The Bottle Rainbow in my Shower

I was inspired to take this photo the other night -- moments after bathing -- to share with you the (crazy?) way in which I ordered all the bottles in my shower by color.

I currently have 14 containers in there, but in all fairness, I only use a maximum of five per shower. Half of the items are spares I brought with me when I moved that I don't have a better place to store. Four of the containers are trial size samples.

The fact that they are such a wide array of colors is pure accident. Seriously. Funny how that worked though. Guess I'm really drawn to vibrant colors.

The products, from left to right:

Gillette regular foam shaving cream -- No prissy shaving gel for me!

Bath and Body Works body wash in Midnight Pomegranate -- I have no idea what makes a 'midnight' pomegranate different than an afternoon one. Or a 3 p.m. one. But I love pomegranate and picked this up on sale a few weeks ago. The scent and lather are great. In fact, I even picked up the same body wash and a hand cream for my friend for her birthday. She liked it too.

Herbal Essences Color Me Happy shampoo -- I don't know who bought this. Probably me, though I'm usually not a big HE fan. I highlighted my hair for about four years years, during which time I almost exclusively used color protecting products from the drugstore. I'm currently in the process of growing it out - wanted a change, also going darker for winter - but I still use color protecting shampoo. I've got no complaints with this bottle, and I like it better than regular HE.

L'Oreal Vive Pro Nutri Gloss Conditioning Treatment -- As the yellow-label indicates, it was on clearance at Duane Reade. This is supposed to be a deep conditioner, however, I'm really not sure what it does. I've had neither especially good nor especially bad results. I've read mixed reviews of this stuff so I'd say you can judge it yourself. I probably won't re-buy because I know I can find something better.

Christophe of Beverly Hills Color Extending Conditioner -- I picked up a a handful of these Christophe 2 oz. trial size bottles in a few different treatment types. Does anyone know how long you should continue using color-treating products after getting your hair done? Until the hair grows out, or no?

Citre Shine conditioner for colored or permed hair -- I love how this smells! I'm almost out and want to find more. It feels light on my hair and isn't tested on animals. Great. I can't speak to its "citrus vita-actives," but fyi some of its top ingredients are cetyl alcohol and amodimethicone.

Sedal Miel y German de Trigo (honey and wheat germ) conditioner -- I bought this on vacation in Mexico in March, since I didn't want to risk getting hair products all over my stuff when I packed. Sedal is the spanish language version of Sunsilk -- both are made by Unilever. This conditioner is aimed toward hydrating dry hair. My hair actually isn't very dry, but again, since it was processed and because it's naturally curly/wavy, I try to give it as much replenishment as possible.

St. Ives Apricot Scrub, Renew & Firm --This will help tone your skin to make it look younger. If it works as it says it does, people will be asking if I'm in middle school soon! but seriously, I bought this hoping it might be a bit more gentle than the regular stuff, which I find a bit rough. Did they change the formula recently? Since the beads in here are a lot finer, but I don't know if that's just this particular type...and by the way, it still works like a charm, just as I expect St. Ives to do. **HG product for me**

Queen Helene Mint Julep Mask -- I've written about this before and will add to the choir who love it for being good and cheap. Definitely a lot of quality bang for your buck in this tube.

Garnier Fructis shampoo for color treated hair -- Another item picked up in Mexico. Does anyone know if South and Latin American products are formulated differently than their American or European counterparts? I browsed the ingredients here and from what I remember, it was the same old stuff at the top - sodium lauryl sulfate, etc. I love the smell and tend to like how Granier works for me.

Christophe trial size bottles in clarifying shampoo and curl-defining shampoo and conditioner -- Just got these, don't have a ruling on how they work.

Bath and Body Works 3-in-1 body wash/bubble bath/shampoo in Twisted Peppermint -- Ha! Also funny that my two body washes are from BBW when I never shop there. This was in a gift pack given to my mom a few years ago. I was using the chocolate scented one at home in N.Y. (it smells like a dream...mmm) but brought this with me in the move. It makes me smell like a candy cane, in a good way. And it makes me excited for the holiday season! Which is why I'm going to look for a more autumn-y scent today, so I can get my fall-wheels in gear. (Pumpkin spice anyone?)

In fact, I might go to BBW for some...my once-a-year visit.

So there you have it, the array of colors in my shower! My shower pouf is powder blue, so it would actually futher complete the spectrum, but I didn't take a pic ;)

Do you have a lot of stuff in your shower too? Do you switch out regularly? Or do you store extra products under the sink?

Dear Neutrogena

The text of my comment form to Neutrogena regarding a recently-purchased bottle of pink grapefruit foaming scrub:

I love the product itself - the scent is great, the texture is great, and it cleans my skin without making it too dry. HOWEVER, shortly after opening the big plastic seal around the product (it was sold with a smaller promo bottle) I noticed that the top corner of the big product was split open about a centimeter. (The very top, where the two edges of the container come together.) I only realized this when I was trying to open the plastic wrap around the two bottles and noticed a puddle of pink face wash leaked onto my bathroom sink.

Did you get all that? Yeah, it sucks. But the scrub smells delicious, just like a grapefruit. It foams, it gently scrubs, it feels great. Just wish the bottle wasn't messed up. Hopefully the face wash itself will continue to be on my good side though.

Shower Pouf Power

Many of you probably already understand the awesomeness that is the shower pouf. Yes, I'm talking about the fluffy, synthetic kind you can pick up at any drugstore for $3 or so...what a great invention!

See, I wasn't a believer in shower poufs until my recent mini-vacation, when a friend with whom I'd been crashing convinced me that using a pouf is a far more effective method of getting sudsy than using body wash alone. He even has a whole rhythm down as far as how to soap-up (it's his thing), and though I rolled my eyes at first, I eventually figured it couldn't hurt to try it out.

Well, it really did make a difference. With the pouf, the soap gets into a nice lather and is thus much easier to rub all over my body. Of course I'll be replacing my poufs with some frequency or putting it in them dishwasher or something to be disinfected, since these things can start to harbor bacteria. (Yuck.) Still, I can't wait to go home and start using a pouf with my regular arsenal of body washes...

And so, here are things I've liked lately (unfortunately I am not home and couldn't pull ingredients up on-line, so below are just my opinions from using these products on a regular basis):

St. Ives Whipped Silk Ultra Moisturizing Body Wash ($3.99 at CVS online) -- My former roommate from Duluth, Minn., says this is the only thing that keeps her skin moisturized without additional lotion during the cold, dry winter back home. I tried it and liked it. I also like the Swiss Vanilla Moisturizing Body Wash, which is what I borrowed from my friend this week. Whipped Silk doesn't have much of a scent, but Swiss Vanilla does in a very subtle, sweet way. I also like its consistency and can vouch for the fact that it gets quite sudsy with a shower pouf. I might switch to Swiss Vanilla when my Whipped Silk is done, but I think both are worthy choices.

Aveeno Positively Smooth Shower & Shave Cream ($6.49 at Ulta online) -- A creamy, unscented wash that I find quite moisturizing. I can't gauge how well this works in enabling you to shave less. I have used it while shaving my legs though, and it's thick enough to keep me pretty nick-free. I prefer something with a bit of a scent and next time will look for the Aveeno body wash that another friend of mine described as almond-smelling.

Bath and Body Works Creamy Body Wash in Midnight Pomegranate (normally $9.50, I got it on sale for $5 a few weeks ago!) -- Alright, now we're talking when it comes to scent! This wash is the most liquid-y of the bunch, with the consistency of thick hand soap. Don't be confused, it's opaque like creamy soap, not a clear bath gel. I love the scent. To me, it's light, fruity and not super synthetic smelling, and I like that it leaves a soft trace of the scent on my skin. (Like, you can smell it only if you're very close and, well, sniffing my skin, lol.) Smell is a very personal preference though and I'd encourage you -- if you're gutsy enough to handle the barrage of scents -- to go into B&BW and hunt down your own nose's favorite.

I don't have any complaints about the body wash when it comes to cleaning me off too. We'll see how it fares when the weather gets cooler and drier. I have a good feeling that this product's consistency will lend itself very well to sudsing on a shower pouf, so I think it will be the first one I use when I get home Saturday night. :)

Does anyone know the perfect scented + moisturizing body wash? And what do you use to apply your soap?? Are you down with Shower Pouf Power?