Have we talked about how much I love Bobbi Brown Beach?
It was introduced before my time in beauty (back in 2002), but I discovered it circa 2006 or 2007, and have worn it off and on ever since. It’s a fairly polarizing fragrance and I think it’s because the name implies a few different things. For some people, “beach” means coconutty, piña colada-type notes… for others, it’s that marine, ozone quality. Beach is neither. Even though the notes sound real pretty (jasmine, sea spray and mandarin), it basically smells like cheap, synthetic Coppertone or Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen.
This happens to be a good thing in my books. It’s basically like summer in a bottle (which is especially mood-lifting when I wear it in the midst of the horrible Canadian winters) and has a faint soapiness to it that I love as well.
So now to the point of this post. Ever since I found Beach, I’ve been on the hunt for other similarly beachy scents, and I’ve accumulated several (Bond No. 9 Fire Island, Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess, J.Lo Miami Glow, Yves Rocher L’Eau des Vahinés). I like them all for different reasons, but none really smell at all like that synthetic sunscreen note I love. But then I came across this Demeter one:
It’s not new and I have no idea how I missed it before, but wowza—it’s SO close to Bobbi’s version, I’m pretty amazed. Apparently the main note here is orange blossom, which gives it an ever-so-slightly more floral dry-down. The thing I also like about Demeter is that they use 95 percent natural ingredients and no phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors found in most mainstream perfumes. I don’t know if this is why their scents don’t last a terribly long time—they’re meant to be “pick-me-up” sprays that you apply several times a day, whereas Beach has insane staying power—but I don’t exactly want to bathe myself in chemicals either.
Also, when you compare the price, Beach is $82.00 while Suntan Lotion is only $15.00 (at Loblaws; it’s $20.00 if you buy direct from demeterfragrance.com). Not too shabby, right? I mean, it smells kinda cheap (even though I like that about it), so it might as well BE cheap as well.
Are you a fan of the synthetic sunscreen note?
Have you checked out Bobbi Brown or Demeter?
What’s your favourite summer scent?
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