From Christian Dior, J’Adore in a limited edition collector bottle: “The Amphora bottle was created in 1947 for Dior’s very first fragrance, Miss Dior. The exquisite bottle was made from Baccarat crystal and originally designed by Fernand Guerycolas. The new Amphora will be presented in a luxurious case, with each one individually handmade and numbered from one to ten making it a truly unique collector’s item.” At Selfridges in London, size, price and concentration unknown…
The Bubble Roome is a Brooklyn-based company offering handmade bath and body products in a range of five natural fragrance blends; my favorite for this time of year is the Ylang Ylang & Cinnamon blend, which is sensual and cozy at the same time. To date, I’ve tried the Bath & Body Wash and Hemp Oil Lotion in this scent.
The Bubble Roome’s entire line of bath and body products is paraben-free; the body wash is also sulfate-free, and includes chamomile and allantoin to soothe the skin, as well as fruit- and sugar-based alpha hydroxy acids and salicylic acid for exfoliation. It’s a gentle, low-lathering formula, and I find that it works best if I shake it before using. The lotion contains aloe vera, glycerin, coconut oil, and hemp oil to nourish and protect the skin, and it has the perfect consistency: easy to dispense and quick to absorb, but just thick enough to feel luxurious. The fragrances are all composed of essential oils, and they have various aromatherapeutic properties. Ylang-ylang, as The Bubble Roome reminds us, “is considered one of nature’s aphrosidiacs.” It’s the small but intensely scented flower of the cananga tree, native to the Philippines and Indonesia, where it’s traditionally spread on the marriage beds of newly-wed couples…
Citrus scents can be such cheerful, uncomplicated fragrances, and they can brighten up a gloomy day with their connotations of sunshine, cleanliness, and good health. I particularly like to layer citrus-fragranced shower gels and lotions under my favorite summer perfumes, to boost their bright-and-crisp qualities.
However, the available range of lemon-, lime-, and orange-scented products is occasionally disappointing — especially at the higher end of the price spectrum, for some reason. One example is Strange Invisible Perfumes Wild Orange Invisible Body Lotion. I’m assuming it’s intended to be layered under Strange Invisible Perfumes’ citrus-accented perfume oils, such as L’Invisible or Fair Verona. It’s a nice enough medium-weight lotion, packaged in a bottle that suggests a fancy hair mousse. It’s all-natural, with aloe vera and olive oil for moisture. It smells like, well, sweet orange oil. But for this price, I was expecting to be amazed, and I just wasn’t. ($40 for 8 fl. oz.; for buying information see the listing for Strange Invisible Perfumes under Perfume Houses.)
NARS is best known as a creator of trend-setting color cosmetics, so I was surprised to learn that the company also sells a line of body products. Its Ginger Grapefruit Body Lotion promises a fragrance that “fuses the vibrant essence of grapefruit and cassis with the romantic floral touches of sweet peony and violet flower.” This sounds like something I’d love…
I came across WASH WITH JOE Coffeemint Invigorating Bodywash by chance: I was browsing in a C.O. Bigelow store during an out-of-town trip, and a shelf of WASH WITH JOE bottles caught my eye and pulled me across the room, as if by magnetic force. When I covertly sniffed one of the bottles, I was instantly hooked on its fragrance and needed to purchase it immediately. Then I went for a cup of coffee across the street.
I later learned that WASH WITH JOE is the creation of graphic designer/beauty entrepreneur/coffee-drinker Jane Schub, who is the mind (and the eye) behind the Strange/Beautiful nail polishes that I’ve been admiring at Bergdorf Goodman for the past few months. Schub’s design background has provided her with ample sources of inspiration for those polish colors and this new body wash. JOE’s label was influenced by the work of industrial designer Raymond Loewy (who created some of the best-known corporate logos of the twentieth century), the Campbell’s Soup can as interpreted by Andy Warhol, and the movie Good Night and Good Luck (filmed in black-and-white, and set in the 1950s). It’s the visual equivalent of a double espresso: bold, direct, and sophisticated…
The rose has probably received more tributes in writing and song than any other flower; without even trying, anyone can easily think of a famous rose quotation or two. I recently realized that my own formative literary encounter with rose imagery was the classic children’s book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Rose is an important secondary character in the story: she is vain and coquettish but secretly vulnerable, and her relationship with the Prince symbolizes some of the complexities of love. (As a child, I was also very impressed by the depiction of the rose in the film version of The Little Prince.)
Although rose is my favorite note in perfumery, I try not to discuss rose-scented products too often, just because I don’t want to be monotonous. However, June is the month of roses, so I’m going to indulge myself by mentioning a few recent favorites here. And, because we should still stop and smell the proverbial roses even (or especially) during a difficult economy, all of these products are available for $10 or less…