Body, Remember

[astarinel]

Profoundly sensual. The echo of caresses: raw black coconut, ambergris accord, ambrette seed, champaca flower, and sugar cane.

In the imp, the coconut is definitely the most prominent note.

After I put it on, the other notes definitely start to blend and settle more. The sugar cane gives it a thick, sweet base, and the coconut is rich but not candied. The champaca is quite prominent wet, giving it a heavy tropical feel alongside the coconut. It does have a bit of an odd salty touch, I guess from the ambergris. It has a musky feel, despite not having any musk as a listed note. Sensual and sweet.

I don't dislike the way it smells, but I'm not loving it. I feel like the combination doesn't work for me -- it's a bit too beachy/sexy to be something I'd want to wear.

[CitizenBree]

First impression: coconut is the first you get but the champaca flower is not far behind. So it's not a pure coconut like Tiki Princess -- it's got a perfumey, flowery vibe to it.

 

After wearing for a day: So great. I was still smelling it at 5pm. Nice beachy, coconut with a little extra sweetness. It's not super foodie, but I think foodies will like this. Pretty sure it's a bottle purchase.

[theseagrows]

whoa, this is very weird at first. it reminds me of the scent of perm solution in a salon, mixed with white florals.it's like a mixture of chemicals and burnt hair and ylang ylang. it's been about 15 minutes now, and it is a bit softer, but there is still a strong burning chemical smell, and i have no idea what note is making it. i will have to swap this one, because it just smells terribly odd on me.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

May I just take a moment to profess my love of black coconut? Oh black coconut, how I love thee. I love your dark and gnarly heart, your outer crust of woodsy goodness, and the intoxicating aroma of your sweet meaty insides. I love you in Goblin, I love you in Boneshaking Velocipede, I love you in Snake Charmer, you're the star of Red Lantern and I seriously LOVE you big time in Death Adder.

 

So.. Body, Remember. Did I mention that I love black coconut? It's so good here, SO GOOD - no hint of suntan lotion or Malibu cocktail silliness - nope, this is the black coconut I love - dark and gnarly and sexy. This one was an interesting gamble for me, because if my love for black coconut is right on the top notch of the scale from one to infinity, my love for sugar cane is as far away from that as possible.. I don't like sugar cane at all, and the feeling is mutual. Sugar Cane has ruined many an otherwise fine BPAL (Pet Magah Bird comes to mind) - and when I first put Body, Remember on my arm I feared it was going to do it to this one as well. But no! Screw you, sugar cane - my beloved black coconut kicked your ass!!

 

Ambergris is an interesting player here - its sweet, woody tones are a nice compliment to the black coconut and is probably what's stopping this whole thing with the sugar cane and all from being too sweet.. I was really worried this would end up going all sweet on me, but it didn't. The muskiness of the ambrette is also a nice addition, it tempers everything nicely - this is one of those blends that reminds me Beth has some serious genius when it comes to making the smellies. Champaca flower, which completely spoiled Narrow Opening for me, is not bothering me at all here. Am I going to buy a bottle of this? Yeah, I am. I might even buy two bottles. Or seventy six bottles. I loved Harigata II from last year, but where that one was a soft, sweet, pretty type of sensual; the cute blonde surfer boy.. Body, Remember is the hit-you-right-in-the-gut type of sensual; the tall dark and handsome kind. I loves it.

 

I just can't stop raving about how good the black coconut here is, and how much I love it. I mean seriously, if I had testicles they would be aching with longing right now. Black coconut - I love you, and I want to have your little black coconut babies and live with you in a black coconut house, leaving only to take rides along the beach in our black coconut car to collect more black coconuts.

[zankoku_zen]

Black, musky coconut and brown sugar. It actually makes me think of coconut macaroons. It's got that heavy 'cookie/foodie' sort of smell to it.

 

Yup, definitely coconut macaroons. Which is awesome if you love coconut macaroons and/or foodie blends.

[mand]

I tried on "Body, remember", I loved it so much I had to read the poem, and it's wonderful - at school I always thought Kavafis was a bore!

 

On me, mostly sugar cane, with an underlying coconut note. Coconut and ambergris as usual working very well with me.

[KittyHawk]

Blast you, sugar cane!

 

This was awful on my skin--plastic sugar. No coconut, no champaca, no ambergris. I took a chance with this one and lost. This was a dupe of Sprinklecake on my skin, which also turned to rancid plastic. I don't think aging will help (it didn't with Sprinklecake), so it's off to a better home.

[glitterlips]

Good lord, this is a gorgeous scent! I am already in love with Obatala but this is a very different coconut than that and I love it too - maybe more!

 

It starts out as coconut and VERY sweet sugarcane on top, my husband thought it smelled a bit like bathroom cleaner when it was wet (?). It dries down to an absolutely beautiful sweet coconut, a little reminiscent of a "suntan lotion" coconut but not quite. It is a lovely scent and I just ordered two more bottles since it will be gone soon.

 

-Mel

[Celtic Goddess]

Oh, I am very sad about this one. I had high hopes that this blend, though it includes something edible and foodie, would be a success. I was very happy with The Vine and figured coconut would be less in-your-face food-like than pear. I did indeed get the perm solution smell mentioned by another reviewer...however, on me it's worse. This smells exactly like that pink, foamy soap I use at the car wash (EXACTLY like it). I'm not enthused about that smell when I'm washing my truck and I certainly am not enthused when I smell it on me. No go.

[becca_s]

This starts out with a strong blast of sugar cane on my skin. It settles down after a few minutes, and then I can smell the coconut and perhaps something floral in the background. It reminds me of a tropical island. It's probably a bit sweet to wear everyday but I think that it would be perfect in summer especially at the beach.

 

I like the art-work, very cute

[Cthulhuesque]

I ordered a bottle of Body, Remember unsniffed because I absolutely love all of the notes listed, and... well... hmm. It's very different from what I expected.

 

In the bottle: I can't pick out any individual notes aside from the ambergris. The oil has a chemical smell, and it smells like something that would taste very salty, if that makes any sense.

 

On (wet): Aha, I know what "salty food" this is reminding me of! It smells like umeboshi (pickled Japanese plums). How odd. I'm beginning to smell a little bit of the black coconut, but the strong chemical/salty smell is still there, and it tickles my nose when I go to sniff my wrist. I was expecting this to be a sweet scent, and so far it isn't at all.

 

After 20 minutes: Ahh, there we go. The saltiness from the ambergris has mellowed out a lot, and it has started to smell a bit more sugary. I still wish that the coconut were more noticeable on my skin.

 

Overall: Body, Remember is pretty pleasant after it has had a chance to dry down and mellow, but I'm still not sold on it. I just don't find it comforting, and I'm not finding myself wanting to bury my nose in my wrist the way I do with the blends that are truly keepers. I think I will keep it the scent drawer for now, and age it a bit before testing it again.

[Monday]

I could have pasted sunshinedaisybliss' review here 'cause I feel the same way about this blend.

 

Black coconut loves my skin. So this bottle was a done deal, it wouldn't have mattered if the rest of the notes were all awful for me . It's coconut first and foremost then dark sugarcane plus some briny deeps added by the ambergris.

It ends up an almost boozy salty/sweet coconut. Body, Remember is a dark, mature coconut. Oh and the label is adorable.

[Rho]

When wet, I totally get the "perm chemical" smell that others have mentioned. It's rather striking how similar it is to that, actually. I didn't put on enough that it was stinging my nose at this point, and I wouldn't call it terrible, but still... chemically.

 

After it settles in, I pick up on sun-baked coconut, swirled in a salty, sweet breeze. It's pretty awesome, but if I didn't know this was meant as a body fragrance I would have assumed it was intended as a room (candle) scent.

 

After quite a long time, Body Remember blends into the skin and really does make a great, wearable fragrance.

 

I like it. My overall impressions are coconut... warm... beaches. Will keep my decant!

[Elfbait]

Mmm, I really like this. Tenacious ambrette seed provides most of the sweetness, while the coconut makes things milky, warm and erotic. Then along comes that salty, ozone-ish ambergris accord. I daresay without it, this might have turned into one of those conveyor belt "vanilla-ish with a smattering of un-challenging spices" scents- the brooding, grey, oceanic funk of ambergris gives it distinction, and combined with the coconut makes the scent very suggestive of warm skin, wide open windows, and damp sheets. Still, for all the heavy breathing this scent inspires in me, it also feels enigmatic and a bit contemplative. I can't comment on any sugar cane note since it never came to the party.

 

All in all, very sexy.

[lilyliza]

In the imp, I get a lot of incensy champaca. There's also quite a bit of coconut. Once it hits my skin, The scent is immediately lightened and sweetened with sugar cane and ambergris. The ambrette seed helps hold everything together. It makes for a very sensual scent that reminds me very much of a slightly less in your face Follow Me Boy (without the deep florals, of course). When it dries, the sugar cane becomes the most prominent note.

 

It's very sexy but it reminds me of hair products in the beginning like others have mentioned, probably because of what the ambergris is doing here. I like it dry the most, but I think it's too dramatic to warrant a bottle for me. That and Follow Me Boy acts almost exactly the same on me for most of the time this is on, so I'd probably just buy an imp of that when I'm in the mood to smell like this. The right person would definitely fall in love with this, though.

[puck_nc]

Origin: Decant circle

 

Initial Thoughts: The ambrette seed and ambergris are iffy notes, but the thought of sugary coconut had me making the attempt.

 

In the Vial: Warm coconut and incense, with a richness that may be the ambrette seed.

 

Wet: The ambrette and champaca are making themselves known, with a heavy sweetness. Definitely an impression of skin, the skin of a very sensual person.

 

Drydown: Poo. Amber-amber-amber amping it up. Totally eating the other notes.

 

Verdict: Not for my skin chemistry.

[stellamaris]

I like this, the coconut is quite lovely. It does smell like the beach to me, an expensive fancy beach. I am glad I got it but I won't need to back it up as I don't know how often I will want to wear it.

Sweet and slightly foody

[milo]

Lot's of dusty coconut at first. Some coconut plays nice with me, and others don't. This one doesn't. However, after a bit, I'm getting something quite lovely in the background, though really this is all about the coconut. There's an annoying brown sugar thing going on too. This is definitely not for me, but I do love the backdrop that is being drowned out by the nasty brown sugar dusty coconut.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Like caramel, only not so sweet, and deeper, darker, richer.

 

Wet: Now the coconut and ambergris show up. Very sensual indeed.

 

The dry-down: This is amazing from beginning to end, so to speak. I love the richness of this. Also, it's nice that it's not too much of a morpher. If you like other scents with coconut, and don't mind them being somewhat sweet and foodie, then this would be a great scent. Bottle worthy.

[DrKate]

I love this I'm very picky with my oils, I've tried lots of "nice" or "pleasant" ones but the only ones that I keep bottles of have to affect me on a much deeper level. This is one of them. It's coconut and incense on me, just gorgeous. Very summery though I don't find it to be particularly beachy, it's too dark and sexy for that. I don't find it at all sweet or foody.

[ajansuz]

 

I know the little icon isn't much help, but honestly it sums up the experience of this blend perfectly, from bottle to dry down and extended wear. I've gotten more complements on this particular BPAL on me than any other I've ever worn, including The Infernal Lover which I've had for much longer and which loves my skin chemistry.

 

So, in the bottle, the coconut is the predominant note. I have to agree with what others have said, though. It's not the suntan oil at the beach coconut, and it's not the cloyingly overly sweet candied coconut. There's a woodiness and a creaminess to it that makes it more sophisticated than that. There's also an incense note that I'm guessing is the champaca flower. I haven't had a good experience with that in a blend before, but here it doesn't cause problems.

 

Wet it's exotic and subtly erotic. It reminds me a lot of the Kate Chopin novel "The Awakening" for some reason.

 

When it dries, it's sweet and soft, and it lingers all day. The coconut never fully goes away, but it tones down considerably and shares the stage with the rest of the blend. By that point, it's hard to pick out any individual notes for me. I just LOVE the way it makes me smell. I wish I had bought a back up bottle.

[karykeion]

Decanted by ladymeag, thank you!

 

In the decant: Sweet dark salty coconut. I like.

 

On me, wet: WOW, something in this blend does NOT like my skin. It goes from sweet salty coconut goodness to dark coconut with an overlay of gross sweet chemical hairspray the second it touches me. This is the first blend I've ever felt the overwhelming urge to run and wash off, but I will persist to the drydown.

 

On me, dry: The disgusting chemicals stick around until it dries, at which point it becomes a sweet, softly coconut-and-sugary, salty scent evocative of the beach at night, which is exactly what I'd hoped for. I can't decide how I feel about it. It would be really, really lovely if not for that initial hour of terrible chemical gross awful. I'm in love with the drydown, but I don't know if the beginning is really worth it. I'll test it again in about a week and see how I feel.

[Viridian]

This is a very sweet, syrupy, musky coconut. I actually don't even get that much coconut, specifically - because I know it's in there, I can smell it, but it reminds me of a sweetened amber musk, like Haunted, with an extra jolt of sweetness and heavier on the muskiness.

 

I'm not 100% sure I like the musk note - I guess the ambrette seed? - but I like the opening and the late drydown a lot. It's very very sweet and dark. I would've liked more of the coconut to stick around.

[Little Bird]

I love ambergris and was hoping for a sexy, dark coconut that wasn't overwhelming on the sweetness. Unfortunately, the sugar cane + coconut gives this a sickly sweet, suntan lotion coconut feel for me. It smells cheap and artificial. As it dries down, there's almost a bit of a powdery incense feel in there as well, but mostly a plasticy, sugary coconut smell.

[evekrieg]

In the bottle it's really pretty. On my skin it's sickly sweet, pretty, but sweet. It doesn't seem to have much staying power at all. My skin eats it. I'm beginning to wonder if the sugar note is death to me as well, as Devil's Night 2011 also has this sort of effect.

 

I'm going to leave this one alone for awhile and see how it ages.