Fragrance

If I could, I’d change the name of Bobbi Brown’s newest summer fragrance. It left the factory known as Almost Bare ($60), but Almost Boy may have been a more accurate moniker.

When I spritzed it on my wrist, I smelled bar soap, tree bark, crushed leaves and citrus rind; the very first thing the scent made me think of was how the Brawny paper towel man must smell after a shower.

Some of my favorite recent products by Bobbi Brown…

• Long-Wear Cream Shadows create an easy, subtle eye look.
• Lip Crayons are pretty and practical.
• Beach Shower Gel smells like vacation in a tube.

Bobbi Brown calls Almost Bare a fresh floral and lists violet, muguet (Lily of the Valley) and jasmine as some of the individual notes within the fragrance, but I couldn’t detect them at all. The product’s more masculine notes — Italian bergamot (a citrus fruit), cedar and amber (a warm, kitchen-ey smell) — dominate the feminine notes, so, basically, it makes me smell like a dude. Sure, I smell like a clean, freshly washed dude (probably a very hot dude), but I still smell like a dude.

Bobbi Brown has marketed Almost Bare as a fragrance for women, but even the name seems a little masculine to me. The marketing folks probably meant to imply a subtle, undressed sexiness, but, honestly, when I hear Almost Bare I can’t help but picture bears. Yes, it’s weird, I know, but I can’t help it.

Nor is it a very complex fragrance. It remains much the same throughout the day, unlike fragrances that transition through a range of different notes over time.

Bobbi Brown Almost Bare Eau de Parfum

Use: A slightly masculine summer fragrance
Price: $60 for 1.5 oz. bottle
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: C+

I may not have been Bobbi Brown’s target customer with Almost Bare. I gravitate toward girly-girl scents with lots of layers. Give me J’adore or Coco Mademoiselle, and I’m in heaven. Even though I typically prefer much more complex and feminine fragrances than Almost Bare, I do have to hand it to Bobbi for creating a perfume that perfectly reflects the company’s makeup aesthetic. For me, the Bobbi Brown makeup line evokes a minimalist, not overly-feminine design. Almost Bare’s simple, clean, unisex fragrance reflects their makeup philosophy to a tee.
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American fashion designer Cynthia Rowley has created two new floral fragrances for Avon, Flower ($30) and Petal ($15). Their cute, vintage bottles, and the rave reviews by women on the Avon website, prompted me to give them a try. Plus, I had another reason: Cynthia rocks. She also designed these fierce eyeglasses that I’ve been wanting for a while.

Avon bills the two new fragrances as a “mother-daughter” combo (awww). To create Flower, Rowley combined musk and vanilla with lily and freesia notes, producing a spicy, mature scent. Petal, on the other hand, is the more playful, youthful fragrance of the two, fresh and light, made with Lily of the Valley.

Yesterday morning, I sprayed Flower on my right wrist and Petal on my left. I was more drawn to Petal’s fresh, green scent, but as the morning wore on I grew tired of its sweetness. By the end of the morning, I felt like I’d dipped my wrist in a vat of candy necklaces. It’s a pretty scent but a bit too sweet for me (or maybe I’m just too old and bitter, ha!). I think it’ll be more appealing to my teenage cousin.

Flower, however, appealed to me even more as the day progressed. It started with a strong burst of freesia but within a few hours took on more of a musky, warm vanilla scent, rich and light but not overpowering. I’m going to start wearing it to work. Good job, Cynthia!
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I haven’t lived the single life in a while, but dangit if I were on the prowl I’d so rock Guess by Marciano. Maneater aptly describes the way I feel wearing this scent.

I usually think of myself as the girl next door — ya know, the quirky one in t-shirt and jeans who drinks beer, watches reality TV and writes lists — but when I wear Guess by Marciano I feel transformed, like a cougar on the prowl! Rrraaooowww! Ft! Ft! 

Just what makes this spicy floral so darn sexy? I suspect the fruity top notes (the first blast of fragrance) mellow out the musky base notes (the finale). The resulting fragrance is neither cloying nor overly sweet. 

Top notes — star fruit, grapefruit, orange curacao (an orange-flavored liquour) and cardamom (an herb belonging to the ginger family)
Middle notes –pink honeysuckle, peony and jasmine
Base notes — wood, vanilla, musk and dulce de leche (caramel)

I don’t have many spicy fragrances (piquant or pungent scents like clove oil, cinnamon or thyme) in my perfume collection because, for some reason, they make me sneeze! But my nose agrees with Guess by Marciano. No sneezing whatsoever.

It also has enough endurance to last all day long. I sprayed it on in the morning, and as I sniffed at my wrist throughout the day, there it was. The scent does change, though — a whiff of jasmine at lunch, and then vanilla and musk appeared later in the afternoon.
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Spring Fragrance Quest continues this weekend with Elizabeth Arden’s new Mediterranean Breeze perfume.

I spent most of last night with my nose buried in my forearm, breathing in its fresh, citrusy, floral scent. I was watching Wesley Snipes slay vampires in the cinematic masterpiece that is Blade II (LOL), periodically sniffing my arm like a crazy person. Seriously, this stuff is fragrance ecstasy and made me lose control of my vocal chords a few times, causing me to scream at the TV: “Oh gawd!” “It’s just too good!” “Soo frickin’ good!” etc., etc.

Mediterranean Breeze is a lighter, more citrusy followup to Elizabeth Arden’s original Mediterranean perfume and evokes a similar beach-y, vacation-in-a-bottle feeling. The scent opens with a burst of white nectarine, bergamot and grapefruit. Then come the floral notes: Corsican violet, wild jasmine petals and sweet almond flower. Finally, it dries down to warmer cedarwood, sandalwood and musk.

The citrus here really takes Mediterranean Breeze to the next level. In general, I’m not the biggest fan of sweet fruit fragrances, but the bergamot and grapefruit add sophistication to Mediterranean Breeze. They’re citrusy, but not overly sweet.

Something about the fragrance reminds me of fresh, clean water (similar to Aqua di Gio Women and Cool Water Woman), like I’m sipping lemonade on the verandah of a fabulous Spanish villa overlooking the sea.

MBB field trip! (I wish!)

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It’s Spring Fragrance Quest at Makeup and Beauty Blog!

Before reading I Dream of Raspberry Iced Tea with Lacoste Dream of Pink, check out a couple past installments…

• Spring Fragrance Quest, Part I: Bath and Body Works Enchanted Orchid
• Guess by Marciano Perfume: For the Maneater in You
• Elizabeth Arden Mediterranean Breeze Perfume: Fresh, Citrus and Floral
• Michael Kors’ Capri Perfume Is Paradise in a Bottle

I Dream of Raspberry Iced Tea with Lacoste Dream of Pink

I love raspberry iced tea. I do, but when it comes to perfumes, raspberry is a tough scent to get right. Berry infused or inspired fragrance have a tendency to go overboard with the sweet berry notes. When it comes to berry perfumes, there’s a fine line between just right and fragrance headache.

So, I wondered, would Lacoste’s new Dream of Pink get it right? Or would it be just another Strawberry Shortcake doll wrapped in sheep’s clothing?

I admit to having anti-berry bias. After spritzing Lacoste’s red berry-infused Dream of Pink ($52) on my wrist the other day, I had a bottle of Ibuprofen ready to help with the headache I was sure it would cause. Oh, but I was wrong. No headache. Instead, I was met with a nice surprise — the natural, subtle scent of raspberry iced tea!

Lacoste’s Dream of Pink is an updated version of one of their standby fragrances, Touch of Pink. Released in February, Dream of Pink falls into what I’d characterize as the fruity floral fragrance (say that fast five times) category. Lacoste claims that in addition to red berry, Dream of Pink contains [Continue reading…]

It knocked me right off my surfboard! Figuratively speaking. That’s how much I liked Capri, Michael Kors’ latest addition to Island, his line of tropical-inspired perfumes for women. The entire set, all three fragrances — Capri, Hawaii and Fiji — impressed me. How often can any of us say that about a full set of anything?

Capri, along with the two other scents in the set, surprised me because, honestly, when I think of Michael Kors, I don’t immediately equate the man with perfume. Instead, I think of accessories (his bags are all over Macy’s) and his very orange tanned face on Project Runway. But all that has changed for me now. The next time Kors releases a fragrance, I’ll pay close attention, because if his future fragrances are on par with Capri, Hawaii and Fiji, they’ll be great.

Hitting fragrance counters about a month ago, Capri looks and smells like tropical vacation in a bottle. The very sight of the bottle made me think of white, sandy beaches and blue, rolling surf.

White florals like Capri have a tendency to be overwhelmingly strong, but Capri’s blend of bitter Seville orange and bergamot (a small, pear-shaped citrus fruit grown in Italy) notes, mixed with violet, fig and white moss, hit just the right subtle intensity.

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I am flat-out hooked on Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle perfume, but I’m afraid it might be too heavy for warmer spring weather, so I’ve been sniffing around for a lighter, fresher spring fragrance. I call my search Spring Fragrance Quest. I’m on a mission to find something either citrusy or floral, or maybe even a combo of both, and this morning I headed over to the mall to check out Enchanted Orchid, the new fragrance by Bath & Body Works.

Enchanted Orchid’s pretty purple-pink packaging immediately caught my eye (those are Phalaenopsis orchids on the labels!). For some reason, the words Enchanted Orchid make me think of a magical plant creature with the power to hypnotize passers by. I guess I’m just weird like that…

Bath & Body Works Body Lotions ($10) and Eau de Toilettes ($19) are usually my faves, so I gave the Enchanted Orchid versions of both of them a good sniff. Right off the bat, I caught the whiffs of violets and gardenias. Enchanted Orchid’s fragrance notes include:

• Top: Pink grapefruit, wet greens, waterlily and crisp apple
• Mid: Calypso orchid, gardenia, delicate iris and violet petals
• Base: Vanilla orchid, heliotrope, creamy amber and skin musk

I would characterize it as a combo citrus-floral blend. I slathered lotion on my left arm and sprayed the Eau de Toilette on my right. Then I wandered around the store to let the Enchanted Orchid creature work its magic on my body chemistry. After 10 minutes, I gave both arms another strong sniff… First thing that came to mind: Play-Doh! None of the initial fruit and floral notes came through. No more violets, apples, nothing — all I smelled was vanilla, which inevitably reminded me of good ole’ fashioned Play-Doh.

Now, I can appreciate a good can of Play-Doh as much as the next toddler or tyke, but I don’t exactly want to cruise around smelling like a kindergarten art class, so I’m going to have to pass on Enchanted Orchid.

Spring Fragrance Quest continues!

Next up — the fragrance counter at Nordstrom! Do you have any spring fragrance recommendations for me? What should I check out next?

Purchase Enchanted Orchid body products online at Bath & Body Works nationwide.

It’s Friday, ya’ll! To top it off it’s an extra day (Leap Year), which for some reason makes today seem even better, like a special bonus prize. I got home late last night from dancing and am totally exhausted. The DJ played old school hip hop from the ’80s and ’90s, and I danced my booty off on the dance floor!

At some point the DJ transitioned into playing Barry White. I was too into my dancing zone to really notice at the time, but when I finally figured out what had happened, it was like a disco fantasy. All that was missing were my roller skates and feathered hairdo. ‘Twas awesome.

Face it: Barry White couldn’t get enough of your luuurve, baby.

There’s a price to pay for all my boogie-ing down last night: today I’ve got dark circles from hell, LOL.

Happy Leap Year, cuties, and happy, happy Friday! What do you have lined up for this weekend?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen