by Julia, added 6/21/10

Brand: Full Moon Candle Co.

Products: Handmade Luxury Soaps

Fragrances: Sexy Man, Patchouli Spearmint

Cost: $6.50

Introduction to my review of soaps from Full Moon Candle Co:

Handmade soaps can be found in some unexpected places. At first it may seem unexpected to see cold process soaps at Full Moon Candle Co. After all, Full Moon Candle Co. specialized in candle pillars, votives and melts. A candle shop is not the first place we look when shopping for luxury soaps. That's why I was so excited to share this big discovery.

I'm no stranger to Full Moon Candles. I've ordered several times from this company and have reviewed some of their candle scents for Candlefind.com as well. As soon as I saw handmade soap available on their website, I jumped at it like a cat to a ball of yarn. I've been enjoying these soaps ever since. It turns out, they've been making cold process soaps long before they ever began candle making. Now that there are six different soap scents listed on their website, I think I can safely let you all in on my secret soap connection. Let's just keep this between us though.

Full Moon Candle Co. has a very straightforward website. They operate a popular retail store in Sequim, Washington and the website is a companion to their retail location. The only bath and body products currently available through their website are the handmade soaps, but there are plenty of other scented lovelies to temp your shopping fingers.

My soaps arrived well packaged, wrapped in white tissue paper. Opening the tissue paper, my eyes were treated to beautiful, whimsical packaging. Each bar of soap is wrapped in patterned paper and labeled. I liked that they were not shrink wrapped. I was able to get a good deep sniff of each bar without having to disturb the pretty packaging. I can't count how many times I've had to destroy packaging in order to get to an actual soap for sniffing, and I always want a quick sniff whenever I get a new box of bath goodies. Full Moon Candle Co. got a big thumbs up right off the bat for presenting beautiful packaging that I could actually sniff through.

The soaps I've used were done in natural color hues. Sexy Man soap was a grayish tan and Patchouli Spearmint was a creamy white color. Both bars felt substantial in my hand... they were generous six ounce bars.

Sexy Man

Here is part of the description from Full Moon Candle Co.

"This bar smells like you've just snuggled up to your favorite sexy man. Women also love using this bar since it's so romantic and earthy. Scented with Oakmoss, Cedar, Musk and Patchouli."

I was already familiar with this scent. It's been a favorite of mine as Full Moon Candles French Kiss candle scent. Because the candle scent was so good, I had high hopes for the soap. Well, my wish came true. Sexy Man scent in a soap was eye-rolling good. It's no surprise that it is their top selling soap scent.

I used this soap myself to get a good feel of the scent and lather but it smelled wonderfully masculine to me so I let my husband use the majority of this bar. Let me tell you, it was the best decision I could have made. My hubby smelled so good after each shower, it caught my attention all the time. I'd smell this familiar, sexy scent in the air and it would take me a moment to remember that the smell was from the Full Moon Sexy Man soap.

To my nose, the cedar and musk came through the strongest followed by patchouli and oakmoss. It wasn't a spicy scent, but more of an alluring musk, that reminded me of the brooding leading men in romance novels. My husband would scoff at that description as a reference to himself, but that's what came to mind with this scent and hey, if only all men smelled this good all the time... what a world it would be.

Here is part of the description from Full Moon Candle Co.

"Aaaahhh... Blending these two scents together makes one outstanding fragrance. Popular with men & women alike. You can smell both essential oils as it lingers on your skin after bathing."

My husband and I both enjoyed using this soap. Patchouli Spearmint had a clean, fresh scent that we both enjoyed. It was not too feminine or masculine... just invigoratingly clean. I smelled the spearmint much more strongly while in the shower. Spearmint is distinctly different from peppermint, and I have to say that I much prefer this spearmint. There is no food or candy smell to it, simply a green, refreshing eye-opener.

So where's the patchouli part of the scent? Oh, it's here. I found it much more clearly in the dry down scent. This soap left a spicy, sexy scent on my skin after the shower that stayed with me for a few hours, long after the spearmint dissipated. The scenting made for an interesting soap experience. I got the best of both worlds. The spearmint gave me a fresh morning wakeup call without smelling minty all day, and the patchouli left me with softly scented skin for hours after my shower.

My experience with both of these soaps was quite good. I kept them on a draining soap dish and the bars lasted a long time. Each bar lathered up easily... rich and creamy. The soaps all rinsed well and left my skin feeling clean, conditioned, and lightly scented.

Here is a list of ingredients from Full Moon Candle Co.'s website for these soaps: "Made with saponified oils including Olive Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Coconut Oil, Soybean Oil, Distilled water and Fragrance." They are all vegetable bars that have no chemicals, detergents or dyes.

What were my results?

After bathing with each of these soaps, my skin felt clean and lightly scented. I found my skin a bit dry after showering... especially my hands. I generally follow up a shower with a moisturizer, so this didn't faze me. I would use an unscented moisturizer, though, because I would want to keep the fabulous soap scents on me as long as possible.

Newer fans of bath and body products may be surprised to find soap available from a candle company, and may even question whether these products can deliver the luxury we look for in bath goodies. With Full Moon Candle Company's experience, having actually begun with soaps and branching out to candle making, you can be assured of a quality handmade soap. The folks at Full Moon Candle Co. take their soap making very seriously and every effort shows in the presentation, scenting, and performance of these soaps. Yes, I really liked these bars. Each one was a treat for the senses.

Happy sudsing.

Julia


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