I love picking out perfume for gift giving, especially for a loved one. But it’s not always appropriate or particularly easy, so beautiful soaps, especially ones that are handmade from all natural ingredients have become my go-to gift as of late. Jackson Sage soaps fulfill these requirements and they are exceptional from their presentation to their performance, and are 100% botanical.

As you can see from the above photo, it would be a joy to give or receive one (or two, or three) of these lovely gems. Before I get to reviewing the smells and the suds, I’d like to draw your attention to the gorgeous paper in which these bars are delicately wrapped. They are all handmade, and some hand-printed, and all selected by Jackson Sage manager, Erika Holden, to complement each soap’s scent. The Yum Soap’s paper is sturdy and aubergine in color with pink graphic Japanese-style flowers that appear to be painted on its surface. Rhassoul and Lavender Soap has a softer dusty rose paper with delicate gold butterflies flitting around. These are just two examples of course, and I can’t bear to throw the decorative encasings away even though the bars are mere slivers in my shower.

So how’s a bar of Yum Soap supposed to smell? I was hoping for yummy of course, and I had very high expectations due to the description: white and dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and peppermint. Sounds like it should smell like one of my all time favorite treats, a Peppermint Pattie doesn’t it? It did and it was fabulous. I loved every chocolate-minty minute with my Yum Soap. From the moment I opened the box and saw the charming paper to the last sudsy lather, the yumminess did not disappoint. This particular bar would make a superb holiday gift for pretty much anyone on your list.

My second place favorites go to Rhassoul and Lavender Soap and Reflection Soap. The Rhassoul and Lavender Soap is dense and feels weighty in your hand. The rhassoul clay is a detoxifier which is balanced by the moisturizing effects of shea butter. The lavender scent is mild, but the suds are plentiful. For a daily body soap, this would be my pick. The bar of Reflection Soap is like a piece of art. Broad dark brown bands run across the soap and it’s intriguing to look at, like holding a mini-Robert Motherwell in your hand. Looking at the ingredients, it must be the castor oil that gives the dark stripes their color. Reflection also has a subtle lavender scent with an added touch of rosemary and milled grape seeds for exfoliation. It too creates a gorgeous lather like the others and the exfoliating action was a pleasant surprise for me, but might not be for everyone.

The last bar I tried was Island Escape. While this bar of soap ranks high among my overall soap experiences, of the four Jackson Sage soaps, this came in 3rd place since there was a tie for 2nd. The essential oils are listed as patchouli, ylang ylang, and sweet orange. To be blunt, ylang and sweet orange could not compete with patchouli. I’m not saying they were strong-armed by Ms. Patch, as Island Escape is a very nicely mannered patchouli-scented soap, but there’s not so much of the aforementioned essential oils. So if you love yourself some patchouli in the shower, put this in your shopping cart.

As for those dry hands you might have, check out the nurturing ingredients that await you in Jackson Sage’s Soften Up Salve: Calendula Oil, St. John’s Wort Oil, Plantain Oil, Beeswax, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Lecithin (Soy Based), Seabuckthorn Berry Oil, Vitamin E, and Rosemary Oil Extract. I’ve been using it on my hands at night when they feel exceptionally dry, and if my boys were still in diapers, I’d be using it on their bottoms as well. My rough elbows will soon feel the comforting effects of Soften Up Salve and the next time I have a scar that needs healing, on it goes. This salve has a grassy, haylike scent that is also rich with a bitter cocoa-like quality. I find it compelling and warm. It melts into the skin after a few minutes, so even though I use it at night, I would never hesitate to apply it during the day before leaving the house. This too would make a nice gift for the holidays as most people are in need of a soothing balm this time of year.

In the interest of keeping this post a reasonable length, I’ll briefly mention the Recovery Cream which is a lovely (and effective) shea butter based, all-purpose cream. It’s thick in texture and rapidly absorbing. You can read more about it here and check out the five different scent offerings. I sampled the lavender and adored its light, refreshing fragrance.

Right now is a great time to explore the Jackson Sage line, as they have been kind enough to extend a Buy-One-Get-One-Free for Scent Hive readers! Simply put in the promotion code “ScentHive1009″  in the comments at check-out and you will get a second product for free.  This offer will be good until Friday November 13th.

Also, leave a comment and you will be entered for a giveaway to win a Soften Up Salve.

Extra entries:

-subscribe to Scent Hive’s email (See right hand column. If you already subscribe, please mention it in your comment).

-follow Scent Hive on Twitter

-follow Jackson Sage on Twitter, Facebook or sign up for their emails.

Please let me know in your comment if you did one of the extras. Thanks! You have until Wednesday November 4th at 9pm PST to enter. We have our winner!

Posted by ~Trish

Disclosure: Samples from the company’s PR agency were provided for this review. The opinons in this review are my own. I was not financially compensated for this review or any other.