The Day a Blog Changed My Purchase Plan

One morning in early March, I was cruising my long list of blogs while taking a quick break from working working working. One particular one caught my eye.

It was about small businesses and the economy. It sucks out there, folks. People are really struggling and it infuriates me that some of the soap makers who bring me such joy are worrying every day that they may not be able to pay their bills or feed their children.

And now the MTA in NYC announces that our monthly Metrocard is going to increase in cost from $81 to $103 per month. This is a pretty big chunk of my soap buying money and my mother keeps telling me to tighten my purse strings. But I just feel so torn...I need my soap!

But I digress again, a blog that caught my attention led me to buy some soap. I went on the Hartley Soaps Etsy site and saw so many things I wanted to buy. I picked up a Jasmine Mango Body Butter Bar, a Cinnabun CoCo Butter Body Bar and a Foaming Sugar Scrub. Unfortunately, none of these are currently listed on the site but I am sure that what is currently offered is there. And I will review these soaps later as I use them.

In my box of product from Hartley there was a generous sample of Chocolate Drizzle soap. For some inexplicable reason, this is the one I used first. I was feeling the need for something decadent and so I gave this soap a whirl.

I've used brownie soaps and chocolate cake soaps and the like but this one is in a completely different. I love Philosophy and you can, of course, spend $20 on Classic Fudge Cake or Double Rich Hot Cocoa but you can also pay $5 for Chocolate Drizzle and it's even better. Plus, there are no chemicals or nasty stuff and the person who made it has a name and a face.

I could give you a run down of how amazing it is to shower with a Hartley Soap and I am sure I will with one of the others but the point here is a different one. The point is that the economy sucks. People have no jobs. Everyone is panicked.

But every single one of you has to bathe.

In teasing me about my soap obsession yesterday, one of my frequent companions mentioned his penchant for Dove. Allow me to share with you the ingredients in a bar of Dove White.

Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate, Or Sodium Palmitate, Lauric Acid, Sodium Isethionate, Water, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoate or Sodium Palm Kernelate, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891).

Now, allow me to share with you the ingredients in a bar of Hartley Soap Jasmine Mango Body Butter Bar

mango_butter, sweet_almond_oil, coconut_oil, olive_oil, palm_kernal_and_palm_oil, distilled_water, sodium_hydroxide, fragrance_oils, mica_color

I'll let that speak for itself.

So here's my point and then I promise to get down off of my soap box.

You have to bathe, so buy handmade soap. I don't want to read that these amazing Artisans are going out of business.

My Etsy Obsession...Plus a lovely afternoon bath

So, it's Saturday at 5pm and I just got out of an amazing soak in the tub. Sadly I cannot give you a link because I cannot find the products I used. Seriously, if you can get them on the internet it takes a better researcher than I.

Today's bath actually started on Christmas Day. Thankfully it didn't involve water until today or I would be completely pruney by now. Or skinless...

On Christmas, my roomie got me a bath set because she knows me well enough to know 2 very important facts about me: 1. I am obsessed with soap & 2. I absolutely adore pears. So she bought me both in one gift. It is a White Lily & Pear gift set which contains bath salts, bubble bath, body scrub, body wash and body lotion with a bonus BATH PILLOW. I love me some bath pillow. This one says "relax" in big green letters. And since I am spending my bath times analyzing the soaps I use I should maybe think about taking that advice...heehee

I started with the bath salt and the bubble bath, which smelled really nice. As I was reading a dirty Space/Travel Romance book I inhaled the flowery and fruity scent until I was a little pruney. Then I turned on the shower and scrubby scrub scrubbed. More of that pear deliciousness wafted to my nose. What I love most about this stuff is it smells exactly the same when I sniff it in the bottle as it does when it is lathered on my skin. The lather was nice. Not overkill but very nicely scented and silky.

I know that many of the products I use are organic, fair trade, hand made and natural. This is not a hard and fast rule for me. My one hard and fast rule is animal testing and, although I prefer the most natural ingredients I am not opposed to something commercial if it smells like white lillies and pears.

So the stuff is made by Body Prescription and, if you see it, buy it. And have a fantastic bath.

Now, on to Etsy. I currently have 8 pages of stores from which I want to buy soap and then review it on here. But it is going to take me awhile. I just got in a shipment today of soap samples from CountryHeartGifts that I cannot WAIT to try. But since it might take me quite awhile to get them all ordered used and reviewed, I am adding several blogs for Etsy stores as links to this one. So check them out.

And now, off to enjoy my Saturday night.