Sandia Soap Company- Placitas Plum Tree

The holidays are long gone and the misery of January is here. Bah. Who says January has to be horrible? So my housing is run by crooks and we haven't had proper running hot water in our kitchen since the start of November? My (single temperature) shower still works, there's no excuse! Let a new year of soapy ramblings begin.

Sandia Soap is a company that make 18 varieties of bar soap in a warehouse somewhere in New Mexico entirely run by one man who considers himself an artist. Reading his passionate description of his business on his website, I'm inclined to agree with his label. I've never had plum soap before and this was a present from a forums secret Santa. 

Price- $6 for 6 ounces. In English that's ~£3.70 for 170gr. Not a bad price at all for a handmade soap.

First look- it's a dusky pink colour, rather like a good berry smoothie, with darker purple flecks in it. The contrasting parts reminded me of Stilton cheese, but I don't mean that in a bad way. Stilton is delicious. Mouldy, but delicious.

Dry Feel- with warm fingers, it was possible to gently melt the surface of the soap. Not soft, but springy, the feel was a little like vinyl. I cut off a piece to use for the review and it wasn't as easy to cut as I thought it would be. The cross section looked promising, with no bubbles. 

Smell- Plum Tree positively glows with scent; the rich essential oils in it take off and stick to the inside of your nose with vigour. The smell is fruity, yet spiced (it makes your nose tingle!) and evokes mulled wine without the sickly sugar hit that often accompanies. It was a little overwhelming when I first unleashed it from the jiffy bag it had come in with other presents, but when stored normally, it just gives off a gentle scent. The scent is noticeable and uplifting in the shower, and doesn't cling to skin. Very rich and natural.

As a body soap- oh my god, this soap melts beautifully; even on bare skin and without feeling greasy. It produced a good lather and became very slippery. Left the skin on my body feeling soft and cared for.

As a hand soap- this would be an excellent choice if you suffer from dry hands but end up washing them a lot over the course of a day. The strong scent also helped removed garlic stink from my fingers, but the soap's non-abrasive nature means you'll need to bring out a nail brush to get rid of really gross hand dirt.

As a face soap- a little tighter than I'd have liked on my cheeks, but no flaking or burning, so it gets a thumbs up from me.

Overall- Dear Santa, thank you for my soap. I don't know what I did to get on your nice list, but you made the right decision.

Now you- yes, you, everyone out there reading this. Go sort yourself out with a bushel of Placitas Plum Tree, to bestow spiced cheer upon your kin next winter, because $6 for a masterpiece from a true artist sure aint bad.