Sunrise Showers – Lilac

“Norma Desmond”

I only recently discovered Sunrise Showers Soap, a local company with a very handmade looking label—in a kind of style that makes me think of one of those odd restaurants run by individuals who design their own menus to reflect their busy mental sensibility. I mean, it's not that extreme—it's nice, kind of homemade. This is more or less Milwaukee soap—their address is a little outside of town. I can list the ingredients, as they are minimal: olive oil, coconut oil, rice bran oil, castor oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, ground sandalwood, lilac fragrance oil, and sea salt. Sounds like you could eat it! They make a point of “No Palm Oil”—and I'll have to admit my ignorance on this issue. I looked it up, and a lot of companies and environmental minded people are avoiding palm oil products because of the palm oil industry's bad agricultural practices and destroying of rain forests. So I'll be more aware of this from now on. I realize it might look like, with all my soap reviews, that I'm a culprit, but I have to point out that I use all the soap I buy—down to the end; I'm not a soap reviewing conglomerate. I don't use any more soap than the average guy—I just use a different soap every time, and I write about every one. But in the future, I'll pay more attention. The soap also says it's “Gunk-Free”—and I have no idea what that means—I don't think it refers to Gunk, the band. Maybe it means it's free of what I often refer to as “chemical-y bullshit.” I'll guess that's what it means. Correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. Anyway, it seems to be! (free of chemical-y bullshit—see ingredients list, above).

I was really excited to get a lilac soap because lilac is one of my favorite flowers—when I was growing up, my parents had lilac bushes in the back yard. I've always loved that smell. Then later in life, I used to use Lilac Vegetal aftershave, which seems like a product from a century ago. I think I might go back to it, too, if I can still find any—I think it's still out there. This soap has a just beautiful appearance, with a white or cream color swirled with a deep and varied purple-brown. The light color is smooth and the dark color is rough textured. It's exciting, pleasing soap to handle. The lilac smell is unmistakable, not at all subtle—a pretty strong lilac smell. There is no mistaking it. The weird thing, though, is that I found it almost repulsive at first—the smell was kind of cloying and overwhelming to the point of being unpleasant. But I kept with it, and I got used to it, and the smell maybe mellowed a little, I'm not sure. Anyway, over time, I had no trouble using it and even got to enjoy it—but always in an odd way where it kept pushing me away, then drawing me back in, then rejecting me again. I've known people like that. I love it, but I could never love it.

Soap Review No. 83