Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Obvious perfume observation of the day (OPOD)

My obvious perfume observation of the day: many body lotion formulations of amazing perfumes just don't work at all. I'm curious about which you all feel do and do not work, if you have experience with such weighty and significant matters!

Body lotions that seem to work: florals or chypres without dissonant or aldehydic topnotes, like Joy de Patou, or Le Dix by Balenciaga. Both of these have wonderful body lotions. My Miss Dior body lotion is gooooorrgeous.

Body lotions that don't work: aldehydes or salicylates seem to be particularly difficult to pull off in body lotion form. This is just a guess on the actual cause of the problem, but both YSL's Rive Gauche and Lancome's Magie Noire body lotions were nasty and urinous on me. It could be just a problem with the quality of the ingredients, though. Chanel #5 in the body oil is just...weird, and not at all like the perfume. It doesn't smell bad, exactly, just...oddly loud and herbal. Some fruits can be a problem too, as revealed in my much-longed-for Philosykos body lotion, which smells distinctly like cat pee for a few minutes after my shower. Ew.

I remember the discussion of formulation problems for the different versions of Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely in A Perfect Scent, and I am guessing that lotion formulations are prone to disaster. Does anyone else have this problem? What body lotions do and don't work for you?

1 comment:

waftbyCarol said...

hey there !
Yeah , body lotions can be awful !
Baghari is very aldehydic but my body lotion is fantastic , I layer the parfum and lotion all summer .
Bruno Acampora 's new body creams are almost BETTER than the parfums , if that's possible .
I think the shelf life of perfumed creams is really short too .
Bad ones ? I must have gotten rid of them and blocked it out , because I can't think of one right now....