Okoii products are handmade by Yoko, formally from Japan, now living in Australia. Her aim was to introduce Australian women to traditional natural ingredients from Japan and Asia that they may not previously have been aware of. Some of these ingredients have been used in Japan for upwards of 1000 years, and recently the benefits of such ingredients have been scientifically proven.
When you place an order with Okoii, your products are then made by hand, one by one, so you know that they are as fresh as they can possibly be. Other than Lush' Fresh Face Masks, I can't think of any other product that would be as fresh as Okoii. I find it quite exciting to know that when I purchase a product from Okoii, that it hasn't been sitting on the shelf of a warehouse for months, slowly deteriorating. It is recommended that the products be kept in the fridge to maintain their freshness and the all come with a recommended used by date that is between 3-6 months from when it was made.
The first product that I am going to introduce you to is the Luxury Rice Bran Face Soap. I decided to review this one on its own for two reasons. Firstly, it was my absolute favourite of all the Okoii products I tried; and secondly, it was actually the product that I was most fearful of trying. Why? Well, the first beauty rule that is drummed into every girls head is to NEVER USE SOAP ON YOUR FACE and I was being forced to break this rule (I am a first born goodie goodie who NEVER breaks the rules - this was tough for me to do!). Yoko assured me that this soap was incredibly gentle and was not at all drying. Lucky for her I am also a very trusting person so I decided to give it a go!
The soap arrived in the most beautiful packaging. It felt almost wrong to open it, but then a wrapped soap is pretty useless!
Inside the packaging was the gorgeous soap. The second the wrapper was off I was hit with the amazing floral fragrance that comes from the essential oils included in the soap. It is actually quite a subtle fragrance, which is perfect for a facial soap, yet after each time I used it my entire bathroom would smell of this gorgeous delicate floral scent.
The soap lathered really easily, with very little effort, and produced a luxurious creamy lather. I would always lather the soap up in my hands first then massage lather onto my face. The thing I was most worried about using a soap on my face was that it would be way too drying. However, whilst it left my feeling squeaky clean, it never left feeling tight or dry. I even tried not moisturising one morning after using it to see how it would feel and even after about 30 minutes it still didn't feel tight.
The description of the soap on the Okoii website states:
This luxury soap with high glycerine content will leave your skin with adequate oils. Also, this 100% all natural soap is very gentle to sensitive and matured skin. The unique addition to this soap is rice bran and rice bran oil, which will moisturise and smooth your skin.
If you have a look at the ingredient list (below) you will see why. The first 4 ingredients are all oils, then it is glycerine, hence why this soap really is non-drying.
Ingredients: Saponified Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Sunflower Oil, Glycerine, Purified Water, Sorbitol, Sorbetan Oleate, Soybean Protein, Rice Bran, Rice Bran Oil, Rice Powder, Honey, Vitamin E, Palmarosa Oil, Lavender Oil, and Geranium Oil
This soap is going to last you for absolutely ages making it excellent value. I used it twice a day for a month straight and I have barely made a dent in it. An 80g bar is $AU16.90 and can be purchased online from the Okoii store. As an added bonus, delivery is free within Australia and International delivery is only $AU10.00.
Are you game to use a soap on your face? Have you tried any Okoii products before?
