Island Soap & Candle Works

My daughter and I visited this store today and it was such a great stop! My daughter is 4 and enjoyed smelling the soaps and picking some out for the family. The gentleman working there was very talkative and went through all the soaps with us, showing various types and scents to my daughter and he was very patient and kind. She came home and spent some time explaining to her brother about the different colors and scents of soaps and her new found knowledge of how to cleanse your scent palette with coffee! I could tell she really enjoyed all she learned about soaps today! It was really a lovely experience for her. I really recommend coming here with your kids to help them choose a handmade, healthy soap which is so much better for them than commercial soaps marketed to
Kids at most retail shops.
We bought several soaps, all of which smelled divine, especially the tea tree lavender. And they also sold some adorable little soap dishes as well. The soaps come in a few different sizes and come in a loofah soap as well. If you buy 5 soaps you get 1 free. We bought 5 soaps, got one free, and bought 3 carved soap dishes, for less than $ 50– not too bad!
This was a friendly stop and we love supporting local business, so we will definitely be back! The store is full of beautifully scented soaps and candles which will make great gifts for friends and family on the mainland this holiday season.

My daughter and I literally looked all over town to try to find bath salts. We traipsed all over Ala Moana Center. We were just so frustrated. We finally came here after looking it up on Unilocal,and we were very pleased! One of my daughter’s friends loves to pamper herself with bath salts, and we found a very nice variety here that were packaged in various sizes. Not only did we find exactly what we were looking for, but the woman who helped us (the owner, perhaps) was very helpful and friendly. The store is located on the far Diamond Head end of Ward Warehouse.

(This would probably be closer to 3.5 stars to me.) Island Soap has a good-​sized selection of soaps, lotions, bath salts, candles, etc., in a range of great scents. I thought the soaps were a little uneven in the strength-​of-​scent department, but the ones I could smell easily were excellent. The staff is friendly — although big on pursuing the upsell through ‘bulk’ discounts — and it is interesting to see them creating things in the large area at the back of the store. The items are a little pricy, but that seems to be the norm, particularly for specialty things like these. As an aside, I wish I’d had a camera with me because the unique fan above the counter is fascinating!

I love this place. Pick out your freshly MADE IN HAWAII soap, bath salts, candles etc. take them home and enjoy or give as gifts. The scents are lovely, many uniquely Hawaiian like pikake, quality ingredients, choices are plentiful. I like the loofah soaps. Even if your skin can’t tolerate any fragrance there is something there. The soap fragrances your bathroom so nicely. A big plus is Waiola shaved ice is just doors down.

We went to the soap making class that they have available on Saturdays. There wasn’t much direction or creativity for you to do. You just put cut up soap blocks, then pour the glycerin into a mold. You have a choice of one color and one scent. My husband was the first to finish and they instructed him to pour in the glycerin. He did and the soap blocks melted, making it look unappealing because the glycerin they provided was too hot. They didn’t do anything to make it better. They didn’t tell us that it takes 3 hours for the soap to cool down, so we had to come back the next day to pick it up. Overall, save your money and don’t take the class instead just buy what they have in the shop.

Tired of giving mac nuts and kona coffee to out of town friends and family?
Thinking of giving someone a gift made locally?
Are you in the Ward area and just want to spend some money on cute lil things?
ISLAND SOAP & CANDLE WORKS is your place! I’ve started coming here to get soaps, lip balm and lotions as gifts for my friends and family when I received one as a gift. Their product is made locally (actually in the store!) and smell amazing. They come packaged as a gift set or you hand pick what you want. I usually go for the small or large soaps. I’ve used their soaps as air freshener for closets and drawers.
Can’t go wrong with these… everyone’s gotta keep their hands clean!

Another holiday in Honolulu, another visit to this absolutely delightful handmade soap factory. Every time we visit we stock up on every soap imaginable, Well some for us and of course we always bring home gift packs for our friends. I think our first visit was around 1985 and I was impressed then and continue to be impressed by the new additions to their collection. Brown Sugar & Spice… Mocha Java. very nice.and my all time favourite would have to be oh dear how to choose… Sea Mist… Coco Loco… Puakenikeni…can’t… they are all delightful. and every time you use them, the perfume takes you back to Hawaii…

This place is the ultimate in handmade soaps! Before you even walk through the door, your nose is teased and tempted by the myriad of scents from their huge selection of candles and soaps. Value for the money is great considering all their soaps are made in the back of the store with all natural materials. For less than $ 50, I got five large soaps and a medium candle. They also sell hair and lip products, which I plan to try in the near future!
The service was outstanding as well. The lady at the counter helped me pick out my favorites, individually wrapped them all and then let us leave our merchandise in the store for later pickup so the candle wouldn’t melt in our car while we watched a movie.
Really awesome place — I highly recommend it!!!

Located at Ward Centers, the one with the most stores attached, across from Buca Di Beppo, one level. I’m a big fan of Bubble Shack and Lush, so I was not in the market for soaps or lotions. I was interested in the bath salts, though. There were so many that really smelled so good, especially the tropical scents. I smelled all the ones that I thought would not irritate my allergies. I settled on one scent, a small packet for $ 5.00. Everything is nicely arranged. People passing by might think that the aromas might smell a bit overwhelming, but I thought it was less so, than say, passing a Crabtree & Evelyn store, or a Abercrombie & Fitch store. If you want a special gift for people on your list, this is the place to buy it; candles, lotions, bath salts, and soaps, all made in Hawaii.
Upon entering the store, I got the skinny on the company and the store (this is a factory, too, where they make the items right here). The two ladies working there were nice. It’s always so funny, to hear at checkout, «just this one, today?» I say it’s funny to hear, because we do quite a bit of shopping when we visit the island. (to illustrate, We had to rearrange our biggest piece of luggage, and it just made the 50 pound limit, at 49.5 pounds).

Definitely not just for tourists and omiyage. I make a pilgrimage here (OK I just live up the hill, heh) a few times a year for the «buy 4 large bars, get one free» special. It is a working (vegetable-​oil based) soap mill, so there’s a big workshop in the back, and the mix of smells can be… chaotic. overwhelming, so it’s good to have a game plan before you go.
My faves:
Cedar, sage & sandalwood. A hike thru tantalus in a bar.
Hawaiian sea. Bergamot, alae salt and limu. Like a dip @ Sunset beach.
Puakenikeni. A beloved and fleeting lei flower, great for soap!
White ginger. Hedychium coronarium, you are da bomb, maybe a yellow ginger or kahili ginger version would be interesting also, slighty spicier…
Eucalyptus, lime & sage. Another hike in a bar, my departed kama’aina friends go nuts for these mountain smells!
They also make water misters, shampoos, bath salts (a little too oily, IMHO), and candles. Soaps get wrapped in parchment type paper and labeled, if they still need to cure, they will write the best day for use on there too. Great gifts, but I never want to part with them. :)
It’s @ Ward Warehouse, diamond head end, across Menchie’s and Executive Chef.

Such a cool place! I was running out of my organic/​vegan soap bar, so I decided to venture down to Ward Center since I always like trying different brands. This place has a HUGE selection of natural made soap bars. The woman at the shop was very helpful and pointed out the chart that showed which ones were best for sensitive skin, acne-​prone, aromatheraphy, essential oils and more that I can’t remember!
The coolest part is that you can see them make the soap bars right there in the store. Next to it is a huge shelf where the soaps are drying out/​hardening. She told me is takes like 27 days or something for the bar to be completely ready. Talk about home-​made! I bought the honey-​almond oatmeal bar. I got the large bar and was around $ 6. So far the bar makes my skin feel healthy and not dry. There’s definitely a difference you can feel when you switch from the big name industry soaps to small business vegan soap bars. Places like this make me never want to go back to the detergent bars I used to use. The cool thing about the oatmeal bar is that is works like an exfoliator, since there are oatmeal pieces in it that peek through the surface when you slather it on.
I also just got their chapstick. It goes on smooth and it actually makes your lips stay moisterized for a long period. I’m not too crazy about the scents though — -a little too citrusy for me. I wish they would make a coconut, Pikake or hibiscus.
They also have candles and lotions there too. I believe you can order their products on their website and they’ll ship to you.

I never actually came to this place, but I got candles from this place as a gift and they are GREAAAAAT!!!
I know my candles and they have great non-​drip, sweet scented beeswax candles.
They also have a great selection of soaps and beauty products.

This store carries tons of soaps made right in store. The staff is very knowledgeable about the ingredients that go into the soap and can tell you which soap is best for what skin. The scents have a range of island fresh and local to herbal and medicinal.
They also have a small section of glycerin soap, aroma bath salts, and candles.
Really great gift for someone or treat for yourself.
:D