'A Week in the Life of...' Simply Portugal Soaps - Day 4

The Product...

Our soaps are made from a base of olive oil, pressed from olives grown on our soapmaker Shelley’s farm, sweet almond oil, shea butter and cocoa butter. In some of our formulas we also use castor oil as it helps to make the lather rich, and all of our soaps also contain goats’ milk. 

 

 

Shelley started adding goats’ milk to her soaps as her neighbour had quite a few goats and needed to sell the milk, and it adds a wonderful creamy feel and lather and is very nourishing for your skin. I am sure Cleopatra would have used goats’ milk to bathe in if she’d run out of asses’ milk!  We then add natural pigments, fragrances and essential oils to blend the scents to perfection.

We make sure that all our ingredients are of cosmetic quality and as much as possible we try to source everything from Portugal. All our soaps are covered by a cosmetic safety standard certificate.

The soaps are beautifully moisturising, leaving your skin smelling amazing and feeling silky and smooth. An extra bonus is that having one of our soap bars or cupcake soaps in your bathroom will make the room smell amazing, so you won’t need an artificial air freshener.

We add beautiful toppings to our soaps when they are being made – fruits, flowers, soap shavings and swirls all help to make the soaps look wonderful, and as our toppings are also made from soap they won’t leave bits in your bath or shower! 

Our soaps make wonderful gifts, but they are equally perfect for everyday use or just to treat yourself. They look beautiful, smell fantastic and they’re sure to brighten up your morning shower or that long indulgent bath!

Tomorrow is our final day with Guest Bloggers Simply Portugal Soaps so what better way to end than an introduction to their difference fragrances... WARNING! it is going to be mouth watering!

www.simplyportugalsoaps.com

simplyportugalsoaps@gmail.com

Facebook – Simply Portugal Soaps

'A Week in the Life of...' Simply Portugal Soaps - Day 3

Where we can be found?

My favourite place to sell our soaps is at craft fairs and markets as people can come and see, touch and smell the soaps. There is nothing better than being able to experience all the lovely fragrances for yourself and choose your favourites, and although our soaps look gorgeous in photos it doesn’t compare with seeing them in real life! I really enjoy attending fairs and markets in the South West and I especially love to meet customers and help them choose a soap that will be just right for them. Many people think they can’t use soap, or worry that it will dry their skin, but once they see and feel the creamy texture of our soap bars and understand about the wonderfully nourishing natural ingredients that we use, they are often converted!

I have already been to markets at Sherborne, Yeovil and Bridport this year, and below is a list of the ones I know I will be attending over the next few months. More will be added to this list as the year goes on, so if you fancy coming along to see the soaps for yourself, please keep an eye out for our updates either on Facebook or on our website.

 

Digby Hall, Sherborne, Sat 5^th May 10am – 4pm

St Mary’s Church Hall, Bridport, Sat 26^th May 10am – 3pm

St Mary’s Church Jubilee Fair, Chard, 11am – 4pm

Ilminster Street fair, Ilminster, Sat 9^th June 10am – 4pm

South Petherton Folk Fest, South Petherton, Sat 30^th June 10am – 6pm

Forde Abbey Summer Fair, Forde Abbey, Chard, Thurs 26^th July 11am – 4pm

I have more fairs and markets booked in August, September, November and December, so please have a look at our Facebook page for the dates and times.

Tomorrow you can find out more about the products, their luxurious ingredients!

 

www.simplyportugalsoaps.com

simplyportugalsoaps@gmail.com

Facebook – Simply Portugal Soaps 

'A Week in the Life of...' Simply Portgual Soaps - Day 2

Design and Inspiration

The designs and ideas for our soap bars, cupcake soaps and cake slice soaps all come from nature and from the things we see and smell around us every day. Plants can be so inspiring, with their wonderful array of colours, perfumes and shapes, and we try to give a feeling of that in our soaps.

The spring cupcake soap ideas came from the pretty little spring flowers; those first ones to pop their heads up after the bleak cold winter. We used primroses and violets, with a few butterflies to remind us of the sunny days and the warmth soon to come.  Then we started thinking about summer and about how we could evoke the feeling of a hot sunny day. That’s easy, really – ice cream! So our new summery cupcake soaps will be ice cream inspired - Neapolitan, strawberry sundae and banoffee-scented soaps are all curing at the moment and will be ready for sale in May, and a scrumptious mint choc chip scent is in the pipeline.

Our soap cakes are so pretty, and of course they are inspired by our love of food! I have a passion for cake making so it was a great treat to be able to come up with some fragrances and design ideas for these lovely soaps. They cut into beautiful creamy slices and make wonderful presents or favours for weddings and parties.

Then we have our gorgeous original soap bars, with fragrances like Lemon Verbena, Lime Mandarin & Basil, Coconut, Lavender and Linden Blossom to name but a few. You can see that our love of nature comes through again with these, and they are all beautifully topped off with swirls and with little fruits or flowers all made with soap. We always try to have something for everyone, from the more traditional floral scents to really fresh and zingy fragrances to wake you up in the morning. And when we decided to have a bit of fun with our soap bars, the result was our cocktail range, which is just so much fun. The booze-free treats are brilliant for hen night favours, and they also make fabulously different gifts for any occasion. 

Of course, our soaps are also inspired by the beautiful Portuguese countryside and the natural Portuguese ingredients, like the olive oil and goats’ milk, that go into our soaps. Walking round the pottery markets of the Algarve I was inspired to commission a talented local potter, who now makes exclusive soap dishes for me that bring the colour and flavour of traditional Portuguese pottery to our soaps. Our soap bars fit perfectly in the dishes, and our gift packs, with a pottery dish and one or two soap bars of your choice, make a wonderful gift beautifully packaged in organza.

Tomorrow you can find out more about where you can visit Simply Portugal Soaps and experience the smell and texture of these luxurious soaps in person... if you can't wait until then pop over and say hello to them on Facebook now!

 

www.simplyportugalsoaps.com

simplyportugalsoaps@gmail.com

Facebook – Simply Portugal Soaps