Do you have fragrances on your Holiday wish list?
Are you comfortable asking your loved ones for particular scents for Christmas, birthdays etc.?
Or do you prefer to buy them for yourself?
What particular scent are you hoping for this year?
Do you gift others with perfume?
My Answer:
I have been wishing and hoping for perfume for the past several years, and most of the time I have received what I wanted (with a little hint, well, to be truthful with quite specific and explicit clarification deposited in writing).
This year I thought I was fine, I have more than enough perfumes at the moment and I’m enjoying what I have. So the explicit instructions go in the direction of an Hermès shawl rather than scented delights this year. But thinking about it, there are a few fragrant things I wouldn’t mind at all, so for the sake of the argument, here they are:
Hermès Hermessence Vetiver Tonka: because it is “keeping your cool” in a bottle. Vetiver Tonka gets things done, I wrote in my review, and that is something I really need these days.
Bath and body products of L’Ambre de Merveilles: not available yet, but as I said, this is just what I want, not what I get anyway.
Roja Dove Unspoken extrait: because it is simply stunning and will always remind me of London.
What is on your wishlist? It must not be realistic, let’s dream a bit!
Olfactoria's Travels 
Oh I wish I could skip buying perfume this year – too late. I would love the Fornasetti incense holder for the home and a perfume as well. A discontinued Guerlain is going under the tree and lets see if I can leave Rome empty handed or not. Highly doubtful. 😉
Highly doubtful indeed! 😉 It would be a shame to leave Rome without a perfume, it is a souvenir after all.
Discontinued Guerlains are the best of things to be underneath a Christmas Tree.
This year I am really trying to be good and keeping my demands to a minimum. I have had so many bottles this year that even I think it’s a tad ridiculous now. People in my family prefer to get me non-perfume related things for Christmas, which is OK by me, but I have put just two little ideas out there to be considered:
Nigel has been asked to get me a bottle of Sartorial. It’s been hanging about on my wish list for far too long and he may be more likely to get it because it’s a) for boys and b) not obscenely expensive.
I’ve said to others that if they want to get me cheap bottles of Dalí scents then they are more than welcome to. They are so cheap and I just adore those ugly little bottles 😀
Re your list, you’ll need the Vetiver Tonka and Ambre body products to match your Hermes scarf won’t you? I mean, it just wouldn’t work otherwise 😉
That seems like a very restrained list, I’m sure Nigel will grant your wish for Sartorial, it is so very elegant and refined.
You hit the nail on the head of course, regarding the Hermès combo, of course it wouldn’t work otherwise. 😉
I would love a bottle of Monas vanille, Lutens Louve, Profumums Vanitas or Ambre des Merveilles. I have been on a vanilla kick lately. We just got 10 cm snow so its perfect weather for cozy vanillas.
I have bought a bottle of Byredo Accord Oud for my mom which she has wished for.
Hmm, lovely things on your list. I hope you get them all, especially Mona’s Vanille and my beloved L’Ambre des Merveilles are must-haves!
Lucky Mom! 🙂
Hello 🙂 I have been lurking in the shadows for faaar too long now and it’s about high time I introduced myself and joined in the fun 🙂
I often buy scented gifts for others but find I have much more incentive to track down what I want than they all do, and western Australia is a bit of a perfume wasteland (getting better, but slowly). Sooo, I just bought myself some MFK apom, which I love in this warm weather, and I’m sorely tempted to treat myself to a little bottle of Nasomatto Nuda, so my sultry summer nights can be steeped in indolic jasmine…
Hey Lynley,
I’m glad you decided to de-lurk! Welcome!
I think it is an excellent idea to get Nuda for the summer, and be quick, it is being discontinued!
Welcome Lynley!
Hi Birgit,
I have given my fiance specific instructions for Santal Majuscule and Vitriol d’Oeillet and also to my brother for Lys Mediterranee as I have finished my bottle. But after that, no more full bottles for a while for me. Im buying my fiance Antaeus because we have tested it for a while and he likes it. Otherwise I steer clear of buying perfume for others unless they specificall request it – otherwise its all too hard. Hope you get the Hermes scarf!
M 🙂
Very good, specific instructions are important!
(Which is why I’m sure I’ll get my Hermès scarf, nothing is left to chance this year! 😉 )
Yes, im very cheeky! I send my husband emails of what i want. I really would love these, but happy with one! Histoires 1969 & Isabey Fleur Nocturne.
Most husbands need (and welcome) a bit of encouragement, it saves time afeter all. 😉
I hope you get your two perfumes!
I never ask for a fragrant gift as my family would balk at the prices of some on my wish list, it is an obsession not shared by my family members. I don’t buy fragrance for anyone either apart from my children (my son has picked the bug up, my daughter not so much but I keep trying)
I did order a bottle of Unspoken EDP this weekend as there was 10% off (rude not to) I know there is a difference between the EDP and Parfum but there is also a vast difference in price so I went for second best. This is my fragrant Christmas present to myself (well most of it as I will sell half of it)
I would love a Hermes scarf though, although a little birdie told me there would be a pair of Ugg gloves under the tree which is what I have been coverting for soooo long. 🙂
Yay, you got Unspoken! Congratulations!
Ugg gloves sound noce and toasty, I’m glad you are getting what you have been coveting for a while.
For the first time in ages I don’t have a full bottle on my wish list, so I have dropped completely unsubtle hints regarding the MDCI and Ann Gerard sample sets. I will also be giving my Mum a bottle of Cuir de Lancome, which she will smell wonderful on her – hurrah!
That is a great idea, sample sets are wonderful and those two especially.
Your mom will smell gorgeous!
I would love perfume for Christmas, but since it’s not an interest shared by family & friends, & perfumes tend to be on the expensive side, I generally suggest books or things like gloves etc.
That said, if I had to choose, it wouldn’t be easy – BK Rose Oud, Traversee du Bosphore, Chergui, Shalimar Ode Madagascar, Lys Med, Indochine are all jostling for space on my hypothetical wishlist, so I’m quite glad I don’t have to narrow it down for friends or family 😉
Very understandable, my family (aside from poor, long-suffering husband) doesn’t even know about my perfume hobby.
That is a great wishlist you have there, Figuier!
Lol. My Christmas list is mostly perfume this year. I was just thinking last night that I need to stop buying anything else at the moment because I got some great swap samples and bottles and I’ve purchased a bit more than usual lately. So I am hoping that Santa brings me something because I am done buying for me for a while. I’ve asked for two Sonoma Scent Studio scents, Champagne de Bois and Jour Ensoleille, the ELDO coffret, 10 Corso Como bath oil, the Olympic Orchids sampler, and scented candles. I don’t expect to get all of them though. The one thing I really want that perfume related but I’d need to pick it out is a cabinet to put my perfumes in. That would be wonderful. I’d love to find a beautiful armoire for perfume and jewelry.
Ah, a beautiful piece of furniture for perfume is great to shop for. I hope you find something just perfect in the coming year.
Your perfume wishlist is lovely, I hope you get many things from it!
I really don’t want for much except for perfume. What I’ll do is buy a couple of bottles, wrap them for under the tree and open them on Xmas. I tell my better half to buy me small items, like boxer shorts, t-shirts, etc. Oh, I did ask for a container/organizer for holding all of my samples 🙂
That is a nice idea, even if you wrap your own parcels, it is nice to unpack them again. 🙂
Let us know how your storage solution turns out.
Such a fun post! Really enjoying everyone’s answers.
I love the sound of your Hermes Christmas, B. I’m having an Ormonde Jayne Christmas myself. I’m being given Champaca – which I’ve wanted for ages – and I’ve bought Ormonde Woman for myself. If we’re dreaming I’d like Mona’s Vanille and Musc under the tree too.
Oh, an OJ Christmas surely is a great Christmas! I’m glad you went for the Woman and yay for Champaca!
Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the Monas as well! 🙂
At the top of my list: MFK Lumiere Noire Pour Femme. But I don’t expect any bottles under the tree, I’ve been on quite a perfume bender the past couple months! Yikes!
It is possible, however, that the DH will indulge my wishes anyhow. He has my full list!
I really don’t want/need anything, and I would love it if my in-laws would honor my request to cease and disist with the gifts. Bless their hearts, they always give me odd random things that aren’t “me” at all. If they would each just pool whatever they intended to spend on a gift for me and get something on my ‘fume wishlist – that would be ideal!
Oh, I’m totally with you on the in-law gifting issue. But it is so hard to communicate that…
Great list!
Hey Birgit,
Jin sometimes buys me a Gift Certificate for Posh Peasant. It’s a fabulous present because half the fun for me is the search. I like getting the card and Certificate too.
Portia xx
Jin is a great guy – he gets it, definitely a keeper! 😉
Dear Birgit,
I don’t think I will be getting any fragrances on these holidays, other than a couple bottles and candles I ordered from Fueguia.
Most of the time I buy my own fragrances or give some hints -name, concentration, bottle size, where to buy it- to the husband when he travels. If traveling friends volunteer to custom purchase something for me, it is always perfume, of course.
I have a few thingies on my wish list. I will probably not get them for the holidays but would love to acquire them during the coming year. They are Jubilation 25, Opus VI, Mona di Orio Ambre, Vero Profumo Kiki, MFK Absolue pour le Soir and both Scandal and Ta’if in parfum versions. It seems I will need to work a lot.
I do gift others with perfume, but only with easily likeable things asThierry Mugler Cologne. My nephews, have been getting fragrance from me since they were toddlers and they already appreciate the good stuff.
I am sure you have been a good girl and will get beautifully fragrant gifts this year.
xoxo
Caro
That is nice wishlist to get you into the new year, Caro!
I hope you get them all!
I told my sister, that I want Ormonde Jayne Tolu, and I sent her the website. Fingers crossed.
She wants Marc Jacobs Dot (yuck) I have to remember that it is what she wants, not me. I am hoping that if she searches the Ormonde Jayne website, she may be intrigued. She likes fruity flowery scents. There are a couple of OJ’s that fit that bill.
I got my niece Annick Goutal Petite Cherie, and I think it will smell pretty on her (she is 12)
I am looking for something that smells like a cupcake for my other niece (9), because I think that, well know, that that is what she will like. Any ideas???
I want to get my beloved Tom Ford Oud Wood, because it smells amazing on him.
My other family members may get bath salts that I make. 🙂
I think I will get myself Chanel Bois de Iles 🙂
A very good idea! 🙂
Looking for a cupcake scent? How about Pink Sugar? You can actually get it discounted at several online retailers or check out Sephora as they put together nice packages of Pink Sugar with body products from time to time.Good choice on the Petite Cherie!
Thank you Brie, I will!!!
I keep my fingers crossed for you to get Tolu (and maybe your sister falls for a lovely OJ floral instead of the grisly Dot).
Your husband will smell delightful too!
I hope so too!!!!
Oh, I am so excited all the sudden. Yaaaaaay!!!!!!!
🙂
Which of the Britney Spears ones had that much-talked about cupcake accord?
But for something a little more niche, there is that new line from Gérald Ghislain (Histoires de Parfums) all based on cupcakes: Alice and Peter. The bottles are shaped like cupcakes too. Even cranky, bitter me had to admit that they are quite adorable.
http://www.alicepeter.com/
I wouldn’t mind getting perfume for a Christmas gift, but I’m not giving nobody any suggestions. I just don’t like to do that. I’ve seen that my darling has quite different taste for buying perfume for me. Last time he did it, I ended up with Issey Myake L’Eau d’ Issey. Which is very good scent but not very my tipe of perfume-it should be Fou d’Issey. I kept that for myself of course and gratefuly accepted the gift, which I use on some very hot days.
The other thing is that I like surprises ;-). Especially perfume surprises, what is very unlikely to be but girl can hope ;-). It is important not having great expectations. In fact I wouldn’t mind a bottle of Fou d’Issey or a new bottle of Byzance …..the list is too long.
If you find a bottle of Le Feu d’Issey, you should snap it up, they are so scarce these days.
I’m a firm believer in the theory that most husbands need strict guidelines. 😉
No one buys me perfume except me :). I am on a tight budget so it will be only one affordable bottle and hopefully Laurie Erickson’s Cocoa Sandalwood if it makes it to the website before the holidays!
Oh that sounds soooo good. I love Laurie’s work, and Cocoa Sandalwood sound absolutely delightful!
I have no qualms about requesting specific scents for holiday gifts. Quite often my DH will ask me the name of the scent I’m wearing and then “Do you own this, or is it a sample?” If it’s a sample and he really likes it he has me write it down on a small card which he tucks into his wallet. He knows to buy the smallest bottle available. If that scenario doesn’t happen, I always have my daughter who is my partner in crime. We try to co-ordinate our wish lists so we don’t have duplicates, with the understanding that who ever gets the wished for bottle will create a split for the other. While she is my daughter our tastes diverge somewhat.
On my wish list this year are Dior Ambre Nuit, Olfactive Studio Chambre Noir, Amouage Lyric or Memoir or Gold or Jubilation. And this last one is because of you, Hermes L’Ambre des Merveilles. Since I’ve gotten a sample of it I cannot stop wearing it. It helps that DH really, really, really loves it, too. In fact I’m not sure I can wait until Christmas morning to see if it’s under the tree. I am so tempted to take my Sephora card and purchase a bottle of it today.
Oh wait! I forgot one. Parfum d’Empire Equistrius. But that’s it, I swear. LOL
There is always one more… 😉
Your husband sounds like the Perfumista’s dream spouse!
And how lovely that you share your hobby and your wishlist with your daughter.
Let me know whether you have given in to temptation and bought L’Ambre des Merveilles early. 🙂
The only perfume I asked for was Spicebomb. But in a perfect world I’d be unwrapping bottles of Une Rose Chypree, Wazamba, Mona di Orio Musc, Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, and 5 O’Clock au Gingembre too. Plus some fancy scented candles for good measure. One can dream!
Oh yes, one can and should! Great wishlist!
What a great Monday question! My wishlist is so long . . . I would love a fb of L’Ambre des Merveilles. And one of the new Kilians, In the City of Sin. I like the fragrance but like that little white clutch even more! The discovery set from Ormonde Jayne. And fb’s of all three of Neela Vermeire’s fragrances.
This is all kind of fantasy right now since my fragrance budget has already gone over and no one buys me perfume. Sadly, most of my friends (and weirdly all of my exes) were completely, totally, oblivious to my insane fragrance habit. I don’t really get it, but I guess that people around me just aren’t very observant?
That is strange that nobody realized how much you love perfume. It seems you are a very discreet applier in any case.
I love your list, all three NVCs – Neela would love to read that.
I think the only ones who ever picked it up were my office mates. It’s okay. One day I’ll stink up the whole world 🙂
Absolutely! 😀
I’m comfortable picking up a fragrance that I want, and giving it to my husband to put away for me till Christmas (or my birthday). Save him time and guesswork! This year it’s Reglisse Noire from 1000 Flowers. I’ll gift others with perfume if I know what they want, i.e. if they have a signature scent, or they particularly ask for something.
Reglisse Noire is great and a bargain too!
It’s a good idea to only buy perfumes for others when we really know it is going to be appreciated.
If my husband knew how much I’m prepared to spend on a beautiful scent I think he would cease to enjoy them on me. So instead I have asked for other lovely things from him: gloves (I adore gloves), cashmere, silk, books. But what’s better than treating yourself to a little luxury every so often? And what brightens the day more than a lovely new perfume? My wish list for the coming year is endlessly long and includes classics such as Shalimar and Mitsouko, but also 31 rue Cambon, Tonka Imperiale, Amouage Interlude, Seville a l’aube, l’Air du désert Marocain, OJ Ta’if, Sweet Milk. To name but a few…
That is a wonderful list (and an expensive one). 🙂
It is better then to keep the hard numbers from your husband, he should enjoy the perfumes on you without fretting about the price.
Oh, I am definitely not getting a perfume from anyone for Christmas. They know me enough to know that they can’t buy one for me unless I specify what I’d like and that kind of kills the spirit for me. 🙂
What I would LOVE to find under my Christmas tree is Bolt of LIghtning (you said we could dream). 😉
Possibly some Serge Noire as I had a huge disappointment recently when I realized my bottle was empty – there was never much in it, but I somehow remembered it wasn’t exactly empty (few drops don’t count). 😦
Bolt of Lightning under the tree? I know it is a dream, but I still wish it would come true for you.
It is disappointing to realize a perfume is gone, sorry about your lack of Serge Noir.
Since my boyfriend thinks it would be ridiculous to add anything to my already massive collection (not massive by perfumista standards, just regular person standards), and I’ve chosen a Clarisonic Mia as my “big gift” from my parents this year, there will be no perfume under the tree for me:( I was wavering between the Clarisonic and a bottle of Volutes EDT from Diptyque. I think I’ll just have to buy that for myself when budget allows, and score a couple more samples to tide me over. Speaking of Diptyque, I recently treated myself to a little Feu de Bois candle, which I adore, and has led me into a whole new category of expensive fragrance products to covet. Darn. I’m eying a couple of the small-sized Byredo candles to add to my Christmas list: Tree House and Ambre Japonais. I’d love to be able to give fragrant gifts, but my nearest and dearest are all either allergic to everything or just not into fragrance at all.
The Clarisonic is great too – and you’ll have it longer than the Volutes probably. (And you can always get Volutes as a gift for yourself from yourself. 😉 )
Candles are a slippery slope in themselves, it is so nice to come into a well perfumed room…
The perfumes which have been on my mind this month, if I were creating a wishlist, are Cartier’s Baiser Volé in extrait, Guerlain’s Encens Mythique d’Orient, Tauer’s Rose Vermeille, Tauer’s Incense Rosé, Tauer’s Reverie au Jardin, Angel Parfum de Cuir and Alien Parfum de Cuir. We will see though, I am not sure I will be getting perfume for Christmas – I did not put in any specific requests and I just got much-longed-for bottle of Nez à Nez’s Amber à Sade for my birthday, which was last week. 🙂
A belated happy Birthday, Susan!
You seem to be in a Tauer phase. 🙂 Your wishlist looks very good indeed.
There’s no way anybody could give me a perfume I want as a gift without me actually telling them what to buy – and that would have killed the surprise part for me. So I’m buying my perfumes (mostly) myself and let my vSO surprise me with something of his choice. I’m not sure if there will be any perfumes for me (from me) this year since I had more than enough by now. But if I were to wish for just one bottle under the tree it would be By Kilian In the City of Sin (I’m not buying it – at least yet – myself because I cannot choose between it and Forbidden Games, and I do NOT need full bottles for both of them).
It seems you finally get to add a Kilian bottle to your collection. For so long you didn’t find one to love, now there are two vying for your attention. A classic case of “Be careful what you wish for!” 😉
So true! 🙂
There is no-one in my life to buy me perfume so I buy it all myself. This year for Xmas I am getting myself a 15 ml bottle of Le Labo’s Rose 31 and some samples (Patchouli 24 and Jasmin Forgot the Number). If I could dream a little I would 30 mls of 24 Faubourg EDP under the tree. Ah well. It’s not like I lack perfume!
As a gift for a friend I am going to make some vetiver and lavender bath salts – Victoria at Bois de Jasmin posted a recipe a few days ago. Sounds fun!
Jasmin 17.
I’m all for Hermès this season, so treat yourself to a small 24 Faubourg, in my mind it suits you very well.
Oh you are a tempress! Many thanks for the compliment. But I have a 5 ml decant of 24F to tide me over until after the silly season. Then a FB will be on the cards.
Good to know you still have some left.
As my teens could never afford to buy me perfume ( and I’d never ask them for it), I treated myself to Mona di Orio’s Musc. I also want the Ambre and Vanille, but that will wait. I bought one of my girls a replacement bottle of Miss Dior Cherie L’eau…it was what she wanted, so, ok. The other likes dirt-cheap vanilla scents so I got her a new bottle from Anthropologie for her to spray with oblivion. Some day, I hope both will graduate to less mainstream fragrances, but for now, they’re content. It’s an addiction that I’m so happy to indulge, and they may find other things to obsess over!
I’m sure your teens will eventually come over to the dark side. It’s hard living with a fantastic smelling mom and stick to sweet mainstream forever. 🙂
Congratulations on the MdO!
Oh but you could do far worse than Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau … someone gave me a mini of it once and I find the opening very pretty. Sadly, it does not have much to say after that. But it is a start on the right road. And your other daughter will eventually move on to discover the huge variety of wonderful vanillas out there, I’m sure.
You’re both right, I know! I seriously considered giving my youngest daughter the MDO Vanille just so I could sneak hits of it, but geez! That’s a sad commentary on how obsessive I am 🙂
Well,…………………there are 234 perfumes on my Amazon Wish List… where do I begin?
Lol. Really? 234? That is fantastic. Where to begin indeed.
Oh dear….now it is 250!
Hahaha. 🙂
Amouage Lyric Woman, by Kilian Beyond Love, L’Heure Bleue, and about 100 new (generously sized) samples….
Oh, such beautiful perfumes, Lainie!
I hope you get them all.
In my house we’ve moved past the wishlist stage already, as the Christmas shopping was all done by the end of November. I get very busy during the Christmas season with singing, playing and leading choirs, so if I want to spend anytime with family this next month, dealing with the gifts earlier is a necessity.
My wishlist is getting smaller, as mainly I’m replacing decants that I love that are close to empty, and Coromandel was down to it’s last milliliter. The Engineer really appreciates that my perfume obsession makes it easy for him to gift me, but he never remembers the names of my perfumes and like me tagging along anyway, so we made a night of it last Friday and went to Holt Renfrew together to the Chanel boutique. Son #1 has decided I have enough perfume and is gifting me with something else, and Sons #2 and #3 got together to get me 15ml of Fleur No. 1 by 1000 Flowers, a green floral that unexpectedly caught my heart and shook up my green category. The two little ones are still at the stage where they make me cute crafts and you just can’t beat that.
I’m totally fine with knowing about my gifts – I consider it one of the perks of being the mom, shopping for my own stocking and putting in it what I want. Why hello there jellybelly jelly beans, how about you hop in my cart…. 🙂
Congratulations on having completed all your shopping! I’m not quite there yet.
It’s so cute that you are stuffing your own stocking with jelly beans, yum. 🙂
Your fragrant presents sound very good as well.
Well, let me just go with the rest of the crowd and hope Santa can get a deal on Mona’s Vanille (although I just swapped for Annette Neuffer’s Madagascar and I’m not jonesing for it quite as hard as I was this time last month:)). One swap yielded a sample of SSS Fig Tree, after only trying it once, I think I want the larger size of the full bottle and the body butter. I liked it, but wasn’t as impressed with it when I was sniffing my wrist, although after I forgot about it and moved along to doing other things, I kept smelling something light and very beautiful.
What I want most of all, though, is for everyone to enjoy what I get them this year.
Mona is on many wishlists this year.
Fig Tree is a lovely scent, as are all the SSS.