As a child, I wasn’t a great collector of things — no stamps, stickers or stick insects.
However, I did boast a treasure trove of soaps.<br>What happened to this cornucopia? They were too prized ever to be used: 30 or so increasingly chipped trophies smelling of calm and clean skin.<br>Later, when I first ventured abroad, aged 20, my mother packed a slab of Guerlain soap into my rucksack, because a girl had to have some glamour to sustain her.

It nestled there all summer, scenting our most squalid quarters, and was something I could press my nose to when I felt lost and was longing for home.<br>Guerlain no longer produces soap. However, I have high hopes of it returning, as sales of traditional slabs are on the up, buyers drawn by the lack of waste attendant on liquid var