For the last year or so, I have been semi-obsessed with Lush bath products. I've been a bath person for quite some time anyway, and the products Lush makes, especially the bath bombs and bath oil melts, are divine. I've spent a good chunk of money in the last year keeping myself stocked with these products, and spent a good many hours enjoying them.

But, all good things must end.

Last night, I tried another product from Bubbles, the Queen Bee Bubble Bar ($4.95). It was a very, very pleasant bathing experience. The scent is a light mix of honey, apricot, and vanilla--not too strong or too sweet, just right. I see now that the site suggests using one bar for 2-3 baths, but I didn't realize that, so I used the whole thing. It created a huge amount of long-lasting and soft bubbles. The flowers and little bee that are embedded in the bar are made of sugar, so they dissolve right away and don't leave anything weird in the tub.

One caveat is that this bar was much harder than Lush's bubble bars, and was difficult to crumble up at the beginning. I had to soften it under the running water for a while before I could crumble it. This might be a problem if you want to break a piece off and use the bar for several baths. I will explore that later, as I have another Bubble bubble bar to try at home.

I tried a couple more Bubbles bath products this weekend, and I'm officially converted. Lush is but a distant memory.

This is the Home Sweet Home bath bomb. So far, it's my favorite Bubbles product. It has an amazing smell, like freshed baked goods, not just sweet but also spicy and warm. It's not too strong, and it makes the bath water pink. The only thing I don't like is the odd button-shaped thing on it, which the website tells me is meant to be a soap "pie." It doesn't dissolve in the bath water, it just kind of floats around and gets slimy. A small price to pay for a great bath, though. I used the whole 6 oz bomb, but I'm sure you could get two baths out of it if you could figure out how to break it in half. That's too much thought for me when I just need a nice bath.

The other new product I tried was the Candy Cane bubble bath bar, which isn't listed on the website (I suspect because it is seasonal), but came as a free gift in my order. This one was not as hard as the last one, so I was able to break it and just use 1/2 in my bath. Half worked fine, but whole is definitely better, as far as creating a stronger scent and a ridiculous amount of bubbles. The bubbles were nice and fluffy and skin-softening, and the scent was very mild peppermint. It was nice.

I should be getting my order from the next Lush replacement candidate, Fantasy Bath, should be arriving in the next few days. Stay tuned...

Last night I had the opportunity to try my first Fantasy Bath product. They shipped very quickly, and each of the bath bombs came wrapped up in its own small box, complete with a color label. Perfect for gifting. They also have free shipping with all orders over $40, which is fantastic.

The bomb I chose for my first trial was the purple heart-shaped "Little Things" bath bomb. From the website:

All of us have those special little things that never fail to lift our spirits. A dog's smile. A good book. A warm sunny spot. Remember to take time for the little things every day. Scatter some bird seed on the ground, breathe deeply, and remember to smile.

Perfect after a hard day.

I've tried two more of Fantasy Bath's bath bombs, and I can now recommend them without reservation. The first one I tried, Tupelo Honey, is still a bit strong in the scent department, but nice (I think I'd prefer it without the addition of rose and carnation scents to the honey and ginger combo, but it's still good). The second, Enchantment, is amazing. It's a large, round bath bomb (8 oz--huge), and it turns the water a lovely dark pink-purple. The scent is very complicated--"violets and hyacinths mingle with melissa, neroli, bergamont, orange flower, tuberose, magnolia, and lotus flower. The base of sandalwood and amber balance," but not overdone. It has lots of staying power, but doesn't make you sneeze or feel overwhelmed. I LOVED it.

One caveat is that you have to treat these bombs like bubble bars and crumble them under a running tap, or you won't get any bubbles, they will just behave like slightly foamy regular bath bombs. I forgot that this time. It was still quite nice, but next time I'll remember and get lovely bubbles as well.

I'm so behind! I have been finding time to take baths, but I guess I haven't been finding time to write about them.

First, I have to give props to a Lush product, even though I hate them now. I recently tried Lush's Figs & Leaves soap for the first time (it was from an old order and I didn't realize I still had it until I found it while looking for something else). It is excellent. It smells great and it's really, really moisturizing. I found the bits of fresh fig sticking to the outside of it kind of nasty, but they peeled right off. It's a little bit exfoliating, but not too much. I just love it. Too bad my $7.25 bar has lasted like five showers.

On to happier subjects, I've tried products from a couple more of Lush's competitors. Given that I was so excited about the independent nature of some of the places I'd found online, I decided to dig even farther down into indie businesses and see if I could find some good stuff coming out of somebody's kitchen or something. So I hit Etsy and started browsing around, eventually making orders from three shops (note that this was before the whole not shopping thing). Two of those orders have arrived and been tested, and here's what I think:

I guess I kind of fell down on the job with the bath product reviews. I have been using them at a frantic rate, sometimes two baths a day, but I haven't been telling you all about it. But this should tell you all you need to know:

The other day, I made a second order from one of the Lush-alternative sources for bath indulgence I tried. Before even sampling all the stores on my list, I made another order from one. That, my friends, is burgeoning addiction.

I've been meaning to write about this all-important subject in some sort of coherent way, and my brain isn't up to talking about anything more substantial today, so here goes. A few thoughts on the Lush-replacements I have sampled so far:

Just in case anybody was holding their breath wondering, yes, I still have huge huge love for The Rainforest Soap Shack now that I have two orders with them under my belt. In fact, at this point I think I can safely say they are my go-to place for bath indulgences.

I won't bore you with a lot of detail, but I did make a couple of major discoveries with this order. The first is body frosting. All the moisturizing fabulousness of body butter, but with less of the greasiness. I got mine in Apple Orchard scent, which is actually a little bit strong for my taste (it was a free sample included in my order), but I will definitely order it again in a scent more pleasing to my nose. The second is sugar whip--absolutely fantastic in the shower. Mine is Strawberry Fields scent, and yeah, it smells just like a Strawberry Shortcake doll. Just exactly the pick me up I need at 7am. Finally, the fantabulous proprietess included a sample-sized bath blaster in this order scented with "Girl's Night Out," and it is a scent I'll definitely be ordering again.

As before, prices were reasonable, as was shipping (especially since the shop is located in Canada). Shipping took awhile, but it was worth the wait. If you're like me and looking for a better, cheaper, nicer alternative to gone-corporate Lush, this is place.

I few things that aren't gifts, so I can talk about them freely.

Claire de Lune cloth pantyliners. These were 3 for $10.50, plus $1.50 S&H, and they're fabulous. They are very lightweight, which works great for me, but are still long enough to provide reasonable panty coverage. And the fabrics are cute, too! They seem very well-made and I expect they'll be long-lasting.

So I've told you before about my love-hate relationship with Lush. But really, I gotta say, I'm just about over them now.

What happened is this: Mark's brother and his partner generously sent me a box of stuff from Lush for Christmas. Unfortunately, they picked all skincare products, which are wasted on me, the girl who does not wash her face. So, I called Lush to see if I could exchange the products, all of which are still encased in their plastic wrapping. And the fairly short person with whom I spoke told me I could probably return them to a store. When I told her I did not have a local store, she told me that the person who ordered the items could return them, because they needed "proof" that they were purchased. When I said I had the packing slip, she said that wasn't good enough and I couldn't return them. Keep in mind, please, that I wasn't trying to return these items for cash--I just wanted to exchange them for bath stuff.

OK. So I went over to the Lush website, where there is a forum where I'd previously seen people swapping Lush products. After foraging through threads and FAQs to try to find out how to swap, I finally posted a question re: swapping. And was told swapping isn't allowed there anymore.

So. I have over $50 worth of fancy face wash and moisturizer, which I will not use, which Lush will not exchange formally or informally. I emailed them to complain, but so far all I've received is a stock "we received your message, here is our FAQ" reply.

These products cost way too much for this level of customer service to be acceptable. If I hadn't been done with Lush before, I would be now.

I know I said I was going to shut up, but since typing has the benefit of not hurting my throat the way talking does, y'all are one of only communication outlets until this plague leaves me.

Besides, I want to share my scores.

I mentioned before that I scored a few great things at Black Friday sales. Well, I've done some shopping since then. I'm planning to give a few folks non-Lush bath goodies for Christmas, so I ordered from several online shops, all of whom seem to have very high quality products, are independent, generally woman-owned businesses, and don't piss me off. I haven't tried the stuff out myself yet, as I'm not 100% sure what I am gifting and what I am keeping, but it looks and smells divine.

I missed one, and in the interest of full disclosure, I wanted to add it.

I ordered a $25 Mystery Sampler from Lollibomb Beauty in the hopes of getting some hip looking products to pass on to my nieces. Shipping was an additional $7.50. I requested a "most popular scents" sampler, since I wasn't sure what said nieces would enjoy.

The box came today, and my first thought was, "wow...it's...small."

Bath products I can make successfully at this point:
bath melts
oatmeal bath

Bath products I want to try to make this weekend:
oatmeal bath bombs
bath bombs
bubble bars
sugar scrub

Current favorite scent combinations:
rose/clove
orange/clove

Suggestions?

I sold my first bunch of bath melts today, and I am just on Cloud 9 about it. True, the person who is buying them is a friend, so it's still all in the family, but I'm still excited. The first step of my plan for world domination and the overthrow of Lush is complete!

In case you missed it before, my Etsy shop, Crushworthy, is here. It's under construction, more things will be added in the future, but you can definitely buy what is there now. Please tell anybody bath-obsessed that you know--my stuff is cheaper than most, more natural than most, and fully customizable!

Also, my tie-dying friend Frog has opened an Etsy shop, Dye Tyke, and you should check it out as all. She does beautiful work, and her baby/toddler stuff is so so great. What's cuter than a baby in tie-dye? My favorite piece she has up now is this orange romper.

Here's to women turning their creativity into small business, and supporting one another while doing it!

Oh, one more shout out: my friend The Princess is blogging at a site you should all check out, Crafting a Green World. It's a wonderful read and a good resource, and I'll be adding it to be feed reader right now. You should too.

Comparison shopping for cocoa butter or
Cocoa butter price comparison
(for those Googling)

So shopping online for cocoa butter is probably not something you find yourself doing often, unless you are like me (or are me) and make a lot of gooey bath products that require large quantities of it. That being said, even if you are me, comparison shopping for the bet cocoa butter bargain is not something you want to ever have to devote an hour or more to again. Wouldn't it have been nice, you say to yourself, if someone on The Internets had handily provided this information so I would not have had to seek it out?