I probably saw Love’s Baby Soft for the first time in an ad in Barbie Magazine circa 1986. I’ll be perfectly honest and admit that for a long time I thought the apostrophe-S was a contraction for “is,” not a possessive (as in “Love is Baby Soft”), and I thought it was weird that the name of the perfume was a sentence. (Give me a break. I was seven.) I was fascinated by the bottle (which sort of reminded me of a roll-on deodorant, once I knew there was such a thing as roll-on deodorant), and when I got a little older and used to ditch my mom during errands to Fred Meyer and hang out in the beauty section, where I would shop for Tinkerbell brush-on, peel-off nail polishes and sniff Designer Imposters perfumes, Malibu Musk (oh yeah, I went through more than one bottle of that) and that round, pink Love’s Baby Soft. I don’t think I actually owned a bottle of it until high school or maybe even college, when I should probably have been wearing real perfume. And even though I usually wear age-appropriate fragrances, I still have a soft spot (ha!) for Love’s.
So when I ran into Walgreen’s the other day and saw the price tag on this Love’s holiday gift set, I didn’t think twice. I just grabbed.
It contains:
- 0.69 fl. oz. Love’s Baby Soft Cologne Mist
- 0.69 fl. oz. Love’s Fresh Lemon Body Mist
- 0.69 fl. oz. Love’s Soft Jasmin Body Mist
- 2 fl. oz. Love’s Baby Soft Shimmery Body Lotion
- 2 fl. oz. Love’s Rain Forest Body Lotion
Five products for under $10? Yes please. I already knew I loved Love’s Baby Soft, which, in case you didn’t spend your childhood in the beauty aisle, smells like baby powder. I don’t imagine I’ll wear it out much, but it will be nice to spray it on after a bath when I’m staying in for the night. I like the smell of Rain Forest, too, although not as much. I already have the body mist, picked up at a remote CVS in rural Connecticut last summer. I’m not quite sure how to describe the scent… sort of soft and green? My husband complimented me the last time I wore it, so that’s a point in its favor. The company claims that “a portion of the proceeds” of Rain Forest sales is “donated to rainforest preservation,” which is great, although they don’t specify what portion or what organization, so I’m a little leery of that claim.
The packaging inaccurately describes both lotions as “shimmery,” when in fact only the Baby Soft tube is actually marked as shimmery, and I honestly haven’t noticed much shimmer — maybe a fleck of sparkle here and there. That’s fine with me, though; shimmer lotion isn’t really my thing.
I’d heard of Fresh Lemon before but never smelled it in person. The name is pretty straightforward. It smells like sweet lemon, or like a yellow Mr. Sketch marker or a lemon drop. I like it. Soft Jasmin is completely new to me, and I love it. It smells less like jasmine than like lilac, but that’s OK since I love lilac.
Of the four different scents, Soft Jasmin is the one I like most, and the one I’m most likely to wear outside the house. Let’s be honest; I’m 32 years old and these scents are a little young for me. (Love’s is currently running a contest: See your cheerleading squad in a Baby Soft commercial!) But I really like the way they smell, and I’m more than happy to spend $9.99 on scents I’m mostly going to wear to hang out at home. I mean, I spend way more than that on candles to make my house smell good. And I never take the house anywhere.
Love’s Baby Soft holiday gift set
Bottom Line: For 10 bucks, it’s an affordable sensory trip down Memory Lane.
Price: $
Tip: Don’t let the “shimmery” scare you off — it’s pretty much just plain old lotion.
