Several New Soaps to Discuss

Gosh I've been away from this blog too long.

by the oft-reviewed and admired Country Heart Gifts. I used about one new soap by them a week and most of them have been absolutely fantastic. But one day last week something incredible happened. I grabbed the sample of tuberose moss.

This stuff is OUTRAGEOUS.

And I am glad I found it because I have been way sick lately. But something about the this stuff smells makes the days seem worthwhile. I definitely recommend it.

And I have been stocking up on some of the greatest products lately. I'll get back to blogging daily now.

Stop whatever you are doing and buy this box...RIGHT NOW

145, give or take a few.

That is the number of blogs I currently read. I get these from randomly browsing Etsy and then looking at what other people read. Through my perusal I discovered the blog for Gabbriella's Sampler and soon realized what this blog advertised is a SAMPLER chock full of stuff from all over Etsy.

In case you missed that, let me explain again:

If you click here you can buy for $12 (aka VERY VERY little) a box filled to the brim with samples and goodies from some of the most amazing people on Etsy.

So ok...here is a shot of what the box looks like when you first open the package.


There is a huge part of me that wants to tell you one by one every single item in the box but then when you go and buy it the experience won't be as awesome as it was for me. Let's just say that I am completely addicted to two of the products ALREADY and have ordered something from one the Etsy shops that contributed. And you know what, the person who runs that shop turned out to be incredible.

And there are so many great bath products in there.

Here is a shot of the inside:

Go. Buy. One. Now. Seriously, go. This is the best deal on Etsy.

Plus, buying one enters you in a raffle.

Word.

The Great Lather Debate

I have so many bars of soap on order. Literally, I am awaiting packages from Swan Mountain Soaps, Dugshop, Gothic Creations, Tessuraea and Gabriella's Closet, home of the sampler.

So I will be a very clean and VERY busy gal in the next few weeks/months. I also have to walk by Lush on the way to the salon this weekend so we all know that I'll be snapping up whatever was discontinued after VD. I really want to grab some You Wash My Back Soap, but...as I shower alone.

Always.

I have no need for it. But it kind of seems like something Haley would like for some reason. And no, I am not suggesting a shower with Haley. But it's kind of sweet/naughty and Haley is sweet/naughty.

But I digress.

Today I wanna talk about lather. I have been sharing bits of soap with friends who need to break the commercial shower gel cycle and discover the wonder of handmade soap. So I tossed my buddy Julie a sliver of Patchouli Goats Milk Soap from LostRiverRags and she took off to shower.

Now I was still dripping from a shower with another soap that I loved. And I couldn't wait to hear her review. After all, she is a very natural Patchouli girl. Although our methods of being "natural" tend to diverge a bit.

And when she got out of the shower she told me the most curious thing. She loooved the smell (See? Patchouli. I know her too well) but found the lather lacking. She said she even used her shower poof to generate a lather.

Speaking of shower poofs, I am not sure how I feel about those either. It seems like a germ trap to me. But that's another topic for another day...

So all of this discussion about lather made me think. I was reading a blog the other day about lather. Honestly, I feel no need for it. I do like it when a nice, non-chemically hand made soap provides some soft and and sweet smelling lather but it is by NO MEANS a requirement.

Maybe I have even gone too far to the other end and now and I find that lather makes me a little nervous. Is it going to dry my skin? Are there harsh detergents hidden in that innocent looking little bar? Paranoia about soap is kind of sick, right?

But I wonder what makes us so insistent upon lather? Does it make us feel cleaner?

Stuff from all over

So I have been unbelieveably busy lately. Last weekend I attend NY Comic Con and had a BLAST. Now, I am not normally into comic books and they don't sell any soap there (although I looked, believe me I did) but I had such a great time. At the heart of my passion for soap is my passion for things that are handmade and for artisans who work their proverbial asses off to make a living pursuing their passion. And some of these comic book artists were outstanding. My personal favorite has to be Colleen Doran whose graphic novels are just amazing. She also sat on a panel entitled "Men are from Krypton, Women are from Paradise Island"

At any rate, it rocked.

I also got a friend to try out a soap by Lost River Rags because I am trying to teach her the value of hand made soap. She uses that squirty stuff that comes out of a bottle and I will be discussing her thoughts in a later blog.

I have been cruising Etsy in my usual style and reading everyone's blogs and all of my normal stuff and I have even been showering but with the inability to breathe my soap choices have been limited to what I can smell, which ain't much.

Sigh. Lots of soap ordered and exciting things to come.

The Sweet, Sweet Smell of...well, Gardenias

Gardenias are the greatest flowers. Of the sadly few things I miss about living in the South one of the things I miss most is the smell of blooming gardenias in the Spring. So I try to find something that sort of fakes the smell.

And gardenia scents when faked can be obnoxiously cloying. I put one on the other day and it gave me a ridiculous headache.

So this morning I needed a major pick-me-up so I grabbed some gardenia scented soap. And it got me to thinking that maybe I will try several and pick my favorite. Kind of a gardenia soap-off.

But since I have been ordering soap like a mad fiend lately, it might take some time. Plus, my sinuses are still making me crazy. Ugh.

In praise of soapmakers

I met up with a friend from high school this past weekend. I had not seen him in 14 years. It was interesting because I have both changed and not changed in all of that time. Strangely, he has two. So it was like instantly being transported back to high school. Only with adult thoughts and opinions.

None of this is really relevant except that he let me babble on for 20 minutes about why I love soap. This is a rare treat for me. Not many people have the patience to hear me talk about why soapmakers are artists for that long.

And that brings me to the point of today's blog. I currently follow about 40 blogs and I read them every single day. It delights me so much that there so many amazing people making soap by hand.

This morning I took a brief lukewarm shower with Lush Greenwash soap. I had all of about two minutes of warmth before the shower was freezing cold. So the jolly green lather didn't bring me its normal joy.

Luckily, the blogs I read did make me happy. So thanks blogger for a happy Tuesday.

Vintage Cabernet...an update

Someone over at LostRiverRags has been reading my diary.

They updated their site recently and now have Vintage Cabernet for sale by the hunka chunka (an official terminology)

Here are some vogue shots from the Etsy listing

Sinuses...ugh...Good God Ya'll

What are they good for?

Well, I woke this morning and I couldn't breathe. Thank God nobody sleeps with me but Teddy or I might have caused someone a good night's sleep. (Teddy snores so I don't feel sorry for him.)

So I stumbled to the bathroom and guess what...there was hot water.

THERE WAS HOT WATER AND I COULDN'T SMELL A DAMNED THING

So I dug through the train case o'soap and found one from LostRiverRags called Eucalyptus. I figured this would clear me out a bit. And it did. Plus, it is green and pretty. I am kinda sold on this goat's milk soap. Either the folks over at LRR are geniuses or the goat milk/shea butter combo gives a soapgasm or both.

Probably both.

I used my whole sample up in one shower :( That bums me out because I wonder what it smells like when I can smell things.

On another note, I googled sinuses and discovered they are everywhere including your brain and heart. They also exist in a place Southern ladies don't mention because everybody knows Southern ladies only go to the Water Closet to powder their noses.

And anyway, they supposedly serve a function but it is highly debated which to me means "nobody really knows." And they get infected and cause headaches. When my tonsils cause problems they took them out. So can they fill my sinuses in? Seriously, they are completely useless.

That is all. Go buy some soap

Taking a Trip Through Grandma's Kitchen

Today brought another little trip to my stash from CountryHeartGifts. This time, I decided to try out a little gem called Grandma's Kitchen. And once again, I was not dissappointed.

There was an underlying scent of cinnamon that was warming without being overpowering. It added something to the overall fruitiness that made me want to take the time to really inhale the smells of this creation. It is very much like a nice cobbler and reminded me of my grandmother's kitchen; something I haven't smelled since my young childhood.

And Country Heart really knows how to make a good soap. The lather is creamy and luscious. The scents fill the shower. There is nothing drying and I don't feel itchy in the aftermath of the shower. I have to be honest with you, there is NOTHING worse than a drying soap in the winter time.

Two soaps tried by Country Heart and two very much enjoyed. Now get over there and buy some.