Hiya APJ Crew,

I hope your Christmas/ Holiday Season has been fun. Our Christmas Day was very relaxed. We vowed to not leave the house and had our mate Matt (Jin’s BFF) over for lunch and presents.

Today was Boxing Day and I started out the day in recent but not current Shalimar EdP. It was a perfect accompaniment to the organising potato salad, drive, present opening and lunch at Kath’s family home with parents and nieces. We had a wonderful time with Jin manning the BarBQ and doing a delicious sliced & marinaded steak, bacon rashers, onion and breakfast sausages. We had yummy sesame seed knot rolls, garden salad and potato salad, served with lashings of left over ham off the bone. Lunch was really fun and it’s always excellent to catch up with Kath’s family who have adopted me since my parents died and my sister stopped communication. I love them because they are good people who time seems to fly when I spend it with them. I love them because when we’re together I am home.

Then we went for a SWIM!! Sadly I forgot to take pics today, sorry. Here is one that Kath took

I had grabbed a vintage 7.5ml bakelite purse spritz of CHANEL No. 5 parfum as I ran out the door, knowing we’d be swimming. It was the perfect after swim spritz.

CHANEL No.5 parfum by Ernest Beaux for CHANEL 1921

Photo Stolen CHANEL

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, bergamot, lemon, neroli, ylang-ylang
Heart: Jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, iris
Base: Vetiver, sandalwood, vanilla, amber, patchouli

I enjoyed it so much that tonight I spritzed again and I wanted to share my joy in wearing this maybe 1970s or 80s parfum. It gushes out of the gate with a dark fizzy aldehydic rush that is more animalic and growlier than the current parfum, but maybe my parfum is a little old because the opening is slightly muddled compared to the clear bell of fruity fizz that my modern one exhibits. Sexier and more luxurious than the current version (which I also love BTW) there is something cozier and more feral about the vintage.

Today added to the salt, sun and chlorine, mixed with the joyful summer holiday air of a Sydney Boxing Day (the day following Christmas Day when once servants and tradespeople would receive gifts, known as a “Christmas box”, from their bosses or employers) it was the perfect blend of sophistication and joyous animal delight.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

You know I can smell very little of the singular notes in CHANEL No. 5 parfum, for me it is a gorgeous and complete smell where the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. Not only the smell, which was one of my Mum’s scents, but also the fabulous history and all the women who have been given, who have bought, who have lived a little part of the No 5 fable. It feels like you are part of a crew that can be smelled as they waft by in almost every country in the world. From that brilliant genius and dastardly racist Gabriel Coco Chanel, through many of the world’s most beautiful and talented women in advertising, the G.I.s that bought it for their girls from 31 Rue Cambon through the tawdry days when it became a drug store perfume and now back out the other side where CHANEL is again one of the eminent fashion houses and CHANEL No. 5 is an affordable buy into that magical dream.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Bois de Jasmin
Essential Mall Australia has $148/7.5ml modern parfum refill
Surrender To Chance has vintage CHANEL No. 5 samples starting at $10/.25ml

What do you feel when you wear CHANEL No. 5? Which fragrance leads you into a fairytale?
Portia xx