When it comes to ogling young female customers and employees, getting close enough to smell them or maybe accidentally bumping into them at a shopping mall, Bath & Body Works is the third best store to do so. It’s right behind Victoria’s Secret and Forever 21.
Although it lacks lingerie, which the other two have, what places Bath & Body Works in the top three is the fact they’re the only one of the three that has a men’s section, which unlike the other two, gives men a good reason to enter the store. But it’s extremely small and I believe it’s only there to lure men into using the product testers so that the women in the store can use their sense of smell to detect if a possible pervert is nearby attempting to smell or bump into them.
Recently, Bath & Body Works added a line of signature collection men’s products, which include colognes, body sprays and body washes. The line consists of four scents: Noir, Citron, Ocean and Oak. Because the female Bath & Body Works employee I was ogling said she liked the Noir, Citron and Ocean scents the most, those were the ones I purchased in body wash form.
The same employee was also my cashier and I have to say it was fastest anyone has ever rang me up. There was no asking me if I need lip balm or if I want to sign up for their mailing list. I guess I should ogle the cashier whenever I buy stuff from Best Buy, so they won’t offer me their product protection plan.
The body wash’s bottle is the same 10-ounce one the women’s body wash come in, except instead of a pretty chrome cap, it comes with a manly black cap screwed on top. Thanks to the sodium lauryl sulfate, the body washes lather up really nice. Each body wash also contains aloe vera and nourishing oils, so if you hate feeling like your body isn’t completely rinsed off, I’d suggest not wasting your money on these men’s Bath & Body Works body washes just so that you can ogle and flirt with a Bath & Body Works employee.
Their fragrances aren’t nearly as strong as those from Axe, but they also don’t make me smell like a 15-year-old boy. Their scent lingered on my body for around 45 minutes after stepping out of the shower. On the Bath & Body Works website they list the key fragrance notes I should be smelling with each variation. Citron has crisp bergamot, sage, lemon zest, brisk woods, tonka bean and sandalwood; Ocean has bergamot, cypress, nutmeg, patchouli, cedarwood and vetiver; and Noir has sage, coriander, cardamom, white vanilla, vetiver and amber musk.
Oh, who am I kidding? I don’t know what half of that stuff is, so let me break it down using words I don’t have to look up on Wikipedia.
Citron has a light, citrus fragrance with a little bit of spice. It’s a crisp, pleasant scent and probably my favorite of the three. Ocean has a sweet, slightly fruity odor and I think it’s more of a unisex scent than a manly one. Noir is the most manly smelling of the bunch. It’s a bold, musky scent I imagine James Bond would wear. It’s also bold enough to be the best scent to help female Bath & Body Works shoppers sense when a perv is trying to get close to them.
Item: Bath & Body Works Signature Collection for Men Body Wash (Noir, Citron and Ocean)
Price: $10.50 each
Size: 10 ounces
Purchased at: Bath & Body Works (Mall of America)
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Noir)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Citron)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Ocean)
Pros: Pleasant, non-overpowering scents. Lathers nicely. Not tested on animals. Doesn’t make me smell like a 15-year-old boy like Axe does. Scent lingers on body for about 45 minutes after stepping out of the shower. Not getting asked by the cashier to sign up for mailing lists or if I’m interested in buying additional products.
Cons: Almost twice the price as regular men’s body washes. Noir’s scent can help Bath & Body Works shoppers know when a perv is getting close. Oils in the body wash makes it feel like you haven’t completely rinsed everything off. Getting kicked out of Victoria’s Secret and Forever 21. Not knowing what bergamot, brisk woods, tonka bean, cypress, patchouli, vetiver and amber musk is.
Really hate Axe, I made the mistake of buying some of their hair care products for my oldest boy. They give me a dreadful headache.
Might keep this in mind for him since the smell fades fairly fast.
You know my hubby actually uses the regular Bath and Body Works shower gels and loves them. The guy specific shower gels aren’t his style. BTW, he is not gay but just loves to smell good!
Amanda,
Take it from a guy who grew up in the Bronx, NY and Northern New Jersey. We were smelling good, getting razor cuts, hot combs,and manicures at the age of 16. Believe me we were out to become ladies men and not cupcakes for anyone who was sweet.
The Fish
forever 21 has a men’s section
It would be kind of cool to use the Noir bodywash and then say you were a Noir man. I really have no idea what the word noir means, exactly, but it sounds dark and mysterious.
I just got some American Crew body wash and I think it’s da bomb but it is a bit pricey.
Actually, some Forever 21 stores (mainly flagships) have men’s sections. Just a little extra info for those ogling men near flagship stores.
Young woman here and I used to work at B&BW. The few men we’d get in the store were often there with their wife/girlfriend/mother/woman in their life. Mostly they’d just follow them around and obediently smell whatever the woman stuck under their nose, but sometimes they’d ask me to help them look at the very small men’s section. Also one time I’m pretty sure this married guy outright hit on me at the Aromatherapy section (it has two “Sensual” scents and he got really weird about them). GOOD TIMES.
Don’t worry–I worked there for over a year and never managed to figure out what vetiver is.
And I noticed a lack of cashier interaction recently (at my old location!) too. I had to ask every single customer for a phone number and email so we could mail them coupons. If they had already given the email, I had to tell them that “the more you give your email address, the better the coupons get,” which I’m not entirely sure is true. One time a guy gave me a blatantly fake phone number. Maybe Limited HQ has sent down the command that associates shall not inquire about contact information anymore or something.
Emma,
One of my experiences at B&BW was at the Florida Mall in Orlando. Yes I was with my wife, however had been using the men’s products for years upon her recommendation. I asked what the hydration quantity was concerning the new gels that had been released. No one, not even the manager on duty could tell me the answer.Finally one of the sales girls picks up a bottle and tells me it has water in it’s ingredients. Well, what a revelation that was, so I thanked her and we left. As you indicated it was in the men’s limited area and the product knowledge was also limited. I feel that the company should train in more detailed info, and not just ” here smell how nice it is”.
$10??!?! Dayum.
I do the “store-brand” thing, so that’s sticker shock to me.
Wait…Hawaii has Bath and Body Works? Jerks. Alaska only has The Body Shop (one location.) My roommate went home (NY) recently and came home with a ton of B&BW stuff that she’s willing to share (a good thing because I’d take it anyway considering we only have one bathroom.)
I’ve been in two Forever 21’s with men’s sections. Not that you’re missing out on much. Men not in spitting distance of one should be glad they don’t have the opportunity to be cheap, fraying clothes that bunch around one’s fat.
I wish they made kitchen lemon into a body wash. that would be the only thing i bathe with. It’s smell is so addicting. now that i think about it i could wash myself in hand soap.
Hey, I used to work at a Bath & Body Works! I’m glad the cashier didn’t give you crap at the register – that was the worst part about working there. We were supposed to try to add on to every sale at the register, but really, you can tell if a customer is interested or not. Mostly I just worked in the back room to avoid those horribly awkward interactions…and organizing the products on the shelves was actually pretty satisfying.
I bought my husband trial sizes of each fragrance, and I like Ocean the best.
@ Natalie- no, bath & body works isn’t in Hawaii… Yet. A b&bw cashier at Fashion Show mall in Vegas told me the company was in talks to open a Hawaii location but it fell through. We are getting another target, though, in Kailua (on Oahu) and I heard through the grapevine (Hawaii is a very small place and people find out news from friends or family members involved in business) that walgreens may open another Oahu location.
I have mixed emotions about b&bw coming here. It would be awesome to have nice-smelling, pretty hand sanitizers and moisturizers available, but then what would we buy & take back home for souvenirs for family & friends when we went on “mainland” trips?