Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The List: My Father -- The Original Fragrance Man

The List celebrates my late father's love of scents. My father, who is the original Fragrance Man, told me as a child that a big man must always dress well. As a large man, he practiced this statement and wore better clothing than most men. He also had three closets full of the latest men's fashion wear and probably had over 100 pairs of shoes. I often remarked to myself that my father must be the male version of Imelda Marcos. Just as he expressed his love for fashion, he was passionate about fragrances. He wore a variety of colognes, ranging from drug store favorites such as Aspen to prestige fragrances such as Marc Jacobs for men. The colognes below were part of my father's collection.


America by Perry Ellis

Aspen by Coty

Armani Code by Armani

British Sterling by Dana

Brut by Faberge

CK One by Calvin Klein

English Leather by Dana

Gucci pour Homme by Gucci

Halston 1-12 by Halston

Halston “Z” by Halston

Marc Jacobs by Marc Jacobs

Old Spice by Old Spice

Preferred Stock by Coty

Royal Copenhagen by Royal Copenhagen

Stetson by Stetson

Stetson Country by Coty


For more information about these fragrances, visit Osmoz.com or The Fragrance Foundation's Fragrance Directory.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Ad of the Week: Ibiza for Men by Cathy Guetta

Where did I get my info?
Youtube.com

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Hot, Hot, Hot News -- The Shoppes at Palazzo

I am currently writing a full featured article about my fragrance tour at The Palazzo Las Vegas, which opened on January 18, 2008. As a part of my tour, I visited The Shoppes at Palazzo. Since I cannot contain my excitement about Vegas's newest luxury shopping destination, I have decided to give you some information about it before I publish my article. According to The Palazzo's guidebook, "you'll find the ultimate Las Vegas locale for a retail rendezvous in more than 50 international boutiques. The eclectic mix begins with Barneys New York, the Manhattan institution for discerning fashionistas and clothing connoisseurs, and includes the top names in watches and wearables, collectibles and couture around the world." Since the retail establishments at this uber luxury mall only sell high quality items from the world's top designers, expect to pay top dollar for each product. Of course, if you have limited funds like me, it is a fun place for fantasy shopping. Click here to see the list of shops at The Palazzo.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Reprint and Fragrance Education: Making Your Own Aftershave

How to Make your own Aftershave

By John Gibb

With all those commercials, brand names, fashion designer names and hype about the various aftershave products on the market it’s almost impossible that you haven’t noticed the rush among the various brands to conquer the aftershave market. But, is it really such a big issue or the whole thing about aftershaves is overrated? Is it possible that you could just forget about all of that and get your job done using just materials that you will find inside your home?

It turns out that sometimes it is better to ignore all that hype and just do what your instinct tells you; try to be as natural as possible. In this article I will talk about 2 good aftershave recipes that you can do in just a few minutes inside your home. I have tried them both and I can say that I was more than satisfied and impressed with the results.

For the first aftershave you need :

Half a cup of distiller water

Quarter a cup of witch hazel

1 tbsp of olive oil

And half a cup of dried herbs (this can be chamomile, rosemary, lavender flowers etc). Additionally, you might use a few drops of clove, cinnamon, sage, eucalyptus etc.

After you have collected the materials you should put them all together inside a glass jar. You should place the jar in a cool, dark place so it can steep. For the next 2 weeks you should shake the jar two times a day. Then, after 2 weeks you should strain out everything and store the aftershave in a bottle of your choice.

For the second aftershave you need:

Half a cup of hazel

2 tbs of dried chamomile

And 2 tbs of vodka

After you have those materials, you need to repeat the same process from the first recipe. The second aftershave is quite different from the first one. It’s up to you to add variations to the recipe and to choose which is the best for you. You can always experiment with new dried herbs or tweak the dosage a little bit.

As you can see, it’s really easy to create your own aftershave. Apart from saving money off overpriced products, you are also doing something creative that will more than satisfy you.

Finally, home-made aftershaves can be a perfect way for a woman to show a man that she actually cares for him. Personalized gifts are always a pleasure to receive, especially when they come from the other sex.


John Gibb is the owner of aftershave guides
For more information on Aftershaves check out http://www.aftershave-sources.info.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Gibb
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Make-your-own-Aftershave&id=265459

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Hot, Hot, Hot News -- New Launches

Since I was unable to blog for a few weeks, some of the fragrances on this list might already be "old news." So, forgive me for my tardiness. It couldn't be helped. Make sure to ask the fragrance experts at your favorite department stores about these newbies.

For Women
Andy Warhol's Silver Factory by Bond No. 9
Christian Lacroix Rouge by Avon
Gucci by Gucci
Island Capri by Michael Kors
Scent 79 Woman by Jil Sander


For Men
Euphoria Men Intense by Calvin Klein
Scent 79 Man by Jil Sander

Where did I get my info?
Osmoz.com

Video of the Week: Kenzo Amour by Kenzo

Where did I get my info?
Youtube.com

Friday, January 18, 2008

I'm Back!

Dear Readers,

I'm back and I'm ready to blog. The past two weeks has been the longest ones in my life. My father, who is the original Fragrance Man, just passed, and as a result of his death, I had to assist my mother and my siblings with his funeral arrangements. His homecoming was beautiful. Each of his "celebrations" were full of people that truly loved (and still love) him. He would have been proud.

Take care and hugs,

The Fragrance Man

Sunday, January 6, 2008

The Next Post

Due to a recent family tragedy, the next post will be published next week. Thank you my dear readers for supporting my blog.

Take Care,

The Fragrance Man

Friday, January 4, 2008

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Hot, Hot, Hot News -- New Launches


A new year means new experiences, and trying an unfamiliar perfume or cologne is a great novel experience. So, begin your year by acquainting yourself with one of the fragrances below. Of course, my sources relayed this list of newbies to me.



For Women


Isabela Capeto by Isabela Capeto
Mily Perfume by Melissa Flagg
Ralph Wild by Ralph Lauren
Serphim by Ormonde
Vanille 44 by Le Labo

For Men

Cereus Pour Homme by Cereus


Where did I get my info?
Now Smell This
Scented Salamander

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Reprint and Fragrance Education: Perfume Buying Guide


Differentiating Between Perfume and its Fragrance Using a Perfume Buying Guide
by URSULA MCLEAN

Let us begin our perfume buying guide by asking: is there a difference between a fragrance and a perfume? There is – the fragrance would technically be the odor itself that we smell. Perfume, by definition, is the substance itself that emits the fragrance or smell. Many people tend to interchange these two terms but they should not be confused with one another in a properly defined perfume buying guide.

The first thing you must remember about buying perfume is that the fragrance should reflect the personality of whoever will be wearing it. This is why perfume manufacturers may label some perfume as men’s perfume, and other types as women’s perfume in their own perfume buying guide – because men tend to have different personalities from women.

Perfume makers and experienced perfume users know that a perfume that is perfect for them is considered good for them because of the way the essential oils of the perfume will react to the skin and skin oils of the wearer. Let us explore that phenomenon in this perfume buying guide.

One way to categorize perfume is according to the season it will be worn in – which is very sensible because we emit body oils more or less depending on the weather of the season. If you plan to wear a perfume during spring, the fragrance of that perfume should be suitable for a fresh and refreshing environment (so expect your body not to emit so much body oils due to the relatively cool environment.) If you are going to apply perfume during summer, when we emit more body oils, do not go for the very heavy-smelling perfume. Instead, choose a perfume whose fragrance tends to be cool and light. If you tend to emit heavy-smelling body oils and wear perfume that is cool and light, the combination will be more pleasant than that induced by a heavy-smelling perfume. In autumn, the general recommendation is to choose subtle-smelling perfume while in winter, you can safely go for warmer fragrances since we emit much, much less body oils when it is very cold.

Perfume is derived from plant essential oils so we might also categorize perfume based on the strength of the essential oils used and the degree to which they are diluted in the total solution. We call the most diluted of the four categories as Eau fraiche, where essential oils simply make up 1% to 3% of the total solution. Higher up in solution strength would be Eau de cologne (also called simply cologne.) This second type of solution has 4% to 8% essential oils in it. The third category, dubbed Eau du toilette, is much stronger because it contains 8% to 15% essential oils. The last and most robust of these essential oil solutions is the Eau du parfum which has from 15% to 22% essential oils in it.

It is important to know these two basic ways of categorizing perfumes in any buying guide because they may frequently dictate what brand, type, and size of perfume we are buying. Generally, the more concentrated the essential oils are in a solution, the higher would be the price of the total product. Though you can save more by buying a bigger volume of the perfume, a very concentrated product would still be quite costly (due to the cost of raising the plants and flowers from which these perfume substances would be derived and the cost of extracting the essential oils from the raw materials.) That will explain why you may find some larger volume bottles of a certain brand and type of perfume to be less expensive than a smaller yet more concentrated volume solution from another brand and type of perfume.

If you are uncertain what type, brand, and strength of perfume to buy, it is always advisable to either spray some on yourself from a trial sprayer so you can check out how it smells on you, or to buy a small trial version for anyone you will be buying for. It is also worth remembering that perfume smells differently after some time on your skin, because it may take awhile for your body heat to activate the chemical reactions between the essential oils and your own body oils. So if you tried out a product now, then bought a trial version, only to find a few hours later that you do not like the way the product smells on you, at least you still have time to return your purchase. When in doubt, do read a clearly written perfume buying guide to clear up confusion.

Author bio :- Ursula McLean is a IA and ITEC qualified beauty therapist working with Feel Confident an online retailer of Eyesential and Eye Treatment