Antica Farmacista Bar Soap, Grapefruit

Would be 5 stars but price kills that star.

All the Antica soaps I’ve tried so far had the same qualities, they all lathered nicely and rinsed off cleanly, none of them left any oily or waxy feeling residue on my skin and each bar lasted about two to three weeks with once a day, full body use. The only way they were different from each other was their scent. A lot of soaps and shampoos smell one way in their wrapper or bottle and smell differently when you start washing with them in the shower, these Antica soaps are also like that. Don’t necessarily let my reviews discourage you from trying any of these soaps, I would recommend trying at least one or two of them just to see if you like them. Overall I would give these soaps about a 3.7 star rating, I would give them a little higher rating if they weren’t so expensive. Orange blossom, Lilac, & Jasmine (FIORI d’ARANCIO, LILLÁ e GELSOMINO) This was the first one I tried and it’s entirely a perfume scent. It was a little under the limit of what I could tolerate in a perfume smell, it wasn’t overwhelming. It was like several different, mildly perfumy flowers combined into one complex flower perfume smell. There also might be a little citrus in there. Even though it’s perfumy (and I don’t care for perfume scents), I didn’t mind this one because it wasn’t too strong. Coriander, Lotus & Cucumber (CORIANDOLO,FIORI DI LOTO e CENTRIOLO) This one is definitely citrus. Lemon was about all I could smell though it wasn’t overwhelming. Years ago someone gave me a Crabtree & Evelyn cucumber soap that was very mild and had a great cucumber smell, the wrapper for this Antica soap smells like that C&E cucumber soap, but when I used this Antica soap in the shower I couldn’t smell any of that cucumber, all I could smell was lemon. The scent for this one didn’t seem natural smelling, it had a more generic, artificial smell. The closest thing I can think of to compare it too is Lemon Pledge furniture polish. It wasn’t bad, I just expected (and maybe expect) something more natural smelling. Prosecco This one is a combination of perfume and orange citrus. It started out with a (too strong for me) perfume smell that overwhelmed the citrus smell but after a few uses the perfume faded somewhat and allowed more of the citrus smell to come out. After the perfume smell faded it combined with the citrus to make a new scent that was more complex, a little spicy, kind of like lavender mixed with orange citrus. I don’t care for lavender scented soaps and the perfume was too strong for me so I didn’t care for this one as much. <o> update 6/25/17 <o> Grapefruit This one smells like a rose (flower) with some citrus added. It’s a good balance too, you can smell both of them and neither scent overwhelms the other and together the overall scent is not too strong. The first few times I used this one the scent was normal strength, then it faded to almost no scent at all for several washes, then the scent came back to normal strength for the rest of the bar. I don’t know why it did that but my guess is they did not mix the aroma chemicals thoroughly enough in this batch of soaps and, judging from the question someone (above) asked me this might not be uncommon. Of the four soaps I’ve tried so far from Antica, I like this one the most. It’s very nice.

Alright, why did I buy this soap? because this was the scent offered "Scent: Lemon, Verbena & Cedar"Now what I got, was a cute little bar of soap.. 4oz, that had a fine lather. Which is good. You want a soapthat lather's well.The scent of the soap, unfortunately, had no hints of Lemon.. or Cedar really. It did have a heavy floral smell.Not the smell of clean, I like.Here's a quote from the back of the packaging:"Notes of tart lemon, orange and lemon grass" So you read this and expect a lemony or citrus smell."Mingle with notes of fresh Italian verbena" Now apparently 'Verbena' is a flowering plant, or different flowering plants. And this must be where the heavy floral smell comes from."Subtle white florals and cedarwood follow"Now this soap really is decent soap as far as getting you clean goes. But it's not a smell, as a man that I like. It just has too much of a Potpourri (This word did not spell like I thought it would, glad for google lol) smell to it.So TL:DR IF YOU LIKE POTPOURRI buy this soap.

This soap is fabulous. First off it is packaged so beautifully, you almost don't want to open it. I was a bit skeptical about spending $10.00 for such a small square of soap, but it was worth it. This lathers up richly and is very moisturizing . I chose the grapefruit scent and it was pleasing, citrusy,invigorating and not overpowering. I would definitely recommend this for a luxury treat. I am going to try the other scents offered by this brand. With this purchase a small bottle of lotion was included. The lotion is luxurious! Absorbs right into the skin without being greasy and filmy and with a fresh smell. The grapefruit scent seems to be unisex. This brand is exceptional. Thanks Amazon!

Wow, what a disappointment - this soap has absolutely NO smell to it! With a price of $10 for a very small bar I thought it would be better than it is! Plus the reviews on it are not bad and I wonder what soap they bought, certainly not the same as I did. I bought the 'ala moana' scent and from the description of the smell it's supposed to have one. I didn't think something like soap would have an expiration date but I can't think of another reason for the poor quality and steep price. I would not recommend this to anyone who wants soap to have a nice fragrance - and definitely not the one I purchased. The only decent comment I have is that the bar came wrapped in paper so I can be sure that no one else used it.