Bare Indulgence Bath Boutique Mississauga ~ Baby's Bubbles & Squeak

How much do you love your favourite brand?

Enough to stock your home with their products?  Definitely!

Enough to tell your friends and family about it?  Of course!

Enough to travel to the next city or town to purchase it?  If you love your favourite brand enough, you probably would!

But that's where the love stops...for most people.

Years ago while vacationing in Northern Ontario, Lisa and Anthony Caruso were introduced to SoapStones Soap & Skincare Inc. in Huntsville ON.  Lisa instantly fell in love with the natural SoapStones products and made regular visits to Huntsville to indulge and to introduce friends as well.  Fast forward a few years to last November, when she and Anthony opened Bare Indulgence Bath Boutique in Mississauga as the exclusive GTA retailer of SoapStones products!  That is how much Lisa loves her favourite brand, and I can totally understand how she fell in love in the first place!

Proudly Canadian, SoapStones creates naturally hand-crafted soaps, lotions, cleansers and more, all made from natural and often local ingredients.  When you visit Bare Indulgence Bath Boutique in Mississauga, you will find the entire line of SoapStones products in all of their incredible scents.

When I first stepped into Bare Indulgence, I was expecting to be overwhelmed with smells as I often am in other 'bath and body' stores at the mall.  For an asthmatic, it can be difficult to breathe in some of these stores.  This was not the case at all at Bare Indulgence.  The smell is sweet, fresh and clean, and I was in the store for over an hour without feeling the need to step outside for fresh air.  The shop is beautifully decorated and showcases its huge selection of SoapStones products perfectly.

What impressed me most when I first visited Bare Indulgence is the warm welcome that I received from Lisa and Anthony.  They are extremely knowledgeable of SoapStones products, and can help you with any skin issue that you have.  You really can feel the excitement off of them, that they are living their dream by selling a product that they love.  Not many people love their favourite brand this much!

Lisa and Anthony generously provided me with numerous products from different SoapStones lines to try out.  I was so excited to try these natural products.  As I've mentioned many times before, we are a 'bad skin' family.  Eczema, psoriasis, rosacea...you name it, we have it!  Lil-J and I also have extremely sensitive skin.  There aren't many products that I can use on my face or body that I don't react to.  And we have to be extremely careful with the products that we use on Lil-J's skin.  We've battled his skin problems for 2 years, and can usually keep it under control with a gluten-free diet and constant moisturizing, but it doesn't take much for him to break out in rashes and eczema on his body and face.

After explaining Lil-J's skin issues with Anthony, he insisted that I try the SoapStones Baby's Bubbles & Squeak line first.  He shared many stories and customer feedback with me, from people who have used this line on their children with great success.  With ingredients like oat protein, shea butter, lavendar and chamomile, I felt confident in allowing Baby's Bubbles & Squeak products to come in contact with Lil'J's skin.

I stocked up on four Baby's Bubbles & Squeak items and have been using them for the past four months.  The products are so rich that you don't have to use a lot - they go far!  It's taken me almost four months to get to the bottom of the bottles, and I'm now ready to re-stock.  That's a long time, considering I bathe my boys every second night and slather Lil-J from head to toe with lotion.

I am very happy to share my SoapStones Baby's Bubbles & Squeak experience with you all, and I encourage you to try it yourself!

Bath Time for Baby  ~ Baby Wash
Ingredients like Chamomile Flower Extract, Japanese Green Tea Leaf Extract, Aloe Leaf Juice and Cucumber Fruit Extract create a soft, sweet scent and a silky baby wash ideal for the sensitive skin of newborns.  I have used it as a bubble bath for Lil-J (we have never been able to give him a bubble bath in the past due to the harsh chemicals found in most bubble bath brands), as well as a body wash on a natural sea sponge.  I also use it to wash his hair, and I don't have to worry about chemicals coating his body during rinsing.  From his very first bath using this baby wash, his skin has been super soft with absolutely no irritation.  Big-A also loves this wash, and asked to give his opinion on my blog.
Big-A's verdict: It's nice and creamy and it smells good!

Chamomile Baby Lotion
Ingredients like Apricot Kernel Oil, Jojoba Seed Oil, Vitamin E and Chamomile Essential Oil create a sweet, almost fruity scent and a luxurious lotion.  It's light, but rich at the same time.  When I slather Lil-J with this lotion, it absorbs into his skin without leaving a greasy residue and his skin is as soft as it was when he was a newborn.  We have used many different lotions on Lil-J over the past two years, both prescription and over-the-counter, some costing up to $78 for a small tube.  I will still use the $78 prescription cream when his skin is at it's worst, but a $9 bottle of Chamomile Baby Lotion is perfect for everyday use and I will continue using it as he grows.  For a natural product, the price and quality just can't be beat!  Big-A also wanted to share his two cents on this product.
Big-A's verdict: I like it because it's nice and comfy and you can put it all over your body, and my little brother can use it!


Chamomile Baby Soap
This soap has four simple ingredients: Saponified Vegetable Oils, Cocobutter, Calendula (Pot Marigold) Petals and Ground Chamomile.  The soap has a creamy lather, washes off skin clean, and the ground chamomile creates a non-irritating, exfoliating texture.  I use this soap for quick baths, and both Lil-J and Big-A are left with soft, sweet smelling skin.
Big-A's verdict: It's smooth!




Cheeky Baby ~ Natural Baby Cheek and Lip Protector 
Soy, Shea Butter, Hemp Seed Oil, Grape Seed Oil, Jojoba Seed Oil, Castor Oil and Vitamin E.  Need I say more?  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this product!  It has the texture of a body butter, and it is gentle enough to use all over your baby's face.  During the dry winter months, I spread it over the boy's cheeks when they came inside from the cold.  Instead of having red, irritated, dry cheeks, their skin was soft to the touch and not irritated at all.  I love this product so much that I must confess...I stole it from the boys!  Every winter I suffer from horrible chapped lips and cracked fingers.  One day I put the Cheeky Baby in my pocket and brought it to work with me.  Within days, my lips were healed.  I then started putting it on my finger tips and under my nails, where the cracks were the worst.  Again, healed in a few days.  I have yet to give this back to the boys, and thankfully they're too young to know I have it!



Bare Indulgence offers many more Baby's Bubbles & Squeak products, from laundry soap to massage oil to bum butter.  Next on my list of must-haves, is the Monster Blaster Room Spray.  This room, bed and pillow spray is made up of pure floral water.  I think this is the perfect solution to freshening up the boys bedrooms, without filling the air and their lungs with the toxic chemicals found in most air fresheners.

Along with SoapStones baby products, you will also find plush toys and bamboo clothing at Bare Indulgence.  If you're looking for a fabulous shower gift for a new mom, you can easily create your own or purchase one of the adorable baby gift baskets in the store.  A baby's skin deserves the very best from the start!

I take skincare very seriously, especially when it comes to my boys.  After using dozens of different products over the years, I can honestly say that SoapStones is at the top of my list.  There has been an obvious improvement in Lil-J's skin since I've started using Baby's Bubbles & Squeak products.  His skin is soft and has a healthy glow, and he's not tearing at it and scratching.  I am beyond impressed with the results I've seen, and I will continue using these products on a daily basis.  I am so thankful that Bare Indulgence offers these superior skin products in the GTA!

If you live in the Greater Toronto Area, make the trip to Bare Indulgence Bath Boutique and indulge in SoapStones body products for you and your family!  You'll be happy you visited and will want to return!  And make sure to check out their website at http://www.bareindulgence.ca/ to view the complete list of products found in their store.

Bare Indulgence Bath Boutique
1900 Dundas St West, Boutique #8
Sherwood Forrest Village
Mississauga ON
L5K 1P9
Ph: 905-403-0007

Kinder® & Children's Miracle Network Partner Up For The "Joy To Share" Campaign!

Easter has come and gone, but it was definitely a memorable one for my family.  We travelled 4 hours North of Toronto, to celebrate the long weekend with family and good friends.  The fresh, spring air was just what my boys needed.  Although we've had an early spring this year, life and work have consumed my life lately and we haven't had the time for visits to the park and walks around the neighbourhood.

I had been looking forward to Easter at the cottage for weeks, four straight days without work (and housework - yippeee!), just quality time with my boys and husband...and then it hit.  On Thursday, I came down with the absolute worst flu that I have ever had.  I quarantined myself indoors for two days, away from my family and other civilization.  The other two days, I was slow moving, lacking the energy and patience needed to deal with two excited little boys.  Making homemade bird feeders on day 3 left me spent, and in need of an afternoon nap.  I felt horrible.

Being confined to my bedroom, I hardly got any photos of my boys and their cottage adventures on Easter weekend.  I did make sure to bring my camera along for our bird feeder activity, though.  It was a lot of fun, and we made enough to treat our family and friends to homemade Easter gifts.

While moping in my own influenza misery and missing my boys terribly, I began to regret the past few weeks where I allowed the busyness of life and work to interfere with the quality time my boys deserved.  I also spent time reflecting on a few blogs that I have read in the past, blogs where parents pour their souls to the world while dealing with a sick child, or the loss of a child.  How blessed was I to have two healthy, growing boys!

7 years and 2 boys has caused many visits to emerg and a handful of trips to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.  From on-going skin issues to a concussion resulting in vision problems and months of follow-up, our boys have kept us on our toes!  As horrible as it was to see our children in pain and suffering, though, they did have full recoveries and my boys and our lives went back to normal after they healed.  This is not the case for so many other parents.  Hospitals all across Canada are filled with children suffering from a number of health issues, and their families need all the support they can get.

Thankfully, the Children's Miracle Network is available to Canadian families in need, providing comfort, treatment and hope to millions of sick kids each year.  They currently raise funds for over 170 Children's Hospitals.  Through monetary donations, fundraising or volunteering, you can help this amazing organization and in turn, support your local Children's Hospital.

As a proud #KINDERMom, I'm excited to announce that Kinder® Canada is also supporting the Children's Miracle Network though a partnership called A Joy To Share.  Through the Kinder® Canada Facebook page, you can make donations to the Children's Miracle Network and learn about featured Hero Moms and Miracle Kids. 

The Miracle Kids tab provides stories of children, as told by their mothers, who have been helped by the Children's Miracle Network through their own local Children's Hospital.  Hayden, who has suffered with asthma from 6 months of age, has spent a lot of time being treated at the Winnipeg MB Children's Hospital.  Having a more serious form of asthma has made his condition difficult to treat with the standard approach.  I have suffered from asthma from a very young age as well, and I know how terrifying it is to struggle with each breath.  Thanks to the Children's Hospital and funding from the Children's Miracle Network, Hayden and his family have received the education and assistance needed to ensure that he lives a healthy life.  There are many other children profiled, each with a heartbreaking but inspiring story.  I encourage you to take the time to read these stories, and you can also comment on them.

 

During Easter, Kinder® Canada also supported the Children's Miracle Network through sales of their seasonal Easter items. You could find Kinder's® delicious chocolates paired with adorable plush toys (Lil-J received a Kinder® lamb from his Auntie Erica; he sleeps with it every night), and an awesome Kinder® Easter Egg Hunt Kit perfect for kids! I purchased my kit at my local Costco store and it was a hit with my boys.




You can follow Kinder® Canada on their Facebook page, and make sure to LIKE the page to participate in all that Kinder® Canada has to offer.  You can also follow Kinder® Canada on Twitter.

And don't forget to visit the Kinder® Canada website at http://haveyouplayedtoday.ca/ for nutritional & product information, as well as parenting information.

I’m part of the KINDER® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.

As with every post that I write, the opinions on this blog are my own.