Sweetheart soaps? BE MINE!

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Before we begin, let’s get one thing clear: I am generally not a soap fetishist. Those scented, sculpted little nubs? They just conjure the suburban guest bathrooms of my youth. When the occasional gift of earthy soap laden with rough organic matter comes my way, it usually ends up under the sink, never to come out of the plastic wrap. I’m unclear when is a good time to bust out ‘the nice soap.’

So all those caveats aside, I’ve completely fallen in love with these ‘Spell it Out’ soaps by L.A.-based soap makers Dugshop (their Etsy store name) or Bubble Genius (its newly launched website’s name).

At 2 1/2-inches square, they are a little smaller than I’d imagined from the picture. But at $4 a piece, I’d pop three or four in a soap dish, like an oversized candy dish of Sweethearts. I can’t imagine anything more delightful, cheerful, or Dadaist than a pile of these soaps next to the sink.

Any fan of irreverent hand and body washing products should check out Dugshop’s other products. Among my favorites are the Morning Bagels Soap Set that looks (and, reportedly, smells) like fresh baked bagels and the Wright Suds Stained Glass Window Soap based on the stained glass windows of Frank Lloyd Wright. Their big seller in 2008 was the Hope on a Rope Soap resembling the head of then-candidate Barack Obama.

‘We’re not short on ideas,’ said Paula Bonhomme, one half of the soap making operation. ‘What we need are some interns.’

Anybody want to say ‘I’m Yours?’

-- Deborah Netburn

Photo credits: Spell it Out Soap and Wright Suds Stained Glass Window Soap, courtesy of Dugshop.