This little soap project began as a way for me to beat the boredom I find in the dead of winter. A project that would give us something to add as a little gift to our couples, something to sell at some markets. I’m sure you see where this is going, given the fact that weddings have been postponed for another day, month, perhaps year with no word on when gatherings may safely resume. We decided to take the soap thing a bit more seriously. So, we now have a lovely little line of handmade soaps to offer. These soaps are made of entirely plant derived ingredients, all natural fragrances, and locally procured additives. 

Since my plan was initially to mostly sell these soaps in person, instead of shipping them, I was relying heavily on people grabbing and sniffing sample bars, having a tactile experience with the soaps before purchasing. Instead, you’ll just have to trust me. This soap is nice. Beyond that, I’m going to try and describe each soap to you, so you can make an informed purchase. Here goes. 

The first soap I wanted to create was a sophisticated gardener’s soap. I love the calming fragrance of lavender, and it’s just what I want to coat my body after a long day working outside. To keep the fragrance from being too overwhelming, I turned to another one of my personal favorite scents – bergamot – to blend into the soap for a slightly more uplifting fragrance. The perfect gardener’s soap also has to scrub dirt from between your toes, in your elbows. So some ground lavender buds are mixed into this bar for some gentle dirt busting prowess. It smells like sipping on a London Fog in the south of France in summertime. 

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While on the subject of serious cleaning, my next project was a good face soap. I knew I wanted to make a sexy black soap using activated charcoal, as charcoal’s ability to draw excess oils from the skin is so essential for my greasy, always sweaty, acne-prone skin. I doubled down on the oil absorbing ability in this bar by adding some kaolin clay, and peppermint oil for a refreshing, elegant fragrance. This soap is so lovely for both face and body. 

Our Green Curry bar combines all of the non-allium or solanim aromatics in a thai green curry paste, lemongrass, basil, and galangal – a relative of ginger. I have always loved the Bangkok Peanut ice cream from Jeni’s, which (as I learned from her beautiful cookbook) was invented based on the ice-cream friendly flavors in pad thai. Here, we have the soap friendly flavors of one of my favorite dishes – Green Curry. More spa-like in fragrance than any other bar in the lineup, this one has been a favorite of many of my small consortium of testers. 

Geranium + Cedarwood – my absolute, hands-down favorite. Rose Geranium is one of my very favorite plants. I keep them in the house and rub my fingers on the leaves every time I walk past it’s pot. This soap has a hefty dose of beautiful rose geranium with some grounding cedarwood, it’s elegant, heady, and wonderful. It’d be my pick for the perfect body bar any day of the year. 

Finally, our Mechanic’s soap, which is my cheeky nod to the familiar powdered soap you can find in auto repair shops, manufacturing facilities and truck stops. I’ve always loved using it, I like it’s citrusy smell and gritty texture. To mimic this the all-natural way, I blended orange and cedarwood essential oils and added a nice portion of Ohio cornmeal for some gritty scrubbing. And then wrapped it in really floral paper, because that’s how we roll.

So, soaps are now available to purchase! We have quite the limited supply, but will be restocking in 4-5 weeks. So if you miss out this time, know there is more soap curing and coming soon. I also have a few new releases up my sleeve for forthcoming seasons…we won’t stop creating here.

A big shout out to Auburn and Ivory Creative for designing the beautiful packaging. Her creativity knows no bounds, and everything she makes is just absolute perfection. Thank you, Meredith!

And, to The Simmons Photography for the amazing product photos. I’m thankful to call these creative geniuses my friends.