#Mashup Monday Lei'ed Down Under

Today I my adventures take me to lands far, far away.  But how can you visit the land down under and the tropics in a single day?  On #mashupmonday, anything is possible!

I started with this cool Koala soap which combines tropical fruit, chili pepper, and eucalytus scents and the result in an energizing and refreshing bath time treat!  Hejin Body Works offers a huge variety of awesome handmade soaps at the best prices I have found to date!  I adore their bars for delivery maximum suds and soft skin with minimal pocket purging.  Visit them soon, I recently got word that they may be shutting down operations.  Trust me, their items are something you don't want to miss!

I then used Mango Hibiscus sea salt scrub.  This delightful scrub exfoliated well with plenty of skin loving butters and oils and the fragrance is to die for!  The sweetness of the mango is balanced with the tart floral essence from the hibiscus flowers.  The Black Tie Market can be found on Etsy, however this particular scrub is not available at this time.  I do hope it makes a come back for summer, until them I am rationing it carefully.

What crazy bath adventures do you have planned?  This week, I've got a new YouTube video sharing some great sub boxes and a special surprise (it's about the giveaway) so stay tuned because I will also give you several reasons not to miss the upcoming Petals Bath Boutique release!



For more #MashupMonday posts click here

Until later, Love Buds ~

Peace, Love & Loads of Bubbles!

A.

What a Revolting Discovery!

I came across Soap Revolt Naturals on Etsy.  Immediately, I was drawn the the wholesome goodness that just seemed to be emanating from their product catalog.  Jean, the owner, like many other handmade bath and body product makers began creating products due to her own health concerns.  While battling with cancer, she became aware of the toxins in many commercial products and decided to do better.

And that she did.  Her collection of handmade products include soap, moisturizers, face care and men's items.  All are made with no artificial colors or preservatives.

When reviewing these products I was suffering with a cold, I thought it would be a great time to use the lavender mint, dead sea clay soap...AND IS WAS RIGHT!  The exfoliating qualities of the dead sea clay really helped to stimulate blood flow while absorbing impurities and the lavender mint scent opened up my sinuses.  The lather was amazing and my skin was smooth and silky after using it.
 
I used the big pumpkin soap as a face cleanser and I really love how it cleaned without stripping.  With continued use I had clean bright skin.  Great Stuff!

The shower oil is a light blend of natural seed oils that penetrates quickly and conditions instantly.  It is a great blend for both skin and hair and is light enough to use in the shower prior to drying off as well as after drying off (using for both works nicely as well).

The only downside to this entire experience was the scent of the shower all.  With it being named "orange blossom",  I was expecting a neroli (actual blossoms from orange tree essence) scent, which I find to be very refreshing.  This was scented with orange along with what smells like clove essential oil.  The clove is a turn off for me.  After using the shower oil, to me, I smelled like a holiday ham - you know the ones with the sweet red glaze and cloves stuck all in it.  But that was the only downside.  I really love the way this oil feels when I use it and might try so #mashup ideas with it to lessen the clovey scent.

More Soap Revolt Naturals?  Check them out on:

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Later Love Buds!

#Mashup Monday ~ Age of Innocence

This week, I combined products from two wonderful companies, Handmade in Florida and Alchemic Muse.  

When I first received my order from Handmade in Florida's last release, I wasn't too sure whether I liked this scent or not.  But the more I sniffed it, the more it grew on me.  Innocence is described on Handmade in Florida's website as "A delicate blend of peonies, hyacinth, day lilies, apple blossoms and soft bergamot". The apple blossom in this scent is really prevalent with bergamot adding an a greenery sort of essence bottom to the fragrance.  

The scent just seemed to beg to be paired with something fruity and earthy.  Why?  What came to mind was an orchard where the breezes were scented with fruit trees and freshly tilled earth.  Thinking of a moisturizer in my stash that filled these two criteria, Alchemic Muse's Razzouli came to mind.  Razzouli is a perfect blend of ripe raspberry and patchouli.  

Each of these products performs awesomely on it's own.  Soap bars by Handmade in Florida are always gorgeously designed with delicate swirls highlighted with mica.  The bars are firm, bubbly and have a nice amount of slip.  These leave your skin clean yet silky smooth and moisturized after using them.  

Alchemic Muse was the first company that I found whose whipped soap I could use without having irritated skin afterward.  Her Body whip is a rich body cream that instantly penetrates and hydrates skin.  

The resulting experience was just as I expected, reminiscent of a stroll through one of the many popular orchards indigenous to my local area in Maryland.  A Fall delight!

What are you mixing up this week?  Me, I'm working hard on posting a few new YouTube videos and getting a HUGE giveaway organized for you!

For more #MashupMonday posts click here

Until next time Love Buds,

Peace, Love & Loads of BUBBLES!!!! 

#Mashup Monday Super Black Ops

One of my other loves is super heroines.  (Female super heros, not awesome narcotics - stop it! LOL).  My tee shirt collection is filled with shirts featuring the likes of Wonder Woman, Storm, Spider Gwen (look her up), etc.  I felt like a secret agent woman with this weeks' #MashupMonday combination.

From my visit to Hejin Body Works, I decided to pull the Alpha Girl soap and lotion.  Hejin Body Works is a quirky little store that was an absolute joy to visit!  Their products are high quality, reasonably priced and smell scrumptious.  Alpha Girl "has a mystifying rare scent that combines floral, peach, and Egyptian Musk", as quoted from Hejin's website.  This combination seems odd, but it is indeed super.  The scent is really a sultry musk with a little playful kick.  

Sandwiched in my process between the Alpha Girl soap and lotion is Black Orchid frosted sugar scrub from Antoinette's Bath House.  Antoinette's Bath House creates great bath and body products in a variety of scents that I adore.  Their soaps are very firm, bubbly and huge!  But more on those in another review...

The Black Orchid fragrance embodies the rich, heady scent of an exotic orchid.  This scent is to die for!  The frosted sugar scrub is similar in texture to the Mermaid Hugs scrub I highlighted in a previous #MashupMonday post, in that it feels like moist sand - it can actually be molded almost like play doh.  The exfoliation factor is very mild, especially if your skin is very wet because the sugar melts almost instantly.  There is very little lather - which is fine, because I did the heavy cleansing with the soap. 

The combination of these two seductive scents is magical.  I smelt like a goddess and that's a huge boost for my ego!

What products are you mashing up this week, Love Buds?

For more #MashupMonday posts click here

Peace, Love, & Loads of Lather!

A.

Mashup Monday: On My Waves to My Grandma's House

Today's #MondayMashUp takes me back...back to the summer's I spent at my grandmother's house in Jersey City, New Jersey.  In the heart of the city, just outside of New York City, in the sizzling summer sun, this urban landscape was riddled with people trying to beat the heat by hanging out on fire escapes and dancing in gushing fire hydrants.  But wait, this doesn't sound much like the beach or apple orchards, does it?  How does this week's MashUp take me back to those memories?

It's the fragrance combination. The soap, from one of my favorite soap makers, Kia at Petals Bath Boutique, is sweet and tart, but reminds me more of apple candy, than the fruit.

The Beach Hussy cream of the crop body cream, by Farm Hussy, in the "Don't Make Waves" scent is described on the website as "fresh currants of strawberry, raspberry and quava swirl around breakers of mandarin, dates and a sweet swell of coconut milk".  When I first smelled it, it reminded me of peach flavored Rock Creek Soda.  

In my grandmother's neighborhood, there was a local corner store, Jack's.  Every morning, I would go to Jack's to get a buttered roll for breakfast, the newspaper and to stock up on my candy stash which included my favorite apple now & laters and you guessed it, delicious, refreshing peach Rock Creek soda!  This combination of scents took me right back to those hot days of summer where I hung out on the brick steps of my grammy's home with my "summer friends" and tried my best to learn to jump double dutch (which I never did, so I always wound up just turning, lol).  There on the block where I fell in love with my first teen aged boyfriend, Charles Austin - yup, I still remember his name - and his initials were mine in reverse so we knew it was destiny. On those same brick steps is where Hip Hop was introduced to me in its infancy.  But that's a whole other story....

Thanks to my soap partner in crime, Tracy, for introducing me to Farm Hussy.  I can't wait to try more from their line!

Until next time, Love Buds,

Peace, Love & Lot's of Bubbles,

A.

Its My Birthday

It's My Birthday! 

Today is the best day... My birthday!  It's a day I take a little time out to reflect on what has happened in my life up to this point this year and to look toward where I want to be next year and how I need to get there.  I know this is something most people do at the beginning of the year, but to me, my birthday is the beginning of my year.

After over 40 times around the sun on this ever moving planet, I've done some great things and some not so great things.  Everything is a life lesson and I choose to learn from my mistakes.  Why am I saying all of this?  I don't know, getting a little introspective, I guess.

My loved ones go out of their way to make this day special for me and I truly appreciate it.  Not once on my birthday have I ever awaken without an immediate acknowledgement of my day.  In years previous, usually I was awaken by my mother and grandmother with a soulful renditions of "Happy Birthday" - even when across the miles that may have separated us.  More recently, I wake up to balloons and a cake - a mani/pedi and/or a hot stone massage and then of course dinner at my favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory.  (Shrimp Scampi and Red Velvet Cheesecake, YAAAASSSSS!)

One ritual that I have come to enjoy all by myself is the restock of my bathroom soap rack.  I previously wrote a post about my soap dish.  In it, I detail the way that I store my soap.  As a lover of variety, I just can't use one bar of soap consecutively until it is finished.  My bathroom soap rack holds 40 or more bars of soap at any given moment.  To ensure room enough for those bars and to help preserve them, I cut most of my bars of soap in half, storing one half in a glassine bag in a plastic storage bin outside of the bathroom and the other half goes on the drying rack in my bathroom to be used.  However, after about six months of being in the often damp environment of my bathroom, the bars tend to deteriorate.  So twice a year or so, I go through and do an overhaul.  Most of the soap does not get thrown away, I transfer some viable bits to a soap saver sponge for use when I just can't make up my mind which soap to use.  

I completed this process yesterday, just in time for my birthday.  So I decided to share with you what my soap dish looks like now.  Of course, once I took the picture and started labeling it, I found a few more bars I wanted to add, so they are listed as "honorable mentions":  

What's on your soap dish?  I would love to see pictures, share it with me on Facebook and/or Instagram!  Oh, don't forget to enter the giveaway and check out my YouTube channel for my visit to Uncle Jon's Soap Shop!

Talk to you soon!

Peace, Love & Lots of Bubbly Birthdays!

A.

Review: Sistah Soaps and Such

Sistah Soaps & Such is a small bath and body boutique offering cold process soap in a variety of scents, colors, shapes and ingredient combinations.  They also offer various other aromatic, hair and body products.  I was excited when Monique, the owner, sent me a complimentary sample package in exchange for my thoughts about her products.
 
Let me get right to it, I LOVED these items!  I received, by my request, the "Fresh Sunshine" soap and Cantaloupe Lily sugar scrub.

The Soap:  The smell is so fresh.  It starts off with clean ozone like notes blended with sweet and tangy orange juice that is rounded out with a smidge of earthy, spicy coriander.  It is a really refreshing scent combination.  The soap is a good firm bar that lathered well.  I received a sample size, but Monique offers generous 6 to 8 ounce sized bars ranging from $6 to $7 each, which is a great price for the size of these bars.

The Scrub: This scrub came wrapped in insulated bubble wrap to help keep it from melting in the heat and it seems to work really well in conjunction with the double walled jar.  I am absolutely IN LOVE with this fragrance!  The mix of sweet cantaloupe and light floral notes from the lily have made this a new favorite of mine.  TO DIE FOR, I'm not kidding!  The scrub was creamy and exfoliating and I want to smell like it all the time!  
These are available on the website in 2, 4 and 8 ounce options for $6, $9 & $15 respectfully.

Sistah Soaps & Such has something for everyone.  One thing I've noticed is that the soaps feature different ingredient recipes including some vegan options and some without palm oil.  However, none of the bar sizes are featured in the descriptions.  That is something I would like to know, especially if I am giving it as a gift.  By the way, my products came beautifully wrapped so if you're sending these as a present for someone, the items presentation will be suitable for gift giving.

 I definitely suggest you give them a try and tell them I sent you!

That's it for now,

Peace, Love & Lots of Bubbles!


More Sistah Soaps & Such?

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Mashup Monday! Happy Hour on the Information Super Highway

A new feature, I will try to do at least twice a month.  If you are a true product junkie, I'm sure, like me, you have amassed a hodgepodge of different bath and body products from numerous different companies.  On #MashupMonday I'll try products from different product makers in different scents together and let you know how well they worked together.  This week, it's Happy Hour on the Information Super Highway

Whiskey River Soap Company broke the internet a few months ago with one of it's humorously named soap offerings.  Their "Soap for Hipsters" which is scented with coffee, bacon and craft beer quickly went viral when shared via social media.  Though this particular scent did not sound appealing to me, I did check out some of their offerings which include "Soap for "Frenemies", which is scented with lemongrass & sage, "Soap for Evil Dictators", which is scented with stale tobacco fragrance, and "Soap for Underachievers", scented with margarita mix.  I decided to choose "Soap for Geeks", it's "wifi scent" translates to cucumber and cilantro wasabi.  Who knew that wifi smelled so tangy!

My new bubblelovin' partner in crime, Tracy sent me a delectable box of goodies from product makers I have not tried yet.  One gem I found in it was from Fortune Cookie Soap - Seems they really like cocktails over there and have a fragrance called "What? It's 5 o'clock somewhere!".  It smells like a fruity, slightly sweet, slightly sour, sunny drink that you might find garnished with cherries and a paper umbrella.  The scent has a citrus twist, but no coconut which I absolutely ADORE as coconut is not one of my favorites and many tropical scents feature it heavily.

The product I have is their hydrate me twist up balm.  This is a semi-firm butter featuring coconut oil, shea butter and cocoa butter.  It is a little too soft to use directly from the tube on my skin, but wiping a dollup off with my fingers and rubbing into my skin, it is an awesome dreamy, creamy balm that is actually perfect right after a shower, even in the summer.

The Soap for Geeks has a scent that is really tangy, to me it has a kinda lime like twang to it with nice green herbal notes that mellow it out.  I don't really get the wasabi notes, but maybe that just really enhances the blend.   The soap itself, I found to leave me a little squeakier clean than I would like, so the hydrate me balm was a perfect compliment and left my skin soft and supple and the combination of the two scents is a sweet and tart fruity explosion of unicorns, rainbows and happiness!

What are you mashing up this week?  Tag @4theloveofbubbles on instagram with a picture of your mashup with the hastags #mashupmonday and/or #bubblelove and I'll share it with all my other Love Buds!