China Rain

(Note before review: I do not see Body Time's China Rain as a default fragrance on Fragrantica, so I have to list Terranova's. It's the exact same fragrance; from what I understand they were once one company but split into two. But I use Body Time's product, not Terranova's) This stuff is a masterpiece. It's basically what everyone should ideally smell like after they shower. Just a sharp, clean, musky floral. And of course like many masterpieces, it's inevitably copied. J.Lo's "Glow", the scent that started Jennifer Lopez's fragrance empire, is a blatent and embarrassing dupe of China Rain. As the story goes, Ms. Lopez was a fan of the product for years and frequently ordered it from the Body Time store. And when she decided to make her own fragrance, woooooow... what a coinkidinck... it smells just like China Rain. But there is an important difference. The dry down. As time passes, underneath Glow's China-Rainy mask you're left with nothing more than something plastic and synthetic (ironically similar, in my opinion, to J.Lo. Underneath the spectacular beauty you're left with a tired, self-absorbed, whiny diva). China Rain doesn't do that. It remains China Rain throughout. And the longevity (of China Rain, not Glow) is AMAZING. I don't know about you, but I hate respraying fragrances after a couple of hours, or having to carry around a small decant of the stuff because you know it's gonna fade away. Unless it's a three dollar body spray it shouldn't do that. But China Rain lasts and lasts. Some thoughts: -It is marketed as a women's fragrance but it is unisex. Men can rock it. -If you like "Glow", please give China Rain a try. It is hands down the superior product all around (including sillage and longetivy) and it's only about 20 bucks for the cologne (it also comes as a veeeery concentrated oil which is well worth the extra money. A few dabs of the oil and forget "rain", you're in a China Typhoon). -Be forwarned: this stuff is strong! A dab will do you you. -Is both a casual and a nighttime fragrance (yay) and is appropriate for day or night use. -Great for all seasons (I personally love scents that are like that!) but shines in spring and summer. Not ideal for beach use though. I mean, you can, but there are better picks out there for the sun and the sand. -Very young to very old can work this. It's very versitile! -Only "con", and a minor one at that, is it's not terribly appropriate for the workplace. If you must wear this to the office, just a touch, please! As stated, the sillage is cray cray. You don't want to offend anyone. Not everyone digs this kind of fragrance because of the sharpness.

Cross-posting this part of my review from Terranova Rain, in case it's helpful to anyone looking for China Rain or wondering about who made what version: Since there seems to be a bit of confusion about how Terranova, the Body Shop, and Body Time fit together, here's the scoop: The original Body Shop in Berkeley, CA (so named because it occupied the premises of a former auto body shop), was opened by Jane Saunders and her sister Peggy in 1970. In 1987, they sold the rights to its name to Anita Roddick, who had founded the UK-based Body Shop and was willing to pay handsomely to be able to use this name in the US market too (this is the Body Shop brand we're all familiar with today). The Berkeley natural bodycare shop was renamed Body Time, and its burgeoning wholesale arm was called Terranova. Jane Saunders' daughters eventually took over both halves of the business until they themselves retired and shuttered everything in 2020. As other people here have mentioned, there are a few places that have acquired the Body Shop/Body Time/Terranova original formulas and continue to produce the company's signature scents. Perfectly Scentsable out of Ashland, OR, is one - I've tried both their Rain and China Rain and they seem spot-on to me. Scents By The Bay, also located in Berkeley, is another one I recently ran across but haven't tried yet - they also claim to be working with the Saunders' original formulas and have a whole section on their website dedicated to Body Time scents.

I love this little gem! So soft, clean and gentle. The musk here is light and graceful, the lily note delicate and fresh. The overall vibe is joyful, innocent and pure. I like to wear this to bed after a bath. Blissful relaxation! EDIT: I love this soooo much! It’s a beautiful base for anything clean, green, musky or powdery (so a huge range of fragrances). Currently wearing it layered with Love, Chloe... which is a divine, clean powder bomb. But just putting it out there for others with different tastes. This works beautifully as an amplifying base for so many clean, green, powdery or white floral perfumes. And a tiny oil ($20) lasts an age. Worth trying out!

I was searching for a clean, shower-fresh frangrance to wear to yoga class and this (but by Body Time, not TerraNova) was recommended. I blind bought the cologne version last month and the bottle is already half gone, that's how much I love it. I plan to order the oil next, and soon. Applied after a shower in the morning, I can still smell this on my skin at bedtime, but much softer and so warm. It wears nice and close (the way I like it) and is a skin-but-better scent to me. As a bonus, China Rain layers well with so many fragrances, even gourmands, which surprised me. Divine layered with Alkemia Aanandha and Kyse Oiu Plus.

I see a few different bottles on ebay. Some has rain drops printed on the bottle, some just have words "china rain". One is fake? Or both legit? What do you know about bottle design? I am trying not to buy a knock off. Update: I bought one with rain drops on the bottle (see picture on the official TerraNova website). I love it. Reminded me about Casual by Paul Sebastian. Very close. I dislike its oil form. I want it to be spray! Lovely scent but I have oil form. It is very subtle, so you need to spread a lot all over your skin and it is greasy. I will buy Glow J Lo because people say it is a dupe and it is spray.

So pretty! My Perfectly Scentsable sample is becoming a fast favorite this spring. China Rain stands tall above all other rain-type fragrance oils I’ve tried. In most of them, the shrieking white florals drown out any green or musky facets that fight to be noticed. Not the case with this one! All of the notes blend harmoniously and bring to mind a garden of delicate blooms on a misty April morning. In my book, it’s earned its status as a scent for the ages. (As an aside, this does not smell like JLo Glow to me. This is more naturalistic and floral-forward, whereas Glow has a musk-heavy, laundry detergent feel.)

Oh, this is just stunning. Exactly the soft musk for which I've been searching. The first time I wore it, on a sunny day, it was overtly floral (in a fresh, lush, wonderful way.) Today it's raining, and the scent is warm, mysterious, and deeply enticing. It's very intimate, deceptively so. I was surprised by the degree to which it seemed to melt with my own skin scent, as if it's somehow amplifying the natural human pheromones to perceptible levels. Sexy, classy, and timeless.

The scent of my mother. Seriously, if I smell it in public I drop whatever it is i'm doing and whip my head around to see if she's come to surprise me though we don't live in the same state. Clean, warm skin, wrapped in the lightest linen, slightly damp from the morning dew, with a jasmine bundle tucked behind her ear.

China rain is fresher than china musk, less sweet imo. It reminds me of incense, and its very slightly floral at the start, when it dries down you get more of that and its very pleasant. Definitely green! I got an oil and was totally surprised when I put it on in the morning, I could still smell it before I showered!!!

2024 Perfectly Scentsable and Beyond Scents websites are where I get all Rain oils including China Rain and it is like Terra Nova and Body Time oils. I have purchased several times from Perfectly Scentsable and Beyond scents. beyond scents has the lotions, powders, soaps and candles!

Just a heads up:the Saunders have retired, after 50 years Terranova oils are no longer in production. You can’t order them directly from them but there are distributors, Beauty Collection in the LA area still carries them.

Heidilynn: great review, sums up exactly how I feel about this fragrance! I wore it today and still wearing it tonight.

This really is a little gem of a fragrance. I used Glow for a while, probably as close to a signature scent as I've been in years, about 5 years ago. When I spotted this at my local specialty grocery, I snagged a tiny bottle (half oz I think) of oil for $20. It is powerful but fresh, really lovely. Yes, it's a lot like Glow, but as others have said, it is somewhat more...more. More fresh, more pure, more powerful, more nuanced. Boiling it down to just the notes, it is neroli, rose, a hint of jasmine, and a load of clean, fresh, white musk with a "watery" note that is more fresh and clean than oceanic. It could almost be perceived as powdery, but I think that's the velvety, fleshy white musk talking. China Rain dries down to a really round, sweet, welcoming, sensual musk; Glow was slightly more indolic and slightly more "stale" as it dried down; that's the key difference. For those looking for a "Dove Soap" smell, this is as close as I can recommend. I love the counterpoint this scent creates. It is simultaneously simple and mysterious--like a hidden forest waterfall or a lush, vibrant rose. This might be how the Virgin Mary smells, but it is just as likely to be the fragrance of Aphrodite. It is clean, freshly showered skin that is also sensual and musky. It is an incredibly addictive smell; I've worn it 3 days in a row, something I hardly ever do, and I want to wear it again. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. The longevity is a solid 12 hours, the sillage is impressive without being overwhelming.

The first time I ever smelled a perfume oil called China rain was in a small boutique in Greenwich Village. I fell in love with the smell and purchased a small bottle. I wore it all summer back in the early 90s, but when I ran out, I never replaced it. I was haunted by the scent for years. When I discovered TerraNova, and saw they have a China Rain product, I jumped on it. Either I built what I had smelled years earlier into something mythical and better than it actually was, or there are are many other versions out there. This is not a terrible version, but it does have a plastic note that turns me off. As it turned out, I had purchased Cartier Baiser Vole around the same time. Again, not a bad fragrance, but the opening smells like laundry detergent on my skin and it takes a while before it turns into something I truly like. So I decided to see what would happen if I layered them, and it really worked! Each seemed to smooth over the things I found unpleasant in the other! Spring is approaching, and I will be breaking out more of my florals soon. I am interested in trying both as gain individually, knowing if I need to, I can layer both and have a beautiful fresh and green lily, with a touch of powder in the dry down. I will continue to seek out OTHER China Rains as well!

I recently purchased three 100 ml bottles of Glow by Jennifer Lopez, I could NOT get enough. That was a waste...I eventually decided to buy China Rain after I saw so many reviews saying that Glow was a dup! I recieved my bottle of China Rain today..its marvelous. You know how you can taste the difference betwen tap water and purfied water? Thats the contrast between China Rain and Glow. I can breathe right through China Rain without any synthetic aftertaste. Glow, being an eau de toilette, it isn't made with the best quality (or simply, maybe because there can only be ''the one & only china rain'') it tends to smell like suntanning lotion or bug spray if its used in excess. Glow does have it's perks, like the custardy, creamy vanilla that's not evident in China Rain. China Rain has a PURE, refreshing quality about it that literally feels like I have my own personal cloud showering me and keeping me clean through out the day. Its so magical..the musk is light and sexy, and the green notes make me feel like I'm Queen of the Forest. So..I threw out all my Jlo bottles to make room for more China Rain. Body Time has a new customer!

Never tried it! I turned 18 winter of 1992 so obviously this was popular and present. I did play with the various oils at the local spirit and magik shop, but gravitated to Night Queen and Love oil. I added this to a recent order for free ship from a reputable Etsy oil shop. I wasn’t expecting much but it is lovely and in my wheelhouse for sure. Lilies of course! Love me some lilies since bending down to smell the lily of the valley blooms that grew on the creek bed at my grandparents home (the driveways were bridged as they were set above a meandering creek). Love white musks and the floral blend is perfect for spring. I now live in Pennsylvania and took my students on a walk on Wednesday. Everything was alive and renewed and pale green. It was 72 degrees and the sky was pale baby blue with white cumulonimbus clouds. This fragrance definitely personifies that type of spring weather! To echo Churinl, yes, this fragrance embodies summers of the early 90s and is evocative of those then popular clean scents: Perry Ellis 360 L eau de Issey Origins floral one TBS White Musk Ghost Myst Victoria Secret Tranquil Breezes

This is a fresh, clean, pure, innocent type of scent. I am not a religious person, but if every Easter Sunday could be bottled, it would smell like this. This purity of scent also reminds me of the color white - white dresses, white flowers, white sheets, white soap. For some reason it also brings to mind a young, pretty, hopeful girl on her father's ranch in Texas, sitting on a fence eating vanilla ice cream on a hot day, waiting on her young boyfriend to come and pick her up in his red pick-up truck...smells like innocent love?? She would smell like China Rain, and her life would be simple and wholesome. Back to reality...On my skin, there is a lot of lily of the valley at the beginning, followed by a floral/soapy/musky/slightly powdery dry down. It doesn't last as long as I would like it to, but then again nothing lasts on my skin. I wear this when I want to feel like an angel, or when it is extremely hot.

Basing on the reviews I bought the parfume oil and the body lotion. They arrived yesterday after four weeks wait as I live in Germany and the Body Time shop is in California.it is definitely a good smell but is not my taste and I see that it makes me sneeze a lot. I decided to sell everything so if anybody is interested...I also have four small test oils: Rosewood, Egyptian musk, china lily, lady grey. The first two I have liked the most but I would not use them for the body. If you order from Germany you will have to pay the custom.

I love this musky floral, it has just the right amount of greens, floral, and powdery notes. It is discreet but very long lasting and I get so many compliments on this. Nakedcity is right: the Saunders have retired, however, there are still a few distributors. Life, a small boutique gift shop in San Francisco carries the Terra Nova Oils (not under that name), they have a website where you can order oils in 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 oz size bottles. Hope that helps!

I got one of these (Water Petals, which I don't see a listing for), as a gift for high school graduation all the way back in '99, and I still have it. These kinds of scents were all the rage back then, and I miss them. There was also a Bay Area brand called Body Time (not to be confused with Body Shop) that did a "China Rain" that I suspect was very much in this vein. I don't know why scents like this ever fell out of favor.

I have been searching for a fresh, clean scent. I just received China Rain from Body Time....LOVE it. I bought the shower/lotion and fragrance. It does smell very much like Glow or Glow smells very much like China Rain....This fragrance lasts for 12 hours.....On my skin the lily/musk really stand out....Plus it is very affordable!

I wanted to try this but see reviews saying it's the closest thing to dove soap.. which I definitely don't want. Another saying it smells like incense. Which I hate. So I suppose the best thing is to go to a store that has JLo Glow and see if it's remotely in my ballpark. 🤔

Are they now selling the Saunders “Berkeley” formulas through the Beyond Scents company? I can’t find a lot of information about them online. There are no reviews for China Rain on the site but it does say it’s the 1977 original formulation. Anyone try them or know more?

Fresh & clean 70s rain type scent mixed with a little clean musk. I’ve know this since the 90s, and recommend checking out Perfectly Scentable, Bubbles Arcata and Desert Dancer. I have tried this, China Musk and Rain from these places and have been happy with them.

The very first reviewer Chiquis has got everything right and I agree with her except t for the prices of the cologne and the essence oil in China Rain. The perfume is $17.50 for a tiny bottle and it's $30.00 for the essence.

Correction on my review. That is $30.00 for the 2oz of Cologne. Thank You.