Tauer Perfumes Vivid Gardenia Soap

I’ve never reviewed a soap before but Vivid Gardenia “Perfume in a Soap” from Andy Tauer of Tauer Perfumes made me excited to venture into new territory.

Tauer Perfumes & Andy Tauer’s Vivid Gardenia soap. Photo: my own.

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Rev. Leonard Payne’s Plagiarism — An Update & A Thank You

The outpouring of support after yesterday’s post on Leonard Payne’s admitted theft of 190 pages of my work has meant more than I can properly express. I don’t think I can thank you all enough or properly. Whether you commented here, on FB, on Twitter, or by email, your words felt like a soothing balm or a hug. I was particularly touched by an email from Belgium where the person found me because of Tom Ford (and his Bitter Peach) but stayed for Apollo and my writing. Thank you — to each and every one of you.

Many of you have suggested I sue the not-so-good Reverend. I wanted to address that point tonight in an update that also includes new things that I’ve learned about Mr. Payne.

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Theft, Leonard Payne, & The AbdesSalaam Attar Book

An interesting thing happened to me yesterday: a very kind reader of the blog informed me that roughly 190 pages of a 254 page-length book that he recently purchased was taken from my writings on this free site. Not sentences, not paragraphs, but practically everything I’ve ever written on AbdesSalaam Attar was presented in its entirety. And the thief —Leonard Payne— actually confessed to all of it in his introduction!

Leonard Payne’s book, Perfumes: The World of AbdesSalaam, the front cover. Source: Amazon.

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“The Dog Ate My [Chanel] Homework”: Apollo

I never thought I’d ever use “The dog ate my homework” — that old hoary chestnut, cliché, and excuse that some kids use when they haven’t done their homework—  but Apollo actually ate my homework! Well, to be precise, he ate a good third of my draft of the Chanel Le Lion review. No, I’m not joking.

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