Reviews

Bull’s Blood 2nd Edition by Imaginary Authors 2023
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Bull’s Blood 2nd Edition by Imaginary Authors 2023

Hey there crew, I don’t know if you remember the original but I had to sell mine on. It was just too much of whatever it was and drove me a bit bonkers when I wore it. It was relentless, combative and at some points disgusting. Problem was though that I loved that initial rush of opening. Yes, it was awesome and awful at the same time. That kind of contrapuntal can wear a person down after about 16 hours. Seriously. So I was very excited to read that a reimagined, less torturous version was being released last year. So now we have Bull’s Blood 2nd Edition! On my last Surrender To Chance trawl I grabbed a decant. Let’s see how it unfolds together…

Bull’s Blood 2nd Edition by Imaginary Authors 2023

Imaginary Authors give these featured accords:
Geranium, Spanish Rose, Patchouli, Black Musk, Tobacco, Sandalwood, Bull’s Blood

First I’d like to say how impressive the retail price is on a bottle. 50ml is US$105! They also give FREE US Shipping over US$75 spend. Imaginary Authors is seriously niche perfumery and could charge well above for their stellar product. That they are so generous with their talent makes me love them even more.

From the Imaginary Authors site: “The women and men in these pages are lovers and brawlers, bullfighters and boxers, soft talkers and hard drinkers. They inhabit dusty Spanish villages and dank, dark brothels…” Some of the best and funnest ad speak I’ve ever come across. There’s more too.

How does Bull’s Blood 2nd Edition smell? Straight out of the gate (see what I did there) sharp geranium and tobacco. Less car crash and more perfume than my memory of the previous iteration. Lightly salty, brine, under the boardwalk. It’s just enough to add colour and far less metallic. Bull’s Blood 2nd Edition feels more Arabic Rose/Patch/Oud and infinitely more accessible to me as a fragrance wearer. Maybe I was overcome by the marketing last time but it could also be a swapping out of costus for other accords.

Bull's Blood 2nd Edition by Imaginary Authors 2023

Still excellent longevity and above average projection. If you found the original version unwearable but loved the idea then this new Bull’s Blood 2nd Edition will probably float your boat on much calmer seas. Yes, it’s still a big deal, over the top and a little confrontational but now it does it with a smile and a cheeky wink.

Did you smell the original? Memories? Does Bull’s Blood 2nd Edition sound like a better option?
Portia xx

Bloom Where You’re Planted
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Bloom Where You’re Planted

GAH! I’m caught with my pants down ULGers. Why Bloom Where You’re Planted? Well I was reading March’s Moving On post of Perfume Posse while having a late morning congratulations on getting so much done already today cuppa… I do it at 11.30am when I’ve been a good drone and got shitloads done. 30 minutes on the computer just doing some catching ups, reading a blog or two and commenting. It’s a perfect breather so I can go back, do 12-1pm more work with renewed vigour and then quit for lunch hour. The reason I’m giving you a rolling conmentry from my mind is that I just realized it’s my day to write on ULG and I’d completely forgotten. There’s a half written piece on the updated Bull’s Blood by Imaginary Authors but it’s not finished and I just don’t have the bandwidth today to get it done. I’m trying to get all the bank statements together for last years tax, pay all the bills, fold the washing and get ready for work tonight. Suddenly I remembered. CRAP! So, instead of a piece dedicated to a perfume you’re getting a snapshot of my life and some perfumes that have been getting a spritz lately..

Bloom Where You're Planted ice flowers

Bloom Where You’re Planted

Yeah, I know. I’m starting to be a Hallmark card. Bloom Where You’re Planted! It’s so tired but when you ignore how often you’ve heard or seen it and how condescending it can feel then I love what it says. Bloom Where You’re Planted. It’s more than “Make the best of a bad situation” or “Lemonade from lemons”. It’s like, find a way to flourish and be your best you no matter where you find yourself. Anyway it speaks to me. Maybe because it’s the way I try to be.

So what have I been spritzing?

Iris Rebel by Atelier Cologne

Cold, rooty, slightly doughy iris. It’s transiently gorgeous before becoming a quiet wash of earthy woodiness. An easy wear that feels so cool.

Midnight Fantasy by Britney Spears

Fruity floral banger with a sticky vanilla baseline. It’s like a Christmas rom-com. Awful but so good and so easy to wear.

Ombre Indigo by Olfactive Studio

A blue metallic amber that whispers salt. Nothing I own hits the same spot. If you’re looking for a cozy cuddle of an amber then look elsewhere.

Rahele by Neela Vermeire Creations

Osmanthus done in a leathery style with backup fruits and other florals that ends up a smooth glasslike leather, so shiny you can see your reflection in it..

Bloom Where You're Planted

What do you think when you hear or see Bloom Where You’re Planted? What have you been spritzing lately?
Portia xx

 

PS: Just so you know, I completed this post in under 25 minutes. Back to work. See you in a fortnight with Bull’s Blood.

 

From the Garden by Maison Martin Margiela 2023
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From the Garden by Maison Martin Margiela 2023

Hi there ULGers, Maison Margiela is one of those fragrance houses that has kind of passed me by. There’s always a LOT of chatter about them on the boards, I’ve smelt a few of them, sometimes when I ask in the wild a very excited perfumista will tell me all about the provenance of their scent and Maison Martin Margiela’s Replica Collection. Basically an up market, niche version of the Demeter range with MUCH better longevity and interesting twists. It surprised me when looking up the brand that they’ve been around since 2010. So, while trawling Surrender To Chance NEW section not so long ago I noted that they had a brand new scent, being sold as a chypre and with such an alluring title as From The Garden. It was in the cart before I could even think it through.

From the Garden by Maison Martin Margiela

From the Garden by Maison Martin Margiela

Maison Margiela site gives these featured accords:
Top: Green Mandarin Essence – Grapefruit Essence – Blackcurrant Accord
Heart: Tomato Leaf Accord – Geranium Bourbon Heart Madagascar – Rose Accord
Base: Patchouli Indonesia – Cristal Moss – White Musks

Well they’re not lying about the fruity top. It’s got that unmistakeable perfume version of blackcurrant and a bright, screechy grapefruit that is both super sweet and tart AF. It’s a surprisingly gorgeous opening and I wish it lasted in that mode longer than the minute before tomato leaf makes a bold entrance, pushing all other notes into the background.  There they become a really good pillow to rest the tomato leaf on.

From the Garden by Maison Martin Margiela 2023

About an hour in the tomato leaf has decreased its power and is starting to let the geranium and patchouli add their respective charms.Loving the sharp geranium leaf that is almost photo realistic of rubbing a leaf between your fingers and then smelling the feisty waft. I’m sure the rose is mixed up in there but it’s not making a statement.

From the Garden by Maison Martin Margiela 2023

The dry down is a very calm dank earthy patchouli. Cristal moss is a synthetic moss recreation note and it does a very nice job here of adding a little furry greenery to the patchouli. It’s probably just me but in the base I smell basil leaves, just crushed for making pesto. It adds another dimension as we head towards fade.

From the Garden is a beautiful green chypre. A little darker than the 1970s version and though I hate to say it, more interesting. Maybe it’s the newness of the mixture and the front and centre of tomato leaf. Projection and longevity are moderate but the village is excellent. It really does change the air as you walk past.

Sound good?
Portia xx

 

 

 

Petrichor by Marissa Zappas
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Petrichor by Marissa Zappas

Hi there crew, From MetroOffice: Petrichor is the smell of rain. The word comes from the Greek words ‘petra’, meaning stone, and ‘ichor’, which in Greek mythology refers to the golden fluid that flows in the veins of the immortals. The phrase was coined by two researchers at the Australian CSIRO science agency in a 1964 article for the journal Nature. I do love it when the Aussies get stuff done right. As an aside, the CSIRO plant was in the next suburb to where I grew up and as we would drive past there were always strange and wonderful scents emanating. Sadly the area got sold off and is now an up market apartment building estate.

Petrichor by Marissa Zappas 2022

Marissa Zappas site gives these featured accords:
Top: Damp earth, lemon
Heart: Immortelle, orris, vetiver
Base: Ambergris, sandalwood, moss, musk

Marissa Zappas is a new name to me. I bought this decant from Surrender To Chance because I love the word Petrichor. This lids of the bottles look a little like those Stéphane Humbert Lucas 777 lids in pictures. I’d love to know how similar they are in life if any of you has had a hold?

How does Petrichor smell? The opening is sharp citrus and earthy iris root. Is it like that unbelievably glorious scent after the first few drops of rain? Not really but it does capture the feeling I get when I smell it. Does that make sense? Here, even in the city when the rain first hits we get this hint of eucalyptus to go with the concrete moisture. It’s cool and mentholated sweetness adds a bright and sparkling tint.

In Marissa Zappas homage to Petrichor it is as if we are experiencing it from inside the apartment. We are warm and rugged up. Looking outside we notice the rain just starting and open a window. Sure, there is the smell of newly wet concrete but also the scent of comfortable living. It’s a beautiful perfume picture and I am enjoying it immensely.

Ask we head towards dry down the damp earth, shady bench seat at the park, and flick of umbrellas is sitting perfectly beside the luxurious creamy warmth of the sandalwood and slightly furry yellow/white treacle like floral of immortelle. BEAUTIFUL!

I’m smitten and Petrichor has just hit the Top 5 on my To Buy List. As soon as I have a few extra $$. GAH! Just looked and it’s currently SOLD OUT! Damnit. Let’s hope it comes back.

Sound good to you?
Portia xx

Southern Bloom: Sweating It Out Down Under
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Southern Bloom: Sweating It Out Down Under

Hi there ULG crew, While most of our readers are from the Northern Hemisphere and feeling the cold, down under I am sweltering in one of the weirdest weather summers I can remember. It’s either blazing hot and humid or raining, cooler and humid. We are normally (till the last couple of years) practically a desert here in Sydney. We get a few really big thunder storms that drop oodles of water in a relatively short time and then blue skies. Out here in Parramatta, about 25km from the city, it usually doesn’t get ridiculously muggy very often. 2023/4 summer is like living in a tropical monsoon area. Without the daily afternoon downpour. I’m not complaining, just letting you know how unorthodox this year is. OK, maybe I am complaining, coz.

Southern Bloom by Goldfield and Banks 2018

Southern Bloom Goldfield & Banks Australia

Goldfield & Banks gives these featured accords:
Boronia Absolute Tasmania, Jasmine Sambac India, Cassis France, Sandalwood Australia, Vetiver Indonesia, Ylang Ylang Madagascar, Coconut Accord, Iris Italy

Australians are incredibly proud of Goldfield and Banks. They are an Indie House gone global. It was a thrill for me to see them in such diverse cities on our recent trip as Vienna, Paris, London, Budapest and Seoul. I can’t think of a perfume brand of ours that has ever had such distribution, especially with such a niche feeling product. Maybe Grandiflora is getting close? Tommi Sonia gave it a red hot go, if they had stayed the distance I reckon they’d be global by now too.

Anyway, I’ve been wearing Southern Bloom a bit in this strange weather. I want to say it’s a white floral but that is so much less than the whole experience. Straight up there is a lightly sweet, clear eucalyptus green. I’m thinking it’s the boronia and cassis but doesn’t really smell like either of them. This top stays but is overshadowed by the white floral dripping with tropical ylang and sandalwood. This heart is eye lollingly gorgeous and hums away merrily for a long time. It’s both warm and cool, sultry and exactly the fetishized dream of carefree tropical holiday nights.

Southern Bloom by Goldfield and Banks 2018

The heart also has a boozy component and makes me think of those creamy cocktails that sometimes come in a pineapple or big glasses with fruity embellishments.

The base is very sandalwood heavy and I’m surprised there’s no vanilla noted, it’s a luscious creamy confection.

While anyone can and should try Southern Bloom it does lean towards modern traditional femme. The first hour or so is very fragrant and its lasting power is impressive. It fits most seasons but this super weird summer it is working perfectly for me.

Sound good?
Portia xx

 

 

Knize Sec
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Knize Sec

Hey there ULGers, On our recent European journey our last stop was Vienna. Ostensibly to catch up with Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels and Val the Cookie Queen from APJ. Sadly Birgit and family got the dreaded C19 so that was out but Val, her daughter Hannah, Jin and I spent a wonderful day and night wandering, eating, shopping and catching up. It was heaven. All the Christmas Markets and lights were out, it was lightly snowing and we basked in the joy of just being together. Vienna has been my favourite city since the 1990s and it was so fabulous to be back. We even stayed in my most loved Vienna hotel, the Royal. HEAVEN! Here’s the pic with us in front of Cafe Mozart, the place we first met face to face in 2013! So much has changed. Our love? Nope, fire’s burning bright.

Knize Cec Portia Val Hannah jin Vienna 2023

Jin and I also went into Knize (Ker Neez Ya). The main reason was to buy a couple of Thank You and We Love You gifts. We grabbed the Gold Edition of Knize Ten for leather lover Anna Maria and Knize Forest for Scotty who never met a deep green he didn’t love. While there  I grabbed a bottle of Knize Sec. Long on the To Buy List and changed some since I first fell in love with it, still it gave me a shiver of thrill and purchase was made.

Knize Sec 1985

Knize Sec Jan 2024

Knize gives these featured accords:
Top: Citrus fruits, orange, amalfi lemon, coriander
Heart: Lavender, jasmine, sage, bitter orange
Base: Leather, incense, amber, musk

Straight out of the gate I get a slightly screechy aldehydic soapy citrus with herbal greenery. A sparkling masculine aromatic, still soapy and lightly sweaty, comes through. Refreshing! Now that I’ve worn it a few times I’m noticing it smells like Paco by Paco Rabanne. Not quite as metallic but definitely in a similar olfactory ballpark.

As we move into the heart I notice the white floral aspect. It’s not very jasmine off the tree though. Much more perfumery and working in beautifully with the lavender.

My memory of Sec in the past was that it ended up with a mossy leather amber base, a little like Van Cleef & Arpels Pour Homme. It’s much less sophisticated and deep now. Actually, it smells a little of pine and juniper.

It’s funny, until I sat down to really parse and write about Sec I was thinking that it’s a heady aldehydic aromatic with a light base. It’s kind of that but I also think that Knize has cheapened the mix and that Sec really hasn’t recovered properly after being made to fit current guidelines. It’s still wearable but not what I remember.

Looking for something new for a guy who wants to smell nice all day in a traditional way? He probably only has one or two fragrances going at any time and scent is not really an important part of his regime. He knows that the spritz is expected though and does it dutifully. He will smell nice to leave the house and then softly masculine all day.

Portia x

 

 

Carmina by Creed 2023 NEW! NEW! NEW!
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Carmina by Creed 2023 NEW! NEW! NEW!

Hi there ULGers, Before going away in November the Libertine crew invited my mate Ainslie and me to the launch of their latest blockbuster. I often hear perfume people say Creed is a blokes brand and that the women aimed perfumes aren’t as good. Honestly, I beg to differ. The only Creed bottle I paid full retail for was Fantasia de Fleurs. It’s a very lightly salted, spicy Bulgarian rose. Sure, the guff about it being Empress Sisi’s personal perfume might be bullshit but the fragrance is glorious. Vanisia, Iris Tuberose, and Angelique Encens have all been decants in my collection, leading to a pre-loved bottle purchase of Iris Tuberose.

Carmina by Creed 2023 Launch

Carmina by Creed 2023 Launch

Carmina by Creed 2023 Launch

Launch night was a big deal. The perfume world of Sydney. Execs, SAs, marketing teams, bloggers, vloggers, TV stars and hoi polloi. I had already spent the day in town and was so completely underdressed it was hilarious. This was a dress to impress event. Oh well. Nobody got seriously hurt by my poor fashion choices.

Carmina by Creed 2023

Carmina by Creed 2023

Creed Australia gives these featured accords:
Top: Black Cherry, Saffron, Pink Pepper
Heart: Rose de Mai, Violet, Cashmere Wood, Peony
Base: Frankincense, Myrrh, Amber, Musk

First let’s look at the bottle. After the massive fail of the Wind Flowers bottle I’m really interested that they have taken this route. The colour is gorgeous, like seriously and ridiculously fabulous. Cherry pink! They have reworked the cap, it’s fine but I don’t really understand why they needed to. Then they’ve used the traditional male bottle shape. It’s definitely sturdier on the foot than the shield bottle. Maybe I’m a grouchy old goat but that shield bottle was one of my favourite in perfume land.

OK, enough about that, how does Carmina smell? The opening moments are CHERRY! Sweet cherry soda pop. Roses make an early appearance and the sweet sizzle of the pink pepper berry makes both the fruit and flower zing. Big, overblown, jammy roses only very slightly tamed by the green, white-floral-adjacent-ness of violet. This is a fun confection. I’m so not sure of this but the whole shimmering opening makes me think there are some aldehydes giving everything some razzle dazzle.

Do you remember Modern Muse Le Rouge Gloss by Estée Lauder? Kendall Jenner was the face? It was a similar vibe but had this weird saccharine backtaste to the fragrance. Carmina is like they’ve taken a similar route but without that chemical waste undertow.

The heart becomes more peony as it goes forward. Not like a real peony though, this is the perfumers peony dream. That rose/peony/cherry accord is so good. It’s probably not exactly what I picture myself smelling of but that damn gorgeous bottle keeps me coming back for more.

Carmina by Creed 2023 bottle

The base remains sweetly cherry soda and rose floating over some woodsy ambers that you’ll definitely recognise. Carmina continues thus quietly pumping itself out for hours and hours. Creed has definitely listened to the masses wanting longevity. While not beast mode for ladies the projection and sillage are both excellent. It’s right up there with Baccarat Rouge and its horde of lookey likeys.

Do I love it? I’m totally ambivalent. I will say that I keep returning to Carmina and giving myself a cheeky spritz on one arm. The bottle calls me as it sits on my desk.

What about you? Sound good?
Portia xx

Going Back to my Full Bottle Wardrobe
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Going Back to my Full Bottle Wardrobe

Hey there ULGers, Welcome to 2024. Hoping it’s a safe, prosperous, fun, comfortable and fragrant year ahead for us all, maybe with a side order of delightfully preposterous. What are the three things we are meant to wish each other? Health, Wealth and Contentment! I wish them for you, and for us.

Welcome to 2024

Maybe you know, last year I tried to scale back my perfume samples and decants. I’m still to do a final tally but in my mind it sits at around 300 thunks for the year. While that sounds like a lot, and I have emptied a few small boxes of them, it also feels like it hardly made a dent. Compounded by my continued purchasing. Yeah, it’s clearly an illness. Anyway, now I’m free to roam the perfume wardrobe again and it is daunting! I want to wear everything at once, yet curiously I’m also so overwhelmed that going through the cupboards and remembering what I have is too much. So I’m wearing the things I can see. There’s the grab tray, actually in my wardrobe. Also, all around my sewing machine and desk there are a bunch of bottles that are either new or awaiting reincorporation into the cupboards. So that’s where I’ve been spritzing from.

Going Back to my Full Bottle Wardrobe

Going Back to my Full Bottle Wardrobe

There also seems to be a gold theme running through my spritz selection so far in 2024.

Aqua Allegoria Neroli Vetiver by Guerlain

Yes, this got the gong for New Years Eve and so it was my first fragrance for 2024 too. I love its sweet juicy opening and smooth white floral heart made extra fresh and green by a dry vetiver, all over a lovely laundry musk base. Jin and I had a VERY lazy night. We had duck Korean table BarBQ at home with all the side dishes and some pork chipolatas for extras. While we were eating one of our besties Phil dropped in on his way home from family and that was really nice. Then we lay around the couch with Paris the greyhound watching both the Exotic Marigold Hotel films back to back. After midnight I took Paris out for a walk and then we hit the hay. VERY chill NYE.

Soleil Brulant by Tom Ford

This was a gift from one of my dearest, Ainslie Walker: Scentsmith. It’s a honeyed white floral with resinous amber base but there is also this delightfully strange greenery. It’s leaning bitter and astringent and that creates this alluring contrapuntal effect. Also unusual for a Tom Ford it isn’t a top heavy beauty that crumbles to banality in 30 minutes. It lasts all day and has some interesting sideways movements. I’m not sure why this hasn’t become one of the most talked about fragrances of the 2020s. The first morning of 2024 dawned cool and cloudy so this was a lovely rich choice.

Montana femme by Claude Montana

This bloody bottle doesn’t fit anywhere in the cupboards so is constantly out. the pic doesn’t show it well but they’re over 1/3 gone. A full tilt hark back to the days of perfumey perfumes. An aldehydic floral top and sweet woodsy amber base. Not for the faint of heart and smalls bloody fabulous. It really does smell like shoulder pads and jewel bright peplums with big hair. It’s beautiful in the cold weather but in the humidity and heat of Sydney summer it blooms even more gorgeously. If only it came in a less cool and annoying bottle.

 

So how have you spritzed in the new year?
Portia xx

Trastevere by Pantheon Roma
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Trastevere by Pantheon Roma

Hey there Crew, Trastevere by Pantheon Roma was a blind buy decant from Surrender To Chance a while ago, so long that I don’t remember buying it. On looking it up it was only early 2022. Anyway it got an early spritz and then put in the already full to overflowing Must Try This Again box. So now I’m going through that box and there are SO MANY good things hiding in it. Many of which ring no bells in my memory. Knowing in the Northern Hemisphere it’s starting to get VERY chill up there about now I thought something cozy might just hit the spot. I can also imagine this being a perfect Holiday Season gift to yourself.

Oh, and that bottle looks bloody gorgeous too. That’s the 100ml bottle, the 50ml is clear glass and very squat.

Trastevere by Pantheon Roma 2015

Trastevere Pantheon Roma bottle

Pantheon Roma gives these featured accords:
Top: Vanilla, Licorice
Heart: Vanilla, Caramel, Jasmine
Base:  Vanilla, Davana, Chestnut Cream

They also write this: It is the evocation of when, in 1500, the district of Trastevere it was considered “the oven of Rome” and was teeming with bakeries and young girls. Let’s imagine one walking slowly through the narrow streets of the neighborhood, and the scents of sweets and bread come out from the small windows. Warm, gourmand olfactory construction: it moves around the tones of Davana (Artemisia Pallens), whose taste characteristics of licorice and coffee are enhanced here by tones of chestnuts and vanilla. A truly extraordinary jasmine accompanies the bouquet.

OM G! Cookies, and licorice all sorts. Trastevere opens like them exactly. It’s spooky and fabulous.

Not long before the caramel makes its presence known, smelling just like a Worther’s tastes. I’m smiling from ear to ear. This is ALL my favourite snack foods in a fragrance. YUMMO!

All that happened in the first couple of minutes. Trastevere’s opening is amazing and delightful but TBH it’s not how I want to smell through a day.

Here’s the cool thing. At about the 15 minute mark the direct correlation to lollies softens. Yes, still very vanilla, a little custardy, but much more fine fragrance smelling. You will still get your gourmand on but with much less chance of nasal diabetes. Trastevere becomes a very elegant amber with gourmand overtones. Beautiful, wearable and dead sexy.

Trastevere by Pantheon Roma 2015

Leaning seriously traditional feminine but wearing Trastevere was lovely for me. No worries, I love the idea of fragrantly messing with the binary. Longevity and projection are moderate plus.

Though not a new fragrance, and already available at the discounters, I thought you might like to know of something that I’ve not seen much chatter about,
Sound good?
Portia xx

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Uden Overdose by Xerjoff

Hey Hey Crew, Xerjoff Uden Overdose. I’ve got a vial and wanted to be excited by a Xerjoff. Had read some nice things about this being a winner. Maybe I’m missing something, it could need to be spritzed to get the full effect, maybe my body is rejecting the beautiful bits. It’s just so cheap smelling on me. Like a 1990s Diesel release. Not ragging on Diesel, they are cheap and cheerful and do their thing so well at their price point, punching well above often.

Uden Overdose, 50ml is over AU$400 here.

I know, I’m getting boring complaining about price but for what I smell here, on me, in this moment (yesterday too). I don’t get it.

Uden Overdose by Xerjoff 2018

Xerjoff Uden Overdose

Xerjoff gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, Bergamot
Heart: Tobacco Flowers, Ginger, Coffee
Base: Amber, Musk

OK, I smell a little citrus up the top. The tobacco flowers smell like scratchy woods. In the heart I smell some coffee and more dark oily woods. The base is more of those ubiquitous woods and a spiky, labdanum rich amber. None of it is AWFUL, this is wearable. A bit scratchy and average, maybe it smells a bit lazy. Anyway, I’m disappointed.

That late, on its way to dry down amber base is nice. It’s no Pierre Guillaume amber, but it is doing a good job of amber-ing.

Maybe my hopes were just too high? or expectations?

Please tell me I’m missing a whole piece of the story and that this is not the ride you’re getting.

Edit: This morning I woke and thought, before I’d become fully conscious, “What is that beautiful amber?” Just a whisper but so beautiful. Warm, honeyed, not too sweet and hints of chocolate. If only my whole wear had been this gorgeous.

Portia

 

PS I’m away but will come and read/answer comments ASAP.