Fictionary: Scent Stunt Double

Fictionary is a column showcasing beauty-related words that don't exist, but should.

 For me, eau de high school is a single scent: Bath & Body Works Sparkling Pear. I used the shower gel, the body lotion, even the body splash (and even though I was a teen, I still considered body splashes to be slightly low-rent). It was the most divine, just-bitten pear essence. Not too sweet the way Victoria's Secret's iteration was. It was absolutely the aroma of ripe pears, sans saccharine. And once it was heartbreakingly discontinued (I'm still angry about this, BBW!) my friends and I would loot Rice's Market (a sort of Canal Street in Chinatown for suburban folk in Philly) for overstock bottles and hoard them like crazy wartime women. I distinctly remember getting irate at my brother for using up my last drop of my last hoarded bottle of shower gel TO SIT AROUND THE HOUSE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES when I was saving it FOR THE PROM. And like Dr. Martens, flannels, my infatuation with mysteriously quiet (read: stupid--I found out later) guys, brown lipstick and virtual violet everything, it died out completely. Though that didn't stop me from searching (unsuccessfully) for a Scent Stunt Double. Read on...



I never found one--until I was invited to CVS/Pharmacy headquarters this summer for a sneak peek of the latest brand launching with Salma Hayek inspired by her Mexican grandmother's home beauty recipes. Enter Nuance Salma Hayek Prickly Pear Hydrating Body Cleansing Gel ($10 at cvs.com). One whiff and I'm driving my white Neon with power windows only in the front (showroom model) on my way home from soccer practice (JV all four years, friends--mama is not an athlete) listening to an "emo" (though we never used that word, then) mix made for me by my best friend Todd (at the time) featuring Led Zepplin's "All of my Love" and Heart's "Alone." Parenthetically, isn't Heart THE most underrated band, EVER? But back to the scent of Salma Hayek's version--it's perfect. It's the Platonic ideal--a true Scent Stunt Double. It's so exactly right, I gasped in the conference room, in front of 5 beauty bloggers and about a gajillion coupon/mom bloggers (but that, friends, is a story for another day).

Do you remember Bath & Body Works' Sparkling Pear fragrance? And what is your favorite scent stunt double? SHARE, friends.

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