There is something about wandering through the health and beauty aisles at Marshalls that I have always enjoyed. You never quite know what you are going to find, and I’m often drawn to the little luxuries that can make an ordinary day feel a bit more special.
One of my favorite discoveries has been beautiful, beautifully scented soaps. I have a particular soft spot for goat milk soaps because of their creamy feel, but when I’m looking for something scented, I often find myself reaching for Italian soaps—especially La Florentina.
There is just something about an Italian soap wrapped beautifully and filled with a lovely fragrance that makes it feel a little more indulgent. La Florentina soaps are vegetable-based and can include ingredients such as olive oil, shea butter, and botanical extracts, depending on the variety. Some feature ingredients such as olive leaf, iris, peony, pomegranate, magnolia, almond oil, lavender, fig, or grape-seed oil.
Of course, fragrance is important to me, but how a soap feels on my skin matters even more. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become much more aware of choosing products that feel gentle and comfortable rather than leaving my skin feeling tight, dry, or irritated. That is one of the reasons I continue to enjoy these Italian soaps. I find that they leave my skin feeling clean without that overly dry feeling I sometimes experience with other scented soaps.
And perhaps that is what I enjoy most about beauty and self-care at this stage of my life. It doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Sometimes it is simply finding a bar of soap with a beautiful fragrance, a lovely texture, and ingredients that agree with your skin.
Those are the little discoveries I’m always happy to bring home from Marshalls.