Review: My Style by Dannii Minogue

"I'm not perfect when it comes to fashion and I never have been, but I feel I am starting to hit my stride" - Dannii Minogue

Dannii has been working longer than I've been alive, so I've grown up with her on the radio, seeing her face on TV & in magazines. I've always been fascinated by her style - all the way from her experimental early pop days, her goth 'bad girl' Home & Away look, her sex kitten disco girl era, to today's pretty and polished glam.

Therefore getting the chance to learn about where it all started and how she achieves it was something I couldn't resist, even though I would never class myself as trendy or as someone who is otherwise really into fashion - I'm mainly just nosey and wanted to see the contents of her wardrobe... 

witches Brew scented candle by Yankee...

☪☪☪☪☪/☪☪☪☪☪
Advantages: Fragrance fits the holiday, reasonable price, range of sizes,
Disadvantages: limited availability.

It's that time of year again; I just love burning scented candles during the grey, rainy and cold autumn/winter months...

Candy Corn scented candle by Yankee Candles...

Candy Corn is a tri-coloured [yellow, orange and white] American candy made from corn syrup, marshmallow and fondant. It is sold all year round in America and Canada, but is especially popular in autumn and has become a sort of mascot for Halloween. The Yankee candle version of CANDY CORN is therefore unsurprisingly very sweet, so be warned.

Scent-wise there's not really much to say. if you love benzoin, you'll want to eat this candle. All the classic benzoin hallmarks are here; vanilla, burnt sugar, slightly buttery notes, with a faint almond-cherry undertone.

There is extra vanilla in the fragrance, to mimic the marshmallow, and there is also a pinch of what I think is nutmeg, possibly cinnamon, underneath everything else to give everything a bit of a kick.

As with all Yankee candles, the entirety of the wax is perfumed; I've used some candles where the fragrance burns up before the candle does, but that is not the case here. The fragrance lasts as long as the candle does and I even catch occasional wafts of the perfume whilst the candle is unlit.
☽☽☽☽/☽☽☽☽☽

To sum up the scent; I really enjoy using the CANY CORN scented candle and will be buying more while I still can, this is second only to Christmas Cupcake on my favourite Yankee candle list.

However; we Brits don't have the same connections between candy corn sweets and Halloween, so this is not a fragrance that says "Halloween is almost here." I'll be using CANDY CORN again, but I see it as a all-year round fragrance, rather then a seasonal special.


I mainly use my candles in my bedroom for a few hours in the evenings. A single Yankee votive sampler will last about one week in total. so seven days, with two to three hours per use mains each one has a burning time of between roughly fourteen to sixteen hours. Very good for £1.65.

New fragrance: Dita Von Teese EDP by Dita Von Teese

Dita Von Teese – she is the most famous name in Burlesque and synonymous with seduction. She is an international style icon, who evokes the spirit of the alluring Femme Totale. She is the physical embodiment of everything she is presenting to a worldwide audience with her first scent creation: Glamour, elegance, and self-confident sensuality. That’s why her new scent can have only one name: “Dita Von Teese.”

Her new perfume is just like she is as a woman: glamorous and mysterious, self-confident and seductive. Dita Von Teese created a scent for the type of woman that she embodies like no other: the Femme Totale. She is a vamp and an innocent beauty, provocative and unattainable at the same time. She knows what she wants, and how she will get it – with style, class, and elegance.

Review; Passport in Paris, Eau de Toilette by Paris Hilton

Advantages: low price, long lasting, easy to wear, suitable all year round,

Disadvantages: unoriginal.

- - - - - - - - - - -
The fragrance
- - - - - - - - - - -

Here comes my standard opening statement; PASSPORT PARIS is a fruity/floral, so that, the low price and the fact that it's a 'Celebrity Scent' - and being released by Paris Hilton - makes this the perfect target for mockery by 'serious' fragrance devotees. But hey; if it smells nice and you enjoy wearing it, then who cares whose name is on it and if it's 'only' a fruity/floral?

Now that's out of the way, lets move on to the actual fragrance...


Immediately upon application I can pick on the lightly powdered vanilla note and a hint of peach. I thought that this would be a overpoweringly sweet combination, but the sweetness is surprisingly light and subtle. After a couple of minutes what I think is a raspberry note starts to develop - I can't pull out any other berry notes, but let's be honest and admit that all berries smell similar when used in perfumes. I didn't pick up on any mandarin, which is a shame as more juicy and watery notes might have made the vanilla disperse so the fruit notes got more time to develop.

One of the great things about PASSPORT PARIS is that I can pick out the three key floral notes, my theory is this is because the vanilla is laced throughout the whole fragrance and provides a solid but light base for the florals to develop on. On me the peony note is the strongest out of the florals and as this is a favorite floral scent of mine I'm pleased. The honeysuckle is nearly as strong as the peony, but is still delicate, while the jasmine is subtle and seems slightly watery. I catch occasional hints of other florals and maybe some fruits too, but nothing else is strong enough for me to take even a solid guess at.

There is no strong indication between the heart notes and the base, thanks to the ever-present vanilla. The amber, patchouli and musk are mingled closely together so it is a warm and creamy mix - combined with the lingering vanilla and you get the same general feel as the top and heart notes. The overall sweetness and creaminess is very reminiscent of coconut at times, more so in warmer weather as my skin heats up.


- - - - - - - - - -
Scent notes
- - - - - - - - - -

Mandarin, red berries, peach, Sambac jasmine, honeysuckle, peony, vanilla, amber, patchouli and creamy white musk.


- - - - - - - - - -
The bottle
- - - - - - - - - -

The perfume bottle is the same plastic capped cylinder shape as Paris Hilton For Women and Just Me. But, whilst the bottle shape is the same as her first adult releases, the bottle and outer packaging seems to be aimed towards younger customers; the bottle's label features a anmie rendition of Paris Hilton. Very Harajuku Lovers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other buying considerations
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The best thing about PASSPORT PARIS is definitely the lasting power. It burns down within six to eight hours on skin. It does go fairly close to the skin after three hours, but other people still notice it. I sometimes wear it to bed and will still smell it when I wake up the next day. My bra and tee still smell all vanilla/peachy after a few days, so yeah, this packs a lot more punch then I thought a EDT would be capable of doing.


I got my bottle just before Christmas, because sandalwood, musk and vanilla based fragrances appeal to me in cold weather. As the fruits are perfectly balanced in strength with the florals, so it didn't seem out of place for the time of year. I don't usually wear EDTs in autumn/winter as the concentration doesn't wear well on me, but this has worn well through the snow/ice/bitter winds/rain.

I was surprised by how versatile I've found PASSPORT PARIS to be, now that it's [allegedly] summer; this is the time of year when I find that the perfume being close to the skin comes in handy as the sweetness remains light. The fruit notes also seem more apparent to me and prevent the florals and creamy powderiness from becoming cloying.


As well as being wearable all year round I also happily wear this perfume for casual days, work and some evenings out. The fragrance is subtle, so colleagues won't find it irritating at work. For nights out it is long lasting, but is non-cloying, so as long as you don't want a unique "look at me" type fragrance, this is a good choice.


- - - - - - -
Overall
- - - - - - -

PASSPORT PARIS is a sweet fragrance but it is non-cloying, so I find this to be a more 'adult' then a lot of similar vanilla based fruity/floral fragrances; it's more subtle, it doesn't grab near-by people by the throat and demand attention; it's designed for the wearer to enjoy, rather then the whole office/street/bar.

This is something that is never going to become a classic fragrance, as the scent notes have all appeared in countless other mass-market perfumes over the years. But as this is an all year round, all occasions, reasonably priced EDP that comes in a cute bottle I'm very happy with my purchase and will be re-buying it.


PASSPORT PARIS is similar to Paris Hilton's 2009 Siren perfume, which is in turn similar to Juicy Couture's Viva La Juicy perfume. The good news is that PASSPORT PARIS is easier to find and it's not as close to the skin as Siren is, and it is a heck of a lot cheaper then Viva La Juicy. And - even though this is a EDT - it actually has the better staying power out of the three fragrances.


The Paris Hilton Passport Collection also includes Passport Tokyo [woody/floral/musk] and Passport South Beach [fruity/floral/woody]. I don't know if they plan to introduce more fragrances to the Passport Collection or not; I've emailed Parlux, but haven't received a reply yet.

- - - - - -
Price
- - - - - -

The Passport Collection was released in the US last year, but has now started creeping into the UK. The Perfume Shop [separate from The Fragrance Shop] is the sole high street stockist of the Passport Collection so far. They sell the 100ml bottles for £20.

I've seen 30ml bottles in TK Maxx for £13. Very.co.uk also stocks the 30ml for £15.

Cheapsmells.co.uk stock the 100ml bottle for £22.95.

Summary: Another nice surprise from the Paris Hilton perfume team...

Review: Pop Pink Sparkle EDT by Kylie Minogue

❤❤❤/❤❤❤❤❤

Advantages: low price, for women of any age, easy to wear,

Disadvantages: Only suitable for warmer weather, below average lasting power, unoriginal, hard to find.

Review: Colour B4 by Scott Cornwall

Advantages: It DID remove my colour build-up,

Disadvantages: you need to be sure about the ingredients used in your hair dye, instructions are contradictory.

Review: 4 by Beyonce...

As the title of the album suggests, this is the fourth solo album* from the lead singer of now defunct girl-group Destiny's Child. The album title is not just meant to signify that this is the fourth solo release, but it also meant to represent the day of her birth [4th September 1981] and the fact that she married her husband [Jay-Z] on the 4th of the month [4th April 2008]. The album title is meant to be a "personal gift to her fans", as apparently her fans "have been taking to various social media pages urging her to name the album after her 'special number'". The album was recorded over a year between the spring of 2010 and the spring of 2011, while Beyonce took a break from the spotlight. 

"'The album is definitely an evolution. It's bolder than the music in my previous albums because I'm bolder. The more mature I become and the more life experiences I have, the more I have to talk about. I really focused on songs being classics, songs that would last, songs that I could sing when I'm 40 and when I'm 60." - Beyonce


I might as well warn you now; your enjoyment of 4 will depend on how you rate Beyonce's ballads; The mix of musical influences is subtle and most of the tracks are dedicated to Beyonce's relationship with her husband. Beyonce's named influences for 4 include Fela Kuti [she even worked with the band from the Broadway musical, Fela! on 4], Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie with additional influences by The Jackson 5, New Edition, Adele, Florence and the Machine, and Prince.


Beyonce has co-written every song on 4 [including the deluxe version], except for I Was Here, which was wrote by Diane Warren.

Additional song-writers include The-Dream, Tricky Stewart, Corey Jackson Carter, Frank Ocean, Babyface, J. Que, Kanye West, The-Dream, Adidja Palmer, Diplo, David Taylor and Afrojack.


Beyonce herself co-produced 4 and Individual track producers include Babyface, Consequence, Diane Warren, Kanye West, Ryan Tedder, Switch, Shea Taylor, Symbolyc One and The-Dream.

New fragrance: Cosmic Radiance by Britney Spears

After 2010's successful fragrance Radiance, which surprised us with its flacon created of transparent turquoise and pink surfaces, its successor with the same form and different notes arrives later this year. Cosmic Radiance is inspired by a star which twinkles brighter than all other stars, a star of a distant galaxy, far away from this world.

The composition of the new cosmic glow by Britney Spears opens with strong and optimistic citruses, with a refreshing glittery red bouquet opening its fragrant petals in the very heart of the composition. Base notes twinkle and warm with notes of amber, soft vanilla and creamy sandalwood.


The bottle has the same eye-catching design as last year's Radiance, created of black and glittery-transparent surfaces reminding of gems. A small dose of elegance and femininity is added by the pink color on the neck of the bottle.

New fragrance: Pulse EDP by Beyonce

Beyonce will present her new fragrance Pulse in September 2011 in cooperation with the company Coty. Pulse is a citrus- floral-gourmand fragrance, dedicated to the favorite flower of the singer—orchid. This energetic composition portrays the excitement that she feels on stage.
"Women always tell me that my music makes them feel strong and confident, and Pulse is about finding that inner power. Pulse represents the woman I am on stage. When I think about excitement, it makes me think about my heart racing and a pulsating beat—it’s my stage persona," said Beyonce to Elle.
Coty claims that the fragrance successfully blends citric and gourmand accords. It opens with sparkling top notes of pear blossom, frozen bergamot and an accord of Blue Curacao liqueur. The heart features Bluebird orchid, for the first time used in a fragrance. There are also notes of delicate peony and intensive midnight blooming jasmine. The base is warm, sensual and irresistible, made with Madagascar vanilla, musk and precious woods.

Top notes: pear blossom, frozen bergamot, Blue Curacao
Heart: bluebird orchid, peony, midnight blooming jasmine
Base: vanilla, musk, woody notes

The bottle tends to a modern, futuristic design. Faceted as a diamond, it looks like it’s upside down, while its blue colors evoke the fragrance inside.

To be honest I was disappointed with Heat and Heat Rush; they're too generic. Heat Ultimate Elixir [never received a UK release] was nice, but someone stole my bottle from my suitcase in New York.

I'm a huge Beyonce fan, so fingers crossed that Pulse hits the spot.

Dear L'Oreal...

Damn - you've fooled me into buying a Glam Shine lipgloss, thanks [in no small part] to the above ad of jennifer Lopez.

That promo ad was displayed in Superdrug next to a display of  Glam Shine Fresh lipglosses [drench your lips in Glam Shine Fresh. L'Oreal presents its first lip gloss enriched with Vitamin C & E. Available in 7 tangy shades, it applies sheer on lips to give a subtle pop of day-glo fresh colour.] and it was printed  that she is wearing 'Aqua Mandarin'.

Review: Born This Way by Lady GaGa [music album]

Rating:

Advantages: Totally different to her previous work, meaningful lyrics, rockier edge to the music,

Disadvantages: None for me; I really did love every second of the album.

"The vision is of me in an endless journey. I am a vehicle. I am a vehicle for all of the ideas. And I'm not riding away or towards anything, I'm just in endless state of creativity" -- Lady Gaga

Nick Knight is the photographer behind the artwork for the album and singles. The fashion director for Haus of Gaga and creative director for Mugler Nicola Formichetti styled Lady GaGa and artists who work with her regularly - Sam McKnight and Val Garland - did Lady GaGa's hair and make-up.
When the photo for the regular album edition cover was released it was a case of WTF? Is she meant to be a transformer? She's half human, half motorcycle - like a Hell's Angel centaur [the deluxe edition cover is just a closeout of her face mid growl]. After a while the covers grew on me; she's not bothered about simply looking all pretty and sweet - every last little detail of the album has a message.

Lady GaGa has fully wrote You And I and has co-wrote every other regular and bonus track. Her co-writers are RedOne, Jeppe Laursen, Fernando Garibay and Paul Blair [aka DJ White Shadow]. Lady GaGa has referred to her co-writers/friends and herself as the "Banditos".

Vincent Herbert is Born This Way's executive producer, Robert "Mutt" Lange has produced You And I and Lady GaGa and her co-writers are the co-producers of the other tracks.

Spotlight: Dita Von Teese to release a perfume.

Burlesque performer and beauty/style icon Dita Von Teese has spoken about her desire to create her own fragrance in numerous magazine interviews and now it looks as though it's about to become a reality, based on these two twitter statements she has made within the past few weeks:

Isolated at a chateau in the French countryside w/my perfumers. "No fruit, no vanilla, no candy!! Velvet sensuality w/a dash of vulgarity!"

I want to evoke passion with fragrance….intense love/lust and distaste/fear rather than merely popular acceptance.

　
I don't know about you, but I am very excited to see what she comes up with, as she presents her entire life with elegance and she oozes glamor - it comes naturally to her and I want a piece of that :)

Review: Project D EDP by Project D

✯✯✯✯✯/✯✯✯✯✯

I love the neroli-lead opening to PROJECT D; It's very spicy, yet a bit bitter and vaguely cold. The bergamot is also citrussy so blends in nicely and within ten minutes the warmth and spice vanishes and the fragrance becomes fresh and green. The ylang ylang isn't sweet here, instead it's quite musky/mossy and is very long lasting.

As the ylang ylang dies down the mimosa quickly develops and adds a vaguely fruity sweetness, as does the osmanthus. The combination reminds me a bit of tangerines - sweet, vaguely citrussy, but with zest.
I don't usually like tuberose, but as it's not artificial I really surprised myself by liking it here as it isn't as strong as I was expecting, though it does add more sweetness. It outlasts the other scent notes in the perfume and becomes almost creamy as it slowly burns down and mingles with the developing base notes.

The musk [whilst always present] becomes fully developed as the florals die down; It is strong masculine and slightly salty. Like with the tuberose I normally don't like musky perfumes, but it doesn't artificial or plastic here and as the rest of this perfume is soft and feminine I love the contrast with the masculine musk.
The sandelwood develops almost as quickly as the musk and has a noticeable woodsy scent to it, which seems somewhat spicy.I'm not used to sandalwood actually smelling like a wood so this is a pleasant surprise. It's sort of familiar to cederwood and adds to the short-lived masculine opening. The saffron gives the perfume one final spicey kick and whilst I'm not sure what amber oil is, maybe it's a fancy term for vegetal amber (resin from tree sap), it is more or less the same as artificial amber - a soft and creamy vanilla based scent.

Scent notes
Neroli, bergamot and ylang ylang, tuberose, Japanese osmanthus, mimosa, purple orchid, sandalwood, exotic saffron, musk and hot amber oils.


I really love the pretty bottle too: It is soft pink and teardrop shaped, with the name and a silhouette of a woman printed on it in black.

Prime time for some glam time: Love & Glamour EDP, by Jennifer Lopez.

Actress/singer Jennifer Lopez was one of the first celebrities to release her own fragrance and she had a fashion range - J.Lo - going at the time, so to be fair, releasing a fragrance to go with it did make sense.

Lets tick off her perfume releases so far; the first was Glow and it's millions of limited edition flankers [a slight exaggeration; I think there has been seven so far], Still [I think was her nicest fragrance to date  - I might buy another bottle for a review one day], Live and it's two limited flankers [Live Luxe and Live Platinum], Deseo, Deseo for Men, Deseo Forever [Asian market exclusive] and now there is LOVE & GLAMOUR...

Music review: Love? by Jennifer Lopez...

Rating:

Advantages: Mix of musical styles, summery music, nice artwork

Disadvantages: No more strong single contenders, she's playing it too safe.

LOVE? is the seventh studio album by singer/actress Jennifer Lopez. Work began on the album during the pregnancy of her twins, but the lack of success with her previous three albums lead to Epic Records [part of Sony] testing the waters with two U.S. single releases [Louboutins and Fresh Out The Oven] for a gauge as to the size of her fanbase. The singles were huge flops and failed to receive radio play, so LOVE? was shelved and Epic dropped her - err, I mean they mutually parted ways with her, after briefly starting work on a Greatest Hits album.

Luckily for Jennifer Island [part of Def Jam] decided to take a chance on her and hired L.A. Reid and RedOne as executive producers and charged them with sourcing new material to update the album before release. Individual track producers of the finished product include Mike Caren, D'Mile, Danja, The-Dream, Lady Gaga, StarGate and Tricky Stewart.



Jennifer has said in loads of interviews over the years that she doesn't like being referred to as J.Lo any more as that was just a character, but lo and behold - J.Lo is back. Literally back, J.Lo is stamped on the album and single covers instead of her name. A glance in the booklet is the same old checklist; fur coat? Check. Bling? Check. Barely there clothing? Check. Shades? Check. So with the artwork being blasts from the past the question becomes, will the actual album be a look back over her back catalogue too?

Moving....

I'm in the process of transferring this blog to http://beautyyummies.onsugar.com/.

Sugar is a site I already spend most of my online time on, so it makes sense for me to blog there too.


See you there?

Bye xx

Reviewing Katy Perry's first perfume: Purr EDP, by Katy Perry...

Advantages: Easy to wear, reasonable price, suitable all year round, pretty bottle.

Disadvantages: Unoriginal

Summary: A wallet-friendly all rounder...

FYI: Pre-order the Katy Perry/OPI collection now...

The Katy Perry collaboration is released on the 10th of January, but - if the world-wide anticipation and hype is anything to go by - I can see it selling out in a matter of hours.

But - luckily - I've been looking around and found some reputable sellers on Amazon UK and Ebay where you can place a guaranteed pre-order for the four colours [Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night, The One That Got Away and Not Like The Movies] and the shatter top coat, plus a set containing miniature sizes of the limited edition shades.

New release: Anchors Away - Spring 2011 colour collection by China Glaze

I don't know the official launch date for China Glaze's newest range, but I do know that you can buy the range on Amazon UK right now :)




Sunset Sail

Ahoy!

Below Deck

Hey Sailer

Knotty

Life Preserver

Sea Spray

White Cap

First Mate

Lighthouse

Pelican Gray

Starboard