diff --git a/IPython/config/application.py b/IPython/config/application.py
index d32a256..2fe90c0 100644
--- a/IPython/config/application.py
+++ b/IPython/config/application.py
@@ -145,6 +145,9 @@ class Application(SingletonConfigurable):
 
     # The version string of this application.
     version = Unicode(u'0.0')
+    
+    # the argv used to initialize the application
+    argv = List(Unicode)
 
     # The log level for the application
     log_level = Enum((0,10,20,30,40,50,'DEBUG','INFO','WARN','ERROR','CRITICAL'),
@@ -457,6 +460,7 @@ class Application(SingletonConfigurable):
     def parse_command_line(self, argv=None):
         """Parse the command line arguments."""
         argv = sys.argv[1:] if argv is None else argv
+        self.argv = list(argv)
         
         if argv and argv[0] == 'help':
             # turn `ipython help notebook` into `ipython notebook -h`
diff --git a/IPython/core/application.py b/IPython/core/application.py
index f2c0c22..cc1ff9d 100644
--- a/IPython/core/application.py
+++ b/IPython/core/application.py
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ from IPython.utils.traitlets import List, Unicode, Type, Bool, Dict, Set, Instan
 # aliases and flags
 
 base_aliases = {
+    'profile-dir' : 'ProfileDir.location',
     'profile' : 'BaseIPythonApplication.profile',
     'ipython-dir' : 'BaseIPythonApplication.ipython_dir',
     'log-level' : 'Application.log_level',
diff --git a/IPython/html/notebookapp.py b/IPython/html/notebookapp.py
index 08b4f58..efe5313 100644
--- a/IPython/html/notebookapp.py
+++ b/IPython/html/notebookapp.py
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ aliases.update({
 aliases.pop('f', None)
 
 notebook_aliases = [u'port', u'port-retries', u'ip', u'keyfile', u'certfile',
-                    u'notebook-dir']
+                    u'notebook-dir', u'profile', u'profile-dir']
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # NotebookApp
@@ -471,17 +471,10 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
         help=("Whether to trust or not X-Scheme/X-Forwarded-Proto and X-Real-Ip/X-Forwarded-For headers"
               "sent by the upstream reverse proxy. Neccesary if the proxy handles SSL")
     )
-
+    
     def parse_command_line(self, argv=None):
         super(NotebookApp, self).parse_command_line(argv)
-        if argv is None:
-            argv = sys.argv[1:]
-
-        # Scrub frontend-specific flags
-        self.kernel_argv = swallow_argv(argv, notebook_aliases, notebook_flags)
-        # Kernel should inherit default config file from frontend
-        self.kernel_argv.append("--IPKernelApp.parent_appname='%s'" % self.name)
-
+        
         if self.extra_args:
             f = os.path.abspath(self.extra_args[0])
             if os.path.isdir(f):
@@ -491,6 +484,15 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
                 nbdir = os.path.dirname(f)
             self.config.NotebookManager.notebook_dir = nbdir
 
+    def init_kernel_argv(self):
+        """construct the kernel arguments"""
+        # Scrub frontend-specific flags
+        self.kernel_argv = swallow_argv(self.argv, notebook_aliases, notebook_flags)
+        # Kernel should inherit default config file from frontend
+        self.kernel_argv.append("--IPKernelApp.parent_appname='%s'" % self.name)
+        # Kernel should get *absolute* path to profile directory
+        self.kernel_argv.extend(["--profile-dir", self.profile_dir.location])
+
     def init_configurables(self):
         # force Session default to be secure
         default_secure(self.config)
@@ -657,6 +659,7 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
     def initialize(self, argv=None):
         self.init_logging()
         super(NotebookApp, self).initialize(argv)
+        self.init_kernel_argv()
         self.init_configurables()
         self.init_components()
         self.init_webapp()
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py b/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py
index 2f2033a..62346cd 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py
@@ -71,7 +71,6 @@ class ParallelCrashHandler(CrashHandler):
 base_aliases = {}
 base_aliases.update(base_ip_aliases)
 base_aliases.update({
-    'profile-dir' : 'ProfileDir.location',
     'work-dir' : 'BaseParallelApplication.work_dir',
     'log-to-file' : 'BaseParallelApplication.log_to_file',
     'clean-logs' : 'BaseParallelApplication.clean_logs',