Debbie's Handmade Soap review - perfect stocking stuffer idea.

  Debbie's Handmade Soap

My mother has been trying to sell me on handmade soap for a while now. Every year for either a birthday or Christmas, she would usually stick a bar or two in with whatever gift she got. At first they just stayed in their boxes or I had them in drawers. I would smell them every once in a while but it wasn't until recently that I really started getting into using them myself. I've started buying them from local boutiques or online through Etsy. 

While looking around I found an online shop for Debbie's Handmade Soaps. She had such a variety of different scents but as soon as I saw that she offered Lilac, I knew I just had to try them out. Debbie makes her soaps in small 40 bar batches so she can keep the quality high. The ingredients found in her soaps are olive, palm and coconut oil, water and lye. There is no easy melt and pour method here, everything is made from scratch, hand cut and hand wrapped.

For my review I received Lilac, Love Spell, Gardenia and Honey Almond Oatmeal. First off I want to say that after buying from several different shops now, Debbie offers a good sized bar (approx. 4.5 ounces) for a fantastic price at $3.00 a bar! Anyone who's into homemade soap knows this is a great deal. The only soaps that she adds coloring to are the ones with a reddish or pink hue to them. The rest is all natural. My favorite (even with the lilac included) is the Love Spell scent. I have no idea what fragrances she put in this particular bar but it is heavenly. I smell a feminine floral scent but not one you would imagine in your grandmother's stash. It is refreshing, youthful and energizing. I just love it! I may just have to put an order in for several more of these bars!

My second favorite was the lilac scent. Honestly, anything lilac is very high on my list but the only reason this got second place in the bars I was given is because although there is definitely a hint of my favorite flower in there, it is similar to the lilac products in major stores where it doesn't quite smell authentic. It's what I like to call .. Lilac inspired. Either way, it makes for a fantastic soap and it feels lovely on the face. It gives you that moisturized and tightened feeling. Very clean and non filmy. I highly recommend these soaps simply for the way they make you feel and you really get a good bang for the buck. You can get ten 4.5 oz bars of soap shipped to your door for $35.00. Unless you catch some major sale, you are not going to get a deal like that anywhere else.

Debbie adds oatmeal or cornmeal for exfoliation. Above is the honey, almond oatmeal scent. You can see the oatmeal mixed in. This has a very interesting smell. I can pick up on the honey and almond but there is also a very strong musky/soap scent. I can't quite put my finger on it. It's not bad, quite calming actually and the soap feels amazing when in use. The oatmeal is very refreshing, especially to tired feet.

The last one, pictured above, is the gardenia. This one was the furthest from the true scent for me. Even though it was still quite pleasant, the smell was very close to your typical department store soaps and had quite a kick of a powdery aroma. I crocheted some soap savers to put the soap in to keep them from being used up too quickly. I strongly suggest you do the same.. or if you don't crochet, grab some off Etsy.

You can find Debbie and her soaps on Facebook and are encouraged to leave comments. So far Debbie's handmade soaps are being sold at retail stores in Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio and Iowa. Here is a list of all the addresses in these locations. Meanwhile if you live to far away, you can purchase them right online at her store. What scent would you try?

I received this product for the purpose of an honest review. The opinions in this post are 100% my own and may differ from yours.