Soaperstar and The Buzzzzz

When I first found Soaperstar, I found the website and it was full of bright, cheerful glycerin soaps. I think glycerin soaps can be so pretty and a true art in so many cases, but generally, here, at The Soap Bar, I focus on the hand crafted "from scratch" soap so I never pursued obtaining a bar for review.

Celine recently moved her craft to making cold process soap and created some interesting bars that piqued my interest. So....

I got a bar of Butterbee Silk. Unscented straight looking bar. When I opened the bar I smelled it and I was surprised by the scent. It smelled like something I knew well, but what was it? It did not smell like any soap I had ever smelled before.... I looked at the ingredients to see if there was something unusual in there: Sweet almond oil, organic palm, coconut oil, cocoa butter, castor oil, pure silk, pure buttermilk, and turkish honey - unfragranced.

I smelled and smelled until it hit me ---- a light hint of curry! Curry?? I emailed Celine right away. She said she didn't smell that.... she smelled caramelized honey, so I popped in the shower and got the soap wet and showered with it, and sure enough, the curry faded away and it started smelling more like a faint caramelized honey sugar. Thank goodness because a curry soap review would have been really hard to do. I LIKE Celine!

As far as the soap's performance: lovely bar. It is cut for smaller hands. Sadly, I did not weigh it or measure it, but I'd guess it's under 4 ounces, the bar lathered well, moisturized wonderfully and worked well for shaving. I think cocoa butter and honey are a nice combination, although I wonder if the buttermilk was the challenging factor in causing the curry smell before the bar got wet. Once wet, however, Butterbee no longer smells like Masala Saag in any way. ;)

The soap lasts a nice long time, especially being a small bar, it needs to stick around, and it does. I'd love to try the Cream Bee next. I've never tried a vegetable puree soap, with fresh Irish dairy cream... sounds dreamy.

Celine, you are definitely on the right track! I think you are a sweet and lovely person and I wish Soaperstar the absolute best.

Follow her blog to keep up with what Celine is up to :) She just posted a new soap: Fresh Orange soap with Tussah silk, shea butter and cocoa butter. Here's a mini pic to drool over: