The Venus Lavender Aromatic Body Salts (A Natural Dead Sea Product) are intended to "invigorate your senses and moisturize your skin". To use the bath salts, you simply drop a bit into your bath water. "A few teaspoons", according to the instructions. Be careful, though. There is no measurement device included. If you use too little, you won't be able to fully experience the aromas and the moisturizing benefits. If you use too much, you may come away feeling a little oily.

Says the back label: Fall in love with Venus body salts. Drop a few teaspoons in your bath to invigorate your senses and moisurize your skin. It also says it in Spanish: Enamorate de Venus organismo sales. Descienden algunos cucharaditas en su ba o para tonificar los sentidoes y hidrata la piel.



Though the black lettering is very difficult to read against the dark purple salts, the ingredients are as follows: Magnesium chloride, Potassium chloride, Sodium chloride, Calcium chloride, Sodium bromide It may also include red (33), yellow (3), and blue (1) dyes. Please be aware of the presence of various dyes if you have an allergy to them. The salts contain no GMOs, Petrochemicals, Phthalates, Triclosan, or Parabens. I had a roommate in college who was allergic to lavender scented items, so also be aware of that if you have roommates or family members who might be affected by your use of certain scents.

As you can see from this picture, most of mine is in a big chunk of crystals that are stuck together. Except for a few loose crystals, it is impossible to pour unless you break it up a bit. The crystals themselves feel dry, but slightly sticky. Some are very, very small, like grains of sand, and some are larger chunks, similar to un-ground sea salt that you might use in the kitchen.



When you add it to your bath, it quickly begins to dissolve into swirls of color. This is how much it dissolved in the time I dropped it in and then scrambled for my camera! It seems to be gathering around the drain, since the bottom of the tub dips down there, but once I stirred up the water, it was fine. Note, the bubbles are not from the bath salts! They're from a bubble bath that I was using at the same time.



As it dissolves, it turns the water sort of a murky purple. I wish I had thought to take a before picture, but it was perfectly clear water prior to adding the salts.

I had the hardest time selecting an aroma from all of the awesome scents available. I decided on Lavender, but they also have Pineapple/Tangerine, Peach, Pomegranate, Milk, Unscented, Mandarin mango, Man, Juniper, Green tea, and Cucumber melon. I have to admit, I'm painfully curious about what the "Man" scented salts smell like!

The Lavender smells lovely. It is a very, very strong scent, which becomes more subtle once it dissolves into your bath water and absorbs into your skin. Other reviewers have mentioned a very salty sort of "after-smell", but I didn't notice that with the lavender version. Though it does smell somewhat artificial, it is definitely a very pretty, soothing, lavender-like smell.

I chose Lavender because of its calming properties, since I love to take bubble baths before bedtime. The smell of lavender puts me into sleepy mode. These bath salts perform well in that arena. They smell excellent both in the container and once they've dissipated into the bath water.

Since I live in a rental, I was a little concerned about the dyes damaging or sticking to the surface of my tub. Fortunately, they left no residue whatsoever on the tub. My body was also without a purple tint, which was another concern for me. Surprisingly, I really did feel well moisturized after my bath. In fact...I felt a little TOO moisturized, bordering on oily. The first time I used it, I just eyeballed the amount and I may have used a bit much. Experiment and see what amount is right for you.

The colored water and the aroma lasted well throughout my 45 minute baths, leaving me feeling soft and sleepy afterwards. I toweled off, snuggled into my pajamas, and went to bed, with the smell of lavender lingering ever so slightly on my skin. The bath salts were definitely a great addition to my bedtime ritual.

The Venus bath salts come in a sixteen ounce, cylindrical, plastic tub with a black screw-on lid. There is a plastic seal around it, as well as a foil and paper cover beneath the lid. The front label states the brand name and the aroma, with an image of a naked woman covered by a silhouetted figure filled with the image of a field of lavender.



As you can see, the black lettering backed by very dark purple salts is nearly impossible to read. This is a serious oversight, in my opinion. For some people, it's very important to be able to read the ingredients list. In order to read mine, I had to shimmy a piece of paper down into the tub of salts so that it was white lettering on a black background. The packaging is discreet and closes securely, though it is quite a large container to take with you if you're traveling.

The only instructions tell you to fall in love with the product by adding a "few" teaspoons to your bath water. I would have appreciated a more specific measurement, personally. Also, I really, really wish that this item came with a small measuring scoop. Maybe they could build a measurement line into the cap. It would make it much more user-friendly, especially since over doing it can leave you feeling kind of greasy.