Posts with tag soap

Sure, we miss the excitement and drama of the Sopranos, but probably not enough to douse ourselves, or the men we love, in the new cologne Paolo Per Uomo. The name means "Paul for Men" in Italian, which we fear loses a bit in the translation.

We love all of the amazing independent designers out there and we wanted to find out more about what makes these creative types tick. If you do too, check out more of our Indie Designer Interviews.

If you've got super sensitive skin and can't deal with the harsh chemicals found in many mainstream beauty products, give handmade soaps a try. Gentle soaps made with all natural ingredients are the specialty of today's indie entrepreneur, Trish Herndon, owner of Pink Parchment Soaps.

We love all of the amazing independent designers out there. In order to find out more about just what makes all of these creative types tick, we present to you an ongoing segment called Indie Designer Interviews.

Next time you're in the mood to indulge your senses, try a handcrafted bath bar or lip balm from today's featured indie business, Soap That Makes Scents. These delightful handmade artisan soaps are 100% vegetarian-friendly and paraben free, and they're easy on your wallet.

We've had moving on the brain lately. We're not sure if it's because we live in a college town and are starting to see the students creep back into town, with their cars overstuffed with bedspreads and bookshelves and beer, or because we moved fairly recently and are still feeling the effects (i.e. still can't find anything), but the fact of the matter is, we've been thinking about it.

And when we think about moving, we immediately think of housewarming parties. Trust us, we can turn just about anything into a party!

I'm a big fan of all of the amazing independent designers out there. In an effort to get inside the mind of the indie designer and find out just what makes all of these creative types tick, I present to you an ongoing segment I call Indie Designer Interviews.

Tell me a little about your company. On December 5th, 2005 AnitaGrant.com was created, by the all round self-proclaimed cosmetic-label-reader-ingredient junkie-mixtress, Anita. At anitagrant.com we believe in cultural focus by purchasing directly from farming communities and/or partnerships with fair trade suppliers throughout the world, helping to maintain economic independence & cultural survival. Using a variety of plant-based ingredients from different countries around the globe; we are celebrating ecological & cultural diversity.

How did you get started running your business? It wasn't until I blistered my hands using a store bought bottle of so called "safe synthetics" that I decided not to purchase another off the shelf hair care product again. Since 2005, I've been making my own brand of natural and organic skin care and hair care. You shouldn't need a degree in bio-chemistry to understand the ingredient list of a hair care or skin care product label. It was a bit difficult at first to decipher all the Latin (INCI) nomenclature of the ingredients and separate the "bozwellox" from true benefits but I got there in the end. It's so liberating to be able to read the label of a product, understand the ingredients contained within and say "NATURALLY, I can do better."

What are your top fashion & beauty must-haves? If I were trapped on a desert island it better be one with a Coconut tree and fresh Coconuts hanging from it. I would cut it open and eat the fresh white meat, rub a bit of the Coconut water on my hands and moisturize my skin and curly Afro hair with it - loads of uses.

Last night, I was down in New York's East Village and I stopped into a store on St. Mark's Place called The Iron Fairies.

From the outside, I could see there were soaps, candles, and a big rusty bathtub inside, as well as lots of little cast iron fairies. Fun!

As I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the smell. The scent of sandalwood hung in the air like a thick mist. Sandalwood, as it turns out, is one of the specialties at The Iron Fairies. Oh, and by the way? With a wink, they claim that it's mined in the Australian Outback by fairies.

On duty at the counter was adorable fairy aficionado Caroline. She welcomed me and said "Do you want some fairy dust?"

Do I ever!

Do you have dirty little kids? I do. Don't get me wrong, they bathe at least twice a week, but somehow they keep getting covered in dirt and grime and whatever else carrier monkeys find it fashionable to wallow in.

That's why it is so important to ensure proper hand washing. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, twenty seconds of vigorous hand washing is vital to helping kids stay healthy. See, I told you it was important.

Leave it to the good folks at Airborne to come up with a novel way of encouraging kids to spend the correct amount of time scrubbing their hands, or tentacles as the case may be.

They have introduced a new product called SquidSoap, a "liquid-soap dispenser with a specially designed pump that stamps a child's hand with vegetable dye. It takes about 20 seconds of thorough hand washing to remove the ink mark, leaving the child with clean hands."

It eliminates germs and guesswork. How's that for more bang for your four bucks?

Now I know we don't always want to go rushing out to buy somethig just because we've seen some celebrity wearing it, or heard about an actress using something. However, finding out that Diane Keaton ordered a case of the Cote Bastide Fig soap kind of made me curious. It's soap.

The soap is a French triple-milled soap in Cote Bastide's famous Fig Scent, and colored a gorgeous bright khaki green. Hm. Still, to me, it's just soap, and a very expensive one at that. The soap is $22!

Available at Vintage Weave.

In lieu of a new blend of coffee or another Starbucks item on the market to inform y'all about, I've stumbled upon a way to keep you completely caffeinated (and smelling good to boot).

It's ThinkGeek's Shower Shock caffeinated soap. Yes, that's right -- soap. With caffeine! This sounds like the perfect item for those of us that are just a little too lazy to get that coffee maker going. The scent of the soap is peppermint, and it's "infused with caffeine anhydrous." I don't know exactly what anhydrous is, but it certainly sounds like it'll prove to be effective.

I haven't tried this stuff yet, so you'll have to let me know if it's successful. And it better well be for $6.99 a bar!

So, thanks, nerds, for loving caffeine. If the soap isn't enough, check out their Bawls Mints -- high caffeine candy.