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Saturday Question: What Perfume did You Wear on Christmas Eve?

It’s the last Saturday of 2020. Some of the winter celebrations are already behind us, but we still have some to look forward to, so let’s keep the spirit of the holidays high and talk about them a little more.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #44:

What Perfume did You Wear on Christmas Eve?

In fact, I’m curious not only what perfume you’ve chosen (for the celebration or just for that day, if it wasn’t your holiday), but I’d also want to know about the reasoning behind that choice.

Also, if you do not mind, share what you did this Christmas Eve. Did you eat anything especially great and worth mentioning? Did you get any gifts that made you happy (not necessarily perfumes, but please share if you got those as well).

My Answer

We celebrated Christmas with our “extended bubble,” even though none of us can “claim” this holiday as ours. But it’s a long-standing tradition for us, so we celebrate it every year. Since I tried my hardest to make this holidays season as great as possible despite everything that’s happening in the World, I chose to wear Ormonde Jayne Ta’if, my all-times love #2, for the holiday that I adopted after moving to the US, saving my #1, Lancome Climat, for the New Year celebration, since that perfume was with me through many new years, some of which were probably even harder for me personally than 2020 was.

When we were much younger, our traditional New Year celebration would start with a festive dinner… around 10 PM to be done by midnight, toast the New Year – and then spend the rest of the night celebrating. As we grew … up, first we stopped going through the whole night of celebration, cutting it short at 3-4 AM first and recently rarely making it to after 1:30-2 A.M. With that, our evening meals started getting lighter and lighter: the older we get, the harder it gets to eat a big dinner 3-4 hours before going to bed. At some point we figured out that Christmas Eve dinner was a much better time to eat all of our traditional New Year celebratory dishes – and that’s what we’ve been doing this year. A highlight of the dinner this year was a roasted duck that our friend cooked.

As a gift I got a funny t-short (see the picture below) that I plan to wear the next time I’m forced to participate in an early morning meeting. I bought a perfume gift for myself, but since it’s not here yet, I’ll tell you about it next year when it arrives.

Since the birthday boy refused to fully participate in my perfume photo shoot (despite my promises to reward him with treats), I made a picture of Ta’if with the Old World Christmas‘s Santa Kitty ornament, which we bought as one of the two yearly additions to our ornaments collection.

What Perfume did You Wear on Christmas Eve?

62 thoughts on “Saturday Question: What Perfume did You Wear on Christmas Eve?”

  1. I wore MFK Grand Soir on Christmas Eve. I chose it because it smells the warmest and most festive for celebration like this. Plus the name is literally a “great/grand evening” which fits perfectly.

    I didn’t get any fragrance gifts but I’m happy with 2 books, a shirt and a new winter cap (with a pompom)

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    • I’m not sure I’ve ever tried Grand Soir: after really disliking everybody’s darling Absolue Pour Le Soir, I think I stopped paying attention to MFK’s new releases. But since you like it so much, I’ll try to revisit it when I get a chance.

      I love useful gifts! Candies, tea or a hand cream, for example ;) Now you need to have a trip to somewhere and take a picture in your new cap (with a pompom! :) ).

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      • Grand Soir is quite worth trying I think! I have old school and vintage fragrances that fill the need so I don’t own it, but it’s definitely a nice one to sniff :)

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  2. I love the t-shirt! I should have one, as a warning 😂 I wore Marron chic by Nez a Nez. It’s a winter favourite, and I might have neglected it a bit this December, so it felt even more special. Apart from being cosy, chic and just on the right side of sweet, it has the added bonus of reminding me of a wonderful trip to Paris with Ines, Susanne and her husband Mark.

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    • I have a decant of Marron Chic that Suzanne gave me, and every time I see it in my cabinet, I think of her.

      Since I know that those meetings will be happening, I feel much better now having that t-shirt. I will wear it and will turn on my camera! ;)

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  4. April Aromatic’s Vanilicious on Christmas Eve and Lotus Rising on the evening of Christmas day, which for many people in the Lowlands is a more festive evening.
    I gave my sister and her 2 daughters perfume as Christmas gifts in our Christmas bubble, they were delighted, it was lovely. We don’t ‘do’ Christmas gifts but it has been such a challenging year, very much so for young people, that I wanted to brighten them up a bit.

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      • I think originally Christmas Eve is more religious in nature, not by going to mass as in the Netherlands the majority of people are/were (frugal) protestants (who don’t do evening mass) but how it is celebrated at home. E.g. in my family my father (used to) read(s) a Christmas story, always with a meaningful message, and carols are sung. There is a christmas tree, but nothing too ostentatious. Dinner is nice but in some ways restraint as it is a bit of a solemn evening. No presents. Christmas day is more festive, going to church in the morning, and having a celebratory dinner with extended family, dressing up more, more of a party. In my family there were no presents, possibly a book but nothing too frivolous! I think this is more or less in line with the protestant Scandinavian way of celebrating Jul, or at least, how it once was. Nowadays Christmas has become much more of a secular celebration. Santa Claus was never a figure here, but that has changed with different influences mostly from the US. We do have a different gift giving evening, Sinterklaas, early in december. Sinterklaas is a bishop, traditionally accompanied by his servant Black Pete. Because of the increased awareness of the Dutch painful slave(trading) history Black Pete is less and less part of Sinterklaas.

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  6. My Christmas Eve choice was Nahema, current edp, because we visited a friend who smokes cigarettes, and I knew Nahema would stand up to the occasion (Maybe the secret is the aldehydes, but hyacinth, rose and balsams stand their ground with tobacco smoke too). I suspect many ULG readers remember the days prior to widespread public smoking bans – there is a definite scent memory that goes with the smoke-filled room. Interestingly, my DH who has never smoked thought it was not that bad (my friend went to another room when she had a cigarette), but I who quit many years ago found it very noticeable right after each “breaktime.” We had excellent lasagna made by her son, salad, and a nice chianti. They live in a Victorian house in a rural area and it was beautiful to drive out into the country at night, where many carefully decorated houses would suddenly appear around a bend. A very light snow fell, too. Oh, and my friend is going to quit January 2. We all hope it sticks!

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      • You are funny :) Does it mean you don’t have any bad habits? (I wouldn’t be surprised though)

        It’s in human nature, and especially should be true for those who acquired those bad habits in the first place: people understand that something is bad for them (smoking, overeating, drinking too much, not exercising, etc.), but they are addicted to/in habit of doing those things, so they pacify themselves that they are going to change… just not this moment :)

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    • In your description it sounds magical! In general, I don’t like cold weather or snow, but around New Year I miss it and wish I could get it for a day or two.

      I do not mind (smell-wise, health issues aside) a smell of smoking, but I do dislike how it smells from people who have just smoked. So, a strong rose would be a great antidote to that smell.

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  7. I wore Fille en Aiguilles for Christmas eve, because it’s perfect with the pine needle notes.
    Dinner was a fish terrine with salad, followed with Ossobuco and risotto milanese a d just some ice cream for dessert. We just celebrated as a couple, because we did not want to set our elderly parents at risk.

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    • I agree that Fille en Aiguilles is a perfect Christmas scent. I wore it recently and quite enjoyed it.

      Not for the holiday, but in general, are you able to see your parents? Or do you do it only remotely (phone/computer/etc.?)

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  8. As is my tradition, I wore Caron Nuit de Noël vintage extrait Christmas eve. Following Portia’s post, I decided to wear MCG Exultat instead of Chopard Wish for Christmas Day. Last evening I topped up with MDCI Fêtes Persanes. Today for Boxing Day I’ll wear Ambre Russe.

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    • I’m not sure what concentration of Nuit de Noël I tried (or even from what decade was the bottle from which I got my sample), but I remember liking it. So, I’m sure it smelled great and very fitting to the occasion.
      Only after I checked Fragrantica, I realized that I’ve never heard about that MDCI perfume (do you have that beautiful bottle or a regular MDCI’s one?).

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  9. I love your Rusty ornament and the funny t-shirt! I’ve worn Bond No. 9’s I Love New York for Holidays for the last two days (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). It lasts a surprisingly long time on my skin. We had the usual Christmas Eve lamb stifado (a red wine stew with cinnamon and cloves, it makes the whole house smell wonderful). Then yesterday, we had roast leg of lamb, roast potatoes and parsnips, and asparagus with hollandaise sauce for Christmas dinner. Today, I think I’ll try some of the Jo Malone Christmas Cologne sampler I got as a gift.

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    • My vSO told me to ask you if you have a favorite recipe for lamb stifado?

      You’re the first one who made the right connection between the ornament and Rusty :)

      Which colognes did you get? Are those 2 ml samples or the 9 ml mini-bottles?

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      • I do have a favorite stifado recipe! I won’t take up space here in your comments, I’ll post it in full on my blog if you’d like to have it.
        The Christmas cologne sampler is great: it has five 9 ml bottles of several limited editions: Ginger Biscuit, Orange Bitters, White Moss & Snowdrop, Rose & Magnolia, and Green Almond & Redcurrant. So far I’ve tested Ginger Biscuit and Orange Bitters; I like them a lot, though I may prefer Ginger Biscuit slightly. I’m not a big gourmand fan, but this one is very appealing.

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  10. With no church, no neighborhood party to attend, my little family of three stayed home, watched movies all day and had hamburger sliders for dinner. I didn’t wear any perfume on Christmas Eve this year, since I didn’t even bother to get dressed. On Christmas Day, my in-laws came for dinner so I pulled out Ormonde Woman. Hopefully today I will manage a shower and some perfume!

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    • I hope you enjoyed your low-key Christmas: sometimes we need just that (though I do not necessarily see the connection between not dressing up and not using perfume ;) ).
      Ormonde Woman is quite unique, and I enjoy wearing it from time to time.

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  11. Love the Santa Kitty ornament. Is the Ta’if an extrait bottle? I wore NVC Bombay Bling. Normally I wear Guerlain Winter Delice but as I have been wearing NVC Ashoka a lot lately another NVC creation feeled more suited with the festive Bombay Bling.

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    • Yes, it’s a parfum bottle – from when they had it as a dab bottle (I think now they make even in a higher concentration still with a sprayer). I have an EdP as well, but I wore parfum, and in general this bottle looks better.
      I like, own and wear both Ashoka and Bombay Bling, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever tried BB in winter. I should.

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  12. It was just hubby and me for Christmas. Our son stayed home as well and saw a few cousins who also work in health care and have all been very careful and tested negative recently. I baked all day Christmas day and listened to Christmas music to stave off any sad feelings. We had Trader Joe’s pumpkin spice gluten free pancakes with satsuma syrup for a Christmas Eve breakfast. Yum! And then on Christmas Day I made gluten free cinnamon rolls with yeast. That was tricky since the dough was very tender and soft. You can’t knead it. They turned out well. That’s what my husband wanted for Christmas and I was happy I was able to be able to gift them to him. Than we finished the day with hamburgers for supper. They were delicious. It was a happy Christmas after all.

    On Christmas Eve I wore Five O’Clock au Gigembre in the morning and Ormonde Jayne Ta’if that evening. On Christmas day I wore my sample of Perris Monte Carlo Rose Ta’if all day. It’s really gorgeous. I may need a bottle of it in the new year. It’s the only rose fragrance I’ve found that comes close at all to the beauty of Ormonde Jayne’s Ta’if. Today it’s Guerlain’s Nuit d’Amour with the ‘concrete’ base to make it project and last.

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    • I’m curious: what do you use instead of bread for hamburgers (I assume, it’s something gluten-free as well)?

      It’s nice that you were able to make something that your husband wanted and enjoyed: those small things make life joyful. And you smelled great (especially on Christmas Eve! ;) ).

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      • In the past we ate our burgers without buns. I have not found any readily available gluten free buns that don’t fall apart the minute you put them on the burger. But now I’ve discovered some wonderful gluten free wraps, the brand is B Free. I think anyone would like these. They don’t fall apart and they taste very good. I’m loving the burger with wraps now. It’s easy to add veggies into it and they don’t fall out in the wrap.
        We also get our beef directly from a local farmer who grows and processes his own beef. It is so delicious it really doesn’t need a bun.

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  14. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were all about rose perfumes—Givenchy Reve d’Escapade and Penhaligon’s The Coveted Duchess Rose, respectively. Both of these were Christmas gifts that I’d “requested” from my other half in previous years. I also got an essential oil diffuser this year, so am currently diffusing rose oil into the room.
    I think Rusty’s Ta’if photo counts—he’s very nicely framed between the tree and the cushion!

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    • I see that you’re on a serious rose kick! :) I’m not familiar with Givenchy perfume, but Penhaligon’s one is beautiful. I’m glad that you got something you wanted.
      I liked the look on his face – that’s why I added the photo, but I knew from the previous experience that he could have stayed there for the next 5-10 minutes, no matter how I tried to attract his attention to the bottle. So, I voted for the Santa’s kitty participation (and ended up having 3 different cat pictures in one post).

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  15. Love your Christmas Eve account. I wish I could wear that T-shirt but alas, no can do.

    Christmas Eve I wore April Aromatics Vanilicious, sprayed my usual 8 two hours before I left to go to my sister’s place (so subtle anyway and could not offend anyone, even my high maintenance BIL) and Christmas Day I wore Chanel No.5 L’Eau from the red bottle.

    No scented presents except from me to me, including the set of 3 Bruno Fazzolari bath soaps, which I also gave to my 2 nieces. I gave Amazon gift cards, a UV light device cleaner to my sisters and BIL, a Mophie battery to my nephew and $$s to him and my nieces.

    In the evening, I watched the livestream Candlelight Service which was pre-recorded for logistical reasons.

    Overall, it was a very nice Christmas. I have to go back to work for 2 days before another 5 days off – woo hoo!

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    • I need to try your application method – I just need to think of perfume that I want to experiment with :) I’m sure, though, that you smelled wonderful.

      I’m curious about the UV thingy. Is it a cleaner for phones (“devices”), or is it a device for cleaning with UV light?

      I hope your 2 days are flying by.

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  16. Pingback: Fragrant Feasts: Lamb Stifado – Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities

  17. We had two christmases this year, a family one and an open house one. For the family one we had all you can eat peking duck.. we ordered so many ducks! It was fantastic! For the open house one, which was on the 25th, had an enormous Korean bbq with bulgogi, samgyeopsal (pork belly), spicy cheese chicken, many side dishes, all home made. Trifle and pavlova and.. a groaning table and everyone helping themselves (it’s summer here so we were outside). This party went on until 1am when someone ordered McDonald’s via ubereats and after that we all went home (I think all the drinking helped). We had people from 8 different countries for the open house.

    Oh Christmas eve I did nothing, watched netflix and drank wine. Waiting for the Big Feast.

    As to perfume, I had left all my decants at home accidentally and I ran out on the 24th to the chemist and bought Ted Lapidus Altamir. I had the strangest experience with it, after 10 hours of fading medicinal warmth it suddenly began amping musk, musk, musk.

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    • Reading your food description makes me hungry :)

      You were brave: to buy and to wear a scent you weren’t too familiar :) I’m not sure what would be my choice in the unlikely situation I haven’t brought any perfume with me… I think, most likely, I would have gone “commando” :)

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      • I stood there in the chemist faced with lots of things I didn’t want and lots of things I liked but already had.. and the word “altamir” popped into my head as a frequent flyer in any “best cheapie” discussion. I sprayed a bit, thought hmm.. resin.. and bought it. I’ve also been on a kick of not wearing florals or pretty things so it cut out a lot of the perfectly fine items there like Burberry London which was very inexpensive and probably would have been my pick on any previous year.

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  18. Christmas Eve Keiko Mecheri Loukoum because it was a recent gift from a dear friend. Christmas day vintage Estee Lauder Private Collection, another gift from the same friend. She knew how much I loved it as a remeberance of my childhood Christmases and it’s been 40+ decades since I wore it.

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