{"id":22210,"date":"2009-09-18T13:07:54","date_gmt":"2009-09-18T17:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/?p=22210"},"modified":"2014-11-16T09:29:55","modified_gmt":"2014-11-16T14:29:55","slug":"bath-body-works-p-s-i-love-you-fragrance-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/2009\/09\/18\/bath-body-works-p-s-i-love-you-fragrance-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Bath & Body Works P.S. I Love You ~ fragrance review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Raimundo\"516204420_2474891bc1\"<\/p>\n

P.S. I Love You is the latest fragrance release from Bath & Body Works<\/a>, and it takes its place in the \u201cRomantics\u201d family of the company\u2019s Signature Collection. It was developed by perfumer Dave Apel<\/a>, who designed the fragrance as a \u201cmodern experience\u201d of the rose. In this respect, Bath & Body Works is joining the trend that Stella<\/a> started in 2003 (has it been that long?!). The company still seems to be hedging its bets, perhaps fearing that a rose perfume might be judged too old-fashioned by its target audience: roses don\u2019t appear in the fragrance\u2019s name or label, and in the website photos, the bottles are accompanied by flowers that could just as easily be peonies as roses. There\u2019s a similar fear of commitment, so to speak, in the promotional text. Early press releases described P.S. I Love You as a scent of \u201ctimeless love\u201d and \u201cheartfelt love,\u201d but the company website now calls it \u201cOur flirtiest fragrance ever!\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone has his or her own ideas about love, but I\u2019d personally place this fragrance beyond the initial, giggly glow of a first date and into the more comfortable, intimate zone of an established romance. Its official list of notes includes \u201cFresh Citrus, Lychee, Peony, Yellow Rose, Sparkling Riesling, Scarlet Velvet Rose, Orchid, Purple Lilies, Jasmine, Hypnotic Incense, Creamy Sandalwood, Patchouli, Golden Amber, and Musk.\u201d Reading that list, I expected a clone of Stella, so I was happy to find that this fragrance does have a personality of its own; not a dramatic or adventurous personality, but a pleasant one nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\"BBW\"PS<\/p>\n

P.S. I Love You’s introduction is bright and just a little bit juicy, and reminds me fleetingly of Rose d\u2019\u00c9t\u00e9\u00a0from Les Parfums de Rosine<\/a>. A fruity wine note quickly emerges \u2014 this must be the Riesling idea \u2014 but it manages not to be cloyingly sugary. Then another transition leads the fragrance from a winey rose into a lightly musky rose with a tart edge. The dry down is a warm, slightly sweet rose-peony-sandalwood blend that stays fairly close to the skin. And, fading in and out, there\u2019s an amber note that has a cocoa-powder aspect to it. This fragrance has medium staying power, and you can apply it freely without worrying about too much sillage. The Eau de Toilette\u2019s bottle design (see above left) is unusually abstract for Bath & Body Works: its \u201chand-written\u201d name is enlarged and cropped across a shaded background.<\/p>\n

This fragrance has also been formulated as a limited edition Eau de Parfum (see above right), another innovation for the brand. The Eau de Parfum\u2019s bottle is inspired by antique inkwells and paperweights, and when you look down at it, you\u2019ll see a quotation \u201cwritten\u201d within the bottom of the bottle: \u201cIn dreams and in love there are no impossibilities.\u201d (This must be the first time the Hungarian poet J\u00e1nos Arany <\/a>has been cited in a beauty-product scenario.) This concentration is heavier on the powdery amber, which starts sooner and stronger, and its dry down has an added peppery-rose note.<\/p>\n

Overall, if you pick up P.S. I Love You expecting a lush, earthy rose like Frederic Malle Une Rose<\/a> or a complex, spicy rose like Guerlain Nah\u00e9ma<\/a>, you\u2019ll probably be disappointed. If, on the other hand, you\u2019re looking for an easy-to-find, versatile red-rose scent priced under $50, P.S. I Love You is well worth trying. I prefer it to several other mainstream rose fragrances, such as Bvlgari Rose Essentielle<\/a> or Givenchy Very Irr\u00e9sistible (both of which have always felt sharp and thin to me). In terms of wearability and value, I\u2019d compare it with the more gourmand, tonka-and-patchouli based Rose Absolue from Yves Rocher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m curious to see how P.S. I Love You will do at Bath & Body Works; it\u2019s richer and more perfume-like than the company\u2019s various \u201cFresh\u201d scents, but far more subtle than Warm Vanilla Sugar, for example. It should appeal most to the over-21 demographic, which is always a welcome turn of events in mass-market fragrances as far as I\u2019m concerned.<\/p>\n

P.S. I Love You Eau de Toilette and Eau de Parfum are flanked by the usual array of Signature Collection body products and home fragrance, all labeled with a 1980s-style watercolor-heart motif, as well as limited edition items like a box of note-cards and a CD of love songs. It\u2019s also nice to see the company offering a trial-size bottle of Eau de Toilette, paired with a small body lotion in a set titled \u201cLove at First Sight.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes, you do need to ease into things slowly, in perfume as in romance.<\/p>\n

Bath & Body Works P.S. I Love You Eau de Toilette sells for $29.50 for 75 ml; the Eau de Parfum is priced at $45 for 75 ml.<\/p>\n

(Bath & Body Works is also holding a \u201cShare the Love\u201d contest<\/a>; you can submit your own photo and \u201clove story\u201d for a chance to win a $500 Bath & Body Works gift card.)<\/p>\n

Note: top left image is The Love Letter<\/em> by Raimundo Madrazo<\/a> via Wikimedia Commons; top right image is Rose on white<\/em> by span at flickr<\/a>; some rights reserved<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Possibly of interest<\/h2>\n
Top 10 Summer Fragrances 2012<\/a><\/div>
Bath & Body Works Twilight Woods ~ perfume review<\/a><\/div>
Bath & Body Works P.S. I Love You ~ fragrance review<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n

Read the rest of this article »<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Raimundo\"516204420_2474891bc1\"<\/p>\n

P.S. I Love You is the latest fragrance release from Bath & Body Works<\/a>, and it takes its place in the \u201cRomantics\u201d family of the company\u2019s Signature Collection. It was developed by perfumer Dave Apel<\/a>, who designed the fragrance as a \u201cmodern experience\u201d of the rose. In this respect, Bath & Body Works is joining the trend that Stella<\/a> started in 2003 (has it been that long?!). The company still seems to be hedging its bets, perhaps fearing that a rose perfume might be judged too old-fashioned by its target audience: roses don\u2019t appear in the fragrance\u2019s name or label, and in the website photos, the bottles are accompanied by flowers that could just as easily be peonies as roses. There\u2019s a similar fear of commitment, so to speak, in the promotional text. Early press releases described P.S. I Love You as a scent of \u201ctimeless love\u201d and \u201cheartfelt love,\u201d but the company website now calls it \u201cOur flirtiest fragrance ever!\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone has his or her own ideas about love, but I\u2019d personally place this fragrance beyond the initial, giggly glow of a first date and into the more comfortable, intimate zone of an established romance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[316,4,18,37],"class_list":{"0":"post-22210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-perfume-talk","7":"tag-bbw","8":"tag-cheap-thrills","9":"tag-limited-edition","10":"tag-rose","11":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}