Petal Pusher Fancies – Ciderhouse 5 (Scent off entry)

Tags

7/10, Apple, apple cider, Discontinued, Fruit, petal pusher fancies, 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 is the next scent off entry, and the 2nd shaving soap that I’ve tried from Petal Pusher Fancies; Ciderhouse 5. As per usual, here’s what the other judges had to say about it.

I really wanted to give this one top marks for the scent. When I did the initial sniff tests of all of the soaps sent out, I liked this one the most, by a fair margin. A wonderfully delicious and accurate apple cider scent, perfectly fitting for the season. However, unfortunately, once it came time to lather it up and actually shave, I found the scent didn’t transfer to the lather very well. It came across weak, and faded from there.

The soap itself performed much like the previous soap I’d tried from them; a bit fiddly, but still fairly easy to get a great shave, great thickness and glide, with some decent moisturization.

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

Anyhow; relatively weak scent, but it smells really really nice. Feel free to make your own determinations based upon just how strong you tend to like your shaving soap scents. I’m giving it a 7/10 overall.

• Cost: The soap is available in a 3 inch tin that nets you about 3.5 oz, for $9.95.

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Gillette 7 O’clock Black

Ingredients: Water, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Pure Kokum Butter, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Castor Oil, Organic Avocado Oil, Organic Sweet Almond Oil, Pure Essential Oils & Fragrance

Honeybee Soaps – Hydrogen

Tags

7/10, amber, Apple, citrus, floral, Fruit, Glycerin, grapefruit, honeybee soaps, hydrogen, peach, raspberry, sandalwood, shaving soap

Hydrogen from Honeybee Soaps is a rather complex scent; mostly fruity with a few woodsy undertones. Honeybee describes it as “Apple, grapefruit, peach and greenery mix with soft floral middle notes, rounded off with base notes of sandalwood, amber and raspberry musk.” It’s a light and fresh, and I really rather quite like it. I’d be a good summer fragrance methinks. I’m pretty sure that’s not what H2 smells like however.

Unfortunately, when I said light, I mean too light. It’s not strong enough for my liking, just barely above the threshold where it’s noticeable when first lathered on; by the end of the shave it faded to the point where your get a sporadic whiff.

As for the lather, it’s what I’ve come to expect from Honeybee soaps; use a lot of water and a bit of elbow grease, and you’ll get a nice balance of thickness and a good amount of glide.

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

Overall a nice decent all-around soap. A tad stronger (ok, probably about 3-4 times the fragrance level) would have been nice though. 7/10.

• Cost: Samples are $1.59 per ounce, full 3.5 ounce pucks are $4.49, or $5.99 for 4 ounces in a plastic tub.

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: 1966 Gillette Tech
• Blade: Gillette 7 O’clock Black
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Hempseed Oil, Safflower Oil, Shea Butter, Glycerine (vegetable origin), Vitamin E, Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Sorbitol, Sorbitan Oleate, Soybean Protein, Wheat Protein, White Kaolin China Clay, Cosmetic Color and Fragrance Oil.