Prizes!

This drawing was tough! I wish I had something to give each and every one of you...but Bob drew the names, and the lucky winners are:

Kimberly Kaye - Fragonard mini perfume set

Gina - Penhalogon's sample set, plus other fun samples

Joanna - Mini pack, including Annick Goutal, Susanne Lang, Robert Piguet and more

Nikki C. - Bond No. 9 sample pack

Uma - Sample pack

Claudia - Sample pack

Flora - Apercu!

Vida - Sample pack

Rosarita - Ivoire de Balmain

Veronica - Yves Rocher Neonatura travel pack and minis

Kim - Zents Sun Body Spray

Janet - Estee Lauder mini pack

Justine - Czech & Speake Neroli

Congratulations to you all! Please email me at sweetdivablog@yahoo.com, and send me your name and address.

Going-Away Giveaway!

Friends, today will be the first day of the Sweet Diva Going-Away Giveaway! I have sample packs! I have full (or mostly full) bottles to share! I sound like I should be selling mattresses! Or perhaps used cars!

I've been trying to think how best to work this, and I think I've decided on the best approach: If you would like to be entered to win any prize, leave your name in the comments. I'll line up the prizes randomly, and then draw a name for each one. I may mix and match depending on how many people are interested. How does that sound?

Among the prizes are:
Balmain Ivoire (full bottle)
Sample Packs: Yves Rocher, Fragonard, Penhaligon's, Bond No. 9, Liz Zorn, etc.
Yves Rocher Neonatura Cocoon Travel Spray w/ refill
Houbigant Apercu (mostly full bottle...passed to me from a friend of Sweet Diva)
Zents Body Spray - Sun (full bottle)
Mixed sample packs and minis
Czech & Speake Neroli (mostly full, generously passed to me by the perfumer)

I'll keep the comments open for this until Thursday, and then I'll draw prizes and announce the winners on Friday. Come on, try your luck!

Some News...

Hello Friends! I am so sorry for my ongoing absence. I have some news to share--some good, some bad. The good news is: This past Friday was my last day at my old job! I am going to work for a much smaller company, a startup that focuses on social networking and gaming. A friend of mine went to work there recently, and the whole vibe is much friendlier, more creative, more passionate than at the corporate monster I just left. I think it's going to be great fun!

The bad news is: With all this change, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on my life and what the future holds, and I've made the decision to "close" Sweet Diva. For a long time, it has been my dream to write fiction. I've tried off and on over the years, and I've come to the conclusion that it's time to give it a serious try. A big part of what's propelling me forward is you. Connecting to you all through Sweet Diva gave me more confidence. Unfortunately, this means devoting as much of my free time as possible to pursuing that goal. The blog takes a great deal of time, and I have realized over the last few months that I cannot do both.

That said, I don't want to leave you all empty-handed! I still have a number of sample packs and items to give away, so over the next week or so I'll be holding daily drawings for different items. You may enter a drawing every day, if you like, and if I don't get much participation, some of you may find your selves with a large amount of booty indeed.

Please visit again tomorrow when I'll hold my first "going out of blog" drawing of the week!

What's Your Friday Perfume?

Hello friends! My Friday perfume is L'Artisan Premier Figuer, from a sample reader Nikki C shared with me. I cannot believe I haven't tried this. The notes are fig, fig leaf, milk of almond, sandalwood, and coconut. Sounds rather fresh and summery, no?

What are you wearing today?

Have a happy Friday!

*image from luckyscent.com

Two Years!

Happy Friday everyone! The first thing: Today is Sweet Diva's second anniversary! I can hardly believe I've made it two years, and it's been touch-and-go at times. (Listen to me, making this sound like it's the Tour de France or something.) The reason I keep the blog going is you. I am so happy to have this little online community with friends who drop by and share. Thanks to all of you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading.

The second thing: Today I'm going to wear my sample of EL Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche. Last night I just did a quick spritz on the back of my hand, and just that little sniff was enough to send me into a frenzy of Internet searching, trying to find a bottle to buy. Alas, this seems to be sold out everywhere online. I'm hoping that after wearing it today, maybe I'll decide it isn't worth all the fuss...I hope so!

And my friends, what are you wearing today? I hope your weekend is lovely, and if you are a mother or have a mother, I wish you a Happy Mother's Day!

*image from esteelauder.com

And the Winner Is...

Jennifer S. S.! Congratulations, you are the winner of the latest grab-bag giveaway! Please send your name and address to sweetdivablog@yahoo.com.

Thanks to everybody who entered! I'll have another giveaway in a couple of weeks, so you can always try again!

Tommy Girl

I have a confession to make. After a lot of thought, I've decided not to read Perfumes: The Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. I realize that many of you may quietly delete me as a daily read for this. How can I be a serious perfume fan if I choose not to read said book? Well, maybe I'm not serious. Maybe I'm just a fan. The truth is, I'm turned off by some of the reviews I've seen that say it's rather snarky, almost to the point where they just seem to be snarking for snark's sake. I've found that happens on some blogs as well, either in posts or in the comments sections, and I generally stop reading those blogs. It isn't that I love everything, or even believe taste is taste and everyone's equal in that sense.

I'm simply bothered by people who take the easy shot. If you know a perfume is sub-par, why even give it air time just to bash it? Leave it on the shelf and move on to something else. I do try to be honest when I dislike a perfume, and I'll go in for laugh now and again, but generally, I do try to keep the spirit positive. Making people feel bad doesn't make me feel good. Call me a pollyanna, but I feel that if someone has taken the time to read my blog and try to join the conversation about perfume, then I must only give credit. How many perfume releases are there a year to wade through? How many people live in places where there is no Barney's or L'Artisan boutique on the corner? How many people have discovered their love of fragrance by trying everything that's at the drugstore because it's all they can afford? Am I going to shut these people out or make them feel stupid? Hopefully not. I would rather open the door and say, "Welcome."

I'm also bothered by the idea that if an expert loves a perfume, we should all gather 'round and praise it. I don't happen to like Estee Lauder Beyond Paradise. I wore it for four straight days, gave it my best shot, and it fell flat for me, so I said as much. What did I get? A comment telling me Luca Turin loves it. Well, then, let me change my opinion! Not. I tried it again, and I still don't like it. So. There.

I see the benefit of working from "must smell" lists, particularly for people new to sniffing. It helps to smell the classics, or to sniff across types, if you will. But I'm bothered by the notion that lists tell us what we should and should not like. I'm not accusing Mr. Turin and Ms. Sanchez of doing this, by any means, but I do think some readers out there are going to start waving that book around like a bible, thumping on it and persecuting the rest of us if we don't toe the fundamentalist perfumista line. It also bothers me that snottiness is held up as discrimination.

All this to say: I don't like Beyond Paradise, and I will never, ever like Chinatown, but I will stand with Mr. Turin on Tommy Girl. Just trust me on this one: close your browser and go to Target and buy a bottle of this perfume. Do it now. I got my little half-ounce bottle for $7.99. With notes of apple tree, blackcurrant, camellia, mandarin, mint, honeysuckle, lily, rose, magnolia, sandal, and cedar, it IS summertime. It's children playing outside as the night sky darkens and the streetlights pop on. It's june bugs banging against a screen door. It's a game of tennis on a dewy summer morning. It's a hot car after a day spent in a cold movie theater. It's hamburgers and milkshakes at a drive-in at dusk. It's the beach, the lake, the golf course, the stoop, the porch swing. Whatever is your most pleasant memory of summer, when you spray this on your wrists, that is what you'll smell.

*image from Imagination Perfumery

Friday Poll (Yes, A Poll!) and A Giveaway

Today it just doesn't seem like enough to know what you're perfume is for the day. Let's have a little Friday fun!

What's your perfume? Mine, of course, is Dzing!, but I feel it's time to get back into some florals now that May has arrived. I can hear Eau de Ciel calling me from my perfume cabinet.

What are you reading? I'm finally finishing Amy Bloom's Away, and then I have Jhumpa Lahiri's new collection (already read the first story) and then Lee Martin's River of Heaven. I may have a lineup, but I'm always open to suggestions!

What are you listening to these days? I need some new music. Help me! I recently discovered The Cold War Kids, and I downloaded their album but haven't listened to the whole thing yet. The other thing I've been stuck on is Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings The Flood.

What activity are you most looking forward to this weekend? Here, it's cleaning. Yes, I'm actually looking forward to it. We also have two movies to watch, The Savages (love Laura Linney) and Gone Baby Gone.

It's time for another grab-bag giveaway! Leave your name in the comments if you want to be entered in the drawing. I'll keep it open until Monday evening at 7:00 EST.

Have a happy Friday, friends!