Soaps around the Globe - Australia

MOR beautiful presentation

Continuing our journey around the globe looking foe exquisites soaps, we must stop in Australia to experience the luxurious products of MOR. Besides the quality of its ingredients and the amazing fragrances, MOR offers amazing packing and beautiful wrapping paper patterns. Inspired by the ancient apothecaries Deon St. Mor and Dianna Burmas opened their first design studio in Melburne in 1998. Furnitures, contemporary lighting, home ware and experimental perfumery and aromatherapy products were their early productions. Today MOR became a brand focused in holistic design products, having launched more than 150 products such as their amazing soaps.

From their line of 19 fragrances and 500 items, I find the Blood Orange triple milled soap very refreshing-floral, with notes of Italian Ruby red blood oranges, infused with notes of jasmine, rose and lilly of the valley, in a vegetal base, nourished with vitamin E, glycerin and Shea butter.

ITALIAN BLOOD ORANGE SOAP BAR

The neroli & clementine body wash is also amazing fresh for summer days. With notes of neroli, clementine, yuzu and candied orange, enriched with tomato, peppermint and honey extracts.

NEROLI & CLEMENTINE BODY WASH

Soaps around the globe - ISRAEL

Gamila Secret - Galelee, Israel

Photo credit: + Q Perfume Blog

Safta Djamila (or grandma Gamila) is a druze lady who was born in Pik'In - Galelee - Israel. Since she was very little she learned the secrets of to pressing olive oil and mixing it with herbs to make beauty products. 40 years experimenting formulas, and many many tons of soap later she became an international brand, selling her products all over the world. I had the pleasure to travel to Pik'In and tour inside her small family factory. Soaps are really hand crafted and of a singular quality. 

Gamila soaps ready to be wrapped and sold

Photo Credit: + Q Perfume Blog

I chose the Rosemary Soap that is really invigorating, very creamy/oily and perfect for my dry skin. You might experience some peeling of the skin, but it is perfectly normal, as explained in the brochure. The peeling effect is part of the process of renewing the skin. The soap is also rich in anti-oxidantes, vitamin B6 and calcium.

Another soap that I bought was the Original bar, which I used right away while I was in Israel. It restored my damaged skin that was suffering from the cold weather (from dryness), from allergies (rash and red spots) and it really made me feel indulged. 
The fragrances are basically from the natural ingredients and the oils used. Very aromatic.

Photo Credit: + Q Perfume Blog

Although I have enjoyed her soaps very much, I think this brand has a policy of hiding from her customers that PIK'IN is in Israel, and that in fact she is Israeli. Druze yes, but an Israeli native. She may not like us, she may think she won't be able to sell to many countries if she reveals her true secret, but she should not forget where she was born. I was told that she got famous due not only to quality, but for the fact that her son works (or has worked) for the one of the Israelis TV channels, therefore it opened many doors for her. (That was told me by competition in the region - Another Druze lady who makes excellent Pomegranate creams and oils).

Although she shows the beauty of OUR land in an advertising video in her website, she does not mention Israel one single time. Yes, Djamila OUR land, the State of Israel.

That said, excuse me for revealing your secret lady. I really loved your soaps, but that got me really pissed. 
I was treated very nice in the factory by local Druze ladies who gave me plenty of information, let me photograph inside the factory, but at that time I did not know that her website did not mention Israel at all.
So darling readers, if you ask me for advise, I will not recommend it for political reasons ONLY.

GAMILA SOAPS - IN HEBREW

 I am not embarrassed or afraid that I am Brazilian and ISRAELI!




To be continued...stick around with your passport because we will be traveling to another country pretty soon...

FRAGRANT COOLNESS

Before we continue our trip around the globe looking for soaps, let'a make a quick stop to check some cool projects involving design and fragrances - just for my own pleasure and fun...

Some/things magazine chapter005 brings Rick Owens scented cashmere and a Paul Harden DVD. Each copy of the magazine comes wrapped in 1 of 5 cashmeres by Rick Owens, and scented with a yet to be released Perfume.

"THE MAGAZINE, WHICH IS PACKAGED IN A GORGEOUS EMBOSSED GRAPHITE-COLOUR BOX, FEATURES A FIRST-EVER INTERVIEW WITH PAUL HARNDEN & ALSO INCLUDES A LIMITED EDITION DVD OF HIS NEW SUPER-8 SHORT FILM MADE WITH STUART PITKIN & CO-PRODUCED WITH SONG BOUTIQUE IN VIENNA & SOME/THINGS AGENCY. "

Also cozy, not wrapped in cashmere but in fact coated with copper is KEROSENE'S newest launch COPPER SKIES EDP, sold now in New York at MIN - congrats!!! The fragrance has notes of amber, cedar, sweet tobacco leafs, honeycomb, basil and cloves. It is smooth, warm, slightly smokey and earthy - just the way he likes it. The new bottle has the same original shape, but now coated in copper car paint.

COPPER SKIES EDP BY KEROSENE

If you enjoy motorcycles, skulls and cool designs you will definitely love the joint project of mastermind JAPAN and Japanese DEICA ROOM SPRAYS.

The 480ml room spray comes with a MMJ cross Vaughn skull logo to poison your mind!!

Soaps around the globe - Sweden

PETRA LILJA & JENNY NORDBERG

Continuing our journey to find exquisite soaps around the globe, I had to stop at Malmö, Sweden to bring you the weirdest thing I ever heard. I know that being eco friendly and worrying about the nature and recycling things is the trend of this century, but sometimes it just go off limits. Petra Lilja and Jenny Nordberg, two ladies that own a place called Apocalypse Lab, found time to travel around Malmö by bike, collecting used oil from Swedish restaurants to produce recycled soaps. The soap, aka Falafeltvålen, which made me wonder what does a old oil triangle shaped soap has to do with falafel.... the response came in many websites in Swedish.if I understood well, the leftover cooking oil from Malmö is loaded of cumin and garlic and it seems to smell like falafel. 

When asked about the disgusting smell, Jenny remarks are pretty bright "soap was originally made of pig's lard, which is also disgusting".

Also seems that now they got famous because of this project and they are now called "the soap girls". According to the brand, a bio chemist was consulted and now the soap has a original smell of saponification, with no fragrance or color added.

I would not use it probably, but it got me curious. The project has been traveling the globe and fortunately it will one day show up in Brazil. Till then...I will wear more fragrant stuff!

Obs.: They have sold already 3000 soaps, mostly to museums and eco& design shops




To be continued....

Soaps around the globe - JAPAN

Taking a month to travel and relax is something that I am fortunate to be able to do once a year. Traveling to places that I have never been before, exploring its aromas and scents is a very enriching experience. The only problem is returning from such a long vacation. Piles of laundry to make, 1000s of bills to pay, not to mention that going back to work is a nightmare. It takes at least 2 months to clean the desk. The worst part is that my blog always have to be placed on the side, and readers must wait till I can really find time to sit and write about perfumes.

This year I will start with a post about soaps. Soaps are one of my favorite fragrant objects of pleasure. You can browse my blog and find some interesting articles about them :-).
I decided to write about some interesting findings. Some I got acquainted recently, some I have check many years ago.
Our journey starts in Japan.

TAMANOHADA SOAPS

Established in 1892, TAMANOHADA is a Japanese soap brand offering exclusive luxurious soaps that made me want to take the next flight to Japan! They are quite expensive, but in that country they are considered to be a gift to be given either to a special person or real special occasion.

JAPANESE DESIGN - THE COOLEST DISPLAY

The brand has developed original blend of aromatic blends, giving meticulously attention to small details. For example, the round soap has a sphere shape, slightly flattened in one side, giving the soap stability to rest perfectly centered over the counter (sink). As you roll the soap with your hands, it provides comfort and healing, while filling the entire bathroom with the amazing fragrances they have developed. Brand offers the round soaps in lavender, orange, rose, gardenia, fig and musk scents that can be bought in a 03 or 06 soaps gift set/pack.

WELCOME RED FISH SOAP PACKING

They also have one of the coolest soaps I have ever seen. The fish shaped soap is called WELCOME SOAP and it is inspired by the TAI fish, or Red Sea bream, which is associated with good fortune. With that in mind, TAMANOHADA developed these gorgeous red, black or white translucent soaps to be offered to visitors or to beloved ones as a welcoming gift.

WELCOME FISH SOAPS

Scents offered are: pomegranate (red), brown sugar (black) and lilies (white).
The packing is simply outstanding!!!
With a heritage of more than 110 years, TAMANOHADA is foamy, retaining a lot of humidity and made of vegetable raw materials.
And the reason why I love this brand specially it is simply because not only they are cool, they are also involved with one of my favorite things in the world: design.
Once they were a part of an exhibition in Milan, I think in 2008. They brought tons of soaps from Japan, that were really beautiful sculptures.
Check for the photos by Julie Gordon:

To be continued...

I am back from my holidays!

Jerusalem

From the Holy paths of Jerusalem...

I came back full of energy and fragrant wishes for 2012...

Some where placed inside the Holy Wall...