Time is running out — if you still need to buy a present for Mother’s Day, get cracking! A few last suggestions:
In case Mom has been extra-extra good this year: Annick Goutal’s Mandragore Eau de Parfum in a 100 ml limited edition, numbered butterfly bottle, handpainted by French artist Caroline Rennequin. $250 at Saks…
Nordstrom, so far, is beating out the other department stores in their online selection of fun gift sets for Mother’s Day. Here is a great one for Thierry Mugler Angel fans: a black case with Celestial Showers (3.5 oz.), Celestial Body Cream (1.7 oz.) and Angel Refillable Eau de Parfum Spray (1.7 oz.). $119…
Guerlain introduced Insolence last year to mainly mixed reviews among the fragrance community, gaining flak for being too sweet and simple and not particularly Guerlain-ish. I have to agree with Victoria of Bois de Jasmin that if one waits for it to emerge, underneath this sugary violet exterior lies a rich Guerlain heart of iris, woods and smoky vanilla.
However, while this may be true of the perfume, the same complexity is sadly not present in Guerlain’s matching shower gel; its fragrance captures only the Eau de Toilette’s sweet innocent phase…
As I write this review for elizabethW Magnolia Bath Gel, snow is falling again on New York City. I have the late-winter blues, and I’m starting to look forward to my own personal rites of spring. In April and early May, for example, I take pleasure in the days when I can eat my lunch under the magnolia trees in Central Park.
The Magnolia products from elizabethW aptly capture the scent of a real magnolia flower, with its creamy sweetness and its bright, lemony edge. Magnolia is a softly flirtatious floral, and elizabethW accentuates it with light notes of gardenia and mimosa, creating a feminine bouquet that would suit Scarlett O’Hara in one of her more tranquil moods. (And who could ever forget Rhett Butler saying, “You can drop the moonlight and magnolias, Scarlett,” when he saw through her sweet talk?)
elizabethW’s Magnolia is one of the brand’s Signature Collection fragrances…
Bath & Body Works recently released the Midnight Pomegranate line of products as an addition to its Signature Collection. This new fragrance, as described by the company, includes top notes of pomegranate, sparkling citrus, dewberry, anise, cinnamon, nutmeg; heart notes of cassis, blackberry, iris, jasmine, raspberry; and base notes of musk, sandalwood, vanilla, tobacco, patchouli.
This list of notes led me to hope that Midnight Pomegranate body products would layer well with Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir Cologne, whose pomegranate rests on a spicy base of frankincense and patchouli…