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India Hicks Island Living Spider Lily Body Cream ~ scented body products

Posted by Jessica on 27 May 2007 8 Comments

India Hicks Island Living Spider Lily Body Cream

Before I could even try the Spider Lily Body Cream from Crabtree & Evelyn’s India Hicks Island Living collection, I had to figure out why the name “India Hicks” sounded so familiar to me. Ah, yes: if you’re old enough to recall the Royal Wedding of 1981, as I am, you may also remember her as one of Princess Diana’s bridesmaids at that “fairytale” event.

At the time, I was mesmerized by the entire spectacle of the Charles-and-Diana wedding, including the sight of a girl only a few years older than myself who held such a romantic and important duty. How had she been granted that honor? Apparently, it’s an advantage to be a goddaughter of Prince Charles and the granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy to India (hence her name), as well as a descendant of Queen Victoria. Now, thanks to some research, I also know that India Hicks has been busy with other stylish occupations over the past two decades: she has been a model (for Ralph Lauren and others), an interior designer (following in the celebrated footsteps of her father, David Hicks), a hotelier, and the author of two books that share her lifestyle in the Caribbean, Island Life and Island Beauty.

The twelve products in the Island Living line of toiletries and home fragrance, which Hicks developed in collaboration with Crabtree & Evelyn, draw upon her lifelong appreciation of the West Indies’ indigenous flora. Hicks describes the spider lily, her favorite island flower, as both fragile and tenacious, growing straight out of the sand near the shore. Its fragrance, as captured in the Spider Lily Body Cream, is delicate and crisp, complimented by notes of citrus (particularly lemon, to my nose) and a hint of salty sea air. I can’t normally wear white florals, so the breezy, light touch of this blend was a pleasant surprise for me. The spider lily is definitely not a waxy, heady, hothouse lily like those you may have recently encountered during the Easter season.

The formula of this Body Cream is so thick that other companies might have (less elegantly) called it body butter: it has a luxurious, spreadable texture. The scent clings well and recurs throughout the day. I wish that Hicks and Crabtree & Evelyn had also created a body lotion, since I can imagine this cream feeling slightly heavy in hot weather. However, it’s an excellent, highly concentrated moisturizer, so I shouldn’t complain. And, according to the label (which was inspired by antique botanical prints), it contains shea butter, avocado butter, mango seed oil, and other nourishing, nature-based ingredients reminiscent of the Bahamian landscape.

The island on which I spend most of my time is the Island of Manhattan, where I’m more likely to be found riding the subway than lounging on a shady veranda overlooking turquoise seas, but Spider Lily Body Cream will infuse my own days with a bit of beachy, aristocratic glamour nonetheless.

Spider Lily Body Cream sells for $30 for 7.0 oz. at Crabtree & Evelyn stores and the Crabtree & Evelyn website, or at Neiman Marcus.

Filed Under: scented body products
Tagged With: cheap thrills, crabtree evelyn, cream or lotion, india hicks

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8 Comments

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  1. Anonymous says:
    27 May 2007 at 9:25 pm

    She definitely seems to embody the idea of having a charmed life. I got the bath gel and am loving it. Will have to try the Body Cream. Wish they would extend the Spider Lily line to home fragrances – would love a candle in this scent.

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  2. Anonymous says:
    28 May 2007 at 11:12 am

    The promotional material has some unintentionally hilarious prose about Hicks leaving her glamorous, but pressured, existence in London, Paris, and New York for “a simpler way of life” in the Caribbean. Ah yes, the simplicity of owning a private island… 😉

    However “aspirational” this line may be, I do enjoy the Spider Lily scent and I would buy it in candle form, too!

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  3. Anonymous says:
    28 May 2007 at 3:18 pm

    Weird body chemistry strikes again. 30 seconds into this it turns on me and goes from Spider Lilly to “dead spider wearing a dead lilly while cleaning with Lemon Pledge” Luckily, it also doesn't last on me. WAH! I wanted a romantic, not too expensive scent. This isn't it.

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  4. Anonymous says:
    28 May 2007 at 4:49 pm

    Oh dear! I don't think that was *quite* the effect India Hicks was striving for! 🙂

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  5. Anonymous says:
    29 May 2007 at 8:05 am

    What do you bet she herself uses Jo Malone or Crème de la Mer? LOL!

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  6. Anonymous says:
    29 May 2007 at 8:29 am

    Impossible! 🙂

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  7. Anonymous says:
    29 May 2007 at 8:54 am

    Wanna bet? 🙂

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  8. Anonymous says:
    29 May 2007 at 10:21 am

    *straight face* I truly believe that every celebrity uses his or her own brand-name products, to the exclusion of all else. 😉

    In any case, this line is good quality, and I would go back for more… regardless of what Ms. Hicks actually has in her own medicine cabinet! lol.

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