Product Review: Body Shop Cassis Rose EDT

I was at the mall yesterday, and saw all these lovely shiny posters at the Body Shop advertising a new fragrance, so of COURSE I had to stop in. For those of you who don't know (um, so almost all of you... unless you've been secretly stalking me for 4 years and now I've just made your job that much easier by having a blog), I used to work at the Body Shop. Though I have my issues with the store, I don't want to get all rant-y about it. It was all political anyway -- it had nothing to do with the products. Besides, it was a particular franchisee that was the problem, and I'm in Toronto now, and besides besides, The Body Shop got bought by L'Oreal anyway, so it REALLY doesn't matter anymore.

Whew! Where was I? Oh yeah, Body Shop perfumes. I've had a kind of love/hate relationship with them. There are certain ones I cannot stand (like Tobacco Flower or Indian Gardenia), and some that I like quite a bit (like Spirit of Moonflower or Of A Man). I bought and became briefly enamoured with their Invent A Scent kit, where you get 9 cute, chemistry-kit looking vials of perfume, and the idea is to mix and match the different scents to create your own fragrance. Some of the scents were likeable enough, but overall, they were fairly simplistic and kind of boring. I still have that kit, but I think I like the idea of it more than the actual fragrances.

But ladies and gents, I have a new favourite! Cassis Rose (billed as "The Flirtatous Fragrance" -- how long did it take those ad exec geniuses to come up with that gem, I wonder?) was launched just in time for Mother's Day, and I KNEW I was going to buy it the instant I sniffed it.




Their website describes the notes as follows:

Top: Raspberry and Blackcurrent
Heart: Rose, Freesia, and Violet
Base: Musk, Sandalwood, and Cedarwood

That sounds about right. The first whiff is of fruity sweetness, and I get a prominent tinge of something green and acidic, like tart fruit (not citrusy though), or perhaps cut-flower-stem. That goes away in a flash, and then you're just left with berries and flowers. On me, this is a warm-ish scent, but I certainly wouldn't describe it as sultry or sexy. The rose, while not ground-breaking, is fresh rather than musty or powdery. It's just a nice sweet floral that would be safe for the office or an afternoon out.

Yeah, I know... I bought yet another fruity floral. The bottle is even predictably pink. At least it's not a watery ozonic fruity floral this time, right? Plus, it's not even from the house of Parlux! Come on people, I'm trying to improve! Honest!

Anyway, I really really really like this. It's not going to be my all-time-favourite perfume or anything, but I can see myself reaching for this all summer. Lasting power is poor, as is typical of all TBS scents that I like. I'd say about 2 hours, and that's probably being generous. But at $17 CAD for 30mL of the EDT, it's not really a huge deal to re-apply. They launched an entire line of this, including lotion, shower gel, perfume oil, body mist, and solid soap, so layering is definitely an option. The lotion and shower gel bottles are actually quite pretty, so I think these would make a lovely Mum's Day gift, assuming your mom is into sweet, pretty smells.

Mmmm... this stuff makes me want to, like, eat my wrists. For real. Very happy with the purchase!