Beyond the Spritz: Cinnamon Orange & Shea Soap by Pamela Soap

I'll say it now I love bar soap. I mean shower gels are nice but for some reason bar soap remains my favorite still. On the other hand cheap bar soap is not a favorite of mine and I believe is the number one reason bar soap gets a bad rep. The Cinnamon Orange & Shea Soap by Pamela Soap is the perfect example of why handmade bar soap should be held in esteem. I found Pamela Soap because I went to my very local and very tiny Farmer's Market and saw their stand. I was even more thrilled when I found out that the soap being sold was being made so close to where I live. Well I dithered about and bought one of their soaps as a Christmas present and then I bought two soaps for myself. I spoke to the very nice husband of Pamela, the soap maker, who was the sale's rep for the day, and got to learn about their soap and overall it was a very nice experience.  On the other hand the real proof of how good the soap is in the actual use of it.

The first soap I have used so far is the utterly winter perfect Cinnamon Orange & Shea Soap. This is a cinnamon scent supported by lovely soft haze of orange. The cinnamon in this scent smells of real cinnamon not the fake awful stuff that causes headaches and makes me question my whole liking of cinnamon. Nope, this is type of cinnamon that has real layers, it reminds me a bit of my current cinnamon, Vietnamese cinnamon from Penzey's, open this cinnamon up, and you smell all the complexity that cinnamon can have from floral notes to herbal notes.. The cinnamon used in the soap has hints of lavender, rosemary, and cedar in it, the scent is very warm and natural. Supported by all of this is light soft orange.

Okay, I said I would not do too much of a review of the actual qualities of the product, but as a long time bar soap user I feel like I can actually bring a little clarification to this discussion. I use all my bar soaps with a Japanese style wash cloth to get the best lather and longevity out of my soap. I highly recommend. On the other hand if you are finding that your soap is leaving a film on you and this includes also your shampoo and body wash it means you have hard water. I have hard water and this is also why I am so in love with Pamela Soap, Pamela is making a artisan natural soap that is able to handle hard water. I am left with with clean, soft, and not overly dried skin with this soap. If you have hard water you will understand that this can be incredibly hard to find in almost any cleansing product and even more so in natural products.

First Two Images are from Pamelasoap.com
Third Image from AuthorityNutrition.com

Autumnal Delights: Moroccan Chamomile Apple Blossom Soap by Pacifica

I love a well fragranced soap, as much as body washes are nice, my true love for getting a good wash in is soap. I should also say this before I go on to review this soap; I usually hate chamomile unless it is fresh (I have often compared chamomile tea to cat piss), the only other time I truly enjoyed smelling it was the essential oil of blue Roman chamomile which had the delightful scent of apples and herbs.

Yesterday with half my face numb from having to replace a filling that fell out I decided to head to Whole Foods which is near my dentist. They usually have a gorgeous selection of Pacifica candles and well I am a fan of the Pacifica brand; I hoped that they had their new Avalon Juniper but they didn't. So I sniffed about, I was tempted by the Frankincense, but the truth is I needed a happy scent, then I smelled the Moroccan Chamomile Apple Blossom, this is a gorgeously happy Autumn morning scent. It has a wonderful warm happy quality and reminded me immediately of dew on hay, apples glistening in the early morning sun, and hints of herbacious bushes. What was even better was it was on sale. I was also left wishing Pacifica would expand the line of this scent; it would make a gorgeous body cream.

It leaves the skin wonderfully fragranced and not overly dried.

I also wanted to give a shout out to Pacifica spending so much time on the image design of each scent. They really got the scent with the use of light blue, golden yellow, and beautiful creamy white flowers.

image provided by http://www.pacificacandles.com/soap-blue-chamomile.asp