The First Shower at the Fella's Place

It's interesting.  The first time you take a shower in someone's place has weight if you intend to do it often.  Last night, I found myself packing a bag of toiletries to take over.  I'll concentrate on the decisions as nobody wants me to yammer on about love.

So, the question is "what bath products are appropriate to take to your signficant other's apartment when you are trying to take up as little space as possible?"  Or...how to get clean without toting 12 products.

I turned to my old stand by Lush for inspiration as I have a literal train case of Lush products.  For soap, I decided to pick the classic Alkmaar as it always makes me feel very soft and sexy.  Truthfully, my skin is suffering this winter from being bare legged in the cold and probably a bit from the nutritional changes due to surgery.  The greatest thing about Alkmaar, other than the fact that it smells like jasmine, is that it goes delightfully with two of my other favorite products Silky Underwear Dusting Powder and Potion.  I can't link to Potion as it appears to have gone the way of the Dodo, so take my word for it.  It's a jasmine extravaganza that makes me feel clean, dry in all the right places and moisturized in all the right places. 

I suppose all I am missing is Lovely Jubblies.  Has anyone tried this?  Do I need super special cream for my breasts.  Will it make them bigger?  I'm kidding on the last bit...mostly.  I would, however, be interested in someone's review of the product if you use it.

So the big question is regarding hair products.  Shampoo bottles are cumbersome and those tiny hotel room bottles aren't cost effective.  Luckily, one of Lush's last great remaining products is the solid shampoo bar.  I'm typically into Godiva because it smells like jasmine (sensing a theme here?) but today I broke out the Karma Komba.  It works beautifully.  I don't know how that much lather comes from solid shampoo and, in spite of the SLS in the shampoo bar, I like it.  I think I'll go easy lest the suflates turn my red hair pink but I did enjoy the time I spent with the Lush today.

It was a good shower and relatively groundbreaking for me.  But what are some good, compact ways to pack an overnight toiletry bag?  Does anyone have fave products that travel easily, are handmade and make you smell like something incredible? 

Or does anyone have a favorite jasmine soap they'd like to share?

Happy Friday, ya'll.

Hold the Partridge, I'll take the Pear Tree

I mentioned on Saturday that I had gotten some soaps to try from Country Heart Gifts. This was the first Etsy soap package I ever received. Boy am I lucky it made it to me. I say this because the scent wafting out of that post envelope was so intoxicating I just held it to my nose and breathed deeply.

Then came the most fun part. I got out all of the beautifully little wrapped soaps and sniffed them individually. After my sniff test came Simon's. Simon is my younger dog and he actually likes baths and getting clean. Whenever I buy soap I like to let Simon smell it and he will lick whichever ones he really likes. I know that sounds incredibly bizarre but it is true. Simon liked many of these, especially the ones that smelled like food.

I want to be able to describe these in much more detail than just one blog post because these soaps deserve credit. Plus, I haven't used them all so I cannot tell you which is my favorite yet.

And, as many would probably guess, I could not resist trying the Spiced Pear first. Now, I love pears and I am always looking for the perfect pear scent. But what I am learning is that there are so many different takes on one scent. And this one is nothing short of unique. I mean,

observe the lovely color in the picture above.

Mostly, I couldn't figure out what made this soap so amazingly warm. I know there is cinnamon but the smell alone seemed to raise the shower temperature five degrees. It was delightful. I literally stood for 10 minutes trying to figure out what made the smell so incredible. In the end, I decided to chalk it up to great soap making and move on.

So hats off to Pam and crew at CountryHeartGifts for making my current favorite pear soap in the "Pear Soap I Want to Eat" category.

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.

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.