Sensual Amber by Bath and Body Works

I blame strippers.

I should elaborate, yeah? I enjoy the occasional outing to the strip club (strictly sociological curiosity of course), but the law in Tennessee strictly dictates there be no fun actually had in such establishments (hint: no booze). So when I found out that a) my future husband had never experienced the wonder of strange women disrobing to terrible music and b) there is a place near Atlanta that features both strange men and women disrobing to terrible music, I knew there was a road trip in our near future. A friend tipped me off to a Priceline trick that reliably yielded a luxury suite downtown at a ridiculously low price and it was, as the kids say, on.

I usually find myself in the sliver-of-dial-soap-type establishment when sojourning at hotels. This one, however, had an adorable little set of Bath and Body Works aromatherapy products in their shockingly delicious Orange Ginger scent. It served as a refreshing antithesis to that “strip club smell” (Equate baby oil, smoke, drugstore cologne, desperation) and I decided it might be time to lift my personal ban on Bath and Body Works that had been in place since what I like to call the “Sun-ripened Raspberry Incident” (more commonly known as ages 11-13). Unlike some of our OTHER contributors, my hair is so lame that pretty much all I can do is dye it intense colors and make it smell nice so I went in for a bottle of the shampoo. They were giving away a lotion with purchase so I hastily grabbed the one with the fewest flowers or fruits on the label. It smelled pretty okay in the bottle and I thought I could put it in my locker in the studio or something.

Then, I put it on.

This stuff was apparently created for my body chemistry because WOW. Every single person I walked by commented that I smelled amazing. I kept bringing my arm to my nose, inhaling deeply and feeling like I’d just done something incredibly naughty. Soon I owned the handsoap, the creamy bodywash, the shower gel, the body cream, the glittery lotion and body spray, and the regular body spray. I acquired the body scrub this afternoon. Somehow there are still several products I do not own but I’m working to correct this.

How to describe the smell? The packaging says Pink Lotus petals enveloped by a golden piece of precious amber. Seductive. Rich. Beautiful. Whatevs, I like to think of it as the way a strip club would smell if it were in heaven by way of Marrakesh. Unfortunately during my trip to the B&BW today the salesclerk noted that if I liked Sensual Amber I should try their new scent, Black Amethyst, so I dabbed on some lotion. I have been smelling my hands for the last few hours and I have to say, there may be some competition here.....

Bath and Body Works Sensual Amber $3.50-$18.50 Currently buy 1 get one 50% off.

Comments

[Holly]

So much of their stuff is WAY too smelly for me, but I like the Shea & Rice Flower line that is tragically being discontinued...it doesn't really smell like anything but Clean.

[Kaitlin]

The mid to late nineties were a hard time for all of us. A sun ripened raspberry phase is nothing to be ashamed of. I had to be different so I used anything but sun ripened raspberry which resulted in a charming array of smells spanning from the ill advised freesia to the teacher present favorite country apple.

Having said all of that, I should note that the wild honeysuckle stuff that they have now makes my room smell like my Nashville youth and BBW is owned by LIMITED INC. These are the same people who own Victoria's Secret and Express... the inventors of the semi-annual put everything from last season in boxes and get rid of it by making it super cheap sale. You can ALWAYS find something on sale at BBW. So Holly get the to one and stock up on that stuff.

[Janie]

Product acquired and tested.

I want to bite my own neck.

It's about time they considered a product that doesn't smell like fruit-scented Raid. Or junior high.

[Holly]

Joan uses the Wild Honeysuckle stuff, and I'd never tried it until her mom gave me a gift basket bursting with it when I went home this summer. Kaitlin's right; my loft now smells like my Tennessee backyard. APPROVE.

[Janie]

Update: I'm making me hungry. There's sort of a cookie base note going on.

[Cara]

I notice that too sometimes, I like to think it's in keeping with the "through his stomach" adage.