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17 July 2015

Holy Cacao! Gourmet Soap



When I first discovered Lush's range of gourmet soaps, I was far more excited than I perhaps should have been given that it's just a glorified block of oils. While Lush are known mostly for their range of bath bombs and bubble bars, they've built up an impressive array of soaps over the years - most of which I find leave my skin feeling taut and nowhere near as moisturised as their shower gels and jellies do. 

However, these new creations from my favourite company left me wondering whether there was a chance that I might finally find a range of soaps suitable for my skin type. As it turns out, my experience so far has been a very positive one and I can honestly now say that there are soaps I will be buying on a regular basis. 

Holy Cacao! Gourmet Soap is perhaps one of the least attractive soaps to come from Lush - a dark brown block that looks a little like a chocolate brownie, but one that has been left out in the open to dry. Yet, you only have to give this product a sniff to realise that it's not all about the design - there's far more to this soap than initially meets the eye. 
With a base made up of coconut and baobab oil, not to mention cocoa butter, this soap is far more nourishing on the skin than a regular soap. These three ingredients dictate not only the consistency of the lather that the soap produces in the shower, but also how effective it is at cleaning and softening the skin after use. 

Packed full of cocoa powder as well as two different types of cocoa butter, Holy Cacao! smells like a rich, luxurious dark chocolate pudding. It has the heavy, bitterness that you would normally expect to find when working with cocoa powder but with a gentle creaminess that stops the powder from being too unbearable.

This is far richer than the likes of Formulae Known As Body Lotion and 13 Rabbits Shower Gel; it's not just a typical 'chocolate' smell. Imagine peeling back the wrapper of a rich and very decadent bar of dark chocolate or sniffing a freshly baked tray of dark chocolate fudge, and you might begin to recognise just how strong but equally beautiful this is to experience.
As you would expect from a soap with so many oils and butters, this product is not as easy to lather up as some of Lush's regular products. Rather than a light, fluffy foam that you would normally expect from a soap, this one produces more of a thick, creamy and slightly oily lather that works like a lotion. 

After massaging it across my body and rinsing it away, I was left with really smooth and wonderfully fragrant skin. While I didn't think it was as moisturising as most of Lush's shower gels are, and my skin wasn't as soft as I would expect from other products, it definitely wasn't drying at all, and not as parched as regular soaps make me feel.

In the shower, I found that Holy Cacao! was easy enough to lather but had a tendency to bend and break during use - that was if the piece was too small or too thin. For this reason, I found that I had to use my entire block at once, which meant that I had to pat the soap down to stop it from shrinking between uses. For the price you pay, you certainly don't want it going to waste!
While this soap is definitely on the more expensive side, I happen to love using this as a hand soap. It's helped to banish the dry areas between my fingers and leaves my hands feeling and smelling delicious after every use. While it would be too expensive of an investment to buy this regularly, I have enjoyed using this to the point that I will definitely buy it again - most likely during the winter months when my skin may need some extra tender loving care. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Glycerine, Organic Colombian Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Granulated Sugar, Fair Trade Olive Oil (Olea europaea), Baobab Oil (Adansonia digitata), Cornflour (Zea mays), Sodium Hydroxide, Cocoa Powder (Theobroma cacao), Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Perfume, Castor Oil (Ricinus communis), Sesame Absolute (Sesamum indicum), Benzoin Resinoid (Styrax tonkinensis pierre), Vetivert Oil (Vetiveria zizanoi.

Vegan?: Yes. 

2015 Price: £5.10 for 100g. 

Year Of Original Release: 2015. 

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