dunley have started the idea of using the Aussie men’s mates’ mantra ‘Grab a pie, Grab a mate, Have a chat’ helping men to talk about their feelings. From Matt’s own depression problems sprung this idea of doing something so regular, so common amongst Aussie mates and making it a moment to discuss life issues. In 2015, preliminary data showed a total of 3,027 deaths by suicide (12.7 per 100,000), 2,292 males (19.4 per 100,000) and 735 females (6.2 per 100,000). Aussie guys are 3x more likely suicide and at a rate of over 6 per day, from a population of just over 23 million. That’s bad, anything that can help is good. Go visit Guys & Pies and donate.

What do I do? Well, I give myself at a heavily discounted rate for fundraisers, help a few people who I know are struggling sometimes with food, time or cash, give regularly to charities that I feel the money is being spent on helping not admin and we rescue dogs. While none of these things are earth shattering they are game changing for the people that are helped. That’s all I can do.

So Happy New Year Australian Perfume Junkies. To everyone that’s contributed, commented, lurked and followed I wish you a peaceful & prosperous 2017. Fill it with fun & laughter, fragrance and stuff you enjoy. Make time to care for yourself, push yourself to be the best you can be and treat everyone you come in contact with as you’d hope to be treated.

We love you all,
Portia xx

SLEEP SPECIAL!

October 4, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 2 Comments

Post by Portia

Hello APJ Family,

Memes are like 10 second songs, once we would listen to a song that told a story and it could help formulate our vision of the world. Nowadays they put 4 minutes worth of fabulous music and clever lyrics into a short paragraph or sentence. Down the bottom is one that really captures my soul.

SLEEP SPECIAL!

Photo Stolen Flickr

Surely this is what we all feel.

Portia xxx

BIRTHDAY TIME 2015!!!

September 25, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 59 Comments

Post by Portia

YAY!!! Out celebrating with the crew!
I wore:
SOTM: Midnight Oud by Juliette Has A Gun
SOTD: Vintage CHANEL No 19 EdT
SOTN: Blonde by Versace

BIRTHDAY TIME 2015!!!

It’s a great day to turn 47 and enjoying it with my mates. It’s also a good time to think about the many who didn’t last this long, thanks all for looking out for me in the whatever happens next.

For my birthday please close your eyes and think of three things in your life that you like or love. As simple as stationary or complex as partner.DO IT PLEASE.

Done it?

My gift to you is three things to be grateful for. HOW LUCKY ARE YOU?

Thanks for being my fragrant family. Each and every one of you has made this journey special so far, and it’s only just begun.
Portia xx

Life, Friends, Collecting, Tea Towels

September 21, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 45 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Beautiful APJers,

Friday is my birthday so I thought we should do something special and only mildly fragrant.

My life is pretty blessed, without going into great detail I feel pretty lucky and have been given an enormous amount of advantages and every now & then good fortune has shone down too. The friends that have shared my life are amazing, fun, self sufficient, supporting, driven, caring, whole hearted and thoughtful (as in Full Of Thought) people with whom I share the big & small triumphs and tragedies, time and sometimes cyberspace. My work is fulfilling and suitable, homelife is sunny & comfortable and I get to travel regularly.

Something that is quite obvious is how much I love to collect things, each piece in the house has a memory attached (or several) and even my wardrobe is filled with happy memories and momentoes, wearable pieces of my personal history and a joyful life shared around the world. There is art collected from nearly 30 years of world travel, my parents 6 seater Royal Doulton mid 1960s wedding-gift starter set is now a nearly full 20 seat set with all add ons. Books have been culled by 50% need another 30% to fit into this apartment and you know how crazy my fragrance collection is.

In that same way I started collecting Tea-Towels. Tea-Towels are the ubiquitous collection for travelers because they are light, transportable, reasonably priced, useful and beautiful. Every time I grab one from the drawer I can instantly see where I bought it or who gave it to me (yes, once people know you collect they feed your collection on their holidays too). I try to use them all in rotation but it is becoming less possible to see any one towel even once a year, which is starting to make me a little sad, which in turn is diminishing my enjoyment. There is also a question of space in the new apartment.

Time to cull. The Tea-Towels have all been washed. The ones that I grab and can be bothered to iron (yes, I know but I find ironing Tea-Towels zen) will get to stay and the rest will be making journeys around the world to grace your kitchens.

So here’s the deal, I know some of you also have Tea-Towel collections and many of you use them only as things to wipe dishes and tidy messes. It doesn’t matter how you use them, or if you’ve never used one before in your life. Here is a chance to be sent a little bunch of Tea-Towels that have my and my friends love, travels, home and away happy memories. What you will be getting is a little package of joy that can be used every day, just throw them in the washing machine after use and they come back to life ready to be used and loved again.

Photo Stolen kbaird

TEA TOWEL GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 5 winners who will receive:
Tea-Towels (some will be Aussie or International)
4 x Samples of Fragrance from my collection (Vintish/Vintage Beauties)
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. I must be able to check that you follow so if you have an email address on your gravatar that’s different to your follow address then please email me (portia underscore turbo @ yahoo dot com dot au) so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

Please leave in the comments below your country and your fragrance today.

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 24th September 2015 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winner will be chosen by random.org
The winner will have till Sunday 27th September 2015 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

The Difference Between Empathy and Sympathy: 3 Minute Film

September 18, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 8 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there APJ,

Sometimes the world seems to be a pile of shit. Often being thrown into an unhappy memory will trigger a downward spiral for me, and I seem to be most susceptible when I am also overwhelmed with other parts of my life and tired. It feels really selfish to be depressed and that further speeds my downward spiral. Yes, I know I don’t suffer depression in the deepest and blackest pit of hell sense but everything is relative and for me down is down, it’s not a race to the bottom and I don’t need to big note my pain. Sometimes life looks less lovely from inside me.

So, taking that into account and knowing that many other people suffer some level of depression then I think it important that we ALL watch this 3 minute lesson in empathy. Some really simple steps to help someone else through the rough times. Nothing feels better than being a light for someone when their world seem dark.

Please watch this,
Portia xx

Brené Brown on Empathy: 3 Minute Film

The Difference Between Empathy and Sympathy

More Move On Monday Club

August 17, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 10 Comments

Post by Holly

Move On Monday Club Part 2

Hi guys! Yep, it’s that time again. After the success of my initial APJ Move On Monday post I certainly have LOTS of stuff that I intend to move on from, and some of it is perfume-related so let’s get moving! As before, I hope you will all share with me where you are in your perfume journey.

Thanks to everyone’s suggestions, I’m pretty clear on how to organize my samples and my thoughts about what I like and don’t like. I realized that this is REALLY important as I don’t want to re-order anything. Can you believe I actually thought that I’d remember if I didn’t like something? I also thought that I must have every ding-dong sample I was ever remotely interested in, and if I no longer had it that meant that I must not have liked it. I swear, sometimes what my brain does can not be called “thinking.” Sigh …

Photo Stolen Flickr

More Move On Monday Club

So moving on from the subject of sampling, I’m now focusing on what I want to acquire. I did not know what a pig I am. I freakin’ want a LOT of perfume, but I don’t want a lot of stuff! Does this make sense AT ALL? I already HAVE a lot of perfume. (Sorry about the shouty words – I’m yelling at myself like I’m a kid in a candy store. No! Put it down! Put it back!)

I recently read a reference somewhere about taking into consideration the actual volume in mls of perfume you have. Oh dear. That is one tidbit I think I’ll ignore. However, I have realized that while I love a pretty bottle and the weight and feel of it in my hands, I can probably be satisfied 95% of the time with decants.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Now comes the hard part, for me at least. I want to rein myself in a bit and move on from being greedy, which is what this phase feels like for me. I have finally understood that I can’t have it all, and I don’t actually want to possess it all. All my ducks will never be in a row. The carrot is always a foot away from the donkey.

On to the questions….

How do you decide when a perfume is FBW? Do you make up your mind pretty quickly? Once you’ve decided you want to add a perfume to your collection, do you wait for a special occasion to treat yourself?

Have you made any decisions about certain notes, houses or formulations such as all-natural perfumes, or vintage frags that affect what you will sample or purchase?

Has your perfume journey been pretty consistent, or has it changed significantly over time? Are you feeling content where you are with it right now, or is there any aspect of it you would like to move on from?

I look forward to reading what everyone has to say! If you would like to move on from something else in your life – thoughts, feelings, attitudes, obsessions, situations or people – what have you – do share those as well.

Holly xo