Latest and greatest from Bath & Body Works - Amber Blush

Stop press - I've got it - the best Christmas present ever for a girl aged 10-15! It's the latest launch from Bath & Body Works (BBW), Amber Blush. But wait, there's more! Along with this, and the many other launches for the holiday season, BBW is promoting their ‘All New Daily Trio’.

If you haven't had a chance to check out the Daily Trio, never fear! It is a simple concept which, at the core, is your basic fragrance layering story meant to extend the longevity of the scent. Start with the shower gel, then the body lotion, finish with the spritz – et voila - longer lasting fragrance! This means Amber Blush was launched in each of these formats (see, perfect present, right?!), but does each format live up to its ‘crystallized amber kissed with bubbly raspberry champagne’ description? Let’s see how each performed…

As with any fragrance layering experience it’s necessary to commence with the shower gel. Its scent is sweet and intense! It is a cavity-causing cotton candy-berry-sugar with creamy vanilla and an ever so slight hint of coconut hiding in the mix. There aren't any amber notes, but rather the BBW vanilla-musk base that seems to be appearing in more and more of their fragrances.

Next up is the body lotion. I expected to have the same delightful experience - sweet and creamy. Sadly, this just wasn't the case, which must have to do with their new body lotion formula. BBW claims to have increased the shea by three times the amount in the old formula, which completely explains why the dominant note is shea butter… and base, with the tiniest bit of sweetness sneaking its surgary notes between the shea and base. To tell the truth, I'm not quite sure how this product made it to the shelves of BBW, but perhaps this is why they now encourage layering their products – they can’t get the fragrance strong enough in the formula now that it's got so much shea moisturizing power!

The final step in the scent layering experience is the spritz, or fragrance mist as BBW calls it. The mist does what the body lotion doesn’t: it’s all sugar-sweetness, like being drenched not just in cotton candy, but a blue raspberry icee that has the slightest dash of sweet-creamy-vanilla.

So, if you’re looking for that perfect gift the shower gel is the clear winner. But, should you want to give all three for the ultimate layering experience, this trio will leave your daughter, niece, babysitter, or whomever you gift it to, walking around in a bubble of sweet-vanilla-cream-blue raspberry icee. Though it’s not quite the ‘crystallized amber kissed with bubbly raspberry champagne’ BBW purports it to be, they will surely love it all the same!

Have you tried this scent? Do you love it, do you hate it? Make sure to leave a comment below!

Wrapped in BBW's Cashmere Glow

This past weekend saw the promotion of Bath and Body Works new Signature Collection scent, Cashmere Glow. Did you partake in the promo via Facebook and get your free 2oz sample? I did, and I can't tell you how great it was to walk in the shop, go straight to the cashier and receive my freebie! If you didn't participate, don't worry! It's currently on sale for $1, so if you want to pick one up it won't break the bank! Fabulous!

Cashmere Glow with vitamin e, jojoba, and shea butter is a familiarly pleasant and comforting scent. And, honestly, BBW should be proud (and possibly give a raise to their marketing team!) because for once I have to agree with their marketing! It actually does make me feel as if I'm wrapped in a cashmere blanket, warm and cozy on my couch in front of a fire on a cool autumn night. How did they manage to transport me to such a fantastic place? Why through the fragrance, of course! The scent is a delicate mix of sweet fruit, white floral, vanilla, and musk. The combined effect of these aromas makes a wearable, yet luxurious, scent, perfect for the coming cooler months.

I'm not often a BBW fan as their scents are usually overwhelmingly sweet, but not Cashmere Glow. It's warmingly subtle aroma will have you feeling comfortably confident, and others wondering what that wonderful scent you're wearing is!

Have you tried this scent? Do you love it, do you hate it? Make sure to leave a comment below!

The cutest thing ever!

I was recently wandering through the beauty aisles of Target (or Target Boutique, as I like to call it. Target being pronounced with a French accent, of course:/tɑrˈʒeɪ/!), when I stumbled upon the cutest little thing in the whole wide world! You'll never guess what it is either. Go on, go ahead and try!

Huh-uh, that's not it, and I'm so excited I can't wait, so let me just tell you: Vaseline's Lip Therapy. And no, I'm not talking about the regular lip therapy that has a lipstick shape, but the little, mini-me Vaseline bottle. Check it out:

Can you even see it in there?? Is that not the cutest thing?! I just had to buy it, and luckily it was a new variant in the range, too. Double bonus!

Aside from its cuteness, Vaseline Lip Therapy Cocoa Butter has a great subtle fragrance. Its aroma expresses a creamy-vanilla-with-tiny-hints-of-chocolate bouquet, and there's no sugary sweetness to its cocoa butter balm! 

Vaseline's Cocoa Butter variant definitely gets the thumbs up from me - I'm a sucker for its packaging and the scent is fab!

Have you tried this scent? Do you love it, do you hate it? Make sure to leave a comment below!

New Spring Candles from Bath & Body Works

We're off to the tropics today people!  I visited my local BBW recently and quickly became trapped inside forever, sniffing away at their hundreds (or what seemed like hundreds!) of re-launched and newly launched candles.  


There's Coco Lobo, Jungle Kiss, White Palm (which I am told is the best seller so far), Mango Beachwood ... and the list goes on and on !  You can check out the full product line here.  There was no way I was going to be able to evaluate all eighteen of the tropics candle line, so I settled on the one that I thought smelled the most interesting, even if it was a relaunch from last year: Tropical Spice.

When I was in the store I couldn't believe the cold throw the candle had!  Was it really a mix of coconut and vanilla and a huge slug of CINNAMON?  I had to get it home to check it out.  Once I did, though, and my nose cleared from smelling the many different variants in the store, I realized I was wrong!

My nose had been polluted by all of the other scents wafting around me!  Home and in a fragrantless environment, the cold throw showed its true colors.  Vanilla and cinnamon.  No coconut whatsoever, that must've been from another candle.  Talk about disappointing!  Five bucks says they've just taken one of their seasonal holiday scents and reconceptualized it (new wax color, new name, new label, old scent).  Oh well and ho-hum, life goes on!

I still pursued the smelling of the candle, even though I was disappointed by the uninteresting cold throw of vanilla, cinnamon and a tiny bit of sweet-bubble gum at the back (which keeps it from smelling Christmas-y).

There isn't too much to report on the hot throw.  It was a vanilla-cinnamon scent that struggled to over power the scent of wax when burned for over an hour.  Common and boring - I was so wrong when I picked it up in the store!  Such is life, I guess, good thing I was less disappointed with the other candle I bought.

Launched at the same time as the tropical line is BBW's more floral themed line of candles.  These variants include Lilac Blossom, Flower Shop, First Bloom, Spring and a few others.  I picked up Green Grass, which is a new launch this season.

The cold throw is a very green fragrance with hints of dry grass under a fresh watery cucumber with aspects of clean white floral.  Very pleasant indeed.  The hot throw is linear and scented the room with clean, bright cucumber and grassy-green scents.  This candle was definitely better formulated than the Tropical Spice, as was proven by its superior hot throw.

Assessment? Green Grass is definitely preferred to Tropical Spice, but if neither take your fancy, don't worry - there is no need to decide between these two!  There are still twenty-three other newly launched/re-launched candles to choose from!  Go get smelling!

Seasonal Anti-bacs?! The latest line of PocketBacs from BBW

Copyright (c) <a href='http://www.123rf.com'>123RF Stock Photos</a>

It's the end of September, which means the stores are jam-packed with Halloween paraphernalia.  There are bags of candy to buy, as well as humongous pumpkins for carving (I can't wait to get my hands on one of those!), but one thing I didn't realize was that the Halloween theme had made its way into personal care products.

Admittedly, I was greatly bemused when I walked into Bath and Body Works (BBW) on Saturday and saw they had a range of Halloween scents in convenient travel size lotions.  Would you like some Wicked Spiced Pumpkin or is maybe Scream-A-Colada more to your taste?

I can't blame BBW, limited edition seasonal scents are an easy way to re-concept and re-invigorate tired fragrances or to test out new ones on consumers without too much consequence.  So, I understand their Halloween body lotion and hand soap ranges, but Halloween Anti-bacterial Sanitizing Hand Gel?

When I got home I went on BBW's website and it turns out that somewhere along the line I missed that Anti-bac had become a hot ticket item.  They have floral to gourmand to fruity variants in their trademarked PocketBac line.  It is undeniable that with this line BBW introduced the question to consumers: Who wants plain old Purell when you can have a cute, fun smelling BBW anti-bac?  Unsurprisingly, before I can answer that question, I'm going to have to get to smelling!

Zombie Tonic:  Marshmallow.

Vanilla accented alcohol that dries into a soft musk.

Bat bite: Apple.

Helloooo Green Apple!  The dry down smells like Granny Smith apple peel.

Phantom Pumpkin.

Pumpkin Spice Latte anyone?  This scent is barely discernible until the dry down, which is very subtly pleasant indeed.

Candy Corn: Caramel.

The most lightly fragranced one thus far.  At first there is a scent of alcohol and cream, which is reminiscent of first Bailey's and then Egg Nog, and then it dries down into a very light vanilla bean scent.

Gum ball.

Bazooka Joe!  Or if you don't know what that is just imagine a pink bubble gumball!  The scent is so strong and distinct, it's almost like you're chewing some bubblegum yourself.

Skulls: Forbidden Apple

Think McIntosh Apple 

Bones: Monster Mint

Minty with chocolately hints.

Scary Cats: Black Cherry

One word: Robitussin.  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing and, actually, in use it is a very sweet, yummy black cherry scent which sits nicely on the skin.

There you go - my evaluation of the eight scents that I picked up on their 8 for $5 deal.  Now that I have smelled them, how about we get back to the question - Who wants plain old Purell when you can have a cute, fun smelling BBW anti-bac?

Well, I hate to admit this, and you might have sensed at the beginning that I was sceptical at best about the idea of seasonal anti-bacs, but you know what?  They've convinced me - I definitely don't want plain, old, boring Purell!  The question now is which of these Halloween Pocketbacs to use first!

News Alert! New Fall Launch from Nest Fragrances

For her new fragrance Laura Slatkin, founder and CEO of Nest Fragrances, combines the enticing Tahitian vanilla bean with the gourmand scents of white chocolate, cinnamon, caramel and ... white rum.

Tahiti Vanille: A tasty cocktail or a luxurious home fragrance?  You be the judge - the 8.1oz, $32 candle will be available later this month at specialty stores nationwide.  For specific locations, visit Nest Fragrances.

Want to know more?  Read the full press release here.