Inside the bubble with gourmet soaps

IN STORE

Here’s an idea: Handmade soaps aren’t just good gifting options, they’re a complete treat for your mind, body and soul. Just invest in a large glass jar and start topping it with handmade soaps from different brands in different colours. See what will suit your skin type best and get ready to indulge in what many addicts call “gourmet soaps.”

Lush living

Lush has truly delectable products. It’s been only a couple of days but I’m already addicted to my Sultana of Soap. A heady offering by Lush, one of the premium brands in the handmade soaps category, this one is a gorgeous blend of dried apricots, currants, orange juice extracts, cranberries and what have you. At Select Citywalk, New Delhi, from where I purchased this yummy soap cake, it’s remarkable to see salespersons adeptly cut huge five Kg bars almost like cake slices to put them on the shelves.

The variety offered is mindboggling: Porridge soap with molasses, Miranda with fresh kiwi fruit, those with figs, olive oil, chocolate, jasmine, orange, lemon… A quick trip to a Lush store (in Delhi and Bangalore) will give you an idea of all the heady concoctions that are possible to rejuvenate you completely. Price: Sultana of Soap costs Rs 270 for 100 g.

Divine scent

L’occitane is everything! This may look like a pretty block but it’s the scent that’s divine. At a recent hunt to a neighbourhood mall where the L’occitane’s store sits pretty, I nearly picked up this wonderfully scented soap. Handmade to perfection, it is infused with lavender essential oils which delicately perfume and soothe the skin.

What’s more, the lavender seeds gently exfoliate the skin. No, the soap doesn’t melt away to gradually turn into a rock (that’s what happened when I used Fab India’s exfoliating almond and walnut soap) but has an extra-gentle formula that makes it suitable for all skin types. Price: Rs 686.

Edible ingredients

Forest Essentials, can be essential to your daily care regimen too. I remember being gifted foot soaks and massage oils from this brand last year. Soon after using the products (good is an understatement), I rushed to a company store to pick up more things to pamper myself with.

One of the first things that I picked up was a coconut and jasmine soap formulated with 100 per cent natural kokum butter. All the soaps here are handmade with pure, cold-pressed oils of coconut, almond and wheat germ along with vitamin E, fresh fruit and vegetable extracts, naturally distilled oils and natural spring water.

While the “butter” and “sugar” soaps are affordably priced at Rs 195, it’s the brand’s “luxury” soaps in lavender, chocolate, almond and honey flavours that are a lot more expensive. Made from edible ingredients like goat’s milk, almond butter, fresh orange juice, dark chocolate and raw honey, these soaps, despite their steep prices, are invariably out of stock. Price: Rs 750 for luxury soaps.