If you’re like me, you love to spoil yourself with a long, hot shower from time to time. Its warmth is all-encompassing, penetrating tired muscles and stiff joints and soothing away aches in the bones. You feel a lasting warmth after bathing that gradually fades away as you enter a supremely relaxed and easy state of mind. Beyond such physical benefits, a nice hot shower gives you plenty of “me-time” in which to pamper not just your body but also your mind. For me, taking what I call one of my “epic showers” is a huge treat and an escape from the daily pressures and stress in my life. It’s the ultimate 20-minute vacation.

For Christmas, my mother gave me a pair of scented 3-in-1 cleansers by a company called Philosophy. Loved by a faithful cult following, Philosophy has developed a wide array of bath, body and skincare products, each of them with a little inspirational message or recipe on the bottle for you to read while you wait for your shampoo to soak in.

It’s a cute concept and it shows how much care, thought and creativity the brand’s maker(s) put into their products. So, it’s probably no big surprise that Philosophy products are extremely well-made. You may have heard of Philosophy’s big hit products like Hope in a Jar moisturizer and Purity facial cleanser. Both have won awards from various beauty product authorities but really, their whole line is chock-full of high quality stuff.

The washes I received from my mom were in 32 fl. oz. bottles (a.k.a. A TON) and in two scents: Red Velvet Cake and Sweet Creamy Frosting. Channeling the popular Southern sweet treat, the scents perfectly capture the smells of a real red velvet cake with creamy, sugary, buttery frosting on it. The scents are so spot-on that you can practically taste the dessert in your shower! This is not just true for the scents I was given, but for ALL of the food-, fruit-, and drink-centric products in their inventory. And there is a sizeable cadre of them.

Here are a few of the delightfully delectable scents they have:

• Cinnamon Buns
• Raspberry Sorbet
• Coconut Frosting
• Pumpkin Pie
• Spicy Gumdrop
• Classic Fudge Cake
• Melon Daiquiri
• and many, many more!

They market these “sweet treat” and “cocktail party” washes as indulgence without the calories. I think that’s pretty clever and novel — and true.

But how well do they actually work? As the name says, these washes are actually three products poured into one. They can be used as a body wash, a shampoo and a bubble bath. I never take bubble baths being a shower girl, and only occasionally will use it to wash my hair.

My main use of these is as a body cleanser. The formulation is smoothly textured, creamy and easy to lather, and when it lathers, look out. You’ll get a serious sudsing with this stuff! It doesn’t exfoliate or anything, but it does give you plenty of soapiness to get yourself all cleaned up with. All you really need is a quarter-sized dollop on your loofah or washcloth of choice.

The scent is with you the whole time while washing, but doesn’t linger on skin after bathing. This is good, because then it won’t interfere with any perfume spritzed on afterward.

The occasional times when I’ve used the stuff to wash my hair, it has worked just alright. Depending on your hair type and condition, the way this works can vary. My hair is long and thickish with a tendency to be a bit dry on the ends and oily at the roots. I always need to follow up with conditioner after using Philosophy 3-in-1s as a shampoo, otherwise it would be a tangled mess.

Finally, you get your money’s worth in the amount of product you receive. I’ve been using the same 32 fl. oz. bottle from Christmas in every shower I’ve taken since I got it and I have made only a small dent in the contents. (And yes, I do bathe once a day.) You can do the math.

Philosophy products are sold in an array of places. They have their own Web site, Philosophy.com, where you can browse their whole collection. Other retailers like Macy’s, Sephora and QVC carry selections from the Philosophy line. Prices are consistent across the board. A 16 fl. oz. bottle of a 3-in-1 wash runs $16, and some scents are available in 24 and 32 fl. oz. varieties. QVC is the only place I know of offhand that carries the value-sized products.

There are so many scents (flavors, if you will) to choose from that there must be something for everyone.

I always look forward to new scents. Recently I ordered a bottle of their sizzling new seasonal fragrance, Cinnamon Hot Dots. As a lover of spicy cinnamon things, I had to have it. If I know anything about Philosophy’s products, then I can smell (taste) it already. You won’t believe how vivid the scents are until you sniff them for yourself — which I suggest you do sooner rather than later!