We'll be back on Sunday. Sorry, make that Monday — we're still recovering. See you tomorrow!
Note: image is christmas cactus by anee.baba at flickr; some rights reserved.
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And to you, honey. I hope you’re all ready and wishing you the best for 2010.
March, we are ready except for the one present I bought early on and now can’t find, LOL…it’s always something! But that will work out one way or another. Hope your Christmas is perfect!
I got a present in March one year that way! Took the CEO cleaning just the right closet to find it!
Mom was famous for that. She’d be rummaging through a closet or chest of drawer in February or March and find a Christmas present she’d put there in September so we wouldn’t find it. Her personal best was the year she was spring cleaning some dark corner of the basement and found the bike she’d bought for my little brother’s Christmas present. Thanks for reminding me of those happy and funny memories.
May all of you at NST have warm and wonderful memories of this holiday season!
LOL — excellent, losing a whole bike! I am still working on it but I’ll be up to that one day.
Happy, relaxed holidays to you.
Beautiful image, btw. Mine’s just been repotted and won’t bloom for years yet. The scent reminds me of Nu.
And the same to you, L!
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and have a safe and joyous weekend, everyone!
If I’m lucky, I’ll do a bit of sniffing in NYC this weekend.
Have fun, Joe! I will say a special Christmas prayer for your credit card, hee hee hee.
Oh, I should hope so!! Joining the prayers for your credit cards 🙂
Have fun, and give us a full report!
Oooh, how nice! My daughter just informed me that she will be spending the summer in Paris. I’m trying to improve her taste in perfume, so maybe she will be a perfumista in her own right by the time she gets there. We should start compiling a shopping list for her now!
That could be a Monday or Thursday “thread”.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
ohmigosh….it’s only been 2 minutes and I think I’m having NST withdrawal already!!! hmmmm maybe we should all turn this into an open thread……Robin won’t know….she’s already into the fruitcake and spiked punch….. 😉
Lots of best wishes to you and all the community, whom I have come to love in my short acquaintance. Merry days and happy sniffing to you all, and may Santa bring lots of gorgeous bottles to us, one and all.
You go, Daisy! My present to self arrived this AM…SL Gris Clair! (at a discount.) We’ll see what Santa brings (31 Rue Cambon if he’s been paying attention).
Have just mixed up the sangria base for tonight which should make all very merry indeed..heh heh…
At a discount?!?! You need to share your source with me, Suzanne!!
Could it have been the Parfum1 sale?
Or maybe Amazon? I kid you not. They actually have some SL stuff discounted too…
hey, finally saw your msg…yes, it was Parfum 1. I read about it here actually; somebody posted they have SL online now.
Wow–I’ve seen other SL there, but never lucked out on Gris Clair. Dang.
Suzanne, I’m crossing my fingers in hopes that you left Santa enough hints in the months prior to Christmas!!! And that he knows what’s good for him and did the appropriate shopping!
Mmmmm all around, Suzanne! I make a sangria base that starts with a cinnamon infused sugar syrup and you have to start at least 24 hours ahead of time. Maybe we need to swap recipes. This being San Antonio, we celebrate with tamales and beer. And bunuelos!
ooh! me too! Sounds delish!
Ooooh! Could you share your sangria recipe with me? I’m looking for a good one! Merry Christmas!
There is a drink called aguas frescas that is very popular down here. It is basically a fresh fruit-ade made with lemon, lime, mango, melon, etc. The sangria I make is sort of like an agua fresca made with wine, and emphasizes fresh fruit. It is perfect if you are lucky enough to get oranges and grapefruit for Christmas! You will need:
3/4c. water
1/2 c. superfine (castor) sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
juice of 2 oranges
juice of 2 limes
juice of 1 Ruby Red grapefruit
12-14 orange slices, and additional fruit to serve such as cherries, apple pieces, melon, etc.
One 750ml. bottle of dry red or white wine (I know)
Combine water, sugar, and cinnamon sticks in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool for at least 30 minutes. I like to pour it into a glass quart jar and refrigerate overnight.
When you are ready to serve, take it out of the fridge while you juice the citrus fruits (fresh really is important, but if you don’t have access where you live, try to get orange and grapefruit juices that are “fresh squeezed” and still kind of pulpy – also use real lime juice, not something like Rosie’s lime syrup). You will get more juice if the fruit is at room temperature and if you roll it between your palm and counter top.
Remove the cinnamon sticks and combine all ingredients, including wine and orange slices in a pitcher. You can add the other fruits with the orange slices, or thread them on skewers and garnish each glass with a fruit kebab when serving. Partially thawed flash-frozen fruits make this a snap. I cannot tolerate red wine (migraine), so I make it with chilled white wine. It is nice and refreshing, esp. in the summertime.
mmmmm thank you!!
Sounds delicious! Thank you!
That sounds incredible! I’ll have to try that, Julia. I got my recipe from a website and it was actually too strong, even though I cut the rum back by a cup. Oy, those reindeer hooves made my head POUND!
and yes…Santa brought Chanel Rue Cambon! What a guy! Hope all had a nice holiday!
I’m so glad you got the 31 Rue Cambon! Good Santa. There are so many recipes for sangria that include hard stuff like brandy and rum. We usually don’t have any around except for the odd bottle of whiskey or gin now and then. Simple syrup without the cinnamon is great to have on hand for things like whiskey sours and sloe gin fizzes.My sangria is just a refreshing wine drink. I forgot to mention that you can add the fresh juices to the cinnamon syrup and store for a few days until ready to use. Just add your choice of wine and fresh fruit to serve. I so like the cut fruits to marinate in the wine mixture at least half and hour or so.
LOL…I’m fatter already, that’s for sure.
🙂
Great idea, Daisy! Whatdaya wanna talk about?
LOL , I’m sure we’ll think of something after presents are opened and feasting is done…..
Yes, wishing you all a joyful and fragrant celebration!
And to you!
Happy holidays, all!
🙂
Happy holidays to you, Robin and everyone, and may they be perfect, include a few little perfumista/o pressies under the tree and full of love and joy. We’re baking chocolate chip cookies for Santa and they smell fantastic. and work well with CSP Vanille Canelle. If I could box up the fragrance and send it along, I totally would. 🙂 Seasons greetings.
We will be baking chocolate chip cookies soon too….I do love that smell!
Merry Xmas for you Robin and for all the readers of this excellent blog =)
Have you guys already decided which fragrance are you going to use tonight? I was going to use ambre narguile, but here in Brazil the weather is hot today, I’ll have to choose another one =/
Oh, I’m so jealous of your weather!!
I’ve been wearing Theorema quite a bit this week and might just stick with that, but haven’t decided.
Rick – I just received a package of samples and one – Carthusia Mediterraneo would be perfect for hot weather. Very crisp with a lime edge. I’m definitely going to need a decant come spring.
Oh hooray, I’m so glad you love it! I fully expected to and was so disappointed when it went Lysol on me.
And I heartily apologize for not emailing you to let you know the package arrived. Our family Christmas is today, so I’ve been busy with the preparations. But yes dear evil scent (opposite sounds better!) twin, it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for for the hot, humid Ky. summer days when I almost don’t feel like wearing any perfume at all. Thanks!
Oh, I think the holidays earn you a free pass on that. I didn’t even expect it to get there until after the holidays. 😀
I’m an odd duck and actually love the snow and cold. Tonight I think I’m wearing Sweet Oriental Dream to bed. It’s got that honeyed magic that always sends me off into sweet dreams.
Tonight, Messe de Minuit, for sure! Not sure about tomorrow yet, we’ll see what the morning brings. (Not expecting a new frag, just meant mood-wise.) Quite possibly the same, though, or one of the samples Santa will leave in my stocking (or my husband’s…heehee).
I have Czech & Speake Cuba on tonight
Great Choice! I love Cuba! I know you smell wonderful!
what doesn’t smell wonderful is the pot with the turkey neck in it boiling dry… yeeeuck! smoke everywhere!
Oh Noooooo!
Feliz Natal, Ric…
I stole a bit of my grandmother’s Shalimar EdT this afternoon to finish off some last-minute shopping (… must confess I still haven’t fallen for it). Now, I just spritzed a tiny bit Serge Noire and am watching “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
I think I’ll wear Noir Epices for Christmas dinner tomorrow, but my splurge gift to myself today was a nice bottle of 2004 Pommard to enjoy with the supper.
Nice choices, Joe. I’m a Shalimar evangelist, so please let me send you some extrait. I’ve got current and vintage and would really like you to try it. Julia941 @ MUA
So nice of you, Julia. I’ll drop you a note. It’s true… “perfumistas” are the nicest bunch. I do have a sample of EDP, I think, and I need to pull that out again, but I’ve been curious about how the extrait is. I have a feeling it might take a little time to develop an appreciation for The Shalimar, as is true for many classic Guerlains (I still haven’t seen the wonder of Vol de Nuit either, even though I do have an extrait sample and think it’s “very nice”).
I’m not kidding. I really want to send you some vintage and current extraits. I only have VdN in parfum strength, which you already have, so I can’t help with that. I’m still learning with VdN and Mitsouko. Jicky grabbed me instantly, Shalimar quickly became my HGP, and lately I’ve really started to appreciate L’HB. I’m deeply in love with Jackie Kennedy and really want to love Joy, reported to be one of her favourites. Still trying….
What a nice question! I also live in a warm climate, and I put on some Muguet Blanc this morning. I do like it’s crisp, bright, white muguet goodness. I wore Orchidee Vanille last night while we were out delivering presents to our neighbours who celebrate Christmas. Nice, non-foody vanilla goodness, but not one to compete with the smells of Christmas. I later switched to Eau de Merveilles because I needed the nice salty orange to cut the sweetness a little bit – and to celebrate that I finally found a citrus I like! What is everyone else choosing for celebrations this season?
Yesterday was Feminite de Bois. Last night I went out into the gently falling snow to attend a Xmas service with the kiddies and wore Ormonde Woman which was like a warm Christmas hug. Today I’ll be wearing Chaos which my sweet dog Layla bought for me. For Boxing Day, I’m thinking Bois des Iles.
Eager to hear what others found under the tree…
What a good dog! I hope she gets an extra slice of christmas ham or turkey…
A good dog indeed. When she bought the perfume, she scored a free full sized Cashmere Mist body cream and Donna Karan’s Jasmine oil! We’re both very excited. Although I didn’t think I loved Cashmere Mist, the cream is really rich and lovely and layers well with the Chaos.
I’ve promised her some turkey and – as a special prize for being such an excellent perfumista assistant – the giblets!
Best wishes to you, Daisy. Hope Santa was good to you.
Layla is a great shopper too! Clearly she has a “nose” for a deal!
Ouch, Daisy. 😉 Turkey and organ meats are always welcome, just be careful with the ham because it can be fatally fatty to the canine liver.
Really? ham is bad for dogs? ok–no ham for doggies!
I used to have a dalmation who LOVED ham…of course she’d just get a little bit because she was such a mooch. The lab we have now is so fat that she’s not supposed to have any human food at all….although I did catch the CEO slipping her a taste of chicken on Christmas day—I pretended not to notice.
Oh, dogs are so generous! Mine bought me a bottle of Baldessarini Strictly Private and even allowed me to open it days before Christmas Eve.
The Eve of the Eve – I’ve celebrated that for years! 🙂
ohhhh, i need a dog like that….which breed? favourite scent? frolic?
What a good girl! My sweetie Hanna has excellent taste in perfumes, too. She is also extremely generous – Newfies just want to make us happy! My chows were more reserved, but Crazy Pete the deaf cat often gives me a gift for his birthday. He is very generous and will be fourteen in March.
Merry Christmas NST!!! This blog brings me joy every day I read it so I wish everyone here the best of joy for the season!
How nice, thanks! Hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all of you! O:-) And of course happy holidays. Thank you for let me sharing in the blog.
Thank you!
Merry Christmas to you and your family, dear friend!
Your blog and your friendship have brought me nothing but happiness through the past years.
Hugs and love!
R, I hope you are all having a wonderful day and that Santa brought everyone just what they wanted! Hug to you.
And happy hols to you to, R! Wishing you a peaceful and joyous time.
I’m wearing Nuit de Noel and getting dressed up/down to go and see my son’s Christmas Eve gig. Where I’ll try not to worry about all the potatoes I still have to peel, whether I need more than one onion for the bread sauce, and how I’m going to get the dining room cleared to set the table. All will work out, I’m sure!
Oh, hope you were not up too late getting everything ready! You’ll smell wonderful either way…
Happy Holidays everyone-here’s to a happy and healthy new year.
Robin, thanks for al the great reviews and giggles, your blog is something I look forward to every day, even if I don’t post.
I’m so glad, thanks!
Happy holidays to you Robin and the rest of your talented gang of reviewers here at NST. And a special wish for joy and blessings to all of my friends who comment here. You all have added a lot of light and laughter to my life this past year – thank you!
I do think we have the nicest group of readers on the web!
I totally agree, and as proof – you have over 150 responses to a simple announcement of NON-posting! LOL!! Best group in the world! 😀
LOL…it’s true, people will not be denied a poll!
All the best to you Robin and the rest of the NST contributors and participants. This place had been my best online gift of 2009 🙂
So glad, thanks! Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday.
Adding my best warm wishes to everyone here! This place and you all are simply wonderful. And Robin, a special thank you to you – this blog is the best. Oh, and I received an early present from hubby on this Christmas eve. A bottle of Joy eau de parfum. I only had a tiny bottle of vintage, so it will be nice to spray this one with abandon. 😉
You said it so well, I’ll just say hear, hear! 🙂 No Joy for me, but I opened a gift from my ILs tonight… a nice paperback copy of PTG, so I can read that at long last. 🙂
oooo the new one—-fun!!!
Oh – good for you Boo – enjoy! It’s such a great read, I refer to it often. I got the updated version for myself about a month ago and sent my original to my mom.
I love this book – a copy of it lives in my knitting bag. Makes it a little heavier, but it is always on hand for quick references and it is convenient to add your own notes when you are sniffing and trying out a new perfume. Your mom can read and download Luca Turin’s quarterly updates, which comprise part of the added content to the paperback. I think there is a link to those in Mauricio’s review of it.
Hi Julia. If only I could convince my mom of the wonders of the internet – she’s sort of anti-computer and is very stubborn about it!
Your hubby is sweet!!! It is a good man who recognizes the need for early perfume presents….(assuming that you didn’t have to threaten him or anything) 😉
tonight I’m testing out TokyoMilk Dead Sexy….I don’t know about sexy, but it smells kind of like milk and wood so far….maybe anise seed? Tomorrow—no fragrance until I open my presents! ( since I know there’s a bottle waiting for me under the tree!)
Oh, I know you have awesome perfume goodies waiting to be opened! Enjoy! 😉
I think we should all go to Daisy’s for Christmas dinner and to sample all of her great presents! 😀
What a fabulous idea. 😉
well, in that case I’m awfully glad I made extra pies! (and made sure that mrs. Santa ordered the bigger bottles!) J got a bottle of SSS Egyptian Musk in her stocking so she’s already swanning around smelling great (but still in jammies and fuzzy slippers) —-I can’t face the under the tree business until I’ve had coffee…. 😉
Pie?!? I love pie! What kind?
D, I don’t think it even matters what kind of pies… she has perfume! (But I’ll bet her pies are good too.)
Pies , cookies, cakes…..I’m a baker….never ask me cook a roast or some fancy cut of meat = DOOM. But if it’s a baked confection guaranteed to slap the pounds directly on your hips—then I’m your girl!
Great present, congrats!
Huge pfefferneuse- and stollen-scented holiday best wishes to you, Robin, to the NST gang, and my motley crew of fellow commenters! SOTD: Theorema this morning, Incense Rose tonight. I was itching to grab the Bandit (my traditional f-you scent — yes, my family is already driving me insane), but I’m trying to be a good girl, Santa… 🙂
I couldn’t even find pfeffers this year!! grrrr!
They’re not hard to make — need a recipe?
yes, please (pretending to be Bunny)
😀
I like this particular brand with a super crunchy white frosting lol I always buy them but I’m always up for a recipe!
I couldn’t find my Anthon Berg liqueurs either! …there’s no words for that rage lol
I need to dig it back out of my mother’s old recipe file, but it will be forthcoming!
LOL — if your family drives you crazy, this seems the time of year when they do it best, no?? Hope you made it through w/o the Bandit 😉
Happy holidays all!!
And to you 🙂
merry Christmas dear Robin et al, thank you so much for this blog and for the 40+samples ordered based on your learned reviews and comments 🙂
Oh, hope some of those 40+ were winners!! A Merry Christmas to you as well.
Warmest wishes to you all!Feliz Navidad!
Lorena.
L, hope your day is going perfectly!
Happy holidays all! Over here we celebrate differently, we have the big dinner&presents under the tree on Xmas Eve (the 24th). That was yesterday evening, so I’ve already received that craved bottle of A la Nuit. I hope you all find tons of scented presents in your stockings that’ll make you just as happy!
We have our dinner on Xmas Eve too, so today is mostly for relaxing. Huge congrats on your A La Nuit, what a wonderful present!
Merry Christmas to all my new perfume friends! I’m still new to perfumes and this blog, but I’m a quick study and with all of your help I’ve developed a pretty nice collection since stumbling across you last Spring. I hope Santa brought everybody a 100ml. bottle of whatever they have been wishing for – and I hope everybody checks in over the weekend and tells us what they found under the tree! No tree here, but I did get a bottle of Vol de Nuit extrait, and a very nice early birthday gift of a shopping spree at N-M. I just can’t pay their prices for clothes, but perfumes are another story, and I had no idea how much I needed VCA Bois d’Iris and a few others from the collection. Irresistible. I’m feeling very generous with my new bounty, an embarrassment of riches really, that Miss Kitty knows all about from my unreasonably long email feeling guilty about being given so much this season (sorry!) I just made my first swap (again with the wonderful Miss K-V) and am eager to do it again. Oooh – a post Christmas swap! Think about it….
Merry Christmas again, to all who celebrate it, and best wishes to everyone.
Julia, congrats on your VdN, and the shopping spree — both wonderful presents!! And welcome to swapping, that’s a gift in itself.
oooooo Vol de Nuit extrait AND VC&A Bois d’Iris…..you have been a either a VERY VERY GOOD girl this year ….or a very very NAUGHTY girl (because sometimes Santa likes that)
I found VC&A Bois d’Iris under my tree…..sneaky CEO put it wayyyyy in the back , little did he know I was perfectly willing to hold PIES hostage as bargaining chips….I know, I’m quite ruthless at times!
Santa Baby, slip a Lutens under the tree for me
Been an awful good girl
Santa Baby, hurry down the chimney tonight
A VC&A Extraordinaire too – no Light Blue!
Santa Baby, fill my stocking with some Chanel
Teo Cabanel
Belle en Rykiel…
Forgot to mention the Shalimar Light
Santa Baby, hurry down the chimney tonight!
That’s awesome Mals! I could hear Eartha purring those lyrics. So cute.
LOL !!! perfect!!!
are you wearing your Alahine right now?? bet you are!
You KNOW I am.
Mals – That’s classic! We need to remember to pull that out every Christmas!
I somehow missed Robin’s review of Bois d’Iris, and sort of stumbled blindly upon it just as I was getting kind of discouraged. I picked out a couple of things and the SA gave me a little coffret with all six of the VC&A fragrances. I tested them out that night and went back first thing Christmas Eve because I could not wait another day to have it. It is so beautiful!
Probably some of both! Love the Perfumista’s “Santa baby” – we’ll have to get a band together and record it. Maybe it will become an annual hit people look forward to it as much as I do Bruce Springsteen belting out “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” We can use the royalties to buy giant bottles for holiday decants!
Lucky you! Congrats! VdN is probably my holy grail. It’s perfect.
Thank you! This is my first FB of Vol de Nuit anything (the extrait) – I’ve never tried it in any other strength. I’ve been using a large sample from a set of Guerlain classic extraits. I have all of them now, except for the extrait of Apres L’Ondee which was included in the sample set. That is really perfection lost – I love my bottle of EdT, but Guerlain really should stop their foolishness and get to work re-issuing some of the most beautiful things they have in their catalogue like Apres L’Ondee extrait! Ahem. Sorry. I know they are re-issuing and giving wider release to some perfumes (I just bought a big bottle of Vetiver pour Elle unsniffed), but so many of these are re-releases of relatively recent perfumes (Mouchoir de Monsieur and a few others excepted), and they are already discontinuing some of the good ones like Attrape-Coeur. I love Guerlain, but they seem to be doing everything they can to piss me off right now as a devotee of the house and as a current consumer who is interested in new perfumes by talented noses, new and old. Seems like the house of Guerlain should be capable of doing so without gimmicks like nine litre urns, outrageously average and expensive limited editions in cutesy bottles with cutesy names, and embarrassingly purple prose “charnel” elixirs. Le sigh….
Anyway, Vol de Nuit is completely Holy Grail material and the bottle is art deco perfection.
Oh boy, Julia, do I ever agree with everything you’ve said! I’ve been a huge Guerlain fan for more years than I care to admit to, and it’s a shame how LVMH is running the show. I posted on here about a week ago that I won an auction for a bottle of vintage Samsara and then regretted it as I didn’t even particularly like my sample of it. Just the frenzy of bidding and it going cheap. Well, when it came, I was blown away by the difference between it and my sample (which I don’t think was brand new as it came from TPC and most of their Guerlain is a bit older). It is a very beautiful jasmine/sandalwood scent. I also have a decant of 180 Ans, the scent that was given as a gift to guests at Guerlain’s 180th birthday party in Paris. It is glorious, but was never sold. Probably too expensive to produce for the masses, but as you said, they have no problem selling gigantic sizes of juice for obscene amounts of money so why couldn’t they sell this high quality juice for enough to satisfy their bean counters and yet keep the class and quality in the name Guerlain? Sigh….
Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you Robin for such a fun Blog and helping me learn so much about perfume!
I bought my boyfriend Vega for Christmas, but he won’t open it! He says it’s too pretty! And I was wanting to put some on! Darn it! Oh well….I’ll wear Iris Ganache today instead.
Happy eating everyone!
Oh, and it is pretty! But hope he’s opened it by now.
Merry Xmas, Happy Holidays & a very best wishes for a happy smelly New Year to everyone and all my fragrance friends!!
Today I’m wearing super wonderful vintage No 5 parfum my husband got me for Xmas… I hope everyone gets a wonderful fragrance to celebrate this year!
Thanks Robin and all the NSTers who make this blog such a joy to visit every day! Here’s to 356 days of wonderful and informative posts in 2010!
Great present Ann! Enjoy. My cats gave me Chanel as well…. Cuir de Russie though.
Oh, how sweet that he tracked down vintage for you!!
Happy holidays every one! I’m hoping for a great new year for everyone!
Sitting here smelling of silly Demeter eggnog fragrance and relaxing. I hope you all are surrounded by wonderful winter smells.
Oh, but that really is a great fragrance, even if it’s silly.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone! Love and samples to all of you.
I did get to open my coveted bottle of Alahine this morning… the CEO snagged a spritz of it too (I managed NOT to fall over in shock!) and said it smelled good. It did, too, even on him. I loooooove it.
Best wishes to all for love, peace and prosperity in your homes.
It is my fondest dream to have a perfumisto in my life. My husband does likes a couple of things and is pretty tolerant of me applying samples and sniffing him throughout the day while I take notes. I like men’s fragrances on me, especially Old Spice and the arguably masculine lavender vanilla fougere Jicky, but I generally prefer fougeres on men. I want someone who is a serious, knowledgeable, perfumisto. A male person who appreciates floral fragrances like Carnal Flower and experiments with muguet. I’m seriously considering knitting an SA I like the scarf he wants out of silk and cashmere so he will let me hang around and smell different things on him and learn more about really good masculines.
My husband’s generally uninterested in scent – he’s been living in Acqua di Gio. Which I like on him, but I’ve been trying to get him to branch out and wear some other things. Up to now, he’s refused to do that. I’ll bet he won’t try another spritz today.
Exactly the same here. He has been wearing my Feuilles de Tabac, but I don’t dare tell him I bought it for me because that makes it a “girl perfume.” Honestly, with no offense intended to anybody reading this, I need a new gay boyfriend. My last one, my best friend since college, got married a few years ago to a nice Jewish boy and moved away. We were very close and even worked side by side for years, but started drifting apart sometime after my son was born. I have pictures of him at my son’s bris, it is almost bar mitzvah time now, and I’ve only seen him a handful of times in between. Sad…. I could probably get him interested in expensive perfumes.
Congrats on your new bottle, and how nice that he tried it too!
Hope you’re all having a good time! 🙂
So far so good! And hope you are too 🙂
Merry Christmas to all the bloggers on NST and to all the people on NST that make it possible for us to blog…Robin, Angela, Kevin…and everyone else. And to Daisy for always making us laugh!
I only get a few generic presents at Christmas, and due to my 9+ months of deprivation from buying any perfumes (or anything else besides food, shelter and paying bills), and knowing Santa wasn’t going to come through, I treated myself to a few new scents that I was coveting…Havana Vanille, VCA Bois d’Iris and Chanel Coromandel. So I will hopefully have a very fragrant 2010!
Oh, you picked well! We don’t do many presents for the adults in my family, so I may have to treat myself to something smelly as well.
Robin,
We don’t do adult gifts either, so Christmas presents are pretty lean for me. That’s why I always try to treat myself to something–and it’s usually perfume. I hope you did the same. You deserve it!
I am plotting to do just that in January!
Can’t wait to hear what you chose!
Thanks for the lovely compliment ; I think providing someone with a chuckle once in a while is the best sort of thing ! 🙂
On to your wonderful smelling treats!! I know that the first part of the year was really difficult for you, and it makes me incredibly happy to hear that you have rewarded yourself this Christmas with 3 absolutely amazing fragrances! Good work girl! You deserve them!
so naturally: YOU SMELL DIVINE!!!!! 😀
Daisy, I am enjoying all three of my new frags. I wore the HV on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the VC&A BdI to a Holiday party last night and today I am wearing the Chanel Coromandel. Hope you enjoy the rest of the Holidays!
Awesome choices! A beautiful classic but current wardrobe for the New Year! Those three fragrances are perfect for jeans and a t-shirt, a suit, or lingerie – and IMHO any of the three for any occasion depending on your mood and how you feel like wearing it. Very nice job!
Julia,
You are so right!.
Happy Fragrant New Year!
woo! finally registered, as I have something to post my first comment about… my first ‘real’ perfume! Prada Infusion d’Iris…
effortlessly behaved and a good starting block.
Hello! Merry Christmas!
Hi and welcome, and congrats on your first real perfume! That Prada is one of my favorites.
Good choice! Prada Id’I was one of my first Iris scents and holds a special place in my perfumista heart. Have you tried Hermes Hiris? Another great iris. And then layer the two! Seriously, it is a great mix, allowing the best of both to shine. If you haven’t tried Hiris, drop me an email at Daisyloo82@gmail.com and I’ll send you some to sample.
YAY! Isn’t it wonderful? I loved entering the world of samples and decants and then deciding on my first FB of a “real” perfume! Luckily, I’ve found that you get to experience that feeling again as time goes on with new perfume discoveries. You do have to kiss some expensive frogs (hopefully as samples, but sometimes they follow you home before their froghood is discovered), but the joy of finding new perfect scents is totally worth it. I had my first swapping experience just before Christmas and it was a revelation. So glad you like the Infusion d’Iris! Definitely try a sample of VC&A Bois d’Iris if you like iris and woodsy scents.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
As the official Santa provider in my family, I got my husband Guerlain Pour Homme and son Hanae Mori, among other things (music amp, Ugg boots, XBox system, clothing… whew! Holidays are expensive!). I received a replacement bottle of V&R Flower Bomb and assorted tops and Gift cards and am trying to find a new frag… I had sent out a “Please Help Me Find a New Perfume” note to Robin and hopefully will get some input soon and will use my GC’s towards a new purchase!
Why don’t you apply to the Monday Mail? You’ll have a blog full of enablers to help you. 😀
Hooray! I wound up with a nice new frag after all, MH Fleurs de Bois. I’ll probably wear it tomorrow, but today was the lovely Amouage Lyric, just one light spritz. Yum.
Oh, yay for you Boojum! How is the MH Fleurs de Bois? I’ve only smelled one MH so far – the Figue Amere, and I think it’s wonderful.
Well, I love it, obviously. 🙂 Very green and herbal, with a huge opening blast of galbanum (yum!) and just enough citrus to make my mouth water. Floral notes are there, but very faintly; I’d put this squarely in the unisex camp.
Congrats, Boo! Sounds beautiful – I love galbanum.
A Lyric day is a good day! A new fragrance? Was this a surprise bottle or a new sample that turned out to be a winner? Exciting either way! Congrats!!!
Oh, it was a FB. I had a sample already and was planning this to be my next split if Santa didn’t come through. I used Amazon’s fabulous universal wishlist function to add it from FN, and put the coupon code in the note section. 😀 And the good news is that the hubby likes it too.
cool….good planning pays off! Bonus points for the hubby liking it too. I hate when I’m swooning over something and the CEO declares it a “no”. I don’t feel I have to always wear his favorites but on the other hand I don’t want to repulse the man!
Good heavens! I’ve completely missed the boat, haven’t I? Didn’t think that you’d be checking in yesterday, Robin. Allow me to add my own best wishes, thanks and appreciation to you, your writers and all your rabid — and amusing and well-informed and wonderfully sweet — readers. Hope y’all had a great feast and many fragrant prezzies under the tree. A belated Joyeux Noel from balmy Vancouver!
I didn’t manage to be on all that long yesterday, and today was another busy day, but as of tonight Christmas 2009 is officially over, and my son will probably have to spend the whole of tomorrow organizing all of his loot.
Hope yours was wonderful too!
A little sale note: Sephora has Demeter’s Vintage Naturals on sale for $39, and you can get an extra 20% off their sale items with the code EXTRA through the end of the year.
Great, thanks!
OY! Late to the party as usual. Well Merry day after Christmas. I wore one of my new FAV’s Guerlain SdV! Really awesome stuff. Well hugz to all! 🙂
Happy Boxing Day to you too (although I don’t think people here use that term, do they?)
Lol. Had to google that term. I suppose I learned something new today. 🙂
This country above all others ought to observe that day! I think it’s a great idea.
I’m even later and a very Merry feast of St Stephen everybody. Hadn’t the time yesterday to check in, so just want to wish all of you a very fragrant remainder of Christmas and hope you all enjoy your goodies – as for me, I’m loving my OJ Frangipani. Thank you soooooo much, Santa, you’re my hero.
Oh, Santa was very good to you!!
Well I was out of WiFi range for Christmas (and BTW, not VERY hot but balmy here in Buenos Aires, plus showers)
Happy Holidays for you Robin, and the wonderful NST team AND of course, to my fellow NST members!
On what I wore on Christmas Eve: Chemistry by Clinique… It was a very heavy afternoon to wear anything else.
And regarding the prayer for credit cards… As I anticipate a rocky time at work in the next few months, I’ve decided to clear my credit cards (cancel all debt) so it is my first debt free christmas in years! Yaaaayy! 🙂
Happy Holidays Y’all!
Ohhh congrats on the debt clearing! It’s such a nice feeling, not having that hanging over your head.
Joining the congrats..an amazing feat right at Christmas!
Very, very smart.
Congrats on such a big achievement. I hope to be able to say the same thing this time next year!
Well, thanks for your comments! 🙂
I know the ordeal with credit cards has really an impact/resonance in America at the time.
Here we’ve been through a simillar (actually worse) crisis in 2001, so I believe we are prone to overreact everytime we see signs of trouble,hehehehe. But hey, better safe than sorry!
Who knows where this new path will lead me to? Perhaps actually SAVING money! Oh, the notion is so alien! hehehehehe
Regards!
Well…saving leads to more saving, so that’s a good thing. My teen just got braces today, and since I’d socked aside enough to pay for them upfront…they gave me a 10% discount off the part the insurance doesn’t cover. That’s a nice $400 I get to keep. How’s that for an incentive? Thank goodness I listened to my mom all those years. 🙂
Best wishes to Robin and crew!
BTW I notice that some members have their own avatars next to their username. How do I change mine?
Go to gravatar.com, and be sure to use the same email address you used to sign up here.
Hmm for some bizarre reason Gravatar doesn’t recognise my account 🙁
You need to get a new account, just be sure to use the same email address. But I’ve seen your new gravatar so assume you figured that out!
Yep I had to do some tinkering but it’s all good now, thanks for your help!
And hope you had a good holiday break 🙂
It was nice, hope yours was too!
Merry Christmas, everybody! I’m so torn right now, I was given some Christmas spending money and I can’t decide what to get with it! I might get some TPC samps, I haven’t done that in a while. I definitely want to get a fb of something, but can’t decide what…. here’s my list 🙂 Help, please? 🙂
Eau Premiere
Dzongkha
Parfum Sacre
Saffron James Le’a
I am of course no help at all… is that Led Zeppelin in your gravatar?
Yes, yes it is! Zep will cure whatever ails ya. 😉
The first song my son learned was “Black Dog” when he was two. 😉 I’m trying out Dzongkha for the first time as soon as it arrives. Interested to see what Daisy comes up with.
That’s awesome! I can just see a little two-year-old head bobbing around to those riffs. 😀 I just sniffed Dzongkha again and am heavily leaning towards it. I’m just not sure it is entirely work-friendly; it’s more having a quiet, peaceful day by myself fume. DH votes for Le’a.
Julia,
Dzongkha is a great one. I love it. Enjoy!
So these are the top picks from your list of “Needs”? hmmmm, personally I adore Eau Premiere and between discounters and ebay there should be a sweet deal out there somewhere…..which might leave some perfume$$ toward the next FB….of course Dzongkha is pretty good too…. hmmm, I think I’ll zip around the discounters and see what sort of deals are available—it’ll be almost as much fun as shopping for myself! 😉
Thanks, Daisy! You’re a sweetheart! 🙂 Borneo 1834 is actually No. 1 lemming right now, but there’s only one dubious bottle on eeebay right now, and I need more work on my warm weather drobe, anyway. I’ve been thinking EP will be a good one for DH to get me, as it is the most easily accessible in retail stores here.
I’m going to second Eau Premiere. Can’t go wrong with Chanel. (Well, you can, but overall a good choice always.)
would your hubby rather go to a retail store than go thru ebay? There are a couple decent deals on ebay right now….save you about $44 over the retail price. Almost every online discounter was out of stock. Must have been all those Christmas bottles. I noticed a lot of things seem to be out of stock right now. But keep in mind that I am a Chanel girl so I went looking for EP.
Again, thank you so much for helping, Daisy! DH actually does most of his shopping through Amazon. Last time I looked the EP prices on there were the same as in the department stores. This would be for Valentines or my birthday, which is in March, so the online stores might be stocked up at that time. Curious– is ebay safe for buying Chanel? I’ve heard Chanel and Creed are the most often counterfeited on ebay.
If he’s an Amazon shopper…get the universal wishlist button on your toolbar. Then you can go to the discounters’ websites, select the ‘fume you like, and add it to your Amazon wishlist. It even has room for notes, so if there’s a coupon code, you can put it there. Worked like a charm for me! 😉
Hi Sunnyfunny! You know I love Le’a, but it is not a very good value ($85 for only 30 ml.). On the other hand, it’s gorgeous and unique. For this purchase, I’d probably pick Dzongkha for you. But you know I’m a Dzongkha freak and not a Chanel girl at all! Parfum Sacre would be my second choice.
H, you do know that Dzongkha and Le’a are on my list because of you, right? 😀 And yes, the price of 30 ml of Le’a is giving me some pause, especially since it needs reapplying halfway through the day. Hmmm…..
So you’re blaming ME, huh? 😉 Le’a actually needs reapplying more than once in a day, for me. However, it’s the best rendition of real Hawaiian plumeria flowers that I’ve ever come across in a fragrance!
I’m glad everyone had such fantastic and fragrant pressies and a good holiday. It’s always fun giving someone just what they’ve been wanting as a gift, and I think we hit one outta the park with the kids this year which was just a blast to watch. :).
The CEO and I managed to put together the train table for our sons without coming to blows, and I am giving SOD full responsibility for it. lol And my daughter loves her little Insolence EDP mini so much she wore some to bed since it “would smell so good with my new Tinker Bell nightgown.” Ha! That was a great justification if I’ve ever heard one. I’m training her well.
Santa brought me the Harajuku Snowbunnies set, which is adorable, and some Hello Kitty slippers. The problem we’re having is that I don’t yet have an official storage area for my frags so it’s hard for “Santa” to keep track of what I already have (he bought me another bottle of Midnight Fantasy for Christmas last year two weeks after I bought one for myself and was convinced this year I was out of Angel again despite the bottle on my dresser until he noticed my wearing some last week), so I was wondering if there’s any perfume gift etiquette I might try? I kind of feel presumptuous just handing him a list of what I want, but if I don’t do something similar, then he has no idea despite rather glaring hints i.e. a link to that Natori giftset. He’ll notice if I’m wearing something he likes, but isn’t even in the same book, never mind the same page, as I am with my love of fragrance and my ridiculous memory that helps me shop for gifts. I do like the cute and thoughtful gifts he gave, but he knew it wasn’t exactly at the top of my list and didn’t want to ask and spoil the surprise, bless him. So he suggested I ask here for some tips, insisting I’m not being ungrateful but practical lol, and says I’m going to “have a lot of fun” when we get a bit back for taxes next year. 😀
He did greet me in a cloud of Divine’s L’homme de Coeur this morning, which was a lovely and snuggly gift I’ll take as often as I’m able, and I intend to get him L’homme Sage as well and be sure he never runs out of either one since I love how both smell on him… They still make me swoon.
I hope everyone’s warm, safe and having an amazing weekend. Hugs.
I *think* it might have been Miss Kitty on here who said she left a list of ‘wants’ lying around in a prominent place. And I think it’s grand that your CEO makes you swoon!
I just used Amazon’s universal wishlist, bc I knew he’d probably look there. 😉
Yes, I have a little notebook with “Perfume Wishlist” written at the top of the page that I leave on the coffee table. Keep in mind, I had to order my own FB this year, after being told, “Yes, but I could still screw it up! Why don’t you just order it?”
You could have a file on the computer titled simply “Christmas Wish List” it wouldn’t have to be just perfumes and if you established it now and edited it throughout the year…making the occasional comment like “oh, you know what?, I think I’ll put this on my Xmas Wish List right now so I don’t forget…” in fact it wouldn’t be a bad idea if he had one as well…..by the time Christmas 2010 rolls around you both would be aware of each other’s list and how to access it. Clearly I’m not one to leave perfume purchases to chance!! 😀
Thanks for the ideas. I love what I got and have discovered some great fragrances by means of those little mini collections one often gets as gifts. But I’m pretty particular with regard to my fb wants so perhaps keeping a general list that includes them in specific would be a good idea. It’d also be helpful for me if he kept one since he can be so hard to shop for sometimes.
Thanks for coming up with such good ideas! :).
Hmmm, I guess I have no etiquette when it comes to fragrance gifts. I know what I have and what I want, so I usually give anybody who wants to buy me fragrance a list with pictures, prices, and where it can be purchased. I’ve been known to order them in terms of desire. That gives them some choice, but seriously, if they are going to be shelling out for nice perfume a specific list helps them avoid buying something you don’t really want or won’t wear much. They want to get their money’s worth out of it, right? My husband surprises me with little gifts he and the kids pick out, but gives me reign over perfume buying. Usually something along the lines of, “I assume you have already picked out and ordered what you want for our anniversary. If not, go ahead and order it.” Not super romantic, but it works for us and he usually surprises me with something like a special edition Rolling Stone featuring Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan or a neat package of origami paper. Same goes for him with guitars and band equipment. He buys what he wants, and I surprise him with a surf video or some vintage Rat Fink drawings by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.
Thought I’d share with you all that my hubby got me my long-lusted-for Caron Poivre. What a beautiful little bottle, but I’m not sure how to tackle all that skinny gold braid that secures the top!
And I’m madly in love with the Havana Vanille that I got for myself. It’s swoonfully delicious, to my nose.
Two very different fragrances that feel as if they were maded just for me! 🙂
Congrats, H! That’s so great! I know how much you love these two. 🙂
Thanks, SF! 🙂
Nice, congrats on both!!
Oops – I mean “as if they were MADE just for me”!
It was truly a Christmas miracle at my house – not only did my NON-perfume loving BF get me the Ineke sample set I’ve been wanting (which is the most nicely packaged thing I’ve ever seen), he also loved the fragrance I got him – GAP The Individual! I still can’t believe it!
Oh good! Hope you’ll love the Inekes.
Only tried 2 so far, but love them both – Field Notes and Balmy Days. Think I might have to get full bottles of both!