As we near the end of April, Mother’s Day on May 12 will be here before you know it. Since I have been a lifelong fan of natural triple-milled French soaps, I wanted to introduce you to a new discovery that would make a lovely Mother’s Day gift or a fabulous hostess gift as we head into the summer visiting season. South of France Natural Body Care.
South of France Natural Body Care began in 1999 with a traditional Marseille triple-milled bar soap formula developed by a French expatriate living in the US who manufactured the soap in France. BTW, triple-milling makes soap last longer and gives it a wonderful smoothness.
Today, the company is owned by two sisters, Katherine and Molly. Though the soaps are now manufactured in the U.S., the same tried-and-true natural recipe and small-batch kettle-cooked method are still used. The South of France product line includes bar soaps, liquid hand wash, foaming hand wash, and sugar polish made with scents and ingredients inspired by Provence.
Though using age-old methods, South of France Natural Body Care has enthusiastically incorporated present day values:
- cruelty-free and Leaping Bunny Certified
- certified natural
- non-GMO Project Certified
- certified vegan
- gluten-free
- certified by the Forest Stewardship Counsel that ensures that ingredients come from responsibility managed forests
- RSPO members: ensures that any palm oil used in the products are responsibly and sustainably gathered and manufactured.
The products are crafted with coconut, olive oil, sustainable palm oils, shea butter and essential oils. What they don’t have are synthetic foaming agents like sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate or glutens, EDTA, parabens, and phthalates.
In addition to the fact that I can feel good about the ingredients and how South of France soaps are manufactured, I must admit that it was the fragrances that initially captured me. There are so many scents to try:
Each of the scents smell true to the note or notes that they capture. What I mean is, they smell like the real thing! Delightful!
And if fragrance isn’t your thing, you can always choose Shea Butter that just smells clean.
Bar Soap: Full and Travel Size
Because I am a bar soap fanatic, that’s what I opened first. I like to use bar soap in the shower, and the travel size soaps are the perfect size to fit on my shower soap saver. Not surprisingly, I opened the new scent, Cherry Blossom, first. I loved the spring-y scent so much, that I just used it up! Now, I am on to the new Violet Bouquet travel soap that smells just like the violet hard candies I used to eat when I lived in New York! Do you remember these candies?
I have three of the full size 6 ounce bars waiting in the wings: clean-scented Shea Butter, Glazed Apricot and Lavender Fields.
As I wrote above, the bar soaps are triple-milled and they are as smooth as silk. The soaps feel like they are loaded with emollients, they lather like a dream, but they rinse clean. They don’t leave a greasy film on the shower floor. In addition to being lovely to clean my skin with, I use them instead of shave cream. They’re divine!
The travel size are also perfect for a guest bathroom, or to leave in the guest room along with the clean fluffy towels for weekend visitors. The full size 6 ounce soaps with their plump oval shape are so nice to hold in one’s hand. They’re big and loooooooong lasting!
Violet Bouquet soap ingredients: Infused with the sweet scent of a bouquet of violets gathered on a stroll through a medieval village marketplace. Made with Sodium Palmate, Sodium Cocoate, Water (Eau), Glycerin, Fragrance (Parfum), Violet Leaf Absolute, Juniperus Virginiana Oil, Citrus Nobilis (Mandarin Orange) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Gluconate, Iron Oxides *Certified Organic *Fair Trade Certified™
BTW, a couple of readers asked about how I get my soaps to not melt away in the shower. I have a soap saver. Here’s a photo of my two small soaps, both of which I used this morning in the shower. They are as dry as a bone! (The travel size South of France soap is the beige one.)
And here’s a photo of the soap saver that’s at least 2 and a half years old.
I throw it in the dishwasher every now and then. But I just looked for a place to buy it, and here’s a couple of links of Amazon. It comes in white and taupe (mine was sort of clear), in packs of 2, 4 and 6. Buying 6 is the best value at $5.99 – when I bought my single soap saver, I paid $5 for one at a bath and body boutique. This is such a good deal, I just ordered some new ones for myself!
Liquid and Foaming Hand Wash
I’ve been using the Lemon Verbena Hand Wash at my kitchen sink. The lemony scent is perfect for removing food smells from garlic, onions or fish. It’s so bright and cheery smelling, too. The viscous gel lathers well, cleans away dirt and leaves my hands feeling clean but not stripped. It contains moisturizing Mediterranean Sea Algae.
Ingredients Lemon Verbena: Water (Eau), Potassium Olivate, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance (Parfum), Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Peel Oil, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, Vetiveriea Zizanoides Root Oil, Litsea Cubeba Fruit Oil, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil, Rissoella Verruculosa (Red Algae) Extract, Citric Acid
The Orange Blossom Honey Foaming Hand Wash is in the guest bathroom downstairs. Not only does the color coordinate with my decor, but the delicate orange blossom scent is appropriate for whomever might be washing their hands in that sink. It leaves behind a clean scent and smooths skin with hydrating Organic Agave Nectar. It also provides just the right amount of foam.
Ingredients Orange Blossom Honey Foaming Wash: Water (Eau), Potassium Cocoate, Glycerin, Fragrance (Parfum), Cera Alba (Beeswax), Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, Agave Tequilana Leaf Extract , Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Potassium Olivate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Citric Acid, Malt Extract
The other two scents that I received are wonderful too. The Violet Bouquet Hand Wash also smells like the sophisticated C. Howard Violet candies, and the Glazed Apricot Foaming Wash actually smells like dried apricots. Yum!
Where to Buy South of France
South of France products are so attractive with their beautifully designed labels and recyclable packaging that they look like you’d buy them in an expensive boutique, gift shop or spa. I was actually shocked when I used the locator on the beautiful and informative South of France website to find out where to buy the products near where I live – I can buy South of France at the Vitamin Shoppe, Star Market Supermarket, and at my favorite indie health food store, the Common Crow in Gloucester MA! South of France is also sold online at iHerb.com, vitaminshoppe.com, Thrive Market, LuckyVitamin.com, and Amazon. The prices also surprised me, as I expected that such well-made, high quality products would be expensive. Instead, they are very affordable: less than $4 for the 8 ounce liquid and foaming hand wash and the full size bar soaps and less than $2 for the travel soaps. They’re truly a steal!
Get a pretty basket, some nice fabric and put together a gift basket of South of France goodies, a fluffy face cloth or sponge, a soap saver, and you’ve got yourself an affordable but gorgeous Mother’s Day or hostess gift!
BTW, here’s an old photo of me in Aix-en-Provence.
I absolutely LOVE these soaps so much! The picture of you in Aix-en-Provence is WONDERFUL! It is so funny that you included a picture of those violet hard candies– not only do I have fond memories eating them as a child, but several years ago I reviewed something that smelled like them, and I included the same picture in my post! 🙂
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Thank you, Helen! Such a nice memory of Aix. And I’m so happy you were a fan of Violets too! I recently saw them at an agriculture store not far from where I live. I need to go back and buy some!
I also have fallen back in love with bar soap…… BUT I have yet to find a way that the bar does not get gummy or soft between uses. How or wear do you put your soap that it dries without it getting all gross on the bottom? I am wanting to try the shampoo bars but again storage at the end of use.
Gloria, I need to take a photo of my soap saver. I put my soap on it, and it doesn’t melt away at all. I got it in a bath & body store, but I know I’ve seen them other places too, I just can’t remember where. It’s made out of a plastic thin thread that’s woven so it drains. I think I paid $5 for my soap saver because I got it at a cute boutique in a touristy town, but I think they’re not expensive. I love bar soap so finding a way to keep them was a necessity. I’ll see if I can find one online, or I’ll take a photo to show you
Allison, does your soap saver hang on a string then? My solution probably isn’t an option for everyone (needs a smooth surface) but I have a plastic soap holder with drainage slots at the bottom that suctions to my shower wall, and I keep it behind the shower head as far up as I can comfortably reach, to avoid errant splashes. If it does get splashed then the drainage slots let the water off. I don’t consider myself to have a very strong gag reflex but bar soap sitting in a puddle of water does it to me every time. Ick!
Rachel, I will add a photo of my soap saver to the post since my comment program won’t let me upload a photo. I had a metal slatted soap saver that had a suction cup that I stuck to the shower wall but whenever I reached for the soap, it would fall down. My cheesy one-piece shower/bathtub has a ledge and my current soap saver that I’ve had for more than 2 years fits perfectly on it. And it keeps the soap dry as a bone.
Gloria, I just found a link on Amazon to the soap saver that I bought more than two years ago, and I added it to my South of France Body Care blogpost from yesterday. There’s a photo of mine that I added as well. It really works. My soap saver fits on the ledge on the side of my cheesy one-piece shower/tub surround. I also added a photo of my dry soaps so you can see that it works. I used the soaps in the shower this morning and now they’re completely dry.
Lovely review. My darling prefers bar soaps, so I always like to grab him new ones. I want to smell this in glazed apricots!
The Glazed Apricot smells like dried apricots – yum! Your sweetie might prefer Shea Butter, Lemon Verbena, Cote d’Azur or maybe Green Tea. But all of the ones I tried are wonderful. And they are a steal!
These look nice. I love different soaps, so I might check them out!
South of France Natural Body Care soaps really are lovely, Carleen. And they’re a steal, too
I love that picture of you. So cute!! These soaps sound delightful and I can imagine them as a gift. Some of the scents are the kinds I love like lemon and orange so even I could use them.
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Thank you, Marcia! Memory lane 😉 These soaps are lovely, and the fragrance isn’t overwhelming. The lemon verbena is a fresh lemon. The orange blossom honey is more of a very light floral.
I love lemon in the kitchen!
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They really do have beautiful packaging. These products would be perfect for a Mother’s Day gift basket!
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Because the ingredients were so good and the packaging is so pretty and nicely done, I was shocked when I saw how affordable they are. Definitely perfect for a gift basket!
Lovely photo! Makes me want to go back. I want to see the fields of lavender and sunflowers, and eat violet candies under a shady tree beside a farmers’ market, while listening to someone haggle over the price of a bolt of fabric. And all the soap scents sound divine as well. Looks like there is one local-ish store chain that carries the brand so I might be able to find it. If not there’s always Amazon. lol
Let’s go, Rachel! I haven’t been to the south of France since that photo ages ago! But in the meantime, I hope you can find the soaps locally. The bar soaps and the liquid soaps are divine and so cheap!
Oo my mom would love the Lavender Fields scent! As would I!
For less than $4, you should buy it for her!
Added the soapsaver to my cart immediately!
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It is so worth it, Stephanie!
Ooh, this brand sounds amazing! I am loving the sound of their scents too.
I was thinking about going back to bar soap in the shower, too. Everything I have is a flip top and those are really hard on the nails, not to mention in the water of a shower.
I have to, have to, HAVE TO try the Côte d’Azur scent!!!! Thanks for posting about these!
I haven’t tried Cote D’azur but it sounds divine. So far, I have tried cherry blossom, violet, she a butter, and glazed apricots. The scents are quite apparent in the beginning and less so as the soap gets used, like my other artisinal soaps. I hope you find it. I saw it on iHerb. Wonder if you can find it in a store near you?
I found them at a local organic grocery store so I’ll be heading off to get them soon. Thanks so much! You know about all the best stuff! Hope you are having a wonderful day and that you have a tripendicular weekend!
That’s great, Gabrielle! I’m glad you found South of France near you so you can go and have a sniff. My favorites were the bar soap because it feels so good and the liquid soap. The foaming soap is fine too, but I don’t mind doing my own foaming up from the liquid 😉 Have a wonderful weekend too! I hope the sun is shining where you are. Mold is growing on me, it’s been so rainy here
You could always use the mold as eyeshadow and then you wouldn’t have to buy the Huda Beauty Emerald Obsessions palette.
LOL, Gabrielle! I already bought it, and I’ve gotta start using it. It’s the Melt Smoke Sessions palette that I’m trying to resist 😉
I am trying to resist the smoke sessions because between the Emerald Obsessions and the Venus XL palette I got as a gift from Lime Crime, I’ve got those colors sort of/kind of duped… but you never know…
I added a couple to my Amazon Wish List – I’m all about small business and I love soaps!
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All of the scents you shared sounds so good!! Definitely gift-worthy!
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