This is an archived review of a discontinued product.
Once upon a time, I received a Babeland Massage Cube for review. It happened to be summer and so it arrived a melted mess. A melted mess that smelled amazing. However, the only place where the scent was labeled was on a sticker that I promptly threw away or fed to the cats or something, so I was in agony, not knowing what scent I liked so well. But Babeland, they’re on the ball. Despite going through several program managers, they knew their shit and offered to send me a bottle of their Babeland Body Massage Oil in the same scent: lavender vanilla. Seriously, pretty awesome.
So the bottle arrived and I was all excited to smell it but couldn’t get any to come out. Turns out, Babeland uses a clear plastic seal that’s pretty hard to see. I know because I checked and couldn’t even see it. It wasn’t until I touched with my finger that I realized it was there. This is not life or death. It’s actually kind of amusing for sort of frustrating for all of five seconds.
After those five seconds, my nose was busy sniffing the massage oil to see if it smelled as I remembered it. It didn’t, not exactly. As I recall, the massage bar was a lot sweeter because the vanilla was stronger. It’s the opposite with the massage oil: the vanilla takes a backseat. Interestingly enough, there is a noticeable citrus-like scent. I’m not a big fan of citrus scents. The overall impression is sometimes medicinal. It could just be my nose but I have a pure lavender massage oil from System Jo that also smells like a medicinal citrus.
I’ve noticed that Babeland’s lavender vanilla massage oil smells different in the bottle, in the air and on my skin. This is frequently the case with scented products, and I wish they were a bit more consistent. The result is that I like the massage oil a bit less than I like the bar itself. I dug out the bar from the drawer it’s been hiding in for months? years? and, sadly, it barely has a scent at all. I kept it in its box, which is hardly airtight, so I’m not entirely surprised.
The oil, which lists just three ingredients: sweet almond oil, vitamin E and fragrance, has a slightly off-white shade. It comes out of the bottle in a super controlled amount, thanks to the push-top cap. It’s a bit runny; Kama Sutra’s Oil of Love is thicker if I recall correctly. It feels great rubbing into my skin as a moisturizer, which is what I wind up doing with all my pretty smelling things. It leaves my skin with a pretty sheen and enables my hand to glide easily over different body parts. I feel like I’m using a lot, but my bottle barely seems to be used, so I’m probably just over-estimating on my part.
You may feel like washing your hands after using Babeland’s Body Massage Oil. They’ll feel a little greasy, and opening tight jars may be difficult, but it feels lighter than the System Jo Massage Oil. It’s not quite as slippery which I expect means I’ll wind up using more of the Babeland Massage Oil for long or intense massages but I like that it doesn’t feel as residue-y after usage. It’s a toss-up, really, depending on your needs and preferences.
Babeland’s massage oil comes in a giant 5.25 fluid-ounce bottle, compared to the tiny bottles I have from other companies and even other Babeland products. I figure it will just about last forever. I could probably give away all my other massage products and keep this one. I won’t, though.
You can pick up your own bottle for $14, making it the most wallet-friendly massage oil option that Babeland carried at the time–and perhaps ever. It’s too bad it’s now discontinued.
This sounds nice – I like Vanilla, and it’s always nice when the bottle is a generous size.