Old niche favorites in new packaging: Isabey Gardenia (shown above left, $165 at Beautyhabit, Your Cosmetics or Luckyscent in the US, Les Senteurs in the UK, First in Fragrance in Germany) and Amouage Ubar (shown above right, $250 at Aedes, Four Seasons, Luckyscent or Parfums Raffy in the US, Harrods or Les Senteurs in the UK).
Roses and chocolate: the traditional Mother's Day gifts, in a decidedly untraditional gift set from Ayala Moriel. "The Complete Experience" includes Roses et Chocolat perfume, a matching scented candle, 30 g perfumed Roses et Chocolate tea and Blood Truffles (flavored with Turkish rose otto, saffron, kahlua and hot chili pepper). $204 at the Ayala Moriel website.
From Agraria, a gift set in their Mediterranean Jasmine fragrance: "Your heart will be conquered with this exquisite bouquet of our favorite florals: Mediterranean jasmine, blooming honeysuckle, gardenia buds, freesia, lily of the valley and tuberose." The set includes TasselAire scented tassel, PetiteEssence reed diffuser with mirrored tray and a bar soap. Also available in Bitter Orange; $95 at Neiman Marcus.
Ortigia soaps, beautifully packaged, scented with Almond Milk or Fig. In sets of three 110 gr bath size (£18) or four 40 gr hand size (£14), at Cologne & Cotton in the UK.
From Estee Lauder, solid perfume compacts for the two modern Private Collection fragrances: Tuberose Gardenia and Amber Ylang Ylang. $175 each at the Estee Lauder website.
More gift ideas coming soon, and if you missed it, see Fragrance gifts for Mother’s Day 2009, part 1 & part 2.
That Isabey Gardenia… very elegant fragrance, so chic and retro. Not to mention the bottle. Stunning. Too bad my mother doesn’t wear perfume: IG would have made a beautiful and precious gift. I thought about buying it for myself, but it is just too “well behaved” and classically elegant for me to pull it off :(.
It’s a wonderful scent — I’d like a bottle, although it might be too classically elegant for me too.
I know just how you feel, Zazie–there are a few perfumes I love but I can’t justify buying them because I couldn’t possibly pull them off. Frequently this is because I can’t imagine being in a situation where the scent would be appropriate. Lovely for a garden party! (Like I’ll ever get invited to a garden party.) Perfect for a Hawaiian beach wedding! (Don’t I wish.) Just the thing for the Snow Ball! (snort.) Thank goodness for samples; you can just go into your room and pretend to be an elegant babe living an elegant life.
LOL!!!
Haven’t smelled the Gardenia – but the bottle IS beautiful. Of course, it’s out of my price range. Sigh.
Speaking of pretty bottles, I think Ayala’s frosted-glass, sort-of-Halston-ish but-less-kinky bottles are really lovely too. Haven’t smelled any of her fragrances, but they SOUND so nice!
If you love gardenia, it’s worth getting at least a sample. Very pretty scent.
Haven’t smelled either the Gardenia or the Ubar but I have to say that both those bottles are drool-worthy…..should probably avoid both like the plague since they are prohibitively expensive.
(lemmings locked securely in closet)
Nah, both are really worth trying! You can always collect samples, which is what I do
Those compacts!
I like to think I’m above packaging but…
Ha Sweetlife I thought the same thing! So pretty, not that the scents aren’t nice…
Aren’t those pretty? I hope they’re going to do another scent in the series…
Oh, let’s hope they do…I’ve been surprised how much I liked both the ones they’ve brought out. I love the look of the compacts, but I know it would take seconds before I had them covered with sticky fingerprints!
Oh, the EL solid compacts are adorable – I love the look of the pretty boxes and I love solid perfumes too. I wish more perfumes came as solids.
Me too…they’re so nice to have in your purse.
I would take one of anything on this page – it’s all good.
Me too!
A scented tassel? Is that to perfume a closet or drawer?
I love the EL compacts. Too bad I already bought PCTG in edp, only to decide that it wasn’t quite FBW for me after all. . .
You could hang it anywhere…I think it’s too pretty to stick in a drawer.
I like to hang tassels from the switches on table lamps! None of mine have the added bonus of being scented though.
Just spray them with something! Ages ago I was given a tassel at Caron that they’d sprayed with Aimez Moi, & was very surprised at how long it held the scent. Now I just respray it every so often.
Oh, I will – what a nice tip!