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The freebiemeet, episode 13

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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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Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Banane ~ quick fragrance review & a quick poll

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The background: French niche line Comptoir Sud Pacifique released Vanille Banane in 2003. At that time, the brand had a bit of a cult following for their various vanilla + fruit blends, none of which I cared for (although I still wear two early Comptoir Sud Pacifique fragrances, Aqua Motu and L’Eau du Gouverneur). I doubt I even tried Vanille Banane. In due course it was discontinued, then in 2018 they brought it back…

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5 Perfumes for Palm Springs

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February in my home town is dark and rainy. Smart Portlanders book flights for Mexico and other parts south. My budget usually keeps me home with stacks of novels and something braising in the oven, but this year I’m going to spend a week at a friend’s house in Palm Springs. I’ve never been there, and my brain is loaded with visions of the desert, palm trees, old steakhouses, and, hopefully, a good thrift shop or two.

I’ll be traveling with a modest carry-on suitcase, so I’ll probably take only a decant of a good all-purpose vintage fragrance with a warm-day, cool-night feel, like Rochas Audace. But if I were to pack a steamer trunk, here are five perfumes I’d include…

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St. Clair Scents Casablanca, Ellis Brooklyn Fawn & Miu Miu Fleur d’Argent ~ fragrance reviews

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Describing the inspiration for her latest fragrance, independent perfumer Diane St. Clair writes,

I had been watching the snow fall outside of my window for three months, at times blowing horizontally on winds wailing down from the Polar Vortex. I tried to conjure a way to transport myself to a place far away, a place with warm air and perfumed flowers and fruit—a garden in paradise…

The result of this reverie was Casablanca, a floral chypre fragrance with a lengthy list of notes…

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Mandarin Smackdown: Chanel Paris-Deauville vs Prada Infusion Mandarine

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As I strolled in downtown Seattle at Christmastime, the cold, moist air was scented with pungent whiffs of “fragrance” — a fragrance I would buy if it came in a bottle. No, I wasn’t smelling snickerdoodles baking in ovens, espresso, chocolate or evergreen trees; all around me floated the scents of thousands of sweet box flowers, horse sweat and…yes…horse merde. A mounted police officer’s horse relieved herself right next to the blossoming plants and created a superb floral musk bomb. (Parfum d’Empire: get on the case!) While relishing this “street accord” I thought to myself: “How many people would enjoy this scent as much as I do?” Maybe you have to come from horse-loving, plant-loving Virginia? Or England? Or just notice the floral notes in horse manure and the fecal facets of certain flowers?

When I smelled this enlivening perfume I was headed to Nordstrom to get a whiff of Paris-Deauville by Chanel — a cologne in the new Les Eaux de Chanel line…

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