Relent by ETRO + Venice Photo Essay

Hey there happy huffers,

While Jin and I were in Venice in January/February he had found us a wonderful hotel. My only rules for him to do bookings were 4 star, less than 300 metres from the railway station and that they include breakfast. In Venice he excelled himself. The hotel was very close to the station and near a bunch of major bridges, attractions, ferries and food. The room was bright, clean, spacious, quiet and sunny with a view of the rooftops of Venice and the Grand Canal and the hotel had wifi in the lobby 24 hours, with a bar that was quite comfortable. One of our favourite things about the hotel was the large, super-clean bathroom filled with ETRO Relent bath products: hair & body wash and lotion! We left the hotel every day smelling beautiful from our bath products and kept arm skin clear for frag testing. We also left the hotel CRAMMED with breakfast each day, HEAVEN!! Needless to say we asked for, and received, a handful of the mini shower gels which are big enough to last 10 days of showering. SCORE! The hotel? The Boscolo Bellini, Lista di Spagna 116/A | Cannareggio quarter, 30121 Venice, Italy

Photos Stolen Expedia

Relent by ETRO

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, orange, lime, eucalyptus
Heart: Orange blossom, rose, iris
Base: Amber, vanilla, musk (ETRO adds citron in the base)

From the ETRO site: The true Eden is never a precise location; we need to learn to create it inside ourselves, to carry with us some of the serenity that can be evoked by aromas that brighten the heart. Sparkling citrus fruits and the sweetest flowers, a hint of the sensuality of amber and the languor of rose, a drop of solemn musk.

Photo Stolen MorgueFile

Since Venice, every shop that has ETRO gets a visit from me but nobody seems to carry Relent anymore, only the newer ones in the lineup. So I went to the internet and recently I found a Relent 150ml Eau Parfumee at Beauty Encounter for only $70 and the 200ml Shower Gel for only $39!! I am extremely happy about it and bought fragrance and a couple of shower gels. It is such a vivid memory for both Jin and I, a happy, wonderful memory that we cherish, so easy to bring back just by fragrance. Fragrantica gives 2010 as this fragrances release but MUA has reviews from 2003.

How does it smell? The opening citrus and eucalyptus combination is fizzzy, dry and interesting, the citrus fizzes like a soda pop drink fresh from the bottle but the eucalyptus holds the sweetness in check giving a very herbal, green dryness. If you told me there was some cumin with coriander/lavender/basil here I would totally believe you because it’s such a vegetative yet sweaty green opening. I also smell some wood notes that are unmentioned. It takes a while for the opening scene to develop properly and it stays for a while before the orange blossom makes her appearance, not as an entrance but she comes in though the side door unannounced, no fanfare but there she is whispering something naughty in your ear and rose is giggling wickedly beside her. Then, as the star of the show is about to be announced, like a wedding everyone quietens down and there is a fragrant hush, a lull, a pause before IRIS stands tall at the top of the stairs in full spotlight. A woody, powder puff of an iris, gentle and soft and cuddly and furry with musks comes down the stairs to be the star of the night. Everyone gets to dance with her, maybe the best analogy would be a round dance where everyone is involved but only a few are near iris for the rest of the evening before the last slow dance and then gone.

Portia’s first Venetian Bridge

Jin loving Carnivale

The Last Gondola Builders

The Grand Canal

From our restaurant

Peggy Guggenheim Modern Art Museum, so fabulous

Cafe Ceiling

Jin loved this bridge

Main Square at night after the Carnivale crowds are gone

Venice sunset

I think Relent could be worn anywhere, including frag phobic works, it is soft and pretty enough to be passed of as body lotion but interesting enough to wear. Light, cuddly and to Jin and I joyful. Maybe you will think so too.

My scent hungry skin gets about 3-4 hours before there is only a sweet amber musk that smells like me. Jin says the scent continues but I have lost the ability to smell it.

Nobody else on the first 4 pages of Google has reviewed Relent
Beauty Encounter has the best prices I could find and none of the sample shops carry Relent, though some have other ETRO frags.

I hope you enjoyed our ETRO Relent and Venice Photo Essay. All unattributed photos taken by Jin or myself.
See you tomorrow for more fun and madness,
Portia xx

Leaving for India! What fragrances did I pack?

Hey Crew,

It’s time to pack bags and jet off again.I have written and sent all my Trivias to the girls. There are some REALLY curly Q&A this time ladies. The APJ family has worked overtime to make sure all their contributions are ready to launch while I’m gone, they’ve all been edited and pictures, notes and all the frills have been added and linked. THANK YOU GUYS!! My clothes are all washed, the beds are changed, food has been bought, prepared and frozen and I am almost ready to go. The plane leaves at 10.15 and I am writing to you from 2pm. How organised is that? Normally I’m throwing crap in my bags as we should be leaving.

This trip I know there wont be much fragrance shopping like in Europe or LA sop I’ve decided to do a decant set for my travels 5ml & 8ml. It’s always so hard to choose and today is no exception. So what made the cut?

Ava Luxe Tuberose Diabolique Parfum
Caron Royal Bain de Caron
L’Artisan Parfumeur Cote d’Amour
Iunx Splash Forte Friction de Iunx
Jean Paul Gaultier Fleur de Male
Tauer L’Air Du Desert Marocain

I am also taking from Neela Vermeire Creations a bottle of Bombay Bling. How could I not? And a Vintage Chanel No 5 Parfum.

So I just watched this video below and I’m crying like a baby, its been nearly three years since I’ve been back to India am I’m so excited to get back and see my buddy and his family and the magic that is India. I can almost smell it it’s so real in this little Incredible India ad. I can’t believe I’m going back……

See you tomorrow!!
Portia xxx

All photos stolen from the Incredible India Campaigns

Kings Canyon Easter Getaway Photo Essay!

Hello fabulous FUMIES!

A crew of five of us fled the city on Thursday and went bush to one of Australia’s best kept secrets. Kings Canyon is the place in the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert where the three drag queens climb to the top before they go home to Sydney. Having only been involved in the Sydney part of the shooting process I have wanted to come and see the majesty of this place since 1993/4 when Priscilla was filmed as we spent so much time with the cast and crew preparing them for their roles. It was also my first full sighting of Ayers Rock, which beggars the imagination in real life, one day I will come back and climb it.

Here is a short photo essay of our time there. Unfortunately the main camera belonging to Kath has not yet been downloaded but I will add some photos of the climb itself when she returns on Monday from an overnight camping trip. The four I was lucky enough to travel with are all in the top shot, all Australian citizens but I’ll put where each was born for interests sake. From left: Seb (France), Kath (Australia), Alice (UK) and Jin (South Korea). At the bottom I’ve added a choral rendition of one of Australia’s most famous poems, My Country by Dorathea Mackeller. It’s kind of dopey but does show some of Australia’s most wonderful scenery.

On the perfume front I took two The Different Company travel size fragrances, Sel & Vetiver and Oriental Lounge. (The jump I’ve added at the name is for 3 x 10ml Travel Size mixture at $105. I think it’s a super bargain!!)

This pic from my BFF Kath…

Encre Noire Pour Elle by Christine Nagel for Lalique 2009

Hello Happy Huffers,

When I saw this bottle and the ad I just hoped I was going to love the frag enough to purchase the lot. The bottle is so simple and the writing exquisite. I was pre disposed to at least like …

Encre Noire Pour Elle by Lalique 2009

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Sicilian bergamot, Indonesian ambrette, freesia
Heart: Turkish rose, Chinese osmanthus, honey, fruity aromas, Kephalis molecule (amber and tobacco-like aromas)
Base: Haitian vetiver, Texas cedar, musk

The opening is quite a startling ZING of citrus and then everything joins in for a moment before settling. Encre Noire Pour Elle then makes the bergamot sing above the ambrette (musk mallow) and I can’t detect any freesia because the rose comes storming in, a vanillic, boozy, spicy and sweet rose that is soft enough to be prim yet powerful enough to be noticed. No wall flower but a controlled, well bred, dark horse of a fragrance that will surprise you throughout its wear with new and interesting nuances but never being outrageous or intrusive.

There is a fair nod to cleanliness, once the opening decides to sit back and the rose while continuing to scintillate becomes fresh and dark, hinting at deep cool recesses and verandahs in palaces and cloisters while outside all is warm and sunny. As the heart progresses it warms and sweetens more but is never remotely noire. Even as we turn to dry down it’s all sweetness and light woods, not scary, exhilarating or naughty like I would hope a noire could be, not a new argument. The musks really shine as clean white now and it all starts to genteely fade. Pretty soon I am alone with my skin and searching for a new frag to spritz.

Maybe 3 hours on a good day, my skin eats Encre Noire Pour Elle. The sillage is there but soft, the scent bubble after the first hour is small, you have to be close to notice how good Encre Noire Pour Elle smells. This is a seductresses fragrance in my mind because you need to be so close to enjoy it at all. You could wear Encre Noire Pour Elle even in a fragrance phobic workplace and tell them it’s your moisturiser. It’s so reasonably priced though at the discounters you can respritz like crazy.

Photo Stolen ImperialParfum

Further reading GrainDeMusc and 1000Fragrances
FragranceNet has 100ml/$36
MyPerfumeSamples starts at $2/ml but I bought $7/5ml great deal!!

Do you ever fall in love with the ad and want the fragrance merely for its magical imagery?

I think we are in Venice today, it is my first time there and I’m writing to you from early January, Australian summer. You are reading this and we are in the middle of European winter. That is an exciting thought,

See you tomorrow,

Portia xx

Shopping In Prague, Czech Republic

Hey Ho Gang,
As you can see Jin and I have been doing our bit for the Czech economy. The DUNE Esprit de Parfum and Guerlain Vetiver were our first buys from a wonderful and quite mad perfume lady who reminded us of Sophie from “2 Broke Girls” a total hoot called Evita!!

Next day we went to Yves Rocher because my mate Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels sent me a Vanilla Noire recently and I am totally loving it. Now it has a sister.

Cartier, another Birgit enable, came as a 4ml sample with some stuff I bought and it’s been rolling around me head awaiting a European tour. Jin is falling in love with VI but no one so far has had a sample for him to live with and I refuse to let him spend that kind of money without a few wears. Even though we are on holiday and he pouted, beautifully, for nearly a whole afternoon. The Cartier crew were fabulous with us coming back 3 days in a row before we bit the bullet.

Jil Sander Sun is a complete impulse buy and I am so happy that I did, it’s full of youthful memories of days spent at the beach with the family.

Lastly, Jin saw Bottega Veneta for 20% off and couldn’t resist. It smells beyond amazing on him and I have loved my 2 large decants to dregs so it will be getting double skin time at Chez Turbo. That was from Sephora at the main Prague Railway Station. The girl there was so friendly that we decided she deserved a sale.

We also spent some sniffing time at a parfumeurie called Madeleine which was awesome fun with Boris but the prices were beyond our ability. it’s a shame.

We are having a great time. Tomorrow we are in Vienna, going to dinner with Birgit and her husband.
I hope you are all really happy and well too.

Portia xx

Leaving On A Jet Plane COMPETITION!!

Hey Gang,

Jin and I are off on holidays. We leave today and I’m FREAKING EXCITED!! I haven’t taken a holiday in over 2 years and we are doing some catching up. I thought you might like our itinerary in case you happen to be in or around the cities we are visiting and would like to meet in person for a coffee, dinner, fragrance sniff, tour, dance, show or maybe you would like to meet me so you can slap my face. WHAT EVAH!! We’ll be glad to meet you no matter the reason and we can do pictures to show on the blog. It will be awesome!! Leave a comment here. If you follow the blog via email then I will be able to reply easily.

19th jan Slovakia (Meeting and hanging with Jin’s brother and family)

21th jan Prague

25th jan Vienna (Birgit and family! Dinner and shopping)

30th jan Budapest

4th feb  Venice

7th feb Paris (Neela Vermeire!)

12th feb Korea (Meeting Jin’s parents)

19th feb Australia

Daily Fragrance Reviews will continue as normal, barring serious incidents. I have pre-done a few and some will be done on the road. Most of our Guest Posts are in but a couple missed the boat, and if you think I’m editing on my HOLIDAY you can go get nicked. Saturday and Sunday may suffer from can’t-be-bothered-itis. I am hoping to do some happy snaps and bought this week stuff but it may not happen. Honesty reads like laziness and you can be pretty sure there’ll be some of that around. If I am a bit less diligent in my comment answering I know you’ll understand too.

Photo Stolen koreanairpr

COMPETITION

Please try and guess which of these frags I’ll be wearing on the plane from Sydney to our stopover in Korea? The first and second to get it right will get a 5ml decant of one of the fragrances I buy in Paris or Venice.

Bulgari BLV Pour Homme
CHANEL No 5
Aftelier Parfum de Maroc
Narciso Rodriguez for Her
Guerlain Lys Soleia
Annick Goutal Mandragore
Bal a Versailles
Versace Dreamer
Diorissimo Vintage Parfum
Estee Lauder Brasil Dream
Olympic Orchids Ballets Rouges
Paris Hilton Siren
Versace Blonde
CHANEL no 19 Parfum
Royal Bain de Caron
DKNY Gold
Patou 1000
SOIVOHLE Rosa sur Reuse
Nikki de Saint Phalle
CdG Incense
Estee Lauder Azuree
Guerlain Shalimar Vintage EdT
Hermes Un Jardin Apres La Mousson
Gucci Guilty
A Wing & A Prayer Berkeley
Annick Goutal Songes
Guerlain Jasminora
One Seed Courage
Jessica Simpson Fancy Nights

I’ll still be in touch. Cherio!!
Portia xx
Peter, Paul & Mary LIVE

Just Generally

Hi All,

Today I am going to quickly run down my weekends fragrance wear. It’s been pretty hectic around here, loads of work, home shenanigans, friend drama, shopping, living, loving and finally TSO Jin and I have booked a holiday. We will be jetting off to far flung destinations in January. Leaving our glorious summer for your Northern winter. I am so excited, 2010 was my last holiday and I’ve not yet traveled with Jin so that is always a relationship settler or a disaster zone. Can’t WAIT!!!

We spend 3 weeks in Europe so I hope to see all my Euro blogging buddies and then a week in rural, seaside Korea to meet Jin’s parents. OMG! That should be interesting. Oh well. Secure in the knowledge that I’m the most frightening thing in the universe I think I’ll cope, but will he? Will they? HE HE Poor feckers won’t know what hit them,

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Guerlain- Aqua Allegoria- Lys Soleia- I wear this newby to my collection and feel like an Empress. It is gorgeous on me, to me and I am gagging for the bee bottle. Flowers, sunshine, fruit (and to me salt & coconut though they’re not listed) Full review coming.

Olympic Orchids- Golden Cattleya- A guaranteed compliment grabber, unusual, sensuous, a little bit dirty but all lovely night blooming orchid. So good it feels a little bit evil. At 30ml EdP $40 you can’t go wrong!! Sample program excellent.

SIOVOHLE- Wild Ginger Chai- I thought I’d packed Leather Krem but it was Wild Ginger Chai and I had 3 random, unsolicited compliments. one person coming in close and saying, “Wow! You smell so amazing!” and then doing that disgusting hum/moan/purr thing we all do when fragrance transports us. It was spooky but great. At 15ml EdT $30 a very affordable frag and they have a super sample program.

Un named sample- Clayton at WhatMenShouldSmellLike gave me this to try and I think it’s a lavender masculine but it is tenacious and strident and dries down like a year later and generally reminds me of a Tabac type offering. I enjoyed it immensely.

Photo Stolen Parfum d’Empire

Parfum d’Empire- Ambre Russe- What a powerhouse of fabulous this is. Smoky, Russian teas, floral, pipe tobacco, booze, incense, burning, magical and musky firebrand of a fragrance. Why don’t I wear this every day? Ah May ZIng! These guys also have an extraordinary sample program and 100ml is only 90 Euro.

SurrenderToChance 40% off SALE!!! is currently happening too. I have gone with $100 to spend and scored myself some incredible bargains. Yes, I write for Perfume Posse but I get no kickbacks for doing so. I just LOVE THEIR SHIT!!! For $100 I can get 30ml of 10 or 15 fragrances. Such a great way to get to know a bunch of different fumes.
.
.

Photo of Korean Temple Stolen elwood5566

Photo Korean Bridge Stolen 123rf

Thanks for dropping by, please go check out the links and have a little look. Below I have dropped in my new favourite song and video; Battle Scars by Guy Sebastian feat. Lupe Fiasco
.
In life I want you to want the best for yourself and go out and get it.
It is waiting for you. Believe it.
Love always,
Portia xx