Here’s what I remember from my Scent-ual past:

First fragrance: Love’s Baby Soft and you know what, I still like it. Sarah uses the body spray.

Favorite in high school: Still the Loves, but I added some others to it – a lemon-scented Love’s fragrance and we used to do this layering with Gloria Vanderbilt and Anais Anais. It sounds odd, but I did it, my sister did it, and her best friend did it, too and we thought we smelled great.

High School boyfriend: I don’t remember a particular cologne from one of them, but there was a combination soap/deodorant/cigarettes/leather/sweat thing that I remember still looking for into my 20s. I still like the same scent, but without the cigarettes.

If you want to get in on this, at the very least it’s fun to take a stroll down memory lane, then check out the Beauty and Style Blog at Women’s Health.

Love’s image credit: Amazon.com

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

Scents Of the Past

I’ve learned that price and ease of availability don’t have that much to do with quality or how easy something is to use and enjoy. When the Glade lady contacted me with, “May I delight you with a sample?” (Easily my favorite work request ever) I said, “Yes, please.” 

She sent me a Soy Candle and a Reed Diffuser set in the Sheer White Cotton fragrance. I love soy candles because they are better for you. They are not made of any petroleum products, so they don’t give off harmful fumes. Soy candles don’t leave a sooty film on anything, just nice clean-burning candle scent.

I’ve burned the candle for hours and it’s hardly gone down at all. I have 3 teenagers, 1 preteen, and a cat. If you walked into my house, all you’d smell is Sheer White Cotton freshness. I put the scented Reed Diffuser next to were I sit to do my work, in my living room. Every once in awhile, I take the reeds out, flip them over. I love walking by and catching a whiff.

In addition to smelling great, these products are inexpensive, so you can treat yourself to something special without going broke. The candle retails for about $9.99 for the 10 ounce size and the Reed Diffuser set is about $9.49. You can get both products at your local drugstore for about what it would usually cost for one scented candle or reed diffuser of another brand. I know that as soon as my candle is gone, I’m definitely going out to get another. Maybe this time I’ll try the Currants & Acai or possibly the MacIntosh Apple… so many choices….

Image credit: Michelle Smith

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

Glade’s New Fragrance Collection

Donna Karan’s Body Glow Moisturizing Gradual Self Tanner is the first self tanner of it’s kind. It carries a bit of sheen and the scent of Donna Karan’s Cashmere Mist fragrance. Use it as part of a layered approach to beautifully scented and glowing skin.

Cashmere Mist Body Glow
Moisturizing Self  Tanner
5 oz for $35

Donna Karan offers free standard shipping with every $75 purchase.

Image credit: Donna Karan Beauty.com

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

Spring Is Self Tanner Season

The result? Very often, you return home with a distinct odor in your hair and sometimes, immediate washing is not an option.
My new find for when this happens is Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb Bomblicious Hair Mist. Better than simply spraying some of your perfume in your hair (that honestly just smells like musky smoke), this really truly revitalizes hair and leaves it smelling floral and sweet – probably better than before you went out!

Image: Nordstrom

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

Bomblicious Hair Mist

Fresh or Citrus scents are those  with clean notes like citrus fruits, lavender, green, or marine. These are the fresh scents that we associate with healthy beauty.

Oriental scents are spicy with earthy notes like amber, resins, vanilla, musk, or patchouli. I’m partial to orientals – I love the richness of the amber or musky notes. Orientals appeal to men or women.

Woody or chypre fragrances are those with a wood or moss note, like a cedar, bergamot, or oak moss. A chypre fragrance is exotic, sexy.  This type of scent originated in the Mediterrean.

Fougère scents are a combination of the fresh, musks, woods, and mosses. These are most appealing in a masculine fragrance.

Floral is pretty self-explanitory. Floral fragrances carry notes from flower blossoms. These can include apple blossom, rose, violet, jasmine, lily of the valley, muguet, etc. They are traditionally feminine fragrances, but men’s fragrance also carries floral notes.

Floral Orientals carry a combination of sweet and spicy notes.

Floral Aldehydics are aromatics combined with floral notes.

Image credit: All Posters.com

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

An Explanation of Fragrance Families

When my kids were little, I used to splurge on Burt’s Bees Baby products from the Health Food Store.  Now you can find them all over in stores like Long’s Drugs or Target.  My favorite products were the Baby Bee Apricot Baby Oil and a little Apricot solid scent that I don’t think that they carry anymore.

I got a big box of products to review for work and inside the box I found my old favorite, the Baby Bee Apricot oil.  Score!  I love to put it on my legs after shaving. It leaves them smooth and the subtle apricot scent enhances, instead of over-powering my new favorite perfume.

Baby Bee Apricot Baby Oil
3oz for $8

Baby Bee is infused with the rich oil of apricot kernels, grape seeds, olives, and avocado. The “kernel” of the apricot is located within the pit of the apricot fruit.  It’s edibile and full of Vitamin A and E.  In addition Baby Bee Apricot Oil contains Lanolin which is good for baby’s skin. Even better, it’s free of Phthalate and Parabens.

I used to use this oil to give my little Sarah massages as a baby. I’m a Certified Massage Therapist and I’ve learned that there’s nothing like a good massage to prepare baby for bed time. If you’d like to give it a try, click here for some easy instructions.

Hayden Image Credit: Michelle Smith

Baby Bee Apricot Baby Oil Image credit: Burts Bees.com

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

The Fresh Scent of Apricot

Theme Fragrances are meant to flatter the individual’s own style. You can layer them to create something unique or wear them on their own. They come in a solid perfume or a roll-on oil, both are the perfect size to slip into your purse, pocket, or makeup bag.

Mantra, a “sensuous honeyed musk,” also carries notes of spring florals. It has a powdery scent and it’s now my new favorite. This is a soft, romantic musk – I keep sniffing my arm, where I applied it. It’s very nice and only $7.50 if you purchase it from the Theme Fragrance shop, at Etsy.com.  (They are going to be carrying it at their main Theme Fragrance shop, very soon).

Song is a “breath of green, and tuberose, and woods.” It’s a definite floral scent, but it’s not your mother’s floral – it’s fresh and zingy. My daughter snagged it immediately. (She’s always doing that to me).  Both Mantra and Song ship in Theme Fragrance’s signature travel box.

The Mantra and Song samples were roll-on oils, but the Sarong came in a solid, like a little pot of lip balm. The strongest fragrance note was the coconut, but it also carries vanilla and “night-blooming flowers.” The scent was so familiar to me, but I couldn’t think of why. Then, it occurred to me that it smells like Summer. It has a youthfulness to it. The perfect fragrance to wear with a sundress and a tan.

Both oil and solid disappear into your skin – no sticky mess – leaving behind only scent.

Image credits: Theme Fragrance.com or Theme Fragrance Shop at Etsy.com

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

Pocket-size Scent From Theme Fragrance

The Indigo bar is a 5 oz bar of cold process soap that has a clean scent that is a mix of lavender, lemon, grapefruit, mint, and woodsy musk.

Indigo Vegan Soap
$5.75

The Honeysuckle soap contains skin smoothing oils like sunflower seed, coconut, avocado, apricot, and shea butter.

Honeysuckle Soap
$5

The Cut Grass bar has a grass-like striping and would make a lovely decorative Spring accent.

Cut Grass
$5.75

Image credit: Sherri’s Scents and Soy Shop at Etsy.com

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

Decorative Handmade Soaps

Fragrance comes in 3 basic concentrations. In terms of the strength of a scent and the length of time it will last, you do get what you pay for.

Perfume is the highest concentration of scent – 13-40% concentrate. It comes in a smaller bottle, it’s more expensive, but you use a smaller amount because the scent is strong and long lasting. Apply your perfume sparingly – a little bit goes a long way.

Eau de parfum is the next step down with a concentration of 7-15%. Eau de parfum is less expensive than perfume. Most of the scents that I own are eau de parfums. The bottles are pretty, I can comfortably wear the scent every day without worrying about the expense, and the scent lasts quite a long time.

Eau de toilette has the lightest concentration of scent – 1-6%. A bottle of eau de toilette is larger and less expensive than the eau de parfum or the perfume. Body sprays and body lotions carry this strength of fragrance. That explains how my daughter can blast the entire house when she walks out the door freshly spritzed with her Victoria’s Secret Love Spell, but an hour later, I can only smell it faintly as I walk past her bedroom. (Her boyfriend loves the scent, but he says he has to keep his mouth closed or he can “taste” it in the air). Eau de toilette has a shorter lifespan after application, but that’s okay because it’s inexpensive and you are free to reapply.

Image credit: All Posters.com

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

An Explanation of Fragrance Concentration

Badgley Mischka Fleur de Nuit

Isn’t this a pretty bottle of perfume? I love the intricate black print design on the clear bottle. Very vintage chic! Fleurs de Nuit is described as a white floral scent. It has top notes of magnolia, quince blossom, bergamot and green notes; a heart of radiant white florals, night-blooming jasmine, orange blossom and white peach, and a drydown of silky woods and glowing amber.  A sophisticated fragrance for the sophisticated lady in your life! Available now at Saks Fifth Avenue for $90

(Image: Saks Fifth Avenue)

Post from: Splendicity. Check out our new community features!

Badgley Mishka Fleur De Nuit Perfume