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Portia

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Hi APJ,

It’s weird. Many fragrances I write about, fall in love with and buy a large decant or bottle. Sometimes it feels like I’m keeping the perfume world solvent, HA! Then you all never hear about that perfume again  unless it’s in my Sunday Scent Diary, and then just a tiny entry or picture. So today I thought we’d gran out some things that have been written about before and still see regular skin time.

Perfume I Still Love

Afternoon Of A Faun by Etat Libre d’Orange:

There is something deeply satisfying when I spritz Afternoon Of A Faun. It’s a honeyed immortelle, leather, iris and peppery spices smell like nothing else in my collection. One of the last really fabulous, love to wear even though it’s a bit freaky, releases from the ELdO house. It’s like they have taken the late 20th century mens fragrance and twisted just enough to make it interesting again.

Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia by Guerlain:

Wearing this beauty today inspired the post. I read the fragrance quite differently to the notes presented. My skin throws lily and creamy coconut mixed with the ylang. A tropical scent using all the old tropes but injects an airy freshness and a jaunty lilt. Well into my second bottle and a back up bought just in case. On cool but sunny days like today, boiling summer heatwaves and even the dead cold of european winter Lys Soleia works.

Antaeus by CHANEL:

Antaeus is often a sneaky spritz for me as I go walking the dogs or shopping for groceries. I think I’ve told you all before that my first long term partner and I wore Antaeus in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There is something so classic and finished about it, from picking up the black, super smooth reflective bottle to the earthy leather dry down. The whole experience feels special.

Madame Rochas by Rochas:

Rochas answer to CHANEL No 5 is a clever play on the aldehydic floral. A thicker, more treacle feeling opening. Yellow flowers feel like the centre of attention and the iris, amber and oakmoss create an earthier, less outer space type fragrance. Madame Rochas manages a similar sparkling glamour as No 5 but does it in a more perfumey way. It manages to cut the aloofness and feel like a Christmas hug from a favourite aunt.

Morn to Dusk by Eau D`Italie:

Yes, it lasts all day. The jolt of citrus over vanilla starts this beauty out with a zing but it’s the vanilla heart that goes on all day long. A crunchy, caramelised vanilla that changes with your mood and the weather. Some days it’s more sheer and weightless and others Morn To Dusk can be sweet, thick and heavy. It seems to feel my mood and offer its own magical accompaniment. Simplicity with levels.

Most of these are available as samples & decants from Surrender To Chance.

What are your not so new Perfumes You Love?
Portia xx