.:: CybeleSays ::.

Can you believe the Spring is right around the corner? Maybe it’s because I live in LA that I really have not felt the super cold bite of winter but I’m sure the rest of the country has a major case of Spring Fever! Here are some wicked fun spring-type scents getting me in the mood.

DKNY Be Delicious Juiced Green ($36/1oz @ sephora.com) – a watery fruity floral with standout notes of apple, pear blossom, lily of the valley (a favorite!), creamy woods and white amber, among others.

KATE SPADE Twirl by Kate Spade ($18/roll-on, $65/1.7oz, $80/3.4 @ sephora.com) – classified as a fruity floral standout notes include mandarin, bergamot, baies rose, white peony, pink watermelon, white peach, red currant, luminous musk, amber, among others.

INEKE Gilded Lily ($88/2.5oz @ ineke.com) – the brand started their line of fragrances at the letter A and they are up to G with this latest addition, a delightfully fruity chypre – pineapple, rhubarb, grapefruit, elemi, goldband lily of Japan, patachouli, oakmoss, and labdanum.

MISTRAL Belle Fleur ($20/.7oz @ mistralsoap.com) – From their new Atelier Perfume Collection of 5 scents, this eau de parfum opens with blackberry, blackcurrant, bergamot moves to the middle with rose, peony, violet, and cranberry; drying down to a combo of musk, vetiver, and sandalwood.

Disclosure: Samples of these items were provided to Cybelesays.com for review purposes.

If you’ve read Cybelesays.com long enough, you know that I am pretty driven by my nose. Scents, fragrances, I really love a good one and especially around this time of year! And here’s a few that are tickling my nose right now!

  GOLDFADEN Body Exfoliating Polish Peppermint Infused ($45/8oz @ upurea.com)
ARCONA Pumpkin Lotion 20% ($35/4oz @ arcona.com)
MISTRAL Winter Pine Holiday French Soap ($8.25/7oz @ mistral.com)

Disclosure: Samples of these items were provided to Cybelesays.com for review purposes.

What chick on your list doesn’t love bath products? And because the season falls during the coldest time of the year, feel confident gifting any of the below.

• ME! BATH Mini Bath Ice Cream ($15 for 6-2oz balls) and Shower Sherbet Exfoliating Sugar Scrub ($21/16oz) both in Gotta Have It Pomegranate. Both @ mebath.com.
• MISTRAL 3 Soap Wrap in Winter Berry, Winter Pine and Winter Snow ($15/3.17oz bars @ mistralsoap.com).
• LUSH Snow Fairy Shower Gel for Body and Hair ($$19.95/3.3oz @ lush.com).

We are quite obsessed with products that work and smell terrific so let’s focus on body parts this time. We clean them and moisturize them and these are some that will make your skin tingle and nose dance.

MISTRAL Organic French Shea Butter Soap in Lilac of May ($7.50/7oz @ mistralsoap.com)

JUNE JACOBS Papaya Body Balm ($46/7oz @ junejacobs.com)

MOR COSMETiCS new Fruits of Cornucopia Body Bar ($19 @ @ morcosmetics.com)
PURE HAPA Haupia Orange Soufflé Body Cream ($24/3.2oz @ purehapa.com)

I have long been fascinated with the ingredient Shea Butter. The two words are luscious and how it is used in beauty products is very nourishing. So we decided to do a four-part feature on Shea Butter products that are out there and ones that are worth trying out.

A little history – the nut is indigenous to Africa and how they get the butter is by extracting the yellow to ivory-colored fat from the fruit from the Shea tree. This is achieved by either crushing it or boiling it. It has long been touted for its superior moisturizing traits as well as its ability to fade scars, heal rashes and even work magic on stretch marks.

I’m sure you are aware that the closer to the top an ingredient appears in an ingredient list on the back of any product, the more of that ingredient it contains. But what I find funny, well peculiar actually, is that a product with the word Shea in the name can sometimes have it listed far down the list. So check the back of your products when it comes to this awesome ingredient to see how concentrated it really is. It should be listed in the top three at least and these all below are list it second and will appear as either Shea Butter or Butyrospermum Parkii. Here are some with Shea right up at the top, where it should be.

• LUSH Buffy ($10.75/3.3oz @ lush.com)
• VON NATUR Grapefruit Whipped Butter ($42/5oz @ vonnatur.com)
• BATH AND BODYWORKS 'Shea It Isn’t So' Shea Butter Foot Cream ($15/4oz @ bathandbodyworks.com)
• MISTRAL Shea Butter Hand Cream in Milk ($17.50/2.6oz @ mistralsoap.com)

After trying Treat Beauty’s Sugar Free Hand Therapy Butter a few weeks ago, it got me to thinking about products that smell great and work and those that smell great and don’t work. In the next two months, we’ll bring you a few that we are just loving. Hair, body, face, it can be in any category. So here are some ones that smell heavenly AND work!

MISTRAL Extra Rich Bath And Shower Gel in new Wild Blackberry ($16/10.8oz @ mistralsoap.com)

Why miss big time with your man? You can’t when it comes to soap. They all use it and need it. One mine will be getting this year is MISTRAL Men’s Bar Soap in Cedarwood Marine ($14/8.8oz @ mistralsoap.com). It’s a triple milled quality soap made with Shea Butter, and extracts of Green Coffee and White Ginseng. And the fragrance of this one? All man! Cedar wood, eucalyptus, amber and forest.

I consider greens, as in mossy greens, a very neutral color. They are so earthy, warm and natural that they could take the place of nudes in most cases. Olive, tarragon, and the creatively named products below, all make up our 2^nd Fall Color Pick, Mossy Green.
The way I’m thinking about this piece is if I were to paint a picture of moss using different shades and textures, which ones would I use? Here are our picks to make up our portrait:

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1. PORTICO SPA Clarifying Shampoo $14/6.7oz @ porticospa.com
2. L’OREAL H.I.P. Pure Pigment Shadow Stick in Mesmerizing $9.99 @ walgreens.com
3. PUR MINERALS Pur Colour Shadow in True Emerald $12 @ purminerals.com
4. URBAN DECAY Smokeout Blending Eye Pencil in Green Goddess $14 @ beauty.com
5. ORLY Nail Lacquer in Green With Envy $3.19 @ head2toebeauty.com
6. CREATIVE SPA Sea Rocks Soak $12/5oz @ prettylikeme.com
7. THE BODY SHOP Shimmer Smudger in Slate Green $13.50 @ thebodyshop.com
8. ASTARA Green Papaya Nutrient Mask $39/2.2oz @ beauty.com
9. BECCA Line + Illuminate Pencil in Fiji $22 @ bergdorfgoodman.com
10. LORAC Front of the Line Waterproof Eyeliner in Green $20 @ sephora.com
11. URBAN APOTHECARY Mineral Shadow in Citrine $10 @ urbanapothecary.com
12. SiSLEY Phyto-Ombre Eclat Long Lasting Eye Shadow in Anis $40 @ sisley-cosmetics.com
13. DIORkiss in Granny Smith 308 $19 @ sephora.com
14. SONIA KASHUK Eye Definer and Eye Smudger in Olive Suede $5.99 @ Target stores
15. PRESCRIPTIVES Colorscope Creamy Eye Color in Jungle $18 @ prescriptives.com
16. GiELLA Nail Polish in Cat’s Eye $25 @ giella.com
17. MISTRAL Bath Salts in South Seas $5.50/2.1oz @ mistralsoap.com
18. H2O+ SPA Exfoliating Sea Marine Body Wash $18/8oz @ h2oplus.com
19. TARTE Eyeshadow in Peyton Place $17 @ tartecosmetics.com

If lighter scents are your summer choice, I’ve recently tried two of them that fit the bill perfectly.

MISTRAL’s Grapefruit Red Current Eau De Parfum is light, fresh, fruity and mood lifting with white jasmine, lemon blossom and freesia added. $48/1.7oz @ mistralsoap.com 

A fragrance inspired by her memories of Toronto, SUSANNE LANG’s Augustina Collection consists of three scents inspired by her three favorite streets in the city. I’m in the pink with Roxborough which is a sultry scent containing spice and powdery musk notes. It’s fantastic for an all over hair and body spray! $80/2oz @ fragrancesandmore.biz ~Lisa

The MISTRAL South Seas (Mer du Sud) collection is one of my all time favorite scents (see Hall of Fame pics). Picture ocean mists, citrus and white flowers and you have South Seas. Our picks from the collection are the Bath & Body Massage Oil ($10/7oz), Exfoliating Shea Butter Scrub ($14/6.75oz), Large 100% Shea Butter Large Tin ($22/3.53oz), which is great for feet, and of course the French Shea Butter Soap ($7/7oz). Each is perfect for the season. All @ mistralsoap.com