Clean Paws: February 2012

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Review: Con*Tact Caffeine - Applejack/Apple Orchard

When it comes to scents, I happen to really love more fruity ones. On top of that, I prefer scents that have a more natural scent over those that are a sort of 'bakery' scent. Give me fresh apples over apple pie.

And that's exactly what Applejack/Apple Orchard soap provides.

With art from Anuvia, the soap itself is orange and topped with gold glitter mica.

Photo taken on my iPhone. It looks a LOT less yellow in person.

Photo taken from http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Applejack/Gallery

This is one of the soaps that you can smell in the box before you even take it out of the box. I can't begin to describe how appley it is. The scent itself is described as a 'combination of 'Cameo, McIntosh, Red Delicious, Fuji, and Granny Smith apples.' It shows. It really does. If you're not a huge apple fan, this isn't the soap for you. What's different from this soap in comparison to other apple scents I'm familiar with is that this is such a clean, fresh and natural scent. It's not super sweet and there's just enough tartness. While some apple scents are mainly geared for the fall, this soap is perfect for year round. While its a very strong scent on the bar itself, the scent that is left on your skin is light and sweet.

Plus you're now caffeinated enough to go apple bucking all day!

Applejack/Apple Orchard can be purchased individually here: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-applejack-apple-orchard
Or as part of the Mane 6 Pack here: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-mane-6-pack

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Review: Con*Tact Caffeine - Rainbow Dash/Energy

I'll be one of the first to say it: I live off of caffeine. I drink a lot of coffee, energy drinks, tea, and I use caffeinated soap. It gives me that extra boost of energy I need to get through my day.

Energy is a great name for a caffeinated soap. And it has Rainbow Dash! The fastest, most energetic out of the Mane 6 Ponies.

The art was created by Anuvia. The bar itself is bright blue and is topped with gold glitter, red, green and blue mica. It's actually pretty neat when you put the soap under water for the first time and watch all the colors blend together. It's just as colorful as the pony herself.


The Soap (Photo taken with my iPhone)

Rainbow Dash (Taken from http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Rainbow_Dash)

Con*Tact describes the scent as 'stimulating blend of citrus, including grapefruit, lemon and lime, with hints of fresh cucumber and jasmine, and a touch of pineapple, blackberry and champagne.'
They're all there, even the cucumber and jasmine which I didn't pick up the first time I smelled it.

Smell it a few time and it's there.

For those you who thinks this sounds a little too complex, here's a more basic overview.

See that?

It smells like it.

I first smelled this scent when I got P.L.U.R. (same exact scent) back in November. I fell in love with it right away (I just ordered a den warmer in Energy/P.L.U.R) so that my room will smell just as yummy. Personally, I'm a huge fan of citrus scents and this one basically encompassed them all. The pineapple, blackberry and hint of champagne cut the citrus some so it's not that sort of bitter, sour citrus. The scent stays on your skin afterwords and lingers for a good while. It's a light, fresh, crisp, sweet, fruity citrus scent that is sure to perk you up and help keep your energy going throughout the day.

Plus, you know, you'll just be 20% cooler.

Rainbow Dash/Energy can be ordered individually here: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-rainbow-dash-energy
Or as part of the Mane 6 pack here: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-mane-6-pack

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Review: Con*Tact Caffeine - Pinkie Pie / Cupcake

While today's soap review was originally going to be Rainbow Dash/Energy, I had a bit of a crummy day and wanted to take a moment to honor Ponyville's most fun-loving, smile-causing, treat-baking pony.

So Pinkie Pie's Cupcake soap it was!

This is the pinkest soap I've ever used. The bar itself is pink and its topped off with pink mica and silver glitter. The art was drawn by Anuvia.


Soap (Photo taken with my iPhone)


Image taken from http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Pinkie_Pie

They truly captured how pink she is

The scent itself smells like a buttercream cupcake. It's extremely sweet, it's sugary, its cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes. To break it down even more, it smells like a very rich vanilla flavouring of boxed cake mix with a tiny hint of maple. It's a really strong scent, almost too sweet, however it only left a light cupcakey scent on my skin after I showered while I thought it would leave a much stronger scent.

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of it, but then again I'm never really a huge fan with scents of baked goods used in soaps. Again, this blog is about my own personal preference. I'm sure there are a ton of individuals who have used it and who absolutely love it! It works great for the character and is certainly a unique scent!

It definitely put a smile on my face. :)

You can purchase Pinkie Pie/Cupcake individually here: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-pinkie-pie-cupcake
or as part of the 'Mane 6 Pack' here: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-mane-6-pack

Review: Con*Tact Caffeine - Rarity/Fresh Roses

Two updates in one day? What is this madness?!

Well technically I tested Twilight Sparkle last night so that can be yesterday's update ;).

It's Valentine's Day! At least it was a few hours ago. It was a day of cards, hearts, chocolates, and flowers, especially roses! So what soap should I have used as I made my way through the Mane Six set?

Obviously Rarity's Fresh Roses!

The soap's label has art by Anuvia, who did the art for all of the MLP soaps. The bar itself is white with silver glitter and purple mica on top. It screams out Rarity!


Soap (Photo taken with my iPhone)

Rarity (Photo taken from http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Rarity)

I don't think that I need to go into in depth details to describe the scent of this soap because it's so simplistic. This is rose scented soap and it smells amazing. It's not an artificial or perfumey rose scent but, instead, actually smells like a fresh bouquet of roses. It's not a subtle scent, nor is it super strong. It's at a perfect middle ground and the scent of freshly cut roses lingers on your skin after use. The scent is just as elegant as the character that inspired it. It's fresh, it's pleasant, it's an overall wonderful product.

While I love Con*Tact's soaps that are an exquisite blend of various fragrances, their singule scented soaps (ex: just fresh roses here versus all the wonderful scents in Twilight Sparkle) are amazing as well. Don't be put off by its simplicity. If you're looking for a rose scented soap, Con*Tact really nailed it here.

Rarity's Fresh Roses can be bought individually here: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-rarity-fresh-roses
or in the Mane Six Pack here: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-mane-6-pack

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Review: Con*Tact Caffeine - Twilight Sparkle/Black Magic

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned the magic of Con*Tact Caffeine's Twilight Sparkle/Black Magic soap!

I'll admit that I love My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Every Saturday morning I wait until it's uploaded onto YouTube then head down to the dining hall at school and watch it on my iPad over a bowl of Lucky Charms. Needless to say, I was so excited when Con*Tact came out with My Little Pony soaps. I was lucky to be able to score a "Mane 6" Pack for my birthday (thank you very much, Rourkie!).

The first one that I tried was Twilight Sparkle / Black Magic, 'mane-ly' (hah. See what I did there?) due to the fact that my boyfriend bought one for himself and I thought it would be cute if we tried them together.

Yeah, I'm that kind of a girlfriend. LDRs aren't easy and I like little connection things like sharing soap experiences over 3000 miles.

I also wanted to grab his opinion on it.

The soap itself is a purple bar, topped with purple mica with a thin stip of pink mica down the side to look like Twilight's mane.

Soap (picture taken on my iPhone)

Mane (Taken from http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Twilight_Sparkle)

The label was created by the extremely talented Anuvia

The scents in the soap are a pretty magical blend, consisting of sandalwood, ylang ylang, and patchouli with base notes of baby powder and vanilla. Sandalwood alone is a very grounding scent and one of my favorites. Ylang ylang on its own is an exotic floral scent but blended in, it didn't make the soap smell flowery. I disagree slightly with the 'base note' description of the powder and found it to be more prevalent than I thought it would be. That was the first scent that I picked up once I opened it. The vanilla scent can be likened to more of a natural vanilla scent, rather than something such as vanilla icing. While I would certainly label it a bit musky, I haven't found it to be truly masculine, though compared to the rest of the Mane 6 set, it's the most masculine. Boyfriend, who isn't a huge fan of patchouli but still enjoyed the product, found that the scent lingered on his skin after use but wasn't extremely strong. He would certainly use it again. He did want to point out that, in comparison to the other caffeinated soaps from Con*Tact that he's tried, this one gave him the greatest jolt. We realize that there can be a few explanations for this but he thought it should be worth mentioning.

While it's a 'magical' scent brought out by the ylang ylang and sandalwood, it's also a very clean scent, brought out more by the scent of powder. Overall, I really enjoyed this soap.

Your faithful student (and clean wuffie!)
Dakota Bailey

You can purchase the Twilight Sparkle/Black Magic Soap either here individually: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-twilight-sparkle-black-magic
or in the Mane Six Pack: http://contactcaffeine.bigcartel.com/product/mlp-mane-6-pack

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