I’ve never referred to myself as a “chocoholic.” I enjoy chocolate, but I’m an equal-opportunity sweets lover, and I’m usually more likely to seek out cookies or ice cream or a really good piece of apple pie than a cocoa-based dessert. Today, however, I rounded off my lunch with a slab of chocolate cake. I think the last long weeks of winter have finally gotten to me. In this spirit of unexpected cravings, I’ve rounded up a handful of chocolate-fragrance body products for your delectation.
I’m fond of Villainess’ vaguely steampunk aesthetic, not to mention its range of unusual scents. Its Dulces en Fuego (“fire candies”) blend mixes cocoa with cinnamon and black pepper and a touch of musk. The dense, sugar-based Smooch! Warming Body Scrub actually does seem to give off heat when it’s first applied to the skin, and the matching Dulces en Fuego soap (shown above) looks dangerously dark before it foams. The scent of Dulces en Fuego reminds me of the tiny cups of rich, spiced “Aztec” chocolate served at Mariebelle in New York, although it probably doesn’t taste as good…
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Posted by Jessica
on
27 February 2010
Just when I had finally realized that the niche fragrance and toiletry company TokyoMilk is a younger “sibling” to the longer-established Lollia, another line comes along to join the family. Love + Toast is a little sister to Lollia and TokyoMilk, and its range of perfumes, hand creams, and lip balms seems to be aimed at preteen and teenage girls.
I’m fond of several TokyoMilk scents (particularly Waltz), but I initially wondered whether Love + Toast might be a little bit too youthful for my taste. Several of the Eau de Parfums are, in fact, sugar-fruit concoctions that would appeal to wearers of Bonne Bell Lip Smackers (although the tart Gin Blossom would make a wearable warm-weather scent for a broader age group). All the same, I was so charmed by Love + Toast’s packaging that I picked up two of the hand creams, or Handcremes (as the company spells it); they’re still fun, but they fit more easily into my own regimen. (Who doesn’t need hand cream, after all?)
Each Love + Toast Handcreme is decorated with a whimsical, 1960s-inspired illustration…
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Posted by Jessica
on
6 February 2010
You don’t have to be obsessive-compulsive to worry about germs these days. It’s cold season, it’s flu season, and worse yet, now we have to fear the H1N1 virus (“swine flu”) too. Accordingly, sales of antibacterial soaps and hand gels have risen dramatically in recent months. However, there are some problems with mass-market antibacterial products: the ones with triclosan pose possible health concerns, and the ones with too much alcohol leave your hands dry and cracked, and thus vulnerable to all kinds of irritation and infection.
For these reasons, not to mention the harsh window-cleaner smell of so many drugstore antibacterial products, I’ve long preferred alternatives like EO Hand Sanitizer. Lately, I’m even more pleased with the new Hand Purifier from Intelligent Nutrients. It’s a gel product (rather than a liquid that runs down your wrists and onto the front of your winter coat when you try to apply it on the go), and it feels like a lightweight hand lotion…
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Posted by Jessica
on
23 January 2010
I find myself using body oils more often in cold weather; somehow, in my mind, they seem to cut to the chase in moisturizing dry skin, particularly on rough knees and elbows. Yes, I could just use jojoba oil or everyday olive oil and get good results, but I inevitably prefer a product with appealing packaging or a more interesting fragrance. MBeze’s Body Oils fit both criteria. Their labels look like Pop Art interpretations of vintage magazine ads, and I’ve tried the oils from two of their available scent “collections” so far.
The “Aim to be Pleased” fragrance is described as “Determined, driven, never a dull moment. That’s the way you roll. We’ve taken cherry blossom and added just a dash of sandalwood to make this scent as brave as you are.” Aim to be Pleased is subtler than it sounds…
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Posted by Jessica
on
16 January 2010
In general, I feel ambivalent about Kiehl’s and its products. The company has managed to sustain an impressive degree of its old-New-York, neighborhood-apothecary image (“Since 1851”) despite having been acquired by L’Oreal in 2000. Since then, however, its ever-expanding product range has started to seem diffuse and inconsistent, and the products themselves are often over-priced and not nearly as nature-based as they sometimes claim to be. Still, I keep going back for Kiehl’s Coriander-scented body products; I’ve been hooked on this fragrance for over five years, and I haven’t found anything to replace it.
Kiehl’s Gently Exfoliating Body Scrub is a relatively recent addition to the line, but it’s one of the newer products that I enjoy; it’s conveniently packaged in a flip-top tube, and it has a lightly-foaming formula with small exfoliating particles that feel pleasantly scrubby, but not scratchy. The Deluxe Hand & Body Lotion with Aloe Vera & Oatmeal is actually fairly lightweight, so if you have seriously dry skin, you’ll need something more concentrated. Both products are packed with the sorts of ingredients that I normally try to avoid when possible: sulfates and plastics in the scrub, silicones and parabens in the lotion, many mysterious multi-syllabic chemicals in both…
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