My favorite fragrances of 2010

I wanted to do some sort of "end of the year favorites" post, and decided to do one about perfume instead of makeup. In 2010 I started branching out fragrance-wise, especially by trying fragrances from lots of indie companies. Until somewhat recently, I've worn Calvin Klein Eternity Summer (2007 edition) since January of '08. Now I've discovered some scents I like a lot better, and it tends to sit untouched.

Chance Eau Fraiche, by Chanel I decided to list this one first because it's my favorite perfume, hands down. My mom gave me a little sample vial of it that she got somewhere, and I fell in love. I wish it wasn't so damn expensive though! I bought this 1.7 oz size at Sephora ($65) when I got the Beauty Insider coupon in the mail last month that gave me $15 off, and I've worn it almost every day since. I really can't describe the scent any better than to call it a fresh floral, so see if you can find it next time you go to the mall! Celebration, by Latherati Soap Foundry I have been meaning to review Latherati since I first ordered, which I think was this summer... I find I have a hard time reviewing body product companies though. In short, I LOVE Latherati- best lip balm formula I've ever tried, and Julie is so thoughtful and accommodating. Even though I go to indie companies to find more unusual scents, my favorite from Latherati is Celebration, which is a fragrance I can imagine being widely sold in stores. To me it smells like the description- champagne and strawberries. I just ordered the body spray and it should be getting here in the next few days :D Dia de los Muertos, by Lethal Lathers I loved my soap sample of this so much that I bought the solid perfume. It's a very foody type scent. To me it smells like lemon meringue pie or lemon bars, but more perfume-y and wearable. If you've smelled BABW Vanilla Lemon, this is a similar scent. Vice, by Haus of Gloi This is another gourmand scent. My boyfriend hates foody scents, so I have this just as a shower scrub, which I'm almost out of! :O I once saw on VH1 this restaurant which is SO exclusive that it only has 12 seats. Imagine, if you will, such a place. Or that place in 30 Rock that Jack likes with the gold covered ice cream. Imagine them serving you the most delicious chocolate coffee dessert recipe known to man. This is what Vice smells like. I also love their scent Picaroon, and their LE for summer scents in Zazz and Insalata Nocturna. Marshmallow, by Urban Decay The picture I put is of the old packaging that I have, but it comes in cuter packaging now. This is a body powder that is extremely sparkly. It not only smells of marshmallow, but tastes like it too ;) I think $29 is a crazy high price, but honestly I will pay that much when I run out because this is the PERFECT marshmallow scent. It is exactly what I had been looking for, and is a million times better than any other marshmallow scented products I've tried. Lost at Sea, by One Hand Washes the Other I really don't know how to describe this one at all. According to the description it is mainly coconut and citrus fruit, with maybe some ozone type scent mixed in. All I can say is that I love it, and I feel like regardless of what your general fragrance preferences all, you'll probably like this. OHWTO is also a big winner in my book for the many other amazing fragrances- Salty Mariner and Grass Stain are stock scents, but amazing. Barista! is a custom scent similar to Haus of Gloi's Vice. Pumpkin Bread (discontinued, boo!) was my go-to scent during fall. Vanillime and Desolation Angel are awesome lime-y scents (pretty similar imo). Becca also has a scent called Pink Lady, which is a great dupe for... Pink Sugar, by Aquolina I had seen this scent duped by basically every indie bath company, and knew it was one of the top selling perfumes at Sephora, so when a Sephora opened at my local mall this summer it was the first one I tested. It is REALLY sweet, like spraying yourself with cotton candy, so it's definitely not for everyone. I love how the scent changes over time- on my skin it turns from a cotton candy scent into more of a sweet vanilla.

Have you tried any of these fragrances? Which are your favorites? I'm always looking to try new ones!

2 mini Etsy reviews: Skin Journey & Lethal Lathers

So, I finally bought my own laptop! You would think that would mean I would have been actively blogging the last few days, since I can now do so from the comfort of my own room... but no. I've just been catching up on True Blood. >:) I recently received orders from some etsy shops I discovered, and since they were just really small orders, I thought I'd combine the two "mini reviews" into one post.Thank goodness blogger decided to flip half my pictures so they look stupid, now people have a warning sign my blog sucks without even reading what I have to say... *sigh* First up is Skin Journey! I love their whole theme of all the scents being based off of different locations. As someone who is desperate to see the world (but too desperately broke to do so), this idea really appeals to me. I just checked my email to see when I ordered -at 12:09 AM on the 12th-, and they got it shipped out by later that day! Pretty awesome. I wanted to try out some of their scents, so I ordered three sample sizes of lotions, which are fairly priced at $2.50 each. When I got it, they included a sample of their Peruvian Chocolate soap, and a nice thank you note with a code for 15% off my next order. The scents I chose were Athens, Greece; Caribbean Islands; and Curacao Netherlands Antilles.I'm not going to go in-depth describing the scents here, but I will say I didn't really like Athens, Greece. It smells nice, but air freshener-y. Caribbean Island is ok, very fresh floral. Curacao is just awesome. I can't describe the scent, but I love it. I've already placed another order (last night, shipped out today) for some other scents to try, and they have a lot of other cool face products and lip balms I'd love to test out. Next up is Lethal Lathers. I'm really surprised that I haven't seen any other bloggers reviews this company, but I guess it is relatively new so I was just lucky enough to discover this gem first! Their soaps all have really cool names, inspired by the macabre, scary, etc. I love how they have samples available, and they are SO CHEAP! I ordered a set of 3 samples for just $2.50. I ordered this around 1 in the morning, and it also got shipped out the next day. Excellent! The samples are described as hotel soap-sized, which is dead on. Blogger flipped my pictures :( Isn't the packaging so cute? And all the soaps were nicely plastic wrapped and taped. Danse Macabre is a nice smell, kind of musky I guess? I can't describe it, but I like it. Dutch Annie just smells really clean and nice, I love it. As you see from the picture, Dia de los Muertos is already out of the packaging and in my shower. It has got to be one of my favorite scents of all time. It is AMAZING. If you buy samples, you've GOT to try this one! To me it smells like a really sugary lemon/orange, like a flavored buttercream icing or something. I'm not even a fan of lemon or orange scents (they are the lame citruses reserved for cleaning products), but this is amazing. I want to eat it while holding it tenderly and whispering sweet nothings. Uh... I've already placed another order (last night, shipped out today), because obviously I have to try Suspiria and Sookie! Don't even get me started talking about Suspiria or True Blood... geez (unless you want to discuss in the comments how David Gordon Green is doing a Suspiria remake- should be interesting. Also how hot Eric is. And Alcide). Two of my loves, now in soap form. The etsy shop says new scents and perfumes are coming soon, so I know I'll be ordering again! I have to get Dia de los Muertos in a perfume. Thanks for sticking through all my talking here! Have you tried out either of these companies? Are you planning to? Lethal Lathers has only made 40 sales, you should bump up that number and support an awesome new company!