Soused Soapery - Splendiferous product reviews

I am not sure whether review comments should be confined to those made by humans, but I cannot write this review without referring to the amazing effect that this product had on my pets! This is the fourth soap I have tried in this range, with no two being the same, but this was the most unusual one I have tried. I have a three-legged cat who was hand reared and is convinced that he is human. On this occasion, as I took the soap out of the box it had travelled home in, I was ambushed by the cat who was staking claim to it!

I had noticed the strong, woodsy scent even before unwrapping it, and thought it was really pleasant - and clearly my cat thought the same thing. He supervised while I unwrapped it, constantly butting my hand away so he could rub his head against the soap, and uttering the occasional miaous which no doubt translated as "Get lost, that's mine"! I finally finished unwrapping it, releasing an even stronger pine forest smell, and put it down while I went to get my camera. When I returned, he was stalking both soap and packet - walking around, stopping to investigate, then continuing round it so he could see it from the other side!

I finally managed to get into the shower (with the soap but minus the cat) and proceeded to use it on my own skin. At this point I started to realise just what he had been trying to tell me. The warm water increased the soap scent so that I was surrounded by the impression of being in a forest. The texture of the soap itself was smooth and creamy, leaving my skin pleasantly clean and fresh but without stripping any oils. The appearance of the soap was of fine marble, with delightful whorls and patterns just like those you would find in real marble. It was so pleasant, and the day was so warm, that I decided to dispense with a towel and let my skin dry naturally so as to retain the strongest possible pine effect.

All that would have been fine; I was prepared to leave the soap in the shower and give him the packaging to roll around in. To my surprise, he had been joined by another of my pets - also a cat - who was just as interested. The pair of them batted the paper around till it was in shreds; they then retreated, each with several strands of the wrapper, and proceeded to lie down on it and go to sleep! Once the actual soap was wet they appeared to lose interest in it so I think it is safe - but I might store it in a cupboard between uses, just in case.

On reflecting as to why these two animals were so fascinated by this soap, I think it must be the fact that the ingredients are all natural. They contain several different edible oils; the only truly inedible items are green chromium and lye. This means that the soap is largely non-toxic and would probably not harm an animal if he were to attempt a mouthful! Having said that, however, they were more interested in sniffing and rolling in the product. I am not tempted to roll in it, but I certainly enjoy sniffing it so maybe humans have more in common with the animals than we realise.

I am trying to find some soap that I don't have a really bad reaction to so I'm happy to try anything. I like the packaging but that will not wash me so I opened the paper, really like that it is paper and not needing a pair of scissors to open the packaging, and I sniffed. I could tell that there was something to smell I just couldn't identify it but that might be because my sinus are blocked and being a pain. It lathered up quite a lot more than the other bar I tried but it didn't leave me itchy in any places. I did sniff my arm when I came out the shower and yes I could still smell the soap so it wasn't washed off completely when I rinsed myself off, and rinsed a few extra times so I wouldn't get a repeat of the previous soap.

I am impressed with the packaging, with the individual bars being hand made so not every bar is exactly the same and yes the smell was pleasing even if I couldn't tell exactly what it was but not impressed that after a week it is almost finished so doesn't last long enough to justify the high price.

Trying other amazing Soused Soapery bars in the past I was very keen to try the Splendiferous bar which contains some of my favourite essential oils as a fragrance like tea tree and pine. There is something about those particular fragrances that screams cleanness to me I always find the smell a satisfying one and it somewhat reminds me of a Christmas tree. Knowing the natural antibacterial properties of tea tree and pine I also felt assured these were good ingredients for a soap bar and much more natural than some of the ingredients that go into mass produced antibacterial soaps.

I love that these soaps use natural oils like avocado oil, and almond oils as they are great for my sensitive skin and add moisture without irritating my skin. After washing with this bar my skin felt soft, clean and mositurised which is everything you could ask for from a soap. The soap bar itself is large in size much larger than a standard bar of soap so as long as it is kept away from too much moisture between uses it lasts for a long time. I have taken to resting mine on a soap dish on the vanity rather than leaving it in the shower to get wasted.

In reality it actually looks pretty cool in my soap dish anyway and is a soap I happily have on display on my vanity, my 6 year old was very excited that it had a camo look as camoflauge is all the rage for him at the moment so he thought this soap was pretty cool indeed. May of even prompted him to wash his hands without me having to nag him so he could use the cool army soap. He was a bit shocked when I told him it contained beer as an ingredient and was worried so needed my reassurance that children can use soap with beer in it they just can't drink beer. I do so think that is quite a cool feature that they contain alcohol as an ingredient sets the Soused range apart from other soap makers.

There is not much I can really say about this product. I had tried a different product in the range previously, which was unscented, and I found while it worked, I really required a scented one as my job is physical and a do sweat a bit. So I thought I would try Splendiferous and see how well the scented one works.

The product itself is about the size of two generic mass produced bars sitting side by side, and has a lovely marbled look to it. Almost invisible with its camouflage colouring (I jest), the product certainly has a much more natural look. The product came wrapped in some kind of wax paper, with a simple paper label wrapped around it. Minimal packaging, with minimal plastic is always a good thing in my eyes. Quite a large size, it's easy enough to chop the bar in half if necessary to turn it into two smaller bars of soap.

In my previous household, the soap holder in the shower unit was directly under the shower head, and with 6+ people living in the house, that meant the soap was constantly being splashed with water and in a moist environment that never really allowed it to dry out, which led to the soap softening and disappearing very quickly. Now with that I store my soap away from the shower, the one bar of soap looks like it will last an entire month, even though I use the soap directly on the skin (as a hairy man that generally strips the soap down very quickly).

The scent is very much as described. A mix of tea tree and pine, there is a certain "christmas" aroma that is appealing and feels much more natural than other artificial scents you can get from the supermarket.

Twelve dollars for a month of cleanliness and a nice scent that lasts reasonably well into the day? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.