Mary Kay has launched Journey of Dreams, a new limited edition fragrance for women. Journey of Dreams is part of the brand’s ‘Beauty that counts’ program; for every bottle purchased by August 15, Mary Kay will donate $2.50 to The Mary Kay Foundation grant program for women’s shelters…
An exotic scented journey awaits . . . . Travel to Indonesia. Samarinda begins with top notes of sweet orange, cardamom and pink peppercorn. A heart of carnation, heliotrope, rose, orange blossom and Sumatran coffee give way to a sweet scotch leather layover fortified by rum ether, jasmine rice, vanilla oakwood and roasted seashell.
Samarinda is the latest from Providence Perfume Co, and it’s a spicy oriental unisex fragrance named for the city in Borneo. When I reviewed Providence Perfume’s last fragrance, Branch & Vine, I noted that they were one of my favorite indie natural brands but that I didn’t like everything they made. Samarinda now joins Branch & Vine in the ‘yes’ column, and yes, it lives up to its “exotic journey” billing.
The opening is juicy and bright, but already rich and peppery-spicy, and it warms quickly — you can tell you’re in oriental territory within seconds…
More limited edition collector fragrance bottles, with the usual disclaimers: in most of these cases, the juice is unchanged, just the bottle is “special” (or not, as the case may be), and some of these may not be available in the US. Today’s post includes special editions from Roberto Cavalli, Acqua di Parma, Guerlain, Hermès and Giorgio Armani.
From Roberto Cavalli, the Nero Assoluto Exclusive Edition celebrating the opening of the brand’s new boutique in Milan, “a luminous treasure thanks to the application of 2.500 gold and black Swarovski crystals which cover the surface of the bottle.”
Love + Toast is a Margot Elena Wells brand. If you shop in the US, chances are that you’ve seen one of her products somewhere — she’s also responsible for Lollia, Tokyo Milk, Library of Flowers and Apotheke: M, brands which pretty much cover the price and distribution scale from Neiman Marcus to Walgreens. All of the lines feature scented products in whimsical packaging, although Love + Toast is easily the cutesiest of them all. It’s geared a bit younger than its siblings, and has prices to match: many of the products can be had for $15 or less. Love + Toast emphasizes the use of natural materials (the brand’s tag line is “natural, not neutral”) but does not appear to make any “100% natural” claims. A portion of the brand’s proceeds goes to Girls, Inc., “a nonprofit organization that focuses on giving confidence to girls.”
Jessica reviewed two of the hand creams back in 2010: Mandarin Tea and Pomme Poivre. Today, I’m reviewing seven items, including two of the brand’s rollerball fragrances (Juniper Gin and Candied Citron), another hand cream (Sugar Grapefruit), three lip butters (Coconut Lime, Fizzy Ginger and Rose Sorbet) and a lip balm (Gin & Lime)…
Davidoff will launch Cool Water Coral Reef, the brand’s 2014 limited edition summer flankers for the Cool Water fragrance series, in March. As with the last two sets of summer flankers, the sales will benefit the National Geographic Society’s “Pristine Seas” program to protect the oceans. Other upcoming Davidoff fragrances include Cool Water Night Dive…