So if you’re like me, part of the fun of being a girl is getting all beautified and purtied up. I mean, beyond the fun that is playing with makeup, what’s the point of putting together a cute outfit if your skin looks dry, your hair looks flat and you smell like a thrift store?

Obviously, my all-time favorite one-stop-shop for all my beauty needs is Sephora. That place has it all… not to mention you can pop in there while you’re shopping and freshen up with their variety of samples. (Confession: sometimes I’ll make Sephora my last stop so I can use all their expensive makeup to get ready for the night!) The sad fact is, beauty products are muy expensive-o and can quickly add up.

Good thing Sephora has a nice stock of too-good-to-be-true goodies for under $20. Let the beautification begin! Read More »

There are many beauty freaks out there like me and trust me, we don’t ever get sick of unwrapping new beauty supplies for the holidays! I love the sweet smell of lotions and perfumes, eyeliners and mascaras! Honestly, I’ll take beauty products over another gift card to Bloomies, any day. Let’s be honest, I’ll end up spending that on stuff at the MAC counter anyway.

Most of the beauty supply stores are doing huge doorbusters and giving away lots of free stuff, so you can snag plenty of swag to get your friends. We beauty freaks appreciate the little fragrance samplers and mini tubes of lipstick, so I’ve put together the perfect guide for your beauty obsessed friends! Read More »

According to studies (and common sense…no pun intended) smell is the most powerful sense known to trigger memories. Each different scent can give us flashbacks to certain times and nostalgic moments past and, hell, even a season.

If you, by chance, decide that you would like to smell like “Spring 2009,” some of the fragrance trends for this season include:

-Limey (But who really wants to smell like the aftermath of a tequila shot?)

-Sandalwood with creamy lactones (Such as coconuts, which your nose considers synonamous with the beach)

-Deep, dry amber notes (Yes, the gem)

-Rose Violet (Featured in almost all perfumes)

-Tuberose orange flower (Huh?)

Okay, so I know what you’re thinking. “Thanks? Am I supposed to go a market now and rub a tuberose orange flower all over myself?” Well, you can if you want to, but an easier way to create that spring scent-track (like a soundtrack for your nose) is to hit up your local Sephora and check out the newly featured perfumes created for Spring ’09. Here are a few of my favorites: Read More »

[Post courtesy of out friends at StyleBakery.com. For more awesome fashion, style and beauty news, check them out!]

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be bringing you beauty gift ideas galore! Each week, you’ll discover gifts of a certain category. Up this week are the most fabulous fragrance gifts money can buy. You’ll not only want to give these to others … you’ll so want to gift yourself a bit too.

Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy Refillable Purse Spray Set

The sweet and sexy fragrance — infused with notes of honeysuckle, jasmine, amber, caramel and vanilla — takes on a new twist in a set of three purse sprays and a refillable atomizer. You’ll be good to go for months — and best of all, the atomizer will look beautiful when you pull it out of your clutch!

$50 at sephora.com

Clean Rollerball Fragrance Set

Shower Fresh. Ultimate. Warm Cotton. One smells better than the next in this set of three rollerball fragrances — though our fave is definitely Warm Cotton, which smells exactly like fresh laundry.

$48 at cleanperfume.com

Read More »

I love Fordham. L-o-v-e it. I’ve got my school t-shirt and my string bag and, yes, that might have been me you saw at the basketball game singing along to The Ram. If you asked me to describe the essence of Fordham, I could tell you about the Jesuit education tradition, or the hard-working student body, or the thrill of studying in New York. Or I could just buy it for you.

Thanks to a new company called Masik Collegiate Fragrances, you can now purchase the scent of your school in perfume form. If scent is the sense most closely tied to memory, the kind folks at Masik have now made it possible to capture the memories of the best years of your life with just a whiff of their product. Want to show off your school pride in a stylish, subtle way? Buy a bottle of your school’s perfume!

I know what you’re thinking: how did they capture the distinctive smell of public-bathroom-disinfectant and Natty Light with just a pinch of mildew? And who on earth would ever wear that? But their methods are much more creative than that. Masik creates specific fragrances based on a variety of factors, such as school colors, traditions, and flowers found on campus. The goal is not to recreate a scent with which students are already familiar (i.e. spilled laundry detergent and leftover pizza), but a new scent that students can adopt and wear and begin to associate with their college memories. Not a bad idea.

Currently, they have developed fragrances for UNC-Chapel Hill and Penn State, with Auburn, UF, Tennessee, and others on the way. (Note to Masik: anytime you want to get started on Fordham’s, be my guest.) So if you’ve got any Tar Heels or Nittany Lions fans on your holiday gift list this year, $60.00 will get you a bottle of their school perfume/cologne. And be on the lookout in case your school is next; perhaps you, too could be spritzing a bottle of Eau du Alma Mater in the near future!

So, remember Vulva?

The questionable demand to smell…questionable is apparently, alive and well. In addition to smelling like a random va-jay, we can all spritz on something quite the opposite.

Thanks to Tom Ford, now we can emit the scent of a man’s crotch! Mmm…

Imagine waking up, taking a shower, feeling refreshed and ready for the day–but not before spraying on a little eau de crotch! Man, designers can make anything trendy.

But that’s not the only foray into fragrance Ford has made. If wanting to sniff genetials all day isn’t enough for you, it seems as though Ford’s also released a scent reminiscent of, get this, cocaine.

If anything, buying a 50 mL bottle of his new “Black Orchid” for $165 is way cheaper than importing the real thing from Colombia. Perhaps it’s the perfect scent for the coke-head gone clean! Read More »

I have so many issues with this one, I don’t even know where to begin. So here goes nothing.

P-Diddy the Perfume? WTF??? Ok, technically it’s Sean John, but P-Diddy is Sean John- so still I say WTF? – Double WTF???

Is there really a girl out there that is going to buy this sh*t… let alone wear it? I can smell it now… hundreds of fat-backed, skank-ass, halter top-wearing honeys packing the 40 /40 club donning Diddy’s “fresh” new scent- I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

I can only imagine it smells a bit like the enclosed storefront ATM by my apartment that a homeless man has conveniently made his own personal restroom… with a hint of “Meadows & Rain” Febreze.

Personal taste aside, MTV has refused to air the ads for P-Diddy’s unforgiveable fragrance “Unforgiveable Women” by Sean John. Although MTV has declined to comment, Puffy says the spots were “deemed too provocative and too sexual for television with cable network executives reportedly demanding the erotic content be edited.”

There is no question the ads are a bit on the racy side, but certainly no more sexually offensive than MTV’s Spring-Break and Real World gropefests. The reality of the situation is the ads are as pungent as the perfume itself… they just stink. Take a look for yourself.

See the ad after the jump. Read More »

Though I love perfume and wear it every day, I’ve never been a “signature scent” kinda girl. I’ve never been able to find a fragrance that’s unmistakably me, probably because perfume to me is a part of my outfit just like anything else, and I choose it just like I choose between stiletto heels and comfy flats, or red lipstick and nude gloss when I’m getting ready.

But I’ve managed to narrow down my collection to my top four. Here they are:

For dancing ‘til dawn: Nanette Lepore Shanghai Butterfly

With notes of sandalwood, Jasmine, and Siberian musk, Shanghai Butterfly is a really romantic, exotic scent—a perfect accessory to that little black dress. This is probably one of my favorites because it packs such a punch and is so unique—I get comments from men and women almost every time I wear it. Read More »

This summer I’m proud to say I actually did a couple things with my life, including a relaxing week-long vacation in London with only the very best of sidekicks, my awkwardly hilarious sister.

Lucky for us, two chickadees who tend to violently swat the air when someone’s smoking a ciggy nearby, we arrived on the exact day that smoking was banned in any public restaurant, pub, or place. This ban was lucky for two secondhand smoke sneering tourists, not so lucky for stinky smelly pubs across Britain. Read More »

Marc Jacobs has found a way to mix things up again. His ad campaigns featuring underage Dakota Fanning donning clothes highly unfitting for any pre-teen weren’t enough. Apparently, the miniscule models who can only be identified through a magnifying glass weren’t shocking enough, either.

Jacobs has decided to promote his new fragrance “Daisy” in a groundbreaking advertising stunt. A depiction of scratch and sniff daisies will be displayed on the window of Harvey Nichol’s (a British department store) in London.

Shoppers will be able to test the new fragrance without even stepping foot in the store. This is not to say that the advertisement will hurt Harvey Nichols’ sales. Surely dozens of people will be drawn to the store to experience the first ever scratch and sniff window.

Marc Jacobs describes “Daisy” as a combination of fruity scents such as grapefruit and strawberry infused with the scent of violets, gardenias, and jasmine with a dash of vanilla. Read More »