Rhianna Nude

I was lucky enough to get in on an People StyleWatchers Style Hunters giveaway of Rhianna Nude perfume. I was expecting to receive a sample to try, but was thrilled to get a full size bottle!

I looked this fragrance up online because I was not familiar with it. I know Rhianna has become something of a style icon, but it seems like every celebrity has her own fragrance these days - from Taylor Swift to J.Lo - and I was prepared for it to be drugstore caliber scent. Looking for more info, I went directly to my favoritewebsite for all things fragrance and looked it up:

http://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Rihanna/Nude-16630.html

Fragrantica notes that this is a sweet fruity floral, with woody and powdery notes. I decided to give it a chance it before judging it to be less worthy than a designer scent. I will admit right off the bat that the bottle itself does nothing for me. I love the swooping shape of the glass, but the nude colored "ribbons" and the plastic silver colored "diamonds" adorning the bottle are not very attractive to me. There are so many deliciously styled bottles out there - I personally really love a beautiful perfume bottle. It makes one feel the specialness of the scent before even putting it on. For me, it really adds something to the total experience of a perfume. It appears that this is the style of all the Rhianna scents however, with variations on the theme for her other perfumes so it must have really appealed to her sense of style.

But on the to the fragrance itself. I agree that this is a somewhat sweet scent- on first spray, I don't know that I would necessarily have made the investment in a wholehearted commitment. It is not an overwhelming sweetness either, even to begin with, but I would not have necessarily considered it MY style. That being said, I am really glad I gave it a chance. This is one of those fragrances that has a wonderful dry down. I love how it smells a couple of hours later. I lean toward white florals and rose notes, with patchouli and sandalwood being my favorite accents. SO, while this may not be my ideal signature fragrance, I am finding it a delicious addition to my fragrance wardrobe. I really like the powdery element, too. I will wear this for daytime and I think it will make a nice go-to summer scent. It is not particularly strong or overwhelming, and I can envision the pleasure in catching a note of it on a warm summer breeze.

Overall, quite nice.

FAGE Yogurt 2% - 100% Delish

OK, so it's sort of random to stick a yogurt review in here when I really want to talk about perfume, but I just tried FAGE Greek yogurt and I was pleasantly surprised about how good it was so I feel compelled to make a note!

I received a coupon from BzzAgent to try this brand. I had heard of it, but there have been so many entries into the Greek yogurt market in the last year that I vaguely had the idea that it was one of the many copycat type yogurts attempting to cash in on the Greek yogurt trend. It is so disappointing to me that when something wonderful is discovered by the masses, the giant food conglomerates have to dive into the market and ruin it with crappy knockoffs to satisfy the factory farm-fed, cheap food aficionados. But that's a whole different rant...

Anyway, I could not have been more wrong. According to Wikipedia and the FAGE website, this Greek dairy has been around since 1926. I enjoyed reading about the FAGE story:

http://www.fageusa.com/our-greek-heritage/the-fage-story/

But the real point is how great this yogurt is - I think it has been a well kept secret. I wasn't even sure of where I could buy this brand, but it turned out to be available at my local grocery store. I don't mind going out of the way for great food products, and shop weekly at our local co-op as well as patronizing a "regular" grocery store, but I was happy to see it on the shelf at the grocery. I first discovered the joys of authentic Greek yogurt by trying The Greek Gods Hermes Greek Yogurt. Anything else really paled next to this brand, but I have to say that the FAGE held its own as far as taste and creamy firm texture. I like to use Greek yogurt in place of sour cream (as well as for snacks and breakfast) and even the 2% paired well with my Cinco de Mayo taco dinner.

In short, this yogurt is a winner. Accept no substitutions for your good quality Greek yogurt. It is nice to know that another great brand is out there for me.

I'll get to that perfume talk after breakfast! ...Mmmm FAGE yogurt with granola and strawberries drizzled with a bit of honey.