Time is running out! Friday is the last day to enter our 2008 Prix Eau Faux. The contest honors excellence in "creative fragrance writing" (can you write ad copy that is even funnier than real ad copy?), and the prize is a $100 gift certificate to Luckyscent.
I've got a sick child at home, so no review today, sorry. Hope to be back tomorrow.
Seemed like a good place to say: Love your new header! Looks really nice.
Rose, thank you! Am messing around tonight so have already put up a different one, which I might like better but haven't decided yet.
I like it too – the fern-like scrolls are very tasteful. Happy Super Bowl!
Thanks — they're taken from the sides of a vintage Houbigant Quelques Fleurs bottle
Having a very happy SB by not watching it!
Hello Robin, I sent you mine by email after your last reminder, I hope you got it…. Do you send confirmation after an entry?
And what can you tell us so far, how many entries?
Without giving names… is this days opening your email making you cry tears of laughter….are they funny?
regards P
Yes, I have yours! Guessing we have around 25 entries so far, and also guessing most entries will come in over the last week of the contest. I've been trying not to read them, actually, thinking it will be better if I read them all at once!
Thank you for answering!!!
Have a great weekend!
P.
p.s.: The idea of reading them all at once….. The laughter attack!!! have some brandy or something handy!
No problem, and you have a great weekend too! HOPE it will be a laugh attack
Just sent mine in, Robin. You need to have a glass of wine in your hand to maximize the fun factor while you read these. Can't wait to read them myself when you finally post them.
LOL! I posted my comment below about having a glass of wine handy before reading this comment. We're on the same page, clearly.
Got it, K, thanks for playing!
Won't be sending anything in. English is not my first language.
Sigh…
Why don't you people learn Dutch..?!??
Such is life then.
Marianne – you express yourself quite well in english here! (better than I do I think!) What can it hurt to try?
Robin, sorry you're little one is sick – hope he feels better soon!
Thank you Rose for your lovely compliment. In a next life I hope to be an American or Canadian woman. As long as there are different languages there will be a whole lot of misunderstandings… and Robin, I do hope that your little one will be better very soon!!
Sorry your son is still sick
Wait … you're so *crafty.* You could get out your glue gun and some yarn and make some more ancestors! Or I could forward you the project on the egg-carton caterpillar, you'd love that.
Heh.
I keep trying to write one of these things, but I feel like I can't compete with the professionals. The stuff I read on LuckyScent sometimes makes me howl with delight. I still think it's a dead heat between Elternhaus and whatsisname (the pseudo-intellectuality of vetiver or whatever that screamer was) …
M,
I just sent a link to LuckyScent to one of my writer friends, to cheer up a gloomy Monday. If she doesn't shoot coffee out of her nose upon reading the descriptions, it will be a miracle – they can be howlers, can't they? There was one that invoked 'white wolf's fur' or something – I still yowl at that one! But that's part of the delight of fragrance, as I see it. It's such a luxury – they should be described in the most over-the-top manner possible (well, maybe not 'white wolf's fur') . I wouldn't want to shell out $150 for something described as 'well, it smells kinda nice, like a rose in a jar' or whatever…
…although, come to think of it, that could be as funny a contest: how to describe the most complex fragrances in the most pedestrian manner possible!
Robin, I hope your son is feeling better soon!
R, I hope he gets better very soon!
Btw Rose do you take part in the competition?
M & R, thank you both for the good wishes, he is getting better already
March, how did you guess, we spent the whole day gluing random things to other random things
And that was By Kilian! They are the best, we are amateurs.
Thanks, he is getting there
Go read the one for Lubin Vetiver, it's all about the lightness and the dark, the frankincense and vetiver circling each other warily, the reveling of the Celtic spirits … seriously, you can't make this stuff up. Well, they can. Is what I mean. But they get more practice. Randomly, though, their stuff is of similar caliber.
Hey, which one was the white wolf fur? I wonder if I google it…
You're right, though. They're selling it on those descriptions.
PS For a whole DIFFERENT set of laffs, read the reviews occasionally. Mostly they're pretty tame (or complimentary) but Lucky doesn't seem to censor much, and some of them rag on the fragrances in humorous ways.
Something funny for Robin: hey, now there is a Jimmy Kimmel rebuttal to the Sarah Silverman Matt Damon vid. It aired last night and for the rest of the show Jimmy and his “special guest” kept cracking up and couldn't keep a straight face. Infectiously funny, but I think not as good as the first one.
You should be able to find it on youtube.
Hey, I LURV those Luckyscent blurbs! Someone there is a genius. They could sell me anything, and probably have. And I love the way they don't censor the reviews, so you get the scoop saying 'a waking dream of morning ocean', and a review saying “All I'm getting is mashed bananas and metal polish”.
Hope your son is better soon, R. If he's up to gluing, he's probably not too sick?
Glad to hear that he's doing better.
MW, you should send in an entry. Your English is quite good, I think. As for learning Dutch, thanks, now I have something else to feel guilty about not doing…(I'm kidding).
Hey, I saw it this morning, first thing — found it via another blog. I was so proud of myself, LOL — and gosh, agree it isn't quite as good as the first one, but what a bunch of good humored celebs, no? Very nice.
They must be great fun to write, and have to say, I s*ck at writing ad copy myself. It's way harder than it looks.
March is teasing me on the glue — we had a prior conversation about my utter lack of “craft” skills when I had to do a project w/ my son for school that called for a glue gun. Like I'd have a glue gun, or know how to use it, LOL…
R, apropos of not much
I was at the local toystore (which I try to support) buying replacement beads for my kids' Melt-a-Bead kit, which they love. I got to talking to the owner about it, and he said he is surprised at how he points out to the customer that they have to iron the bead grid to melt them, and very frequently they say they don't own an iron. He's amazed — he says, hey, I'm a single dude, and I own an iron!
And of course I own an iron too … but only because I got embarrassed about houseguests asking for it and the ironing board … and of course it comes in handy for those melt-a-beads… I literally cannot remember the last time I ironed a legitimate piece of clothing, as opposed to some craft (I've done my share of iron-on patches, too)
HAHA — I have an iron, but I iron maybe twice a year, and the rest of the time I let my clothes “cure” in the dryer for a day for a goodly while and then I let them cure for another day or so in a laundry basket, and THEN I fold them. Life is too short to worry about wrinkles.
dang it, I can't find it now (the wolf fur) – but I swear it's in there, somewhere! I LOVE the reviews! Was it Marchlion who wrote about the juxtaposition between the flowery prose of the site and the bang-up, flat-out reviews! ? They really are funny- glad LuckyScent doesn't censor heavily, it's those reviews, coupled with their flowery prose, that really pique my interest (when I quit laughing!!)
The Lubin Vetiver copy is worth its weight in giggles!! I imagine these elegantly dressed men and women (in hats, mind you:-) with a cocktail in one hand, plying their craft on an old Underwood typewriter (work with me here) – or else they are like those phone-sex ladies who are really 60 yr old matrons in a housedress and slippers, maquerading as 20 yr old sex goddesses, saying exotic things to hapless customers while watching soap operas. either way, they've gotta start drinking early, don't you think?
I sent in an entry, but how do I know if it was received?
Good luck with the sick child, and thanks!
Thank you Existentialist I do my best! Maybe I will take part in the next competition. You people have no idea how often I have to use my dictionary..:-D E.g. thought that 'crack up' meant something like feeling unnerved but it has all to do with laughter so you see…
Robin your last sentence would be the best line for a commercial for creams :-D.
MW,
I think you do an excellent job in English – do try the competition, if you think it would be fun! Years ago I lived with a Dutchman and learned to speak a little Dutch…or so I thought:-) I can't tell you how many times I accidentally insulted or embarrassed people with my mangled language attempts. One time I caused my friend's sister to blush so hard I thought she would faint!
Bless the Dutch, you are a generous and tactful people – nobody ever laughed at me….well, not too hard, anyway!
heh-heh. If you check the dictionary you'll find my photo next to the word: Procrastination.
Mamabear, you are too nice..Dutch people are not that tactful…they have this strange urge to express their opinion whenever, about whatever…under to motto: “freedom of speech”
But I feel glad that you had a good experience with the Dutch.
LOL..! Rose and that is my middle name.
LOL — that too.
Robin what happened to Kevin? I miss his reviews!
I second the good thoughts about the Dutch! Dutch women are beautiful, unpretentious and very kind. And I also think that good design is treated by Nederlanders as something to be lived, not just displayed.
He's still here, he reviewed a Santa Maria Novella scent last week.
My friend and I had *such* fun exchanging our entries for this contest! It takes me back to Jr High creative writing excercises…low-pressure and the more absurd the better! Thanks for the chance to flex some atrophied muscles
How many entries did you end up amassing?
I am so sorry — I meant to compile all the entries over the last weekend and send them to all the judges, but my son was sick so I didn't even get as far as counting them. This weekend, I swear!
Not at all, just wanted to thank you for hosting such a fun contest. Hope your son is on the mend.
He is all better, and hopefully I'll post an update on the contest by Sunday.