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| The Spy Trip
Have you ever wondered what other soapers are making?
Maybe you’ve been thinking about expanding your line of products but
don’t know what’s popular in the marketplace. Maybe you’re interested in what the new and upcoming scents of the
season are going to be? These
questions haunt all of us from time to time. If they are at the forefront of your thoughts, then it’s time to
venture out for a Spy Trip of your own! Recently I had my son on an out-of-town shopping trip.
While he headed off to PacSun and Hot Topic, I headed on over to Bath and
Body Works to check out what’s new in their product line. I barely made it into their store before I was greeted by a friendly,
“Hello, welcome to Bath and Body Works. Can
I help you find something today?” I
had wanted to ‘snoop’ around on my own, but I smiled back and said, “Sure.
I haven’t been in for a while. What
new products are you offering?” I was lead over to a new display, which was filled with
green, amber, burgundy and cobalt glass bottles and jars as she explained that
they had just updated their aromatherapy line. Now, this was right up my alley because I love aromatherapy and I already
have several of their products from this line. Yes, I actually do buy from them; you’ve gotta try out the competition!
And besides, sometimes it’s best to have the actual product sitting
beside you as you try to recreate it.
I listened to the descriptions of the products.
I tried most of them; hey, I would have tried them all, but I ran out of
exposed skin! I sniffed until my
sniffer couldn’t sniff any longer. I
asked questions. I picked up their new booklet on aromatherapy, which is
called, Aromatherapy: A User’s Guide. Then
I headed to the cash register with my purchases. What have I learned from my spy trip? Well, Bath and Body Works have a pretty complete line of essential oils;
35 in all. They also have several
pure essential oil blends; meditation, travel, purification, refreshing, muscle
relief, cold & sinus therapy, detox therapy, headache relief, PMS relief.
They also still have their aromatherapy body care line, which was
introduced two years ago. They are,
however updating those scent blends. They
no longer carry my favorite; peppermint grapefruit. But I fell head over heels in love with Sandalwood Rose!
Now this one is worthy of duplication! One new product really inspired me. Since I’ve been completely unsuccessful in my many attempts to duplicate their Purely Silk Body Luster, I’ve turned my attention to the Smoothing Oil. This has a gel-like consistency and is absorbed rather quickly into the skin. It makes the skin feel super smooth and soft. I didn’t notice an ingredient list on the bottle that I was sampling, so it must be on the packaging.
The thing that drew most of my attention was the new
unfragranced blending oils and bases. Both
the sales clerk and the booklet stated, “Once you’ve had some experience
blending essential oils, you can add them to our neutral blending oils and bases
to enhance your Aromatherapy experience. We
offer a range of light to heavyweight oils for massage or bathing, as well as
unfragranced body care products for everyday use. Choose the ones that suit your lifestyle, then add the essential oils
that speak to your senses.” On
the table, on the counter underneath the display of essential oils, sat bottles
and jars of grapeseed oil, sweet almond oil, cold-pressed avocado and jojoba oil
(this is a blend), body lotion, body wash, and foam bath. In the very center of this display of unscented products were “blending
jars”. These were amber glass
jars with the Bath and Body Works logo printed directly onto the glass jar.
The words “blending jar” were also printed on the jar. This concept really spoke to the chemist <read, mess maker and super
experimenter> deep inside me. Now I suppose you’re wondering, what did I purchase? I have a copy of the free booklet on Aromatherapy. I also picked up a bottle of body lotion in the Sandalwood Rose scent. Oh, and I got another bottle of Body Luster in the Warm Vanilla Sugar fragrance. Then I headed off to find Billy in the very loud and dark corners of the Hot Topic store. ~ Denise Washburn
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