Mama Bear's Neroli

**swinchen** · 03-07-2010, 07:15 PM

Has anyone experienced Mama Bear's Neroli soap? I am curious what it smells like. At $26 it is certainly one of (if not the most) expensive soap offered... and while I am fully realize that costing a lot doesn't ensure something will be fantastic... I am curious. I do not even know what Neroli smells like. It seems like it must be something special though.

**RILEY** · 03-07-2010, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Evbo

Neroli is completely & utterly different than regular orange. It's more of a floral than a citrus scent.

From Wikipedia:

Neroli oil is a plant oil similar in scent to bergamot produced from the blossom of the bitter orange tree (Citrus aurantium var. amara or Bigaradia).

The blossoms are gathered, usually by hand, in late April to early May. The oil is produced by water distillation, as the blossom is too fragile to endure steam distillation.

...Neroli has a refreshing and distinctive, spicy aroma with sweet and flowery notes. It is one of the most widely used floral oils in perfumery. It is a non-toxic, non-irritant, non-sensitizing, non-photo-toxic substance.

As with any other scent, some people love it & some hate it. To my nose it's not a sweet scent. It's more of a spicy, darker scent. I never thought of comparing it to Bergamot but now I think of it, it's not far off.

Neroli is also very expensive as many, many blossoms are needed to procure a small amount of oil.

Hope this helps!

I asked this question once & this was the excellent response Evbo offered up

**swinchen** · 03-07-2010, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by RILEY

I asked this question once & this was the excellent response Evbo offered up

Interesting. Did you end up trying it? If so what did you think?

**RILEY** · 03-07-2010, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by swinchen

Interesting. Did you end up trying it? If so what did you think?

Nope.
Personally, I would rather spend the money on 4 soaps by Mama Bear for the price of just one.

**kingfisher** · 03-08-2010, 01:38 PM

Never tried the soap. Neroli is a nice scent, though.

It's expensive only because it takes a lot of raw material to extract a tiny bit of essential oil.