Indulgent, Not Expensive

 You can count on St. Ives to bring quenching skin care that not only only makes your skin feel good but also pleases with delicious scents.

St. Ives Triple Butters Creamy Vanilla Hydrating Body Wash not only sound scrumptious, the 100% natural moisturizers leave the skin feeling soft and silky smooth.

St. Ives Triple Butters Creamy Coconut Hydrating Body Wash contains a rich blend of Jojoba, Shea and Cocoa Butter to deliver triple the moisture and leaves skin feeling soft and silky smooth

Follow-up with St. Ives Naturally Indulgent Advanced Body Moisturizer with Coconut Milk and Orchid Extract for a deep moisturizing finish that is easily absorbed into the skin. The natural Orchid Flower Extract contains antioxidants said to be skin calming agents.

All are especially appreciated in the harsh winter, very affordable and are animal cruelty-free.

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Sweet Lime and Cedar Season

Just because the weather has been yin-yanging in and out of Spring—a delicate crocus here, golf ball size hail, there-- doesn’t mean that you can’t surround yourself with your own personal warmth, light and fragrance. Sweet Lime & Cedar from British fragrance house Jo Malone was introduced last fall and now the line has expanded to include Shower Gel, Body Crème, a Home Candle, and the newest, a Body Oil. Now you can completely immerse yourself in this most lovely fragrance from dawn to dusk.

The fragrance itself is, like all of the scents from Jo Malone, singular. The first whiff of Sweet Lime & Cedar will transport you to the land where its inspiration was born, Siam, now Thailand. Top notes such as Kaffir Lime, Blood Orange, Spearmint and Pink Pepper along with middles notes that include Clary Sage, Coconut, Coriander, Lavender, layered on base notes such as Cedarwood, Amber and Tamarind. How deliciously delightful and at the same time, subtle, mysterious and unmistakable.

Jo Malone's unique philosophy encourages you to experiment with scent. Each of her original fragrances was designed to be worn alone or layered on the skin. By combining two or three, you can create an unexpected signature scent of your own. Think Wild Fig and Cassis, veiled with Honeysuckle and Jasmine or Amber and Lavender combined with Nutmeg and Ginger.

The fragrance collections can be combined as you wish and can be elegantly gift-boxed. Sweet Lime & Cedar Fragrance Collection makes a thoughtful and beautiful gift for you or for someone else. Or both.

Find it at Jo Malone Shops, http://www.jomalone.com/, and specialty stores including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and select Neiman Marcus stores.

Chocolate Chi

Fragrance in perfume doesn’t always have to be reminiscent of flowers or musk or sandalwood. Vanilla became popular in the mid-1990s and was followed by other foody-fragrances. Men have not been left out.

For a while Thierry Mugler sold a coffee-aroma infused cologne for men and while it was well-received, according to their representatives, it is no longer available. So what in the way of an unexpected fragrance for men is available now?

Armed with research that says nearly 70% of women around the world ranked chocolates as more irresistible than shopping, jewelry, or, yes, even sex, Axe has launched Dark Temptation, an intriguing blend of chocolate with other fragrances.

The result is more complex and captivating than you might expect. A blend of red peppercorn and hot chocolate amber, the overall olfactory effect is an agreeable and different aroma.

Shower Gel and Bodyspray and the cost is an affordable $4.99 each

Making Scents of Food Flavors

What makes a scent acceptable or even beloved for a perfume? When did Vanilla become a fragrance and not just a flavor? Some claim it all began in 1993 with Coty’s launch of Vanilla Fields.

If a Vanilla perfume, then what about Chocolate? Or Coffee? They are already here. More later.