Called the D&G Fragrance Collection for Her and Him, the fragrances shake out as a bit of a mixed bag.  While I think they are definitely more for HER than HIM, we all know that body chemistry makes a big difference is how the fragrance dries down and lingers.

Here’s a primer to get you started:

1 – Le Bateleur, named for the Juggler or Magician, has aromatic notes of cedar and vetiver.  Fresh, clean, and sporty, this fragrance didn’t dry down on me.  Maybe it will be better on a guy, but it was just sort of meh as far as I’m concerned.  Not bad, not good, just there.

3 – L’Imperatrice, named for the Empress, has vibrant fruit and bright pink floral notes.  There’s a nice amount of citrus to keep it from being too cloyingly sweet, but also enough soft sweet notes to keep it from being too harshly fruity.  I liked the scent, but it didn’t seem to have staying power.  Not sure how it would be for a guy, methinks perhaps a bit too sweet.

6 – L’Amoureux, named for the Lovers, has notes of seductive woods and tempting spices.  Very woodsy, in my opinion, and not in a way that works well for me.  Smelled it on a guy, however, and it was quite nice.  Not sure many women will be able to carry this one off.

10 – La Roue de la Fortune, named for the Wheel of Fortune, has notes of opulent tuberose and daring patchouli.  If you don’t like sweet fragrances, you can pass this one right on by, but if you love gardenia and jasmine, you’ll want this fragrance, and the patchouli does nothing to mellow it out.  It’s strong; wear sparingly so your non-sweet loving friends don’t run for cover.  I can’t see a guy opting for this scent, and this seems all girly-girl.

18 – La Lune, named for the Moon, has white floral and soft white leather notes.  Another sweet fragrance, this one reminds me of something that I just can’t put my finger on.  A scent, a memory, something that I just haven’t figured out yet.  Maybe when I do I can better decide if I like this scent or not.  Another one that just doesn’t seem right for a guy.

The D&B Fragrance Collection for Her and Him is reasonably priced (especially for D&G) at $65 for 3.3 fl. oz, are available at fine fragrance counters.

My favorite was 10, although I know it sweety-sweetness will not be for everyone.  Have you tried these fragrances?  What do you think?  Are they unisex, or more for us girls?  Do you have a favorite?

Photo credit: Nordstrom

Post from: The List Maven

I can’t stand browsing for perfume in a store. The smells always end up melding together into something all together awful that I would never wear. Trying to find my next signature scent is as unlikely as picking up a new pair of genuine Manolo Blahniks for under $100. Ladies, I said genuine.

Anyway…Shoppers Drug Mart is selling Fragrance Sampler Sets – which include 10 little mini samplers of some of the most popular perfumes right now. The set cost $70 – but it comes with a certificate you turn in at the end of your trial when you pick the perfume that best suits you.

Perfect! Now I have several wears of ten perfumes before I have to make a decision…no pressure or snap judgements. Time to reflect and really find the right scent for my daily life.

Here are the ten perfumes I’m trying out right now, thanks to Shoppers Drug Mart’s genius idea…

Sarah Jessica Parker Dawn

Elizabeth Arden Pretty

Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy

Ed Hardy Love & Luck

Marc Jacobs Daisy

Lacoste Love of Pink

Vera Wang’s Princess

Givenchy Very Irresistible

Yves Saint Laurent Elle

Nina Ricci Nina

I’ll let you know in a few weeks how my samplefest turns out…but right now I have to get ready for a date with my hubby and must decide what scent I will be test driving tonight!

Post from: The List Maven

You do have a fragrance wardrobe, don’t you?  A selection of scents that you rotate into use based on the time of year, weather, your mood, occasion, and other personal considerations?

From Sak’s list of their current best selling fragrances, here are a few suggestions:

• Annick Goutal, Petite Cherie – A fresh combination of fruity and floral ingredients including peach, musk rose, pear, fresh cut grass and vanilla.  I’ve been a fan of Annick Goutal fragrances, and am looking forward to checking this out.
• Bond No. 9 New York, The Scent of Peace – This is available exclusively at Sak’s, and has notes of sparkling, energizing grapefruit and blackcurrant are balanced by the sheer loveliness of lily of the valley, and mellow base notes of cedar wood and musk.  I’ve not been a big Bond No. 9 fan, but this one might tempt me.
• Chloé – Their new signature scent, a fresh and feminine with an utterly innate sense of chic.  I haven’t tried this one yet.
• David Yurman – From the creator of beautiful jewelry comes this blend exotic woods and patchouli intertwines with the fluidity of rose and water lily.   If you are familiar with David Yurman jewelry, one look at the bottle and you’ll know this is his.
• Diesel, Femme Fuel For Life – Innocent yet sensual, this sexy potions has notes of Jasmine, Patchouli, Black Currant and Crème De Cassis.  Is patchouli a little too 60’s for your taste?  Don’t worry, it’s not the controlling note, and it dries down powdery.
• Dolce & Gabbana, The One – Adding to their collection of scents, this D&G options is a warm, Oriental floral fragrance, with modern sensuality and strong personality.  If you like Oriental notes, I think you’ll love the fragrance.
• Narciso Rodriguez, For Her – A musk fragrance with honey flower, radiant amber and tactile woody pulsations.  This scents was named Best Women’s Fragrance in Allure magazine’s “Best of Beauty.”
• Prada Beauty, Infusion D’Iris -  Described as a dream, an Italian voyage, an ambiance, the smell of soap, the clean scent of crisp linen sheets, and naked skin, this fragrance includes Iris Pallida from Florence and the warm top note glow of Sicilian mandarin.  This was the purchase I made, and the few times that I’ve worn it have resulted in major compliments.  (In photo above.)
• Viktor & Rolf, Flowerbomb – A profusion of floral scents, with top notes of tea and bergamot, and middle notes of jasmine, orchid, freesia, and rose.  Listed on W magazine’s “A List” and in Estylo magazine’s Top Ten.  I tried this a couple weeks ago.  It was nice, but it might be a little too florally for me.

Fragrance can be an expensive purchase, which is why I spend lots of time smelling, sampling and then sampling some more.  You have to LOVE the scent when you put in on, and still LOVE it as you wear it throughout the day.

If you’re ready to buy, Sak’s has a special offer running through January 18th.  You can receive a travel case by Stephanie Johnson, packed with all sorts of beauty goodies, with any $50 fragrance or beauty purchase.  Use the code SHAPEUP at check out.

Photo credit: Sak’s

Post from: The List Maven

Okay, as promised, I’ve got 5 bottles of Jessica Simpson’s “Fancy” perfume to give away to my wonderful readers! If you missed out on the chance to get a bottle of Paris Hilton’s Fairy Dust, here’s your chance to get an equally beautiful, but delightfully DIFFERENT fragrance.

Fancy is a little sweeter, a little more flowery. The initial whiff makes me think of some kind of not-sicky-sweet candy. (This makes perfect sense if you’re familiar with any of Jessica Simpson’s cosmetics, of course.)

It’s definitely not a “mature” scent, though would be perfect for a wife or girlfriend, or even a teenage/college age girl. So here’s the deal…

Leave a comment below and I’ll keep this post open until late night Wednesday, December 17th. I’m HOPING, but in no way guarantee-ing that winners will get their bottle before Christmas. They’re shipped by Jessica’s PR firm, and not me, so I have really no control over that, but let’s all cross fingers and keep hope, okay?

Make sure that you use a valid email address (but don’t put it IN the comment, put it in the email field only, so you don’t get spammed) that you check regularly. Winners must respond within 24 hours of receiving notification by me, or you will forfit your bottle and it will go to someone else… I’m really trying hard to make sure these get out before Christmas as best I can!

(Image Credit: Newscom)

Post from: The List Maven

It’s been a long week, and I’m thrilled to have been able to not only do the interview with Paris Hilton, but to find so many new readers to The List Maven. Please stay tuned, as I have more exciting news coming at the end of this post!

Winners were chosen at random (using random.org), as they always are here at The List Maven.

Paris Hilton Interview: 5 Reasons Women Will Love Fairy Dust Perfume Winners:

1. Chelsea
2. KrazyK

Paris Hilton Fairy Dust Giveaway #2: Red Carpet Essentials Winners:
(The coolest thing is you all got at least one right! The answers were: Lip Gloss, Blackberry, and really high heels.)

1. Lauren
2. Kevin

And the winner of the full size bottle of Fairy Dust, plus the autograph from Paris (from the Full Interview with Paris Hilton and Final Giveaway post) is…

PattieK

Congrats to all the winners! I’ll be emailing you to get your shipping addresses today.
Thank you again to all who entered… and for those looking for more chances to win some great holiday gifts, check this out…

I also have five bottles of Jessica Simpson’s “Fancy” perfume that I’ll be giving away next week! Hahahaha! I’ve been holding that secret in for weeks now and it’s killing me! Keep your eyes peeled for the post, and make sure to check out ALL the posts here at The List Maven… you never know when you’ll get the chance for a freebie!

Post from: The List Maven

This is it!! The Paris Hilton week on The List Maven is over, but you have one last chance to enter to win the final, fifth bottle of Paris Hilton’s newest perfume, Fairy Dust PLUS an autograph from Paris herself! Make sure you comment below to enter. Comments are now closed on the other clips:

Paris Hilton Interview: 5 Reasons Women Will Love Fairy Dust Perfume

Paris Hilton Fairy Dust Giveaway #2: Red Carpet Essentials

(Winners will be declared on Monday, December 8th, 2008, along with the final winner of this post’s giveaway.)

PLEASE NOTE: We can only ship inside the USA, so please keep this in mind. If you are not in the US, but wish to comment anyway, please do, but let me know that you’re outside the US.

Also, please stay tuned to TheListMaven.com for more great stuff, including giveaways the whole month of December!

Post from: The List Maven

In this clip, Paris starts to share with me what her “Red Carpet Essentials” are. There are three of them in total, but I cut the clip short because this time you have to actually GUESS what they might be in order to win!

After the clip plays, scroll down to the comments section and let me know what you think are Paris Hilton’s top three red carpet essentials. On Saturday, December 6, I’ll post the full interview so you can see exactly what they are (as well as the rest of the interview), and I’ll announce which two people who got at least one of the three correct get the bottles of the perfume.

Remember, on Saturday’s post, there will be ONE FINAL CHANCE to win a bottle of Fairy Dust perfume and a special bonus from Paris herself, an autographed promo pic.

Please Note: We can only ship the bottles within the US for sure, so if you live outside the US please understand that you will not be eligible for the giveaway.

Post from: The List Maven

Okay, this is it – the kickoff! The first clip from the Paris Hilton interview I did on Sunday.

Check out the details after the clip on how commenting on this post will get you in the running for 2 of FIVE available full-size bottles of Paris Hilton’s new perfume, Fairy Dust.

(Side note: I know the sound is horrible… I’m hereby advising everyone to stay away from Aiptek video cameras! They’re junk, and I wish I’d bought something different. I apologize in advance!)

So all you have to do is leave a comment below, with your real email address. If you don’t use your real email address, I can’t contact you, and can’t send you the perfume. I’ll keep this open until Friday night, as I’m going to be posting the whole interview on Saturday with a chance to win the final bottle of perfume, PLUS an autographed promo pic as a gift directly from Paris herself to one lucky The List Maven reader! (She told me to give it, so I’m giving it!)

Anyway, I’ll be posting another video clip on Thursday afternoon where you’ll actually have to guess what Paris is going to say. But for this one you can just leave a comment letting me know what you think about the clip, or about the perfume if you’ve tried it, and we’ll draw from there once all the videos have been posted (all winners will be drawn at once). Then I’ll email the winners and you’ll have to respond to me with a proper shipping address.

Good luck!

UPDATE: Everyone, I’m really sorry, but this (and most) promo/giveaway is only available to those in the US, or to those who have someone in the US it can be sent to, who can send it on to you.

Post from: The List Maven

I just need to say this, first and foremost, Paris is one of the nicest celebrities I’ve ever met, and I’ve met quite a few in my time. She’s gracious and sweet, and even helped boost a really special giveaway I’m doing here at The List Maven this week…

I have a total of FIVE full size bottles of Fairy Dust to give to you! These are 3.4 oz bottles and they’re really beautiful. I love the perfume, it’s light and a little spicy… really gorgeous.

So here’s the lowdown on the giveaway…

I have three clips of the interview I’m going to post at different times during the week. Since this was an exclusive, you’re not going to find this video anywhere else but somewhere you can find me on the internet. I’m going to share it with The List Maven readers FIRST!

The first clip is where Paris tells me the 5 reasons women will love Fairy Dust. When I post that clip, your job as readers is to leave a comment, and I’ll choose two commenters at random to each win a bottle of the perfume.

The second clip is a little harder… Paris also told me what her red carpet essentials are. There are three of them, and your job on that post is to comment telling me what you think those three items are. I’ll choose two people who came the closest (if there are more than two, it’ll be a random pick of those who came closest) to each win a bottle of the perfume.

And the last one, I’ll post the entire interview and will once again choose a random commenter to win not only a bottle of Fairy Dust perfume, but ALSO a special gift right from Paris herself, that she gave me when I told her I was doing the giveaway… an autographed perfume promo pic!

Please note: You cannot enter the giveaway on THIS post. Only on the posts I’m going to put up during the week, and I’ll be closing comments on them once the winners are chosen. If you are selected as a winner, I will email you (so use a valid email address, please) to get your mailing address in order to send you the perfume.

So it’s Paris Hilton week here at The List Maven!!

I’m so excited that I had to post this little “preview” for you to let you know what’s going on ahead of time, but if you’re not subscribed to the RSS feed, do it now, so you get instant reminders to come check out the interview and take your chance on winning your own full size bottle of the newest Paris Hilton perfume!

(photo credit & copyright: Lara Kulpa)

Post from: The List Maven