Results of the Papillon-hosted (and -posted) - Plum prize draw!

Source: beachplum.cornell.edu

Last night's deadline for the Plum prize draw has Mary Greenwell and truly passed, and in time-honoured tradition I have had my usual recourse to that trusty number tumbler, Random.org, to pick the winner.

So without further ado, I can reveal that the bottle of Plum is going to:


ANGIE

Congratulations, Angie! I hope you will like Plum, or find a good home for it otherwise. Please drop me a line with your address, which I will forward to the powers-that-be at Papillon Perfumery.

Yes, a big thank you is due to Liz Moores for kindly donating her bottle of Plum to this giveaway. As mentioned in my previous post, it has the added cachet of having spent some time in her 'never a dull moment' home and company HQ.

Daisy may well have had fun taking the top off and putting it on again, or at the very least a Bengal cat will have brushed past it with its tail. It is to be hoped not a snake at least.

PS That plum picture was the closest I could find to those multi-coloured lottery balls. ;)

Results of the Travalo Milano and Classic giveaway!

So, some considerable time - aka that whole Christmas business - has passed since the closing deadline for the Travalo prize draw, and it is only now, in my slightly jaded and partied out state, that I am finally getting down to housekeeping matters...you know, doing something constructive with the turkey leftovers, thanking people for presents, and, most importantly, drawing this draw. Well, as ever, Random.org did the aleatory honours, and I can now reveal that the winner of a Travalo Milano and Classic is:

AnnieA 

Congratulations, AnnieA!

Drop me a line at 'flittersniffer at gmail dot com' with your address details and I will liaise with the PR lady for the brand, who will ship your prize directly once she is back from the holiday break.

Meanwhile, you can start thinking what colours you would like for each Travalo from the selection mentioned in my earlier post, and which of the two might best suit Encens Mythique, if that is still your top pick... ;)

Results of the Bonkers milestone giveway!

So, once again the deadline has passed for the latest Bonkers giveaway of a decant of Bright Earth Parfums Eau de Earth edp. In time-honoured tradition, I drafted a list of all the interested parties, and prepared a set of balls of wool to represent each person - you know, like those Lotto bouncy ball-type things but less bouncy. It was quickly apparent to me that the differential sizes could be a bit of an issue in terms of loading the odds towards whoever was the big purple one - or even the slightly smaller purple one - so I abandoned that idea and had recourse instead to Random.org, that stalwart virtual tombola for when it is simply too much faff to mess about with more equitable alternatives like hats and bits of paper.

And so, according to Random.org, the winner is:

GIL

Congratulations, Gil! Please let me have your address details so I can covertly send you your prize to Canada.

Oh, and at Undina's suggestion, I do plan to write a follow up post specifically on people's reactions to the box of Eau de Earth - I held a sort of mini-focus group about it over on Facebook and there was what I can best describe as a 'lively response'.

Results of the 5th Blogiversary draw!

Lavender scent clearly detectable on the reverse!

So the closing date of my 5th anniversary draw must surely have passed, even though I was characteristically vague about when it was. I sort of let it drift on till Sunday in the end. Then I totted up 17 entrants, excluding those who chose to opt out for 'friends and family' reasons, not that there were any constraints in that regard. Now as any longstanding readers may recall, I used to just ask Mr Bonkers to bark out a random number within a particular range, but in his absence, I have had to have recourse again to the electronic wizardry of Random.org. Some of the house creatures got excited when I mentioned that I was holding the draw today, and asked if they could pull a bit of paper out of a hat, but frankly I could not be bothered to make all the slips - taking care to ensure they were all equal sizes, in case the toys' hands chanced upon a marginally bigger bit of paper when they stuck their hands in. And frankly, none of them are particularly well endowed in the gripping department.

As worn at Scent Bar!

So Random.org it was, and I am happy to announce that the winners are:

ANNIEA (drawn first, so she gets first dibs)

And

INGEBORG

Please would you both contact me via flittersniffer@gmail.com with your address information and prize preferences.

AnnieA gets a choice of cushion (or 'pillow' as it may be known over there), fairly amorphously sized T-shirt OR a crystal atomiser, which features in this earlier blog post. I have since read it again, and it seems you can safely put Eau de Cologne or Eau de Toilette in the bottle, but for arcane reasons of porosity that are completely lost on me, Eau de Parfum appears to be a non-starter.

Ingeborg gets a choice of the two items AnnieA did not select, and if either of these are unsuitable, we can discuss possible perfume-themed alternatives that might work instead.

I am afraid I am a bit wary these days of posting perfume to the US - or mainland Europe - in view of the current more draconian postal regs climate. Or I would have a go, as my moral scruples are negligible on this point ;), but there is an increased risk nowadays of the package being opened by customs officials and its contents destroyed. So if either winner would really prefer perfume, it is fine by me as long as they are prepared to take that chance.

Attractive atomiser for very specific fluids!

Puredistance BLACK sample draw - just in time for the LBD season!

Source: puredistance.com

Back in October, I wrote a very enthusiastic review of BLACK, the latest release from Dutch luxury perfume house, Puredistance.  I classified it under my 'Careful Whispers' series because it is quite distinctive, yet stays close to the skin - the PR copy is spot on in this regard:

"The essence of the concept was to create a perfume that is close to the wearer and releases elegant and sensual layers in a whispering way - without shouting."

BLACK has now been launched, and I am one of the bloggers whom the friendly people at Puredistance have invited to host a sample draw.  There have been some other giveaways of BLACK samples already, but as with soap and tea towels, I don't believe you can have too many where this particular perfume is concerned, until everyone gets a chance to try it.  So if you weren't successful before, have another shot on Bonkers just in time for the Little Black Dress season! For I do think BLACK would add the perfect finishing touch to such an outfit - well, assuming you are female and someone who attends that sort of party, which wouldn't be me, for example.  As a matter of fact I have noticed an increase this year in 'bad taste Christmas jumper parties', so the traditional 'cocktail frock' may be on the wane.

Regarding the mechanics of the giveaway, there are 3 x 2ml vials up for grabs, which will be mailed out by Puredistance themselves.  Which is a bit of a relief, frankly, as my local post office has - most uncharacteristically - started to give me the third degree about the contents of my international packages, and I have even had to tell the odd outright fib.

In order to qualify, please leave a comment below answering any of the following questions:

What qualities / moods do you associate with the colour black?

When putting together an outfit, which colour do you feel works best with black - apart from more black!?  Or conversely, what colours would you avoid?  

If you had a black cat, what would you call it, and why?

Additionally, Puredistance have specified another requirement, namely that you 'like' Puredistance on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Puredistance) or follow them on Twitter - '@puredistance'.

The draw is open to readers anywhere in the world, and you don't have to follow Bonkers - though followers are always welcome!  I have set a closing date of December 21st. Now I am not sure when Puredistance close for the holidays, so please be patient if they are not able to ship the samples to the winners till the New Year.  I will keep you informed of the logistics side of things as I get word, and you can contact me at any time for an update on 'flittersniffer at gmail dot com'.

Good luck!

Results Of The Bottega Veneta EDP Sample Giveaway!

The deadline for the Bottega Veneta perfume giveaway has passed! And so, shortly after midday today, the draw for these two samples took place using my tried and tested method of the "Mr Bonkers Random Number Generator". This completely impartial method of winner selection works as follows: I wrote down the names of all the commenters who had expressed an interest in acquiring a sample of this scent and assigned them each a number. Then I asked Mr Bonkers (who obviously did not have sight of the list of names) to call out two random numbers within that range.

I have pleasure in announcing that the winners are:

NANCY (yes, he picked you!!)

and

LINDALOO (another deserving winner)

Could you please both drop me a line via Facebook or to flittersniffer@gmail.com over the course of the next few days to claim your prize? Let me have your address and I will pop your sample in the post without delay!


Photo from sniffapalooza.com