An old favorite is back – Earl Grey Tea soap, made with a brew of finest Earl Grey and scented with bergamot. Those of you who have been with us since the beginning will recognize this soap as “Beguiling Bergamot”. We’ve taken its formula and made it even better – so this fall it’s making a comeback as Earl Grey Tea soap. It’s still 100% vegan and palm oil free and we hope you like the new edition of this tea-inspired classic!
This is a story about two of my loves – tea and soap – and their happy marriage.
The story starts back in the summer of 2011, when I – then living in the United States – went on vacation to Florida, where I’d never been before. I was staying with a friend who invited me over, and her husband picked me up at the airport. Coming from Washington, DC, which is yucky and humid in the summer, my first thought was that “they probably steep their breeze in their pine forests here” – it smelled so woodsy. My stay was great, I enjoyed the white sand and the bath temperature ocean water – my experience with the ocean is mostly limited to Southern California cold streams, so Florida was quite a contrast.
When I only had about a couple days left, I decided to go see this beautiful Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. When I say a museum, you are probably picturing a gray building with paintings and artifacts – but this was different. It was a whole grandiose park with the statue of David and fountains and a big pink-walled http://www.honeytraveler.com/pharmacy/ gallery and a dazzling mansion right on the waterfront of Sarasota Bay. You could spend all day there. There was also a large Italian style rose garden there, and they sold Rooibos tea with the rose petals collected from that garden in the gift shop. I brought a large tin of it with me back to DC.
Fast forward 2 years ahead, and here I am, relocated to Europe and living in London, doing photography, writing and making soap and perfumes. When going through my stash of teas recently, I discovered I still had some of that Rooibos tea! So I decided to make a batch of soap with a strong brew of that Florida Rooibos. Every time I look at the result (which you can see in the picture) I think of where it came from and how little things in our life can manifest themselves later on – sometimes transformed into something else completely, but still reminiscent of our personal journey.
For more pictures and the ingredients list see my Rooibos Tea in the shop section of my website.
Imagine this: you come across an interesting soap blog or video. It is all great up until they get to the coloring part. And then they say they use artificial dyes in their soap. Poof – I feel deflated. You go to the trouble of making handmade soap with natural ingredients, only to color it with something artificial.
Early into my soapmaking, I decided that MY soap was going to be as natural, gentle and skin-loving as possible. Maybe it’s because I am vegan, and tend to pay attention to what’s going onto my body as well as into it. Or maybe http://www.mindanews.com/buy-accutane/ it’s because of my background in the beauty industry and skincare, where I was made only too aware of how many people develop intolerance to fragrances, colorants and preservatives.
Regardless of how it came to be, I only add good stuff to the soaps I make. Clays are so fun to play with: like French Green Clay, or French Pink. The former is an excellent detoxifying agent for oily skin types, the latter – for dry, sensitive or mature. Both improve blood circulation, absorb oil and toxins and are rich in trace elements.
Hi, I’m Tanya
I create all natural perfume, vegan soap and simple, nourishing skincare. Ravenscourt Apothecary was created in 2013 in London shortly after I relocated to Europe from the United States. New in the UK, I was at a crossroads and craving a creative outlet. My heart was set on serving the world one bar of vegan soap and bottle of perfume at a time.
Today, I live in Devon, England with my husband Harry and our cat. When I’m not thinking of new natural fragrances, I can be found practicing yoga, baking sourdough bread or photographing my furry son (who is called Bergamot after my best-loved perfume note!)