December 10, 2018

BeautyandWellbeing.com

ALTAIA, Purple Land Eau de Parfum, Beautyhabit

ALTAIA as seen on BeautyandWellbeing.com...

...and available online at Beautyhabit

Purple Land Eau de Parfum by ALTAIA - Editor's Pick: Festive Fragrances

Deck the halls smelling fresh, floral, oriental, or woody–take your pick. If you’re looking for the perfect gift to give to a loved one this season, nothing shows thoughtful care and attention like a beautiful bottle of perfume, carefully selected according to their character and spirit. Or, scratch that thought all together and spoil yourself a little this Christmas! Tis’ the season to give, which includes showing yourself some love as well. BWB has curated a list of fragrances that will undoubtedly bring a flirtatious sophistication to your holiday season.

Purple Land by Altaia

This tropical fragrance is rooted in a love story between its creators – Marina and Sebastián. The dawn of their long-distance romance is told through an aromatic sea of purple frangipani, complemented by notes of guava, lily of the valley, and musk. Complete with grapefruit, papaya and ambrox, Purple Land is for both the hopeless and the hopeful romantic.

December 07, 2018

November 30, 2018

November 29, 2018

November 03, 2018

October 17, 2018

October 12, 2018

September 18, 2018

The Australian - Wish Magazine

Eau d'Italie as seen in The Australian - Wish Magazine...

...and available online at Beautyhabit: https://www.beautyhabit.com/collections/eau-ditalie/products/eau-ditalie-eau-de-toilette

Eau d'Italie Eau de Toilette by Eau d'Italie: Positano in a Bottle

Smells evoke memories, so it made sense for one of the Amalfi Coast's most beloved hotels to create a fragrance that takes you straight back there.

It’s a scent that started with a single childhood memory. Specifically, a memory of racing across an expanse of sea-green maiolica tiles on the terrace of a hillside villa in Positano, warmed by the Mediterranean sun, the air wafting with the pungency of the Tyrrhenian sea sparkling far below. It’s a beautiful image, full of romance and nostalgia – but a fairly esoteric thing from which to create a single scent, much less a small perfume empire. Such, however, was the genesis of Eau d’Italie, the signature fragrance that’s inextricably linked in the minds of those who love it – and they are legion – to Le Sirenuse, the hotel in Positano for which it was created. The site of the scene described above, it’s elegant, immaculate, and synonymous with the glamour of the Amalfi Coast.

In 2001 the hotel was celebrating its 50th, recalls the Roman-born former filmmaker Marina Sersale, who with her husband, Sebastian Alvarez Murena, created Eau d’Italie, which would go on to proliferate into a multi-fragrance collection. “My [late] uncle Franco [Sersale], Le Sirenuse’s owner, wanted to throw a big party that October, and they invited everyone. Longtime guests from all over the world, as well as basically the whole village – you can imagine the wonderfulness it would have been.” But then the 9/11 attacks happened.

“Obviously everything just halted. No one was flying, the hotel was completely empty,” she says. So in October, Antonio Sersale, Franco’s dapper son – who now owns and runs the hotel with his wife Carla Paravicini Sersale – decided to invite a few people down for his birthday instead. Among the guests was Argentine-born Alvarez Murena, who would become Marina’s partner in both business and life. “We all got together again soon after, in early 2002, to discuss other ways to celebrate the hotel’s 50th; really we were just playing with concepts. Someone came up with the idea of creating a fragrance, which everybody loved.” Alvarez Murena had recently left his job as a dealer of leaf tobacco; the documentary Sersale had been about to shoot in New York had been scuppered by the attacks. “So it turned out that Sebastian and I were the ones with the most time available to make it happen,” she says.

Alvarez Murena’s background had provided him with some training in aromas; but neither had experience in perfume production, “though both of us had always gravitated towards what are now called ‘artisanal’ scents,” Sersale notes, and wanted to create something in that spirit. They met with Bertrand Duchaufour, one of France’s most acclaimed “noses”, who has created fragrances for Commes des Garçons, L’Artisan Parfumeur and Penhaligon’s, among many others. The three got on well, and Duchaufour was invited to Le Sirenuse. “We had defined what we wanted to do, which was to distil an essence of Positano,” says Sersale. “Bertrand wanted to know about my memories of summers here; and one of the strongest was of racing Antonio and my sister Giulia across the terrace where Le Sirenuse’s pool now is, which used to be covered in these beautiful green tiles. We’d start at the restaurant end, and whoever made it to where the pool bar is now first was the winner. I remembered the hot, dry smell of the tiles, and the sea, and vines growing on the terrace. It was really the most wonderful part of my childhood.”

Forging a scent from a childhood recollection was an interesting abstract intellectual exercise; “but it also needed to smell good, clearly,” says Alvarez Murena. At the time, Duchaufour was experimenting with new molecules – synthetics that carry their own signature note. “There was one in particular, called argile,” recalls Sersale – a mineral molecule combination (argile is French for clay); it became the base, around which were “embroidered” a handful of carefully selected notes. Among these were frankincense, bergamot, sweet yellow clover (“there’s a local species of it that grows up and around the mountains above Positano,” says Alvarez Murena), and blackcurrant buds (“extremely, transportingly fresh, fresher even than citrus,” Sersale enthuses).

The process took two years; initially family members discussed it regularly, but once the necessary duration became clear, she and Alvarez Murena took ownership. “People weighed in, of course – though Franco was actually anosmic, so couldn’t smell anything; he’d just say, ‘I don’t know, is it good? What do you guys think?’” recalls Sersale. “But it was, in all the major points, a collaboration. Gae Aulenti, for instance” – the prolific architect-designer who had just created Le Sirenuse’s thrillingly contemporary jewel box of a spa – “was at the hotel once when we were there, and she came in and smelled it, and adored it. So even she was sort of tangentially involved.”

At the time, the idea of a hotel having a signature scent was unique. But what really put Eau d’Italie on the map – and what to this day brings particular joy to its many devotees, and lends it as much cachet as does the scent itself – is its stunningly beautiful packaging. Bold, colourful and contemporary, it is as at home on a shelf in the bathroom of a downtown Manhattan loft as it is in the pristine white-tiled bathrooms at Le Sirenuse.

“The obvious thing would have been to go for a baroque, heavier style, given the architecture and period of the hotel,” says Sersale. “But Le Sirenuse has always been fundamentally different from other hotels like it in one important way, which is that it has never been old, or fusty or dusty. From the day it opened in the 50s, it was always ahead of its time. So we didn’t want something that looked like it should be in an old Amalfi coast hotel. We wanted something minimalist, urban.” Eau d’Italie’s angular glass bottle, spray-painted white, recalls the bright white houses of Positano; the delicate sea-green face captures the shade of those terrace tiles of Sersale’s childhood; the bold oxblood detailing is the exact colour of the iconic façade of the hotel.

Eau d’Italie debuted in Milan in June 2004, with a launch party alla Positanese, complete with potted lemon trees and strolling musicians from the hotel’s restaurant, La Sponda, flown up from the south. “The first thing that happened was that Franca Sozzani [the late, great Vogue Italia editor] gave it an entire page in the following issue,” Sersale recalls. “We had no idea this was going to happen. Then US Vogue picked it up; and suddenly we were being contacted by concept stores in New York and LA and London, asking to stock our brand. We were all saying to each other ‘brand – what do they mean, brand?’

“So we altered the packaging for commercial sales, made it bigger, and began distributing,” Alvarez Murena continues. “After a point, though, it became too complicated and time-consuming for the hotel to be doing this, so eventually we decided to set up a separate company. But it wasn’t just for ease of sales, because by that time we’d really begun to love it.”

In 2005, the idea for a second scent was born: Rose Paestum, named for the spectacular Magna Graecia-era temple complex south of Positano, just above the Cilento coast, which was famous in antiquity for its profusions of wild roses. “At the time, I was wearing a rose-based fragrance, and basically I wanted to make my own,” says Sersale. Rose Paestum is lent an unexpected edge by a foundation note of myrrh, inspired by a trip Sersale had made to Ethiopia’s Omo River valley. “There were these children by the side of the road, selling what looked like little miniature rounds of provolone,” she says. “But they were actually myrrh. It was incredible; I brought as much as I could home. When we were making Paestum Rose, I sent a little piece of it to Bertrand and asked him to incorporate it.”

The idea to create a collection that proposed a sort of olfactory journey around Italy cohered with the third and fourth scents. “That’s when the penny dropped,” says Alvarez Murena. “We were working on the idea of Italy in winter, and we had created two scents simultaneously – Sienne l’Hiver [Siena in winter] and Bois d’Ombrie [Umbrian forest]. We couldn’t choose which we loved more, so we launched them at the same time.”

Since then, Eau d’Italie has launched roughly one scent a year, always taking inspiration from a particular place on the peninsula. Jardin du Poete, with its crisp, sylvan notes of cypress, pink peppercorn and basil softened with vetiver and grapefruit, pays homage to the citrus gardens of ancient Greco-Roman Syracuse. Magnolia Romana, a poem to the huge trees that line the avenues of the Villa Borghese, is lent structure (and sexiness) by base notes of cedar and white musk. The incredibly dense, exotic Baume du Doge layers the spices and attars which made Venice the world’s most prolific trading centre one into another: saffron, frankincense, myrrh, cardamom. Many of the scents are notable for being universally wearable – very much by design, Alvarez Murena confirms. “Basically our style, up until about our 10th fragrance, was to make unisex scents.”

Each is singular, its striking white bottle adorned with two unique colours. But Eau d’Italie – that first, signature scent – remains the object of particular adoration. “I’ll be travelling in some faraway place and a former guest of ours recognises the scent of Eau d’Italie I’m wearing,” Carla Paravicini Sersale told me recently. “Every time, it’s a moving encounter; people tell us about their experience at Le Sirenuse, inevitably linked to romance, or love, or just happiness, their eyes dreamy with recalling their days in Positano.” A beautiful memory in a bottle.

September 16, 2018

September 05, 2018

September 04, 2018

August 16, 2018

July 25, 2018

June 08, 2018

May 17, 2018

May 15, 2018

May 11, 2018

May 07, 2018

April 24, 2018

March 12, 2018

March 02, 2018

February 17, 2018

February 16, 2018

December 04, 2017

PerfumePosse.com

Kensington Apothecary as seen on PerfumePosse.com...

...and available online at Beautyhabit.com: https://www.beautyhabit.com/collections/kensington-apothecary/products/kensington-apothecary-fresh-lemons-cold-cream

Fresh Lemons Cold Cream byKensington Apothecary: Baby, It's Cold (Cream)

It’s that time of year when my thoughts turn to Skin Care. I’mo be honest – Spring/Summer I mostly do the cleanse/sunscreen regimen and I’m OUT! Lots of Outside Time and it’s finally time to OPEN THE WINDOWS and turn off that damn gas-forced air heat. I know, I know – I’d be the first one howling like a 2 yr old if it goes out in February. But there’s no denying that heating is rough AF on the skin. So, when the Equinox swings towards the Winter Solstice and I have to close the windows, I can feel my skin saying ‘but Mommmm! Do we HAVE to? Can’t we just go to Puerto Vallarta or Maui until May?” Alas, darling skin, we are Broke AF. Also alas, we do not have a Winter Palace in Palm Springs. So. Let’s do what we can to stave off the itching and scratching of the Dermal Apocalypse, shall we?”

The first thing I turn to, come November, is cold cream. I don’t know how I came to love it so much but it’s one of those little pleasures that helps get me through these insane days when it’s pitch-effin-dark at 4:45p. Instead of curling into a ball and sleeping until mid-March, I turn my evenings into Spa. And the first thing I do is slap some cold cream on my face. I think it’s because, like so many women of my generation, I watched my mother and grandmother do it – and their skin was flawless! When I think of cold cream I think of Grace Kelly (who, purportedly, never used soap on her flawless face, only cold cream).

Kensington Apothecary Fresh Lemons Cold Cream. From the great smell and feel to the beauty of the inside of the box (omg. I am SUCH a ‘girl’ – I can’t get rid of the box because the inside is a soft pink. Kill. Me. Now. ) – this is a great cream. I’m going to be honest, though: I think this cream is, for me, better as a Summer cold cream. It’s gorgeous and effective but the citrus is just a bit bitey for my dry Winter skin. I could see this working like a charm in July, though, when I come in from an 80F day and feel greasy and dirty but don’t want to use soap. But omg. Any time of the year? It smells DIVINE!

December 04, 2017

November 15, 2017

November 06, 2017

October 26, 2017

September 24, 2017

September 21, 2017

August 15, 2017

August 01, 2017

July 19, 2017

July 07, 2017

PerfumePosse.com

Eau d'Italie, Rosa Greta Eau de Parfum, Beautyhabit

Eau d'Italie as seen on PerfumePosse.com...

...and available online at Beautyhabit: https://www.beautyhabit.com/collections/eau-ditalie/products/eau-ditalie-rosa-greta-eau-de-parfum

Rosa Greta Eau de Parfum by Eau d'Italie: Garbo Smells! Rosa Greta Giveaway

Garbo. Greta Garbo. Is there anyone in the Universe who doesn’t at least know The Name? I did a quick poll of friends across gender and generation lines and found one thing in common: they all know The Name. Most of them have not seen any of her films and they couldn’t really tell you anything about her – not the era of her stardom or even if she’s still alive (several of my younger pollsters thought she might still be, which would be a near Vulcan-like feat, considering she was born in 1905) – what every one of the 8 people I polled agreed with, Garbo is synonymous with Old Hollywood Glamour.

Her love life was always a mystery – depending upon the source(s) she was possibly bisexual and possibly polyamorous. What we do know is, she was intensely private – and that, in and of itself, has a glamour all its own, especially if you are beautiful, wealthy and very, very famous. Story tells it that in 1938 Miss Garbo left Munich for Ravello on the Amalfi Coast, to be with the noted symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski in preparation for their anticipated marriage – the marriage never happened but you can imagine that the 1938 versions of TMZ and Twitter went bonkers over the story (the photo accompanying the story makes her look like she’s just faced a firing squad but it’s probably just a really old microfiche). Just imagine, the beauty of the Amalfi Coast, with its wild roses and lemon groves, one of the most beautiful and most famous women in existence, in a tryst with a musician who was famous in his own right. The Stuff of Legend.

I’ve only been to the Amalfi Coast once, decades ago, – but I shall remember it forever. For a young woman, traveling with a lover, it is a sublime journey full of sunlight, wine, the intoxicating smells of the countryside and the sea…the cliffs, towns and villages that looked as if they’d stayed the same since Garbo’s time – and we were not Garbo & Stokowski. I can only imagine their experience went to Eleven!

In Rosa Greta Eau d’Italie has captured the essence of the Amalfi Coast in springtime, full of those wild roses and lemon groves and sunlight. Every spritz is a burst of sunshine and sea air, roses, herbs and citrus are carried on the breeze and everything (even the fishmonger at the market stall) is breathtakingly romantic. I imagine Garbo in boycut trousers and a crisp white shirt, just a hint of Rosa Greta at her pulsepoints, off to the market to get the best wine and the freshest catch for the cook to prepare for that evening’s meal, on the terrace, high above the sea.

I can go on about this because this really is one of my favorite areas in the world but I'd rather give you a chance to try it for yourself. Beautyhabit – my beautiful, wonderful BEAUTYHABIT – sent me 2 samples... AND a FULL BOTTLE of this lovely scent.

I would love to keep it all for ME – but that would be mean. So! I am going to do a giveaway for the full bottle and both samples! Where is your most romantic destination? Real life or fantasy. Tell me a little story about it. I’ll have The Girl (a true romantic) pull 3 names – two will win the sample size and one lucky romantic will receive the beautiful full bottle. This giveaway is open to all but closes on July 11!

May 14, 2017

May 08, 2017

PerfumePosse.com

Child Perfume as seen on PerfumePosse.com...

...and available online at Beautyhabit: https://www.beautyhabit.com/collections/child-perfume/products/child-perfume-roll-on?variant=26678463495

Child Perfume Roll On by Child Perfume: Oooh, Child!

Well! It’s finally stopped raining – at least for a couple of days – and the garden is losing its mind, with roses budding out ahead of the irises, etc (I think I already yabbered on about that). Hostas going wild, jumping up 5″ in a day! Plants really do prefer rain to hose water – and why not! I couldn’t get out in the garden for a week, it was so cold and wet, so I spent that time sampling Child. I think I was in the throes of Something or Other when it first came out because I remember it showing up at Barneys – but that’s all I remember. Now it’s at Beautyhabit and they were kind enough to send me a little sample bag, so I was able to take some time with it. I didn’t realize Child has a perfume roll-on – I likes it! Something about roll-ons soften a lot of perfumes, bringing them closer in to the skin. Not that Child needs any particular help with that – the notes are the epitome of Soft and Pretty, which you know I love:

Top: Vanilla, Lilac, Faint Magnolia.
Heart: Jasmine, Tuberose, Violet.
Base: Crème Musk, Rose, Mimosa.

Not sure what Crème Musk is but whatever it is, it doesn’t overpower the warm flowers, which is great, and it gives the perfume a nice, solid (but not overwhelming) ‘bottom’. I wore Child Perfume for 3 days in a row and got so many compliments! Interestingly, not one of the compliments was ‘what perfume are you wearing?’ – all of them were ‘wow. you smell GREAT!’. It’s a non-skin scent that succeeds in being a perfect skin scent. To me, Child smells like a place – or, rather, a place in time. Every time I open the rollerball I’m transported back…but I can’t quite pinpoint where it is I am. One minute it’s 1972 and I’m in Love’s Baby Soft, listening to ‘Baby I’ma Want You’ and sighing over the Senior guys. The next I am in 1954, in a kitchen with a pink table and chairs, which is strange because I wasn’t yet born. But there ya go. It’s a cozy, close scent, the roll-on, perfect for wearing (dare I say it) even in an office environment ( assuming you don’t work in an office full of jackbooted Perfume Brownshirts). The vanilla warms up the violet and, oddly enough, tames the tuberose, so you don’t get any one note – the whole thing is shimmering and seamless and makes me feel like I’m wearing a polished cotton shirt, even when I’m wearing some tshirt out of the work drawer and my favorite yoga pants,with the wear hole above the left knee. I prefer the roll-on to the spray.

May 01, 2017

April 14, 2017

April 12, 2017

Allure.com

Paul & Joe, Limited Edition 15th Anniversary Makeup Collection, Beautyhabit

Paul & Joe as seen on Allure.com...

...and available online at Beautyhabit: https://www.beautyhabit.com/collections/paul-joe-beaute 

Limited Edition 15th Anniversary Makeup Collection by Paul & Joe: The Paul & Joe Anniversary Makeup Collection Is Purrrrfect for Cat Lovers

Let me preface this post by saying I love cats. I love cats the way Oprah loves bread, which we know is a lot. Ever since childhood, I've had quite the strong affinity for felines (they're just so goddamn cute), and over the years, it's just blossomed into this weird-yet-still-totally-healthy-I-SWEAR obsession. Anything cat-inspired — figurines, fashion, hell, even the real thing — I've got to have immediately. Right meow, so to speak.

So when I discovered that Paul & Joe brought out the big guns for its limited-edition 15th-anniversary collection, I nearly jumped — as in, I physically shot out of my swivel desk chair in pure excitement — at the chance to wax poetic about the adorable, cat-themed collection. Luckily, my editor agreed that indeed, I was destined to write this piece, so, here we are. [Ed note: This is true. She has been waiting for a meowment like this.]

The line's ambiguous name, simply "Paul & Joe Anniversary Makeup Collection," gives no mention of the cuteness the collection actually elicits. In full, there's the classic cat lipstick, the Lipstick in Petite Princess, a peachy pink shade made famous in the brand's spring 2012 lineup formulated in the shape of a sweet little kitty; six (!) feline figurine eye shadows — in a wide range of shade options, like a soft pastel pink, icy cool mint, metallic copper, sultry gray, purplish mauve, and a light golden peach — which all also double as cheek tint; and a "paw-sitively adorable" portable case to store in all it while on the go.

Luckily, the collection comes complete with superchic home storage, a millennial pink- and gold-embellished vanity vault, which opens with a slight tug of a golden feline figurine drawer knob. Lastly, there's a cat-eared cloth pouch designed with the same pink-and-gold floral print as the vault for the ultimate #kittycoordination. I plan on using it as a makeshift makeup bag because I'm damn near obsessed.

Suffice it to say, you'll have to pry this sweet little line of cat-themed goods out of my non-manicured paws because, honey, I'm never letting go. Which means if you want your own Paul & Joe Anniversary Makeup Collection, which is $85, you'll have to head over to beautyhabit.com.

April 12, 2017

April 07, 2017

April 01, 2017

Beauty Editor Favorites at Beautyhabit

BeautyandWellbeing.com

BeautyandWellbeing.com

ALTAIA as seen on BeautyandWellbeing.com...

Purple Land Eau de Parfum by ALTAIA - Editor's Pick: Festive Fragrances

805 Living

805 Living

Louis Sherry as seen in 805 Living...

12 Piece Candy Tin - Harrison Howard West Indies by Louis Sherry: The Perfect Gift

Julia Murphree (IG Story)

Julia Murphree (IG Story)

ALTAIA Purple Land Eau de Parfum as seen on Julia Murphree's Instagram Story (@juliamurphree)...

HelloGiggles.com

HelloGiggles.com

Paul & Joe as seen on HelloGiggles.com...

Paul & Joe Limited Edition Makeup Collection 2018 Advent Calendar - WANT/NEED: A pink T-shirt for proud English majors, and more stuff you want to buy

SunHee Beauty

SunHee Beauty

FindingSilverLinings.net

FindingSilverLinings.net

Eau d'Italie as seen on findingsilverlinings.net...

Signature Scented Candle by Eau d'Italie: 2018 Best Beauty & Wellness Gifts

Melinda Fleming (IG Story)

Melinda Fleming (IG Story)

ALTAIA Purple Land Eau de Parfum as seen on Melinda Fleming's Instagram Story (@curatedcool)...

The Australian - Wish Magazine

The Australian - Wish Magazine

Eau d'Italie as seen in The Australian - Wish Magazine...

Eau d'Italie Eau de Toilette by Eau d'Italie: Positano in a Bottle

Christina Galbato (IG Story)

Christina Galbato (IG Story)

ALTAIA as seen on Christina Galbato IG page (story posted on 9/16/18)...

VanityFair.com

VanityFair.com

Eau d'Italie Eau de Toilette as seen on VanityFair.com...

Eau d'Italie Eau de Toilette by Eau d'Italie: Vanity Fair’s Best-Dressed 2018

FASHION FLUIDITY

Pouring their creative juices into their wardrobe means consistently staying true to an aesthetic philosophy.

Elle Decor

Elle Decor

Eau d'Italie as seen in Elle Decor Magazine (October 2018)...

Fior Fiore Eau de Parfum by Eau d'Italie

Bustle.com

Bustle.com

Paul & Joe as seen on Bustle.com...

Limited Edition Stick Highlighter (001) by Paul & Joe: Most Wanted Fall Essentials

MarieClaire.com

MarieClaire.com

Paul & Joe as seen on MarieClaire.com...

Limited Edition Stick Highlighter (001) by Paul & Joe:The 5 Truly Excellent Beauty Products I’m Loving This Week

Elle.com

Elle.com

Violets Are Blue as seen on Elle.com...

Roll-On Deodorant by Violets Are Blue: 16 Natural Deodorants to Keep You Smelling Fresh.

NewBeauty.com

NewBeauty.com

Paul & Joe as seen on NewBeauty.com...

Limited Edition Nail Polish - Tan Lines (030) by Paul & Joe: 10 Sunny Polishes for the Perfect Summer Mani

Fathomaway.com

Fathomaway.com

Eau d'Italie as seen on FathomAway.com...

Rosa Greta Eau de Parfum and Fior Fiore Eau de Parfum by Eau d'Italie: Things Fathom Editors Want Right Now - Vol. 19

Accademia del Profumo 2018 Awards

Accademia del Profumo 2018 Awards

ALTAIA as seen at the Italian Accademia del Profumo Awards...

ALTAIA’s Tuberose in Blue Eau de Parfum has won the “2018 Best Feminine Fragrance” award from the Italian Accademia del Profumo.

Refinery29.com

Refinery29.com

Eau d'Italie as seen on Refinery29.com...

Eau d'Italie Eau de Toilette by Eau d'Italie: These Citrus Fragrances Smell Like Sunshine In A Bottle

Refinery29.com

Refinery29.com

Paul & Joe as seen on Refinery29.com...

Limited Edition Nail Polish - Tan Lines (030) by Paul & Joe: Prepare To See These Nail Polish Trends Everywhere This Summer

makeupsessions

makeupsessions

Eau d'Italie as seen on makeupsessions on Instagram...

Fior Fiore Eau de Parfum by Eau d'Italie

Cosmopolitan.com

Cosmopolitan.com