Lush has launched a new fragrance, Go Green, and a range of solid perfumes in many of their most popular scents. Go Green was…
…inspired by environmental activist, Rebecca Lush (honest, that really is her name) who now works for Transport 2000, heading up Road Block […] It`s a refreshing blend of grapefruit, bergamot and neroli…
Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia is the brainchild of Aerin Lauder, Estee Lauder’s granddaughter and the Creative Director of the Estee Lauder line. It borrows its name from Private Collection, the 1973 release that was said to be based on a scent that Estee Lauder originally created for her own use. The new fragrance features neroli, lilac, rosewood, tuberose, gardenia, orange flower, jasmine, white lily, carnation and vanilla bourbon.
Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia opens sweet and bright, and seems to move rapidly from the mild touch of citrus in the opening into the white floral notes in the heart. The lilac softens the more exuberant floral notes in the early stages, but it is lush and full-bodied almost from the start, and it is almost linear after the first 20 minutes or so have passed. The tuberose and gardenia are the main players — you will catch glimpses of the other notes, especially the jasmine, but it starts out smelling like mostly tuberose and gardenia and hours later, it still does. The base is milky-creamy woods with a touch of vanilla, and is neither heady nor overly sweet…
I’m sure I’m not the only perfumista who has noticed how much harder it is to do a quick check for new fragrances at the local mall these days. It is no longer enough to scan the counters at the department stores — just about every boutique in the mall now has its own signature scent or line of scents, and there are more on the way. Coach, the American leather goods line, is the latest to jump on the bandwagon. Their signature perfume for women, Coach The Fragrance, launched earlier this spring.
Coach’s entry into the fragrance market is designed to “be all things to all people: worn on weekends, but also evenings; bright but romantic; aspirational yet approachable” (via pe.com) In other words, they’d like everybody to buy it. So how’d they do? Well, first off, I’d say they did beautifully on the packaging front (half the battle, no doubt). The Eau de Parfum bottle is classic but fun, the purse spray is cute, and that goes double for the solid perfume in the metal hangtag case…
Last Friday I talked about Vanilla Moka, Vanilla Macarons & Vanilla Pralines, three fragrances from the vanilla-based Poule de Luxe collection by Crazylibellule & The Poppies; today, I’m trying out the Les Divines Alcoves collection. Like the others from the line, these are solid perfumes done up in adorable little twist-up containers with colorful paper wrappers, and like the others, they are unbelievably well done given the bargain basement prices: $16 for 5gr.
Les Divines Alcoves comprises 7 fragrances inspired by “stories of love”. Aux Anges / On Cloud Nine, with notes of bergamot, tangerine, ylang ylang, jasmine and white flowers, was my early favorite of the group. As Victoria has already pointed out at Bois de Jasmin, Aux Anges is very much in the vein of Christian Dior Diorissimo. As in Diorissimo, the lily of the valley opening is a bit sharp, but it settles to a lovely blend of jasmine and lily of the valley, lightly accented by green. It is sweeter than Diorisismo, and lacks the crispness and sparkle that render Diorissimo, to my mind, the very personification of spring…
The Poule de Luxe collection from Crazylibellule & The Poppies is a series of solid twist-up perfumes centering on vanilla notes. The line, as a whole, is easy to like: the packaging is adorable and convenient, and best of all, they are reasonably priced at $16 for 5 gr. Their Encens Mystic easily qualifies as my best bargain find of 2006.
The Poule de Luxe collection does not have anything that will displace Encens Mystic as my particular favorite, but it is high on the “fun” factor and bound to find fans with vanilla freaks. My favorite of the bunch is the Vanilla Moka (shown), which features notes of dark chocolate, cocoa bean, sandalwood, mocha, coffee liqueur and musk. Years ago, I used to love a particular kind of coffee hard candy, and I’ve been going crazy the last few days trying to remember what it was called, but at any rate, Vanilla Moka smells exactly like it: dark coffee with just a touch of chocolate, sweet but not overly so. The dry down gets woodier, paler and creamier, and has a nice comfort scent vibe, assuming you love the smell of coffee. The lasting power is not quite so good as the Encens Mystic, but at the price, it is hard to complain, and insofar as you can just throw the tube in your purse or pocket, touch ups are not a problem…