Photo Credit: Photo Credit: jomalone.com
JO MALONE LAUNCHES SUGAR AND SPICE COLOGNE COLLECTION
Inspired by delectable desserts from berry tarts to cookies, Jo Malone has launched a Limited Edition Sugar and Spice collection that’s totally nice. As with every good dessert that’s fit for consumption, the fragrances are impossible to choose from: every one of them looks, sounds, and smells delicious.
Desserts were created to light up one’s day, for moments of pleasure. With this philosophy in mind, Jo Malone has created five scents that are good enough to eat. The menu of this tasty collection includes Redcurrant & Cream, Ginger Biscuit, Lemon Tart, Bitter Orange & Chocolate, and Elderflower & Gooseberry. Not only is this a most tempting fragrance collection, but its creative campaign will get you drooling as well.
British pastry chef Natalie Estella Seldon created the pastries for the campaign and the video, which you can see here.
Photo Credti: Jo Malone
Lemon Tart is pleasantly refreshing, tangy, and sparkles with citrus fruits along with verbena. In contrast with the bright citrus, you’ll find notes of meringue and lemon thyme. Redcurrant and Cream is basically a summer pudding (in Londonese, a dessert) and is perfect for that muggy day when you really need a touch of sweetness. You’ll find sharp scarlet juices of redcurrants, lush strawberries, and raspberries coupled with creamy musk, which gives a nice bit of energy to this fruity bouquet.
Elderflower and Gooseberry is truly voluptuous yet light, and one of my all time favorite fragrances because it’s perfect for a summer date. The composition features crushed, summer-green gooseberries, plumped with notes of lychee, and soft, delicate notes of elderflower. This is the most feminine of all the fragrances and is extremely subtle. Ginger Biscuit reflects the crisp, sweet feeling of tasting a just-baked biscuit (a cookie, to us statesiders). It’s spiced with ginger (of course), nutmeg, cinnamon, and caramel. It has notes of roasted hazelnuts and tonka bean too.
The fifth desert inspired confection is Bitter Orange and Chocolate, a combination that we could all use from time to time and such a huge hit that the Limited Edition is already sold out.
Each Sugar and Spice Scent is available in a slender and elegant 30 ml bottle (ARV $60) with a corresponding colored cap. Summer is full of many sweet things, and now your fragrance can join the team.
A BEAUTY GIFT GUIDE FOR MOTHER’S DAY
Mom. Maman. Mum. ‘Ma.
No matter which part of the world you come from, chances are that your word for your mother is something heartfelt and meaningful. Mothers deserve respect everyday (take it from a new mom) but especially on Mother’s Day. Luckily, the beauty sphere is filled with precious items to show mom a truly great time. Here are a few gems sure to make mom smile and possibly even forget all the late nights, temper tantrums, soccer games, school plays, science projects, wedding jitters, late night calls, term papers………….
Korres Japanese Rose Body Wash and Body Butter ($19/$29 )
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
The Korres Body Wash is silky and sumptuous, and creates s a creamy foam that oozes luxury. Natural antioxidants are an added plus. The Body Butter is on the richer end of the moisturizing spectrum, and is nourishing to the skin, while restoring elasticity with shea butter and quince extracts. Of course, the rose is a symbol of romance, and has been for generations: give mom a modern twist of the classic with the Japanese version.
Sonia Kashuk Beauty Organizers ($24.99)
Lipsticks, gloss, jewelry, makeup palettes. All these add up and the last thing mom wants to see is clutter (didn’t all her years of nagging you to do chores get that point across?). She will be so surprised when you help her on the road to order with a beauty organizer, theoretically speaking. And practically, Sonia Kashuk’s little gems found at Target will do the trick, and they come in beautiful floral and yarn print designs.
ZO® Skin Health Level 11: Anti-Aging Program ($230)
Photo Credit: zoskinhealth.com
Give mom the gift of youthful skin with this anti aging skincare kit from the skin health master Dr. Zein Obagi. The secret weapon behind this program is the high concentrations of active ingredients including growth factors, retinol and enzymes. of retinol. The five-product system includes everything mom will need to fight lines, uneven skin tone, and loss of firmness—day and night. An added bonus: once she tries the Oclipse® Sunscreen + Primer SPF 30, no other makeup prep will do.
NARS Hearts New York City Limited Edition Palette ($75)
Photo Credit: NARS Cosmetics
New York City’s best-selling hues are all packaged in this incredibly detailed, artistic limited edition box. The set contains four eyeshadows as well as NARS’ must have Laguna Bronzing Powder and Amour Blush in a svelte, purse-friendly compact. It also contains lip gloss (Dolce Vita, a sheer dusty rose), and a blood-red nail lacquer (Chinatown) that will make mom’s look complete. It’s classic and thoughtful, and so very elegant for a very deserving woman.
mē Smooth Hair Removal Device ($395)
If you want to give your mom a gift she may not buy herself, try the mē Smooth. This is the first and only at-home hair removal device that has been FDA cleared to use on ALL skin types, a very big deal. It combines Intense Pulse Light with Radiofrequency energy to heat the hair follicle and inhibit hair growth. A full leg treatment takes only 10 minutes. Repeat for seven weeks in a row and then follow up once a month for smooth, silky legs. mē Smooth can be used anywhere below the neck; just adjust the treatment times according to the size of the targeted area.
LUSH Cosmetics Bath Bomb ($6.95)
Mom deserves a (cruelty-free) bath, so run to the store or order Lush Cosmetics’ Bath Bombs online. The Mumkin bubble bar is adorable and available exclusively for Mother’s Day: it features a fruity, raspberry fragrance, which crumbles under running water and is perfect for soothing away the day’s woes. There are also Cream of the Crop reusable bubble bath bar wands for mom, which are easy to swirl around the tub or in running water for scented bubbles. Group together a handful of the floral shaped wands for a lovely bouquet.
Atelier Cologne Rose Anonyme Coffret Baguette ($95)
Right in time for Mother’s Day comes an elegant, refined yet edgy coffret from the Atelier. Rose Anonyme is all about being a seductress, with sparkling tones. In this beautiful fragrance, Turkish rose absolute sparkles beneath notes of ginger, velvet oud, Indonesian patchouli, mystic papyrus, and Somalian incense. The result is zesty sensuousness. The coffret comes with a scented soap, as well as liner notes, all packaged in a beautiful giftable box.
Ralph Lauren Big Pink Pony with Essie Set ($45)
Photo Credit: macys.com
This is one of the most fun beauty partnerships we’ve seen this year: a colorful kit by Ralph Lauren Fragrances and Essie means mom can look good and smell heavenly. There are four distinctive and colorful kits, each with its own coordinated drawstring pouch. Each kit has a unique fragrance and personality: Sporty (#1), Sensual (#2), Free-Spirited (#3) and Stylish (#4). The drawstring bags contain a Big Pony EDT (30 ml), a Perfuming Body Mist (50g) and a corresponding Essie polish. In-store nail specialists will be offering manicures with the Big Pony colors at select Macy’s and Belk stores.
Spa Sonic System Face and Body Polisher ($65)
An at-home, affordable spa set that gives mom a polished, exfoliated look? Sign us up! The new Color Collection from Spa Sonic is brand new and makes for a chic gift. The Face and Body Polisher is a waterproof device that is designed to work in the shower. But unlike similar systems, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. The kit comes with all the attachments you need to get the job done: a small brush for the face, a larger one for the body, pumice head for rough areas like elbows and heels, and a facial sponge for microdermabrasion. I’ve not seen a kit for this price give so much, and work so well. I’ve used both the Clarisonic and Spa Sonic and while the look of both is different, there’s no doubt that the Spa Sonic can perform comparably. The new colors are made for gifting!
GIVENCHY’S SPRING OBJECTS D’ART
As befits the legacy of designer Hubert de Givenchy (think Audrey Hepburns’ LBD in Breakfast at Tiffany’s), the spring launches from Givenchy Beauty are curated, exquisitely designed, and objets d’art that you will want to hold and own.
Case in point, the Ecrin Prive Eyeshadow Quad ($73). The compact alone will make you want to go out and grab this limited-edition palette. Heavyweight and composed of silver zamak (a metal alloy), the top of the case boasts a rivet pattern straight off the runway of Riccardo Tisci, the house’s designer since 2005. Inside, four muted shades are said to reflect the atmosphere of a plush hotel. Taupe, gray, and beige are useable, dare, I say practical, mat neutrals that can be worn anywhere, anytime. Apply the fourth shadow, a pearlescent rose pink, as a highlighter below the brow or on the inner eye.
For lips and tips, Givenchy paired two of its new Le Rouge ($36) lipsticks with matching nail shades. Ecrin Prive may be the anchor product for spring, but Le Rouge will shine all year long. Again, its case sets it apart from the pack—black leather surrounds the cylinder that houses the lipstick bullet—perhaps the first example ever of combining leather with lip color. Inside lives a creamy, creamy, but not sticky at all, long-lasting mat lipstick that is available in 12 shades. It smells a bit like my grandmother’s lipstick, but the application, feel, and wear is totally modern. The spring collection matches Le Rouge shades Fuchsia Irresistable and Mandarine Bolero with Le Vernis ($20) nail colors of the same name for a spring/summer pairing sure to make you forget all about the long-drawn out winter.
But Guerlain’s spring fling doesn’t stop with color. The mythical black dahlia flower inspired the creation of Dahlia Noir, a powdery, floral chypre fragrance introduced in 2011. This month, a lighter, freer cousin hits counters. Dahlia Noir l’Eau ($102) is a fresh floral fragrance with definite green tendencies. Still a little chypre like, it keeps some of the original’s mystery and seriousness, making it a perfect scent for sultry summer nights, or warm weather business meetings. I like it…and the bottle is art gallery gorgeous.
And for the men, Givenchy offers Gentlemen Only ($59), a classic woody, aromatic scent. More boardroom than surfboard, Gentlemen Only cries out for a man about town who wants to make a good impression, but doesn’t try to hard. The drydown has an animalic note that reminds me of the original Angel, so the man who wears this can’t be all that sedate—polished but fun.
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