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European
imported luxury soaps
A
Country by Country Guide |
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England:
Asquith & Somerset
 
Asquith
& Somerset was established in 1999 to bring appealing, innovative
and quality products to the market place at an affordable price.
Products
are distinguished by:
·
Distinctive packing and design (the company employs in-house artists)
· The latest formulations for skin care. The company employs
full-time chemists and a leading British Tricologist
· One fragrance house commits significant R&D Resources
in order to be the sold supplier to A&S
· Quality ingredients, at affordable prices
· Excellent market knowledge, to enable the company to bring
the latest and greatest products and scents to to their customers.
Portugal:
Castelbel
Located
deep in the Douro Valley of Northern Portugal, where the hills fall
steeply down to the water edge and the land is covered with sun-drenched
terraces of vines and olive groves, is Castelbel, a traditional
Portuguese company dedicated to the manufacture of soaps and home
fragrance products.
These products have captured the aromas, colors and ambiance of
the country, and their rich evocative fragrances nourish the soul
with the spirit of Portugal.
The soaps are produced following a 300-year old tradition of purity
and excellence. Soaps are tripled milled, the finest available.
Exquisite fragrances are combined with highet quality olive, palm
and coconut oils to make these soaps truly beneficial to the skin.
Gently cleaning and luxuriously moisturizing, these soaps are crafted
with their customers’ well-being in mind.
France: Panier
des Sens & Marseille soaps
 
Panier des
Sens
Panier
des Sens uses the finest ingredients known to them for all their
products. They have never tested their products on animals. All
product safety tests that we conduct are done in laboratory environments
to ensure maximum safety.
Ingredients
are the single most important component of Panier des Sens products.
Ingredients are not chosen on their esthetic merit - only ingredients
that are truly beneficial to the skin are selected. Minimal preservatives
are used in the formulations. Their intent is to utilize only the
gentlest and most efficacious ingredients and that is why a great
number of natural ingredients are used. Products are always formulated
with sensitive skin in mind.
We
encourage you to read all product labels. The more you know about
ingredients the better you will appreciate Panier des Sens products.
The company refrains from hyperbole and makes no false claims. On
the contrary, they strive to uphold the standards of honesty, fairness,
and integrity that have come to characterize Panier des Sens and
to gain the confidence of friends around the world. Panier des Sens
has gained their position based on their reputation and on recommendation
and they prefer to reach customers through the quality of their
formulations.
All
products are based on essential oils and natural ingredients. No
cosmetic product can be "all" natural, it would need a
preservative system at the very least to discourage the growth of
bacteria and to ensure a long shelf life. Panier des Sens does take
their ingredients from nature whenever they can. If it does not
exist in nature or if the laboratory can do it better, then they
will use a synthetic ingredient.
-
Marseille
soaps
See
our comprehensive Marseille
Soap Guide
Italy: L’Amande
and Mediterranean Spa
-
L’Amande
 
In 1956,
the ancient Gavarry soapworks, founded in the second half of the
18th Century in the town of La Ciotat, took over the brand name
L’Amande. They also bought other minor brands of one of the
oldest soap works of Marseille, the Huilerie & Savonnerie de
L’Amande, of F.I.S.A.M. (Fabbricazione Italiana della Savonnerie
Amande di Marsiglia) of Vallecrosia, in the province of Imperia.
The
Savonnerie de L'Amande itself was taken over. This means not only
the passage of the brand names to Gavarry, but also the original
recipes of all the products. At the same time in 1951 in Marseille,
the Huilerie & Savonnerie of L’Amande ceases his activity
after the take-over..
Back
in the XIX century, L’Amande was one of the most important
brands
of the time-honoured "Garcin & Rabattu" Marseilles
soapworks.
As
time passed the brand grew more and more important, and with it
the great esteem of its clientele. In 1884 the brand was registered
with the Marseilles Chamber of Commerce and gave its name to the
company, and so "Huilerie & Savonnerie de L'Amande"
was born, a company destined to become one of the most important
soap factories during the golden years of Marseilles soap-making
tradition (the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX
century).
Today
L'Amande is one of the five oldest soap brands in the world.
This
rich history and reputation is why the company exclusively use the
best oils, fragrances and essences from Italy with specific olfactive
and phytocosmetic qualities: olive oil - Mediterranean gold –
and the oil of sweet almonds, the inspiration for the brand name;
Broom, Strawberry tree, Mulberry, typical plants of the maquis;
Honeysuckle and Hawthorn which perfume country lanes and cover the
typical dry walls; Pittosporum, which has become an integral part
of the Riviera landscape. These and many other plants give l’Amande
products the fragrance and emotions of a land where the sea breeze
blends with the warm scents, some floral others decidedly fruity,
of a Nature generous to this land in every season, where plants,
aromatic herbs and flowers fill paths, hillsides and even reefs.
Mediterranean Spa
Mediterranean
Spa is a new range of natural beauty treatments and spa rituals
that truly leave the skin feeling refreshed, the body toned and
the mind relaxed. The products incorporate the use of botanicals,
sea salts and spa water.
Extra
GENTLE and all VEGETABLE soaps are made with PALM and COCONUT oils
for a gentle cleansing action. They develop soft foam that encourages
massage and leaves your skin soft, velvety and incredibly perfumed.
The bars are a generous size and last a long time.
Spain: Maria
Evora
The
legend of Maria Evora from Rias Bajas, a dassling place of light
and water, rich in Spanish beautiy. Maria and her sisters, famous
for their patinated skin and deep black eyes in which one could
see the presence of the sea. Her first love was the sea, and where
she and her sisters gathered heady sea salts and dark myrtle and
carob fruit. They would bathe together in the rich aroma of these
soothing blends. Her cameo image and mineral bath formula found
in each precious jabon. (Spanish for soap)
Swedish
soaps
We offer
the famous Lanolin-Agg-Tval soaps, the egg white facial soap made
by Victoria Fabric of Helsinborg, Sweden. These soaps have been
part of healthy skincare in Sweden for generations. Originally prepared
by Swedish women in the home, an eggwhite facial was a weekly tradition
ot maintain pure, glowing skin. This practice was applied to soaps
by Victoria at the turn of the 20th century by introducing the Victoria
‘Lanolin-Agg Tval’.
In addition,
our famous Childrens’ Soaps by Kala include: Be Good, Be Nice,
Good Morning and Good night. With a legend and fairytale on each
box and a small cord to hang them as ornaments, they will delight
young and not-so young children.
Seda France
Seda
France Japanese Quince, a favorite of Oprah. Click on the picture
to see our whole lovely Seda France range of products.
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