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, November 17, and next week brings Thanksgiving in the US. I love Thanksgiving! I like to cook, and it is a holiday that’s really all about food and family. All three of our young adult children will be with us, as usual, and I’m especially looking forward to our youngest being home from college for a few days (although his college is near by, he lives on campus during the semester). The weather here has been mild, though cloudy — very good for planting. I have some new roses and daffodil bulbs to plant (two of my top favorite flowers), and I’m making progress. I choose roses based in part on their fragrance, so I’m looking forward to lots of rose scent in my garden next summer. Since Thanksgiving is also all about gratitude, I may also do a special post on “What Went Well”; I invite you to join me in reflecting on what went well for you this year.
We gave our daughter her longed-for Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit for her birthday last week and it was a big hit! She had guessed we might be getting it for her, because she texted me that she had heard it was reissued and when she got my non-committal reply, she thought I probably had already bought it, lol.
On Monday, I’ll be posting November’s “Counterpoint”, a 2023 monthly collaboration between me and Portia Turbo of Australian Perfume Junkies. Last week, we posted our other project, “Notes on Notes”, focusing on oud. All good things come to an end, and since those were a 2023 project, November and December will be the last of the collaboration, but I might continue with one of them. Let me know what you think!
Next week also brings “Black Friday” and its many sales, some of which have already begun. Macy’s is having a 50% off sale on some Guerlains and others in the 1 oz. size, I noticed, and significant markdowns on larger sizes of other brands. Are you eyeing any particular fragrant purchases next week, or watching any particular websites for discounts? If you find any great markdowns, please share in the comments!
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US who celebrate: enjoy the family time. Last year I conceded defeat and ordered the meal from the Fresh Market. The turkey was excellent, so this year ordered turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, others will make the rest of the sides. Turns out that having every weekend booked from late August to mid November is tiring and saps your desire to cook a big meal for 12-13 people! No perfume yet but being Friday, I’ll pick a favorite. Paid gig this evening to cover a rhythmic gymnast prepping for a national competition – hope it makes for interesting photos!
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I think you’ve amply earned a break from cooking this Thanksgiving! How did the gymnast gig go? I bet that was interesting even if tiring.
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Black Friday sales seem to have been going on since Nov 1st over here! Even though we don’t have Thanksgiving.
I’m trying to be good on the purchase front, I really need to downsize so newness is going to be minimal
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Happy Thanksgiving! I’ve enjoyed the posts from you and Portia throughout the year, so I hope you do continue them in some form.
As for Black Friday shopping, I don’t plan to do any, although if something turns up and works out…
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Thanks!
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Happy Thanksgiving! I won’t be doing any cooking either since it will be just me and my husband this year for Thanksgiving. The grandchildren are coming down 2 weeks later so cooking will be done that weekend. I think we will just get some turkey from somewhere and have turkey sandwiches on Thanksgiving Day. We’re still cleaning up and decluttering, which seems never ending!
I also hope you and Portia will continue your collaborations. They have been interesting and fun. I saw the Macy’s Black Friday offerings. Armani had a nice deal also, spend $100 on any item on their armani.com website and get a free 1 oz /30 ml bottle of any of the regular Armani fragrances. I think that is only going through tomorrow, so worth checking out if you’re looking for some holiday presents.
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If I were to vote for one of the two joint projects, I’d say “Notes.” It’s not that the other one isn’t interesting. But if you choose a single perfume, there’s a good chance that we didn’t try it (and probably won’t), so it becomes just an “academic interest” to read what your friends think about such perfumes. Whereas with a note, most of the readers can relate better. But you could keep both topics!
We’ll be spending Thanksgiving at our friends’ place, without a turkey (they prefer to cook duck). Since I like the tradition, we ordered a cooked turkey from a local store. So, we’ll have a more traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Black Friday.
I bought some products from The Ordinary (they have a sale going on for the whole month of November BUT Black Friday). Other than that, I’m checking multiple websites for deals on mundane products that I would be buying anyway. No perfume shopping in my plans.
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As for your projects with Portia. I have thoroughly enjoyed both but understand that you both might feel they have run their course
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