#2 YARDLEY OF LONDON

I’ve never used Yardley soap before, not even their signature fragrance—English Lavender. The company holds two warrants—from the Queen and Prince Charles—both as “Manufacturers of Toiletry Products.”

It seems fitting to select Yardley as one of our first Royal Warrant holders to explore because of the combination of its history and accessibility. The company was founded in 1770 and has been providing hygiene and cosmetic products to British royalty for centuries. At the same time, I can walk into any drugstore in America and purchase a bar of the soap for about two dollars.

Or can I? When I bought my bar of English Lavender soap at the Walgreens in my neighborhood, I was surprised that the Royal Warrant didn’t appear anywhere on the packaging. At first I wondered if Yardley is only allowed to use the Royal Warrant within the UK, but that doesn’t make sense if my Hunter boots and Twinings tea both had it. An online search showed me there are two Yardley websites—one for the US and one for the UK. I emailed customer service at the latter and asked why the Royal Warrant isn’t affixed to American packaging.

In less than 24 hours, I received a courteous response from Catherine Sullivan, UK Sales Co-ordinator for Yardley.

“The reason for the differences is that the Botanicals soaps produced in America are made by a different company,” she wrote in her email. “The Yardley range produced here in the UK is indeed used by the Royal Households, and therefore permitted to carry the Royal Warrants. The Botanicals range is made in America for the American market, and we have no involvement with it.”

Oh. Even though I half expected that would be the answer, the email left me with a feeling of inferiority. It seemed like Queen Elizabeth was standing over my shoulder sneering at my naiveté. “But of course you can’t buy our soap in your country,” she’d say.

Only…we can. Catherine Sullivan helpfully pointed out in her email that I could order the real thing from a website called The King and I, which specializes in imported bath products and cosmetics. For just $15 (plus shipping and handling, of course), I ordered a three-pack of Yardley soap with the Royal Warrant right on the front of the packaging.

That price, and that process, beg the question: What’s so bad about the stuff they sell at the Walgreens?  If the British Yardley really is better, I guess it’s worth the hassle each time. But if it’s largely the same, maybe I wasted my money.

Comparing these two soaps turned out to be a little trickier than I thought. Overall, which soap do I like better? I’m still not sure, and I’ve been using it for a week. The British soap feels nicer on my skin, smells better, and washes away without leaving a residue. Still, I’m troubled by its olive green color and by the incredibly dated font on its packaging that reminds me of old Calgon commercials. I like the smell of the soap, but whenever I use it I feel like it’s not really me.

The American soap, by contrast, has much prettier packaging, but I think its smell is a little more chemically and I don’t like that it leaves a kind of film behind after I shower. Its color, a peachy cream tone, is better, but I find it strange that neither soap is purple.

Finally it occurred to me that my two year-old might be a better product tester than me. Adam and I pulled Nathan into the bathroom to wash up before dinner one night. First we asked him to smell each bar of soap, but that wasn’t helpful since he said “Yummy soap!” after each one. Next Adam asked him which one looked better. “The green one!” he said. Okay. We then washed one of his hands with American soap and one with British soap. “Which hand feels better?” Adam asked him. Nathan didn’t hesitate: “The green one!” At least he can make up his mind.

Apparently it really made an impression. “I have more green soap,” Nathan said to me the other night when I tucked him into bed. In the morning, he was still asking about it. “Where green soap go, Mommy?”    

Once I’ve worked my way through the four bars of Yardley soap I bought, I don’t think I’ll be buying it again for awhile. I’m just not a Yardley lavender kind of girl. Nathan, though, might get some in his stocking this Christmas.

Where to buy: The American version of Yardley soap is available at most stores that sell bath soaps http://yardleylondon.com/?page_id=29. You can order the British version domestically from The King and I, http://www.soapkings.com.