Test & Review: Melchior & Balthazar, organic products for the World Tour

This post is not NOT sponsored

If you’re looking for organic products to pack for your world tour, look no further! 

Given all the cosmetics and facial care products I test in each country (here, here, here, here, here , and here)… JB asked me if I was traveling the world for the journey, or for the cosmetics 😀

Honestly, I don’t need to, because the two brothers Simon and Damien, founders of the brand Melchior & Balthazar, already do it for me (well, for all of us).

Backpacks on, they traveled through Spain and Morocco before stopping at the women’s cooperative producing argan oil in Aït Baha… and bringing us the best argan oil products… in the world. Certified Ecocert, their exceptional oil is incredibly fine! They did the same in China, crossing the desert to find the best goji berry producer.

Melchior & Balthazar argan oil

It is it’s so hard to find quality argan oil these days. As a result, it’s common for people to ask a cousin of a cousin of a friend… to bring back Moroccan argan oil in their suitcase. But when Melchior & Balthazar argan oil came out, it was a huge relief—we no longer have to exchange numbers of our cousins’ cousins on the sly; we just go to the M&B website and buy it.

This oil is very different from all other oils on the market thanks to its manufacturing process.

With others: the fruit pits are picked up from the ground. Why? Actually, they wait for goats to ingest the fruit and expel the pit… from the rear. So, there’s that faint scent of goat droppings found in argan oil produced elsewhere

At Melchior & Balthazar: the fruits are picked directly from the tree. Naturally, getting the pit requires an extra, manual step: removing the pulp and then the nut. But the advantage is having ingredients that are less oxidized and, above all, smell good. So their oil is 100% natural. They add nothing else; you get pure argan oil that smells like hazelnut, cruelty-free, eco-friendly, ethical… in short, the best of the best organic.

Melchior & Balthazar soap

JB (my husband) is very picky about his shower soap. He only likes superfatted soaps (real Marseille soap, real Aleppo soap, donkey milk soap—but from a single brand…). So, I had fun buying him lots of natural soaps from different countries.

All Melchior & Balthazar soaps are made from their excellent argan oil and are cold-processed.

Why is that better?

Because cold saponification, as the name suggests, doesn’t overheat the ingredients—which is great for the environment (no wasted energy).
Moreover, this process preserves glycerin, making the soap more moisturizing (unlike hot saponification, which removes it).

It’s therefore more expensive than hot-processed soap because production takes longer and the ingredients must be top quality.

Let me show you their soap-making process. It’s quite satisfying to watch them cut soap like slicing bread.

OK, but what’s the connection to the world tour?

I was getting to that.

First, the founders travel the world to find the best ingredients and producers. I love that approach; it allows artisans and farmers to keep producing traditionally, without pesticides or toxic products.

Second, this brand offers two products especially suited for nomads/world travelers.

• a roll-on of argan oil. I find the roll-on format practical because you don’t get it everywhere. It’s an all-in-one product: mix it with your aloe vera gel (to make a hydrating skin emulsion), it’s also a great eye contour (all my dehydration fine lines are gone thanks to this oil), a good product for chapped skin, cuticles, irritations… It revives dry, brittle hair (which you’ll get from traveling). I even mentioned in my world tour facial care routine the importance of having, in winter, a aloe vera gel + an oil The bottle is plastic, so it won’t break.

• multi-purpose, eco-friendly soaps. Because the soaps are organic, 100% natural ingredients and all that, they don’t pollute water (ideal for showering in the middle of the forest without guilt). You can use them on your face and body (as a shower gel, it’s very gentle thanks to cold saponification). The one I recommend is the Ambre Argan Exception Soap – Relaxing, very gentle and moisturizing for the skin.

Beyond that, you can tell they’re passionate. Every time someone asks them a question about their brand or products, they give ultra-detailed answers that go on for ages. There’s so much happening behind the scenes in the lab and in R&D that we don’t necessarily see. Why Morocco? Why this manufacturing method? There’s scientific evidence backing all of it.

You can tell the products are made by a passionate and perfectionist team. The approach is ethical, the artisan spirit and the curiosity of seasoned travelers are there. And I want to share quality products like these with you, made by passionate and captivating people.

So there you have it, honestly, if I could send them a wish list (like the one you send to Santa Claus), all that would be missing is a soap box for nomads (with holes to drain the soap and a holder system) – highly requested especially for hostel showers. Anyway, try their products, and you’ll see, the quality is NOTHING like the argan oils you’ve known before. To place your order, it’s right here: https://melchior-balthazar.com/
You can also find their products in physical stores in Tokyo, New York & Mexico.