Nothing compares to the joy of unpacking a recent purchase or unboxing a beauty gift! It’s a story that slowly unfolds, from getting a glimpse of what it is from its packaging to testing it out the first time, and finally, deciding on whether or not it’s worth sharing with beauty friends and readers like you. Or maybe, it deserves a second chance. Or a longer trial run, perhaps. We take our recommendations seriously, after all.
This week, we start this series called the Beauty Closet where we’re happy to give you a front-row seat to discover the latest in beauty: from a niche scent brand now available in Manila and a Filipino bodycare brand that’s packed with goodness, to the latest beauty must-buys from fashion houses.
Bond No. 9’s Madison Square Park
Bond No. 9, the niche fragrance brand known for perfumes that pay homage to New York, is finally back in Manila.
Girly in every way, Bond No. 9’s Madison Square Park is something we chose for the cute bottle first, and the scent, second. Much like the bottle with a green top, this opens with green notes, quickly taken over by a burst of sweet fruity floral with huckleberry, grape hyacinth, and rose. It gives us fresh, off-the-shower vibes that actually last all day. This is a good perfume starter for those new to the brand as it’s easy to wear and is inoffensive. We love the subdued, opaque, rounded, and sweet drydown.
To be honest, when I think of Madison Square Park, perhaps because of the season or activity when I was there, this is not the scent I would associate it with. But when I read how it pertains to the park’s “hip and cool revival mode” today, I see how this scent could be its neighborhood perfume.
Bond No.9 Madison Square Park
P15,390 via Rustan’s
Dolce&Gabbana Devotion and Dolce&Gabbana Beauty
Sharing our picks chosen to celebrate and welcome the new year. New things for New Year’s Eve: D&G Beauty, finally in Manila, and Devotion, its first-ever gourmand fragrance.
It took a few uses for us to fully appreciate Devotion, an explosion of vanilla with a hint of lemon cookie–truly gourmand with its warm sweetness. It’s nothing like the previous D&Gs you know. We’ve included this in our winning list of new scents.
In addition to the super-luxe lineup of makeup you can get in Manila (coming soon!) is D&G Beauty. Must-haves for us are the mascara, which we think is true to its claim, as it lasts all day without smudging, and the liquid matte lipstick, another revolutionary formulation that’s comfortable and non-drying.
Dolce&Gabbana Devotion
P10,200, Rustan’s
Kate Spade New York, Kate Spade Sparkle, and Kate Spade Cherie
We think these scents are true to the Kate Spade DNA. If you’re into sweet, feminine, and happy perfumes, these may just be top picks for you.
Fresh, sweet, young, and carefree, Kate Spade New York is everything you’d imagine a perfume from this fun and colorful fashion house would be. It is ultimately a fruity gourmand with a distinct strawberry opening that reminds us of cotton candy. The sweetness is tempered by floral middle notes of freesia and rose, and although on paper it sounds like it has a woody amber drydown with the base notes of ambroxan and cashmeran, the final whiff is still sweet, clean, and feminine. It’s a fun, everyday fragrance reminiscent of happy days and New York.
Electric and sensuous, Kate Spade Sparkle is New York at night in a bottle. The sweetness you get here starts with a juicy blackcurrant and ends with a trail of vanilla creme brulee. It’s a long-lasting creamy gourmand that’s more opaque, despite its name.
Kate Spade Cherie is the brand’s newest drop–a sweet, fruity scent with redcurrant and raspberry dominating the bright opening before it softens to a nice floral. It’s a happy, luminous, cold scent that could go from day to night.
Kate Spade New York
P4,250 via Rustan’s
Kate Spade Sparkle
P2,650 via Rustan’s
Kate Spade Cherie
P2,650 via Rustan’s
Dermtropics Hand and Body Lotion; Shampoo and Conditioner
Introducing Dermtropics–in case you haven’t tried this wonder–a homegrown brand founded amid the pandemic, but has flourished immensely over the past couple of years. It’s a remarkable journey we’ve witnessed together, one that speaks to the heart of The Beauty Edit’s values. What truly resonates with us is Dermtropics’ commitment to crafting natural, skin-loving products while embracing a greater purpose.
At the heart of Dermtropics’ philosophy lies the incredible potential of coconut, an indigenous treasure of the Philippines. This exceptional brand harnesses the power of virgin coconut oil (VCO) as a central ingredient across its product range. With the Philippines boasting the world’s finest coconuts, it comes as no surprise that many global brands sourcing VCO turn to our remarkable region.
What sets Dermtropics apart is its meticulous use of the wet-milling process to extract its VCO. This eco-friendly method retains the oil’s purity and integrity, forgoing the need for heat, bleach, or deodorizers. As a result, its products deliver the unadulterated benefits of VCO to your skin and hair. It takes longer to extract and is more expensive to make but the brand is uncompromising when it comes to providing the best of VCO to its customers and employing the most environment-friendly method.
We’ve talked about each product many times over the years–our favorites include the Hand and Body Lotion, which has worked on our skin asthma and hives, plus, it’s perfect for daily use and a perfect moisturizing base for our perfumes because it’s fragrance-free; the shampoo and conditioner, which we rely on for when we get flakey scalps and we need a product reset; and the bar soap!
Imagine indulging in all the VCO goodness, a natural treasure, for your skin and hair. Dermtropics invites you to experience it for yourself.
Dermtropics Hand and Body Lotion
P980 via Lazada
Diptyque’s Les Mondes de Diptyque
It’s been 60 years since the first Diptyque candle was created, and to mark this milestone, the French fragrance house launches Les Mondes de Diptyque or The Worlds of Diptyque. Aptly, the fragrances are inspired by five locations and their respective natures and cultures.
Forest Dreams recreates Las Pozas in the heart of the Mexican jungle. We get Eden vibes with tuberose, ylang-ylang, jasmine, vanilla, and galbanum.
Nymphaeum of Wonders takes you to a Renaissance garden in Italy with blossoming orange trees, fountains, and tangy citrus fruits under the Italian sun.
Valley of Time is an escape to China, according to Diptyque, which takes you to “a thousand-year-old craft workshop set amid verdant tea plantations…” This is a personal favorite for us–it reminds us of our favorite Diptyque perfume, Fleur de Peau.
Golden Lands is comforting and warm, inspired by Mesa Verde, “a city of stone dwelling structures perched beneath the overhanging cliffs on the high desert plateau of Colorado.” We love this.
Finally, Moss Temple is a woody green scent–and aptly zen, as it’s inspired by the southern slopes of the Arashiyama Mountain in Kyoto. You get green moss, bark, and lichen, and velvety notes of matcha.
Diptyque Golden Lands Premium Refillable Candle
P14,650 via Rustan’s
Diptyque Moss Temple Candle Refill
P6,350, Rustan’s
K and Q by Dolce&Gabbana
If you’re fans of the OG Dolce&Gabbana Light Blue and are looking for newer scents to try and love from D&G, these are the answers. Beautiful, bright, and addicting, K and Q (short for King and Queen), are completely new iterations but are very much weaved into the same Light Blue family. If it were up to us, we’d say they’re unisex perfumes.
Let’s start with Q–a citrus fruity scent that opens with the distinct D&G Sicilian lemon, blood orange, and jasmine. It opens sharp but blooms soft. Middle notes are cherry and heliotrope, with the cherry distinguishable from start to finish. The base notes are musk and cedar, tying it all together as if to say this is still Light Blue but quite not. The cherry note makes a lot of difference and heliotrope adds a creamy facet. Overall, it’s a pleasant perfume perfect for our weather, and could just be the next D&G icon.
K is equally gorgeous. We personally love this. The opening is beautiful and quite unique, and apart from Sicilian lemon, we get juniper berries, cardamom, and fig. It’s aromatic with lavender, pimento, cardamom, clary sage, among others. Some notes we couldn’t point out but it’s a pretty solid scent we would wear ourselves. The drydown isn’t overly masculine, we think many fragheads into aromatic scents would adore this.
The quality of these perfumes is apparent on the first spritz and the bottles are artworks themselves. Try them when you get the chance.
K by Dolce&Gabbana Eau de Parfum
P5,500 via Rustan’s
Q by Dolce&Gabbana Eau de Parfum
P7,300 via Rustan’s
Chanel Les Beiges
In all our years working in beauty, Chanel has consistently stood out in crafting some of the most exquisite blushes–many of which we were hesitant to use because they were too pretty!
The newest in its Les Beiges line is no different. Called Healthy Winter Glow Blush, this covetable new product is embossed with a snowflake and the double C monogram and comes in pearlescent shades for a natural-looking flush. This is our favorite in the new collection for Les Beiges, which for the first time turns to wintersports for inspiration. Apart from cheeks with a hint of pink, we get frosty eyes through this gorgeous palette (we got Cool with purples and pinks in matte and satiny finishes), a satisfyingly hydrating tinted lip balm called Rouge Coco Baume (obsessed with this now!), and gorgeous transparent new shades for Les Vernis.
Funnily, the looks for a winter’s day in the great outdoors could actually also pass in this tropical climate: a gorgeous flush, cool hues, healthy, moist lips, and clean, shiny nails. Love this collection! Chanel Beauty fans will be pleased.
Shop the new Chanel Les Beiges via Rustan’s The Beauty Source.
