Renee Musk and Jasmine ~ new fragrances

Australian niche line Renee has introduced two new fragrances, Musk and Jasmine.

Musk is described as a "daring spicy oriental, definitely not for the faint hearted", and includes notes of bergamot, lavender, sweet orange, exotic spices, rose de mai, sweet vanilla, tonka bean, musk, amber and woods.

Jasmine features bergamot, mandarin, cassis, grape vine, French jasmine, ylang ylang, Bulgarian rose, tuberose, oakmoss, patchouli, vanilla, tonka, amber and a hint of musk.

Cartier Delices de Cartier Eau Fruitee

Cartier has launched a new variation on last year's Délices de Cartier perfume: Délices de Cartier Eau Fruitée, described as a "a sparkling fragrant pleasure for the woman with a playful unpredictability". The notes include bergamot, mandarin, "an enhancement of rhubarb", morello cherry, jasmine, sandalwood and amber. It is available now for pre-order at Neiman Marcus; the Eau de Toilette is $75 for 50 ml or $105 for 100 ml.

L'Occitane Rose & Reine

L'Occitane has launched Rose & Reine Eau de Toilette, a new limited edition variation on their popular Eau des 4 Reines fragrance. The four roses of the original (Grasse rose, Turkish rose, Bulgarian rose, Moroccan rose) are accented with fruity and fresh notes for summer:

Among all the roses of the garden, it is the fruitiest that the young lady of Forcalquier prefers. Its voluptuous and sparkling accents are like a delightful fruit she adores – while dreaming of the future day when she will become a queen, like her three sisters.

The soft and juicy perfume of this freshly picked rose is concentrated in the Eau de Toilette Rose & Reine – a natural, delicate and velvety scent.

Rose & Reine is available in Eau de Toilette, Sublime Enchanted Oil, Moisturizing Mist and matching candle. (via L'Occitane website)

Midnight Fantasy by Britney Spears

Midnight Fantasy is the fourth and latest fragrance release from Britney Spears, and is meant as the sexy, late night ("a mysterious realm of temptation and intrigue") follow-up to 2005's Fantasy. It was created by perfumer Caroline Sabas, and the notes include black cherries, framboise, plum, orchid, freesia, iris, musk, amber and vanilla. The bottle (see it here) is the same as Fantasy's, done up in dark blue.

If you were expecting a darker, warmer take on Fantasy's medley of cupcake and sweet fruits, Midnight Fantasy may come as something of a surprise. The top notes, like those of Fantasy, are largely candied fruits, and as has been pointed out numerous times on MakeupAlley, it smells an awful lot like grape Kool-Aid. Thankfully, it calms to a more palatable (if still relatively sweet) berry-ish sort of mixture fairly quickly. The heart notes add an entirely anonymous blur of sheer florals, and the base is velvety but surprisingly pale and clean: I waited for something va-va-voom, but I waited in vain.

The original Fantasy did not strike me as a particularly sexy fragrance, but Midnight Fantasy is even less so — once the burst of fruit settles, it is comparatively bland and lacking in personality. It is is easily my least favorite of the line so far. It didn't even make me laugh (thank you, Paris Hilton Heiress).

Midnight Fantasy is an Eau de Parfum; the 50 ml bottle is $45 and the 100 ml bottle is $55. If you have your own web page and would like to display your allegiance, there is (I am not making this up) a Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy Countdown to Valentine's Day widget available for download via the Britney Spears Beauty website.