CaFleureBon Birthday Bash Countdown: Day 8 + Sonoma Scents Draw

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CaFleureBon – No.1 for your number one year!
With love,

 

Victoria Christian, Clive Christian Perfumes


 

 

 

Dear CaFleureBon,

 

Congratulations on your first birthday! You bring such verve to what you do, born out of your pure love of perfume. I always look forward to your combination of beautiful pictures and diverse topics: Mark's intelligent and informative writing, Michelyn's wonderful writing and interviews, Ida's pure poetry, and so much more. I look forward to many more years of your help getting the word out about naturals, and I treasure the award that you gave me for Honey Blossom this year.

 

Best Wishes from Mandy and Aftelier Perfume

 

 

Congratulations and Happy First Birthday to Michelyn and the team at Cafleurebon!  What a wonderful first year you’ve had, full of fascinating interviews and beautiful reviews.  Mark Behnke reviewed Incense Pure when it was released, so it seems appropriate to offer a purse spray of Incense Pure for one of your birthday celebration drawings. Another winner will receive special sample vials of some key ingredients in Incense Pure: frankincense CO2, a cistus fraction, labdanum, elemi, and oakmoss. 

With best wishes, 

Laurie at Sonoma Scent Studio.

 

–Thank you Ladies from Team CafleureBon (on air guitar)

There are two separate prizes and two winners for this draw:

 

One purse size Incense Pure

Special sample vials of some key ingredients in Incense Pure: frankincense CO2, a cistus fraction, labdanum, elemi, and oakmoss

To be eligible for this draw…Please leave a comment about your favorite Sonoma Scent or one you want to try, most memorable interview or article from Michelyn Camen, your favorite review from Mark Behnke and an example of Ida Meister's pure poetry.  ( please try for all four!!!!) Draw closes Tuesday March14 at 9:00 am est.

Editor's Note: What do Paul McCartney and No.1 have in common?  They are both listed in The Guiness Book of World Records…Paul McCartney as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history and Clive Christian No.1 (as of 2008) "the most expensive fragrance in the world"- wikipedia

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


29 comments

  • Melissa says:

    Whew, tall order. Okay, here goes. Mark Behnke: Incense Oud review caught my attention (maybe not my favorite, but I read it with great interest), Michelyn: I won't repeat myself from a previous comment about interviews, but I'll mention how much I liked the Fracas/Streetcar Named Desire article, Ida: I'm trying to find it, but didn't you do some poetry under the Outlaw Perfume series? (I think that's what it was called). I enjoyed that whole series btw. As for Laurie's SSS fragrances, I've only tried a couple but I remember liking Vintage Rose quite a bit.

  • Laurie says:

    Hi Michelyn, and happy birthday CaFleureBon!  I had intended the sample vials and purse spray to go to the same person, but I can do it this way and I'll also send a sample of Incense Pure to the winner of the ingredient samples because my thought was that it'd be fun to sniff some of  the ingredients and compare to the finished scent.  So one person will receive a purse spray of IP, and one will receive a sample of IP and the ingredient samples.  Thanks for including me in your celebration!  You've had a spectacular first year!

  • Mandy Aftel says:

    Congratulations to Michelyn, Ida and Mark and everyone who made Cafleurebon's incredible first year.  The articles are such a treat to see as well as read.  Very beautiful! 

  • Laurie says:

    Wanted to add my answer to your question on favorite articles on CaFleureBon.  My favorite by Ida was her piece on Ayala Moriel's Jasmine Pho; I greatly admire Ayala's work and loved how Ida illustrated the connection between Ayala's perfumery and her talents in cooking.   I've enjoyed all the interviews, but some of my favorites were the ones with Bertrand Duchafour, Maurice Roucel, and the great duo interview with friends Geza Schoen and Marc Buxton.  And Mark's thoughtful reviews always make me want to try new things (he's dangerous that way, lol), but the most recent one I enjoyed was his review of MDCI's new La Belle Helene, which is now on my to try list. 

  • Alexander Rachev says:

    Happy birthday Cafleurebon,
    I'm not reading blogs very frequently but I do love fragrances and especially Larie's.I like the way you're involving a lot of ideas (especialy using painting) presenting a scent and it's a pleasure reading your blog.Among the useful info I can say the Interview with Sergio Momo pushed me to sample Xerjoff scents.Mark Behnke's post about Jo Malone  fragrances and tea service tradition opened my interest in this scents.The first time I found info for Ineke was in the Ida Mester  post about the creator of these beautiful scents I discoverd later.
    I can' say nothing but the best about Laurie's fragrances and I always do it when I talk about perfumes with people who have the same passion and still are not familiar with her work.
    My favourite SSS scent is Incense Pure or Fireside Intense … I can' deside they are both amazing!
    Keep going with the same spirit and enjoy your work
     
    Best ,
    Alexander

  • Natalia says:

    Happy birthday Cafleurebon!
    My favorite Sonoma scent happens to be Incense Pure.. as a lover of all things incense i find it very beautiful.

  • Warum says:

    Happy Upcoming Birthday, Cafleurebon!
    My favorite SSS scent is Ambre Noir (it's the only one I tried, but I love this unsweetened Amber), my top list to try is way too long, but it is crowned by Tabac Aurea, although I have a feeling this one will not work for me.  Incense Pure, on the other hand, might just very nicely, as I wear incense well.
    My favorite, first, most remembered Michelyn's interview is the one with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz titled "The true colors of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz".  This interview made me find this blog and it made me stay. 

    My favorite review from Mark Benhke… man, that will be tough!!  Here's why: at this point I think that we have similar impressions of fragrances.  Can I cheat and name two?  One was his review of Andrea Maack fragrances.  Thanks to Cafleurebon, I won in the draw and had a chance to test them and compare my reviews to Mark's.  Our impressions are very very close.  Except I haven't decided whether I would like to own Smart or Craft.  But Mark's description of Craft was amazing.  I have a feeling I can read his reviews now and make decisions about fragrances I am interested in, i.e. "Is it immediately sample-worthy??"
    My other (or maybe the first, I cannot decide) favorite from Mark was Jo Malone's Tea Collection.  Mark, I agree 100%, Sweet Milk + Earl Grey and Cucumber is the best combination!

    My favorite Ida's article was the one about coffee. I have read recently that poetical and lyrical gift allows a person to talk about herself and her feelings in such a way that resonates with many.  My hands shook as I entered myself in the draw because I wanted to have that experience, and the samples are on my test list.  https://cafleurebon.com//ava-luxe-cafe-noir-amber-comfort-coffee-a-wake-up-smell-the-coffee-draw/

    Thank you all!

  • sara levy says:

    happy blogday! I would love to enter the drawing. I have loved all the posts M & M have written–those with an historical bent are my faves. thanks and keep up the excellent work! sara

  • Jo says:

    My Sonoma Scent Studio favorite:  HAH!!!  There are so many I love.  Rose Musc comes to mind immediately, but I also love Fireside Intense.  Impossible to pick the favorite, tho……..too hard.
    One of the best articles from Michelyn is the one titled:     “Holiday Fragrance Marketing: Time in a Bottle.”   (This appeared in Beauty Pro division of piercemattiepublicrelations.com on November 23, 2009).  In that piece, she talks about buying fragrances for someone and how hard it is to pick them and how easy it is to make the wrong decision.   
    Fortunately, she is able to approach this problem from a logical knowledgeable viewpoint.  Whereas I would be totally clueless.  She continues with her very general approach, and the general advice she offers as a professional in the field.
    She concludes with:  “To use my ‘gift’ as a gift is the greatest gift of all.”
     What a thought!!!!!

  • Lindaloo says:

    Re Sonoma Scent Studios: I'm still pretty new to this perfume journey and haven't yet experienced any SSS scents, but based on the descriptions on her website, I'd like to try Tabac Aurea, Champagne de Bois and Velvet Rose, and, of course, Incense Pure. I really appreciate Laurie's desire, as she elaborated on in the comments section, to allow us to compare samples of some of the ingredients to the finished scent — what a great way to learn and develop one's nose.
    Re Ida: I agree with Laurie that her review of Jasmine Pho was excellent. My favourite though is her review of L'Artisan's Coeur de Vetiver Sacre, "It's My Drug, Mama!"  from August 27. The line "Four out four Meisters never agree on anything, olfactorally speaking. Save this." while not poetic was, along with the title, a laugh-out-loud summary of her opinion.
    Re Mark: I love the directness of his reviews — metaphor is a fine thing, but it doesn't always tell me enough about a scent, whereas Mark is very clear about the elements and how they develop during wearing. I enjoyed his July 14 and October 21 reviews of the delightful Andy Tauer. His April 3 article that you link to above about the development and testing of Incense Pure is a fascinating read and so is Laurie's notebook entry about developing Incense Pure that Mark's article links to.
    Re Michelyn: I've already commented on my  favourite (Maurice Roucel), but  I'd like to mention that I very much enjoyed your interview of the "quiet, smiling man" Jean-Claude Ellena that I found in the June archives. 

  • Isa says:

    I can't talk about Sonoma Scent because unfortunately I have not tried its perfumes yet, but Ambre Noir has the kind of notes that I usually like, so this could be my favorite.

    The most memorable article from Michelyn Camen for me is the one about oud wood.

    I loved when Mark wrote about Alvarez Gomez. That line deserves some love and attention outside Spain 🙂

    And Ida wrote a wonderful article about Ava Luxe Ambra Tibet.  Pure poetry, no doubt.

  • Sandi says:

    I love Incense Pure! What can I say my kind of structure.
    I loved the review Mark did on Pretty Woman by Barbara Orbison, I love the phrase shared by the way.
    All interviews that Michelyn has done with B Duchaufour have captured me 😉
    Ida's poetry aha I ouve her article Before There was Fancy, Ouds are all the rage!
    They’re everywhere, attenuated or amplified, from the loftiest to the humblest, from online-on-the-cheap to high-end boutiques.

     Happy Birthday celabration countdown 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 !

  • Tiara says:

    The SSS scent question is easy – Femme Jolie.  I will miss this greatly, but intend to nurse my bottles along. Cannot imagine being without it.  It was a bit chilly as we headed to dinner last night so Femme Jolie was my SotE. 
     
    The interviews are my favorite and as I commented in another post, the one with M Duchafour from last summer is still my favorite. However, there was also an interview with Jjean Claude Ellena where he talked about what he was trying to do with Vanille Galante. Thought that interesting and it's become one of my favorite perfumes.
     
    Ida wrote about how she doesn't let her friendship with (or admiration of) a perfumer get in the way of an objective interview.  I liked that!  Think it was part of a review of a Liz Zorn scent.
     
    Before reading Mark's review of Midnight in Paris, I was firmly in the "no, thanks" camp.  After his review, I added it to my list of scents I want to try. As if I needed something else to chase after!

  • Holly D says:

    Happy Birthday cafleurebon!! My favs are  SSS Ambre Noir and Incense Pure. I love them and I feel like they were made just for me!

  • Claudia Kroyer says:

    My favorite SSS is Velvet Rose. No need to enter me in the draw…i enjoy reading this blog 🙂

  • Ccc says:

    From SSS I would love to try Champagne de Bois and Winter Woods. 
    I already mentioned one of my favorite articles by Michelyn Camen: Caron's history. Great read was the interview with Pierre Guillaume and Sergio aka Xerjoff as well. 

    I loved Mark's La collection Couturier Parfumeur. Very comprehensive and impressive.
    And a lovely example of Ida Meister's poetry is Ava Luxe Cafe Noir. Really, don't you feel you need a cup of coffee after reading that article? And of course the fragrance…  

  • Dionne says:

    I already own a bottle of Incense Pure, but I'd love to sniff the ingredients. Okay, on to the questions: 1) Favorite SSS fragrance? Oooh, that's hard, as the wishlist comprises at least half her line, but I'll say Champage de Bois 2) I'll maintain that Michelyn's most memorable interview was with Maurice Roucel (oh! that tango!) but her interview of Jessica Buchanan also caught my attention because there are so few Canadian perfumers 3) My favorite Mark review would have to be Vanilla Insensee. I hadn't been that interested in trying any of the Atelier line, and he definitely got my attention  4) I'll go with Ida' poem "I only had/one lover/who smelled this way" from her review of Kewdra by Anya's Garden. The Mystery of Musk event is how I discovered CaFleureBon, and I remember how delighted I was by the great reviews full of art and poetry.

  • Cynthia says:

    Sonoma Scent Studios is on my list of "order samples here". I remember Fireside Incense sounding interesting to me. Mark's articles on the Jo Malone tea scents was a really enjoyable read for me, and also the one on Meerschaum in December. I loved the joint article by Michelyn and Ida on the Best and Worst for 2009. I always enjoy Michelyn's articles, but Scents of Spring was another one that stood out to me.

  • Leslie says:

    I would love to try 'Ambre Noir'…Amber being one of my favorite scents- so earthy and alluring…My favorite Michelyn review was definitely "Scents of Scandalous Women"…I'm a teacher, and might be able to use some of the ideas in my Gender Studies class! As for Mark-  the 'What are you Wafting' article…very interesting and made me want to try Mitsouko by Guerlain after finding out who wore it!

  • Queen Cupcake says:

    My favorite Sonoma Scent Studio fragrance is Cameo. It is very different from most of the perfumes I own, so I wasn't sure this would go over. However, so many people have commented favorably when I've worn it that I know it's a winner–and of course I love it too! I also like Amber Noir, and Incense Pure, though that one is a little too intense for me.

  • Marie says:

    I'm a fan of Velvet Rose ! I need to buy some more and I would be so pleased to be able to try another Somoma Scent !

  • london says:

    I was interested in Mark's Jo Malone article because I haven't tried them yet and I like the idea even though I doubt I will like the execution.  Did Michelyn write about Micallef Mon Parfum?  I liked that because I hadn't seen it reviewed before and the passion really shone through.  I can't recall any of Ida's poetry but I do love the pictures she chooses.  And as for Sonoma Scent Studio, I love Laurie and so many of her creations.  I think Opal is my favourite.

  • Scentabulous says:

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY to CaFleureBon!  What a magnificent year you have all had … I am so fortunate to have watched from the start … to learn, to experience and to appreciate what you bring to a scented community.  Thank you.
    Ahhh … SSS … Fireside Intense, of course … what else would a fire trine adore?

  • Scentabulous says:

    Three more … oh my … Well, of course it would be Michelyn doing the Tango.  Ida … Ida IS pure poetry … and Mark … as Ida is poetry, Mark is clarity.  I love to read and more importantly, to think about what you all bring to the scented table … Sensuality, poetry and clarity.  No wonder!