Debaucherous Bath is a whimsical little company that I chanced upon while browsing Etsy one day and the products looked so delicious that I just had to make an order. I was delighted to find out that whipped soap and bubbling scrub sample sizes were available in a number of scents; the lotion was only available in one at the time of my order, but I was interested in the scent anyway, so that worked out for me. I also picked up a lip balm and some perfume samples so that I could try out all their products other than the handmade soap.

Here’s my happy and sweet-smelling little haul:

Whipped Soap samples (1.5oz) in Cottontail Rabbit , Alice’s Nightmare in Wonderland & Chocolade .

samples (1.5oz) in , & . Bubbling Scrub sample (1.5oz) in Marshmallow Woods

sample (1.5oz) in Lotion sample (1.5oz) in The Red Queens Rage

sample (1.5oz) in Lip Balm in Caramel Embrace

in Perfume samples (1ml) in Candyman , Mau Loa , Sweetheart & Marshmallow Lavender

And my free sample:

Perfume sample (1ml) in Mad Hatter Tea Cakes

The perfume samples and lip balm came in an adorable draw-string bag with a skull motif stamped on it. Soooo adorable! The samples are affordable, but lean on the pricier side although I really think that they are a good way to test out the shop’s products. The customer service is pleasant and DB combined my orders efficiently and even found me a really cost effective shipping method which I really appreciated. I wish I could say that I absolutely adored everything about this experience, but there were some parts that niggled away at me just a little. I’ll cover that at the very end, but for now, here’s the review!

♥



A quick brand overview

I really like this shop’s overall aesthetic, which seems to lean towards Victorian Gothic with a touch of pin-up playfulness. I swear that they have the most gorgeous full sized packaging, and that was one of the first things that drew me in. In the words of Debaucherous Bath’s founder:

I like to evoke feelings that are from the turn of a century long gone; an olfactory of times forgotten, once bestowed upon those long before us, orbiting around the dark and unusual.

I found that a pretty accurate depiction of the shop’s products which are all very artistically represented. The ingredients used are gentle and high quality, and there is a thoughtful warning for pregnant women to avoid products containing essential oils, resins, absolutes or CO2’s.

The scent list is enormous and many scents take their inspiration from literature and other fun aspects of the world. The wide range of body products which range from whipped soap to lip balm come in an array of scent choices, and honestly, each one sounds so tempting that you’d probably be as spoilt for choice as I was. It is stated in the shop announcement that a free perfume sample of your choice is included with every order and if you make a purchase of $25, you will receive a sample of the scent of the month. DB also takes shipping charges into consideration, and does her best to ship at the most cost-effective rate which I believe is something that all customers would gladly appreciate.

Whipped Soap

Ingredients: GLYCERIN, ORYZA SATIVA (RICE) BRAN OIL, COCOS NUCIFERA (COCONUT) OIL, ORGANIC SUNFLOWER (HELIANTHUS ANNUS) OIL, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA BUTTER) FRUIT, SODIUM COCOYL ISETHIONATE, SODIUM LACTATE, SORBITOL, DISODIUM LAURYL SULFOSUCCINATE, STEARIC ACID, SODIUM CHLORIDE, PHENOXYETHANOL (AND) CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, TETRASODIUM EDTA, PROPRIETARY FRAGRANCE BLEND, OXIDE.

I recently went on a whipped soap craze and ended up snagging 3 samples. Chocolade belongs to my friend, but she was kind enough to let me sample it lightly. Since I ended up only using Cottontail Rabbit in the bath, my review of the overall soap texture will be based on that. Here’s a sniffy first impression review of the three beauties:

Cottontail Rabbit

Brightly colored Easter eggs, jelly beans of all flavors, spring flowers, fresh green grass.

I swear that my mouth started watering the moment I caught a whiff of this. This is such a juicy and fizzy candy scent and it reminds me of those sugar dusted blueberry gummy bears that give you a psychological toothache if you spend too much time staring at them. There is a tart edge to the candy, and the entire scent has an almost psychedelic edge to it. I wish that I had gotten this as a perfume oil, I really adore this. Tt’s currently still available as a full sized and sample sized bubbling scrub as well as a sample sized whipped soap, so if you’re looking for a happy little sugar rush, I would recommend giving this scent a go.

Chocolade

A thick haze of 3 different chocolates, black vanilla, a touch of butterscotch and a hint of our secret amber blend.



My first reaction when I sniffed this was to give a little sigh. Ah, chocolate. There’s just something so comforting about it despite its sultry little edge. This is a creamy and buttery chocolate with just a touch of amber to keep it from getting too gourmand. I tend to prefer having chocolate in my mouth rather than on my body but I do think it would be such a decadent treat to lounge around smelling like this. Due to the fragrance formula, this particular scent runs a little more expensive than the other regular scents, but if you can’t resist chocolate scents, it might just be worth the price. As for me, I could probably live without it.

Alice’s Nightmare in Wonderland

Rotting pumpkin flesh, overripe peaches, drizzled with caramel, touched with liquid black amber, hot butterscotch, wicked spices and soft hay.

This scent is so complex that it’d probably fulfill its full potential better in perfume oil form. As a whipped soap though, it still smells plenty gorgeous. The strongest notes that I get are the pumpkin and butterscotch and it’s so creamy and lush that I can almost taste it in my mouth. I can detect just the tiniest little bit of resiny amber but it’s really more of a grounding note than a heady, dominant one. I think this scent would be perfect for the cooler months at the end of the year.

Now that we’ve got the scent reviews out of the way, it’s time to talk about the actual soap product.

The first that I noticed about the whipped soap is that it’s incredibly tightly and solidly packed. When I poke a finger in to try and scoop some out of the tub, it gets a little crumbly and the consistency is definitely more firm than creamy. It does soften after warming up on the skin, but I was really hoping for something more creamy and lush. I’m not sure if it hardened over time from the travelling, and it’s not so much a bad texture as something different from what I expected.

I’ve tried using this with both a bath mitt and my bare hands and I have to say that my preference is definitely with the bath mitt. With bare hands, the soap does get a whole lot creamier in contact with my wet skin and creates the mildest lather. One thing that I noticed though, was that the soap tended to clump up a little into individual soapy bits that were hard to dissolve. I wasn’t too fond of this and ended up just washing them away with water since I couldn’t really break them down. I didn’t have this problem when using the bath mitt, and it lathered up much more easily. It feels smooth and lush, and spreads easily. I did find that I had to use quite a bit of product to create the amount of lather that I wanted. The scent is pretty strong and it lingers close on the skin for a good long while after the shower, much to my delight, since I loved the smell of Cottontail Rabbit. My skin feels clean but not dry like how it tends to get when I use bar soaps.

On the whole, I have to say that while I liked this when I used it with a bath mitt, I didn’t really find it truly exceptional. For me, the main thing I adored was the scent, and of course, the gorgeous, gorgeous labels of the full sized products. Other than that, I found it to be a dependable and nice whipped soap. I just think that there are other whipped soaps that I prefer, so other than the smell and appearance, I’m not sure if I would purchase this in a full size.

Whipped Soaps cost $10 to $12 for a full sized tub (5.5oz) and $3.25 to $4.50 for a sample tub (1.5oz).

Bubbling Scrub

Ingredients: SUGAR, GLYCERIN, ORYZA SATIVA (RICE) BRAN OIL, COCOS NUCIFERA (COCONUT) OIL, ORGANIC SUNFLOWER (HELIANTHUS ANNUS) OIL, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA BUTTER) FRUIT, SODIUM COCOYL ISETHIONATE, SODIUM LACTATE, SORBITOL, DISODIUM LAURYL SULFOSUCCINATE, STEARIC ACID, SODIUM CHLORIDE, PHENOXYETHANOL (AND) CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, TETRASODIUM EDTA, PROPRIETARY FRAGRANCE BLEND, OXIDE.

I picked up this bubbling scrub in Marshmallow Woods and was pretty excited by the scent description. Once again, I will review the scent of the scrub before getting down into the actual scrub.

Marshmallow Woods

Toasted Marshmallows, butterscotch, vanilla bean, woods, maple leaves, acorns.

This is a sweet, creamy and slightly powdery caramel scent with a distinct woody and nutty undertone. It reminded me a bit of butterscotch syrup when it first got on my skin and it was so om nommy yummy. The wood note comes out a lot more when in contact with water and somehow, there’s a bit of a plasticky edge to the scent. I wish it could have remained in its creamy buttery form. I do like the woodiness, but it somehow got a little bit artificial smelling after a while, which turned my smile upside down. :C

The scrub is wonderfully smooth in the tub, and it’s easy to scoop out with a finger. It feels a bit like a smooth, sugar paste and the sugar crystals are held together nicely. I like how totally not goopy this scrub is; I have an infernal fear of ants and till this day, sugar scrubs in the bathroom still make me a little nervous because I keep thinking that sugar bits are going to fall into corners and lure the detestable creatures.

This scrub is best used on damp skin where it effortlessly lathers up into a thin, slippery milkiness with some bubbles. This is a pretty exfoliating scrub; I felt pretty scrubbed at the end of it, as though all the dead bits had been coaxed off. The sugar crystals do melt after awhile, but they still pack a mean little punch. I find this a little too rough for daily usage, although it feel really effective as a scrub. My skin feels really smooth at the end of it, but I do feel a keen need to moisturize after. This is a hardworking little scrub and while I didn’t enjoy my particular choice of scent all that much, I think this could be a real treat if you find a scent you like.

Bubbling Scrubs cost $12 to $14.50 for a full sized tub (8oz) and $3.25 to $4.50 for a sample tub (1.5oz).

Lotion

Ingredients: WATER, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA BUTTER) FRUIT, ORYZA SATIVA (RICE) BRAN OIL, CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, GLYCERYL STEARATE (AND) PEG 100 STEARATE, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, GLYCERIN, BEHENYL ALCOHOL, CETYL ALCOHOL, DIMETHICONE, PHENOXYETHANOL (AND) CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, HYDROLYZED OATS, TOCOPHEROL, TETRASODIUM EDTA, XANTHAN GUM, CITRIC ACID, PROPRIETARY FRAGRANCE BLEND.

This was the only lotion sample available, which actually suited me to a T since Red Queens Rage was a scent that I wanted to try. I love Alice in Wonderland, and I love rose, so having two of them put together just make me go all grabby hands.

Red Queens Rage

Red Damask Roses, tempestuous clove, followed by smoky vanilla, frankincense and ylang ylang.

I will admit that I got a bit worried when I saw the frankincense note. Coming from an Asian culture, incense is too reminiscent of temple visits and ancestral altars to really be a preferred perfume choice. Thankfully, I didn’t get much incense out of this at all. This is mainly a soft and haunting blend of rose petals and a smokey swirl of ylang ylang. The vanilla adds a milky cloudiness to it, but it really remains in the background. I didn’t get the clove either, but I didn’t mind since clove can get a little iffy on me anyway. This feels like a classy lady’s perfume with a soft, comforting edge and I really liked it.

After testing the scrub, my skin was in need of some TLC, and that was exactly what I got out of this little delight of a lotion. The formula is milky and light and it just glides like satin over my skin, leaving a light sheen in its wake. I can literally feel my pores drinking this up eagerly. One thing that amazed me was just how quickly this absorbed; I have rather oily skin in a humid climate, which makes most creams, lotions and butter prone to leaving an oily residue. This leaves me all smooth and silky, without a hint of oil. The only visible sign that I’ve applied any lotion is a light glow on my skin. Amazing. I find this particularly delightful as a hand lotion as well because of the fact that I’m able to type and touch things almost immediately after application. The formula is a little thin, so if you’re used to something more rich and luxurious, you might not take to this at first, but this stuff really works. And with those labels, I’m pretty sure that I need to own a full sized tub. Or two. In the hopefully near future.

Lotions cost $10 to $14.50 for a full sized tub (5.5oz) and $3.75 for a sample tub (1.5oz).

Lip Balm

Ingredients: Virgin Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Sweet Almond Oil, Cocoa Butter, Avocado Oil, Carnauba and Candelila wax and Vitamin E. Lightly sweetened.

Caramel Embrace

Rich Caramel swirled in with Dark Chocolate and a dusting of Cinnamon

The flavor sounds incredibly decadent and delicious, doesn’t it? Sadly, it was also imaginary for me, because strangely enough, I found this lip balm to be pretty much unflavored. I guess I can detect just a slight suggestion of a slightly sour caramel scent (eek) but other than that, nothing. I was pretty disappointed since I really liked the description.

Thankfully, other than the scent, this lip balm is anything but a disappointment. It is extremely creamy and glides on like a dream. It’s definitely more balmy than oily, although I’d say that it’s more buttery than anything else. I found that just one swipe on the upper and lower lip was more than enough to leave a moisturizing and long lasting coat. The thin tube makes it really travel-friendly and I just love the label. I didn’t really find this sweetened at all, which I guess is a good thing because it also meant that I didn’t have the subconscious desire to lick my lips. This lip balm runs on the thick side and I enjoy applying this overnight. Due to the thickness, I don’t think I’d use this under a lippy though. I’ve found myself reaching for this quite a bit because I just enjoy how creamy it is. I’m very much tempted to try this in a different flavor because it just needs a delicious scent to raise it up to the divine.

Lip Balms cost $3.50 for a 0.7oz tube.

Perfume Oils

Ingredients: Contains coconut oil, rice bran oil and jojoba oil.

Candyman

Caramelized sugar, cocoa butter, cotton candy, white florals, oakmoss, precious woods, dark amber and raw honey.

Holy candy, this turned out a lot darker and sexier than I expected. The sugar takes a supportive note here and adds a sultry smoothness to the amber and wood. I have to admit that I’m not very sure what oakmoss is supposed to smell like, but I can detect a bit of greenness to the blend. It’s like going for a raunchy romp in the bushes behind a shack and drizzling some caramel syrup on yourself for a bit of fun. I have to try this on the Fox. This ends with a lovely and cozy milky note which is absolutely delicious. This smells like a deliciously and dangerously sweet gourmand cologne and I can picture it being sexy on both guys and girls.

Mad Hatter Tea Cakes

Russian tea cakes served with freshly brewed earl grey tea spiked with aged rum, marshmallows and sugar cookies.

A milky tea scent with an underlying swoosh of butter cakes and sweet rum. I was hoping for a stronger tea note, considering how potent the aroma of earl grey tea is supposed to be, but this has a creaminess to it that I do enjoy. The rum adds a gentle booziness to it, but it’s behaving like a gentleman and leaves the spotlight to the more innocent marshmallows that have a tinge of powdery fruitiness to them. At times, the scent threatens to go a little artificial plasticky, but then it reigns itself in. I really wish this scent was a little stronger and stuck around longer.

Marshmallow Lavender

Real Bulgarian Lavender essential oil swirled in clouds of marshmallow fluff with a hint of white chocolate.

I once baked a gorgeous batch of chocolate lavender shortbread cookies and wanted to dip my nose into the batter. This scent totally reminds me of that. The chocolate note in this adds a very interesting edge to this blend. I’ve tried a number of sweet lavender scents and most the time, the lavender sticks out like a purple elephant on my skin, but the chocolate adds this musky grounding which complements the lavender so perfectly that there’s a balance. I actually really like DB’s chocolate notes.

Mau Loa

Oahu night sky consisting of sweet plumeria, orchid lei, mai tai’s and salty ocean air.

This smells exactly like a tropical cocktail – fruity, sweet and boozey with a tartness that is surprisingly refreshing. The strongest note here is a citrusy, almost candy-like, mixture of orange and lime. The sea salt and tropical floral notes are hiding somewhere and I wish that they’d come out to play. There are times when the fruitiness gets dangerously close to smelling artificial, kinda like a syrupy version instead of juice from the real fruits. Then again, I’ve never exactly been that much of a fan of citrus scents. They remind me too much of washing liquids and cleaners. I was really more interested in the other three notes, but unfortunately, they’re non-existent on me.

Sweetheart

Black forest cake, a raspberry rose filling, chocolate liqueor, European black chocolate dusted with French cocao.

A bowl of dark chocolate pieces and raspberry candy. It’s a perculiar mix because it smells sweet, tart and slightly bitter all at the same time. The candy note is dominant in this, but there’s something darker and voluptuous hiding under the bubbly sweetness. I would actually like the chocolate and cake note to be stronger, but at present, this is a nice, almost mature kind of candy scent – if that even makes sense at all. A kind of plasticky note makes a very unwelcome appearance about 10 minutes into the scent, but thankfully, it simmers away into the background. This has the strongest silage and longevity out of all the samples by a mile.

On the whole, while I liked all of these, I don’t think I’d be upgrading any into a full sized bottle. Some of them have a knack of turning a bit synthetic smelling on my skin, and I think I’d rather go with one of my tried and tested perfume oil companies. Having said that, I did enjoy these. I might just pick up a lotion in either Marshmallow Lavender, Mad Hatter Tea Cakes or Candyman one day, since I really do love their lotion. We’ll see!

Perfume oils cost $15 to $26 for a full sized bottle (5ml) and $3.50 to $6.50 for a sample vial (1ml).

And now for something just a little bit iffy

Like I said, there were some bits of my experience that kinda bugged me a little. They aren’t anything major, but it did dampen my excitement a little. I’m probably nit-picking, but it did bother me a little, so in the spirit of reviewing my entire experience, here are some (rather embarrassing) things that dampened my smile.

Imperfect Labels on samples

First of all, some of the labels arrived in pretty imperfect condition. Some were crumpled, and others were rather badly misaligned. I’ve always been a nut for packaging, so it strikes me as a little slipshod when there are even the tiniest slips of quality control like this. Yes, they are samples, but they do still represent the company’s image. Not to mention that the samples are a little pricey for their size. I know that it’s what inside the packaging that really counts, but it did bug me a little. It’s probably just me.

Missing Freebies

Alright, alright, I feel like a smut for even including this in my review. I know it’s wrong to complain about the lack of a freebie, but remember how I mentioned earlier that it was listed in the shop announcement that a sample vial of the scent of the month would be included for orders above $25? I spent about $40 in total, and didn’t receive the sample. My best guess is that things got confused when my two orders got combined, but I did feel disappointed because I was looking forward to trying out that scent. Furthermore, I remember coming across a blog entry where she announced a special promotion to celebrate her 2000 etsy sales where a free lip balm would be included in orders above $25. Once again, I didn’t receive that, and when I tried to look for that blog entry again, I couldn’t find it.

I guess what bothers me is the fact that I thought I would be receiving these freebies so I felt a little crushed when I didn’t. I don’t normally expect a free sample unless it was stated by the shop that I would be receiving one. So yeah. It’s not a big deal, but it was a little disappointing.

A sudden lack of communication

It all started out so well. I sent an etsy convo about combining shipping for my two orders and DB replied so promptly and sweetly. She told me that she’d try her best to get it shipped out by Monday (I ordered on Thursday, May 8th). The reply was incredibly prompt too and I marveled at the level of customer service.

However, there was a long period of silence that followed. I decided to be patient despite the fact that she estimated that she could get my stuff shipped out on May 12th. On May 20th, I sent her a convo, asking politely if there was any update on my items since it actually appeared that I was able to leave a review for them on Etsy, but I hadn’t even received a shipping notice yet. I didn’t receive a response until June 5th, when my order was finally shipped out. She included a note on the Etsy receipt explaining that the delay was due to the fact that I had combined the two orders. I guess I felt a little puzzled since she initially told me that it would be possible to ship them out so much earlier. If she had explained from the start that combining the orders would cause a delay in shipping, I would have been better prepared for the wait.

To be honest, I didn’t really mind the waiting time that much, but the lack of communication did get to me. I wish she had taken the time to respond to my convo although I guess, maybe things were busy and it just slipped her mind. On the bright side, when she did get back to me, she was always perfectly sweet.

So yes, that were just three not-so-major things that I didn’t quite enjoy.

On the whole…



I think that Debaucherous Bath is worth trying out if you ever get a chance to do so. They certainly have a very extensive and yummy-sounding scent list, their lotion and lip balm are awesome and the packaging on the full sized products is just so gorgeous. I might be interested in putting in an order for a full sized lotion in the future, but it’s not particularly high on my priority list at the moment since there are many other companies that I want to try.