Fitjar Soaps – Isrose (aka Frost Rose; Scent off entry)

Tags

7/10, 8/10, floral, menthol, pine, Rose, Scent Off 2013, shaving cream, shaving soap, wood

Next up in the scent off is a product coming to us from the town of Fitjar in Norway. Fitjar Såpekokeri (aka Fitjar Soap) offered forth both a cream and a soap, which I’ll be doing in one review, in a scent they call Isrose, or “Frost Rose”. This is the first products I’ve tried from them. I’d heard mostly quite good things, and they seem to have lived up to their reputation. Here’s what everyone else had to say about it.

The soap is good; not great, but quite good. It lathers up quite easily,
however does thin out a bit when enough water is added to give it what I
think it a good level of glide. I didn’t really notice anything in the
way of moisturization after the fact. I did have quite good lather
stability however.

Upon a trying it a few more times, I’ve actually switched my initial
opinion; the cream seems to be working better than the soap; it does
require a bit more elbow grease, but it gave what I considered to be a
superior balance of glide and lather thickness. Good stability, still
not much noticable on moisturization.

As for what they had to say about their scent off entry:

The inspiration for this scent is from frost roses on the windows of my log cabin in Telemark. One of the most magical Christmases I have ever had was spent here. The Frost roses were exquisitely beautiful, and they looked a bit like the pine trees that grow right outside the window. So the Christmas scent Frost Rose became a blend of sweet rosa damascena aand rose geranium, spicy pine and icy menthol.

The aroma of rose with the touch of pine is pretty nice, with a reasonable strength level. However, I’m not sure that the menthol is all that suitable for what’s supposed to be a seasonal scent winter/autumn scent. It reminds one of winter, but it’s not something that I’d want to be using during winter. Even living in a spot with one of the mildest winters in Canada, I’m still not eager to try and cool my face down further in the mornings once we get to this time of year!

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 9/10 Lather Quality for the cream; 8/10 for the soap

Overall, I’d say that I’ll give the soap a 7/10 and the cream a 8/10.

• Cost: The cream can be had for 155 NOK (about $25.50 USD) for a full 175 mL jar, or a 20 mL sample (shown) is available for 20 NOK (~$6.40 USD). The soap is available for 111 NOK (~$18.25 USD) for a 100g refill; extra if you want a plastic bowl with an aluminium lid, or a wooden bowl.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Gillette 7 O’clock Black
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients (shaving cream): Potassium stearate, potassium cocoate (from organic oconut oil), glycerin, olea europea (organic virgin olive oil), essential oils(rosa damascena, rose geranium, pine, menthol).

Ingredients (shaving soap): Glycerin, sodium stearate, sodium cocoate (from unrefined, organic oconut oil), coconut fatty acid, lauric acid, cocus nuciferi, olea europea (organic virgin olive oil), sorbitol, sodium laurate, sodium laurate sulphate, sodium lauryl sulphate, pentasodium pentetate, tetrasodium etidronate, essential oils (rosa damascena, rose geranium, pine, menthol).

How to Grow a Moustache Synergy Shaving Soap – Pumpk’n 3.14 (Scent off entry)

Tags

clove, Discontinued, How to Grow a Moustache, pumpkin, Scent Off 2013, shaving soap, spice

Edit: It appears that the line has disappeared off the face of the earth, after a small scandal erupted following a few allegations, including that the fellow who ran HTGAM had been under different names reviewing some soaps that he made (under the Petal Pushers brand), and that the ingredient listing for at least some of the soaps was likely falsified. Here’s a bit of an overview.

Frankly, what I saw put a bad taste into my mouth, and I don’t think I’ll be doing any more business with that company. Anyhow, they’ve since rebranded into “Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements”

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Next up for mantic’s Scent Off 2013 is the entry from the fellows over at How to Grow a Moustache. Delicious Pumpk’n 3.14! Pumpkin π? Pumpkin Pie! It’s the first time I’ve had a chance to try one of their products, and I was rather looking forward to it. Here’s what everyone else had to say about it.

So, since it’s the scent off, let’s talk about the scent first. It seriously smells exactly like a pumpkin pie. I’m not too big of a fan of the taste of pumpkin pies, but even I’ll admit they smell quite nice, and it also got the “girlfriend’s seal of approval”. Naturally, I think this is a damned great fit for the theme of the contest (for which it’ll be getting a bonus point). The strength level is just about perfect as well; since it’s not really a scent you want too strong, but it stays at a nice medium-strong level throughout.

The lather is quite nice. I understand that a different formulation was used for the scent-off than their normal one, however the differences appear to be relatively minor. Honestly, thus far it seems like the lather category of the contest is going to be the tightest by far; every one I’ve tried has been quite good, the Synergy being no exception. These artisans certainly aren’t phoning it in! It lathered up easily, a tad on the thirsty side, and gave a good balance of glide and thickness, with a reasonably wide “sweet spot”. And afterwards, the skin was feeling great.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 10/10 Scent Strength
• 9/10 Lather Quality

My overall assessment is a nice solid 8/10.

• Cost: Unlike the others thus far in the contest, H2GAM still has some left for sale! 8 oz of soap in their large format (5 inch diameter) tin will set you back $15.95. Note the gold tin shown might not still be available, in which case you’ll get the silver tin they usually use.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Treet Dura Sharp
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Ingredients: Organic Kokum Butter, Organic Mango Butter, Organic Cocoa Butter, Chaulmoogra Oil, Organic Avocado Oil, Organic Pumpkin Oil, Organic Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Organic Neem Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerine, Purified Water, Sodium & Potassium Hydroxcide, Soy Bean Protien, Aloe Extract, Pumpkin Powder Enzymes, Yellow Dock Root, Maca Root & Essential Oils

The Shave Den – Egyptian Spice shaving soap

Tags

6/10, frankincense, myrrh, shaving soap, spice, the shave den

The next soap up on the chopping block is a sample from The Shave Den. The Egyptian spice is a mostly sweet scent with a bit of spiciness to it. They describe it as a “spicy fragrance with notes of frankincense and myrrh”. I can’t really say I know what either smells like, but it’s fairly pleasant.

It definitely could have used a bit more oomph to it; it’s easy enough to smell when sniffing the puck, but only a little of the scent seems to carry over to the lather.

For the lather, I’m not sure if I’m just getting better at lathering this stuff, if this sample is better, or maybe it just performs better after it aged, but it worked better than I remember. I used to have problems overshooting the sweet spot for water content, but not so much the last few tries with this particular sample; it didn’t seem easy to accidentally overwater. Managed a decent balance of glide and thickness each time without much difficulty.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 5/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

So, overall, an underwhelming 6/10. Still not enough kick to the scent to really make it an interesting shave, IMHO.

• Cost: A one ounce sample goes for $2.50, or $6.99 for a full 4 ounce puck (an extra $2 if you want a tub with it).

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Treet Dura Sharp
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Glycerin, Aqua, Olive Oil, Bentonite Clay, Sodium Borate, Sweet Almond Oil, Sodium Palmate, Sorbitol, Sodium Cocoate, Palm Acid, Coconut Acid, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, and fragrance.

Barrister and Mann – Hallows (Scent off Entry)

Tags

7/10, Barrister and Mann, black pepper, cedarwood, cocoa, Discontinued, labdanum, oakmoss, Scent Off 2013, vetiver

The next entrant in the scent off is Barrister and Mann’s Hallows. B&M had made this scent available to the general public; unfortunately, they sold out in rapid fashion, and apparently there’s no plans to make the scent again (I guess some of the oils used are hella expensive). Alas. Here’s what the judges as a whole thought. To kick off my review, let’s see how B&M describe it:

Taking inspiration from the swamps of Boston, we combined vetiver, oakmoss, black pepper, cocoa, labdanum, and cedar to produce a deep, cold scent suited to the chilly, bitter days of late October. Gloomy, rich, and perversely elegant, Hallows is a reminder of why men once feared the dark.

This seems like a perfectly accurate description; it’s certainly suits the requirements of the contest rather well; that having been said, I can’t say that I’m really all that much of a fan of the scent itself; while I wouldn’t say it’s unpleasant, the combination just doesn’t do it for me. If I was judging it solely on how much I like it, it probably wouldn’t be doing all that well, but, since it does meet the parameters of the contest rather well, I gave it a bonus point or two to bump up to 8/10 for overall scent for the contest. The strength was definitely up there, without much fading.

The performance is typical of Barrister and Mann’s; excellent. Just be sure to use enough water and you’ll get a great lather with good thickness, glide, stability, and good moisturization to boot.

• 6/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 9/10 Scent Strength
• 9/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’d say it’s so-so. 7/10. I know there’s others out there who really liked the scent, but it just didn’t click for me.

• Cost: Alas, all sold out. Sorry.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Treet Dura Sharp
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Potasium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Aqua, Glycerin, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Fragrance, Andropogon Zizanioides (Vetiver) Oil, Cistus Ladaniferus (Labdanum) Resin, Juniperus Mexicana (Cedarwood) Oil, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Absolute, Coconut Milk, Potassium Kokum Butterate, Sodium Kokum Butterate, Unrefined Shea Butter, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Cocoate, Lanolin, Allantoin, Silk Protein, Tocopherol Acetate.