BellaSugar

10 Ridiculously Luxe Beauty Gifts

Miriam Lacey — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:00:08 PST

Ever gotten a $1,000 headband for the holidays, or maybe been surprised with a jewel-encrusted perfume bottle so large that it has a spigot? Well, even if that's not how things usually go around your house, you can still be up on the lives of the wealthy and profligate. The following 10 gifts are some of the most luxurious and costly on the market. Check them out and see if they're worth their price tags.

You Know You Want to Design This Fragrance Bottle. . .

BellaSugar — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:00:22 PST

Perfumer Bond No. 9 makes fragrances that capture the essence of New York's distinct neighborhoods. And last month, this Big Apple-loving company announced that its latest fragrance, Brooklyn, would be encased in a glass bottle with graffiti-style, "street" artwork. They received many strong opinions on what the bottle could look like, so they took it to heart, deciding to offer more options by means of a fun, oh-so-artsy, contest.

Two winners will be chosen in the "Brooklyn Bottle Design Competition," and not only will their designs go into production, but their names will be displayed on the bottles, and each winner will receive one bottle of Brooklyn per month for a full year. Not too shabby. See the rules when you

Create the design to fit within the outline of the Bond No. 9 superstar flacon and to include the circular “token” logo, downloadable on the Bond No. 9 website.
Any style, whether abstract or figurative, will do.
Inspiration should come from any concept or anywhere in Brooklyn.
Any medium is fine, whether watercolor, acrylic, makeup, ballpoint pen, etc.
The contest goes throughout the month of March. Finished designs should be submitted by March 31, 2009 to: contactus@bondno9.com or Bond No. 9, 9 Bond Street, New York, NY 10012. Have fun, and good luck!

Beauty Byte: Bond No. 9 Founder Talks Coney Island

BellaSugar — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:17:32 PDT

I love Bond No. 9 perfumes, and I'm particularly smitten with the brand's festive new Summer scent, Coney Island. Like all of Bond No. 9's perfumes, this one pays tribute to a very New York place. So I was intrigued to read this New York Times story where Bond founder Laurice Rahme talks about creating the Coney Island scent.

According to the article, Rahme decided on the latest New York-themed fragrance after numerous customer requests:

“People are coming in here,” said Ms. Rahme, a former Lancôme executive, gesturing around her flagship boutique on Bond Street, in NoHo. “They are saying, ‘When are you going to do Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Brooklyn?’”

She pondered the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights and Williamsburg, and its hotspots like the River Cafe and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, but settled on Coney Island as her first olfactory excursion into the borough.

It's really a fun read if you're interested in how a perfume is developed. Rahme takes us through the scents she decided to evoke, such as margaritas, and the ones she avoided, like hot dogs.

Glam-o-Rama Gal: The Scent

FabSugar — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 07:23:08 PST

Here is a gorgeous glammy thing Glam-o-Rama Gal is sure to have tucked away in her New Years clutch. This Bond no. 9 Swarovski Pocket Spray Box, $195, contains miniature black Swarovski paved pocket sprays containing the following scents: Chinatown, Chelsea Flowers and Eau de New York. With these she can leave her glamorous scent wherever the evening takes her.

Bond No. 9's Blendable Perfumes

FabSugar — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 08:46:07 PST

When it comes to creatively mixed and packaged perfumes, it's hard to beat the extensive line from Bond No. 9. The New York-based perfumer has created 26 perfumes for men and women that pay homage to various Manhattan neighborhoods. Now, the company has created The Perfumista's Custom Blending Box, which is an excellent gift for any scent-obsessed girls on your gift list.

The kit contains a selection of 16 Bond No. 9 fragrances in adorable, individually wrapped spray cans that resemble candies. There's also one empty canister for blending, so perfumistas can mix and match varieties to create a fragrance that is distinctly theirs on any given day. The box also includes suggestions for "recipes" from Bond No. 9. Included in the set are classic scents like Central Park, Nuits de Noho, Eau De NY, Wall Street, and Park Ave, among others. Bond also another gift set, called the Bon Bon Box, which contains 18 foil wrapped bottles but no special mixing features. Both sets cost $240 and are available here.

Study: Are Bangs Bad For Your Eye Health?

Jessica Cruel — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:35:00 PDT

Study: why you might want to give your bangs a break - HuffPost Style
Karlie Kloss plus Olympians equals instant Vogue success - Styleite
See the pastel bobs from the Chanel cruise runway - The Cut
Avoid these top natural hair mistakes - Stylelist
Five new ways to remix your eyeliner look - Refinery 29
Bond No. 9's scent is aptly titled, I Love NY for Marriage Equality - Racked
How where you live is affecting your beauty - The Fashion Spot
Look into your crystal ball . . . er, balm - InStyle
Beauty treatments that really work, from 10 minutes to 10 weeks - Glo
Wedding hairstyle ideas for long-haired beauties - Beauty High

Source: Flickr User Helga Weber

The Best of the Bond Girls

Tara Block — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:05:37 PDT

Say hello to the newest women to join the ranks of iconic Bond babes! French actress Bérénice Marlohe and Britain's Naomie Harris have started training for their roles in Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond flick out Nov. 9. More details about the movie are currently being released; there's speculation that Adele will release a single for the film, and the queen herself might make an appearance in a James Bond short to be played at this Summer's Olympic opening ceremony. We'll count them among honorary Bond girls, too!

Last year the very first Bond girl, Linda Christian, passed away at 87. She played Valerie Mathis in the 1954 TV adaptation of Casino Royale before James Bond films hit the big screen. There have been countless Bond girls over the years, from Pussy Galore to Mary Goodnight to Strawberry Fields, and the most iconic 007 femme fatale would probably be bikini-clad Ursula Andress, who played Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962. See the bodacious ladies who've wielded guns, showed off their assets, and bedded Bond for the last 50-plus years!

Coming Soon: A Nars and Andy Warhol Makeup Collaboration

BellaSugar — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:34:43 PDT

What do you get when you cross one of the world's most creative cosmetics brands with a legend in Pop art? This: a makeup collection between Nars and The Andy Warhol Foundation. Created by makeup artist François Nars, the limited-edition cosmetics collaboration will hit stores in October; of course, the project promises bright hues and packaging in tribute to the late artist's creative view.

The artist's work is no stranger to licensing, and Warhol himself would have likely loved the idea. His art is a gadget case favorite, but beauty lovers won't forget the Bond No. 9 fragrance released last year in his honor. No word yet on specifics for the Nars collection, but it's sure to include standouts from the brighter end of the color spectrum - it wouldn't be Warholian without them.

Bond No. 9 Releases a New Andy Warhol Scent

Jaime Richards — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:31:19 PDT

From Marilyn Monroe to Jackie Kennedy, artist Andy Warhol was inspired by a variety of muses, but sometimes the motive came straight from within. That's just what New York-based perfumer Bond No. 9 wanted to capture when creating its latest Warhol series, Andy Warhol by Bond No. 9 ($180 to $240).

In this sixth scent of the series, the fragrance and packaging are meant to celebrate Warhol's boho-mod life and times. A clean-cut Warhol is depicted on the front and back of the bottle in an old-school photobooth-style photo, paying homage to a Janus-faced design (one looking to the future, and one looking to the past). The '60s-centric brew includes top notes of bergamot zest, peach juice, red rose, and cumin; a heart of honeyed centifolia rose, white patchouli, cistus ambre, jasmine, frankincense, and oud; and a drydown of amber, red sandalwood, mulled plum, vanilla bean, and musk. Get your groove on Dec. 1, when the eau de parfum launches at Saks Fifth Avenue, Bond No. 9 stores in New York, and the perfumer's website.

Perfumer Bond No. 9 Captures Essence of Brooklyn

BellaSugar — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:00:35 PST

It's no secret that Brooklyn has become the hip place to be over the past few years, and swanky New York perfume house Bond No. 9 is about to deliver once again with a new scent called - what else? - Brooklyn.

Set for a March debut, the unisex blend was designed to capture the essence of the artistic, ever-changing, and edgy vibe of this city-within-a-city. With top notes of cardamom and grapefruit; middle notes of cypress-wood, geranium leaves, and juniper berries; and bottom notes of cedarwood, guaiacwood, and leather, Brooklyn ($145 to $220) is sexy, spicy, and tender. Or as they like to say in the fragrance biz, it's a woody, spicy-filled oriental.

As for the distinctively-shaped bottle, Bond No. 9's Brooklyn is street art all the way with graffit-esque writing in bold eye-catching hues. Look for the new scent at one of Bond No. 9's four New York City boutiques and Saks Fifth Avenue - but alas, it won't be found in Kings County itself.