Kenzo’s newest take on its classic FLOWERBYKENZO is the sensual and powdery FLOWERBYKENZO ESSENTIELLE (.8 oz $58.00, 1.5 oz $75.00, 2.5 oz 92.00).
This sexy scent is classified as a sensual floral and is perfect for the colder weather of the fall. The scent is described as:
“A tribute to FLOWERBYKENZO, streamlined and presented through its most emblematic notes. Beginning with a floral accord, essence and absolute of rosa damascena and absolute of jasmine unfold into a powdery accord made up of a unique combination of sensual musks and absolute of vanilla. Finally, incense of the purest distinction, black pepper and pink berries complete FLOWERBYKENZO ESSENTIELLE with a vibrant finish.”
I enjoy the bright rose and jasmine top notes and the sultry musk, incense and black pepper that give the powdery finish a kick. This is an unusual fragrance that would be nice for a night out, or in with the right person!
Visit www.kenzousa.comto learn more about this and other Kenzo scents. Enjoy!
KENZO, one of my favorite perfume companies, has come out with a warm and sensuous new fragrance that is great for the cooler temperatures of the fall.
But Unidentified Fragrance Object ($188.00 1.4 oz) is not your usual perfume. Kenzo has teamed with designer Ron Arad, having Arad design a unique bottle for the fragrance that is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Since each individual bottle is hand-polished, only 1000 units will be produced for the United States. It is only available at Bergdorf Goodman and kenzousa.com starting in August 2009.
The fragrance breaks with industry codes; rejecting the traditional olfactory pyramid and instead balancing between a powerful heart, “the marble accord” and four natural raw ingredients. The ingredients are Bulgarian Rose, Vanilla, Orange Blossom and Frankincense.
This is a very strong scent that would work well for going out. When I spray it on, all of the ingredients meld together to make a spicy and sweet scent. The Frankincense over-powers the other scents, but I can still pick out the Vanilla, Orange Blossom and even a bit of the Rose.
If you would like to purchase this unique scent in this work-of -art bottle, visit www.kenzousa.com. Enjoy!
Apothia is a stylish perfume and home fragrance line that creates high end fresh and luxe scents. They offer four main personal fragrances. Below are the descriptions as posted on the website:
L ($80.00 50 ml) – Precious and perfectly aged Orris is celebrated at the heart of this unique, feminine fragrance, with soft touches of green violet leaf for tingle, sultry Angelica, earthy musks and woods for nuzzle.
IF ($80.00 50 ml) A dazzling bouquet of white flowers, IF blooms with top notes of zesty grapefruit and sparkling yuzu, ending in a deep romantic drydown.
Velvet Rope ($80.00 50 ml) Velvet Rope Eau de Parfum, inspired by an icy cold, dry vanilla martini spiked with absolute jasmine and a twist of grapefruit. Pure white musk heats up the background of this super-sexy scent.
Pearl ($80.00 50 ml) Pearl is a simple, precious, polished work of art with hints of shiso leaf, plum blossom, peony, orris and warm golden amber, parallel to the formation of the pearl – a natural quality gem – small, precious and perfectly polished by nature.
My favorite of these perfumes is pearl, because it dries to a warm, sensual scent. They are all very lovely and boast unusual fragrance combinations.
Apothia also creates home aromatics including candles, diffusers and hand and body wash. They carry eleven scents including Bronzed, Juiced, Verde and Wave, the one I tried that is a blend of white grapefruit, mandarin, yuzu with hints of driftwood and seagrass. It is very light and refreshing on a hot summer day.
Penhaligons is a British company that has been making fragrances for over 100 years. Their ladies’ scents are decidedly feminine, with flowers as the stars.
I have recently sampled Penhaligons’ women’s perfumes. My three favorites are:
Elisabethan Rose — Head Notes: Aldehydes and Geranium, Heart Notes: Camomile, Violet and Rose and Base Notes: Musk, Amber and Sandalwood
Lily and Spice — Head Notes: White Madonna Lily and Saffron, Heart Notes: Hot Pepper and Clove, and Base Notes: White Musk, Patchouli, Vanilla, Benzoin and Vanilla
Lavandula — Head Notes: Basil, Canella and Black Pepper, Heart Notes: Lavender, Clary Sage and Lily of the Valley, and Base Notes: Tonka bean, Musk, Vanilla and Amber
The Elisabethan Rose is a very soft rose. I can detect the violet and musk notes, as well as the rose. This is a great day fragrance. The Lavandula is a spicy scent, the basil, black pepper and clary sage as well as the lavender are prevalent notes. My favorite scent is the Lily and Spice. It is so complex with the sweet floral and vanilla notes blended in with the hot pepper and clove. This is a great evening scent.
Visit the Penhaligons website to learn more about the products. If you live in the US or Canada, be sure to click the correct button so you may purchase these fine fragrances. Enjoy!
Kenzo has some of the freshest fragrances I have tried. So I was excited to find that they have created the perfect fragrance product for travel, Ryoko. Ryoko means travel in Japanese and Kenzo takes fragrance into uncharted territory with this airline-friendly, pocket sized nomad spray.
The Ryoko ($29.00 .7oz) comes in 5 of Kenzo’s most recognized perfumes; L’eauparKenzo, FlowerbyKenzo and KenzoAmour for women plus Kenzo Homme and L’euaparKenzo Homme. They are housed in a little pebble sized spray bottle that comes suspended in a cube. It is very cute and portable. Stash it in your purse and go!
I was able to try the fresh, aquatic scent of L’eauparKenzo Ryoko. This Kenzo classic includes notes of lotus flower, frosted mint and pink pepper. It is soft, with a hint of spice.
If a floral is more your style, try the FlowerbyKenzo Ryoko which has notes of bulgarian rose, parma violet and white musk. Like a sultrier scent? Go for the KenzoAmour Ryoko with notes of gentle rice, musk and frangipani blossom.
Visit the Kenzo website at www.kenzousa.comor to purchase. Have a great trip!
Crazylibellule and the poppies is a wonderful French perfume company. They have created crazysticks, a lovely little solid perfume that I have reviewed before. It is a cute little tube that is very portable and fun to apply. I love to reapply them during the day to perk up my mood.
They have recently introduced a new collection of 7 crazysticks called the Collection Les Garçonnes. This collection is a tribute to the independent and seductive women of the roaring twenties. Each crazystick has a unique fragrance and contains a traditionally “male” note in each one, such as leather and tobacco. The notes for each are:
Hommage a Gabrielle — Elemi crystals, peony, Indian jasmine, ozonic flower, wooded incense, vanilla, cedar and leather.
Pompon Gardenia — Gardenia, heliotrope, watermelon, lime, lily of the valley, amber wood and mild tobacco.
Josephine Jonquille — Jonquil-jasmine, lemon, ginger, cardamon, tiare flowers, patchouli and black chocolate.
Jeanne Voyage — Sicilian bergamot, Spanish mandarin, iris of Florence, musk, violet leaves, heliotrope, amber wood, rose sap and Java nutmeg.
Chere Louise — Rose, iris, hyacinth, saffron, storax, patchouli and guaiacum wood.
Tamara Charleston — Green mandarin, gardenia, sambac jasmine, lisylang, freshly cut hay, peach, amber and absinthe.
Rose a Saigon — Rose, jasmine, mango, ylang-ylang, passion fruit, patchouli, vetiver, and guaiacum wood.
These are such unique blends of fragrances. I really love the Rose fragrance. I am not usually into rose scents, but the blend is wonderful. You can tell that mango and passion fruit are infused in, because it is a bit sweet, but the spicier notes such as patchouli and vetiver deepen the fruity floral. I also enjoy Tamara, which is a very sensual scent that would be perfect for fall.
Lush Oasis (www.lushoasis.com) is a new website that specializes in beauty products from around the world. The founder, Susan Anapol, knows the niche beauty market and knows how to spot quality products and fun trends. She has put together a fabulous collection of fresh and natural items.
I was lucky enough to sample some fragrances from the site, and have found quite a few that I like, particularly from the Comptoir Sud Pacifique and the Acorelle lines. My two favorites scents are:
Comptoir Sud Pacifique’s Aqua Moto (1.6 oz $53.00 USD, 3.3 oz $85.00 USD) — is a fresh, ocean scent that makes me think of summers as a girl on the Oregon Coast. It is so fresh and summery! The notes are:
Top Note: Helychrisum
Heart Notes: Marine Notes, Lily of the Valley, Warm Sand
Base Note: Kelp
Acorelle Verceine Agrumes Eau De Parfum
Acorelle makes very delicate fragrances. Verveine Agrumes Eau de Parfum ($68.00 USD 50 ml)is very fresh and spring-y. The notes are:
Top Notes: lemon, mandarin, bergamot, orange, armoise
Visit the Lush Oasis website to discover these and many other wonderful products!
Hey All! Enter my 100th Blog Post Giveaways! I will be giving away products from It Cosmetics, Yes to Carrots and EcoTools! To enter, just leave a comment on ANY of my posts between 4/26 – 5/2. I will draw 3 names on Sunday 5/3/09 and notify the winners! To see exactly what I am giving away, check out my post http://tinyurl.com/dgnxda. Good Luck!
Kenzo is fast becoming one of my favorite brands. From their lovely fragrances to their fabulous skincare, everything I have tried has been wonderful!
FLOWERBYKENZO Spring Fragrance Limited Edition ($52.00 USD 1.7 ox) -This fragrance is a limited edition that will only be available this April on the Kenzo website at www.kenzousa.com.
The Notes are:
Top Notes: Ginger, Mandarin, Lychee Middle Notes: Freesia, Ylang, Parma Violet Base Notes: Incense, White Musk
This is a very soft fragrance. I have noticed that each time I spray it on, I detect a different note. When first applied, the scent is a mix of floral and fruity (I can really detect the mandarin and violet) and dries down to a powdery musk. I really enjoy it and have been receiving many compliments!
The Kenzo Cleansing Ice Jelly ($28.00 USD 5.1 oz) is a new cleanser that is very effective at removing even waterproof eye make up. It is a self-cooling cleansing jelly that turns into a soft, water-like cleanser upon skin contact. It is very refreshing, especially if you chill it before using. The scent is an invigorating flowery ginger. The ingredients include plant water, ginger plant water, ginseng extract, essential oils and trace elements and minerals salts.
You may purchase these products at www.kenzousa.comor use their store locator to find a retailer near you.
Hey All! Enter my 100th Blog Post Giveaways! I will be giving away products from It Cosmetics, Yes to Carrots and EcoTools! To enter, just leave a comment on ANY of my posts between 4/26 – 5/2. I will draw 3 names on Sunday 5/3/09 and notify the winners! To see exactly what I am giving away, check out my post http://tinyurl.com/dgnxda. Good Luck!
Forty, Flirty and Fabulous is going international! Well, at least for today. Crazylibellule and the Poppies is a funky fragrance line from France. Their most popular product is their CrazySticks ($18.00 USD), a solid scent in a tube that is completely portable.
These are great since you can keep them in your purse and apply them whenever you need a little boost! Two I really like are:
Blue Orchidée from the Shanghaïjava collection — the notes are Ylang Ylang, Bergamot, Jasmine, Tangerine, Sandalwood, Rose, Orange, Musk and Vanilla.
Vanilla Sucre Glace from the Poule de Luxe collection — the notes are Caramel, Neroli, Vanilla, Jasmine, Musk, Bergamot and Tangerine.
For all of you natural product lovers like myself, Crazylibellule and the Poppies’ products are alcohol free, paraben free and have no artificial coloring.
CrazySticks can be purchased at Sephora. Also visit the website at www.crazylibellule.com to see all that the company has to offer.
I love coming across cool companies while searching the Internet or looking through magazines. Sula recently caught my eye with the fresh look of their website (www.sulabeauty.com) and the interesting products they offer.
A really unusual product that Sula has introduced is Paint and Peel Nail Polish ($10.00 USD) This polish is water-based and does not contain formaldehyde, toluene or phthalates. It is very fun to use, but does start peeling soon after applying. Using the top coat helps a bit. My problem is, I will start picking at a nail at work and in a few minutes, I will not have a bit of polish left! What’s great about these polishes is that they actually smell nice and that they peel off in one strip.
I also really love Sula’s fragrances. They are very fresh smelling, not a strong perfume scent in the bunch!
Sula Discovery Set
A convenient way to try all six of their fragrances is with the Discovery Set ($18.00 USD) This is a box that contains roll-ons of each fragrance; Butterfly Kiss, Stiletto Musk, Vanilla Blossom, Blackberry Blush, Sun-Kissed Citrus, and Champagne Sugar.
My favorites are are Sun-Kissed Citrus which has notes of tangerine, lemon, orange, grapefruit and bergamot; and Blackberry Blush with notes of ripe blackberry and cassis blended with osmanthus, rose and a hints of soft musk and vanilla.
Here is a description of the kit from the website:
Packaged in a chic magnetic snap-shut box for safekeeping, these mini versions of the Sula Pulse Point Perfumes are 5ml of ultimate on the-go portability. Adorned with eye-catching motifs and patterns that are distinctly Sula, the undeniably feminine fragrances were expertly designed to be complete when worn solo…heavenly blended with one another.
Sula also has lip glosses, body wash and body lotion. Visit their gorgeous website to discover a store near you to purchase these unique products!
Forty, Flirty & Fabulous 