clean up for christmas - B.A.R.E. soap

B.A.R.E. Soaps’ message really says it all: “Good For You, Good For Others”.  Made with all-natural ingredients and on a mission to provide a sustainable sanitation programs in Uganda and India, B.A.R.E Soaps certainly are good for everyone.

Their soaps are never tested on animals, and are beautifully made from Organic Saponified Oils, Goat’s Milk and Essential Oils.  20% of each sale are reinvested directly back economic development, bringing short-term relief like shoes, medical attention, and sanitation, and establishing long-term solutions like sustainable farming and employment for women.

The mission of B.A.R.E Soaps becomes clear after learning just two simple but staggering statistics: UNICEF estimates a child dies from diarrhea every 30 seconds in underdeveloped countries, and that a bar of soap can reduce diarrhea born diseases by 40%.  To combat this very real and fully preventable threat of disease, B.A.R.E Soaps has partnered with Children’s Hope Chest and Point Community Church to help families in Kaberamaido, Uganda since 2012. In 2016 they expanded their mission’s reach include Kalwa Slum, India through a partnership with Sundara Fund.

hands and hearts...and suds - Hand in Hand soap

It is so wonderfully simple: you buy a bar of this luxurious soap, and provide soap and clean water to children in the developing world.

In 2011, Bill Glaab and Courtney Apple read a substantial article that stated 5 million children die each year from water related illnesses. After much research, they learned that 45% of these deaths could have been prevented with simple hand washing alone. They decided to create a utilitarian product... that could save lives as well. Thus, Hand in Hand was born!

You can buy directly from their site. Or, you can find Hand in Hand...at Target!

It is your purchases that keep these programs running & we thank you for your continued support!

It's a giving thing...rosemary lavender soap - Kahina Beauty

Sometimes soap smells so good you want to take a bite!  While I don’t recommend eating soap, I do endorse the Rosemary Lavender Argan Soap from Kahina Giving Beauty! 

Katharine L’Heureux, the founder and CEO of Kahina Giving Beauty, discovered the amazing properties of Argan Oil after a 2007 trip to Morocco.  She launched Kahina Giving Beauty in 2008 with the goal of supporting the indigenous women and culture of Morocco, protecting the environment, and giving back.  

The impressive and difficult process that the Berber women of Morocco go through to extract the oil from the Argan nut is often undercut by pressure for low-cost oil - often this is achieved by paying unfair labor wages and harvesting oil from low quality nuts.  Kahina Giving Beauty works with cooperatives that pay living wages and source nuts from healthy trees.  

Kahina Giving Beauty gives 1% of its annual revenue to organizations that directly benefit the women and families of South Morocco.  To achieve this, they work with local GNO’s with missions that support the women and families of this region, namely Education For All and High Atlas Foundation.  

In addition to all the goodness Kahina Giving Beauty does by ethically sourcing their oil, this soap comes wrapped in a beautiful, colorful printed paper - perfect to gift to yourself or others!  

Super Smitten!

the best soap ever - Noodle & Boo

I was a buyer for a tiny boutique in Minneapolis a couple of years ago ...and when a rep for Noodle and Boo came in one day, I was smitten instantly. All of their products smell deee-licious, and the packaging is delicate and pleasing.

Noodle and Boo's Believe Honey Bar will more than just bathe and moisten your skin: 100% of the profits from the Believe Honey Bar will go to the Circle of Love campaign.

Circle of Love, created by Noodle and Boo, raises awareness and funds for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT) programs in Africa. Ensuring that babies born to HIV-positive mothers will not contract the virus because moms will receive the necessary immunizations and care they need.

This yummy beauty bar is formulated with natural ingredients to soothe, moisturize and refresh the skin as it cleans. They have created a non-soap formulation that washes off thoroughly, leaving skin thoroughly soft. It also rebalances your skin’s natural pH to help keep your skin moist and not tight.

~ Shea butter, honey and a myriad of vitamins - splendid!

~ Clinically-tested and hypoallergenic - ideal!

~ 5.75 ounce bar - generous!

~ Arrives in signature box - lovely!

Addicted and Smitten!

beautiful black birds - The Bird Project

The (exquisite) Bird Project soap was born in 2010, after the extraordinarily tragic BP spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Tippy Tippens, a design expert and social entrepreneur, was living in New York at the time of the catastrophe and felt the desire to help. After many visits, she decided to relocate to New Orleans and start her (very cool) business, Matter Inc.

Matter Inc. is devoted to “making the world a better place by making meaningful products that matter.”

These delicate, black, bird-shaped soaps are made with natural, locally sourced ingredients: biodiesel glycerin, fair trade olive oil, aloe, activated black charcoal, and exude a light cypress scent…evocative of the bayous of Louisiana.

Soon, wash after wash, the black bird melts away to reveal a white, ceramic memento, handmade by Louisiana Clay.  A marvelous symbol of the creatures affected…a lasting token of life, restoration and hope.

The best part is that 50% of the profits go towards the Gulf Restoration Network and International Bird Rescue.

The artistry of the bird…to be cradled in the hand, caressed and cleansed is just brilliant symbolism and an extraordinary literal expression.

I am Smitten with these sumptuous soaps.