Feel Good Vote Soap

Recently, Beautyhabit sent me a gift with purchase. It sent a message: Support a "Voting America." With a clean olive branch fragrance, the Vote Soap is vegetable-based and ultra-mild. Its base was created with organic aloe vera.

I'm feeling a bit guilty since I didn't vote in yesterday's Virginia Primary. Up for grabs were the nominations for candidates for the House of Representatives and Senate from Virginia. The outcomes seemed preordained, and, uncharacteristically, I didn't vote. I had too much to do.

I will certainly vote in this fall's general election. It's out duty to vote, and this fall, the choices could not be more different. Will you vote? Vote Soap is intended to serve as a reminder that our votes count. It would make a great campaign handout!

Statement Soaps ($9) offers a variety of "statements," and they are all different. Actually, they are fun. Vote Soap? Take a shower with this soap - it's good for you - so is your vote - so do both! 
 
From Hope Soap to Love Soap, there's a message for everyone. Each Statement Soap features a message and a different fragrance. I would love to try Dream Sea Salt Soap. Beautyhabit has piqued my interest.

Vote Soap has a light fragrance that's almost imperceptible, a bit like unscented Dove. The bar is humongous, almost too big for me to handle. In the shower, it's nice and creamy after a short introduction to water, and I love using it. I'll be bummed when it's gone. The next time I want a "filler" to round out an order at Beautyhabit to earn free shipping, the Statement Soaps will be on my list.

Care about the ingredients? Beautyhabit makes them available online. Here are the ingredients for Vote Soap.

Vegetable Base, Sodium Cocoate/Sodium Palm Kernelate, Water, Glycerin, Fragrance (Parfum Olive Branch), Sodium Chloride, Titanium Dioxide, Certified Organic Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Editdronate, Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulphonate

Photo courtesy of Beautyhabit

Chef Yossi Chef's Soap

Now I'm really spilling my secrets. Chef Yossi Chef's Soap ($24) is a miracle! It was designed to remove pesky, lingering odors from your hands - stubborn food smells that regular soap won't touch. I don't know about you, but I don't want my hands to smell like onion, or garlic, or whatever I had to mince for a recipe.

Chef's Soap is also antibacterial, so it will keep you safe from E. coli, salmonella, and other nasty bacteria that can hide in uncooked food, and it will sanitize pesky cuts from knife slips (who but Jacques Pepin doesn't slip now and then?).

If you purchase Chef Yossi's Chef's Soap for your kitchen, you are going to want one for your bathroom too. Here's my secret: it removes cosmetics and fragrance odors. I'll admit I have a sensitive nose. Occasionally, I spray/test a perfume that's beyond bad; it's disgusting to me. Do you know how hard it is to remove something you hate? The great stuff washes right off. The scents you hate want to linger for hours. Chef Yossi to the rescue! I put the liquid soap right my skin (usually my arm), massage it in, then rinse it off. The offensive odor is gone!

Love this stuff! You can purchase it online at Chef Yossi's Web site. I have also seen it at specialty cooking stores.

Photo courtesy of Chef Yossi

NÉOLIA Olive Oil Soap Alert - Costco Restocked!

I have looked for this amazing soap at Costco for a year - always hopeful and always disappointed - because it was never restocked. Until today! I just found it again. I am deliriously happy! I bought seven eight-packs.

You can read about the NÉOLIA Olive Oil soap eight-pack at this Best Things in Beauty link. There are two types in the package - Olive Oil & Shea Butter Soap and Olive Oil Soap - both appeal to me.

I know that not all Costco stores have the same stock, but if you have been looking for this, make the trip. It's worth it!

Buy the soap. Don't bother with the hair products. I hated them and gave them away.

Photo courtesy of NÉOLIA

Dove Body Wash with Nutrium Moisture

I may be a fashionably late to this party, but I finally arrived! Dove has introduced a revolutionary body wash (seriously!) - one that combines all the features we love from its bar soaps into a creamy liquid.

There are three available formulas. Naturally, I like the formula for sensitive skin because it's fragrance-free, but you can also select Deep Moisture or Gentle Exfoliating.

Dove Body Wash with Nutrium Moisture uses 100% natural moisturizers, including stearic acid, soybean oil, sunflower seed oil, and glycerin, to clean skin without stripping its natural oils. Many of us, including my beautiful mother, have used Dove's Sensitive Skin bar soap for its fabulous moisturizing properties. Now, there's a nice alternative!

Why would you shun a soap bar? Because the "engineers" who design bathtub/shower combos put the soap holder right where the shower water dissolves a bar of soap in no time. BTiB hint: put your bar of soap somewhere else - it will last longer.

So, what sets this body wash apart from its competitors? Dove was able to make the lipids in their great bar soaps stable in a liquid, making their Nutrium Moisture gentler than many other body washes. The Nutrium Moisture Body Wash leaves behind lipids, beneficial oils, and humectants (which draw in moisture from the air) to fortify our skin's protective barrier. According to Dove, 88% of Nutrium Moisture users felt less dry than they felt after using a "traditional" liquid body wash. That's because most liquid cleansers wash away too much of our natural moisture, or they replace our natural oils with oils that don't absorb well. Dove found a way to add moisture that does absorb and replace our skin's own protective properties, and they did that for less than $9. Looking for luxury in a mass-market product? This is it!

Dove's Web site has more information about this new product. You can find it everywhere - at drugstores like CVS, supermarkets, Drugstore.com, which is having a BOGO offer now, and lots of other sources. Be on the lookout for coupons too. Why pay more than you have to? Time to try!

Photo courtesy of Dove.

NÉOLIA Organic Skin and Hair Care Products

Another fabulous Costco find! Not too long ago, I picked up an 8-pack of a body soap I had never seen before. The brand is NÉOLIA, which specializes in products containing 100% natural extra virgin olive oil, and the packaging said the soaps were 100% organic. There were two types in the package - Olive Oil & Shea Butter Soap and Olive Oil Soap - both appealed to me.

It's hard to describe my happiness with this soap! Yes, soap can make you happy, especially early in the morning. This soap has a heavenly, clean, and natural smell; feels great upon use (so creamy); lathers nicely; and leaves my skin soft and without a need for moisturizer after the shower. Happy (with one condition - see why below)!

Gentle and hypoallergenic, NÉOLIA Olive Oil Skin Care products use 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil and aloe vera. They have been proven to be suitable for sensitive skin. Of course, olive oil contains nutrients and vitamins rich in antioxidants. The company makes soap, body wash, hand wash, and hand lotion, along with hair care products.

The only thing that bothers me is that I found out the company is in Canada. Fortunately, the soaps are made in the USA. I have been trying to boycott Canadian companies because the Canadian government condones clubbing baby seals to death for their fur (I just don't understand this because Canadians have historically been more environmentally conscious than US citizens). I hope that companies like NÉOLIA (with a conscience) will also lend a hand to the animals. After all, they advertise that their products are not tested on animals and are free of animal ingredients - they should care.

I went to a different Costco yesterday, and they didn't have the soap. I have known for years that Costco stores carry different products. I'll have to remember to look for this in my usual Costco store. Amazon had this 8-pack, but it's out of stock at the moment. You can also purchase from NÉOLIA, but the prices are higher, and the 8-pack doesn't appear to be available on their Web site.

Photo courtesy of NÉOLIA.