Well, the holiday party’s pretty much over. For those who celebrate Christmas, time to unplug the lights, put up the ornaments and get the tree out for recycling (many of you may have already done some or all of this, but we wait until after New Year’s Day). But while you’re putting up stuff and putzing around in post-holiday mode, look around and take stock of your perfume stash.
What fragrant goodies did you get over the holidays? Could be something someone else got you or something for which you treated yourself. What’s the most prized perfume item you got in 2014? Or perhaps there a special item you’re planning to get yourself soon?
As for me, I did lots of sampling in 2014 and added a few decants to my stash, but no really big- ticket items, save for one. For this, I dug through old purses, scoured under sofa and chair cushions and turned the car upside down for every last bit of change I could get my hands on. And then I gritted my teeth, pulled out my wallet and took the plunge … for a mostly used bottle of Armani’s La Femme Bleue. Gorgeous iris-chocolate scent and a stunning dark blue bottle. I know it might sound frivolous, but I’m really not all that indulgent, and it was something I had been wanting since it came out. I knew that not only could I not afford it brand new but also that it would have been near-impossible to get anyway, so I felt like I could not pass up this opportunity.
One other addition to my stash: I treated myself to a bottle of Chanel’s Coco shower gel a day or two before Christmas, well, just because it’s Coco and it’s so wonderful and I couldn’t resist. And, hurray, it comes in a plastic bottle so no chance of a nasty accident in the shower or tub. Also, I did get some wonderful goodie bags, from several lovely perfumista friends (thanks, ladies!), and those will keep me sampling and playing for quite some time.
So please do share what you’ve added to your perfume stash and are enjoying now in our post-holiday trough.
The Precioussssss arrived today!!! Yippee!! That website must be ok, or I lucked out, lol. Now that I have it I celebrated by spraying shamefully liberally the very minute I got home and ripped off my scrubs. Animals are great and all but I needed to douse mysrlf with scent Heaven 🙂
Hooray, Julie!! So happy for you and so glad that it worked out well. Have fun dousing! P.S. I agree with you, white lights can be a pretty touch all year-round. Going to try that myself one day.
Thanks Ann…yes, will let you know how my Galanos order goes! I wanted to add that I keep little white lights up all year in various places such as the fireplace mantel. It’s so cheery and I just can’t bare to let them go! **flinging my hair proudly** and don’t care who sees them through the window!! Most other decorations went to bed over the weekend. I love these stories you all share! We just got a snowstorm here and I’m laying around on my day off, spraying perfume already thanking my lucky self I don’t have to drive today! Yay!!
Oooh I’ve never seen Coco shower gel. That sounds so yummy. I got a bottle of Serge Lutens Fleurs d’Oranger for Christmas. I’m a happy camper. I didn’t decorate a lot, just lights on my patio, a couple of wreaths, and a spray of greenery that I got at Trader Joe’s. I have tossed the latter, but I haven’t taken down my lights or wreaths yet. Need to do that.
Hiya, Jennifer! Do try the Coco gel sometimes (see if a Nordstrom near you has a tester and let them make you a couple of little sample jars of it). Lucky you to have snagged some SL — it’s so lovely! And I do like the sound of your decorations; I think a festive patio is so colorful and fun and makes you feel like celebrating.
Just took down our lights and decorations yesterday. It always makes me sad that the holiday season is over and things are back to “normal.” No fragrant gifts, except for from myself! I stuffed my stocking with Thymes Agave Nectar body wash and hand lotion. Marshalls has had some pretty good stuff lately! Haven’t bought much this year – last thing I recall is the very Christmassy AG Nuit Etoilee, in the lovely blue bottle. Got it for a reasonable price on the bay.
You are so right, Odonata, it is somewhat of a letdown. Good for you for stuffing your own stocking; you are so worth it. That Agave Nectar is nice, isn’t it? I’ve just used a little sample packet of the lotion and planning to order more. And yay for another AG fan (love that blue bottle)!
I fell down the rabbit hole this year, so all my perfumes are new, and my how I indulged! Not sure what my favorite indulgence is – generally speaking it’s the last thing I wore ;^), so that would be the decant of Tom Ford Amber Absolute…mmm. Or, it could be the bottle of Victoria Minya Hedonist that’s waiting for me at the post office….
Our tree stays up til it’s dead, dead, dead, so it has a coupla weeks to go yet. I love the lights and sparkles, want to make it last as long as it will! Been wearing lots of my favorite holiday perfume — Annick Goutal Nuit Etoilee. Christmas in a bottle!
Congratulations, Pixel and welcome to our crazy, fragrant world! Sounds like you’re off to a good start with several yummy scents. And yes, yes, yes, to the Goutal!, too! I agree with you: Let’s keep the sparkly, happy ambience going as long as we can, because gray, drizzly February is waiting in the wings.
Thank you! Happy New Year to all perfumistas, experienced and new! My this is fun, isn’t it?? :^)
We didn’t buy a freshly cut tree this year, opting instead for a tiny faux one, which we set on the coffee table. Strangely warm, snow-free weather for about all of December… I convinced my husband to salvage several branches from our neighbors’ discarded Christmas trees. We laid those over the garlic bed I planted in October–should protect from the super cold that is forecast for us this week. I did not buy (or receive) any perfumes; husband has declared he just doesn’t really like perfume 🙁 and claims he prefers my “natural scent”–eeuwww!
Anyway, I spent a few days taking inventory of all my decants, minis, full bottles and vintage bottles, both full and partial. Yikes! That’s about ten pages, in Word. I’m still afraid to do an actual count. So, re-thinking whether I will actually buy more perfume in the next 20 years… Bah, who am I kidding? Still…I found stuff I didn’t remember I owned! At least I will be armed and dangerous when it comes to the next Swapmania.
Wearing vintage Jicky parfum today.
Happy 2015, dear fumies!
You aren’t alone – my husband doesn’t like perfume either and doesn’t understand why people wear it or anything scented. I am always so envious when I read about other people’s SO’s commenting on and loving their scents. Ah well.
Sorry to hear this, ladies, but what can you do? Mine never notices and when I mention it, he’ll say something generic like, “Oh, it all smells good.” But that’s OK. We’ll just enjoy our scents with our perfumista pals, right?
My perfume goodies this Christmas were a bottle of Ormande Jayne Woman from my husband and Safran Troublant from my older daughter. The tree and all the trimmings came down this weekend, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Happy New Year!
Yum, Farouche — two beautiful gifts there; very envious of you! Your family (and you) have great taste. Happy New Year to you as well!
I got the house all cleaned up from the holiday decorations, the reusable gift bags and fabric ribbons stored, and the tree hauled out to the curb, so I’m feeling very relieved about that. I didn’t get any fragrance gifts for Christmas this year, which is okay. I got several other nice things. Earlier this year, I got full bottles of Bobbi Brown Beach and SL Bas de Soie. I also bought minis of Marni and Donna Karan Iris and a few batches of samples, so it’s been a fragrant year. Your new scents sound great. I love a scented bath and shower gel. I just used up my Pacifica Persian Rose the other night in a bubble bath.
Excellent news, Dina! Big pat on the back and a huge sense of accomplishment for you. Oh, I do like the goodies you got earlier in the year, esp. the BdS. Get some more of the Pacifica and keep the bubble baths coming 🙂
Dina, I saw Pacifica’s Persian Rose in TJ Maxx the other day – hope there’s one near you!
I didn’t get anything new for Christmas, but I’m waiting…nervously, patiently, for a back up bottle of my Precioussssss, “Galanos” . I found it vrry low priced from a site called perfume network. THEN I read some scary reviews about them after the fact, so let’s ALL cross our fingers I didn’t get scammed!! It’s good hearing about all of the goodies you all got. Sounds lovely!
Yay, Julie! So happy that you found your Galanos (am I remembering right that you were looking for it a while back?). I wore it back in the day and really enjoyed it as well. Here’s hoping that all goes well and you get your Precioussss safe and sound; do let us know how things go with that company.
The Coco shower gel is divine! And surprisingly enough, it smells amazing on DH! Enjoy and happy 2015!!
Thanks, Rina, same to you! And glad to see another Coco fan. Not sure if I can get my DH to use it, but it’s worth a try.
I did not get any scents for Christmas, but I am pleased as punch at your great fortune in obtaining La Femme Bleue! There is no way you could have passed up that opportunity. Way to go, Ann!
Aw, thanks so much, Taffyj! It really was an unexpected dream come true, especially for a FB-phobe like me. Hope your New Year is going great so far and there’s much fragrant fun for you in 2015!
I got a great deal on Cyber Monday on Kalimantan and got a bottle of Byredo Green off ebay, both of which have been on my wish list for years. I am also really happy to have rediscovered my decant of Montale Intense Tiare– it’s such a happy scent and I’m in love with it again
Rena, very happy for your goodies, and also for rediscovering love with that Montale. Someone else recently raved about it, so I guess I’ll need to give it a try. Might be nice to help dispel the January chills and fog, eh?
I am a firm believer in wringing every last ounce out of fun out of the holiday season, so I put my trees up the first weekend in November and celebrate straight on through the 12 Days of Christmas… we’re on the 11th day today! We exchange a gift each of the 12 Days; it can be as simple as two bags of Dove’s Promises for the second day, or a favorite recording of Beethoven’s 9th on….wait for it….. the ninth day. We get one last gift on Epiphany, usually something off our list that we didn’t get, and I also go online and stock up on frankincense and myrrh. The trees are always….usually…..sometimes…. occasionally down by the middle of January…often times by Valentines…. and, well, you can hide a fair amount of Easter eggs under the tree skirt, I’m just sayin’.
Santa Baby brought me a whopping bottle of Jubilation 25, along with the lotion! And I stretched every bit of imagination I had and got my self 3 French perfume samples for the 3rd day… the stretching being that I decided that Surrender and Cold Water Canyon counted as French, since Monsieur Durbana is French. ( And 31 Rue de Cambon is probably French enough to make up for the other two, anyway!)
Amen, Tammy! It takes us so long to get the tree, get it up, get down the decorations and do it up that I’m letting it ride for at least a while after New Year’s. That’s some nice gift-giving there; and you had me ROFLing with the Easter eggs under the tree skirt. Must try that sometime. BTW, Santa Baby outdid himself this year, as did you!
This year was a little less spendy than I normally am but Christmas was pretty lean on the perfume. But I did manage to buy myself a bottle of Kyoto instead of going with Avignon and a large decant of Bal a Versielles in EDT form. But my best deal of the year was a half an ounce of Chanel no 22 parfum (full, not half used) for $95 instead of the usual $200.
That is indeed a great deal for the Chanel parfum! May I asked how you managed that?
I was poking around E-bay for vintage no 22 and that popped up. The lady had gotten it as a gift and it wasn’t for her. I couldn’t refuse $95. Sometimes it’s luck of the draw.
Wow — that was a great deal!! Congratulations — enjoy it and your other goodies!
I was pretty extravagant earlier in the year, and by winter I had calmed down. I’ve bought a few decants, including Gourmand Coquin and the Floris Honey Oud. Oh, and an older but unopened bottle of Houbigant Orangers et Fleurs, which I plan to float around in all spring.
Good going there, lady! And glad to see the love for that Houbigant — I’ve only tried it once or twice but it was so, so pretty. Enjoy!
I fell down the perfume rabbit hole for the first time this year (also just discovered this site not long ago, hi!), so Christmas has been ongoing for the past few months. Fanciest purchases have been new bottles of SL Ambre Sultan, Une Voix Noire, and Clair de Musc; a vintage bottle of Joy parfum; and a new tester bottle of Amouage Gold (yay for discounts on testers!). Also, a bottle of Penhaligon’s Bluebell that I bought while on holiday in the UK this fall (every time I wear it, I get transported back to Scotland, which makes me think that I’ll be purchasing perfume on every vacation from now on).
My official Christmas gifts to myself were a new bottle of Chanel No. 22 from the Les Exclusifs collection — I love it so, so much! — and a really great vintage Shocking cologne & parfum set I got for a very nice price off eBay. My Christmas gift from my brilliant, wonderful sister was a subscription to Olfactif — can’t wait to start getting those monthly samples (they’ll be a nice supplement to the monthly or so decant orders I keep finding myself making from Surrender to Chance & Luckyscent. I…I have a problem).
Congratulations and welcome!! We look forward to having you here on the Posse. And it looks like you’ve made your rabbit-hole debut with some mighty-fine scents there. BTW, I love that you have a holiday scent that will take you to Scotland — nice!!
Hi Ann,
Glad to see you survived this seasons festivities.
We took the tree and decorations down on 27th evening, they were sucking the air and space out of our living room but we loved them for the 12 days they were up. the three of us worked to put them up and bring them back down, it’s a fun way to spend some time together creating.
Shopping, well after the news that DIOR Prive Collection is discontinuing Eau Noire and Granville I had to make a choice, there just was not enough spare cash to buy both sadly, and I settled on Eau Noire. I also finally grabbed a 50ml of Lolita Lempicka eau Masculine which has been on my list forever and I got it for a super discounted price, happy day.
Portia xx
Portia, honey, your note about Eau Noire being discontinued compelled me to run to my perfume cabinet to check how much I’ve got left in my decant! Say it isn’t so – there’s only 5 mls left!
Sorry Lisa, They are discontinuing a few that aren’t performing. there are new ones coming though,
Portia x
Portia, thanks for sharing about the Dior discontinuations. I hate to see either of those go, but I’m with you, the Eau Noire would win out. And congrats on the LL super buy!
Hehe I scored enough samples to warrant an entire blog post, but my big prize was a bottle of Do Son edp – my true love. I actually also got samples of Moon Bloom and Carnal Flower, but honestly neither lived up to Do Son for me! Which was a huge relief 🙂
Happy New Year!
Hi, Sun Mi! So happy for you — I love Do Son as well. And it’s a great tuberose for those who don’t think they can wear tuberose. Plus, it comes in several other forms (solid perfume, soap, lotion etc.) which makes it extra nice. Enjoy!!
My Christmas present from my nearest and definitely dearest was an FB of Andy Tauer’s Miriam from the Tableau de Parfums collaboration via the lovely people at First in Fragrance.
How wonderful, Maureen! I’d forgotten what an exceptional scent that is. You will be smelling great throughout 2015, that’s for certain!
I found a full, new in box bottle of Le Feu d’Issey on eBay for a painful but still acceptable price. And just a few days ago-it’s in the mail-I bought a bottle of Muscs Koublai Kahn, also on eBay, for a price that, while high, was actually really good, all things considered.
Other than that, I bought a lot of testers, and a few rollerball decants (I love rollerballs). I just can’t bring myself to buy bottles now. There are too many perfumes out there that I want to have…in 4 mL rollerball size.
Oooh — lucky you!! That Issey is as rare as hen’s teeth. Hope you enjoy that and your MKK this year. BTW, I’m rather fond of some scents in rollerball form, too.
Hi! Happy post-Holidays! I took our meagre little decorations down at 10a December 26. I would’ve taken them down at 10a December 25 but that just seemed churlish.
My only perfume-related splurge was a box of Amouage Dia soaps. Heavenly scent! I have far too much perfume to want to actually buy any more, though that could change in a nanosecond – it very nearly did with the sniffage of Creed’s Iris Tubereuse.
xoxoxoA
Howdy, sweetie!! You didn’t waste any time post-holiday, did you? 🙂 But that’s probably a good thing. Mmmm … those Dia soaps sound mighty fine, as does that Creed. I tried it awhile back at NM but it was way, way, too $$ rich for my blood, so I just walked away and tried to put it out of my mind, ha!
I just tried my Dia bar soaps and they are divine! Just wishing that I had the body butter and not the body lotion.
eldarwen, I have both and I can honestly say the only difference is texture. The scent is every bit as intense in the lotion as the cream. xoxoxoA