Happy 2010!

Hi friends!

It's been awhile! But I'm back with more questions, comments, and thoughts regarding the products that can be purchased at drugstores. While in a CVS today, I had a few of these thoughts such as:

CVS is now featuring a futuristic entrance sign. This particular one is in a shopping center in Arlington, VA, which currently holds a grocery store, Starbucks, dry cleaners, etc. but is suffering from a 1980's facade that is in dire need of a facelift. CVS, however, may have taken this a bit too far. It looks like a spaceship.

Now I have been really struggling lately with purchasing a new shower gel. I spent quite a bit of time at the beginning of the new year searching Sephora, The Body Shop, Target, the internet...and haven't really found an adequate shower gel for mid-winter. I typically pick shower gels that are on the heavier side, both in scent and viscosity, since there's really no other time of year to use them. Plus, I have been dryer and static-ier than EVER this winter, so I need to load up on the moisturizers. These were my considerations:

1. Philosophy - Cherry On Top @ Sephora. I wanted to love this one. It's new for Valentine's Day and I can't really say "no" to cherry anything. But, alas, I was underwhelmed. I think it might be best with a mix of that and some almond flavored soap, or perhaps the Belgian Waffle Philosophy. Just something to cut the sweetness of the Cherry. If I wasn't on a budget right now, that would probably be something to look into.

2. Philosophy - Snow @ Sephora. When I stopped in the other day, they were o

ut. I checked online and discovered it's still available, but wow people are divided on the scent. The comment section is about 50/50 with most people agreeing it doesn't smell like snow, but diverging on their opinions of the scent. Most people think it smells citrus-y, for better or for worse. I happen to like it, but since it wasn't readily available, I moved on.

3. Nivea - Touch of Honeydew. I was really attracted to the bottle and thought, maybe this would be pleasant. The shower gel sort of looked like a refreshing Italian soda, so I was pretty excited. It had a nice enough scent, but I decided I'm not ready to commit to a summery shower gel just yet. Stay tuned for my thoughts on this one.

4. St. Ives - Energizing Citrus @ CVS - Again, too summery for now.

I couldn't make up my mind, so I decided to buy two:

Softsoap - Apricot Scrub. I used this last winter, so it sort of reminds me of that shower. But I figured it's perfect for my needs right now. It's affordable, has a strong scent and it's a lotion soap with bead

s for extra moisturizing. I don't remember being so dry last winter even though I kept my bedroom at a solid 85 most of the time. So I'm going for it. It was between that, and the Johnson's soap Susan recommended on the previous post. That one totally reminds me of the Spanish Harlem apartment I shared with

her, when I totally copied off of her shower gel preferences. I will buy it again someday, but right now I already have a large amount of Johnson's Melt Away Stress shower gel, and one 20oz bottle is enough for that little shower.

I also purchased Johnson's Baby Magic. This was a childhood staple. I feel like I'm right back in my old bathtub. I purchased it a couple years ago and noticed that my skin felt extra soft, even when I wasn't expecting it to. But due to this obsurd skin-dryness I have going right now, it's worth bringing out for reinforcement.

So what winter shower gel/soap are you using right now? Have you tried Susan's 24 Hour Moisture recommendation? Is bar soap the way to go? Should I take that plunge into the Creme Ribbon soap?

Q. What do you think when you hear the name, Softsoap?

This was a question that was presented to me at a focus group I participated in at work last fall. We always get emails asking things like, "Are you a working mother with kids aged 5-12?" Or, "Are you an 18-35 male that likes whiskey?" And the most recent and somewhat disturbing question we got in an email last week, "Did your infant suffer from a retrovirus?" Gross. Most of the time I can't participate, but last fall we got one that actually sparked something in me. "Are you a lover of beauty products? If so, please participate in this focus group. A gift bag will be provided. YESSSSSS.

So, I go to the focus group. Turns out 103,482,374,823,748,023 other women in my company also signed up, so they had to break it off into much smaller sections. So small, that I was in a group with only one other girl. So there was a lot of time for questioning. I think the focus group interviewer (a brand planner) got really annoyed with me right off the bat because when I answered the above question, I said "boring." The other girl I was with said something similar. So that sort of set the tone, but I wasn't worried because I got to ramble on about shower gels for an hour and cut out some "beauty-related" pictures from a magazine. All for a gift bag at the end. So, after an hour of discussing, Brand Planner handed us a large toothpaste and a shower gel. SCORE! The shower gel was the new Softsoap body wash called Body Butter Coconut Scrub, and let me tell you, it completely exceeded my expectations!

Now, a point I would like to make here is that I don't dislike the Softsoap brand altogether. I've purchased quite a few of their products in the past. It's just that it doesn't generate a lot of excitement. It's the stuff you find in your grandma's guest bathroom. But I must say, this coconut stuff is great! I usually like to use shower gels that are scented for the season (i.e. I will only use pumpkin spice in the fall), but I went ahead and used the coconut wash in January because it had such a warm and toasty scent. Like chestnuts roasting, or something similar. Another reason I thought it was wintery was because the product itself is pretty thick and softening. Not a cool gel that I would prefer for summer.

So n e wayz, this spring, I needed a new shower gel. I went over to CVS expecting to be totally disappointed in the pathetic selection, but I was wrong. Softsoap unleashed another pleasantly scented shower gel - Body Butter Apricot Scrub. It's lovely! A great scent for spring, this body wash leaves your skin smelling citrus fresh. Are apricots considered citrus fruits? Doesn't matter. I highly recommend it, go check it out!