In the worlds of both luxury and haute cuisine, the year-end holiday season is economically essential: if there’s one time a year when people are willing to splurge, this is it. So this year, despite the crisis, fragrance brands have also come up with some exceptional extravaganzas. For men and women looking for something more unusual than the traditional gift sets (fragrance plus free bath or body product), there are in fact other, more prestigious items available for the holidays. Nina Ricci, for instance, is presenting L’Air du Temps extract in a gold-embossed crystal bottle equipped with a spray bulb (Cristal d’Or, 400 euros). Mugler has always made room for the ultra-luxurious: for 2,000 Euros ($3,000) the Palace collection proposes the Superstar Deluxe bottle of Angel (with a pear-shaped ‘diamond’ crystal pendant) or of Alien, set with 322 gilded Swarovski crystals. For the woman who has everything, and for the modest sum of 30,000 Euros, ($45,000) Guerlain lets you custom-order some truly divine decadence… A gilded bottle of Idylle is suspended within a bubble of Baccarat crystal. You can choose to keep it as a work of art, or ask Guerlain to break the shell in order to be able to wear the perfume. Luxurious dilemma! Another olfactory folly, but for men this time: a 24-lb. leather case, covered with galuchat (shark or sea skate leather). Made-to-order only, the case, designed by Fred Pinel, contains an 18-carat gold bottle of Paco Rabanne’s 1 Million de Paco Rabanne adorned with a diamond. You will have to lay out 40 thousand euros, though. But then true luxury is priceless…