A Review of Arran Scents of Scotland Products

Arran Sense of Scotland is a premium beauty and body care product manufacturer that creates luxury fragrances inspired by the natural elements of the Isle of Arran. Discover a collection of Arran Sense of Scotland’s best sellers in this guide, which features reviews and results of product tests.

Arran Sense of Scotland

Arran Sense of Scotland is a renowned company that specializes in luxury bath, body, and home fragrance products. The company passionately embraces the natural beauty and pure ingredients found in Scotland. Arran Sense of Scotland products boast a unique and invigorating array of fragrances, formulated using original, natural ingredients.

Their product range includes soaps, lotions, scented candles, room sprays, perfumes, and more, all of which are designed to encapsulate the island’s breathtaking landscapes and diverse, aromatic plants and flowers. The company is also committed to sustainability, using recyclable and biodegradable materials in its packaging and refusing to test its products on animals.

Whether you’re pampering yourself with their skincare range or creating a calming atmosphere in your home with their fragrances, Arran Sense of Scotland products promise a truly luxurious experience.

Lochranza Eau de Toilette

Fragrance description from Arran Sense of Scotland: A warm fragrance with a woody base of patchouli and vetiver, enhanced by the freshness of lemon and grapefruit. Earthy and enigmatic.

The Lochranza range manages to do something that most fragrances for men fail to do which is have a rich scent that isn’t overbearing and can be used at any time of the day, whether it’s popping into town at lunchtime or getting ready for a late night out.

The smell is quite refined, but I’d say it could be used by any age group, from teenagers upwards. There are some zesty, citrusy notes in there, but it’s also quite woody, with the result being a fresh smell that starts strong but calms down to a lighter scent the longer you wear it.

I’ve even had people comment on the smell four or five hours after applying it, which is something I never get with other Eau de toilettes. Even the bottle looks great. It’s understated with a classy wooden cap that makes it look like it costs twice as much as it actually does, so if you’re looking for a gift for the man in your life (or you’re a fella looking for a new scent), I heartily recommend giving Lochranza a try.

Machrie Bath and Shower Gel

Fragrance description from Arran Sense of Scotland: Clean and crisp; Machrie is a balance of sea salt and clary sage stirred with the woody earthiness of rockrose.

The Machrie range is lighter than Lochranza, with faint notes of herbs and an underlying woody earthiness that I feel is best suited for wearing during the day, and I imagine it would be the ideal choice for workers that want a pleasant and understated fragrance to wear in the office.

Whenever I get a bottle of Machrie eau de toilette I always try to get a bottle of the body wash as well, as the two work together for a fresh all-day scent. The body wash foams into a wonderfully rich lather that only needs a wee drop, and it leaves skin feeling thoroughly invigorated once It’s washed off.

According to the Arran SOS website, Machrie shower gel is enriched with pro-vitamin B5, which keeps skin soft, smooth, and healthy. All I know is that that my skin feels amazing after I’ve showered with it, and it helps no end with keeping my dry skin at bay.

Seaweed & Sage bath and shower gel

Fragrance description from Arran Sense of Scotland: Bright and open, an ozonic fragrance highlighted with the natural warmth of herbal top notes.

This Seaweed & Sage shower gel has a zesty, citrusy smell a bit like Machrie (to my nose at least) and I’m sure there’s a gentle hint of orange in there as well. Like Machrie shower gel, it has a fresh scent that’s perfect for getting your body into gear early in the morning and it rinses off nice and easily.

The real selling point though, is how soft this body wash leaves your skin afterwards thanks to the moisturizing oils included in the ingredients. I’d even say it leaves skin feeling smoother than Machrie body wash which is quite an achievement in itself.

A big bonus for our household is the fact you can get Seaweed & Sage body wash in giant two-litre refills that work out at around £8 per bottle, or less than half the full retail price of a standalone bottle.

Like the Machrie shower gel, you only need a little to work up a foamy lather, so £8 per bottle is great value as it means you get months and months of top-notch premium moisturising shower gel for less than fifty quid. Bargain.

Glenashdale Grapefruit & Green Leaf bath and shower gel

Fragrance description from Arran Sense of Scotland: This invigorating fragrance is a zesty blend of freshly rasped lemons and essential oil of grapefruit and finished with the clean, crisp lift of bergamot.

This is another zesty, citrusy scent but in my opinion, there are light underlying floral notes in there too. My partner, however, swears the main scent is grapefruit (makes sense) which lingers long after it has been washed off. Whatever the fragrance, it was our unanimous decision that it’s quite delicate and perfect for ladies.

Glenashdale Grapefruit & Green leaf bath and shower gel has the same pro-vitamin B5 ingredient as other Arran SOS shower gels and it lathers up just as well. In fact, according to my other half, it even works up a foam better than L’Occitane’s offerings, and the bottle looks nicer.

Glenashdale Grapefruit & Green Leaf body lotion

Glenashdale Grapefruit & Green Leaf body lotion is another moisturizer that doesn’t leave skin feeling greasy, and the scent is light enough to be unisex. My other half is a big fan of this lotion, although she says it doesn’t leave skin feeling quite as soft as L’Occitane’s products, but SOS’s version is considerably cheaper.

One point to make is that when the shower gel and body lotion are combined, the scent is strong enough that no other fragrance is required, at least during the day. For evenings, a little extra would probably be nice to have, such as the Glenashdale Grapefruit & Green Leaf Body Mistor, perhaps one of the Arran Aromatics perfumes.

After the Rain Reed Diffuser

Fragrance description from Arran Sense of Scotland: A fresh blend of rose petals, musk and floral citrus combines with the notes of Arran’s precious woods.

I hate overpowering perfume smells at home whether it’s scented candles or potpourri, but hats off to Arran SOS because they’ve managed to create a reed diffuser that’s light, fresh, and permeates through the house, but not too much.

There’s a smell of flowers in there (rose petals according to the website) as well as a little citrus, and if I’m not mistaken a little spiciness as well. It’s quite uplifting and as soon as I walk in the door I’m reminded of freshly cut flowers. The house feels just a wee bit cosier somehow, and every visitor has so far commented positively on it.

The reed diffuser comes in a big 200-ml bottle of fragrance that lasts for a good 6 months, which is great value for money. If you’re looking for a special gift to give to friends and family, you won’t go wrong with one of these reed diffusers.

Why Choose Products From Arran Sense of Scotland?

I’ll be totally honest here – the first thing that kept me returning to Arran SOS’s products is that the scents last for ages, as you’d expect from a premium brand. That, coupled with the prices (which are very reasonable for a top-tier beauty product manufacturer), means everything in the Arran SOS catalogue is a wee bargain because a little goes a long, long way.

However, as nice as saving a few quid, there’s always a nagging doubt when buying cosmetics and beauty products that the excessive packaging is doing no end of harm to the planet. We all know that using too much plastic is bad for the environment, but did you know the beauty products industry is one of the largest producers of waste plastics globally?

According to beatthemicrobead.org, each year the industry produces over 120 billion items of plastic packaging, 95% of which are thrown out after a single use.

That’s a disturbing statistic and a sad one when you consider only 9% of all the plastic waste that has ever been produced has been recycled, with the rest either burned – releasing noxious chemicals into the atmosphere – or dumped in landfills which slowly pollute the environment.

The main problem with plastic is that it takes a long time to break down – a long time – with an average plastic bottle taking an estimated 450 years to decay.

You can begin to see how devastating plastic packaging is to our planet, so it’s great that companies like Arran SOS are doing their bit to reduce the impact of these packaging materials. In fact, Arran SOS is so committed to reducing its use of plastics that they have a plan to ensure all of its bottles will be 100% made from recycled materials by the end of 2021.

Not only that, they are one of the few premium beauty product manufacturers to offer liquids in large two-litre refill containers, meaning customers can buy their favourite shampoos and hand washes and refill the bottles they already have, which reduces plastic consumption by up to 76%.

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