Help me smell just like a lady!

June 11, 2009 4:34 PM

I'm trying to replicate a cologne out of a ingredients from a lotion my girlfriend bought several years ago at Bath and Body Works.

My girlfriend of four and half years bought a bottle of lotion from Bath & Body Works from their "Breathe" line of products. Consequently, I believe the product line is now discontinued. There is something in this lotion that drives me nuts. Its smells incredible. I would definitely classify it as a "girlie" scent, but not overtly so. I've never smelled anything like it. Not citrusy, not froo froo. Just....AWESOME.

So as soon as we heard the Bath and Body Works Breathe line was going to be discontinued, we went and bought about 7 bottles of this lotion. Since then, my girlfriend rarely uses this lotion. She still likes the smell, but thinks the actual lotion base has too much of a "heavy" quality and prefers and alternate brand of moisturizer. Thats fine. I can cope with that.

But every very days I'll dab a little bit of this lotion on the back of my hand just so I can get a whiff of what once was. Upon looking at the ingredients a few things jump out at me: amber, white tea, and myrr. It is quite possible that I'm nasally addicted to one of these scents.

So my question to you, internet, is - are there any colognes or essential oils that I can buy to mimic this same scent but still keep it within the masculine spectrum? Any recommendations for affordable online retailers of said scents?

posted by AsRuinsAreToRome to clothing, beauty, & fashion (7 comments total)

I would suggest a store like Bath Junkie, where you can go and mix your own fragrances to find something that you like. This would probably be the best option, because then you could figure out the correct proportions and complimentary scents to make the scent more masculine. Plus, they offer men's products, such as shave gels, that you can mix the fragrance into.
posted by Buttons at 4:57 PM on June 11

You might benefit more from a scented candle or something like that rather than a cologne. When you wear a cologne you become used to the scent, usually to the point that you don't smell it on yourself at all. If you enjoy the scent so much, you probably want to smell it right?
posted by telegraph at 5:01 PM on June 11

The web site Fragrantica lets you search for men's and women's fragrances by note. I thought they had every possible note, but of the three you mentioned I only saw myrrh and tea. Searching on those two brought up some results, though. They also have a list of Bath & Body Works scents - if you can find your lotion scent on there, it will list some other things that are similar. Maybe poke around there a little...
posted by LolaGeek at 6:21 PM on June 11

have you tried http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/ ? you can search their scents by ingredients.
posted by The otter lady at 6:23 PM on June 11

Wow, people are MAD that it's been discontinued. Have you tried contacting corporate headquarters? I could march over there, since they're in Columbus, and demand answers. (Ok, not NOW, since it's midnight, perhaps tomorrow.)
posted by HopperFan at 9:10 PM on June 11

Take a sample of it to a very high end perfume store. They should be able to tell you what family its in and point you in the right direction towards something similar. In NYC I would say Aedes de Venustas or someplace like that. I have no idea what the options are in LA but I'm sure the perfume blogs will have your answer. Or find a friend who is a fragrance evaluator for one of the fragrance houses.

Also BBW won't be that helpful if you call them for two reasons
1. They didn't actually design the fragrance (it was probably IFF, Givaudan, or Firminich)
2. They seem to think these things are trade secrets for reasons I'll never understand - seeing as how everyone in the industry knows how to copy one another's scents perfectly.

The fact that its so cheap to buy online tells me you won't have a hard time finding something that smells similar but better.
posted by JPD at 5:12 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]

You can send a sample to these people and they will analyse it for, I think, $50 and break down the ingredients into proportions.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:55 AM on June 12