For half my life, the letters NOU have stood for one thing: Nation of Ulysses. The Washington DC band fused fashion and punk and politics and theater in an inimitable way, earning singer Ian Svenonius the title of "Sassiest Boy in America" from Sassy magazine before the band even released its first record. But now there's a new NOU in town, and it's also somewhat musical.

The fragrance NOU is inspired by Alma Mahler-Werfel, the wife of composer Gustav Mahler. A composer in her own right, she used to give parties during which the women secretly went commando. Fast-forward to today, when NOU stands for "no underwear," and promises to give you a similar boost of sexytimes confidence.

OK, so the story (and the website) is gimmicky, but there's more substance to the story. NOU was created by perfumer Claude Dir, who has also worked on scents such as Britney Spears Curious, Bobbi Brown Beach, and Marc Jacobs. If you're tired of Bubbilicious-style fruity florals, NOU is worth a sniff; it's definitely a woman's scent rather than a girl's, sophisticated but far from matronly. Its notes include verbena, ginger, cinnamon, pink rose, iris root, vanilla orchid, and mandarin zest. The cinnamon stands out, tempering the florals and giving them a slightly earthy appeal. (Think flowers growing in the wild, not an arranged bouquet from FTD.) If you can look past the underpants issue, you'll find a sultry scent worth checking out. (A $4.50 sample is available.)

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Back in April, I told you about Patrick Dempsey's collaboration with Avon. "Not another celeb fragrance," I thought. Flash forward to present day and Patrick Dempsey Unscripted ($32) has arrived. And it's surprisingly delightful, unexpected . . . dare I say, McSexy?

The fragrance is reminiscent of classic colognes, but with a modern, crisp feel. You might even say it could qualify as unisex, somehow managing to have a substantive, yet light, airy feel all at once. Top notes of cardamom and black peppercorn provide a clean spiciness; Middle notes of fig and lavender impart a soft, sweet characteristics; And bottom notes of leatherwood, patchouli heart, vetiver, and musk lend to the earthy, outdoorsy, and lingering quality.

If you're looking to purchase some Unscripted for the man in your life, Avon's scripted out an offer. With an order of $30 or more, standard shipping is free when you enter the promo code Jingle30. Seeing that Dempsey's fragrance is $32, you get the idea.

Thinking you might want to get in on some secret spy action? Well, here's your chance. Avon's got a new James Bond-inspired fragrance called Bond Girl 007 ($30). And though smelling the hunky Daniel Craig might not be so bad, you won't have to worry about smelling like the manly 007 himself. This one's just for the ladies.

Produced in conjunction with the release of Quantum of Solace, the 22nd (whoa!) Bond flick, the bottle is shaped like the female form with a grenade-like gizmo for the cap. It's both sweet and sexy, just like the fragrance itself.

Upon initial whiff, there's an intense, pastry-like quality from the peach and orange notes. Jasmine, orchid, and freesia lend a bit of fresh, feminine qualities, while wood, amber, and patchouli round it off for a somewhat musky, deeper base.

All in all, Bond Girl 007 isn't my personal favorite, but it isn't displeasing either. If you're into sweet scents with a hint of warmth, I'd give it a shot. Bang.

Karl Lagerfeld's Kapsule fragrances, as discussed, are sold separately but can be worn together—all on the same day, according to the Kaiser himself. While usually more than one perfume is a guaranteed headache to me, I actually loved doing it with these.

I started with Light, a fresh scent with vibrant bitter orange, watery jasmine, nutmeg and clove. It's a lovely, well-thought-out scent, but certainly best experienced in the morning—it's distinctly daytime. In the middle of the day, I remembered that I was packing Floriental in my purse and spritzed some on. My favorite of the three, Floriental is more modern, green scent with a hint of violet and black tea leaves. It's the perfect amount of sexiness for early afternoon. The most evening-appropriate, and my third perfume of the day, is Woody, which is a drier smell, and includes cedar and plum. It's a little sexier, sure, but Floriental is still my favorite. Do you need all three? No, but if you're looking to build a fragrance "wardrobe" of sorts, it's a good way to start.

The latest fragrance from Anna Sui, to be released later this year, has a lovely bottle that beauty junkies are already swooning over. The perfume comes on very strong — when I first put it on, I thought I smelled like very fancy mouthwash. The scent dries down into a powdery blueberry, which isn't awful but feels a little Violet Beauregarde. In addition to blueberry as a top note, Night of Fancy also has grapefruit leaves and wild strawberries as well as warmer base notes like jasmin and cashmeran.

In all, this fragrance is a little teenage for my tastes, but perfume is a personal enterprise. My advice? Try before you buy.

If you'd like to check out the commercial,

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Do you like Thai food? I love it so much that I'd have to say that it's one of those "more than a once a week" staples for me and Mr. Bella. It's flavorful, healthy, and just about a three- minute walk from my doorstep. Convenience: I'm all for it.

So, when I heard that Jo Malone's new Sweet Lime and Cedar Cologne ($55 to $100) was based on the fine flavors of Thai cuisine, I almost choked on my green papaya salad.

Just as Thai cooking relies on delicately blending ingredients while incorporating the five flavors, Jo Malone's latest fragrance relies on delicately blending aromas to do the same. Sweet, salty, bitter, spicy, and sour — this fragrance has it all. It's got a very distinctively lime, slightly coconutty quality upon first whiff. Then, a spiciness follows. A hint of cardamom gives it some heat, and tonka bean (vanilla-ish) mellows it out. The slightest touch of floral notes makes it smell so pretty. Then — pow! Cedar and tamarind lend a lingering, lofty quality.

All in all, Jo Malone's Sweet Lime and Cedar Cologne is a definite keeper. It's different, exotic, and would work nicely for both men and women. Mr. Bella even requested seconds. "Pad Thai or Beef Pho?" I asked. "No, the perfume!" he said. A man after my own heart.

This isn't Christina Aguilera's first venture into the fragrance world. It isn't even her second. Aside from dabbling in the European fragrance market for the past several years, her fruity, vanilla-esque perfume aptly named, Christina Aguilera made its stateside debut last fall.

Created to inspire you to take a stance and be self-confident, Christina's newest addition — Inspire — celebrates femininity and encourages you to release your sexy side from within. Never been one to shy away from bold, adventuresome looks herself, this new fragrance is surprisingly quite mellow.

Overall, Inspire is pleasant, pretty, and classic. A fairly standard floral blend of rose and freesia provides dainty characteristics, while notes of mango and citrus give just the slightest whisper of sweetness. Sandalwood and musky notes round it out for softened edge.

The bottle and packaging is rather cool, too — influenced by the classic and modern, just like Christina herself. If you like light floral scents without too much complexity, this one's for you. Inspire is definitely wearable — just not all that distinctive.

Last summer, Tommy Hilfiger created a special, limited-edition fragrance for men and women called Escape To Cape Cod, and now he's about to release a new limited-edition summer scent called Tommy Girl Summer Cologne. This two-for-one comes in a portable plastic red and clear bag along with a scented body lotion, all for $48.

The bottle has the same shape as the original Tommy fragrance, but it also has red and white cabana accent stripes. And the scent is much more invigorating than I expected. The juice contains hints of cranberry, pineapple, lemon, lime, orange blossom, coconut, magnolia warm sand and sun-soaked skin. Hmm, they had me until the end — how exactly do you bottle warm sand and sun-soaked skin? But what I really smell the most is the magnolia.

The fragrance was due out in April and is actually available in stores now, but it won't be available online for another week. Do you think this is something you'd be interested in buying?

The Hawaiian-inspired Kai Fragrance has been around for nearly 10 years. Considering its longevity, the line is relatively concise: nine different products, all scented with the original fragrance. No variations, no spin-offs — just pure Kai.

What makes this scent so unusual is that it is an unabashed, unapologetic floral. The notes are almost entirely gardenia, mixed with some other sweet, yet vague, florals to round it out and keep it from being a one-trick pony. Unlike many floral-sweet scents these days, it doesn't pretend to have anything musky or woodsy about it, not even hidden deep within the base notes. Because Kai is so strongly based on one note, it usually incites a strong love-it-or-hate-it response in people.

I have worn the Kai Perfume Oil ($45) before, but I found myself getting a little queasy from the overwhelming sweetness of it by mid-day. Because it just smells so pretty, I find myself giving it another shot about every few months, but I can never really get into it. On the other hand, I know people who are absolutely obsessed with all things Kai. If you love a pure, tropical floral, I would definitely recommend giving Kai a sniff. They make a lovely Body Glow ($28), a shimmery dry oil spray that is less intensely scented than the perfume.

For those of you who have smelled Kai, which side of the fence are you on?

Right off the bat I was just a tad wary of the new Guess by Marciano ($65) fragrance. I'm just not sure I'm the glamorous, "trend-setting woman" it is tailored toward. That aside, I took a sniff with an open mind.

At first smell, it is a strong, sweet fragrance. The initial scents are sugary and floral, with a slightly spicy finish. The top notes of grapefruit and Curacao orange are basically undetectable, whereas the secondary notes of peony, honeysuckle, and jasmine are much more evident. But it's the base notes of vanilla and dulce de leche that are the most overpowering of all. And, of course, there is the obligatory "musk" thrown in there as well, but the juice is too strongly sweet for me to classify this fragrance as "musky" by any means.

This fragrance actually reminds me a good deal of Paris Hilton's Can Can, a coincidence considering Paris is the face of the Marciano clothing line. It's the same sort of knock-out sugary sweetness that makes me feel ambiguous about it in the end. When I asked two of my guy friends if they would like a woman to smell like this, one said "sure" and the other said "nah." It's not a terrible scent by any measure, but it's too sweet for me.

One of the challenges in reviewing celebrity perfumes is that it's difficult to ignore your opinion of the famous person behind the juice. Would Lovely Sarah Jessica Parker have been such a runaway hit if, say, Bea Arthur were behind it? (I would so buy a Bea Arthur scent, for the record.) Or would a well-done perfume like Britney Spears' Curious be considered more sophisticated if it weren't connected to a pop singer?

Which brings us to Paris Hilton and her fourth fragrance, Can Can. I normally wouldn't pick up a perfume by Paris; after all, I need my $55 more than she needs it, and I can't imagine telling people that I'm wearing Paris Hilton. But I wondered if my opinion of Paris was clouding my judgment. So to get an honest opinion of Can Can, I set up a "blind" smell test by inviting other Sugar girls to smell the scent — without knowing its identity. Would they like Paris' perfume if they didn't know who was behind it? To find out,

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Ralph Lauren's latest fragrance, Ralph Wild ($32-$59), is meant to appeal to a younger crowd. The scent is housed in a sporty, bright red bottle, and the advertisements display the peppy slogan: "Go Ralph Wild!" The notes are unapologetically sweet: wild strawberries, watermelon, cherry blossom, and jasmine, with some sandalwood and amber tossed in at the back of the list for good measure.

Unfortunately, my hopes of an appealing fruity-woodsy combination were dashed at first whiff. Ralph Wild is overwhelmingly sweet, smelling almost solely of strawberries. I detected nary a hint of jasmine or cherry blossom, and there is no trace of the muskiness promised by the sandalwood and amber notes. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing better than a juicy, fresh strawberry; it's just that this is closer to the scent of strawberry Jell-O.

Even though I wasn't fond of the scent, I wanted to give Ralph Wild a fair shake, so I asked for other opinions at Sugar HQ. I think Yum put it best when she described it as "very middle school." Fab agreed, adding that it smells like strawberry candy. PartySugar thought it wasn't bad on paper, but she didn't love it on her skin. In all fairness, we're slightly above the age range of the target audience, and someone born in the 90s might like this. But as women in our 20s, we didn't bite.

Earlier this week, I was perusing the cosmetics department at Bloomingdales. I started chatting with a sales rep, and I asked him which brands he's into most these days. He listed off a few that didn't surprise me, and then he added, "And you know, Elizabeth Arden is making a big comeback."

I was glad to hear him say this because I've been thinking the same thing. For the longest time, I felt like the brand had a bit of an old-lady feel, but the more I try out its products, the more I think, "Huh! This is actually. . . really well done, and not at all in a Rose Nylund way."

So I was interested in smelling Elizabeth Arden's new fragrance, Mediterranean Breeze ($57) It's a limited-edition reinterpretation of last year's Mediterranean. Compared to the original, it's lighter and not quite as sweet. For the full review,

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