So… I was hunting down vintage Christmas images to use during December, and that was a rabbit hole I wasn’t sure I’d escape! Vintage Santas, beautiful snowy scenes. It made me yearn for snow, and I only yearn for snow in December. Well, that means it’s time for snow, um, next week, it looks like. Good thing I’m yearning – it will make it fun for about 24 hours. And the tree! This year it is problematic on where it will go. I got a great big loungey couch a few months ago that is about 14 feet long, and it takes up the entirety of my wall almost, and I haven’t figured out whether to keep a chair that is on the other side of the room and — oh, it’s a mess, but I’ll come up with something, I’m sure.
Instead of doing the Perfume Sample Fairy Godmother every month, I’m interspersing it with just a random sample giveaway. This is the month for that. Drop a comment to be entered, and I’ll draw from commenters for two sample grab bags. If the winner has a special request for one or two samples, I’ll be happy to see if I can include those.
My Thanksgiving was quiet and really lovely. Went to see my mom in Kansas while my sons spent it with their dad. Everyone in Kansas was at sorta loose ends, so several of us got together that haven’t in years. You know the cousins and aunts you used to spend so many holidays with growing up? Yeah, exactly. Everyone grows up, has their own families, and you see them randomly and never for enough time. So we met at my Aunt’s and spent the day. It was great and relaxed and took me back to a time when I was a kid and those were the cousins I rolled with every holiday – we gossiped and laughed and caught up on all the random news in our small town.
I’ve spent holidays in big crowds, I’ve spent them alone. You know, before your face puckers up and you go “ahhh,” that was by choice, and I have to say, a holiday alone is simply amazing, and I highly recommend it to everyone to do at least once or more (I’ve got a couple in and plan on more). I went to see a movie early in the morning nobody but me wanted to see, ate food that only I wanted (sweet potatoes mashed with butter — that’s it), slept off and on all day. Last year we had Christmas dinner at a hotel restaurant. I thought that might be weird? Nope, it was even better. Someone else cooked lovely things for us, and we rolled our full tummies home, along with a few things left in doggie bags. I felt a little bad that other people were working on Christmas, but we left a bigger tip than normal.
I’m already thinking about what perfumes I’m going to wear in December. It’s a thing I contemplate more than other months. I think this is a good month to revisit some Serge Lutens – de Profundis, Sarrasins, MKK, Tubereuse Criminelle, and some others. So I proclaim December to be Serge month! Oh, and Le Labo Vanille 44 and Patchouli 24 combo, which happens every December. Aaaaaand some incenses… well, a lot of incenses. What are you going to be wearing this holiday month? (not my bulldog in the picture, I didn’t have time to pull his holiday pics from my iPhone to this computer yet)
Winners of the Eric Buterbaugh Kingston Osmanthus samples are – datura5750, DDJ, fleurycat, and annjune Just click on Drop Us a Note at the top, send me an e-mail, remind me of what you won and get me your mailing address. I’ll send you a quick e-mail to let you know I got your e-mail and it didn’t land in a spam filter and then get it on the way to you. I only check Posse e-mail like once a week, so it can take a few days sometimes to respond there.
Samples are very fun. I am always on the hunt for something new to try. Lately I am searching for a winter fragrance. Thank you for doing the giveaways
Sacrebleu is my all time favorite winter scent and I’m sure that my new bottle of Adjatay will be getting some use. I’d appreciate a sample of the Louis Vuitton Dans Le Peau if I win
This is so generous of you. I would love to win this sample pack for Christmas! Thanks for the opportunity!
The image topping this post is utterly lovely. It reminds me of the vintage scenes on the wrapping paper my grandmother loved to use! I’ve been wearing Atelier Cologne’s Silver Iris of late; it feels right for our grey, West Coast rain-fest of a winter! 🙂
I do wear a lot of SLs in winter, too. It’s mostly been Chergui, but this year I have found Five o clock au gingembre to be really nice in colder weather as well 🙂 They remind me of bug spray and Dr. Pepper, respectively.
A holiday give away sounds delightful. Will have to try the LL combo but so far only have the patchouli.
Lutens was one of the first houses I started exploring when I began my scent journey, and I still have a deep affection for many of his scents. With a couple of exceptions (Douce Amere and Chypre Rouge), I don’t wear them much these days – they end up having a scratchy quality on my skin (not an actual scratch, but an olfactory one). They do, however, make utterly fantastic room scents. I spray them into the water I put in my humidifiers, scent my wool dryer balls with them, and use them in my closet. My bottle of Feminite du Bois is almost empty now – it’s my favorite of the bunch as a house scent.
You are so right about SL in winter – all those spices, woods, and dried fruits. I especially love Bois et Fruits, 5 O’clock Ging., Arabie and Daim Blonde when the weather gets cold.
La Petite Cheri by Annick Goutal is one of my favorites. Could you please include in the samples giveaway samples of Gardenia, Lily of the Valley and Pear perfumes?
I love the idea of Xmas dinner at a hotel! Did you have to book a reservation far in advance? This thanksgiving by happenstance most of our family was away, so my partner and I ate homemade mac+cheese at home and watched a movie. It was the best. As to December perfume wardrobe I’m still kinds figuring out the seasonal scent thing, what works what doesn’t. My mom gave me her vintage Poison which I thought would be perfect but it oddly seems to be warm weather perfume for me? So I don’t know.
In my area, San Francisco, hotels usually aren’t fully booked for overnights @ Thanksgiving & sometimes even have holiday rates. The first time I did this, 25-20 years ago, my grad student daughter & I were at Ritz Carlton, sufficiently discounted to splurge for the Club floor. We did reserve traditional Thanksgiving dinner about 10 days ahead of time.
My subsequent jaunts were all solo – Omni, St Francis (best spa -massage & closest to Union Square shopping) Palace, Donatello-has a very popular Italian restaurant. There’s so much great food available that I don’t feel a need for The Big Turkey Dinner & indulge taste for crab, pasta, appetizers w/ champagne by the glass, or whatever. I do want a central location so I can go back & forth to drop off purchases. Annual tree lighting ceremony is at Union Square.
Thanks for the chance 🙂
Ooooh, thanks for the draw!
It seems the holiday season is kicking off in full force around now.
Once we discovered the joys of having Christmas dinner at hotels, we never turned back, especially as there were fewer of us gathering in one place.
When things get so busy, who needs the hassle of shopping, cooking and most of all cleaning up afterwards!
Wishing a joyous season to all.
Though we’re not guaranteed a hot Christmas here in Melbourne (Australia), if we do have a 40C day this year I’ll be reaching for whatever can cool me down, probably a cologne of some type. But since we’ve had such a cool spring, it may well be that a more Christmassy scent will be just perfect!
All the best of the festive season to everyone, and thank you for the draw 🙂
This is the right time for amber scents, but among my bottles I think it is especially SL Five O’Clock au Gingembre which will get much use, it is so relaxing and I can tolerate it evven on days with migraines. I would really love a sample of Hedonist or Hiris. Usually incenses or anything with a lot of fir in it is not my cup of tea. And even if I love an open fire, that smell of smoke from dry birch wood is not something I want on my skin.
Hi Patty. Your Thanksgiving sounds ideal! Which movie did you watch?
I spent all weekend caring for my geriatric cat, who took a turn for the worse. Her name is Mocha, and I can’t imagine life without her. I have heard that pets smell of death when their time is near, but she still smells like an angel to me.
Oh, it wasn’t this Thanksgiving for the movie. It was a couple of years ago, and I can’t even remember now. Some sappy holiday thing. 🙂
I like wearing SL in December, too, especially Chergui, Douce Amere (wearing today even though it’s still November) and Five O’Clock au Gingembre. I also have all of my ambers in rotation now.
Thanks for the holiday draw! Have recently discovered a couple of rose scents that I love (previous rose phobic) and am waiting on a decant of LAP Voleur de Roses. Also came across a sample of Bois 1920 Sushi Imperiale and am smitten! Such a perfect Christmas scent… this one may dethrone Coco as the queen of Christmas Eve fragrances (or maybe will hold it for Christmas Day, which is much less formal and low-key/comfort in our house).
I completely forgot about Sushi Imperiale! the name revolted me for the longest time, then I finally tried it and just fell in love. I ran out and haven’t managed to get some again, but it is perfect for winter/holidays, I agree!
Have a wonderful Christmas, Serge month is a great idea.
I am loving my Serge idea, until I put them all in a document and realize there are 70-something of them. I have to do like 2-3 a day. Well, it will be fun. Now I need to figure out whether to do it a week at a time or the whole thing in one post? I think everything in one post around Christmas.
Do one on each arm
I love the holiday season and it is so wonderful that you got to see and spend time with your cousins for Thanksgiving, it is always fun and kind of nostalgic to see the cousins you used to run around the house with all grownup with their own lives and family and get to catch up with them. And I agree spending the holiday alone of your own choice is awesome! You do not have to cook, chat with anyone, go out in the cold and drive to someone else’s place or host a bunch of people. You just enjoy the day, sleep and watch TV or Christmas movies under a cozy blanket on the couch! who doesn’t love that! Thanks for the giveaway and enjoy your holidays!
Thank you so much for the chance at the giveaway! I ended up wearing the Heeley Eau Sacree sample for Thanksgiving, and oh, is it lovely. I may have to save some pennies for a full bottle. Today was warm so I went with Eau des Merveilles since I find it uplifting and it’s so gray and wet outside, I could use a bit of uplifting. I’ll probably pull out the Wazamba as it gets cold though – I get pine and incense and I find that it is just right for this kind of year.
Thanks so much for a chance at the giveaway. I’d love anything oriental/vanilla…or Serge if you have some, since I live hundreds of miles from any boutique and am beyond curious. Your post got me thinking how it is so neat/weird to see family members “all grown up” after so many years of not seeing them, or seeing them sporadically. In my family, most people are exactly the same personality, looks, everything, just that they have a family of their own now. The occasional relative goes through a complete transformation, though, and it’s amazing to see what a couple years/decades can change in a person. I love it when they change for the better. Hopefully they think the same of me after all the years.
I figure there will be holidays alone in my future if I live long enough so now I spend them with my family whenever possible. That said, I think if I was going to spend a holiday alone, I want to follow Taxi around! That sounded like quite a wonderful day. On the few chilly-ish days we’ve had thus far, I’ve loved wearing Femme Jolie (d/c SSS scent). Yesterday was 64 degrees so it was Shanghai Lily. Today it’s Mon Parfum (Micallef). Can’t think far enough ahead to imagine what I’ll do on Christmas Eve or Day. By the way, LOVE the picture for this post.
For a long time, I thought spending a holiday alone was the woooooorst. when I finally got to one, it was by choice, I had a lot of options of what I could do and where I could go, but just didn’t feel like it. It surprised me that it was more than okay.
I’m with you on going with Taxi or at least getting the agenda. I might just plan something like that during December for myself downtown, except our downtown has crap shopping anymore. 🙁
I looove shanghai Lily. It’s crazy how much I love it. The lily I really want made is for Malle to turn Rubrum LIly (room fragrance) into a perfume. It’s spiced indoles.
Thanksgiving was wonderful and crazy, with 7 little kids & 2 dogs running around, 3 teenagers on their phones, 20 adults and scrumptious food. I have never spent a holiday alone, not sure if I’d want to. Love your Christmas scene. I only like snow on Christmas Eve, LOL. I do not have any Serge Lutens fragrances, so I’d love to try some. Right now I am loving Bottega Venetta, and have just finished Yves Rocher Vanille Noir, which i like, but does not last , have to keep re-applying, that’s why I went through a bottle in a year, unheard of for me. Please enter me, thanks for the giveaway, it would be such a cool Christmas present!
thanksgiving sounds great. I love the big, crowded ones too, but it’s nice to have quiet, small or alone ones for me, too, but I think that’s not everyone’s idea of fun. 🙂
I’m in for the giveaway. I’m getting out Lutens Chergui, a great holiday scent.
Thank you for the giveaway. That would be great to receive a sample bag
I love the snowy tree scene! It reminds me a bit of one of my favorite Christmas movies, a Walt Disney Christmas, which is kind of a compendium of short old Christmas bits. It’s really lovely.
And I’m sure you’ll find somewhere to wedge a tree, and then you can watch it stretched out on your uber-long couch.
Wearing Epic Woman today from a dying sample. Quite lovely. I may just live on samples of this forever.
Please do enter me 🙂
Epic woman is sooo big, but lovely. I got the shower gel and body lotion (Musette’s idea) and love that when I’m just not feeling going all in on the Epic. 🙂
I love many of Serge Lutens creations, one of my favorite Santal de Mysore.
The other day I was pulling out the Christmas decorations and I put on some Slumberhouse Norne now if that’s doesn’t scream Christmas and all things woody and winter then I’m not sure what does. I won’t wear this in public, it’s just too scary. I received it in a sample pack I purchased. It’s so interesting but as a woman I’m not sure I can do lumbersexual outside the house. So in the spirit of giving please consider me for your scent giveaway so maybe I won’t smell like fir/spruce/tar-smoke during the holidays.
Oooh nothing like a grab bag for Christmas. So much fun. Never know what’s inside. I you described my family with regards to all the cousins eggs when you’re a kid at the holidays. So much fun. I was the youngest so I always had a special spot. Lol. True that we all get older and have our own families and somehow those moments slip away. But great memories. If I could pick a couple I’d go for the EB You just reviewed and Louis Vuitton. I like cozy scents for this time of year. Incense and sexy warm. Then I always get bored and go for something more sparkly.
Yeah, I was the youngest on both sides of my extended family. I loved having all of those older cousins ditching me nonstop, but I didn’t make it easy!
I bet!!! ????
Hunting for vintage Christmas images sounds much more fun than any of the tasks I’ve been putting off. My family went to the movies last Christmas Eve, and I would like to make that a tradition. A holiday alone, occasionally, does sound nice, too.
I spent like an hour and a half and could have done it for another few hours. It really helped get me in the holiday mood as well.
60 years ago, my Thanksgiving eves were always the same-use my mother’s tweezers to pluck pinfeathers then polish the silver. On TDay, we ate then the men got cigars, the women played cards, my 4 brothers & 3 cousins (male) went off to play & I washed dishes. It usually took 3 batches of dishwater before I got to pots & pans.
Now, I drive to the city on T day afternoon, check into a downtown hotel, bundle up & walk the quiet streets to admire gorgeous window displays. Turn in early, maybe something from room service, read? Early Friday morning, I’m up to make my way into shopping before madness hits full swing. By noon, I’m ready for a yummy lunch & I’ve worked up an appetite dropping off bags @ the hotel before the next run. Wander a bit, back to the hotel for a massage, a read, then out for the annual tree lighting ceremony, with carols by the selected choir. After a scrumptious dinner in some nearby restaurant, I’m relaxed & find my book somewhere among the parcels & bags.
I go home Saturday morning with all my holiday shopping done (& I haven’t washed a dish!)
Lately, I’m wearing CdeG Avignon or Hermes Eau de Gentiane Blanche. When it’s really cold at night, a tiny drop of Histoire’s Ambre 114 at bedtime cozies me to sleep.
QThat sounds like the most awesome Black Friday weekend ever! Must do tht some day.
Okay. I’m doing this some year. That sounds blissful and relaxing and I’m jealous. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Taxi, that sounds simply marvelous!
December is always a busy month. In the job everyone wants to get things done like there will be no next year, I should buy lots of presents, make cookies, cakes and pralines. My calender is already booked with parties and gatherings in the evenings and actually I could use some time for myself. Maybe this will be the second time in my life that I’ll spend New Year’s evening alone…I’ve done it once and it was very liberating. I will join my old mum for Christmas because she’s alone a lot and I want to spend some time with her. I’m also ready to gain some weight during December because that’s a part of it and I’ll be wearing Feminite du Bois, as usual, and also Gucci Rush and Dzing which go so well with cold weather. Thanks for the giveaway and enjoy the preparations for the holidays.
Thank you for the draw, and I hope you have the prettier/least annoying kind of snow coming this year.
Thinking of trading my small, elegant but not terribly comfy couch for a big sofa. You’re motivating me, lol. Would love to win a sample. bag of anything Serge Lutens! Love the Christmas pics. 🙂
big comfy couch is worth it. I did a sectional – the thing I swore I would never, ever do – but I got two cozy corner ends on it and then the straight middle. so it curves around on the ends into the most amazing corners to snuggle up into. Takes up a lot of space with those curving ends, but I just don’t care. 🙂
I LOVE all things Serge! Yesterday was Daim Blond, and I’ve been enjoying Araby. I think a Serge month is awesome, and so many of his older scents are fabulous in fall and winter. His new Bapteme is perfect now as well, though I prefer it on my man. Mandarin Mandarine sounds luscious for tomorrow! Loved this post and the pictures and comments. A holiday by oneself is a no-pressure pleasure on occasion, I too have discovered.
Thank you for doing the draw. if I may make a request for a sample, it would be Kingston Osmanthus
I’ve got the same issue with a big couch and not enough space for a tree…it’s partally blocking the tv but at least it’s up!
I’m not regretting the couch purchase. It’s huge, but I just move around on it, curling in up in the two rounded corners, stretching out with my feet draped everywhere in the middle. But extra furniture that I still love is problematic. I don’t really want to get rid of it (mission), but it doesn’t fit very well now. I think the tree will wind up up on the mission coffee table (toddler running around part of the days when my employees are here), which puts it at risk from cats killing it, so I may need to anchor it to the wall just in case. 1st world problems, I know.
I haven’t quite decided what I am going to wear this Christmas, but last year Bois d’Iris by V&A worked very well. It’s a perfume that conjures up the image of heaps of white puffy snow. Lutens, however is a good suggestion. There are some Lutens perfumes that are so rich and cheerful, perfect thus for the holiday season (such as Jeaux de Peau), but I don’t really own any of these. Perhaps now it is a good reason to look into them more seriously? Thank you for the giveaway!
I love VCA BdI, it’s just lovely. The great thing about the Serge Lutens exports is you can pick them up so cheap at the discounters. I love Jeux de Peau. and Vitriol de Oiellet (pardon spelling, not going to look things up). they don’t get as much love as I give them, but I’m anxious to roll my way through them all again.
We’ve done Xmas in the big city (Seattle) for 8 years and love it. A nice hotel, Xmas eve seeing Burlesque Nutcracker followed by a restaurant dinner, a quiet xmas day then movies! Its heaven. Thanks for doing the draw! -Robert H.
ZOMG Burlesque Nutcracker!!! That sounds amazeballs!
That sounds perfect. I’m probably going to go to Kansas again for Christmas, but I really yearn to do this. I just need to figure out how to get my mom out here in the winter, but I don’t want her driving then. The bus is ack.
Please consider me an entrant for the sample giveaway! A joyous Nativity to all!
I love your stories! And the pictures are fun. Month of Serge, eh? Hmmm…for December, that would mean MKK, Boxeuses, and I also LOVE layering A La Nuit over top of Fumerie Turque which together smell Ah. May. Zing. The “gingembre” one seems like it’d be a no-brainer, but I just can’t do it.
Thanks for the generous draw! You don’t happen to have a sample of Lampblack lying around, do you?
Yeah! I’ve been ignoring my Serge for a while, as well as my Malle. Sad. I think I need to rotate through all of them in December and then post my thoughts the first of January. that is a great idea!
I love the thought of a post revisiting your SL stash anew! I’ll look forward to it. I forgot to add Chergui — a good, snuggly winter SL. I haven’t neglected my Malles, just rotated them — I wear Carnal Flower more in the summer, though I still pull it out for special occasions. But whereas Cologne Indelible disappears in the cold, Un Fleur de Cassie seems MADE to smolder on your skin and sweaters! Musc Ravageur for some reason doesn’t work on me, but I gave it to a good friend and colleague, who loves it and whom it smells wonderfully filthy on, so I still get to enjoy it vicariously!
what is lampblack? I have never even heard of it. Now I absolutely need to know.
A friend in Rome has been raving about it, and for Black Friday, Luckyscent included it in a sampler of scents with “black” in the name. Sounds magnificent. Or terrible. But my friend has the same weird taste in perfume that I do. Here’s the link to its Luckyscent page: http://www.luckyscent.com/product/69300/lampblack-by-bruno-fazzolari
I’ll be wearing my favorite new incense – Eau Sacree by Heeley. I’ll also go for the cinnamon cocoa chili vanilla woody Anima Dulcis by Arquiste. I do love some of my Serge perfumes like deProfundis and Tuberose Criminalle but I’ll more likely go for the oriental Mandarin Mandarine for holiday events.
Oh, yeah, that Heeley. That is a wonder. I like your choices here. 🙂
Please throw my name in the hat for the sample bag giveaway….surprise samples are the BEST! Thank you for your generosity!
Thank you for the lovely sample bag giveaway. It is most generous and in keeping with the spirit of the holidays.
I like your Christmas scene! It looks like New York, at least to me.
I am with you on Serge month – wearing El Attarine this very minute in fact! And Vanille 44 layered with Gaiac 10 will definitely be on the play list. Other favourites: Musc Ravageur, Dries Van Noten, Chopard Wish, Nuit de Noel, Noel au Balcon, Ambre Russe, Zagorsk, Encens Flamboyant and PHI Rose de Kandahar. Being an oriental girl this is my best perfume season!
Cute christmas pics btw!
Thanks for doing another sample giveaway! I’d love to be visited by the perfume fairy! 🙂