It’s the weekend, and we’re repeating a poll we’ve done for the past few years around this time. As always, answer as few or as many as you like, or just talk about something else.
1. What fragrance are you wearing today?
2. What’s your favorite holiday (any holiday) food, OR, what’s the best thing you cooked in 2024? (Feel free to share or link to a recipe!)
3. Did you make any perfume-related resolutions for 2024, and if so, did you stick to them?
4. Possibly related to #3, what’s the next fragrance you are itching to buy?
5. Share something wonderful with us! It can be anything — something delicious you ate, a great movie you saw recently, the last good book you read, any fabulous news you recently received — really, anything…
Note: top image is frosty holly [cropped] by liz west at flickr; some rights reserved.
Hello and happy weekend!
Sotd is Lipstick Rose.
My favourite holiday food is stuffing with gravy if desserts don’t count!
I am itching to buy Guerlain’s year of the snake perfume.
Great movie lately has to be Wicked. Wicked is my favourite musical and the film exceeded my expectations.
You smell fabulous!
I LOVED the stage production of “Wicked,” so I’m a little wary of seeing the film. But yours is not the only rave I’ve heard, so I’ll probably break down and go see it.😊
Smelling wonderful!
Vintage Dior Eau Fraiche
Marzipan
My son is the chef in the house
No, at least I don’t think so
No, can’t think of anything, I have gifted goodies to explore
I’ll have all three human kids and all three feline grandchildren home for the holidays and I’ve talked my son into making chicken paprikash for the first time
So nice you have a son that will do the cooking!
It certainly is !!!
Oh, Chicken Paprikash! Excellent.
😁
I’m back in Broken Theories this morning because I enjoyed it so much a couple of days ago. Planning to decorate the house for Christmas today — we don’t do a tree (except for the miniature tree my mom made almost 50 years ago), but I assemble little vignettes of ornaments in bowls, or hanging from ribbons, on the mantel, etc. It’s fun!
Meanwhile, the rest of my poll responses:
My favorite holiday food … hmmm. Hopefully desserts count, because my favorite things to eat around basically any holiday are the desserts. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream at Thanksgiving is a strong contender, and shortbread cookies at Christmas.
The only perfume-related resolution I made this year was never to buy anything unsniffed. Broke it twice, for Au Delà Narcisse and Ambra Aurea. Absolutely no regrets!
I have no perfume-buying yens at present, but give it a moment. 😂
Something wonderful … well, I made Mr. G rewatch Love Actually, because Christmas, you know, and after kvetching a bit he settled down and enjoyed it. The movie itself is wonderful, but my DH sitting still to rewatch one of my favorites is also a rare and beautiful thing.
Now that you mention it, those shortbread cookies sound pretty good.
Yay for desserts, yay for the husband watching one of your favorites. All good things.
I’m wearing Orto Parisi Cuoium this morning, a lovely dark leather.
My favorite holiday food…probably seafood of some kind (always on Christmas Eve) or cream puffs. Although I love cream puffs any time. I don’t have any perfume resolutions or longings at the moment, except for TF Cherry Smoke in travel size. One of these days he’ll release it.
There is much wonderfulness here–I was told Bertie Wooster had “weeks” to live in May, and he is sleeping beside me right now, my sister and I had a great time in Japan, I am going to France in April, and I found a hair stylist who cuts my thinning wavy hair beautifully. I am so lucky.
Aw, go Bernie! 💖
All good things, foxbins.
I have not had a cream puff in ages, but I must have a sweet tooth today because all of these desserts sound so good.
You have a lot of wonderful things going on in your life!
Something wonderful happened yesterday: my visit to a peony farm and the neighbouring heritage rose collection. The rose farm is a passion project , fifty years in the making, tucked in a little valley . It’s the biggest collection of gallica roses in the country and it was amazing to see specimens such as the Lancaster Rose ( War of the roses, Tudor) or the Holy Rose ( which dates back to Egyptian times) in flower and hear the histories. The roses I most loved were the ones he had found and collected ( cuttings) from derelict farms, homes, schoolyards, and roadsides in remote parts of the island…roses that people brought with them from Scotland, England, China when they came here around the time of the gold rush. These would have originated from someone’s garden back “ home” and nurtured through a three month sea voyage, then planted in a remote corner of the world as a reminder of a place most would never see again. One rose was taken from Skippers , near Queenstown, and it had survived all these years with no “ care” , just living in the wild ( modern roses wouldn’t be tough enough to do that). Anyway , fascinating. Wearing French Lime Blossom and off fossil hunting this afternoon ( fossicking in the sediment for leaf fossils). Happy weekend
Glad you had such a good time at the peony and rose farm. I was wondering how it went.
That does sound wonderful!!
I would love to smell those historic roses!
Love the photo, Robin! Quintessential Christmas!
1) Nicolai Le Temps d’Une Fete from the ever generous Sample Sea. Lots of sample thunking going on over here.😃
2. Probably would have to say my mom’s Holiday Turkey and Stuffing. She always hit it out of the park on the big holidays with her cooking and she loves to host. I have no memory of her ever using recipes and she didn’t own any recipe books that I can think of. Natural talent, I guess. That talent was not passed down to her children. 😀
3. I made ZERO resolutions and I kept every single one!
4. Since my sniffathon at the fancy mall, I’ve decided on my next big purchase. However, starting a No Buy in January and will try to ride that horse for at least three months. Then I’ll reevaluate.
5) I’ve had a very unsettling few weeks, but from a wider perspective I’m still upright, mostly continent, and 95% in my right mind. So, I’m considering that a win. Sometimes you have to adjust your expectations and be grateful you can get yourself out of bed each morning.
Have a great weekend!
So regarding #4, what will be the next big purchase? Also, curious which mall you were at.
If I haven’t gone there before I may need to seek it out if I get down in that area soon.
It was the big one in Scottsdale, don’t remember the name of it, but it has all those highfalutin’ high dollar stores- LV, Gucci, etc…I was just walking through Neiman Marcus and did a drive by of the perfume section and realized they had EVERYTHING! I’ve never has access to all of the Chanel and Guerlain lines, as well as so many others. But it was on my way out and couldn’t spend as much time there as I would have liked. I may go back, but it’s an Uber ride to the other side of town and back, so it adds up. The perfume I immediately fell for-do not pass go, do not collect $100- was Coromandel. They had both the edp and the extrait. 💸💸💸 It’s calling me just like the One Ring called to Gollum…its goal is to corrupt my bank account! 🤣
I am guessing it was Fashion Square. Coromandel is certainly a good one.
I’m very curious about the Coromandel extrait, Deva! Were you able to test them both?
No, I only sprayed on paper. The extrait wasn’t open (I don’t think) and I only saw it as I was getting ready to leave. I was surprised because I didn’t think they made it in an extrait? I have BdI in extrait, but I know they discontinued them and there’s just some left over stock floating around. I’m 99% sure the label said Coromandel…I’m going to do a search…
Ok, they do have it in Extrait in the Chanel site. Just double checking myself. If I do get back there, I’ll see if I can compare both and let you know. The extrait is cheaper then the edp, which I find interesting.
Totally twinning with you on #5!
Definitely a win on #5.
My grandmother baked bread and pies without a recipe. Since then, I have never had pie crust anywhere near as good as hers. I did watch her and I think I understand some of the keys, but it would take a lot of practice to get it right, and I’d weigh 400 pounds before I got there. 😸
1) a cheap amber paste I bought at Whole Foods 🤣. I love it, it lasts ALL day and was about $7. Who doesn’t love that?
2) a week ago we had some friends over and I made classic cassoulet from scratch. It’s a 2 day process. It needs a crowd as you just can’t make it for a couple. Cassoulet, green salad and later cookies, coffee and liquors by the fire. Very relaxed. Lots of laughter.
3) Never buy unsniffed!
4) So far I don’t have the itchies. That can easily change.
5) I got to see an early screening of Queer starring Craig Daniels. It is fabulous and I predict not only will he be nominated for an Academy Award, I’ll go out on a limb and say that he will win. Go watch the trailer!
I made cassoulet ONCE, so now I’ve done it and will never do it again. I am not a cook! Glad you had a nice evening with friends.
I make it once a year. It’s too rich, and time consuming, to do more often. I even order special beans lol.
We had a traditional cassoulet when I was in France at a restaurant in Carcassonne. I thought it was what we (in the US) call a casserole. Then I learned a cassoulet is a a type of casserole but not every casserole is a cassoulet. It was delicious and very filling. It was kind of a dreary chilly day and it really hit the spot. 😋 But yeah, a LOT of work!
1. I’m wearing “Une Rose” from Frederic Malle. Of all the rose perfumes I’ve ever known/sniffed, this is probably my favorite. (I adore Nahema, but the Malle suits my skin better.)
2. My favorite holiday food is a century-old secret family recipe for butterscotch. Simple ingredients, but very tricky to make. It is the taste of Christmas for my family.
3. No real perfume resolutions beyond trying to be mindful on eBay. Alas, I’m easily tempted by vintage/pre-reformulation bottles.
4. I’d love to find the parfum version of Bois Des Iles, but it’s mighty scarce.
5. I’m notoriously grumpy when it comes to movies, but I can heartily recommend “My Old A**.” (It’s on Amazon, I think.) It’s a coming-of-age story, but unlike the gazillion others out there, it’s actually really sweet, funny, and deeply moving. What a surprise, and what a find! Not perfect, but perfect for me right now.
Daniel, is butterscotch a hard candy or soft like a caramel? My mom made a hard candy like Werner’s at Christmas. Always a favorite.
It’s got a crunch, for sure, but it’s much closer to a brittle than a hard candy like Werther’s. Absolutely addictive stuff.☺️
Une Rose is gorgeousness. Is your bottle new-ish or very old? Asking because wonder if it is the same as it used to be…
Robin, it’s not very old – maybe seven or eight years? I’ve never tried a “vintage” bottle, but I’m crazy about mine. Incredibly beautiful and layered, and it lasts like an extrait.
1. BBW Noel Vanilla Bean lotion with D&G Devotion.
* Lilyjo-The Vanilla Bean works well if you don’t have any more Lemon Pound Cake.
2. Well, my husband would tell you the best thing I cooked/baked was pecan pie. He liked it so much for Thanksgiving that he convinced me to make him a second one.
3. If I did, I don’t remember it. I probably didn’t as I normally don’t make New Year’s resolutions.
4. Nothing, but that could change at any time🤣
5. I can’t think of anything. I am just content with life right now and that is a good thing.
It is absolutely a good thing!
What a lovely picture, Robin.
10 hours sweet sleep. Turned the heat on for a few minutes this morning for the first time.
Post shower my Christmas gift to myself – Jorum Boswellia Scotia to feed my need for incense.
I haven’t cooked or baked anything in years but my sister sends me her fabulous banana bread every Christmas. I am awaiting my delivery this week. I do love stuffing and mashed potatoes and can eat a bowl, no problem.
Watched the documentary Superman about Christopher & Dana Reeves. Have my ticket for A Complete Unknown for Christmas Day, yay!!
Stuck to very low buy year and have sold or gifted over 50-60? bottles.
Bought Babycat and BdE and Guiac 10 – from duty free and Tokyo ll store and was gifted Ambre Nuit.
And yeah, I retired this year!!
Isn’t it nice being retired? It takes some getting used to, but am so happy I retired early.
It is nice, Kris. So many things I used to have to get done and worry about and people who made me crazy and I will never miss that part.
The future is still unwritten ~
1. Peau de Soie by Phillipe Starck today. It reminds me of the Alaia perfume but less bombastic and a hair more androgynous.
2. My favorite thing I made this year was mole while staying with my two best friends this summer. I made it with cauliflower and potatoes.
https://www.seriouseats.com/mole-aproximado-mexican-sauce-recipe
3. My low buy was not so low, but life is too short. 😂
4. I’m going to Paris in two weeks, so I’m thinking a Lutens and… Who knows? 😇
5. I’m reading this really engrossing book of Korean short stories. They’re a bit eerie and mournful, but I’m really enjoying them.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/at-night-he-lifts-weights-kang-young-sook/1142117181
Paris – how exciting! How long are you staying?
Honestly only a few days. We tacked it onto the end of a river cruise.
Might you be escorting back a bell jar or two? 😀
Honestly, I’m not sure! I have quite a few and I’m not sure if I need another specifically.
Honestly, I’m not sure! I have quite a few and I’m not sure if I need another specifically.
Right now I’m sniffing Krinos from Angelos Créations Olfactives, one of my samples from Luckyscent. It’s a musky floral which doesn’t appeal to me and I wondered why I’d ordered it – I didn’t! I’d ordered a sample of Karikia, a tobacco scent. That’s the first time that I can recall that I’ve been sent the wrong sample.
So far, the sample I like most is Hiram Green’s Tryst. It’s a bit sharp to start, then settles into a rich honeyed floral.
I think my favourite festive food is my mother’s chocolate meringue dessert, which I’ve raved about before, but more generally for the time of year, it’s cherries. It’s early in the season and we’ve eaten kilos of them already.
My only perfume resolution was to try and be a bit more restrained, and I have succeeded in buying fewer FBs than average – not necessarily a lot fewer 🙂 .
I’m always itching for something, but I’m trying to put everything off till April, when I go overseas.
Something wonderful – the approach of summer, our weather is often rubbish but I’m ever-optimistic.
Today I’m wearing Guerlain Vol de Nuit EdT from one of the Op Art boxes — old enough that the bottle has a blue tax stamp on the bottom. This was a refill spray bottle intended for one of Guerlain’s fancy gold-tone metal cases.
Favorite holiday foods: there are so many, but I do love the Ghirardelli chocolate peppermint bark that one can only find around Christmastime.
No perfume resolutions. I am itching to buy Oud Extraordinaire from Ensar Oud. I got a sample earlier in the year when I bought their Japanese red rose oil, and now I need more Oud Extraordinaire to layer with the rose.
Something wonderful: I’ve become fascinated with old black and white films from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, especially pre-Code films (late 1920s-1933).
I’m currently watching the 1933 film “Man’s Castle,” starring Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young. Left homeless and facing starvation, a young woman takes refuge among the eccentric denizens of a Great Depression era New York City shantytown.
Also, I bought a Hypervolt GO message gun like my physical therapist has — this is so much better for releasing knots in muscles than foam rolling or anything else I’ve tried. Highly recommend!
Does anyone else here love old black and white films?
LOL, that would be a massage gun, not a message gun. 😸
Sometimes I need a “message gun” for my sciatica pain
We have a lot in common. I was wearing Vol de nuit yesterday. And I love peppermint bark. I eat some everyday !!! Being a movie buff, I support your interest for old movies.
That being said, we differ in the oud section. I don’t like it.
I am wearing PC Amber Ylang Ylang by Estée Lauder today, and a bit of Tangier Vanille on top. Same perfume.
Happy holidays.
You have great taste, rebieFR! 😉
WRT oud, there are so many different variations, whether natural or synthetic. This one is cultivated and quite mild. Interestingly, they say that durian trees are increasingly supplanting aquilaria cultivation, being more profitable — on one level it’s kind of amusing that a perfume and incense ingredient is being replaced by the ultimate stinky fruit.
Are you saying Tangier Vanille and EL PC Amber Ylang Ylang are very similar? 👀
Love old black and whites
Can watch Mildred Pierce over and over.
Barbra Stanwyck. Bette Davis.
Also love my Therabody Thera gun. Got it when I started working from home. It’s great.
You know, I haven’t watched Mildred Pierce yet, thanks for reminding me — looking forward to this treat!
https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/nov/16/my-favourite-film-sunrise?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Have you ever seen Sunrise , a silent movie from 1927? Amazing .
Donatella forgives, purchased Liaisons Dangereuses by Kilian. It was on my long list.
Reading Empire of the Summer Moon and learning so much about Texan history and Comanche Indians.
Oh, that’s a great book! 🙌
Congratulations, lovetosmellgood! Liaisons Dangereuses is one of the greatest perfumes that no one ever talks about.
Lovestosmellgood, that is such an amazing book. I still think about it a decade after reading it and have given it to several people..
In answer to the poll:
1. I am swanning about in L’Occitane Immortelle del Corso thanks to a generous holiday perfume fairy on this site. Thank you!!!
2 & 5. Gonna change ‘best thing I cooked’ to ‘best thing I ate’ and that was some chestnut cake in Rome. Italians love their chestnuts in the fall and the bakery near where I stayed had this lovely rich dense cake/bread, no eggs or butter, just chestnuts and/or chestnut flour, olive oil, sugar. I think it was probably poverty cake from the South, nothing fancy about it, but ithe flavors were intense. We just don’t do chestnuts here in the U.S. or at least in L.A. I’ve never seen a guy roasting chestnuts on the street for sale. But I do love them. Yum!
3. Resolution is one bottle out for each bottle that comes in. Or maybe 2 out for each one. I am determined to declutter whether via swaps, gifts, or sales. Luckily i have many people around me who love perfume as gifts. And yes, I did stick to it.
4. I have no plans to buy anything, heh heh. Most of my purchases are impulse driven. But if a few Profumum Romas fell into my lap, I would not shoo them away. I’ve sampled this house and liked it a lot and there are several I have my beady little eye upon.
1. Organza Indecence
2. a) Thanksgiving stuffing with celery, onion, dried cherries, apple chunks and lots of fresh sage. I don’t know why I don’t fix it more often.
b) German sour cream twist cookies. The family clusters around the cooling rack like a flock of vultures and eats them almost as fast as I can remove them from the cookie sheet. Cooks.com has the identical recipe to the one I inherited from my mom.
3. I vowed to give a good wearing to everything I own a bottle or decant of before I decide whether it stays or goes and so far so good.
4. I have a couple of samples arriving maybe Monday, and have given myself permission to buy something new, but only if I really love it.
5. Yesterday it was a big hawk in the backyard with a vole in its talons. Today it’s the number and variety of birds at the feeder. I know it sounds incredibly syrupy but sometimes being able to find wonder in the mundane is all that gets one through.
I did the “wear a different perfume every day” a few years ago. It was rather fun! I think it would take me a lot longer now….
Itching to try these cookies!
Continuing the CP with Spezie de’ Medici because it has ginger and I didn’t get to wear it yet this autumn, loving my little bottle of concentrato.
Marrons glacés, hands down, followed by mince pies with mulled wine to drink
I was successful with my low-buy but this quarter is a fail
The Kerosene line interests me somewhat but I’m fickle and I fulfilled several wants this unrestrained quarter
I bought a new casserole to cook with over the holidays.