Mother’s Day (in the US, anyway) is coming soon — this Sunday. We posted one list of scented gifts already, here’s another.
From Bella Freud, a votive set with four 70g candles (Signature, Ginsberg is God, Je t’aime Jane and 1970) in a black presentation box. $120 at Nordstrom…
Mother’s Day (in the US, anyway) is coming up on Sunday, 8 May. It’s time to get shopping, so here are a scented gift ideas for 2016.
From Hèrmes, Le Petit Bain bundle: pick a 50 ml fragrance, and add one or two body products of your choice. Prices vary; the selection show above is $219 (shipping is free). At Hèrmes USA…
If you’re as interested in cosmetics as you are in fragrance, you’ve no doubt become aware of the “subscription box” craze of the past five years or so. It usually works like this: you subscribe by filling out a questionnaire about your tastes, and for a monthly fee you’re sent a box of trial-sized products purportedly chosen to fit your profile. Everyone loves getting surprises in the mail, right? I’ve joined two or three of these subscription brands in the past, and for a while I enjoyed receiving my packages; as the months ticked by, however, I ended up owning too many items that I just never used (bright coral lipsticks! sparkly highlighting powders!) so I unsubscribed.
More recently, variations on the subscription theme have emerged — several fragrance clubs, for example, and now Boxwalla, a service that “curates” boxes in four categories: Beauty, Food, Film and Books. The Beauty box promises to offer “luxurious and effective products to nourish your skin and body,” all made in the United States with non-toxic and cruelty-free ingredients. I’ve just tried Boxwalla’s December Beauty box, which seemed to have a “winter comfort” motif, and — unlike some of the cosmetics subscription services I’ve tried —it was an all-around success for me…
‘Tis the season! — and I’m trying not to get Grinch-y, as I often do at this time of year, when accumulated stresses and obligations (and NYC crowds) finally get to me. One way to stay calm, I find, is to turn to several scents that I associate specifically with the holiday season. I’ve worn them before, through holidays merry and not-quite-so-merry, and they remind me to stop and savor small, familiar pleasures at this all-too-often overstuffed time of year.
On one hand, Christmas is a time for tradition, and every year I reach for my treasured bottle of Caron Nuit de Noel Parfum on Christmas Eve. I find this fragrance wonderfully difficult to parse: it certainly includes oakmoss and some very dark rose, but I could also be convinced that it smells a bit like church incense, or roasted chestnuts, or a pine forest at night. In other words, it’s just abstract enough to lend itself to various fanciful interpretations…
Our second-to-last holiday gift post includes stocking stuffers and cheap thrills. Our last post for 2015 will be the luxury edition, coming up early next week.
Italian violet pastilles (for spring lovers!) from Leone, $4.99 at Smallflower…