The Body Shop has a special place in our hearts, for reasons we can’t entirely explain. We worked there in high school (as did your regularly scheduled writer, though at different times). We will be honest; when we first started to wash our face with any regularity, it was with the now-defunct Japanese Washing Grains. Our first toner? Tea Tree Oil toner. In fact, it’s been something like 15 years – maybe longer – and our mom still asks if the Tea Tree Oil toner is available (not that we know of). We pop into The Body Shop maybe once a year, to poke around the sale stuff and sniff Satsuma Shower Gel (it smells like orange Popsicles). It’s like our bodycare version of a grey cardigan – nothing special, we’re not sure why we even still have one, but sometimes, it takes us by surprise.
We’ve visited our local store twice in the last couple of weeks, and both times they’ve had stellar deals. The first one was so good that our betrothed had to literally push (well, gently guide) us out of the store before we stocked up on things we didn’t really need. The now-defunct deal was 3 of their summer favorites for $30 – and instead of being teeny, trial sizes of useless things, it was a whole host of products, including a full size body butter (normally $20) and a warming mask (normally $16). We, honestly, had to be pulled away.
We went into the same store today with your regularly scheduled writer, and after an extremely, extremely enthusiastic greeting, we literally stopped in our tracks at the special they were offering. It’s slightly different online – in store, it’s buy 1, get 1 1/2 off; buy 2, get 1 free; buy 3 get 2 free. Online isn’t entirely bad – it’s buy 2, get 1 free or select specials 2/$10. While The Body Shop hasn’t amazed us in years, we will thank them for (among other things) not changing formulations over time. Here are some of our favorites…
The Coconut Body Butter is, hands down, our absolute favorite moisturizer. It smells delightfully like tanning lotion (please note, tanning lotion – not sunblock. It’s that delicious fake coconut smell), it’s moisturizing without being heavy or greasy. It’s our go to lotion – and it’s a favorite here at BS HQ. We have 2 tins/tubs, and our counterpart has no less than 4. At $20 for a container that lasts us quite some time, we can’t recommend it enough.
The Banana Conditioner was the first time we realized that not all conditioners are created equal. Our relatively unruly hair was tamed (and smoothed) by this delightful conditioner that looks just like mashed up bananas. In fact, we think we once told a customer that was the case – sorry about that. We thought it to be true (or, we really wanted it to be). It was the best detangler we could find, and we should note – at this time, our hair was so thick and long that we didn’t brush it for a year. We didn’t have knots, we had lovely, gentle curls. We thank this for that.
Banana Conditoner, now 2/$10 (was $8.99)
Ok, yes, this is just a poufy thing (called, elegantly, a Bath Lily) but it’s cheaper here than at our favorite mass market store with a bulls-eye for a logo. At $2 a pop, you can afford to replace them every month or two as suggested.
LB
Hello!
Greeting from your fan all the way from Jakarta, Indonesia. I adore Bunnyshop and I think Diane Vadino is brilliant
Always been a silent reader but will try to comment more often.
Anyway! The Body Shop. Yes, I agree it isn’t fantastic or mind-blowing and I am not in love with it. But here in Jakarta, many people still love and swears by their products. Maybe because we don’t have too many options. So probably because of the high demand, I think I rarely see them giving such good deals.
What’s your favorite body wash from TBS?
Ahhhh, I loved the Japanese washing grains too. Wonder why they discontinued it? I remember my face being so soft and my pores being so clear when I used it!
Japanese washing grains were made from only 1 igredient, Adzuki Beans. You can make them yourself with adzuki beans (dried) available at most supermarkets and health food stores. Just grind in a coffee grinder to a fine powder, shake through a sieve to get out any larger lumps and hey presto, japanese washing grains.
Our favorite body wash is pretty much anything Satsuma or Coconut scented. TBS kills the scent category for us (in a good way) – both of those scents remind us of being little kids, and that’s awesome.
We will also post an addendum to our Coconut Body Butter love – if it gets warm wherever your tin is, watch out. We just spilled a substantial glob all over the bathroom floor (to be fair, it’s probably 80+ in there).
Wow. The body shop was my introduction to body care that you couldnt find in a grocery store aisle. Back in high school i used to be addicted to their products. I still occasionally wear the ananya body oil. LOVE that scent.
But i have a grudge because they actually DID change their formula for body butter. It used to be a petroleum based moisturizer and now its a shea-butter based formulation. I spoke at length with several of their employees about the shift back when it happened.
I used to LOVE the mango body butter. Ask the 2001 varsity tennis team at my high school, i got them all hooked. But it was so different and left your skin with that beach body sheen… i cant bring myself to buy the new stuff. so sad.
Where can I get ananya oil now? im down to my last centimeter and im freakin out!!!