Beauty products featured in InStyle magazine and on the television show “Oprah” are now obtainable without going online or venturing to a big city. Bubble, a new bath and body boutique in the Fifth Street Public Market, offers items that appeal to customers’ senses and satisfy their need for quality.
The one-room shop appears to nearly spill over with scented soaps, bath bombs, fragrances, lotions and the like, from brands like Demeter and Silk Spa. Owner Jamie Leaf, who opened the store in August, said her goal was to bring products to Eugene that local beauty fiends couldn’t find in town before.
“You’ll see stuff from fashion magazines and some customers will see things they’ve seen online,” Leaf said. “It was a personal passion of mine; I wanted to bring these products to Eugene.”
Leaf said one of the more popular brands in Bubble is Demeter, a cologne company that makes perfume in rather off-the-wall scents, such as Sex on the Beach, Cosmopolitan, Sushi and Sugar Cookie.
“Some bartenders have come in and they love trying them,” Leaf said.
Other popular brands include the girlie, sparkly AllyKats; Smack, a natural, hemp-seed oil based body butter company; and Oh Boy!, a line made especially for men that makes products like Studly Shower Gel and Macho Moisturizer. Shoppers can find bath bombs (round, solid bath drops that moisturize the skin and make the bath water colored and scented) in 36 scents.
Food is a recurring theme in many of Bubble’s products. Leaf presents one line of soaps as if they are cakes — rounds of soap sit in glass cake dishes ready to be sliced, weighed and purchased. In another glass case are bath truffles, white chocolate and raspberry scented skin moisturizers that are to be dropped in the bathtub and enjoyed, minus the calories. Another bath product line makes a shower gel that looks and smells exactly like a jar full of jam, plus a “toastwasher,” a sponge that mimics a slice of bread. Leaf said her bath bombs and truffles are popular with customers.
“There are a lot of excuses to take a bath, but when there’s a great product you can use, you think about it more,” Leaf said. “One customer came in who didn’t have a bathtub, and she started calling people on her cell phone to ask if she could take a bath at their house.”
Eugene resident Wendy Stires, who recently purchased an aromatherapy bubble bath product from Bubble, said the shop emphasizes the benefits of self-pampering.
“I love that places like this support the fact that we need to take care of ourselves,” she said.
One line of soap products at Bubble comes from the imagination of a University student. Business student Rachel Richardson has been selling her handmade soaps in gift shops in Oregon and Washington since high school, and after discovering Bubble, she proposed her products to Leaf. Richardson makes soaps for Bubble that resemble race cars and elaborate cupcakes and also glycerin soaps that feature vibrant designs.
Handmade cosmetics are becoming more and more available in bath and body boutiques. The boutique Lush opened a branch in Portland over the summer. Its products were once only available to Americans in large U.S. cities, Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., and by mail order. Lush features hand-cut soaps and products that must be refrigerated to stay fresh. Richardson said the trend of making and buying handmade cosmetics is growing.
“It’s becoming more widespread because more people are learning how to (make soap),” she said. “Every time I go into Bubble, I think, ‘Gosh! (The soap manufacturers) are getting good!’ It’s interesting to buy something and know it was handmade.”
Leaf added that Bubble shoppers can have an authentic experience by choosing products in person from a small business.
“We’re a nice break from the corporate stores,” she said. “I hand-selected each line and we have many varieties. It’s also good to smell the products in person instead of taking a chance by ordering them online.”
Bubble is in Suite 129 of the Fifth Street Public Market.

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