Perfume

My mom and I are thrift store junkies. We go in looking for deals that you cannot find anywhere else. Sometimes we get extremely lucky, and other times we come out empty handed.

We hit this one local thrift store up weekly because they seem to have new inventory every Friday. Hitting the thrift store up on a Saturday can sometimes result in winning the mini designer lottery. At times we find two dollar designer clothes, bags, and sometimes; perfume.

I was not able to hit up the local spot this week, but my mom did.

She rushed inside with a paper bag filled with what appeared to be designer perfumes. I could hear them clanging against one another and I could not wait to see what she had gotten hold of. I looked inside of the bag, and she huddled around it, as if she had to protect her findings from me.

She hit the designer perfume gold mine, and she bought all she could find, no wonder she didn't want me looking in. She wanted them ALL for herself.

Inside I noted all types of brands that I knew I would like. From Chanel, to Donna Karan. Some of the bottles were half empty, and others still had their seals on them. Some we already had, and some we had never heard of.

Amarige by Givenchy was one perfume in particular that I had never heard of. I have heard of Givenchy in the past, but I was never familiar with the brand, or this particular scent.

Appearance:

Amarige came in its original red box, with gold lettering. A bit of dust had collected on the box, but inside the perfume was barely touched.

The bottle itself is shaped like a human heart (at least that s what it looks like to me). The bottles top looks like a soft serve ice cream swirl, which is actually sort of pretty, and unique.

My Use:

I sprayed some of the rusty water colored perfume on to my wrists, and immediately got hit with the overpowering scent of grandmothers. It was like a granny festival on my wrist. This crap stunk, and it stunk bad.

It has that first kick of granny, then a high impact punch of rotting dried up roses, and...rust.

Good find mom!

Pricing and Availability:

After sniffing this horrendous granny spray I of course had to look the brand up before writing this review. I wanted to bring to you the price of this gunk, and where to find (eh-hem...avoid) this perfume.

Amarige by Givenchy can be found at any local perfume store, ranging from $10 to a jaw dropping $70.00 (for the granny gift set).

Overall:

Amarige by Givency smells like your grandma. It stinks to the high heavens, and it lasts a really, really long time. If you want to test the scent, make sure you DO NOT spray it on your clothing, as it will stay...till you wash the clothing.

-I guess if you find it at a thrift store; barely used, something must be wrong.

Recommendation:

Negative.

Amarige by Givenchy is definitely not a perfume I would recommend. (Maybe for Granny, seeing how that's about the only person who would like this one).

Jennifer Aniston sits along the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in this new ad campaign for her fragrance Lolavie.

The 41-year-old actress will promote Lolavie this summer, including an appearance at UK’s Harrods in June to mark the launch. (Distribution and dates haven’t been determined for the U.S. yet.)

Here’s what Jen told WWD:

On the fragrance process: “It’s been a year-and-a-half journey. I’d been asked to do things before, and it never felt organic. But when Leon [Falic, president of the Falic Fashion Group] approached me to be involved with the process from inception to fruition, I thought, ‘This could be a creative expression.’ And it’s turned out to be an extension of myself as opposed to slapping my name on something… It wasn’t just about showing up for a shoot and putting my name on a bottle. I felt like a little chemist.”

On the aesthetic she aims to bring to her fragrance: “The first perfumes I ever wore were Miss Dior and Anais Anais. My mother wore Calèche and my grandmother used a body splash that came in a big yellow jug that she kept by the bathtub. Those were very strong scents. Now I am not a big perfume-y fragrance fan.”

On how Lolavie smells: “It’s a nonperfume perfume. Sexy and clean. Floral, but not too flowery. I want people to go, ‘What is that? You smell great!’ But most of all I wanted it to smell natural.”

On the fragrance field being crowded with celebs: “The way I was approached, given such involvement, I never felt like, ‘Oh, gosh, I shouldn’t do this,.’ And if something is good, it doesn’t matter if the marketplace is crowded. I thought it was an opportunity to go behind the scenes, and if it feels good, why not go for it? It’s like being a producer and knowing the writers and stirring up ideas as opposed to being an actor for hire.”

On why her perfume is called Lolavie: “It’s a long story and honestly it’s too personal to tell but it has special significance.” (There is a phonetic similarity to “l’eau la vie,” which means water life in French. The Lolavie bottle was also inspired by the waves at the beach.)

On expanding beyond one fragrance: “Oh, anything’s possible. I would hope [Falic and I] get to do many things together.”

On if she envisions creating a Jennifer Aniston House of Beauty: “(laughs) I don’t know about that. I’ll stick with Lolavie right now and we’ll see how it slides up the flagpole.”

On the potential for even more exposure with the launch of the perfume: “I don’t think you can control that at the end of the day. You can’t stunt what you do to please or not please the public. And the media will create stories whether they are true or false. So why stop doing what makes you happy? Be true to yourself and everything else will follow.”

Here is the new ad for Jennifer Aniston’s soon-to-be-launched perfume, Lolavie. I’m still disappointed that she didn’t use any of our ingenious names! Oh well. I’m loving this ad though - she looks very pretty with her hair damp and messed up, with sort of moody sunset (sunrise?) lighting. I want her pedicure too. But is the whole “wrapped in a towel, sitting on some rocks” thing a little… weird? Like, I feel like she just washed up on the island and Charles Widmore is going to put her in the sweatshop of electromagnetic death whilst Jacob fights for her soul. Ohmigod, Aniston is a candidate!!! Note: only Lost fans will get that joke.

Anyhoodle, Aniston gave an interview to Women’s Wear Daily (story via Us Weekly) about the perfume launch. Note: Us Weekly can’t even talk about Aniston’s perfume with literally bringing up the uncool Bermuda Triangle.

Jennifer Aniston says there’s “a long story” behind her perfume name, Lolavie, which roughly translates into “laughing at life.”

“And, honestly, it’s too personal to tell,” teases the actress, 41, to Women’s Wear Daily.

The bottle, though, was inspired by Aniston’s affinity for modern architecture, she says — a shared hobby with ex Brad Pitt. (She once deadpanned that she, Pitt, and Angelina Jolie were in an “insane Bermuda triangle.”)

Aniston says her scent, which will cost between $46.50 and $61.95, will smell “sexy and clean… floral, but not too flowery.”

“I am not a big perfume-y fragrance fan,” she explains. “I want people to go, ‘What is that? You smell great!’ But most of all, I wanted it to smell natural.”

Aniston says she’s been approached numerous times to create a fragrance but, “Nothing made me go, ‘Oh that would be fun’ until this,” she says.

She has been heavily involved in every step over the past year-and-a-half, from creating the scent to conceptualizing the ads, which were shot at her fave getaway spot, Cabo San Lucas, and will debut this June in British fashion mags.

“It wasn’t just about showing up for a shoot and putting my name on a bottle. I felt like a little chemist,” she says. “It’s turned out to be an extension of myself as opposed to slapping my name on something.”

She doesn’t have plans to expand a beauty line, but she does want to branch out in her career.

“I have a project in development. I’m going to direct,” she says. “After you get enough movies under your belt, you sit back and go, ‘What’s next?’ It’s getting to be the time where creatively I want to turn in a different direction.”

After wrapping her current film Just Go With It, she’ll next shoot a father-daughter indie project, Buttercup.

“I’m really excited about that one,” she says. “It’s not trying not to make people laugh and it’s not a big tent pole picture. It will be more for me — and for the people who say, ‘You should do something serious.’”

[From Us Weekly]

Well, good for her, et cetera. I don’t get how the story behind “laughing at life” is “too personal to tell”. I mean, isn’t it kind of obvious the story involves SPOILER: laughing at life? As opposed to Lolamerde, “laughing at sh-t”. Or LolaTriangle, obviously. LolaGoat? LolaGerBILL?!? I’m out. Now I’m LolaAniston.

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