Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure.

Paulo Coehlo

Body & Soul is a new perfume from Matthew Decker Fragrances. Body & Soul was released in 2019.

Matthew Decker is an amazing person with a heart full of passion and kindness. The way that I found his perfume is kind of a long story, which I’ll tell when I review his first fragrance (Everlasting Lust) at another time. But I can honestly say that Matthew puts so much care and effort into his fragrances, and his customer service, as well as his music (which I discovered on Soundcloud and have had so much fun listening to).

Since I bought Matthew’s first fragrance several years ago, it’s hard for me to believe that he has just turned 21 years old this year. But we have “clicked” because he is an old soul — he amazed me with his knowledge of which perfumes all of Hollywood’s greatest leading ladies wore, and we had fun trading pictures of our favorite diamond rings from Liz Taylor’s collection. I don’t know him “in real life,” but this is the kind of personal touch that he puts into his customer service.

I really admire Matthew’s drive and determination, and his passion about perfume and his personal brand. I have intended to write a review about his first fragrance, Everlasting Lust, for a while now. And I still intend to do that, but sometimes life gets in the way and things get delayed.

Meanwhile, I had purchased the new fragrance, Body & Soul, and I’ve been enjoying it this summer. I even took it with me on my summer beach vacations. So when Matthew said he was doing a special promotion of Body & Soul and asked if he could use my beach photo, I decided that I will do a quick review of it now, based on my wearings this summer.

I am giving Matthew permission to use my review and photos as a favor (if he wants to), to help out a small brand that is just beginning to find its way. But the review and photos are not being done for promotional purposes. Both the photo and the review were unsolicited and uncompensated.

I have enjoyed watching his brand grow and develop since he was maybe as young as fifteen or sixteen years old (?) when he released his first perfume, and I’m happy to support his pursuit of this dream. I find his deep passion and unflagging positivity refreshing and inspiring. I want to see more of this in perfume, and in the world at large.

My review of Body & Soul is independent and unsponsored, I purchased the bottle at full retail price and I have no sort of business or personal relationship with Matthew Decker or Matthew Decker Fragrances.

BODY & SOUL FRAGRANCE REVIEW

Body & Soul starts out as a luscious whipped cream with maple drizzle. A solar accord of salicylates keeps the fragrance from being too sugary or too heavy. For being unashamedly sweet, the fragrance is pleasingly delicate. The cream has the perfect amount of airiness and lift, and the maple is just enough to be present and interesting but not overwhelming. It’s like eating a dessert plated by an expert chef.

After about thirty minutes, a cool coffee appears. It’s not a hot, steaming cup of black coffee, like Waffle House when the bar closes. It’s an iced coffee cocktail – perhaps a coffee martini? It smells like Kahlúa, shaken over ice with a splash of caramel cream liqueur and a shot of cold brew espresso. Pour this in a glass with a bit of caramel syrup and a maple sugar rim. It’s sexy enough for after-dinner, but a diva like me could drink this all day.

At the one hour mark, some golden mimosa softens the coffee cocktail a little bit, with a delightful almond-honey scent. This mimosa ripple reinforces the maple sap accord, which runs through the fragrance like a dream.

The base of Body & Soul is a sort of honeyed amber with vanilla and coumarin. The expansive salicylates continue throughout the fragrance to keep it from becoming dull and heavy, or too sweet.

Probably the most impressive thing about Body & Soul is that it manages to take all of these sweet notes, and combine them into a fragrance that is airy enough for even the hottest of summer days. I wore this to the beach several times this summer and it was every bit as refreshing as a Frappucino in the shade. Of course, it is also fantastic on summer nights, in a party dress at a nightclub, or wrapped up in a pareo at a beachside bonfire.

Of course, being a coffee and maple fragrance, it will wear nicely in winter as well. But it’s not strictly a “cold weather fragrance,” as one might surmise from the list of notes. I haven’t had a chance to wear it in the cold yet, as it was just released this year, but I expect that brisk air will make it even more expansive and lovely.

Also, although I keep mentioning its “lightness” and airy feel, there is nothing timid or feeble about this fragrance. It’s no body spray — it’s an EdP and wears just like one, with moderate projection to arms’ length, and longevity of about 8 hours on my skin.

Body & Soul is as non-binary as a coffee cocktail — it’s neither traditionally feminine nor traditionally masculine, but has some of the flavor of each. It can be worn by anyone who likes sweet, gourmand fragrances. The coffee is not too dark, the maple is not too sweet, and the booze is not too harsh. I find the balance pretty impressive, especially for a young brand. If you would wear something like Baccarat Rouge 540, Black Orchid, or Shay & Blue Salt Caramel, you’ll be perfectly comfortable in Body & Soul.

Because I’m all about layering, I also have to add that Body & Soul is fabulous for making remixes of other scents and scented products. I enjoy it over my coconut oil body products or anything that smells “suntanny,” as well as with simple florals like frangipani. If you have a favorite body spray or body wash scent that just needs a little “oomph” from a perfume, this would do it. (I used it a lot this summer with a rice milk and coconut water body wash, and it was sublime.) It goes great with the “Cheirosa ’62” scent of Bum Bum cream too.

For more information about Matthew Decker Fragrances, you can visit the brand’s website.