In many recent conversations with friends and peers I’ve been calling this upcoming summer 2025 soap launch a ‘petite’ one. But I know better than to downplay anything creative I take on because each.and.every single launch since RB Soap Co. was introduced into the world in early 2020 has taken a piece of my heart to make possible!

And I knew I was overdue for a product release when in early spring I started receiving (slightly) concerned social media messages and emails from customers who were wanting to restock their personal soap stashes and where-the-hell was I?! So I am both pleased and a little bit relieved to finally share this product preview in anticipation of next week’s Monday, June 30th Petite Summer Soap Launch.

As such, please mark your calendars for a 12:00 pm ET launch, save the online shop URL in your browser so you can quickly hop over when the time comes, and enjoy the product preview throughout the rest of this blog post. Petite might mean small to the masses but there’s no shortage of intentionality here. Let’s dive in together!

We’ll start with the lineup of new summer soap bars, a collection of four different two-toned varieties with subtle but invigorating aromas that evoke a sense of freshness and joy. Rosarium is the first bar I produced earlier this spring, the result of my efforts to finally make soap with rose geranium oil, a notoriously difficult essential oil to work with in cold process soap making. With a little strategy to work in very small batches so I could avoid the soap seizing up on me, this bar came out beautifully and the soft gray and muted pink layers are simply the prelude to the dried hydrangea and rose petals perched atop each bar. I don’t like to play favorites but if I had to pick one, Rosarium would be it.

Another seasonally appropriate soap bar in the line up, especially for customers that live for never ending summer days like we do here in the Midwest, is Solstice, a two-toned, muted buttery bar scented with an essential oil blend of lavender, litsea, lemon, and rosemary. It’s a little fruity and a little herbaceous but everything lovely. I might be partial to the soft yellow because I’ve been redoing a room in our home with the same tones but if there’s a summer soap bar not to miss out on, it would be this one. Don’t miss the tops of the soap adorned with dried calendula and jasmine petals. It’s such a happy soap bar choice!

Serene is the third of four summer-centric soap bars launching next week, and it’s very muted two-toned design comes from small amounts of Serbian blue clay and Brazilian purple clay blended into the layers of the bar. This soap offers an aromatic blend of lime, eucalyptus, cedarwood, and bergamot offering a harmonious balance of both feminine and masculine scents. Then the tall swoops of each bar feature a textural selection of adornments including white peppercorns, dried cornflower petals, and lavender buds. The bar is meant to elicit the very same feeling that the soap’s name implies.

Finally, I introduce to you Lakeside, a ode to the men out there that I hear are always stealthily borrowing (err, stealing?) my female customers’ soap bars (you know who you are!). One of the darkest-toned bars I’ve ever made for a launch it’s got a lake-inspired bottom layer loaded with activated charcoal and a mossy green top layer made possible by sea clay. Eucalyptus, clary sage, and cedarwood atlas essential oils bring together an herby-like earthiness to Lakeside balanced with the slight sweetness of cedarwood atlas making for a one-of-a-kind soap distinctly different from the rest.

Then we have the familiar faces, the soap varieties that prove to be customer favorites year after year, launch after launch.

These are soap varieties I use daily in my own home and ones that my friends and family continually request for their own use, too. They’re also all excellent choices to consider if you’re making the switch to natural cold process soap or looking for a better-for-you cleansing option during the warmer summer months when you’re more exposed to sun, wind, water, and sweat.

Let’s start with the scrubby Florist Soap, the bar that beautifully bridges together my two businesses . . .

. . . and then move next to Empress, a sultry and romantic soap choice for the most discerning of women . . .

. . . to Marigold, a cheery soap bar selection that is truly the epitome of summer . . .

. . . to the soap bar that is named after one of our family’s favorite destinations nestled perfectly into the panhandle of Florida. It’s a two-toned bar meant to inspire visions of the white sand beaches against the pale blue waters that run along 30A in Seaside. Seaside always seems to be one of the bars that sells out the quickest!

There are also a handful of Fireside soap bars available, the perfect soap for those that love a spicy citrus scent. The muted golden color comes from a small amount of yellow and rose clay and the top peaks are adorned with dried citrus peel and other seeds and salts. But the essential oil blend is where this bar shines! Orange, clary sage, cassia, ylang ylang, and clove create a rich warm aroma for the most sensual and cozy of soap users.

And last but not least, is our simplest soap bar, appropriately named Simply. It’s unscented, uncolored, and the most purest form of natural cold process soap you can get your hands on. The goodness of the ingredients I use shines through this soap bar with a creamy rich lather that is undeniably irresistible. There’s something so luxurious about Simply!

All the 4+ ounce bars are listed at $9.00 each and come wrapped in our signature botanical seed labels. Each standalone bar is wrapped in a taupe and white patterned tissue paper for safe transit, and if you don’t plan to use your bar right away, clean storage.

Of course, the option to upgrade your soap bar experience or invest in a thoughtful ready-to-gift option is available with the purchase a beautiful handmade red alder wood dish. The dish design not only allows each bar to sit ‘high and dry’ to extend the use of the soap, but has a slightly bowed bottom so that the dish itself is lifted slightly out of any small pools of water that often form on tub, shower, and sink sides. These square 3.5 by 3.5 dishes are beautiful and are priced at $8.00.

When a dish is purchased it gets bundled together with your labeled but tissue-free soap bars and tied with an appropriate color silk ribbon. The ribbon is tied beautifully into a taut bow and these bundles make for a perfect gift. There is also the option for one last upgrade and that’s a kraft gift box filled with crinkle paper. This is an exceptionally wonderful option if you invest in one of our new cement soap dishes! Cement dishes you ask? Read on for more.

If you’re a committed cold process soap bar user or need a really special gift option for a loved one then these beautiful handmade cement dishes fit the bill perfectly. They are made by an independent artist and available in three different finishes: soft gray, peach, and terra cotta. The slightly scalloped edges allow for water to drain off your soap bar ensuring it last longer, and grippy rubber feet are on the bottom of the dish to help eliminating slipping. The dishes retail for $22.00 and with proper care will last for many years. If a cement dish is purchased I recommend a kraft paper gift box for extra protection during shipping, otherwise the entire bundle will be wrapped carefully with ample tissue.

Aside from the two different soap dish options and gift boxes there are also a limited number of bath accessories from exfoliating bath gloves, mini loofah face sponges, and two-toned Japanese-made cotton face cloths that are so beautiful and soft. Trying to source quantity made products and ingredients is very important to the RB Soap Co. brand and these cloths especially hit the mark. All of these items are really simple but impactful ways to enhance your bath experience or add to a soap bar purchase if you’re going to be gifting items to a loved one.

Bee Soaps are also making an appearance for this launch! Made with the leftover soap batter from any of my large pours to ensure nothing goes to waste in my production, these little bees really go the distance for less than $4.00. Please note that Bee Soap colors and scents are a grab bag so varieties are never promised to customers. I often pack a couple in my bag when I go on trips, put them on our guest room pillowcase when we host friends, or include them in gifts to others as a simple extra gesture. Believe me when I urge you not to sleep on the bees!

And now for a few important details about Monday:

The launch is scheduled for Monday, June 30th. The shop will open at noon EST. Please know that any products listed in the shop now until 11:59 am on Monday morning are simply placeholders! Sometimes the shop opens about 30 seconds before noon to compensate for any glitches that might make an on-the-dot noon launch tricky but most repeat customers say refreshing the URL right at noon is the best way to access all available products.

Once something is gone from the shop it is gone; this is the nature of a handmade product and certainly one that take multiple steps to create like cold-process soap! I always carefully count my inventory before a launch and then reduce that inventory number by just a few to compensate for any mistakes made when packaging up orders. I am a one woman show and I want to do my best to ensure that if (when!) I make a mistake I am able to correct it. It’s not feasible for me to just make one new bar of whatever variety in a possibly overlooked order so this inventory approach is a safety net I depend on. If no orders are missed then the remaining inventory is always listed back in the shop and paired with a social media announcement so that customers can prepare accordingly.

Next, after this launch I am not sure if there will be a 2025 holiday launch! So while I don’t recommend stocking up on Monday for holiday gifts (it’s a tad early) I do want to give you the courtesy of a ‘heads up’ for your own personal inventory. On that same page of ‘shop hours’, the shop will close on Thursday. July 3rd regardless of what inventory is still available or not!

Finally, this is a request made in every launch preview post, but if you’re a customer and have an issue with your order OR you are a potential customer and you have questions, please email Rhi at [email protected]. On launch day I do not start to package up orders until an hour or two after launch time. There’s traditionally a mad rush of traffic to the site within the first ten minutes of launching with a steady stream of orders for the 50 minutes that follow. I’ve learned that sitting and waiting to tend to customer service needs in that first hour is a much more fruitful use of my time that packing up orders so again! Please email me day of with issues or questions and I will do my best to ensure you get a response back promptly. A DM or message request on Instagram is likely to be missed!

To past customers, current customers, future customers who decide to take a chance on trying my products, my supportive neighbors who always inquire about what in-between-launch soaps might be sitting in my home needing a new place to go, my floral design team who always takes a go at what’s available at the imperfect soap drawer, and my closest friends who swear by my soaps, I’m really grateful for you all. Thank you for shopping small, for finding as much joy in a handcrafted good-for-you product as I do, and for being so generous and kind!

I hope you’ll join me on Monday, June 30th at 12:00 pm ET noon when the shop doors officially open at last!

All photos in this post were captured by Samantha James Photography.