Donovan House, a smart new boutique hotel in Washington DC, offers high-end toiletries to their guests. On my recent stay, I went straight to the unique bathroom, with the snail-shell shower, to peek at the free body care goodies.

To my pleasure, I saw products by Kiel’s for my hair and what looked like locally-made cucumber-sliced shaped face and body soaps. Keil’s, a heritage line of cosmetics from 1850s New York City, is sold at the counter in expensive department stores like Nordstrom’s. So this was a real step up from the usual hotel and conditioner, and even from the toiletries you might see at better hotels like the Radisson (repackaged Bath & Body Works products).

With 2.2 fluid ounce sizes, you even get a generous amount of Kiel’s (several uses per bottle).

The Shampoo: Protein Concentrate Herbal Shampoo for Normal to Dry (with conditioning ingredients and oils of Rosemary, Sage, Lavender and Panthenol)

• The scent was very faint for a shampoo boasting all those herbal oils. This was fine by me, but still surprising.
• As a concentrated shampoo (according to the bottle), very little needed to be used. I probably used more than a little, since there was not much lather. Lather is not an indicator of cleaning power, however, so for my next use, I will use a properly smaller amount.
• The shampoo felt gentle on my head, with the texture of a baby shampoo. This was nice.
• The shampoo easily rinsed clean and left no scent.

The Conditioner: Hair Conditioning and Grooming Aid Formula 133 (for all hair types)

• This was very nice. The scent is lovely – a great whiff of neroli, from my guess.
• The conditioner goes on smoothly and washes right out.
• My hair looked and felt silky afterwards.
• This conditioner can also be used as a hair serum/gel (ie, the “grooming aid” part).
• I was able to use this, in a pinch, as a hand lotion when mine ran out when traveling.

The Soaps: Cucumber and Lemon Grass, Locally-Made?

No name on the soap packing, but these round cucumber-scented face and body sized soaps have a creamy lather and a nice scrubby action from lemon grass leaves in the matrix. It was especially nice that these soaps did not leave me feeling tight or dry afterwards, although I do realize some people prefer that stretchy “clean” feeling.

Overall: As Austin Powers would say, "Oh, Behave!"

Cool square sink, bottles of Keils goodnessI felt very pampered by the hotel's attention to providing unusually fine free cosmetic products to their guests. I suppose it goes with the hotel's upscale James Bond/Secret Agent theme. The entire stay there I kept singing "Secret Agent Man" to my roommate, talking like Dr. Evil, swiveling in the Men In Black slash Austin Powers egg chairs, and saying goofy things like, "Florio, Jill Florio" when addressed by my friends.

While the rooms have NO BATHTUB, the snail-shell shower that you walk into is fabulous. The shower head is one of those large, flat panels that you can adjust for direction. As an added plus, you can see though the round plexiglass shower wall in the living/sleeping area - but only a silhouette, just like the title sequences in all those James Bond films. Oh, behave!

While the rooms are small, this hotel rates extremely high on the "cool meter" and is well-recommended for a stay in downtown DC.