Christina Alyce Beauty: soap

Today I'll be exploring the brand that has made me ditch shower gel. I spoke about my newfound appreciation of bar soap in my brand focus of Lather of The Land, and it has only continued to grow after being introduced to a wonderful Oklahoma based brand called Dulce de Donke. What began as a quest to find a cure for a little girl's autoimmune disease, blossomed into a handmade soap company and conservation effort of the critically endangered American Mammoth Donkey. Dulce de Donke soaps feature donkey milk as their star ingredient, sourced from their very own American Mammoth Donkeys. The family behind Dulce De Donke breeds the wonderful animals to bring up their population, utilizes their precious milk to keep their little girl healthy, and then every remaining drop of milk goes straight into the decadent soaps.

I was sent two bars of soap, Rosemary Mint and Charcoal. Each contain a base of saponified olive oil, coconut oil, and of course, donkey milk. These rich oils and soothing donkey milk are hydrating on the skin, and don't strip you of your natural oils. My dry skin loves such a gentle soap, and donkey milk is wonderful for psoriasis and eczema. Because of the donkey milk and oils, this these soaps are high in fatty acids which help to keep the skin plump and youthful.

With such skin loving ingredients, some of these soaps are fabulous to use on the face, as well as the body. I personally don't do very well with coconut oil products on my face, but if you don't have such a sensitivity, acne and oily prone skin would probably adore the Charcoal soap. Activated charcoal gives this black bar it's drawing properties. Charcoal can bind with the impurities in your pores, drawing them out and clearing your complexion. Combined with the antimicrobial and antiseptic properties of clove and lavender essential oils, this soap makes for a simple yet effective acne cleanser. Though I don't use this on my face, I have had great success in clearing the acne on my back and shoulders.

Rosemary Mint is probably a soap best designated to the body (or at least not rubbed directly on the face) because it is very scrubby, and has strong but refreshing rosemary and mint scent. This soap is perfect if you're trying to streamline your shower routine and nix the sugar scrub - it's wonderfully exfoliating on it's own. I also really enjoyed the scent of this soap for the summer because the peppermint is so cooling on hot days, it makes your body tingle! The rosemary oil is also a fabulous antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, making this the perfect soap to do some repair work on your skin after a long day in the sun.

Both of these soaps lathered beautifully, cleansed effectively without stripping, and had absolutely heavenly aromas. They felt like a truly luxurious shower product, while being ecofriendly and low waste. I am totally prepared to ditch plastic shower gel bottles after trying out these soaps, and I cannot wait to explore more of the scents! Saundra has done some wonderful work on these soaps, and I highly recommend them!

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I am usually cautious about purchasing higher priced Kitchen Items, like Shower Gels and Body Lotions, because at $15 or $20, it’s a bit of an investment for something I may not like. I went back and forth on this one for quite a while and though I didn’t want to spend the money, I’ve learned from experience that I’d probably regret passing it up and give in weeks later buying it for a very inflated price on eBay or elsewhere. I could always sell it myself if it didn’t agree with me anyway!

The list of ingredients and online description certainly make the scent of this sound unique. With a few floral ingredients, grapefruit oil, and fennel, you’d perhaps imagine a fresh floral scent, with a dash of licorice. But in reality, the scent is nothing like what I expected. I will do my best to explain how it actually smells to me, but in all honesty, this scent was rather weird and difficult to describe.

I could definitely detect a little bit of citrus in the aroma, but It doesn’t smell at all floral to me- my nose can’t pick out the rose or jasmine ingredients, whatsoever. There is a slightly powdery note that may come form the rose, but I really can’t be sure. The fennel gives the shower gel an equally sweet and bitter twinge, and brings everything together to create an overall fresh, sweet, yet almost plastic scent... a rather strange way to describe it but it’s not necessarily a bad smell. I have certainly smelled worse things from lush.

Moving past the strange scent, this gel is also pretty unique to look at. A neon green opaque liquid, this shower gel certainly looks electrifying. The creamy consistency is similar to that of Lush’s new shower creams, and I did find this shower gel to be a little more softening than other shower gels, and it still lathered really well. The scent lingered very softly on my skin after using this.

Overall, B Electro is a pretty decent shower gel, and while I don’t think I will repurchase it, it is definitely an eye catching product with a unique scent, and feels great on the skin.

Rating: 3.5

Price: £11 ($16.64) for 240g

Status: Kitchen Exclusive

Vegan?: Yes

Would I repurchase?: Probably Not

Ingredients: Fresh Rose Petals, Water (Aqua), Sodium Alkyl Sulfate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Glyceryl Stearate & PEG-100 Stearate, Fine Sea Salt, Cocamide MEA, Perfume, Glycol Cetearate, Propylene Glycol, Lauryl Betaine, Grapefruit Oil, Fennel Oil, Rose Absolute, Jasmine Absolute, Tincture of Benzoin, Organic Jojoba Oil, Benzyl Benzoate, Citronellol, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Colour 59040, Colour 42090, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

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Before discovering Lush, I never used bar soap. I hated the feeling on my skin, and it was only once I received a sample in an online order that I realized how fantastic a good soap can be. I’m so glad I changed my mind, because otherwise I probably wouldn’t have ever tried this truly magical soap.

Old Father Time was introduced this year as part of the Christmas range, and while it’s doesn’t boast a particularly “Christmassy” smell or look, it is festive nonetheless. In store, you will see it in the form as a giant maroon clock with numbers, cogs, and the gold face of Old Father Time himself. Each piece cut from the clock is unique, mine is gold and maroon with luster covering the outside.

I have honestly never smelled something like this soap before, and I quickly became enamored with it. My 100g bar, tucked away in my bathroom closet, fragrances the entire bathroom more than any other product, especially soap, that I’ve used from Lush thus far. It fills the air with a sweet, incense smell that is strong, but not sickening or overpowering by any means. This soap is composed of some beautifully aromatic ingredients, such as Myrrh resinoid for a warm amber note, and Opoponax oil for a dash of balsamic, honey scent. Sage and Thyme come together to offer a green note. Rosewood and tuberose add a warm, woody, and slightly floral aspect. Redcurrants are perhaps the most apparent scent in the mix, giving this soap a fruity and sweet fragrance. I love sweet and incencey fragrances, and I find that this is the perfect balance for me.

Using this in the shower did prove to be a bit tricky, because this may just be the most slippery soap I’ve ever encountered. I will admit, I dropped this a number of times trying to lather it! Also, when in contact with water, the soap becomes quite messy, and leaves a burgundy puddle wherever you rest it, which made quite a mess of the side of my tub. Luckily, it does not stain, and the gorgeous lather and fragrance make up for this inconvenience. I just needed to rub this on my netted sponge a couple of times before I had a generous helping of suds to take care of my entire body. And, of course, the beautiful aroma was amplified in the steam of the shower, though it did not linger long on my skin afterwards, or leave my skin particularly hydrated.

Overall I think this is a gorgeous wintertime soap, and I want to stock up on another block or two to see me through the never ending New England winter. This has a beautifully complex scent that I imagine would be enjoyed by many, so this would make a fantastic gift for any soap lover on your list.

Rating: 4.5/5

Price:

UK - £3.50 for 100g.
US - $7.95 for 3.5oz

Status: Christmas 2015 Limited Edition

Vegan?: Yes

Would I repurchase?: Yes

Ingredients: Fresh Sage and Thyme Infusion (Salvia officinalis;Thymus vulgaris), Glycerine, Rapeseed Oil; Coconut Oil (Brassica napus;Cocos nucifera), Sorbitol, Water (Aqua), Perfume, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Redcurrants (Ribes rubrum), Myrrh Resinoid (Commiphora myrrha), Opoponax Oil, Rosewood Oil (Aniba rosaeodora), Tuberose Absolute (Polianthes Tuberosa), Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Benzyl Benzoate, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Radiant Gold Lustre; Gold Glimmer Lustre; Glacier Blue Lustre; Yoshi Yellow Lustre

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Roulades are quite a new concept to me, and I’ve had my eye on both Dreamwash and Icing on the Cake for a while. I was excited to try a sample of their blueberry-scented sibling, which was in a handful of surprise product samples in a recent Kitchen order. Upon first sniff, I wasn’t all that impressed. I was hoping for a sweeter blueberry scent, something fresh and fruity, but what I found was far from it. While not the most unpleasant thing I’ve ever smelled from Lush, I wouldn’t exactly call it mouthwatering. I found it to be a very natural blueberry scent, and quite earthy and even a bit sour. Very unlike the homemade jam scent I was expecting!

As I mentioned above, I am new to the whole roulade thing. It is a soft but solid bar shape, so I assumed it would be easy enough to use it like a bar soap. Unfortunately, It was not so simple. I dug my little grape tomato sized chunk of roulade out of the container, wet it, and attempted to lather it directly onto my body, but this proved to be rather slippery and messy. When mixed with the warm water, the roulade got a bit softer, so it squished unpleasantly in my hands and pieces fell off and a lot of product got wasted. It also didn’t produce much lather to speak of. I really didn’t like using this directly on my skin, so I decided to use it on my netted sponge the next time I used it.

With the netted sponge, I had slightly better results, but it was really more effort than it was worth. just rubbing the roulade on the sponge didn’t give me any lather to work with, so I ended up mashing it into the netting and really working it in, to finally produce some suds to work with. What lather I had didn’t stretch very far, and the bits of roulade fell out of my netted sponge and made a mess of the shower.

After washing with both methods, I didn’t feel any more moisturized than I would with a shower gel, or even a traditional soap. I certainly didn’t feel the moisturizing effects of soya milk, coconut oil, almond oil, or cocoa butter. On paper, this sounded beautiful and nourishing, but in reality, I just found this a really disappointing product overall, and I’m apprehensive to try the sample of Orange Roulade that I received. I would never spend close to $13 on this product!

Rating: 1/5

Price:

£8.50 ($12.84) for 100g
£21.25 ($32.11) for 250g

Status: UK Exclusive

Vegan?: Yes

Would I repurchase? No

Ingredients: Fresh Blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus), Rapeseed Oil: Coconut Oil (Brassica napus;Cocos nuciferal), Glycerine, Water (Aqua), Soya Milk (Glycine soja), Organic Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Perfume, Olibanum Oil (Boswellia carterii), Osmanthus Absolute (Osmanthus fragrans), Sandalwood Oil (Santalum austro-caledonicum vieill), Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Farnesol, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Colour 17200.

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Karma is a classic Lush smell. It smells exactly how you’d expect a hippy dippy handmade cosmetics shop to, and it’s absolutely wonderful. The piece in my photo is very well loved, and a brand new slice of this stuff is a beautiful deep red, cut from a ring shape that features various “steps” on it’s surface, so your wedge is likely to feature 2 levels, making it much more interesting than your standard block of soap. I promise to add new photos once I’ve repurchased this, because it is most definitely a staple in my stash.

The scent of Karma is absolutely beautiful. Lemongrass, Elemi, and sweet orange oil give it a bright, zingy scent, while sandalwood is comforting and warm. Pine oil comes through to give the soap a clean scent, and makes it suitable for any time of year. I do find this bright and fresh enough to use in the warmer months, and comforting and complex enough for the fall and winter as well. It’s a lovely flexible fragrance.

This soap lathers incredibly well, and also works to nourish the skin a lot better than many others I have tried, from lush and other brands. It produces a lot of foam, but the rapeseed and coconut oils offer a gentle, creamy lather that is wonderfully nourishing. I have even used this soap in place of a shaving cream, in a pinch, and not had any problems with stinging, irritation, or any unpleasantness. It helped my razor glide very smoothly.

This is a beautiful soap, that works wonderfully. Even though I generally prefer shower gels, I will always come back to this

Rating: 5/5

Price:

UK: £4.25 / 100g
US: $7.95 / 3.5oz

Status: Permanent

Vegan?: Yes

Would I repurchase?: Yes, and I have!

Scent Family:

Karma Bath Bomb
Karma Bath Melt
Karma Bubble Bar
Karma Bubble Bar (Reformulated 2015)
Karma Dragon Soap
Karma Dusting Powder
Karma Komba Solid Shampoo Bar
Karma Kream
Karma Liquid Perfume
Karma Shower Gel
Karma Shower Jelly
Karma Soap
Karma Solid Perfume
Karma Sutra Bath Bomb
Lush Bath Bomb

Ingredients: Water, Propylene Glycol, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Hydroxide, Perfume, Patchouli Oil, Sweet Orange Oil, Lavandin Oil, Pine Oil, Lemongrass Oil, Elemi Oil, Glycerine, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Gardenia Extract, Citral, Geraniol, Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Colour 14700

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I had not seen or smelled this soap before ordering, and when it arrived, I was convinced I had been sent the wrong product! It didn’t smell anything like the fruity, kiwi-citrus scent it was described as- to me, it was an overpowering, very green smell, almost like freshly mown grass and I absolutely hated it. I ended up throwing it in my jar of soaps to forget about.

Three months later. I decided to take it out again, and the scent had transformed. The previously bitter, grassy scent had changed to the mellow fruity kiwi I had expected upon ordering. I’m honestly surprised by how much the scent changed. It had previously been one of the worst smelling products I had ever smelled, and now I can confidently say it might be my favorite soap from lush that I’ve tried. The scent is gorgeously light and sweet, perfect for spring or summer, and it lingers for quite a while after your shower.

Aside from the scent, this soap preforms beautifully in the shower. This may be the richest lathering soap I’ve ever tried. Just a few rubs on a damp shower puff, and you are left with mountains of soft, creamy suds. If you decide to use the bar directly on your skin, you may notice that the bar is a little rough. There is some sort of exfoliant throughout the soap, but looking through the ingredients, I can’t tell which component provides this effect. There are also an abundance of Kiwi Seeds on the top of the soap (most of mine had worn off by the time I took my photo) which tend to be more scratchy than exfoliating when they come in contact with the skin. I don’t find these to be too much of an issue because I generally just use this soap with a shower puff.

After using this soap,, my skin was lightly fragranced, and not overly dried. I imagine the rapeseed oil and coconut oil both help to keep the skin moisturized, and kiwi is known for it’s skin toning properties. I really look forward to repurchasing this, and I hope the new formulation is just as good as the one I’ve fallen in love with!

Rating: 5/5

Price:

UK £3.40 for 100g
$7.95 for 3.5 oz

Status: Permanent, has been reformulated

Vegan?: Yes

Would I repurchase? Yes

Ingredients: Sodium Chloride , Water (Aqua), Propylene Glycol, Rapeseed Oil, Coconut Oil (Brassica napus; Cocos nucifera), Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Stearate, Fragrance, Fresh Kiwi Fruit (Actinidia chinensis), Ylang Ylang Oil (Cananga odorata), Myrrh Resinoid (Commiphora myrrha), Juniperberry Oil (Juniperus communis), Bergamot Oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia), Glycerine, Sodium Chloride, Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), Titanium Dioxide, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Limonene, Linalool, D&C Red No. 33, FD&C Red No. 4, FD&C Blue No. 1, FD&C Yellow No. 5.

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Calacas Shower Gel

Calacas shower gel is one of Lush’s most magical looking products- depending on the light, its color shifts from clear amber to an almost pearly lime green. It was most recently released from the Kitchen in October, in honor of Dia de los Muertos, which is celebrated October 31st - November 2nd, primarily in Mexico. The word “calaca” means “skeleton”, or “skull” in Spanish, and skull imagery is a very prominent symbol in Day of the Dead celebrations.

Calacas is an all around beautiful shower gel. Moving past its gorgeous shifting color, the scent of Calacas will please any citrus fan. It offers a bright lime scent, one that is equally sweet and tangy. Lime oil, Olibanum oil, and Neroli oil combine to give the gel an uplifting scent, perfect for a zesty morning shower any time of year. The lime scent also lingers for quite a while on the skin, outside of the shower.

This Shower gel offers a beautiful lather, that will get you immaculately clean, without over drying your skin. Aloe Vera gel is high on the ingredient list, and overs a soothing and hydrating property to Calacas. This gel is also quite thick, presumably from the aloe vera gel.

Out of the handful of shower gels I have tried, Calacas is a true gem. It boasts a lovely scent, color and consistency, and is a beautiful addition to a morning shower. I really hope the Kitchen continues to provide this stunning product.

Rating: 5/5

Price: £10.25 ($15.61) for 250g

Status: Kitchen Exclusive

Scent Family

Calacas Shower Gel
Calacas Shower Jelly
Calacas Perfume
Calavera Bath Bomb
The Enchanter Bath Bomb
Lady Catrina Soap
Skullduggery Bath Bomb

Vegan?: Yes

Would I repurchase? Yes

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Aloe Vera Gel(Aloe barbadensis), Sodium LaurethSulfate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, LaurylBetaine, Propylene Glycol, Perfume, Lime Oil (Citrus aurantifolia), Olibanum Oil (Boswelliacarterii), Neroli Oil (Citrus Aurantiumamara), Lactic Acid, *Citral, *Geraniol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Colour 42090, Colour 45350, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

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