Soap Crazy Part XVI

It's been five years since my last Soap Crazy post and I've got a whole list of soap bars to post about. Also, is it me or the years are just flying by faster and faster?

 

Let's start with Chivas Goat Milk Skin Care. This is a "farm-to-home" brand by a mother-daughter team with their family-owned farm in Fillmore, California. They make soaps and essential oils with goat milk and herbs from their farm, and their products are wholesome and supposedly gentle for use on the face in addition to the body. 

- Oak Meadows Ranch Pure Goat Milk Soap Invigorating Rosemary Fennel, 128g/4.5oz.: I didn't used this bar on my face but it was great for everywhere else! And good thing I didn't use this on my face, because it's super duper scratchy with huge exfoliating particles that's scratchy even for my knees and elbows. I end up using it to scrub my feet, which says something. Not recommended unless you're also looking for a feet-scrub bar.

Master Soap Soap Gifts Part III

The last of my Master Soaps, finally. We managed to use up a little over half of my original giant haul and gifted the rest away.

 

No, it wasn't that that we didn't like them or want to use them anymore. More like bar soaps aren't kids-friendly in general. My little guys don't know to take their time with bar soaps and lather up. They just rub their little hands over the bars real quick and thought that was enough. So now all our sinks have foaming hand soaps in cute pump bottles, and one pump is all they need for just enough lather to clean but not dry out sensitive baby skin.

Which means these lovely (and smells heavenly) Japanese bar soaps have been neglected. So we gifted them away to those who would appreciate them.

Soap Crazy Part XV

Interesting. I just realized hubby and I average out to about 10 bars of soap per year, give or take a few repeats. The last Soap Crazy post dated January 2019.

- Arb-Ims Spa Co Vanilla Honey Soap 100g: this bar was from a massive care package my friend A. sent to me from Tokyo. She'd been traveling the world with her hubby and daughter, and everywhere she went, she collected something to send to me. How sweet is that? I'm so blessed with such kind and generous friends T.T  

Among the goodies were Beauty Diary sheet masks and soap bars from Thailand.

Soap Crazy Part XIV

Another year, another Soap Crazy post :) Since the last post, I set a goal to use up all the leftover soaps purchased from Etsy years ago. Not because I don't like them anymore but because, well, they're getting old. We've been moving around and each move put a space of 1-2 years to these soaps, so no more. I was determined to get through them all.

First up are several remaining bars from Fresh & Clean. I have a (bad?) habit of saving the best for last, and of all the soaps I bought from Etsy, I liked those from Fresh & Clean best.

- Cherry Almondine Shea Butter Sugar Scrub Soap: Despite the name, this particular bar had no cherry or almondine. Instead, it had a lovely and warm milk and oatmeal scent. The sugar scrub didn't work at all as it just melted along each use, leaving no scrubbing effect. Then again, the bar was meant for the shower and not hand-washing so we didn't use it as intended anyway. Unfortunately, half way through the soap turned in a pile of goo. Hubby got so disgusted he threw it out :(

Master Soap Soap Gifts Part II

Last fall, having discovered those adorable Master Soaps were, in fact, great soaps, I did some major hauling to stock up for our own use and to have little things to send to our friends and family during the holidays.

Shown here is about half of the entire haul, and yes, it was a lot of soaps! ^.^"

Master Soap Soap Gifts

Update Thursday, September 7, 2017.

Four years after writing the below Master Soap Soap Gifts post, I'm finally, finally, finally through with the last bar of handmade soap bought from Etsy.

Sorry to say, but I won't ever buy anymore of those soaps. Sure, they look and smell nice and I'm supporting small businesses, but aside from a few, the rest either disintegrated into a puddle of slimy goo that clogged my sink drain or cracked up and crumbled into tiny pieces, forcing me to toss most at about 2/3 the way through. Urgh.

So I was more than happy to move on to these cutesy soaps from the Otomebakko (Maiden Coffret) I'd kept for myself and was promptly forced to eat my words. "Decoration soaps," I said, "used to beautify the bathroom counter or hallway accent tables, and use the larger cutesy soaps but temper your expectations". I was such an asshole, dismissing these soaps without trying them first!

Because you know what, we finally tried the usagi (rabbit) soap in the clear cellophane wrapper and, well, it turns out to be a fantastic bar of soap! It foams well and washes well without being too drying. Best of all, we're more than half way through the bar and it has neither melted nor cracked. To quote hubby, "This is the best soap we've used since coming home from Tokyo!"

The whole time in Tokyo, we were using mostly L'Occitane Bonne Mere soaps for our hands and liquid body wash for the shower. And with Tokyo being hot and humid, the Bonne Mere bars were great but here at home they're super drying. Considering we wash our hands all the freakin' time with a baby, it's actually quite impressive that the usagi soap hasn't deep fried our hands yet. Why the hell did we put up with all those crappy soaps while shelving these great ones for four years? Argh!!!

Guess who's doing some major damage via Master Soap's online store? They do ship internationally, by the way, and using EMS only, which means I paid an arm and a leg for soaps. But then I'd spent triple quadruple that before for the Etsy soaps, only to toss so many away. So I won't complain paying for good soaps. You can expect to see more of Master Soap.

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Original post Wednesday, July 10, 2013.

Spotted these Master Soap Soap Gifts in Alpha Beauty UK's E(vil)bay store (*not* affiliated!) and snatched these up in a jiffy ^.^ If you live in Japan, you should check out Master Soap's website, as the Japanese retails for these adorable soap gifts are quite reasonable, between 300-2,700JPY depends on the size of the gift.

Also, it should be noted that the cutesy ones are most likely "decoration soaps" or scenting soaps, you know, to beautify the bathroom counter or hallway accent tables, etc. They do sell bath/hand soaps and you can certainly use the larger cutesy soaps, just temper your expectation accordingly ^.^ I haven't tried them myself so I can't really say one way or another, but I can tell you they are super duper cute in person and make excellent gifts and/or decorations for your family, friends, and home!

Otomebakko (Maiden Coffret) Soap Gift

Soap Crazy Part XIII

Yet another 2 years since the last Soap Crazy post!

No, we used up a whole lot more than the 11 bars below in the past 2 years. Most of them were repeats though, like the L'Occitane Bonne Mere Soap Milk for example. We must have gone through at least a dozen of the 50g Milk bars during our time in Tokyo, because we just love that scent so much. Anyway, it wasn't until we moved home that I decided to change things up a bit. Being home means I have access to my soap stash again, and it's been fun to go through and pick out a new soap every other month or so.

- Fresh & Clean Almond Silk Glycerin Goats Milk Soap: more nutty and vanilla than almond but I enjoyed the scent nonetheless.

Soap Crazy Part XII

Wow, has it really been 3 years since the last Soap Crazy post?!? O.O And that post was 2 months before I left Yokohama in 2012 too, and here we are in Tokyo again! Crazy how life goes!

Anyway, within the past 3 years we've used up a whole lot of soaps, though mostly I've been forgetting to keep track of which. Below are what I managed to remember to note down the scent and set aside the photos. These soaps aren't listed according to when I used them but rather alphabetically by name.

- Caudalie Vinotherapie Fleur de Vigne French-milled Soap: a tiny little guest soap bar that I used as a hand soap when we first moved to SF in January 2013. It didn't have much of a scent, that or it was so old, being from 2010 and the scent faded -.-' Either way, it was similarly drying as the L'Occitane Bonne Mere Rose below and it cracked shortly after we started using. Every time I washed my hand, I rushed out to put on some hand lotion afterwards for relief. This was from the Vinotherapie Spa in a Box.

L'Occitane Verdon Spring Set

Bought this L'Occitane Verdon Spring Set for hubby to try and immediately regretted it the moment I opened the box. This Verdon line is strongly scented with woodsy manly cologne. Sounds nice, only it's way to overpowering, as if someone poured an entire bottle of cologne into these products. It makes me wonder if L'Occitane thinks men stinks in general and need this much help in escaping their evolutionary residual caveman aroma. Urgh. 

Verdon Spring Set, which includes a 100mL Invigorating Shave in an aerosol can, 50mL/1.7fl oz. Fresh Water Shower, 15mL/0.5fl oz. Energy Moisturizer in a squeeze tube, and 100g/3.5oz. bar of Verdon Soap. 

L'Occitane Marvelous Flowers Voyage Kit

Bought this L'Occitane Marvelous Flowers Voyage Kit for my mum on mother's day, and with her permission I opened it up for a few pictures ^.^ My mum loves it, but again these were too strongly scented for me. Just taking pictures of them were enough to make me never want to use them LOL!

The kit includes a 75mL/2.5fl oz. Shower Gel, 30mL/1oz. Hand Cream, and 50g/1.7oz. Perfumed Soap.

Skincare Stocking Stuffers (Picture heavy!)

In 2012, hubby and I moved out of Japan in late August, then to Taiwan for 3 months until mid December. Going to different countries means lots of shopping and while I tried to exercise control, I don't have much self restraint. As a result, everyone in my family got at least a few skincare related stocking stuffers this past holiday season ^.^ Anyways, with permission from the recipients I took pictures of the products prior to wrapping them. 

This Naive Rich & Deep Moist Cleansing Foam Gift Set came with the full size Cleansing Foam Rose Extract in the yellow tube, which went to my mum, and a travel sized Cleansing Foam Madonna Lily Extract in the blue tube, which I kept for myself.

Soap Crazy Part XI (Picture Heavy!)

Wow, I just realize I might have bought enough soap from Etsy to last me a lifetime... ^.^' ...and I brought most of them with me to Japan too as we expected to stay for a few years. Whatever, I guess that just mean I'll be bringing them back home again :P

My shower always have 2 bars of soap in addition to a bottle body wash (Johnson's Body Care Dream Skin Relax Body Wash). Why? Because I just get bored easily like that. Anyhow, the below are the bars of soap (listed according to Etsy shop) hubby and I managed to use up since my last soap post.

Anderson Soap Company: my go to shop for soaps, as always. It's too bad he had stopped making goat's milk soap a while ago, but I still like his glycerine and shea butter bars.

- Green Clover & Aloe Shea Butter Soap: a surprisingly "masculine" bar of soap with a cologne like fragrance and denser but finer exfoliating scrubbies. Hubby really liked it, but didn't as much because  felt too scratchy (and not in a good way) on my skin.

Tabibijin Cha Sekken Tea Facial Cleansing Bar

This is really not a review because I've only used this Tabibijin Cha Sekken Tea Facial Cleansing Bar a few times at the onsens I've been to, with Ayasa Hotel being the most recent. That said, I've consistently seen this brand of Tabibijin skincare at the spas and onsens I visited, the Tea Facial Cleansing Bar inside the bathhouses and the Tea Peeling Gel at the vanity counters, I decided I should get some and try for myself and ended up with this 3-set for my sister and my mum too.

Tabibijin Cha Sekken Tea Facial Cleansing Bar

Pelican Deitanseki Clay & Charcoal Facial Cleansing Bar

Knowing my sister was coming home from Japan, my family emailed us for special requests of the things they would like to get but can't find at home. Like my sister's friend who asked about green tea soap, my aunt requested charcoal soaps, which she credited me for getting her into when I gave her a bar of Max Sumi Haigou Sekken Charcoal Soap way back when I first tried them. She said that bar cleared out the stubborn black heads on her nose, and she was so amazed she showered with it, whereupon it proceeded to also cleared out the bumps on the back of her upper arms, just like the green tea soap did for my sister's friend's husband. So my aunt wanted more of these miracle soaps, and although she said that 1 bar I gave lasted her forever, this time she asked for 2 packs for a total of 6 bars to ensure they will last forever and a half LOL! xD

Pelican Deitanseki Clay & Charcoal Facial Cleansing Bar

***Picture from Pelican Soap Japan.

Soap Crazy Part X (Picture Heavy!)

Got quite a few pretty bars of soaps here. Most were gifts for hubby's Grandma and my mum-in-law too since they both love bar soaps.

Bubbles Variety Shoppe: this is the last bar I had from this vendor, though from the look of the shop now she is not making new soaps. I already wrote my thoughts about this vendor a while back.

- Peppermint Pep Essential Oil Soap: this is actually a sort of artistic bar ^.^ I gifted it to Grandma because she's a painter and perhaps would appreciate how delicately pretty this bar is.

Soap Crazy Part IX (Picture Heavy!)

Long time no...soap post! I think I'm actually loosing track of which bars I've posted and which I haven't, because I've used many, gifted many, and repurchased many. So if you see a bar I've posted before, sorry!

Fresh & Clean: Before leaving to Japan I bought a huge batch of soaps from this vendor, some 17 bars or around there. So you can expect to see lots more of this vendor in the future as I go through the soaps. And although I did end up giving a few of these bars away again, I will also keeping many to myself. They're spectacular! You'll see.

- Happy Lemon Goats Milk Soap: this bar of soap looks like a gigantic dessert bar, actually. And it smells so wonderfully of lemon, which I really like. This became a gift to a really sweet lady whom we visited recently.

LostRiverRags: still stalking this vendor waiting for a lotion sale ^.^ I pretty much gave up on buying their soaps because the fragrances were completely hit and miss. I could not smell anything from the majority of the soaps, other than that pesky musty odor. So yeah, I will only buy lotions from now on.

- Winter Grapefruit Goats Milk Hand & Body Lotion: using this right now and loving it! The scent is of a bitter note, more like grapefruit peel than the actual grapefruit itself, but fresh and clean nonetheless. The lotion never fails to impress me. It goes on super smooth and light, absorbs instantly and disappears into my skin as if I never applied a thing, and yet it keeps my arms and legs feel soft and moisturized all day!

Paradise Body Shop: haven't bought from this vendor now that I'm in Japan. Candice's soaps are larger bars, and therefore understandably more expensive, plus sending them all the way here will cost me an arm and a leg. I'll probably have to wait until I'm about to go home for a visit before buying, so I can pick them up while I'm home and bring them back to Japan with me. All the bars below were given as gifts, with the exception to only 1, the Cranberry Goat's Milk.

- Wasabi Goat's Milk Soap: I really wondered whether this bar truly smelled like wasabi. I gifted it to a Japanese lady, whose though process I can sort of guess, "Ehhh????" LOL!

- Oat Meal Milk & Honey Goat's Milk Soap: I really love this scent, and I think I've bought an Oat Meal Milk & Honey bar from every soap vendor I buy from ^.^ They all have the same warm and cozy scent, of course, even if each bar looks different.

- Cucumber Melon Goat's Milk Soap: smelled more like melon than cucumber. It ended up a gift too.

- Cranberry Goat's Milk Soap: this bar took me by surprise - it's the very first bar from Paradise Body Shop that I didn't care for. Actually, I didn't like the scent of this bar at all. It smelled nothing like cranberry. Instead, it had this really spicy christmas-y scent, like a mixture of pine woods and holly. Perhaps someone else would have loved it, but I couldn't appreciate it at all!

- Cantaloupe Goat's Milk Soap: I usually don't like cantaloupes but this bar wasn't meant for me anyway :P

- Brown Sugar Goat's Milk Soap: this was gifted to a nice gal I befriended recently. I hope she likes it because if it smelled anything like the Cinnamon Bun Goat's Milk Soap, it will surely be warm and sweet.

Rachel Rene: For some reason, this vendor now sells mostly cold process soaps. I really prefer her melt and pour kind, as I noted that her soaps are probably the smoothest soaps I've used. Not sure why she switched to focus on cold process, oh well...

- Lavender Basil Soap: I actually had bought this bar a few times now, and every time when I intended to keep it to myself, I ended up giving it away! Hmph!

See my previous posts:

- Soap Crazy
- Soap Crazy Part II
- Soap Crazy Part III
- Soap Crazy Part IV
- Soap Crazy Part V
- Soap Crazy Part VI

- Soap Crazy Part VII

- Soap Crazy Part VIII