These bars were uniquely made for our local Midsummer Scandinavian Festival and are only available until they sell out. Scroll down to your country of choice or check out each bar we have available. To purchase these bars either head over to our website or simply click on the photo of the soap bar you like. Scandinavian bar gift boxes are available here. Also, if you buy 5 Scandinavian bars you get one of our non Scandinavian bars OR a soap saver for free, simply let us know in the notes which gift you would like added to your order. Happy Midsummer!
Sweden -
Coffee and Cardamom
“The Sudsy Swede”
Coffee usually gets a fast rap. It’s the busy drink, the on the go drink. But I disagree and it seems so do the Swedes. In Sweden there is an age-old tradition by the name of Fika. I have a feeling like many terms, this one gets overused and the real meaning undervalued. But when I read about it I couldn’t help but feel validated with my love for slowing down with my coffee. “Essentially, fika is the practice of having a coffee and taking a deliberate pause from work and common daily stresses.”
This is soap, not coffee, please do not drink it no matter at what pace you are moving. But, if you are having trouble finding the time to slow down, or don’t like to slow down during your day, here is an opportunity to “take a deliberate pause from work and common daily stress” with your daily wash.
I have also added Cardamom in honor of the incredible Swedish baked goods that come with slowing down.
Last but not least, this soap is made with “Swedish Olive Oil” (Canola Oil) for a more
authentic experience.
I hope you enjoy your smug and deliberate pause.
Finland -
Licorice and Milk
“The Troll Milk Bar”
I love black licorice. I didn’t get to eat it often growing up as it was not a popular sweet. When jelly bean season came around though, I knew the black jelly beans would be mine, and occasionally someone would gift me a bag of black jelly beans just for myself.
My first encounter with the Finn’s love of black licorice was with a local Finnish store in Astoria, OR. I was looking for sweets for Saint Nicolas Day and I was given a royal greeting in the candy aisle, black licorice abound. Usually Saint Nicolas does not bring me any sweets, but that year I got a black licorice and chocolate candy bar which brings me almost as much joy remembering it than it did eating it.
Therefore, when it came time to make a soap bar representing Finland, black licorice was the only obvious choice.
When doing my research on Finland I also learned that the Finns have a passionate relationship with milk. The Finns love milk! “In fact, Finland’s passion for dairy can be traced back to 2500 BC, according to recent research by the Universities of Bristol and Helsinki. Did you know that Finns consume one of the highest amounts of milk per capita in the world?”
As for lavender, it seems just as difficult to grow in Finland as it is to grow here (Oregon coast). Unless you grow it with ease, and if so please share your secret. I just think lavender milk sounds divine, so I added it. So there we have it, a beautiful combination of black licorice and white lavender milk. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Denmark -
Double Vanilla
“Pillaged Vanilla”
Denmark and Vikings go hand in hand. After watching documentaries and reading about Denmark I have learned that Danes are basically new age Vikings, and that is really cool. The Vikings stayed in Denmark and had babies, and their babies had babies, and so on, and now we have Danes. In honor of Denmark’s Viking heritage I made the soap with beef tallow because cleanliness has always been important to the Vikings and my research tells me that soaps would have been made with animal fats.
When that cow was not being slaughtered for meat, bones, and fat it was being used for milk. The Vikings loved milk and it seems as though that love story has continued to today’s culture. After the Vikings, milk did take a backseat for a bit, but after World War I it had a comeback.
Last but not least it was time to give this soap a scent. I mean, beef tallow is a scent, but maybe one that is slightly more appealing. I chose vanilla because I feel that the smell of vanilla encompasses the ever popular hygge experience that the Danish have shared with the world. If you are like me and sometimes you live under a rock, hygge (pronounced hyoo-guh) is “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).”
So there we have it Denmark. Vikings, milk, and hygge.
Iceland -
Birch (smells like root beer)
"The Midnight Sun Bar"
Iceland consists of fire and ice and everything in between. It was tempting to go with a basic fire and ice soap, but I wanted to get more intimate than that. I decided to dive a bit deeper where I found endless terrains. Woodlands, icefields, rivers, lakes, valleys, mountain peaks, bays, fjords, and so much life. The amount of life thriving in Iceland caught my eye so I decided to keep that my focus.
Birch to represent the old growth.
Iceland moss to represent the new growth.
And then I wanted an orange color to represent both of these growths coinciding together underneath the famous midnight sun. To get this color I am adding turmeric.
Last but not least, tomatoes. Why tomatoes?
Because you will not only find birches and moss thriving in Iceland, but you also will find Icelanders thriving. Icelanders are farming their own fruits and vegetables in greenhouses rather than importing their food in! “The farmers provide about 43% of the domestic consumption of vegetables” How cool is that?
When shopping for fruits and vegetables in Iceland one should look at the packaging for “islenski” which tells you that the fruit or vegetable you are purchasing was grown and harvested right on your own soil.
This soap does not have “islenski” tomatoes but I hope that the sentiment is still there in honor of all the beauty that is thriving in Iceland today.
Norway -
Fjords, Salmon, Apple Orchards
"The Affjordable Apple Bar"
While learning about Norway I was quite taken by its fjords. A Norwegian fjord is a U-shaped undersea valley that is surrounded by dramatic mountain scenery. In these fjords there are salmon, some say the best salmon, and some pretty big ones too. The largest recorded salmon caught in Norway’s waters was 79.12 pounds!
If this is not enough to wow you, I learned that some of this dramatic mountain scenery holds orchards of fruit trees, one in particular being apple trees. I read that when you stand near one of these fjords at a particular time of year, you would expect to smell the brackish waters, when instead you smell the sweet scent of an apple orchard. One website even calls it “the fruit basket of Norway”.
I can’t make a soap as dramatic as fjords rich in salmon with mountains full of apple orchards. Rather, I went with a simple bar that I hope encompasses the splendid glory of Norway in a humble representation. This bar is made with salmon oil, which leaves the most beautiful pink colorations and is scented with sweet apples.
P.S. I started Smug Dog Soaps as a means to help pay for my medical costs that are not covered by insurance companies due to Lyme Disease and other tick-borne illnesses, you can read more about that here. If you would like to donate to help cover a doctor's visit or a prescription, please check out our website where our donate through PayPal button is located.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this and for staying in touch! Happy Midsummer!
Stay Smug,
Liz & Family
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