BellaSugar

Too Good To Be True: Lip Gloss and Perfume Pairs

BellaSugar — Tue, 01 May 2007 09:10:22 -0700

These cute and practical sheer lip gloss and perfume duos are fab! Not only do you they save you space in your pocket book, but they also save you money. For just $25 you've got yourself a great deal. Both of these duos are ultra feminine, flirty and fun. Enjoy!

Vera Wang Princess Perfect Pair, $25, includes a light colored .17 oz light pink lip gloss on one side and a .17 oz Roller Ball Eau de Toilette of Vera Wang's Princess scent on the other side. It was created for the gal on the go who is playful and adventurous.

I'm not sure if you've tried this fragrance yet, but it's very sweet, light and girly. It is made from: water lily, apple, mandarin meringue, guava, Tahitian flower, tuberose, apricot skin, dark chocolate, amber, warm woods, pink frosting accord, musk, and vanilla. This makes for a great gift!

To see one more, read more

Britney Spears' Two Tempting Lip Gloss and Roll On Fragrance, $25, is perfect for the gal on the go. One side houses a pink shimmer lip gloss and the other side houses her Curious Perfume in a roll-on form. Curious is definitely girly too, but the fragrance is a bit more bold. It is made from: magnolia, golden anjou pear, lotus, tuberose, jasmine, cyclamen, vanilla musk, sandalwood and blonde wood. Britney also makes another perfume and lip gloss pair in her Fantasy scent, $25.

The First Celebrity Relaunch of 2008: Britney Spears Curious Heart

BellaSugar — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:00:42 -0800

Although Britney Spears may not be making the best choices in her personal life, she sure hasn't skipped a beat when it comes to her fragrances. It seems like just yesterday that believe launched, and now we are already seeing something new from her. However, let's be clear about one thing. This "new" scent, Curious Heart ($49.50), isn't really new - it's a limited-edition version of her older juice Curious, with a tattoo-inspired bottle and a modified name.

Here's the gimmick: When you purchase a bottle, you receive a membership card which directs you to the website. There, you enter a password to become eligible to win various prizes each month. I'd say that's some pretty clever marketing from Britney's people - especially throwing the word "heart" in the title right before Valentine's Day. But with her personal life in disarray, I keep wondering whether this is enough to pique shoppers' curiosity.

Beyoncé Wants to Heat Up the Fragrance Biz

BellaSugar — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:08:50 -0800

In what's sure to be one of the biggest perfume launches of 2010 - if not the entire decade - Beyoncé Knowles is set to launch her first scent in February. Expected to earn $100 million in its first year alone, Heat is the first in a series of scents to be released by the the superstar.

“I’ve been working on it for a while now," the singer told WWD. "I was on tour for a year, and I have meet-and-greets with fans. I’ve never in my life gotten so many compliments. Coty has their own testing, but that was my testing! The fans loved it."

To find out more about the scent, keep reading.

Coming Soon: Britney Wants You to "Believe"

BellaSugar — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:59:46 -0700

First she was Curious, then she had a Fantasy, and soon Britney Spears will add one more scent to her fragrance collection. In October, Britney Spears Believe will arrive in Macy's and other department stores. So far, there's no word on what this scent will smell like, but details should roll out soon.

Believe is a logical progression in Britney's naming choices. She began dating Kevin Federline in late 2004, at almost exactly the same time as the Curious launch. The following year brought Fantasy, which debuted the day after Britney gave birth to Sean Preston. And now, as she prepares her comeback single, there's Believe-perhaps a not-so-coded message to fans who want to see her succeed?

Considering Britney's bizarre behavior as of late, marketing Believe is going to be a challenge, to put it mildly. Page Six reports that Brit ditched the photo shoot for Believe's packaging. And although she's appearing on the cover of next month's Allure-perhaps the best place to promote her new fragrance-there's no interview because Britney flaked on her appointment four times.

So what do you think? Will Believe make millions of dollars like Curious and Fantasy did? Or are Brit's hijinks alienating her fans? Or does it all come down to how good this fragrance smells?

Source

What's NOU? Two Very Different Things, Apparently

BellaSugar — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:00:00 -0800

For half my life, the letters NOU have stood for one thing: Nation of Ulysses. The Washington DC band fused fashion and punk and politics and theater in an inimitable way, earning singer Ian Svenonius the title of "Sassiest Boy in America" from Sassy magazine before the band even released its first record. But now there's a new NOU in town, and it's also somewhat musical.

The fragrance NOU is inspired by Alma Mahler-Werfel, the wife of composer Gustav Mahler. A composer in her own right, she used to give parties during which the women secretly went commando. Fast-forward to today, when NOU stands for "no underwear," and promises to give you a similar boost of sexytimes confidence.

OK, so the story (and the website) is gimmicky, but there's more substance to the story. NOU was created by perfumer Claude Dir, who has also worked on scents such as Britney Spears Curious, Bobbi Brown Beach, and Marc Jacobs. If you're tired of Bubbilicious-style fruity florals, NOU is worth a sniff; it's definitely a woman's scent rather than a girl's, sophisticated but far from matronly. Its notes include verbena, ginger, cinnamon, pink rose, iris root, vanilla orchid, and mandarin zest. The cinnamon stands out, tempering the florals and giving them a slightly earthy appeal. (Think flowers growing in the wild, not an arranged bouquet from FTD.) If you can look past the underpants issue, you'll find a sultry scent worth checking out. (A $4.50 sample is available.)

Source

Paris Hilton's Can Can: A Blind Sniff Test

BellaSugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:00:54 -0700

One of the challenges in reviewing celebrity perfumes is that it's difficult to ignore your opinion of the famous person behind the juice. Would Lovely Sarah Jessica Parker have been such a runaway hit if, say, Bea Arthur were behind it? (I would so buy a Bea Arthur scent, for the record.) Or would a well-done perfume like Britney Spears' Curious be considered more sophisticated if it weren't connected to a pop singer?

Which brings us to Paris Hilton and her fourth fragrance, Can Can. I normally wouldn't pick up a perfume by Paris; after all, I need my $55 more than she needs it, and I can't imagine telling people that I'm wearing Paris Hilton. But I wondered if my opinion of Paris was clouding my judgment. So to get an honest and fair opinion of Can Can, I set up a blind smell test by inviting other Sugar girls to smell the scent - without knowing its identity. Would they like Paris' perfume if they didn't know who was behind it? To find out, read more.

Yesterday afternoon, I sat in a small room and invited everybody to come in for a sniff. I didn't tell anybody what they were smelling until after they'd shared their opinions, and I remained stoic and neutral. Here's what they had to say:

CitizenSugar liked it; actually, she was the only one of the group who said she'd definitely wear it. "Is this Aquolina Pink Sugar?" she asked.
TeamSugar said it was "overwhelmingly sweet, like smelling cotton candy. It's not a classy or sophisticated fragrance."
GiggleSugar said it was too sweet for her. "I do like it, but I wouldn't wear it," she explained. "It's a very sexy fragrance - like sophisticated cotton candy."
LilSugar said she "kind of liked it," and would wear it if the scent faded a bit.
YumSugar said it was too feminine and girly for her own tastes, but that it was a fine scent. "It smells like sugar - like cotton candy," she said. "I'm not that sweet, but I could see some people in Sugar HQ wearing this."
GeekSugar wasn't a fan. "Maybe it's because I have Skittles in my mouth," she said. "But it's too sweet and candy-ish. It's not awful, but I wouldn't wear it."

So, there you have it. Incidentally, after discovering the perfume's identity, everybody felt that Can Can captured the essence of Paris Hilton. I agree with them; it's fun and flirty, but it's not cloying or juvenile. Ultimately, though, there isn't much substance to the sweetness.

Bella Interview: Chandler Burr, Perfume Critic

BellaSugar — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:00:50 -0700

Yesterday I wrote about The Perfect Scent, Chandler Burr's fascinating book about a year in the perfume industry. (You can read an excerpt to find out why I'm so smitten with his prose.) When it comes to fragrance, Burr is one of the world's most knowledgeable experts. That's why I was so excited to speak with him about everything from celebrity scents to perfume shopping. Check out the first part of our interview, and be sure to come back tomorrow for more.

Both fragrances that you wrote about - Un Jardin Sur Le Nil and Lovely - have been successful. But what kind of story might have happened if they hadn't been?
I thought about that a lot, actually. I was very, very happy to be able to write about two perfumes that I really liked, two perfumes that were commercially successful. Had they not been, I really don't know. Julie Salamon was invited to follow the making of a movie. She did the same thing I did, but with The Bonfire of the Vanities. The novel was called The Devil's Candy. It was about the making of an absolutely disastrous movie. If that had happened to me, I would have done the same thing.

For Chandler's thoughts on celebrity fragrance, read more.

You wrote about Lovely, and it was a phenomenal hit. When a celebrity-backed fragrance does well, is it usually because of the scent itself or the celebrity factor?
The first three months is entirely the celebrity, and then the juice kicks in. If you create a juice that's a piece of crap, then people simply are not going to buy the second bottle. It's the second-bottle phenomenon. The second bottle is about the juice - virtually always. It doesn't matter who the star is or how much you love him or her; people are simply not going to buy that second bottle if the juice isn't good.

I think Britney Spears Curious is a good scent. Jennifer Lopez Glow is a good scent. Paris Hilton's first perfume, made by Steven DeMercado, is a good scent-not great, but it's a good standard, commercial, competent perfume.

Come back tomorrow for more of our interview!