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The Big Pony Collection

Ralph Lauren is launching a fun new initiative called The Big Pony Collection for Women.  It's a 4-piece fragrance wardrobe that consists of a collection of scents, each designed to match different moods, personalities or occasions.  The bottles are bright and eye-catching with their neon shades - perfect for summer!

Here are descriptions of the four shades:

The Sporty Fragrance - Bottle #1 - This Flora Citrus scent features Grapefruit & Blue Lotus for a vibrant energetic fragrance that evokes confidence and energy while awakening the sense.  Confident and fearless, the sporty woman is a natural born leader and ready to take on the world. 

The Sensual Fragrance - Bottle #2 - A Floriental Fruity with the key ingredients of Cranberry & Tonka Mousse, this fragrance is for an alluring flirt with a romantic spirit. Playful and irresistible, this modern woman follows her heart…and she just might break yours.

The Free-Spirited Fragrance – Bottle #3 - Eccentric, rebellious and independent, this Floral Green fragrance highlights Pear & Mimosa.  The crisp, bright scent represents ultimate optimism and natural feminine radiance for a woman who dances to the beat of her own drum. 

The Stylish Fragrance – Bottle #4 - Edgy and refined, with a flair of the exotic, this Oriental Floral contains key ingredients of Wild Cherry & Purple Amber.  Designed for the stylish woman, she catches the eye and imagination of anyone who crosses her path. 

They all sound really pretty, don't they?  I can't even decide which one I like the best from those descriptions.  I kind of want them all!

To celebrate the launch of The Big Pony Collection for Women, Ralph Lauren created the “Life in Color Quiz,” a short, simple interactive online quiz to define your personal fragrance style.  You can take the quiz here.    

Each scent retails for $70.  They're available exclusively at Bloomingdales, RalphLauren.com and Ralph Lauren retail locations right now, and will be at most fine department stores later this month.

Great Gifts (To Maybe Keep For Yourself)

So before I decided to get my mom a day out together instead of a gift, I did a lot of looking around for the perfect gift for her.  She's a hard one to buy for and I wanted to pick up something special for her.  One of my top choices was a gift set from Pacifica, mainly because I'm a huge Pacifica fan and I like to get my mom as excited about brands I love as I am.  I got a chance to try out two of the different gift sets in my favorite two scents and for those of you who still have time to shop before you see your mom in person, they're great choices.  

The Tuscan Wanderlust Gift Set is chock full of products in my all-time favorite Pacifica scent, Tuscan Blood Orange.  All fans of orange-scented products need to pick this one up immediately because the fragrance is so, so great.  It's so juicy and fresh and energizing - I love using it in the shower in the morning to get my day going.  The gift set is a great value at $28 because you get over twice that in products - a Color Quench Natural Moisture Lip Tint in Blood Orange, a Body Butter, a Body Wash and a bottle of Spray Perfume.  You can layer it all together to give yourself a scent that lasts all day.  My mom actually was with me when I was playing around with the products and she immediately claimed the Body Butter as her own.  (What could I say?  It was almost Mother's Day!)

The other gift set I got my hands on is the Indian Coconut Nectar Wanderlust Collection.  Indian Coconut Nectar is one Of Pacifica's newest scents and it's rapidly become one of my favorites.  Using coconut products always instantly transports me to a tropical vacation instead of, you know, my same old bathroom in Los Angeles and this one smells fabulous, all exotic and delicious.  It makes me seriously crave a big blended drink and a beach (and I don't even like the beach!)  For $34, you get a Body Butter, a huge 17 ounce Body Wash and a Perfume Roll-On, which is perfect to slip into your purse when you're on the go.  I particularly love them on days when I'm going straight from work to something fun and don't have time to stop home to respritz my earlier scent.  My mom also grabbed the Body Butter from this set and made off with it because she couldn't resist this one either and I'm a bad daughter and wouldn't hand over the Body Wash (I know, I know, but I love it too much).  Well, thanks to Pacifica, she'll definitely be well moisturized and smell fabulous.  You're welcome, Dad!       

Note:  Samples of these products were sent to me by a PR representative working with Pacifica  

Truth Or Dare

I have to admit, recent Madonna music isn't really blowing me away, but old school Madonna was fabulous.  Crazy for You is still one of my favorite songs of all time.  I always forget how much I love it and then it'll randomly shuffle on on my iPod and I get excited every time.  I never really thought she'd come out with a fragrance though - I don't know why because every celebrity does - but once I heard the description of Truth or Dare, I was definitely intrigued. This is how it's summed up on Macy's website:

Truth or Dare by Madonna is a contemporary and sexy reinvention of a classic, robust signature white floral.  The unique blend of narcotic florals, balanced with addictive woods and vanilla, create a scent that is timeless yet modern, simultaneously dark and light.  The addition of gourmand notes such as Vanilla and Caramelized Amber makes the fragrance stand out from traditional floral fragrances and gives it a contemporary edge.

After wearing it around for a few days, I'd say that's a pretty accurate description, although the phrase "narcotic florals" makes me giggle every time I say it because it totally makes me picture a bouquet of roses stuffed with cocaine or something.  I'm normally not a big fan of florals, but this one is interesting and I think it's the addition of the Vanilla and Carmelized Amber that makes it sweeter and warmer than a lot of the florals I've tried.  It's very feminine and sophisticated, plus I'm really liking the bottle - it's kind of funky and cool and seems worlds away from the cheap bottles a lot of celebrity fragrances come with.  Overall, I'm digging the scent way more than I ever thought I would when the words "Madonna has a new perfume" first came to my attention.  How cool is it that decades after she first became famous, Madonna can still surprise me?  Time to dig out the iPod and start playing Crazy for You again in appreciation!

Note:  A sample of this product was sent to me by a PR representative working with Truth or Dare  

My Saving Grace

You know, in all my adoration of CLEAN's scents, I hadn't used the very first fragrance that got me started down the CLEAN path in awhile, but when I wandered into Sephora last weekend, armed with my 15% off coupon, Pure Grace somehow ended up coming home with me.  I really had forgotten how much I like it, but I'm totally back on the bandwagon now.  It's such a fresh, subtle scent - I love using it during the day because it makes me feel so clean and freshly showered and on hot days, that's so much more attractive to me than some heavy, musky scent.  It doesn't last forever on me - I usually can't smell it on my anymore when I get home from a long day of work - but that's probably because it's a Eau de Toilette.  I'm okay with that though - at only $42 for a 2 ounce bottle, I can respray if I need to.  I just like that there's another fragrance besides the CLEAN ones that lets me smell like soap!   

Jimmy Choo Hits Sephora.com

I have been obsessing over Jimmy Choo's new amazing fragrance ever since I first smelled it in a magazine.  I am so excited to report, after what has felt like the longest months of my life since first falling in love with Jimmy Choo, that Sephora is carrying it!  Available online now at Sephora.com and will hit stores in March, if you haven't had the pleasure of experiencing this scent, you need to check it out because you'll flip.  It's a sexy scent which really is the perfect mix of sultry and floral.  Sephora describes the scent as Luminous green top notes which join a heart of rich and exotic tiger orchid and lingering base notes of sweet toffee and Indonesian patchouli to leave a sensual memory on the skin.  And aside from the beautiful fragrance, the bottle is stunning - so old-Hollywood-style glass.  I have already ordered online because there's no way I'm waiting until March to own it!

Clean Up

I might've said this once (or twenty times) here, but I love CLEAN products.  Love, love, love.  I have almost every one of their scents and I wear them constantly.  If you're the same way, you'll definitely want to pick up this 4 Piece Fragrance Collection at Sephora.  For $65, you get four different 1 ounce Eau de Parfum sprays - one each of Cotton T-Shirt, Fresh Laundry, Warm Cotton and Shower Fresh.  The smaller sizes are great for traveling and the set's a fabulous value.  Even though I have way too many bottles of CLEAN already, I'm definitely taking this one home with me during the V.I.B sale later this week just to keep some backups on hand.  I have to be prepared in case there's a fragrance emergency, right?     

Jingle G

You guys, I love the Harajuku Lovers scents so much and I'm so bummed that Gwen isn't making any more.  (At least, that's what I read somewhere online - I don't think I've seen it anywhere official yet, so my fingers are crossed that wherever I read it just had their details wrong).  Jingle G is the new scent for the holidays and she's dressed appropriately for Christmas.  (So cute!)  You can even use the loop on top of her head to hang her on the tree as an ornament, but that won't be happening at my place as she'll be joining the rest of her friends on top of my dresser where they all hang out together, doing whatever Harajuku Girls do while I'm at work.  I really like Jingle G's scent - her notes are White Star Fruit, Gardenia, Tangerine, Honeysuckle, Orange Blossom, Jasmine, Vanilla, Cedarwood, and Lace Benzion Tears.  (Side note - what on earth are Lace Benzion Tears?  Is that a flower?  A spice?  I'm intrigued!)  Jingle G smells fruity and a little sweet to me.  It's really pretty, probably my second favorite of all the girls after the original L'il Angel scent, which I adore.  It's a tiny little bottle (.33 ounces for $25) so it would also make a cute little stocking stuffer for a friend or relative.  Party on, Jingle G! 

Note:  A sample of this item was sent to me by a PR representative working with Harajuku Lovers

Wonderstruck

I'm usually kind of wary of celebrity scents.  It kind of seems like these days, you don't even really have to be "famous" to have one.  (And yes, I know I sound like a grumpy old man, but still.  It's annoying!  People should have to achieve something to make their own fragrance!  It's a privilege, not a right!)  But since Taylor Swift's definitely done some major things in her life, especially for the fact that she's like, twelve, I can definitely get behind her having one.  Especially after I smelled Wonderstruck and discovered that it's something I would definitely wear.  (I know!  Color me shocked!)  The notes in it are Freesia, Green Tea, Apple Blossom, Raspberry and Dewberry, all of which combine to make a sweet, fruity scent.  It's just really feminine and pretty, something I'd wear to work, but also out at night.  And I kinda love the bottle too.  It would look so cute on a dresser or in a bathroom.  I've only used a sample I got at Sephora so far, but I'm seriously considering going back and buying a bottle and if you could see how many perfumes I already have, you'd know that that's a big deal.  Do you think if I buy it I'll suddenly get all motivated like Taylor and do forty-seven different things every day and make all my dreams come true?  Because if so, sign me up! 

Sakura Cherry Blossom

You guys, I did such a stupid thing.  I was sent a sample of Jo Malone's limited-edition Sakura Cherry Blossom Cologne and then I didn't try it until AFTER it was already gone from stores.  I have very bad timing (what else is new?) because it's amazing.  It's floral and fruity and absolutely unique, just like all Jo Malone's fragrances.  (I have yet to find one I don't adore, which is frankly getting kind of expensive).  I can find bottles of it on eBay and such, but I refuse to pay even more than I would've paid at a store (even I can't justify that).  Here's hoping it makes a return to stores soon!

Love and Light

 

Okay, I admit it.  I'm not a huge Jennifer Lopez fan.  She's always just annoyed me, for some reason.  So I was fully prepared not to like her new perfume, Love and Light, when I got a sample of it.  (Or at least prepared to be very skeptical). But apparently, I'm not as hard to please as I thought because I actually kinda like it.  It's different from the usual scents I wear - it's kind of sweet and fruity, but with a touch of floral as well.  Here are the notes in it:

• Top Notes: Mandarin, pomegranate and red currant
• Mid Notes: Rose crystal absolute, velvety apricot and jasmine petals
• Base Notes: Patchouli, sensual musk and praline 

Once I saw the word praline, I was totally in, but the patchouli kinda threw me because as much as I try not to let it, it always reminds me of the few Grateful Dead shows I went to back when I was 15 or so and how much the parking lot always reeked of patchouli (and BO, but that's a whole other story...) Love and Light is definitely more of a fun, playful fragrance - I could totally see wearing it during the day or to work, but I don't know if I'd wear it out at night.  (It just doesn't strike me as a nighttime scent on me, but your mileage may totally vary).  The bottle's eye-catching too, with its sculptured design.  (I know it has no bearing on the scent inside, but any time I like the bottle, I'm just a teeny bit more likely to like the scent inside.  It's weird, I know...)  I guess I have to grudgingly admit J. Lo impressed me on this one.  But I still refuse to watch "American Idol" and you can't make me!   

Note:  A sample of this product was sent to me by a PR representative working with Jennifer Lopez fragrances