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The freebiemeet, episode 15

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viola

The freebiemeet is open! PLEASE read the instructions, even if you’ve read them before! Really, pretty please, with sugar on top! There’s not even that many of them, and you will save us all so much time and confusion. This is not that hard. Plus, it’s free stuff! It’s all good, but it’s even better if you read the instructions. If you have any questions, please post them here.

For people who would like to chat in addition to, or instead of, giving and getting free stuff, there will be a poll along shortly…

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Trudon Elae & Medie ~ fragrance reviews

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Cire Trudon, one of my favorite candle-makers, has released two new perfumes: Elae and Médie (both by perfumer Yann Vasnier). Of Trudon’s first round of five perfumes, I liked two and loved one: Olim.

Elae
(bergamot, apple, neroli, ylang-ylang, jasmine, tuberose, sandalwood, akigalawood, benzoin); 100 ml Eau de Parfum, $210

Elae begins with bergamot, sweet jasmine, tuberose and a tart “apple” aroma. Elae’s apple note has a green/unripe character. This fruity note also reminds me of young pineapple (at low volume) and the scent of those hard-as-rocks strawberries that ship from California all year…

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Musée International de la Parfumerie (and a Story)

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“Better lucky than smart,” Beverly said. I certainly felt lucky. I’d only met her in person the day before, yet here I was, glass of rosé in hand, seated on her terrace in the south of France, the lights of Valbonne in the valley below mirroring the stars.

Almost nine years ago, a friend and I stopped into an estate sale, and I came away with a four dollar bottle of Lucien Lelong Indiscret parfum (the story and a mini-review are here). A few years later, a stranger — Beverly — wrote to me saying that her mother had worn Indiscret, and would I send her a sample? Her mother had died when Beverly was only 18, more than fifty years earlier. I sent her the bottle…

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Tocca Gia and Jo Malone Poppy & Barley ~ fragrance reviews

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When I read the press release for a new fragrance, I can’t help but imagine how it will smell. I know that the list of notes and the promotional copy need to be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. All the same, I have fun guessing what the actual experience of the fragrance will be. This week I tried two new-ish scents and neither of them was quite what I’d expected.

First: Gia, the newest fragrance from Tocca, “expresses passion and is given flight by notes of feminine power and purity” in its composition of Turkish rose, pink peppercorn, tangerine, amber and sandalwood. When Gia was first announced, its press release mentioned the artist Georgia O’Keeffe as its inspiration…

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L’Artisan Parfumeur Le Chant de Camargue ~ fragrance review

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In France, south of Arles, lies Camargue — a UNESCO-designated biosphere. Camargue is known for many things: its ancient-breed white horses, flamingos (and many other migrating birds), salt production, Camargue red wild rice (referenced in today’s perfume Le Chant de Camargue*) and the Course Camarguaise — Camargue’s brand of bloodless bull-fighting (or “race”). Though the stately black bulls of Camargue are individually known and are not killed in this “sport,” I can’t imagine it’s much fun to be chased, teased, enraged and prodded under a hot sun in front of thousands of screaming humans.

Bulls — one of the world’s unluckiest animals…

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