I ordered eight different scents of Pacifica's soap. Only the French Lillac comes as a white, creamy bar with studs of dried flowers and herbs, While the others are an amber, translucent tone studded with dried herbs,flowers,and fruit peels.
In their "dry" state, out of the shower, the California Star Jasmine smelled like synthetic jasmine. But once in the bath, it transformed into a clean, gorgeous, fresh jasmine scent.
If you're a "discreet scent" type, these soaps will not linger as a strong, overwhelming smell after you're out of the shower and about your day. But it breaks the monotony of the work week.
I encountered ample suds. Most all-natural products don't sud as much as drugstore Dove or Yardley. It's a very high quality, all natural vegan product for a decent price. L'occitane soap bars of the same size are $10 a pop! Sabon soaps aren't that great. Soaps sold through Anthropologie for the same size and price range dry out after a few weeks and look like sheets of paper soap. I also love Biggs and Featherbelle, which is a small, all-natural, soap company (with sisters and their families helping).
The best soap I've had is from La Pasioneria, an Argentinian highly perfumed, highly creamy, high en yod soap company out of Mendoza. But they don't export to the US.
And that's all I have used for the past 10-years--soaps picked up from travels by the luggage full.
So comparing Pacifica soaps to other soaps I've tried in the past 10-years in the same "gifting soap/occasional treat soap" category, rather than generic Dove/Ivory, from a value for money angle, I recommend this as part of a gift or a mini-treat for yourself.
For a long time, I was turned off by Pacifica's glycerine looking, translucent blocks. I wanted a change and a good review here of the Spanish Amber soap piqued my curiosity.
Now I'm converted!
If you buy directly from them, their customer service is small scale, really nice, and very helpful.
The level of complex scents and quality oils and natural dried herbs/spices would cost alot more.
I've been cutting up different scented bars into mini-hotel bar sizes--the bars are super easy to slice because they're vegetable glycerine based.
I assume I can get more than a month's use out of the giant bar of soap as well.
Here is the run down:
Waikiki Pikake (hawaiian jasmine): blend of hawaiian jasmine with sandalwood. (sweet but not cloying because of balancing in of sandalwood, smells like pikake indeed but not artificial) This is more like taking a shower in hawaiian flower farm in one of those backyard showers outdoors
California Star jasmine: california star jasmine and "driftwood notes." This smelled more green and less natural than pikake in dry form but opened up to a good "non-synthetic" jasmine smell in hot water
french lilac: french lilac, heliotrope, and nectarine. It smells like the lilac bushes at full bloom during springtime at the Lilac garden at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. No artificial, synthetic smell.
Tahitian gardenia: tahitian gardenia, jasmine, orange flower, ylang ylang. It smells like gardenias and just lush green--like what the color green would smell like if it had a scent..and sweetness. In the shower, the gardenia opens up once you start soaping.
sandalwood: woodsy scents with top notes of tangerine and sweet orange. I definitely smell just the citrus scents from the bar without immersing it in water. Since the soaps and lotions all have complex top notes, heart notes and dry downs like with perfumes--I assume the sandalwood will open up in the shower when the soap is wet
Tibetan temple: vetiver root, patchouli, ginger, orange rinds. (i also smelled cardamom in there. It smells like chai tea or the spices in an indian kulfi/ice cream mixed with a musky incense note like vetiver)
Persian rose: smelled like citronella. As with the lotion, the rose scent opens up once you introduce soap to warm water.
spanish amber: labdanum, sandalwood, geranium, elemi (smells real warm,velvety, musky and leathery..like a man's after shave) the musky scent really opens up in the bath..really good for winter day.
Like everything else Pacifica makes, the scent of the product is hard to beat. That said, if you like a really "soapy" experience when you're lathering up, this soap isn't for you. The lather it produces is almost non-existent. Now, that make actually have next-to-nothing with how clean it actually gets you and some might argue that soapy soaps are stripping your skin of essential oils, but for me it wasn't enough.
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It's always a little bit of a challenge finding scented soap that my boyfriend and I will both use... he likes Irish Spring while I usually go with some fruity natural body wash. Now, I'm a little biased because I generally like anything with sandalwood in it, but I think this soap is great. He likes it just as much as I do and I'd rather wake up to a natural-earthy smell over a sweet-fruity one any day of the week. It's not a heavy or overpowering scent once you get out of the shower, so if you're looking for a strong and long-lasting scent try the spray or solid perfume (haven't tried the lotion yet).
The only downside I could find is the big block shape I usually cut it into 4-5 smaller slices because I find it easier to use that way. I also lather it in my wet hands and don't have any trouble doing so; while I agree that it doesn't create a thick lather, I think that's pretty typical as most of the "natural" bar soaps I've tried don't create anywhere near the lather of soaps like Dove, Irish Spring, etc.
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I loved this soap. It smelled great and I even used it as a lather to shave my legs. It worked even better than my shaving cream. That might not work for every one, but I really like this soap! It did have some little chunks that I didn't expect, but that didn't bother me too much.
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The soap itself is great. It is very sudsy and keeps the skin nice and smooth. It smells very pretty, but the fig scent is not dominating and the scent doesn't really linger after you bathe either. I was looking for a stronger fig scent and a scent that would last a little while. Definitely not worth 4.50 + 5 dollar shipping. If I am going to pay 9.50 for fig soap, I expect to smell like a fig tree. I've used better fig soaps in the past.
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My co-worker in the desert where we both work and live and must deal with hard water, shared a bar of peppermint soap with me and it was quite an experience. It comes in a variety of fragrances and I have purchased them all. They are all natural and excellent for all kind types and it is very refreshing and your skin feels so good and clean. You must purchase an oversize soap dish if you plan to travel with as it is square in size.
