Winners of the Drawings!

The two winners of the Stephen Jones sample are:  helenviolette and Shelley!

The two winners of the Le Labo Musc sample are:  Karin and Aimee L’Ondee

Thanks to everyone who entered.  Winners, just click the Contact Us button on the left and shoot me your mailing address, remind me with sample you won so I don’t forget!

It’s Friday, and I’m writing this before heading off to my company Christmas Party, and I’m contemplating what scent to wear to an event that I never really look forward to. Why are there company Christmas parties when most people don’t even seem to like them or want to go?  Torture?  At least we’re doing a Lucky Strikes bowling thing, which will be fun.

So if you’re going to a company Christmas party this year, what scent are you going to wear? I’m going with the Stephen Jones

  • Roseann says:

    I was wondering if anyone knew the name of an old fragrance by Elizabeth Arden. One word in it was “Cherie”. It came in pink packaging and I had bought it at Bloomingdales about 30 years ago. thanks.

  • karin says:

    Well, I’m self-employed, and my husband’s company gives him a grocery gift certificate, so no corporate parties for us (far cry from my days in Silicon Valley when corporate parties were lavish black tie affairs with top-name entertainment, open bars, and tons of food!!!). But we have an annual house party at a friend’s house that we attend every year – it’s our one time to dress up. I haven’t decided on a scent yet, and I don’t own many niche fragrances, so I’ll probably go with something like Hypnotic Poison…

  • aelily says:

    Hmm, my office’s holiday party…ur, lunch…isn’t until the 23, so I hadn’t begun thinking that far ahead. So far this holiday season I’ve gone with PG’s Un Crime Exotic and Bois 1920’s Sushi Imperial. Today I have on Fifi, and she seems wonderfully appropriate for the season; might dig her back out for holiday parties. Think i’m in a gourmand mood? 😉

  • Disteza says:

    I’ve been to 3 parties so far (my SO’s office dinner party, some gala thing at the Kennedy Center, and the fencing academy party) and have worn something different to each. I blended Borneo and Coze for the office-y party (and got lots of *ahem* comments when I jumped up and joined the flamenco floor show!), blended La Myrrhe and DSV (just to round those golden edges a bit) for the Kennedy Center thing, and went with DSH’s Tamarind Paprika for the fencing party (that party being the most fun and the most Christmas-y of the bunch). I’ve got at least four more parties that we plan on attending before the New Year’s ones start up, and then after that are the Inauguration balls, then Mardi Gras, then Valentine’s Day 😮 … I suppose I better chart out those ‘fume selections now, hunh?

    • Flora says:

      Disteza, are we scent twins? I almost wore DSH Tamarind Parika too, but I finally went with her Piment et Chocolat – love the hot chili pepper & dark chocolate combo! It lasted well but was not overpowering, and I smelled delicious! :d

      • Disteza says:

        It’s possible–on me the best smelling notes are incense, leather, and gourmands (in that order), and I have a hard time getting perfumes to last–most skank disappears on me pretty quick, as much as I love it. The only flowers that I seem to get much mileage out of are roses; occasionally an exceptional white floral comes along and knocks my socks off (Tubereuse Criminelle, Cradle of Light, Magazine Street), but I really have to be in the mood for it. Oh, and I’m a cumin magnifier, and on me pepper generally smells foul. I haven’t tried the Piment et Chocolat, I’ll have to put that on the short list. As long as there’s no orange in there with the chocolate, and the peppers aren’t black, I should be fine.

  • Jubilee says:

    I’m a grad student at an art school, so our department Christmas parties are actually pretty fun. Last year, the theme was in fact “Corporate Office Party,” and everyone came dressed in suits and secretary blouses and gossiped around a water cooler filled with bad punch and made inappropriate copies. Sounds obnoxious, I know, but, surrounded as it was with the thick cushion of irony, it was actually a blast. This year, however, is just a straight-up dance party, so I think I’ll be wearing Bal a Versailles, which is my favorite for sweaty dancing.

  • helenviolette says:

    ^:)^ and thanks to you Patty!

    Office Party- still a week away and not looking forward to it but this is my first year so I feel like I must make a showing…we also have to pay $5.00 and bring a side dish, which makes me feel a bit [-(…

    Perfume contenders: SSS Fireside, Jasmine de Nuit, AWSF…or maybe something else entirely

  • Teri says:

    Gone (at least temporarily) are the days of the big holiday bash for our company. After discussing it amongst the 35 of us, we settled on a family party the night of the Parade of Lights, an annual downtown Denver tradition. Our offices overlook the street the parade comes down, so we were able to enjoy the parade with our families from inside, all nice and warm. We had a catered dinner and a “Santa” who brought presents for all the children.

    Personally, I enjoyed this party far more than I had more spendy ones we’d had in previous years.

    Since this was very much a warm, family occasion, I wore Belle En Rykiel which has been serving as my comfort scent this fall and early winter.

  • Divalano says:

    Ooof office parties. Most of the people I know tell me their parties are canceled this year. I know our big dept party is. But we’re having our usual pot luck that’s just for our little section of the dept. I always look forward to it, there’s no drinking so no dumb behavior & my word, my coworkers can COOK!! And for those of us who don’t have time to do so, there’s a chip in for food from Chinatown. So instead of working all morning we eat & eat some more. It’s low key, low pressure & fun. What I’ll wear … well. It will depend on the day but probably something warm & spicy, or warm & vanillic, or warm & cuddly … something warm 🙂

  • Francesca says:

    We don’t have a company-wide party–we get a several extra days off instead. How fabulous is that?

    But there are departmental parties. Yesterday our production and design colleagues from imprints different from the one I work on invited us to a very pleasant holiday potluck breakfast. I wore Avignon. The first few times I wore it it seemed all frankincense to me, but now I get a real hit of the big lumps of pine resin I gathered in New Mexico and which I burn with great pleasure. So that seemed appropriately Christmassy.

    Today we are having a party for a colleague whose wife’s about to have a baby. I’m wearing SDV.

    Next week is my department’s holiday lunch. I’ll wear another incense, maybe Bois d’Armenie.

  • Lee says:

    We had our Christmas ‘lunch’ yesterday at a fancy joint in the country. I ended up having to give out the secret Santa gifts and attempted to play the role of Scrooge meets Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins, aka false cockney and pseudo-sour commentary. I hated it. but the food was good, the company over lunch fine, and the increasingly drunken colleagues amusing. I decided, that at 4pm, I’d done enough, and sneaked out the exit. The scent was 5 O’Clokc au Gingembre, and by 5 I was home. That’s my Cinderella leaves the ball ‘fume from now on.

    Oh, and I hat to wear an elf hat whilst I gave out the SS presents.b-(

    Bah humbug.

    • Francesca says:

      Re elf hats: Lee, have you read David Sedaris’s Santaland Diaries? Hilarious.

      • mollypenny says:

        yay for Santa Land Diaries! It’s LOL funny. That David Sedaris is wonderful.

        Had my Holiday Party last week. We always have them at a bar so how can you go wrong?! I wore Serge Noir. I didn’t give one thought to how others would react to it (I guess because I know it doesn’t have sillage.) The only person who has commented on it in the past is our office hippie who LOVED it. Maybe that’s not a good sign. Oh Well!

    • Louise says:

      Ah, ye make an adorable elf :))

  • Eileen says:

    One benefit of being self-employed — the office holiday party is whatever I say it is! And I can wear whatever scent I feel like. 😀

  • March says:

    The Big Cheese made it home last night! <:-p Which makes me especially happy because tonight is the one really fancypants party of the year we go to, after hours at the National Gallery of Art. I am going to mix it up -- NARS Jungle Red lips, a pewter ball gown, black leather dress boots and Mitsouko extrait. Of course. @};-

    • Eileen says:

      That’s great, March! What a relief for you.

    • Louise says:

      Ah, welcome home, Cheese >:d< That party sounds fabu, have a grand time :)>– You’ll look/smell mahvelous 🙂

      • March says:

        Usually, every year, the weather on that particular night is awful — sleeting or bitterly cold. We’ll see which way it goes tonight.

    • Francesca says:

      So glad to hear he got home safely!!!!! And I love the image of you in a pewter ball gown and dressy black boots. 😡

      • March says:

        I think I can get away with it … who’s gonna be looking at my feet anyway? My right foot is much, much better — back into regular shoes more or less, yay! But I just can’t manage the dress shoes for an evening, so I figure it’s better than clogs or sneakers. The skirt’s too long for flats…

    • Divalano says:

      So happy to hear that, March!
      Pewter dress sounds fantastic! Pewter, black & red sounds gorgeous. Hmm. Running errands today. Wonder if I can come up with silver, black & red ensemble to make me feel less errand running blah? heh

      • March says:

        I love looking at the clothes people wear (and it’s also a children’s party, so there are lots of immaculately groomed and dressed children — mine are just normal looking). Some folks come from work, so the ladies just dress it up with a sparkly shawl or different earrings or what have you. But other people clearly use it as an excuse to put on whatever fabulous getup they want to — from Christmas Plaid pants and dinner jackets on men to wildly elaborate costume-y things on the women.

    • helenviolette says:

      =d> and <:-p

    • Shelley says:

      Hooray!! :d/ Happy, happy.
      The get up sounds fantastic, as does the soiree; enjoy spouse and sillage as you float among the collections.

    • karin says:

      Oooooh!!!! Sounds like a fun party!!! Pewter ballgown, leather boots and Mitsouko? That’s HOT!!! Hope you have a blast, and glad to hear your hubby’s back safe and sound.

    • Thank goodness The Cheese is home for the holidays. Safe, too. Weather says you’ll be nippy, but no snow, thank goodness for that. My New Hampshire relatives are iced in. I own my business, so my party is always low key and excellent food! I’m wearing Grand Canyon by the company formerly known as Liz Zorn, ’cause it’s that kind of weather.

  • Shelley says:

    Woo-hoo! Thank You!!

    My office party is today, too…the scent challenge includes these parameters: 1) This year, we are being hosted in somebody’s home (it’s lovely, but not a castle; therefore, bodies, close proximity, and all. 2) We are spending a full day on the front lines (in the classrooms), and then heading straight over. 3) Definite sensitivities.

    If I were an impish one, I’d liberally spritz an Omnia, and take mental notes on responses whilst remaining blissfully unaware of any personal emanations. (That one I have been anosmic to every time but one.) Alas, I am too desirous of preserving fellowship…which means the greatest gift I present today may be a detour home first for a quick “application” of Eau de Shower.

    …and maybe sneak in a dab of Lyric, or OJ Woman, on my wrists, just for little hits? Is that like a perfume fan’s hip flask?

    • March says:

      Yes!!!! That’s EXACTLY what it’s like, that’s brilliant! Little hits from the flask… I have done that when/where I needed fragrance support in a place I felt like I shouldn’t be wafting sillage.

  • Louise says:

    Oooh! A party! Well, office party, anyway.

    My department has largely rejected all attempts at festivity, and has eliminated the holiday bash. As much as I’ve disliked the forced joviality of these events, I find it just sad that no attempt is even made now. Grumpy boss…:(

    As a result, I must spritz myself for an imaginary party, with fantasy hidden flasks and pretend dry cake. My choice of fragrance would be patchouli-based, since my colleagues have complained about patch-based perfumes. Maybe Prada or Coromandel, or if I’m feeling especially Grinchy…Borneo /:)

  • Joe says:

    Oh good grief — our office “party” is a lunchtime potluck (sans alcohol), so not only do I have to force myself to mingle, I also have to COOK something (or bring a bag of chips or crackers like half the crowd).

    Maybe I’ll do something nutty like douse myself in Mitsouko to keep everyone at bay. More likely I’ll go with something warm and cozy like Bois Farine or CdG Palisander just to keep myself feeling calm (while forcing myself to praise someone’s green bean casserole).

  • Eva says:

    Hey Patty, I am with you on those office Christmas parties, they are truuuuuly torture!! I don’t mind the small team Christmas lunches but the big company events – yikes!!! My skin just ADORES Diorella (i’m in Australia so it’s summer) as it makes me feel fresh and confident and that warmish base has a bit of don’t-give-a-damn feel to it in the beginning, which I really like. Then by the time the night has worn a bit and I have had a few drinks and am feelig a bit more mellow, the dry-down on Diorella kicks in and it is exquisite and I feel I can cope. Diorella is my fave confidence booster.