Checkmate

A pale, ivory-coloured base with black, grey and cream pieces set into it — rectangles, strips, the odd curve. Black against white, square beside square, only nobody was holding a ruler. It looks like a chessboard someone took apart and put back together from memory. Hence the name.

Yet those pieces are not decoration made to order. They are offcuts and leftovers from cutting other soaps we make, which get a second life in the Nanovo line — nanovo is Slovak for “anew”. Whatever was left behind during cutting, we pour into a new soap. Anew.

The offcuts are different every time — and so is the way the pieces fall in each bar. On one, black has the upper hand; on another, white. We see that not as a flaw but as a signature.

What does Checkmate smell like?

Woody and calm. Two essential oils give the base its scent: Atlas cedarwood and amyris, also known as West Indian sandalwood. The base itself is saponified olive, coconut and sunflower oil with cocoa butter; there is no palm oil in it. The glycerine that forms during saponification is not removed from the soap.

How is it made and what does it need?

The soap weighs 100 g and is handmade by the cold process. We cut it with a wire, and then it cures for at least 30 days — we explain the reasons in our article on why soap cures.

And one more thing, said plainly: essential oils may naturally contain allergens. We do not add them separately; they are an inherent part of the essential oils, and those that have to be declared are listed by name in the ingredients. You can read more about them in our article on allergens in cosmetics.

Between washes, leave the soap to dry out on a soap dish that lets the water drain away. You can choose between two versions — unpackaged or in a paper box.

To lather is human. Checkmating boredom is human too.