Relaxing in a nice, quiet bathtub is one of our favorite things to do. (As long as the bathroom door is locked—to keep unwanted persons from barging in and insisting their progress reports be signed this very second—and the music is turned up just loud enough to drown out the noise on the other side of the door).

Over the last few months, we’ve found some great products for the bath (and shower) that you should totally know about.

Mario Russo Olive Juice in Ginger-Lime This ultra-moisturizing gel can be used as both a bubble-bath and a shower gel. The light ginger lime scent is refreshing and leaves our skin feeling soft and supple.

Molton Brown Intoxicating Davana Blossom Foaming Bath Oil This is utterly divine. Seriously—so good. Because it’s on the more expensive side ($68 for 10 oz.) we try to be conservative where this bath oil is concerned. However, if money were no option, we would bathe in this 365 days a year. And then some.

Liz Earle Energising Body Wash With a scent similar to our favorite Space NK Energising Shower Gel, this gentle cleanser with naturally active ingredients is a great way to jump-start our day.

Philosophy has new Foaming Bath and Shower Gelees in fabulously fruity scents.

You are my sunshine (lemon), Gratitude (pomegranate), Begin again (tangerine), Let go let love (lime) and Soulmates (grapefruit) are all aimed to brighten your morning with their zesty scents and uplifting food for thought written on the bottles.

Also available in yummy Lip Gelatos!

Find the new Foaming Bath and Shower Gelees and Lip Gelatos at Philosophy counters nationwide or online at philosophy.com.

Last month at the Bendel’s Beauty Breakfast at Henri Bendel in New York, we were treated to an amazing hand/arm massage with the new Ted Gibson Body Shampoo & Conditioner.

We have to admit, even though the treatment left our hands incredibly soft and hydrated, we haven’t been able to duplicate the effect on our entire body here at home. After using our samples on and off for the last month, we noticed today that our bottle of Affirmation (our favorite scent of the three offered) Body Conditioner is nearly full while the Affirmation Body Shampoo is almost gone. The reason? We’re too impatient to let the Body Conditioner sit on our skin in the shower for 2-3 minutes. (Hey, 2-3 minutes is a long time. Just now, while a cup of tea was in the microwave for two minutes, we changed a load of laundry, fed the dogs and clipped a stray hangnail on our thumb with cuticle nippers—three very important chores that took less time to complete than our Ted Gibson Body Conditioner takes to soak in.)

We haven’t had any issues using up the Body Shampoo, though—it lathers nicely and leaves our skin squeaky clean. In addition to Affirmation (geranium and dandelion) there’s also Transformation (grapefruit and honey) and Prosperity (rose and ginger) in this series. If you don’t mind an extra step in the shower, go for the Ted Gibson Body 6-Piece Travel Set and try all three scents.

Just don’t fall behind on your chores.

We can’t get enough of this Energising Shower Gel by our new favorite apothecary, Space.NK.

Packed with fragrant essential oils, this body wash works up a nice lather and leaves our skin soft, supple and beyond hydrated. We’re pretty sure this will replace our favorite wintertime shower oil because of the lathering quality and the travel-friendly container. (We’ve dropped and broken our L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil container TWICE while travelling.)

We have not yet tried the Relaxing Shower Gel or the De-Stress Shower Gel, but we’re headed back to New York this month and we won’t be returning home without ridiculous amounts of this stuff.

Spending thirty minutes alone, relaxing in the bathtub is a rare luxury for us. There’s always one person or another knocking on the door asking if we know where they left their iPod, wanting help with figuring out the settings on the toaster oven, or the real emergency—WHERE IS THE TIVO REMOTE? QUICK! House is going to record over Hannah Montana!

When we do have a moment of peace in the tub, we like to make it the best experience possible with candles, music, and every luxury bath product we can get our hands on. Lately, our favorite bath-time treat is Thymes Wild Ginger Foaming Bath Powder Envelope. The milky powder foams into bubbles with an incredible ginger, cucumber, and Tahitian lime scent.

There’s also the Wild Ginger Body Wash which hydrates with honey and soothes with organic red clover, while enveloping us in the same great scent.

With the Foaming Bath Powder Envelope priced at $6 and the Wild Ginger Body Wash at $19, these are bath items we can’t do withoout.

Smelling good is high up on my list of Things that Matter, right up there with my cell phone, cute accessories and my baby sister. (Really, she’s not a baby—she’s 5—but she rocks my world.)

I like to smell fresh and clean without being too “perfume-y” if you know what I mean.

Recently I discovered Body by Maurices, a bath and body line exclusive to one of my favorite places to shop: Maurices. There’s three fruity flavors (Cool Citrus, Sweet Sage, and Berry Blush) available in a body scrub, cleansing gel, body butter, lotion, and body spray.

I love the Cool Citrus scent of the body spray—so refreshing! I can smell super yummy without being overwhelming.

Stop by your local Maurices and check these out!

Until next week,

Bree

The new Beauty Rush Body by Victoria’s Secret is a fruity scented body care line inspired by the awesome Beauty Rush Lipgloss.

With six summer scents available in a body mist, moisture gel, lotion, and glimmer wash—you’ll be smelling delightfully fresh all season long.

The only issue will be deciding which of the yummy scents to get:

• Slice of Heaven
• Passion Fruit Pop
• Strawberry Fizz
• Appletini
• Grapefruit Blast
• Grapesicle

Or you could make it easy on yourself and get them all.

Beauty Rush Body is available at Victoria’s Secret stores and online at victoriassecret.com.

Gift sets for the holiday are definitely the way to go.

Not only do they pack a huge value, but they give the receiver an opportunity to try a range of products that they otherwise wouldn’t.

The Body Shop has some great holiday gift sets like this Vanilla Spice Quartet Gift with Body Butter, Shimmer Body Lotion, Soap, and Lip Balm in the yummy Vanilla Spice scent.

There isn’t a girl out there that wouldn’t want this under her tree.

The Body Shop Vanilla Spice Quartet Gift, $25