ABOUT

Simple yet Special
I use the best quality ingredients—organic when available. Each item is in my recipes for what they bring to the final product (INGREDIENTS). Made in small batches so attention to detail is maintained. Hand cut, hand poured, hand wrapped/packaged.

Everyone has a unique journey, with a meandering path that takes them through life in many unexpected ways. My path has led me in so many directions, but I’ve been committed to this journey for many years.

My soaping story began about eight years ago, after I spent a weekend at an historic B&B in Orange, Virginia, and the innkeeper provided artisan soaps and lotions. I fell in love with these items, and became obsessed with researching what is used in mass-produced body items and how I could learn to create my own.

I researched, experimented, researched some more and made soaps that my family and friends raved about. Thus Simplí Artisan was born. I am a woman of Irish descent who at times can be pretty forthright, so I felt the Gaelic word simplí (pronounced shem-play) aligned with my ideal in making good-for-you items without a lot of fluff.

The word simplí literally means simple and straight forward, and that is the approach I take with most of the items I create.

You know how personal trainers and dietitians always mention “clean eating” as being beneficial for us (and our waistlines)? I think the same can be said for soap and many skin & grooming items. Early in this journey I looked at mass-produced soaps, lotions, lip balms and shaving gels. While I admit I never took Latin in high school, I was a bit overwhelmed by the long list of chemicals and artificially rendered ingredients (and detergents) in products made to cleanse the skin—among other products I used on my skin.

It might be worth adding that I am not totally granola crunchy, either. I have full respect for scientific advances in anti-aging creams, cavity-inhibiting toothpastes and medicines. But isn’t it ironic that marketing efforts and cosmetic companies are spending billions of dollars to promote “natural” ingredients in products? [Read more about that in “What’s in Your Soap?” as well as a description of some ingredients I use in my products on the Ingredients page.]

I follow best practices in manufacturing in a dedicated soaping studio and strive to make high-quality soaps and body items from scratch with my own tested formulations.

Go raibh maith agat

(Gaelic for “may good be at you,” or thank you!)