Jack & Hill: A Beauty Blog - make-up, cosmetics, perfume, and the substance of style

Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Sleep - Lavender and Chamomile

For Christmas, Hillary's 17-year-old son gifted me with a stuffed black sheep (he inherited his mother's sense of humor) and a big bottle of Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Sleep Body Wash with lavender and chamomile. My first two, ungrateful thoughts:

1) Oh, great, another bottle of freaking body wash.
2) Oh, great, lavender and chamomile. I always wanted to smell like an 85-year-old shut-in.

But I was more than pleasantly surprised when I used the wash that night before bed. I don't know about any of the claims that the formula helps induce a restful night's sleep, but I do know that it smells absolutely incredible. It's nothing like the old lady-ish scent I feared, and the lavender gives it a slight masculine edge that I love. (Beauty trivia: Prince Charles wears cologne made from the lavender he grows in his gardens at Highgrove.) 

I met with the PR rep that handles Bath & Body Works' Aromatherapy line last week, and gushed to her about how much I love this fragrance. She gave me a bottle of hand soap in the same exact scent, and I have been become even more OCD about washing my hands ever since. I'm also smelling my fingers a lot, which I'm sure would look strange if there was anyone around to watch me, but since there isn't, I will continue to be a finger sniffer.

 Now all I need is the body lotion and my life will be complete.

PS: B&BW is having a two for $20 sale on selected mix and match body care products right now, so this would be a good time to stock up.

Johnson & Johnson Holiday Skin

I really can't understand how 'celebrities' like 'Lady' Victoria Hervey, pictured last night at the London premiere of The Devil Wears Prada, can look in the mirror and think that skin the shade of burnt hot dog looks good. I have rarely seen fake tans which look even a little nicer than naturally pale skin.

That said, I liked the idea of Johnson & Johnson Holiday Skin - the idea being that it's just a moisturiser, but one that gradually gives you a subtle, tan-like glow. I know, I'm the last person on earth to discover this, people have been getting in bloody bidding wars for it on eBay, it's already changed millions of lives, and apparently saved one woman's life.

But I'm hear to testify: It's good stuff. It smells nice. It has yet to stain my hands (I use Bath & Body Works Cucumber Melon Hand Soap, which is pretty granular, post-application). It's made skirt-wearing a (mostly) apprehension-free experience this summer. It hasn't saved my life, but it's saved me some grief, and for that I am grateful.

Even better, my skin colour doesn't make me feel like I should be driving The Wienermobile around London. Can 'Lady' Victoria Hervey say the same?

Obligatory Christmas gift post

Okay, I'll join the fray, but only because I already got a ton of Christmas presents last week (I celebrated early with my family in Ohio, since I will be in London for the holidays; plus I bought myself a few nice things). Trust me on these:

1) Lancome mascaras. Lancome makes the best mascaras, but if they're so good, you'd think they could create just one that does everything a girl needs. Instead, there are like 38 varieties. I now own five of them, including two acquired this week from duty free. No regrets.

2) Flannel lounging 'pants'  - that is, trousers. I didn't actually get any of these, but Antoine did (a pair of Ohio State ones from my parents), and I'm definitely going to steal them. There will be no wearing them outside the home, though, and I'd like to examine the head of whoever started the horrible pyjamas-as-public-fashion trend.

3) The 20th anniversary Oprah Winfrey Show boxed set: 17 hours and multiple DVDs of the very best footage. Yes, this is the most humiliating gift ever, but I don't care. I haven't seen an episode of Oprah for something like eight years, and this is perfect for those who, like me, love surprises and having their heart ripped out by tales of people who have suffered beyond comprehension. Every viewing is a three Kleenex occasion. It's great!

4) Cotton Blossom scented products from Bath & Body Works, for those times when you just want to smell like fabric softener. (The Brown Sugar and Fig line is just as nice.) Only recently, I've regarded Bath & Body Works with extreme disdain, but I must admit, they do have some worthy items right now. Adding other lines to their repertoire has certainly helped: The Buttercream Body Frosting from Jacqua which B&BW offers right now is that rare item: a not-too-sickly addition to the many food-based beauty products that are so popular right now, presumably designed for those who deny themselves oral consumption of such things but still want to bask in their scents and textures.  (Also, do yourself a favour and buy $25 worth of products so you can nab the sweet faux crocodile overnight bag - I got mine in red - for only 25 more dollars. I've already used the hell out of mine in only three days.)

5) Tommy Hilfiger sweaters, going for cheap at Macy's. "Duh, why do you think they're cheap? No one wears Tommy anymore," my younger brother told me scornfully. Like I give a care. They're comfy and well cut.

6) Books out the wazoo, from Half Price Books in Columbus, Ohio. My father took me there, thinking I'd be in and out in ten minutes. Much, much later, I was finally dragged out with two huge bags of books. Set aside a whole day for this place.

All this after I told my parents that I didn't want any Christmas presents. Wrong! If you're still looking for something to get me, I really want subscriptions to Every Day with Rachael Ray and Cooking with Paula Deen. (There must be some kind of unwritten rule that celebrity chefs have to possess a mixture of charisma and repulsiveness which renders me unable to turn away from their image. Rachael is the female, American answer to Jamie Oliver: Superficially cute, but really quite annoying, and yet oddly engaging. Paula seems to be putting on her y'all-I'm-fixin'-to-hoe-my-row Southern schtick, but her dogged use of entire sticks of butter, heavy cream, mayonnaise, and white sugar has me morbidly fascinated. How is she still alive?)

Eve Lom products would also be appreciated, but never expected.

Pink redux, and the mysterious success of Bath & Body Works

Further to Hill's post about pink, here's what I spotted in London's Fenwick department store yesterday, right under a sign proclaiming "PROM DRESSES". Indeed they are. But as far as I know, they don't have proms in the UK. I can only hope that prom dresses are the hot new thing to wear for females who aren't hormonal teens.

As for the pink eye shadow Hill mentioned, it jogged my memory that I, too, own some. It is from - of all places - Bath & Body Works.  I can't even find makeup on the Bath & Body Works site, which tells me how old that eyeshadow must be. (I have a taupe shade from B&BW, too, which is excellent.) I guess I should throw it away, since a) it looks awful on me, and b) it could give me an eye infection if I ever did wear it. But...no. Throwing away makeup is not something I am emotionally equipped to do.

And to go off on yet another tangent: What is the point of Bath & Body Works? All of the scents are knock-you-out and overly cloying; even as a 13-year-old, I could only tolerate my Juniper Berry and Sun Ripened Raspberry body sprays for a few days after purchasing them. Or maybe I'm just being snobby; when a store opens an outlet in my teeny, rural hometown in Ohio, as B&BW did a few years ago, I figure there is no reason to ever consider shopping there again.

That said, the addition of C.O. Bigelow products to their inventory might just lure me back into a Bath & Body Works store someday. But if you want to get your Bigelow stuff online, don't bother using the B&BW website, which only allows you to "browse online, shop in-store," as they put it. Luckily, you can purchase direct from the Bigelow apothecary's online shop - which offers free UPS ground shipping for all internet orders over $60.