The Art of the Scented Bath

When it feels like winter’s here to stay, and the good weather’s far away, turn your bathtub into a place of delight. Cocoon fragrance, baths of milk and honey, fragrant salves…turn pampering yourself into an art form.
Report by Nicolas Olczyk

Like perfume, bath products can help us travel without leaving home. Every country and region seems to have its own traditions: Morocco, Polynesia, Scandinavia... Just slip into the water, close your eyes, and you’re halfway to your next real-life destination.
Faithful to the idea of perfumery inspired by travel, Diptyque has just launched L’Art du Soin (The Art of Pampering), a bath & body collection inspired by the legendary cities of the Mediterranean basin. With notes of bay leaf and olive, there’s a milky bath & shower jelly inspired by the city of Alep, in Syria. Iris and cedar have been invited into the precious bath & body oils that evoke the city of Florence. The other destinations in this cocooning range are Cordoba (apricot and almond), Byzance (rose, argan) and Alexandria (orange blossom, petit-grain).

Several brands inspire us to become bathtub travelers, often at very reasonable prices, too. Avon, for instance, proposes Planet Spa, a line inspired by beauty rituals from Greece, Morocco, the Dead Sea and Asia. At Yves Rocher, the Jardins du Monde collection lets you take a veritable olfactory voyage in your bath or shower: Comoran ylang-ylang, Laotian lotus as well as scents that men will enjoy, like Haitian vetiver and Chinese star anise.

While it’s more common to create a bath line based on a perfume, it does happen the other way around sometimes. The luxurious spa brand Cinq Mondes has turned its rituals of Bangalore, Siam and Kyoto into a collection of eau de toilettes. Niche brand Esteban proposes ‘Le Bain’, a line of fragrances from Japan, Russia, Africa and elsewhere… that are also available in eau de toilette versions.


	And finally, for an unusual fragrant gesture, the Brazilian brand Natura proposes ‘aguas de banho’ (bath eaus), which combine perfume and bathing. These woody, spicy or citrusy eaus let you apply fragrance while scrubbing your skin in the bath or shower, then rinsing off.