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, January 5, the first Friday of 2024, and it is Twelfth Night!
Twelfth Night is traditionally the night before Epiphany, the day the Christian church celebrates as the time when the Magi, or Three Kings, arrived in Bethlehem to see the newborn Jesus. The tradition holds that they brought gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh.
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday season, no matter what you celebrate. Have you discovered or received any new fragrances? I’ve been wearing Papillon Perfumery’s Bengale Rouge a lot as the weather has gotten colder; it is just lovely, especially in the drydown, and very cozy.
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
I hope you are having a great new year so far and have enjoyed your time with family. My son is home for one more week, enjoying it as he plans to head to Florida for spring break so we won’t see him much second semester. I decided to do another 365/365 project this year, with the goal of actually only keeping those perfumes that really “spark joy”. Already a couple of things in my out bin. Today wearing Scent Trunk Salt, which is quite nice and will get to stick around (at least to try in summer). Kitchen Reno starts Tuesday, so I’m frantically packing up and moving things to the basement. But excited to get started!
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Oh my! A kitchen redo is huge, but I know you’ll love the final result. Heck, I’m still waxing lyrical about our new refrigerator, lol. I hope you’ll update us on your 365/365 project! Will you post about it on Instagram? Feel free to drop in here to chat about it! Happy New Year to you and yours.
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I’m replying on Jan 6th, Epiphany. Or, more importantly for me, DH birthday. As we are going to be able to get to Gran Canaria, fingers crossed, to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary, he has asked for Euros for frivolous spends whilst we’re away.
Yesterday I made up another cosmetics & sample box as a gift for J, my sorta daughter in law as she celebrates next Wednesday.
I hope you’ve had a wonderful time with your family
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Thanks! Congratulations to you and your DH on his birthday, your anniversary, and the trip to Gran Canaria! I think frivolous spends are definitely in order.
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Jan. 6 is my birthday, too. I always liked having a birthday on Epiphany, that is until some idiots in the US decided to make Jan. 6 a day that will live in infamy. But it was my birthday and your DH’s birthday long before those fools decided to attack the Capitol, so it’s still a great day.
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Happy birthday!
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It is a great day indeed. My birthday gets overshadowed by the US every 4 years as well. I just hope Agent Orange doesn’t wreck it in 2025!
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The twelfth and final day of Christmas, January 6, was known in Ireland as Nollaig na mBan or Women’s Christmas or Little Christmas. As a reward for their hard work over the Christmas season, it was a day off from all house work for women and traditional roles were supposed to be reversed in the home: men did the women’s work in the house while women rested and gathered together informally.
The custom was that women made social calls to the homes of their friends and neighbours and enjoyed tea and the last of the Christmas cake.
However, as it occurred on the very last day of the Christmas, it was acknowledged by some that the treats the women enjoyed were the dregs or leftovers of the festive season. This was unlike the men’s Christmas, Christmas Day, when everyone enjoyed the first and finest of the treats.
I shall be following this tradition today, we’re going to a friend’s house and will let the menfolk do the work! I’m glad we’re in a new year, Christmas was too busy and I was quite stressed and was not well with a horrible cold. So onwards into a fresh year, we can but hope for improvement in the awful situations around the world. We will definitely continue to smell fabulous 😍
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Thank you for sharing that tradition — how fascinating! I hope you have a lovely day and feel much better. And yes, let us smell fabulous while hoping for a better New Year for all who are facing troubles.
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What a lovely tradition! I hope that it stays the reality progresses to where both genders share all the chores equally. It got much better in the western world in the last century, but, en masse, we’re still not there.
Happy New Year!
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As I was doing a “self-filled” Tea Advent Calendar this year, for the 25th day I placed a box with ornaments containing … 12 days of Christmas teas from Adagio Teas (I posted the second day on IG, so you can check out how it looks). So, each day my vSO and I were opening the next ornament, getting the tea out and placing the ornament to the tree (by our traditional “from the previous life” we do not take it down until January 14th – a new year by the “old calendar”). We haven’t tried all the teas yet, but we’re going through them.
Happy New Year!
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