Vegan Soap Kitchen

Apple Spice Vegan Lip Balm

admin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Calling all Vegans! You’re in for a treat. This Apple Spice Lip Balm I’ve got has a mouthwatering flavour that’s good enough to eat, which might happen as your tongue seeks a trace of that delectable apple spice scent. The first thing you notice as you pop open the cap is its deliciously sweet aroma, which is created out of a mixture of red delicious apples and cinnamon for supreme flavour. If spiced apples don't have an appeal, there are more tantalizing flavours to choose from, including iced pineapple, chai tea, asian pear, and mango peach fusion. Yum!

The second thing you notice, as you smooth the balm over your lips, is how soft and cushion-y they’ll soon feel. The ingredients are all from natural sources: jujoba oil, sweet almond oil, candelilla wax, cocoa butter, coconut oil, shea butter, natural flavor oil, and natural stevia. The Apple Spice Lip Balm is addictive; you can’t help but inhale its wonderful aroma, and unlike pure petroleum jelly, there’s no need for frequent application. The balm lasts a reasonably long time, and you won’t get that shiny look. It’s plain, simple, and effective.

This product is brought to you by the Vegan Soap Kitchen, which has an online store on Etsy, a community of independent creators who sell handmade goods. The Vegan Soap Kitchen also sells other great items, like soaps made from vegetable milk. Glancing at the images of her products, you may mistake them for food, and if they look that scrumptious, surely they must be healthy and good for your skin!

Vegan Soap Kitchen is a great place to shop if you’re not a carnivore—and even if you are!— because owner Deborah Dana creates the stock in her own non-smoking soap kitchen where no kind of animal product is used. The Apple Spice Lip Balm ships from the United States and costs $2.50. Is it worth it? Yes!

Written by: Payal Patel, December 12th 2009

Rhubarb N Blueberry Spice Soap

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:58:00 +0000

By Vegan Soap Kitchen

I am a soap snob, but not without good reason. I don't want to imbibe chemicals into my skin, and just about everything with scent tends to make my skin dry out or cause an allergic reaction. For these reasons, I usually order olive oil soap from my favorite woman-owned business online, but using Rhubarb N Blueberry Spice Soap from Vegan Soap Kitchen definitely made me want to try more of their goodies.

Owner Deborah Dana has all kinds of cruelty-free skin care products (did I mention my partner and I buy only vegan personal care products?) on her Etsy site, some of which sound good enough to munch. Pink Grapefruit and Pineapple Cilantro soaps and Chai Tea lip balm are just some of her offerings. Unlike some specialty shops, they're reasonably priced.

My soap arrived in environmentally-friendly packaging (the smallest amount of stiff paper wrapping) and a cute, lime green gingham ribbon. She had me at gingham, and the package also listed all of the non-toxic ingredients. I could pronounce all of them!

The soap itself left behind a nice and not overpowering scent when I bathed with it. Think more musky than fruity, with the rhubarb adding a bittersweet scent. My partner is very finicky about our care products—he won't use them if they smell too “girly”—and he didn't complain.

The blueberry seeds offer a mild exfoliant that's not too harsh, although they did tend to get all over the place when the bar neared its end. Still, this was a delicious product, and I'm definitely going to shop for more goodies at Vegan Soap Kitchen.

Written by: M.L. Madison, November 4th 2009

Spearmint Soap

admin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:27:00 +0000

By Vegan Soap Kitchen

Who doesn’t love soap? Besides a Chilean pal I had in college who insisted “Americans bathe too often,” I’ve never known anyone who took issue with washing. I have a complicated relationship with bathing, though. It takes me a while to deal with my hair once washed, and for this reason, I’ve been experimenting with less frequent showering this past year.

Some people think this is a ‘green’ habit. For me, it’s mostly about convenience and comfort. I grew up loving baths, and my current apartment features only an awkward shower with two levels. One might argue the steepest part of the stall is a step, but how one would properly use it is beyond me. Unless I’m showering with my partner or trying to relax sore shoulder muscles, I’m usually annoyed by my strangely shaped bathroom and try to be in and out as quickly as possible.

Adopting a vegan diet is one thing, but a vegan lifestyle is quite another. When I began to make the switch, I had to start rethinking warm clothing, for example. No more wool, and finding cruelty-free waterproof boots has been a challenge. I also switched to olive oil soap, which I can purchase in large blocks locally for roughly the equivalent of $4 USD. Since I live in Scandinavia, where everything is roughly double the cost of what it is in the States, this seems like quite a bargain.

I’m not unhappy with my hunks of green-yellow castile, but it does tend to leave a residue unless I’m diligent with my washcloth. Because I’m thrifty, I also tend to buy unwieldy chunks that go flying when slippery. Bath time should be fun, even if you don’t have a proper tub.

Enter my new spearmint soap from Vegan Soap Kitchen. Taking after my favorite Origins mint shampoo, I thought that putting one more herbal goody on my body would keep me smelling nice even on those days I race off to work without a proper lather. Handcrafted by Deborah Dana in Plano, Texas, my wholly vegan soap is a wonderful find. Made from coconut, palm, jojoba, and olive oils with shea butter and a dash of spearmint essential oil, there is no funky residue. The only thing to watch out for are bits of spearmint leaf that eventually detach from the bar. Better to have mint leaves in my hair than grime, no?

Written by: Brittany Shoot, October 30th 2009