The aroma of the current floorset fragrance wafts throughout each of the wings luring you to find out what smells so incredible. You scan every store you pass by, knowing it must be close as the strength of the fragrance grows stronger with every step, and you round the corner to find it...just up ahead of you...the projecting red and white gingham scalloped awning...that shelters the tea-stained cabinets and white tables filled with products...products you love...and a wave of this is home washes over you.
And that is how it begins.
Well, that is how it began with me...now for what seems like a hundred years ago. I am a die-hard fragrance fan making that small thing called fragrance an important part of my day to day life.
Fragrance for me is as essential as the clothes I wear and I find that the fragrance choice I make sets my mood for the day. I guess you could say I have an emotional connection to fragrance and having alternatives to choose from helps expand this crazy love affair every day.
Fragrance for my home is a different thought. I want it to subtly convey a feeling of welcome when you are here. I want the fragrance to just be there, not in your face so overwhelming you need to open a window, but as much of a part of the room as the sofa or tables are. Scented, but unseen...if that makes sense... or (scents, haha). I remember my grandmothers' house was like that. To this day, I remember the fragrance and the feeling of being there, but I don't know what it was or how it was scented.
My collection of Bath and Body Works items is not small. From fragrances to candles, to accessories I buy things that I love. I have been asked if I use the products or collect them. If the question is meant to ask do I buy everything to just have sitting somewhere, then no. I use the products.
Here's the thing with Bath and Body Works. When I talk about having alternatives to choose from, we get alternatives monthly! Every month some new theme comes out and with it comes various scents and forms of products to love. And if you are a fragrance fan of this brand you know that if you LOVE something...you should buy it when you see it because...it could be gone in the next floor set...or for good.
Granted, many of the "new" scents are simply re-packages of the much-loved scents made to fit into the monthly chosen "theme". Occasionally, we will end up with something New-New...and lately they have been fragrances that were inspired by the Home Candle Collections and added to the Signature Fragrance Collections.
So when I bought all of the oldies but goodies before I started sharing my thoughts on fragrance, I used them and tossed them. Then I wasn't thinking about archiving bottle labels and scent notes. Used, empty, gone. And I had some really great ones. Ah, the Temptations line.
Then more and more new came out every month and boy, you can accumulate easily. When I started to blog, I purchased more to use, and write about and enjoy. How can you write about it, if you didn't own it and wear it? I wrote about scents I loved and the scents that didn't work with my body chemistry that I didn't love for me...and sometimes this chemistry is persnickety.
So my assortment of scent products grew...and when it did...I chose to donate...or gift to friends and family who don't treat themselves...or de-stash with blog sales. I have also grabbed things from the store for people who couldn't find it at their stores. Occasionally, people don't follow through so I have something I may not love and will de-stash at a later time.
That is why you will see different scents shown when I inventory...and a few older bottle styles that did not get donated, or gifted, or sold. These older scent products don't smell bad...they aren't chunky and unusable. I don't open the bottles to keep sniffing them letting air inside...I pull a bottle and use it. But it is interesting in seeing the evolution of the brand year by year in the changes that they make.
I realize...scents can go bad. And our sense of smell also changes. What appeals to us one moment, may disagree with us at another time. Which is what happened with me and Twisted Peppermint and Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. Loved them...purchased them and used them all year long...and when I became migraine prone, the smell of them can turn my stomach.
I am careful when I use them now. Twisted Peppermint is a great deterrent to those nasty little flying gnats that come out of the grass on a hot summer day and like to encircle your head when you're trying to work outdoors. They do not like the twisted peppermint on my hairband, or hat...and leave me alone. But I can't wear it on my body. And the shower gels get used up as hand cleaner.
Another thing to note is body care can change colors. I am not sure what it is about blue (sometimes purple) coloring in shower gels and hand soaps but after a time they turn green. Science is weird. :)
Body Creams are known to turn yellow even after a short period of time after buying them and not being opened and exposed to the air. It may look yucky but still smell fine and absorb quickly. What is not good is the body cream that sounds like liquid when you shake it. Yuk. Don't even open it.
Body Scrubs can get quite yucky too...without being stored in the bathroom shower. It's like the oils migrate down towards the cap and the color of the product changes. I have three scrubs currently I am saving for outside hand cleaning after potting flowers.
Hand Sanitizers tend to get thinner in the bottle over time, but I still use my older ones up and they still smell great and the alcohol burns in the cracks of my cuticles. Are they as effective? I don't know. It's alcohol and maybe aloe. If I think they work, and I don't get sick...are they working? Again, science is weird.
I know that I enjoy the product. I did have around 591 bottles of sanitizer going into this time of illness. Purchased from years and years ago up until now currently, a little at a time. I still have a small collection of the older bottle style that I use. When people shared that they couldn't find sanitizers to buy, I donated as well as sold off the majority of my collection below cost. I will work on using up the older years before buying more from the stores when they open.
Have I purchased every scent of every collection that has come out in the last few years? Nope. I have since curbed that kind of thinking that I had to have it to talk about it. Both in Body Care and Home Fragrancing. I can try something out for myself in the store...and if it works with my chemistry and brings me happiness in using it...it is added to the rotation. All while still sharing my experience with it.
Now with this change in circumstances causing more social distancing, and no product testing permitted in stores...I will see how I will be sharing my thoughts on the fragrances. Hopefully, they will offer more travel-fun sizes in body care scents. Buying the full sizes and not liking the scent is not cost-effective and currently, non-returnable.
Years ago I bought every candle scent in every collection including having test candles sent to me...to "have" it...only to then de-stash it at another time if they went unused...or I realized I didn't really NEED them.
Back then candles were on sale for $10 each before coupons so it was possible to stock up by getting at least 3 for a $20 bill without going broke. Now a monthly candle sale brings the pricing to $14.50/$16.50 if we're lucky, making it more of a "do I really want that" candle sale now.
Because of the magic of marketing, we are at their mercy. That picture on the candle label that triggers something in your memory, and you need to try it.
The lure of the fragrance wafting in the mall calling you in and you remember it's a new month - with new scents.
Or the red and white gingham ( here, blue and white everywhere else) awning signifying
Here--- is the place of Happiness...come in and smell it...for a time.
This is why I have all that I do... And Love all that I have...
I am a die-hard fragrance fan...made one month at a time!
PS. I will add the link below to my collection of photos of items I have rather than trying to upload hundreds of photos here.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS