Posted by Robin
on
6 February 2009
Sunkissed Glow is the latest flanker to J Lo's popular Glow fragrance, which launched in 2002 and was followed by Miami Glow, Love at First Glow and Glow After Dark. The summer-day-at-the-beach inspiration — “enjoy the feeling of warm sand on skin, bask in the glow of the hot summer sun” — recalls that of Miami Glow, and the juice itself is close enough that fans of Miami Glow are likely to enjoy the new version.
Perfumer Caroline Sabas developed Sunkissed Glow (she also did Miami Glow); and the notes are red grapefruit, pineapple juice, cassis sorbet, beach flower, orange blossom, water lily, passion flower, amber, hot sand, cashmere wood and skin musk. If Miami Glow smelled like a tropical suntan lotion laced with coconut oil…
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Beach Waves, one of the products in Frederic Fekkai’s seasonal Summer Hair line, is a “tousled wave spray” with “Solarshield protection.” It was created as a styling product to give a windswept effect with the added benefit of sunscreen. I already have wavy hair, and I like the way this product maintains and emphasizes my usual texture while giving it light hold and an extra bit of volume. As long as I apply it somewhat sparingly, it dries without any stickiness or stiffness.
In general, the quality of Fekkai products is high, and Beach Waves is no exception. It also has a noticeable fragrance: a tropical blend of coconut, gardenia, ozone, and orange notes. This fragrance recreates the artificial scent of many suntan lotions and therefore conjures up memories of the beach…
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Posted by Kevin
on
28 July 2008
My childhood was spent on land situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay, and I’ve lived in New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle, so water and water activities have always been a part of my life, but since I can’t swim, I have a certain “fear of the water.” When it comes to perfumes, I have a fear of ‘water’ too, the type called “marine fragrances” that are drenched with ozone and aquatic notes. I’ve always wished perfumes could capture the scents of the open sea and the winds blowing over the ocean, but perfumes are better at replicating the oceanic “sideshow” — scents of sand/damp earth, the dry, reedy smells of vegetation growing at the seaside, the mineral scents of shells, the bracing aroma of salty seaweeds, the odors of tarry wooden wharves or outboard motor exhaust fumes.
I usually avoid all fragrances with marine/H2O themes, but armed with a perfume “life preserver” (soft-bristle scrub brush and unscented detergent), I decided to face my fears and sample three Bond No. 9 fragrances that are named after places at, or near, the ocean…
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Posted by Robin
on
22 March 2007
As long as we’re on the subject of tropical beach-y scents, I thought I’d give Ensoleille Moi another try. Ensoleille Moi launched last year as the debut fragrance release from French jeweller André Gas, and like yesterday’s Azuree Soleil, it is composed around coconut and tiare (also known as Tahitian gardenia). It was created by perfumer Mathilde Laurent, and additional notes include ylang ylang, vanilla and white musk.
Ensoleille Moi is an altogether more tropical scent than Azuree Soleil: the coconut is deeper, the gardenia is more central to the composition, and there is less here to counteract the sweetness of the floral notes. It is brighter and not so warm as Azuree Soleil, and also considerably richer and creamier; if Azuree Soleil is meant to evoke the Mediterranean, here we have moved on to the Polynesian islands…
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Posted by Robin
on
21 March 2007
Azuree Soleil Eau Fraiche Skinscent is part of this year’s Tom Ford Estee Lauder Collection, and will launch as a limited edition this coming April. Other than the inspiration (“the Mediterranean near Mrs. Estée Lauder’s vacation home in Cap d’Antibes, off the coast of France”), it has nothing in common with the original 1969 Azuree fragrance from Estee Lauder. The notes include tiare (gardenia), orange blossom, jasmine, magnolia petals, myrrh, bergamot, mandarin, amber, sandalwood, vetiver, caramel and coconut cream.
I have said before that I’m not a big fan of tropical-beachy or suntan oil scents, and so when the Azuree Soleil Body Oil was released last year, I didn’t rush to try it. By the time I got around to giving it a sniff, all the stores were sold out. Even then, the little tiny sample I managed to snag didn’t make much of an impression on me. Still, everyone else raved about it so I was curious about the new Eau Fraiche Skinscent…
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