It's hard to come home from an autumn walk in the park without a few little treasures. An acorn, a beautiful leaf, a little twig nestled in moss. But we bring home more than these small finds - we also carry scents that can't be tucked into our pockets.
Those are the scents I wanted to capture in this soap. Fallen leaves, damp earth, wood, and a delicate hint of smoke - as if somewhere deep in the park, the groundskeepers were clearing away the leaves before winter.
I let myself improvise with the fragrance, blending oakmoss, Peru balsam, a drop of birch tar, herbal and woody tinctures, and a little floral essential oil. The result is a warm, complex, deep and lasting scent that lingers on the skin for a while.
For this soap, I whipped fine vegetable oils into an airy cream. The bar looks quite solid, but pick it up and you'll be surprised by how light it feels. Just like autumn leaves: so much colour, so much texture, and almost no weight at all.
And somehow, late autumn is like that too. Amid the dampness, the chill and the shortening days, you find so much warmth and comfort.