bunnyshop shopping fashion blog

Are You Our Signature Fragrance: Prada Infusion d'Iris

Prada Infusion d'Iris

Sephora says: "Tradition and innovation fuse into a dreamlike ideal in Prada's Infusion D'Iris, the new fragrance for the modern woman. Prada's exceptional quality ingredients evoke the classic ambiance of a luxurious Italian voyage, from the clean freshness of Florentine Iris Padilla to the warm, subtle glow of Sicilian Mandarin. "

We say: We have little idea what any of that means. The classic ambiance of a luxurious Italian voyage? Really, Prada? Not really. We hate it when they go so OTT with the descriptions. Because: It smells so lovely! Like spring. Like spring aboard the maiden voyage of a classic Italian sailing vessel. Or a ferry. Or, perhaps, a rowboat. It smells the same under any of these circumstances, unless the rowboat was somewhere unappealing. Like the Gowanus Canal. (Which, mark our words, is going to be New York's most expensive real estate in 25 years.) Anyhoo: We find it very difficult to describe a fragrance in more specific words than these: We will totally buy this and wear it all the time.

Prada Infusion d'Iris, $56

We Are Totally Entering This Contest

So apparently our fellow Brooklyn citizens were annoyed about Bond No 9's graffiti-covered Brooklyn bottle:

  

We're actually not sure if we're more baffled by the graffiti or the price point ($220!) So anyway: Bond No 9 is now sponsoring a contest to redesign the bottle design (ergo, the blank one above.)

Here are the rules, straight from Bond No. 9:

• Create your design to fit within the outline of the Bond No. 9 superstar flacon and to include our circular “token” logo.
• Any style, figurative or abstract, is fine with us.Inspiration can come from anywhere in Brooklyn—DUMBO, Park Slope, Flatbush, Canarsie, Midwood, Bay Ridge, et al.—or from the very idea of Brooklyn.
• Any medium is okay: oil, acrylic, watercolor, house paint, pastel, crayon, Magic Marker, makeup—even a ballpoint pen or pencil will do.
• Completed designs should be submitted to contactus@bondno9.com or Bond No. 9, 9 Bond Street, New York, NY 10012 by March 31, 2009.

It's marketing genius. We have no idea what we're going to do, but we're totally excited.

Reader Mail: The Signature Scent

In today's Reader Mail:

Dear BS,
I hope you will indulge me, as I'm making a survey. Can you have people report on the perfumes they own? I'm looking for a new one.
Love,
R.

Indeed! We recently found at least a temporary signature scent. If you can share a signature scent with the other 20 million people who bought the exact same one. (There's just no pride in the enterprise, we think.) We've always been a bit meh on fragrance: It failed to register as a daily necessity. But then we were working at Nylon in December, and one of the editors who sat next to us smelled absolutely divine every single morning. And we were just like: What a nice thing! Like bringing cupcakes into the office! And so, our own search began.

It ended with Coco Chanel, above. We were desperate. We like it. We don't love it. We usually go for more, er, narrative ones, like this CB I Hate Perfume. Something told us it was time for something slightly more perfume-y. Coco eau de toilette, $65

Above: CB I Hate Perfume to see a flower, $60

What else is everyone wearing? And who has ideas for making it last longer than five minutes?

The Lotion That Lasts: Reader Mail

In today's Reader Mail:

So I also would love to smell good all the time, but I've been thinking that maybe some sort of lotion or conditioner would work better, and I'd be more likely to actually use it. Your thoughts? Do you know a wonderful-smelling lotion or shampoo of some sort that might fit the bill? Does the scent fade more quickly? I've been eyeballing some of the Fresh products, but I've never actually tried them.

This was in response to our A+ review, last week, of Chanel Chance eau de fraiche. This may be the first reader mail question in a week we've had an answer to, and it is: Kiehl's musk body lotion. Our only complaint is that we can't get it to last for long at all, which is incredibly annoying. Does anyone have a suggestion for one that does have staying power?

Above: Kiehl's musk body lotion, $19.50

Today's Perfume Review: Chanel Chance

Because we have been thinking: "Smelling nice is good!"

Today's Perfume: Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche, $82

What Sephora says: "Chance Eau Fraîche, the newest incarnation of the unexpected fragrance, now takes on a sparkling freshness. The unexpected floral bursts with a lightness and zest as notes of citrus, Water Hyacinth and Jasmine Absolute are highlighted and energized with woody notes of Amber of Patchouli and Fresh Vetiver."

The packaging: Tres adorable! Totally classic Chanel but we actually like the green, Palmolive-y tone for the eau fraiche. And we could look at that iconic Chanel logo all day long. A+

The smell: We had been complaining about Marc Jacob's Daisy lately—how it's all young and light, or at least marketed that way, but we find it totally annoying and cloying and an aggravating attempt at getting 14-year-olds to spend $60 on fragrance. This, we feel, tries to do all those same things but totally succeeds: It just says light and fresh and new. We still don't feel mature enough to pull off No. 5, but we can totally get behind this. A day scent, for sure, but perfect for that.   

Our grade: A

Today's Perfume Review: Marc Jacobs Daisy

Because we have been thinking: "Smelling nice is good!"

Today's Perfume: Marc Jacobs Daisy, $55 and up

What Sephora says: "Enter the world of Daisy: fresh and feminine, with a playful innocence. At the heart of Daisy is a floral with vintage edge: violet. Sophisticated, with a touch of whimsy, violet captures the eclectic, vintage flavor of Marc Jacobs' feminine, edgy designs. Always elegant, always enchanting - but not too serious - Daisy is a sparkling floral bouquet, spirited and fresh, wrapped in comfort and warmth."

The packaging: We love it. The daisies are a bit super-suburb-cheese, but ... we're from the suburbs. We love it. The Marc Jacobs font. It's not exactly ... rustic French chic. Or elegant. Or a lot of other things. Sometimes adorability is the way to go. A+

The smell: We put it on and were all like, 'Why do we smell like high school?' We're going with the term "entry-level" to describe Daisy: It's not, like, challenging, or layered, or witty. It's like: 'Hey, you! Yeah, you, middle-schooler, looking for something to wear to your first dance! You want to wear this because it's all fruity and sweet and comes in a super-cute bottle with plastic daisies!' They use the word "edgy\edge" twice in that description above. We wouldn't quite go there. But as a starter-perfume, why not?

Our grade: B-

Atlanta and Fragonard: Reader Mail

In our next Reader Mail:

Dear BS,

I'm moving to Atlanta within the next few weeks. And I just love fragrance but can't seem to find any fragrance boutiques or anything of the sort down there. I know you're not in Atlanta or may not have any knowledge of the city but I was wondering if you or any of your readers knew of any cool fragrance shops in the Atlanta-Metro area?

Thank you,

V. N. T.

Oh! We have absolutely no idea. Atlanta's one of those cities we haven't been to since we were a kid, and it was like all Stone Mountain, all the time. Anyone out there able to help?

Of course, if it comes to mail order ("mail order"! er, Internet shopping) we're totally all over Fragonard at the moment: classic French fragrance house. We just visited their factory in Eze, near Nice, and we honestly thought our head might explode. The scents are actually a bit grandmotherly (no offense) but we're sort of into these: fleur d'oranger 100 ml, $30

Spring Fragrance: Reader Mail

In today's Reader Mail:

Dear BS:

I'm just wondering—what's your spring fragrance? Please survey.

Love, J.

Short answer: Acqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta. "A celebration of Italian freshness with a contemporary signature," says Sephora. "Awesome packaging," says us. "Plus smells nice."

Who else has an answer? Is J. the only reader out there who believes in the concept of seasonal fragrances?

Acqua di Parma perfume, $71

Cool Birthday Presents: Le Labo "Discovery Set"

We're big believers in the fact that every birthday present should be carefully selected with the recipient in mind. However, our position has recently come under attack, from ourselves, because we are realizing that we infrequently have sufficient time to carefully select anything, including but not limited to our health insurance policy. And so: our occasional suggestion for birthday presents that we, anyway, would be quite pleased to receive.

This is a "discovery set" from Le Labo, one of our favorite perfume brands out there. They have a store at 233 Elizabeth in Manhattan and what we imagine to be a very streamlined facility in Grasse, France, the perfume-making capital du monde. (We once tried so hard to get to Grasse that we took a totally of six hours of trains only to find out that there was a bus strike and no way to get the last 50 miles.)

Anyway: discovery set. Three perfumes, your choice, all in cute little glass things, $52

And of course, if you're rich, there's always the Olfactionary: "a box with the 40 fundamental natural essences used in perfumery. This remarkable tool has served as a guide to perfume-makers around the world." Hedge fund assistant managers have to spend their money on something. The Olfactionary, $520

The Winner of the American Style Icon Contest!

We hope you got to take a look through the American Style Icon Contest! We actually had a sponsor for this one, and a celebrity judge: Amanda Charlwood, the face, as they say, of the fragrance:

Ralph Wild fragrance, $45

And now for the winner—and can we say, we think Amanda's pick was an excellent one. Click here!