#The Great Hair Product Project of 2012: The Inn at Eagle Mountain, Scottsdale, AZ

If you wonder why in the world I’m writing about hotel amenities, just read this post.

I am so IN LOVE with Arizona. The desert, the mountains, the canyons, the saguaro cactus…wait. I must show you a picture I took of a saguaro cactus we saw in Scottsdale.

Yipee - ki - yay!

Seriously? Someone was having too much fun with the saguaro cactus.

I’m going to tell you more about the fabulousness that is the great state of Arizona and how every time we get hot, we nudge each other and say “but it’s a dry heat” which, frankly, does not help at all. It’s still hot. Although that has not really been much of a problem since the weather is completely glorious here. I just checked the weather back in Kentucky and they are getting 1-4 inches of snow tomorrow. It’s 73 degrees here in Lake Havasu and not a cloud in the sky. I feel a little sorry for them. Not much. But a little.

So, Arizona. All about that later because right now I have to tell you about the amenities at the Inn at Eagle Mountain so I can begin the Great Hair Product Project of 2012. I am going to tell you all about the Inn eventually as well because it was wonderful in every way. Let me give you a visual. Picture us arriving cold and tired into the paradise-like suite that was our home at the Inn. Then there was this.

Warming my toes in front of our fireplace.

But all that will have to wait because what I want to tell you about is the amenities at the Inn at Eagle Mountain and how they stacked up in the Great Hair Product Project.

Tarocco shampoo, conditioner, lotion and soap.

The amenities are by a company called Tarocco and now that I have looked at their website I realize I was correct when I thought I detected a slight smell of citrus. Their products have Sicilian Red Orange Extracts and it is a very nice smell. Here’s how they worked.

Shampoo – The shampoo has a lovely, citrusy smell and  looked and felt like honey with  a clear amber color. It suds up quite nicely and I had to use what seemed like quite a bit. But when I looked at the bottle, I had actually only used about a fourth of it, so it would last for a few days, although they left more of everything on the second day at the Inn even though we hadn’t used anything yet. After blow drying,  my hair was clean, shiny and soft

Conditioner – The big problem with the conditioner was that I had a huge issue with getting it out of the bottle. It was actually so thick and I have so much hair, it took me forever to get out enough conditioner. The bottle is a hard plastic so you can’t just squeeze it out. It had a faint, pleasant, nondescript smell. I had to use about half the bottle to get enough conditioner for my long hair.

Soap – They had no bath gel, just bar soap, and I didn’t actually notice there were two choices until I was in the shower with the skin cleanser soap with exfoliant. This has little apricot seeds in it and smells very nice but it’s extremely drying.  I forgot to take my face cleanser in the shower so used this on my face, which was a huge mistake.  As soon as I rinsed it, I felt the moisture suck out of my face like a squeezed lemon. I think the other soap, which was much creamier, would have been a better choice.

Lotion – This lotion would be no problem if you had approximately 3,421 hours to get ready because it was nearly impossible to get out of the bottle. I managed to finally squeeze some out and it popped out of the bottle in a little cylinder that actually retained it’s shape, it was that solid. It had a pleasant smell and was nice and creamy but was way, way too hard to get out of the bottle.

So.

The Inn at Eagle Mountain Amenities Score: -10 for difficulty in getting things out of the bottle
                                                                                  Final Score: 90%

Stay tuned for more amenities reviews. The quest for the perfect amenities goes on. It’s tough job but someone has to do it.

UPDATE: In case you ever wonder if anyone pays attention when you comment about something, here’s a very nice email I received after this post was written.

Hello Ms. Ross,

 I had the chance to read your review of the Tarocco toiletries provided at the Inn at Eagle Mountain and forwarded it to our Quality Control team for feedback.  I hope you’ll be interested in their comments:

 A couple of years ago we made new tooling for this bottle to make softer than it was originally.  Due to the size/shape of this bottle we can’t make it too soft otherwise it will become too flimsy, not hold the shape and be difficult to decorate.  The only way to make it softer would be to change to a different material such as PE, which is frosted not transparent.  Otherwise there’s not much else we can do with the bottle itself.  We could make the conditioner thinner but then people would complain it’s too watery, since a thicker conditioner is perceived as higher quality.

 The Tarocco amenity products are available in a 50 ml soft tube version (photo attached) that is quite soft and ‘squeezable’. 

 RSA provides the Tarocco brand to the hospitality industry via an exclusive agreement with Cali Cosmetics (see www.calicosmetics.com ).  The products are sold internationally at over 1,200 upscale salons, spas, and boutiques.

 I hope you find this information useful!

 Kathy Harrison
Account Executive
RoomService Amenities
P: 480.840.1843 • F: 480.840.1863
10126 E Isleta Ave, Mesa, AZ 85209

kathy@rsaroomservice.com
www.rsaroomservice.com

Full disclosure: Our accommodations were provided by the Inn at Eagle Mountain,  but as always, I will share my honest opinion about any travel experiences I have.

Follow