I *Heart* Baths!

Actually, I like baths at best.  I don’t have a bathtub large enough to accommodate love.  I think if I had one of those Jacuzzi monstrosities, I’d be all over bath time, but as it is, I just kind of sit there like a large frog in a small, rainbow-coloured puddle.

But I DO *heart* trying out fun bath products, like this assortment of loved-up goodies that made my Valentine’s extra bubbly and sweet.  Solo, however.  Valentine’s Day or no, if there’s not enough space for me in the tub, there definitely ain’t space enough for both Mr. Finger Candy and I!  The comedic possibilities are actually pretty outstanding. 🙂

But back to bath time!  Which included some cute soap petal roses I always bust out for my romantically-themed baths, the last of a bottle of Lush’s Prince Charming shower cream, my favourite candle from Bath & Body Works, Pink Apple Punch, a sweet, Pink Sands-infused apple fragrance that smells like heaven in a three-wick, and two new bath bombs from Lush’s Valentine’s Day collection, heart-shaped Cupid, and heart-studded Lover Lamp.

I have no cool photos of bath art to share with you, though, because neither one of these bath bombs produced anything other than creamy white bubbles.  Even Cupid, the pale pink heart pierced with a hot pink arrow, produced nothing but white fizzy after the hot pink bits broke off.  But speaking of, the one remaining heart clinging to the edge of the Lover Lamp bath bomb was so super cool – definitely not edible, but it looked exactly like a perfect little heart-shaped gumdrop.  I probably wouldn’t purchase either again, because both were really kind of boring!  And I like a lot of pizzazz in my bath bombs.  But as a fun Valentine’s Day treat, these were nice.

Fairytale Bath

It was late last night when, feeling kind of chilly from the day’s unrelentingly damp weather, I decided to warm myself up with a well-deserved bath.  But not just any bath! No, a bath I’ve been planning for a bit (if that’s even a thing, which it totally is in the age of blogging and Instagramming) – a nearly mythic bath time combo featuring a handful of fun, fairytale-themed products.  It was a sudsy little pick-me-up (and warm-me-up) and I emerged relaxed, refreshed and smelling like a princess.  If you’d like to follow along at home, here’s how you, too, can add a touch of fairy dust to your standard bath time routine.

Straight off the bat, you need to set the mood with both a lighting scheme AND a scentscape (if “tablescape” is a word, by hell, I’m making “scentscape” one as well.) Tealight wax burners come in handy for this part – bathe by the glow of your tealight as it warms the scented wax from beneath.  Here I melted a chunk of Rosegirls‘ Pink Sugar, Grape Cow (grape milkshake) and Whipped Cream, a gentle sort of bubblegummy scent that I freely admit aligns more with the colours of this bath than the actual theme (although I suppose a Grape Cow absolutely fits into the realm of a fairytale.  Or an acid trip.)

For the bath itself, I used a simple combination of Lush’s Unicorn Horn bubble bar tossed in a small strainer and topped with a smoosh of Prince Charming shower cream.  Run the strainer under very hot water until the bubble bar dissolves (the hotter the water, the fluffier the bubbles, for reasons I’d have to be a scientist to understand.)  This will tint your bathwater the loveliest shade of mica-dusted pink.  Prince Charming, a mild, pomegranate-infused shower cream, is actually quite floral and not too heavily scented – as such, it doesn’t have a terrific load of presence beyond its colour, particularly when it’s running up against the Horn’s heady lavender fragrance.  It’s a very nice combination, though – fresh, fruity and a touch herbal.

Then, as the finishing touch, I plucked the petals from two soap roses from this set my mother brought back for me from a trip to World Market in Florida (which I understand is a beauty and home goods and lifestyle scrounger’s shopping paradise) and sprinkled them across the top of the shimmery suds.

The soap rose petals, while so gorgeous, were a bit of an odd consistency – a little gummy and a whole lot sticky.  When I use them again, I’ll be sure to add them to the running hot water first so they have time to break down before I get into the tub.  All the same, when they did finally dissolve, they left my skin soft and nicely moisturized.  Plus, bathing among rose petals?  ‘Tis no better way to get in touch with your inner princess.

So there you have it, the punchline to what happens when you get into a rose petal-dusted bath with Prince Charming, a unicorn and a Grape Cow.  Or something like that. 😉