Hey there Posse! Well, you made it through the silly season and now we have the end of another year. NYE 2023 is upon us. It’s been a lovely year for me. Finally back working and travelling. Still enjoying life with Jin, celebrated 11 years of happy entanglement. Managed to see some family and loads of our friends. Bought a new investment apartment and a small block of vacant rural land.
Sure, there were some awful moments too. Putting down our beautiful Jinx because of cancer. Splitting a tooth down the middle on a small piece of bone in some salami. Jin had a terrifying health scare, fortunately all came out OK. I’m sure there are more that I’ve forgotten.
As always I’m super grateful for our apartment, friends and loved ones, both of us working jobs we love and earning enough to pay all the bills and have comfortable lives.
NYE 2023
I’m working this year. Two NYE 2023 gigs.
Firstly an early Trivia at Club Parramatta. 6-8.30pm. It will be quiet, calm and hopefully quite a few of the regulars will come be a part of the fun.
Then I’ll jump in the car and head to town. From 10pm-1am I’ll be hostessing a rooftop party for a group of about 50 A List LGBTQI and allies. A couple of numbers, some hostessing and mingling. The apartment is a 3 story penthouse with 360 degree views of the Harbour and city. We will be right in the middle of the fireworks at midnight. It might be the best job in Sydney for NYE 2023 and I’m really grateful to be their chosen host when they could literally afford anyone from the entertainment industry.
2022 Perfume Loves
It’s been an interesting year perfume wise. While I have shopped and there are new things in my collection not many of them are new releases.
Amouage Beloved Woman
Bottega Veneta Pour Homme
CHANEL Paris-Paris
Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Nerolia Vetiver
Guerlain Shalimar Millésime Tonka
Gucci Tears of Iris
Jacques Fath Lilas Exquis
Le Galion Vetyver (2021 remix)
Montale Acqua Palma
Neela Vermeire Creations Fragments Trio
Nicolai Musc Intense
Obvious Une Verveine
Tom Ford Noir de Noir
There are a small number I wanted to buy but restrained myself due to lack of funding
CHANEL Sycomore Parfum
Memo Iberian Leather
I refound some oldies in my wardrobe that got lots of love
Boucheron Jaipur Pour Homme
CHANEL Coco
L’Artisan Skin on Skin
Le Galion Eau Noble
Nicolai Eau Soleil
Serge Lutens Santal Majuscule and Bas de Soie
There are more of all categories but these are the stand outs at the top of my mind
What about you? Some loves in 2022 old, new, didn’t buy? What are your NYE plans?
Portia xx
Happy New Year everyone! I will be enjoying a quiet evening at home with my husband, with rib roast and some champagne. This year had its challenges but I still feel incredibly blessed. New scents include the original Farina Eau de Cologne and a lemon based 4711 flanker (bought in Cologne during the happier portion of our cut – short – by – Covid dream river cruise). I’ve also enjoyed discovering the house of Sana Jardin – a roller ball and bottle of Sandalwood Temple are now mine, as is a roller ball of Tiger By Her Side, both new favorites. I also managed a larger decant of Rosendo Mateu’s No. 6, which I love. Emergency dental work (implants) for both the hubs and me will keep us in a strict budget for a good while in 2023, but I have a lovely collection to draw from so I won’t complain. Much. ?
Hey MaggieCat,
Those implant bills add up, don’t they? Good luck with them.
Tiger By her Side is such a beautiful name for a fragrance.
Portia xx
It is, and an amazing fragrance as well. I’m wearing it now – I had to get up early for church after a largely sleepless night (sciatica and a pup with the runs combined) and needed something to inspire me!
Happy New Year, Portia! Your posts bring me such joy. Wishing you a great 2023! This year I was delighted to discover a number of female perfumers indie lines: Mlle Créme, Mlle Poudre, Capsule Parfums Squad, and Parallax Olfactory Nimbus by Linda Sivrican’s CapsuleParfumerie; 4160Tuesdays Centrepiece and Hammersmith Tea and Biscuits by Sarah McCartney; Isabelle Larignon’s Le Flocon de Johann K and Milky Dragon; and multiple delights from Scent Trunk, for which Yosh Han is the creative director. ??
Thank you Sue. That’s a lovely thing to leave 2022 with.
WOW! What a ,inept of female Indies. How lucky we are to have so much choice and that women are feeling so much agency to create. Enjoy every waft.
Portia xx
My NYE plans are staying in and watching festivities on TV. Most festivities are pretty pricey in LA, I don’t drink, and it’s going to be Pi$$ing rain. So it will be me, Alfred Hitchcock, and chamomile tea.
Tom! That sounds heavenly.
I love you so much buddy.
Have a fulfilling 2023.
HUG
Portia xx
Wishing you and all the Posse readers a joyful and healthy New Year!
I’m so sorry for your loss. I didn’t know that Jinx and Jin were ill, and that you had helped Jinx transition. A true act of unselfish love to let them go. Glad to hear Jin is okay.
Congratulations on your NYE’s hosting job, you will be fabulous! Quiet NYE here and no chance that I’ll be awake at midnight. 2022 was a difficult year for me and I look forward to a better 2023. Still many blessings to count.
I didn’t buy much this year; however, I enjoyed some oldies including Shalimar, Champs Elysees, Hypnotic Poison, Amouage Gold, Chanel Coco, and No 5. xoxo
Thanks Kathleen,
Enjoy your quiet NYE and I’m wishing a 2023 for you with shitloads of easy, comfortable living and a lot less of the other.
Now those are some sensational perfumes to spritz the blues away.
HUG
Portia xx
Your new year plans sound lovely. Enjoy! I am looking forward to 2023. Again, wishing everyone a wonderful new year.
Hey Maya! Always lovely to see you.
Good, I’m glad you are looking forward. Fill 2023 chock full of stuff you love.
Portia xx
Wow, Portia, both your NYE gigs sound marvelous! So glad for you! We will do our usual thing: stay home, watch movies, eat snacks, and drink champagne. This year I bought full-sized back-up bottles of two summer favorites which are getting worryingly harder to find: Dior Escale a Portofino and Chanel Cristalle eau Verte. I found a coffret of Hermes minis at a local discount store and snatched that up: Eau de Merveilles, Twilly, Eau de Rhubarbe Eclate edc, and Un Jardin Sur Le Nil. Also a fb of Burberry Brit Rhythm for Her, a cozy lavender. Was gifted Malle Synthetic Jungle, Elie Saab Le Parfum edp, Good Chemistry sample set, and Kabeah sample set. Sampled Gucci Tears of Iris (gorgeous), Miller Harris Violet Ida (pretty), Imaginary Authors The Soft Lawn (loved it), Regimes des Fleurs Little Flower (another love). Plus more, but I blather on…
Hey DinaC,
VERY excited about NYE.
Yeah, those beautiful, easy wear DIORs have gone the way of the dodo. Lucky find.
You and I have very similar scent loves. So many that you mention are in my collection. When you come to Sydney we need to spend a day in the collection. There would be a LOT of taste crossover I think.
Portia xx
I’ve often noticed how simpatico our scent tastes are, Portia! Have a great time ringing in the new year!
You too DinaC. XX
Oh, what a fun post! That all sounds lovely for New Year’s Eve. Yes, in hindsight, it’s ups and downs isn’t it? I try to focus on the ups and have gratitude … a bit melancholy right now having not seen my kids at Christmas (the first time we’ve been apart) but I’m home safe and sound with little to complain about. I wish you all the very best in 2023, honey.
Thank you,
Yeah, I’m super excited about the gigs. Working NYE is my favourite.
The nest emptying all at once and you moving house is a big deal, of course you’re a little melancholy. Wallow. It will make the other side so much brighter.
Returning your good wishes March, fill 2023 with good shit so you hardly notice the other.
Portia xx
Low key NYE here, will be with friends on Friday night but probably at home on Saturday. Most likely watching football, it’s the semifinals for the national championship and my men are huge fans. I didn’t buy much this year – some discovery sets and travel sprays, a couple of small 4160 Tuesdays when a box was coming to the US, a used Nishane Ani and Ormonde Jayne Ishfarkand off FB, replaced my Tauerville Vanilla Flash rollerball with a bottle. More than usual, I guess, after a couple of years of no- and low-buying. Happy New Year to all!
Enjoy whatever it is that comes over the days MMKinPA.
That sounds like a very nice amount of perfume for low buy times, excellent choices too.
Portia xx
A friend of mine is visiting Sidney at the moment and she’s posting many pictures of the city all the time so I will be watching you, Portia 😀 Your plan sounds like a lot of fun. Enjoy it and forget the bad stuff from this year.
I will spend the New Year’s eve/afternoon in the city center meeting people there and then go home before midnight to reset and spend some quiet time with my thoughts.
In 2022 I tried to keep it calm with new perfumes. I’ve discovered one or two new perfumes which I will add to my collection soon – FO’AH No 11 and Iris Perle from Les Indemodables.
I’ve bought some used bottles of ELDO Afternoon of a Faun, SL L’Orpheline, Bois Plume by Esteban, which I will finish during our winter season. Then there is one FB of vintage YSL Paris, which is a backup, and I finally bought a bottle of Galop d’Hermes which was on my wish list for years.
Wishing all the Posse crew and the members a new year filled with wonderful and amazing people, events, emotions, smells!
WOW Neva, hope your friend loves Sydney. If she needs a buddy in the new year to take her to a couple of Sydney specific attractions I’m sure we can find a way.
You sound like you have an excellent NYE plan. enjoy it.
That is a very cool kid lineup of fragrances. You are and will be smelling fabulous into 2023.
Portia xx
Got a quiet evening at home planned for NYE. Somehow I missed the news about Jinx, I’m so sorry to hear that.
Perfumes I loved and bought this year were YSL Babycat, Matière Prémière Encens Suave and Scents of Wood Sandalwood in Oak. Also managed to replenish Guerlain Le Bouquet de la Mariée and Gourmand Coquin with bee bottles from Paris courtesy of a kind mule.
This will be a year of new beginning for me and I am convinced it will be a good one.
Thanks TaraC,
Encens Suave is GORGEOUS! and very jealous of your new Guerlain bees.
Change is so uncomfortable for me but once I’m out the other side it’s almost always for the better. I’m known to hold off on change long past whatever it is has reached its use by date. Quite often the overriding feeling at the end is relief. Hopefully this all works out swimmingly for you.
Portia xx
Wishing all our Posse family a happy and Healthy 2023. XXXX
Thanks Matty,
Back atcha.
Portia xx
That sounds like a great way to ring in next year. Ours will be quiet. Still have this evil lurgy — and the dog ended up at the emergency vet (all ok now) so quiet time is needed. This year … well, re-found Theo Fennell Scent in the box which was very pleasing. Enjoying Shalimar perfume and Lush Turmeric Latte (very seasonal). Planning on trying Kilian Dark Lord on skin asap and will look for the Gucci special line.
Enjoy the quiet Cinnamon,
I am very excited to hear how your Dark Lord skin adventure goes.
Portia xx
Your plans sound fabulous!
For obvious reasons we have no particular NYE plans. DH is now coming down off the post chemo steroids & catching up on his sleep. Come Monday he will be feeling much more chipper.
I’ve got post head cold sinusitis & vertigo, deep feckin joy!!! Can’t get through to the Drs on the phone either.
My good smelling things from this year are Shalimar Millisime Tonka, Papillon Hera, JLo’s One & 4160’s Aunt Pera’s Adventurous Past. Still haven’t pulled the trigger on Hera but have a replacement tester to keep me going until I bite the £260/Aus$465/US$313/€295. At least this is a true extrait & not Liz’s usual price.
My “Dammit stop saving it for best” wardrobe scents have been, BV Eau de Velours, Shalimar Millisime Vanilla, Idle by Romilly Wilde & NorthBurn Velvet Oud.
Gotta go keep calling the Drs. I’ve managed a call a minute since 8am
Wishing all the Posse & readers a Happy, Healthy & Peaceful 2023.
Ack, I hope you get through to surgery. Whatever I have has lodged itself in chest which is now whistling. Have GP call booked for this afternoon. I think I live in one of the few places where there’s a chance of getting through on phone reasonably easily during holiday season — plus we have a walk in centre that’s open during hols.
Good luck with the medical Alityke,
OOH! What does JLo’s One smell like?
So sad I missed out on a bottle of Eau de Velours, it was good.
Hug
Portia xx