philosophy: smile and be merry? Definitely with marshmallows for toasting!

What a fabulous surprise - a newly launched limited edition product just fell right into my hands - Philosophy's Marshmallows for Toasting 'high gloss, high-flavor marshmallow fluff lip shine'.  What a mouthful!

Image by © Charles Gold/CORBIS

Now normally I wouldn't evaluate a lip gloss, but this one smells so scrumptious I just had to.  The unfortunate part is that it doesn't smell like marshmallows. So, if it doesn't smell like marshmallows, what does it smell like?

Well, let me tell you.  It smells like wonderfully, gorgeously delicious maple syrup.  Wearing this lip gloss is like eating pancakes all day long, but without the caloric consequences!

Not satisfied with this delectable maple syrup just on your lips?  Philosophy has also launched Marshmallows for Toasting in a shampoo, body wash and bubble bath so you can bathe your whole body in this tasty scent!

Menthol me up! New Lubriderm Soothing Relief - Cooling Daily Lotion

Lubriderm launched a new variant in October - Soothing Relief.  It caught my attention because (and I quote from the packing itself) "Soothing Relief Daily Lotion with cooling menthol is formulated to help relieve itchy, dry skin".

Menthol, you say?  I knew menthol was a good decongestant, that it's used in some cigarettes, cough medicines, mouth washes and toothpastes, that it relieves minor aches and pains (think IcyHot), but I had never come across menthol in a lotion before.  So I did a little research.

It turns out that Lubriderm's competitors, Aveeno and Eucerin, both have a menthol itch/skin relief lotion in their product ranges.  It also turns out that the reason why these brands have a menthol variant is because menthol has itch relieving/preventing properties, i.e. it's an antipruritic - something I never knew!  No wonder these brands are adding it to their skin relief ranges!

Now being satisfied with my menthol knowledge, I believe it's time to get down to business.  How menthol-y is this menthol variant?

The initial scent out of the bottle is a very quiet, almost non-existent, menthol scent that barely covers the plastic-y base smell of the lotion.  In use, though, watch out!  The menthol comes alive and tingles the skin and the nose pleasantly with its simple, cough-drop-esque scent.

So, did I smell like I had lathered myself in Vicks VapoRub?  About five minutes after I put the lotion on my arms and legs, I asked a passerby to smell me.  Admittedly, they did look at me like I was crazy, but when they realized I was serious, they took a breath and answered 'no'.  When I asked if I smelled of menthol they also said 'no'.

Fantastic - I can confirm that if you use this lotion you will not smell like a walking medicine cabinet!  Thus, I would categorize this as a fragrance success - you get the cooling menthol benefits without the overwhelming menthol stench! 

Nevermind that it's October - Christmas is here! (otherwise known as: Yankee Candle: Three New Holiday Fragrances)

Unbelievable.  I just decided on what air freshener to fragrance my home with this Fall and then I receive the news that Yankee Candle has their Holiday Fragrances out.  No rest for the weary, I tell you!

Don't worry, this holiday season Yankee Candle has stocked their regular favorites:

But they have also launched three new variants, and I've got my hands on them for your smelling pleasure.

Let's begin with Cherries on Snow.  Firstly, the variant name.  Truthfully, and I don't know about you, but I don't associate cherries with winter and I have definitely never seen them on snow.  Maybe 'Clementines & Snow', or 'Winter Pomegranate' would have been more appropriate - what do you think?  Please, comment below!  Anyway, let's put Yankee Candle's attempt to creatively expand their range to the side, and look at the fragrance.

Remember me?

When I picked this up in the store it smelled so wonderfully of sweet cherry candy, but when I unwrapped the candle at home to properly assess the cold throw I was disappointed.  It smelled exactly like a Strawberry Shortcake Doll - a light sweet berry scent mixed with plastic.  Disappointingly, yet unsurprisingly at the same time, the hot throw was not very impressive either.  The Strawberry Shortcake Doll smell pervaded my testing area with no traces of the sweet cherry candy scent that I experienced in the store.  Thumbs down on this one.

Mountain Berry is next up and thankfully this one wasn't a let down.  The cold throw is a menthol-y evergreen invoking scent that pleasantly tingles the nose with its freshness.  It didn't change much in hot throw either.  The scent was still strong and evergreen, but had lost the hints of menthol that were in the cold throw.  Very pleasant.  One last thought, and I am not sure if many of you will know this association, but this fragrance immediately reminded me of the Original Spring Green variant of Vitabath from the 1980s (a favorite around my grandparents' house).

The last new launch from Yankee Candle for this holiday season is Christmas Rose.  Out of the three scents this had the strongest and most overbearing cold throw.  Like the Mountain Berries, nothing much changed at all with the hot throw.  It was still strong, overbearing and a linear rose scent.  If you like roses, you shouldn't miss out on this one!

So, there you go.  Yankee Candle's three new launches for this holiday season.  And just in time, too - I mean, it's nearly November for goodness sake!

The Ultimate Fall Scent Debate: Glade, Air Wick or Febreze?

October has arrived and with it colorful leaves, pumpkins, cool weather and the horribly difficult decision of which brand's apple & cinnamon scent to fragrance your home with this Fall.

Today I have decided to stick to the basics and, to help you make an informed decision on your Fall fragrance, I visited my local Target and purchased the standard variant in candle format from each of the main brands.

Today's scent contenders:

Glade Apple Cinnamon, 4oz, $2.54

Glade's Apple Cinnamon's cold throw is moderate with a delicately sweet scent of red apple flesh (not skin).  There are little, if no, traces of spice in the scent.

In use, the fragrance was, unfortunately, a disappointment.  There was a tiny whiff of apples, but it was completely overtaken by the scent of wax.

Air Wick Apple & Shimmering Spice, 3oz, $2.50

The cold throw of Air Wick's Apple & Shimmering Spice is intense!  Immediately Wrigley's Big Red chewing gum springs to mind, which means that the scent is all cinnamon and no apple.


In use, the hot throw lacked the intensity of the cold throw.  The room was left lightly fragranced with very soft notes of apple that intertwined with, and softened, the previously overwhelming cinnamon scent.

Febreze Apple Spice & Delight, 5.5oz, $4.99

Febreze's Apple Spice & Delight's cold throw is pleasantly strong with tones of red apple skins and a slight wisp of cinnamon.  Out of the three, Febreze wins the cold throw competition hands down.


Sadly, I was let down by the mediocre hot throw of this candle.  The room was filled with the subtle scent of red apple skins mixed with wax and a dash of cinnamon.

***

With the three candles assessed, it is time for conclusions...


Glade's Apple Cinnamon is the least expensive of the three, but this is evident in cold throw and hot throw where first the fragrance was minimal, and then the fragrance was non-existent.


Air Wick Apple & Shimmering Spice is moderately priced, but its cold throw was almost offensive in the strength of the cinnamon, although it did mellow out in use.


Febreze Apple Spice & Delight is the most expensive of the three with the best and most pleasant cold throw, but also the most disappointing hot throw.


Thus, the ultimate debate on affordable Fall scents is now over with Air Wick and Febreze tying for first place, leaving Glade trailing behind and left lonely on the store shelf!

Seasonal Anti-bacs?! The latest line of PocketBacs from BBW

Copyright (c) <a href='http://www.123rf.com'>123RF Stock Photos</a>

It's the end of September, which means the stores are jam-packed with Halloween paraphernalia.  There are bags of candy to buy, as well as humongous pumpkins for carving (I can't wait to get my hands on one of those!), but one thing I didn't realize was that the Halloween theme had made its way into personal care products.

Admittedly, I was greatly bemused when I walked into Bath and Body Works (BBW) on Saturday and saw they had a range of Halloween scents in convenient travel size lotions.  Would you like some Wicked Spiced Pumpkin or is maybe Scream-A-Colada more to your taste?

I can't blame BBW, limited edition seasonal scents are an easy way to re-concept and re-invigorate tired fragrances or to test out new ones on consumers without too much consequence.  So, I understand their Halloween body lotion and hand soap ranges, but Halloween Anti-bacterial Sanitizing Hand Gel?

When I got home I went on BBW's website and it turns out that somewhere along the line I missed that Anti-bac had become a hot ticket item.  They have floral to gourmand to fruity variants in their trademarked PocketBac line.  It is undeniable that with this line BBW introduced the question to consumers: Who wants plain old Purell when you can have a cute, fun smelling BBW anti-bac?  Unsurprisingly, before I can answer that question, I'm going to have to get to smelling!

Zombie Tonic:  Marshmallow.

Vanilla accented alcohol that dries into a soft musk.

Bat bite: Apple.

Helloooo Green Apple!  The dry down smells like Granny Smith apple peel.

Phantom Pumpkin.

Pumpkin Spice Latte anyone?  This scent is barely discernible until the dry down, which is very subtly pleasant indeed.

Candy Corn: Caramel.

The most lightly fragranced one thus far.  At first there is a scent of alcohol and cream, which is reminiscent of first Bailey's and then Egg Nog, and then it dries down into a very light vanilla bean scent.

Gum ball.

Bazooka Joe!  Or if you don't know what that is just imagine a pink bubble gumball!  The scent is so strong and distinct, it's almost like you're chewing some bubblegum yourself.

Skulls: Forbidden Apple

Think McIntosh Apple 

Bones: Monster Mint

Minty with chocolately hints.

Scary Cats: Black Cherry

One word: Robitussin.  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing and, actually, in use it is a very sweet, yummy black cherry scent which sits nicely on the skin.

There you go - my evaluation of the eight scents that I picked up on their 8 for $5 deal.  Now that I have smelled them, how about we get back to the question - Who wants plain old Purell when you can have a cute, fun smelling BBW anti-bac?

Well, I hate to admit this, and you might have sensed at the beginning that I was sceptical at best about the idea of seasonal anti-bacs, but you know what?  They've convinced me - I definitely don't want plain, old, boring Purell!  The question now is which of these Halloween Pocketbacs to use first!

Burberry Body: How to make a trench coat sexy, part 2

Back in August I learned from my sources that if I became a 'friend' to Burberry Body on Facebook I would receive an exclusive sample before the scent was available for purchase.  It sounded like a good deal to me, but then I went onto the Burberry Body page on Facebook.

It turns out that I had to sell my soul (i.e. allow them to have all sorts of access to my FB page/info) to get this free sample.  I debated about it for a couple minutes, but then decided my love of fragrance was worth handing over my soul for, especially if it gets me a new product before the launch date!

Oh, how wrong I was.  I only received the sample this week - fourteen days after the launch date.  There goes my soul for nothing, but on the bright side I now have a sample that I can evaluate, even if it is a bit delayed.

The fragrance opens with a strong hit of light, fresh and clean freesia (jasminey-orange) floral notes with a tiny bit of sweetness from a hint of peach.  It quickly develops into middle notes of rose and iris (still keeping the overall light, fresh tone) and finally dries down into warm woody-musky notes that are kept light and fresh due to the sweet, floral scents that characterize this fragrance.  There is nothing remarkable about it, but its dry down of musky-floral-sweetness is actually quite nice.

Thankfully, you won't have to sell your soul like I did to either sample or buy Burberry Body.  As previously noted, it officially launched at the beginning of September and can be found in most beauty/department stores.

 

Chateau Lorraine - would you like some wine with your skin care?

This past weekend while swanning around L.A. and admiring all the ridiculously expensive cars cruising the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway for all those not in the know), I dropped by the Rosenthal Malibu Tasting Room to delight in some local wine with friends.

I could go on about all the wonderful aromas and the dynamic flavors of wine we sampled, but I'm not going to.  While pausing to let my palette rest between tastings I found a free sample of body lotion.  Not one to pass up introductions to new products, I snagged one, stuck it in my bag and promptly forgot about it until I arrived back home.

At the time I picked up the lotion, I thought it was odd that a wine tasting room would have personal care samples, but once I read a little bit about the product it all made sense.

Chateau Lorraine Skin Care was created by father and son team, Ron and Chris Lewis, owners of a private label manufacturing company.  They were inspired to create their own line of products based on - you guessed it - the wine grape.  They found that wine grape extracts have a potent amount of antioxidant and anti-aging properties, which make it the perfect ingredient for a luxurious skin care range.  You can learn more about the product range, ingredients and technology of Chateau Lorraine Skin Care here.

As for me, I'm just interested in the scent of my free sample - Chateau Lorraine: Private Reserve, Antioxidant Body Lotion.  The description states that there are grape seed and blackcurrant oils in the formula: from this I infer that the scent will be fruity and sweet, but the deep purple packaging leads me to believe that this could be a heavy, possibly oriental scent.  What will it be?

Neither!  Intriguingly the scent opens with delicate gourmand hints of cream overlaid with cinnamon.  In use it develops into a light scent of green grape skin, but unfortunately as the lotion absorbs into my hands and arms the subtle scent nearly disappears and becomes mingled with hints of base, as in the formula's chemical base, not rich, fragrant dry down notes.  Although a bit base-y in scent, due to the subtlety of the fragrance my skin wasn't left smelling strong or horrible.  There is no doubt that this lotion's scent would easily sit silently under whatever perfume you wear.

My assessment?  I won't be purchasing this product, but the use of the wine grape and other grape related ingredients to create an antioxidant and anti-aging product is notable and unique, as is their distinctive way of reaching their target market through leaving samples in wine tasting rooms!