Stuff From All Over

Part of learning to be a less lazy blogger is checking out the tremendous backlog of my favorite blogs.  Here is some of the awesome stuff going on in soapy cyberspace right now!


The incredible Tierra Verde Soaps is having a ROCKIN Soap giveaway.  There are some massively lust worthy fall soaps over there and some lucky person is going to win three bars.  I hope its me as I have my eye on Lemon Poppyseed, Autumn Ambrosia and Star Anise!  Hop on over by clicking the link above and enter to win!

A Perpetual Clean Diva Favorite, Burnt Mill Candles & Soap is making Lumps of Coal Soaps for Christmas!  Check out the pictures over at Burnt Mill's Blog!  Sign me up.  I think I will make this my bathroom soap for the Christmas Season and maybe even buy some for stocking stuffers. 

Super cool soaper, Kylee Lane of Luxury Lane Soap is looking to buy a home outside of her price range so we all have to help her expand the business by buying something.  Allow me to make some recommendations.  I think the Winter Frost soap is perfect to ring in the quickly approaching winter.  The brand new Companion Soap Cube is a super cool innovative soap.  If you are more of a "simple bar of soap" type of person, I think that Dirty Hippie looks awesome.  But let's help this wonderful soap artist buy her house!

I'll be back to tell you about new shower experiences next week.  Until then, enjoy the nippy weather and remember to buy Hand made.

Gardenias again, I must be homesick

Today I did it!  I actually got out my back of not yet tried soapies and tried one.  I stuck my hand in the back and pulled out...

Gardenia by Mistral

At first I couldn't remember where on Earth I picked this up...but then I recalled.  It was November of *ahem* 2008 SoHo NY with my BFF Viv and the Amazing John who had come to visit from Chicago.  Good times.

I have previously blogged about how much I love gardenias...second only to Jasmine, they remind me of Savannah and early feminine and wonderful about soap.

And Mistral delivers.  The soap is obviously manufactured and I am a sucker for home made but it's nice.  The bar is hefty (it should be at $8) and the scent is heavy.  Plus, it says Provence on the bar.  Since I will be in Provence in about a month, I was stoked to see that and it helped me temporarily forget that I have to actually work during that month.

The lather is good enough for even the biggest lather lover and it left my skin soft and smelling of flowers. 

I'd recommend it, and I may even use it again. 

A Long Overdue Soap Review

Ah...I'm so glad to be bad to back at this blogging business, not the least of all is that I missed all of my little soaps.  I've been using the same old same olds down to nothing, not because I adore them but because I have been too busy to change them out. 

This morning I reached for a soap that I bought back in August.  I was in Las Vegas with a colleague for training and we stopped by Basin White at the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian and were instantly awed by their adorable soaps.  We picked up a Birthday Cake bar for another colleague (that's a completely different story) but one soap in particular caught my eye.

Take a look at the promo shot from Basin White's Web site:

Yes indeed, its a soap called Rubber Ducky and it claims to smell of sweet apple.  I hadn't tried it until now but, truth be told, I never did smell these supposed sweet apples.  So, you ask, how was it?

Well, the lather was phenomenal.  Just a few swipes between the old hands and I had tons of bubbles.  It's really darned cute and it did seem to get me clean (hell, even my feet smelled ok for most of the day) but it didn't pack a punch of scent and I really do like a heavily scented soap. 

If you like adorable soap that won't compete with your natural or man made scent, this may be for you.  Alternately, I recommend it for guys with a secret love of duckies but who don't want to smell like girls all day. 

And, just to make sure you get the full impact, I'll leave you with a picture of my little baby duck posing with my bar of Rubber Ducky.

Be warned, what you are about to witness is obscenely cute:

Happy Monday!

Horror of Horrors

One of the ways in which I am incredibly girlie is that I have always had a go-to perfume.  When I was in my late teens and through my late twenties, it was ALWAYS, ALWAYS Chanel No. 5.  I thought that anything worn by Marilyn Monroe and immortalized by the incredibly amazing Andy Warhol (see below)

had to be the ultimate in femininity.  As time went on, I started to see the draw of jasmine, a middle note of No. 5,  which seems to be my Achilles Heel of scents.

Anyway...

I was at JFK about to board a plane to Germany in the Fall of 2008 when I came upon Bvlgari's Jasmin Noir at the Duty Free shop.  Liking the smell from the bottle, I sprayed a bit on myself and then hopped the flight.  6 hours of being cooped up in the plane later, I could still smell this scent.  It's different from No. 5, warmer and homier somehow and it lingers in a way that's not heavy handed or overwhelming.  Long story short, I had discovered a new signature fragrance.  To this day, I love it, even if I do leave it mainly for night time as it is a slightly naughty fragrance.

I like it so much that I even bought the shower gel.  I've been using it for those special nights out for almost 2 years.  It helps to layer the scent and has a nice, yummy texture.  It's liquid and probably a smidge harsher than my normal soaps but it smells so nice.

I've had two occasions lately that called for the shower gel.  Two Saturdays in a row, as a matter of fact. 

Both times, I have noticed a red rash on my arms, chest and neck.  Could I be allergic to my shower gel?  And why would it happen all of a sudden? Why am I having such a horrible time with soap lately? 

I wonder if I can find a more natural, less chemically soap that smells something like Jasmin Noir?

Pathetic

So, my feet stink.  I mean REALLY smell.  People are always telling me that its because my soles are cloth or because I buy cheap shoes.  So I buy some uber expensive leather soled shoes and...guess what...they still got smelly.

*SIGH*

How can someone who is complete obsessed with soap have such smelly ass feet?  And what are the tricks to make it stop?  Please don't tell me to always wear socks, that just isn't logical.  I went to the local drug store looking for something that can help.  Sprays barely mask, odor eater soles are bulky and unbearably uncomfy.  

...there are some smelly foot soaps but we all know how I feel about store bought liquid soap from drugs stores...shudder.

What's a smelly footed gal to do?

Savannah Soap Finds Day One: Red Clover Tea

So day one of the Savannah Soaps finds week involved an extremely early shower with Red Clover Tea soap from Nourish.  The shop itself is really cool and exactly the kind of place I could see myself opening if I ever got bored being an insurance mogul in training.  The smells wafts down Broughton Street and invites me in with pictures of cute puppies in the window and promises of many many kinds of soap made by people in my hometown.  You just cannot get more inviting than that.

Of the three soaps I bought this time, I was most enamored at first sniff with the Red Clover Tea.  This soap is a glycerin soap that is made by

local artisans and cut to size.  It is sulfate free and detergent free.  And it has some tea leaves on the top.  I was REALLY excited to try this one.  Here is a picture I took of it myself. 

I am not the best photgrapher so just deal with the crappy quality. 

So, it was the first one of the batch I tried and...it was ok.  I think someone who is into soaps that smell good but don't have a scent that clings to the skin would like this a bunch.  It has a nice lather and a creamy consistency.  I will note that the soap has to be really wet to build up a lather but, once it does, it is foamy.  For me, however, the scent was not potent enough once in the shower.  And that's my favorite part.  Plus, the little tea leaf bits kept sticking to my skin. 

I do feel as though my skin was moisturized and soft when I got out of the shower, which is really nice.  But I didn't get that steamy perfumey quality I like so much.  So I recommend this one to those who like a soap that smells better dry than wet. 

I am a little sad because it smells SO GOOD when dry.  The bulk of this one will be sealed and kept for a potential present.

I have more soap from Nourish coming up as well as the mysterious shamrock soap Haley mentioned.

Stay tuned.

This One's For My Girl

Whil hanging out in Savannah, Caroline and I had a real opportunity to discuss some important topics in our lives.  She talked about the next steps in her career, her incredible work with at risk youth and where she sees herself over the next few years.

I, not being very deep, talked about soap.

Okay, so it wasn't exactly like that but we did get in some soap talk.  Much to my astonishment, Caroline actually reads my blog.  She told me that she loves peppermint.  It is her absolute FAVORITE.  So, now that I am home, I did a little research on the aromatherpy uses of peppermint.  Some of what I found is below.  I found it here.

Therapeutic properties of peppermint: Anti-inflammatory; relieves pain, muscle spasms, and cramping; relaxes the nerves; kills viral infections; decreases gas and indigestion; clears lung congestion; reduces fever


Uses for peppermint: Peppermint helps the digestion of heavy foods and relieves flatulence and intestinal cramping, actually relaxing the digestive muscles so they operate more efficiently. A massage over the abdomen with an oil containing peppermint can greatly aid intestinal spasms, indigestion, nausea, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Erm, interesting.
I bought Caroline a bar of peppermint soap from Nourish.  I put it in her shower and even had the chance to use it myself before leaving.  It was cool, refreshing and tingly.  I must say, my best friend has good taste in scent.

So, I put together a top 10 list of desirable handmade peppermint soaps just for Caroline.  Here they are, for your perusal and hers.

(In NO Particular Order)

1.  Cacao de Menthe by RoseandRoot.  This vegan soap has a healthy dose of peppermint oil but also some cocoa to make it brown and smell a bit of chocolate. 

2.  Peppermint Denture Soap by LoveLeeSoaps is soap that smells like peppermint and looks like dentures.  So Caroline!

 3.  After the Workout Soap by SoapyBlessings is perfect for Caroline because she has to work out often these days and I know there are aching muscles involved.  According to the description, the peppermint oil and eucalpytus help both joints and muscles.  Awesome.

4.  I'm really into the idea of Beer Soap Rosemary Mint

Made by Juicy Bath, this soap contains beer and peppermint, two of Caroline's favorite things.  Plus, it says it is enjoyed by both men and women.  ::cough::

5.  Intentions makes a soap that looks so much like a cancy cane, I can almost taste the mint on my tongue.  Appropriately named Candy Cane Ribbons, it reminds me of the many Christmases I drove to Caroline's to chat and get her amazing gifts.  Caroline is the best gift giver on Earth.

See?  You can smell it already, right?

6.  This next one reminds me of this past weekend and eating peppermint bark from River Street Sweets.  On Saturday, Caroline and I loaded up with the stuff and ate and ate.  Gosh it was yummy.  And this soap from  Etsian Aniselle is just what I need to keep around to remind me of that day.

7.  Bow-Chicka-Wow-Wow - L'Alchemie has a peppermint soap that looks like a Pride flag!!!!!!!

8.  Exploding Frog Soaps by Howard's Home.  Frog soaps that explode need no explanation.

9.   Ice Storm by Bella Bubbles over at DaWanda looks like a cool piece of ice.  It's just lovely.

10. Last but not least, Vanilla and Peppermint Kisses Soap in the shape of feet make this list complete.  Thanks to Jay Jay's General Store for making the perfect Peppermint Soap.

I cannot, for the life of me, dear reader, imagine that you have a best friend more wonderful than mine.  But if you have one who comes even close, I highly recommend spending 3 or 4 days with that person.  You'll be shocked at how much things stay the same even when they change.

So, this soap's for you Caroline.  I hope you enjoy the peppermint soap I left in your shower ;)