Posted By Lori Ferraro on Jun 12, 2015 | 3 comments

Before the days of Colors by benetton, before Liz Claiborne, and waaay before the very mature, very overpowering Obsession obsession, pre-teen girls of the 80s everywhere were spritzing this on their wrists and behind their ears: Love’s Baby Soft was the “it” fragrance to have sitting atop your dresser – it smelled (and still smells) like . . . well . . . youth. The powdery and pretty scent came in a rounded pink bottle with a big white cap. The scent was light, gentle, and just like the name of it states: soft. Flowery with notes of rose, jasmine, geranium and musk, wearing Love’s was a rite of passage; you weren’t quite a teenager yet, but you were no longer a little kid. It was the perfect “cologne” for an eleven/twelve year old girl to wear. Born in 1974 by Love Cosmetics, the perfume was a huge, sweet success – you couldn’t walk by a group of girls without being engulfed in a wave of the sweet scent of baby powder and flowers. Initial marketing for the product definitely reads as pretty creepy today . . .

In the 80s, the scent was still going strong, and the vibe was cooler and less creepy. You may remember their tag line, “underneath it all, she’s baby soft.”

And I totally ripped this page out of my Seventeen Magazine because of this dreamboat . . . The popularity of the pink stuff of course led to a spinoff, Love’s Fresh Lemon, which from what I can remember smelled like a lemonade stand exploded in my bathroom. The same signature shaped bottle but all golden and sweet, reminiscent of another popular lemon scent of the time — Jean Nate. Today you can still find Love’s Baby Soft lots of places, Sears, ebay, and here on Amazon. The perfume of course also has its own Facebook page where devoted fans can be reminded of seventh grade when they see that bottle update their status now and then. It really is amazing how powerful a sense memory is; if you want to feel like a kid again, check out your local drug store or get online and get yourself a bottle of youth, the pink stuff with the big white cap (well, the new packaging uses a pink cap, but we can pretend). I guarantee one whiff and you’ll feel like an 80s tween all over again.