January 7, 2025 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Silly Season 2025 in Review

Hey crew, Well, it’s all over for another year of mayhem. Hope whatever you did, didn’t do, whoever you were with or without, that you had an OK time. That your mental health survived in tact. we had a roller coaster here in Oz.

Silly Season 2025 in Review

Christmas Eve Eve Jin, Kath and I go to the Sydney Fish markets. There have been others that joined us but for the last ten or eleven years we have been the core. We have some dinner on the waterfront and then Jin & Kath buy prawns for the festivities. It’s a lovely, fun thing to do and we have usually gone around 10pm but this year we went early, at about 8pm and got to see the sunset. Beautiful.

Christmas Eve we always fill the table with friends and Jin does his famous roast pork with extra crackling. He also bakes a cauliflower. I do the rest of the baked vegetables and salads. This year we had 11 at the table and it was a riotous affair. Loads of stories and catching up. There were presents and booze. It never goes late because 4-5 hours of people is my limit. At about 10.45pm I stood up, thanked everyone and they were gone by 11pm. That meant I could clean the table, run the dishwasher a couple of times, have everything packed away and be in a huge, cool bubble bath by midnight. Heaven.

This year on Christmas Day I did my best but honestly, I really did not want to go to my best friend’s sisters house. She’s a bully, a white-ant-er, a liar and a manipulator. I’ve sat by and smiled while she has undermined and humiliated my best friend for 25 years because my BFF has asked me to keep the peace as the sister uses her daughters as collateral. Just being around this woman is skeevy, makes me want to have a shower. Anyway, we were there 15 minutes and it was already pretty grim and then she started in on Kath. Hello Portia explosion. Not my finest moment. Was basically pushed off the property and told to leave or the police would be called. Oh well. Funny thing is, we had brought most of the food and she threw our cooler bags out with us. So there were about 10 people and we brought the prawns, ham, chicken, pork, potato salad, green salad and green bean salad. Don’t know what they ate but Kath came back to ours and we had a very quiet Xmas lunch that suited us perfectly. Jin is the smart one, as soon as he heard it was at the sisters place he said no, not going. So we came home, had loads of stories, some tears and laughter and generally enjoyed being together (as always)

Jin and I had decided to do nothing this year for New Years Eve. He is on call 24/7 at the moment, covering jobs above him on the railways. Then one of our girlfriends who works at the Sydney Opera House found herself with four spare tickets to House Kitchen. It’s the eatery closest to the very point facing the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour. Jin didn’t want to come so I rounded up three girlfriends and we had the most amazing time. All our food was included and it was very extravagant, delicious finger food. There were bands, singers, DJs and a slew of roving entertainment. All we had to pay for were drinks. AMAZING! We had a table to ourselves, seats all day and night, toilets nearby that were clean right to the end. Seriously, we had the chillest, most comfortable NYE of my life. I was driving so didn’t have much alcohol all night, just a sip of champagne with the girls at midnight, less than two fingers of drink in a flute.
We got a lift back to my car from one of my girlfriends. I felt something sharp poke me hard when I sat down but just moved my ass thinking I’d sat on a pin or coat hanger. Suddenly I felt so tired and really out of it just sitting in the back of the car, my eyes were unfocusing and I was just a little nauseous. It was like drugs but not in a fun way. By the time we got to my car I was just sleepy but opened the windows, drank a bunch of water and felt better, but not quite right. Dropped the girls home, drove to my home, fell into bed. Slept like dead people.
Next morning I wake up with a bad head, super dry throat, my bones aching, joints creaking and I feel pretty rough. My guess at this moment is I’ve got C19. I do a test, negative. Can’t think what’s wrong. About 6 pm though I sit awkwardly on a chair and feel this contusion on my ass. It’s a tender lump about the size of the palm of my hand. I get Jin to have a look and there are two really large holes in my ass, about 1.5cm apart. I’ve been bit by a spider. Yes, I have. No wonder. It takes me three days to properly recover. HA! How wild is that?

Christmas Eve was modern Cabochard by Gres, Christmas Day I wore Sancti by Liquides Imaginaires and NYE Ambre Nuit by DIOR with a couple of swipes of vintage Guerlain Shalimar extrait. These were good choices.

So there’s my run down,
Tell me your high and low lights please,
Portia xx

December 17, 2024 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Shalimar Reflections

Hi Crew. We are in the summer heat here in Sydney. It’s gorgeous but there are days when I’d like to shirk my skin and lie around just bones under the fan. The heat itself is fine but the humidly tends to have me wilt just a little. So how does Shalimar fit into the heat? Well, I have a bottle of the extrait on my desk. It was a gift from one of my dearest friends. Whenever the world gets overwhelming I give myself a swipe on my forearm and suddenly everything seems less spectacularly oppressive. This year has had some significant bumps, mainly business related. Though I’ve run businesses for years I’m not actually very good at it. Fortunately my ideas have been good enough to push through my basic inability to function. Of course with every changing of the guard there are growing and dying pains. Study has also been a big part of the year and I’m poor at focus and time management, HA! That’s being generous. Seriously. Add to that the many plates spinning at any given time. Trivia, apartments, blogging perfume, cleaning house and laundry PLUS now studying and doing book reviews. One wheel gets shaky and my whole train collapses in a heap. I know, definitely the problems of the wealthy. I’m super grateful for everything we have. Also, fully acknowledged how fortunate we are in terms of home, work, love and friends. Jin recently moved up and across at his work and if I can get my bloody Celebrant Course done then there will be an extra cash stream to pick up the rising interest cost of the mortgage.

Sorry, I got sidetracked.

Shalimar Reflections

Shalimar and Reflections

There are dozens of note list but here’s a pretty good summation:
Bergamot, lemon, iris, jasmine, rose, patchouli, vetiver, opopanax, tonka bean, frankincense, sandalwood, musk, civet, ambergris, leather, vanilla

This evening the world got overwhelming. Just too much input and it left me breathless.

SWIPE

Seriously, the relief to just let myself revel in the inimitable beauty of Shalimar extrait. Suddenly my shoulders unclench, my back straightens and I can quietly go have a lie down under the fan for 15 minutes and get lost in the fragrance.

Shalimar is also chock full of happy memories of Mum and some of her girlfriends that wore it as daywear. Big fragrant hugs and them all laughing, planning, chattering, sniping over lunch or afternoon tea. Not always happy, there were meetings of solidarity for all of life’s aches and pains, home troubles, illness or financial woes. Still, though there were tears, the love held them all together.

It has since become one of my go-to event fragrances. The event might be a big gig, party, dinner or it may be to make a mundane event like groceries and cleaning into something wonderful.

So with Shalimar I get not only to drift off with the scent but also a plethora of memories.

Do you have a fragrance that gives you surcease but also is full of magical memories?
Portia xx

December 3, 2024 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Secret Joly Oriza L. Legrand

Howdy ULGers! I was trawling around in my cupboards this week and wasn’t quite sure what was going to get the spritz. I had plenty of time and a hankering for a forgotten beauty. Something I love but that has sat unremembered for a long while. The box with my Oriza also has Robert Piguet, Andrea Maack and Miller et Bertaux. To be honest, I thought it was going to be a Piguet kinda day. Maybe Bois Bleu or Alameda. When I looked in the box Secret Joly, a fragrance I’ve not worn in ages, called my name. OK. So I spritzed, and remembered why I bought it in the first place. I’ve pulled it out of the cupboard and it’s now own my desk. So wearing it for the third time in less than a fortnight I realized it needed a post.

Secret Joly by Oriza L. Legrand 2020

Oriza Legrand gives these featured accords:
Top: Hyacinth, Ylang-Ylang
Heart: Gardenia, Tuberose, Jasmine Sambac
Base: Civet, Tonkin Musk, Peruvian Balsam

Floral creaminess, a rich and hefty tropical miasma that is utterly entrancing. Secret Joly smells like nothing else but also has hints of a sneaky side eye reference to the BWF stunners of the 1980s. I think it’s the animalic undertow. Already the chosen flowers are pretty meaty but add some civet and musk style depths and GROWL.

If you’re expecting some gardenia blue cheese you will be disappointed. Well, it doesn’t show up on my wearings.

Normally I save Secret Joly for cool weather wearings. It is so ripe and warm and feels really cozy. Today is 36C and super humid here in Sydney and THIS PERFUME HAS BLOOMED! I just took the dogs for a walk and the combination with the days heat and my bodies extra walking warmth and a bit of sweaty man. WHOA NELLY! I smell amazing. Eye rolling, mind blowing, heart racing amazing.

The last few wears since rediscovering Secret Joly have been fairly sedentary. Yesterday, by the time I went to aquarobics most of Secret Joly must have burned off beforehand because I just got some pretty reawakening and then the last vestiges washed off.

Definitely aimed at the girls but only a minor stretch to the guys and it smells F I N E!

Did you ever get your sniff on Secret Joly?
Portia xx

P.S. I also really loved Oriza Scotch Lavender and wish I’d bought a bottle.

November 19, 2024 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Portia Reconnecting with Etat Libre d’Orange

Hey there Looking Glassers, I have long loved the fun and whimsy of Etat Libre d’Orange. They have so many distinctive fragrances, do a fabulous job of reimagining old tropes and twisting them with a new skew. Plus they are very reasonably priced in relation to modern niche as a whole. They were a lot more outrageous in their earlier years, playing for gimmick and shock in their marketing and presentation. I’m not terribly sad they’ve pretty much left that behind in favour of more staid and general public oriented display and scent.

Portia Reconnecting with Etat Libre d’Orange

Maybe you’d like to have a wander through my collection of Etat Libre d’Orange bottles with me? Just for clarity, some of these bottles I paid Retail for, bought off Sale Docs or at the Discounters and others are Press Bottles. My mate Bronwyn was the Australian distributor for ELdO so I’ve been lucky enough to try almost everything. This selection are the favorites I own, maybe I’ll do the others another day.

Fat Electrician

Vetiver and sparks from electrical wires. Slightly salty, dark and weird. One of my favourite vetivers ever.

I Am Trash

Worst title, loveliest scent. The apple is all loads of people talk about but it’s peripheral to me. My ride is a creamy floral, I’m constantly surprised it’s rose and not ylang or jasmine. Dry down is floral woods. So pretty and wearable.

Jasmin et Cigarette

This was on my To Buy List or a very long time but never seemed to make it all the way to a check out. Well, it finally did not so long ago. Bubblegum jasmine that pretty quickly gets a dark coating of tar and smoke. It’s bloody amazing how two such diverse scents work together in perfect harmony.

Noel au Balcon

Very elegant honeyed fruits and Christmassy cinnamon underpinned by vanilla rich amber and musks. I don’t know why this gets so little attention. It’s a stunner.

Spice Must Flow

True to its name. Spicy. Not ALL about spice though. Here we have the perfumers rose/saffron mix that has been so popular in the 21st century niche market. The way we smell it here is a little different though. Add on pepper, cinnamon, incense and patchouli in bucketloads. It’s beautifully created, hits my nose exactly how I’d like it to. Starts a bit rough and ends up smooth as silk.

The Afternoon Of A Faun

Immortelle and a bunch of other stuff. Thick and gluggy on arrival, freshly windswept by the end. So wearable but it’s HUGE so maybe a few less spritzes Portia.

Tom of Finland

Tom of Finland is not a filthy, sex laden, piss soaked, leather bar in Berlin. Shame really, that would have been revoltingly alluring. What we get is the waft of someone wearing their leathers in the next room while we are in our high heel cupboard, but a very soft version of that. It smells luxuriously subtle.

Yes, I Do

Sheer soft focus Lily of the Valley (LotV), sweetness added by the marshmallow and a very clean jasmine/orange blossom. Very little of the oft hyped funk and a bit of plasticky patchouli, but on the whole fresh, youthful and prim.

You or Someone Like You

The fragrance made to fit the mother of writer Chandler Burr in his semi autobiographical novel of the same name. What it smells like to me is a hike in the Australian scrub near a watercourse in early summer. Magic!

So what are your Etat Libre d’Orange loves and loathes?
Portia xx

November 5, 2024 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Joy EdT by Jean Patou

Hey Hey Looking Glassers, Today I went to the cupboard and grabbed an old Joy EdT by Jean Patou. Now that LVMH has put the kibosh on all Patou fragrances, my stash of the good stuff is becoming even more special. There seems to be some remaining modern bottles on the discounters, FragranceNet (not affiliated) still has some EdT and EdP for very reasonable prices. There’s something so lavish about wearing a fragrance that was once known as the most expensive perfume on earth! Imagine, created by Henri Alméras in 1929 and launched in 1930 in the early years of the Great Depression. Obviously it was only a depression for the unwealthy. There was still a class of people that could and would wear the most expensive perfume on earth… and wear it they did.

Joy EdT by Jean Patou

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Rose, Green notes, Tuberose, Ylang-ylang, Aldehydes, Peach
Heart: Jasmine, Rose, Lily of the valley, Orris root, Orchid
Base: Civet, Musk, Sandalwood

I’m working on the theory today that you all have smelled Joy at some point. It’s not for everyone. For many newly minted perfumistas it will smell dated and old fashioned, it is. Here’s the thing though, when you stop smelling with expectations and start really being in the moment you’ll be able to enjoy the unfurling of true classic perfumery. A masterpiece.

Sweetly fruity, fatty bouquet of white and tropical flowers undercut by some greenery and bubble gum that turns burnished and warm through its life. Ending on a vanilla rich sandalwood base with a friendly, sexy animal growl.

Joy smells like its name. It’s one of my favourite spritzes lately when I feel the downward spiral of depression trying to take hold. As the questions and darkness descend a big shot of Joy on the back of my wrist will derail the depths and give me much more interesting and beautiful pathways to follow. An excellent way to send me off for a refreshing sleep/nap from which I can awake revitalized and in a much more positive frame of mind.

Are you a Joy wearer? Do you ever use perfume to help with other parts of your life?
Portia xx

October 22, 2024 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Ombre Nomad by Louis Vuitton

OK Looking Glass peeps, A mate of mine decanted this from his bottle for me. Bought it, not a gift. I remember trying Ombre Nomade in store when it was released and thinking it was very nice but wasn’t ready to lay down that kind of money to have a bottle. So I have had this 10ml a few years and every now and then I get the urge. HA! Trying to find it today was a bit of a thing. In my memory it was a gold bottle with white sticker so I overlooked this decant at least 10 times before the light dawned. Time just evaporates sometimes. My seriously scheduled day derailed. Oh Well, going with the flow.

Ombre Nomad by Louis Vuitton 2018

Louis Vuitton gives these featured accords:
Oud Wood, Frankincense, Raspberry, Benzoin Tears

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about that smoky woods amber oud style base that is so prevalent in modern niche perfumery. It’s in so much and I can understand why people are bored of it or it may bring on migraines because some people just don’t have a stop spritzing button. I feel like every era of perfume has a few bases it works with. We look back at the 1970s floral chypres with such reverence but they do all smell within a certain wheelhouse. Then we had an era of spicy, amber rich florals which segued into the Big White Floral and then moved on to aquatics. See, eras of perfume are defined by certain styles. In 20 years time the kids now will be begging for confectionary gourmands, middle eastern style rose oudhs and heavily smoked woody ambers.

So here we have a smoky woods amber oud with raspberry as the defining difference. It’s fairly bombastic and smells pretty good. Actually, there are some marked similarities to Creed Carmina. While not the same they do have some crossover but Ombre Nomade is far less screechy and desperate for attention.

I really like the way Ombre Nomade opens with darkness, a slightly medicinal woody oudh. Then it lets the raspberry sinuously slide in, snakelike and beautifully alluring. This is where the fragrance hits Carmina buttons and skews a little cough syrup, but luxuriously here and low key. Then a smoky amber woods comes through and pumps out long after I’ve lost the ability to smell it. The most common remark is that it smells like a smoky leather.

Masculine leaning unisex, extraordinary longevity and quite diffusive even when I can’t smell it anymore.

Did you ever?
Portia xx

October 8, 2024 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Stash Unspoken by Sarah Jessica Parker

Hey there ULGers, I have this perfume in my collection, Stash Unspoken. It’s not niche leaning, pushes zero boundaries and does not make me swoon with rapture every time I spritz it. So you’d think I would ignore it and wear other more interesting things, right? Nope. It gets the spritz way more often than many of my super amazing, eye rollingly gorgeous, weird and wonderful bottles. I have a theory, probably we have talked about this before. Sorry if it’s old news. While the boundary pushing elixirs are fabulous, fun to write about, share with perfumista buddies and swoon over; what I really want in my day to day life is to smell good. Simple, easy to waft, pretty and friendly fragrances that don’t overtake my mind with rapture in the midst of doing my daily whatever. I also love that it was relatively inexpensive. So if I get really busy or distracted and totally ignore it then so what?

Stash Unspoken by Sarah Jessica Parker 2017

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Quince, Pink pepper
Heart: Honeysuckle, Peony, Wisteria
Base: Musk, Sandalwood, Tonka bean, Frankincense

Quince? I dunno. Maybe if you squint your nose, from a distance, backwards with a following breeze. It’s kind of fruity, a cross between fig and citrus so it could be quince and the zingy pink pepper berry gives it a lift.

None of the amorphous bouquet heart really seem to match the notes list at all, maybe some fruity rose. Maybe honeysuckle.

The base is a pretty, nondescript waft of sweet-ish woodsy nothings that don’t really have definition as notes.

Sounds like crap? It’s not. Well, not for me anyway. Stash Unspoken is so easy going and stress free. It got a really bad rap when released because the original Stash was so damn good. After that high bar everyone was expecting more fabulosity and what we got was something tame and friendly.

Well, stuff the haters, I really love Stash Unspoken and while wearing it last week noticed how empty my bottle is. So I jumped on FragranceNet (not affiliated) and bought a new one. 50ml for under US$20.

Are you a lover, hater or meh-er on Stash Unspoken?
Portia xx

September 25, 2024 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Portia 56

Hey there ULG crew. Yes, it’s birthday time. This year I’m leaning into the celebration.

Sunday night trivia at Austral Bowling Club they had a cake for me. Here is my super butch reaction to snuffing the candle with wet fingers.

Just had my Birthday phone call from Varun in India (my last long term partner) can’t believe he left Australia 22 years ago. Still miss his stupid face.

My Birthday day (Wednesday 25th) is all about study because I’ve been too busy to get anything done in the last week and I have stuff due. Actually due weeks ago. It’s causing me stomach curdling anxiety. Thing is, weddings, extra gigs and funerals aren’t something that can be put off.

The evening will be Trivia with my Greystanes Inn crew. Jin, BFF Kath and her Dad are coming for that. I’m pretty happy with this small scale on the day event.

Thursday night Jin is taking us to the Darling Harbour Sofitel for the night with dinner at a restaurant I like and hotel breakfast. Just us. Super chill.

Saturday we are having a bit of a party at the local Chinese restaurant. It serves Authentic 1970s Australian Chinese Food. Believe me, it’s a thing. We have this extraordinary history of Aussie Chinese. It’s getting hard to find nowadays because everyone is going much more Traditional Chinese FROM China. Anyway, it’s cheap as chips and the food is So Good!

It has been a toss up whether to buy a big ticket perfume that’s been on the To Buy List or art. I haven’t been able to decide, and we already have a surfeit of both. So I’m hoarding my money for our November family trip to Taiwan.

Rahele by Neela Vermeire Creations is my birthday perfume. It’s the scent of events ever since our wedding in 2018. It has been the perfect fragrance for important moments because it’s beautiful enough to be intoxicating but not so overwhelming it takes precedence. Osmanthus, violet and mossy leather with a whole bouquet to back it up. Perfection.

Notes of green mandarin, cardamom, cinnamon, violet leaf, osmanthus, rose, magnolia, jasmine, iris, violet, cedar, sandalwood, oakmoss, patchouli and leather.

Well, I’m off to get things done,
Portia xx

September 10, 2024 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Encens Suave by Matiere Premiere

Hey there ULGers, Encens Suave by Matiere Premiere has been sitting on my desk awaiting the Northern Hemispheres cooling. It feels like a good time to give you some good perfume news. I’m pretty sure this arrived with a Libertine Parfumerie order as a GWP. I do love a boxed manufacturers sample, so cool. This is one of my favourites from the line and I’ve given myself the odd spritz while in the big Sydney city department stores.

Encens Suave by Matiere Premiere 2019

Accords include:
Top: Coffee
Heart: Incense, Madagascar Vanilla
Base: Benzoin, Labdanum

That coffee note is really rich, more like chocolate on me. Dark chocolate. It’s a very interesting opening that is soon cut through with a smoky, very Asiatic incense and warm sweet resinous amber. For all the simplicity of my words Encens Suave is very nuanced and a some beautiful trajectory.

Once it hits dry down, an hour or more in the fragrance becomes a lightly smoky amber, with some charred woods. There’s sweetness but it’s low key for me, though on other people it seems to wear sweeter. This is my favorite part of the ride and it hums away for hours and hours. We are now in very linear territory and I love to get random huffs throughout the day/evening.

Unisex, very fragrant and longevity is off the charts. Encens Suave is definitely pandering to the Beast Mode Bros love of all things enormous and everlasting. The first time I wore it while out frag sniffing with a couple of mates I may have gone a bit overboard. It was HUGE and eternal.

One thing I really like is that Matiere Premiere offer 6ml, 50ml and 100ml. This is one perfume brand that I think is worth the extra $$$ and still manages to be within my boundaries. 50ml is €155 from the brand.

Have you? Would you try Encens Suave?
Portia xx

August 27, 2024 by AustralianPerfumeJunkies

Hussar by Aquaflor Firenze

Hiya Fellow Fulies, Hussar by Aquaflor Firenze came to my attention through my mate Clayton Illolahia. He is the genius behind now gone What Men Should Smell Like blog. We started blogging here in Sydney within two months of each other and have spent a lot of time around the perfume traps. He went on to study perfume and is now working with the Michael Edwards Fragrances of the World team. Nowadays he’s really busy travelling the world six months a year. On the occasions we get together to sniff his favorites from the latest adventures he only gives me the most standout to his unbelievably well curated bring home bottles. Seriously, he’s lucky to pick five from the hundreds he smells at each event. So that’s how impressive he found this scent and through our sniff I too fell madly and wildly in love. I think you can only buy these fragrances from the online store, shipping is VERY expensive. It might be cheaper to have a Florence vacation, worth it.

Hussar by Aquaflor Firenze

Aquaflor Firenze gives these featured accords:
Head: Citrus, Cloves
Heart: Jasmine, Leather
Base: Birch, Vetiver, Amber, Vanilla

Hussar is a Russian Leather. I learned something today. Russian Leather is named for the Russian military boots leather. How bloody interesting is that? So last fortnight I spoke of the CHANEL Cuir de Russie which alludes to the saddles and in particular the soap the Russians (and now the world) used to keep them supple and make them last decades. Quite different takes on the Russian Leather experience, very cool.

The opening is sharp, clove heavy and vanilla prominent. From the outset Hussar is more forthright and has much greater sillage than CdR. Also, it feels less refined and exclusive. Rugged but not rough. Think of Twilight’s Edward and Jacob. Hussar is definitely the Jacob.

It’s not long till the dark, smoky leather pushes forward and becomes the star player. Somewhere in the heart we get this unbelievably glorious lipstick type orris, it’s a welcome surprise and adds layers to the fragrance ride. Spicy vanilla rich amber and smoky leather with a very slight soapy texture takes us to dry down which pumps out for hours before fade.

So good. Also, this does not feel like a winter leather. It’s more a shoulder season and I think it might sing beautifully in the heat.

Do you have a favourite leather?
Portia xx

Undina's Looking Glass

Perfumed Reflections of Life

Uncategorized

Silly Season 2025 in Review

Silly Season 2025 in Review

Shalimar Reflections

Shalimar Reflections

Secret Joly Oriza L. Legrand

Secret Joly by Oriza L. Legrand 2020

Portia Reconnecting with Etat Libre d’Orange