Faith In Nature- Chocolate

Yeah... I've run out of excuses for not being a regular blogger. But hey, new soap!

I've seen Faith In Nature soaps in various different independent shops, mini spas, and market stalls all over London, but I don't know how easy this brand is to find elsewhere. They do a wide range of soaps with various different extracts and touting their supposed properties- so the Aloe Vera one is labelled "Regenerating" and the Rosemary one is "stimulating" and so on.   I've never seen chocolate soap before and truth be told, one might describe me as a ~dirty Green & Blacks junkie~, so it seemed like the natural choice.

Price- £1.90 for 100gr off a bloke on Spittalfields Market. On their website they sell individual bars for £1.29 or you can go crazy and get a box with 1.8kg of soap in it for £17.77

First Look- BROWN. A sort of dusty brown. It reminded me of my parents' sofas. In chocolate terms, I'd say it was the colour of Milka.

Dry Feel- strong, but not too hard. It had a very slight melt when rubbed.

Smell- well... it wasn't quite chocolate. I have to say, it reminded me of these chocolate scented gel-pens I had when I was 11. Sort of like someone tried to make a chocolate smell from memory but it got wiped out by a soap bubble. In the shower it was noticeable but not overpowering. A good, balanced fragrance. 

As a body soap- On bare skin it produced a good lather without feeling like it was melting down the plug hole by the second. Left skin feeling lightly moisturised but not greasy.

As a hand soap- great if you're the kind of person who rests their hands near their face a lot, and want the smell of French patisserie/soap factory in your nostrils all day.

As a face soap- good! Didn't leave my cheeks feeling tight and left face refreshed.

Overall- gosh, this soap really can do no wrong. It had the right level of fragrance, left skin feeling moisturised, it made from responsibly sourced ingredients, didn't melt away too fast, has a reassuringly short ingredients list, and is available at a fantastic price. I'm still not too sure about the soapy chocolate smell, but it would be great to try some of the other extracts (the Tea Tree one might help me wake up in these miserable winter mornings). An A grade power bar. GO BUY IT.

Muji- Mandarin

So, I've failed miserably in my blog start promise of updating this weekly in a timely and professional manner. Life tends to get in the way of mad ramblings about soap. Apologies. That bar of Pears lasting 3 weeks didn't really help either.

I don't know if you have the shop Muji wherever you are. Muji sell Japanese designed homewares, which seem to mainly consist of white boxes for sorting your office junk into neat piles, loofahs, and plaid slippers. They've got a couple of shops in London and used to have a branch in Reading (I think it closed a while ago though). This soap is available in several fragrances including avocado and lemon.

Price- 99p for 100gr

First Look- slightly more transparent than Pears with a much more luminous orange glow. It's not particularly natural looking.

Dry Feel- Extremely hard, it's like holding a block of wood. I couldn't get it to melt on contact with fingers at all.

Smell- sort of like an orange flavoured gummy bear, flat fruit tones which feel a little artificial, and a soapy but somehow not fresh. It stuck to my skin unlike any of the other soaps I've reviewed.

As a body soap- again, this was hard to melt on bare damp skin. It will melt under a stream of water to produce a few bubbles, but somehow it just felt cheap. It left my skin feeling okay, but after a few days of use I noticed my skin was drier than usual and had some scaly pre-eczema flare ups.

As a hand soap- the strong scent would probably make it a good candidate for a kitchen soap. It feels pretty harsh too so might be good at shifting heavier stains from hands.

As a face soap- very drying. Not recommended.

Overall- I don't know what else I should really say about this soap. If you haven't worked out by now, I didn't like this soap and won't be buying it again. If you've got stronger skin than mine or work in a coal mine or tar pit, maybe this is the soap for you. Happily for me, but maybe not for you if you like it, the soap disappeared surprisingly quickly. Maybe that's the benefit of currently being crammed in my student room with another poor soul.

Pears

If you ever get lost in an unfamiliar part of the UK and end up stumbling into a mini mart/village post office/ general store, somewhere amongst the fading tat and curling postcards I can guarantee you will find a bar of Pears soap. The box might be a bit dusty, but inside will be the same lump of amber magic you can find anywhere else in Britain. It's practically our national soap and boasts that it's been a brand for 200 years, although I don't actually know anyone who uses it. Like some weird throwback to the empire, this soap in made by Unilever in Mumbai. Huh.

Price- Boots had a special offer on, so I got a 125gr bar for 41p. You can usually get it for under a pound.

First look- The box told me in no less than four places that this was transparent, but I think Unilever and I have a different definition of the word. It looks like a huge block of amber with the word Pears on one side and Pears Transparent Soap on the other.

That is clearly not transparent.

Pretty though!

Dry feel- hard as a hockey puck and won't melt in your hand easily. Put this in a sock and hit someone with it and you could probably break their nose.

Smell- honestly, it's hard to describe. Imagine someone tried to make Perry from pear juice and alcoholic hand-rub and you're halfway there. It's not unpleasant though, just a bit... weird. Not sweet. It wasn't particularly noticeable in the shower and didn't cling to skin.

As a body soap- makes a very gentle lather with tiny bubbles on bare skin and melts easily but without washing away to nothing. A bar of this could easily last a month of showers.

As a hand soap- fine for the bathroom but won't shift cooking odours. It's also not going to get rid of serious grime without scrubbing.

As a face soap- if I was a lackadaisical man and not a girl with naughty skin, I would probably use this every day on my face. If I ever get launched into abject poverty, this is going to be the only soap I ever use.

Overall- Pears left my skin a bit dry, but it's coming into winter and my skin is dry anyway. At the end of the world when looters have taken all the posh Sanctuary shower gel and Molten Brown has been raided, I'll be plodding along with my salvaged bar of Pears, clinging desperately to 200 years of tradition and keeping a stiff upper lip about dry skin. When I'm out of university and don't have a job or any cash, this is going to be my best bathroom buddy, keeping me clean and moderately presentable.

I love you Pears, don't ever leave.

Lush- Snow Globe

Every year, Lush give their faithful masses a little winter cheer in the form of limited edition soaps, bath bombs and whatever crazy stuff they're selling nowadays, available only for the Christmas period. Which according to Lush, starts at the beginning of October, when I bought this block.


Price- £1.95 per 100gr, which is pretty reasonable for handmade soap


First Look- Snow Globe gives off some weird glow in sunlight, bringing to mind a variety of Kryptonite. It's an odd, clinical-feeling, opaque pastel turquoise, but depending on which bit of it you choose, yours might have white blobs in it. Mine didn't.


Dry Feel- firm, but it melted easily. I was able to cut it with butter knife and a little bit of pressure.


Smell- when it's dry, Snow Globe gives off a mellow citrus scent which reminded me a little of sherbet lemons. It seemed to hit the back of the nose and make it tingle. When wet, this soap jumps straight to overpowering. It's a very energising scent to snap you into reality on cold winter mornings. The scent sticks with you lightly for the rest of the morning (to keep you awake through breakfast, no doubt)


As a body soap- good light lather on bare skin, lathers up very well on hair. The soap melts really quickly under a hot shower and felt creamy straight away. Didn't leave skin too dry.
As a hand soap- the smell makes you feel like you've given your hands a thorough cleaning, even if you haven't
As a face soap- it'll help wake you up, but won't do sensitive or dry skin much good.

Overall- I don't think I would buy Snow Globe again. It's good value for money, and if you need help waking up then this is the soap for you, but I felt the scent was too overpowering for a scent I didn't particularly like. Of course, I'll probably change my mind as the mornings get darker and I find it harder and harder to drag myself to uni.

I forgot to take a photo of the ingredients list, but you can find it on Lush's site.