Random Beauties

Just a couple of random beauties today... and yes I realize there's quite a few that are pink. Perhaps its because Valentine's Day is just around the corner or just the fact that my outfit is almost entirely pink today and its rubbing off. Either way, I adore these pink little hearts which seem to have just the right amount of rose petals suspended on top.

Rose Bubble Bars perhaps. And if the purple rocks are soaps, two thumbs up for these guys

You just can't go wrong with a stamped birdie on top of a kraft paper sleeve.

If you can't read the text, it says Firenze on it and that is just enough excuse for me to put it on here. One my favorite places in the whole world.

Soap bars from a store or perhaps a stand. Bulk soaps are always fun.

Tin containers are one of my favorites. There's just a certain sophistication about them and yet not pretentious at all.

Strawberry Yogurt Soap. Almost good enough to eat.

And a little felt soaps just for a change.

Petri Dish Soaps

There is an ingenious company on Etsy by the name of Cleaner Science and they are the masterminds of these insanely adorable Petri Dish Soaps. Have you honestly seen something cuter! And very practical as well, I might add. I've never seen anything like 'em and I certainly hope that they come up with more soaps very soon.

Blue Petri Dish Soap

White Petri Dish Soap

Clear Petri Dish Soap

Red Petri Dish Soap

Orange Petri Dish Soap

Need I say that this one's my favorite! Pink Petri Dish Soap

Yellow Petri Dish Soap

Purple Petri Dish Soap

Dream Bathrooms

Happy new year Uptowners! I've been researching amazing bathrooms lately and I couldn't help but share them with you all.

Exhibit A: I have never looked at a bathroom picture for so long in my entire life. If you have such an incredible bathroom, what is the purpose of ever leaving. I mean its an absolute dream space, what more could one want. One day... one day

Exhibit B: Just as cute. Modern, simple, spacious. Perfection really.

Exhibit C: BYOS - Bring your own Spa?

Exhibit D: Aaaah, so Parisian, so spectacular. I love busy wallpaper and the red.

Exhibit E: Perhaps not the most stylish, but certainly the most practical. Perfect little nook for your shampoos and Uptown Soaps :-)

Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.... I think I may have to add more bathroom design posts. They're too fun to look at

Syrian Soap Factory

Its been so long that it took me nearly five min to remember what my blog password was. Oops! We have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off in the last couple of months working on all sorts of exciting projects that I cannot wait to tell you all about. In the meantime, here's a little vid on soap making in Syria which I find fascinating. Its not quite the same way we make our soaps but its worth a little look-see ;-)

MAAK SOAP LAB

I am not impressed by other soap companies too often. To be honest its hard to find smaller soap companies nowadays (unless of course you're browsing through Etsy, but even those are pretty much the same cold processed soaps you can find anywhere).

I just stumbled onto this lil company (well they might not be so lil, but at least I've never heard of them before). They're called Maak Soap Lab and they're out of Portland, OR. Well I've never been to Portland but if this is an indication of what else is in that city, I'm about to be on the next flight out.

I truly have soap envy... I don't think they could have created a more perfect bar of soap. Its delightfully simple packaging and textured label is enough to keep me completely fascinated. I hope you enjoy the photos.


Maak Soap Lab mailer on the way


I can seriously stare at this image for hours


How meticulously placed


Maak soaps in one of their Retailers


Maak Soap Lab soaps




Soap Shavings - have you ever seen anything more beautiful


Even their shipments look ridiculously cute! And is that the date of shipment on top - ugh it couldn't be more perfect.

Hotel Toiletries

We have officially decided to enter the incredibly competitive hotel toiletry world. And we have amazing ideas on how to turn the somewhat boring phase that's taken over most hotels. I want us to create amazing pieces of art that will be the showpiece of any bathroom! Nothing gets to me more than checking into a beautifully decorated hotel and finding out that the bath and body products are so bad that I need to run out and buy my own. Not to even mention that the packaging of most toiletries is so unimpressive and it almost shows that noone put some thought into it.
I have included some of the most popular hotel toiletries from around the world. Some are good, some are awful - you'll have to decide for yourself. What are your favorite hotel toiletries?


Penhaligon Hotel Toiletries
Fabulous packaging and by looking at it, I can just imagine how nice the products are.


Molton Brown Hotel Toiletries
I love Molton Brown - I love the fragrances and I even love the little belly button on their bottles. I hope they never change them.


Kiehls Hotel Toiletries
Will anyone really spend the time to read what's on those labels... makes you wonder.


Hermes Hotel Toiletries
I think they were trying to appeal to men more than women with the rectangle shape of the bottles. I like it


Fresh Hotel Toiletries
Fresh somehow always finds a way to stay simple and decadent at the same time. I'm a fan.


Floris Hotel Toiletries
I love the dark packaging, why is everyone else doing white or clear bottles??


Etro Hotel Toiletries
Modern


CO Bigelow Hotel Toiletries
Dark amber bottle with a vintage sign. Totally speaks of the brand and the fact that they've been around forever.


Bulgari Hotel Toiletries
I realize they're trying to appeal to the high end bracket, but couldn't they come up with something that looks a little less generic? I am not trying to be rude, but if a brand is known for their luxurious items, I think they should spend some time on pushing the envelope.


Bliss Hotel Toiletries
Bought by W Hotels, Bliss does a great job at spa-looking products


Aveda Hotel Toiletries


Acqua di Parma Hotel Toiletries
Love the vibrant colors, the shapes, and the overall simplicity. This is quite possibly the most expensive line of the bunch and I think their packaging delivers.

Carthusia | Sabater Hnos | Fragonard

There are way too many photos of my trip to Europe but the ones that I cherish the most (for obvious reasons) are the incredible soap stores that we had the chance to visit. Here are some of the most famous factories in Europe: Carthusia (known for their perfumes), Fragonard (a very impressive company that's more than a century old) and my personal favorite Sabater Hnos (the geniuses behind the most inventive soaps I've ever seen).


First stop, Sabater Hnos. The store is positioned in Barcelona's tiny winding roads and it was challenging to find but once we got there - it was all worth it! They had so many fragrances to choose from and each one unique to their names (which is such a rarity nowadays). It was a tiny but very packed store, positioned right next to a fancy shmancy boutique hotel in the center of downtown.


The gift sets are to die for. You can fill up the boxes with confetti soaps as filler and then place the soapy creations on top. Really simple and really impressive.


The sales person only spoke Spanish so I tried to take as much information from her about the store as I could with my broken Spanglish. Turns out they make all the soaps in the back room and while I was talking to her, she was actually peeling some of the petal soaps so they don't stick to each other.


Up next, Carthusia. They were such a treat to see, we went to Capri just for the sights and didn't even know they were on the island until we stumbled onto their factory. They were so nice and let us take pictures of everything (that's one thing I hate about NYers, noone lets you take photos in the stores).


Glycerine gift set soaps, Orange soaps and Lemon soaps. They were so realistic, you almost want to take a bite.

The factory was incredible. They had so many fragrance oils that they worked with and everything was so organized.


Carthusia Candles wrapped after production.


One of their stores in Capri. Diffusers, Candles, Soaps... they had it all.


Another store display.


The only reason we went to Nice, France in the first place was to visit Fragonard's factory but to our amazement that never happened due to scheduling conflicts. We did walk into their store in Eze though which wasn't as exciting but nevertheless we got a little Fragonard in our hands to play with.


Their store was very orange (literally - all the lighting had an orange tint to it). It was wonderful to see such an old company thrive but I have to be honest I was a little disappointed with their products. The soaps didn't smell like the names they described (am I crazy to want a Rose to smell like the real thing?) and the packaging seemed to be a little too "crabtree and evelyn" for my taste.




I couldn't leave Spain without snapping a picture of their Mosaic soaps, inspired by all the statues in Park Guell.

I hope you enjoyed this post - I wish that one day my job could be just traveling the world and visiting amazing soap stores such as these. Til next time!