Patisserie de Bain Cupcake Soap Orange Crush

Really orangey scent. Fabric flower. One delighted daughter.

The concept of this is clever but simple. It’s a swirl of soap in a normal paper cupcake wrapper, with a paper flower on top. As a stand-alone item in your bathroom, it doesn’t look all that exciting – even before the paper parts come off and the contours of the soap wear smooth as you use it – but whilst still in its box it does look rather attractive and is a great idea for a small gift.Or it would be. My experience suggests the packaging needs attention. It looks as if it was Amazon who decided the whole item needed to be dropped in a polythene bag and given a dab of sellotape. Fair enough (sometimes it will be despatched in company with things that the customer won’t want smelling of soap), but the result isn’t as attractive as if the manufacturer wrapped it properly in cellophane. Secondly, Amazon despatched it in one of their smaller boxes, similar to the ones they use for books – and the cardboard packaging of my soap got partially crushed, making it much less attractive as a gift.Furthermore, in transit the soap cupcake managed to turn itself almost upside-down inside its box. So if it is bought as a gift it is necessary to open the polythene wrapper and carefully open the cardboard display box too (which, without damaging it, is not easy) to set the cake of soap right way up.Another thing: the total package may weigh 120g (as advertised), but the soap itself is much closer to 100g. It doesn’t matter all that much, since this is unlikely to be bought primarily as soap, but it was a surprise to me at least that it isn’t the soap that weighs 120g. (Normal bars of soap range from 100g to 125g, depending on the brand.)But it's a nice soap and the smell is pleasant.

I adore citrus smells, they are so very mouth-watering, and of course, if you have ever been in the vicinity of any growing tree with its ripe and ripening fruit, there comes an association of summer, blue skies, happiness. This orange coloured, orange scented soap will be a cheery soap in midwinter, I have no doubt! I don't like huge cakes of soap, as however lovely the fragrance, I'm wishing for another if the soap is a large one. So the medium size of this suits me fine.The cupcake shape, as opposed to a smoother, more hand friendly traditional one, of course spells 'fun gift'. What stops that, at least by mail order, is the fact that the soap rolls about inside the cardboard 'cake box', and arrives bruised and with some of its edges bashed off. And that is before Amazon's own book carton type packing which the soap arrives in, forces the cake box to be badly dented.My advice would be - if you want this to use for yourself, fine, but don't get this mail-order if your intention is to give this otherwise lovely soap as a gift. Best try and find a local stockist and buy 'in real'My final bit of crit is I'm not a huge fan of glitter on soaps - I'm washing my hands and body clean and have no need to wash MORE to remove glitter!

BETTER=======Some products, no actually many products look much better in their photos rather than in real life. This little beauty is more beautiful in the flesh.BEAUTIFULLY PACKAGED=====================It's the type that's ideal as a gift. I'm not one of those people who says "I'm not influenced by the packaging," because I know we all are. However, when you pop this out, not only does it look pretty it smells... well it smells wonderful.SMELL======A pleasant citrus orangey smell. strong but not over powering.LOOKS======It resembles a fancy cake. Almost too nice to use.PROS=====Looks niceSmells niceWashes wellExcellent gift ideaMade in the UKHand madeCONS=====None so far. I've ordered two more.

The mother and daughter team of specialists in ‘English Rose’ beauty treatments (my own borrowed expression) are to be complimented on the orange and lemon ‘cup cakes’ that they have offered me for trial via the UK Vine. They look like cup cakes, they smell deliciously of orange and lemon. Indeed they look and smell good enough to eat, so be careful about leaving them where infants might reach them and try to do exactly that.My daughter is my product tester for items of this kind, and she has nothing but praise for the two luxury soaps I asked her to test. Come to that neither has her own daughter (aged 5), so the market for these Gift Bath Soaps clearly takes in children as well as adults. The Rose mother-and-daughter team obviously take pride in their attention to detail too, but the soaps may get very slightly shaken up in the post. They will make a very good gift, but the packaging requires care.With that minor proviso, excellent, really excellent.

When getting a novelty soap that is meant to smell of something, it is important that it actually smells of it. Rose & Co produce great quality beauty items so you can rest assured that the Orange soap cake smells like orange, it's delicious. The soap itself is also supercute as it shaped like a cupcake. It is a decent size so will last long, but not quite looking the same!The only real issue is that the packaging is not really robust enough for the product, especially it is arriving by post. The thin card box cannot handle much pressure, whilst the cake itself rattles around a little and could get damaged in transit. It is a shame to have to punish a wonderful item, not for itself, but what it is carried in, but if you are planning to give one of these as a gift you want to be reassured that it will arrive in a decent state at the other end.