savor – Formula N shaving soap

Tags

7/10, floral, Fruit, Glycerin, Mango, mint, papaya, savor, shaving soap, tropical

AKA, wherein Greg reviews a shaving soap that was never intended to be applied on anything above the waist.

Formula N is a nice fruity scented shaving soap. They bill is as “a completely natural blend of essential oils and floral waters. Like a tall glass of fresh-squeezed juice papaya and mango juice with a sprig of sun-warmed mint and a fresh bouquet of flowers nearby.” I’m not going to argue with that, it’s definitely got a strong tropical vibe to it. Anyways, it’s not exactly a “manly” scent, nor was it intended to be, but I really do rather like it.

Strength-wise, it’s not too shabby. It’s not overtly strong when lathered up and applied to the face, but you don’t see much in the way of fading during the shave either.

The lather is pretty much exactly what I expected out of it. Your typical glycerin-based melt-and-pour. Does the trick good enough, as long as you can get the water balance right (to get enough glide while maintaining viscosity). Which you should be able to do easily enough once you’re used to these soaps.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 7/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

I think it’s safe to say this is a good 7/10. Decent enough shave, nice scent, good strength, and not all that expensive? Yeah, why not.

• Cost: The 85g / 3 oz puck shown will set you back $4.50.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Gillette 7 O’clock Black
  
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ok, and here’s a bit of an issue. The ingredient listing on their website is different than the ingredient listing on the package. So, I’ll give you both.

Ingredients according to the website: coconut oil x palm oil x castor oil x safflower oil x glycerin x purified water x sodium hydroxide x sorbitol x sorbitan oleate x soybean protein x wheat protein x natural fragrance x color

Ingredients according to the packaging: Coconut oil, palm oil, safflower oil, sodium hydroxide, sorbitol, goat’s milk, sorbitan oleate, soybean protein, wheat protein, color, natural fragrance.

Not massive differences, just the addition of the goat’s milk, and the switching of the order for the color and the natural fragrance.

Man Cave Soapworks – Mountain Man shaving soap

Tags

6/10, basil, cologne, Glycerin, juniper, lemon, Man Cave Soapworks, patchouli, sandalwood, shaving soap

Mountain Man is billed as a “woodsy mix of basil, juniper, lemon, sandalwood and patchouli”. All in all, I didn’t find it too bad, but it’s definitely far too sweet of a scent for something that I would consider calling “Mountain Man”. Frankly, the sweetness was enough to mostly drown out the other scents.

Strength-wise, it wasn’t all that good. There was just enough there that you caught a bit of a whiff while shaving, but to actually get a good appreciation of what it smelled like you needed to go straight to the puck of soap.

And the lather, eh. It did the trick, nothing special. It’s your typical melt-and-pour shaving soap.  It provides a perfectly reasonable shave, with a decent balance of thickness and glide. Nothing to write home about, just a nice solid shave, which left the face feeling nice.

• 7/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 6/10 Scent Strength
• 7/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

So, anyways, I’ll give this one a 6/10. Not bad in any aspect, but it doesn’t particularly stand out at all, IMHO.

• Cost: A 4 oz puck in the jar as pictured goes for $8, with just the refill being $4.50.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Vintage Gillette Travel Tech
• Blade: Shark Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerin (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Organic Shea Butter, Bentonite Clay, Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soy bean protein (conditioner), Wheat Protein (conditioner), fragrance