Gourmand

In things you probably don't need (but are still kind of cool) news, your nails can now smell either like Laffy Taffy, Jolly Ranchers, or Bubble Yum. Gourmand much?

Sure, we've seen perfumed polishes before, with Revlon and Anna Sui both playing around with the notion. Now there's this candy-sweet trio of candy-scented lacquers ($5 each). Judging by the pictures below, these polishes, which include a cotton candy-scented blue, a strawberry-scented pink, and a green apple-scented green, are a lot more opaque than one might expect. Would you wear them?

The creative folks at Demeter Fragrance Library are at it again. (Yes, the same ones that brought us a cannabis-inspired cologne and many other unconventional scents.) The latest offering is seasonally appropriate: Virtual Thanksgiving ($36). If you love perfume and pie, you're in for a real treat, as the set includes a trio of gourmand fragrances that seem — seem being the operative word here — almost good enough to eat. It includes Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry, and Golden Delicious Apple scents. Think it's a smart idea, or is this a turkey?

Love the smell of mirin, wasabi, and umeboshi? Then this Hinomaru Bento Solid Perfume ($5) may be just the thing for you. The scent purports to have the same zing as wasabi but with an underlying sweetness. I'd be interested in smelling this gourmand fragrance, but would you be curious, too? Or will you pass on this course?

I Heart Unicorns ($52) may not seem like the winningest handle for a perfume, especially given the fact that most fragrances trade on exclusivity or sexiness to sell. If, however, you love sugar and things that smell exactly like a blend of orange Starbursts, Pez candy, and bubble gum, then you may just love this gourmand scent.

Unicorns opens with a burst of orange creamsicle, then moves on to a soft incense and bubble gum blend that smells a lot like Pez. It dries down to a candied sandalwood that reminds me of État Libre d'Orange's delightful Encens et Bubblegum ($80). So if you love the État Libre d'Orange scent but don't want to pay the pretty penny for it, Unicorns is an economical alternative with an almost identical dry down. If you liked the way this stuff smelled, would you consider buying it, or are the name and packaging just too much?

Yes, you read that headline correctly. Mariah Carey is taking her celebrity fragrance empire in a direction that's totally unexpected, and yet exactly like something she'd do. Mariah, Elizabeth Arden, and Topps (yep, the baseball card maker) have all gotten together to create Lollipop Blings, three perfumes that come with a matching Ring Pop.

One of the scents, called Ribbon, is actually based on the scent of Blue Raspberry Ring Pops. So why all the sweet treats? Noreen Dodge of Elizabeth Arden told the NYT that the fragrances were developed because the company thinks "it will bring an even younger customer into the Mariah Carey franchise." However, she describes the scents as being less teeny-bopper than you might expect.

"[They] take a candy element as a thread to be woven in a fragrance, and elevate candy into a prestige environment," she explained. What do you think? Would you pick up a sugary scent like this when they become available July 1, or are you not the kind of girl with a sweet tooth and a weakness for jewelry?

I have a love affair with frosting. Seriously, I will wait until the corner piece is being served so that I can maximize my frosting-to-cake ratio. And FarmHouse Fresh's Whoopie! White Velvet Shea Butter Cream ($30) has an authentic scent that truly makes me want to run to grab a spoon. I'm not hugely into wearing dessert-y scents, but if you are, this white velvet cream and layer cake scent will make you smell like a pie of the same name. With cocoa butter, jojoba and soybean oils, it has a rich consistency without being greasy. I'm wondering, do you like gourmand-based scents or are they just not for you?