DressGreen Haul #1

Pros: Unique soap varieties, moisturizing soap formula, quality fragrance oils, professional and minimalist packaging, great customer service, clearly labeled packaging, fast processing and shipping
Cons: Not much

I randomly stumbled across DressGreen on Etsy this past month. I was attracted to the clean look and well crafted products. DressGreen mostly focuses cold processed soaps and facial/body care items.

I ordered a discounted soap trio, a shaving soap bar and a perfume oil.

After ordering, I received a prompt follow up notice through Etsy and my items were shipped shortly thereafter. I was even refunded the overpaid shipping charges. All in all, a great customer service experience; probably the best I’ve had with physical items through Etsy (excluding all those crochet amigurumi downloadable PDF patterns I order ^=^ ).

The packaging is minimal and very professional. The whole thing was bubble wrapped, with the perfume oil further bubble wrapped.

My DressGreen order arrives.

I have to apologize in advance for the poor photo quality. There were intermittent clouds and I was indoors taking pictures using the green tissue paper the items shipped with instead of utilizing my usual bamboo mat that gives me much better images. Now, enough with the run on sentences!

Images:

Soap Trio:

I confess. I love, love bar soap. It smells nice, looks pretty. I also hate using bar soap. Seriously. No matter what the promise, they always, always dry my skin. Then I’m all itchy and flaky and in pain the rest of the day. Does this stop me from buying bar soap occassionally? Heck no. There’s got to be something out there that really works for those with dry skin.

At this time, I’ve only tried one soap–don’t have enough draining soap dishes to try all at once–so I can only accurately review Cocoa Addict. I have (obviously) opened all of the soap packaging and looked at/smelled each one. I think the base formula for all three body soaps is the same, so in theory will all behave similarly.

All of the soaps, including the Shaving Soap, are wrapped in alternating layers of green tissue paper. The packaging is sealed with an adhesive band that includes the required company info and ingredients listing. Everything is very professional and easy to read.

I’ve heard from multiple Etsy soap makers that you need to keep a soap bar away from water (yes!) and leave it on a draining soap dish to extend its lifespan. I had to go all over Cedar Rapids, but finally found a metal draining soap dish at Bed Bath & Beyond (does that make anyone else think of the Team America credits song?). And it definitely was worth the $6 investment. The soap is dry and hard all of the time and the rate of erosion has drastically decreased.

Cocoa Addict

Ah, choices. Picking which three soaps to buy was tough, but the hardest was deciding between the Your Morning Cup of Coffee and Cocoa Addict soaps. I’m a girl and love chocolate, but I also grew up in the Puget Sound region of Washington, so I need coffee. In the end, I went with Cocoa Addict because it just sounds so yummy. I also have never tried a chocolate soap. Actually, I don’t think I’ve tried a coffee based soap either… (>_>)

DressGreen Cocoa Addict Soap

As I mentioned earlier, this is the first soap I’ve tried from DressGreen. So…it doesn’t smell as chocolately as I want. There is more of a classic “soap” smell and the chocolate is more organic than sweet, but it’s a nice scent all the same.

It is a dual layer soap with a large chocolate layer, followed with a smaller, light brown layer. The top of the soap is purposefully uneven with a sprinkling of cocoa powder that only managed to survive a few showerings. There appear to be some cocoa inclusions, but not really any exfoliators, if that’s what you were hoping for.

Like other bar soaps, I do find Cocoa Addict strips my skin, but it’s not as drying as most other soaps. It’s definitely more moisturizing than soaps I’ve tried in the past. Fortunately I won’t have to find homes for the other two DressGreen bars.

Pomegranate Juice

It was between this scent and Blueberry Patch, but ultimately Pomegranate Juice won. It is a rectangular soap (no uneven top) with a lovely solid, neutral pink colour. There are no major inclusions in this soap.

DressGreen Pomegranate Juice Soap

Pomegranate Juice smells sweet, a mixture soap and fruit.

I can’t wait to try it.

Thorns Not Included

This is the soap that first caught my attention while surfing Etsy. I have always (secretly) loved roses. The flower, the scent, doesn’t matter. I love it all.

DressGreen Thorns Not Included Soap

Like Cocoa Addict, Thorns Not Included is an uneven, dual (possibly triple) layer soap. During the soapmaking process the mold was tipped to create diagonal layers. The bottom layer is a mottled cream shade, followed by a smaller pink layer, topped with a sprinkling of rose petals. The scent is definitely rose and potent enough to make me happy.

It’s almost too pretty to use!

Matcha Tea Shaving Soap:

I have put off buying vegan shaving cream recently because it’s a pain to get any in Cedar Rapids that’s not from Kiss My Face. I thought this would be a great time to try shaving soap because I needed shaving cream and had never tried a bar version before.

DressGreen Matcha Tea Shaving Soap

DressGreen sold three different shaving soaps when I placed my order. I love matcha scented products, so this was a no-brainer. I hoped it would smell like green tea ice cream, but was disappointed to find the shaving soap rather scentless.

I grew up on the shaving gel variety and lately I’ve used conditioner when shaving. I heard horror stories of using soap to shave, so I didn’t know what to expect. I’m happy to say that it works very well and is not too drying. It’s the clays in the soap provide slip between the razor and skin.

I think I’m sold on shaving soaps.

Perfume Oil in Kashmir:

I have previously ordered two perfume oils from Epically Epic Soap Co. One I really like (it was rose scented) and the other…not so much. Because my experience was hit or miss, I didn’t know what to expect from DressGreen. Still, I decided to give this product a try.

DressGreen Perfume Oil in Kashmir

The perfume comes in a frosted glass bottle with a silver plastic lid. Unlike the Epically Epic perfume oil tubes, the lid isn’t quite as nice; this silver lid is constructed from a lighter, more flexible plastic. Otherwise, the bottles from both companies are similar and I haven’t had problems with leaking from any of them. Kashmir features a crisp, round label that contains the important info.

I typically like the heavier and warmer perfumes, though I’ve yet to make clear on the whole top-note, middle-note thing. I usually try samples before I buy, or simply guess if I’m buying online.

It was a toss up between Kashmir and Opulent. Both sounded like something I would like, but I wanted to try just one first.

I was hoping for something similar to Givenchy’s Organza, but different, and I found it. I love this perfume oil. It is exactly what I hoped for. Despite being warned that perfume oils are subtler than traditional perfume, both of the fragrance oils I purchased from Epically Epic were very strong. Kashmir from DressGreen is more muted, which I find beneficial, but still has good staying power.

Raspberry Lip Balm:

I didn’t order this, but received it as a free gift. Yep. ‘Tis awesome.

DressGreen Lip Balm in Raspberry and Perfume Oil in Kashmir

It is packaged in a typical translucent tube with a professional and minimalist styled label. The formula is not as soft as either Epically Epic or Ophelia’s Apothecary. It’s more of a “dry” moisturizing balm, meaning there’s not a lot of oily film left behind. I don’t think I can explain it very well.

The raspberry flavour is appropriately strong.

Final Thoughts:

I am very pleased with both my purchases and experience with DressGreen. The company is well run and very prompt with communication and shipping. Every aspect is handled with the utmost professionalism.

I definitely recommend DressGreen and I plan to order additional products in the future. There is still Your Morning Cup of Coffee and Blueberry Patch bar soaps I’d like to try. Also, I found a facial moisturizer for those with dry skins I’m going to order when my current moisturizer runs low.

My only complaint is that the Matcha Tea Shaving Soap didn’t smell like green tea ice cream. \(^=^)/