Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas APJ 2016

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

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Portia

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Hey there APJ Fragrance Family,

I know heaps of you don’t celebrate Christmas, loads of you will be solo or in an unhappy grouping. Some will be fighting so hard to keep afloat that Christmas will pass us by. This time of year can be a freaking bitch. So much expectation, from outside and in, relentless media hype and you can’t go to a mall without being bombarded. For any of our readers that are in any of these boats my heart goes out to you.

My only advice to you is Do Something Special For Yourself. Make sure you take a moment to treat yourself, doesn’t have to cost money, could just be one minute alone in thew bathroom to spritz a fragrance and enjoy its top notes. Whatever, take a little moment for you.

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Merry Christmas APJ

What scent was I going to wear? Nuit de Noel by Caron. It was TOOO HOT for that so I chose Geranium Pour Monsieur by Malle. PERFECT!

What are we be doing?

Lunch with my BFFs family at our place. Here are some pics of the fun.

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Lunch was an informal buffet with loads of fabulous food and booze. We all just sat around and laughed and chatted. Those bloody jokes in the crackers were really funny this year, we were all groaning and laughing in unison, so silly but fun.

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Present opening time. We were all spoiled rotten and loved it. Really fun and thoughtful presents, very happy here.

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My surrogate Mum, Kath’s mum has become mine. We have a wonderful time and I love her so much. Isn’t she beautiful.

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This guy. He’s a really good egg. He also does the BEST pork and crackling, BLOODY DELICIOUS!!

How was your Christmas? Yes, if it was shit feel free to vent. We love that too.

Portia xxx

MERRY CHRISTMAS APJ CREW!

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 37 Comments

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Post by Portia

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Hey there Crew,

Whether you celebrate or not we hope the spirit of loving your neighbour and peace on earth will be with you at this time. Here are some helpful hints to get you through Christmas 2015.

  1. Congratulate yourself on surviving another year more or less intact.
  2. Nobody gets what they want as a present, smile and thank them for the thought. Straight to Goodwill on Monday.
  3. Remember in times of family stress over the Christmas period, God gave you legs to walk away from a disagreement.
  4. No ones home is perfect, yours is fine.
  5. Everyone is doing their best to cope and fit in, even though it doesn’t look like it.
  6. Unless someone has died everything else is dealable or fixable.
  7. If alone on Christmas, you have to make your own joy. Spritz or dab lavishly of your most exquisite fragrance.
  8. Nobody wants to do the dishes while in a food coma, clear the table of empty plates, scrape them and leave them neatly in the kitchen for later.
  9. Think of three things you can be grateful for. Say “Thank You” out loud for each one.
  10. Remember you are part of the APJ International Fragrance Family and we love you to bits. Thanks for being part of our fragrant lives.

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What’s going on here in Sydney? We are having 3 generations of my BFFs family for lunch and a couple of our mates. Every family brings a meat, a salad and a dessert. Jin & I also supply the booze, drinks and bread rolls. It’s very relaxed, loads of fun and I feel so blessed to have them coming, that our home fits everyone and that we get to spoil them all. The day runs from around 11am through to 4pm and then slowly people move off to their next event, there will be some late stayers who will hang out for dinner and some serious couch surfing.

Chanel No 5 Eau de Cologne Chanel FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, bergamot, lemon, neroli, ylang-ylang
Heart: Jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, iris
Base: Vetiver, sandalwood, vanilla, amber, patchouli

What fragrance will I be wearing? This is not set in stone but my idea is to wear some vintage CHANEL No 5 EdC that I bought from the Linda Beth Ross estate and some vint-ish CHANEL No 5 parfum. It’s so easy to wear in the height of summer and that lovely fizzy, out of this world bouquet is timeless. I may change my mind but that’s the plan…. Last year CHANEL No 5 worked so well for Boxing Day I wore it the next day too.

What are you doing for Christmas? Whether there are one or 100 of you please let us know. What fragrance are you wearing?
Peace be with all of you.
Portia & the APJ Crew xxx

Christmas Depression

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Hey all. It’s Christmas Day here in Australia.

For anyone who is battling sadness, loneliness or depression this Christmas then that is shit. I am sorry. All I can say is do something that you like, doesn’t have to be something big or crazy or life changing. Just think of something that you like that you can do. When I’m down and there’s nobody around to talk to I spritz some fragrance, light a candle, make a coffee, eat a biscuit or chocolate or read a book. Any of these are guaranteed to change my downward spiral trajectory enough to realise it’s depression and it will go, like rain. It also reminds me that like rain I can’t make it go away but just have to wait it out.

Rain water dripping over a windowPhoto Stolen Horia Varlan Flickr

Another good thing to do is go to the fragrance boards on FaceBook, there are plenty of options. FACEBOOK FRAGRANCE FRIENDS, Peace ☮ Love ❤ Perfume, MyMickers Fragrance Community, International Fragrance Split Association or Aussie Fragrance Network are the crews that I belong to but they are only the tip of the iceberg. They are running 24/7 and no matter what time you are at there is bound to be someone else from somewhere else around who might chat with you, even reading the madness that goes on can be fun. Comment on a post with respect and about fragrance and pretty soon you’ll have a new frag family from the WORLD!

Even the bleakest Christmas can be lightened by watching the Dolce & Gabbana Christmas video below. The singing is atrocious but the sentiment good.

Still I wish you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, we love you and are grateful that you drop in to see us.
Portia xx

Dolce&Gabbana Beauty Christmas Greetings

http://www.flickr.com/photos/horiavarlan/4303835161/in/photostream/player/

Festive + Fragrant LIVE Video Sniff: Nuit de Noel by Ernest Daltroff for Caron 1922

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 16 Comments

To the amazing APJ Family,

From the whole crew here at AustralianPerfumeJunkies we want to wish you a magical, safe and fun Holiday Season. For everyone who celebrates it
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for everyone who doesn’t celebrate Xmas we still wish you all the joy, love, fun, silliness, bickering, food, drink, heath, wealth and happiness that goes along with this time for us who do.

For those who are feeling alone, sad, angry or useless. We love and need you. Please spritz yourself with something exquisite, have a cup of tea and a biscuit and if possible have a nap. There will be better days, promise, maybe write a list of 10 things you are grateful for, like your ability to read, cogitate, eat, smell. Write them down and give genuine thanks. No matter how small they seem compared to the bigger issues.

 

Nuit de Noel by Caron 1922

NuitDeNoel FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Ylang-ylang, tincture of rose and jasmine
Heart: Sandalwood and oak moss
Base: Musk and amber.

Here is a little APJ MADNESS. Some of the crew all got together to send you a special message filled with love and the joy of Christmas. My BFF Kath was in charge of filming and Jin made it blog ready. We all had a great laugh and, as always, made complete twats of ourselves for your enjoyment. Please take everything we say with a grain of salt we are fragrance enthusiasts who have had a great night of trivia, booze, dinner and laughs. By the time we have made this particular video we had already shot 9 others and are all, frankly, mental by this stage. Do please enjoy.

Thanks for coming along on this fragrant journey with us, we are grateful that you do.
Loads of love to you, and yours,
The APJ Family & Crew
Clayton, Dionne, EmmaKate, Jordan, BFF Kath, Katrina, Madeleine, Margeaux, Suzanne, Tim, TSO Jin and Portia  XXOX