First, I offer my apologies for being gone so long. I have been wrapped up in a few other things, but have made a list of things that I want to share with you. So expect more things coming soon!
Last weekend, my fiancé and I traveled to Charlottesville, VA to go the City Market. The City Market is a place for vendors around the area to come and set up and they are open on Saturdays from 7am to noon. This is where we came upon Made by Mieka. Her soaps are here: www.madebymieka.com
So, Mieka told me that her soaps were made from 95% olive oil and other natural ingredients. My initial thought was, “Wow, these soaps must be really soft then…” She offers a regular sized bar for $6 (4 oz.), but we purchased 2 2oz. bars for $7.
The two bars that I have are the Shea Butter (with lavender and eucalyptus) and the Honey & Oats (with honey, oatmeal and shea butter). I have only tried the Honey & Oats thus far, so that is what I will tell you about.
Honey & Oats ingredients: saponified extra virgin olive oil, purified water, saponified coconut oil, oats, honey, shea butter. I have been using this bar on my body for about a week now. The good: This bar is very moisturizing! I am skeptical of some bar soaps that hype up all of these great ingredients and then they just dry your skin out anyway. Second, this creates a nice, silky lather that I like. This bar is good for me in the summer, I don’t have to put on any sort of moisturizer afterwards. The true test will be taking it with me back to PA and seeing how it does in the winter months.
The bad: If you like the smell of honey and are expecting it, you won’t find it in this bar. In addition, there are a lot of oats in this bar, and it is pretty scratchy! I thought that this would be a great exfoliating bar, but have found more scratches than I really want to have.
My overall thought is that I am neutral on this particular bar. I can really feel when I am giving myself scratches and I don’t like that. But, the moisturizing qualities are a plus. I want to try other bars from her line (particularly the Skin Deep bar) and when I do, I will let you all know.
-mdp
Inside and Out 
Just found this review… Thank you!! I wonder how the soap stood up to your PA winter test… did they fare well?
I also thought the oats were a bit much in the Honey & Oats bars and have recently reduced the amount I use to make them. If you come back to Charlottesville, stop by and let me know what you think!
Best, Mieka
Mieka,
Your soaps are awesome, I love the simplicity of them! They stood up to the PA winter test with flying colors, but I must say that I preferred the Creamy Clay and Shea Butter soaps over the Honey & Oats (simply because I scratch up my calves something fierce in the winter and I felt like i was adding to that using the H&O bar, but I must try to reformulated one). Are you no longer making your bars with clay? We are planning a trip to Charlottesville, I will stop by!
Yay! Very proud to hear they passed the test!
I discontinued the clay soaps because they were my slowest sellers 😦 and I was trying to simplify (so now I make only 6 different types), but still have a couple other types that have a smooth texture.
Looking forward to seeing you in C’ville — tomorrow is our first market day of the season!
Best,
Mieka