Kiehl's is stepping out of their skin care, hair care, and beauty shell and into the fragrance business.  A new Aromatic Blends line is due to launch in July and according to Chris Salgardo, the president of Kiehl's USA, “It’s an unexpected category for Kiehl’s, but it actually was inspired by our company heritage."

The new line will offer four scent blends: Orange Flower & Lychee, Vanilla & Cedarwood, Nashi Blossom & Pink Grapefruit, and Fig Leaf & Sage.  Kiehl's worked with three different oil houses to create the four scents, Givaudan, Firmenich, and Mane. Why not stick to one? “We worked with multiple houses because each had a specialty or major point of difference with the principal ingredient,” noted Salgardo.

Are you ready for what is just the beginning of Kiehl's fragrance collections?

There are tons of beauty trends that are way out there, and pointy nails are just one of them that to us, are just plain weird and out of the ordinary.  This claw-like nail look is perfect for Halloween weekend, that is of course if you plan to dress as a witch or cat, but other than that...completely uncalled for. Sorry! 

Celebs like Fergie, Lady GaGa, and Rihanna have been sporting this crazy nail shape for over the past year or so, but this wacky look needs to get out of the spotlight.

Firstly, how do you do everyday things, like use the keypaid to dial a phone number on your phone, or button your shirt..pants, type on the keyboard?  The questions are limitless...and don't even get us started with thinking about this look and it's poor health of your nails, can you imagine? Filing your nails to they are pointy just makes us shudder. 
Would you wear this nail shape trend?

Rochas has an exciting, new fragrance set to launch in May.  This fresh fragrance is entirely new, but "on the other hand, it really connects back to the core heritage of the brand,” explained Bill Brace, vice president of Procter & Gamble Prestige who owns Rochas.

The scent brings a modern, contemporary twist with notes including Sichuan pepper, mandarin, pineapple, mango, white flowers, bergamot, and musk.

The inspiration for Les Cascades is "really a Parisian fountain in the summer,” said Brace. The inspiration shines through in the fragrances ad campaign, which portrays socialite Olivia Palermo by a fountain outside of Paris' Palais Royal.  The print ad was shot by Camilla Akrans and the video campaign, which will run on TV and the internet, was produced by none other than Dimitri Karakatsanis.

Design House: Hermes

Year Introduced: 1995

Fragrance Notes: orange blossom, amber, vanilla, jasmine

Recommended Use: Casual

Scent Life: 6-10 hours

Named after it's address of Hermes flagship boutique along the designer laden rue du Faubourg St. Honoré in Paris, this scent is a a lovely breath of fresh air, a walk in the park...in Paris. It's clean and sweet, with a bit of spice that lingers with a floral afternote. Long lasting and lingering, when most other perfumes don't. This perfume is a keeper, what a classy fragrance!

Coach introduces it's new Signature Summer Limited Edition Eau de Toilette to it's fragrance collection.  With modern feminity defined by it's bright freshness and sensual warmth, this new scent embraces the classic American style of Coach's signature fragrance with it's unique sophisticated and sexy twist.

Notes include water lily, mandarin, lush gardenia and magnolia leaf.  The new, limited edition scent is of course adorned with the classic "C" in shades of pink with the signature Coach hang-tag draped around the neck.

Photo Courtesy: Coach

This beautiful braid looks amazing, and amazingly complicated, but trust me, after trying it out, it's totally not! Suprising, yes, but true.  This may be one beauty look that looks hard and is the complete opposite. So grab a hair scrunchie and braid along with us!

You can wear this braid however you'd like, but most often, we've seen it on the runways and on celebs pushed to the side.  So, for a side fishtail braid look, follow the simple steps below for an unbelievably easy look.

• Part your hair down the center or create a side part, whichever you prefer
• Pull all of your hair to one side and tie in your hair scrunchy to create a pony tail (be sure to keep the tie loose, you will slip it off once the braid is finished)
• Next, split the ponytail into two pieces
• Grabbing from the outer pieces, begin braiding. Take a small piece from one ponytail and place it in the middle, then take a small piece from the other side and place it in the middle.
• Continue this pattern of alternating taking hair from each side of the pony tail until you have gotten down to the last hair strands.
• Finish your braid with a hair tie to hold
• Pull the top hair tie off carefully
• Lastly, pull the fish tail braid outward from the center for a loose, lovely look

This is a different game plan we've ever seen taken by the NY Yankees, do you think this will be a homerun for them? The New York Yankees have launched their men's and women's fragrance!  The fragrances have been developed by perfumers at Firmenich; the men's fragrance containing top notes of bergamot, coriander and blue sage.  The women's fragrance features top notes of guava, plum, and apricot.

The men's bottle is a dark blue with a silver NY Yankees emblem, the women's bottle, a light powdery pink with the same silver Yankees emblem. 
Would you buy the NY Yankees fragrance for yourself? I'm sure they won't be selling this one in Massachusetts, what do you say?

The Fragrance Foundation has shared the 2012 Top Ten FiFi Finalists and we can't be more pleased! “Announcing the top ten finalists is exciting as now we can really say we are in FiFi® mode and look forward to the fun and anticipation at The FiFi® Finalists Breakfast, April 27th in the Grand Ballroom of The Mandarin Oriental when it gets narrowed down to the top five,” commented Jill Belasco, Chair of The Fragrance Foundation Board. Check out the long awaited list of the FiFi Finalists for luxe women and luxe men fragrances below. For more info and a full list of categories and finalists, check out www.fragrance.org

Fragrance of the Year
Luxe Women

Angel Eau de Toilette by Thierry Mugler – Clarins Fragrance Group
Beyoncé Pulse – Coty Inc.
Bottega Veneta – Coty Prestige
Elie Saab Le Parfum – Beauté Prestige International
Fan di Fendi – LVMH Fragrance Brands
Gucci Guilty Intense – P&G Prestige
Prada Candy Eau de Parfum Spray – PUIG USA
Someday by Justin Bieber – Give Back Brands, LLC
Tom Ford Violet Blonde – Tom Ford Beauty
Wonderstruck Taylor Swift – Elizabeth Arden

Luxe Men

A*MEN Pure Havane by Thierry Mugler – Clarins Fragrance Group
Armani Code Sport – Giorgio Armani Beauty
Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 Collection: Blanc, Bleu, Verte – P& G Prestige
Gucci Guilty Pour Homme – P&G Prestige
Guess Seductive Homme – Coty Inc.
John Varvatos ★ U.S.A. – Elizabeth Arden
Juniper Sling – Penhaligon’s Inc.
L’Homme Libre – Yves Saint Laurent
Original Penguin – Falic Fashion Group
Un Jardin Sur Le Toit – Hermès – Beauté Prestige International

For his Spring/Summer 2012 collection, Timo Weiland's overall look was beachy, laid back and had this downtown NYC look with a Hawaiian feel, if you can picture that. Timo said, “I wanted the hair to look fresh off the beach, going to an event, not enough time to polish but still looking beautiful and natural. Not fully up and controlled but more controlled chaos with curls and waves."

James Boehmer, Director of Global Artistry at NARS said “Timo’s idea of the collection is like Jean-Michel Basquiat or another New York downtown artist, going on vacation." The models had sunburned cheeks, blushed with a tinted radiant moisturizer.

And the best artistic fragrance is...
For the first time ever at the Global Art of Perfumery, an award will be presented for most artistic fragrance. What exactly is an 'artistic' perfume you may wonder? A lot of factors go into an "artistic perfume", it is considered to be an exclusive creation that is only available in select specialty stores.

You may also be wondering who has the expertise to be on the prestige jury?  
The jury of the 1st Prix de Parfum Artistique is as follows
• Thomas Bergmann, publisher of the trade magazine "Keysale“
• Frank Dopheide, advertising expert and chairman of Scholz & Friends
• Astrid Elbers, lawyer and "First Lady“ of Dusseldorf
• Jenny Jürgens, actress, singer and presenter
• Inga Griese, journalist and editor of the style magazine "Icon/The Iconist“ 
• Waltraut von Mengden, CEO MVG Medien (Cosmopolitan)
• Thomas Rath, fashion designer and juror on "Germanys Next Top-Model"
• Frank von Stielow, founder of L’estétic GmbH 
• Sasha Urban, international scent creator from New York
• Felix Weiss, member of the Parfumo-Team
• Jeremy Williams, singer and presenter

A pretty impressive list of people I say, right?  This jury will have no easy task, they must assess the fragrance itself, take account of the novelty of the ingredients, the flacon design and packaging, the development of the fragrance on the skin, the perfume story, as well as its market potential.

"Artistic brands have long been more than niche products internationally. They are being focused on more frequently and can provide opportunities to compete in particular for smaller, owner-operated perfumeries. Through this award we want to give them their own forum," explained Frank J. Schnitzler, internationally sought-after perfume expert and initiator of the Global Art of Perfumery.