Shub-Niggurath Soap

[ravenscanary]

SHUB-NIGGURATH SOAP
A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices.

The soap: absolutely smooth, sheer, silken lather.

When I received my half-bar from a circle earlier this week, I was very excited about Shub. It smelled divine, and was powerful enough for me to smell across the room. Shub was also the only variant of the old soaps I'd ever tried, so I was curious to compare the two.

As usual with Villianess Soaps, it lathered and moisturized quite well for bar soap, and smelled fabulous in the shower. While using it, I think the scent was, of course, similar to that of the old soap, but creamier. I think the base soap ingredients are simply superior, and while they don't dull the scent of the perfume, they make it a bit richer, less sharp.

However, the scent was completely gone after I got out of the shower. While the Embalming Fluid soap left a lovely clean green tea and citrus scent on my skin for the rest of the day, I can't detect even the faintest hint of Shub-scent on my skin. Very disappointing. My skin does eat the Shub perfume a bit, so this may be a skin chemistry issue rather than one with the soap.

[ajansuz]

This is the first soap I've ever tried from the trading post, so I have no base of comparison to other products. First of all, the look of this soap is a sensual treat all its own, rich, deep cinnamon brown with a light dusting of bronze across the top. It was so pretty I just admired it for a while after unwrapping it. The scent is incredibly rich and spicy, lots of resinous base tones. I have extremely hard water, and I still got a decent, silky lather from the soap. I can only imagine how lovely this would be in softer water.

 

Unlike the previous reviewer, this scent lingers on both me and my husband for hours after the shower, even in hot, sticky weather. It's not such a feminine scent that he won't use it. He's very picky about things like that. I've actually had to "fight" him over this soap, as he uses way more than is needed in one shower just because he likes it so much. I don't shower with this soap at night anymore, because the first time I did that, the scent left on me was so powerful I couldn't get to sleep. Maybe it's all the ginger, which is very energizing.

 

Not only will I be buying more of this, it has inspired me to buy the oil, too. It's addictive!

 

EDIT: Last week we finally used up this bar. This is one of the only bars of soap I have ever had where I fanatically used it down to the last tiny sliver. The scent was still there, from start to finish. This soap held up very well to heavy use and frequent showers. It never got soft and gooey like some vegetable soaps can. I feel like it was well worth every penny.

Edited June 29, 2010 by DarkSinestra

[Suusje]

I've never tried Shub in any way or form, so I have no clue what it's supposed to smell like. But all I smell is some spices and soap. Plain soap. I'm a bit disappointed. I sort of wonder if there's something wrong with my bar.....

[AmandaArcana]

I think I made a mistake not using this right away 'cause when I opened it I could hardly smell anything. If I run it under hot water I get some cinnamon and ginger...but I don't think it smells like regular Shub. I think I let it sit in the cupboard too long before it used it.

[mxtine]

I didn't know there was a review topic for Shub soap.

 

It's the first soap I have tried from BPTP. I was expecting it to be spicy like the perfume that I have a decant of, but it was more cologney. If I sniff it up close I can smell the spices. It stains my soap dish brownish red...even the lather is colored.

It doesn't leave any fragrance on my skin after the shower.

[gingiemay]

This has the lightest scent of any of the BPTP soaps I have tried. It's less like Shub the perfume oil, but it does have a pleasant gingery/spicy scent. It doesn't last on my skin after drying off.

[msbcozad]

Shub smells good in the shower. It lathers about as well as the other Villainess/BPTP soaps I've tried and doesn't dry out my skin like regular bar soap. The scent is very faint on my skin when the shower is over.

[dementia_divine]

I received this as an extra with one of my Trading Post orders, and I used up the bar last month. It was used as a hand soap.

 

While the perfume oil seems to be a gingerbread with a lemon zest kind of scent (well, at least, that's how it smells on the boy -- I haven't actually tried Shub on myself yet), the soap seems to be heavier on the resins and ginger itself (as opposed to gingerbread). As a result, the scent seems to be a lot more masculine in soap form, and I don't get any hint of lemon from it (like I do from the perfume).

 

The soap lathered well and lasted for a fairly long time. (However, the color in the soap tends to get all over the soap dispenser and the sink when it is in use, so I wouldn't recommend this one as a hand soap.)

 

Although I probably wouldn't purchase a soap in this particular scent, I look forward to trying more Trading Post/Villainess soaps in the future.

[zankoku_zen]

This review is for the unused bar. The scent is what I'd term the Villainess soap blend with generous spices and mild ginger. Given the age of this bar of soap, the smell is actually pretty strong. I have found that while bars of soap seem to compact over time, probably due to loss of water weight (its like a prolonged curing as the shrink foil shows that the original size would have been - there's millimeter loss, but it is noticeable enough). I have found time to have some effect on the scent potency, but not necessarily on the lathering or any of the other soap uses. I have actually enjoyed all of the bars of the aged bars of soap I've used from Villainess. It's like fine wine.

 

I am not sure this smells like Shub the perfume, but it does smell spice and pleasant in its own way.