Stand Up For Your Rights Soap

If there is one aspect about my favourite company that epitomises the very essence of Lush, it is their charity products, and the items they release to support interesting and important causes across the world. These goodies are not only great because they enthuse the collector in me, who enjoys a good limited edition to sink my teeth into, but because I know I am investing in something that is ethically and morally sound.

Stand Up For Your Rights Soap is a brand new invention for 2017, and was showcased at both the Lush Summit event in early February, and appeared on the website at the same time. Not associated with one particular cause, this was a product inspired by recent political events, and was a bold but very relevant statement to make at a time when human rights is once again being repressed.

Price up at £5, this solid block of golden orange gives off a simple but powerful message. Coupled with a complex and rich aroma - one as diverse as it is familiar, this soap is definitely worth having. Described as being uplifting yet smoky, there was something very familiar about the fragrance that encouraged a little research into other products that may share the same scent. While I didn't find any exact matches, I did discover that SUFYR has the same key components as Hand Of Friendship Soap, and also has similar traits to the likes of Inhale And Breath Of God Perfumes. 

Containing a combination of lemon, rosewood, and cedarwood, this soap is far stronger than you would initially expect. All three of these ingredients work really well together, and while you can detect each of them individually, this is definitely a fragrance that blends well and offers up a unified wall of smell. 

From the start, the rosewood offers up a fantastic warm and woody scent. It's quite a dry smell that also has something slightly floral about it, but this is an afterthought - the dry, woody note is definitely the strongest component. The lemon works well with the rosewood - not only encouraging a subtle sweetness to emerge from the pairing, but you lose most of the fruitiness that the lemon would have brought forward if there had been too much present.

Instead, you can smell a flat lemon scent - one that boosts the woody notes up a little and makes this soap a little more uplifting, without being particularly fruity. Finally, the cedarwood, which blends perfectly well with the rosewood, offers its own sweet, woody layer, which helps to thicken the overall smell and give Stand Up For Your Rights a very robust, wholesome aroma. I would say that it is definitely a dry and very flat smell, but there is something crisp about this combination that reminds me of both sun-kissed tree bark and damp forestry.

While the cedarwood doesn't appear to have as much of an input here as the other ingredients, it is known to help approve the appearance of skin with its softening properties, while also aiding relaxation. So while it may not be centre stage in regards to the fragrance, it's working behind the scenes to make your experience of this soap as pleasant and rewarding as possible.

I found this soap fairly easy to lather up in the shower, and discovered that because of how thick the block is, I was able to utilise more foam by massaging it in a circular motion across the palm of my hands. Adding water while you're doing this builds up a surplus of cream-coloured lather, which can then be used to wash yourself with. Surprisingly, this soap left my skin feeling quite plump and nourished, which doesn't happen often when it comes to soaps. I was also left with a gentle, warming woody smell on my skin for a short time after my shower.

Despite only using this a handful of times, I have barely noticed a change in the size of the block, so I would say that this is a long-lasting soap. Because of this, I would say that it would be great as a hand soap - not only because it would outlast any bottle of hand wash, but because you'd be spreading a great message while your guests wash their hands.

Overall, this is a lovely soap and one that I hope Lush bring back in the future for more people to enjoy. Stand Up For Your Rights is one of those fragrance that would work really well as a perfume. Who knows, perhaps this soap is a hint of things to come in the future...

Quantitative Ingredients: ?

Vegan?: Yes.

2017 Price: £5 for 100g.

Year Of Original Release: 2017.