Random Product Review! Bentley's Body Bars in Creosote!

By Kristin

Purchased

One of my favorite people ever sent me a couple soaps from one of her local indies, Bentley's Body Bars. It's a cute etsy shop based in Arizona with a variety of soaps but one in particular is specially themed for the area. Cresote is meant to be reminiscent of the desert.

A Sonoran Desert Exclusive! Infused with the leaves of the Creosote bush, hand picked locally myself, this is a specialty soap that smells like our desert after a rain

I can't say anything about how accurate the scent is since my experience in Arizona was more in the air conditioned zones but the friend who gave me the soap told me that it smelled dead on. She's spent enough time out there to fry half a million eggs so I trust her judgement.

Ingredients: Olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, Creosote leaves

The bar came in a stiff plastic wrap, open on the ends but the air exposure didn't fade the scent and the bar still smelled strongly by the time it got to me.

I don't believe that I've had any experiences with Cresote leaves so I can't comment on how strongly the scent is compared to the natural leaf but there is something here that I can't quite pin down a description for. It's kind of sweetly grassy but there's also a creamy note that I suspect comes from the cocoa butter.

In use, the bar is nicely moisturizing and doesn't leave my hands feeling dry. Compared to other olive oil based soaps, this bar doesn't leave me with a lingering slickness and is easy to rinse off without leaving a residue. The ingredients list is pretty basic but I think that Bentley's has done a good job with the proportions. 

It lathers nicely though the bar is on the stiff side and the leaves pop out after using it for a little - leaving some leafy bits out for exfoliation. They do break off pretty easily and aren't harsh on the hands but you can definitely tell that there's something there. It does say on the listing though, "Don't be alarmed if you come across tiny twigs or leaves. It's just a little bit of Tucson embedded in a lovely bar of soap." The leaves are picked by the owner and embedded in the soap in both crushed and whole form.

Purchase Link

The soap makes me want to head to Arizona and take a good sniff for comparison's sake. I probably won't get there any time soon but I'll post an update if the chance arises! Have any of you smelled cresote leaves before? What did you think?