In the washing of the water

[cyrano]

Quick review on the various Arcana soaps that I have had the pleasure of trying so far. This is pretty much all about the smells. In general, I find that soap is soap when it comes to the actual cleaning of my body. Those around me may disagree but have not mentioned it to me.

Luna de Lobo: (No longer available) A nice deep dark scent, nonspecific and... soft. I was kind of hoping for some pine though.

Ginger Dragon: Sharp and gingery, and I liked the coconut. However, I think this one made me break out. ):

Shambhala: So far, my favorite. I have determined that I will have to buy one to sit on my window sill while I was with the other. I like the earthy red clay and the sandalwood.

Dia de los Muertos: Showed promise, but was disappointing in the end. I smelled very few of the elements, and just hints of those.

Spitfire: Currently in use, and I'm hoping it improves over time because it's reminding me a lot of DdlM so far. The description in the catalogue is very passionate and I'm enjoying the occasional hint of cinnamon.

In general, it seems that perhaps I need to just light some incense or something before I shower, because I want much stronger smells from soaps that I buy to smell good.

Comments

[technocowboy.livejournal.com]

I love hearing new soap reviews. We have three favorite vendors for soap right. One is Midnight Muse. Great big huge bars that last for a good long time, in WONDERFUL scents. We love their Dragon's Blood the most, but all of them smell amazing. We're also loving the Gilt. Great scent combinations, fantastic store on Telegraph in Berkeley, and they have a shampoo *bar* that's so much nicer to travel with than liquid. The third is a place we only see once a year at Pagan Pride in Berkeley and unfortunately, they don't have a site. Their soaps are all named after goddesses. We just finished using Quan Yin and are now on Pele. We have Aphrodite after that.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

If it didn't feel like such an expensive hobby, I'd be more likely to indulge. (: Ellie is on a first name basis with the folks at Arcana, and they're in Portland, so that was why I was starting with them.
I keep wanting to try some of the perfumes at BPAL because I like their style, and they have smells, but I'm just hesitant to make the financial commitment.

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

Heh. I was about to suggest BPAL, but figured you'd be shy due to the finance/soul-sucking aspect of it. I've been lucky and gotten to sniff most of their offerings (or whatever names grabbed my eye, anyway) at Convergence 2 years running now, so I've not gotten sucked into imp world. I don't do well with the majority of scents anyway, so it's for the best. I really like their Fallen scent, and I thought I liked Moon Rose enough to buy a little bottle, but after actually wearing it alone for a couple of days (instead of mixed up near other samples on my wrist in a hotel with atypical soap), I don't much want it. That's pretty much all I've found, though, and I must have sniffed at least 50 back in April. Then again, a lot of scents change on a body, and that makes it harder to judge, but I just don't have the energy to bother if I hate it in the bottle.

[esmerel.livejournal.com]

melanie makes -lovely- stuff. It's her full time business now. Her soap website is http://althaea.biz/. One of her soaps is pretty much all I'm ever planning on getting for Merlin ever again - it's Mister X Angry face soap, which she designed for her husband who has excema issues. It's great great stuff.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

So what's their smelly content like? (:

[esmerel.livejournal.com]

Like 'how stinky are they?'

I found them to be quite pleasantly scented, and not at all overpowering. She's very particular about her scents. Merlin doesn't like really smelly soaps, and he was happy with what I got him. Also, she does a version of the 'angry soap' with no scent called Just Soap, if you're going for something plain.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm pretty much looking for the exact opposite. (: Most of my disappointment with Arcana so far is that the scents are too subtle.