Consonant 100% Organic Olive Oil Body Soap & Kona Kare Essensual Lip Butter Balm

I am so very behind on my reviews and with my upcoming move, I’m only going to get further behind. But at some point I will get caught up. Hopefully.

While packing I came across a couple of packages for two items that I received in my Beauty Board swag bag and that I’ve recently used up so I figured I should write up their reviews before I forget my experiences with these products. So here you go.

Consonant 100% Organic Olive Oil Body Soap

Consonant describes this soap, made with 10% unsaponified certified organic olive oil, as “…like no soap you have used before.” I disagree; this soap reminds me of pretty much every other organic, olive oil bar soap that I’ve ever tried. But I do agree with Consonant’s claim that, “Your skin will be left feeling clean but not stripped of its natural oils.”

This slippery, “gooey” soap did do a great job of cleaning my skin and leaving it soft and smooth feeling (even on days when I forgot to apply moisturizer). It washed off easily and had a light, clean smell. There was minimal lather but that makes sense since besides olive oil, the only other ingredients in this product are water and glycerin.

I’m generally not a fan of bar soaps because I find them messy to use but Consonant packages it bar soaps with a slice of loofah that you’re to use as a soap rack. I found that the loofah not only worked as a soap rack but, because the loofah fused with the one side of the bar, also as a sort of “handle.” This meant that I didn’t have to touch the actual bar of soap and that made me quite happy because I don’t like to touch wet soap; yes, I’m weird.


Kona Kare Essensual Lip Butter Balm – The Original One

This lip balm immediately caught my eye while I was wandering around the Beauty Board because it’s made with “authentic Monoi de Tahiti Oil.” As a big fan of French Polynesia, and as someone familiar with the moisturizing properties of that particular ingredient, I was really excited to try this product out.

And overall, it’s pretty good. While the packaging is just your standard lip balm tube, the product inside of it is softer and smoother than a lot of balms out there. It felt super-moisturizing and nourishing on my lips and I think it did help to improve their condition. While not exactly a glossy product, it did leave my lips with a slight shine and worked nicely under lip colour products.

Unfortunately, this balm is very heat sensitive (Monoi oil-containing products generally are) and it sort of melted in my pocket so I didn’t get to use all of it. Too bad because it’s good stuff.

Will I buy these products: I’m not going to go out of my way to buy either of these products but I could see myself picking either up if I happened to stumble across them while in a shopping mood.

Should you buy these products: If you’re into organic bar soaps, do check out Consonant and what it had to offer. It’s a great, local brand that’s offering quality products that I think will please a lot of people. And at $12 for one bar, it’s very well priced.

As for the lip balm, well, according to its website, Kona Kare is in the process of “re-branding” itself and isn’t currently selling any products. But I suspect that the lip balm will be back in some form and as long as it contains at least 10% Monoi de Tahiti oil, it’s worth picking up if you have dry skin and aren’t in the habit of keeping your lip balm in your pant pockets.