A Trip to the Seaside Spa...in my own shower

A few months back, I was tooling around Williamsburg, Brooklyn and came across a booth at a market where a woman was selling soaps.  I instantly started sniffing them and my companion told me to pick some out.  I think I got three or four bars total but one in particular really called out to me.

More on that in a moment.

I began talking to the lady at the booth and, as it turns out, they are her soaps.  I told her about my blog, we bonded a moment and I went along my merry way.

The name of the soap company is The Southampton Soap Company.  Made in the Hamptons, these are small batch soaps made with loving care and no animal products.  And you can tell that in everything from the soap maker's smile to the presentation.

I was beyond excited to give one bar a whirl.

The first one I tried was Seaside Spa.  It is made with water local to the Hamptons, sea clay, and sea vegetables. 

Embedded in it is what appear to be black sesame seeds.  I cut off a chunk and fired it up. 

And ended up using it until it was all gone.  I like this soap a bunch.  It took some adjustment at first as it doesn't get super slippery when wet (I know, I kno...bad reference).  But the moisturizing properties of the clay start to really work and you forgive the extra effort to rub the soap on your skin.

The seeds provide an exfoliant that isn't too abrasive but gets the job done nicely.  And the scent is great for those who like something light but that doesn't cling to the skin.

As I said, I used the sliver until it was gone...and it lasted awhile.

I have a few others to try, which I will totally review.  In the meantime, if you don't live in NY, you can order through Southampton Soaps' Etsy Store.

Margarita BLoom is Having A Sale

I'm broke, folks.  Well, sort of, anyway.  And there is a great reason but I can't tell you yet. 

Anyway, I just noticed that one of my most coveted shops, Margarita Bloom is having a 15% off your ENTIRE order sale until the end of August.

Enter code "temptation."

For the love of Nancy, please go order stuff and write me and tell me about it.

No soap for me for awhile...

~ The Clean Diva

I Guessed I Missed it When Etsy Got an iPhone App....And Soap Arrived!

Today I discovered that Etsy now has an iPhone app. 

Dear Bank Account,

It was nice having money in you.

Now I don't. 

Blame Etsy.

*le. sigh*

At any rate, in other happy news, two recent soap purchase have arrived in my humble abode...Cedarwood and Cypress Handsoap from Solstice Botanicals and the two soaps I ordered from Angelic Soap.

In other news, I am also the first purchaser of Bacon Bits the soap from Happy Goat Soap which is exciting for so many reasons.  One is that I read the shop's blog, The Maa of Pricilla, religiously (its refreshing and funny and delightful) and another is that I have been watching the progress of this little soap for awhile.  So to order it first is SO exciting.  But more on that later.

Teresa over at Angelic Soap was nice enough to send me some samples with my purchase (which I bought on epic sale so she is just so generous).  I didn't take a picture of the first one I used, which was Black Raspberry Shea, so I am borrowing one from her Etsy shop.  Take a look.

Its like art...real art that smells amazing...

I literally used the whole sample in one shower.  It went something like this...

Wet and lather left arm, rinse, sniff, repeat on right arm.
Decide left arm needs another washing (so I can sniff it)

Repeat process.

I swear the stuff even moisturized my horrible Hobbit feet.  I smelled like raspberries all day but not cloyingly so.  And the texture was simply divine.  The only reason I haven't tried the two I bought yet is that Miss Lazy Pants (yours truly) needs to take some photos of the epic packaging before getting said soap wet.  Tomorrow morning, I swear.

Also, while borrowing the picture above, I noticed that some of the soaps in Angelic Soaps shop are named Black Temple Incense and Grimoire (Book of Shadows).  The description of the latter contains this:

"Grimoire will leave your skin silky and smelling faintly of the rare treasures of antiquity."

 I CLEARLY need to smell like the rare treasures of antiquity.  And so do you.

So much excitement to come!

My First Handsoap Review

Recently we ran out of hand soap in the bathroom.  The other person in my abode is a big fan of Method Foaming Hand Soap which is totally cool if you aren't a complete and total soap snob.  Also, Method contains SLS and we all know I am not a fan of that.  While SLS is certainly not the devil, I do find one thing I contained on the Method Web site interesting.  It lists the ingredients and notes the following with regards to SLS and it's "Health + Environmental Summary": "low skin irritation in use and non toxic; readily biodegradable; derived from coconut oil."  I'm fairly certain that this cannot be patently UNTRUE or the legal team for Method wouldn't let them post it on the site.  All up, however, it isn't what I want for my family.  So I convinced my co-decision maker to let me shop for some handmade hand soap on Etsy.

Thanks co-decision maker...

I came up with two that were nice, well made, reasonably priced, and had scents that were refreshing but not too feminine.

I'll discuss the second one when it arrives and we use it.  But our first new hand soap is Citrus Basil Foaming Liquid Soap by the cleverly named Foam on the Range.  Hailing from Kansas (The Sunflower State) all of the products contain sunflower oil, which is nifty.

Here is a pic from the Etsy posting of this soap.  I will show you my pics as well but I think our friends at Foam on the Range are much better photogs than I:

The bottle is cute enough to just plop on the counter

The soap arrived and, after we finished up what we currently had, we busted out the Citrus Basil.  I was instantly surprised by how clean the soap left my hands feeling. I know that Foam on the Range doesn't use harsh chemicals as their blog is as adamant about ingredient quality as any I've seen.  But the lack of commercial detergents does not show itself in this product.  My hands felt squeaky clean after washing.

The co-decision maker said he liked the soap claiming it had a refreshing scent that was clean and safe for a man but not too manly.  We like this soap.  We like it a bunch.  And the price is so reasonable.

Here are some pics of the soap in my humble bathroom.

I genuinely love the labels

neatly blending in

Finally, a soap I won't be trying

Here's where I am conflicted. 

Lately, many of the amazing women I know have been having babies, I've mentioned this before.  And many of them have become HUGE proponents of breast feeding, which is also cool.  The US Department of Health and Human Services has given funding to form and support a National Breastfeeding Campaign designed to help the average American both understand the benefits of breast feeding and also educate people on the hows, whens and whats of breast feeding.  All good stuff.

I won't lie, I have a personal discomfort with breast feeding but I realize it is my own problem.  I won't go too much into it because I know many people who read this could defeat me with logic in a hot second.  My reaction isn't logical...La Leche League International has entire articles on how to deal with breast feeding haters, so I guess I'm not uncommon but let's move on.

I get the benefits of breast feeding and think all women who can and want to breast feed should.  But lately, all of this good feeling about breast feeding has been exhibiting itself in some new and fascinating ways.  By this, I mean the advent of products for consumption made from breast milk.  From The Icecreamists in London who, in 2011 served breast milk ice cream to patrons (it sold out) to an NYU project that resulted in making breast milk cheese and Chef David Angerer's breast milk cheese , the use of breast milk has certainly morphed and the effects are polarizing.

Chef Angerer with his wife and child.  For more on his opinion, read the blog he wrote about it.  Interesting stuff.

So, of course breast milk soap would be part of this, right?  When I first saw mention of this phenomenon on Shecky's list of "Weirdest, Most WTF Beauty Products Ever" I thought this must be something that soapers are doing in their own homes to make use of what's extra.  After all, you are what you eat, right?  So maybe this soap is better for baby that Johnson's No More Tears.

Why have that when you can have this? 

But no, I suppose it can be quite the moneymaking enterprise to sell breast milk soap.  Etsy store Cahmille sells several different scents and varities of what soap maker Jessica calls "Mother's Milk Soap."  You can even buy a really pretty sampler of scents from her here at a super reasonable proce if you are so inclined.

Another Etsy store, The Green Box, sells some REALLY unique flavors and the soaps are just gorgeous.   Take a gander at the Healing Hemp natural Mother's Milk Soap. 

If you'd like to do it yourself, there is a recipe here but I warn you to read these precautions.

I'm admittedly not a scientist but I cannot imagine that this is not without its issues.  After all, many communicable diseases are spread through breast milk.  I'm not sure I would want to buy Mother Milk soap but I think the idea is fascinating.

I'd love to hear from people from various parts of my life comment on their feelings on this matter?  Has anyone tried the soap?

Food for thought on this Monday.

And the first soap I tried...

Ugh. What a week. I know I say this a bunch but ever since I became the Executive Babysitter.....erm, Director, of the Miss New York Organization my weeks just gets more and more exhausting.

So I started the great soap test with black raspberry vanilla from Burnt Mill

And of course I have some random musings:

So my first random musing is about black raspberries themselves. How are they different from the blackberries that grow on the side of the road in Georgia? Is there a difference?

Second not-so-random musing is that you MUST go to Etsy and buy this from Burnt Mill. It is less than $10 and CHOCK FULL of soap samples.

But now on to the good stuff. How did I like it?

Well, first of all, Burnt Mill cuts all of their soap samples like chunky crinkle cut french fries, which makes me immediately smile.

The soap is this amazing swirl of color and smells lightly of juicy black raspberries and fresh vanilla. Now, I am not a big fan of the smell of vanilla. In fact, I find it to be particularly cloying. But this is not like that at all, in fact the scent is nice enough to scent the shower in a wonderful way but it doesn't cling to the skin after the shower.

Also, the lather is really nice. I find this to be a good night time soap because the scent is quite relaxing.

And, on another note, this is the first soap I have used with activated charcoal in it. All of my research shows that this stuff is GREAT for drawing out toxins in the skin. I know it is often used to clear out the gastric tract and can even be used in the case of poisoning.

Neat, right?

In soap, it is a gentle exfoliant and absorbs excess oil and other stuff you don't need from the skin.

So far, I like it.

A Bittersweet Post

So as I was doing what I do best (cruising the ever increasing number of blogs I read) I came across a post by the proprietor of Gothic Creations.

She was announcing that she was no longer going to be making and selling soaps. Me being, well me, I decided I HAD to buy some of the remaining soap because it was my last opportunity on Earth the try these soaps.

Ok, so I might be a little unhealthy in my soap acquisition but I own my issues so stop laughing at me.

I bought three scents of the soap Italian Spiced Chocolate, Apricot and Cherry Swirl. All three smell fantastic but my favorite is definitely the Cherry Swirl. I am not normally a big fan of cherries or things that smell of cherries but this is very nice. The soap is heavy, seemingly heavier than most soaps and I got a generous block of it.

On a side note, getting a big block of soap is super awesome because it means I can cut it into pieces and it lasts longer.

So now I am mourning the fact that when the cherry swirl soap is gone, I will be all out of the only cherry soap I ever liked.

So that's sad, right?

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.

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.

Wednesday

For the past few months, one of my toy poodles (I have two) has been sleeping with me every night. He likes to snuggle really close to me and I must confess that his contributions to my comfy and cozy sleep space have made it super tough to climb out of bed in the morning.

Luckily my phone alarm went off in the living room so I had to hustle to get it.

Anyway, I digress. There is nothing more wonderful when I am bleary eyed and stumbling to the bathroom than a nice chunk of that wonderful spicy white buttercream by Lush known as Skinny Dip.

...Now that I think about it, it would be a nice addition to naked swimming...

Lush seems to call attention to the violet when they describe Skinny Dip but I honestly don't smell it. What I DO smell is the yummy blend of clove, cedar and sage. It just fills the entire shower with its powerful scent. And whenever I rub it on my skin, I am suddenly awake.

What I love most about Lush buttercreams is that there is so little soap in them. I am not someone who needs lather having given up sulfates in my shampoo about a year ago. And Skinny Dip doesn't lather very much at all. I don't find that a problem.

I love Skinny Dip. Not only do I get out of my shower awake and moisturized from head to toe but the bathroom smells a-MAY-zing while I finish getting ready...win/win right?

As one last compliment for the lovely Skinny Dip I will allay the fears of those who think that strongly scented soaps will counteract their perfumes. As with most Lush soaps, I can smell Skinny Dip if I literally press my nose against my skin but not really. It really just wakes me up, sets me on my feet and sends me off to enjoy my day.

You can buy Skinny Dip at a Lush store near you or here

Confessions...an introduction

So I love soap. It's funny really. Once upon a time I viewed showering as a hassle. I mean, I did it daily (duh!) but I didn't like it.

Then I discovered Lush. Standing in the shower with a bar of creamy, buttery Jasminey wonderfulness changed my life forever.

So now, 60 or so bars of soap later...and I mean in my current rotation...I am completely obsessed.

And I would like to document it. So now, my dead readers, you have to suffer the consequences of my obsession.

I'll keep trying new soaps and reviewing the ones I try. If you love soap as much as me, make a suggestion. I am always open to try new things.