JAQUA! CHANEL!

Vexy here! your Friday Fragrance fiend starting off with, first of all, an apology for my lack of activity as of late. It's been a hectic winter break that started off with food poisoning and ended with my poor boy having pneumonia- bless his heart! But the good news is, while I was away, I definitely had time to play- with fragrances!

So I'll start off with something that came up over Christmas while I was having a conversation with my mother about perfumes. (Actually, I think the particular conversation I was having with my mom stemmed from a conversation I'd had earlier with my boyfriend.) Anyway, we were talking about signature fragrances, and, out of curiosity, I asked her if there were any fragrances she wore before her current selection of Clinique's Happy (which is what she wears now).

"Oh! When I was younger," she replied, "I wore a lot of Chanel #5. I almost got a bottle of it for you for Christmas this year."

Now, here is where I blaspheme the entire religion of perfume, since #5, Dior's Poison, and Thierry Mugler's Angel seem to be the holy trinity (just by popularity). I had to explain to my mother that I, in fact, do not like Chanel #5. For my tastes, at least, it is far too strong and synthetic-smelling; plus, my experiences with it have mostly been with older ladies putting it on themselves in clouds. This is no offense to anyone who likes or wears Chanel #5, but I have to be honest here. Sorry, Marilyn, but I'd rather wear Meg's Makeup perfume in bed. ;)

So anyway, moving on from my betrayal to the entire perfume world, I am excited to share with you something I have found that is perfect, perfect, perfect for layering scents, at least on the sweet side of things.

Jaqua's Pink Buttercream Frosting line not only smells yummy on it's own- exactly like a birthday cake with homemade frosting like my grandma used to make- but I've found that the simple vanilla-like scent layers extremely, extremely well under a lot of perfumes!

I actually picked these up in my school bookstore (which I think should have an entire floor dedicated to cosmetics, but that's just my dream) while I was getting pencils and such. Something kept catching my nose and I thought someone was wearing too much perfume or something. Finally, following my sniffer, I found the little shelf on which the Jaqua products were sitting and immediately picked up the Buttercream Frosting Guilt-Free Body Treats! They smelled just heavenly, and I couldn't wait to get home to try them.

The hand cream is wonderful- not too thick, easily absorbed, and nicely fragrant. The shower cream complements it well (and is heaven to wake up to in the morning), but the "sinfully rich" body butter is just to die for. It tastes nearly edible (but it's not) and it is perfect for helping my dry, itchy winter skin!

The first perfume I tried over this was, of course, Aquolina's Pink Sugar, because the scents are so similar. I found that the fragrance seemed to have a whole new layer to it, and it seemed to last a lot longer- I didn't even have to touch up with my beloved atomizer! Then I started getting creative and throwing lots of different perfumes at it. Sarah Horowitz's Beauty Comes From Within was another winner, bringing out the deep, spicy vanilla and tonka bean notes. In fact, I even layered this under a few florals and wound up with entirely new (and beautiful) scents!

Now the trick to layering, ladies, is to not pick something too strong on either end. Jaqua's lotions are light enough in scent that they don't overpower the perfume you're wearing- but the trade goes both ways. For example, I tried layering a heavy floral perfume (Pucci Vivara) and I immediately reached for my rubbing alcohol to get rid of the scent- total clashiness!

Still, I recommend Jaqua's Pink Buttercream Frosting line to anyone who has a sweet tooth and anyone who wants to try experimenting with scent layering!

So, what do you ladies think of Chanel #5? How about Jaqua? Let me know!

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