For anyone involved in the indie cosmetic scene, Shiro is kind of a big deal. It’s a great introductory brand for those wanting to dip their toes into indie eyeshadows especially- Shiro has a huge selection and a lot of variety. Needless to say, when Caitlin made a post in the Shiro Facebook group saying she was selling a handful of cold process soaps, I immediately bought one. They’re only available on her Etsy page, (and as of this post there are 6 up for grabs), but I wouldn’t jump on the soapy bandwagon just yet.

Being this is Caitlin’s first foray into bath and body products, I went into testing this product with lowered expectations. Bath products are tricky, and I’m pretty particular in how I like soaps to perform. For the sake of fairness, I waited to post this until I had finished the whole bar. Let’s jump into the review, shall we?

Shipping: I ordered this soap on June 15th, and received a shipped notification the same day. I received it on June 20th. No issues there.

Packaging: Caitlin really outdid herself with the packaging. I love the sleeve over the tissue paper, though I wish it could be slid off the bar. It was really nice and I didn’t want to tear it. 😦 The soap, as the pictures show, is gorgeous looking.

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Scent: “orange, fig, apple cider, plum, cloves, black currant”

How the bar smells- Sweet orange and black currant, grounded with tart hard apple cider and fig.

How it made me smell- The weardown on my skin wasn’t nearly as complex as the bar smells. It mostly smelled like bright oranges, but with a hint of apple. It faded fast though, and was only noticeable for about half an hour after my shower. Which was a shame, as I really liked how it smelled and hoped I would carry the scent with me longer.

Use: This is where my review takes a turn for the majorly negative. I really, really wanted to like this soap, but it was mess. The darker orange swirls on the bar turned to red smears on my skin, and water wouldn’t wash it away unless I rubbed it off. I kept the bar in a corner of my shower on a ridged shelf, and soaps have never given me issue from being kept there. This soap, however, turned into a gloppy mess seemingly just by being in a wet environment. When I would use it, a fairly thick amount of the outer layer of the soap would slough off in chunks until it was worn down to the firmer center. If I tried to use the soap right away without rubbing off that layer, it would leave chunks on my skin and smear around. This led to a large portion of my soap that I had to just rinse down the drain without using, because it was a messy hassle. It also made it to where this soap lasted me less than a month, whereas other indie soaps last me two or three.

I officially called this soap done when it tipped over and was so stuck to the ridged shelf that I couldn’t move it without it falling apart. It was still 1/4 inch thick, and it had all turned into that weird glop over the course of however long it had been tipped over for (less than a day). I ended up just wiping it off the shelf and rinsing it down the drain.

As much as I loved the smell, I didn’t use this soap every day, especially if I was in a rush. I was honestly excited for it to be gone so I could start using another soap.

Final thoughts: The packaging was nice and it smelled amazing, but I will not be purchasing soap from Shiro again unless it’s reformulated. I commend Caitlin for the beautiful presentation and scent, because they clearly had a lot of love put into them. Unfortunately, in terms of how the soap performed, it was a major letdown.