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:)
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!
Kilian’s Typical Me, my holiday perfume gift to myself.
I am very happy – no regrets
Kilian’s Typical Me, my holiday perfume gift to myself.
I am very happy – no regrets
Wearing Jicky edp today. I was kicking around Theorema but I want to save that for Sunday or Christmas Day.
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).
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!
great idea!
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😉
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 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
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
Bittersweet, Bittersweet.
Wearing Chanel Beige, which was a birthday present to myself…
Nice. Great scent!
Two dabs of 1972 Joy. For so many reasons.
Love Joy!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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! 🌹
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.
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.