Roger & Gallet Cedrat-Citron soap

I bought this soap for 4 euros in Reims, France, while visiting friends earlier this month. Cedrat is French for Citron, a type of citrus tree that yields a lemon-like fruit. (Confusingly, "citron" in French means "lemon" in English.)

The soap smells very woodsy and lemony, bordering on Pine Sol, but fresh nonetheless. It starts out with hits of cedar and pine which quickly parlay into lemons; less lemon zest and more lemon juice, or how lemon curd smells. It's more of a masculine scent than I'm used to, and while its scent lingered in my bathroom for a few hours, it only left a light fragrance on my body. The soap itself is light yellow, as big as my palm and about an inch thick. It has a great lather without being too drying or giving my skin an overly squeaky-clean feeling.

Roger & Gallet soaps are long lasting and have a 100% vegetal base. The company created the first round soap; according to their website, up until 1879 all soaps were square or rectangle shaped.

I'm a little obsessed with orange blossom right now, so after using this soap yesterday I wore Neroli by Annick Goutal (review to follow).

*photo courtesy of beautyexclusive.com