Soapology

Soapology

Photo: Soapology

Neighborhood: Meatpacking District
Type of Place: Bath & Body

Description:
As with the time just after the winter holidays, the time just after Valentine's Day can be a bit of a shock. The rushing around, the excitement...and now what? Seriously, no more presents? Plus it's still February?

Fear not; just because the next holiday coming along is St. Patrick's Day, known more for jig-doing and Guiness-drinking than for gift-giving, doesn't mean you can't buy a loved one or yourself something special right now. And here's news about Soapology, with goods yummy and uplifting enough to brighten any grey day, plus affordable enough to allow for random gift-giving. Beyond that, some are sensual enough that, if they're given to the right person, you could move St. Pat's day up a month and start, um, getting lucky now.

Everything here is random-chemical-free, largely organic, vegan-certified (!), and made locally (in Brooklyn, though the shop's in the West Village). Shoppers are offered a hand treatment to get them acquainted with some of the products—a good move on the shop's part, as to use some of this stuff is to love it. Through this sampling, I came to love the Verbena-Ginger Brown Sugar Scrub (used to exfoliate the body; from $38) and the beyond-delish Waterlily and Jasmine body butter (from $28).

Wandering around in a great-scent haze, I discovered lovely soaps (sold by weight; a bar will be around $6) in wonderful choices like apple, clean linen, raspberry, strawberry, and peppermint. The bubble baths are also fabulous, smelling like fresh mint, rose essential oil, or lavender; and the Vanilla Ylang Ylang body lotion (from $25) should not be missed. The candles (from $6; I also loved the Waterlily Jasmine fragrance here) are made of pure soy oil and scented with essential oils, which means, as the staff told me, that as they melt, they'll produce a warm liquid that can be used as massage oil. Mmmmmm.

Most of the products can be custom-scented to your tastes. This is especially useful to know with the fragrances (starting at $40). The "Iced Tea" fragrance mixed with Verbena smells like refreshing iced tea with lemon; the Vanilla smells like cake, and Verbena mixed in makes it smell like cake with lemon icing. Yummy in every way.

If you're in a rush, prepackaged bath collections are available and look great. But if you can, come here when you've got time to spare, take a deep breath, and enjoy.   - Pamela Grossman; Feb 15, 2010

Soapology
67 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10014
212-255-SOAP (7627)
Website
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