Winner of January Giveaway

Thank you for everyone who contributed with insights and comments throughout the month of January!

The winner of the lucky draw is SmellyBlog reader Darcy Rouhani. She will receive a coffret of 5 vintage minis from the 80's, including Bal A Versailles, Animale, Sunwater, Hollywood, 360 Perry Ellis and 273 Fred Hayman.

Please continue leaving comments in February :-) I will announce the prize for this month shortly. 

Mother's Day Contest - Winner Announcement

Congratulations to MariaA, the winner of our Mother's Day contest & lucky draw!
You are the lucky winner of a Viola mini, Sacrebleue decant and a few other goodies.
Please email me with your mailing address so I can send your prize!

1000Flowers Giveaway Winner Announcement

Thank you everyone for posting and supporting Jessica Buchanan & 1000Flowers!
Congratulations to Susan - you won last week's giveaway, and will be sent a trio of samples from 1000Flowers first 3 fragrances. Email me with your address so I can send your loot :-)

The Answers!

Stroll over to Alyssa Harad's blog to read the reveal of the 10 perfumes I picked that were hidden in the book. To be fair, I must admit that didn't even know the correct answers to some of them. To be perfectly transparent with you folks I will even share my "answers": I was right about 7/10 of them - But my amusing mistakes were to identify no.1 as Diorella,  no. 8 was Eau d'Hadrian; and I was quite convinced that no. 10 is Narcisse Noir! Oh, and that honeyed, golden perfume that first captured Alyssa's heart and "made her knees buckle" - I thought that would have been Obsession (it sounded just too well behaved to be Miel de Bois)... I was very far from the truth, and yet am happy to know that I don't know all the perfumes in the world, and am excited to try this one now that I've experienced it through Alyssa's lenses so to speak.
Oh and that is also why I had to ask Alyssa to help me and reveal the true answers!

Before I reveal the winners for this week's giveaway - let me know what the prizes are:
One book to each winner of Coming To My Senses
Decant of Songes EDP from my own collection of course
In the spirit of sharing and generousity that is part of the perfumista culture (which meeting Alyssa reminded me all about - I've been a little out of the swapping loop in the past couple of years). Can there be anything more exciting than finding new smells arriving in the mail? Anything more heartwarming than finding surprise gifts and RAOKs from fellow perfumistas from around the world?

I hope that when you receive your package you will be pleasantly surprised: I'll be sending you samples of vintage Chamade parfum, and some other niche perfumes that are not all that easy to find, and I hope you will enjoy.

And by now you're probably dying to know if you won!
The winners are:
HeidiA
ajc1696

Please email me with your snailmail addy so I can ship your prizes next week!

Monkey Monday BO Winner

Congratulations to Muza, who won the lucky draw for last week's giveaway: a sampler kit of Persephenie's body products. Persephenie makes incredibly luxurious body products so I hope you enjoy them - and their beautiful scents!

Monkey Monday Winner (What Summer?)

Thank you to all who participated and shared their summer scents and sensations. It was so much fun reading your comments and my only hope is to have more dialogue on SmellyBlog (regardless of giveaways...). It's really nice to know that people are actually reading the content I put together for hours on end ;-)
Congratulations to melou, our Monkey Monday winner for this week's giveaway!
You will receive a copy of Ayala Moriel's Foundation of Natural Perfumery course handbook. And I might just have to throw in a sample of Treazon since I know how much of a tuberose lover you are!

Monkey Monday Winner (Perfume Player?)

Thanks to those of you who commented with your opinions on the verdict for my friend's faux-suitor. The lucky arrows are pointing at semiloner to receive the bottle of Pink Praline by Soivohle. Congratulations - and don't forget to email me your snail mail address!

As for the rest of the story: Based on my expert fragrance advice, my friend decided to scheme a little and for their next date, she sprayed her neck with the Angel sample he's given her, dabbed some Bvlgari Femme on her wrists, and rubbed her chest with l'Herbe Rouge (the most masculine scent I was able to come up with from my collection). He never showed up though to smell this olfactory dissonance, which only proves our theory that he's a player and has his hands stirring in a few pots simultaneously (a great skill for a chef to have, but not a virtue that you want to find in a lover...).

We're still happy to hear your ideas and takes on the subject of perfume infidelity, so please do keep them coming!

Monkey Monday Winner (Miss T's Choice)

Miss T picked Moschino's Cheap & Chic, which comes in a ridiculously silly Olive Oyl sillouhetted bottle.
Her camp counsillor was wearing Banana Republic's Rosewood. She had no idea what the brand was, because the "BR" was the only logo on it... Note to self: wait till you are very very famous before you use only a logo on your perfume bottles. Noted. Twice.

Since no one really came close, I've decided to toss a coin between the two lurkers who added their comments last week. And the winner is: Bev Erly.
Congratulations!!!
You won a Tamya mini, plus a purse spray of Fresh Index' Pomegranate Anise :-)
Email me your mailing address so that I can send your prizes!

Monkey Monday Winner (Smelly Commute)

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Monkey Monday Smelly Commute contest of the week. You all did a great job guessing (Exotic Green Tea - how many cups of green tea did Elizabeth Arden have to brew before realized the tea bag run out of flavour?!), CK Summer (one among many CK flankers, that I cannot possibly keep track of), Hugo Woman and JOOP!

But the correct answer, which was Lindaloo's (also the first commenter - are you a mind reader?!), is Allure Sensuelle (2006) - the flanker to Allure (1996), a rather flat, linear and colourless floriental that they tried to make more raspy and throaty by marrying it with their accidental best-selling flanker Coco Mademoiselle (to Coco).

But two flankers do not a masterpiece make (or even a bestseller). Allure Sensuelle, I regret to say, was rather disappointing to me even though it had a lot of promise at the time. The patchouli and vanilla base sure were refreshing when fruity gourmand florals were still at their height (if they are ever going to not be, we'll all be better off). It had that rancid aquatic fruity top note (supposedly melon or lychee or both) that really works bad with patchouli and vetiver, but seems to be the mark of sophistication for perfume users who don't know any better (yet).

And now I will stop my rare anti-perfume rant and ask Lindaloo to send me your snail mail addy so I can send you a package of samples from the SF Sniff and 1st Artisan Fragrance Salon. I hope you will find something to your liking among these artisan perfumers' creations!

Thank you for helping me pack!

Thank you for your suggestions, comments and requests about what to bring for you to smell at the Artisan Fragrance Salon!
The winner of the random lucky draw (picked by Random.org) is Yash - who will receive a mini of ArbitRary the moment I hear back of your snail mail addy (well, it will arrive about a week or two after...).
Looking forward to seeing you all at the Artisan Fragrance Salon, where you can find out all the old favourites and new exciting fragrances I'm bringing with me :-)

Lys Méditerranée Winner (Last Week's Monkey Monday)

SmellyBlog is pleased to announce the winner of Lys Méditerranée decant - from last Monkey Monday's giveaway: Dionne.
Please contact me ASAP with your mailing addy so I can send this beautiful lily perfume your way!

As you may have gathered, this week is dedicated to my students who hailed from all parts of North America to study natural perfume with me. I will post at the earliest convenience, continuing to celebrate this spring and motherhood (Mother's Day is on Sunday).

Spring Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Pam Jackson of Streetcat Designs - the lucky winner of our spring giveaway:
mini of Zohar perfume, the orange blossom soliflore I've created, which to me is liquid sunshine, smiles and butterflies in the orchard. Wishing you all a very happy spring and we will be back shortly with another Monkey Monday feature & prize for this week :-)

Sous la Vent Winner

Congratulations to Portia x - winner of our Monkey Monday giveaway from last week.
You won a 5ml decant of the Guerlain boutique exclusive Sous la Vent - from my own collection. Please don't forget to email me your address so I can send your prize!
XOXO
Sweet dreams :-)

Notorious Mini Winner (Last Week's Monkey Monday)

Winner of our Monkey Monday for last week was Denyse, who will receive a mini of Notorious in the mail (please email me your mailing address)...
Also, we are yet to hear from our winner of last week's giveaway (Aftelier's Cassis), so the prize will have to go to the next in the lucky-line: Lindsay!

Monkey Monday - Cassis Winner

Wow!
I'm thrilled - yet not in the least surprised - that there are so many pet-loving folks among SmellyBlog's readers.
The stories you shared are fascinating. I guess I always assumed that dogs simply smell like "dogs" and cats have a universal "cat smell". It's great that even though we are an entirely different species we can still tell the differences in such an obscure realm as animal scents. It only makes me more curious to learn more about what animals can gather about us - all the emotions and other information they become privy too based on our smell alone.

Thank you so much for sharing all the lovely stories. I'd love to smell a cat that smells like popcorn one day...

The prize this week goes to Dionne - a mini of (now discontinued) Cassis by Aftelier Parfums.
Please email me with your snailmail addy so I can send your prize on Monday :-)

Smelly Detective Winner (Monkey Monday Giveaway)

Congratulations to Nekosan, winner of our Monkey Monday giveaway this week. You will receive a 4ml Film Noir miniature upon informing me of your secret whereabouts... I promise I will keep your mailing address confidential!

Zangvil Tea Mystery Ingredient Revealed!

Zangvil's mystery ingredient is...
Ambrette seed!
The seeds of Abelmoschus moschatus (an evergreen shrub from the hibiscus family, with yellow flowers with purplish-pink centre) are known for being the most similar plant aroma to that of the deer musk!
Because of its beautiful, musky odour, floral, wine-like, nutty, reminiscent of overripe fruit or even lychee. It is very rich in ambrettolide, which smells like what we learned to call "white musk" (yup, the one by The Body Shop!). Ambrette seed is considered an aphrodisiac. It is also used as spice in the East, and is used by Arabs to flavour coffee (much like they do with cardamom seeds). The tincture is used to flavour tobacco as well as liquors. Ambrette also has medicinal benefits (mostly used to ease indigestion, cramps and nervous dyspepsia.



Zangvil tea can be re-steeped as many as 6-7 times, with the woodsy, musky vanillic notes of the hand-sliced vanilla beans and aromatic ambrette seeds and hints of spicy sweetness from the organic candied ginger lingering on and on even beyond the tea leaves themselves (which still emit their subtle, peachy-jasminey aroma till the 4th steeping).

Congratulations to ahsu for guessing correctly (the 2nd time around...).
You will be receiving a 50gr tin of Zangvil tea (value of $30), which will be sent to you when Zangvil perfume & tea are launching - 20.11.2011.
Until than, you can pre-order it online!

Ankhara Lucky Draw Winner

Thank you to everyone who shared their beautiful summer memories and favourite smells of summer!

Congratulations to commenter no. 5 -Michael Singles!
You won a mini of Ankhara perfume by Liz Zorn.
Please email me your snailmail addy so I can send your prize in the mail this afternoon!

We will have another giveaway next week...

Winner of Ineke's Deluxe Sample Collection Vol. 2

And... random.org have finally picked us a winner for the San Francisco Perfumers giveaway!
Traci Paraday - you will receive Ineke's deluxe sample collection Vol. 2. Please email me with your mailing address to retrieve your prize :-)

Weekly Giveaway Winner(s) Announcement

Thank you for everyone who posted their favourite spring scents on SmellyBlog!
This week was so busy, I couldn't respond to all of your comments; something I hope to reverse on Monday, when I'm back to the computer after the monthly Portobello West market.

But I do have time to let you know who the winner is! Or, more accurately - the winners, because we have three prizes:

Winner no. 1: flittersniffer
You won a miniature of Zohar!
It's not like Vanille Galante or Fleur de Shanghai, but I hope you are going to enjoy it!

Winner no. 2: ahsu
You won a tin of Charisma tea, with pomelo blossoms. I hope this will bring the orchard into your tea cup!

Winner no. 3: womo531
You won a decant spray bottle of Narciso Rodriguez Her Eau de Toilette

Please contact me with your mailing addresses, so I can ship your prizes on my next trip to the post office.

Have a fabulous weekend, and see you again on Monday :-)