Happy Friday and happy National Sangria Day! It's also International Human Solidarity Day, and there are 11 more days to go for 2024. Meantime, welcome to the Holiday Special! Our community project for today: wear a perfume inspired by or based on a holiday — any holiday! — or wear a perfume that seems perfectly suited to the holiday of your choice. Thanks to therabbitsflower for the suggestion.
What fragrance did you pick? As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you’re not participating in the community project.
I'm in Fendi Theorema, a perfume that makes any day feel like a holiday. It is nearly always what I wear on Christmas.
Reminder: on 12/27 we're doing Best of 2024...wear your favorite new release of the year, or your favorite purchase of the year, or the fragrance you wore the most in 2024, or interpret this project however you like. (We've done this project several times.)
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2024, where I'll try (but usually fail) to have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is Christmas decorations ! [cropped] by Hervé Simon at flickr; some rights reserved.
So I chose AG Vanille Charnal, cause it’s a floral vanilla in a very pretty bottle. It feels festive and special, right down to the packaging-the box opens like a flat box and there’s thick pearlized paper which you fold back. There’s a black velvet ribbon under the bottle. You tug gently on the ribbon to release the bottle. I wondered if I needed this because I have Vanille Exquise but they’re very different vanillas.
Love your sotd-Theorema is perfect for almost every occasion:)
That packaging sounds lovely … so do you keep the bottle in its box?
I do, most of the time. Sometimes I display the bottle because it’s so pretty. It has rounded shoulders.
🙂
Hello and tgif!
My CP will be Dior Joy Intense. My favourite holiday is Christmas and it’s definitely full of joy!
2024 had been less than okay for me so I’m glad it’s almost over. Hope 2025 will be a good one!
Good wishes for 2025 to us all!!
Kilian’s Typical Me, my holiday perfume gift to myself.
I am very happy – no regrets
Yay, enjoy your new holiday bottle ltsg!
Wearing Jicky edp today. I was kicking around Theorema but I want to save that for Sunday or Christmas Day.
And meanwhile you smell great Dawn!
Happy Friday and solstice Eve.
Today I am wearing Donna Karan Chaos which feels very winter solstice to me and since it is going to be 80 degrees in Miami today it felt like an easier wear than the other two scents I was contemplating (Rahat Loukoum and Elixir de Merveilles).
You are smelling wonderful today, Chaos is such a great scent.
Wow, 80! It is snowing here right now, gently & so far not sticking. But it is NOT 80 🙂
Happy Solstice Eve to you! I am looking forward to longer days.
Not really on theme today because I wore all my Lutenses for the first 18 days of the month and now for absolutely no reason I’m wearing all my CSPs in alphabetical order. Yesterday was Amour de Cacao and now it’s all the vanillas, starting with Vanille Ambre, which I guess is sort of holiday-like? Cheerful, anyway, and it sure is appropriate for the cold weather we’re having.
I like your CSP project. If I had more, I’d totally copy you!
great idea!
P.S. shoulda worn Vanille Abricot since that was next in alphabetical order but I grabbed the wrong bottle, duh. I’ll wear Abricot on Saturday.
I am wearing Guerlain Neroli Outrenoir for Lucia, a Swedish holiday celebrated on December 13.
“The annual celebration of Lucia in Sweden involves girls and boys clad in white full-length gowns singing songs together. The candlelit Lucia procession on 13 December is perhaps one of the more exotic-looking Swedish customs.”
“Alongside Midsummer, the Lucia celebrations represent one of the foremost cultural traditions in Sweden, with their clear reference to life in the peasant communities of old: darkness and light, cold and warmth.
Lucia is an ancient mythical figure with an abiding role as a bearer of light in the dark Swedish winters.”
“The night treads heavily
around yards and dwellings
In places unreached by sun,
the shadows brood
Into our dark house she comes,
bearing lighted candles,
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.”
Read more here – https://sweden.se/culture/celebrations/lucia-in-sweden.
Guerlain describes Neroli Outrenoir as an “olfactory contrast of light and shadow,” and I agree. It is smoky and luminous at the same time, so it works well for the holiday meant to bring light to the darkness.
That sound like a beautiful celebration! Thanks for the link, very interesting. 🕯️
You smell fabulous in Neroli Outrenoir! Thank you for telling us about St Lucia, I think your choice of perfume is very appropriate.
Cannot pinpoint why I find this one somehow Christmassy, but J-L
Scherrer reads that way to me. Off to shovel the driveway feeling as though I should be dressed for holiday festivities😉
Oh no, shoveling the driveway! How much did you get?
Glad you smell fancy enough for the task 🙂
I’m wearing Glasshouse To the Moon and Back (Lily, rose, brown sugar) not because I want to go to the moon but because I love holidays where there is a good night sky, and I can sleep out under the stars and see the constellations and the Milky Way and follow the changes as the earth turns. It’s cool to wake in the night and grab the binoculars ( I don’t have a telescope). The moon the past week or so has been so bright, and I’ve loved watching it tracking across the landscape, and the amazing light/shadows it casts. Glasshouse has become my cheap thrill perfume house. Simple and pleasant ( not jaw dropping) with good sillage, long lasting and 20ml sizes. Perfect for summer travels.
I think I have paid more attention to the candles than the personal fragrances…the 20 ml sizes aren’t badly priced here either, I should try a few.
Ditto on the candles! 🕯️
I am not sure who it was, but someone mentioned this scent being Christmasy so I went with it. Coco Noir is my SOTD and I do love it. It is 7 degrees here today and this fragrance feels very cozy to me.
That 7 degrees is coming here on Sunday. Stay cozy!
We are going to be in the 30’s and 40’s by Sunday so it’s coming your way.
Coco noir is a good pick
I meant to write to you that I may see some horse racing in 2025
Oh, I hope you do get to see some horse racing and enjoy it. Let me know!
🥶🥶🥶!
I’m unable to access my usual holiday go to perfume, Kenzo Jungle l’Elephant. While I wear this a lot outside of the holidays, all the spice just brings me right back to the holidays of my childhood.
The kitchen was all steamy and fragrant with cooking pots and oven smells, but also all the odors of people who came to our house for the holidays. The women were all sparkly in their jewelry and sequins as they sashayed about, and there was a fragrant gauzy haze of many different perfumes mixed with cigarette smoke, cut through with an occasional blast of crisp, cold air as someone went in or out the front door with a side of gasoline exhaust from all the cars in the driveway, the nonstop soft rumble of people talking and laughing, the clink of wine glasses and utensils, blinking Christmas and bubble lights, and beautifully wrapped presents sitting under the tree. Perry Como or Bing Crosby would be on the stereo in the background. I remember being quite young and relegated to bed but sneaking out and crawling down the hall with ninja-like stealth to peek around the corner to see all the action. Those were magical times, but I guess most adults look back at their childhood like that.
As for scent of the day, I’m going with Lush Cinders. One blast on the chest from the Windex-like bottle and I’m good for the day.
Hope everyone gets busy this weekend making good memories for yourself and your family. I love this time of year, but it’s very bittersweet, which I’m sure can be true for many people. Cheers, all!
Oh Deva you made me feel wistful. Interestingly ( to me) that you mentioned the Gasoline and car exhaust. I have always associated that smell with the 70’s.
That’s interesting. I thought it was just me. It’s still not “really” Christmas to me unless it’s freezing cold and I can not only smell the exhaust, but see it. It’s so crazy, but that is something I missed when we moved to Florida from Illinois. It was hardly ever cold enough in Florida to see exhaust burbling out of a car muffler. That image, for some odd reason, is very linked to my childhood.
I can relate to your description years ago as well.
perfect 70s memories, although our christmasses were not as glamourous, just a smaller family festivity
My mom was “fancy” and very social. She always brought out the best of everything for her guests. The “fancy” gene definitely skipped right over me. 🫠
perfect 70s memories, although our christmasses were not as glamourous, just a smaller family festivity
Ours were similar until my mom became a realtor when I was about 4. Then it was big parties with co-workers and a lot of former and future clients. I think she enjoyed the whole production of being a hostess and basking in the glow. She sold herself very tastefully and did well in the world of realty because she had the right personality for that job.
Bittersweet, Bittersweet.
Yep. IYKYK.
Yep.
I got a “Mad Men” vibe from your post today. Very evocative.
My 1970’s holiday memories are not nearly so sophisticated. Plenty of tubing and attempts at sledding. My Mom getting annoyed at having to vacuum up pine needles from the Xmas tree. So we were early adopters of artificial trees, and the much smaller incandescent lights you had to use on them. Mixing cranberry juice cocktail and either 7Up or ginger ale for a family friendly mocktail long before it was trendy.
Yeah, we always had an artificial tree, too. At one point they had a huge bar with all kinds of Waterford Crystal decanters and bottles. We also had red, white, and blue foiled wallpaper which NEVER could be considered sophisticated by even the most politically correct person. And no joke, in the living room there was deep purple carpet, pale green French provincial furniture and purple wallpaper with black flocking. It was the 70’s and no one was sophisticated as much as they were OTT. Kind of a nightmare, really 🤣
Any Lava Lamps or Rain Lights? 😉
We called them oil lamps and yes, we had one! Oh, just found this on Mercari- And look at the price?! 🤪
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m73635013974/?gclsrc=aw.ds&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21931664282&utm_content=t0&adgroup=&network=x&device=m&merchant_id=126358573&product_id=m73635013974&product_id=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADR9UGflqIIypnOJ8LiE2rXtWzoHh&gclid=CjwKCAiAyJS7BhBiEiwAyS9uNVwsOwquryfrUeTkdhREjcPi0eUJCEewAI5DDEUPYB5b4vdyP_cEsxoCWkEQAvD_BwE
Wearing Chanel Beige, which was a birthday present to myself…
Nice. Great scent!
Great present!
Two dabs of 1972 Joy. For so many reasons.
Love Joy!
Love LOVE Joy, and 1972 was probably a very good year😊
SOTD = Eau de Commando
… just have not decided on which one just yet. I am having dinner at my sister’s and do not want to be too loud 😇. I have plenty from which to choose but may stick close to vanilla.
In other news, unless I am totally mistaken, we have our FIRST SNOW of the season! I will be picking up the food which a friend of ours will be ordering (long story) so perhaps it’s me wishing that the snow won’t stick.
I hope it doesn’t stick!
I texted some friends in the Princeton area earlier this evening about the snow. They said it was just a dusting. Hopefully you have the same.
It’s Saturday morning and the first day of my three week break!
I’ve been testing lots of samples recently, but nothing has really grabbed me, which is a good thing – my curiosity is satisfied and my bank balance is safe 🙂 .
We’ll go for a walk across town shortly, and I’ll wear Un Jardin sur Le Nil, in the hope it tempts the sun to come out.
Three weeks!🤩 Enjoy!
Yay! Hope it was a good walk and the sun made an appearance 🙂
Akro Bake this morning, and keeping the bottle near my desk for easy reach top-ups!
Makes me feel like a holiday morning where you eat a delicious treat with your coffee while you spent time with family.
Okay, I’ve probably sprayed about 12 times so far today. I do love working from home and just going ham on a perfume bottle. So satisfying.
12 is a lot 🙂
Glad it is making you happy.
Like Robin, I’m wearing Theorema today and habitually wear it for the duration of the holiday season. Yesterday was a day full of small wonders: was awakened early by a great horned owl hooting very nearby and was able to watch it, perched high in a tree (the owl, not me) in the backyard conducting a call and response with (presumably) it’s mate, until it eventually spread it’s great wings and sailed silently off over the rooftop. Then there was miraculously a parking spot near the shop I needed to visit, and on the way to my next destination I saw an enormous flock of wild turkeys in the park I drove through, plus while waiting for the traffic light to change I got to watch two murmurations of starlings. And I must say, all the people who waited on or helped me in the stores I visited were kind, cheerful, and helpful, which as someone who used to own a retail business I can say is not always easy at this time of year. I hope everyone else venturing out for last-minute necessities has the same good luck. And you all smell absolutely fabulous, by the way!
Thanks for sharing about the owl, that must have been wondrous to see.
Wow, what a cool day!
I did do 2 errands, farmer’s market and grocery, and people were definitely more smiling & happy & polite than usual.
I did the exact same two errands today!!!! Yikes, we must be twins…
🙂
I was lucky enough to see an owl in flight a couple of times in the wild. It’s eerie how quiet they are.
Hello!
I have been busy lately but never too busy to wear scent lol. I have been wearing Rousse most of the week as it feels perfect for the holiday season. With the orange and spices, this just fits so nicely, wears lovely in December. Just a great scent:).
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! 🌹
Nice to see you Omega! Hope you have a wonderful weekend too.
Nice to see you too!!
Hiya Omega! 👋
Hiya Jalapeno!
Today is my first foray into “Five O’Clock Au Gingembre,” from Serge Lutens. It’s fine – gently spicy, with the sweetness you’d find in tea – but it’s much more demure than I expected. (Not sure where I got the idea that would be more assertive.) Anyway, a lovely holiday-ish scent.
It was way more demure than I expected too, back when I tried it…just didn’t capture my attention. Has lots of fans though!
Yeah, I wish it were more daring. It’s nice, but not particularly compelling.
Frozen mango smoothie
Today I was wearing Ciara, it’s not even my vintage extrait but still it was wafting little puffs of resinous deliciousness, a little bit fruity too, a gentle suede, so good and tonight for the CP vintage Paloma Picasso because it would be perfect for a holiday at home to compete with working at the stove and oven, it’s far too big for me to wear it outside the house, it’s not me somehow.
Paloma is a big perfume. It’s not me either, but a friend of mine wore it in college and she always smelled amazing.
Oh, I’m envious that it suited your friend so well. I admire it so much but my little 30ml will last me a lifetime😀
I remember seeing Ciara in the drugstores, way back when.
Jalapeno, my extrait is vintage but this one I’m wearing is not. It’s the 100% concentration bought two or three years ago, if you see it somewhere like Target do try it, it’s really worth it.
I’ve think I went through 2 bottles of Ciara back in the day. It would cling to a sweater for days!
It’s still good Lillyjo and a bargain, 100% concentration (there is an 80% too) bought two or three years ago.
Wearing Coco because I love it. Enjoy your weekend NST!
I almost went with that one today! You smell great.😊
Coco will be my pick for Christmas. You smell wonderful!
HAGW ringthing!
I’m in Poison, because Jalapeno mentioned it yesterday. I wore 2 sprays to bed; more recent version, maybe 6 or 7 years old. I’ll add on a spray of vintage later.
Poison is the 1 perfume that makes me think of Christmas. My father-in-law bought me an atomizer set of eau de cologne (with refills) years ago for Christmas. I kept the green atomizer and I left the last purple refill inside; this has long been drained, but the nozzle still smells like vintage Poison.
How nice you kept the atomizer!
It’s the perfect purse size; I wish refills were still available.
I’m debating if I will open my new bottle of Poison for Xmas, or one of the Fzotic travel sprays. Guess it will depend on my mood and the weather.
Have a teeny smidge of vintage Poison in The Sample Stash to compare the new stuff with.
It’s nice to have options. And to be able to compare the Poison. I still can’t believe I went through at least 2 bottles back in the day, plus the edc vials. I’m sure I stunk people out!
I’m in Dame BFMV. I forget how good this one is. I keep waiting and waiting for him to release the Sonoran Desert Musk.
We got our first snow of the season so if it sticks around we may actually have a white Christmas. Last summer I got new tires on my car and holy cow did it make a difference! They were not cheap, but now that I have felt how they handle in the snow, totally worth it.
Gradtowngirl is on her way home today.🤩 Madtownteen got home last Friday so now all 3 kids will be home. We have not done any decorating or gotten our tree, so it does not feel very christmassy yet. Every year since my oldest was a baby we’ve gone to a tree farm and cut our own. I texted my older daughter last week asking if she wanted us to wait for her to get it, to which her reply was “if you guys get the tree without me I’m not coming home.” Ha! Guess that answered that.🤣 Some years I feel like I’ve made them go, but I guess they like the tradition after all.☺️
Oh yes, Christmas is all about traditions, glad you will all enjoy getting the tree.
First snow!? I’ve had about 28 inches since Thanksgiving! Lol.
I sprung for the more expensive tires this year and I am very happy with them. Family tradition means so much, I am glad your daughter wants you to wait for her.
SOTD= Killian Amber Oud, still a winter favorite after all these years!
We have snow on the ground and a cold snap coming, so we will probably have a white Christmas. Today, slightly belatedly, I am finishing up a little Christmas letter instead of cards to send out. Merry merry, fa lala la la
That’s lovely, I don’t think we will manage a white Xmas here.
I do have special fragrances I only wear on certain holidays, and so I enjoy the special memories each one brings on that specific holiday. The one I’m wearing for today’s cp is one I’ve never heard mentioned, one that’s nearly 20 years old and still smells as good as it did the first time I wore it: Avon Extraordinary, my annual New Year’s Eve fragrance. An inexpensive little gem, in a beautiful tall, columnar bottle etched in gold with a gold cap, the original Avon catalogue page I still have describes it as ‘Luminous, Indulgent, Unexpected. A sumptuous Floral Oriental with the sparkle of champagne and the richness of chocolate truffles.’ A champagne 🥂 in one hand and a chocolate 🍫 in the other? On New Year’s Eve? Yes, 🥳! The chocolate is dark, rich and soft yet long-lasting and is balanced by a bit of spice, some florals in the background (different websites list differing notes), a little bit of citrus on top and sandalwood and patchouli on the bottom. It’s definitely a celebratory scent ❤️!
Looking forward to tonight’s live concert with my favorite musician, cellist Ian Maksin. He’s always on tour these days and is stopping back in home in Chicago only briefly before heading out again right after Christmas. I know it will be a lovely 🎶 evening.
Wishing everyone a lovely week ahead and a peaceful holiday, whichever one you celebrate!
Avon Extraordinary sounds really special. Have a wonderful evening!
Avon had some world class perfumes back in the day.
Yay for Theorema. You smell wonderful, Robin. I think I’ll wear that tomorrow. I’m in just a bit of POTL Luctor et Emergo which always feels like holidays to me. We have our grandson with us while his parents were at the hospital having their second child – he has a baby sister now. Very exciting and I am getting nothing done except the most important thing: being with him. 😀
Congratulations on the new arrival, how exciting!
Congratulations! How wonderful!
Congrats on the new grandchild! 👶
Oh, how fun!
Wonderful news from Chez springpansy! 💗
Oh yay, congrats to all!!!
You’re in for even more fun! Congratulations springpansy 🌹
Just reading this at a late hour and overjoyed by your news!💐💐💐
Congrats on having a new grandbaby to love!
Thanks all!
Oh, congratulations! We are pretty sure we are getting only the one grandchild. Color me green that you now have two! What joy! And best wishes for a healthy, happy holiday!
No community points for me today! I went to the dreaded shopping mall on an errand and consoled myself by sampling Tiffany & Co. Rose Gold. Very pleasant! Not one I need to add to my collection, though. I’m happy that our daughter has been wearing the Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit we gave her last year and it smells lovely on her — very festive and also cozy.
You braved the mall and lived to tell the tale!
What a nice present it was to your daughter.
Today I’m in my now-usual Christmas day perfume, Elf-Fulfilling Prophecy by Smell Bent. 1) I love the fun name, and 2) it smells so cozy and spiced cookie cola-esque. It has tobacco in it, but it doesn’t read tobacco at all. I’m so glad I bought a bottle before Smell Bent closed up shop.
Yesterday I smelled kinda like a pine forest in Ghost Pine by LVNEA.
It really is a great name. And I need to try Ghost Pine…
Ghost Pine is a pretty good one, worth trying.
Teflon kitty is currently thundering thru the apartment and attacking a few of her toys with the zest of a much younger cat. She’s an active and healthy 13-year-old, which is 68 in human years.
Envious of the people getting snow here in the States. But I am definitely NOT a fan of single-digit temps in degrees F. That’s potentially on tap for here in January or February.
SOTD = AG Encens Flamboyant, in the colored 50mL bottle. Love this, especially around Christmastime and New Years. It has a solemnity to it.
Does your brother get a lot of snow where he is?
Yay for TK still having all that energy! She has me beat. Lol.
Me too!
Tef is now snoozing on her kitty hot pad. So her zoomies are over with for the time being.
And my brother lives close to me. He’s had slightly more snow than I have had so far, but he’s also in a neighborhood with trees and landscaping. Right now, neither of us are seeing the white stuff.
Glad Teflon is so active and you smell wonderful, EF is my favorite incense (closely followed by MdM) and I think it’s a little underrated.
Thanks Aurora. After dealing with a sick Spooky kitty last year, it’s nice to have a happy and healthy animal companion.
Might be time to bring out some of my other incense perfumes. EF is in a class by itself; nothing else in my collection smells like it.
Aww always glad to read news of Teflon Kitty 😻 Larry the cat says hi.
Please give Larry the cat some pets from me!
I decided to wear a perfume for Easter today. I think that is my favorite holiday. Spring and all..
I am wearing Jessica McClintock for the lily of the valley.
I picked up some Christmas pet toys for my dog. It’s his first Christmas with us. Do people normally wrap pet presents?
Depends on the pet! 😉😺🐶
I am pretty sure my dog will try and eat the wrapping. Maybe I will do a stocking instead.
I’d pass on the stocking unless you want to give up some cash for emergency surgery for an obstruction. 💸💸💸
Chiming in late to say that I chose Feu Secret for the Friday CP. Partly for the “feu” part, since who doesn’t love a cozy fire in the fireplace at Christmas, and partly for the “secret” part, because keeping presents secret until they’re opened is traditional … and both are fun, just like Feu Secret. 🙂
Great pick, you smelled wonderful today SheriG!
For the CP: my festive favorite Iris Torrefie. My holiday connection is with the Arabian dance in The Nutcracker, inspired by the taste of coffee. I am looking forward to watching or at least listening to The Nutcracker between now and New Year’s Eve. I got my little Christmas Tree set up, and a certain busy, tabby, boy has already pushed it over twice. Sigh. Right now he is asleep on his favorite blankie so I can only hope his curiosity is satisfied. I’m behind on comments – hope you all are off to a good holiday weekend start, and I am sure you all smell wonderful.
Twice!! Good luck, hope that tree stays up now.
Ah kitty shenanigans! It’s why I haven’t put up a tree.
Imagining Teflon Kitty with the zoomies gave me great joy🥰
She’s doing it again today, allo. 😺🏃♀️
We traveled today to Santa Rosa, CA to spend a few days with Mr. allo’s step father and his wife. They are lovely people and we’re also visiting with Mr. allo’s two step sisters.
I can hardly remembered what I sprayed in haste this morning before taking off to the airport but I did spray Boy at some point and though I don’t associate it with a holiday, there’s something festive to me about the Chanel line. And it definitely amplified my holiday mood💃
Safe travels to and from California!
A day late, but I feel I ought to mention that I wore a fragrance that always reminds me of mulled wine, Noir Epices from Les éditions de parfums.