Considering the wave of celebrity perfumes that has submerged us over the past decade, it's interesting that so few famous names have appeared on the labels of fragranced body products. The only examples that come to my mind are Jo Wood Organics, a high-priced niche line created by the ex-wife of a Rolling Stone, and Lisa Hoffman Beauty, a body/fragrance spa brand founded by Dustin Hoffman's wife, but neither of these women is exactly a household name.

Now, however, we have Nuance, a full collection of cosmetics, skincare, haircare, and body products launched by actress Salma Hayek. Hayek herself is probably no stranger to fancy fragrances and indulgent self-care products, since she's married to François-Henri Pinault, the CEO of a multinational luxury goods business. Yet her new Nuance brand is sold at CVS drugstores; as Hayek says in one of her promotional videos for the line, "I wanted to make sure that every woman could afford it." (She also mentions the inspiration of her grandmother, who concocted homemade beauty products in her kitchen, and the long history of natural ingredients in traditional Mexican remedies.)

I picked up two Nuance body products at CVS on a whim...

To start things off, we've got the eminently covetable (and reportedly as good as it looks) Vol de Nuit Powder Spray from Guerlain: "Inspired by the legendary Vol de Nuit fragrance, this silky, ethereal loose powder creates a light-reflecting veil with a subtle iridescent finish. The powder is perfumed with the mythical Vol de Nuit fragrance. Apply on the face, body and hair for an allover glow!" $87 for 17.5 g at Nordstrom...

As someone who adopted a Goth style in her late teens and early twenties, and who is still obsessed with early American gravestones, I couldn't help being intrigued by Skin & Bones. It's an all-purpose, oil-based moisturizer made entirely from natural ingredients, and it caught my eye because it's packaged in a dark glass bottle with calligraphic lettering on the label (shown below); the company's logo (shown above) is a winged skull of the sort you'd see carved into a very old tombstone.

Skin & Bones' ingredients are jojoba oil and essential oils of ylang-ylang, frankincense, myrrh, grapefruit, jasmine, lemon, rosewood, cedarwood, and sandalwood. As the Skin & Bones website explains, the essential oils were chosen for their aromatherapeutic properties as well as their benefits to skin. The one that dominates the overall fragrance of Skin & Bones is ylang-ylang. I enjoyed Erin's recent post about ylang-ylang fragrances, and I recommend it as a primer on this note's background and characteristics. I'm another person who fell in love with ylang-ylang during my early niche-fragrance sampling days, and I'm still happy to encounter it. Skin & Bones' ylang-ylang has a brightness that is enhanced by the accompanying lemon notes, and a sensuality that is reinforced by the rosewood and sandalwood. It's a linear, versatile blend. Incidentally, the dark purple "Violet-Glass" bottle is functional as well as cool-looking...

As I write this post, the temperature in New York City is 102 degrees. In weather like this, we'll all be bathing more often than usual, so we might as well make the best of it and try out some new body products, right? I've been taking advantage of these two-shower days to test a few things from Poetry, a small company that encourages the "Intimate Ritual" of bathing.

Poetry's bath-and-body line is available in two fragrance blends; I've been using samples of products scented with Verse 1, "a versatile citrus fragrance with notes of sandalwood and jasmine." (The other fragrance is Verse 2, "a potent scent of mint and balsam needle with a hint of grapefruit.") Verse 1 is strongly citrus, with intense, sunny notes of bergamot and lemon and a smooth woodsy base that suggests cedar as well as sandalwood. I don't really notice the jasmine, but that's fine, because the citrus-wood pairing has a cleansing, almost purifying effect on my mind as well as my body. It makes me feel more alert, and purged of all heat-related discomfort, at least for a little while...

Nail care company Strangebeautiful has launched Perfume Polish, a new scented top coat. The fragrance is Violet Leather by indie perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz...

I first sniffed the Dirty product line at the New York launch of Gorilla Perfume at Lush last year, and I've been looking forward to its release in the United States. Dirty has finally reached our shores, in all its iterations, and it feels just right for summer. According to Gorilla Perfume's promotional materials, "Dirty is an invigorating, cathartic breath of fresh air that stirs up something primal." Its notes include spearmint, thyme, tarragon, lavender, sandalwood, and oakmoss (but no dirt!).

Dirty is available in as a traditional liquid perfume and as a solid fragrance stick; it's a fresh fragrance that leans slightly towards the masculine end of the spectrum, but it will probably find quite a few female fans who enjoy wearing grassy, minty, or leafy scents. For the first hour or so, Dirty reminds me of an herb garden giving off the aromas of an assortment of plants: the thyme and the tarragon are there, and the mint is especially noticeable. Dirty gradually evolves into a salty sea breeze and an airy musk base with a very sheer sandalwood note. It has good staying power for a "fresh" fragrance, particularly one that includes so many natural ingredients.

The complete Dirty line takes a new approach to "layering": each product is scented with a different element of the Dirty composition, so that they can be worn together to recreate the total fragrance...

My father loved clothes and dressing up, but he was also fond of walking around in his underwear or gardening clothes (“rags” my grandmother called them). He had a temper but was patient with animals, especially cats. His cats (at one point we had ten!) took turns sitting in his lap in the garden, and they all, man and cats, bird-watched together. The trait I appreciated most in my father was his curiosity. When I gave him gifts, he’d approach them with interest, as if they needed exploration, analysis. He wasted no opportunity to learn something. Once, for a present mind you, I gave him a boring book on the history of the U.S. Supreme Court; he read it from cover to cover. He loved antique folk sculptures of animals, so I bought him a homey little tome called “Carving Duck Decoys.” Father started carving ducks and several of them are staring at me as I write this. When it came to toiletries, my father used Ivory soap and old-fashioned drugstore shave cream until, thanks to yours truly, he became appreciative of, then addicted to, expensive shave lathers from England and all sorts of interesting soaps and potions. I can’t remember an “unsuccessful” gift to my father. I hope your father is as easy to buy for as mine was!

For fathers big and small, young and old, fancy and rustic; for regal and distinguished Fathers, fauxhemian pères, outdoorsy-sporty dads, and jazzy Daddy-Os, I present some gift ideas for Father’s Day...

Most of the time, those little sidebar ads on Google and Facebook are useless to me, and I find them easy to ignore. Once in while, however, something that actually does relate to my interests will show up, and I might even click though to the suggested website. Greenheart Shop was one of those recent clicks for me. I spent a few minutes browsing the website for this Chicago-based "eco-fair trade non-profit shop," and ended up ordering two scented body products by an "artisan" brand called Anti-Body.

All the products offered by Anti-Body ("anti-poverty, beautiful body") feature fairly traded ingredients, paraben-free formulas, minimal packaging, and fragrances blended exclusively from essential oils. I opted for the Petal line. (Other scents include Lavender, Lemongrass, and Patchouli Eucalpytus.) Anti-Body's Petal fragrance is a mix of geranium and ylang ylang, two notes that are often acquired tastes: geranium is sharp and greenish, almost more of a vegetal note than a floral note, and the oil of the ylang ylang flower can smell rubbery and a bit animalic. I can't think of any other body products that pair these two distinctive essences, but I've been enjoying the combination...

I was introduced to the Duchess Marden line a few years ago, when I received a facial treatment at a spa that used natural and organic products; since then, I've occasionally purchased Duchess Marden Pure Rose Water and Crème Cleanser to use at home. I like these products because they're plant-based, they don't contain any parabens, petrochemicals, or chemical preservatives, and — not the least of my reasons — they smell like roses.

With its recently launched Body Serum, Duchess Marden has moved beyond the face and neck to address the rest of our skin. I know that serums have become very popular in the skincare market over the past few seasons; now, apparently, the term is being applied to body products as well. (A quick internet search brings up "body serums" at various price points, from La Mer to Boots.) Duchess Marden's all-over serum is packaged in a stunning gold-on-black bottle that a beauty editor would no doubt describe as "luxe." It's intended for use on damp skin after a bath or shower, in place of lotion or body cream, and it could also be incorporated into a massage.

Looking at the list of ingredients, I'm not entirely sure what differentiates a body serum from a body oil...

MCMC Fragrances has launched Dude No. 1 Beard Oil. According to the New York Times, it was inspired by founder Anne McClain's partner, who didn't want to wear traditional fragrance...