Separated at Birth

Madame and Joan Rivers. Both gawjuss.

Liz Claiborne Bora Bora Exotic

I was approached by PerfumeCenter.com to do a product review for the Liz Claiborne fragrance, Bora Bora Exotic, and I agreed. I was sent a full bottle, and here are my thoughts.

While I must first point out that fruity tropicals aren't my favorite type of scent, I could live with this one. The only note listings I found in teh Innerwebs were "violet, orchid, blackberry and rose," which may or may not be the case - why call a scent exotic when the ingredients are not? What I smell - and maybe I'm having nasal delusions due to the name - are more tropical fruits, maybe guava or passion fruit, two substances I would prefer to eat than to smell. They are usually far too cloying for my tastes, but somehow in Bora Bora Exotic, they are toned down. Present but not oppressive. There's also some rose and perhaps blackberry in there. Overall, the scent is a fruity floral, but, as far as those things go, a pleasant one without the now-ubiquitous patchouli note.

It could be a great scent for these dog days of summer. As I type this, it's 98F in Baltimore - at 10:30 AM.

PerfumeCenter.com sells 3.4 oz. EDP bottles of Bora Bora Exotic for $23.95. And if you use the promotion code "theminx" you can get an additional 10% off your order.

Note: I understand that some people are wary of ordering from unknown perfume e-tailers. I checked them out and PerfumeCenter.com has a 95% positive feedback rating as a third party merchant on Amazon.com. However, in keeping with my full disclosure policy, I have not personaly placed an order with this merchant.

Isaac Mizrahi Resort 2011

Isaac Mizrahi's Resort 2011 is full of pieces that are cute-cute, in vivid blues and greens, but nothing over-the-top. I particularly like his selection of eveningwear, and the fact that every piece is completely different from the one before it. There's both slinky and voluminous, solid and print, and peplums, ruching, and belted looks. My favorite is the third one down in the second row. Which do you like?

The Wedding of Princess Victoria of Sweden

Sweden's Princess Victoria wore a rather sedate gown for her wedding last weekend, a rather plain yet very elegant duchess satin number without the gobs of lace and frou-frou that can sometimes turn a bride into a cartoon character or a clown. It reminds me a bit of my mother's wedding dress from the early 1960s.....

Except for the 16.5 foot train.

Now that was a tad excessive.

Chanel Resort 2010

Karl Lagerfeld's 2010 Resort collection for Chanel is a collection of pretty, breezy, lightweight looks that would be right at home at Target. Oh wait, but they cost at least 100x more than anything one might find at a cheap retailer.

Pieces one won't ever find at Tar-jay are from the brief selection of menswear. So manly!

Why Do People Do This to Themselves?

The eyebrows, the teeth, the hair - she looks stupid. And probably is.

Jewelry Shopping

Should you find yourself at Bergdorf Goodman and have an urge to buy some jewelry for theminx, I'll take one of each, please:

Jose & Maria Barrera snake bangle and KARA by Kara Ross snake knot ring. I like snakes. Well, jewelry items with a snake motif.

Milly's Egyptian disc bracelet and Paolo Costagli coral and yellow diamond ring. Need.

H. Stern small Lecuonara Ring

64th Annual Tony Awards

The Tony Awards is one of the few awards shows that is actually entertaining, and I love that we were treated to snippets of the nominated musicals. I also love that the audience, for the most part, is elegantly dressed. This year, however, choices were fairly boring.

Cate Blanchett looked fantastic in her liquid silver pantsuit. Not just anybody could pull off such a look. And I loved Jamie-Lynn Sigler's simple tie-dye pattern dress. Her eye makeup is a bit harsh, however.

What happened to Catherine Zeta-Jones? She used to be beautiful, but now she looks pinched. Hate the matchy-matchy eyeshadow color. The dress is ok. Idina Menzel looks lovely but somehow her dress seems very heavy.

Women of a certain age (over 25) should not wear tiny skirts (unless they are Heidi Klum), particularly to formal events. Jada Pinkett-Smith looks ridiculous, like she's going to prom. And Kristin Chenoweth's dress is doing her figure no favors. The skirt makes her look both hippy and stick-legged, and the bodice doesn't fit particularly well.

Bernadette Peters looks like she wrapped an old theatre curtain around herself. Paula Abdul looks like a Wild West prostitute.

Laura Linney's dress just barely escapes being too short, but it looks too casual for the event, particularly when paired with the loose hair. I hate Scarlett Johansson's dress. It makes her look like she just stepped out of a particularly sparkly pile of seaweed. With a body like that, why wear something so matronly and unflattering?

I love Lea Michele's bold sunshine yellow dress. Valerie Harper also looks terrific in a bright blue.

Points to Viola Davis for wearing that color. A shame satin looks like a wrinkled mess in no time flat. Swoosie Kurtz's dress is unusual in a good way - love the color and classic shape, and the simple patterning.

Separated at Birth

Is it me, or is Jane Fonda starting to look like Carol Burnett?

2010 MTV Movie Awards

So I started looking for photos from the 2010 MTV Music Awards and am finding shots of Kristen Stewart looking as gloomy as ever, Paris Hilton and Christina Aguilera looking trampy, and people with names like Chaske and a whole bunch of children whom I don't know and care even less about and I thought - "why bother?"

I did have to share this photo of JWOWW and Snooki from "Jersey Shore" though. Doesn't it look like Snooki is about to start nursing?

Scent of the Day 6.8.10 L'Atelier Boheme Helianthe

Light, powdery, floral, pretty - that's how I smell today in Helianthe. What scent are you wearing?

NAUTICA to Celebrate World Oceans Day - Giveaway

I know most people are probably as pissed as I am about the whole disastrous BP oil spill and the potential devastation of the marine ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico. It's a major environmental catastrophe for which we will be paying the price for years to come. The oil has made its way to Florida beaches and may even end up as far north as Maryland's beautiful Chesapeake Bay; that kills me because we finally have made some progress with increasing our blue crab population.

This mess should remind us that it's time to pay a little special attention to our oceans as well. This Tuesday, June 8th, is “World Oceans Day.” This official United Nations holiday aims to increase awareness about the declining health of our world’s oceans and supply people with tangible things they can do that will influence health and longevity of our marine ecosystems. Nautica® has partnered with Oceana, a conservation organization, to recognize the important role that our oceans play in our lives.

To celebrate the holiday, Nautica will show its commitment to water and to the mission of Oceana through a variety of activities taking place throughout the day in New York City and Los Angeles. The activities will include a Hudson River clean up in New York City and an exclusive World Oceans Day party in Los Angeles with GQ that will honor Oceana’s 2010 Ocean Heroes, everyday people who are making a big difference for the oceans on a local or international level. For more information about the Ocean Heroes program, sponsored by Nautica and GQ, visit www.Oceana.org/heroes.

“We are excited to continue building awareness with Oceana for World Oceans Day,” said Karen Murray, President of Nautica. “We are looking forward to encouraging and educating people to learn what they can do to help conserve and protect the ocean.”

Show your support for World Oceans Day by wearing an official 100% organic cotton ‘Save Our Oceans’ t-shirts. We have TWO to give away to commenters - just tell us that you support Oceana's efforts and you will be entered in the drawing. Make sure to tell me your e-mail address so I can inform you if you are a winner. 

The Fine Print
The prize was provided by Nautica, but Nautica is not a sponsor, administrator, or involved in any other way with this giveaway. All opinions expressed in the post are my own and not those of Nautica.

Entrants must be 18 or older and located in the US or Canada only.

Contest ends June 16th.

Winners will be chosen by random drawing from the pool of comments received on this post.

Cute Stuff at Penney's

I saw this adorable black and white print dress on a woman at the bus stop the other day and had to ask where she bought it. Turns out it was from the American Living collection at JC Penney.

I never was much of a Penney's shopper, being a bit of a snob and preferring Hecht's and Nordstrom and even Macy's. But JCP is really trying to compete with these other higher- (and slightly-higher-) end stores, and from what I can tell, they're doing a pretty good job as far as selling fashionable looks. (I'm not so excited, however, that most of their plus-sized tops seem to be made of some form of synthetic material - hello! It's summer - sweating is not pleasant!)

Oh and look - they're having a sale! If you buy something, I'd love to know what it was. Personally, I'm loving this, this and this!

Scent of the Day 6.3.10 - Parfums 06130 Yuzu Rouge

I decided to not make this a Hermes week and chose a completely different perfume company today - Parfums 06130 (that's pronounced Zero Six Cent-Trente, as in the zip code for Grasse, France, a capital in the world of perfume).

Yuzu Rouge was one of the first perfumes I obtained when I started my frenzied exploration of niche scents back in 2007. I love the combination of citrus and tea with a touch of rose and find it slightly reminiscent of a scent I wore quite often when Mr Minx and I were still dating - Lancome Aroma Tonic. Yuzu Rouge is far more sophisticated and much lighter, without the zing of maté, but it has a similar citrus/tea vibe that I enjoy very much. And like Aroma Tonic, it's perfect for hot weather because it's as refreshing as a glass of ice water with a squeeze of lemon or lime. Refreshing, but not bracing, and not pungent. One can spray YR with abandon and offend no one few.

Notes: yuzu, tea notes, verbena, grapefruit, bergamot, rose

Cookbook Giveaway!

For you food-loving folks, head over to MinxEats today to enter to win a copy of Real Housewives of New Jersey's Teresa Giudice's new cookbook, Skinny Italian.

I'm Sorry, Ke$ha

You are not, and never will be, Cher.

Scent of the Day 6.1.10 Eau des Merveilles

Today is going to be another scorcher with temps expected to be somewhere in the 90s and of course in Baltimore that means high humidity as well. When it gets stinky hot, my fragrance preferences tend to go towards something more salty and savory than flowery. For Memorial Day, I wore a salty iris fragrance, Santa Maria Novella's Citta di Kyoto. Today, it's Hermes Eau des Merveilles.

I first tried Eau des Merveilles on a trip to NY with my Dad. He wanted to nose around through Saks' men's department, and I decided to wait for him in fragrances. I let a sales associate spray me with a wee bit of EdM and spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out if I liked it or not. It had an intriguing salty quality, one not related to the nasty "marine" notes created by the aromachemical calone (which smells like rotting seaweed) but to a more natural element - ambergris. Ambergris mixed with pepper and woods and vetiver.

I decided I didn't like it enough to go back and purchase it. On a later occasion, I sniffed some Elixir des Merveilles, which has a chocolate-orange thing going on and which does not, in my opinion, work at all. The gourmand sweetness added to the saltwater-on-skin quality of the original created something quite unpleasant, a scrubber. And this olfactory experience tainted the original.

A few years later, I decided to give EdM another try. Once again I was intrigued, and this time I took the plunge. Now I find that it is a perfect scent to wear on hot days. It's refreshing somehow, and cooling, and not at all cloying (as I often find some floral or sweet fragrances in the heat). I'm loving it (even if I'm hating the heat).

Notes: elemi, bitter orange, Italian lemon, Indonesian pepper, pink pepper, ambergris accord, oak, cedar, vetiver, balsam of Peru, tears of Siam