Sometimes "natural" just means "nasty"

Was Christmas really almost a month ago? 2011 is nearly 1/12th of the way through. How terrifying. Anyway...


Back at Christmas time, I got a pouffle in my stocking. You know, a pouffle, a shower puff, one of those things they use in shower gel commercials that isn't a loofah or brush on a stick. The label attached to it proclaimed it was "simply natural" and made from "100% natural ramie" (just looked that up- ramie is apparently a plant in the nettle family that doesn't sting. The more you know!). Hooray, I thought, now I can make my shower time a million times more foamy and feel like I'm scrubbing my arse with a cloud!

That was not the case. The damn thing didn't foam up and instead just got wet and slimy and then clumped. I tried to wring it out and hung it up to dry, whereupon the edged darkened to a weird rusty shade that made it look like something found in an abandoned submarine.

I haven't used it again because every time I look at it I think how much mould could grow in those folds and decide to give it a miss. A good two weeks after I first used it, it still smells... iffy.

There is a reason pouffles (do you pronounce that poo-full or like soufflé?) are synthetic. If you want to lather up with something "natural", grab some cotton yarn, learn to knit and go hack out one of the millions of washcloth patterns that are on Ravelry.

In the meantime, I'm tempted to dunk this in clay, fire it in the kiln and see what results. It's got to be better than keeping this bedraggled thing in my bathroom.

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.

Tis the season for peace, love, and suds...

December is a pretty busy month for me, even more so because I had an international visitor staying with me until the sixth, which was coincidentally the day of my pom squad's competition. Then it was my 21st birthday on the 17th (wooooo!), followed by not only the winter solstice but a lunar eclipse too, and then of course blah de blah, the birth of our saviour;  Nikolaos of Myra/Jesus.


Word seems to have gotten round the globe that I pretend to be a very serious and important soap aficionado who graces the internet with slightly unhinged prose about bubbles.

My international friend decided that 3 bars of soap was equivalent to 2 weeks lodging cost so I've got a bar each of Howling Pig's Sandalwood, Earthly Delights Black Amber & Lavender, and Mistral Pamplemousse and Cassis Rouge (that's grapefruit and red currant to those of you who can't be hypnotised by a little French on the packaging).

My brother got me a bar of Molton Brown Aloe & Karite shaving soap (not pictured). He wanted to get me their exfoliating soap, but they were out of stock and pfft WHO CARES? I OWN A BAR OF SOAP THE SAME PRICE AS A WEEKS WORTH OF GROCERIES.

My SASS Santa (yes, I have stairs in my house) got me a peppermint soap shaped like a sweet, a cupcake shaped vanilla soap, some ylang ylang and tangerine soap from Angel's Spa of Tuscany, and some frankly amazing smelling Placitas plum tree soap from the Sandia Soap Company. It's a little strong, so I think I'll have to store it away from my other soaps (on my bookshelf right now, it's doing a fine job as a room fragrancer). Thank you so much, secret Santa of West Virginia!

My mum got me a natural, unbleached body puff thing, for days when the shower's broken and I have to bucket wash, or just for when I want some more bubbles. 

And finally, the big guy himself left a box of Pears in my stocking. I think he read the line I wrote about soap, socks, and self defence, and wanted to see me try it out. Alas, there have been no Home Alone moments this winter break.

So to you, my handful of readers (who span 6 countries so far), I wish you the best in 2011; peace, love, continued access to bathing in a water-stressed world, and me shutting my mouth before I get all environmentally charged at the end of your new years greeting.

Here's to a new year, and new soap!

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.

Naturaleigh- Eve's Moon

It was a panicked morning again today, because I keep forgetting to buy soap. The university week goes so fast that Saturday ambushed me. Luckily, back on October 30th, on my way to watch Royal Windsor Rollergirls do their thing, I stopped in at a hippy shop just off High Wycombe high street to sniff the patchouli and ended up buying this little bar.

Naturaleigh hand make their soap using traditional techniques in Devon. Not only that, but they care enough to skip on the parabens, artificial colours and other assorted nasties that most commercial soap makers throw in. I have to say, I was a little bit sceptical of this soap and did worry that I might end up smelling like some hippy dippy fruitcake, while somehow not getting clean and magically sprouting dreadlocks, but I needn't have worried.

Price- £3.95 for 100g direct from their site. I opted for the 50g bar for £1.95.

First look- the bar is about the colour of uncooked biscuit dough. The surface looked very similar to the Hempline soap I first reviewed, matt with a slight sparkle. 

Dry Feel- melts easily on contact with fingers, but felt strong. Didn't dent easily or crumble.

Smell- the scent was strong enough to pick up through the packet. I don't know quite how to describe it; feminine without being sickly, sweet or girly. I thought it was very uplifting, almost floral and at the same time felt clean and soapy. Something about it smelt luxurious or at least somehow... fancy. The smell didn't cling very strongly to the skin, so you could easily layer perfume over it.

As a body soap- surprisingly, for a handmade soap, it took a while to get a lather off this soap on bare skin (it's sodium lauryl sulphate free). It was a controlled melt, unlike some soaps which feel like washing with butter. For more bubbles, you could try one of those pouffle things. It left my skin, even on my shins, feeling like it had been treated and was lovely and supple.

As a hand soap- great for a bathrooms. It feels like it should belong in someone's fancy guest loo. The scent is probably good enough to cover some cooking odours, but I'm out of food right now so I can't go test it's garlic slaying powers.

As a face soap- left my cheeks less tight than most other soaps I've tried. If you were in a real hurry, it would be fine to use this on your face.

Overall- I like this soap, but for some reason it just feels so fancy to me that I'm not sure if I feel comfortable using it daily. I'm starting to thing I must have had some weird childhood encounter with ylang-ylang in an aunt's bathroom or something. Coincidentally, the 50g bars would make fantastic guest bars if you're the kind of person who has people come and stay in their guest suite and gifts them soap at the beginning of their stay (if you are, CALL ME). 

There's just something about this soap. It's a womanly soap. The kind of soap you lather up with before slipping on a little black dress and going out to dinner with the kind of man you know you can have. A magical hippy love bar, if you will...

Clinique- Anti Blemish Solutions Cleansing Bar for Face and Body

Apologies for the lack of update last week. There was a trip home, in which I forgot to pick up any of the soap I have there, extra cheerleading practice in anticipation of our competition this December, a nerve-wracking presentation in front of the whole class and a peaceful protest with 49,999 other student which devolved into trashing Tory HQ. I wasn't smashing windows or throwing fire-extinguishers. I sat in the pub less than a mile away, eating chocolate fudge cake and watching the biased media coverage on BBC news 24. But enough of that.

Clinique, for those not in the know, are a semi-luxury skincare brand, more expensive than Garnier but little less pricy than Lancôme. I've been using their 3 step skincare for about 2 years now, but always with the liquid mild soap. A shop assistant pointed out my hideous pustule covered chin and handed over a washbag full of anti blemish samples, including this 50g bar of soap.

Price- a 150gr bar retails at £12.50. Not cheap, but if you're only using it on your face, it should last a while.


First Look- the bar has a matt surface and is a creamy off-white shade. It looks unassuming, like any other run of the mill bar of soap. Almost clinical.


Dry Feel- dense, it has a very strong feel to it and wont mark easily. The surface gently melts on contact with warm fingers.

(I try to take my photos in good sunlight, but the London weather doesn't always cooperate)

Smell- Nothing. Completely neutral. It doesn't even have a soapy smell... like some kind of ghost soap. How do I know it's even there? What if I've imagined this whole bar of soap? To the shower! *Batman scene change noise*

As a body soap- I don't get back-acne, but I do occasionally get a back spot in summer. The soap felt extremely luxurious and gentle on the body.

As a facial soap- it lathered up no problem straight on my cheeks, making a light and silky film. For the love of all that is soapy, DO NOT GET THIS IN YOUR EYES. I felt it was important to test how eye friendly this facial soap wash and happily flicked some lather in my eyes. The burning pain that seared through my tearduct is making my eyes water even now.

As a hand soap- don't bother. It won't shift any cooking smells or real dirt.

Overall- my cheeks felt a little dry after use, but not tight. It also didn't shift a gross little whitehead that was frolicking across my chin but that faded down during the day, so maybe it did work it's magic. I don't need to use this on my body, so I won't, but I feel my face has found a new friend. My face felt much cleaner than usual and there's the added bonus of being able to take this cleanser on a plane as hand luggage. 

Update- It's only been a week since I started using the Clinique Anti Blemish collection, and my skin already looks much better, with a huge reduction in gross chin blemishes. Definitely recommend!