Get Ready for Fall with Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia

If you're anything like me, a stop at the Jo Malone display is a must when passing through the beauty floor of any department store. I love sniffing the new fragrances and coming up with new combinations of the existing ones. Plus, the simple buttercream-and-black packaging and subdued ambiance is such a welcome respite from the melange of colors and smells around you.

The brand's latest,

Five for Friday: Dessert-Scented Beauty Products

It's been a bit of a stressful week, friends. And stress makes me want to EAT. But since I'd rather not mess with my bikini bod, I'm reaching for some deliciously-scented body goodies instead. Behold, five of my favorite dessert-scented products:

Laura Mercier Creme de Pistache Souffle Body Creme. Here's how I described it when I first tried it: "like the most decadent pistachio ice cream - it

Chanel Unveils Martin Scorsese's BLEU DE CHANEL Short Film

A killer Rolling Stones soundtrack? Moody flashbacks to old lovers? A COLLAPSING ROOM? Martin Scorsese's epic commercial for Chanel's new men's fragrance, Bleu de Chanel, has all that and more. I'm loving the blue-soaked color palette of the film, not to mention the hotness factor of Gaspard Ulliel, the French actor who plays the lead. More, please!

Perfume Notes: Ebba Miss Marisa and Miss Marisa Tropical, Creative Scentualization Perfect Veil

More Luckyscent samples in this week's Perfume Notes! If you missed last week's post or you're not familiar with Luckyscent, here's the scoop: you can order a sample of nearly any fragrance on the site for about $3-4. Soon after, a little bubble pack of perfume vials will arrive at your door, and you can sniff away! My latest sample pack is starting to run low, so I'll be ordering again soon.

Perfume Notes: Sage Coral, Ebba By Sea and By Sand

This week's Perfume Notes picks all come from Luckyscent's sampling program, which is both amazingly convenient and incredibly addictive. You can order a vial sample of nearly anything from Luckyscent for about $3-5, and it'll arrive in just a few days. It's a great way to try niche/hard to find scents, indulge your curiosity, and discover new favorites. I ordered 9 vials on my last order, and

VS Cocoa Butter Sensuous Escape Body Mist

Since we're not getting Bath & Body Works here in Hawaii until March 2011, my go-to destination for aimless bath product browsing is Victoria's Secret. (Yes, I frequent Sephora on the regular, but don't you have those days when you're all, "I just want to buy a $9 body spray, dammit?")

Now, I know I used to crap on Victoria's Secret Beauty--I was bummed when they revamped and pulled outside

Five for Friday: The Supertropicals

This week's Five for Friday is all about incredibly lush tropical floral fragrances, mostly built around jasmine or gardenia notes. You know, the ones you want to wear for cocktails on a sultry night with a gorgeous sunset. I like to call them supertropicals. No sunscreen scents or weak plasticky coconuts here. These are the big guns of tropical florals.

Incidentally, they're all oils. Somehow

Prada Infusion de Tubereuse

Prada Infusion de Tubereuse has been patiently waiting in my perfume cabinet, since the spring, to be tested and written about.

I honestly don't know how I've managed to wait so long, because the packaging is just SO gorgeous and enticing. The print on the box, as well as the bottle's side and cap, was inspired by patterns from Prada's archives.

Infusion de Tubereuse, the latest entry in

Tocca's Latest Scent, With a Little Korres Kick

Don't you just love when two products combine to create something surprisingly special?

During a recent Sephora jaunt I sampled Tocca's latest, Bianca, an interesting melange of lemon, green tea, and rose. I'm a big fan of the brand, but I approached Bianca with trepidation, since Tocca's last two entries didn't rank high on my list (I was disappointed by the drydown of Brigitte, and just plain

Perfume Notes: Lavanila Vanilla Coconut, Marc Jacobs Pomegranate, Biscotti

Did you catch last week's edition of Perfume Notes? Time and energy permitting, I'm attempting to try a couple (or three) fragrances every week and bring you some quick reviews. This week's sniffage:

Lavanila Vanilla Coconut: I had majorly high hopes for this, and really thought it was going to be love at first sniff. I have issues with many coconut-centric scents; I find them to be somewhat

Victoria's Secret Expands Secret Moments Line

More new goodies from Victoria's Secret this week! Remember last year I gave you the scoop on the new Secret Moments bath & body line from VS? Well, it finally had its official launch this past spring, with just five of the scents that I spotted the first time around: Island Escape, Good Day Sunshine, Room 504, At First Sight, and Girls' Night In.

When I first tried the products from the Secret

New: Donna Karan Cashmere Mist Liquid Nude

New from Donna Karan this summer is Cashmere Mist Liquid Nude, a reinterpretation of the classic original.

Notes include sandalwood, ylang heart, skin musk, orange flowers, pink cyclamen petals, and lily of the valley.

I like the original Cashmere Mist, but I don't love it. I actually prefer the body products--the powder, body creme, Cashmere Silk and deodorant in particular--to the fragrance

Perfume Notes: Leslie Blodgett Golden Light, Island Michael Kors Bermuda, Pure DKNY

Don't you just love hitting up Sephora and the mall and spritzing every available square inch of arm real estate with something new?

Sure, you'll smell like a perfume factory by the end of the day, and strangers will think you're wiping your nose on your arm as you wander around sniffing yourself, but hey, it's fun. My thoughts on three scents I've tried in recent days:

Leslie Blodgett Perfume

Five for Friday: Fragrances from the Depths of the Beauty Closet...

I was cleaning out my perfume cabinet a couple of weeks ago, and while I found some REALLY old relics that were just destined for the trash (i.e., an ancient bottle of Fiorucci from junior year of college), I did rediscover some old favorites that had somehow fallen by the wayside. Below, check out the lucky scents that have made their way back into the rotation. What old favorite beauty

New from Victoria's Secret: Secret Garden Fresh Collection

Victoria's Secret has added three limited-edition scents to its Secret Garden Collection, under the Fresh Collection banner:

Sheer Love is a blend of watery fruit and bright blooms. Pretty generic sweet fruity floral, but I did get a hint of, hmmm, possibly children's chewable vitamins, with this one. Personally, I'm not in love, sheer or otherwise.

Leave Me Breathless, composed of ocean

Fresh "Eat, Pray, Love" Collection

Fresh has launched a fragrance collection as a tie-in to the upcoming Julia Roberts movie Eat, Pray, Love which is, of course, the film adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's wildly popular travel memoir. Judging by the reception of both the book and the film trailer, Fresh's Eat Pray Love collection will be either embraced or ridiculed, depending on who you ask.

Eat is a "sweet, effervescent" scent

From the Guilty Pleasure Files...Victoria's Secret Luscious Kisses

Luscious Kisses is one of the latest offerings in the ever-popular Secret Garden collection at Victoria's Secret. I spotted it while perusing the semi-annual sale, and it instantly transported me back to a simpler, more carefree time.

Childhood.

And not because this fragrance smells "kiddie," but because it smells like...doll heads.

Yes, doll heads. Or the dolls themselves, in their entirety.

Prada L'Eau Ambree

Prada L'Eau Ambree came to my attention when my friend K announced that she'd just purchased it. I'd never known her to wear anything but Hanae Mori and Chanel Chance, so for her to pick another fragrance, it had to be good.

So of course, I stopped by my trusty Neiman's beauty floor to sniff it. L'Eau Ambree is Prada's latest, a modern take on traditional amber. Notes include cedrat, rose de

Five for Friday: Autumn Fragrances, Part 2

When I finished my last post on autumn comfort scents, I couldn't help feeling that there were other bottles just waiting forlornly in my perfume cabinet for their very own mention. And indeed, there are more than five scents I wear this season. Here are a few more that tend to end up in heavy rotation during the autumn months:1. Narciso Rodriguez wears a bit heavy on me during summer (if I'm

Sensuous Skin, Even in the Dead of Winter

Ah! What's this I spy on the Estee Lauder site? Sensuous, in a dry oil spray!My dears, this has "holiday party" written all over it. I've already named Sensuous as one of my favorite fall scents, and now that it's available in a smooth, moisturizing body oil spray, it's even better.How can you beat a product that makes you smell sweet, keeps scaly winter skin at bay, and gives you a gorgeous