My family has a habit of purchasing plastic items of food to sit around as decorations. This annoys me to no end because if I see a donut, I want a donut and if the only donut on hand happens to be made of solid plastic….that’s going to make for a very chewy donut eating experience 
But for whatever reason (hypocrisy?) food shaped soaps appeal to me. That- and the shop’s name- made Dirty Ass Soaps today’s Indie Retailer. (The soap’s are also vegan, although the food that it’s based on …

Good Clean Fun sells magnets, stationary and baby clothing but their soaps are what caught my eye. And made my mouth water. That’s the problem with soaps that look exactly like delicious snack foods. Even as a reasonably intelligent adult, I would be really tempted to try and taste them- knowing full well that they’re just going to taste like soap. But they look so yummy!
The soaps are also vegan and hypoallergenic (and look yummy).

Yummy Gummy Soap, 25 pieces for $5.00
Includes 5 each of red, yellow, green, orange and clear …

From now on, the Friday Indie Retailer spots are going to be dedicated to revisiting stores we’ve featured before to see what new products they’ve created since we last checked in on them.
Anderson Soap Co.

Last Featured: March 8, 2008
The first time I wrote about the Anderson Soap Co., I focused on the bars he makes from beer. I bought two of the beer bars for my grandfather for his birthday and he loved him so much he was telling his dentist about them. The Guinness and Sam Adams bars …

I’m weighing the pros of cons of buying a bottle of absinthe this weekend. On the pro side are the fact that I’ve always wanted to try it, its fairly recent legality in the United States and that a drink involving the use of a slotted spoon and sugar cube appeals to me for some reason. On the con side is that it is $60 a bottle minimum. Decisions, decisions.
In the meantime, here are some absinthe inspired products.
This mild, vegan soap contains the essential oils of anise and lemongrass, fennel …

 
I have to give creative credit to Lily Bay Soap for having the idea and strength to follow through on the idea of making soap shaped like a pile of dog poop. And it’s birthday cake scented, no less! For the less adventurous, Lily Bay also has soaps shaped like desserts, that smell like desserts and even one that’s made with beer (Corona gets the honors this time).

Dog Pile Soap- Birthday Cake Scent, 3 oz. bag of piles and logs for $3.95 (non-vegan)

 
I haven’t done a mixed bag Retailer post in awhile. It seems kind of unfair to the retailers I list since they have to share their space but I think these products are cool enough that you will be inspired to click through to their site and look at the rest of their wares.
These bath melts won me over because they look like Cocoa Puffs. There was a time in my childhood where being immersed in a vat of chocolate cereal was my idea of heaven. Four bath melt balls …

I actually wrote an article about mi SPA when I was working for an online fashion and lifestyle magazine (shut up, it paid the bills). Consider this the circle of a writer’s life. The handmade soaps are mostly vegan (there is honey in one listed here) and feature rice bran oil as a main ingredient.

Chocolate Truffles, 4 oz. bar for $7.50
Ingredients: saporified rice bran oil, palm oil, coconut oil, dark chocolate and fragrance oil.

 
There are three reasons I was drawn to (Dennis) Anderson Soap Co. products: 1) the wide range of scents and formulations 2) he’s in the process of switching over to all vegan product and 3) he has three different kinds of soap made from beer. 

Guinness Beer Soap, 4 oz. bar for $5

 
I’m still feeling a little unclean from watching that Clinton campaign commercial that Will posted and hit the web looking for soap.Coconut Coast products are handmade in Hawaii and contain no artificial colorants, petroleum or animal based products. The soaps are made of a blend of olive, coconut and palm oils. The bath salts are made from Hawaiian sea salts that dissolve easily.

Cinnamon Soap, 3.25 oz. bar for $3.95
Smells like: cinnamon, nutmeg, juniper, and sweet orange oil