Hello makeupholics..Hope you all are enjoying the weekend…Here in this post,  I want to share with you all my experience using one of the handmade soaps I purchased from a Facebook Group – CameliasNaturalAndHandmadeBathAndBodyTreats.

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If you see makeupholicworld reviews/posts; You won’t be able to find a lot of products with a negative review, reason is simple- I usually read a lot of reviews before making a purchase and If out of the reviews i read, 60% is negative, I never buy that particular product.  For this particular product, I have never seen any reviews and so, I decided to give it a try…

I placed order for 2 soaps. one for me, and one for my sister in law. I prebooked the soap and Camelia was really very prompt in replying to my queries as well as messaging me when the soap was ready.

Price Details as per her mail
two rose soap = 149+149 =298

shipping+packing=  115 /-
Total = 413
She asked me to send 400 INR as a total.
As this is a prebooking one, She asked me to deposit 40% of the total that is 165 initially which I did and the rest, I transferred when she messaged me that the soaps are ready… She send it through India Post and I received it after a day of shipment..
Here’s how the soaps came; in a small jar; Great packaging! Soaps came secured without any damage!
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I was not interested in receiving any freebies, So,  I told her in advance that I don’t need any. 

You can read the comment, where  ibooked the item here below

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Please note that which I asked for’s specifications as per the picture above – Smells just like Freshly plucked Roses from garden !!
Made with natural ingredients like Milk, Honey ,Lots of Coconut Oil and Vit -E this is so moisturizing and mild for skin..Here

She had told me that, she is making a new batch of soap and it is supposed to be in rose color. not like the ones in pictures…It was ok for me, But, She never mentioned that the new batch soaps will contain an additional ingredient –  “sandalwood powder” which I am not a fan of  🙁 A huge disappointment. But, never mind!

I decided to try one soap before I gift the second one 🙂 I am so glad that I tried it…

My first impressions- On opening the jar, I got a smell (not of roses) but something else…I hate that smell to the core..2nd disappointment; A soap which I expected to smell like roses was completely different. I used it for my body bath. It lathers well. But I was getting that not so rosey smell all the time  I used it and I was not very comfortable with the smell. I am a person who is very peculiar about bath and body products. and the only products which you can see me using more regularly is TBS, Loccitane ,Nyassa Soaps & Gia bath and body soaps…Now, the worst part of the soap is : IT MADE MY SOFT SKIN FLAKY, ROUGH AND EXTREMELY DRY

I had to put a lot of moisturiser after using this. I used it not once, but continuously for four days (till the soap was over- twice a day f0r body bath). See the pictures of the usage of the soap as well as my hands after using this. One soap if used twice a day hardly lasts for 5 days usage…A total wastage of money!

See the before and after pictures of using this soap………

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This melts crazilyand leave a rosey tint on my soap case because of which I kept it on the plastic it came in….You can see the present status of the soap and in the picture above(right side) shows you how it accentuated dryness on my skin. I am extremely unhappy and upset with the purchase and I don’t recommend this to my readers…

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Now, this incident made me peep into her page to see what sort of ingredients she used for making this soap.

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The ingredients- Virgin Coconut Oil – I am from Kerala and I know how original Virgin Coconut oil Smells like and Virgin Coconut oil ,IF THE ORIGINAL IS USED- is supposed to be nourishing and moisturizing for the body. Sandalwood Powder, Rose Fragrance Oil etc should be original if original is used- they why don’t it smells like rose. Why is it making my skin dry….These questions are unanswered..

I saw this post posted on her wall. Here she have mentioned, She bought all essential oils from a local shop.

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I agree that all handmade soaps take a lot of effort and when your customers are ready to pay for the soap using their hard earned money. Its equally important for the seller to select her soap supplies not from a local shop where one is not sure of what are the ingredients in it…One must really invest on soap supplies.. I have used handmade soaps from another seller as well and I never experienced any problem with those…

Here I am not blaming the seller. But, this post is to throw light to something that is really important that benefits everyone.

@camelia bath and body works…If you are reading this- Please do make sure you change your soap suppliers/ atleast test your products on people with different skin types to see if the product actually suits them.

Now my views in general
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handmade product making is an art and it requires lot of  hard work, dedication and its not about how many products you make. Even if you make just one product which is super perfect. People will remember you and will approach you to get your magic product.

So my 2 cents for every person is that – Be sure about what you  are doing. Extremely sure about the supplies you use to make it..Customers are your assets and so be customer centric rather than money minded.

Here, my experience was super bad and I will never ever purchase from her again!

Rating : 2/5 ;  [+1 perfect packaging  +1 prompt email/messages ]

Note: I am not affiliated with any one. All the opinion stated above are from my personal experience of using the product. It might have suited someone else..But not me…My opinion is unbiased and I am loyal to my readers.  This was my second purchase from Camelia bath and body…I had tried a rose and honey milk soap from them in the past…But, I stopped using it as it was not impressing me to what i expected. It sort of gave me an oil bath feel…Also smell didn’t impress me much…I had high expectations about this order…But, again a huge disappointment…

Do you Recommend this to your readers: Not at all!

All comments/criticisms are welcomed…lets not make my blog a battle ground…And pretty please- Don’t ping me to ask about this..All my experiences using the product is mentioned above..I have nothing more to say!


renjianooj

Entrepreneur, Makeup geek, Shopaholic, Dreamer, Love product photography. Passionate about makeup and living naturally. Welcome to my little world of secrets!

39 Comments

shweta sarawgi · May 25, 2014 at 11:26 am

Respect !! awesome review ! i better steer clear of this brand !

    makeupholicworld · May 25, 2014 at 11:27 am

    Thanks a lot Shweta 🙂 Its my honest review…I not just tried the product once…But, I finished one full bar completely before coming to a conclusion 🙂

NidsGautam · May 25, 2014 at 11:27 am

omg… so very detailed review u have given renjo.. such a bad product it turned out to be n finishing off in 5 days :O
even i love handmade soaps… used many till date and always wass super impressed with the pretty pieces worth the money paid..
hope this post helps other readers and even the soap maker n she can make due changes to the product 🙂

    makeupholicworld · May 25, 2014 at 11:31 am

    yeah 🙂 thats my whole point..let my readers know about the product and this is a learning for the seller too…:)

Preethi Prasadi · May 25, 2014 at 11:32 am

Thats really a honest review renji..we bloggers are always here to help our readers..loved ur review..hope ur review helps many more ppl..

Rayconnect · May 25, 2014 at 11:45 am

you know thrashing a product can ve a negative impact in some aspects & its quite a bold step you took, writing this review but I respect the way how you wrote this review & justified every bit of it. Instead of hatred all I could see was HONESTY

Camelia bhaskar · May 25, 2014 at 11:57 am

ok i read your thoughts , i do want a honest opinion of customers ,so to improve !
also i am taking yopur feedback and review positively !!i apreciate it !!
as
per u said i will write to u every thing that u felt bad about me … i
would like to make them more harder , they melt surely and
you
cant expect handmade soaps to be more harder like conventional soaps , i
will write all the reasons why to you !!hope you too would take them
positively !!

i really use only virgin coconut oil and virgin olive oil

and you should know that after soaps get cured fully like for about 1
month or 1.5 months there is no just noo coconut or any other oil or
herb smell or scent !!
just
the essential oil and fragrance oil scents come through with a mild
coconut smell sometimes !! i have coconut oil that smells ready heavy
while i use it , so i know its a good qaulity oil !!

i use a blend of essential oils and fragrance oils , essential
oils do-not give a good scent at all they are for skin benefits only !!
maximum of the people don’t like coconut scents in soap i have experience about it !!
so
i do use blend of both !!if you like papaya chocolate soaps there is
absolutely no essential oil of papaya and chocolate … they are also
fragrance oils …
they are purchased from reputed shops here and are tested on me my family my friends before sending to any one who purchased.
i take feedback from many people before selling them …
it ok that you didn’t like melting but do u know other soap
makers use titanium dioxide and stearic acid to make soaps harder
??
thats a bad bad chemical ,, and i would never ever use them and the
only chemical i have to use is “lye ” its inevitable to make soaps
without them .. …

scents are personal choices ,, some do feel they smell
like roses some don’t like them … !! i am sorry if you did not like them …if you want pure rose
smell and that is only available as perfume chemicals for
body perfumes and we cant add that in soaps.. that reacts badly with skin !!!

as
per the moisturizing question , i get many people tell that my soaps
are much more moisturizing then any other conventional soaps , but if
you say they were drying i still will try to improve them…

    makeupholicworld · May 25, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    thanks for your reply…Whatever explanation you give…I personally experienced worst from the soap. Maybe people who have super sensitive skin like mine should stay away from your soap. As i mentioned in the post, I use handmade soaps from others too and I never faced any problems…How can you guarantee that the suppliers from where you get the products are selling the real products and not fake ones…

    makeupholicworld · May 25, 2014 at 12:34 pm

    First, Please don’t talk about what others put in their soaps. The review is about your soap not anyone else’s. ….

    Second, white color is achieved by using titanium dioxide which is used in all make up products. There is a certain micron that has to be used…

    You should do proper research first. Sunscreens main ingredient is titanium dioxide. No one has died of it….

    If you use fragrance oils YOU CANNOT CALL A SOAP NATURAL that is misleading. …

    If you have not used stearic acid or anything to harden the soap why even talking about it….

    I have also researched a lot about soap making.

    >>A balance of hard and soft oils are needed to make a good bar which is balanced.

    >>It should give adequate lather.

    >>Should cleanse perfectly without drying the skin and should moisturize without having to use a lotion after that.

    Your soaps may not have a balance of oils.

Madhubani · May 25, 2014 at 12:45 pm

even i am very disappointed with my buy..specially the size,..and the design of the lemon bar… :/

Dollie Solanki · May 25, 2014 at 12:52 pm

All products work differently on different skin types. I’m glad that you were honest enough to write exactly how it worked (or rather didn’t work) on your skin as well as the facts about there being no rose fragrance in the soap etc.

Nisha · May 25, 2014 at 12:58 pm

Oh the difference is clearly visible! I was thinking that handmade soaps are so delicate on the skin. But we have to be careful while selecting the seller

    makeupholicworld · May 25, 2014 at 1:23 pm

    yeah…Funniest part is..she don’t agree to it… She is attacking me in Facebook for asking her about all these…that female should really learn to respect others views

      Camelia bhaskar · May 25, 2014 at 1:25 pm

      hey i have already agreed to you , i already said if it made you feel drying i will try to improve , why are you misleading people about me not saying the things i said ??? this is very bad i guess you should grow up !!

        Camelia bhaskar · May 25, 2014 at 1:33 pm

        and do i need to learn respecting others view or you need to learn how to call others or Comment on them with respect ?? can you show me any comment that makes me disrespecting you or not agreeing with you??

          makeupholicworld · May 25, 2014 at 1:39 pm

          @camelia….Do you have a USFDA approval ? @Do you have a certification
          @just by a fan page how can u claim that all of your products are natural…
          Learn how to grow from your mistakes….When someone tell you that there is a problem …try to understand and improve rather than attacking the person by posting irrelevant status messages…!

        makeupholicworld · May 25, 2014 at 1:36 pm

        @camelia….This is in reply to your latest post which you made! You only told me u dont wanan fight and respect my point of view and wil ltry to improve your soaps in future…No please don’t spam my page…

Sayantini Bhattacharya · May 25, 2014 at 1:21 pm

Thanks a lot for your honest review, Renji! I’d refrain myself from using their products in future.

Samannita Modak · May 25, 2014 at 1:25 pm

Hi , i used the same soap and it really lasts only 4 days so i told her that if the quantity is bit more it will be better else i didnt face any prob as i have oily skin but the soap comparison to price is really small where as another brand (i would not mention the name but people can guess that ) selling soaps that are luxury in shape , design and size and they might be bit costly but each soaps lasts atleast 3 weeks if pieces are used ….so i can say i m also little disappointed by the size but she told me she will improve the size so let’s see ….:) between thanks for ur honest reviews

    makeupholicworld · May 25, 2014 at 1:27 pm

    thanks for your review Samannita 🙂

      Samannita Modak · May 25, 2014 at 1:27 pm

      🙂

    Camelia bhaskar · May 25, 2014 at 1:47 pm

    Hiii Sammnita , as i made use of good products thats why the cost got pricey but i am making sure i can come up with bugger soaps and that costs good for people 🙂

    as i just started up i didnot get much time to search for more retailers who may supply the same item for a bit less cost 🙂 i will search the market soon and will come up with bigger bars 🙂

Aparajita Sengupta · May 25, 2014 at 2:19 pm

🙁 🙁 i gifted this to my mom :'( she hasn’t used it yet though

Beauty Frontline · May 25, 2014 at 4:32 pm

OMG!! It’s really shocking..Thank you so much for this honest review dear

Revathy HnB · May 25, 2014 at 4:50 pm

awww…finishing off in a matter of days is worrisome for the money & not good on the skin is really upsetting!

i wud not agree if anybody calls this a hatred review… can see only facts n honest opinion…. well done!

Style Those Nails · May 26, 2014 at 2:23 pm

ty for sharing this , we need to be careful. sorry for your loss of money and moisture off ur skin

BeautynBuzz · May 28, 2014 at 2:19 pm

I feel glad whenever I see an “honest” review which is hard to come by these days….TFS Renji 🙂 <3

Zee Bee · June 1, 2014 at 9:55 am

Wow, ..what a soap story! I read this review while traipsing through someone else’s blog.
Commercial soaps including the so called natural ones from TBS which the reviewer claims lasts long and has not caused imminent dryness add PEG, (polyethylene glycol) and sometimes other emollients.
if you make only lye soaps without any kind of additives,its not going to be super moisturising becoz duh,…lye, soaps clean the body ,strip oil from the u soaps arepper surface of the skin.That is what soaps are supposed to do.
The blogger’s acidic comment on the maker having US FDA approvals……no manufacture in India has FDA approval..…FDA works only in America.
So blogger, all India made products that you use are out of FDA jurisdiction.
This crap about ‘natural’ products…when TBS ,lush have pretty commercial ingredients are gaining ground become uninformed bloggers like you refuse to study the ingredients and refuse to acknowledged that using the word ‘natural’ is just gimmicky.
Its simple really,…..if the bottle has ingredients lists its not natural…..especially if SLES,CAB,PEG are even remotely mentioned.

    makeupholicworld · August 24, 2014 at 9:23 pm

    Hello, Thanks for all the info, I have used several handmade products, especially soaps- from Gia Bath and Body, Sand for Soapaholics etc. None of their products caused any dryness to my skin and they didnt melt like icecream…Also, For your kind info: I have mnetioned this is just an experience which I had…I never said anywhere in my blog that, this product is bad for everyone…It was really crappy and I own the right to shout out my experience …..Also, There are a lot of products with negative reviews on my blog..all those might be good for someone else… Usually, I buy skincare products after choosing a lot and also after reading a lot of reviews. For this particular soap…no reviews were mentioned and so I decided to take risk…Here, my experience was worst and I dont know why people like you have a problem… All that I wrote is based on my personal experience..I never said all TBS products are natural neither do Loccitane…I always study the ingredients before buying anything.. So, before making unwanted comments about someones blog post…go teach urself some common ethics and learn to speak or respect others….

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