Posse! ‘Tis I, Musette! AGAYan! Because March is off having fun! So. Hi!
So. We’ve (at least I’ve) all fallen for those good-to-excellent-to-fulsome reviews… the ones that spark a major lemming and before you can blink! you’ve thrown your credit card down and DARED somebody to say sumpin’!!!
Yeah… been there (way too many times).
But…. what about scathing reviews? Not the ‘eh’ stuff but the “I had to take TWO showers with a Brillo pad” reviews that are like watching Godzilla stomp through a bridge in Tokyo. Dunno about you, but those? My weird patoot wants to try those even more than the fulsome card-throwing stuff. March agrees – there’s a perverse ‘ oh, c’mon….realllly??… how bad can it be?’ curiosity that … well. ya just gotta do it!
So I did! Not a perfume – a body cream. Now y’all know I am ALL about body cream/creme/slickery-goo, so when I read this Absolutely Scathing review of Trader Joe’s Ultra Rich Body Butter
Truth be told, I actually had to take a long shower after putting it on. The scent gave me an immediate headache, and I simply had to get rid of the sluggy slickness ASAP. Your mileage may vary, but I’m going to say this one gets a solid skip from me.
Um. Excepting my sister’s aversion to slick cream (she’s afraid of getting it on her clothes (???), I really don’t know (m)anybody who doesn’t want a cream to be rich and slickery. Okay. Maybe that’s just me. And March. But honestly – after reading this short-but-vicious little review, I had to make sure to grab a jar the next time I was near a Trader Joe’s. 
My review? It is fabulous! Greasy as undercooked bacon, almost- but-not-quite reeking of vanilla and Something Tropical, it’s perfect for my thirsty, aging skin. It’s a great creme apres-bain, slicking onto shower-hot, damp skin. Dunno what the kitchn.com reviewer was drinking but I will NOT have what she was having.
But this post isn’t about this particular product (it’s gone now anyway, in that irritating TJ way)… it’s about the weirdness of absolutely having to try something that someone on a legit, revenue-generating blog hated enough to actually diss! I don’t always do that – but it seems that the urge to try a Hate is actually stronger than a Love. What’s that all about, that Thin Line (between love and hate)? And do you ever fall victim to that reverse-hype? What’s the outcome been? I’m at about a 60% success rate, with my Perverse Curiosity spanning So Damb Many Thing (Frozen Pearl Onions! Who knew? They are FABULOUS! And I don’t have to peel them!)
I love to READ a hate review but rarely get very excited to the point of trying or buying them unless it goes “smells like cow poo.” Then I’m all in.
Portia xx
Oh you KNOW I’m going to have to buy this now. I usually get the coconut one (or the summer LE), I think they’re great post-shower as the first layer 😀 I bought a tube of their hand cream last time I was there, some sort of floral LE, and I hate the smell.
DagNABBIT! I think it’s already gone!
Floral in hand cream is tricky!
I’m guessing the vanilla orchid will be back … their “Brazil” one is only summer, but I’ve seen it several times (there and gone) more recently.
Generally speaking, if a young person complains about a vintage “old lady perfume” my ears perk right up because chances are it’s a chypre or some sort of green or aldehyde loveliness. Current tastes are for gourmand and sweet scents which are not my cup of tea (but tea most definitely is!)
Rofl!!! I’ve been told, more than once, that I smell like a Rich Old Lady!!!
I’ll take it!!!
What better compliment is there?!? shrug emoji
My hands are so dry from all the washing over almost 40 years in health care. Followed by habitual over washing. My favourite hand care is Cerave ointment. It’s the thickest & gloopiest goo I’ve found. Lots of thumbs down reviews but I think it’s heavenly.
As for bad reviews being a challenge. Only for fragrances. Most other stuff I’ll steer clear.
Yikes! Healthcare is BRUTAL on the skin. Beats what my mother called The Galloping Epazutick, though.
I LOVE CeraVe!
The dark blue tube is like a very stiff ointment & can be used everywhere. I wish they made huge pots of it
The TJ’s Brazil Nut body butter is deeelish when in stock, all caramel and pistachio
Yep! I buy that one when it’s available, and the coconut one the rest of the time, I think they’re great.
I’m… right on the fence with that one… though I get scads of compliments when I wear it… maybe just a hair too gourmand for me?
Yup, with you on the perverse curiosity, particularly the ‘this is unwearable’ comments regarding perfumes. The brain goes ‘oh, really?’ Like it’s a challenge.
I don’t like the huge slather when it comes to moisturiser. This may be because where I live is more humid than London, which is way humid (we get 40% more rain down here). I use boring old Cetaphil lotion on the bod. The face gets more fun stuff: a layer of hyaluronic acid serum, a spot application of a heavier serum, moisturiser and then SPF.
It is perverse, innit?
cinnamon… you would faint at the sheer volume of goopy that resides in this house. You greasy? Come sit by me!
You have a great point. I sometimes just HAVE to try things others hate. Conversely, there are so many things people lurve that I find disgusting. We know what we like, and we have a bit of heyoka or contrarian spirit. Musette, for someone so into big dogs, you sure give feline energy! I say that in the most admiring way. -xoxo
I’m like a Very Big Cat!!! I’d love to shift into a 400+lb Amur tiger, see what folks have to say about THAT!!! 😉
I want to try so many of these lotions, but I cannot mentally handle a greasy feeling on my skin. I can’t even get past having lotion on my hands. Oil-based perfumes are generally a no-go with me as well. Now my deep dark scented secret is out! I have bought many lotions, bath oils, etc. over the years and end up giving them away.
Oh, no! Well… you can go sit by my sister and shake your heads at my goop-lovin’ self!!!
I’ve done that. He last one I cannot for the life of me remember the perfume but it was something that the reviewer wrote of as just vile: super-stinky, old man armpit, old man who chain-smoked luckies while drinking unfiltered kerosene and Thunderbird in clothes he rode horses in, mucked out the stalls, and never washed but scraped them clean with rabid ferrets. Said it was Evil. Only a sick mind would conjure it up and a sicker one wear it.
So of course I had to try it.
All I could think was “you think THIS stinks? Oh, honey..”
Bwahahahaha!!! We are a funny bunch. I’d like to try that, too! I’m the weirdo who loves Roja Dove’s Fetish Homme (it purrs) and Miller Harris L’Air de Rien (so cozy!). MKK is snuggle worthy. Others would think, to quote Musette, I lost my damb mind. Don’t care.
I think I’ll wear MKK to work in rebellion tomorrow. Be well.
I love the latter two and think I wanted to try the Roja but it was gone? MKK is totally snuggle worthy. CB I Hate Perfume musk too. I commend you wearing MKK to work. I’d sit next to you!
Me, too!
Love my snuggly L’air de Rien, and so does my partner!
Excellent taste!!!
HS, I would LOVE to be there for that!!! But I’m thinking it would smell deeelish! on you!
Need to know what this is…I must huff it
It was a Zoologist, but I can’t remember this one. And I found it totally innofensive.
Dang! I’d love to sniff that!
( and stop making me BLAAART! It’s unladylike!!)