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Browsing by author: Jessica

Vanacci Lockstone ~ scented jewelry review

Posted by Jessica on 18 May 2017 25 Comments

Vanacci Lockstone bracelet

Finding a fragrance you truly love is a pleasurable challenge; making it last on your skin can be a more frustrating situation. A few years back, Angela wrote a post about ways to make fragrance last longer, and it’s still popular. More recently she reviewed a perfume “primer” named Canvas & Concrete, a spray-on base layer that helps the fragrance to “cling” and evolve more slowly. I tried Canvas & Concrete, but it gave me a rash, so I’ve been on the lookout for an alternative method to make my lighter fragrances stick around longer.

Vanacci, a British company that offers men’s wallets and watches, has launched a line of “fragrance-enhancing products” including pendants, cufflinks and bracelets. These accessories all incorporate “Lockstone,” a “microabsorbent” material that reportedly holds and gradually releases perfume so its scent lasts seven times longer than it would on your skin. I was curious enough to try a Lockstone item, especially since the products have a simple, minimalist look…

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Velvet & Sweet Pea Rose Encens & Eze ~ perfume reviews

Posted by Jessica on 4 May 2017 5 Comments

Velvet & Sweet Pea Rose Encens & Eze

We all have our own preferred “comfort scents,” and they can be just as individual as any of our other perfume preferences. Vanilla and other gourmands might be popular in this particular category, but I’m sure there are those of you who also reach for vetiver or violets or what-have-you when the going gets rough. I’ve been noticing for the past year or two that when I’m dealing with bad news, or a headache or bad cold, or just the end of a long day, I end up looking through my stash for samples of natural perfumes.

Velvet & Sweet Pea is one line that never fails to soothe my spirit with its scents (not to mention its colorful Victorian-style imagery, including lots of cats!). I’m a longtime fan of Black Cat, and recently I’ve tried two newer perfume oils called Rose Encens and Eze that have eased me through moments of stress…

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Gallivant London & Brooklyn ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Jessica on 20 April 2017 10 Comments

Gallivant London bottle and box

I recently had the chance to experience the new Gallivant fragrance line, and after admiring its packaging and display (city maps! 30 ml bottles! tiny paper airplanes instead of blotters!), I had to decide which of the four fragrances to try on my skin. Where to “gallivant” first? I chose the two cities that have personal meaning for me: London (which I’ve visited twice) and Brooklyn (where I work).

London was developed by perfumer Karine Chevallier and its notes include cucumber, violet leaves, rose, orris root, leather, sandalwood, patchouli and cedar. The Gallivant website outlines it in a sequence of sensory imagery: “East end boys and west end girls. Second-hand leather jackets. . . .Roses from Columbia Road. Georgian architecture. A hint of dustiness. An earthy lush wetness you can almost taste.”

Well, I’d have to try London just for that Pet Shop Boys reference, if for nothing else…

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Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Gekkou Hanami ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 13 April 2017 10 Comments

cherry blossoms

There are years when I feel as though I’ve missed Spring entirely. Believe, me, true Spring (with a capital S) is a fleeting season in New York City, just a week or two crushed between the bone-chilling rainy days of late winter and the months-long oppression of summer’s filth-tinged humidity.

I’m really going to pay attention this year so that I can make the most of Spring’s brief delights. Never mind the deadlines (and oh, do I have deadlines for the next few weeks!) — I’ve been forcing myself to go outside for afternoon coffee breaks and I’ve already bought my tickets to Sakura Matsuri, the annual cherry blossom festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I even have my perfume picked out: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Gekkou Hanami (“Sakura Gazing in the Moonlight”)…

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Raw Spirit Mystic Pearl ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 6 April 2017 5 Comments

Raw Spirit Mystic Pearl brand images

We had an unseasonably warm day last weekend — or maybe it actually was seasonably appropriate weather, who knows anymore? — and I suddenly didn’t want to wear any of my dusky rose-and-patchouli or powdery rose-and-violet perfumes. I reached for my box of recently arrived samples and chose Raw Spirit Mystic Pearl, “a fresh floral fragrance with a salty ozonic top note” that is “inspired by the mystical island of Bali and the pristine waters of the South Seas, home to the magnificent Queen of Pearls, the Pinctada.”

I happen to love pearls; the pearl is my birthstone, and I have a few favorite pieces of jewelry that incorporate pearls…

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