In the discussion that followed Val’s recent post on A Bottled Rose, a topic of wearing perfumes for special occasions came up. Val wrote: “I never save anything for a special occasion” – so, I though it would be a good topic for a Saturday Question post.
Saturday Question #69:
Do You Have Special Occasion Perfumes?
Are there any perfumes in your collection that you wear only/mostly for special occasions? If yes, what are those perfumes? What are the occasions you consider special to wear those perfumes? If no, why?
My Answer
I absolutely have special occasion perfumes. But they are such not because of their rarity or price but because I designate them as such – same as with some clothes or jewelry. I wear those not necessarily for something that manifests as “special occasion” – it can be a mini-vacation trip to the nearby seaside town or a quiet celebratory dinner at home just for two of us. But wearing those special perfumes add something to the celebration spirit. It’s like Christmas decorations or carved pumpkins: we do not save them for the appropriate occasions, they are an integral part of those occasions.
I almost always wear Lancome Climat for New Year Celebration, Ormonde Jayne Ta’if for my birthday and Amouage Ubar for Thanksgiving. I do wear these perfumes more often than once a year, but it’s always for something meaningful and special.
I have probably another 8-10 perfumes that I would mostly wear to different celebrations and events, but I don’t consider them “for a special occasion” – it’s just that they are too “loud” for the office. Working from home, I wore them more often during the last 15 months: they go perfectly with my pajamas.
Undina's Looking Glass 
Short answer is no. I wear pretty much wear anything whenever the mood hits me. I don’t think I have perfumes relegated for specific occasions.
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What?! Not even Heaven for anniversaries? ;)
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Ha!! Yes, I really should wear Heaven for my anniversary!!! Maybe this year I will.
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I have a 30 ml bottle of vintage Caron Alpona that was gifted to me and to me it’s like gold. It’s my special occasion perfume that always gets compliments.
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I don’t think I even heard about this perfume before today, but I can imagine how it can be special.
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Yes and no. I don’t have perfumes which I only wear for a specific occasion, but I would say if there’s a special occasion, I might take extra care and wear one of a handful of very special ones, depending on the season and the nature of that specific do.
I do often wear Nuit de Noel for Christmas.
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Nuit de Noel seems to be one of those perfumes that were created for that occasion! :)
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I really love that you wear specific perfumes on specific occasions/celebrations. That’s such a nice idea.
I only have two special occasion perfumes and they are Superstitious and Rose de Nuit. This is hecause they just don’t feel l like everyday perfumes. They ate ivery much evening wear to me. I wear them say, out to dinner somwhere special or a dab for a theatre show. Hopefully that will happen again before too long.
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Yeah, even before all that Covid disruption happened I didn’t have enough “evenings” for the “evening-wear” perfumes. And the last 25 months didn’t improve the situation ;) Let’s hope we’ll be able to catch up on all the occasions we missed.
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Thanks a lot for the link Undina! I don’t save anything as I said. I do however think just about every single night when I go to bed what I will wear the next day, and I overthink what to wear before my radio show. So there is a lot of thinking , it’s just that my whole collection is involved in the process. There are rules I follow to make my choices though. Will I be alone? In a car? Might the choice bother someone (that may or nay not be the desired goal!)? I could go on. Hahahahahaha. Gotta love perfume behaviours. xxx
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When my collection was smaller, I used to do exactly that: think of what I’d wear the next day. It was quite an enjoyable exercise. These days I can’t keep all of my perfumes in my internal vision, so it paralyzes my decision process :)
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Ah! I can see that being paralyzing. But still fun!
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I don’t have special occasions perfumes, although some are more fitting for big parties or a date. But if I am in the mood I wear something like Salome just for a workday.
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From time to time I find a perverse pleasure in wearing Amouage Gold (or something similarly grand) while cleaning my house :)
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No, because I feel that everyday is a special occasion.
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Amen! :)
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We share the approach Undina. I have some special occasion perfume that I like to wear for my Birthday or for Christmas but I wear them more often than just for that occasion. Prada Amber Pour Homme is an example for me.
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Yeah, for me it also works in one direction: for those days I always wear my special perfumes, but I wear them not only for those special days.
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I have som perfumes I mostly wear for special occations, but not exclusively. It is perfumes such as Chanel Gardenia, Chanel Coromandel edt and Dior Grand Bal. The trouble of course being that heavy perfumes are not always a good thing at dinner parties, for special occasions we often taste special wines.
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True! Some of my mini-vacations are trips to the wine region nearby with a lot of wine tasting, so I try to choose my perfumes very carefully (and apply them only to the non-dominant wrist) not to interfere with wine aroma. But it takes away otherwise perfect off-work opportunity to wear my favorite perfumes :)
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I’m not saving anything for a special occasion (although I do have a couple I have been hoarding due to irreplaceability, but I’m not going to do that any more), but there are several that feel too « fancy » for everyday activities: Rose de Nuit, Amouage Gold & Ubar. Then there are seasonal things like Nuit de Noel and Chopard Wish that I wear during the holidays, but not exclusively.
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I agree with the “too fancy” notion: not that one can’t wear any perfume with any clothes for any occasion (with usual caveats of closed quarters, etc.), but sometimes it feels like different types of perfumes just do not fit – in general or on a particular day.
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I wear Portrait of a Lady on the arbitrary romantic landmarks such as anniversaries and Valentine’s Day, but for all other days and perfumes, it usually depends on the mood at the time or where I’m going.
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PoaL is one of my perfumes that I love but cannot wear unless it’s a dress-up situation. Though, during the quarantine once or twice I put it on while wearing either jeans or even some sports clothes for an evening walk.
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I don’t specifically save any perfumes just for particular occasions. I’m too old to do that. LOL! But I do have a tradition of making sure to wear my favorite Heeley Iris de Nuit on my birthday and Lutens Five O’Clock au Gigembre on Thanksgiving and Christmas because it smells so festive. I love Goutal’s Etoile de Nuit for New Year’s Eve also. Prada Purple Rain is always my anniversary go to scent. I’m in the process of re-discovering ‘old favorites’ now like la Chase au Papillons. It’s SO lovely and the absolutely perfect white floral. I didn’t need to go chasing after other white florals, but you live and learn….
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You nailed it perfectly! It’s not that much of “saving” (we all probably have more than enough perfumes to last us for years) but rather creating our personal traditions and rituals connected with perfumes we like the most.
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I definitely don’t have any perfumes that I only wear on special occasions. But there are some perfumes that I am drawn to for special days – Ormonde Woman is one. If the occasion is a party instead of a sit down meal, I’ll pull out Jungle l’Elephant or Sacrebleu Intense. L
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Ormonde Woman fits perfectly almost any occasion! (Well, maybe I wouldn’t wear it on a tropical vacation, but other than that… :) ).
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In principle I don’t reserve perfumes specifically for special occasions, but if I have limited stock of them I might be more inclined to save them for a big night out. What’s one of those?! ;) Thinking of HOCB Immortal Beloved, for example, or my decant of vintage Shalimar, which I eked out for a long while before finally draining it. Or my teeny roller ball sample of DSH Foxy, that is empty but still just about sniffable for reference!
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I also have that tiny roller ball with Foxy! I think it’s just a perfect size for it :)
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With Covid 19 and the reduction in special occasions that come with it, I’ve had to review my approach to these perfumes, Undina. I’m wearing my “specials” far more often now to give another day a bit of a glam lift.
One special occasion I am looking forward to is the day I eventually get vaccinated. Hopefully sometime this year. I will certainly mark that occasion with a celebratory scent.
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I agree: these last 15 months didn’t shower us with special occasions in a traditional sense. So, I also invented some to accompany my special perfumes :)
I hope you’ll be able to get vaccinated soon. Just be careful not to combine a day or two of the reaction to the vaccine and your favorite perfumes (though, you might have no reaction at all).
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The good news: I’m getting my first vaccination this Thursday.
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Yay!!!
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The only time I wear a special occasion perfume is on my wedding anniversary, I wear the one I wore on my wedding day. Every other day of the year I wear whatever I feel like.
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Is it a secret perfume? ;)
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Before Covid I often went to 80-ies parties and then I wore some of my 80-ies beasts: Giorgio Armani, E.Lauder’s Private Collection, Kouros and Halston Z-14, all in vintage formulations. I rarely wear them on other occasions. Also, Tiempe Passate has become a “special occasion” perfume after being discontinued. I only wear it to enhance my romantic mood sometimes.
Is your Climat a vintage formulation?
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I do not have a true vintage Climat because I don’t want to risk disappointment from either spoiled or fake perfume. But I have multiple different versions from several re-issues, including La Collection and a limited edition created for Russia for some Lancôme’s anniversary.
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80’s parties, ooohh, my husband loves 80;s music. I see that I need to visit Zagreb!!
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I’ve been wearing “special” fragrances throughout the pandemic and remote work, so I don’t really save them for special occasions, but I definitely have some that I associate more with dressing up and have worn for special events. Amouage Gold is one; Chanel No. 22 is another.
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Agreed. I’ve worn many previously special occasion scents a lot during lockdown as they lifted my spirits.
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Both of those are very festive, I agree.
At least something good came from the pandemic: we wore more of our favorites :)
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Hey Undina,
So many of my perfumes are “Special Occasion” perfumes but I tend to wear them for everyday as well. Especially some of the vintages like Bal a Versailles, Miss Dior, Guerlains and CHANELS.
Mohur, Shalimar, Ubar (SNAP!) and II L’Heure Convoitée by Cartier all are my “Special Occasions” perfumes. They can even make doing chores or groceries seem special so I tend to wear them as uplifters from the humdrum of everyday life too.
Portia xx
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I think it was you who once wrote about vacuuming your apartment while wearing something glamorous: I don’t remember what perfume it was but I remember that it struck me as a great idea :)
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Happens regularly around here Undina. Everything feels better and more fun with lavish perfume.
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I don’t save perfumes for special occasions. I do have one or two that are just too heavy/intense for everyday daytime wear and feel like they’re better suited for an evening out/date night. Mainly Gucci Guilty falls into this category.
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I love Gucci Guilty but for whatever reason never got it into my collection (and now I’m afraid it has been reformulated compared to what I liked).
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I am so late for this! I don’t have any perfume that I consider special occasion perfume. For example, I went to a wedding last Sunday … my first big special occasion since March 2020. Because I was going to be in a car with my faux scent-phobe BIL, I wore my Theo Kantokinis Vanille and Coffee Addict combo.
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I’m not sure that I recognize the brand… was it the one from Greece?
Anyway, I would have taken a small spray with me to apply once I’m out of the car :) But I’m sure you enjoyed your “under the radar” scent.
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I only have one perfume for one special occasion, Chanel 18 for New Year’s eve. :D They just connected and as I have a mini of it, I keep it for that one night in a year.
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And of course Shalimar – to wear to bed, right? :)
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