What is it: A copy of Denise Hamilton's new novel, Damage Control.
How do I get it: For a chance to win, leave a comment telling me that you live in the US. Plus, tell us about the last time you read something about perfume in a novel or spotted a bottle of perfume in the movies. Or just tell us the last great book you read or movie you saw.
Be sure to use the “Post a comment” box; do not reply to another comment! Replies to comments will be deleted!
The contest will be open until noon or so on Saturday, and I'll announce the winner on Monday.
The fine print: Don't enter the contest unless I have permission to use the email address in your reader account to contact you. If the email address in your reader account is incorrect, you might want to fix it. If you are the winner and you fail to send me your mailing details within a couple weeks, I’ll give your prize away to someone else.
I live in the U.S. I haven’t seen many movies in the last several months, but the last time I spotted a perfume bottle in a movie was in “Black Swan” and it was Chanel No. 5.
I live in the US, & I’d love to win this! I just spotted a bottle of Fracas in the remake of “The Parent Trap.”
I love Denise’s writing. I live in the U.S.
Great giveaway! Thanks, Robin and Denise!
I live in the U.S. And I recently read Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Very strange book…
I live in the U.S. and I am reading: the sacred book of the werewolf by Victor Pelevin. Essenza di Zegna eau de cologne is mentioned.
Thanks for the draw!
I live in the US, alas (lusting after Monte Carlo right about now! LOL!) No perfume spottings but I am currently reading the last of the ‘Serial Killer’ trilogy by Dan Wells: “I Don’t Want to Kill You”. I thought I wasn’t going to like this at all – turns out I’m in total thrall! btw – no perfume is mentioned but lots and lots of TMI info on embalming smells!
xoA
I live in the US. You have permission to use my email address on record. I don’t recall seeing any perfume in the last movie I saw which was The Fighter( I don”t get out much) It was a wonderful movie. I loved it. I would imagine if the mom played by Mellissa Leo would have worn a perfume it probably would have been Jean Nate or something else kind of generic
I live in the US and you have my permissino to use my email address on record.
The last movie I watched was “All About Eve” and I am not sure but there might have been perfume on Bette Davis’s (Margo Channing) dressing table.
I live in the US. You have permission to use my email address on record.
The last literary perfume reference I noticed was in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Holly Golightly uses 4711 cologne.
I live in the US, and I’m re-reading Anna Karenina. Such a great book – I keep wishing I had a bottle of De Bachmakov on hand… and some very chilled vodka.
R- I live in the US! Loving the Tudors and Luther, both of which I watch on Netflix.
I live in the US. You have permission to use my email address on record.
I am re-watching “Archer” ( a cartoon for adults) and a character had Nombre Noir on her bathroom vanity!
I live in the US. Just recently re-read Jitterbug Perfume. One of my absolute faves and it is all about perfume – although Tom Robbins’ style is not for everyone!
Oh boy! I’d love to win this. I read the reviews and it sounds like a great read. The last movie I saw that had perfume in it was A Single Man. There was a bottle on a chest that I couldn’t identify. Also, the main character smells Arpege (I think) on a woman.
I live in the U.S. and you have permission to use the email address in my reader account.
Exciting giveaway! I do live in the US.
The question makes me realize I haven’t been reading very much lately, though. eep. and I’m awful at spotting perfume in movies.
I will just post the movie that I enjoyed the most lately, which was Crazy Stupid Love. And I had tested the wonderful Esprit de Oscar right before the show, so it was a very pleasant couple hours!
I live in the U.S. Currently reading Three Cups of Tea.
I live in the US!
I often look hard during movies to find perfume bottles, but haven’t been too successful! So I’ll just recommend the latest book I’m reading: Blue Shoe by Annie Lamott. It reminds me alot of the the movie clip that was here on NST for Miriam..what a wonderful clip that was!!!
I live in the US, and the last perfume-related movie I saw was, unsurprisingly, Perfume. I read the book when I was in university, so I really wanted to see how the movie turned out. Not bad, actually, if not necessarily the best movie ever made.
I live in the US (I believe Texas counts) and the last mention of perfume in a book I remember was what I just finished: Dead Man’s Chest, the latest installment in the Phryne Fisher mystery series (A titled Australian flapper sidelines as a private detective) by Kerry Greenwood. Almost all of the books featuring Miss Fisher mention her applying cosmetics and fragrance (mostly Guerlain classics such as Mitsouko and I think Caron’s Narcisse Noir was mentioned once as well).
I live in the US. In Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, the family matriarch, Elisabeth Buddenbrook, wears an unnamed patchouli perfume. The novel takes place in the early-to-mid 19th century.
I am currently re-reading “Pride and Prejudice” for about the millionth time—it is my favorite novel. I imagine Elizabeth would wear a lavender sprig in her hair ( when she wasn’t wearing a musk rose!).
I live in the US. You have permission to use my email address on record.
I live in the US and am currently reading (and loving!!) Room. Highly recommended–it’s told from the perspective of a 5-year-old kept captive in a single room with his mother.
I live in the US, and recently ran across a beautiful passage in Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient.
“With the uncorking of each tiny bottle the perfumes fell out. There was an odour of the sea. The smell of rust. Indigo. Ink. River-mud arrow-wood formaldehyde paraffin ether. The tide of airs chaotic. There were screams of camels in the distance as they picked up the scents. He began to rub green-black paste onto the rib cage. It was ground peacock bone, bartered for in a medina to the west or the south – the most potent healer of skin.”
A beautifully written book. Highly recommended.
US-yep!
I don’t think I’ve encountered perfume in a movie in ages–maybe it was the very creepy and sorta fascinating Perfume: The Story of a Murderer? Unless. . .does Samantha have perfume on her counter in the first Sex and the City Movie (which I found over-long and vapid, but I wasn’t expecting Shakespeare!). I think I need to watch more classics–I would hope to see more perfume (and fashion and interior design!) that suits my tastes in older films.
I live in the US and you have permission to use my email address.
I’m currently re-reading A Discovery Of Witches by Deborah Harkness. One of the main characters, a vampire, is often described by his scent: carnations, cloves, cinnamon. Different types of wine are described by their scent so well you can almost taste them and really really want to taste them. And the main female’s mother is described as wearing Diorissimo. In fact later in the book when the vampire and his lady are staying in her deceased parent’s bedroom, (FYI he didn’t kill them.) the room is permeated with the scent of her Diorissimo and the story tells of a long forgotten bottle of it still resting on her dresser. It has become of my favorite books, not just because of the brilliant use of scent descriptions but partially because of it certainly. I’ve sprayed the inside cover of my copy, (Yeah a real book, not an ebook.) with clove oil and I made a vintage Diorissimo scented bookmark.
I live in the US and you have my persission to use my email address.
I watched a movie with kids called Beverly Hills Chihuahua and the little female Chihuahua’s name was Chloe, and she wore Chanel No. 5. so cute.
I live in the US, and I recently read The Lantern, by Deborah Lawrenson. The book is full of fragrant references, and one of the characters is a blind perfumer! I enjoyed it very much.
I live in the US.
I am reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. It’s about Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, and their life together in 1920s Paris. In this passage, Hadley describes a favorite outing of theirs, a racetrack outside Paris:
“I loved the deep smell of the horses and the track itself and the noises of the happy crowd taking its luck as it came. Ernest was fascinated by everything – the beautiful rippling of horse flesh, the stumpy-looking jockeys in their silks, the trainers standing at the rails…the slang of the boys in the stable, and the smell of horse piss.”
I live in the US.
Right now I’m reading Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. Lots of references to food smells and a great read. Her restaurant is also on my “to eat” list.
I live in the US (bonus points for living in Texas?) While watching the TV series “Covert Affairs,” one of the characters, a blind ex-spy, recognizes the presence of the heroine by her perfume – Jo Malone’s Grapefruit. I was tickled by the reference, and by the fact that the male character is drawn to women primarily by their scent.
I live in the US. I just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett and I loved it.
Thank you, Robin.
I live in USA. Last movie was Bill Cunningham New York, which I watched twice, love him. Book Im reading now is Garden of last days, Andre Dubus iii; chilling.
I live in the USA.
The last great book I read was The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson.