I Hauled These two Victoria’s secret Scents to keep Mosquitoes away from Me

When your appeal decisions are motivated by insects damaging you at night…
This may look like your standard-issue “Oh, there’s a two-for-one body splash sale at Victoria’s Secret, so lemme go hook that up” kind of haul.

Totally not.

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Instead of being motivated by a good deal (which is my normal motivation for spur-of-the-moment appeal buys), this purchase was brought on by tiny monsters.

Specifically, flying insects.

Specifically, insects that buzz around your house and sink their proboscis into your unsuspecting flesh in the middle of the night. I’ve been getting devoured by what I think are mosquitoes…

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THANK GOD. and I say that because for a while there I thought they might be bed bugs. but now I’m pretty sure they’re mosquitoes.

I think it’s because the contractors who replaced our furnace, water heater and AC left the front door open the whole day they were here. Consequently, a gaggle of mosquitoes came into my house, and they’ve been biting me at night.

I’ve got bites around my ankles, on my feet (Fun fact: Mosquitoes love the scent of feet.), on my back, my tummy, on the backs of my shoulders… I’ve been very itchy, and it hasn’t been fun.

A few days ago, I started using a real-deal mosquito repellent consisting of picaridin at night, and it keeps them away for 14 hours. It’s helped a ton — no new bites! — but in the process of researching how to make yourself less appealing/more disgusting to the little monsters, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of information about two Victoria’s secret scents that allegedly repel bugs.

People talk about this stuff as if it’s manna from heaven as far as keeping bugs away, and fisherman and deep-sea researchers go on and on about it. It’s Victoria’s secret Amber Romance, and it’s meant to be the bee’s knees at keeping gnats, mosquitoes and other flying insects away. even the dudes on the Louisiana state Baseball team vow by it!

They had only two bottles left in the store that day…so I got both. They’re normally $16 a pop, but they were two for $18 on sale.

I also grabbed a roller ball of Victoria’s secret Bombshell perfume, which, according to a scientific study, is nearly as good as DEET at repelling mosquitoes. It doesn’t seem to have the same cult following as Amber Romance, though.

Really, I think the bug repellent I’ve been using does the heavy lifting, but if the perfumes are also helping, I’m all for that. I spritz the body mist on myself, or dab some perfume, every couple hours during the day, or whenever I’m feeling anxious about bugs flying around me, and I haven’t seen a new bite in the last few days.

Funny thing is, I actually like the scents! I was a little hesitant to try something new from Victoria’s secret because it’s been ages considering that I’ve sniffed anything in there and felt moved, but both of these smell delightful, and they’re easy to wear.

Amber romance smells like warm vanilla, sandalwood and amber to me, with a pinch of tart cherry. and Bombshell, which is apparently VS’s bestselling fragrance, also has big vanilla notes, but it’s lighter and a lot more floral (I detect peony). I think it’s nearly like a tropical fruit smoothie with pineapple and passion fruit (no coconut though). I don’t feel suffocated by either scent, and both of them last a few hours.

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So…bugs. Mosquitoes. how do you deal with them? Do you ever wear insect repellent at night (or during the day)?

Your friendly neighborhood appeal addict,

Karen