The Body Shop built its identity on two pillars: ethical sourcing and fragrance-led body care. For two decades, its Strawberry Body Butter, White Musk range, and Japanese Cherry Blossom line defined what premium Indian consumers reached for when they wanted something better than drugstore body care.
Then Natura & Co sold The Body Shop to Aurea Holdings in late 2024, following years of losses and a UK administration filing. Stores closed. The Indian range narrowed. The consistency that made the brand a default gift choice started to fray at the edges.
The Love Co was built to do what The Body Shop does at its best — fragrance-first body care with fine-quality ingredients — but as an Indian brand, made in India, for Indian consumers, without the import premium or the ownership uncertainty.
Here is the direct comparison.
The Love Co vs The Body Shop: At a Glance
| Factor | The Love Co | The Body Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | India | UK (manufactured globally) |
| Body wash price | ₹359–₹649 | ₹695–₹1,295 |
| Body butter / lotion price | ₹499–₹799 | ₹1,095–₹2,195 |
| Body mist price | ₹449–₹699 | ₹1,195–₹1,995 |
| Gift sets from | ₹799 | ₹1,995+ |
| Fragrance approach | Fine perfumery (top/heart/base) | Signature natural fragrance |
| SLS-free body wash | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (select lines only) |
| Made in India | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (imported) |
| Vegan certified | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| India availability | Full range, pan-India shipping | Standalone stores + website; narrowed post-2024 |
| Free shipping threshold | ₹499 | ₹795 (website) |
| Brand stability | Independent Indian founder brand | Under Aurea Holdings since Nov 2024 |
The Context: What Happened to The Body Shop
This comparison needs context that most brand comparisons skip.
The Body Shop was acquired by Natura & Co in 2017 for £1 billion. By 2023, it was reporting consistent losses. In early 2024, The Body Shop's UK arm entered administration — retail insolvency proceedings — and over 75 UK stores closed within weeks. Aurea Holdings, a private equity firm, acquired the brand from administration in November 2024 and has been restructuring it since.
For Indian consumers, this means: the India range available in 2025–2026 is narrower than it was in 2022. Some iconic lines have been discontinued or are inconsistently stocked. The brand's famous "limited edition" seasonal releases — one of its best gifting features — are less predictable than they used to be.
The Love Co has no such complications. It's an independently funded Indian founder brand with full control over its product range and no overseas restructuring affecting what's available in India.
This isn't to dismiss The Body Shop — it remains a quality brand with genuine heritage. It's context that matters when comparing availability, consistency, and long-term brand reliability.
Fragrance Philosophy: Surprisingly Similar, Differently Executed
Both brands are fundamentally fragrance-first. This is what separates them from functional body care brands (Dove, Nivea) that treat fragrance as a supporting element rather than the point.
The Body Shop built its fragrance identity around natural ingredient stories: Strawberry from Poland, Shea from Ghana, White Musk as a clean alternative to animal-derived musk. Its scents are warm, immediately recognisable, and built on single-hero-ingredient narratives. The Strawberry Body Butter smells like strawberries. The Vitamin E range has a soft, skin-close warmth. The White Musk Florals collection has a modern floral-musk structure that reads as genuinely sophisticated.
The Love Co uses a fine perfumery approach — structured top, heart, and base notes, the same construction method luxury perfumers use. Its fragrances are designed to evolve on skin: a bright opening note shifts into a warmer heart as it dries down, then settles into a lingering base. This is a technically more complex construction than The Body Shop's ingredient-story fragrances, which tend to be more linear (what you smell at application is what you get throughout).
In practice: The Body Shop fragrances are more immediately comforting and recognisable — the Strawberry line has 30 years of olfactory memory behind it. The Love Co fragrances are more architecturally sophisticated and less brand-dependent — you're experiencing a scent, not a brand memory.
Both approaches are valid. The question is whether you're buying brand familiarity or fragrance construction.
Ingredients and Formulation
The Body Shop's ingredient philosophy centres on Community Fair Trade sourcing — direct trade relationships with ingredient suppliers in 35+ countries. Its Shea body butter uses shea from a women's collective in Ghana. Its hemp seed oil comes from France. The traceability and ethical sourcing story is genuinely credible and well-documented.
The Love Co's formulation priority is different: dermatologist-approved, SLS-free across its body wash range, and specifically formulated for Indian skin and water conditions. Indian hard water, humidity, and darker skin tones that respond differently to certain actives — these are design parameters for TLC that aren't part of a British brand's formulation brief.
Both brands are vegan certified. The Body Shop was one of the first brands to campaign against animal testing globally; The Love Co holds vegan certification across its range.
On naturals broadly: The Body Shop uses more ingredient-led marketing (Community Fair Trade shea, volcanic ash, etc.) and its formulations are built around these hero ingredients. TLC's formulations are built around fragrance first with supportive skin care actives — a different hierarchy but not a lesser one.
For sensitive skin specifically, TLC's SLS-free formulations are the cleaner choice. The Body Shop's body wash range still uses SLS as a primary surfactant in most lines.
Price: A Narrower Gap Than Bath & Body Works, But Still Significant
The Body Shop is less expensive in India than Bath & Body Works (it manufactures more locally and has a larger India retail infrastructure). But compared to The Love Co, the premium is still substantial.
At body wash level: a 250ml Body Shop body wash starts around ₹695. TLC's body washes start at ₹359 for comparable volume.
At lotion/body butter level: The Body Shop's 200ml Body Butters start at ₹1,095. TLC's body lotions start at ₹499.
For gifting — where The Body Shop has always been strongest — a TBS gift set starts around ₹1,995. TLC's gift sets start at ₹799, with premium sets available up to ₹2,499.
The gap is 40–60% across most categories. Not as dramatic as the BBW gap, but meaningful — particularly for anyone who regularly replenishes rather than treats themselves occasionally.
India Availability: The Practical Reality in 2026
The Body Shop has a reasonable India retail footprint: standalone stores in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, and other major cities, plus its website. Pre-2024, its India range was the most comprehensive of any international body care brand in the country.
Post-2024 restructuring, some lines that were reliably available in India have been discontinued or are inconsistently stocked. Seasonal and limited editions — one of TBS's strongest gifting selling points — are less predictable than they were under Natura's ownership. The website works, but "is this currently available in India?" is now a question consumers ask before planning a TBS gift purchase.
The Love Co ships its full range pan-India with free delivery above ₹499, direct from theloveco.in. No availability uncertainty, no narrowed India-specific range, no "this product is only available at select stores" caveats.
For Middle East buyers: The Body Shop has Gulf stores. The Love Co ships directly to UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar — making it the more accessible option for Indian expats who want Made in India fragrance body care.
Which Should You Buy?
Buy The Body Shop if:
- You specifically want its iconic lines — Strawberry Body Butter, White Musk, Tea Tree — and their particular formulations; no Indian brand replicates them identically
- You're buying for someone who has a specific attachment to The Body Shop's Community Fair Trade story and ingredient-led philosophy
- You're near a TBS store and want to shop in person with testers
Buy The Love Co if:
- You want the same fragrance-first body care philosophy, formulated for Indian skin, at 40–60% lower prices
- You want SLS-free body wash across the full range
- You want consistent pan-India availability without post-acquisition uncertainty
- You're gifting at a budget — TLC gift sets start at ₹799 vs TBS's ₹1,995+
- You want to support a Made in India brand with fine-perfumery scent construction
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Love Co similar to The Body Shop?
Yes — both brands are built around fragrance as the primary design element of body care, rather than treating scent as secondary to functional skin care benefits. The Body Shop built this philosophy with its Japanese Cherry Blossom, Strawberry, and White Musk ranges; The Love Co applies it with a fine perfumery approach using structured top, heart, and base notes. The key differences: The Love Co is Indian-made with SLS-free formulations, products start from ₹359, and the brand ships across India and the Middle East with free delivery above ₹499.
Is The Body Shop still good in India after the ownership change?
The Body Shop India is still operational and the core product quality remains. The practical impact of the Aurea Holdings acquisition for Indian consumers is a narrower product range compared to 2022–2023, less predictable limited edition availability, and some discontinued lines. The brand is stable under new ownership but the breadth of the India range has reduced post-restructuring.
Which brand has better ingredients: The Love Co or The Body Shop?
Both brands use quality ingredients with different priorities. The Body Shop leads with Community Fair Trade ingredient sourcing — ethically traded shea, volcanic ash, hemp seed oil — with strong traceability credentials. The Love Co leads with fine-perfumery-quality fragrance construction and SLS-free formulations specifically designed for Indian skin and water conditions. Neither is categorically "better" — they optimise for different priorities.
Why is The Body Shop more expensive than The Love Co in India?
The Body Shop products sold in India are manufactured outside India and imported, adding import duties, logistics costs, and distributor margins to the base price. The Love Co manufactures entirely in India — no import costs means 40–60% lower prices for comparable fragrance body care across body wash, lotion, and body mist formats.
Which is better for gifting: The Love Co or The Body Shop?
Both brands produce strong gift sets, but at very different price points. The Body Shop's gift heritage is exceptional — its sets are well-packaged, brand-recognised, and widely given as reliable gifts. For budget-conscious gifting, The Love Co starts at ₹799 versus The Body Shop's ₹1,995+, with premium TLC sets available up to ₹2,499. For someone who specifically wants The Body Shop brand on the label, TBS wins the gift recognition game. For fragrance quality at a better price, TLC is the stronger choice.
Read more
Bath & Body Works built its cult following on one idea: intensely fragranced body care at accessible prices. The three-wick candles, the Japanese Cherry Blossom body mist you couldn't stop spra...
Fragrance body care is a specific category: brands where the scent is the point, not an afterthought added to a functional moisturiser. The body wash that actually smells like something. The mist y...