Coquette

Get Ready for Fall + Christmas with Jo Malone London

Jo Malone London has been a favorite brand of mine for years because they can do no wrong when it comes to wonderful fragrances! I just received their new Christmas Cracker for 2017 called the Crazy Colourful Christmas Cracker ($48) and am blown away from the three scented treats inside the beautiful box. I always love Jo Malone London boxes but this cracker box is just the cutest! It's the perfect way to try new scents and products!

Blackberry & Bay Cologne
I love this beautiful fresh scent of blackberries blended with bay and brambly woods. The smell is so light and fruity that I think this fragrance can be mixed well with other Jo Malone scents too. I have tried it so far with my Wood Sage & Sea Salt which smells so divine together! This 9 ml bottle is perfect to take on the go in your handbag or for travel. I think this could be my new favorite everyday Jo Malone London fragrance!

Basil & Neroli Body & Hand Wash
This floral neroli and basil fragrance is just so wonderfully fresh smelling. The clear gel lathers up nicely and leaves the scent softly on your hands and body. The 15 ml bottle is perfect for weekend getaways or your gym bag.

English Pear & Freesia Body Creme
The Jo Malone London body cremes are my favorite for their luxurious silky feel! I have never tried the English Pear & Freesia scent so this was particurly indulgent as the warm scent is perfect for the fall season. The fragrance contains pears, white freesias, amber, patchouli and woods. I love the small size of this body creme container because it's much easier to use than their larger jars (which I have dropped and broken before, only making myself need to repurchase a week later because of how addicting it is). The body cream absorbs really well into your skin so that the fragrance stays with you longer. This is one of the reasons I love their body creams, so much aside from making my skin super soft especially during the colder months!

The Jo Malone London Crazy Colourful Christmas Cracker is such a fabulous stocking stuffer or place on the Christmas dinner table like traditional Christmas crackers.

One of the recently launched scents for Jo Malone London is English Oak & Redcurrant. This wonderful scent is mixed with redcurrant, zest of green mandarin, rose with white musk is enveloped in roasted oak. It definitely has a warm feel to it to it that is making me feel cozy for fall and the onset of colder weather. I have the English Oak & Redcurrant Body & Hand Wash ($40) for my main bathroom sink. I love this scent so much that just lingers every so subtly on your hands after you wash it. My husband says it makes him feel like he's at a luxury hotel and that's exactly how I'd like my guests to feel when they come over! I'd also recommend this scent in their candle version so it can softly fill a room and make it feel extra cozy.

Shop Jo Malone London at jomalone.com.

Review products provided by Jo Malone London.

Saje Natural Wellness in San Francisco

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to visit the new Saje Natural Wellness Boutique in San Francisco (1913 Fillmore Street). This Canadian brand has made its way to the U.S. with San Francisco as it's first Bay Area boutique. (Soon, it will open in Corte Madera too.) The airy, open and beautiful store had my mind racing to see which section I would check out first. I headed to the natural oil section first to see what was there. As an allergy sufferer, especially this spring, I was introduced to their natural soothing oil blend, Inhale that helps with allergies and clearing sinuses. I am not a big aromatherapy person and I'm pretty sensitive to smells but everything inside Saje smelled wonderful. No scent was too strong or irritating. That was the first surprise to me. In fact, the inhale oil is something that I use now often to help with my sinus. It really works!

They sell ultrasonic diffusers in a variety of colors and designs that work with their diffuser blends.

I also loved their natural soy wax candles made with 100% cotton, lead-free, bleach-free and chemical free.

All of the sales associates inside the boutique are really helpful. Just let them know what you are interested in to make you feel better whether it's lack of sleep, stress, pain, etc. The founder of the company, husband and wife team, Jean-Pierre and Kate LeBlanc wanted a natural way to ease Jean-Pierre's chronic pain after a serious car accident. Jean-Pierre used his chemistry background to create natural plant-based formulas for wellness. There is so much healing power in plants! Some of his blends have earned National Heath Registration numbers from Health Canada (which means the Canadian government supports their products' beneficial health claims). I am so glad that we have Saje now in SF! I am always looking to bring in more natural products into my daily life and using their products has been really great. If you aren't in the Bay Area, don't worry. You can purchase Saje products from their website saje.com.

Saje was nice to let me pick a few items of theirs to try out and review. Here are some of the products that I am loving from Saje:

Inhale Soothing Oil Blend for Deep Breath ($22.95)

The oil comes in a handy rollerball which you can easily roll on your face. Roll it below your eyes and sinus area on your forehead. Once I have done that I tap all around the area to let the oil set into my skin. (There is a how-to video on the product page.) The result? My sinus congestion melts away and I can breathe again!

Konjac Kare Green Tea ($9.95)

I love this 100% natural vegetable fiber sponge enriched with green tea extract. It protects your skin from damaging environmental influences and helps prevent dehydration. The sponge is hard to being with so make sure you soak the sponge in warm water for a few minutes to get it all soft. Then add your cleanser to the sponge and with a circular motion massage your face. You can use the edges to really cleanse nose area well. (You can also use just wet without a cleanser too.) The result for me is extra soft skin. After cleansing, I rinse out the sponge and squeeze out the excess water. I hang the string so it can dry on my bathtub faucet. You can also place it inside it's case which has openings on the top and bottom, but I find it dries faster while hanging. I have been using this everyday for my nightly cleansing routine for the last few weeks. Since I have been doing this, I have not had any breakouts during my last period cycle. Saje also sells a few other kinds of vegetable cleansing sponges so you can choose one that's best for you.

Skin So Clean Mildly Exfoliating Facial Cleanser ($22.95)

This exfoliating cleanser is so soft on the skin. The tiny beads are not coarse, they are really, super soft and working this into your skin feels really good. The cleanser uses the gentle exfoliating effects of oats and rice with Neroli to let skin regenerate and Ylang Ylang to comfort and soothe skin. I use this twice a week to get rid of dead skin cells. Again, since I have been using this I have had no breakouts in my last period cycle. I feel like all my pores are really clean.

Cellucleanse Cleansing Bath Salt Soak ($24.95 or 21.9 oz, or $8.95 for 4.2 oz)

Ok can I just say that the Saje bath salts are pure heaven?! The Cellucleanse is made with purifying Himalayan pink salts along with essential oils. The key to the benefits of the salts is to not add them into your bath until you are about ready to get in. Otherwise, the essential oils will dissipate once they hit the hot water. One you slip in the bathtub - pure heaven! Bath salts are a great way to relieve stress and toxins in your body. Just remember to drink plenty of water to help flush out the toxins.

Goddess Euphoric Bath Salt Soak ($24.95 or 21.9 oz, or on sale for $6.95 for 4.2 oz)

The Goddess scent is one of my favorites from Saje. It comes in many different forms from these bath salts to natural perfume. It's a sweet floral blend of Jasmineylang Ylang, Ylang Ylang and Rose. Very soft and feminine. I like this as a end of week Sunday night bath as a ritual for myself before the crazy week starts again. When I head back to the boutique, I'm going to pick up the natural perfume Goddess. It's a rollerball perfume with a gemstone rose quartz rollerball so you also get some energy work from the crystal. (Each fragrance has their own gemstone rollerball.)

Coco Lips Lip Balm ($4.95)

I'm a lip balm addict! I love this soothing natural lip balm made with coconut, shea, and cocoa. There are a few other flavors of Saje lip balms.

Liquid Sunshine Zesty Foaming Hand Soap ($9.95)

I made a move recently to do away with commercial hand soap and use only natural or organic liquid soaps for my family. This Saje hand soap in the scent Liquid Sunshine is a fresh, citrus scent that wakes up your senses. My 8 year old loves it and it promotes her to wash her hands more often because she loves the smell.

If you are looking for new things to try, take a look at Kate's Favs. Her picks change each month and they display them in store also. That is how I discovered the hand soap!

Shop Saje Natural Wellness at saje.com or visit their boutique at 1913 Fillmore Street, San Francisco.

Review products provided by Saje

Personalize Your Pinrose Perfume for the Perfect Mother's Day Gift

Are you looking for a Mother's Day gift or any kind of gift that's different? I love personalized gifts myself and this one I have today is perfect for the beauty lover mom. Pinrose (I featured them in my Valentine's Day roundup last year in Racked SF) now let's you personalize their products with a custom photo of your choosing! You can upload at put any photo of yours onto a bottle of one of their amazing scents (30 ml Eau de Parfum is $60). You can also do this for some of their scented candles too (9oz candle is $50).

Pinrose was nice enough to let me try this out myself. I chose a fragrance from their wide selection and I sent in a photo of my girls, Chloe and Lulu. First off, I had never bought a fragrance without smelling it in person first. I read through all their descriptions and picked Merry Maker. Merry Maker is described as a refreshing nectarine blend and I thought it would be a nice fragrance for spring/summer. I really liked the pictures they put on the mood board for it and I thought it would be a nice, fresh scent.

When my bottle arrived, I couldn't believe how adorable it was to see my two pretty girls on the bottle. But when I smelled it? Instant LOVE!! I have to say their mood board and descriptions are right on if you are choosing a fragrance. Even my husband loves to smell it one me and he's picky on what kids of perfumes I wear. Chloe is so excited when she sees her bottle on my perfume tray in the bathroom. This is the best early Mother's Day gift. Thank you Pinrose!

To purchase a custom perfume or scented candle, visit Pinrose.com.

Review product provided by Pinrose

January Favorites: Clarins, Dior, Adidas + More

I spent most of January really working on my skin. I did a 7 day face mask challenge that really helped to rehydrate my skin after all the holiday travel and food. I outlined most of the stuff I used in my 2016 favorites which you can still check out if you missed it. The one thing I did switch out from recently was moving from SK-II's Facial Treatment Essence to Korean brand Missha's Facial Treatment Essence (post here). I've only been using this for a week so we'll see if it makes my February favorites list.

I've been really into highlighters but ones that don't have all that shimmer. (I'm looking at you Becca!) I don't want to see myself all glittery in natural light. So far, there are two in this list that I really love so read on for some of my reviews.

1. Clarins Face Contouring Palette ($42 at Clarins USA)
I don't know where this contour palette has been all my life! It's limited edition so I'd recommend you stock up fast on this. Don't be afraid of the word "contour". These three colors will easily help you get the best angle on your face! I use the middle bronzer color to accentuate my cheeks and the blush color on the right is so flattering! The highlight color is my favorite because you can subtly get the pretty highlights on the tops of your cheeks without any shine. The soft powder blends perfectly into your skin. The entire look gives me a warm glow. I have been using it pretty much everyday.

2. Pony Effect Strobing Luminizer ($21 at Memebox)
I have never used a liquid highlighter before and this one surprised me. It doesn't have that crazy sparkly shine. If you want that really natural dewy look, this luminizer is the one for you! I read the comments and some gals had issue with it melting off with their makeup. I think that may be the case with more oily skin. I have more dry to normal skin and have worn this all day with no problem (wearing a cushion compact instead of foundation). The great thing is you can really dab it over the apples of your cheeks with your fingers and blend it in.

3. Dior J'adore Eau de Parfum 1.0 oz Eau de Parfum Spray ($74 at Sephora)
My husband got me the J'adore Dior perfume when he was away on a business trip. I like to rotate using my fragrances and just started picking this one up again a few weeks ago. It's wonderful floral scent with a mix of Comoro Islands ylang-ylang, Damascus rose and sambac jasmine. For some reason, it's the perfect smell for me now in winter, making me feel all warm and cozy when I spritz it on each morning.

4. Marin Bee Honey Polish ($38 at Marin Bee)
Winter skin just feels rough so when I came back from France, I had to definitely exfoliate my dry rough feet and elbows. I love Marin Bee's products and their Honey Polish does the trick when I'm in the shower. I also had to use it on my hands to exfoliate some of the dry skin around my fingertips, especially around my thumbs. It really does the trick to get those dead skin cells off and when I add my body lotion (the Marin Bee Honey Butter), it just locks all that moisture in! Marin Bee uses natural and organic ingredients which is always a plus in my book!

5. Adidas Stan Smith Sneakers ($74.99 at Footlocker)
I love this sneaker trend so much! I bought these sneakers last fall and have been wearing them on repeat most of January when it wasn't raining. I love how instantly stylish they look with any outfit and when paired with warm socks, they keep your feet nice and toasty too. I got the all white version because I wanted a cleaner look without colored stripes. I was worried they would get super dirty but they actually haven't! The white leather has held up really well. I'm totally going to get another pair when I wear these ones out. Much more affordable than any other designer sneaker now and they are more on trend.

Get the Limited Edition MUGLER Hot Cologne + Leather Pouch

In celebration of Paris Fashion Week, MUGLER has announced a brand new scent inspired by the MUGLER Spring/Summer 2017 fashion show happening tomorrow in Paris. (See the photos here on 10/1.) Starting today (and for the next ten days only), you can order the MUGLER Hot Cologne ($195 on muglerusa.com). Only 50 pieces of this limited edition bottle will be available in the U.S. and it comes with a MUGLER black calf leather pouch designed by David Koma, MUGLER's creative director.

The fragrance is a bold, warm-cold composition with notes of citrus, orange blossom, permit grain and green coffee. I can already smell how wonderful it is!

(Photo: MUGLER Resort 2017, Look 25 from Vogue)

Buy the limited edition MUGLER Hot Cologne at muglerusa.com.

Les Parfums Louis Vuitton

(Photos: Louis Vuitton)

Just a week ago, French fashion power house Louis Vuitton launched their new Les Parfums Louis Vuitton fragrance line. There are seven scents total in the collection and was created by renowned French perfumer, Jacques Cavalier Belletrud. The perfumes are unisex. The bottles designed my Marc Newsom have a beautiful vintage apothocary feel to them and yet also look very luxurious. French actress Léa Seydox is the face of the new Louis Vuitton fragrances. You may remember her from last year's James Bond movie, Spectre.

There are two different sizes of bottles you can purchase. The bottles can also be refilled when you are finished at a significant discount.

Here are the prices:

140 ml is $240 (refill is $150)
200 ml is $300

To purchase the Les Perfumes Louis Vuitton you can shop online or visit your local Louis Vuitton boutique. If you're in San Francisco and don't want the hassle of the Union Square Maison flagship, I love the excellent service at the Louis Vuitton boutique inside Bloomingdales. Lyn is my go to S.A. -- she's fantastic but so is the rest of the sales staff there. Lyn spent some time with me yesterday letting me try all of the fragrances and explaining them all to me. She had a jar of coffee beans to help cleanse my nose palette between testing each fragrance so I wouldn't be overwhelmed or get confused on scents. For me personally, I love soft or fruity scents.

Here are my favorite scents:

#1 Mille Feux (Translation: Thousand Lights)

Lyn told me that Jacques Cavalier Belletrud was inspired by the raspberry colored Capucine bag and created this scent made up of raspberry and leather. It's so beautiful and really unlike anything I have ever smelled before. It's soft and sweet, definitely not too strong.

#2 Contre Moi (Translation: The summit)

If you like vanilla, this one is for you. It's a mixture of vanilla with orange flower, rose and magnolia petals. Just heaven!

#3 Apogée (Translation: Against Me)

This is the softest of all the scents and is just that "fresh" scent that is work friendly. The scent is lily-of-the-valley mixed in with petals of jasmine, magnolia and rose. It's beautiful!

#4 Rose Des Vents (Translation: Pink Winds)

I love the smell of roses and this one is just unique with a mixture of roses with iris and cedar. I think this is a great everyday scent.

#5 Matière Noire (Translation: Dark Matter)

This scent just smells sexy to me and it is perfect for a man. It's also a great scent for a gal out on the town. Featuring a blend of dark wood and white flowers, it's just so darn good. It's also surprisingly not overly strong either. This also would be a perfect scent for a man.

Turbulences was the strongest fragrance and just not for me. It was just way to intense. Dans La Peau (In the Skin), a rich leathery scent, would be great for a man.

For you perfume collectors you can get all seven perfumes in this Miniature Set ($290). Currently at my LV at Bloomingdales in San Francisco it's sold out and there's a wait list.

I like the Travel Spray Set ($240) that comes with three glass tubes of the fragrance of your choice along with a sleek LV atomizer. To refill this set it is $130. There seems to be stock of this online so just choose the fragrance you want and choose Travel Spray from the drop down menu.

I'm not sure which perfume I am going to get yet, but I am going to purchase one. I have narrowed it down to the ones listed above. The fragrances and the packaging are just too beautiful to resist! Head over to your local Louis Vuitton to try them out. I really think you need to smell these beauties in person and the presentation of the fragrances on top of a trunk is beautiful.