Hello again, everyone. I am back with part 2 of my 2023 product empties and today I will be sharing all the body care and perfumes I was able to up during the year. In total, I used up 2 body sprays, 6 perfumes (of varying sizes), 1 body lotion, 2 body butters, and 1 body scrub. That’s not bad, if I do say so myself!
Now let’s get into my mini reviews. It’s going to be a long one.
Body Spray
Peach Citrus by Bath & Body Works – This is a discontinued scent that I absolutely loooooovvveee. I can’t even believe how long I was able to hold onto it since I love it so much and it came out so long ago. I was hoping so dearly that Bath & Body Works would bring this scent back, but they never did. This was a summer release way back in 2010ish and I fell in love with it then and have loved it ever since.
Unfortunately, BBW has a business model that I don’t really vibe with, with the constant “retiring” of scents and then bringing them back reformulated with new packaging and a new name. I’m tired of that, and after many years, I have finally decided to stop giving BBW my money. BBW is not nearly as good as it used to be, and I’d much rather spend my money elsewhere. The scents smell mostly like alcohol and don’t nearly last as long as they used to. I mean I get it, it’s a body spray not a perfume. But BBW used to be power houses on me and last all day. Even the lotions were better quality. Now even the semi-annual sale just doesn’t feel worth it to me.
Cherry Blossom & Tea Rose by Beloved – Beloved is a brand exclusive to Target. They have many different scents and they come with collections of body mists, body creams, scrubs/polishes, shower gels, and the like. I picked this up hoping it could be a replacement for another BBW favorite of mine that’s been discontinued which is Cherry Blossom. Absolutely not to be confused with Japanese Cherry Blossom which I abhor! The original Cherry Blossom was so fresh and clean on my skin, and I hate that I can’t get it anymore. I bought this one hoping to love it just as much, but it’s really not a replacement at all. It’s way too light and watered down and the scent barely lasts at all. Like, maybe 10 minutes? And when I say watered down, I truly mean that the scent almost smelled watery. Even my brother said that it just smells like lightly scented water. It was kind of a waste of money. I would not get it again.
Perfume
I finished off 6 perfumes, can you believe it? I shocked myself.
Midnight Fantasy by Brittney Spears – This is by far my favorite Fantasy flanker out of all I have tried. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve tried, but I prefer the original Fantasy and this one so far. Midnight Fantasy is fruity and soft and really doesn’t smell like the original Fantasy at all, to me. It smells like a dark berry but not quite syrupy. It’s fruity and fresh enough to wear in warm weather but has enough of a deeper heaviness to make it nice in colder weather too. I wore this year-round which explains why I went through it so darn fast. Perfumes usually take me a couple years to get through, but not this one. I used this one almost daily. I’d get it again.
Jlo Blue Glow by Jennifer Lopez – I only got this because for some reason I was craving a super clean, mildly aquatic, almost soapy scent. It was SUPER hot this past summer and I just wanted to smell fresh and clean, so I purchased a small bottle (that’s all I could find). I’m glad I was only able to get a small bottle because this really wasn’t that great. I don’t normally say perfumes smell cheap because I’m a body spray wearer and cheap fragrances don’t bother me. I often don’t even really know what people mean when they say something smells cheap. But this actually did smellcheap. I now know what people mean. There is just something so synthetic and artificial about this fragrance that I was mainly using it just to get it out of my stash. It smells strongly of alcohol upon first spray before drying down into a super synthetic aquatic scent. It’s very one-note with zero complexity and I would not get this again.
CK Her – This was a spicy citrus perfume that had zero staying power and zero projection. On my skin, mingled with my body chemistry, this was also very one-note for me. The way it smelled coming out the bottle, is the way it smelled on my skin, and it smelled the exact same even after a full dry down. The scent itself was not my favorite and I would not repurchase. I do think that this is a unisex fragrance though. I did not find it to be anything particularly feminine leaning nor masculine leaning.
Yum Pistachio Gelato by Kay Ali – This was a perfume release that took the internet by storm. I read and watched so many reviews before purchasing for myself because the reviews were so all over the place. I ordered the tiniest little bottle, and yall, this was such an interesting fragrance. No wonder the reviews and first impression videos were all over the place lol. I can easily say that I have never smelled a perfume like it, so I won’t even try to describe what it smells like. But I will say that I am glad that I got the small bottle as I am not sure I am in love with how this perfume blended with my chemistry. It didn’t stink on me, but it didn’t create a fragrance that I fell in love with either. It was just okay. If I repurchase, it will be the little bottle again. I also want to note that my perfume turned dark within a month. I don’t know if this is common for Kay Ali perfumes as this was the first one I’ve ever tried, but I just wanted to put that out there.
Love by Auric Blends – This is a perfume oil made by a very small indie brand. I have been wearing the oil of this same scent since around 2010. I love the scent. I thought I would love the perfume too, but sadly, I did not. That didn’t stop me from using it all up though lol. I could tell the perfume was made with a large percentage of oil, however, I do not think it was blended well with the other ingredients, particularly the perfume alcohol. The alcohol scent would be rather strong before drying down to something not quite the same as the perfume oil. I will continue to buy the oil, but maybe not the perfume.
Dream by Semetrie – This seems to be a brand exclusive to Frangrancenet and this was another one that just seemed like lightly scented water. I bought it because I read somewhere that it was a fairly decent dupe for D&G Light Blue, so I bought it hoping for at least something in the same ballpark. And like, haha, no. This was a watery mess that I couldn’t believe had the audacity to be labeled a perfume. I will say there was one similarity it had to Light Blue and that was that both of them last about ten minutes on me before it’s gone completely. Complete waste of money. I ended up using it as a fabric spray for my blankets and couch. It wasn’t worth putting on my body. I tried to leave a review sharing my experience with this perfume on the Fragrancenet website, but Fragrancenet wouldn’t allow my review to show up!
Body care
Peach Citrus by BBW – This was the matching lotion to the body spray, and I love this just as much as the spray. No other details needed. This was amazing and I love the way the scent lingers on me.
Summer Splash body butter by Ancient Cosmetics – This is a brand I found on Instagram some years ago. I took a chance and ordered from them, I think in 2020, and fell in love with their body butters. Not because their body butters are anything amazing, but because of the scents they come up with. This Summer Splash became a quick favorite, and I purchased two more. A small 4 oz as well as a larger 8 oz. The smell is reminiscent of watermelon jolly ranchers. That’s the best way I can describe it.
Blueberry & Myrrh body butter by Ancient Cosmetics – Hands down, this is one of my top five favorite scents from the brand. I had a matching body spray, but I will be honest, their body sprays need a lot of work. I ended up getting rid of mine, but this body butter though?? Yes, I need more. Even though this is blueberry and myrrh, there is nothing woody or herbal, or even resinous about this scent. It literally smells like blueberry lemonade. I love it and will definitely be getting it again.
Wild Lemongrass & Coconut body scrub by Ancient Cosmetics – I went through this body scrub quicker than I thought I would because I loved the scent so much. Unfortunately, this company seems to refuse to create a full body care line for this scent no matter how many times people ask for it. There is only a body scrub in this scent and nothing else. I love the scent. It smells exactly like the name of it. The only thing I didn’t care for about this scrub is that it’s super oily. And once the oil gets into your clothes from remaining on your skin, or into your towel from drying off after a shower – even pat drying. Good luck. Because this oil reeks once it dries in clothes and towels. Omg it’s awful! So, for that reason, I will most likely not be buying it again. I try to rinse off thoroughly, but this scrub leaves me so oiled up I don’t even really need to moisturize after I get out the shower.
R.I.P to my towels though. I’ve lost two because the scent of oil wouldn’t come out and it stunk to the high heavens! I find the same happens with their body oils too. Even my mom called me out the blue one day and told me that she got rid of a towel because the oil turns rank once it dries into cloth and washing doesn’t work. Even washing twice in a row would not get rid of the smell. So, for that reason, it’s not worth it to get it again, in my opinion. I’ll just stick with the body butters.
Well, that’s all for this blog post. It was definitely a long one. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading and I’ll be back again soon to share more beauty finds and empties.
springlovecherryblossoms.wordpress.com 