The Body Shop: Shea Body Mist

Are you all enjoying the nice weather that's finally starting to appear? Though it's a bit hit and miss at the moment, with rain one minute and sun the next, hopefully it'll settle down soon and I can finally stop wearing so many layers of clothes! One thing I like to do once the weather gets warmer is break out all the body mists and lighter perfumes that have languished in my drawer all winter; I tend to wear stronger scents while it's cold since there's all that thick knitwear keeping the fragrance from reaching people's noses!

In honour of the impending spring, and because I had such a good experience with the Coconut and Moringa scents I reviewed here, I decided to treat myself to another of the Body Shop's lovely body mists: Shea. Like the others in this range, you get 100ml of product in a glass bottle, though they seem to have gone up in price since the last time I was there; they used to be £7, now they're £7.50. Still not a bad price considering how much you get, though.
Scent wise this is really, really lovely. It's sweet, nutty, earthy and creamy, a little bit like coconut, but fresher and more subtle. It's a lot weaker than the Moringa and Coconut scents, though - this may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your own personal tastes, for me it's a bad thing as ten squirts usually wears off in about three hours for me, whereas the same amount of sprays of the Moringa and Coconut would last me pretty much all day. This wouldn't be a problem if it came in a plastic bottle, as I could just throw it in my bag and top it up during the day, but I'm reluctant to do that with glass.

What I liked:
It smells GORGEOUS.
The packaging is understated, but attractive. The glass makes it feel and look more luxurious than it would do if it were plastic, plus I like the way each bottle has the central image (nut, flower, fruit, whatever) with the Body Shop logo superimposed over it - simple but pretty. I have all three of my Body Shop mists out on my dressing table as they're too nice to hide away!

What I didn't like:
It doesn't last as long as I'd like, and while for many people the more subtle scent will be a plus, I would prefer it to be a little stronger. I'm thinking of getting the Eau de Toilette in the same scent and layering the two for a longer lasting and stronger effect.
The bottle is too large and fragile to carry in a handbag.

The Body Shop: Coconut and Moringa Body Mists

Last weekend I went into the Body Shop for the first time since I was a teenager: it was both a blast from the past and a big shock! I went to an all girls' school and we were all pretty much obsessed with the Body Shop: it was a fairly cheap, brightly coloured, scented haven of bath pearls and body butter, mini gift sets of shower gel, body lotion and the like. Back then, Dewberry and White Musk were the Latest Thing, and no self respecting teenager would be caught dead without at least one of their infamous little round pots of fruity lip balm in their bag. Fast forward.... um... a few years, and it seems the Body Shop has changed. It's become a lot more up market (along with, sadly, the prices), the packaging and products are more luxurious, and whilst many of the things I remember are still there, there's a wealth of new and exotic things to explore. I saw many things that I'd have loved to bring home, but I'm *supposed* to be on a no buy at the moment; in the end I limited myself to two items and consigned the rest to a wish list for another day!

One of the things that caught my eye the most was their new range of body mists. I was impressed by the selection of scents they've included in this range: there's mango, coconut, moringa, pink grapefruit, satsuma, shea, strawberry and vanilla. I'm pretty sure I also saw a chocolate one, although the Body Shop website doesn't have it listed; maybe I imagined that one? They cost £7 each; more than I'd normally pay for a body spray, but then again these are 100ml each - much bigger than the regular, Impulse-type aerosol sprays.

The first one I picked up was Coconut. I am addicted to anything that smells of coconut, so I'd have probably bought this one no matter what. I was a bit concerned that it would be one of those fake, overly strong, cloying 'sun cream' type coconut smells, but I'm pleased to report this is much nicer. It's a warm, summery, tropical coconut scent, not overpowering, but strong enough that it lasts a good long time: 5 or 6 squirts lasts about half a day on me, maybe a bit longer. You can still smell it on the skin after that, but not so noticeably. I absolutely love this one!

The second mist I chose was Moringa. I have to admit I'd never even heard of Moringa trees before; apparently they grow in India and throughout the tropics and are used for all sorts of purposes including food and medicine. They also have very strongly scented flowers! This spray is richly floral and in the same sort of family as jasmine, gardenia and freesia. It's stronger than the coconut one; three squirts is enough to last all day and I could still smell it a little the next morning too. Some people might find it a bit cloying, but I love it; it's quite a luxurious scent and as long as you use it sparingly, it's the sort of scent that turns people's heads and has them asking what that lovely perfume is that you're wearing.

Overall, I'm really happy with both these mists: they smell great, last a long time, and they look pretty too. The only thing I don't like about them is they're not very portable - when I wear a body spray I quite like to take it with me in my bag and top it up after a few hours, but with these, I'd be worried they would get smashed. Also, at 100ml they're a bit big to fit in my make up bag. It'd be nice if they had smaller, non-glass versions to pop in your handbag as well.