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Browsing by tag: cheap thrills

Mustang for Men ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 25 July 2013 28 Comments

Mustang for Men advert

Hey guys, I didn’t forget about you during drugstore week! Today’s review is of Mustang for Men. Yes, a perfume named after a car. If Porsche, Bentley, Harley Davidson and Mercedes-Benz can have their own fragrances, Mustang might as well join the line-up. (Something tells me not to hold my breath for Suburu Justy Eau de Cologne.)

Mustang’s marketing materials say that the fragrance “embodies the spirit of the Mustang man while remaining true to the values of manhood and legend of the Mustang brand.” As far as the “values of manhood” go, I’ve only known two Mustang drivers. One was an accountant for the federal government who complained nonstop about his aching back. The other was my uncle, who now owns a dry cleaners in Sparks, Nevada, and he didn’t have the Mustang past his twenties. Neither man was known for tearing it up…

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Playboy Play It Lovely ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 24 July 2013 70 Comments

Playboy Play It Lovely

After a series of questions plumbing my preferences on things like jewelry (gold and diamonds, or leather and studs?) and clothing (soft and silky, or revealing to show my tattoos?), the Playboy Fragrances’ website quiz pegged me for Playboy Play It Lovely. To be fair, it may be that none of the Playboy fragrances is capable of capturing my true marvel. But after smelling Play It Lovely, all I can say is, Really?

Play It Lovely was released in 2010 with two other fragrances, Play It Sexy and Play It Spicy. It has notes of citrus, blackberry, juicy pear, cherry baby orchid, belle-de-nuit, tuberose, amber, patchouli and tonka bean. In a nutshell, it smells like peach shampoo, only not as nice…

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Playboy VIP for Her ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 23 July 2013 75 Comments

Playboy VIP advert

“The new Playboy VIP duo now opens the doors to the VIP lifestyle the way only Playboy can! Smug doorman, not a problem! Cosmopolitan exclusive parties, private limos and the first class VIP lifestyle are just a spray away…” So claims the Playboy fragrance website.

I haven’t needed to spray away any smug doormen lately, but my life could use some glamour. Right now an old cat is snoring on my lap, I’m drinking from a mug emblazoned with “Maw, come git yer coffee,” and my ride is a choice between a dented 1986 pickup truck and an even older bicycle with mismatched fenders. Not exactly Hollywood.

So, what does the VIP lifestyle smell like? Apparently like a mash-up of Donna Karan Cashmere Mist and a box of popsicles…

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Musk by Alyssa Ashley ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 22 July 2013 86 Comments

alyssa-ashley-musk

It’s drugstore week! Robin is on vacation, and once again I’ve commandeered a week to review fragrances you can buy at the same time you pick up aspirin and kitty litter.

One thing you can say for drugstores is that they aren’t afraid to stock musk. Musky stalwarts from Coty and Jovan have been selling steadily for more than 40 years, and despite the reluctance of department stores to go there, Rite Aid appears to see no reason to fool with success. Alyssa Ashley Musk has been a drugstore favorite since 1968.

Last week I stopped by Nordstrom for a lipstick and ended up engrossed at a temporary display table for Houbigant. Michal Gizinski, billed by Nordstrom as an international fragrance consultant, stood over bottles of Houbigant Fougère Royale, Oranger en Fleurs and Quelques Fleurs, enticing shoppers with his European accent and Prince Matchabelli looks to try one of the fragrances. I told him I was doing a week of drugstore perfume reviews, and he quickly recommended Alyssa Ashley Musk…

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Scentings Miss Marple & Nancy Drew ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Jessica on 19 July 2013 16 Comments

Scentings Miss Marple

The small independent fragrance company Scentings recently expanded its line of literary-inspired scents; now, in addition to perfume oils named after Jane Austen heroines Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Woodhouse, Scentings represents the mystery genre with Miss Marple and Nancy Drew.

I still remember the very first time I read a Miss Marple mystery: it was The Mirror Crack’d, and it was the first Agatha Christie book, even the first “grown-up” mystery, that I’d ever read. I was eleven years old, and it was a gift from a teacher; I was thrilled by it. Years later, having read many more Christie mysteries, I savored every episode of the BBC Miss Marple series starring the peerless Joan Hickson. That series was unimpeachably faithful to the books and to the character of Miss Marple.

Scentings is just as faithful to Christie’s creation, in its own way…

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