Mix and match Monday: Body products that work with your favorite fragrance

It’s Tax Day here in the U.S. so what better to take your mind off it than fragrance? Have you ever tried a shower gel, soap, body lotion or cream and thought, “Hey, this reminds me a little of XYZ perfume”? Mix and match can be the way to go if the actual juice you love doesn’t have accompanying body items (or if it does and they are way too spendy).

I’ve stumbled across a few that seemed pretty compatible. Here are a few of my finds, but as always, YMMV:

Diptyque’s Do Son soap and/or shower gel. These are nice with most of the tuberoses I’ve
tried (Carnal Flower, Mona di Orio, etc.), but of course, most bath items are not noted for their longevity. Now I have mix and match 2not tried the Do Son body lotion but it might be worth a go as well. If I ever make it to an actual Diptyque store, I’ll have a field day sampling all their ancillary products.

I’ve discovered that Kenzo Amour lotion pairs well with Parfumerie Generale Indochine — I think it’s the common note of thanaka wood that they share. The Amour may be more floral but it’s not so noticeable in the lotion and seems to complement the Indochine nicely.

Many a pepper-centric scent could get off to a happy start with Molton Brown’s Paradisiac Pink Pepperpod shower gel (I like it with Si Lolita de Lempicka). Or for a more masculine bent, mix and match a scent with their Re-Charge Black Pepper body wash (bet this could be good with Le Labo’s Poivre 23).

Now this next one might sound a bit odd, but on my skin, Guerlain’s new L’Heure de Nuit has enough in common with the original Oscar de la Renta and the Esprit d’Oscar that the OdlR body products work well with it.

And just thinking out loud, here are a few untried others:

Any of the body products from Narciso Rodriguez for Her could pair with a variety of orange blossom scents or musks. And Yves Rocher makes quite a few scented body products (affordable, too) that could be simpatico with some fragrances.

Madonna’s Truth or Dare body line might play nice with some tuberose scents, as some reviewers have referred to the scent as “Fracas lite.” I wasn’t in love with the juice itself but thought the body cream was surprisingly good.

Now I know you guys will have some wonderful suggestions, as always, so feel free to share your mix and match finds.

  • Beth says:

    Thank you, thank you for your post and all the responses. I have a HUGE amount of scented bath products that I bought before I got into scent. I now keep them at the back of my cabinet because I don’t want them to interfere with the perfume I’m wearing. It’s pretty neat to think about what I could layer with them to enhance both instead.

    • Ann says:

      Hi, Beth! Sounds like you’re sitting on a treasure chest of goodies. Have fun experimenting and playing around with them and the fragrances.

  • julie says:

    I like to use Lush Flying Fox shower gel and their Midnight Massage bar (both full of jasmine) with SL Fleurs d’Oranger.

    • Ann says:

      Ooh, Julie, never tried those Lush products but they sound wonderful. I’ve been looking for something to go with my jasmine loves, so thanks!

  • Tara says:

    I like to layer Penhaligons Violetta lotion under SL Bois de Violette, Couvent des Minimes orange blossom cream under FM Carnal Flower, and JPG2 massage oil under L’Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu. 🙂

    • Ann says:

      Great suggestions there, Tara! Didn’t even know there was a Gaultier massage oil. A fab perfume pal sent me a sample jar of the Couvent cream and I loved it, but where on earth do you get it? I looked high and low last year to no avail.

  • maggiecat says:

    I love doing this and appreciate all the great ideas above. Body Shop’s White Musk shower gel and lotion are not only very nice on their own, but layer beautifully under scents that have a musk note or could use one. (I’ve used them under Patricia Nikolai’s Musc Intense and Narciso Rodriguez’ Musc for her Intense.)

    • Ann says:

      Maggiecat, I like the sound of those products. Now all I need to do find a Body Shop near me (oh, the joys of living out in the sticks!). Thanks!

      • Ann says:

        Oops — that came out wrong. I love where I live; it’s just that it’s a pretty good hoof to any decent perfume shopping.

  • Musette says:

    It’s so spoooooky! that you wrote about this today, as I was considering that very thing last night! You know I loved my body products. I am not a huge fan of gardenia, though I do want to love it so…so…I had the brilliant idea to layer my favorite non-gardenia gardenia, CREED’s Fleurs de Gardenia, with the Yves Rocher Gardenia body stuff. It’s great! The YR helps amp up the gardenia without taking over.

    Alas, it looks as if it’s discontinued so once this is gone, I’m a goner.

    I’d love to find a quiet iris shower gel and cream. Anyone have any suggestions?

    xoA

    • Ann says:

      Great minds think alike, right, sweetie? You are the body product queen o’ the Posse! Love your gardenia layering formula but 🙁 on the discontinuation …

  • Dina C. says:

    I’m a big fan of layering within scent families. In the past, I’ve found that the Prada Infusion d’Iris bath gel is a nice base for any iris-scented fumes. Chanel No. 19 bath gel and lotion go well with a lot of my greens. Floris Cefiro lotion also worked with a lot of green floral scents. Nowadays I’ve been using Crabtree & Evelyn’s Iris lotion with my iris scents. Korres has a Japanese Rose and a Jasmine scented body wash that are great companions to scents with those notes. And Aveeno makes a Shea Butter and Fig body wash that I like to layer under my L’Artisan Premier Figuier Extreme. Roger et Gallet and L’Occitane both make nice Green Tea body washes and lotions that I love, especially in the summer. They layer with any tea scent, or green scent nicely. Mor Blackcurrant Iris is another one that layers under iris scents well. And Gucci Envy body wash and lotion have lily of the valley and hyacinth in them, so they go well with things like SL Bas de Soie, and PdN Odalisque.

    • Ann says:

      Wowza, Dina! What a great batch of layering suggestions! There’s something in your post for just about everyone. I’m especially interested in the Envy items as I love that scent, as well as the SL and the PdN. Thanks!

  • MMMMM Plenty of excellent sampling coming up from that list thanks Ann,
    Portia xx

  • eldarwen22 says:

    I’ve done the layering thing. You know the one, the matching soap and body lotion with perfume but not different scents and body products. I am debating though on mixing Vera Wang’s Sheer Veil body products with Serge Lutens A La Nuit. Since taxes are done and getting monies back…

    • Ann says:

      Hooray and congrats on the taxes! Always sweet relief to have that behind you. Your combo sounds interesting; let us know how you liked it, if you go with it.

  • rosarita says:

    YR does have some nice scented products. I haven’t ordered in a few years so I don’t know if it’s changed, but their vanilla lotion was wonderful, nice and dark. Totally not cupcake vanilla.

    • Ann says:

      Hi, lady! Was it their Vanille Noire that came in a smoky brown bottle? If so, I loved that, too. Looking on their site, I see it comes in a shower gel, body lotion and a rollerball. Mmmm … now you’ve got me craving some of that 🙂

  • Lavanya says:

    I just discovered this combination that I have been loving: Villainess whipped body butter in the Embargo scent layered with Serge Lutens Un Lys. The Embargo scent is basically a clove and patchouli scent with a thread of tuberoses and white flowers and adds something quite lovely to the already lovely Un Lys.. I love the formulation of the body butter too- light yet moisturizing (It used to be one of my favorites 5-6 years ago and I recently re-discovered it because they are discontinuing the Embargo scent so of course I had to buy some)..

    PG Indochine- I really need to try the PG scents- except for Bois Blond I don’t think I have tried any of them.

    • Ann says:

      Lavanya, that combo sounds quite lovely. I’m not familiar with that line, though, so guess I need to investigate — who carries it? And that it’s in a body butter makes it extra nice; I’m a sucker for those. Thanks!

      • Lavanya says:

        It’s a small indie etailer called Villainess (villainess.net)..I love their scrubs (the scrubs are called ‘Smooches’- I love especially the warming scrub-Dulces en Fuego smooch. I am not usually a gourmand scent fan but this scent is peppery and addictive)..I was just just checking the website and I couldn’t find the embargo whipped any more, though they still have the scrub and the perfume oil (which I haven’t tried)

    • Cacomixtle says:

      I’ve been considering their Datura body butter, so it’s very good to see this comment here, thanks!