Good Scents

You know how it feels when you’ve come across the PERFECT perfume you’d love to wear day in day out for the next year at least, and wanting to keep it a secret, for fear of smelling like the next person you bump into at the mall? Well that’s how I feel every time I evaluate each season’s batch of fragrance launches: I wish it were all mine.

I do get to keep most of what is sent my way. But as beauty editor, I am not allowed to suppress (nor sell!) products. Much as I would like to keep the season’s top scents a secret (who doesn’t want to be the best smelling person in the room right?) my job requires me to divulge every single note, flower, and essential oil found in a spritz.

The Cosmo team and myself have started going through this year’s nominees for the Beauty Awards, coming out in August. You won’t believe the amount of product entries we’ve had to weed through (and still in the process of sorting) to choose the best of the best of the best in beauty. And speaking of fragrances, there are so many to love! My fave at the moment is Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria collection, featuring the Grosellina, Tutti Kiwi, and Herba Fresca colognes; they’re all so light and refreshing!

And while we’re on the subject of special scents, Cosmo’s assistant lifestyle editor, Nicole Delos Angeles, and I attended a fragrance and aromatherapy seminar a few months back. We learned that petroleum oil-based candles were a health hazard, and to choose vegetable-based wax.

To my joy, I recently got this super super fab set of candles from L’Occitane, made from—you guessed—lung-friendly palm oil and beeswax. I have yet to find a spot for the scrumptious scents of fig, licorice, and gingerbread in the beauty pages.

Anyway, here’s the shameless plugging, check out this month’s awesome issue with Lindsay Lohan on the cover. As always, you’ll find the best (and most practical!) sex, health, fashion, beauty, lifestyle advice—and more—all for just the price of less than a Starbucks green tea frappe!