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CHANEL Les Eaux De Chanel
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CHANEL Les Eaux De Chanel

Hiya ULG crew, Time got away from me this week. I had even gone and purchased the newest Eaux, Paris – Paris, so we could chat about it. Yesterday got hijacked by Jin though and a whole bunch of stuff didn’t get done. This is not a complaint. Jin did overnight overtime both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. That’s two EXTRA 12 hour shifts for the week. Basically he worked 7 days straight. He got an ADO on Monday, yesterday. So though we had seen glimpses of each other over the weekend it wasn’t real time. Given yesterday we took it and did stuff together. We went to the Dr, had some bloodwork done, checked a problem and fixed it temporarily at the new investment apartment, did some shopping, cut up a slew of veggies and cooked pork and then sat companionably together producing and eating Vietnamese Rolls while watching TV. Then when he hit the hay I wrote my TRIVIA Q&A for the week and after finishing was completely bushed.

Though all this happened yesterday. It meant today I had to do the apartment cleaning and other stuff usually done on a Monday. Fortunately it’s raining so hard laundry is out of the question. Hopefully there will be some sunshine later in the week for that.

Here we are. I’m not going to lie. There’s a window of about 20 minutes before i have to start putting my make up on for work tonight. Instead of writing about Paris – Paris today I offer you this picture.

Are you wearing Les Eaux De Chanel if you are in the Northern Hemisphere? Did you even try them?

My take is that the bottles are gorgeous, the fragrances beautiful (if fleeting) and the whole concept is kept extremely affordable for a luxury/aspirational brand. It’s still not cheap but coming from CHANEL I was pleasantly surprised at the price point.

Have Les Eaux De Chanel made their way into your heart or collection?
Portia xx

Bouquet de Hongrie BDK Parfums
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Bouquet de Hongrie BDK Parfums

Hey ULGers, BDK Parfums are a brand I look out for. They have quite a few lovely perfumes. They’re mostly safe, elegant remixes of things you’ve smelt before but with a little twist. Perfect if you like to be scented but for it to be something quiet and restrained. Their Creme de Cuir is one of my favourite under the radar leathers, there is something totally luxurious about wearing a fragrance that is just for you, and those you allow very close.

Bouquet de Hongrie by BDK Parfums

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Yop: Pear, Strawberry, Cassis
Heart: Turkish Rose, Jasmine Sambac, Lorenox
Base: Musk, Amber, Cedar

From the note list I had expectations. Which you’d think after smelling perfume for decades I’d have grown out of. In my head it was going to smell quite like a sister to SJP Stash Unspoken or Burberry Britt for her. It doesn’t.

What it does smell like to me is peony petals and cherry blossom. Real peony and the perfumers shorthand for cherry blossom. It’s ridiculously pretty and delightful. Imagine one of the L’Occitane shower gels done with refined ingredients and you’re pretty much there. Actually, having worn Bouquet de Hongrie for a week in Bali, and read your comments on Sakura two weeks ago, I now know exactly what it smells like. It smells like a posh version of those Victoria’s Secret body mists you can buy for a couple of $$.

Bouquet de Hongrie BDK Parfums

If you’re after something sophisticated then you’ll be bitterly disappointed.

Thing is, I like it. It’s so femme leaning and feels like I should be wearing a short, ruffled, lacy frock in a strong pastel colour somewhere between peach and strawberry. The incongruity of me, a 53 year old hefty chunk of silver daddy, wearing it makes me smile like I’m being deliberately subversive. Musette wrote a short while ago about this very thing on Perfume Posse and I’ve been embracing it. Sorry I can’t find the piece because her musings ramble about, throwing up oodles of bits and pieces.

Projection and longevity are moderate to low, it softens considerably after about 30 minutes to a quiet jammy peony/cherry wash. It could be your fabric softener if you spent some big $$$$ on it.

What I REALLY like is that BDK makes these strong, beautiful 10ml Travel Sprays. There are 2 three packs and some singles available here in OZ but I bet there’s oodles more choice elsewhere. You can see my Bouquet de Hongrie is already over 2/3 spritzed.

Does Bouquet de Hongrie sound like a scent you’d wear?
Portia xx

Sakura by DIOR
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Sakura by DIOR

Hi there crew. we are having a moment of remarkably spring-like weather. When I say remarkable I mean EVERYONE is saying it feels like spring. In almost every conversation. As banal and boring as that sounds, it does. We have had such a weird, wet, cool summer that finding ourselves in autumn and having these glorious sunshiny days, not too hot, is blissful.

On top of that my courtesy aunt, Aunty Tracey, is in town for a week and we are out day & night on adventures. We’ve been shopping, visiting, visiting the graves of our dead, lunching and generally hanging out in the daytimes. Every trivia she has come and Jin has accompanied. It’s been wonderful. Writing this on Thursday and I’m BUSHED! We only have a few more days but both Jin & I are definitely going to need a rest.

Sakura by DIOR

Sakura by DIOR

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green Notes
Heart: Japanese Cherry Blossom, Rose, Jasmine, Hedione
Base: Mimosa, Violet, White Musk

Sakura is astringently sweet and green on open, like cherry, alcohol, and citrus pith. Soon it gets a soft fluffy feeling like to cool, softness of rubbing cherry blossom petals against your cheek. It smells like that feeling. As if it was in the cool late winter morning sunshine.

The heart is mimosa, cherry(isa) and something I can not put a name to. Like what I think the fur of a bee might smell like. Animal, honey, floral and something else.

As we head to dry down clean musks lead the charge to fade.

Sakura is lovely and I really like to wear it. It doesn’t smell like an expensive perfume though. It smells like a cheapy. Maybe I’m missing something here. If you’re a big fan could you explain please?

Low key, pretty, smells nice, lasts OK. Perfect for the young, people who want a fragrance but need it to be under the radar. Also good for those that like functional fragrance but don’t like perfume perfume. A perfectly poised sweet nothing that whispers spring.

Are you doing soft fruity florals like Sakura this Spring?
Porttia xx

Tasmania Getaway, Pics and Thunks
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Tasmania Getaway, Pics and Thunks

Hey ULG Crew, We created a personal long weekend with our mates Anna Maria and Johnny. Friday 7.25am flight to Launceston and Monday arrive around midday back in Sydney. We bought the flights for almost nothing months ago. It was our first time travelling as a foursome and only I had travelled with everyone before. I picked an old favourite hotel, The Grand Chancellor. It’s one of those 1990s built hotels with spacious rooms and lobby. Each room has two Queen sized beds and each couple had a room. The breakfast buffet is good and generous, without being brilliant, and we all had an excellent feed to start our days. Originally I had booked a small SUV but they gave us an upgrade to an enormous Nissan Outlander, it was like travelling in a lounge room.

Anna Maria and Johnny’s daughter Domenica was on the Australian MAFS 2022 series. They were interviewed a few times on the show and have become quite famous in their own right. They were recognised and had their pictures taken

Tasmania Getaway, Pics and Thunks

Our days were designed by meals. We all got to pick different food adventures.
Day one for lunch Jin wanted pies, a local sent us to Banjo’s Bakery and we went pie crazy. Delicious! Tasmania is famous for its Scallop Pies and all three of the others had one. After that Johnny wanted to get a shave by a barber so the rest of us went and had cocktails. Then we wandered the shopping district for a couple of hours, the stars getting papped left right and centre. Our hotel had $6 spirits for Happy Hour so we spent a leisurely hour or so drinking companionably. I’ll admit to getting a little tipsy. That night Johnny picked Kebabs for dinner. He’d seen a shop called King of Kebabs during the day and it stuck with him. It was such a strange choice but we sat instore and had the most wonderful Middle Eastern meals. We came back to the hotel, had a drink and watched the Australian Election unfold. Anna Maria, Jin and my team got up and won but Johnny’s crew were ushered out the door. He was devastated, we were quietly jubilant. OK, not so quietly. Yes, we are fully aware all politicians are lying pigs but at least the foundation of this new crew is Women, Climate and a Political Watch with teeth. They’ve been left a dogs breakfast financially and things will get austere here for at least a decade.

Day two we dropped into the Farmers Market across the road from the hotel. Again they were recognised and asked for photos, very bloody cool. I really wanted us to go out to the Lake District in the heart of Tasmania. I’d found The Great Lake Hotel and it sounded wonderful. Set right on one of the great lakes (much smaller than the US versions). This meant we also got to spend 1.5 hours in the car seeing Tasmanian scenery from urban, to farming and the hills and plateau. It was good. We had a table in the middle of the room, views of the lake and felt like we were in the action. Service was so friendly but slow as a wet week. Food was some of the best pub food I’ve had. Fortunately we had so much conversation and fun that the wait to be served and then for food to come sped by. On our way back we took a two hour detour to get the Best Vanilla Slice in the world from the bakery in Ross. It was well worth the drive. That slice was earth shatteringly delicious. Anna Maria chose Indian food for dinner. Neither Johnny nor she had ever had it. There was a restaurant called Pickled Evenings, #3 on Launceston Trip Advisor. We also had a couple of mates join us, Morag and Ward, so that lent an extra festive air to the evening. I kept the food choices very simple. Opened with Onion Bhajis and Potato Samosas. Mains were Veg Biryani, Butter Chicken, Beef Vindaloo (mild) and Goat Curry. It was a fine entree for them and only a little too spicy.

Day three we were up bright and early, busy day ahead. Today we were going to head north along the Tamar River. First stop was the Beaconsfield Mine, site of the 2006 cave in disaster and rescue. The Museum there is a wonderful memorial and there are some very eerie and saddening parts. Straight from there we went to Australia’s only Seahorse breeding centre and then next door to the Platypus and Echidna rescue. Both had excellent tours and we learned a lot. Lunch in a real, old fashioned riverside Fish & Chip restaurant chosen by Jin. Another thing Anna Maria and Johnny had never done was a wine tasting, so we found a popular Cellar Door nearby and the three of them had a wonderful hour while I watched and enjoyed it immensely. They were bloody hilarious and the hostess managed them brilliantly. Both couples have a case winging their way towards us as we speak. Being a Sunday night most of the restaurants were closed. We were going to introduce Anna Maria and Johnny to Vietnamese but the best close choice open was a very ra sha sha Chinese. Service, food, atmosphere and design were bloody wonderful. They were woefully understaffed due to C19 but still managed us, our food and the whole evening perfectly. We drank a couple of bottles of wine from our Cabbage Tree wine tasting that Jin had bought to celebrate our adventure.

Day four we had a leisurely breakfast and bumped out. The flight home had the best turbulence I’ve experienced in decades. It was a wild ride into Sydney and I loved every second. Poor Jin was a bit green by the time we got off though. Grabbed our bags, hugged everyone and holiday done. Jin and I spent the whole afternoon and night discussing what a perfect getaway and how much fun we had.

My Pics

Anna Maria’s Pics

Perfume

Wore Hermès Eau des Merveilles for the flight down. It’s salty, warm, mineral waft was perfectly understated and lasted till my nighttime change.

In the end I took these perfumes.
Atelier des Ors Rouge Saray: Wore this every evening on the trip. It was a perfect accompaniment to the dry chill night air. Spicy woods with a soft fruity sweetness, all mellowed by a vanilla patchouli. Beautiful. I thunked the decant, now desperately want a bottle.
BDK Bouquet de Hongrie: Didn’t wear it.
Diptyque Rose de Mai: Didn’t wear it.
Diptyque L’Ombre dans l’eau: Was supposed to bring this, thought it was stolen first morning by the cleaners. Thank goodness I didn’t kick up a fuss. It was here on my desk the whole time, hiding behind the Marveilles. BUMMER!
Guerlain Mademoiselle: When I first got this decant I was all meh. It has bloomed into a ridiculously beautiful marshmallow iris, so powdery and warm. I also get some roses in the heart that aren’t mentioned in the notes. Sadly it becomes a very soft wash in an hour and I can hardly smell it. Wore it on the last day and on the plane ride home. I won’t be buying another but absolutely loved it for this holiday.
Le Labo Neroli 31: First two days I wore so much of this and FINALLY thunked the decant. It’s nice but there are a million citrus type scents that smell better on me for much less money. It just does not live on my skin and I won’t be rebuying.

How ever did we fit so much into so little time? It was a really relaxing few days despite being jam packed and now I’m refreshed and ready for action.

Are you looking forward to a break? Has this given you some ideas? Where would you spend a few days nearby?
Portia xx

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Fan di Fendi pour Homme

Hi there Looking Glass Crew, Fendi was one of my favourite brands way back in the heady days of my fashion course and short stint in the industry. They were doing extraordinary things with fur and leather. It was also the days of the beginning of the anti fur brigade. It took me a long time to realise exactly what they were against and join their legion. I did have a vintage black rabbit coat (not Fendi) in the 1990s that was given to me as I left for the UK, a hand me down from my friend Chelsea’s Mum. It got worn till it fell apart in my hands as I was putting it on. That was a very sad night, and I FROZE without it. So while I was browsing FragranceNet a while back and I saw a 7ml spritz Fan di Fendi pour Homme I pounced. Fendi no longer makes perfumes, the SA in our Sydney flagship store told me! So it might be my last chance to smell it.

I was also really happy with the tie in to Undina’s recent Travel Size Scent Semantics post.

Fan di Fendi pour Homme 2012

Fan di Fendi pour Homme

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Leather, Woody Notes, Cardamom, Pink Pepper, Citruses, Basil

Traditional male fragrance. Opens green herbal and woody with a pleasant lick of sweetness. Fan di Fendi pour Homme smells like something from the 1980s. It’s brawny masculinity is comfortable and a little sexy.

This is pretty much what the train suits used to smell of when I was at school. It was a lovely, cozy scent to greet me each morning. Over the top of the regular train smells and the few women in the carriage this woodsy, pine-is herbaceousness sailed over all.

Hardly any movement in the scent. It’s fairly linear after the first five minutes.

Fan di Fendi pour Homme

This is a happy, very masculine leaning fragrance but I really think women would smell better wearing it today. On a guy it would be nice, on a woman it would be surprising.

It’s quite large on open but not obnoxious. Longevity is extremely good. I can still smell wispy woodsy remnants over 24 hours later. The bottle looks like it would have been bloody gorgeous! I do love an inbuilt spritzer within the lid or body.

Do I wish I had a bottle? No. This mini will do me. It would be fun to wear it for a whole holiday and make that scent my memory of somewhere.

Do you like a traditional masculine?
Portia xx

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Musette made me Jean Nate

Hey Crew, Do you ever read a blog post and suddenly your are pressing PayPal on your favourite online perfume store or discounter? Right, well not long ago over at Perfume Posse Musette waxed lyrical about Jean Nate. It’s always been her go to summer spritz after bathing but it had never been talked about so fulfillingly. Suddenly I had to know. So I bought a cheap 8oz after bath splash mist bottle off FragranceNet, seriously it cost about the price of a McDonalds burger. More recently Tom had a swoon over it too.

Jean Nate (now by Revlon) 1935

Musette made me Jean Nate

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon Bergamot Lavender
Heart: Geranium Spicy Notes Rose Jasmine Lily-of-the-Valley
Base: Musk Sandalwood Tonka Bean Virginia Cedar

So, after all this lead up, what does Jean Nate smell like?

A softly refreshing cologne. The spices and lavender give citrus a frosting of elegance. It’s nothing amazing or extraordinary but it is a pleasant, very short lived scent. I’m lucky to be able to smell it an hour later.

I’m not sure what note or accord it is but I get a definite smell of base humanity as an undercurrent. As if after showering you need to get those lived in, slightly feral aspects back onto your body ASAP.

As the northern hemisphere warms up it might be a good additive if your perfume wardrobe is without a bright, sparkling cologne. Much less zingy than 4711. Jean Nate is more sophisticated and deeper.

Have you tried Jean Nate or do you have memories of a wearer?
Portia xx

 

 

Jin and Portia Indian Pacific Rail Adventure
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Jin and Portia Indian Pacific Rail Adventure

Hi there Looking Glassers, Sorry I’ve was MIA for a couple of weeks. I really thought I’d got myself on top of everything before leaving on our grand across Australia train journey but I didn’t have a post locked in for here. Thought I’d done it but had not. No excuse. Sorry all.

Here’s a few pics and some commentary on our trip. After being locked down, postponing this trip three or four times because the borders to Western Australia remained closed et al. We FINALLY got on the Indian Pacific. It was worth the wait.

Indian Pacific Rail Adventure 2022

First pic is me catching the train to meet everyone at Central Station. Jin had his car at work and it’s so much easier to leave mine at home. Also, I even love riding the suburban trains.

Here we are at Central station. Martin came with us on the trip and his partner Jane stayed home to look after the dogs.

We always like to have a sneaky champagne as the adventure begins.

These pics are all taken from the train as it’s moving. They do no justice to the majesty and fabulous colours of central Australia.

We stopped at Cook, population 4! The boys did photography and I wandered around. It was once a thriving town but now mainly desolate.

The Bar Car and Dining Car were VERY social on this trip. We loved hanging out and getting boozy with everyone.

Once in Perth we met up with my childhood friend Eve and her daughter Lola. We did Rottnest Island together. I don’t know why I took hardly any photos. It was a lovely day. We took the Hop On Hop Off Bus around the island, met Quokkas and saw loads of fauna including dolphins, seals and birdlife. We also wandered around the last km or so on the way back to the jetty. Definitely worth a visit.

Back in Perth we took in the AGWA. They are having a month dedicated to First Nations artists called Blacklight. The guide was less than good, bummer. Upstairs we loved the permanent sculpture garden.
Also art but not at the galleries, the Prickly Pear mosaic mural caught my eye.


Jin, Martin and I drove a couple of hours to see the natural rock formations of the Pinnacles. Left over from a time when the area was sea bed, I think they are the calcified, petrified leavings of coral reefs. We had SPECTACULAR skies to add drama to every photo./ I was driving and the boys jumped out taking incredibly artistic shots. Mine were all taken on my iPhone from the car. None of them have been doctored in any way, that is exactly as the camera saw them.

 

It was a wonderful adventure and if you ever get the chance, jump at it.

Where will you be holidaying next?
Portia xx

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Tzora by Anat Fritz

Hi there Crew, You might remember a couple of years ago NarthScent wrote a post about green perfumes called A Magical Greenery Tour. She had confessed to not being a green lover and I sent 11 samples of fabulous greens to change her stance. Mission accomplished. One of the fragrances I sent is a very under the radar perfume called Tzora by Anat Fritz.

Tzora by Anat Fritz

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Cedar, Pepper, Vetiver, Clary Sage, Patchouli, Bergamot, Moss, Black Currant, Osmanthus, Musk, Magnolia, Jasmine

Vetiver, oily, green, fresh, crisp and dark surrounded by a bunch of other stuff and I have always thought this had a big dollop of lavender in it too. I can’t even think what notes have blended to give such a striking scent reference to it but there it is. Even when I know it’s not a major player I still smell it.

If I were going for analogy (and clearly I am) I’d be telling you it smells like leaving a cool, after rain forest and heading into a garden. Herbs on one side, flowers on the other. Tsora starts out quite wild and slowly relaxes into a lightly shaded, comfortable garden seat. You might have even rubbed some leaves with your legs and fingers. The garden smells alive and fecund.

Completely unisex but leaning slightly towards traditional modern menswear. Not manly though. No chest beating neanderthal would want to smell like this. Urbane and clever women and men. They like to stand out for quality, not for weirdness.

Way back in 2013 Azar did such a fun review of Tzora on APJ. Definitely worth a reread.

Did you ever fall for one of the Anat Fritz fragrances?
Portia xx

 

Scotch Lavender by Oriza L. Legrand
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Scotch Lavender by Oriza L. Legrand

Hi there crew, Back in 2019 I got a bunch of samples with a big order from FIF. I gave them all a cursory sniff and wrote about a few in passing but then put the bag away and completely forgot about them. This is a constant theme in my life. part of having too much of just about everything because I’m a spoiled brat. Anyway, I rediscovered this bag of goodies while searching out something else and noted an Oriza L Legrand sticker on a paper envelope. Colour me excited already. These guys make perfume that sings for me.

Scotch Lavender by Oriza L. Legrand

Scotch Lavender Oriza L. Legrand

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lavender, Thyme, Bergamot
Heart: Lavender, Geranium, Vetiver
Base: Tonka Bean, Benzoin, Amber

LAVENDER, cool, smooth, refreshing and calming, lightly sugared and set among some greenery. It’s simple, herbal and balm for my soul. Not 1000 miles from my all time favourite lavender, Caron Pour Un Homme. Less confectionary after the first minute and much more dark greenery. There is also that fabulous oily, inkiness, lightly salted that is what a lot of vetivers smell like to me. Matched perfectly with the spicy sharp rosiness of geranium.

The heart begins mildly medicinal. I’ve not smelled lavender treated quite like it. It’s a bit like lavender and an Asian apothecary shop had a baby. Beautiful and nose intriguing. Through the long lasting heart I’m compelled to come back and sniff myself, checking if it’s still so unusual. The base stays true to the heart but warms through with emery resins till fade.

Last week I went to the season launch of one of Australia’s biggest distributors. We sniffed dozens of things. My eyebrows tend to jump at the excitement of smelling something new or impressive. Sadly, though everything was lovely, I was among friends, was really ready to be excited and feeling happy within myself; almost nothing even registered an eyebrow lift. It was just more of the same boring lazy muck. It was a little soul destroying. Sure, I’m jaded, yes I’ve sniffed a LOT of perfume. Still, I’m usually enthused by about a quarter of the new offerings. Yesterday only Penhaligon’s: Constantinople and Maison Crivelli: Hibiscus Mahajád excited me. So, to find this beauty among an old baggie of samples has renewed my faith in modern perfumery.

Lavender seems to have made a renaissance in the last few years. I’m loving the different directions we are smelling come through. Scotch Lavender feels like an old theme reviewed and renewed for the 21st century.

Perfectly unisex and both sillage and longevity are moderate plus. The early hour is quite diffusive and its unusual timbre give it that, “um… what?” value too.

I’m pretty sure Oriza L. Legrand still sends to the world. If you’re shopping try their soaps as well. SO GOOD!

Do you have a lavender?
Portia x

Sambaka by Pierre Guillaume Paris
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Sambaka by Pierre Guillaume Paris

Hi Crew, I have been pretty much out of work since Christmas due to C19 club staffing issues and the general low level of customers. One gig is still going each week, which is just enough to keep me afloat, plus Jin is still working and very generous. This is not to complain about my lot, which is so much better than many of my entertainment buddies. Just that there’s only a trickle of income. Back in November and December though it was going gangbusters. Thinking I could blow a couple of months income because we were definitely coming back first week of January was really bad planning. It did throw up some excellent buys, for really good prices on the FB Sale Docs here in Oz. One such item I blind bought (I know…. but PG and I seem to have very similar taste in fragrance) was Sambaka. The price was so good I’d PMd and bought it before real thoughts happened. I’m sure you know the deal. We’ve all done it.

Sambaka by Pierre Guillaume Paris 2020

Sambaka by Pierre Guillaume Paris

Fragrantica gives these featured notes:
Roasted Coffee Beans, Cardamom, Ginger, Coffee Tree, Brazilian Orange

Ooooh! The familiar super sweet zing of ethyl maltol from Angel by Mugler. This time the offset is coffee instead of patchouli, but I’m surprised patchouli isn’t one of the notes because I feel like I’m smelling it too. Imagine a coffee flavoured A*Men.

Have you ever eaten those candies? They’re chocolate on the inside and caramel on the outside but they always leave a slightly bitter, very more-ish coffee like aftertaste in my mouth. BAM! That’s what I’m smelling here. They’re Jin’s Mum’s favourite candy and he buys a HUGE box of them to send to South Korea every year. Basically costs more than the GDP of a small country but apparently they are SO MUCH yummier than the ones she can get there. HA! They both get huge amounts of bragging pleasure out of the transaction. Well worth it.

So, Sambaka is a child of the Mugler fragrance renaissance. Beautifully worked. Simple. Super sweet but slightly bitter. I’m sitting in ultra humid warm night air and something as full on as Angel/A*Men would probably give me nausea. This doesn’t. A smoother ride, less of an attack, as comfortable as such a fragrance can be.

Can we also please walkabout the beautiful colour of the bottle? WOW!

Sambaka by Pierre Guillaume Paris Jan 2022

Obviously, anyone can wear Sambaka. It’s got strong longevity and moderate projection. There is some story but it’s not profound. You’ll spritz and what you smell like 15 minutes later is it till fade.

I’ll be interested to see how much wear this gets.

Sound like you might like Sambaka?
Portia xx