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| handmade, soul nourishing skincare with a chef's touch |
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| courtesy willow & honey |
"From my heART to your shower" is on the home page of this bath and body artisan's website. Like many other handmade soap creators you find on Etsy and in local farmer's markets and craft bazaars, the founder of Willow & Honey developed her talent for creating bath and body products through her passion for artistic creation in other forms. For this young lady, it was food. She is a trained chef and when her son developed eczema at 18 months, she started working to develop something to soothe his irritation from commercial soaps and lotions (their children being another big reason people begin making handmade skincare items).
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| Water Lily Bubble Bars courtesy willow & honey |
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Corey, Willow & Honey's creator, incorporates food items in her bath and body products to boast the nutrient content and healing properties of her products.
Whenever possible, all of Willow & Honey's products are made with non-gmo/organic oils and butters and are lightly scented with skin safe fragrance/essential oils.
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| Morning Glory Soap courtesy willow & honey |
I was drawn to sample this product line because of the whimsical nature of the products. I really like that she incorporates food and other natural ingredients to the fullest extent. And how cute is a soap with little eggs on the top? Her handcrafted items look as sweet as they smell. I also applaud the awesome contrast of her simple black and white packaging. It does not overshadow the quaint fanciful nature of the products, yet works well when coupled with her colorfully designed bath treats.
PRODUCT REVIEW
I ordered the mermaid hugs soap bar and orange blossom lip butter. My packaged arrived from the west coast (I am on the east coast) approximately 5 business days from the date of my order, which is very reasonable. The order process was a bit more difficult that I would have liked. The website is as cute as a button, however when you click on a product, the "add to cart" button is not visible until you mouse over it at the bottom of the description. Once you get that figured out, the rest is smooth sailing. To top it off I received samples of "Midnight Coal" and "Zen" soap with my order. As a product junkie I love, and as a business person I absolutely encourage, the sending of samples with orders. I know that more than 50% of my own personal repeat business with a company is due to receiving a sample of something that I really like and most times it is something I might not have picked just from the description.
I took these picture of the products I received before having good lighting. I just don't understand how the lights in my house seem fine enough to live by, but try to take a picture, even with a high quality camera and comes out crappy. For this I apologize.
I absolutely adore the look of the mermaid hugs soap. The vibrant blue/green of the soap is like looking into the ocean and the gold on top is a great complimentary color. The colors washed away clean and though the lather was slightly colored by the soap, it didn't stain my white wash cloth.
This cold process soap bar was 4.5 ounces and extremely firm. The fragrance was delightful, a blend of "fresh rain, lily of the valley, green botanicals and ocean mist". It really smelled like fresh ocean air - extremely refreshing. The fragrance was great in the shower but does not linger very long on the skin. The lather was excellent, with abundant, large bubbles that left my skin feeling clean and not stripped. Priced at $8.00, it is a little more that I would usually pay for this size bar. It is indeed a high quality, great bar of soap, lasting a little longer that the average 6 showers I get from this size bar (I am a lengthy showerer, lol). The extra bath or 2 is a means for justifying the cost and would not deter me from re-ordering.
The orange blossom lip butter has to be one of the cutest lip balms I have ever seen. That heart in the middle is just so sweet! Colored with lip safe colorants, it does not color your lips at all. At $6.00, this was worth every penny! The butter is easy to apply, goes on easily and doesn't leave a sticky residue. For the winter, I would like a lip butter that is a little heavier, but for the spring and summer this is great! Though I am not a fan of tubs of lip balm/butter than I have to stick my hands in - with a lip brush, this stuff is amazing! Even though the description says it is flavored with orange essential oil, because of the name orange blossom, I was imagining more of a neroli essence. It is definitely orange but not at all disappointing!
More Willow & Honey? Find them here:
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profiles are compiled based on my personal experiences and research;
and unless otherwise noted, do not express the views, opinions or
positions of the owners, employees or representatives of this company.
I do my best to thoroughly research all information prior to
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This Monday, I finally had the heart to use one of my gorgeous soaps from Sunlit Soap. Jan, the owner, is a true artisan when it comes to the soap treasures she creates. Not too far from me in Warrenton, Virginia, she has refused a video interview with me for my blog, but I'm not done trying....
Prior to using the soap, I exfoliated with Willow & Honey's Mermaid Hugs whipped soap sugar scrub. I previously reviewed their Mermaid Hugs soap and I absolutely love this marine scent. The consistency of this whipped sugar soap scrub is best equated with that of sand that is perfectly mixed with the right balance of water to build a sand castle. When you scoop up a bit, you can actually mold it with your hands. The scent is slightly different than that of the bar soap, which is contributed to it being a different product. Not as salty a marine scent, but still nice. This scrub provides light exfoliation and rinses clean. This product has a high content of propylene glycol and I found my skin to be a little itchy after use, due to my sensitivity to this ingredient. But following it with the Sunlit Beach soap and a cream moisturizer alleviated the itch for me.
