The Top Line: IT’S A BUY! We love these soaps, they are beautiful, zero-waste and smell heavenly. However, Splendor’s sandlewood rose coconut oil soaps are definitely on the more expensive side — but we think it’s worth it to use for the relaxing scent and the palm oil free status! Keep in mind though, that the most expensive bar of soap is still cheaper than bottled liquid soap — and plastic free.

The Breakdown:

• Cost & Products: $13.99 for 4 bars (total of 10.5oz)

• How ‘Clean’ Is This? Very! No palm oil (which is a major cause of deforestation), instead, if it made of food-grade coconut oil instead. Simple ingredients, and no plastic. We like!

• Packaging: Basic cardboard! No plastic.

• Purchasing & Shipping: We purchased through Amazon (it’s where we discovered it), but may purchase directly from the Splendor site in the future!

• Good to know: Made in lovely Santa Barbara.

• What’s Your Impact? Zero plastic, simple ingredients, no chemicals!

The Experience

Context: We have been trying various bar soaps now that we have our lovely zero-waste sisal soap holders, and learned about how terrible Palm Oil is for the platform — a leading cause of deforestation — and a problem even when it is labeled as “sustainable palm oil”! We came across Splendor’s beautiful soaps on Amazon when searching for soaps without palm oil (there aren’t so many options)!

• We LOVE the rose and sandalwood scent — it smells heavenly. Relaxes as your senses immediately.

• Our skin felt soft after — no tight feeling that you sometimes get with soap.

• Lathers well and washes off easily.

The Cost

We compared Splendor’s coconut oil soap with other popular bar soap brands — Pre de Provence, Toms of Maine, Dove, Yardley, Irish Spring, Whole Foods Triple Milled Soap and more. Unfortunately, except for Cleancult’s bar soap (which we also reviewed, and looove), there aren’t many options that exclude palm oil from their ingredients list.

Money Report: Splendor is definitely on the more expensive side — but it might be worth it to use for the scent and the palm oil free status! Keep in mind though, that the most expensive bar of soap is still cheaper than bottled liquid soap — and plastic free.

The Good:

✔ Simple ingredients: Coconut oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Rose and Sandalwood Essential Oils, Rosemary Leaf, Alkanet Root, and Spirulina

✔ If you are a rose and sandalwood fan — these soaps smell HEAVENLY

✔ Palm oil free

✔ Handmade in small batches in the USA

✔ Vegan with Food-grade coconut oil

✔ No Alcohol, No Parabens, No Sulfates, No Soy

✔ No GMO's, Gluten-Free, No Phthalates

✔ No artificial colors

✔ Not tested on animals

✔ No plastic

The Bad:

✗ We’ve got no complaints other than it being a tad on the expensive side!

Our Recommendation:

IT’S A BUY! We love these soaps, they are beautiful, zero-waste and smell heavenly. However, Splendor’s sandlewood rose coconut oil soaps are definitely on the more expensive side — but we think it’s worth it to use for the relaxing scent and the palm oil free status! Keep in mind though, that the most expensive bar of soap is still cheaper than bottled liquid soap — and plastic free.

We're on a mission to reduce our personal carbon footprint with small, hopefully easy, changes in our home to fight against climate change. This means we're looking for products that may be all natural, ideally zero waste, reusable or compostable -- while still being affordable!