The Best Bath Products Ever (oh, and I'm back!)

After the birth of my second baby, her tiny majesty Princess Eva Noelle, I am finally back and blogging and better than ever. I have lots of great blogs coming up, so keep checking back!

This category covers the very best bath products, regardless of price. Feel free to weigh in on your favorites. This list is actually comprised of two separate lists:
1) The Beauty Insider's Picks: My own personal list of the best products in that category, in no particular order
2) The Popular Vote: The results of a poll I did of over 1000 beauty-savvy consumers, in order of popularity.

The Beauty Insider's Picks
1. Fresh Lemon Sugar Bath Cubes: I am a huge Fresh fanatic, and the Lemon Sugar scent is my favorite of all. These adorable bubbly bath cubes look like giant chunks of sugar, but they dissolve into the bath to leave it softly scented and lusciously healing. You emerge with soft, fresh skin. I’m obsessed with this stuff. $26
2. Santa Maria Novella Pomegranate Bath Salts: The prized, antioxidant-packed pomegranate is put to good use in these seriously relaxing bath salts. This handmade, gorgeously-clad bath product is scented with the heady aroma of pomegranate for a truly transporting bath experience. $33
3. Claus Porto Foam Bath: These cool, colorfully-papered tubes do as much for your bath décor as they do for your body. Inside, you’ll find a foaming, soothing bath formulated with vegetable oil and one of eight intoxicating scents. My favorite is Honeysuckle, a fresh floral that recalls a stay in the south of France. $20
4. Dr. Hauschka Lemon Bath: There’s something about rather austere, clinical lines like Dr. Hauschka, Weleda and Kniepp that makes me feel as if I am doing something truly therapeutic, almost medicinal, for my body. I love this refreshing lemon bath oil for its sunny scent and its soothing moisture; it doesn’t hurt that it’s also supposed to treat oily skin and cellulite. $26.50
5. Caswell-Massey New York Bath Tub Gin: Kitschy gin bottle notwithstanding, this is one sophisticated and sparkling bath product. The clear, juniper-scented gel produces bountiful bubbles while softening skin with glycerin. Plus, the huge 32oz bottle makes it a bath bargain. $25
6. Laura Mercier Tarte Au Citron Honey Bath: I love the decadent packaging: you use a wooden dipper to ladle the foam into your bath. And there’s nothing more sinfully rich than the honey and lemon tart scent; it’s tangy, creamy and sweet at the same time, like the best desserts. $40
7. Deep Steep Honey Bubble Bath in Grapefruit/Bergamot: I love the whimsical bottle and the creamy, moisturizing formula. It’s also super-gentle and soap-free, $19.50
8. Dirty Girl Bubble Bath: When I want serious, supersized bubbles, I reach for this cheeky bottle. Don’t let the name fool you; this skin softening bath will get the grimiest girl squeaky clean, and leave your skin softly scented with the faintly floral, “lily-fresh” fragrance. $11.95
9. Mor Nougat Bath Foam/Bath Soak: Gorgeous packaging and a rich, warm, chocolatey-nutty fragrance make these bath products as satisfying as a sinful chocolate dessert. Well, almost. The Bath Foam produces loads of bubbles; for a more tranquil milky bath, choose the Bath Soak. $26 (foam)/$22 (soak)
10. LoLLIA Relaxing Foaming Bath (Lavender & Honey): This subtly floral, generously foaming bath is soothingly scented with an unusual combination of honey and lavender that is surprisingly romantic. One caveat: am I missing the connection between alcoholic beverages and bubble baths [see Caswell-Massey New York Bath Tub Gin, above]? The clear glass wine bottle might be stunning in its minimalism, but a cork (yes, you do need a corkscrew) is not the most convenient cap for a bubble bath. $30

The Popular Vote
1. Lush Bath Bombs, $3.45-$5.95
2. Bath & Body Works, $9-22
3. Lush Creamy Candy Bath Bubble Bar, $5.10
4. Ohm by Olay Body Wash, $4 (approx.)
5. Ahava Dead Sea Bath Salts, $17
6. Artistry Foaming Body Wash, $20.85
7. Aveeno Body Wash, $7-8 (approx.)
8. Badedas Bath Gelee, $25
9. Bath by Bettijo Lavender Chamomile Tub Tea, $24
10. Bliss Soaps Pure Hand Cut Soap, $4.50

The Best Body Scrubs Ever

This category covers the very best body scrubs, regardless of price. Feel free to weigh in on your favorites. This list is actually comprised of two separate lists:
1) The Beauty Insider's Picks: My own personal list of the best products in that category, in no particular order
2) The Popular Vote: The results of a poll I did of over 1000 beauty-savvy consumers, in order of popularity.

The Beauty Insider's Picks
1. DermaNew Crystal Resurfacing Soap: This innovative soap/scrub has an ingenious handle that makes massaging the gently sloughing formula onto wet skin super simple. It leaves skin silky and soft, and, with regular use, prevents ingrown hairs. $20
2. L’Occitane Amande Exfolating & Defining Delicious Paste: Like marzipan for your shower, this luscious scrub combines almonds and sugar to slough and silken. I love using this at night, and slipping into slumber with the soft sweet fragrance on my skin. $32
3. Demeter Buff Your Body Polishing Sugar Scrub: This reasonably priced scrub is gentle and moisturizing, and formulated with edible ingredients like mango seed butter and grapeseed oil. It even comes in an assortment of sweet scents, like Angel Food and Cremecicle. My favorite is Sugar Cookie. $19
4. Too Faced Sugar Smack: Once again, the line between body treatment and dessert is blurred with this mouthwatering blend of strawberries and brown sugar. I love the way the tub looks on my tub, and the fact that it’s gentle enough to use as often as I choose to indulge. $22.50
5. M.D. Skincare Alpha Beta Daily Body Peel: This is one body exfoliant that’s designed to be used every day, outside of the shower. One pad deposits a blend of hydroxy acids, antioxidants and oil-free moisturizers onto skin, and the second pad neutralizes the acids. I am a sucker for body treatments, and these two simple steps really get me glowing. $78
6. Kenzoki Sensual Rice Steam Milky Rice Body Scrub: With a name this intriguing, I had to try this. Rice plant water conditions and gently exfoliates, leaving a warm scent and silky softness behind. It’s like comfort food for your skin. $42
7. DuWop Buttercream Sugar Scrub: Again, the name drew me in, but the decadently rich formula won me over. This sugar scrub is so lusciously creamy, I was tempted to taste it. Instead, I massaged it into my skin, and emerged from the shower with soft, subtly-scented skin. $24
8. Lucky Chick Mimosa, Jasmine and Violet Sugar Body Scrub: I’m a big fan of Lucky Chick’s Mimosa, Jasmine and Violet fragrance, and it’s at its best in this soothing, aloe-and-vitamin E-infused body scrub. $22
9. Fresh Sugarbath Brown Sugar Body Polish: This is the sugar scrub that started it all. It’s the priciest and most coveted, and with good reason. I think the Fresh Sugarbath collection has one of the top three scents in the world: it’s refreshingly lemony but sophisticated at the same time. I’m addicted. $58
10. Mor Pomegranate Brown Sugar Body Polish: I am currently obsessed with Mor’s bath and body products; the to-die-for packaging and sophisticated fragrances have won me over. It was hard to narrow it down to one scent, but I couldn’t pass up the stunning, deep red scrub inspired by one of my favorite fruits. Pomegranate is one of nature’s top antioxidants. This scrub combines it with red berries and passion fruit to make a fabulous fruit cocktail for your body. $25

The Popular Vote
Note: A homemade scrub of sugar and olive oil also made the list.
1. Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Sugar Scrub, $20
2. Totally Juicy Sugar Scrub in Apple or Grapefruit (tie), $4 (approx.)
3. St. Ives Apricot Scrub, $4.53 (approx.)
4. Origins Salt Rub Smoothing Body Scrub, $30
5. Natural Esscents Sugar Body Scrub (any scent), $10
6. Bliss Hot Salt Scrub, $36
7. Fresh Brown Sugar Body Scrub, $58
8. Lush Gumback Express Smoothie [Discontinued. Note: Buffy the Backside Slayer is a good alternative], $10.40
9. Philosophy Gingerbread Man, $25
10. Aveda Smoothing Body Polish, $20

What Happened to My Hair?

My husband still comments on how my hair looked the night we met. I was coming down the stairs of my apartment building on Boston's Newbury Street, and the first thing he saw was my skinny legs, followed by a huge head of curly hair. I had spent the day running around and didn't have much time to get ready for our blind date, so my hair was full, fluffy and very very curly. I had lots of it, and it was pretty hard to manage. Since it was so thick and so curly, detangling it took quite a bit of time, and taming it took quite a bit of product. I was going through some old pictures, when I saw one taken nearly 15 years ago. I was standing out in the Miami sunshine with very long, thick curly hair blowing in the breeze. The curls were ropey, almost, and my virgin hair went from dark at the roots to yellow-orange at the ends. Fast forward a few years: I have been married more than 6 years, and during that time, my hair has changed. The change has been gradual, of course, so I can't really pinpoint a cause or a time, but I do know that it has become thinner (though still very thick), less curly, and less full overall. It's no longer unmanageable, and it only takes a minute or two to detangle when I have my conditioner in. I now apply hair products for shine and definition and control, but not to squash and weigh my hair down into submission. It's like having a completely different head of hair. I have no idea what caused such a dramatic change in my tresses, but it may be one or more of the following:
1. A couple of haircuts at Ouidad Salon in New York City, where they used their famous cutting technique to remove some of the heft from my hair
2. The fact that, like your skin, your hair naturally changes with age
3. Pregnancy. I've had friends tell me that pregnancy completely changed their hair

But the fact remains that I now have easier, more manageable hair at a time in my life when I desperately need things to be easy, so even though I (along with my husband) occasionally miss my formerly wild locks, I wouldn't trade this newfound ease for anything!

Curly to Straight in Record Time!

My hair is very curly, and usually, I'm okay with that. After all, I live in Florida, and it's just not practical to battle the humidity all the time and to squeeze regular blowouts into a schedule that includes a toddler, an upcoming (next week!) newborn, and a million other things. Plus, I like my hair curly, and so does my husband. But sometimes a girl just needs a change. This weekend, we hosted our annual Christmas party with 50 or so of our closest friends, and the theme was a 60s retro holiday, so I needed straight hair. Shiny, sleek, poker straight hair. Since I didn't have time to make it to a salon, my mom said she would do it for me. She straightens her hair regularly, and swears by the FHI Runway Ceramic Ionic Flat Iron tha I gave her a year or so ago. And I've noticed an amazing difference in her hair since she started using it. It is so shiny, so sleek and so frizz-free, it's just amazing. But I was still skeptical, because my own hair is much curlier and less manageable. And I've NEVER had my hair straightened without a blowout first. But my mom claimed it would work, so I decided to give it a shot.
When I arrived, my hair was still in the two braids it had been in since I'd had it colored a day or two earlier, and was coated with Queen Helene Cholesterol (a really cheap product that you can buy in a huge tub at the drugstore, that really helps manage and moisturize your hair after a chemical process). My mom went to work, and from the first section, we were both in shock. Each section emerged sleek and straight and very very shiny. Best of all, it wasn't wimpy and flyaway like it usually is after a blowout, and it lasted!! Even after a couple of days running around after Lola, a walk on the beach with the family yesterday (yes, a walk on the beach!!!) and two days of virtual neglect, it is still perfect. Let's just say if it wasn't for hygiene's sake, I wouldn't need to wash it at all!
And it only took 45 minutes. For my very thick, curly, and long hair, that's amazing.
Unbelievable. This could change my life forever. I might actually be able to wear my hair straight sometimes, just because, even when there isn't a special event. Now I'm buying myself one for Christmas, and my mom's getting one for my sister. Yes, it's pricey, but when I compare the cost to the cost of blowouts and the aggravation of spending much more time using flatirons that don't work, it's a no brainer!
Here's the scoop from www.beansbeauty.com:
"The FHI Runway is "True" Ceramic Plates with *ION* Series technology developed to enhance the negative ion output produced by true ceramic heaters. This enhanced Ceramic *ION* flat iron gives your hair maximum moisture and conditioning while eliminating frizz. Product Features: Patented integrated ceramic heating technology 100% solid, selft adjusting ceramic plates will never peel. Styling versatility: damp or dry hair and temp. range from 140° to 450° Heats up in seconds Automatic Sense Recovery System: Quickly recovers heat to the ceramic plates." $350

The Best Body Washes Ever

This category covers the very best body washes regardless of price. Feel free to weigh in on your favorites. This list is actually comprised of two separate lists:
1) The Beauty Insider's Picks: My own personal list of the best products in that category, in no particular order
2) The Popular Vote: The results of a poll I did of over 1000 beauty-savvy consumers, in order of popularity.

The Beauty Insider's Picks
1. Mario Russo Olive Juice: I think “Olive Juice” is a misnomer for this frothy, freshly-scented shower gel. It’s super-sudsy, yet leaves skin supremely silky and soft. And the fragrance is light enough for the man in your life, without a hint of that dreaded “unisex” scent. $18
2. Mor Limoncello Body Wash: Stunning packaging aside, this line offers seriously sudsy formulas with sophisticated scents. A morning shower with this bubbly, lemony scent is a mildly bracing experience that just makes you feel happy to be awake. Yes, that is possible. $18
3. Clinique Skin Cushion Body Wash: This luxuriously creamy body wash is more about softness than suds; it soothes even the driest skin into submission. It also doubles as a great shaving cream. I love the warm, slightly citrus-y scent. $18.50
4. Fresh Original Body Shampoo (Hesperides): I first fell in love with Fresh several years ago, when the Boston-based company opened its first store on that city’s famed Newbury Street. I’ve since become addicted to the gorgeous, yet practical, packaging and the unbeatable formulas. This gentle wash cleanses and softens with shea butter and glycerin. If I had to pick one scent, it would be Hesperides, a sparkly grapefruit that I first discovered when it was used as the hand soap at Radius, a hip Boston restaurant. $25
5. Caswell Massey Cucumber Body Wash: This refreshing green gel boasts a light yet addictive fragrance of cucumber, melon and vanilla that lingers all day. It’s gentle and stimulating at the same time: one of my favorite ways to start the day. $15
6. Frederic Fekkai Moisturizing Body Wash with Shea Butter: Shea butter gives this body wash a lush, velvety quality that softens and silkens dry skin without being greasy. Nothing is left behind but a soft, fresh fragrance. $20
7. Jo Malone Lime Basil & Mandarin Shower Gel: Jo Malone’s signature scent, this sophisticated citrus is unlike anything you’ve ever smelled. Subtly refreshing, it’s the perfect scent for this moisturizing shower gel. $50
8. Les Bains du Marais Foaming Gel with Genuine Black Soap: This unusual, exotic formula from a plush Parisian hideaway is loaded with black soap, honey, hibiscus flower and bitter orange, as well as skin-loving oils. The unscented formula leaves skin soft and nourished. $28
9. Mistral Shower Gel (Verbena): I love Mistral’s packaging: metal tubes with vintage-style labels. This sudsy formula is infused with the classic, refreshing scent of Verbena. $16
10. Kiehl’s Liquid Body Cleanser (Grapefruit or Vanilla): I love this easy-on-the-epidermis body wash, which contains skin’s own natural moisturizer, Sodium PCA. The selection of scents offers something for everybody; my current favorites are warm Vanilla and zesty Grapefruit. $13

The Popular Vote
1. Bath & Body Works Pleasures Creamy Body Wash, $10
2. Aveeno Skin Relief, $11 (approx.)
3. Dove Exfoliating Moisturizing Body Wash, $7.37 (approx.)
4. Aveda Energizing Body Cleanser, $13
5. Olay Moisturinse Body Wash, $7.45
6. ShiKai Moisturizing Shower Gel for Dry Skin, $5.96 (approx.)
7. Bare Escentuals body washes, $16-18
8. Avon body washes, $5-8
9. Artistry Foaming Body Wash, $20.85
10. Baby Magic Calming Foaming Milk Bath with Lavender & Chamomile, $4 (approx.)