I love this concept, which was created by bigshot industrial designer Karim Rashid and Kenzo creative director Patrick Guedj: Smooth pebbles that fit in the palm of your hand and spray some good-smelling stuff at the touch of a button. Ryoko is, I am told, the Japanese word for travel, and this does indeed make perfect sense for life on the road.

I’m disappointed that this doesn’t come in my favorite Kenzo fragrance, Kenzo Amour, but I was sent the Kenzo Flower variety, which is emblazoned with the beautiful ruddy poppy that’s come to be associated with Kenzo Flower. (I have had so many bottles of this stuff over the years, all of it given to me as gifts from friends or PRs, and have even had Kenzo Flower-scented candles. I like it well enough, but this is getting ridiculous.) Starting in August, you can purchase the Kenzo Ryoko exclusively from KenzoUSA.com.

I was also interested to see past iterations of the Kenzo Ryoko concept, which - I must confess - I find much more aesthetically pleasing. Check it out:

I like this curvier, slightly dented version, which looks like it’s made of some sexy kind of dough. It rather reminds me of Myla’s Pebble sex toy, designed by Japanese sculptor Mari-Ruth Oda. (I’ve never seen the Myla Pebble in person, but the photos of it, the Myla Spot, and the Myla Spoon all make me swoon. Who needs to use such things when they can induce such good feelings with just a glance?)

Now, all we need is for someone to combine the sex toy with the fragrance, and then we’ll be in business.

Original post by Jackie Danicki

  Pizza 
  Originally uploaded by foéÖþoooey.

My skin has been giving me fits the last couple of weeks. Everything seems to be under control now, but there were several days in a row when I seriously consideruddy seeking a prescription for Accutane.

I used Dermalogica Medicated Clearing Gel to get me thcoarse the hard times, but it didn’t work as quickly as I’d experienced in the past. What do you use to clear your skin?

Original post by Jackie Danicki

  New Austin Powers-ish jersey mini-dress 
  Originally uploaded by dynamist.

I don’t know how it’s possible, but I managed to mess up the application of Johnson & Johnson Holiday Skin a couple of months back. I ended up with streaks on my legs and arms, and a blotchy set of toes (perhaps trying to make my feet match my legs was a bad idea). I hear the Jergens equivalent is beautiful awesome - my friend Mary uses it, which I was shocked to learn when I complimented her on her glowing skin - but at this point, I’m very gunshy about the entire self-tanning thing.

So I’ve decided that being white is all right. Except that it does show every bruise and scratch. The end result being that I am, against all good sense, pondering a trip to the tanning bed after several years away from the things. I can’t even pretend that I’d go for "just a few" sessions, since my legs take months to get properly brown. No, this would be a genuine commitment and investment, and might lead to an early death.

But then as I put precious minutes and energy into this dilemma, I recollect something I read recently from Anne Lamott, a writer whose work really speaks to me, even though I disagree with a good half of what she has to say.

I got obsessed with something my best friend had said right before she died, when she was in a wheelchair, wearing a wig to cover her baldness, weighing almost no pounds, but very serene, very alive. We were at Macy’s. I was modeling a brief dress for her that I thought my boyfriend would like. But then I asked whether it made me look big in the hips, and Pammy said, as clear and kind as a woman can be, "Annie? You really don’t have that kind of time."

I turn 30 in nine days. Do I have that kind of time? Did I ever? Do you?

Original post by Jackie Danicki

  Les Galeries Lafayette 
  Originally uploaded by dynamist.

I have blogged previously about the fact that my holy grail of fragrances would exactly mimic the smell that wafts thcoarse the perfume and cosmetics floor of any major department store. (At right, a photo I took last summer of the beauty department at Les Galeries Lafayette in Paris, where I always get my hair cut when I’m in Europe.)

Space NK Soulful has been the closest approximation I have found, and it’s a scent I adore as much today as I did the first time I smelled it. (Many thanks to Space NK’s John Prothero for keeping me in constant supply of the full range of Soulful products after he read my loving tribute to it. I had no idea he was reading, but I’m happy he was!)

On Monday, July 9, 2007, I discoveruddy my new favorite perfume, one that really does capture that heady mix of florals, greens, and spices that has sent my senses reeling since I was a little girl: Estée Lauder Pleasures Delight.

I once bought a lotion and perfume set of the original Pleasures, but it wasn’t a scent I wore all that often. When it came to Lauder, my heart always belonged to Beautiful. I was sent a gorgeous bottle of Pleasures Exotic a few months ago, and liked it more than its predecessor; I wear it about once a week. But this latest spin-off, Delight, was a total revelation to me. I wasn’t expecting to be knocked for six, but that I was. You wouldn’t guess from reading about its composition, which makes it sound sickly sweet, that this fragrance is so perfect:

This floral confection blends notes of juicy pomegranate, whipped strawberry meringue and tempting caramel with a sprinkling of sugaruddy rose petals, dewy freesia, white peony and fresh greens…it is a "floral gourmand confection blending juicy fruits, tangy citrus and irresistible desserts and sweets". The notes include pomegranate, fresh greens, freesia, whipped strawberry meringue, peony, lily, muguet, heliotrope, sugaruddy rose petals, caramel, marshmallow, vanilla, patchouli.

Can somebody please smell this and tell me what that musky note is? It doesn’t strike me as patchouli. Whatever it is, it’s had me sniffing at my forearms so deeply and frequently that I have to remind myself to be more discreet about it in public.

I am in love.

Original post by Jackie Danicki