Tuesday 24 September 2013

Escape to a Secret Wonderland with Bath & Body Works

I have to say that we have a pretty great selection of beauty stores in the UK, and the bigger Boots and Superdrugs have a fab range of products. But there are still a few US stores that I really wish were available in the UK - Sephora is one of them and while I've been visiting my family the past few days I've had the chance to spend some quality time in Sephora - oooooh bliss! The other store that I would love, love, LOVE to see opening here is Bath & Body Works (B&BW). They have the most amazing fresh, lovely smelling body care products and candles, and it would be so great to have the products available right here.

Another thing that I really like about B&BW is that similarly to Lush they really follow the seasons and holidays and always have lots of wonderful new collections for different times of the year. There are actually quite a few of the B&BW products that are staple items for me e.g. the anti-bacterial pocket gels, hand washes and body mists to layer with other fragrances and today I'll look at one of the latest collections that I've tried - the Secret Wonderland products.

Secret Wonderland is a happy and curious mix of berries and florals and when you first spray it on you'll notice lots of lovely ripe berries like ripe succulent strawberries, sweet raspberries and piquant slightly sour goji berries. The initial smoothie like juicy sweetness then gives way to airy light florals like gardenia and jasmine but the notes that seem to stay with you the longest is a creamy, whipped vanilla combined with simple amber and a tiny bit of soft feminine musk. It's a very fanciful, fairy tale fragrance that I think works really well at this time of year since the warm and slightly spicy amber and vanilla really stand out in the cooler weather, without the scent being being too sickly sweet or too fruity.

I really like to layer a scent, using bodycare products in the same scent and I also find that it's the best way to make a fragrance last throughout the day. The Secret Wonderland Shower gel has a lovely formula that is gentle on the skin and adds lots of moisture since it contains shea butter, aloe and vitamin E as well and while the scent isn't strong it does leave a subtle air of it on your skin, that is further enhanced by using the Body Lotion. Just like the shower gel the body lotion is also packed with moisture and nourishing ingredients like shea butter, jojoba oil and vitamin E. Unlike many purse friendly body lotions, the consistency is quite creamy and it absorbs well into the skin, leaving it feeling quite moisturized and I really enjoy how the most prominent scent for me at this stage is the soft musk, taking away any edge from the berries. Last but not least I'll spray generously with the Secret Wonderland Body Mist. This is only a refreshing body mist, so it's not surprising that it won't last you all day, however out of the B&BW scents I've tried this actually lingers a lot longer up til a few hrs, when you layer it with the other products - probably because of the vanilla and amber. I usually use Secret Wonderland when I'm combining with Paco Pabanne's Lady Million which works really well since it picks up on the raspberry notes in the EdT.

Since we don't have a B&BW store in the UK and it's not even possible to order online, those of us who are fans will have to try and source these wonderful products in other places like eBay, Amazon or Bath and Body Shop that has a small selection of B&BW products. 

Bath & Body Works PLEASE open a store in the UK!

35 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, I used to be SO obsessed with Bath & Body Works when I was younger. We'd always wait until just after Christmas when they would do huge sales and go stock up. I haven't bought the products in years though! Good to hear the brand is still going strong! xx

    http://thestylecrusader.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I probably would have bought half the store :O). Thank you so much for visiting and hope to see you back again! Xx

      Delete
  2. I wish we had bath and body works in the UK! I get the hand gels on ebay but everything else is so expensive!

    Hannah Heartss xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean, and most of the products are from later collections too so it's difficult getting what's brand new :/. Xx

      Delete
  3. Oh, what beautiful bottles. I love beautiful packages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - me too and luckily this scent smells as nice as it looks :O). Xx

      Delete
  4. Argh I love bath goodies like this! I just want to get in the bath with them all and be a human sponge for half an hour haha. That picture is beautiful btw :)

    elissex.blogspot.com xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ahh I love everything from BBW that I've tried, too bad we don't have a store here :( These sound amazing and I love the little bottles so much <3 Great post hun!

    Andrea | RosyChicc

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's so lovely of you - thank you!! :) Xx

      Delete
  6. Just came across your blog randomly, Your blog name is so pretty! I haven't tried anything from the BBW range but this all looks so lush! Definitely need to treat myself to some pamper products, defo deserve some me time. Love Laura x A Scottish Lass ❤

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hiya Laura and thank you so much for visiting and your lovely comment, it's really nice of you! Hope you'll visit again soon :). Xx

      Delete
  7. I wish we had them in the UK - apparently there was a sephora store in london years ago but it closed down :S

    Heather | Of Beauty & Nothingness

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe it's a good thing for my bank account though :). Xx

      Delete
  8. Secret Wonderland is easily my favorite scent from Bath and Body Works. It just smells so divine. Great post in for my nose twitching for some yum. Thanks for sharing. <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am upset because here in Slovakia is no Bath and Body Works shop... :/

      http://sanni-zuzi.blogspot.sk/

      Delete
    2. I really hope they start opening more shops all over the world or at least ship to Europe too! Xx

      Delete
  9. I love that scent! Bath and Body Works stuff is so addicting. I spend over $50.00 almost every time I go in there. I hope you can find more products from there soon. Great post, and I'm loving your blog so far! :)

    www.beautyandbliss67.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, that it SOO LOVELY of you! What a way to start the day :o). Xx

      Delete
  10. this soudns amazing! we love floral and fruitty scents

    http://mkstyleramblings.blogspot.com.au/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for visiting and for leaving a comment! In this case I think you wold love this one :o). Hope you'll visit again soon! Xx

      Delete
  11. oh man ok. am trying my darndest not to go there and grab candles. im not a huge fan of their lotions. i do find most of their scents so-so or overpowering or too sugary but when they get it right, they get it right.
    jenn

    A Beautiful Zen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are so many of the latest candles I want to try, so we'll see what I can get on eBay :o). Xx

      Delete
  12. oh man ok. am trying my darndest not to go there and grab candles. im not a huge fan of their lotions. i do find most of their scents so-so or overpowering or too sugary but when they get it right, they get it right.
    jenn

    A Beautiful Zen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are so many of the latest candles I want to try, so we'll see what I can get on eBay :o). Xx

      Delete
  13. it sucks you don't have BBW there but you do have many other things I am envious over! I hope that they open a store for you guys though :) they do smell yummy.

    writingwhimsy.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Soo true, if I ever get a chance to visit a store, I'll probably end up buying everything I see :o). Xx

      Delete
  14. I love BBW! I hope they do expand to the UK, because it's such a fun store - always new scents to try.
    I'm a new GFC follower, and I'd love for you to stop by my blog and join us at Meet & Greet:
    http://www.2justbyou.com/2013/09/meet-greet-blog-hop-44.html
    Hope to see you there! I'm loving your blog so far and can't wait to read more posts.
    ~Kim
    www.2justByou.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hiya Kim, that's so lovely of you I really appreciate it!!! Of course I'll come and join, look forward to meeting some new bloggers! Xx

      Delete
  15. Love, love love BBW! I usually stock up on shower gels and hand soaps during their sale seasons, and it always smells heavenly in the shower because of the shower gels!

    I did remember liking the Secret Wonderland stuff though, shame I didn't get the chance to pick up some products :(

    Vanessa | Citron and Guavaberry ʘ‿ʘ | Makeup & Silly things

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lucky you! Another one of my favourites is Sweet Pea - I can't get enough of it! Xx

      Delete
  16. The picture of the products look amazing! M sure its a delight to use these! will surely try to get it for myself:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Body mist pashop.vn is the best

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for reading my blog and for taking the time to comment! Your comments are very important to me and I do read and appreciate all of them, even though I simply don't have time to reply to all of them!