Jack & Hill: A Beauty Blog - make-up, cosmetics, perfume, and the substance of style

Alabaster by Banana Republic

Forget the controversy about this perfume. (Where there is a columnist in need of something to get agitated about, there will be controversy. One can see the beauty in blemish-free, smooth, pale skin without hating darker skin or darker people. If you can't accept that, you have more problems than a perfume can address.)

The real story here is the scent - heavy on the lotus, with some rose notes, and the most scant amount of musk. As I have said before, I am a sucker for most fragrances which manage to work some musk into a floral, as the heady mix of feminine and masculine appeals to me so much.

This also seems to make Alabaster a universal favorite: Everyone I have let sample the perfume that Banana Republic's PR team sent to me has declared it a winner. (I arrange my many fragrances in my powder room, so that visitors can try them - and so that the beautiful bottles don't get hidden away.)

Speaking of bottles, the teardrop-shaped one that Alabaster comes in is a real work of art. It has a flat bottom, and lies quite low, but would fit in the palm of your hand. Between the substance and the style, Alabaster is one of the very few scents I would feel confident giving as a gift to almost any woman.

Banana Republic Fresh Nectar

I love going into my local TJ Maxx (that's TK Maxx to you Brits). They always have a great selection of products - toiletries, skincare, haircare, and fragrance - marked down. So I'm sort of bummed to learn that the Banana Republic Fresh Nectar Harmonizing Body Mist I got there today (original price $18) is actually selling for 49 cents less through BR than it is through TJ. Buy it online here.

About this scent: I love it, and I don't know why. There is pear in it, and I'm not generally a huge fan of pear in perfume - it always seems a bit over the top to me. But this fragrance - which now resides in my fridge - is not so much a perfume as an eau de toilette, and a very diluted one at that. I wish it were much stronger. I also bought the shower gel in the same scent, though the body lotion wasn't available (if there is one, and I'm assuming there is). As the name suggests, it's just a very fresh, non-cloying smell. The fact that I came home from shopping and immediately took a shower just so I could bathe and spritz myself in Fresh Nectar should tell you something.