Review: Dolce and Gabbana Pour Femme Eau De Parfum

This morning I am with my husband in Greenwood, SC while he takes a test to start his teaching certification. I didn't want to take an entire bottle of perfume to the hotel and instead grabbed a Dolce and Gabbana Pour Femme sample Sephora sent to me for my last purchase. I had no idea what to expect and for some reason thought it might be quite "loud". I was pleasantly surprised to find it having a very light smell and not overpowering.

At first spray, I instantly thought of gardenia. It was such a soft smell that the picture of baby powder displayed in my mind. I kept sniffing it and while sitting here in Fourbucks (Starbucks) waiting for my husband can smell the soft aroma around me. I am not the greatest of picking the notes of perfume and as previously stated thought that gardenia was one of the notes at least. I visited the Sephora website to learn more and read the following:

From the Mediterranean, the epicenter of harmonies and contrasts, a classic fragrance is reborn embodying the essence of the Dolce & Gabbana woman: passionate, sensual, and maternal. Dolce & Gabbana Pour Femme will envelop the senses and linger long after she is gone. Seductive and soothing neroli intertwines with nuances of raspberry over the playful hint of tart green mandarin. This gives way to a heart of voluptuous sensuality, a softly undulating bouquet of velvety jasmine and citrusy sweet orange blossom. The addictive and sugary guimauve introduces the full-bodied sensuality of the vanilla base notes, and the captivating fragrance is further lit by the roundness of heliotrope and smooth, creamy sandalwood.

 

Notes: Neroli, Raspberry, Green Mandarin, Jasmine, Orange Blossom, Guimauve, Vanilla, Heliotrope, Sandalwood.

Style: Seductive. Beautiful. Sensuous.

It is true that the scent lingers for a long time, yet as previously stated, is not an overpowering scent where everyone will look at you when they enter the room you are in. It does smell maternal...homey, warm and quite seductive. It is one of those perfumes that someone would have to get quite close to smell and as it melts into your skin and envelops your aura, I'm sure the person will be quite pleased.

I never would have guessed neroli, raspberries and mandarin are in the top notes, but am not surprised by the vanilla and sandalwood.

Overall, I think it's a great perfume. The price is quite high, as you would expect from Dolce and Gabbana. Sephora had the following prices:

• 0.2 oz. eau de parfum rollerball: $25.00
• 0.8 oz. eau de parfum spray: $66.00
• 1.6 oz. eau de parfum spray: $82.00

What is interesting is that I found a 3.4 oz. eau de parfum spray for only $61.39! I'm sure the price changes quite a bit; however, the link for Amazon is below if you are interested. For $61.39, I would consider purchasing it; however, never at Sephora. It is just too expensive there.

 



Rating: A-

Review: Malibu Lemon Blossom by Pacifica

I love the smell of fresh lemon and was instantly curious about Pacifica's "Malibu Lemon Blossom" perfume. Of course I could not purchase just the perfume, the body wash and body butter was bought as well so that I could layer the fragrance so it would last longer. If you are interested in all three, it is more economical to purchase altogether versus each individual product.

When I first squirted the perfume, I loved it. In fact, I actually had a visceral reaction to it by my mouth watering, it was so lemony. Now, you may wonder why I would want to smell like a lemon all day. It's not just lemon, but also a very sweet sugary smell and a few minutes after applying it and the initial shock of lemon dissipates, the smell is just too good to be true. When I wear it, I feel like it's a special day and I have received quite a few compliments at work with people asking what perfume I was wearing. I think people ask because it just smells different for a "normal" perfume. It is not what people expect. After the perfume settles or "dries down" into your skin, the aroma lasts for at least five hours and if you layer it with the lotion, more than eight.

The body wash is a great way to start your day, feels great on your skin and is not too soapy or difficult to wash out. The body butter smells great; however, when you first rub it into your skin, you can actually see it and reminded me of how it looks when first putting on sunscreen and the lotion being white on your skin. It is not a sticky lotion and absorbed into the skin after about five minutes. In my moisturizing routine, I always moisturize my face all the way down to my feet using various products and then let them all absorb into the skin before putting clothes on. While waiting, I usually clean around the bathroom, get the clothes out I am planning to wear, etc., so it is not a big deal waiting.

I wanted to learn more about Pacifica's perfume and found that they describe the fragrance as "this fresh scent captures the free spirit of the Pacific Ocean with Lemon Blossom, Litsea Cubeba, flowering Angel's Trumpet, fresh herbs and salty breezes." When I saw the words "Litsea Cubeba" and "Flowering Trumpet", I had to dig a little deeper because I had never heard of these two.

In case you do not know, below is what a lemon blossom looks like:

I had no clue what Litsea Cubeba was or looked like and found the following at Wikipedia:

"Litsea Cubeba is an evergreen tree or shrub 5–12 meters high in the Lauraceae family. It is native to China, Indonesia, Taiwan and other parts of Southeast Asia. It is called "mountain pepper" (山胡椒) in Mandarin and maqaw (馬告) by the Atayal aborigines in Taiwan. As a famous spice among Taiwanese aborigines, a proposed National Park at Yilan County is named "Magao" after the spice. It produces a fruit which is processed for its lemony essential oil. The oil can also be extracted from the leaf, but this is considered to be lower in quality. The timber is sometimes used for making furniture and crafts. Plant parts are also used in medicine."

 The Litsea Cubeba tree is also called "May Chang" and it looks like the following:

Angel's Trumpet is a gorgeous flower that comes in a variety of colors as displayed below:

 

 

 

Would I purchase this again? Most definitely!

 

Perfume Rating: A+

Body Wash Rating: A

Body Butter Rating: B

 



Genesis 1:1

This is the beginning of a mid-life crisis. I'm sure of it. I'm 41 years old and am all of a sudden smitten by all things beauty, especially nail polish. I have moisturized since I was 15 years old and have been addicted to eye shadows, lipsticks, perfumes and all things beauty for as long as I can remember.

Recently on Facebook, I have noticed an explosion of nail art/design pages and sites and have gone nuts in purchasing new nail polishes, textures, etc. It is quite truly ridiculous. I don't know what I'm doing, but whatever it is, it is FULL SPEED ahead.

I hope that you join me on the ride of transcending from a complete amateur to a beauty maven. Is this the kind of things we do when our daughters turn 20 because we have more time? I have no clue, but I want to enjoy the ride.

Please contact me if you have any beauty finds you'd like to share. I am addicted at this point. I guess it's better than crack*, heroin* or meth*...though if that were the case at least I would be skinny...hmmmm...maybe I shouldn't think about that too much.

Let's get started!

*And no, I have never been addicted to drugs, though sometimes I wish I could to relax but it's just not possible.