Monthly Archives: March 2015

Kapo Shaving Cream – Classic

31 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by in Bulgarian, Cream

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kapo

Next up we have a product out of Bulgaria, Kapo’s Classic shaving cream.

The scent is very similar to a lot of the European creams I’ve tried; what I describe as sort of an herbal concoction, with perhaps a tinge of citrus. It’s reasonably nice, but not strong at all; barely noticeable when applied to the face.

The lather left something to be desired; it wasn’t quite as thick as I tend to like it, nor do I feel it provided quite enough lubrication. Not bad, but far from great. Some semi-decent moisturization properties, but not enough to drag the rating up.

  • 7/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 5/10 Scent Strength
  • 7/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’ll give it a 5/10. Not really recommended.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Aqua, myristic acid, stearic acid, sorbitol, potassium hydroxide, PEG-8, boric acid, sodium borate, menthol, parfum, coumarin, geraniol, limonene, linalool, alpha-isomethyl ionone.

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Elegant Rose artisan shaving soap – Woodland Spice

24 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by in American

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Elegant Rose - Woodland Spice

So, when Melissa over at the Elegant Rose boutique contacted me about reviewing her soaps, I was initially reluctant, after having a look at the ingredient listing on her page. Well, turns out I was at least a bit mistaken, she had completely reformulated her soap, this time not falling into the whole “slight alterations to a hand soap” trap that so many artisan soap makers do when they want to branch out into shaving soap. She just didn’t have it up on her website for sale at that point; now she does.

And the product that she did provide to me is pretty darned good.

Latherwise, it’s a reasonably thirsty soap. Not quite as much needed as, say, Mike’s Naturals or Barrister and Mann, but you’re definitely going to want to add a small splash when lathering to help develop it. It’s too finnicky, so absolute precision isn’t a worry here. It develops into a nice thick lather with pretty good glide, although perhaps not quite what I’d say is great glide. After the shave, it leaves the face feeling nice and moisturized, smooth, etc. I’d imagine that’s in no small part due to the kokum and shea butter?

Anyways, it’s good stuff; she obviously actually did her research and tested thoroughly. And, as a bonus, it smells nicely too!

The woodland spice is, well, pretty much exactly like what it sounds like, a woodsy scent combined with spicy notes, most notably the cloves and the cinnamon. With some sweetness too, from orange and probably at least some influence just from the kokum and shea butter in the soap itself. A very deep invigorating scent, great for the winter months. As far as soaps go, it’s not too shabby in the strength department; once lathered up and applied to the face it presents itself rather noticeably, with only some fading during the course of a pass.

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

I think it’s reasonable to give this one a 9/10. I’m really glad that she managed to reformulate her soap with this much success!

Gear used:

Ingredients: Saponified Oils of vegetable stearic acid, organic shea butter, kokum butter, organic palm oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, castor oil, apricot kernel oil, organic jojoba oil and essential oils.

Speick Shaving Cream

19 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by in Cream, German

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Speick Shaving Cream

Speick is a fairly popular shaving cream (also available as a soap… and a balm, and a deodorant, and an EdT, etc) made out of Germany. The company’s gimmick is the Speick plant (Valerina celtica), which they say helps calm the central nervous system while stimulating the autonomic nervous system. Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly able to verify the veracity of any of those claims.

Its predominate scent is lavender, augmented by a bit of something else. I’d say it’s a bit of a woodsy aroma. That might be the Speick, or it might be some of the other added fragrances; I can’t say I know what Speick on its own smells like. All in all, it’s a nice blend. The strength is pretty decent; comes on at a medium strength, without much in the way of fading at all.

The performance is likewise pretty good. I did find that it was fairly easy to over-water the mix, so I’d suggest going slowly when whipping it up. But if that’s avoided, it provided a good blend of glide and thickness. I did however experience a bit of irritation from something in it, which is fairly rare for me.

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

Overall, it performs solidly in all areas (or at least all areas I consider to be most important), for a fairly reasonable cost. I’m going to give it a 7/10.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palmitate, Potassium Cocoate, Glycerin, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palmitate, Sodium Cocoate, Cera Alba (Beeswax), Potassium Myristate, Cetyl Palmitate, Sodium Myristate, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Valeriana Celtica (Speick) Extract, Fragrance (Essential Oils), Potassium Laurate, Sodium Silicate, Sodium Thiosulfate, Cl 15985 (Yellow 6 Lake), Limonene, Linalool.

eShave Mandarin shave soap

10 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by in American, eShave, Soap

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eshave mandarin

Ok, so I’ve been lazy lately. Sorry about that. During this time, I’ve been using almost exclusively this soap, which I’ve had forever and just hadn’t gotten around to reviewing. So, suffice it to say at least, I’ve got a pretty good idea of how much I like this soap, having tested it for about 4 months straight.

Which isn’t to say that I’m necessarily going to have all that much more to say about it mind you.

The scent is supposed to be mandarin, and for that, I suppose that it fits reasonably well enough. It’s a sweet vaguely orange-y scent. I think I also catch a bit of the Shea butter as well, one of those ingredients in the actual soap that you can still sometimes actually get a whiff of.

It’s a somewhat weak scent. Just strong enough that you can notice it during the shave, if you’re paying attention. Not strong enough to command your attention if you’re not.

As for the shave itself, it’s rather good. It has a very wide range for the amount of water that you can use and still get a good shave. Using just a bit more than a moist brush will do a passable job, add more and you get a good balance of glide and thickness, keep adding water and it thins out only gradually. It never does get to quite what I’d consider to be an ideal balance of the two, mind you, but still overall, I’d say it’s a really good soap. The moisturization is about average for a typical commercial product.

  • 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 6/10 Scent Strength
  • 9/10 Lather Quality

I probably rounded up on the lather quality above, but I’m going to have to round down for the overall due to the weakness of the scent. 7/10.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Potassium Palmate, Sodium Palmate, Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Water, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Fragrance, Palm Kernel Acid, Shea Butter, Cocamide DEA, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, FD&C Yellow 5 Al Lake (CL 19140), D&C Red 7 (CL 15850), D&C Yellow 10 Al Lake (CL 47005), Limonene, Citral, Hydroxycintronellal, Citronellol, Geraniol.