So It Begins

The Bath and Body Works Candle Day email hit my inbox not too long ago. If you are a rewards member, you can start shopping the sale in person or online beginning tomorrow at 6 am. Yes, it starts for me at 6 am because I am one of those idiot rewards member. But I am not going to a brick and mortar store, I am doing this online.

This week's bills have been paid and I just bought this week's groceries. With those things out of the way, I created this week's budget for candles and whatever might come up during the week. After my gift card, I made a rule is that I can only spend no more than $15.

My budget is a little lower than last year's budget. Inflation has eaten away at any kind of discretionary spending, my hours at work have been reduced. But I work in retail and even with the holidays coming, any extra hours are really not going to come mt way. The only way I might get a little bit more is if someone stops me and asks to place an order, the I might get something extra. My candle collection is pretty large, so I can't exactly justify more than getting 4 more candles.

With a price tag of $9.95, two candles are going to be ones that I love and the other two will be ones that I have never tried before. The two that are my tried and true is Winter and Vanilla Bean Noel and the two are Sweet Whiskey and Pure Wonder. Bath and Body Works does release some candles just in time for Candle Day but I am not interested in the ones that they are releasing. I do have a couple back up ideas for other scents, just in case the ones that I want are sold out. But I shall see how this one goes.

What is a little different from last year, is that this year, the sale begins at 6 am and not online at 8 pm. In one way, this might work out a little better. I work 2nd shift and I don't exactly the time when I get off work to wait in a virtual line. I can wake up a little earlier than normal and order my candles.

Sigh...Cyber Monday

 It's Cyber Monday and it's almost over. Nothing really excited me on Black Friday. The only "deal" that I took advantage of was The Perfumed Court sale but it was a small percentage off and I did get 2 dabbers. I don't know if Covid pretty much killed Black Friday or what but it seems like this year's Black Friday was really lackluster. I didn't go out shopping on Black Friday, I went to work instead.

I pretty much swore to myself that I would wait until Bath and Body Works' Candle Day sale. That plan failed and I used one of my gift cards that was earmarked for Candle Day. I used that to get two single wick candles for gifts. That will probably mean only 2 candles for Candle Day and I am okay with that. With the amount of candles that I already have, I really don't need any more candles, let alone get another 2.

The only other Cyber Monday ad that I was pretty excited about was that Luckyscent email. But it's the same old song and dance with my bank account. Afterpay is still on time out until after the new year. Luckyscent doesn't seem to send out too many emails about sales. When I do see a sale email, it's either for perfumes that I am none to interested in getting or the finances are not working out at the moment. Most of my funds are earmarked for the upcoming holidays or for the boring things like, I don't know, bills. Perfumes isn't the cheapest hobby.

That Time of Year...Again

Here in the US, we are coming up on Thanksgiving. And with Thanksgiving comes Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the general holiday shopping season. I would say that about 95% of my holiday shopping is done. So I have very little to do for holiday shopping. I mainly have to finish up 1 friend, my father and start with my nephews. I have some ideas but need to hold off for the next week and then start taking care of those things.

I am not so interested in Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals. What I am truly waiting for is the Bath and Body Works Candle Day sale. I don't think that I will get more than 2 or 3. My candle collection is sitting at almost 70 and I don't need more but I do like to stock up on seasonal favorites. If I am game, I might check out the Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals from Bath and Body Works. Whatever shopping I might do, I am going to be doing it from the comfort of my couch. What I am going to be doing is when I get paid next is get a Bath and Body Works gift card to really make sure that I have some cash set aside for Candle Day. I am hoping that when Candle Day happens, I do not go hog wild with candles. Last year, I pretty much did because the price was right. Last year, those candles were only $10 a piece and there is no word on what the price will be. Usually, customers will not know the price until the day before or the day of the sale.

Ever since I did finish that bottle of Chanel no 5, I have pretty much taken a break from wearing no 5. I'm not fully sure on why I've taken a break from it. I do have a bottle of the edp and a bottle of the pure parfum out, I just don't want to wear it so much. I've worn the Eau Premiere version once or twice and wearing Eau Premiere today. 

I do have a perfume wish list going on. What I keep hoping for the a bottle of the Gris Charnel extrait and a bottle of either the extrait bottle of Lyric or Epic. With having over 100 bottles of perfume, people have said that I have enough perfume and there is no way that they will pay that much for a bottle of perfume. With the 3 that I have listed, by doing the math, the price per ml is much cheaper than a bottle of any of the Chanel extraits. I know that eventually, I will get that bottle of Gris Charnel extrait. I just have to get through the holidays with my bank account being alright.
 

More Amouage Exceptional Extraits

 Yesterday, I received an email from Amouage with news of some Exceptional Extraits being released. In some ways, I was hoping that it wasn't Memoir or Lyric. Reason being is that I love Memoir and Lyric is probably my favorite from Amouage. The Exceptional Extraits are things that I really can't afford but this line up is Amouage on steroids. By looking at the pictures of the email, I didn't really think that they would were not releasing Lyric or Memoir yet. The bottle colors didn't match the pictures. If an unexpected $500 to $600 were to drop into my lap, I would still get Epic 53. I was thinking that it was going to be either the women's version of either Jubilation or maybe Dia.

I was partially right and it was the women's version of Dia, called Dia 40. The men's offering was Jubilation 40. In some ways, I was hoping that it would be the women's Jubilation. It took me a long time to understand Jubilation 25 and even longer to fall in love with Jubilation.

I don't think that Amouage has really run out of ideas but I do think that the people at Amouage are trying to garner some more interest. Most of the common folk, like me, are probably not what Amouage has in mind. Us common people, who do not have tons of discretionary spending, might get one bottle a decade. Every business wants to make money but most people are not into perfume and to spend $300 and up on a bottle of perfume doesn't cross the mind of most people. Amouage can set the prices to whatever they want, as their right.

But I still want to get a sample of Dia 40 to try out. Just like I want to get that sample set of the Exceptional Extraits. Maybe next year, after I recovered from Christmas.