Movis Soap

Ever since Lush announced that this would be one of their up-and-coming products, I've been rather intrigued by it, whilst still reserving judgement until I was able to test it out for myself. To look at, it definitely wouldn't win any awards for presentation - a grainy brown lump that could probably hide amongst a fruit loaf without raising any suspicions. However, I know now not to judge a soap by it's cover. 

Movis is inspired by Mo Constantine, one of the founders of Lush, who loves to bake when she has a spare minute away from designing new products for consumers to feign over. And true to form, this soap really does look like a slice of freshly baked bread.

It's made using a combination of wholemeal bread, sunflower and coconut oils, wheat bran, wheat germ and cocoa butter; a mixture that isn't far off what you'd use to create an edible loaf of bread. These ingredients, combined with sugar and a whole lot of water, create a unique but equally wonderful product.

Firstly, it's smell. When I first caught a whiff of Movis, it smelt exactly as I had imagined it would. It's definitely a savoury scent - a very 'wheaty' smelling soap that reminds me of fresh bread dough that's waiting to go into the oven. I worked many years in a bakery and this smells exactly like fresh wholemeal or wheat germ bread after it's been kneaded. My flatmate commented that to her, this smelt like a savoury flapjack, and I can see her point. It does smell like a flapjack, if you were to omit the sugary content a little. 

Although there is sugar included here, it only gives the soap a very, very subtle sweetness, just like you'd smell in most savoury breads. The coconut oil, alongside helping to give Movis it's wonderful texture, and helping to moisturise and soften your skin whilst in use, works with the sugar to give this product a very slight sweet scent. 

Secondly, it's consistency is very different to what you'd expect from a soap. It's very soft and bendy, similar in consistency to a slice of cake, just a little denser and slightly oilier so that it retains it's shape under water. It is this aspect of Movis that makes it so effective in the shower. Unlike other soaps, this one was really easy to use as it both bends to the shape of your body whilst your lathering it up and it's texture prevents it from getting too slippery when exposed to water.  

During use, this soap deposits little grains of what I can only assume is wheatgerm, across your skin. At first, I was worried that this was going to be annoying to remove, but I found that these specks were easy to rinse off and didn't clog the drain or decorate the bath. These grains, coupled with the texture of the soap, did help to gently exfoliate my skin and I appreciated this a lot.

To use. The soap didn't produce an awful lot of foam to wash myself with, although it released an oily lather rather easily, which did help me to feel really clean after using it. Lush claim that many ingredients in this soap have been added to help soften and moisturise the skin - in particular, the face. 

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of using this across my whole body and became increasingly frustrated when it wouldn't lather properly. However, after realising my mistake and focussing more on my face, I found that this soap produced enough residue to gently clean my face and leave my feeling really soft and smooth. This would definitely work out a lot better value than a regular facial cleanser as a 100g block lasted me upwards of six months. 

Overall, I did really enjoy the experience of using Movis and it definitely has a unique selling point in the cosmetics industry. However, I felt that it performed averagely for a piece of soap, and didn't do anything that would encourage me to rush out and buy it immediately. It's fantastic that Lush are experimenting with more natural smelling and looking products, but it hasn't got the wow factor to make this a regular investment for me.

Quantitative Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Wholemeal bread, Glycerine, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Fair Trade Sugar, Sunflower Oil, Organic Wheatgerm Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Wheat Bran, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Perfume, Wheat Germ, Hop Oil, Labdanum Resinoid, Sandalwood Oil, Citric Acid, Sodium Bicarbonate.

Vegan?: Yes.

2014 Price: £4.50 for 100g.