The Beauty Department

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FROM: The Beauty Department

Flash Poll: What Perfume Are You Wearing?

simone.jpgSimone Kitchens: "Narciso Musc. It's kind of powdery and paper-y, in the best possible way."

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Heather Summerville: "CB Perfume To See a Flower. Smells like cut grass and wildflowers, with enough earthiness that it doesn’t fall into the trap of being too sweet. Also, in the dead heat of the subway in summer it doesn’t become grossly overpowering...unlike most people I’m crunched up against."

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Me: I just came out of an epic meeting with the French fragrance company Esteban, which means I'm wearing abundant amounts of three perfumes (not a recommended course of action, but each of them separately is pretty amazing): Colere d'??pices on my knee (gingery/peppery, unsweet), Tonka Bean in the crook of my left elbow (vanilla-ish, dark, woodsy), and on my right elbow, Fureurs d'Agrumes (like the exuberant love child of an orange tree and a violet. Does that make sense? Clearly I've been sniffing French perfume for too long).

Tell us: What perfume are YOU wearing?
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FROM: The Beauty Department

For Those Who Love Quizzes And Tests (Frivolous Ones Only) (Facebook Offenders, You Know Who You Are)

BBW.jpgI am definitely experiencing “25 Things About Me” and “ The Austen-Riggs Personality Test” fatigue on Facebook. I just can’t absorb any more random, uninteresting facts about acquaintances—I can’t. But Bath & Body Works has come up with a test that’s just for you, and it’s fun and actually useful: It’s sort of an online equivalent of a mood ring, where you drag cute little icons that represent how you’re feeling into a giant perfume bottle, and it spits out fragrance recommendations for you.

It picked something called "Dancing Waters" for me, which sounded appealing. It gave me the option of alerting friends to my choice (and my "type": romantic); I refrained.

More from Luckymag.com:
Chanel Egoiste: The Best Passive-Aggressive Gift Ever!
New Fragrance Set by Tom Ford
Summer Fragrance Rave: Kai eau de parfum
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FROM: The Beauty Department

Chanel Egoiste: The Best Passive-Aggressive Gift Ever!

2009_08_passiveagressivegift.jpgIt's a FANTASTIC-smelling cologne, so no one would ever NOT want it. It just has a lovely little message, like a fortune cookie. Not that an EGOISTE would notice the message. He'd be too busy talking about how he swaggered into a bar in Soho and demanded a free Pellegrino and they just GAVE it to him, or mulling over his 'art career'.

I know at least one man who--even if he doesn't know it--is begging for this particular birthday gift. You?

-Cat Marnell, associate beauty editor

P.S. I actually desperately want a bottle for my new apartment--it's so great-looking, and I could glamorously spritz it all over my furniture...Just in case any men are thinking of buying ME anything. Which, of course, they are NOT. Being EGOISTES.

See also:
The Gift for When Playing Hard-To-Get Isn't Working
I Canoodled with 50 Cent!
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FROM: The Beauty Department

Summer Fragrance Rave: Kai eau de parfum

2009_07_kai.jpgI recently stumbled upon the perfect summer fragrance: Kai eau de parfum. It feels light and earthy but still pretty. I’ve already convinced three friends to wear it!

-Becky Malinsky, Fashion Assistant
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FROM: The Beauty Department

Eau de Obama (aka Creed's Love in White)

2009_07_loveinwhite.jpgThe Washingtonian reported that Michelle Obama’s “signature scent” is Creed’s gorgeous gorgeous Love in White, which is light and flowery and super-sophisticated. As you can tell, I, too, am a huge fan (of both the fragrance and the chic Mrs. O.)

-Jean Godfrey-June, Beauty Director
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FROM: The Beauty Department

What Perfume Makes You Happiest (Not Sexiest, Happiest)?

Annick.jpgThey're two very different things, right? For me, it's Petite Cherie, which was made by perfumer Annick Goutal for her daughter Camille. It landed on my desk a year ago when we were researching amazing products with pear as an ingredient, and since then, I've sprayed it pretty much every day to get through the bleak 3-4 PM time block. Like I say, not sexy, per se, but sweet and bright and sort of nostalgic, if that makes any sense—like the best, ripest pear you ate as a kid. Bottom line: it makes me happy.

So: Yours?

—Cristina Mueller, senior beauty editor
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FROM: The Beauty Department

I canoodled with 50 Cent!

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What, you think I'm LYING?! Last week I was with 50 at an exclusive nightclub, where we spoke and had our photo taken together (it's just that no one from the PR firm will EMAIL it to me, okay?) and even touched hands: In tabloid speak, CANOODLED. Usher won't be jealous, because--for the LAST TIME--Usher and I are NOT DATING! (A man and a woman CAN be just very good friends, you know--just look at Elaine and Jerry, or Sharon Stone and the Dalai Lama.)
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Anyway, as we fervently canoodled over Kobe sliders, 50 told me (and the 25 other beauty editors eavesdropping on our private conversation) (FINE; it was a fragrance launch party), all about his new cologne, POWER by 50 Cent. Though a less intensely romantic gift than a package of 50 Cent Magic Stick Condoms or a first-edition of 50's novel The Ski Mask Way, it IS a woodsy citrus that smells just like you want a man to smell: very clean and very good.

Are we sick of the celebrity fragrance phenomenon? I'm not, in case you were wondering. Where are Sharon's and Whitney Houston's?

-Cat Marnell, associate beauty editor
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FROM: The Beauty Department

HAPPIEST BEAUTY FACT OF THE WEEK

snow leopard.jpgLast week it was Salvador Dali's makeup compact; this week, it is the snow leopards currently shacking up at the Central Park Zoo. Listen to The New York Times:

"To create a more interesting habitat, keepers have sprayed various other scents on rocks and trees. Human colognes have even led to palpable pleasure among the snow leopards (particularly, one keeper points out, a perfume from Est??e Lauder)."

Youth-Dew? Pleasures? Perhaps too obvious. White Linen?? I bet it was White Linen. White Linen's MY favorite, so hopefully snow leopards and I have similar tastes. MaybeA Pure White Linen? Pure White Linen Light Breeze??

I know one of you readers out there is a zoo handler with the true answer.A

--Cristina Mueller, senior beauty editor

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FROM: The Beauty Department

USHER SEDUCED ME.

usher-tailor2.jpgUsher: the nicest celebrity ever. I went to an intimate gathering for his new cologne--that is, four other beauty editors in a dark, swanky private nightclub in front of a roaring fireplace. You know how you read about celebrities not wanting to touch people? He kissed all of the editors hello and goodbye on both cheeks--and he'd been doing it all day. And during our photo ops, he sweetly put his hands around our waists--not in a sleazy* way.

That said, we all must get on the waiting list to buy his new cologne, VIP (it launches in September). It's so good, for one (I'm keeping the fragrance strip in my handbag to make it smell amazing), and, well...I love him. He's the most charming man alive. I'd endorse a line of Usher-brand, like, hermit crabs. Seriously. Same goes for R-Patz and Ed Norton. You?

-Cat Marnell, associate beauty editor

*My sleaze radar is hyper-sensitive; I have no qualms about recoiling from slimy celebrity touch (ahem, Stephen Dorff).

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FROM: The Beauty Department

CELEBRITY FRAGRANCE GOSSIP: I would SO buy the Kanye

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I’m willfully shallow and hugely interested in famous people. Accordingly, I love love celebrity fragrances—and, old-timey newspaper reporter-like, I’ve got the scoop! The following celebs are or are rumored to be launching perfumes and/or colognes this year or in 2010:

CONFIRMED: Queen Latifah, Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, Akon, Avril Lavigne, Usher, Kate Moss, David & Victoria Beckham, Kylie Minogue, Mary J. Blige, Nelly...and golf champion Annika Sorenstam! Yes, even Annika.

RUMORED: A Kanye West, Rihanna, Jay Z (COOL, right?!), and Rachel Zoe. I'm sure there's more.

Last week I asked what the next celebrity fragrance would be and what it would smell like. Commenter Zharleen suggested an "Edward Cullen cologne" that smells like a seaside forest, old albums, and an old piano. Brilliant! Commenter Designwrtr voted for Connery--the Cologne, "with notes of musk, tweed, scotch, and brogue", so she could buy it and sleep with it under her pillow. Commenter Mola mused that if Kurt Cobain had designed a fragrance, it would have smelled like teen spirit, which is a sweet way to think of him.

So, I ask once again: Who should score a fragrance deal next? Little Shiloh? SHARON “I’m totally obsessed with her” STONE? Any or all female Lohans? Ronsons? Geldofs? Vote!

--Cat Marnell, associate beauty editor
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