International Soap Swap with Japanese Soaper Yoko

Aus gegebenen Anlaß heute mal auf Englisch:-)

Like most other soapers, I'm always curious to find out which local ingredients others use for their soaps.

Mika from Savonnerie Mika organized a soap swap with Japanese soapers. She was our contact, selected our swap partner because I'm sure otherwise there would have been language problems.

Yesterday I received my soaps from a soaper called Yoko. She sent me three of her soaps: Lavender, Shikon and Chamomille.

My first impression was that all the Japanese I know are so gifted and creative when it comes to packaging. It might be a sterotype but I don't know any other country in the world where so much emphasis is put upon the outward presentation of a gift! I found Yoko's packaging to be very original because she used natural and also recycled material - such as Starbucks wrapping paper!

The smell when opening the package was simply devine - I will have to find out which exact combinations of EOs she used!

Lavender Soap: The classic amongst soaps! Yoko used Lavender infused Olive Oil for hers, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil & Mangobutter and in addition milk, goat's milk powder and honey.  Sounds heavenly! From what I understand when reading the ingredients list, the soap is unscented although you wouldn't think because it has a slight milky smell with a hint of lavender.

(Picture top row in the middle & bottom row middle)

Chamomille Soap: The smell of this soap is so unusual - very warm and comforting - sorry, I don't know how to describe it better...Here she used Chamomille infused Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil & Hazelnut Oil. Also, St. John's Wort, Linden and Calendula herbs, honey, Benzoin & Chamomille EO.

(Picture: Middle & bottom row on the left)

Shikon Soap: Shikon is Gromwell Root - which I have to admit, I've never heard about in either Japanese, English or German - but my internet research found out that shikon is used in skincare for its antioxidant properties. The Shikon soap also contains Olive Oil (infused with a number of herbs which are totally unknown to me) , Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, refined Sesame Oil, Almond Oil, as well as Yoghurt, Maple sirup, Azuki Powder, soap confetti. It's scented with a mixure of the following EOs: Clary Sage, Myrtle, Ylang Ylang, Sandalwood & Marjoram.

This is definitely a mixture I have to play around with myself! It's to die for! Unfortunately, I'm  neither very good nor very experienced with mixing EOs, so I'll probably have to experiment a bit to blend those scents well...
From what I understand, the design of the soap is called "Japanese Kimono" style - I have seen it on Ayu site (Tokyo Soap Factory) and always wanted to try it...

(Pictures: Middle row, middle & right)

In addition, I got a lovely letter which I'm still reading through because for me reading hand written Japanese is much harder than computer printed...

Thank you, Yoko-san, for the lovely soaps!!!