The night of my very first book signing, back in the fall, a friend and I celebrated afterward at my favorite spot.  One thing led to another (and another, and another), and we ended up—chastely, I promise you—back in Josh Hartnett’s hotel room with the actor and several of his friends.  He was utterly gentlemanly, charming, intelligent and well-spoken….it was quite a fun night!  I’ve loved the Hot-nett ever since, and am happy he’s the face of Emporio Armani’s new fragrance Diamonds for Men, which launches next month.  The ad, below:

Toasting himself at a luncheon in his honor Friday at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York

Photo from People.com

Truly, I could not be happier about the news that, slowly but surely, beauty companies are finally taking initiative and creating new scents.  Ralph Lauren is soon coming out with Notorious (not, you know, “Ralph Rocks Boogaloo”, or “Ralph Cool Sexified”, or “Ralph Insert-Random-Extra-Word-Here-That-Is-Supposed-To-Make-You-Want-To-Buy-The-Exact-Same-Scent-Over-And-Over”.   I mean, originality in fragrance?  And a model–not a celebrity furthering their “brand”–as a model??  Groundbreaking, people.

Notorious will be released later this month with Laetitia Casta as the face; can’t wait!  The scent is created by Olivier Gillotin and reportedly features black currant, pink peppercorn, bergamot, chocolate cosmos, white frost peonies, carnation, patchouli musk, vanilla and iris

Yesterday at the gym, I saw Lance Bass.  Dude is tiny.  It’s been a decade since N’Sync was the hottest boy band in the world, and while Lance, Joey et al. are doing okay for themselves, Justin Timberlake has, of course, blown them all out of the water.  (Seriously, just stop and think about JT’s career trajectory for a second.  It’s mindblowing.)  Justin’s the face of Givenchy’s new fragrance Play, and his new ads have just been released.  He’s hot, sure…but the first image is way over-airbrushed.  Looks like an art director was a bit too excited.

Any guesses as to what this juice will smell like?  Money, sweat, and sex?

The Divine Miss M. is releasing her second fragrance with Elizabeth Arden this September, which will be just as girlie as you’d expect a Mariah Carey juice to be.  It’s called Luscious Pink and, according to People’s Off the Rack, includes Tahitian tiare flower, lily of the valley, pink peony and white musk.  Mariah describes the new perfume as “an ethereal…scent that reflects the delicately sensual, feminine and optimistic side of me that is so present today in my music, my fragrance and my life.”  It’s tempting to dismiss the concoction as something likely cloyingly sweet and…er…tacky.  But!  I believe we’d be wrong to underestimate Iron Mimi—M. by Mariah Carey was a smashing success, and Luscious Pink’s notes sound very feminine, sensual and, yes, luscious, indeed.  I’ve been bowled over by “Wait, I expected you to be crappy!” celebrity fragrances before (sigh…the softly sexy JLo Glow and surprisingly delicious Fantasy Britney Spears come to mind) and wouldn’t count Mariah out again…

Photo from Off the Rack

Years ago, I was a devotee of Marc Jacobs’s original eponymous scent Marc Jacobs, which quickly gave me nose fatigue from the sheer number of people that were also obsessed with it.  (Do you remember?  It was impossible to walk into an elevator or go out to dinner without being slammed in the face by Marc Jacobs or the similarly intense, gorgeous and overplayed Michael Kors.)  Everything old is eventually new again, however, and while shopping at Marc Jacobs with a friend recently, I was recaptivated by the gardenia-infused delight.  Bonus: when I asked for samples at the front desk, the salesperson was only too happy to oblige, and I’ve been dabbing myself from the vial for weeks.  Many stores offer free samples, so don’t be afraid to ask!  (Kiehl’s is especially generous with their mini-portions —run, don’t walk.)

She might be arguably the most stylish woman in the world, but even poor Kate Moss has not-so-chic moments: yesterday Kate was in Berlin for the launch of her fragrance Velvet Hour…and a chunk of her hair extensions fell to the ground.  Cringe.  Cue global schadenfreude.  (I mean, seriously.  Google “Kate Moss” and “Velvet Hour” and all you get is OHMIGOD KATE MOSS TOTALLY LOST HER WEAVE ON THE RED CARPET!!!”  In a nutshell.)  I haven’t been able to ascertain the truly interesting bit of information: what on earth does her new scent smell like? 

Photo from Heatworld.com

Anne Hathaway shone at the Grand Palais in Paris yesterday for the over-the-top launch of Lancome ’s latest fragrance Magnifique.  What’s this?  An all-new scent that’s not piggybacking off an existing juice?  Revolutionary!  I’ve never met Anne, but (super lame story to follow, whatever) we were once in the powder room simultaneously at a Broadway premiere, and she was gracious, chatty, friendly and patient when a fan approached.  Even since, I’ve been impressed with her…and I love that she’s pale and proud!

Photo from People.com (Julian Hekemian/WireImage)
This is a hard lip color for many women to pull off, with strong orange-y tones, but it looks lovely on Anne. 

 The music of Cole Porter reportedly played as revelers waited for the name of the new fragrance to be revealed.  Lancome is also launching a new website at Magnifique-Women.com that they’re billing as a community platform to connect and celebrate women via video.  I can’t check it out because it uses Silverlight, and my computer sucks.

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In honor of yesterday’s FiFi fragrance awards, please indulge me for a moment.  I would like to send a plea to perfumers (or more accurately, to the beauty conglomerate executives who greenlight this nonsense in penthouse boardrooms above Fifth Avenue) to stop being so damn lazy with their fragrances.  Season after season, scent lovers are bombarded not only with inane EDPs from celebrities that have no business “creating” juices, but also with updated, slightly tweaked versions of old perfumes saddled with names just like! but different from! the original.  Loved Stella McCartney?  Hey, try Stella McCartney Sheer Stella!  Were you a fan of Givenchy Very Irresistible?  Try the Givenchy Very Irresistible Givenchy Summer Cocktail!  Not really a fan of the apple-and-mandarin candied scent of the original Ralph?  Maybe you’ll like Ralph Rocks!  Or Ralph Cool!  What about Ralph Hot?  Ralph Wild?  Ralph Insanity?  (Yeah, I made that one up.) (more…)

Cosmetic Executive Women held their annual CEW Awards Luncheon today at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York; I’ve been lucky enough to attend myself twice, and it’s a huge to-do.  The ballroom is packed with tables full of beauty editors, high-profile executives and a smattering of B-list celebs, and everybody twitters and clucks and shrieks as the winners are announced.  (Yes, just like in high school when they announced Homecoming Court over the loudspeakers, only this time the role of Head Cheerleader will be played by Allure’s Linda Wells.)  Some of the the winners which also happen to be Jolie obsessions:

Scented Bath and Body - Prestige: Tom Ford Beauty Black Orchid Finishing Spray
I cannot express my love for this product enough.  I want to eat it.  I want to bathe in it.  I want to marry it and have all its babies.  It is so, so sexy—even more amazing than the already-fabulous Black Orchid EDT and EDP.  Tom Ford famously said when creating Black Orchid that he wanted it to smell like the inside of a man’s crotch, which is the very height of weirdness.  Apparently, the inside of a man’s crotch is also all in the world that Jolie desires to spritz on herself.  So, you know, that’s bizarre.

Facial Skincare - Acne Treatment: Bare Escentuals Rare Minerals Blemish Therapy
From my favorite beauty company comes a preservative-free, all-natural, mineral zit treatment that uses sulfur.  Dab it on at night and pimples will quietly flee.

Makeup: Eye Product - Mass: Cover Girl Lash Blast Mascara
Somehow, I didn’t get around to using this mascara until this morning for the very first time.  Predictably, I fell in love; the raves are all true, and it volumizes, lengthens and thickens like a dream.  This just might upstage Max Factor Lash Perfection as my favorite drugstore mascara. 

For a complete list of winners, click here, or check out Jessica Anderson from Sephora’s beauty blog’s live twitter updates from earlier.

Perfume, like many things from which pleasure can be derived, is both an art and a science.  Sure, there are qualifications, distillations, minute measurements of this and that, but what it really comes down to is…does it smell good?  The answer, of course, is: it depends on who’s doing the smelling.  For me, perfection can be found in bottles of Bond no. 9 Chinatown, Narciso Rodriguez for Her, Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and—my current obsession—Tom Ford Black Orchid.  (It’s what I imagine a turn-of-the-century Parisian bordello to smell like.  And yeah, that’s a good thing.)  Thierry Mugler Angel, on the other hand?  I respect it, I understand it, I bow down before its complexity…but it reminds me of cat pee, and I’d no sooner have it on my skin than work in said aforementioned bordello.  One woman’s olfactory trash is another’s treasure, so fragrance guides must always come with a “just because I like it, doesn’t mean you will, too” caveat.  Regardless, I’m excited to read Perfumes: The Guide, by Luca Turin, PhD and Tania Sanchez, containing reviews of 1200 scents.  I ran across a review in my beloved Elle, which mentions that Turin counts Chanel 31 Rue Cambon as 2007’s best scent: “I cannot remember the last time, if ever, a perfume gave me such an instantaneous impression of ravishing beauty at first sniff.”  I remain skeptical until I smell for myself…but with review like that, I must smell it immediately.