This Pastry Chef’s Self-Care Go-To Is Rose-Scented Bath Salts

September 26, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

A bath with French Girl Sea Soak is Eater Young Gun Claudia Martinez’s “happy place”

Eater Young Gun Claudia Martinez (’19) spends her days at Atlanta’s historic Claremont Hotel, where she creates whimsical desserts that blend the restaurant’s French ethos with her Venezuelan heritage. It’s her first time in a head pastry chef role, and time off is more precious than ever. After a long week in the kitchen, Martinez’s go-to ritual is a calming bath with French Girl Sea Soak. “I try to do it at the beginning and end of the week on Sunday and Thursday nights,” she says. “With some soft music and a glass of rosé, it’s my happy place.”

Martinez oversees the desserts at all three of the hotel’s restaurants, and at Tiny Lou’s, the hotel’s ground floor brasserie, the hits keep coming. A strawberry dessert, cheekily called “fraises with benefits,” is a recent customer favorite, and the chocolate Royale, with Venezuelan chocolate and cardamon ganache is frequently the menu’s best seller. When Martinez finishes her kitchen shifts, a hot bath with the soak, made up of bath salts and essential oils, “leaves my skin feeling really smooth,” she says.

Martinez first discovered French Girl Sea Soak at an Anthropologie store (it’s also available on Amazon). She prefers the rose scented version, although it’s also available in mint. She says that unlike other bath bombs she’s tried, the French Girl Sea Soak doesn’t leave residue in the tub.

The $24 soak is made in Seattle (no, not France — as many “French girl” products are not) by French Girl Organics, a self-proclaimed natural beauty company, and a handful or two per bath “soothes and calms,” Martinez assures. “Being in the restaurant industry, it’s always hard to remember self-care and making sure we are putting our minds and bodies first.”

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