A few years back, The Body Shop offered a version of their White Musk called White Musk Too. Unfortunately, I can’t find the notes online, but needless to say, I vastly prefer it to the original White Musk – which I find very bland and uninteresting. A recent visit to my local store yielded up a pleasant surprise – another new version of White Musk! This year it’s White Musk Blush.

First things first, though – I usually dislike fruity scents. I overloaded on the fruity florals as a teenager, and the spate of them in recent years generally turns me off. The exception to this is citrus scents, but I prefer them to be on the bitter side of things, rather than on the sugary-sweet. So, I’m not sure what the deal is with me lately, but the last two scents I’ve purchased have been fruity. (See post on Henri Bendel… I bought a STRAWBERRY scent!)

White Musk Blush has notes of bergamot, apple, cinnamon bark, mandarin, drenched fruit, wild rose, freesia, peach, white violet, lily, musk, sandalwood, vanilla and amber. I mean, “drenched fruit”? It’s fruity. I suspect, however, that the sandalwood and cinnamon bark are helping to keep things from getting out of hand, because on my skin it isn’t over the top. For the price ($17.50 for a 1 oz. eau de toilette), it’s a bargain. It reminds me of spring, and in the wet and dreary Oregon wintertime, a little hint of spring is worth a lot.

My other Body Shop purchase was a travel size of Coconut Body Scrub and the new Ginger shower gel. Super yum on both counts, especially the ginger. The scrub is very coconutty, and was perfect for travel – I used it on the non-blistered parts of my abused feet and it was perfect.

In the makeup department, I’m loving the Nars Lustre blush I purchased recently. I mean, it’s a Nars blush, so of course it’s amazing. But the golden apricot shade is fabulous – not quite bronzer, not quite gold… just super-natural and slightly sunkissed on my skin. I’d wear it everyday, except then my other Nars blushes would get jealous. *wink*

On to stuff I want, Bath and Body Works has introduced a shower oil of their own. I’m a big fan of L’Occitane’s Almond Shower Oil, and the For Heaven’s Saké seems to be a similar product. I love the scent. The Rice to the Rescue Rice Pudding Body Polish has a different, but equally delectable scent, so it is also on my want list.

I also want to sniff the new additions to the Sephora brand body butters – Lime Blossom and Peach Blossom (and I see Nectarine Blossom in the bubble bath, perhaps it’ll be added to the body butter too).  I’m already wanting the Tangerine Grapefruit scent – I’ve been using the shower gel, since I got a mini as sample, and I really like it. I think the body butter would be amazingly citrus-y, perfect for a rainy day.

Despite some WICKED blisters on my feet, I had a ball in NYC. I visited a Fresh store for the first time, and it was great. The ladies minding the store were very nice, offering various things to try and being very patient with me – since I was mostly interested in sniffing this and that and in the end only bought one bar of soap. But what great smelling soap! I picked a patchouli bar. I could swear they used to offer a patchouli eau de parfum, but they don’t seem to anymore. Aha! A quick perusal of eBay proves that they did. Anyway, as long as they offer the soap, I’ll buy it. I love the scent.

I stopped in at a Bond No. 9 shop, but was less than impressed with the disinterested attitude of the saleslady.  She wasn’t very helpful, nor did she have any particular enthusiasm. It put a damper on the visit, and I’m now less inclined to drop a lot of hard earned money on a Bond fragrance. I did like New Haarlem a lot, though, with its notes of coffee, vanilla, and patchouli (which I had to look up, since the saleslady didn’t bother telling me any of the notes in any of the perfumes).

I had a much better experience at a L’Artisan Parfumeur shop, which I stumbled on accidentally (I sought out all the other boutiques).  The saleslady there was very happy to talk about the notes of the perfumes, she told the stories, and sprayed a few for me that she thought I’d like based on what I told her. I’m now obsessed with Dzongkha, the scent inspired by Bhutan. I watched a movie called Travellers and Magicians a few years back, which is a Bhutanese film, and was fascinated by the beauty and culture of the remote country. This is why telling the story of a perfume is important – the romance of the story will seal the deal if a person likes the scent. Dzongkha is the language of Bhutan. Dzongkha the perfume has notes of incense, chai, and leather. Some day, it will be mine. *grin*

I also visited Canal Street and was impressed (or appalled) by the vast amount of knockoff perfume. What a scary thought, knockoff perfume…

I can’t wait for my next visit to NYC. But I’ll do something about the blisters as soon as they pop up – ignoring them the first day meant more and more limping and great heights of pain with each successive day. Despite this, it was a fantastic trip!

I so enjoyed my visit to Henri Bendel today. I got to sniff Bois Farine from L’Artisan Parfumeur, and chose three perfume oils to take home from Memoire Liquide.

I was originally thinking of making an eau de parfum, but was convinced instead to select three separate oils that I could blend at will. I picked Ivoire, a tonka bean blend that imparts a sweetness to other scents, Frais Sauvage, a strawberry scent that has this wonderful woodsy undertone, and Fleur de Sakura, a cherry blossom scent. I also really liked Bois de Figuier, Aquamarine, and a basil scent. I may yet call them and ask them to send me a lotion with the Frais Sauvage…

On the first floor, I found the cutest hair clip that my husband thought I should get. Despite being appalled at the price (well, it was Henri Bendel) I got it. It will be a lovely memory of our trip.

I’m travelling again! This time it’s five days in New York City for fun, shopping, and food. I packed it light on the beauty, but thought of a few essentials.

I decided to take small skincare items in my carry-on, just in case my suitcase went on walkabout. Zia Natural has travel sizes of their cleanser and spray toner, so I packed those. I packed a mini-size Olive Radiance Moisturizer I got in a gift with purchase from L’Occitane. I’m really glad I brought that one, because I put some on about halfway through my five hour flight – I was starting to feel parched. Also in the bag went lip gloss, and a small perfume (the new White Musk Blush from The Body Shop).

I didn’t bring a lot of makeup with me – for once I’m more interested in getting out and doing stuff than I am in getting beeyoutiful. I tried blowing out my hair and wearing it down this morning and quickly discarded that idea after my hair kept blowing into my lip gloss. So I can just put that hairdryer away, I’ll be wearing my hair up for the rest of the trip. Thank goodness I packed cute hair clip thingies. It also gives me an excuse to buy any, like at this adorable little shop in Grand Central Station I saw.

I did bring two Nars blushes (Oasis and Lustre) as well as this sparkly face powder from Stila, a few glosses, and the Winter Picnic eye palette from Fresh, along with the usual foundation and mascara.

I’m so excited to be able to visit stores and see things we don’t have in Portland – Fresh, Bond No. 9, Henri Bendel… as well as a few of my favorites, just to see how they do it NYC style. Cheers!

I attended the funeral of a friend today. She was involved in a hit-and-run accident, walking home from beauty school last week. She was 24 years old. To say that her memorial service was sad is an understatement. Thank God for waterproof mascara, because I cried my eyes out.

I took a few notable thoughts away with me today that I wanted to share. The first is to live every day like it is your last. I know everyone says that, but how many of us really do it? With regards to beauty and fragrance, how many of us only use dabs of our favorite luxe lotion (“I don’t want to use it all up right away”) or perfume, or wait to burn that pretty candle? Treat yourself today, slather that stuff on, burn that candle when you’re feeling blue. But don’t wait! Treat yourself now. If you know you’ll probably never find the brand or product again, well there are other special products to discover.

The second thought is to take lots of photographs, including of yourself. While watching the slideshow of photos of my friend, I realized that there aren’t ANY recent photos of me to be had. None. I’ve managed to avoid the camera for almost a year now – the most recent picture is from my birthday last year (it’s in March). My hair is several inches longer now. But really, one photo a year is pretty pathetic. I promised myself to be in more photos this year, even if I hate it. It’s stupid – I don’t mind mirrors but I hate photos. But seriously, if I got hit by a bus tomorrow, there would be hardly any pictures for my family and friends to remember me by. That would be sad.

The last thing I thought was how important it is to mention what your final wishes might be to a family member, even if it seems morbid. I’m only 28 and don’t expect to die anytime soon, but $hit truly does happen, regardless of age. If there is anything specific you think you’ll want (or not want) at your memorial service, tell someone. I figure it’s the last party that’ll be thrown in my honor, I might as well tell my hubby how I want it to be. So I did, and my mom too, when I chatted by IM tonight.

Hug your friends and family close. They can be snatched away in an instant.

What I like about this time of year is the new stuff coming out for spring. Yay for new stuff!

Stila has new eyeshadow duos that look super-pretty. I especially want to check out Dragonfly and Vieux Carre. I’ve used Stila shadows for a few years now and I love the textures and colors.

Korres has a whole line of makeup out, and it all looks so pretty. I especially want to try the mango butter lipstick and the under eye concealer.

Bourjois has a new eyeliner, Liner Clubbing, that is supposed to be budgeproof. The colors look really pretty, especially the Violet Laser, which is described as a gold violet.

I know more stuff will come along in the next few weeks. I can’t wait!

The nice folks who make the face cream I like so much are having a sale!! Visit their website to check it out.

Of particular interest to me is the Rooibos & Shea Butter Antioxidant Face Cream.  This is one of my favorite face creams – I like the creamy texture and the scent is heavenly. It’s really nice when my skin is feeling dry (from the weather or indoor heating) or abused.

I’m guessing the soaps and lotions are really nice too. Check them out!

I ordered a bottle of Paula’s Choice 2% Beta Hydroxy Acid Gel when the site has having a cheap shipping offer. I was looking for a replacement for the alcohol-containing (and hence drying) Neutrogena Clear Pore Oil-Eliminating Astringent. I picked the gel because the lotion was more of a moisturizer (and I like my moisturizer and don’t want a replacement). In hindsight, I should have given more consideration to the liquid.

The gel is clear, and basically odorless. It doesn’t contain alcohol, and does contain anti-irritants. The site recommends using a dime-sized amount for your whole face. Personally, I find this recommendation to be seriously overkill because of my biggest complaint – it’s REALLY sticky. It takes a LONG time to dry, and even when it’s “dry” it’s still slightly tacky on the skin. Even with a light moisturizer on top (I’m back to L’Occitane’s Honey Face Cream because my local store was out of stock on Precious Fluid) my face seems tacky for too long. If I don’t let it all dry for at least 10 minutes before applying it, my foundation balls up and rolls away. Argh!!!!!!

So, if I actually used a full dime-size amount, it stays tacky for a ridiculously long amount of time and I go nuts. So I use about half that amount in the morning, and slightly more at night. Someone who wasn’t trying to put makeup on top probably wouldn’t care so much.

On the plus side of things, it’s not terribly drying for twice a day use. I’m guessing that the texture insures the stuff actually stays on my skin and sinks into my pores to do its work. I haven’t noticed a reduction in blackheads yet, but overall pimples seem fewer and heal faster.

I think I will order the liquid this month while there is a 10% off sale and use it in the am and the gel in the pm.