nanette by nanette lepore - the Mother's Day Gift Set

TEXT, Mark Behnke and Vivian G. Kelly-Van Zutphen

Call us grumpy, but we hate Hallmark Holidays, and we'll lump Mother's Day into that.
Mother's Day requires gifting and restaurant reservations at over-crowded venues, and lots of planning, if you play by the rules.

Known by our nearest and dearest for "doing our own thing", this year, we have a plan that's a happy compromise. May 9th, we're going to run in the "Run Like a Mother" 5k at 9:00a.m. , then have our Mother over for lunch on our patio and gift her with a Nanette Lepore Gift Set. Downtown PR firm, Bratskeir & Company sent us the new nanette by nanette lepore to sample.
Our "nose" is admittedly shot after a deviated septum surgery 5 years ago. Nanette's inspiration sounded wonderful, "I wanted to create a fragrance that would make women feel as if they were enveloped in something soft and amazing."
To find out if nanette really IS amazing, we gave our Boston-based fragrance contributor, Mark Behnke, a call. Mark is the Managing Editor at www.cafleurebon.com, the New in Niche columnist on www.basenotes.net, and the Men's Style Editor at www.fashiontribes.com"


Mark's nose is as fine tuned as a Stradivarius violin, so what he says goes.
Below, his review on Nanette's latest fragrance.

REVIEW
Nanette by Nanete Lepore, is the second floral fragrance from Nanette Lepore and it improves on the original. To create this fragrance, the designer partnered with Elizabeth Arden and perfumer Anne Flipo of International Flavors and Fragrances. Nanette by Nanette Lepore is better [than Nanette Lepore] because they added some depth to the floral character of Nanette Lepore by adding in some amber and musk to the original. It is also more identifiably rose centered than the original and a touch more intense. That added intensity makes it a good spring fragrances for warm days and cool evenings.

IN CONCLUSION
We bopped into the Nanette Lepore boutique last Saturday to look at the Mother's Day Gift Set box. Packaging is such a key element of fragrance and we've bought in the past because we fell in love with the packaging, as we did with this one.
We loved the nude blush box with a pretty jet black design detail on the inside. The bottle itself has a romantic vintage feel tp it, and was inspired by some vintage perfume bottles Nanette saw in a Florentine gift shop. Celeb fans such as Scarlett Johnasson, Leighton Meester and Eva Longoria, will be adding this fragrance as the finishing touch to their Nanette clothing collections.

Mother’s Day Gift Set Contains:

2.5 fl oz/ 75 ml Eau de Parfum Spray
3.4 fl oz/ 100 ml Sensual Body Lotion
0.16 oz/ 5 ml Deluxe Mini Parfum

Pricing & Availability
$95, available at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus

REBECCA TAYLOR FOR BILLY’S BAKERY-CUSTOM CUPCAKES FOR MOTHER’S DAY

Text, Vivian G. Kelly

STUMPED NO MORE!
REBECCA TAYLOR’S COUTURE CONFECTIONS ARE YOUR MOTHER’S DAY SOLUTION
Remember when you were a kid and used to bake your Mom a cake – the gooier the better – for Mother’s Day? We’d stand by Maman's bed and not leave until she’d had at least a forkful and pronounced it “delicious!”
One of the great things about Moms is that they’ll lie to make you feel good. She won’t have to lie this year, if you give her the grown up version, dreamed-up by Rebecca Taylor and Billy’s Bakery. This year, they’ve partnered to design limited edition cupcakes for Mother’s Day.

ABOUT THE CUPCAKES - WHAT'S SPECIAL
Rebecca’s inspiration for the design of each cupcake originated from her Spring/Summer 2009 runway collection. “The Rebecca Taylor girl for Spring/Summer 2009 is a bohemian world traveler,” says Rebecca. The collection includes mixed ethnic prints with a feminine twist in pretty, dreamy colors.
THE OPTIONS
Vanilla Twinkle by Rebecca Taylor - made of Billy’s yellow daisy cupcake topped with blue vanilla buttercream and a sprinkle of white crystal sugar and silver dots. It imitates the blue dot chiffon dress from the runway.

Mocha Meow was created from Billy’s chocolate cupcake and special Mocha-flavored buttercream with dark and light chocolate sprinkles. Resembles the leopard printed pieces in the collection.

THE COST + WHERE TO GET IT
The cupcake: $2.75/piece. Available beginning May 1st at Billy’s Bakery 184 9th Avenue New York, NY 10011.
Tel: (212) 647-9956
To see more, visit their website at "www.billysbakerynyc.com"

The dress: Dresses fall in the $185 - $425 range – reasonable, by designer standards.

To see Rebecca’s latest collection, visit "www.rebeccataylor.com"

ENDNOTES
Even if you’re not a Mom, pick-up one of these couture confections for yourself.
If you’re feeling really flush, get Mom [+/or yourself!] the dress to match, and she’ll think you’re the cat’s meow on May 10th.

PHOTO CREDITS
Image of Rebecca Taylor, Dan Lecca, Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Newsgroup
Images of Collection and cupcakes, Courtesy of Rebecca Taylor