So how much soap did The Clean Diva buy at Renegade?

I have been laid up in bed with the (not swine) flu all week so this is the first chance I have really gotten to talk about the fun I had at Renegade.

There were so many booths that it was total sensory overload. And it was HOT! But I tromped around seeking out the soap booths and sniffing away. Sadly, there were tons of uninspired soap scents. Maybe that isn't nice but I ended up only purchasing from 3 soapers. The Roomie was shocked.

Of course, the soaps I did buy are brilliant.

I bought a bar of Wasabi Soap by Bunny Butt Apothecary!

I got a little nuts at the booth for DirtyLovesClean

I bought Manhattan (which is not on her Etsy site but she says is curing), Sweet Tea (not up on the site either but transports me back to working through college at Cracker Barrel each time I sniff it) and McCarren Park, which is a MUST HAVE if you live in Brooklyn or totally dig the scent of fresh cut grass. I also have some samples of 7up Pound cake and Boxed Wine that I cannot wait to try! Believe me when I say I could have bought more there!

Finally, I bought a chunky bar of Nectar from non-Esty but still AMAZING Rinse Bath & Body Co. I don't know how to describe this bar except that if I ever smelled an angel, I am pretty sure this is what said angel would smell like. The product description doesn't do it justice. I cannot WAIT to use it but the soapmaker told me to let it cure a few weeks as she had recently made it.

And I have used none of these soaps yet because I was so sick last week I could only tolerate Polar Express by SeaSpriteSoaps seeing as 1. It was the only thing I could smell and 2. The cool tingle it left on my skin was so refreshing.

Where will the Clean Diva be Today?

Why, at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, of course! It is Swedish National Day so the roomie, both puppies and I will be off to Williamsburg and then to IKEA (all dressed in blue).

Some awesome Etsians will be there amongst the over 300 crafters who signed up.

I am sooooo excited!

If you are in Brooklyn, or any other area of New York City, you should come on out and spend some money.

I'll be happy to recommend a soap or two!

I'm singing in the shower again!

For someone who dedicated most of her young life (and according to her family, should currently dedicate more) to singing, I almost never sing in the shower.

It could be because I am concentrating on the finer details of whichever soap I am using, but whatever...

So, with my many many soaps to try, I know just shove my hand into my wicker basket of unused soaps and pick one. One (way too early for its good) morning I stuck in my hand, fished around a bit and pulled out...

Coconut Lemongrass by Sea Sprite Soaps.

I'll confess that I was pretty stoked for a number of reasons.

The first reason is that I have been wanting to try out one of these soaps for some time. I dig, the soapmaker's blog (she links to Book Slut, hello?) and her banner and packaging is among my favorite on Etsy. It caught my eye from day one. At any rate, it took me far too long to try one of the soaps.

Sooooo...take one is a blend of two GREAT scents: lemongrass and coconut!

As a side note, I once made a soup with lemongrass in it and it completely overwhelmed the other flavors. So there was a small part of me that was afraid that all I would smell is lemongrass.

But I was wrong.

Ok, so I love love love this soap. The scent is nicely layered. It actually blooms! At first you smell the lemongrass but it mellows out to the soothing scent of the coconut that dries on your skin just enough to make you feel as though you are heading to the beach as opposed to Wall Street (although I suppose both have sharks).

This soap has been chilling in my soap dish and, I must admit, I have to force myself not to reach for it in the morning. There is something so cheerful and sunny about it. The soap is downright optimistic.

In fact, this is my new favorite good morning summer scent. The only thing that would make it better is if I could get up at 10am to shower then and if my piña coladas didn't get watered down in the shower.

But I'm singing that darned Harry Nilsson song again!

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.

Forty-five (45)

Nope. Not my age.

Nowhere close.

Not the number of days until something exciting happens.

None of these things.

But rather, 45 is the number of untried soaps currently in my possession. How COOL is THAT?

So my goal is to feature one of these each day for the next 6 weekish.

So...look out for reviews of soaps by

Tessuraea

Swan Mountain Soap

Hartley Soap Company

Dancing Water

Country Heart

Soap Rehabilitation

Sea Sprite Soaps

Burnt Mill

I am SO EXCITED. Get your wallets ready because you'll want to make some purchases.

Shameless Shout out to Kathleen at Gabbriella's Closet

Everyone has had a really crappy day.

I seem to be having a really crappy year.

It all began in September with AIG and continued with Madoff and continued with more AIG and then half of my clients got laid off and then my friend John got laid off (and stopped doing his Cripin Glover impression for me) and...ok I'll stop

So one afternoon I came in. My feet ached (why do I wear 4 inch heels?), I was overwhelmed and having a crap day. And I saw a package from Gabbriella's Sampler. Ripping into it, I was pleased to find a milk, honey and oatmeal scrubby soap. After wrestling it from my greedy friend Matt I hid it for myself. It smells unreal. It isn't fragrancy or fake just pure good-for-you yummy smelling.

And showering with it is even better. One side is milky, soft and produces nice, skin softening lather and is a delightful shower experience. The other side is full of nice, exfoliating oatmeal.

And, as a side note, exfoliation scares me a little. Sometimes it feels like the grainy whatever is scrubbing my skin off. This is not like that. It scrubs without peeling off skin. It is soothing to scrub, scrub, scrub and then use the other end to soothe soothe soothe.

Here are some pictures I took myself!

So I cannot find this on Kathleen's Web site or on the Etsy site, which may make me one of the luckiest person on Earth. So I will plug some of the other stuff she sells that I covet.

Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to see an awesome cobalt perfume bottle key chain that I think I need. (Did I mention how amazing the perfumes she has sent in the Sampler smell?)

On her site you get get all kinds of things. So go there. Buy stuff and send her an email thanking her for all she does to promote other sellers on Etsy. I missed Etsy day but, had I not, I would have been promoting Gabbriella's closet BIG TIME.

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?