Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.
Today is Friday, September 17, and we have had several days of birthdays in this household! Mine was at the start of the month and my husband’s was last week, so we’ve had serial and shared celebrations with our kids. And yes, a few new fragrances snuck into the house. The highlight of the shared celebrations was our family trip to see the musical Hamilton, a long-delayed Christmas gift from December 2019. We had seen it once before, all but my son, and it was just as enthralling the second time. My son was blown away by it. This was the first live performance any of us had attended since March 2020, which added to its impact. We also went out for a fancy family dinner on a different night, given that Hamilton was an entire evening unto itself. We tried a new Italian restaurant nearby, and it was terrific! Again, our perceptions may have been enhanced by how long it has been since we really went out to dinner, but we loved this place and will go back.
The birthday fragrances I received (bought for myself on behalf of my family, lol!) were: Jean Louis Scherrer, Mont de Narcisse, Choeur des Anges, and Crepuscule des Ames. A dear friend surprised me with a lovely gift of body lotion and soap from Lili Bermuda, which she recently visited, in my favorite Lily. It’s very difficult to find gifts for my husband because 1) he actually doesn’t want much; and 2) if he does want something for himself, which is rare, he’ll often just get it. But this year, I was able to surprise him with a bottle of a new botanical gin, which we’ll enjoy (slowly) together. We started down this road a few years ago when we discovered Hendricks. Given how rarely we drink cocktails or hard liquor, I expect this bottle will be with us for a long time!
Do you have your eye on any upcoming birthday fragrances? Or have you recently received any?
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
Happy birthday to your household! I generally buy my own fragrance presents, but my birthday was in August and this has been the year of ignoring birthdays so no gifts at all. I did acquire a JD Jeffrey Dame Singularity in July but didn’t really consider that a gift. We’re knee deep in football season and my photography schedule is rapidly filling up (6-7 games per week through the end of October) so nice dinners out are on hold – it’s our 24th anniversary on 10/4 and we can’t find a night for dinner!
My favorite Friday fragrance today is L de Lolita Lempicka.
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Happy early anniversary!
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A whole family of Virgos! My twin grandchildren were born on September 13 so we have more Virgos in the house, too. They’re doing great, 5.9 pounds and 6.1 pounds, Liam and Zara. They’re cute, but I’m clearly prejudiced as their grandma. I’m going to see them this coming Sunday. Can’t wait!!
Your birthday perfumes sound lovely. And I love herbal gins, too. Hendricks is a favorite. We’re exploring some others as well. Have you tried Lubin’s Gin Fizz fragrance? It’s delightful. I keep thinking I’m going to buy a bottle but there is always something I want more. My latest acquisition is Ormonde Jayne’s Osmanthus Elixir, gorgeous!! I’m also loving Ormonde Jayne’s Damask, a beautiful rose-centric fragrance.
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Will this be your first visit with the babies??
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Yes, it will. We’ve done some Facetime virtual visits but this will be the first time we get to hold them. They just came home from the hospital yesterday. Due to Covid, only my son was allowed to be in the hospital with his wife. No one else could visit and my son could not leave and return. I think it was good for them as they got to really bond with the babies in uninterrupted time those first 3 days.
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That is good! I’m so glad you get to see them in real life now!
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Congratulations Grandma. Double the love 💕 Great weight for twins, as they say around these parts “sure they’re half reared already”.
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Belated birthday wishes to the Herbaceous household. Glad that you got to see a live show and Hamilton is just fantastic. I’m not familiar with any of your new frags but hope you really enjoy them. Your hubby sounds like mine, he never wants anything in particular, and is always happy with whatever he gets.
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Yes, that’s just what he is like! He’s a lovely man. But very hard to shower with gifts!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY OH! What a lovely score of fragrances! Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mr OH.
Love that you got to do two big things with your family.
It’s mine next week and I REALLY don’t want anything that people can buy me. It’s driving everyone nuts. So I have asked for a new bed in the second bedroom. Jin’s work schedule is really eclectic. 12 hour shifts, usually two days and three nights in a week. With this in mind I often sleep in a spare room because I don’t wan’t to break his sleep up. For the last few years I’ve been doing this in the bottom level of a single sized bunk bed. It’s comfortable but confined. Time to put a Queen size in there.
We are still in lockdown so I think it will be a small ZOOM gathering.
Jin’s already thinking Chinese Take Away! My absolute favourite.
Portia x
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A new bed sounds ideal!
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Yes, I’m very excited but slightly overwhelmed by the enormity of choice out there.
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Happy birthday!
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What day is your birthday?
Good bed is a great gift!
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Yes, good bed is a thoughtful and memorable gift. What’s better than a good nights sleep?
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Happy belated birthday to you and your husband!
It’s interesting: I don’t even recognize perfumes that you liked enough to get as a birthday gift for yourself.
My birthday is almost equally away and ahead :), so I’m not making any plans for it. Though, technically, I didn’t get my present for the past one since I just recently returned what I thought would be the one – I’ll blog about it soon, I think. But I don’t want to get any perfume for that birthday, I’ll think of something else.
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