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Saturday Question: Have You Bought Anything This Black Friday?

I wouldn’t have even asked that if it weren’t for the fact that I saw numerous European brands and sites offering Black Friday discounts. It means that this “plague” keeps spreading.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #40:

Have You Bought Anything This Black Friday?

Of course, first of all we’re curious about any perfume-related treasures. But fess up anything else interesting you bought during this bizarre year’s Black Friday Sale event or still plan to buy (a Cyber Monday is still ahead of us).

My Answer

I don’t think I’ve ever went to a B&M store on Friday after Thanksgiving: I just could never think of anything I wanted (not even needed) bad enough to participate in this American pastime. But this year since all the sales came to me, and I could browse through them leisurely from the comfort of my office chair, I was tempted. Speaking of office chairs: I really need a new one. But I can’t imagine how to buy chairs online… Has anyone had that experience? How did it work out?

But I digress. Black Friday Sales. I don’t have a long “to buy” list of perfumes. So, I checked all the “usual suspects” places that carry those few that I want to buy – and either there are no sales there at all (I hoped Olfactive Studio would have either some % off or at least some attractive samples offer. And since they didn’t, I wasn’t in a hurry to buy those “shots” yet), or had an offer that wasn’t for the size I wanted (so, I’ll keep thinking about Dusita’s Splenderis), or…

I recently realized that I liked and wanted to get Tom Ford’s Rose Prick. While I consider this perfume name still juvenile, but I have to admit that I liked perfume a lot, and after going through a sample, I realized that I’d like to wear it. And I even see it on sale. But that ugly pink bottle… And when I was almost ready to click on “Check out,” I came across a slightly better looking and a more reasonably sized travel bottle of it. A “not in stock” travel bottle that is. But now I know that it exists, so I’ve stopped… And now I’m not sure whether I want to spend money on 50 ml of perfume in that “it’s a girl!” colored bottle…

 

Tom Ford Rose Prick

Have You Bought Anything This Black Friday?

53 thoughts on “Saturday Question: Have You Bought Anything This Black Friday?”

  1. I did. I got some Christmas presents for my family, as well as some winter boots, clothes, 2 full bottles and a travel size set of perfumes for myself, everything online. Cyber Monday sales are already running, so I will take advantage of it also, since it doesn’t even cross my mind to go to any brick and motar stores this year.

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  2. I’ve been most well behaved and not bought a single thing, Undina. You’re spot on in describing it at as a “plague”. Every year it gets bigger and more meaningless. Gosh, I’m sounding so cynical.

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  3. Yes. Some health supplements for my brain(!) and three tubs of my favourite moisturiser – Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel. I also took advantage of a deal on a custom purchase of a perfume for a friend, but that may not count.

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  4. It’s massive off here now after not existing a few years ago.
    I bought a lot. Hair products, a reed diffuser, a headband, a sweatshirt and a scented candle. Today I’m going to get leggings and a running vest and on Monday, a satin lined beanie.
    What was nice about the Hush sweatshirt and the Diptyque Bais candle is that instead of a discount the companies were giving 15-20% of the profits to a charity.

    I’d say hang on for the travel bottle. That pink one is ugly and who needs 50ml?
    I know Vanessa bought an office chair this year but not sure if it was online.

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    • It looks like I will wait for a smaller bottle. Tom Ford just advertised 3 travel bottles on IG – and people started immediately saying that Rose Prick, shown, wasn’t on the brand’s site. But now I assume it’s a matter of days or weeks… Thank you for the support! :)

      I think this year this event was much bigger than it was in the last many years, so I’m not surprised there were good discounts. But with my indecisiveness I wasn’t ready :)

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  7. Yes, I shopped.
    Bought a set of the Boujee Bougies candles to gift for Xmas, but they weren’t on sale. Launch day though so VERY excited for Nick, Pia and Thomas.
    I also bought a few things at FragranceNet but it was just their regular 37% for Google referrals.
    An Aussie perfume store had a Black Friday Sale which included sets of testers. I bought the complete set of Gallivant for peanuts and would also have grabbed the Eight & Bob testers but they were snapped up.
    Lastly, I shopped at Oriza Legrand where currently they have a buy a 100ml and get a FREE 50ml of your choice; and stocked up on soaps to gift there too.
    Now I’m feeling guilty but pleased.
    Portia x

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    • Nah, nothing to feel guilty about: you’ve bought almost nothing :)

      If it weren’t for IG, I wouldn’t have known about the launch. I’m glad they came up with something that makes sense in these strange times (launching perfume brand would have been much harder), and I hope they’ll succeed.

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      • The Boujee Bougies scents sound like they’ll be killer and everyone who gets one will brag like crazy that they’re a new brand and exclusively available from the UK. I know my buddies and how thrilled they’ll be. Nowadays with globalisation it’s becoming harder and harder to find something special that’s not available the world over. Also, buying the set of big ones I got FREE SHIPPING! That’s freaking amazing.

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  8. I bought some wildlife art prints from a favourite South African artist. She offered with a discount as her sales have been very low because covid lack of tourists. I suppose black plague Friday for some sellers and shops is a way to stay afloat this year. I totally get that. But I dislike the sentiments that are manipulated, in myself and others immensely.

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    • I think that for the most (if not all) brands this year it might be true: sales were down for everybody who had B&M stores. But yes, I don’t like to be pushed into buying things I wouldn’t buy otherwise. So I tried to stay away from bundles and other such things when you end up paying more total while getting something you need cheaper than usually plus something that you wouldn’t have bought otherwise.

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  9. I did — mostly items on my kids’ Christmas lists, like running shoes and Birkenstocks. I also used DSH Perfumes’ bright20 code to buy Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’ gift set of 10 ml sizes of this year’s six Heirloom Elixirs at 20% off, for myself. But that code is good through December, not just this weekend!

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  10. I have no qualms with Black Friday, as since I know it’s coming I can plan my buying for things that I already want. It does not entice me to buy something I wasn’t planning for and I do not go to stores and wait in line. This year I needed a new bread machine so got one at a nice discount (bought online). My only perfume purchases were planned for 4160 Tuesday’s sale. Tossed all the other ads in the trash.

    Need to try that Tom Ford, as well as the Bitter Peach. This year at the Sephora 20% off sale I got Lost Cherry. The names are crap but I like the perfume. And the Lost Cherry bottle is pretty, not Pepto Bismol pink. ;-)

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  11. I planned to buy some supplements and other ordinary stuff yesterday, but went to bed right after office hours yesterday with a massive migraine, so no shopping. Since several companies have Black Week, I may still get something this evening or tomorrow. I’m not a big fan of this concept, it is relatively new over here. This year I don’t even think it will help the independent shops in the city centre, the papers say yesterday was a record day for online shopping. We have a kind of social lockdown and strict rules about mask wearing now, prolonged until Dec. 14, so people turn to the net and some shops without a real online presence offer home delivery if we order by email. I have been sorely tempted by some sports gear from Peak Performance, but I know they have regular seasonal sales, so no shopping there either.

    I guess I just need a little more than 25% off to buy something I hadn’t planned to get!

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    • I’m not sure how big a discount should be for me to by something I’ve never planned to get. But there are some things that I kind of want… So if I know that they are never/rarely on sale, even 15-20% are tempting.

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      • I agree, so I finally on Sunday bought a kimono/ dressing gown from Georg Jensen. Just that item (in white) is not often on sale, so picking it up at 20% off and free delivery was good enough for me. I particularly like the nid d’abeille structure of it.

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  12. Didn’t buy a thing yesterday. Black Friday is a relatively new thing here, and one that I don’t really buy into. I have done most of my shopping already, and availed of sellers’ own sales or discounts before now. I don’t like shopping hype and would fly to the moon quicker than queue for an eternity. Nope, don’t have patience for that malarkey.

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    • I’m definitely not going to a B&M store for a Black Friday sale (even sans COVID-19), but I made several not perfume-related purchases using discounts that normally I wouldn’t get from those stores. But in general I don’t like that pressure of a “BIG SALE,” which in reality usually isn’t that big.
      But what people from Europe don’t realize: until the last year, in the US you could almost never get any discount on perfumes or skincare from big brands.

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  13. I’m usually hit or miss with Black Friday, but this year I made a point to do as much holiday gift shopping as I could during Black Friday sales and get some perfumes I’ve been thinking about for a while (finally bought OJ Montabaco Intensivo from Twisted Lily with their 20% off promo – thanks to Old Herbaceous for making us aware of it!). Also got some new aromachemicals from Perfumer Supply House – they are running a Black Friday sale through this weekend, but many items are not on sale.

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    • Montabaco Intensivo is one of a few OJ perfumes that I haven’t smelled yet – even though I heard a lot about it. For now I have most of OJ perfumes that I want to, otherwise I would have been tempted by their sales on the UK site.

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  14. I’ve bought only scented stuff, online. A few candles with fig as the main note and a bottle of Casamorati’s Fiore d’Ulivo. The size was not on stock but the promotional code is valid anyway and it will be shipped as soon as the bottle will be on stock again. Perhaps you could do the same with your travel size of Rose Prick?

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  15. I bought a few skincare items that needed to be replaced anyway, may as well get a discount. A couple of things for my family to give me as gifts 😳. We have dialed way back on gift giving in the family as everyone gets older.

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    • We agreed this year to just buy something for us, but we do not try to do anything as a surprise: too much pressure with everything that is happening already, we don’t want to contribute to it trying to find something online, receive without the others seeing it, hide until holidays… No, maybe next year we’ll go back to doing that.

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  17. Yes! I love Black Friday and try to time my makeup and skin care items so they will run out around this time; then I stock up for the months to come. I bought some Caudalie serum from Dermstore.com with a 30% off offer, Perricone neck lift serum half price, I forget from where, Cire Trudon Christmas candles and a bottle of Profumi di Firenze’s new scent, Il Sale et la Dune at Beautyhabit’s 20% off sale. Il Sale et Dune is a beautiful scent. It has sort of a marine, ocean vibe but is more floral. I was surprised at how much I loved it when I sampled it. I also bought the Penhaligon’s feminine scents sampler this year. I love The Favourite. Pretty rose with more longevity and strength on my skin than expected, and less powdery than anticipated.

    I bought some specialty coffees at a small local roasting company for my son. He’s a coffee and IPA conossieur and my daughter in law likes candles, so she’ll get some of my candle haul. And finally, some yoga pants from LandsEnd at half price. That seems to be all I wear now, so I figured I’d get them while they were cheap! My husband bought some supplements he’d been wanting and some new walking/running shoes. We did our part for the economy. LOL

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    • I also got some skincare and cosmetics with good discounts. And some household items – so, we also “helped our economy” :).

      I’ve never tried anything from Profumi di Firenze, which isn’t a surprise with the number of brands that are out there. I’m glad you got what you liked at a good discount: I usually enjoy perfume I get even more if I was able to buy it with a discount.

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  18. Okay, I’ll fess up for Black Friday Weekend (not over yet!)

    From BG with the gift card event: Memo Paris Sintra, Shalimar L’’Initial, Orange Bitters Diffuser, Diptyque Hourglass Diffuser Ginger and refill.

    Krystal Fragrance with 20% off code thankful20 for purchase $300+ (there are codes for 10 and 15% off based on total purchase): Gallivant Bukhara, 4160Tuesdays Clouds EDP and a customized sampler set.

    Boujee Bougies: a set of the smaller candles which ended up being 20% off.

    No discount: St. Clair Scents Seeking Balance 13ml travel spray, Kilian Angels’ Share (out of stock at BG and same on the Kilian website until I looked again yesterday).

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  20. I have bought nothing! I had one brief regret as I saw some 4160 Tuesdays on sale for only 50 dollars a bottle, I had one sample which I tried and of course it was all sold out by the time I’d finished thinking about it. But after a bit I realized it was so close to Luxor Oud, with a touch of skank (but not enough) that I didn’t honestly need it. Could just layer Kingdom with Luxor Oud lol. I have generally failed at all mega sales, I get a bit deer in the headlights and don’t make choices.

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  21. did buy some wardrobe replacements from Macy’s online; I don’t dare travel to or go inside department stores yet, but Macy’s sales are more than even usually insane, because they are trying to survive. retail is suffering mightily and i want Macys to survive, they are a NYC icon. they do the Thanksgiving day balloon parade, the 4th of July fireworks free for the whole city, it would be devastating if they had to close their flagship store on Herald Square. Spending all my discretionary money on them.

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    • I’m also worried about Macy’s: they used to be my favorite store for years, and I have very fond memories about the one in NY. And Thanksgiving Parade is an important part of the holiday tradition, so I really want Macy’s to survive. I did my part of the “support” of the store in the last month or so. And I’ll keep checking them out in my searches for holiday gifts and other necessities.

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