#Mashup Monday: Earth, Sweet Earth

Earth to Love Buds...Come in Love Buds! This week's mash up is a heavenly combination that is a merger of essences all with deep roots.

I started with "Sweet Earth" from Joans Gardens on Etsy. This is a vegan, natural, cold process soap scented with lemongrass, lavender, tangerine and patchouli essential oils with added poppy seeds for exfoliation.  This soap has great lather and skin conditioning and the poppy seeds weren't irritating to my sensitive skin.  The fragrance is uplifting from the citrus oils yet the earthiness of the patchouli serves to ground it while the lavender brings a wonderful balance to the entire experience.  At $5.00 for a 4.25 oz bar, this bar is a great value.

I then sealed with Lavender Body Butter from Cedar Ridge Soaps.  I visited with Joan, the owner at her home in Western Maryland a few months ago.  Her body butter is a rich, thick, shea butter based (no water added) sealant with the amazing scent of fresh lavender.  When layered Sweet Earth soap, my skin was hydrated, sealed and felt amazing and the ethereal experience of the combination of essential oils from the soap lingered for quite some time, with just and added kick of lavender.   Though rich enough to use in colder weather, I found that sealing at night with the body butter helped my skin remain moisturized all day, but it did not feel heavy or like I was overheating.

This combination is was really exhilarating!  I know the common feeling about lavender is that it is very calming and relaxing.  I find that for me, it really is an invigorating scent.  I keep a bit of lavender essential oil on my night stand, but instead of using it to fall asleep, I take a sniff of it when I am having a hard time getting out of bed and I find that it gives me a little boost.

How do you feel about lavender?  What Mash Ups do you have planned for this week?

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That's it for now -

Peace, Love & Lot's of Bubbles!

Review: Cedar Ridge Soap

Naturally gentle, naturally inspired

During my recent day trip to Western Maryland, I visited with Joan Taylor, proprietor of Cedar Ridge Soaps.  She invited me to visit her home and soap studio in KEEDYSVILLE, Maryland. (In the video, I mistakenly call it Dickerson, MD).  We experiences some technical delays, but were able to salvage the video of Joan answering some questions about the business. Below the video, I'll review the complimentary products I received from Joan. Check it out:

I left Cedar Ridge Soaps with a goody bag filled with soap, body butter, lip scrub and the most awesome Air Freshener!

 Cedar Ridge Soaps offers firm, cold process, soap bars that are formulated for use as a soap and shampoo bar.  Available a variety of scents with options that are essential oil only fragrances as well as others containing fragrance oils.  The orange blossom fragrance I received is a combination of orange essential oil and honeysuckle fragrance.  It was a refreshing and sweet combination that I truly enjoyed.  Another variety I received was Rosemary Cinnamon.  Scented only with essential oils, this combination is a MUST TRY!!!!  I love the warm and herbally aroma from this bar.  

The soaps are 4.5 ounce bars and sell for $5.50 each. The lather is amazing and they work great as a shampoo bar.  My hair and skin were both cleansed without being stripped.  For a great combo bar with no frills, just really good stuff, this is the bar for you.

As a lover of lavender, I was excited to try the Lavender body butter.  It is a thick butter formula featuring shea butter and beeswax.  Not whipped, it is a moisture sealant that contains no aqueous (water based) ingredients.  I recommend using only after bath, shower or hand washing to ensure moisture is applied before this sealant.  It could be a little too heavy for some in the summer, but it works great as a sealant for my hair twist outs!  It sells at $8.00 for 3 oz, I believe 1 oz sizes are also available.  A little definitely goes a long way.

I suffer from dry, cracking lips, especially during the winter months and appreciate a good lip scrub.  This lip scrub works great, softening and conditioning my lips with just the right amount of exfoliation.  I received it in peppermint, which leave a little bit of a bonus tingle!  These are available for $6.50 each





Last but certainly not least, are these awesome air fresheners!  I receive the sunny citrus and for 3 weeks it has scented my small office at work with this most amazing citrusy aroma.  Just this week I added a touch more water to it, replaced the cap an shook it up and the scent was completely renewed.  I am in love with this - there's no heat or flame, making it a safer option than a wax melter or plug in for my office.  For $7.50, this 8.5 oz jar of air freshening jelly bliss is a must have!

I really enjoyed my trip and these products!  Let me know if you do!

More Cedar Ridge Soaps?  Check them out:

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Until next time, Love Buds ~

Peace, Love & Lots of Bubbles!

A.