Crabtree & Evelyn

When I was six or seven years old—definitely not more than eight—one of my mother's friends (she had a lot of strange friends) came back from a trip and brought me a little square box inside which was a shell-shaped soap. It was the kind of thing that came from a hotel, or at least that is what I assumed at the time. But I found it endearing and enchanting, and it smelled amazing. Almost too good to use, but certainly too good not to use.

Years later, as a preteen, my friend Emily and I were at the mall and we went into a store called Crabtree & Evelyn. It was filled with soaps and lotions, and somehow to us it felt like the height of elegance and luxury. And then I saw it: the shell-shaped soap of my childhood! Only much larger. I learned the name of the soap was "jojoba," and I absolutely had to have it. I used my bit of allowance to buy a bar, and after that I only ever wanted soap and lotion from Crabtree & Evelyn.

Until . . . By the time I was in high school Bath and Body Works had become the gold standard for soaps and lotions. And B&BW were in almost every mall, unlike C&E, which was harder to find. I abandoned C&E and forgot about it, later only occasionally buying their products if I happened to stumble across a store.

I realize that now I can buy these things online. But for soaps and lotions, I like to be on site, smelling the product. While jojoba remains one of my favorites, I also am easily bored and don't like to have the same thing all the time. And I like to have options.

Before long, I became tired of B&BW too. Disenchanted with it. In our local mall, we have LUSH, and so I frequently buy my soaps there. And I discovered Molton Brown and often use their lotions and body washes.

BUT. The other day—my birthday, in fact—I came across a Crabtree & Evelyn. Hadn't seen or been in one for years. So I had to go. And they had so many great soaps! Some I remembered from before, some were new to me, but I had such a wonderful time picking them out. And when I came home and used one, oh! I'd forgotten that, besides the fragrance, C&E soaps are so soft and moisturizing. Heavenly.

All this is to say, I'm so glad I rediscovered C&E. I'm particularly enjoying my Summer Hill soap at the moment, but can also recommend Nantucket Briar, La Source, and of course Jojoba. I used to use their Lily of the Valley a lot, too. (I'm really curious about Somerset Meadow, but they had no tester at the store and I only found it as part of a set, at least at that store.) As someone who dislikes soaps and lotions that smell like food, I'm happy C&E has an abundance of floral scents. And for the gentlemen, Moroccan Myrrh and Sandalwood are fine options as well. (Though I use them myself, too, because I love those scents!)

Do you have favorite soaps and lotions? Favorite scents? Let me hear about them!

Lavender Olive Oil Soap from Carmel Valley Ranch

This is just an aside. I've written about LUSH and such, and I do have a ridiculous weakness for soaps and bubble baths and bath bombs and lotions and . . . Well, anyway, I recently stayed at Carmel Valley Ranch, and they have some of the best soap I have ever come across in my life. Which is saying something when you consider how much soap I've dealt with in my not-inconsiderable number of years. I mean, besides the regular, daily interactions with soap, I also actively seek out soap in out-of-the-way places. That's a lot of soap.

I love the Carmel Valley Ranch soap so much, I called the gift shop and had them FedEx me three bars. It smells amazing, it feels amazing, it is as close as I've ever come to the perfect soap. The bars are . . . Bigger than what you get in the hotel rooms but not as large as a full-size bar of soap. They come wrapped in wax paper and twine, which is so adorable I almost hate to unwrap them. Almost. Right now I can hardly wait to bathe. I'm trying to decide whether to keep one bar wrapped and sitting on my desk just so I can pick it up and sniff it occasionally. (Hey, if soap is my drug of choice, I'm doing okay.)

At $16 a bar, the cost is steep, but I've decided this soap is worth it. I'll just try not to use it all up in one go. It will be difficult to restrain myself, but at least I do have a lot of backup soaps in my arsenal. If I were a dragon, I'd probably hoard bath products. And candles.