BellaSugar

A Sense For Beauty, Part II: Smell

BellaSugar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:00:22 -0700

Ever notice how smells evoke memories and create moods? When it's time to chill out, calming lavender and clary sage are great ways to relax your mind and body. Or, when you're feeling frisky, spicy, musky scents can be powerfully seductive.

I tend to be drawn toward faint floral scents, or anything infused with a hefty dose of essential oils. What's your aroma of choice when it comes to beauty products?

To find out a few different ways you can incorporate essences into the room help make your at-home beauty treatments more enjoyable, read more.

Douse your favorite essential oil on four cotton balls and place them in each corner of the room.
Fill up your sink with warm water and mix in a few drops of essential oils as you apply your makeup - inhale and enjoy!
Burn a scented candle to create a special and memorable meditative atmosphere.

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Does Your Sense of Smell Change Over the Course of the Month?

BellaSugar — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:00:43 -0700

I find that, depending on the time of the month, the same scents can smell utterly different to me, and definitely very different when I'm wearing them. I'm sure hormones are somehow to blame, but am I alone on this one? Or is your sense of smell affected by your cycle as well? And for you ladies on the pill - do you still notice a change?

4 Beauty Tips From Kristin Davis

BellaSugar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:00:00 -0700

Ever since we first saw Kristin Davis burst into the scene as the conniving Brooke Armstrong on the original Melrose Place, followed by her portrayal of the sophisticated, yet naive, Charlotte York on Sex and the City, I think we've all been mesmerized by her stunning, ageless looks. In fact, many of you agreed that the actress barely looks a day older than when she first became famous back in the mid-'90s. When it comes to beauty, there's no doubt Kristin, now 44, has got some fountain-of-youth secrets to spill. For the October issue of Self, for which she shares the cover with her Couples Retreat costars, Malin Ackerman and Kristen Bell, each of the women spill all their beauty secrets. Find out Kristin's at the link below.

Get Kristin's beauty tips when you read more.

Beyoncé Gets Her Own Fragrance - Think Kanye's Excited?

BellaSugar — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

WWD is reporting that next Spring, we'll all be able to smell like Beyoncé because the pop star just signed a deal with Coty for her own fragrance. "For me," Beyoncé said about the new scent, "fragrance reflects a woman’s attitude and unique sense of style. While I love various perfumes, I haven’t found a scent that truly personifies me as a woman. Working with Coty, I was able to turn my ideal fragrance into a reality by creating an alluring and sophisticated fragrance, one that’s reflective of my inner power." No word yet on what the notes of that inner power might be, but if they're anything like most other celebrity fragrances, the scent will be sweet and floral. Then again, Beyoncé's got a fierce sense of doing things the right way (bringing Taylor Swift onstage to finish her speech, for example), so this scent may very well be as unique and eclectic as her music. Celebrity fragrance sales are down, but will you be on the hunt for this one come next year anyway?

Why Do We Smell Coffee Beans Between Fragrances?

BellaSugar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:00:58 -0800

It seems almost routine to be put on the beauty spot, yet it's rare that I'm asked a question I know the answer to, but can't explain why. But it happens. Recently, while shopping at Sephora, one of my friends asked why they had coffee beans in the fragrance section. "Well," I said in my most professor-ish voice, "Smelling coffee beans between perfumes is like eating sorbet between courses. Both help distinguish the latest flavor (or scent) from the original one." She looked at me, and pushed: "Says who?"

I pointed at myself but couldn't get this question out of my head. I returned home and located a Sense of Smell Institute that clarifies the original experiment. Answer the "says who?" for yourself when you read more.

The lab of UC Berkeley scientist, Noam Sobel, found when examining the "Influence of Smelling Coffee on Olfactory Habituation":

Smelling coffee aroma between perfume samples, as compared to smelling unscented air, actually works. The perceived odor intensity of the perfume from sample to sample stayed the same after smelling coffee aroma while it decreased when smelling air between samples. The pleasantness of the perfume, however, was similar after smelling coffee or air.

This isn't the only way to clear the nose and increase sensitivity for the next evaluation. Other popular nose-clearing techniques employ smelling a swatch of wool or smelling an unfragranced forearm. Now, I'm not the only smarty pants in town. Go forth and impress your pals about the coffee beans at perfume counters nationwide . . . and it helps to toss in "olfactory habituation" a few times while you're at it.

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BellaSugar's Guide to Beauty Products and Your Senses

BellaSugar — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 06:00:22 -0700

I hope that you've enjoyed my series on the five senses and how they impact the beauty items that you buy. After taking a long look into my own personal beauty product inventory, I've come to understand that I am drawn more to the way that products look and smell than the way they sound, feel, or taste.

If you've fallen behind on your reading this week (it's OK, I'll forgive you this once!), below is a five-post roundup on each of the five senses. Please share with me, in a comment below, some of the things that you've learned about your own shopping habits when it comes to beauty products and your senses.

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Beauty Mark It Results: Fragrances Under $25

BellaSugar — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:00:48 -0800

Cheap perfume - doesn't exactly conjure up pleasant images, now does it? But, there are several on-the-cheap perfumes available that are actually quite low on the funk factor. For last week's Beauty Mark It challenge, I asked you to share your opinions on perfumes under the $25 mark. Thanks to all who submitted their reviews, and here are my three favorites:

Team member Ranksubjugation gave Aquolina Pink Sugar Rollerball ($19) five stars - "Floral perfumes give me headaches for days, but I swoon at the gourmands. This smells like yummy cotton candy, and somehow communicates a sense of warmth, too. Very comforting, sweet, fun, cozy!"
Saucymerlot was a fan of Fresh Sugar Lemon To Go ($24.50) - "The lemon top note is a bit too intense initially, but after a couple hours, it is subtly sweet and citrus-y, though complex. . . You definitely think sugar and sweetness when smelling this, though it actually smells nothing like sugar. I also use in a pinch as a home fragrance. That being said, my boyfriend thinks I smell like lemon dish soap when I wear it."
It was a great "accidental find" for Smashedpotatoe13, who reviewed Lucky You Perfume ($21.89) - "A friend left her sample-sized Lucky You in my makeup bag a while back. . . let's just say I 'forgot' to give it back to her. I like that I can buy it at any Target in case I forget to pack my everyday perfume when I'm going out of town."

Coming Soon: Strange Invisible Perfumes Spring Collection

BellaSugar — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:00:27 -0800

Strange Invisible Perfumes (SIP) is a "company in love with flowers," and it's obvious. The natural approach to perfumery, using pure plants along with a narrative twist, is a little avant-garde and a whole lot luxurious. Even their unusual name comes from a quote in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra: "From the barge, a strange invisible perfume hits the sense of the adjacent wharfs."

On March 1, the small environmentally-friendly perfume house is set to release its "Florals for a New Era" collection, which showcases three traditional aromas: lily of the valley, rose, and gardenia ($175 to $210). But these aren't the drab scents of yesteryear. Find out what I thought about each one when you read more:

Epic Gardenia: If you like rich, sweet, and velvety florals, this one is for you. Fresh and lofty, it seems as if the gardenia was picked and bottled only moments ago. Under the many layers, there's a slight powdery, musk-like quality. This one's not for faint of heart, as they say at SIP.
Aquarian Roses: This is a sophisticated rose scent. With marjoram and sandalwood, it's a little spicy and stanky. And I mean that in the nicest of ways. This unisex scent is my favorite of the trio.
Urban Lily: Each year in May, lily of the valley blossoms line the streets of Paris, and SIP hopes to evoke that happy sensation with this delicate, yet slightly gritty, scent. Strangely, Urban Lily reminds me of the sweet, slightly damp aroma of a winery. Perhaps I'm smelling the underlying grape alcohol base, or perhaps I'm just picturing myself at a quaint French café in the springtime, glass of wine in tow. Oui, oui.

Love's Baby Soft: Does 15 Years Make a Difference?

BellaSugar — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:00:03 -0700

On my way to the Sugar headquarters today, I stopped into my neighborhood drugstore to scope out the fragrance scene. Since I've been on this major old-school kick lately, not just any old fragrance would do. Nope, I was aiming for the perfume I bathed in back in junior high: Love's Baby Soft. The goal? To see if my adult sense of smell would recoil at the BS, or if I'd fall back in love with the nostalgic aroma.

The classic powdery smell in the dome-shaped pink bottle sure brought back memories (cue MC Hammer tunes, Guess? sweatshirts, and Keds). Launched in 1972, this feminine scent is a mix of powdery florals, along with wood and "animal scents." (I hope that means musky.)

Would I wear it again? Enh. While it was fun to take a trip down memory lane, I'm looking for something with a little more bite - something that lasts longer than an episode of The Hills and doesn't make me smell quite as girly. So, I did a little research into powdery fragrances that would be a better fit for more grown-up tastes:

Kenzo FlowerbyKenzo ($25 to $85).
Guerlain Shalimar ($52 to $65).
Carolina Herrera 212 Collection ($44 to $79).
Donna Karan Cashmere Mist ($48 to $90).

I'd also feel a little dirty buying Love's Baby Soft. I think we can all agree that this advertisement turns the creepy factor up to 11.

How Well Do You Know Your 80s Perfume?

BellaSugar — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:00:22 -0700

The 1980s were all about sex, money and power, and the decade's fragrances reflect that. Ads that pushed the envelope, like the 1985 ads for Calvin Klein's Obsession, reinforced that whether you were wearing Stetson or Calyx spoke volumes about you. Take this quiz to see how well your sense of smell survived the 80s.

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