Autumn is sneaking up on us fast, and with it comes pumpkins, spice and very heavy fragrances.  Newsflash to the Patchouli-wearers out there: not everyone likes an overpowering perfume.  So here’s a secret to getting your more subtle scents to have all-day staying power: put a hot compress on the place where your skin will be sprayed or dabbed with scent (be it perfume, eau de toilette, body lotion, etc.)  This heat opens the skin’s pores, allowing the scent to go deep into the skin instead of just riding the surface.  For the rest of the day, a little elegant essence will be released each time you heat up.  Talk about smelling pretty! Three of our favorite light perfumes: JEANNE LANVIN by Lanvin for WOMEN — a delicious mix of blackberry, raspberry and pear musk. Calvin Klein Euphoria Blossom — a lighter floral bouquet of white orchids, lotus flowers and peony roses. Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey — a floral aquatic scent with juicy melon, lily, lotus, freesia and more, reminiscent of spring waters. All available at Sephora at Towson Town Center.

Look for the debut of the first-ever scent for women from Express. Drawing inspiration from three decades of trendsetting style, fashion destination Express introduces Love Express.The fruity-floral fragrance opens with lush top notes of blackberry, cassis, Italian mandarin and pineapple, leading to a heart of white iris, lily of the valley, night blooming jasmine and tiare blossoms. A sultry drydown of sandalwood and sheer vanilla musk lends the scent its smoldering bottom notes. Express.

The next part of the Crescent Row eau de toilette will mirror the theme from the first Crescent Row collection (shown above). Three brand new exclusive flats, home to Carmella, Eva and Rita, make up Crescent Row (the second story), a sensational summer scent released this July from Benefit. Welcoming wearers into a happily smelling fairy tale, the crafty packaging exposes the inside of a trendy condo. Home to three fictitious characters, each take on their own persona in an expected affair filled with twists, turns and delightful debauchery. Be sure to look for:

1. Garden of Good & Eva: A crisp citrus scent, freshly bundled with top notes of pear and watermelon
2. Lookin’ to Rock Rita: A fruity green unleashing splashes of lemon, coconut, freesia and juicy fig
3. So Hooked on Carmella: A floral vanilla uniting grapefruit and rhubarb in the most delicious way

If you’re looking for a woody meets floral sweet scent, you’ll find your match with Halle Berry’s new fragrance, Pure Orchid. The Masdevallia plant, a rare and exotic orchid, reveals a mélange of scents to drive the senses wild. Just as mouthwatering as Berry’s signature perfume Halle, blackberry crème concentre mixes nicely with top notes of crisp Italian lemon, papaya nectar fizz and jungle cactus flower. It’s a must for a warm evening out.

It’s almost as if we flew off to Hawaii, found the largest tree possible and chopped open our very own coconut only Desert Essence’s Organic Hand Washes does it for us at a much lesser cost. Four distinct smells (grapefruit, vanilla chai, lavender and of course, coconut), all apart of the new organic line to join Desert Essence, are known for their fresh “as if you are there” smells. These gentle hand soaps, made with jojoba oil and shea butter, effectively clean without drying out skin. Plus, they add a little something extra to mundane chores like doing the dishes!

Estee Lauder’s Sensuousmerges femininity with the depths of the forest through a new fragrance category called Woody Amber. Envision molten woods atop a rich, Earthly core intertwined by the atmospheric florals of an orchid-filled greenhouse, releasing a nectar-like warmth. Note to self– don’t forget to come back to reality.

Mastermind perfumer Dominique Ropion notes his most recent love potion as “a captivating fragrance connecting people in a world of movement.” Mr. Ropion, we concur. A lightweight scent easy to fall in love with (really), Love Etc mixes together jasmine, vanilla and sandalwood for a sweet obsession. And the symbolism behind ‘et cetera’? Why, it’s the widespread force binding it all together – friends, family, memories and love.

Achieve star quality like Hollywood’s timeless actress Audrey Hepburn with la prairie’s new eau de parfum, Platinum. Of the Life Threads collection, this Cyprus scent infused with leathery and floral notes will emanate from your skin allowing you to become the sophisticated “fair lady” of your own screenplay. Wear this elegant fragrance with pride as your most enviable accessory, but remember less is more.

So you want a nice scent, but not an overpowering scent.  However, the light scents just don’t last very long, do they? Here’s a secret to making sure light scents last longer: put a hot compress on the place where your skin will be sprayed or dabbed.  Let the pores open.  Then spray or dab. The perfume will go deeper into the pores, and when the pores close up, they’ll release the scent a little all day long.  Talk about pretty!

Three of our favorite light perfumes:

JEANNE LANVIN by Lanvin for WOMEN - a delicious mix of blackberry, raspberry and pear musk.

Calvin Klein euphoria blossom - A lighter floral bouquet of white orchids, lotus flowers and peonies roses.

Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey - A floral aquatic scent with juicy melon, lily, lotus, freesia and more, reminiscent of spring waters.

If champagne were perfume, it would probably be the elegant L’Eau The One by Dolce & Gabbana. A touch of vanilla, vetyver, and bergamot, mixed with a tweak of madonna lilies and jasmine, then splashed with the oils of sun-warmed lychee nuts and peaches, and a breathe of musk, this perfume becomes the newest for those who love a classic, fresh-like-water scent.  Inspired by supermodel, Gisele Bündchen—the scent also carries a note of self-confidence for the woman who wears this.
L’EAU THE ONE by Dolce & Gabbana for women - $52 at Frangrance.net

I like Stella McCartney. She always puts out original, cutting edge products, but hangs right there on always-wearable, which equals happily-wearable.  Plus, with her environmental slant on everything, her products deserve to be pushed.  Stella was really the first top designer to forge the way into making fashion and beauty eco-conscious-smart.  Now, not being a big heavy-perfume fan, I was pleased to try the Stella McCartney Stella Sheer Limited Perfume, because, frankly, heavy scents might be too much, but no scents are simply dull. Stella Sheer is a great scent for someone who wants to smell lovely and unique.  Also, most scents change on me.  What might smell like Ralph Lauren on someone else, ends up smelling like Raid when it comes within a foot of my skin.  The reviews I’ve read have said Stella Sheer smells like roses.  I don’t smell that.  The marketing material says it has notes of lemon, green apple, rose and amber.  I don’t smell those things, either.  But I do smell something. Something fresh, light, non-soapy, not really floral—something just right. If you’ve fallen in love with Issey Miyake or the lighter Kenzo fragrances, then Stella Sheer is another nice take on that type of scent that doesn’t do the elevator-linger. 

Stella McCartney Stella Sheer—available at Sephora—$58

The name says it all. Flirt Cosmetic’s Flowerific perfume blends water lilies and blue freesias in a sweet emersion. Lingering a sweet trail, this full-time flower garden in a bottle is light and refreshing, minus the daily upkeep.

MARC JACOBS ‘Rain’ Splash is everything you’ve ever wanted in an aquatic, fresh air scent. No florals and fruities here.  Just sweet rain smell that leaves you feeling clean and lovely.  (Plus, you’ll receive a ready-to-fill MARC JACOBS Splash to Go purse spray and funnel with your MARC JACOBS Splash purchase, tra la… only online.) We love to spray it on our hair and around our neck, because it isn’t overpowering.  Instead, it’s one of those really nice fragrances that make people ask, “Hmmm, she smells so good.  Does she have on perfume?”

This is a strange time of year for skin.  It’s so cool during some parts of the day that the skin still gets dry.  We use the Bobbi Brown Buffing Grains with Japanese adzuki bean powder to help remove dry surface patches and encourage skin cell turnover.  The nice thing about this product is that if you have a favorite cleanser that isn’t Bobbi Brown, you just add the grains to that and you still get the good benefits.  (But we do recommend the Bobbi Brown Lathering Tube Soap, because it’s about as decadently lush as any cleanser you’ll ever use.)

At the same time, the weather starts to heat up and your skin starts to get oily, so it’s time to break out a solution so you don’t break out!  NARS Perfecting Powdered Sheets are designed to eliminate shine and pulling up the surface oils, while allowing the skin to retain essential moisture. Very portable and convenient for quick touch ups.

Estée Lauder Hydra Complete Eye Gel Crème offers endless hydration, smooths fine, dry lines, helps reduce puffiness and completely revitalizes the eye area… all without making makeup slither off as the day gets warmer. 

Now, if you need a little more work in the moisturizing department, get the Guerlain ‘Orchidée Impériale’ Exceptional Complete Care Eye & Lip Cream to the rescue. It’s a doc in the dry skin box.

For the lips, time to add color and moisturizer and a little bit of shine.  M·A·C Tricolour Lipglass is the new wave of lip beauty.  Three colors are stacked, one on top of the other, with varying shades of pearl combinations in the vial vial.  Each layer smoothly gradates into the next, offering an in depth look once applied. Stunning.




And then you’ll need something to put it all in!

The Kooba Asymmetrical Belt Shopper is completely periwinkle blue beauty, and now you’re ready to go!

I’ve long adored Sisley’s crisp Eau de Soir, so I was thrilled to hear of the Parisian cosmetic company’s launch of the Eau de Sisley trio of fragrances. I’m particularly enamored with Eau de Sisley 1, which is a crisp, citrus scent, infused with notes of green mandarin, grapefruit, pink berries, spice, jasmine water, green tea, juniper berries, patchouli and a touch of musk. Eau de Sisley 2 contains notes of cardamom, bergamot, basil, water iris, Egyptian jasmine, cyclamen, rose, patchouli, vetiver, cedar and sandalwood. The spicy Eau de Sisley 3 features citrus, bergamot, mandarin, grapefruit, lemon, red ginger, osmanthus, patchouli, vetiver, benzoin, vanilla and musk. All three of these delicious fragrances are sure to become instant favorites for those in the know.

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Move over floral bouquets and cotton candy.  Dolce and Gabbana’s Light Blue—a great every day, spritz-it-for-the-office or lunch with the gals—offers the sweet smells as a subtle undertone to a clean and refreshing citrus smell. There’s not a sticky-sweet in these ounces. And why, you ask?

The ingredients are pumped full of goodies that grow in the freshest air: Sicilian Citron, Bluebell, Granny Smith Apple, Jasmine Sambac, Bamboo, White Rose, Cedarwood, Amber— with just enough of a touch of Musk, to beckon “come hither” to him. 

Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue 3.3 oz Eau de Toilette Spray, was given the Reader’s Choice by Allure magazine