Bath and Body Review: Tree and Sapling

I recently purchased a few items from Tree and Sapling.  It is an indie beauty shop found on Etsy that whips up soaps and scrubs for men and women.

The Quick Highlights:

• Turn Around Time - 19 days due to shipping mistake.
• Arrived in a box. Nice and thoughtful packaging. Not sloppy.
• Items nicely wrapped.
• Good customer service.
• Overall Impression: Indifferent

The Purchase:

4 oz. bar of Limited Edition Halloween Soap in Cat Scratch ($4.00)
4 oz. bar of Raspberry Fizz Soap Bar ($4.00)
4 oz. bar of Limited Edition Halloween Soap in Bad Apple ($4.00)
4 oz. bar of Chamomile and Peppermint French Market Soap ($4.00)
6.5 oz. Prickly Pear Salt Bar ($6.50)
4 oz. of Tropical Breeze Whipped Soap with sponge ($8.00)

My relationship with Tree and Sapling started on shaky grounds.  I used a Heartsy voucher and obviously, her store was slammed.  As a frequent Heartsy voucher user, I do not hold extending shipping times against vendors.  I get it.  Everyone is trying to get in on a deal.  The issue began when my order was marked shipped and after two weeks, it didn't arrive.  I sent Tree and Sapling a quick message via Etsy.  Come to find out, my order was marked shipped when it wasn't.  No biggie.  I wasn't in a rush to get my items, but it was a set back.  You simply cannot get too upset about that.  The important thing was Tree and Sapling corrected it immediately and included a sample of a sugar scrub.

I am not going to nit-pick over the packaging UNLESS it I feel it was done poorly.  I've read plenty of blogs that take pictures as they reveal the box, but that isn't me.  I'm more interested in the product, not the packaging details.  My package arrived in a well-packed box.  Nothing was broken.  It was filled with beautiful tissue paper.  It was a very impressive effort in packaging.

A group shot of my order.  Everything was packaged so beautifully.  I was really impressed with the time and effort the store put into packaging.

The Detailed Results:

Bad Apple was the first bar I tried.  This was part of the limited edition Halloween collection which means this is a scent she doesn't carry year round.  With that said, it is a beautiful bar of soap.  The glittery sparkle seems to be Tree and Sapling's trademark.  The scent was your typical apple scent.  Unfortunately, the experience as a whole was disappointing to me.  Nowhere in the literature does her soaps indicate whether their formation is for hand use or body use.  I tried to use it as a body soap and that was a big mistake.  This is clearly, in my opinion, hand soap only.  Maybe I should have known that, but I am no soap expert.  Overall, the soap was very drying on my skin.  It didn't really lather even with a wash cloth.  The scent did not linger on the skin at all.  After a few uses, I didn't smell the apple scent at all.  It will get your hands clean, but that was about all.  It is a basic soap that I would throw in a guest bathroom for looks.  Not function.   

I had purchased the chamomile and peppermint soap because Tree and Sapling advertised this soap as, "...a stress relieving scent to relax those overworked muscles.  The Chamomile is perfect for relaxing and the peppermint cools tired muscles.  This is the perfect soap to treat yourself before bed."  Aha, I thought!  I have a stressful job and I LOVE those relaxing soaps that exude a relaxing scent.  However, this soap did not deliver.  For me, it does not have a "relaxing" scent at all.  There was close to no peppermint scent at all.  It had a really earthy scent.  Bottom line, I didn't like the smell.  Typically, peppermint soaps have a tingling effect.  This did not deliver.  I wanted to love it, but I don't.  I will not be purchasing his soap again.  Beautiful packaging though.  Right?

The third product I had time to try is the Tropical Breeze Whipped Soap. When you open the jar, you are punched in the face with the scent of banana flavored Laffy Taffy.  There is a very faint touch of coconut.  The name is a bit deceptive.  I really found nothing tropical about this scent.  I would consider this scent strictly banana.  I was also a bit disappointed to find my jar only 3/4 of the way full.  I don't know if the product settled or melted down, but being the most expensive product I purchased, I was bummed.  The shope is filled with pictures of overflowing jars of product, and then I get a 3/4 filled jar.  It is a bit disappointing.  By far, this was the best product I received as far a lather goes.  This whipped soap transforms into a wonderful lather.  The scent will fill your shower while using it, but again.  Once you step out, you will smell no trace of it.  While, that may be fine for a lot of people, I don't see the point in spending $8.00 on a scented soap that doesn't at least leave a hint of scent behind.  Is that not the reason why we purchase scented soaps?  Out of the three types of soap I purchase, this is the most moisturizing and the closest to an actual body soap.

I have yet to use the salt bar, the raspberry fizz bar or the other Halloween bar.  I'll revise this review when I have had the chance.

Overall, customer service was good.  I want to love Tree and Sapling, but so far, I am indifferent.  I think I would use their products for decorative reasons, but nothing more than that.  In my opinion, the bar soaps didn't lather well, nor did they leave any hint of a scent.  The bar soaps pretty much stripped my skin despite the claims of being moisturizing.  The whipped soap is their premier product, in my opinion.  It has a nice lather and some moisturizing effect, but at $8.00, I think I can just stick to drug store brands.  Again, my overall rating is indifferent.  I neither love nor hate this Indie shop.  Their products are cute, great for decorative uses, good customer service but their soaps don't suit my needs.