Bad Romance? My review of Lady Gaga's perfume FAME.

Recently, I was chosen by People Magazine Style Watch to be a Style Hunter. I often receive products to review my followers. I received 3 perfumes to test out and give my opinion.

Here is the first of this triology of scents:

Lady Gaga's Fame by Haus Laboratories

"Just as Lady Gaga is a mix of light, darkness, and sensuality, 

so too is her first fragrance Fame. The Fame fragrance

represents the pleasure and madness, glory and decadence, power and anger, freedom and obsession of Fame. Fame speaks not only to Lady Gaga's millions of little monsters, but also to the young women everywhere who seek to experience new technology and glamour and femininity of and extremely wearable and unique fragrance." 

I know the most important factor is how it smells. Scent is not always the easiest thing to give an opinion on because different people like different smells. Also, perfumes sometime tend to smell differently on different people after it comes in contact with their skin because everyone has a different body chemistry. 

Here is a quote from Lady Gaga about her new scent:

“[Blood and semen] is in the perfume, but it doesn’t smell like it. You just get sort of the after feeling of sex from the semen, and the blood is sort of primal,” she explained. “And the blood was taken from my own blood sample, so it’s like a sense of having me on your skin.”

Wow! I do know I would not feel comfortable responding with, "Blood and semen" if asked what the perfume smelled like. 

Coty (same producer of Sarah Jessica Parker's scents) mass-produced Lady Gaga's fragrance. This doesn't seem to coincide with Gaga's appeal. Coty generally produced scents that would "sell to the masses, not the classes"...think 35-50 year old women. Gaga appeals to a younger generation, but I dont think her perfume will.

It is priced from $19 (0.5 ounces) to $83 (3.4 ounces), which I find outrageous. I have to completely LOVE a fragrance to want to spend more than $50 a bottle.

I am completely turned off by the symbolism of the scent. I do NOT want to wear Gaga's blood (even if it is just a synthetic compostion) on my skin. The gold claw-like top, black liquid, and just the thought of semen...definitely does NOT work for me. 

With all this craziness wrapped up in a black and gold box, you can almost guess the exact scent. Right? Wrong.

Coty dropped the ball on this perfume because it seems to be less about Gaga than it does about marketing research. Contradictory to its packaging, Fame is a light floral, that’s too sweet and virtually base-less, while claiming a base note of "black incense".  Creamy Orchid is the most overpowering smell, with a hint of violet and apricot.  The incense is wispy and smothered by the sweet, creamy powder. It is one of those scents that will come on strong, like Gaga herself, and then leave before you even realize its gone.

Now to the Scientific Method:

Product: 3 out of 5 Stars

Price: 1 out of 5 Stars

Recommend to Friends: 2 out of 5 Stars

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Review of Malie Organics Orchid Organic Body Polish

Review of Malie Organics Orchid Organic Body Polish

This is the 3rd review in a Series of 4 body scrubs. Previously, I told you that I was contacted by Self magazine to try out 4 different body scrubs and review them for the May issue (on shelves now!).  The third scrub I tried was Malie Organics Orchid Organic Body Polish. 

I'm the kind of girl who likes a coarse scrub, something that doesn't make me guess if its working. Malie's Orchid Body Polish definitely works. It is coarse and scrubs away any dead skin and left my skin feeling amazing! I enjoy stepping out of the shower feeling new and clean (who doesn't right?), and this scrub lives up to that expectation. It exfoliates, softens, and hydrates my skin so well. Normally, after an exfoliating session, my skin is left sensitive and lacking for hydration...Malie has those issues covered. 


Truth time: 2 drawbacks to this scrub.

1. The smell: You would think as a self-proclaimed Organic Junkie I would be down to smell like decomposing flowers. I am not. Since there are orchid petals in the polish, there is the smell of decomposing flowers. Make no mistake, its not a bad smell, just old flower smell. Think about the week after Valentine's Day when you finally have to throw out your beautiful bouquets- not a bad smell, just not what I want to rub on my body. However, because I liked this product so much, I would love to try some of the other 6 polishes to see if the same smell carried through the line.

2. The price: Malie's website offers 7 different options for body polishes-Coconut Vanilla,  Koke'e, Mango Nectar, Pikake, Plumeria, Anti-Aging Coffee Fruit, and of course Orchid.  You can get any of these 8oz body polishes for $29. I understand, it is more expensive to create an Organic product, but I just do not feel as though I would want to pay this price.

The ingredients of the Orchid Body Polish are organic sugar, organic jojoba oil, organic castor oil, organic extra virgin olive oil, organic tapioca starch, orchid petals, orchid Hawaiian hydrosol, vitamin E oil, and organic grapefruit seed extract.

Here's the Polished Scientific Method:

Product: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Price: 2 out of 5 Stars

Recommend to a Friend: 3 out of 5 Stars

skinny skinny black coffee organic body scrub review

Body Scrub Series Product #2 Review

skinny skinny black coffee organic body scrub review

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was selected to try and review 4 different body scrubs for Self magazine recently. The product review and winners are in this months issue, on stands now! How exciting it was to be selected to try out these products. I felt like a total celebrity when UPS delivered my box o' scrubs! Now, I want to share with you the best of the best...and the Not so Best. :)

The second of the scrubs that I tried was the skinny skinny black coffee organic Body scrub.

Here is a little of skinny skinny product information directly from their website:

" It's made from freshly ground fair trade and organic coffee beans that were specifically selected for their aroma. This organic scrub gently removes the dull, dry skin to reveal all that softness underneath. This ultra-concentrated scrub is made with certified organic oils that leave your skin radiant and refreshed.
Apply a small amount to your skin (avoiding the face and neck) and rub in a circular motion. Rinse. It's that easy.
Vegan and Cruelty-Free, of course!"

As I am an avid coffee drinker, I couldn't wait to give this a try. Of course, drinking it is NOT an option, but the aroma of coffee always puts me in high spirits. This is a perfect scrub to use in the morning to wake yourself up and get the day started.  Ingredients include: fair trade ground coffee, turbinado sugar, virgin coconut oil, jojoba oil, sesame oil, coffee essential oil. This product is certified organic 100%.

The scrub is abrasive and that equals success for me. It is a very aromatic, uplifting body scrub that is coarse and does exactly what it is supposed to do. For me, this is an excellent scrub for my feet. My heels are always calloused and after an intense scrubbing session with skinny skinny's black coffee scrub, they feel as though they belong in Cinderella's glass slippers.
    
I only had one small drawback to using this scrub. Unlike other scrubs, which are generally light in color, it is very dark and is messy. My shower looked like I had a party with the coffee filter. However, this is only a MINOR setback because a little water washes it right away.

Skinny skinny boasts about the fact that this product is Vegan and Cruelty-free. I am an advocate for use of Cruelty-free products, so that makes me feel a little better about using it. Also , the label is biodegradable. How many products can really say that?

Pricing is a little high. $30 for a 9 ounce size. However, this will last a fairly long time, depending on the frequency of use. Also, so many more things go into make such an exceptional product, so sometimes price is higher on a better quality product.

You can go directly to their website http://www.skinnyskinny.com/organic-black-coffee-body-scrub-p-165.html to order if you are interested in giving it a try.

So...here's the "skinny skinny" on the Scientific Method rating system:

Product: 4.5 Stars out of 5
Price: 3 Stars out of 5
Would recommend to friends: 5 out of 5 Stars!

I would definitely recommend this product to friends: Great product and exceptional environmental standards. The price is a little steep, but definitely worth the price.





Review of Evolv Body Scrub

Evolv Body Scrub

Recently, I was asked to try out and review 4 different body scrubs for Self Magazine. You can check out the winner's in Self's May issue out this month. First off, let me say that it is AwEsOMe to get a UPS package loaded with FULL size body scrubs completely unexpected. (Yay Me!!)

This Body Scrub is like nothing I've ever tried before. It was not harsh or very abrasive. I'm the kind of girl who wants to take the first layer of my epidermis off with a scrub, so at first I was very critical. However, I decided to start tanning before the summer gets here (because I am the epitome of pasty white chick). This scrub is PERFECT for tanners.  It is flawlessly-formulated and tea-tree-oil-fortified. It smooths your skin, cools your body, and EXTENDS the life of your tan!!  My skin feels silky smooth after using Evolv. It has a great smell and feels very luxurious.  It retails for $24.99 for a oz size. So...here is the Scientific Method to rating: Product: 4.5 stars out of 5 Price: 3.5 stars out of 5 Recommend to friends: 4 out of 5 Stars I really enjoyed using this product. Stefanie a.k.a The Glam Scientist!

Review of Revlon Crazy Shine Buffer

Revlon Crazy Shine Buffer review

I am 29 years old and have always had the horrible habit of biting my nails. About 4 monthes ago, I stopped biting my nails out of the blue after biting them my entire life. I had no plan to stop, but I did. Now, I have a crazy affinity for taking good care of them.

 I just bought a Revlon Crazy Shine buffer( on clearance for .99 i might add - Regularly priced $7.97), and WOW!

       One side is a green, mildly abrasive file. The other is shiny and rubbery looking. The directions say to use the green side first to file off uneveness, then use the shiny side to buff them.

Revlon also says their "Revolutionary nail buffer creates 400% more shine than bare nails. Buff nails to a topcoat shine in a matter of seconds…results that last for 3 days." I must say I very seldom ever agree with a compay's review of their own product. However, this is an amazing product! My nails were super shiny. It looked like I had just gotten a manicure.

There is NOTHING on my nails in this pic! I just used the buffer.

In the Glam Lab we use a Scientific Method to figure out how many stars our tested products receive.

Product: 5 stars

Price: 3.5 stars

Would tell friends to buy: 5 stars

I love this product!

Stefanie a.k.a. The Glam Scientist