New Reviews!

Ah, my loyal reader(s?), as you know I have been lax in my posting of reviews.  I have so many excuses, but do you really care? I didn't think so.

What I feel many of you DO care about are the reviews. 

Along with my past two months of the "Ol' Stand By's"  (Heaven and Earth Essentials, Metropolis Soap Co., and Dirty Sanchez to name a few), I have broken into some new, lovely soaps that I think you should all know about.

First is a wonderfully unique soap I got from Paradise Essentials.  Now, I usually try to avoid ovrly indulging in my love of a scent, but this scent was so unique, unexpected, and lovely, I felt I just had to rave.  The scent I am drooling over is "Cucumber Mint."  Yes, you read that right.  Cucumber Mint.  Ok, I admit to some bias, as my favorite commercial scent is Cucumber Melon, however, Cucumber mint has the cool, light, barely there refreshing scent of the cucumber mixed with the bracing snap of the mint. It is wonderful!! This is one fo the reasons I love handmade.  Who else would take a chance on a scent like Cucumber Mint? Warning if you buy it: It lathers beautifully, and leaves your skin silky soft, but the bar is Orange.  The color threw me, but it is easy to overlook when using such a lovely feeling soap.

Another soap I have used and really enjoy is a whipped cream soap by Skin Candy.  I ahve always been a  little bit wary of whipped soaps, but this soap is so creamy and rich.  I love it.  IT has a good consistency, too.  It doesn't feel like you are dealing exclusively with air, making you wonder what you are paying for.  Instead, it has the consistency of rich whipped yogurt. Very decadent feeling as you smooth it onto your skin.

Finally, my last experiment these past few weeks has been with a new foaming salt scrub. This one is from Susie Q's.  The consistency of Susie Q's salt scrub is different than any other scrub I have used. Instead of feeling like a sandy paste, their salt scrub feels almost foamy.  The exfoliation is still there, but it isn;t like rubbing a rough cream onto your skin.  I gi back and forth about how I feela bout that, but for those of you who dislike the rough feeling of most salt scrubs, but still want to get the exfoliating benefits, I recommend you check out Susie Q's foaming scrub. Now, I admit, the picture I swiped is from their sugar scrub cubes, but they are so pretty, can you blame me?

Ok, that's it for the reviews for now, however, beware!!  I am gearing up my lists of sellers to buy from for the holidays, so the reiews SHOULD pick up!!  Enjoy your weekend!

What the....

Hello my wonderful readers!! 

You may have noticed that I haven't been around for a while.  Well, I had a no reviews week, then the kids were on spring break and we went to Las Vegas.  Since I went away, I didn't use any new items, so instead I will tell you about my handmade travel toiletries.

When I travel, I have a bunch of handmade samples that I travel with that I know I love.  Too often, I have broken out or had issues with hotel toiletries, so I let the husband use them and I bring my own.

The first thing I travel with is shine on shampoo and daily conditioner from Heaven and Earth Essentials. (scent this trip: citrus splash)  If I am traveling for a week, I also bring the damage remedy conditioner.  I like for them all to be the same scent, and HAEE has a BUNCH of different scents. As another bonus, the shampoo is a paste, so you don't need to fit it into the little quart ziploc bag the airlines are in love with.

I have gone a number of ways with soap.  I usually just grab a small sample of a soap that I know I love.  the little samples are the best, because they last about a week (the small slivers are great for a weekend), so you don't have to worry about bringing home the soap. This trip, it was a small soap sample from Metropolis Soap Company, whose soap I really love. Even the Dh has been brought over to the "dark side" by their Black Horror Soap.

For lotion, I prefer lotion that is in a pot.  though it can get under my nails, I have had a lot less issues with bag explosion with pot lotions.  This trip, it was Main Element Love's Rise and shine body and hand lotion. The scent worked really well with my shampoo and conditioner, and the little lotion pot fit well in my travel purse.

Perfume is always in the form of a little sample or two (depending on trip plans).  I have HUNDREDS of samples, from designer to handmade.  This trip, I took along two samples, one was August Sultry Sumer by Lemon Lollipop for day wear (Actually, I think the official scent is through their other company "four seasons fragrance," but the sample was from Lemon Lollipop), and the other was Dark Rapture by the Scent Diva (now known as the Soap Box) for evening wear. On a random aside, Dark Rapture perfume was the first thing I ever bought from an etsy seller after getting a sample in a sampler box.

My cosmetics are commercial, because I like the way I can get almost everything into a small compact.  Toothpaste is Aquafresh, and my sunblock is also commercial and a special one for super sensitive skin. Toss in a few Shout Wipes and my prescription meds, and that pretty much makes up my travel toiletries.

This trip was also a little bit special in the packing, because I knew we were staying in our timeshare. There is a HUGE soaking tub in the main bathroom, so I brought a few bath bombs from Sheba's Secrets. I let my daughter take a "fizzy bath" for the first time last month, and she is HOOKED! Both she and I had a few "fizzy baths" that week.

Also, again because we knew we would be in the timeshare, I brounght a silicone trivet, a little matchbook and a travel candle by Mrs Tattooed Geek. (Black Orchid).  These candles are great for getting the "hotel" smell out, and the "home" smell into your room.  The candle is in a tin, so there are no worries about wax spillage, and they last a LONG time.  Like I said, I brought ONE candle for the entire week.

So, sorry there are no reviews to write right now, but they will be back after next week! Have a great weekend!