Santa Maria Novella Milky Soap

I bought this soap on the great review here and I would definitely agree with everything said. I'm a big SMN fan and love trying their products despite the price. I think the only negative for me about this soap is that it feels a little bit too soft at times. Otherwise I think it's terrific.

Simply put, this is one of the finest soaps made, and I would use it regularly if it weren't so darned expensive. Unfortunately, its price is a near-fatal liability for me, as it will be for many. I'll review by criterion.

Price: Here's the Achilles heel right at the beginning. Current retail price for this is $16 for a fairly small 100g (3.5 ounce) bar. There is no nice way to put this, so I'll just say it: the price is obscene. I would have scored it a zero, except that the soap is of exceedingly high quality, and some points are warranted for getting such quality for the money one pays.

Helpful hint: As far as I can tell, the SMN Men's soaps use the same milk soap base as their Milky soaps, and cost the same price for a 120g bar, so they're a better deal, relatively speaking. The scents are completely different from the Milky soap line, however.

Quality: Top notch. SMN makes their own soaps in their own factory using high quality ingredients. These bars just ooze craftsmanship. They are triple milled and quite hard. The scent remains as strong at the end of a bar's life as it was at the time it came out of the wrapper. Note to tallow lovers: this soap is tallow based at the current time.

Latherability: Outstanding - thick, rich and creamy. Bath soap lather doesn't get any better - although it has been equaled in a few instances.

Moisturzing: Here's where the soap really shines. SMN Milky soaps are made with real whole milk, rather than dehydrated milk solids. I'm not expert enough in soap making to know if that should make a difference, but I can feel a big difference comparing this soap to other SMN soaps that don't contain milk. My skin is left feeling clean and soft at the same time. It is truly luxurious.

Scent: I've only tried two scents in this line, Carnation and fragrance free. The fragrance free lists no fragrance on the ingredients list. Nevertheless, it is the best smelling unscented soap I've ever sniffed. There is actually a super-light, clean scent to the bar - very pleasant. It won't last one second past the time you rinse it off; it's just enough to keep the soap from having a typical unscented soap-base smell.

The Carnation is an acquired taste. I have to admit, when I first smelled it, I didn't like it. It was too strong, too heavy, too sweet, too...scented. But it grew on me over several weeks of repeated sniffing before I finally used it, and I have say I now find it absolutely intoxicating - almost painfully so, since I'm almost out of it and I realize that to keep smelling it, I'll have to shell out its ridiculously high price. This is one soap that will leave a scent on your skin after you've showered.

Efficacy: It cleans. It moisturizes. It smells great. 10.

Packaging: Each bar is individually wrapped in a very nice, vintage-type paper wrapper. The only reason I downgraded it is because other SMN soaps come in nice boxes suitable for wrapping.

SMN Milky soaps are in the luxury class of luxury classes. If you have money to spend, and like the best of the best, then this is one worth trying and continuing to use. Having said that, there are many other excellent soaps available for a lot less cash. As nice as this soap is, about the only way I can see it warranting its price tag is if a given person really, really loves the soap or one of the unique scents, and feels price is no object in order to obtain it.