July 26th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Fragrance, Product Reviews

The more time I spend with the girls of Benefit Crescent Row ($36 each), the more I want to hang with them.
Each of the scents in this trio of fragrances represents a different personality.
Laugh With Me Lee Lee is the fun, flirty member of the group — the girl who loves long bubble baths and frilly lingerie.


Benefit categorizes her as a woody floral, but she’s the lightest of the three scents, both agreeable and easy to wear.
Crisp notes of melon and orange hit me as Lee Lee enters the room.
“Hello,” she says with an innocent smile, drawing me into her world of unselfconscious beauty.
After a few hours with her, I learn that she’s older than I thought. She reveals a gentle white floral mix of lily and jasmine, slowly evolving into a soft blend of amber and sandalwood.
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July 25th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Fragrance, Product Reviews, Skin Care

What would a vampire think of Bliss Blood Orange and White Pepper Body Butter ($35)?
Would they scoff at the price and curse the Bliss marketing team’s misleading use of the word “blood”? More importantly, do the undead even moisturize?
Perhaps they should…
I can’t speak for Vampire Bill, but I like a good body butter after scrubbing down with Bliss Blood Orange and White Pepper Sugar Scrub, and the two products combined make for a pleasant budget Bliss Spa experience at home.
As far as I can tell, the Bliss Blood Orange scent’s subtle mix of blood orange (surprise!), spicy white pepper, coriander and white musk doesn’t vary among the different products in the fragrance line, and the body butter smells just as divine as the scrub.
The scent is subtle (but still noticeable) — a nice break from heavily scented body lotions (aka Black Amethyst).
You notice it’s there, but it doesn’t make you smell like a walking glass of O.J., which also means it plays nicely with other fragrances.
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July 24th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Fragrance, Product Reviews

Have you seen the packaging for Benefit’s new trio of Crescent Row scents ($36 each)?

Super cute, yah?
Each one (all eau de toilettes) represents a different fictional girl.
There’s Laugh With Me Lee Lee (the playful flirt), Something About Sofia (the dreamer) and My Place Or Yours Gina (the seductress).
This week I gave all three scents a try, at first assuming I’d be a Lee Lee girl.

But I ended up liking My Place Or Yours Gina best.
Weird, because I’m not exactly seductress material. Hello — I wear yoga pants with holes in the booty.
Benefit describes Gina as a warm and woody oriental fragrance. On my skin she begins with a strong but feminine burst of peppery citrus and chocolate.
Maybe it’s Gina’s daring, sexy side. She’s not afraid to flaunt her shizz, ya know? And you’d better believe the hotties say “yes” when she offers to buy them a drink at the bar.

But there’s more to Gina than first impressions. After about 20 minutes with her, the top notes mellow out, revealing soft, gentle notes of lily, white musk and vanilla.
That’s the side of Gina her family and closest friends know. Yes, she’s seductive and alluring in her man-eater outfits and sky-high killer heels, but she’s also sweet, devoted and loving, too.
- Top notes: pink pepper, bergamot, tangerine
- Middle notes: peony, wild raspberry, white lily
- Bottom notes: patchouli, tonka bean, vanilla bean
For an eau de toilette, Gina lasts a surprisingly long time. A few spritzes in the morning are enough to last all day long.
Gina reminds me of a lighter, fresher (but with stronger citrus and pepper notes) version of the $65 Chanel Coco Mademoiselle.
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July 14th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Fragrance, Product Reviews

Is it just me, or is it really hard to concentrate when the sun’s beaming outside? I couldn’t sit still today and wasn’t getting anywhere with my freelancing, so I hopped across the bridge to San Francisco under the guise of conducting “beauty research.”
I’ve been on a fragrance kick lately and was itching to find some new scents to break out of the fruity floral rut I tend to get stuck in.
As luck would have it, I found a scent unlike any I’d ever laid my nose on before.
Where? — At the Frederic Malle fragrance counter in Barney’s, San Francisco.
Early last year I had my first run in with the Frederic Malle line. I was on vacation in Las Vegas and stopped by the Barney’s store.
Frederic Malle fragrance counters aren’t like the perfume counters I’m used to in department stores. They have walk-in scent chambers and climate-controlled refrigerators (similar to ones used to store bottles of wine). Very fancy. The instant you arrive, you know you’re in for something different.
I was sniffing around for something unusual, and that’s what I found in Geranium Pour Monsieur ($135-200), Frederic Malle’s newest fragrance (released in June).

It’s a men’s fragrance, but I think women might be able to pull it off, too, because of its soft floral quality, something most spicy/sporty men’s colognes lack.
Dude perfumes aren’t my thang, but I like Geranium, even though it’s nothing like the super-femme fragrances I’m usually drawn to.
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It’s always been my master fragrance plan to wear Chanel’s classic No. 5 perfume — a floral aldehyde with notes of neroli, jasmine and vanilla — when I turned 55.
By then, I hope to own a small army of Chanel tweed suits, quilted pocketbooks and “sensible” flats. Of course in this fantasy I’d also live in mansion on Lake Como (complete with a hot pool boy), but I digress.
Right now I’m tempted to abandon the master plan because the No. 5 Essential Bath Oils ($75), one of the Chanel exclusives available at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale next month, look too frickin’ cute.
Forget being all up in the club; I want to be all up in my tub! Scented with Chanel No. 5, the three layers of pink-hued bath oils contain Ylang-Ylang (a small flower native to the Philippines and Indonesia) and almond extract to moisturize and scent the skin. Heavenly!
Bottles of No. 5 Essential Bath Oils are currently available now for pre-order at Nordstrom fragrance counters. If you buy it now you can pick it up when the Nordie’s Anniversary Sale kicks off on July 17.
I love the pink oils and the minimalist packaging, but the $75 price tag hurts. It might be a nice treat if you’ve got some gift cards laying around, though.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen