We’ve had our share of the ‘boyfriend’ trend in the fashion realm — boyfriend blazers, boyfriend shorts, boyfriend cardigans, etc. — but the beauty world had yet to get its hands on it… until now! A boyfriend-inspired fragrance? Kate Walsh’s signature scent (yes, that Kate Walsh of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice fame), appropriately titled Boyfriend, aims to capture that musky, sensual scent a man leaves on a woman’s skin. It’s reminiscent of your boyfriend, but not necessarily masculine, as it mingles with the feminine influence of your own natural scent. With notes of plum, jasmine, vanilla, and amber, the combination is sexy and romantic but not overpowering, and now with a solid version of the scent, you can take it on the go! No mess, no fuss, and less likely to be sweated off after long hours in the summery outdoors, you can throw it in your bag, hit the gym with the boys, and still smell sexy and feminine without over-compensating with in-your-face florals or citrusy scents. Plus, you have to love the sleek, elegant gold packaging!
Justin Bieber to Launch Fragrance in June
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Top Summer Fragrance Picks
A lot of you guys have been liking my top picks posts, so here are my top picks for summery fragrances.
#1 – Escada Ocean Lounge
I love this fragrance. I don’t shop for perfumes very often because I feel like a lot of them are really expensive, and not worth spending that much money on. However, I was walking into my local Ulta when I caught a whiff of something. It smelled like sexy fruit punch! I followed my nose over to a display of perfumes and sniffed each one to figure out what it was, and it ended up being Ocean Lounge. The top notes are plum, strawberry, pear, and lychee. The strawberry in this really sings. The packaging is also really fun, although a bit top heavy. It reminds me of a sunset, and hints at summer parties. This one has been out a while, so you can probably find it for a discount online or at stores like TJ Maxx.
- Arrogance Mix Lime Sugar
- Bath & Body Works Enchanted Orchid edt
- C.O. Bigelow Lemon Lime Fragrance Mist
Getting To Know L’Occitane
Before I was really involved in the beauty community, I’d never heard of L’Occitane. That in itself is strange, since the brand has been around since the 70s and is sold in 85 countries all over the world! To find the nearest L’Occitane boutique to you, try their boutique finder. I didn’t realize there’s one practically in my back yard. Wow. Bad blogger!
A Little History…
L’Occitane was founded in 1976 by Olivier Baussan. Baussan was inspired by the Mediterranean culture to create a line of natural skincare based on phytotherapy. What is phytotherapy? Basically it means “to cure with plants”.
The brand prides itself on maintaining techniques perfected by locals of the brand’s land of origins in Provence and the Mediterranean as well as being respectful of people and the environment. They have even formed the L’Occitane Foundation, which helps teach these techniques to women so they can develop businesses in poor countries. L’Occitane has been developing a Fair Trade program in Burkina Faso for 20 years! Additionally, L’Occitane’s ingredients as well as finished products never have been and never will be tested on animals. Other than beehive-derived ingredients (honey, royal jelly, etc.) no ingredients are animal-sourced.
The Products…
I used to have a bar of L’Occitane soap (wrapped in their eco-friendly and sustainable packaging) that I kept in a cabinet simply to make the cabinet smell amazing. It’s their shea verbena soap. When I think of L’Occitane I think of that soft, yet vibrant and delicious fragrance. All of L’Occitane’s products smell so good, and so comforting. I’m not the only one who thinks so – L’Occitane also sells candles in their signature yummy scents. My favorite is the verbena, but lavender also smells divine. What’s your favorite?
Paris Hilton Passport Fragrance Collection – South Beach
Before I received this perfume to review, I’ll admit I’d never heard of it. I think I could only name 2 Paris Hilton fragrances off the top of my head, but there are over a dozen of them! I really had no idea how many there were.
The passport collection consists of South Beach, Tokyo, and Paris. The concept behind the passport collection is fun and the bottle artwork is really adorable! The South Beach bottle features a sort of cartoon/anime style drawing of a girl hitting up South Beach. It’s bright and colorful and looks cute on a vanity. Well, I think so anyway. Comments I read described it from cute, to “looks like a Japanese deodorant” to “is this a $5 perfume”? Whatever. Live a little. It’s perfume not haute couture jewelry or something. Besides, would you expect anything less from Paris Hilton? Really?
Top Notes: Nectarine, Lotus flower, White Freesia
Middle Notes: Jasmine sambac, Marigold, Osmanthus
Base Notes: Blonde woods, Australian sandalwood, Musk
After initially spraying this on, I can smell the lotus and freesia quite clearly, with the nectarine also making a grand entrance. It’s very “TA-DA!!! HERE I AM! LOOK AT ME I AM CUTE!”. It calms down quite quickly and I absolutely love the dry-down of this fragrance. The super sweet flowery top notes had me scared this was going to smell like my high school locker room, but the woods and florals meld together into this really mellow, downright sophisticated scent that is so pleasant.
Paris poses for the papz at the launch of the Passport collection at Macy’s in Riverside CA.
p.s. Someone please buy me those loubs…
Another thing about this fragrance that makes it ideal for the younger set is it doesn’t come on so strongly that you have to be that careful about over-applying. It doesn’t have the greatest lasting power compared to other perfumes I’ve reviewed, so you could apply a few spritzes without it being overdoing it (seriously. have you ever tried explaining moderation to a teenager? yeah.) so don’t worry about that.
Is this perfume any great endeavor into newly charted territory? No. Is it adorable and sweet? Yes. Definitely worth a try. This could be your new guilty pleasure perfume! I think it’d make a great gift, too.
Rihanna Reb’l Fleur
Rihanna. I mention on Twitter all the time– can’t stand her. Well, her voice. Which is kind of, the point. Okay, she’s interesting looking. She wears weird things. She’s quirky – I get it. Questionable taste in men. But always true to herself– it’s clear this girl doesn’t give a you-know-what about what anyone thinks of her. Maybe I like her as a person, but that doesn’t change the fact that I think she can’t sing a lick.
However, unless a perfume sings every time you open it, like one of those annoying greeting cards (oh god, did I just give someone a really bad idea for the next wave in perfume bottles? no. no. NO!) a celeb perfume can be enjoyed even if you don’t like that particular celeb’s work. Rihanna collaborated with Parlux to create Reb’l Fleur, her first fragrance.
The name Reb’l Fleur comes from a nickname Rihanna’s grandmother gave her: “rebelle fleur” or rebel flower (ok, grammar police here, in French it would be “fleur rebelle”…-ahem- ok). She has the phrase tattooed on her neck.
I don’t know what made her decide to spell it like this and add an apostrophe. Whatever girl, do your thing. I kind of expected the perfume bottle itself to look more uh, flowery. But Refinery29 nailed it when they said it looks like an 80s liquor bottle. An 80s liquor bottle. Fashion and design were weird in the 80s y’all. I’m not a fan. The first thing I said to my boyfriend when this came out of the box was “this is the tackiest perfume bottle I’ve ever seen in my life”. HOWEVER. That being said, it certainly keeps in tune with Rihanna’s overall aesthetic, so in that way it is effective.
Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh
If you follow me on Twitter it’s no secret that I love Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume. It’s definitely in my top favorites if not my favorite perfume. Certain scents just work on people, and Daisy is one of those for me. It’s fresh, pleasant, floral without being cloying, and softly romantic. So when I saw Daisy Eau So Fresh on the Sephora website I was really excited. And when it came in the mail to review, I was really really excited. I sprayed some on right away and have been wearing it for a few days.
Mr. Boyfriend, who is also a fan of the original Daisy on me, actually likes it. That’s a huge positive vote right there, as this man is picky when it comes to what I smell like. Very. Picky. He hates most of my perfumes, no matter how lovely I think they are haha. Daisy Eau So Fresh and the original Daisy make 2 out of the 3 of my perfumes he actually likes. Yay Marc Jacobs! Mr. Boyfriend agrees with me that you can tell the two fragrances are related, but they’re definitely quite different as well. I guess like sisters.
Youtube fragrance expert extrordinaire Katie Puckrik described Daisy as rolling down a grassy hill, or something like that. Well, if that’s what Daisy is, Daisy Eau So Fresh is like rolling down a grassy hill into a fruit basket. Eau So Fresh is bursting with bubbly fruity goodness on top of base notes that remind you this is still a Marc Jacobs Daisy relative. It’s maybe the fruity cocktail version of perfume. If Daisy is the beautiful bride, Daisy Eau So Fresh is that loud, possibly intoxicated bridesmaid. But not in a bad way. In a “that’s so going on Facebook later, heehee!” kind of way.
Caudalie Instant Foaming Cleanser Review
Bath & Body Works Winter Candy Apple Fragrance Mist
Fabulous Fall Scents
California is finally starting to feel like it’s in fall. It has been cloudy, rainy, and the other day we even had thunderstorms. Such things are so novel here, lol. I love this weather though, and it really has me in the holiday spirit, too. The Boyfriend and I went to the market and got two great big pumpkins to carve. True story– I’ve never carved a pumpkin! I wanted to get two in case I screw up the first one, haha. We also have been placed in charge of decorating my parents’ house for Halloween, so we went off to Big Lots today and got some spooky props. I love it! What do you guys do for Halloween?
With the onset of cooler weather (ha, it’ll probably be sunny and in the 70s again in no time…sigh) I get in the mood for fall scents. I nearly lost my mind over a pumpkin-scented Fabreeze candle in Big Lots today. (By the way you should totally go to Big Lots and grab one, they’re $4.50). I made sure to bust out my Philosophy Cinnamon Buns shower gel today– so yummy! I have several other mini fall scents from the Philosophy Cookbook that was out last year. I’m going to be lathering up in all sorts of baked good scents for the next few months for sure.
I really want to burn some yummy fall candles or something but others in my household are not as keen on the scents so I haven’t yet. But come on who doesn’t like coming home to a kitchen that smells like spices and cookies?! (And yes, I’m going to bake real cookies, too.)
And then totally randomly I’ve also been on a major Bath & Body Works Sea Island Cotton kick. It’s strange. I was in B&BW not too long ago stocking up on PocketBac when they were 5/$5 and doing the usual B&BW thing of circling the store sniffing everything and hemming and hawing over my decision when all of a sudden I sniffed Sea Island Cotton and BAM I needed it. It’s a scent that has been around for a long time and I’ve never been interested in it until now. It pretty much smells like laundry to my nose– fresh, cottony, and clean. It’s not as strong and irritating as the scents of scented detergents though (I do not use those because they make me gag! I use free & clear detergents always!). I’m not sure if they made changes to the scent or if I’m just weird but I suddenly started absolutely loving the stuff. I might even decide I “need” a bottle of the eau de toilette. Just look at the bottle! It’s really pretty. The price is kinda high though. I don’t know why but I always feel weird about paying a lot of money for something from Bath & Body Works. But that’s what the semi-annual sale is for, right?


















