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The freebiemeet, episode 17

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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.

If you have perfume-related items you’d like to give away (as opposed to swap for something else), and if you’re reasonably sure you can mail your items within the next month, feel free to list them below in the comments AFTER reading the instructions. If you wish to give away items using any rules other than those listed here (to request payment for postage, for example), you are more than welcome to do so any time in one of the scent of the day polls or lazy weekend polls…

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Velvet & Sweet Pea Luminous Lemurs ~ perfume review

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Back in June, I wondered whether we’d see any independent perfumers responding to the events of 2020 through their fragrance work. Yes, as it turns out: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has been creating a series of fragrance “sketches” inspired by her home surroundings (see my review of Hot Masala), and now Laurie Stern of Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery has released Luminous Lemurs. Laurie writes, “COVID-19 has made it even more clear to me that the purpose of my work is to help animals and indigenous communities,” and Luminous Lemurs is a tribute to these endangered creatures and their human neighbors.

I’m a longtime fan of Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Black Cat, Honey and Moonlight, so I would have been curious about Luminous Lemurs if I hadn’t known that it’s being launched for a good cause. Laurie is donating portion of its profits to Centre ValBio…

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Yosh Sottile, Ginger Ciao & Omnistar ~ fragrance reviews

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The early-2020 closing of the Barneys New York flagship store on Madison Avenue was a sad moment for me. I’ve been shopping there for fragrance and makeup for longer than I care to admit, and I have happy memories of meeting the creators of various cosmetics and perfume brands during “personal appearance” events on the beauty floor. One of those creators was Yosh Han, whose line of perfume oils was carried by Barneys and was popular amongst Makeup Alley perfumistas in the early 2000s. I remember chatting briefly with Yosh and telling her how much I liked Winter Rose, among other scents in her collection.

I always kept an eye (and a nose) on Yosh’s work and even ran into her from time to time during her recurring New York visits. I worried a little when her perfume oils started vanishing from various online retailers a year or two ago, and then I was relieved to learn that a rebranding had been in progress…

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The swapmeet, episode 17

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Chrysanthemum

The swapmeet (episode 17) is open for business! PLEASE read the instructions! (For those of you who refuse to read the instructions, please do not respond to anyone else’s comment except to say that their email address does not work. ANYTHING else you need to say, say it in an email. If you insist on responding to a comment, I will delete your comment. If you want to know how to swap for something, see #6 below!) For people who would like to chat in addition to, or instead of, swapping, there will be a poll along shortly.

Don’t know what swapping is, or you know but you’ve never tried it? See here. You can also take a look at the feedback from episode 3, episode 4, episode 5, episode 6 and episodes 7-8, episodes 9-10.

Please, do not participate if you do not have time to mail your items within the next three weeks! Hopefully, another swapmeet will be coming up in the spring…

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Maya Njie Les Fleurs, Nordic Cedar & Vanilj ~ fragrance reviews

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I’ve never been a minimalist — not by nature, not by nurture. I’ll never live in an airy space with bare white walls or limit my clothing to a capsule wardrobe. My taste in perfume typically matches my taste in clothing and decor, leaning towards retro florals and cozy ambers. But in fragrance, at least, I’ll occasionally experiment to some extent.

In this spirit, I ordered a few samples from the Swedish-born, London-based indie perfumer Maya Njie, who founded her fragrance line in 2016. (It’s only recently become available in the United States, where I live.) Njie describes her olfactory aesthetic as “the spirit connected to the classic 1970s Scandinavian idyll, combined with the soul of her esoteric Gambian heritage.” That reference to Scandinavian 1970s style, plus the clean design of her perfume bottles and labels, made me expect minimalist perfumes…

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