From all of us at Bath-and-Body.com, we would like to extend our warmest wishes for a Joyous Holiday Season and a Proseprous, Happy and Healthy 2006!

Thank you for your business!

Sincerely.

Bath-and-Body.com

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Last week, we asked for your input to decide on our new fragrance for Valentine's Day.  WOW!  The response was overwhelming!  Thank you for help us with this difficult decision.

The winner is......SWEET PEA!  It was a landslide victory with Sweet Pea receiving twice as many votes as both Cranberry and Pomegranate combined.  The winner of our contest and an indulgence basket  is Ms. Kelly Murphy, of New Jersey.

We are very excited to offer the full product line in Sweet Pea:  Body Lotion, Shower Gel, Body Butter, Body Spray, Handmade Soap, Bath Salts, Bath Bombs & Bath& Body Oil. 

Perfect for Valentine's Day, these products will be presented in a beautiful PINK array.  The Bombs will be heart shaped and the soap will have a beautiful pink and red design with hearts.  So don't buy chocolates this year for your Valentine.  Be truly sweet, and sent one of our luxurious gift baskets in our new Sweet Pea fragrance......or any fragrance!  Lasts longer than candy and no calories!

Watch for a newsletter announcement (with a "Sweet Pea" introductory offer) around the first of the New Year.   We appreciate your help and input in making this decision.

Thank you very much!

Sincerely,

Bath-and-Body.com

Monday , December 5, 2005

We need your help!  We appreciate you, our customer, and value your opinion.  That is why we would like you to vote for the fragrance we will launch next! 

We have completed stabilty testing on three extraordinary fragrances to replace the recenty dicontinued Rustic Rose.  With Valentine's Day approaching, we want to be sure our shelves are stocked with something delicious and beautiful to compliment the Holiday.  We plan to offer the winning fragrance in:  Shower Gel, Body Lotion, Body Butter, Bath & Body Oil, Hand Made Glycerin Soap and Bath Bombs. 

The finalists are:

1.  Cranberry Spa:  Slightly tart, sweet and warm with a sophisticated edge.  Cranberry is said to have "heart healthy" benefits, sounds like a fragrance your Valentine will love!  Cranberry.....it's not just for Christmas or breakfast anymore!

2.  Pomegranate: Very crisp, clean, almost citrus, totally refreshing.  Pomegranates are also packed with Vitamin C and Anti-oxidants.  Don't you remember the fun and juicy goodness of eating pomegranates as a kid?  Yum.

3.  Sweet Pea:  Delicate, clean, very fresh, lightly floral.  A traditional favorite that evokes many memories and makes you smile!  Everyone who has smelled this in our test group has given a big smile and nod....it is something special!

The time is near to make this decision and our market study groups are evenly divided!  We know our customers are discerning and are eager to share their valuable opinions. Which one will it be?  Please help us decide by clicking on this link with your vote by Wednesday, December 14th.  www.bath-and-body.com/survey.asp  You will receive immediate gratification in the form of a discount code for 20% off any purchase through December 15, 2005!

To sweeten the deal, 1 lucky participant will be drawn at random to receive a spectacular Indulgence basket in thier favorite scent.

We appreciate your time and input.  Thank you!

A few weeks ago, we told you about the upcoming additions to our product line. 

We are very pleased to announce that the 4 new BODY BUTTERS are now available! 

Lavender, Gardenia, Vanilla  & Toasted Coconut!

They are a big hit with all who have tried them and we hope you will love them, too! 

The ultimate combination in scent layering: 

A richly moisturizing bubble bath with one of our Bath Bombs and Hand Made Soap or Shower Gel, followed with a nourishing application of Body Lotion and for the especially dry areas, our new shea butter enriched Body Butter. The finishing touch, a fine mist of coordinating Body Spray.

A wonderful combination of skin treats for yourself or as a gift! Clink on the BODY BUTTER link on the side to try one....or more! Enjoy!

Bath Salts, Soaps, Oils and Candles

Body Sprays, Butters and Lotions.

No eye of Newt or wing of Bat.........

Don't be afraid to try some of our potions!

The bats eyes glow.

The skeleton is thin.

No matter the season

We help you take care of your skin!

Pumpkins are Orange.

Ghosts are white.

Wishing you a happy and safe

Trick-or-Treating night!

Our product development and market study team has been hard at work this year, and we have some exciting new additions to our product line!

In just a few weeks, our spectacular BODY BUTTER will be available in our 4 top-selling fragrances:  Lavender, Gardenia, Toasted Coconut and Vanilla.

In November, just in time to add to your Christmas gift and wish list, we're expanding our trial fragrances, Cucumber Melon and Coconut Lemongrass to include Shower Gel, Body Butter, Glycerin Soap and Bath Salts!

In the works for Spring, we will launch a fresh, fun array of children's bath products. For several months, we've had a crew of 10-year olds and under choosing fragrances with the greatest kid-appeal and trying the products for effectiveness, gentleness and FUN-ness.  Essentially, we will have high quality bath products for children that have been chosen, tried and tested by CHILDREN!  We can't think of a better assurance that the children on your gift list willlove them, too!!!

We'll post the announcement immediately when the products are available.  We will also have some new product special offers to entice you to try a few of them!

Stay tuned!

CHALLENGE: More frequent cleansing to ward off colds and flu washes away natural oils leading to extra dry hands.
SOLUTION:  Smooth on a hand lotion containing moisture magnets like Jojoba or Vitamin E to hydrate all day.  Our lotion is perfect and contains both Jojoba and Vitamin E, along with richly hydrating shea butter and nourishing botanical extracts!  Who knew this fanatastic formula would be perfect year round?  We did!  For an extra good measure:  Apply our emollient rich formula Body Butter at night before bed and slip on cotton gloves.  It's like a spa treatment while you sleep for your hands!

CHALLENGE:  Cold Temperatures, low humidity and dry indoor heat injure the skins barrier function, causing moisture loss and dry scaly patches.
SOLUTION:  Draw moisture into skin with a rich cream that contains humectants like glycerin.  These ingredients mimic skins natural oils and are easily absorbed.  Our BODY BUTTERS are loaded with Glycerin and Shea butter and are the perfect answer to any sort of dry skin!  Also, avoid taking hot showers (the heat pulls oils from your skin) and wash with a moisture boosting cleanser like Bath-and-Body.com Shower Gel which contains Aloe Vera, glycerin and botanical extracts.

CHALLENGE: Rough and cracked heels, knees and elbows.  The skin is thicker  and does not have oils glands in these areas, making it more difficult for moisture to seep in.
SOLUTION:  Smooth the dry surface layer of heels by exfolliating daily with a pumice stone.  Try our pumice stone---it's footshaped, effective and easy to handle in the shower.  Good exfolliation will allow heavy creams to evaporate into the skin, like our extra-rich Body Butter.  For knees and elbows, a gentler exfolliation in the shower or bath, like our loofah or net sponge, followed by a generous dab of Bath-and-Body.com Body Butter should do the trick!

We can't control the elements, but with this information and our Body Wash, Lotion and Butter in the fragrance of your choice, you will be prepared for the season with moiturized, healthy, soft skin!

Over the years, we've been asked many times why we don't offer a line of bubble bath.  Well, there's actually a reason...

If you ask most people what bubble bath is, they'll usually tell you that it's a thick, scented liquid that makes bubbles in the bathtub.  Ask the same people what shower gel is, and they'll most likely answer that it's a soapy liquid that gently washes the body while filling the shower with a nice fragrance.

Looking at these two definitions, it's easy to see that there are some close similarities between bubble bath and shower gel.  The reason is simple... Shower gel and bubble bath are often the exact same thing.  We've even seen some companies (we won't name names) use the exact same formulation for their bubble bath and shower gel.  Of course, they changed the shape of the bottle and the design of the label, but they also charge a different amount for each product.  We just don't think that's right.

Other companies add different ingredients and extracts to their bubble bath and shower gel products, and some add a pearlized effect to either the bubble bath or shower gel so they even look different, but the bottom line is this...  Any good bubble bath can be used as shower gel, and any shower gel with enough bubble-producing agents can be used as bubble bath.

Our shower gels are filled with a great selection of ingredients and extracts, and they create more than enough bubbles to fill a bathtub, which is why we have only carried shower gel since we opened our store in 1999.  Feel free to use our shower gels as bubble bath.

Happy Bubbles,
Bath-and-Body.com

Companies have spent a fortune convincing consumers that we need antibacterial agents in our soaps.  Apparently, they've done a good job.  Statistics show that nearly 75% of liquid soaps sold in the US contain "antibacterial" ingredients.  Triclosan, the most popular ingredient, has come under some heavy scrutiny, which has lead to an investigation on the effectiveness of "antibacterial" ingredients in general.  Here are some key findings...

• Triclosan not only kills bacteria, but it has also been shown to kill human cells.
• In order for antibacterial soaps to work, they must be left on the skin for about two minutes.  How many people do you know (other than doctors prepping for surgery) who wash their hands for two or more minutes?
• Not all bacteria are bad.  Some types of bacteria actually fight harmful bacteria.  Other types bacteria "eat" our perspiration.
• Most people catch a flu or cold from viruses in the air.  Having clean hands won't prevent air-born viruses.
• A study published in the March 2, 2004 journal Annals of Internal Medicine showed that people who used antibacterial soaps and cleansers developed cough, runny nose, sore throat, fever, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms just as often as people who used products that did not contain antibacterial ingredients.

If the above points aren't enough to make you wonder about antibacterial soaps, consider this...  Some doctors and scientist believe that the widespread, daily use of antibacterial agents will eventually lead to the creation of a drug-resistant strain of "super bacteria".

So why are antibacterial soaps so popular?  The answer is simple: companies are catering to consumer fears of infections.  Anyone who has ever watched commercial television has probably seen a commercial showing children doing lots of stereotypical kid things (e.g. digging in the dirt, picking up trash, wiping their noses with their bare hands, etc.).  The commercials create fear that these activities will lead to infection that only an antibacterial soap can prevent.

In her article "Healthy Living - Daily Care for Hardworking Hands" in Martha Stewart Living, July 2002, Michelle Stacey writes about some of the concerns regarding "antibacterial" soaps and recommends using "a glycerin soap or one that contains moisturizer."

We agree with Martha, which is why we offer a great selection of handmade glycerin soaps instead of antibacterial hand soaps.

We are very pleased to have been reviewed recently by Five Star Reviews in an article entitled Delicious Scents Sweeten Bath Time by Tisha Puri Sheridan. She had some very nice things to write about our products, and we're very grateful.  Click here to read the full review.

When we opened our online company in September of 1999, we were one of the very first companies to offer scented products exclusively through the Internet. Knowing that nobody would be able to actually smell our products online, we asked our visitors to vote on a lineup of traditional fragrances a few months before launching our online shopping system. When the votes were counted, the winners were Vanilla, Lavender, Citrus, Rustic Rose and Wild Berry. They sold very well online because the names of the fragrances gave everyone a very good idea of how the products would actually smell.

Within the next two years, we added other traditional fragrances such as Lilac, Gardenia and Green Apple. But more and more, we noticed that our competitors were introducing a very wide assortment of fragrances with names that were either difficult or impossible to describe through written word -- fragrances such as Rain, Autumn Harvest, Fried Ice Cream, and even Dirt. The message was clear -- people were becoming more adventurous when selecting fragrances online.

The next two fragrances we launched were Toasted Coconut and Sugar Plum. To this day, we get more positive feedback about our Sugar Plum lotions than any other. When we discontinued it during the off season a couple years ago, our customers begged us to make it a year-round fragrance. Of course, we listened, and we became more convinced that non-traditional fragrances could be successful online.

This year we're very pleased to announce the release of another amazing, new product -- Coconut Lemongrass Body Lotion. For those of you who aren't familiar with Lemongrass, it's a sweet and lemony fragrance with an earthy, citronella-like nuance. It's a very refreshing fragrance that truly makes you feel like you're lying in a field of tropical grass that's been dipped in fresh citrus. Our Coconut Lemongrass Body Lotion adds the soothing scent of coconut to the already tropical fragrance of Lemongrass, making for a truly uplifting experience.

Look for more new and exciting fragrances to come. And remember, if you ever buy anything from our company and aren't 100% thrilled with it, just return it for a full refund, including free return shipping.

Go ahead... try something new. You might just love it!

For thousands of years, the art of therapeutic massage has been practiced and documented by civilizations across the world. Even Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote, "The physician must be experienced in many things, but most assuredly in rubbing."

With such a strong history, it's not surprising that therapeutic massage has been gaining increased acceptance in the American medical community. However, massage therapy has generally been left to professional massage therapists due to the mess created by greasy massage oils and the lack of proper technique by those of us who practice massage for recreation and relaxation.

We created our massage department to overcome these problems by making massage more convenient, more effective and less messy. In our product lineup, you'll find massage oils that completely dissolve in water, allowing you to wipe your skin totally clean with a damp cloth, and precision-built massage tools that can be used through clothing. We also have massage oil bars called Massage Melts that not only allow for a great bare-skin massage but also moisturize the skin with Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter.

This past week, we completely redesigned our website to make it even more user-friendly and to give it a much-needed facelift. (Did you notice that the top-right image on the homepage changes every time you visit it?  Neat, isn't it?!)