Tag Archives: crisp

Mama Bear Soaps – Autumn Afternoon Glycerin Shave Soap

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in American, Mama Bear Soaps, Soap

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It was a dismal dreary rainy morning, typical of fall / winter in Victoria BC, when I was choosing what soap to use next. So I plunged my hand into the box o’ Mama Bear samples, and grabbed a few. One stood out as a promise to remind me that fall need not be all that bad. So next, I’ll be reviewing Mama Bear’s Autumn Afternoon.

Mama Bear describes this one as a clean blend of herbs, falling leaves, and clean fresh air. And, as per usual, it smells exactly like it sounds. It’s a nice pleasant fresh smelling scent that reminds me of a walk through the park on a crisp day in the fall.

The strength could have been kicked up a notch. It was noticeable, but not strongly, when the lather was applied to the face, however it seemed to fade fairly quickly. Sniffing the soap directly is reasonably strong.

And the shave was the usual from Mama Bear. Decent glide, as long as you’re not too stingy on the water, but careful not to go overboard either or you’ll kill the cushioning. Lather will break down between passes if you’re using a scuttle, but can be re-whipped up easily enough (and you probably want to add a couple drops of water each pass as you do).

Overall, I give it a 6/10. Give it a shot if you’re looking for a light fresh scent.

  • Cost: $9.99 for a jar full. The samples used to be available for a dollar each, and it is for the other scents I checked; that option seems to be broken for this scent, however I suspect this might be an oversight.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower , Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soybean protein (conditioner), Wheat protein and fragrance either natural or synthetic.

Taylor of Old Bond Street – Shaving Shop cream

04 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by in British, Cream, Taylor of Old Bond Street

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Next up we have another cream from the “court hairdressers” Taylor of Old Bond Street. They describe their Shaving Shop scent as:

A classic aromatic citrus fragrance opening with top notes of fresh lemon blended with uplifting herbal nuances of lavender, thyme and rosemary, A fresh, green floral heart of jasmine and white cyclamen is warmed by a subtle spice accord before descending into a base of precious woods, moss, and amber musks. Contains essential oils of: Lemon, Thyme, Rosemary, Lavandin, Galbanum, and Patchouli.

The lather was wonderfully thick, while still being nice and slick. I find that with a lot of creams and soaps, “the wetter the better”, but that really wasn’t all that necessary with Shaving Shop. Just a bit of water and a tab of cream was able to be whipped up into a great lather, that gave a nice shave with plenty of cushion. It gave a better shave than the other TOBS creams that I’ve tried. It’s also a fair bit thicker than a lot of the other TOBS creams I’ve seen.

The scent… I could take it or leave it. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but something just doesn’t do it for me. I would say that the description above is rather accurate as to how it comes across, but it just doesn’t appeal all that much to me. It’s like a “clean” smell, but like it goes a bit too far into almost being sterile.

Strength-wise, it’s a bit underpowered. I can smell the cream itself quite clearly, but the lather comes across weak and fades.

Overall, I give it a 7/10. Really nice shave, but the scent didn’t impress.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Aqua, Stearic Acid, Myristic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Coconut Acid, Glycerin, Triethanolamine, Sodium Hydroxide, Parfum, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, (Parfum contains: Benzyl Salicylate, Linalool, Limonene, Amyl Cinnamal, Hexyl Cinnamal, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Butylphenyl Methylpropional).

Mama Bear Soaps – Autumn Lodge Shaving Soap

26 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in American, Mama Bear Soaps, Soap

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So, for my first post since fall officially started (starting to feel like it too!), I’ll be covering Mama Bear’s Autumn Lodge. So, first off, here’s what Sue has to say about her soap:

I adore the fall scents because they always have something incredibly fresh smelling about them.. for  Autumn Lodge think wood.. like cedar and oak delicately tempered with cinnamon, bayberry and other fall like spice favorites.. This is a take off of the Yankee Candle fragrance.

The shave itself was pretty much what I’ve come to expect from Mama Bear Soaps. It lathered up nice and thick rather easily. It provided enough cushion, and enough glide for a decent shave, with some minor irritation that I’m not sure if I should chalk up to the soap of the shave. The lather has a tendency to decay rather quickly, so for those of you who are bowl-latherers, you’ll need to re-work it between passes.

The smell was immediately reminiscent of pumpkin pie, although second sniff revealed that it was just that combination of spices, without anything particularly “pumpkiny” about it. Further sniffing revealed the slightly smokey woody scents underneath, although the spices certainly dominated. I rather enjoyed it, and the girlfriend liked it quite a lot. Oh, and apparently the candle it’s inspired by was discontinued.

As for strength, it’s kind of a weird one. It’s easy enough to make it out when shaving, but perhaps not quite as strong as I would have liked. However, it lingered quite a bit, to the point where the aforementioned girlfriend who liked it was still sniffing hours later. Now, generally speaking, I prefer to have the scent from my shave soap last only the duration of the shave: otherwise I need to worry about interference from any cologne or scented after-shave balm. So, I took a point off for that, but of course, some of you might consider that to be a mark in the soap’s favour.

Overall, I give it a 6/10. I’d say it’s worth the dollar to try it out.

Gear used: