Bath & Body Works’ Summer Chill shower gels
Left to right: Bath and Body Works’ Summer Chill collection shower gels in Citrus Orchid Chill, Coconut Water Chill, and White Mango Chill
I will be honest and say that I am not really a Bath & Body Works person. I know the store has loyal devotees, but I get really overwhelmed whenever I go in, so I appreciated, right off the bat, that the Summer Chill collection is only three scents, and they seem cohesive thematically. Bright summer notes—nothing complicated about that!
Citrus Orchid Chill is described as “an exotic summer quencher of iced blue orchid, lemon granita and watery starfruit frozen with lotus flower and sunny musk.” Coconut Water Chill is described as “the ultimate summer refresher of coconut water, iced acai berry and watery melon frozen with jasmine petals and Madagascar vanilla.” And White Mango Chill is described as “an ice cold summer cooler of white mango, kiwi sorbet and strawberry frost frozen with muguet blossom and blue sugar cane.” All the scents were originally available in lotions, fragrance mists, shimmering mists, hand gels, and lip glosses, but I reviewed them only in shower gel form. According to Bath & Body Works, their “exclusive Shower Gel formula is blended with super moisturizing Shea Butter, protective Vitamin E and soothing Aloe to nourish skin as it cleans. Our bubbly, luxuriously rich lather leaves you feeling irresistibly soft and beautifully fragranced, making it the perfect daily indulgence!”
I have used Bath & Body Works’ Shower Gel formula before, and I’ve always found it to have a fairly thick consistency but to lather up fairly quickly and effectively. That was the same experience I had with these three: they are not watery at all, but a bit more gloppy, and take little coaxing to start foaming up. The Citrus Orchid Chill is a pink gel; the Coconut Water Chill a green gel; and the White Mango Chill a light yellowy orange gel. They easily cut through the salt, ocean water, sweat, and sand I had on my body after hours on the beach, and I didn’t see any differences in performance in that regard. These rinsed off easily for me and don’t leave behind any residue; even though they are supposed to be “super moisturizing,” I didn’t experience any greasy feel. (At the same time, though, I don’t think I was extremely moisturized afterward. My skin felt good, but not exceptional.)
Whether you like the scents, of course, is up to your personal preference. I found them all to be fairly accurate to their descriptions, if a little more one-dimensional than described. While Citrus Orchid Chill is supposed to be orchid, lemon, starfruit, lotus, and musk, I only really picked up on orchid and lemon, and the former isn’t as lush as I would hope. Coconut Water Chill is supposed to be coconut, acai, melon, jasmine, and vanilla, but I thought vanilla was most prominent, then coconut. And White Mango Chill, supposedly white mango, kiwi, strawberry, muguet blossom, and blue sugar cane, is overwhelmingly just mango and strawberry, and smells mostly like a daiquiri.
So these Bath & Body Works Summer Chill collection shower gels are somewhat on the money, but I think they lack the finesse they’re supposed to have. I really enjoy them as a reminder of summer, but they’re not necessarily sophisticated. Nevertheless, I’ve kept reaching for them in the days since returning from the beach, and I like that the wear-time on the scents isn’t too long; they fade after a couple of hours. And now that they’re 50 percent off at $5.50 each, I don’t think you can go wrong.
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VERDICT: B+ for all scents of Bath & Body Works’ Summer Chill shower gels. Although they’re not totally subtle scents, they are a nicely summer-inspired pick-me-up. I’m not sure if I would give a similarly high score if they still cost $11 instead of $5.50, though.
AVAILABILITY: Currently on sale for $5.50 each at Bath & Body Works and BathandBodyWorks.com (you can search for the individual scents or “summer chill”), marked down 50 percent from their original $11 price. Each bottle is 10 fl oz.
EDITORIAL NOTE: The products featured in this post were provided to Chesapeake Family’s About Face blog by the manufacturer or their public relations company for review. Chesapeake Family’s About Face blog posts are inspired by personal experience and opinion, and are not paid for or influenced by the manufacturer, PR company, or any other organization unless mentioned.
Photos by Roxana Hadadi.
In middle school, Roxana Hadadi was a cosmetics-scorning tomboy; in high school, a glitter eye shadow- and black nail polish-loving trend kid; in college, obsessively committed to dying her hair unruly colors that upset her mom. Now a bit older and a bit more mature, she’s trying to figure out what hair, body and cosmetics products will work for her, you and your family in About Face, Chesapeake Family’s new beauty blog — and she’ll leave the sparkle makeup and neon highlights in the past. Roxana also writes movie reviews for Chesapeake Family’s Popcorn Parents blog.
