Cut by the inch from hand-made loaves, these decorative vegetable glycerine soaps (no animal products used) bring the spooky out just in time for ghoul season. When I had the privilege of living a block away from the Soap Opera, their seasonal soaps always made perfect, inexpensive gifts and cheered up my own closet-sized bathroom. These new Halloween designs range from a Skull and Bones design scented with caramel and vanilla to a harvest spice scented Jack-O-Lantern. I'm ordering the trio of bats (above) submerged in a blend of five citrus oils that uplift, awaken, tone and tighten the skin. Enjoy!
Mistral Soaps: Hand-crafted in Provence, France, these traditional soaps are made according to a three-hundred year old tradition of purity and excellence. Only the finest oils of olive, palm or coconut, skin-softening African shea butter, and fragrances selected from some of Grasse's most distinguished perfumers are used to create the most luxurious soaps on earth.
This is why I love The Soap Opera. Because I can order 4711 and other highly sought after, rare perfumes from them! Based on a light citrus and herbal formula made by a French émigré friar, this scent was named after the house number assigned to the Mulhens Family perfumery's shop during the 1794 French occupation of Cologne (Koln), Germany. Napoleon used to bathe in a diluted version of this scent. World famous for generations and unchanged for centuries. Perfect for those who want something light, fresh and classic. Recommended for men or women. In glass, and boxed. ($21.50, 2 oz)
I have been attempting to keep the Soap Opera to myself. I first fell in love with this divine little Midwestern store 9 years ago as I embarked on the turbulent road of big ten college life. I have been on their mailing list since I said good bye to Madison, Wisconsin in May of 2002, enjoying their online sales and vast beauty product resources. This charming little Midwestern store is in fact a beauty industry beacon - shinning the light on bright new worlds as yet undiscovered by the masses and solidly defending the homeland by storing tried and true beauty industry staples.
When the last Soap Opera email arrived in my inbox offering up these beautifully wrapped Lafco European Kitchen Soaps for Mother's Day, I knew it was time to unwrap my secret.
The resources are too vast and the owners' ability to search out new authentically outstanding products is too keen to keep this to myself any longer. In college I would go there alone for hours on end - inspecting the new Roger & Gallet soaps - pondering the ingredients of the various clay masks - and delighting in the seasonal designs of their homemade soaps.
My college experience was not what one would considered balanced or well-rounded and I often found myself in dramatic, troublesome conundrums. The Soap Opera was my quiet little refuge offering up carrot flavored shower gels and Magno's famously black (but foaming white) Spanish soap to nourish and sustain me in rough waters. Even on the most blustery wind-whipped days I could manage a trip down to this oasis of self-care and beauty-focused inspiration.
Almost all of the tremendous resources cultivated by award-winning owners Chuck Bauer and Chuck Beckwith are gems about which I could write lengthy individual posts. I've known for a few weeks now that the second I sat down at my little silver lap top to actually write, the Soap Opera's secrets would come joyously dancing out of my finger tips like a young child eager to entertain. I imagine this eight year old Soap Opera child jumping up onto your computer screen, displaying all of it's most practiced metaphorical dance moves- "look - an aromatherapy resource center! and a skin care chart! - anyone can have good skin with this chart! - and an ingredient reference guide - and Laurie says I'm the best she's ever seen - so there...!" and breathlessly taking a bow. 
(If you are there in the summer the garden is a must-see.)