We Have to Break Up

 

No, I am not quitting blogging nor am I quitting perfume. I have to break up with Bath and Body Works. Bath and Body Works has changed too much for me and it's probably past time to do it.

My most recent purchase from Bath and Body Works was the Cucumber Melon line up. You know, the body wash, the lotion and the body spray. The lotion and body wash are a Christmas gift to someone who loves bath stuff and loves Bath and Body Works. So they had a sale of $5.95 body care items, I got the Cucumber Memo body spray for old times sake. And this is where I have to break up with Bath and Body Works.

Back in the day, I happily wore Cucumber Melon in high school by the gallon. Back in the mid to late '90's, it was all I could consistently afford. But when I went off to college, I couldn't afford perfume and didn't wear it for years. Even when I dropped out, I couldn't really afford perfume. It wasn't until Chanel's Cuir de Russie did I get back into perfume and haven't looked back since.

But back to Cucumber Melon and Bath and Body Works. The body spray bottle must have been updated some time in the past 10 or 15 years. It seems like they are trying to update their image by packaging. The packaging doesn't quite fit the whole vibe in store or out of it. I think when I gave a different Bath and Body Works body spray or two ago, I did get a distinct Play Dough element to it. I didn't notice a Play Dough note in Cucumber Melon when I first sprayed it on. When I first sprayed the whole song lyric of "hello, darkness, my old friend." ran through my mins for some reason. Then a nano second later, that damned Play Dough note came out and then I noped out of the whole thing. 

Even the candles are getting to be a little boring. I am tired of vanilla heavy candles or anything pumpkin. It is rare that I like food based smells that are not actually food and the Honeycrisp Apple or the Fresh Brewed Coffee are the two exceptions to that. I am not a fan on how the packaging changes from year for the same damn smell. Or I might find something really good and then never see it again. So after I redeem my last two rewards, I thing I am going to break up with Bath and Body Works. I think I have really grown up and moved on.

Bath and Body Works Cucumber Melon

Since BBW is having their semi annual sale, I had to circle back and pick up some Cucumber Melon. I was just entering high school when BBW Cucumber Melon exploded onto the scene. Just about every girl at my high school wore this one and I was no exception. After BBW came out with their Cucumber Melon, everyone else seemed to jump on the bandwagon.

After a while, probably shortly after I graduated from high school, I went onto smelling other things besides Cucumber Melon, Clinique Happy and Estee Lauder Pleasures. I really think that I was horribly bored with those three and didn't exactly have the means to keep buying them with college and all. 

I haven't smelled BBW Cucumber Melon in close to forever and I had no freaking clue on why I wanted to get some so badly but I ended up getting the body spray, soap and lotion for under $15. My view was that if I didn't quite like it, that $15 wasn't going to bankrupt me. I'm not exactly sure on what I was expecting but Cucumber Melon seems to be a little heavier than I remember and maybe not quite as long lasting as I remember. I remember something a little more airy but I could be confusing with more blasts from the past like Gap Heaven or Dream. But Cucumber Melon in many ways was pretty much like I remembered smelling at the end of the day. I think that wearing some Cucumber Melon will be a once in a while thing.

Maybe I have gotten pretty snobbish with perfume, maybe the formulations have changed or I just outgrew BBW offerings when it comes to their body products. I think that I will stick to the BBW candles but only purchase more candles when my stock runs low.
 

 

Bath and Body Works Gardenia Lily Review

I don't really have a lot of scents that are cheap but Bath and Body Works' Gardenia Lily is one of them. Before I fell down the rabbit hole and branched out, this was and still is, one of my ultimate great loves when it comes to great loves in perfume. When I was in high school (about 10 years ago), Bath and Body Works was very popular with girls and probably the most popular scent was Cucumber Melon. I loved it as well, but when I smelled Gardenia Lily, it was all over for me. Most of us at the time had part time jobs and 10 years ago minimum wage was a little over $5. We did have spending power but didn't have a lot of it. And Bath and Body Works has always been fairly cheap. When I was about to run out of the bath gel and lotion, I was in despair because it had been discontinued. I darted off to Amazon to see if I could find it and at a reasonable price. I was able to find it at a reasonable price and purchased 2 bath gels, 2 lotions and 1 body mist. Now fast forward three years and the prices for even the bath gel, it's $20 , lotion is almost $50 and the mist is almost $50. I just find that too much for products that were never that expensive in the first place.

Now on to the review. This is the first gardenia dominant scent that I fell in love with. First blast is gardenia, gardenia, and nothing but gardenia. After about 15 minutes, the gardenia settles down a little bit and the freesia comes out to play. No matter what freesia perfume I've tried, freesia always gives off a watery vibe. In this case I love the watery vibe because most gardenia dominant perfumes I have tried, I get a massive blast of creamy tuberose. I'm not a big fan of tuberose with a gardenia dominant perfume because tuberose does have the tendency to weigh things down too much and overtakes everything else. The lily does come out after 45 minutes to add and extra lightness without having the whole thing float away into nothingness. For Bath and Body Works, I find that even the staying power of the body mist alone has excellent staying power and manages to cling to skin for 10 hours. If prices were not so outrageous for what this stuff is, I would buy more. But I am going to have to use this stuff once in a great while and voice my displeasure at Bath and Body Works.