Reviews, Chews & How-Tos: Review & Giveaway

I've mentioned in my previous reviews on soap products that I have a mild case of determined psoriasis, which means I am very careful about what I use on my skin for fear of agitating the underlying beast.

At the same time, I like a good smelling soap with a good lather and a smooth after-shower feel. These are the four main proponents I judge soaps by:

A pleasing scent, added bonus for unique scent combinations. One of my favorites is a mix of patchouli and vanilla, or vanilla and orange.
A good lather so I at least feel like I am getting clean. This pretty much negates any and all glycerin based soaps, which never lather for me.
My skin feels smooth after the shower and not sticky or rough.
Healthy and natural ingredients without skin irritants

If you can match the above requirements, chances are you have a damn fine soap. I am not even worried about the coloring or shape of the soaps, so long as I am getting my money's worth.

I am pleased to say that, for the most part, MudPie Soaps meets these requirements.

And they don't just stop at soaps. I was given the opportunity to try their soaps and some of their body butters. Who doesn't like a good body butter?

The items they sent over to me were:

Blueberry Soap
Patchouli & Lavender Soap
Eucalyptus and Chamomile Soap
Blueberry Body Butter
Lavender & Chamomile Body Butter

My package arrived in a plain brown box within about a week of my order placement. As soon as I opened the box I got a potent waft of blueberry ambrosia and knew I was in for a scented treat, if nothing else.

I decided to try out the Blueberry Body Butter right away on my hands.

Being a computer programmer and farmer means I am constantly using my hands, and sometimes am very hard on them. I dislike the feeling of cracked, chapped, or dry hands, especially while trying to knock out some hefty website code.

So keeping a small container of blueberry scent in a bottle is a great bonus for me.

Of course, if you do this at work, like I did, your co-workers are going to ask who is eating blueberries, and where can they get some. I did share once, and the whole office smelled like blueberries, added bonus.

The body butters go on thick, so you don't need a whole lot. Because it has shea butter, you can easily overdue the amount you rub into your skin, but at least it will last a long time. Your skin feels moisturized for a good long while, and the scent stays with you so you don't have to reapply often.

I was very pleased with these creams and they were the perfect size to keep in my purse-where-all-things-get-lost.

I was unsure about the blue color and whether it would leave colored residue, but as you can see it blended in nicely.

I saved the Lavender & Chamomile Body Butter for next to my bed before I go to sleep because both scents help promote a restful sleep.

What I noticed immediately about the soaps was the beautiful color combinations used to create these delicious bars. They use tints and glitters to create creamy colorful waves of design into each batch, and my blueberry bar was topped with glitter!

Mud-Pie Soaps are made of olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, castor oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter as a base, and then the scents and extra oils are adjusted accordingly to create the various types.

The first soap I decided to try was the Blueberry soap. I couldn't help myself, that's how good this stuff smelled. I was very pleasantly satisfied.

The scent was amazing, the lather was great, the after-shower smoothness was spot on.

The patchouli soap also had an amazing scent and lather, but unfortunately my skin felt sticky/rough afterwards, so it was not my favorite of the bunch. Which sucks because patchouli is one of my favorite scents of all time.

The eucalyptus soap was an aromatic herbal scent that opens up my airways when I shower and leaves me feeling refreshed.

Overall I am very happy with my package from Mud-Pie Soaps. It was a fun and pleasing package of aromatherapeutic goodness that made me smell great, lifted my spirit through scent, and made me feel clean and delicious. Highly recommended! Body Butters cost $4.50 each, and soaps are between $5.00 and $5.50. Because these are small batch artisan soaps, the available scents change often, so check in frequently.

Mud-Pie Soaps Etsy Shop
Mud-Pie Soaps on Facebook

To share the gloriousness of these fine delectable soaps, Mud-Pie Soaps is offering a giveaway of 3 of their favorite soaps to one lucky United States winner. What varieties the winner gets will be a mystery, but that's part of the fun! This giveaway will end just before midnight ET on November 3, 2014, and is valued at approximately $16.00.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment in this entry as instructed by the Rafflecopter, then leave the name you commented under and your email in the box in the Rafflecopter entry. (This lets us contact you if you win!) This will open up additional optional entries to increase your odds of winning.

Good luck, everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway