Please can we all admit that on occasion, when we’ve been gifted and subsequently drained a posh-looking hand wash, we unscrew the luxury cap and pour in something from Asda? And that those of us privileged enough to have a downstairs loo that visitors see, routinely leave the posh soap there while the resident family rely on a bumper dispenser of Carex? Surely no one is above such behaviour.
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An illicit bargain refill last autumn inspired a hunt for stylish-looking and luxury-feeling hand soaps that, while not weekly-shop cheap, feel at least like a justifiable luxury. I’ve rarely enjoyed my research more.
Let’s get the most expensive one out of the way, because it cannot be ignored: Beauty Pie’s Lemon Butter & Hemp Seed Hand Wash is £12.50 to members for a whopping half-litre of a glorious, creamy wash that leaves hands soft and fragrant. It is a rare combination of fresh (the lemony scent is a joy) and comforting (that’s the glycerin) and a little goes a long way – although the bottle is so large that one can be guiltlessly lavish. Try it and you’ll see that it’s comparable with washes at more than three times the price.
M&S’s Calm variety combines the scent of oily orange peel and mellow woods to provide a gratifying spa moment at the basin
I love M&S’s Apothecary range for candles and personal fragrance, but I’d never before tried the hand washes. They look and smell as lovely as their stablemates – all brown glass medicine bottles, clean fonts, botanical fragrances and plant oils.
The Calm variety combines the scent of oily orange peel and mellow woods to provide a gratifying spa moment at the basin. It’s £6 for 250ml, but can be refilled from a 520ml pouch costing £9.50, making it more cost-effective.
Zara Home has added smart design to generic plastic bottles to make a stylish and affordable bit of bathroom decor. And what’s inside is pretty good, too. Light Cotton Hand & Body Wash (£5.99 for 250ml) is a gentle, slightly orangey, woody, clean musk fragrance suspended in a wash that suds up well without stripping moisture from the hands.
For £11.99, there’s a whopping 750ml of the same formula in Poetic Mind, with a zesty lemon and comforting magnolia scent, which smells and looks like something way more pricey.
If your soap is bought exclusively at the supermarket, I enthusiastically recommend Baylis & Harding’s Goodness Oud, Cedar & Amber Natural Hand Wash (£4). It can be refilled from the matching pouch, which is just £6.50 for a full litre and should last a good couple of months.
