I first fell in love with the Strawberry Oil at the Body Shop. I used to wear it as perfume and I even ran into a boyfriend from university last fall that said that whenever he smells Strawberry he still thinks of me.
One very hot summer day I decided it was too sweet and I went back and added a shot of vanilla. That proved to be the magic concoction for summer with a little tribute to White Musk every now and then for winter.
Then they discontinued Strawberry and I was at a loss. I am very brand loyal and not too adventurous, when I like something, I stick to it, which is why after 25 years of every skin professional sighing and exclaiming "oh Mon Dieu" I still wash my face with Noxzema. But this is about the Body Shop.
I next fell in love with the little aromatherapy bath balls. Those of you of a certain age will remember them. Sandalwood, Bergamot, Lemon, Strawberry, Vanilla…some for relaxing, some for refreshing, you could buy a pre-packaged sleeve or mix and match. I loved those babies…and then…they were discontinued.
So I moved on to Grapefruit Body Wash and the Strawberry Scrub. At tleast when they discontued one, they brought in another. But then those got discontinued and I gave up…for a very long time. I had been drawn in and dumped too many times to readily forgive.
And then, I walked by one day and I saw the Grapefruit Body Wash, back in the window, beckoning me back. And just as was the case for most of my dating life, I let what I knew to be bad news lure me back with promises of a quick fix.
Just as I was starting to think all this crazy discontinuing, inventing of new and (to my palate) yucky fake fragrances – no offence to anyone who actually likes Satsuma – and re-introducing of tried and true friends as if they had never existed was just evidence of a company in flux, they began to move the stores. My local Body Shop, beside Roots, across from Sporting Life on Yonge Street disappeared. Then the one in Yorkville – gone. Next Yorkdale, boarded up , moved somewhere else in the mall, but I have never been able to figure out Yorkdale. And even in the Royal Bank Tower, Mr. Husbands BS of choice for birthday and Christmas.
Now I was battling fickle merchandise and morphing store locations. I decided it was time to officially retire once and for all and they brought back the Strawberry Body Scrub. A personal fave and I couldn’t say no…I am soooo weak.
But this week, the final nail has come down and I am officially retiring my BS card, I actually don’t ahve one but I would retire it if I did.
My sweet Cupcake (pseudonym for 17 year old Step-daughter – who just got into QUEEN’S by the way!!!!) bought me a lovely home diffuser for Christmas with cranberry oil. I’m not such a cranberry fan but I did like the idea of the diffuser and we set it right up at the ski chalet we rented and enjoyed the scent of cranberry as it over-powered the moldy old cottage aroma that came with the place.
It lasted 3 months, or one ski season and I went to buy more oil. I know I should have known better, but this sucker punch I was not expecting. The BS does not sell refills for their diffusers. They don’t carry them. They have not been discontinued or sold out, they sold and marketed a product for which they never had a refill.
I cannot get up from this one. I have a lovely Christmas gift from a very thoughtful girl that I cannot even refill and use again. It’s one thing to keep changing scents and products, but to not even carry the refill of your own initial product just does me in. I am officially giving up on the Body Shop after the couple of hundreds of times that it has given up on me. I have tried and tried, but they have lost me as a customer. Of course, next week they may re-introduce the bath balls and I will have to reconsider. But at the moment I have thrown down the guanlet, I quit BS.
PS – I’m not advocating that any of you quit, this is just my decision for me.
PPS – I do hope I have a friend or two who will buy some Hemp handcream and smuggle it to me the next time they are in one of the stores.