Competition: Win a bespoke fragrance - plus 25 sample sets to be won - from Essentially Me
Published on 6th September 2010 11:06 AM
First Prize - The overall winner will have a bespoke perfume created for them by Alec Lawless of Essentially Me.
The winner of the Perfume Review Competition will travel with a friend to Essentially Me's HQ in the Cotswolds to spend the day learning about natural perfume. The winner will also enjoy a one-to-one consultation to create a bespoke perfume tailored to their personal aromatic preferences.
Essentially Me's sophisticated perfumes are very different from mainstream brands, as they are made with the highest quality natural aromatics in organic grain alcohol. Unlike many mainstream fragrances, we focus on the quality and beauty of the perfume in the bottle - not on celebrity marketing. Our perfumes are 99% natural, with a small percentage of fragrance compound used to help the structure and longevity of the fragrance.
A Bespoke Perfumery Consultation with perfumer, Alec Lawless, is a very special experience. In the unique one-to-one consultation method Alec has developed, Alec works with the client to determine their personal aromatic preferences through smelling "blind" an array of over 70 natural aromatics. He looks for a "yes" or "no" reaction to each aromatic - the "yes" results determine the palette of aromatics with which he will work to create the fragrance.
After the consultation, he will create two versions of a perfume for the winner, which he will send through the post. This gives the winner the opportunity to wear them and live with them for a week or two before selecting their fragrance. Alec will then make up a 56ml bottle of Eau de Parfum especially for the winner. He keeps the formula so the winner can reorder at any time.
The prize includes a weekend first class return train fare from London to Stroud (or equivalent), lunch, a signed copy of Alec's book and a day at the perfumery for the winner and a friend, as well as the bespoke consultation and a bottle of the resulting perfume for the winner. The prize needs to be taken before March 2011. If the winner is unable to take up the prize (e.g. they live abroad) then they can choose up to £150 of products from the Essentially Me website which we will send to them.
Second Prize - a bottle of the winner's favourite Eau de Parfum from the Essentially Me range and a signed copy of Alec's book
What the entrants have to do...
The competition is in 2 stages.
In the first stage, we have 25 sets of 10x1ml Essentially Me samples (worth £20) to give away for review. Entrants need to provide contact details (to
info@essentially-me.co.uk) and a sentence to explain why they should have the chance to review the perfumes (in case we get more than 25 entrants!).
Closing date for entries is 4th October. We'll choose the best 25 and send out the perfume samples as soon as possible after this closing date.
Second stage - each reviewer should try each of the perfumes for a couple of days, then write a short review (a paragraph for each is enough) for all 10 perfumes. Ideally the reviewer will try the perfumes on themselves and, if possible, other people - they can be very different on different skin. Reviews should be posted to the directory
and emailed to
info@essentially-me.co.uk entitled "Basenotes Competition". Closing date for responses is 8th November. Alec will choose the overall best written reviews to award the prizes - critical, well-thought out and witty reviews are encouraged. We'll announce the winner on Basenotes in late November and publish our favourite reviews either on Basenotes or on the Essentially Me website or publicity materials.
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