Now, Heal's has always been one of my stops when I am in London, so I made a point to get to their King's Road store. A South African friend and I started smelling all of the soaps until I could figure out what it was. Finally! I found what I was looking for... I Coloniali soap. Of course, I snapped up a couple of bars and brought them back to the States with me.
The soap has a woody, earthy, oriental scent, and washes beautifully. The bars almost look like wood with striations of pale and paler beige. I wash all of my cashmere sweaters with the soap and have had people stop me and ask about the scent. This is what the site says, translated from the Italian This soap’s Oriental fragrance, combined with Illipe Butter, becomes the core ingredient in the daily rite of deep cleansing, which begins with the body and ends with the soul. Illipe, found in Borneo, is most-renown for its softening quality. The first inhabitants of the island, the Dayaks, have been using butter made from Illipe Nuts for many centuries for therapeutic, cosmetic and nutritional purposes. To me, this soap is the equivalent of the book "I Married Adventure".
Althought I Coloniali is Italian-sounding and their website is entirely in Italian (and all in Flash), the parent company is J&E Atkinsons of London, Since 1799. There is absoloutely NO information about either of these companies that I can find. If you google I Coloniali, someone else has their site now. The link above is a truncated one that used to have English translations.I Coloniali is next to impossible to find in the US, and when I can find it's outrageously expensive ($25 for a small bar of soap). While searching on-line for this article, I found a special: five pieces of I Coloniali for $200!
If anyone ever sees it, let me know! Incredibly, I did find an I Coloniali candle at Tuesday Morning during Christmas. There were two of them and I was all ready to snatch them up, when the manager, who was checking me out, noticed that one of the boxes rattled. He checked, and the terra cotta bowl the candle was in was broken, so he wouldn't sell it to me for fear of a lawsuit! I swore I wouldn't, and when he wouldn't sell the second candle to me, I almost cried. I am almost out of my last bar and am bordering on panic. Should I really spend $700 to fly back to England to get another couple of bars? Of course, I would see friends and family, but it would really be to get the soap.
Now you have got me wanting that soap! shame on you :)
ReplyDeleteI will keep an eye out for it...for you and for me.
I love a good soap and will spend the $$$! If I see this in my travels I will certainly alert you.
ReplyDeleteYou have got to go to ebay right now!
ReplyDeletehttp://cgi.ebay.com/15-J-E-Atkinsons-I-Coloniali-Aromatic-Soap-1-7-oz_W0QQitemZ330206257461QQihZ014QQcategoryZ31755QQtcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Beach... I saw that, but the photo didn't look right. Also, my paypal is linked to my UK bank account and my address there! Thanks though! And thanks for visiting!
ReplyDeletefairfax - All you had to do was say - consider it done. Must be one hell of a soap, but I sincerely doubt it could cleanse this tarnished soul. Haaa!
ReplyDeleteW. is so sweet. I was going to suggest Ronda - All The Best - to send you some. I would love to try it myself now.
ReplyDeleteSounds devine! Now why would the manager not sell you the second candle?
ReplyDeleteThe manager wouldn't sell me the second candle because the crockery was broken and he thought I'd sue them if I cut myself on it. So incredibly stupid! I went to a couple of their other stores but they're all such a hodge-podge of mess that I couldn't find another candle. Seriously, I thought I was going to cry when he wouldn't let me buy the 2nd one. So pathetic!
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with this line, so thank you for the scoop (and I'll be on the look out for it too). Good ol' HOBAC to the rescue!!!
ReplyDelete(LOVE your header too!)
A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!
ReplyDeleteA good soap is hard to find... and what fun to be able to say "Oh, it's a scent from deepest, darkest Borneo.." Or "isn't it delicious? I've gone Borneo..."
ReplyDeletePerhaps a reader who's hopping the pond would be so gracious?
You've got me intrigued!
ReplyDeleteI will be on the lookout for this brand - sounds just wonderful!
ReplyDeletehi connor at pigtown!
ReplyDeletethis is mona- guest blogger over at maison21. i was recently tagged to reveal 7 unknown facts about myself by felicity over at all things bright and beautiful:
http://maison21.blogspot.com/2008/01/guest-blogger-gots-game.html
in turn, i had to tag 7 other doggies and kitties to do guest blogs too, revealing those 7 unknown facts about themselves, and then of course they have to do the same. since i don't know a lot of other doggies and kitties that might have blog access, i picked you! my dad apologizes profusely as he thinks this is nothing but a blog version of a chain letter, but i think it's fun. and they asked ME, not him, so i'm asking you, connor! but of course i understand if you are too busy napping to participate...
love,
mona
ps- my dad and i would very much like to smell this stuff- it sounds right up our alleys!
Now I want it too! If it smells good enough to ask a stranger, it must be fabulous.
ReplyDeleteGreetings, you have certainly piqued my interest. If you haven't discovered this source, Melburys carries it and will ship internationally. Good Luck!
ReplyDeletettp://www.melburys.co.uk/product/brand/63/3
I love this story! I love that you had the guts to ask a stranger in the first place, and that it became a favorite and now you're educating us all on it! If only the company knew the power of blogging...because I, too, want a bar now for myself!
ReplyDeleteAnd I've gone and bought a batch from an eBay vendor.... I hope it's the real red hot Tabasco. At about 33¢/bar, I figured I'd take a chance.
ReplyDeleteHi, I found your site searching for 'I Coloniali.' I became obsessed when I studied in Florence. I bought two 15 ml bottles of I Coloniali eau de toilette in the fragrance 'Sandalo & Sandalo' and it is absolutely amazing. It was about 6 euros there, but I have found it for incredibly high prices on the internet, but I just found some on ebay for a really good price, unfortunately the strike is on now and I feel kind of bad buying it! I agree that the situation of that company is incredibly hard to figure out, and all information on it I can find is in Italian, which I can for the most part understand, but when it is always in flash and hard to navigate sites, it gets pretty confusing. Anyway, my best advice is keep googling, and eBay seems like your best bet!
ReplyDeletei used to get this from e bubbles & then a site called inthebathroom. now i cant find it either, altho i still have an unused bar of soap & half a jar of massage body cream. im still looking too!
ReplyDeletehey, its me, anonymous again. i found a site with the creams & soap too.. go see HQHair.com, the soap is $15.00 US.. dont buy it all!
ReplyDeleteHi, I found your site whilst searching for "I Coloniali". I was given a tube of their velveting hand cream with rice bran oil for Christmas and it's been very hard to track down.
ReplyDeleteHowever, www.madmolly.co.uk sells this cream and may also sell the soap you like - and they ship overseas too.
Hope this helps.