Cream Of Tomato Soap

During the mad dash of Lush's Oxford Street opening, I had to make a fairly quick decision on which of the new soaps I should purchase first. Given that there was a good fifteen or more available, I didn't have the time or the financial resources to get them all at once so opted for the ones that seemed most appealing to me in that moment. 

Cream Of Tomato Soap was actually one that made me grimace to begin with -  one that I didn't even pick up the second time I visited the shop because of how unappealing it seemed to me. While I adore Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup and consider it to be one of my most missed foods as a vegan, the idea of washing myself with its fragrance was revolting. However, after using it across multiple showers, I have come to appreciate and perhaps even slightly relish in the strange and rather unique product. 

To begin with, I must stress that this soap does not smell like the aforementioned soup. While it does have a 'foody' scent, it's not as cloying or as vegetable-orientated as its name suggests. Made using lemon and grapefruit oils, this soap does have a gentle citrus theme running as a base note. It's not very prominent compared to some of the other ingredients, but there's enough there to give the soap a gentle, uplifting element. 

Containing fresh tomatoes and basil oil, it is these two components that have the strongest impression on the senses. The former ingredient gives the soap a slightly sweet but savoury element - much like you would expect from a can of plum tomatoes; the basil oil adds a herbal and slightly peppery aroma that makes it presence known more when its in use under the warm water. To round it all off, the violet leaf infusion just pads out the smell slightly with a very delicate but slightly cloudy floral element. 

In the shower, Cream Of Tomato produces a very thick, oily lather that coats the skin and leaves it feeling soft and clean. The soap itself is very effective at creating its lather so I found that I didn't have to keep it held under the water for too long. This meant that my 100g chunk lasted a long time when compared to other Lush soaps.

After I had exited the shower, I was able to detect a very subtle fragrance on my skin but this was soon lost once I had applied body lotion and perfume. The product left my skin feeling clean and soft, although it did dry my hands out a little when I was massaging it between my palms and my skin had a slight taut feeling about it that had to be rectified with a body lotion afterwards. 

While it's far from a horrible soap, I wasn't blown away by its smell, nor how I felt after I had towel-dried myself down. It's definitely unique in its aroma, I'll give it that, and those that perhaps enjoy savoury or herbal smelling soaps will no doubt find that this works for them well. However, I found it a little underwhelming in the shower and would probably only use this as a hand soap if I found myself with any in the future. I don't think the fragrance of this is strong enough to hold its own in the shower.

For £2.95, it is good value for money, and as I said, it does last a long time and doesn't tend to shrink as quickly as some of Lush's other soaps. Despite this, I would definitely rather pay a little more and enjoy a soap with a much stronger and more interesting fragrance. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Glycerine, Rapeseed Oil: Coconut Oil (Brassica napus: Cocoa nucifera), Sorbitol, Talc, Perfume, Passata, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Stearate, Grapefruit Oil Citrus paradisi), Sicilian Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum), Violet Leaf Infusion (Viola odorata), Basil Oil (Ocimum basilicum), Titanium Dioxide, Irish Moss (Chondrus crispus), Fresh Tomato (Lycopersician), Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Eugenol, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Limonene, Colour 14700.

Vegan?: Yes. 

2015 Price: £2.95 for 100g. 

Year Of Original Release: 2015.