Paintbox Soap Works

I woke the witch. And boy does she smell incredible. Paintbox Soap Works has come my way here and there over the years. It all started with The Soap Box Company several years ago and then my friend Jean. I would get a soap sample here, a scrub sample there and always enjoyed it. But ultimately it took a craftily written review for Waking The Witch on their Facebook page that got shared in a group I am a member of and then next thing I knew I had a cart full of this scent and was happily clicking "submit." And I submitted totally. No regrets. Do yourself a favor and click here, scroll down to the reviews and read it. This lady describes the scent way more masterfully that I can, but I will still have a go at it.

Waking the Witch luxury glycerin soap ($6) is full of nourishing oils and soybean oil to condition. Here is the description for Waking the Witch on the website:

"Smoldering, sticky resins, wrinkled apples drying over the fire, tea leaves & bitter berries packed in oil, & sacred jasmine & frangipani blossoms to scatter in the flames.

Waking the Witch is a blend for the night of the soul, shapeshifting from dark sticky incense to jammy fruit & dry tea, through a cloud of heady florals & back to warm coals & woodsmoke. It's the smell of gathering revelations, of plans revealed, of lines crossed & power embraced. It's deep & wild & not here to please anyone but the stars as they whirl overhead.

We have been quiet & patient & good for a very long time. Enough of that. This blend is for all of us as we dig deep & find our voices & howl into the darkness & scrape at the sky. "

This generous six ounce bar is a deep smoky hue with a smattering of silvery and icy blue glitter. I carved a slice off and it is the most incredible fall scent that has graced my shower. Petite hand-carved wooden bowls swell with wild cranberries and black raspberries in their bellies. They await the many tincture jars that line the scarred butcher's block, along with their soon-to-be-companions of herb and spice, clove and anise and nutmeg, peppercorns and patchouli sprigs. A well loved patchwork apron hangs in on a peg, decades of sage, resin and incense burning cling delicately to the fragile threads and a handpicked wildflower bouquet is tucked inside the lone pocket. The daughter inhales the scents of homecoming.

This soap not only smells amazing but it feels great too. The base is a deep smoky brown with bronze and sable mica running through it. It lathers effortlessly and rinses cleanly. The sliver in my shower is almost gone because I have been using it so much. I have one at my tub side and two more tucked away in my cabinet.

Waking the Witch Sorbetto is a thick rich sugar scrub ($12) that contains avocado and grapeseed oils, rice bran and mango butter. The texture is thick and sticky and makes for easy scooping and scrubbing. It is along the lines of The Bathing Garden but less dry and more solid. I very much like the texture. It makes fun shapes. Helpfully, it also makes for a fabulous exfoliant. I mean, that is what we are here for right? Scrubbing, not playing? Eh. I like playing. 

Everything came professionally sealed and it is encouraged to use the product up within 3 months for optimal freshness. The scent in the scrub is just like the soap.

A little goes a long way with the bath streusel ($12). I poured about 1/8 of the jar into warm running water and it fizzed and foamed and turned the water murky with its strong blackened flower scent. Nourishing golden globes of oils floated up from the warm water to the surface, to cling to legs and arms and skin. It acted as a built in lotion so that when I emerged from the bath and toweled off, there was no need to apply any. Waking the Witch is much  more moody in this version. Much more smoky and earthen.

I also threw in a wax tart clamshell into my cart. 

Kattegat- Notes: Birch, frost, cold sea water, dragon's blood. $4

Deb, if you are reading this... you knew I had to get it. VIKINGS! This smells divine. Subtly sweet spruce and birch woods stand along the water rimmed cliffs of the fjords. Resinous dragon's blood and hearth fires in the long houses keep the scent from being overly aquatic and balance it out perfectly. Two cubes threw medium-strong in the living area and kitchen. This is a scent that I will be buying more of in the future. 

I had two generous free samples in my order, both 2.5 ounce Sorbetto sugar scrubs. 

Mandinka- Notes: Spiced honey, carnation, incense and saffron.

This is gorgeous. Not sure if it is named after Sinead O'Connor or the African people but either way it smells lovely. Supremely light smoke trailing from an incense stick joins the wild honey and Balinese spices at the temple altar. Handwoven baskets of flowers, incense and spice are left as offerings and when chanced upon them, lend their sweet fragrance to the breeze. I want to bathe in this. So I will look and see if it is offered in bath products.

Gardensong- Notes: Sun warmed herbs, tomato leaf, pimento and yuzu.

The sweet grapefruit tang of yuzu features prominently then is backed up by the subtle greenery of the herblings. A summery scent that I am going to use up in the bath right now. 

I am head over heels for my Paintbox Soap Works order. I would kick myself for not ordering sooner but now I know I have time to catch up. Can't change the past. 

Do you enjoy Paintbox Soap Works? Favorite scents? What are you favorite products?

Witch Baby Soap: Bath Bombs and Potions

Witch Baby Soap bath bombs have been on my "to buy" list for quite some time now but the recent release of some new Bath Potions based on Earth, Wind, Fire and Water nudged me in the pants and the timing also coincided with my lack of bath bombs. Restock time! After all these vigorous workouts I need some sweet bathing rituals to lull my aching muscles and spirit me off to dreamland at the end of the day.

Oracle Bath Bomb- Carnations and lilies. $10.00

This baby is one hulking bath bomb at over 10 ounces. It smells lovely. The carnations offer up their milky pepper bouquet while the lilies gift a purple aquatic musk. This is not a sharp or artificial floral blend but an encounter with a mourning token of carnations and lilies tied with twine and left at a country cross-roads. This bath bomb let loose a torrent of color, fizz and a nice layer of bubbles to sink down into. The waters were a soothing rose shade and smelled incredible.

Love Bath Bomb- Apple and rose scent. $4.00

Fulvous Honeycrisp apples nesting on a bed of dried rose petals as an offering to your true love. This is a fresh scent, not overly sweet and beautifully melodious.

Psychic Bath Bomb- Lavender and amber, topped with an amethyst. $7.50

Dense and rich French lavender oils honed to a golden edge with a touch of amber. This is one intoxicating blend and I already know I will be buying more. 

Look at that lovely stone embedded in there. Savanna, my crystal and stone collector will be whisking this off before too long. Plus it is her birthstone so she has an affinity for amethyst. 

Rune Stone Bath Bomb- Citrus, lily, rose, geranium, patchouli, vetiver, tonka and embedded with a rune stone. $5.00

So happy I picked up two of these. Wildflowers, grassy smoky vetiver and a pinch of the dark herbal patchouli swirls together to conjure the image of a cottage garden. It is softly sweetened by the tonka to brew a lovely perfume. The bath bomb turned the water a calming shade of aqua and bubbled and fizzed for quite a few minutes and revealed a rune stone symbol for "joy." This Rune Stone bath bomb gifted me an aromatic bath and soft skin and a lightened mind. Quite relaxing.

The Graveyard bath bomb arrived in it's own special box.

Graveyard- Carefully arranged funeral flowers and freshly dug graves. $8.00

Soil, bulb flowers and a pinch of carnation petals. This takes "earthy" to a precise level. A brilliantly fun scent that will make for an atmospheric bath while reading some dark novel that is currently languishing on my bookshelf, perhaps The Dead of Summer by Camilla Way or Fevre Dream by George RR Martin? Saving this one.

The Elements Bath Potion Set for $46, includes four 9 ounce glass jars to be used on their own or blended together at the users discretion. 

Water Bath Potion (empathy, intuition and love)- An aquatic moody jungle floral, hand blended with sea clay, mineral rich kelp, soothing aloe, jasmine flowers, rose petals and chamomile. Pour 3-4 capfuls under warm running bath water and become one with your inner mermaid. 

Inner mermaid? Yes, please. In the jar the mushroom hued powder smells of chamomile and seaweed, poured into the tub it blooms into a an ocean side jasmine bush. Ethereal jasmine buds, yellow chamomile puffs and single rose petals drift past in the current of the water while mounds of bubbles froth forth. This smells amazing. Don't the dankess in the jar fool you. Pour that magic potion in unabashedly. 

Air Bath Potion (intellect, freedom and communication)- A cool woodsy blend of anise, redwood, pine, patchouli and vanilla, using a blend of tree bark powders, soothing lavender, vanilla and dandelion root.

This one is said to turn your bathtub into a spellbinding forest. In the jar it smells of root vegetables, churned into warm bath water it cultivates a rainforest of trees with soft vanilla underlying it all. Triangles and arrowheads of bark float in the valleys between mountains of bubbles. Dreamy. Want to know what is even dreamier? Combing the Air and Water potions. Be still my naiad loving heart.  

Earth Bath Potion (stability, growth and prosperity)- A sweet blend that smells like a dew covered valley of wildflowers. This magical potion is hand blended with mineral rich French green clay, colloidal oatmeal, crushed honeysuckle, blue vervain and cornflower petals.

It truly does smell like a valley of wildflowers. The honeysuckle stars in this drama from the jar to the tub. The oatmeal does add a bit of creamy comfort to both the scent and the bath water. Tiny blue winking stars swirl about the tub and adorn the skin in the form of flower petals. 

Fire Bath Potion (passion, motivation and creativity)- This warm blend of tobacco, amber and dragon's blood embodies the warmth of the fire element. Hand blended with frankincense, angelica root, raw dragon's blood and calendula flowers.

In the jar it smells like sweet potatoes and dragon's blood, but once poured into the tub, creamy tobacco rises up from the steamy vapor. I love the large flower heads and stems that come out of this potion. I combined Fire with Earth and it imparted a dreamy bath ritual that made me feel like I was bathing in a wild west boarding house above a saloon in a clawfoot tub. Sun is setting and the whole town glows golden and orange. Sweet tobacco and men's laughter drift up through the clapboard floors and the simple wildflowers in a vase set before the open window send their fragrance along with the sheer lace curtains billowing towards me while I lie bonelessly in the warm water. Dreamy.

These bath potions all bubble up wonderfully and feel amazing on the skin. The aroma lingers as long and the bubbles as well. I take 20-30 minute baths sometimes and these held up beautifully.

I am already plotting another order to pick up a few more bath bombs and possibly a second potion set. Witch Baby Soap also offers lotions, scrubs, perfumes and of course, soap. I think I may need to branch out and sample a few of the other wares. Have you tried Witch Baby? What are some of your favorite offerings?