Villainess Soaps: Luxury Bath Products for Modern Living
The first bar of Villainess I used was a 2005 summer Limited Edition (LE), Lipstick Lost. It was a creamy purplish brown, with a few random pink swirls. the scent is described on the site as “effervescent cherry, smart-mouthed sassafras and a wee sweet bit of vanilla.” The sassafras is the predominant note, giving an almost root beer feel to the scent. My soap was silken and soft with a foamy lather. It was a sad day when I finished the last sliver of the bar. Thankfully, Lipstick Lost will be making another appearance in summer 2006.
Soaps are offered in a variety of unique scents. Scintillating is a customer favorite, combining a variety of mints with a black tea base and a touch of vanilla. Killer Bees, the only non-vegan soap in the catalog, has a rich honey scent. Villainess’s signature scent is a complex blend of floral, vanilla musk and an intriguing leather note. From rich Decadence vanilla to fresh citrus Indiscreet to Antihero’s leather and smoke, there are scents for everyone. There’s even Ennui, for those who want their soap devoid of any scent. The scenting of the soaps is subtle but handled with finesse.
Villainess soaps are excellent cleansers and are hypoallergenic. They feature a base blend of palm, coconut, rice bran, castor, shea, and mango oils as well as Tussah Noil silk. (As part of Villainess philosophy, the silk fibers used in the soaps come from a no-kill process.) These soaps do not dry out the skin, or leave a film behind. Some soaps such as Mudslide and Gingersnapped are more scrub oriented. Mudslide contains coffee grounds for exfoliation and works well on feet though some customers may find it too scratchy to use directly on the skin. Most all of the soaps are gentle enough to use on the face, and many customers have found them to be just as effective on problem skin as more expensive facial products. Because they are largely composed of natural oils like olive and coconut, these soaps can melt if left sitting in water and will stick to a bath tub. Villainess does offer an excellent wire soap dish that takes care of this problem. Any soap dish with good drainage will prevent Villainess bars from slipping away.
Villainess also produces Smooch, a line of body scrubs in some of her most popular scents. Smooch is more than just a scrub. As it is used, the oils in the scrub emulsify into a light body lotion that can be rubbed into the skin and rinsed off. Not only does this make the product a fabulous multitasking product, it reduces the problem of oily residue on the bottom of the tub. Smooches are offered with different types of sugar and salt, offering different levels of scrub and exfoliation. Both the Pyromania and Gingersnapped Smooches have warming properties that activate when they come into contact with water. Bathing with Smooch is possibly the most decadent, satisfying experience possible. They leave the skin incredibly soft and moisturized, with a gentle lingering scent.
Marketing and clever packaging have reinforced the trend that if a soap or body product is expensive, it has to be better. Small batch items are better, but cost much more than mass produced quantities of mediocre material. Villainess bucks this trend by offering beautiful bars of handmade soap for reasonable prices and with simple, elegant packaging. Smooches come in large and small sizes, and Villainess has reworked their packaging to prevent leakage during transit. Shipping occurs every Tuesday, and free shipping is offered for all orders over $75. A customer forum branches off the main site, providing product reviews as well as Q&A about Villainess.
