Go to the park with your boy ;) hope you'll like it.

Bvlgari Omnia perfume review
Posted by Robin on 11 April 2005
 
http://www.nstperfume.com/2005/04/11/bvlgari-omnia-perfume-review/
 
Bvlgari Omnia fragrance advertBvlgari Omnia fragrance advert 2
 
Bvlgari Omnia was created by nose Alberto Morillas and released in 2003. The fragrance was said to have been inspired by the spices discovered by Marco Polo on his famous voyages, and was also described by Bvlgari as “a tribute to the tradition of the great oriental perfumes, re-interpreted for the world of today”. The notes include black pepper, mandarin, masala tea, saffron, ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, almond, chocolate, lotus blossom, and sandalwood.
 
Omnia has a light, peppery-citrus top note over sheer woods and spices. The chocolate and almond are subdued, but do give this a gourmand feel for a short time. It dries down to a very pretty, very soft sandalwood with dusty spices. The saffron and cardamom are the most apparent, but every so often I smell a bit of ginger or clove. I cannot smell any floral notes at all.
 
Despite the abundance of what are usually heavy spice notes, it stays sheer and transparent throughout, and it is only lightly sweet. It is one of my favorite comfort scents, and happily, wears well in almost any but the very hottest weather. I have heard complaints about the lasting power, but it lasts straight through the day on me, and since some people say they literally smell nothing after 5 minutes, I’m assuming it has one of those musk bases that not everyone is able to smell.
 
The bottle is glass inside a plastic over-casing representing two interlocking rings. CPC Packaging selected this as one of the best fragrance bottles of 2003, but I have to say that I do not care for it, ingenious though it may be. I do not like to feel plastic when I pick up my perfume unless I bought it at the drugstore for much less than what Omnia costs, and the spray-through mechanism may be cleverly designed, but personally I’d rather have a cap.
 
Bvlgari Omnia is available at department stores and at many of the online discounters.
 
Note: images via Images de Parfums.

Valentino launched Rock 'n Rose in 2006. The fragrance was said to have been “inspired by a new generation of young Valentino women….a Rose on the outside and a Rocker on the inside”; as you can guess, that means Rock 'n Rose hopes to bring younger consumers (or more specifically, “younger women who aspire to a luxurious lifestyle”*) into the Valentino fold.
 
Valentino Garavani reportedly loves roses; the garden at Wideville, his estate outside Paris, is said to have “acres” of roses. I could swear I read somewhere recently that Valentino does not really adore the smell of roses, but I can't find a link so perhaps I dreamed it. At any rate, Rock 'n Rose is not meant to be a rose soliflore. Valentino describes it as a “fantasy rose” fragrance; in other words, expect a modern stylised rose. The opening is bright and fruity and green, and a bit sharp. The lily of the valley is prominent in the early stages, after that, the rose is center stage (other notes: bergamot, black currant, “crunch green”, gardenia, orange blossom, sandalwood, heliotrope, vanilla, orris and musk). The florals in the heart are strong and diffusive, but at the same time, they smell indistinct, even watery — you would not have to love roses (or any other flower) to like Rock 'n Rose.
 
The dry down is woody and middling-dark, with sweet vanilla, the merest little smidgen of powder and lots and lots of musk. After an hour or so, it feels very soft and smooth, but I wouldn't call it light — it would be easy to overapply Rock 'N Rose. It is meant to be edgy, and I suppose it is edgy in comparison to your average department store fragrance geared towards a young audience. It is certainly edgier than some other recent “modern roses” (Stella McCartney's Stella, Vera Wang's Truly Pink). Still, if your idea of an edgy rose is something along the lines of Frederic Malle's Une Rose, you won't be impressed.
 
Valentino Rock 'n Rose Couture fragranceThe first Rock 'n Rose flanker, Rock 'n Rose Couture, followed last year (Rock 'n Rose Prêt à Porter is still to come). The bottle is swathed in black lace (an improvement, if you thought the original looked too much like a nail polish bottle).
 
I expected that Rock 'n Rose Couture would be deeper and edgier, but it is rather the opposite. The top notes are brighter and sweeter, and there is less of the stemmy “crunch green” accord. The floral notes in the heart have been amped up, particularly the white florals; the musky notes in the base have been tamped down a bit, although otherwise the base is largely the same. It is less edgy, more feminine and romantic.
 
I can't say I love either fragrance. I found the musky base of Rock 'n Rose overwhelming, and for that reason, I prefer the lighter Couture version. Still, for a modern rose-ish sort of thing, I'd much rather wear Stella, for a young and “kicky” rose, I'd take Bond no. 9 Bryant Park. For a real “rock 'n roll” rose, maybe Juliette Has A Gun Lady Vengeance or Christian Dior Midnight Poison?

Britney Spears Hidden Fantasy ~ perfume review
Posted by Robin on 6 January 2009
 
from http://www.nstperfume.com/2009/1/06/britney-spears-hidden-fantasy-perfume-review/
 
Britney Spears Hidden Fantasy fragrance advert 1Britney Spears Hidden Fantasy fragrance advert 2
 
At this point, I think we can all safely ignore news sources that tell us that the celebrity fragrance trend is over, no? And clearly, the days when a little personal trouble might hurt a celebrity’s market appeal are long gone; on the contrary, one might assume the more trouble the better — Paris Hilton, I suppose, qualifies as Exhibit A, although Britney Spears has certainly given her a run for the money (pardon the pun).
 
Britney’s latest entry, Hidden Fantasy, is the first celebrity scent to hit the perfume counters this year. It’s the second flanker to 2005’s Britney Spears Fantasy, the first being 2007’s Midnight Fantasy. My feelings about Fantasy are not all that different now than they were when I tried it shortly after its release:
 
Given that my expectations were low, I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I like it, but I don’t hate it, and if given the choice between this and say, Miss Dior Cherie, I would pick Fantasy.
 
At the time, I was just starting to explore celebrity fragrances; now that I’ve tried most of what’s been released over the past few years, I’ll qualify the above by noting that Fantasy is considerably better than much of the competition. Midnight Fantasy, not so much — it reminds me of grape Kool-Aid, and not in a good way (although offhand, I can’t think of a good way that something could remind me of grape Kool-Aid). When the grape Kool-Aid fades, little of interest is left behind. I found the dry down bland. Mind you, not everyone agrees with me; Midnight Fantasy has lots of fans, and at the moment, it has a higher rating on MakeupAlley than the original Fantasy.
 
The recipe for the new Hidden Fantasy is pretty much standard for a celebrity fragrance geared towards the youth market: fruit, more fruit, sugar, sheer nondescript floral notes, vanilla sugar, pale woody musk. In this case, they’ve gone with the Blastin’ Berry Cherry Kool-Aid for the top notes, and they’ve cut it (thankfully) with lots and lots of tart citrus (the notes: sweet orange, tangerine, grapefruit blossom, verbena, jasmine, stargazer lily, sweet Napolitano cake, vanilla bean, jacaranda wood, fluid sandalwood and amber). I can’t really say I like it, but I find it considerably more palatable than the opening of Midnight Fantasy. Then we’ve got the “flowers”, followed by Fantasy’s warm vanilla cupcakes, here given a twist by a touch of cherry almond flavoring. The lasting power is very good, and in contrast to Midnight Fantasy, Hidden Fantasy’s personality doesn’t evaporate with the top notes.
 
Hidden Fantasy is fine, and while it’s not to my taste, I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t do very well. For my part, I like Fantasy better, and I like Britney’s Believe even better still. For that matter, if I were after young, fun, fruity, trendy and new, I’d skip Britney Spears altogether and go with Ed Hardy’s new Love & Luck.
 
Britney Spears Hidden Fantasy was developed by perfumer Rodrigo-Flores Roux. It has not yet officially launched, but it can be found at Kohls brick ‘n mortar stores. It is available in in 30, 50 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum.

for contest

Fragrance Review: Marc Jacobs Blush
 
from http://boisdejasmin.typepad.com/_/2006/02/marc_jacobs_blu.html
 
The transparent porcelain beauty of Marc Jacobs Blush has a deceptive quality of innocence, which leaves one unprepared for its sensual embrace. It is as if the sheer lace of floral notes slips to reveal warm skin. The suggestion of the woody muskiness of cashmeran is delicate, yet its presence brings the soft petals of Blush to life, intriguingly sullying their pristine whiteness and gracefully anchoring the floral transparency.
 
One may wonder why someone needs yet another jasmine accented floral, adding to numerous compositions that explore its indolic spiked sweetness, from misnamed Chanel Gardénia (1925) to The Different Company Jasmin de Nuit (2005). ...
 
Created by Steve Demercado in 2004, Blush is an example of a modern floral that manages to recreate the sensation of being near a blooming jasmine and inhaling a mélange of its sweet scent, cool air and verdant foliage. Blush is a good example of how synthetic materials can result in something that does not smell artificial.
 
There is no mistaking Blush for a retro composition, neither in the fresh clarity of its floral accord, nor in the linearity of its construction. The refrain of jasmine scattered among sweet floral petals repeats unchanged, yet the subtle accents appear and fade, whether it is the dazzling sparkle of freshness in the top notes, the delicious peachy sweetness in the heart or the sensuality of woody musk in the base. Yet Blush has a romantic and nostalgic air about it, reminding me of something from the past. Hazy images flash in my mind—jasmine branches hanging over the wooden gate separating my grandmother's garden from the courtyard; tiny white stars covering the pathway, perpetually damp because of the nearby waterwell; hiding from the midday heat to read Rabindranath Tagore and imagining his heroines, their raven hair covered with jasmine garlands… The poised loveliness of Blush with its subtle indolic and surprisingly sensual facet is enough for me to want yet another floral bouquet to admire.
 
Blush includes notes of jasmine nectar, bergamot, star jasmine, freesia, orange blossom, honeysuckle, musk, cashmere wood, sandalwood. Marc Jacobs fragrances are available from Sephora, Saks5thAvenue, Neiman Marcus and a variety of other retailers, as well as Strawberrynet.

It's raining here and I just want my cup of coffee~