Kiss My Face – Key Lime Shaving Cream

Tags

8/10, citrus, Fruit, key lime, kiss my face, lemongrass, Lime

The scent is a refreshing aroma of tart lime; very nice. Although a glance at the label reveals that the underlying ingredients which made that scent are a fair bit more complex. but it definitely comes together as something that strongly reminds me of key limes. Unfortunately, it’s not really strong enough. It’s certainly noticable when lathered and put on the face, but not strongly so, and it faded away quite a bit while I was shaving.

The lather seems to be the same as any other Kiss My Face cream; requires a medium amount of water to get going, and a bit of elbow grease, but leaves you with a creamy lather with a pretty good balance of lubrication and cushioning. Nothing really out of the ordinary when it comes to moisturization.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

All in all, we’re looking at a 7/10 for this one.

• Cost: $4.99 for the 100 mL (3.4 oz) tube shown, (although current on sale for half price) or a 325 mL (11 oz) hand pump type container for $7.95 (currently on sale for $6.45). Also, it’s one of those brands that is more likely to be available locally, especially at places that specialize in organic foods (both in Canada and the US).

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Big Ben Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aqua, Myristic Acid, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Allantoin, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract, Arnica Montana (Arnica) Flower Extract, Hydrastis Canadensis (Golden Seal) Root Extract, Equisetum Hyemale (Horsetail) Extract, Alchemilla Vulgaris (Lady’s Mantle) Leaf Extract, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus (Lemongrass) Leaf Extract, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Fruit Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Flower Extract, Saponaria Officinalis (Soapwort) Root Extract, Nasturtium Officinalis (Watercress) Leaf Extract, Eucalyptus Globulus (Eucalyptus) Leaf Oil, Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Peel Oil, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus (Lemongrass) Leaf Oil, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Fruit Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Flower Oil, Hydroxyethylcellulose

Kiss My Face – Pomegranate Grapefruit Shaving Cream

Tags

8/10, citrus, Fruit, grapefruit, kiss my face, pomegranate

I really like the scent of pomegranate. I really like the scent of grapefruits. I really love this scent. The two come together quite nicely, and while they’re the two prime scents used, there’s a veritable army of other scented ingredients also used, that augment it nicely.

The strength is quite strong at first, however it does fade off rather quickly, with not much being left by the time you get to the end of your pass.

The lather quality was good, as expected from the last time I tired Kiss My Face. A decent splash of water is needed to start the lather going, but that and a little bit of elbow grease produces a nice lubricating lather, with plenty of glide to it. It had what I’ve consider average moisturization properties; nothing outstanding, but no irritation or anything like that.

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

A rather solid 8/10 overall; wish it could have been a bit stronger on the strength. Still, a damned good value, considering the price.

• Cost: $4.99 for the 100 mL (3.4 oz) tube shown, or a 325 mL (11 oz) hand pump type container for $7.95. Also, it’s one of those brands that is more likely to be available locally, especially at places that specialize in organic foods (both in Canada and the US).

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Gillette NEW Ball-handle
• Blade: Bolzano Superinox
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aqua, Myristic Acid, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Tocopheryl Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Allantoin, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Fruit Extract, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract, Arnica Montana (Arnica) Flower Extract, Hydrastis Canadensis (Golden Seal) Root Extract, Equisetum Hyemale (Horsetail) Extract, Alchemilla Vulgaris (Lady’s Mantle) Extract, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus (Lemongrass) Leaf Extract, Citrus Aurantium (Lime) Fruit Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Flower Extract, Saponaria Officinalis (Soapwort) Root Extract, Nasturtium Officinalis (Watercress) Leaf Extract, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Extract, Natural Fragrance Hydroxyethylcellulose

Kiss My Face – Lavender Shea Shaving Cream

Tags

8/10, floral, kiss my face, lavender, shaving cream, shea

Kiss My Face is another one of those creams which are ostensibly designed to be used without a brush (or at least the instructions on the side don’t mention the use of one), but which still end up lathering up quite nicely.

The scent is quite nice. While it’s mostly lavender, naturally, I also caught a fair amount of what seemed to me to be a citrus-y aroma (and after the fact, a glance at the ingredient listing told me why); at times it was even stronger than the lavender. I really rather liked the combination, it gave a quite nice bit of “pep” to the scent.

Strength-wise, it was pretty good. When initially applied to the face, it was really rather strong. I did notice a fair amount of fading during the shave, to the point that by the time I was reaching the end of each pass, it was mostly gone. But there wasn’t any issues of the smell fading between passes from the lather in my scuttle.

The lather quality was a fair bit better than I expected as well. If you just try to lather it up with a moistened brush, it’ll essentially look like you’re just stirring it really, with only a little bit of air working its way into the cream. But a splash or two of water, and it performs quite nicely, making a decent amount of some rather nice thick lather, with a goodly amount of glide. I didn’t notice it making my face feel any better or worse, moisturization / irritation wise.

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

Overall, I’ll give it 8/10; in addition to being quite nice, it’s also really rather affordable.

• Cost: $4.99 for the 100 mL (3.4 oz) tube shown, or you can upgrade to a 325 mL container (11 oz) for $7.95. Also, I suppose I should mention that KMF tends to be fairly readily available locally in the United States (although I haven’t found it in Canada). I think most Whole Foods carries it, and apparently some Krogers as well. Anyways, it’s worth a shot looking in the organic section.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aqua, Myristic Acid, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Tocopheryl Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Allantoin, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Nut Butter, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract, Arnica Montana (Arnica) Flower Extract, Hydrastis Canadensis (Golden Seal) Root Extract, Equisetum Hyemale (Horsetail) Extract, Alchemilla Vulgaris (Lady’s Mantle) Extract, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus (Lemongrass) Leaf Extract, Citrus Aurantium (Lime) Fruit Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Flower Extract, Saponaria Officinalis (Soapwort) Root Extract, Nasturtium Officinalis (Watercress) Leaf Extract, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Hydroxyethylcellulose.

As an aside: that’s a boatload of different plants!