In the Stars Bath and Body Works, and the Amber and Sandalwood Scents Around It

In the Stars Bath and Body Works, and the Amber and Sandalwood Scents Around It

In the Stars Bath and Body Works is a sugared tangelo, starflower and sandalwood scent that launched for holiday 2018, and it now comes in everything from body wash to eau de parfum. Here is how I build it, the warm scents that sit next to it, and the sandalwood perfumes from other houses I reach for next.

Bath & Body Works started in 1990 in New Albany, Ohio, as the beauty line for Express, and opened its first store that September in a Cambridge, Massachusetts mall. Nearly thirty years later, for holiday 2018, the brand launched In the Stars as a new fragrance collection. In the Stars Bath and Body Works is the scent I would point a newcomer to, because it reads as a glowing evening scent rather than a single sweet note.

The brand describes it as starflower, sandalwood musk, sugared tangelo, white agarwood and radiant amber. Top to bottom, the notes are sugared tangelo and pink currant, then starflower, apricot blossom and jasmine absolute, then sandalwood, white musk, white agarwood, amber and moss. It is bright first and warm after.

The first row is the full layering set. The body wash starts the scent in the shower, the Ultimate Hydration Body Cream and Body Lotion deepen it, and the Exfoliating Glow Body Scrub is for days when skin needs smoothing. The brand says the cream and lotion give 48-hour moisture, with shea butter in both and coconut oil in the lotion. The Fine Fragrance Mist and the Eau de Parfum finish it, and the brand says the EDP is its highest concentration.

Next to it sit two other night scents. Into the Night Fine Fragrance Mist is pink pomelo and dewberry over patchouli, vanilla bean and mocha. After Dark Ultimate Hydration Body Cream is spiced bergamot, amber and smooth tonka.

My test: wear the body wash and lotion for a day before you buy the perfume.

Big numbers collage titled IN THE STARS, six products numbered one to six with each product set beside its number: Bath & Body Works In the Stars Fine Fragrance Mist, Bath & Body Works In the Stars Ultimate Hydration Body Cream, Bath & Body Works In the Stars Body Lotion, Bath & Body Works In the Stars Exfoliating Glow Body Scrub, Bath & Body Works A Thousand Wishes Fine Fragrance Mist and Tom Ford Santal Blush Eau de Parfum
In the Stars Bath and Body Works

In the Stars and Bath & Body Works' other after-dark scents

More warm scents: amber, vanilla and woods

If In the Stars is the soft glow, these are the warmer, rounder end of the Bath & Body Works shelf. A Thousand Wishes Fine Fragrance Mist and Body Cream are pink prosecco, sparkling quince, crystal peonies, gilded amber and amaretto creme. They are the most festive thing here, and I would keep them for winter.

Warm Vanilla Sugar is the other one most people know. Its fine fragrance mist and body cream open with sheer muguet, then coconut milk, white orchid and jasmine, and settle on vanilla absolute, warm musk, sugar crystals and sandalwood. Cashmere Amber is the quietest scent here. The Eau de Parfum has mandarin, pink pepper and a warm linen accord over cocoa butter, cashmere musk and amber, and the brand calls it a light, second-skin fragrance that is hypoallergenic and gentle enough for sensitive skin. The Ultra Hydrating Body Lotion comes in a big 16.6 fl oz size with hyaluronic acid and shea and cocoa butter.

Into the Night Eau de Parfum has the same Turkish rose petals and jasmine sambac as the mist, in a glass bottle with a spritz applicator. Mahogany Teakwood Ultimate Hydration Body Cream is the woody one, with juniper berry, cypress leaves, driftwood and a black teakwood accord.

A pairing idea: Cashmere Amber lotion under In the Stars mist gives it a creamy base.

What I would skip: layering Mahogany Teakwood with anything sweet. It is a woods scent and it wants its own space.

More warm Bath & Body Works scents: amber, vanilla and woods

Sandalwood and amber perfumes from other houses

If you like the sandalwood in In the Stars and want to see where that family goes, these eight are the ones I would smell. Tom Ford Santal Blush is a spicy wood with creamy Australian sandalwood, cinnamon bark oil and ylang-ylang. Maison Louis Marie No.04 Bois de Balincourt is the drier, more classic one, with sandalwood, cedarwood, cinnamon, nutmeg and vetiver. The house says it works in a botanical tradition since 1792.

Maison Margiela Replica By the Fireplace is roasted chestnut, smoky clove oil and sweet vanilla, meant to recreate a crackling fire. Prada Paradoxe Radical Essence is the odd one, with a salted pistachio accord, neroli and creamy sandalwood. Mugler Alien brings jasmine sambac, cashmeran wood and white amber, and Thierry Mugler envisioned Alien as the moment that occurs before a miracle. Valentino Donna Born in Roma Intense adds a strong vanilla to creamy jasmine and amber, while Jo Malone London Frangipani Flower is lemon, frangipani, ylang-ylang and sandalwood. Chloé Eau de Parfum with rose and amber is the softest floral here.

Try them on a paper strip first, then on skin. Sandalwood changes a lot with body heat.

What I would skip: Maison Margiela By the Fireplace as your first sample if you like soft scents. Chestnut and smoky clove are a lot to start with, so work up to it.

Sandalwood and amber perfumes to try next

How I would wear it, layer by layer

Start with body wash, then lotion or cream, then mist, and keep the Eau de Parfum for nights you want In the Stars to linger. The brand itself says to layer the body wash, lotion and EDP, and I agree with that order. If you want a warmer base, go to Cashmere Amber or Warm Vanilla Sugar. If you want to branch out, Tom Ford Santal Blush and Maison Louis Marie No.04 are the two sandalwood perfumes I would sample first. One spray behind each ear and one on the wrists is plenty.