Give Your Mom Some Sex (And The City) For Mother’s Day

This Mother's Day give your mom a great smelling perfume, two free tickets for her (and preferably you as her guest) to see the Sex and the City movie, and  the chance to win a free trip to NYC! This ain't any old trip of SoHo-shopping and Broadway-shows - this one will include you and a friend (preferably your mom – remember her?) walking the red carpet with the fabulous cast of Sex and the City at their premiere.

This Mother's Day give your mom the Sarah Jessica Parker Mother’s Day Gift Set featuring the indulgent Lovely fragrance by the starlet herself. When you purchase the set you are granted two free tickets to "Sex and the City: The Movie" AND, if you redeem the tickets before May 1^st you will be automatically entered for a chance to win tickets to attend the red carpet premiere in New York City.

Purchase the set from macys.com and your luck just got even better. Spend another $5.50 and get a free clutch and samples with your $75 beauty purchase. The free schwag includes a crinkled patent black clutch with silvertone hardware and a snap closure (perfect for your red carpet appearance) and fragrance vials of Daisy by Marc Jacobs, Euphoria by Calvin Klein, Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker (keep this one for yourself), Deseo by Jennifer Lopez, L.A.M.B. by Gwen Stefani, and Covet by Sarah Jessica Parker.

Who knew Sex and Mother's Day has something in common? 

And for other great fragrance ideas, be sure to check out the SheFinds Fragrance Guide and enter to win a copy of Perfumes: The Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. 

Perfumes: The Guide Keeps You From Making A Stink - 5 Of You Will Win The Book

Ever try a perfume on in the store, love it, buy it, and take it home only to discover that after wearing it around it makes you nauseous? Or worse yet, you get perfume from Grandma that smells like air freshener and have to wear it every time you go and visit? Maybe if you and Granny had taken some advice from perfume experts Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, you could have steered away from those icky scents. These two have devoted their time to sniffing hundreds of fragrances and figuring out the best and worst of the bunch.

And now they've come out with a fabulous book, Perfumes: The Guide to share with you their finds. Perfumes: The Guide, mentioned in Thursday's NY Times Style Section, not only rates fragrances, but gives you info on top questions about perfumes, such as the difference between perfume and eau de toilette and how long you should keep your fragrance before it goes bad.

And now we've got some exclusive expert advice from the fragrance connoisseurs themselves! Below are Luca and Tania's picks for the perfect perfumes for those oh-so-important occasions.  And along with their expert advice, we are giving away copies of Perfumes: The Guide to 5 lucky readers. In order to be considered, you have to write to us in the comments section and share with us your favorite fragrance and why. The winners will receive a copy of the book.

The office: When you go into work, you don't want to overwhelm your colleagues. Chanel's Cristalle is a light, fresh, floral scent that won't walk into the room before you do.

First date: For a first date, you want to be flirty, mysterious, and a little bit sexy. Bois de Voilette by Serge Lutens bottles all three perfectly in a light cedar fragrance.

Exotic Weekend Getaway: Escape the everyday with Osmanthus by the Different Company. Hints of apricots, blossoms, and musk will whisk you away to foreign lands, even if your passport remains unstamped.

Everday: Even if your lounging around on a lazy Sunday afternoon, you still want to smell amazing. That's where Odalisque steps in. Its faint lily of the valley scent is subtle, sweet, and lingering.

Special Occasion: An intense, romantic fragrance, Guerlain L'Heure Bleue Eau de Parfum will make any special occasion a night to remember. 

To learn more about finding your perfect perfume from Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, buy their book on amazon.com. Or win a copy from SheFinds!

We are giving away copies to 5 lucky readers. In order to be considered, you have to write to us in the comments section and share with us your favorite fragrance.

And check out the Top 5s from our other experts: Nadine Haobsh, author of Beauty Confidential, Kat James, author of The Truth About Beauty, Nada Manley, author of Secrets of the Beauty Insiders, Charla Krupp, author of Hot Not to Look Old, Bridgette Raes, author of Style Rx, Christie Matheson, author of Green Chic, and Dr. Perricone, author of Ageless Face, Ageless Mind.

Be sure to read SheFinds' Fragrance Guide for more great scents. 

Hey, Stinky - There’s Hope Yet For You With A New Fragrance Pill

A team of Brazilian scientists is currently working on an ingestible perfume that would keep you smelling like lavender...permanently.

The FiberSense pill, like the odiferous edibles that inspired the product (garlic, curry, and asparagus), discharges its pleasing scent through sweat and urine, meaning that your once-stinky bodily excretions might soon take the place of deodorants, perfumes, and other frangrant products.  SheFinds will let you know when this miracle product gets FDA approval. Until that day, however, here are some new takes on traditional ways to stay smelling great:

1) Antiperspirant Deodorants. I used to live in Argentina, where underarm odor control was either anti-sweat or anti-smell, but never both. Let me be the first to say that I need all the help I can get, and that Argentina's delicate deodorants didn't really help my, ahem, excessive perspiration. Luckily, here in the U.S. we double-up the power, and my current anti-pit-stain fave is Secret Clinical Strength ($6.99), because some of us don't perspire. Or glisten. We sweat. That's the admirable motto for this powerful deodorant, which combines prescription-strength wetness protection with skin-soothing lotions and odor-fighting capsules. You're guaranteed to stay drier, longer. 

2) Perfumes. Despite a recent New York Times article about how women are wearing less fragrance these days, some well-applied perfume can be a savior on the day when there's no hot water and you can't shower, or an aphrodisiac on that crucial third-date dinner. You can't go wrong with Chanel Chance Eau de Toilette ($92), a decidedly young, floral scent, or the seductive Nina by Nina Ricci ($69). Both are finalists for Best Fragrance of 2008 from the Fragrance Foundation, which will choose a winner in May. Check out the other nominees here.

As for men's fragrances, Tom Ford is making news with his 12 new artisanal scents, like Amber Absolute, Tobacco Vanille, and NOIR DE NOIR, the sweet, floral best-seller of the line. The perfumes will run around $90-$165, but aren't available just yet. Until they come out this spring, you can't go wrong with the scent that Ford has tweeked and tweeked until perfection, Black Orchid Voile de Fluer ($90).

3) Body Wash. I for one don't like a highly scented body wash. Instead, I like something that smells clean--but subtly so. Right now I'm really enjoying Shea Terra Organics Lavender of the Khoisan Indigenous Silk and Shea Butter shower elixir ($18).

As the name indicates, it smells great, but not so great that my smell wafts into a room before I do. And the silk and shea butter ingredients make this body wash highly moisturizing, which is crucial for someone with dry skin like mine. And, of course, it's organic--a plus that, in this day and age, we dare not undervalue anymore (Want to do your teeniest-tiniest part to help salvage what's left of the earth? Just go organic where possible. It couldn't be easier!).

Get Naked, Get Famous: Agent Provocateur Wants Your Design For STRIP

Beauty Find: Come On, Get Happy With Anti-Depressant Perfume!

What: Smiley: The Very First Anti-Stress Perfume, $28-$90

Why: Let's face it. We’re all looking for a quick and easy way to beat the winter blues (minus a trip to the couch). Why not try out the Smiley Happy Therapy Line, which promises prescription-free happiness in a bright yellow bottle?

The fancy French aromatherapy experts at Smiley claim to have devised a scientific formula which combines two scentless molecules - theobromine (an adrenaline blocker most often found in chocolate that lowers stress and creates a sense of well-being) with phenylethylamine (which creates feelings of joy, euphoria and excitement)— to create a scent which they say will “activate happiness” with just a few spritzes.

The perfume has fruity top notes of bergamot and orange, with a heart of cocoa and praline and base notes of patchouli and musk. It’s sparkling and spicy. (Just like you.) Smiley offers the mood-raising formula in a few forms, from traditional eau du toilette to bath gel or deodorant. I particularly like the looks of the Smiley Emergency Kit and plan to keep it on hand in case of true emergencies. You know - break-ups, boss drama, or bad hair days.

Not into the scientific mumbo-jumbo? Here's a smattering of a few of the traditional perfumes that make me feel smiley:

Baby Doll by Yves St. Laurent is a light scent with hints of grapefruit, wild rose, freesia, ginger, cinnamon, pomegranate, grenadine, and peach.

Spring Fever from Origins features springy and uplifting aromas like artemesia, apple, marigold, linden blossom, mandarin, cypress, and watermelon.

Clinique Happy bottles notes of ruby red grapefruit, mandarin blossom, citrus, mountain laurel, boysenberry bush flower, morning dew orchid, mimosa blossom, white lily, and magnolia.

News Updates: Hathaway Pairs Up With Lancome, Natalie Portman Gets Shoe Happy, And More

Buy Some Post-Holiday Goodies From Lauren Conrad’s Christmas List

Lauren Conrad, reality television ingenue, blood enemy to Spencer Pratt and Heidi Whatever-her-last-name-is, and role model to the young and overprivileged, put a lot of thought into what she'd like to receive for Christmas this year.  Personally, I'd have sent her every single gift it just meant fewer mournful stares into the camera's closeup lens during The Hills. However, since my yearly budget for reality-star gifts was spent sending birth control to those families on Nanny 911, I suppose she had to rely on St. Nick...and Brody Jenner. (Good luck with that one Lauren. Am I the only person who watched Princes of Malibu?) 

LC is probably still trying to wash away the stench of those tawdry sex tape rumors. A better solution? Mask it with the clean, crisp fragrance of Ralph ($45), a man who will never allow Lauren to have something in common with Paris and Kim K. (other than, well, unearned fame).

Marc's On the Edge liquid Eyeliner is both economically priced ($5!) and perfect for giving Heidi a fashionable stank eye. 

And, mod eyeliner is always well complimented by a subtle, peachy pink lip gloss. Marc's Pink Crush lip gloss ($5) is a throwback to LC's innocent days of attempting to woo Talan from Kristen K. 

Marc's shine tube lip gloss ($5) comes in yummy flavors and high sparkle. So this might just be a gift for Brody, too. 

Now, Lauren Conrad placed the line of bags she guest designed for Linea Pelle on her Christmas list...despite already having been pictured wearing them. (Like she wouldn't have been given her own.) Tricky girl was using her Christmas list as a product platform. Or, maybe she's just greedy and wants a back-up. Either way, the bags are classic and a cute everyday option. Just don't go give her one.

Last on Lauren's Christmas list are three boots (the Alba, $324, the Ester, $289, and the Ellie, $279) by Miss Sixty (a brand I, too, love). However, her desire for three boots in one holiday makes me think that LC might just be starting some sort of fashion militia. I'm imagining a squadron of size 0's marching through fashion week in Miss Sixty boots and Mike & Chris jumpers. They'll pillage the backstage booty, take Marc Jacobs prisoner, and scrawl Heidi's phone number in all of the men's bathrooms with the phrase "for a good time call" preceeding it.

How To Smell Like Holiday Spirit

I can’t help it. I love the holidays. I love them in a slightly cheesy, over-the-top, embarrassing-to-my-boyfriend kind of way. Come December 1st, my well-honed New York cynicism is replaced by a genuine cheerfulness. Why? My holiday spirit is owed, in no small part, to the abundance of holiday scented products that take up residence in my apartment for the entire month of December.

Just because I can’t fit an 8 ft. tall tree in my mini living room, doesn’t mean it can’t smell like one. The Sweet Grass Farm Holiday Greens Fragrance Stick Set ($29.95) fills my apartment with the scent of freshly cut pine – one of my favorite scents in the world – without being overpowering. My underthings get in the mood with a well placed Hillhouse Naturals Christmas Sachet ($2.80). The scent is subtle, but unmistakable, and it’s really hard to be in a bad mood when your tights and undies smell like Christmas.

These products have such a positive effect on my disposition, I may just keep them around past the New Year.