April 27th, 2008 — Perfume
Perfume doesn’t just come in a bottle and it doesn’t have to be in liquid form. Though not as common, you can find cream, gel and solid perfumes. Every once in a while you will see solid perfumes packaged in interesting containers. Right now, one of my favorites is the Marc Jacobs Daisy Solid Perfume Ring.

This fresh and feminine fragrance features strawberry, violet, grapefruit, gardenia, jasmine, musck and vanilla notes. It’s a sweet perfume that isn’t overpowering or too flowery. But the best part of this Marc Jacobs perfume is the cute packaging.
The solid perfume is encased in the white and gold daisy shaped container. The ring comes in a little gold zipped pouch.
The Marc Jacobs Daisy Solid Perfume Ring came out back in November. For only $30, it makes a cute gift for your sister, bridesmaids, or just about anyone.
You can find this solid perfume at Sephora.com, Bloomingdale’s and other major department stores.
April 24th, 2008 — Scents, Skin
Fragrance isn’t all about perfume. You can also experience your favorite scents in body wash, body scrub, shower gel, bubble bath, body lotion and other beauty products.
Though I don’t like a lot of overpowering scents in body care products, I do love to use lightly scented body scrubs to exfoliate and revive skin.
To keep your skin silky smooth, you should exfoliate your body weekly. Body scrubs made with salt or sugar are my favorites. However exfoliating scrubs can feature a variety of ingredients, including nuts, seeds and other botanicals. These exfoliating products remove dead skin cells, leaving your skin smooth and healthy. After exoliating your skin, be sure to use a good moisturizing lotion. If you don’t keep your skin hydrated, exfoliating scrubs will dry out your skin.
Here are three of my favorite body scrubs:
All of these scrubs have nice fresh scents and leave your skin looking and feeling beautiful.
You should exfoliate your face too .. but not with the same rough products geared toward the rest of your body. Instead choose an exfoliating cleanser that was designed especially for the face. Be very carefuly when exfoliating your face, particularly around the eyes and mouth, where the skin is thinner and more sensitive.
Women with oily skin should exfoliate more often than those with dry skin. If you ever find a product dries out or irritates your skin, don’t scrub so hard and cut down on how often you use it. If the problem continues, discontinue using it because you might be allergic to it.
Photo credit: Nordstrom
April 22nd, 2008 — Perfume, Scents
If you are looking for a unique line of fragrances for spring, sometimes you have to look beyond the name brands and department store choices.
Many independent, lesser known companies have wonderful choices in spring fragrance.
JoAnne Bassett offers a line of all natural perfumes that do not contain any synthetic oils. She offers several fragrances that are citrusy and floral and perfect for spring.
Chantelle is an all white flower eau de parfum that is perfect for brides. It contains Bulgarian white rose oil, 3 Jasmine absolutes, Tuberose, and Champa, (magnolia family). It is a lovely floral that is very feminine.
Le Voyage eau de toilette is a citrus floral that is very light and uplifting.
Josephine eau de parfum is a green, fresh cut grass fragrance that is the ultimate Spring scent. It is Nature awakening in a bottle. It smells like fresh green leaves with the floral lemon verbena, lavender, rose oils set off with the fresh green citrus scent of Bergamot. The color of the fragrance is green and is a best seller among women and men.
Versailles eau de parfum is a citrus delight that is sparkling and gorgeous. With orange blossoms, tangerine, lime, to lighten up and freshen and frankincense to uplift. Women and men delight over this one.
JoAnne Bassett offers this hot tip when selecting a fragrance:
Pick several scents that are the citrus light florals (like those listed above) and wear them over a more musky, woodsy scent like Napoleon, Collette, Petit Trianon, or Magie d’ Or eau de parfums.
To learn more about JoAnne Bassett and her line of all natural fragrances, please visit her website at JoAnneBassett.com. On the website, you can order from a wide selection of fragrance or even buy a “Make Your Own Natural Perfume Kit.”
April 18th, 2008 — Scents
Have you ever wanted to try new, interesting fragrances without hanging out at the department store all day?
By checking around the Internet, you can find companies that are willing to send you their samples for free. Normally smaller fragrance companies or new concepts are willing to send out tester samples to anyone. You can also sometimes find free samples to designer scents too.
The other day I ran into WeirdFragrances.com. This company is giving away sample of the unique unisex colognes. All you have to do in return is fill out a three question quit to tell them exactly what you think about their products. You don’t have to give them a rave review - just your honest opinion.
And when they call themselves “weird,” they aren’t lying. Their website says they offer ten weird fragrances such as “money, boiled crawfish, pumpkin spice …”
Though many women love the scent of money, I’m not sure if I’d want my man smelling like a pot of boiled crawfish!
I understand their fragrances can be used as cologne, as well as room fragrance spray. But I’m not sure if I’d want my home smelling like crawfish either.
If you are interested in weird fragrances, head over to WeirdFragrances.com and fill out the form with your name, email and mailing address. Then choose from the pull down menu and pick your preferred scent.
Here are the choices:
Grease Monkey
The Love of Money
Pumpkin Spice
Cajun Delight (that sounds better than calling it Boiled Crawfish)
Burning Rubber
Fourth of July
Ashtray (UGH!)
Magazine Pages
Fresh Bread
Hot Cookies (Mmmmm…)
I just requested Pumpkin Spice. I’ll let you know how it smells when I get it. (I was so tempted to get the Money scent though.)
Photo source: Flickr
April 15th, 2008 — Perfume, Scents
If you love Prada fragrances but don’t ever know which one to buy, now you can have them all without spending a lot of money.
For a limited time only, you can get the Prada Coffret, which includes four different fragrances. This is a gift set that any couple will love as it contains three fragrances for her and one for him.
Included in the set is a 0.2 oz bottle of Intense Eau de Parfume, a 0.2 oz bottle of Prada Eau de Parfum, a 0.2 oz bottle of Tendre Eau de Parfum and a 0.3 oz bottle of Prada Pour Homme Eau de Toilette. All four scents are packaged nicely in a signature gift box.
You can get the limited edition Prada Coffret right now at Sephora for only $50. They also offer free shipping.
This set would make a great gift for someone you love, or a great buy for yourself!